Psalms 65

Psalms 651. To the Chief Musician. A Psalm. By David. A Song, i. e. a song of praise. See above, on Psalms 48:1; Psalms 42:8. God is first praised in general, as a God of mercy and benevolence to all men, Psalms 65:1-8), and then in particular, as the giver of fruitful seasons and abundance, Psalms 65:9-13.

2. (Psalms 65:1). To thee (belongeth) silence, praise, O God, in Zion, and to thee shall be paid the vow. The two words, silence-praise, form a kind of compound term, like humility-righteousness in Psalms 45:4, meaning, as some suppose, silent praise, but this is hardly consistent with the fact that the praise here offered is vocal. More probably it means such praise as is accompanied by a cessation of all tumultuous and passionate excitement. See above, on Psalms 62:1; Psalms 62:5. In Zion, as the appointed place of prayer and praise under the old economy. The last clause implies that fresh occasion was continually given for thankful vows and their fulfilment, by the constant repetition of God’s providential favours.

3. (Psalms 65:2). Hearer of prayer, up to thee shall all flesh come. The first word in Hebrew is a participle, hearing, thou who habitually hearest prayer. This is mentioned as one of the divine characters or attributes. Up to thee, even to thee, implying actual arrival, and therefore a stronger expression than unto thee. All flesh sometimes means all animals; all living creatures. (Genesis 6:17; Genesis 6:19), but is here used in its narrower sense of all mankind (Genesis 6:3; Genesis 6:12). To thee they shall come, i.e. must come, for the supply of their necessities, the forgiveness of their sins, and in short, for every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), both of a temporal and spiritual nature.

4. (Psalms 65:3). Words of iniquities are too strong for me; (as for) our transgres-sions, thou wilt expiate them, or forgive them for the sake of an atonement. Words of iniquities is by some regarded as a pleonastic paraphrase for iniquities themselves. More probably, however, the phrase means the charge or accusation of iniquity. See above, on Psalms 7:1; Psalms 41:8), and below, on Psalms 105:27. Too strong for me, more than I am able to account for or endure. See above, on Psalms 40:12, and below, on Psalms 130:3. The last clause contains the encouragement suited to the alarming situation mentioned in the first.

5. (Psalms 65:4). Happy (he whom) thou wilt choose and bring (him) near, i.e. admit him to thy presence and to intimate communion with thee, (so that) he shall inhabit thy courts; we shall be sated, satisfied or filled, with, the good, i.e. the pleasure, the enjoyment, of thy house, the holy (place) thy temple, or thy holy temple, thy sanctuary, an expression used both of the tabernacle and the temple properly so called. See above, on Psalms 5:7. The privilege described is not merely that of public worship at the place of God’s appointment, but of residence in his family and participation in the privileges of his household. See above, on Psalms 15:1; Psalms 23:6. The change from the third person singular to the first plural shows that the former was only an individualization of the church or chosen people.

6. (Psalms 65:5). Fearful things in righteousness thou wilt answer us, O God of our salvation, the confidence of all the ends of the land and sea—(even) the furthest. Thou wilt give us fearful answers to our prayers, i.e. such as are suited to excite religious reverence and awe. The confidence, the object, of their trust. Earth (or land) and sea are put together to describe the whole world, and the ends of both for the remotest countries, which idea is then expressed directly, by the word at the end of the sentence. The superlative cannot be expressed in Hebrew, but is here suggested by the context. The sense is not that all men actually feel this trust in God, but that whether they feel it or not, they are really dependent upon him alone. Compare Isaiah 42:4.

7. (Psalms 65:6). Fixing the mountains by his strength, girded with power. This verse accounts for the dependence of all creatures upon God by a reference to his almighty power, which is not described in general terms, but by one of its effects or acts, the settling of the mountains, as the most solid and immovable portions of the earth. He is then metaphorically represented as girded or invested with power. See below, on Psalms 65:12.

8. (Psalms 65:7). Stilling the roar of seas, the roar of their waves, the tumult of nations. The sentence is continued from the foregoing verse. God not only formed the material universe at first, but still controls it. There is here a beautiful transition from the literal to the figurative use of the same language. It is true, in the strict use, that God stills the raging of the seas; but it is also true that he subdues the commotion of human societies and states, of which the sea is a natural and common emblem. See above, on Psalms 46:2-3. Hence he adds in express terms, the tumult of nations.

9. (Psalms 65:8). Then were afraid those inhabiting the ends (or most distant parts) of thy signs; the outgoings of morning and evening thou wilt make to shout (or sing). Then is not expressed in Hebrew, but employed in the translation to shew the dependence of the verb on that of the preceding sentence. The sense is, that whenever God thus stills the tumult of the nations, even the remotest are affected by his signs, i. e. the sensible indications of his presence and immediate agency. Outgoings is a local noun in Hebrew, and denotes the places where the evening and the morning come forth or begin, i.e. the points at which the sun sets and rises, the east and west, here put for eastern and western lands, and these for their inhabitants. That the fear mentioned in the first clause is not mere slavish dread, but an affection perfectly compatible with joy, is clear from the remainder of the sentence.

10. (Psalms 65:9). Thou hast visited the earth and drenched it; thou wilt much enrich it; the river of God is full of water; thou wilt prepare their corn, for thus thou dost prepare it, i.e. the earth, for this very purpose. God is said to visit his creatures when he manifests his presence with them, whether in the way of judgment or of mercy. See above, on Psalms 8:4. Drenched, soaked, or made to overflow. The word translated much is the same as in Psalms 62:2. The river of God, as opposed to earthly streams. However these may fail, the divine resources are exhaustless. Their corn, that required for men’s subsistence. See above on Psalms 4:7. The meaning of the last clause seems to be that he who provides rain to fertilize the earth, may be expected to provide the fruit itself.

11. (Psalms 65:10). Its furrows drench, its ridges