Psalms 116

Psalms 116:1-19

Psalms 116THE Church declares her resolution to praise Jehovah for the deliverance which she has experienced, Psalms 117:1-2, and which is then described with some particularity, Psalms 116:3-10, followed by a declaration of the way in which the Church means to express her gratitude, Psalms 116:11-19. The Septuagint and Vulgate, which combine the two preceding psalms as one, divide the one before us into two, with as little reason in the one case as the other. The state of things referred to in this psalm, as one of mingled joy and grief, and its peculiarities of language, all combine to fix its date immediately after the return from Babylon. 1. (Psalms 116:1) I love— because Jehovah hears my voice, my supplications. The common version gives the sense correctly, but by a transposition of Jehovah, avoids the singular peculiarity of form in the original. The object of the verb I love is easily supplied from the remainder of the sentence. Compare Psalms 18:1, Deuteronomy 6:5.

Both verbs may be translated in the present, though of different tenses in the Hebrew. The preterite form of the first (I have loved) implies that the occasion had already been afforded; the future form of the second (he will hear), that it was continued and would be continued. The last word, according to its etymology, means prayers for grace or favour.

2. (Psalms 116:2) For he has inclined his ear to me, and in my days 1 will call (upon him). The original idea of the figure in the first clause seems to be that of leaning forward to catch a sound otherwise too faint to be distinctly audible. See above, on Psalms 31:2; and compare Psalms 17:6; Psalms 71:2; Psalms 78:1; Psalms 102:3. In my days is commonly understood to mean through all the days of my life, or as long as I live. Compare Isaiah 39:8, and see above, on Psalms 104:33. I will call might be understood to mean, I will still pray to him who has hitherto answered my petitions. But to call upon God is applied not only to prayer but to thanksgiving, as appears frcm Psalms 116:13 below, where indeed we have the execution of the purpose here avowed.

3. (Psalms 116:3) The bands of death enclosed me, and the pangs of hell found me; distress and grief I find. Here begins the description of the sufferings from which God had delivered him. The expressions are borrowed from. Psalms 18:4-5. The twofold use of the verb find in this verse is analogous to that of the synonymous verbs catch and seize in English, when a man is said to catch a disease, and the disease is said to seize the man. Compare Psalms 119:143 with Proverbs 6:33. Hell, in the wide sense corresponding to Sheol, the grave, death, or the state of the dead. See above, on Psalms 6:5.

4. (Psalms 116:4) And on the name of Jehovah I call; ah now, Jehovah, deliver my soul! The future in the first clause may be strictly translated (I will call) as expressing the determination which he formed in the midst of his disress. See above on Psalms 18:4; Psalms 18:6. Ah now corresponds exactly, both in origin and meaning, to the intensive particle of entreaty, which the common version paraphrases, I beseech thee. One of the elements of which it is compounded occurs above, Psalms 115:2.

5. (Psalms 116:5) Gracious (is) Jehovah and righteous, and our God shews pity. With the first clause compare Psalms 111:4; Psalms 112:4. The last word in Hebrew is the active participle of the verb to pity, to compassionate, and is here used to denote a habit as distinguished from a momentary feeling.

6. (Psalms 116:6) A preserver of the simple (is) Jehovah; I was brought low, and to me he brought salvation. Here again the first word is an active participle, keeping the simple, i.e. habitually watching over them. For the mcaning of the simple, see above, on Psalms 19:7. The word brought, twice used in translating this verse, has nothing distinctly corresponding to it in the Hebrew, but by a fortuitous coincidence, enters into two English phrases, by which the original verbs may best be represented. The verb translated brought low means to be reduced, in person, strength, or circumstances. See above, on Psalms 79:8, and compare the cognate adjective in Psalms 41:1. The other is the common Hebrew verb to save, here expressed by a circumlocution, for the purpose of retaining the original construction with the preposition to, which also occurs above, Psalms 72:4; Psalms 86:16.

7. (Psalms 116:7) Return, 0 my soul, unto thy rest, for Jehovah hath bestowed upon thee (favour). By calling on his soul, which had been agitated and alarmed, to return to its repose, he implies the cessation of the danger. Rest, literally rests or resting-places, implying fulness or completeness of repose. See above, on Psalms 23:2. For the sense and usage of the last verb, see above, on Psalms 13:5, and compare Psalms 7:4; Psalms 103:10. The unusual grammatical forms in this verse are similar to those in Psalms 103:2; Psalms 103:5.

8. (Psalms 116:8) For thou hast delivered my soul from death, my eye front weeping, my foot from falling. By a sudden apostrophe, God is now addressed directly. The first and last members of the sentence are borrowed from Psalms 56:13. The second bears some resemblance to Psalms 56:8 and Jeremiah 31:16.

9. (Psalms 116:9) I will walk before Jehovah in the land of life (or of the living). This is also borrowed from Psalms 56:13, with the substitution of land (literally lands) for light. Compare Psalms 27:13. The hope here expressed is in contrast with Psalms 115:17.

10. (Psalms 116:10) I believed, for (thus) I speak; I was afflicted greatly. I must have exercised faith, or I could not thus have spoken. The Septuagint version, retained in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 4:13), clothes the same essential meaning in a different form, I believed, therefore have 1 spoken. It was because his faith enabled him to speak, so that his speaking was a proof of faith.

11. (Psalms 116:11) I said in my terror, All mankind (are) false. The form of expression in the first clause is borrowed from Psalms 31:22. But instead of being a confession of error it is here rather a profession of faith. Even in the midst of his excitement, terror, panic, he could turn away from all human aid and trust in God alone. The proposition, all mankind are false, i.e. not to be trusted or relied upon, implies as its complement or converse, therefore God alone is to be trusted. See the same contrast stated more explicitly in Psalms 118:8, and compare Psalms 108:12; Psalms 146:3-4.

12. (Psalms 116:12) How shall I requite to Jehovah all his bestowments upon me. Between this verse and that before it, we must supply the thought that his faith was rewarded and justified by the event. This is indeed implied in the interrogation now before us. How, literally what, i.e. (in) what (way), or (by) what (means)? See Genesis 44:16. The unusual word bestowments is here used to represent a Hebrew one occurring only here, but evidently formed from the verb to confer or bestow upon, employed in Psalms 116:7 above. The peculiar form both of the noun and pronoun is regarded by the highest philological authorities as fixing the date of the composition after the Captivity.

13. (Psalms 116:13) The cup of salvations I will take up, and on the name of Jehovah will call. This is commonly explained by a reference to the Jewish tradition of a cup of thanksgiving which accompanied or followed the thank- offerings. But we read of no such cup in Scripture, and its origin may probably be traced to the rabbinical interpretation of this very passage. Interpreted by Scriptural analogies, it simply means, I will accept the portion God allots me. For this figurative use of cup, see above, on Psalms 11:6; Psalms 16:5. The plural form, salvations, denotes fulness or completeness. Take up, as if from the table where the hand of God has placed it; or lift up, towards heaven as a gesture of acknowledgment.

14. (Psalms 116:14) My vows to Jehovah will I pay— in the presence of all his people. The word now, in the common version, misleads the English reader, who can scarcely fail to understand it as an adverb of time, meaning at present, immediately, without delay, whereas it is the particle of entreaty used in Psalms 115:2, and here employed to modify the bold avowal of a purpose, by making it dependent on divine permission. As if he had said : my vows to Jehovah I will pay— let me do it in the presence (I entreat) of all his people. The same meaning is attached by some to the augmented or paragogic form of the word translated presence, and which strictly means the front or forepart. Both these peculiarities are reckoned among the indications of a later age of Hebrew composition.

15. (Psalms 116:15) Precious in the eyes of Jehovah (is) the death of his gracious ones (or saints). The idea and expression are borrowed from Psalms 72:14, where the same thing is said of their blood. The word for death has the same peculiarity of form as that for presence in Psalms 116:14, and is construed in the same way with the preposition to, the death to his saints, i.e. the death belonging to them, which they die. These are regarded by the critics as additional tokens of the age in which the psalm was written. The verse assigns the reason for the preceding vow, to wit, that God counts the death of his people too costly to be lightly or gratuitously suffered.

16. (Psalms 116:16) Ah now, Jehovah— for I (am) thy servant, I (am) thy servant, the son of thy handmaid; thou hast loosed my bonds. The expression of entreaty at the beginning has reference to some thing not expressed, though easily supplied, namely permission thus to testify his gratitude. Ah now, Lord (suffer me thus to do) for I am thy servant, etc. The additional phrase, son of thy handmaid, is much stronger than thy servant, and describes him as a home-born slave. See above, on Psalms 86:16. In the last clause we have another instance of a preposition interposed between the active verb and its object, in a way unknown to the older Hebrew. It is possible, however, to translate the words, thou hast freed (me) as to (i.e. from) my bonds.

17. (Psalms 116:17) To thee will I sacrifice a sacrifice of thanks, and on the name of Jehovah will I call. The sense is not, I will offer thanks instead of an oblation, but an oblation really expressive of thanksgiving and appointed for that purpose.

18. (Psalms 116:18) My vows to Jehovah will I pay in the presence (I entreat) of all his people. An exact repetition of Psa 116:14, with all its singularities of form.

19. (Psalms 116:19) In the courts of the house of Jehovah, in the midst of thee, Jerusalem. Hallelujah! This verse completes the one before it, and explains the phrase, before all his people. Some regard it as a proof that the psalm was composed after the actual rebuilding of the temple. But in Ezra 2:68; Ezra 3:8, we find the designation house of God applied to the consecrated site. The use of the word courts is still more natural, because it originally means enclosures, which might be and no doubt were defined, long before the temple was rebuilt. This explanation seems to be confirmed by the addition of the last clause. In the courts of the Lord’s house, that is, on the consecrated spot in the midst of thee, 0 Jerusalem, the Holy City.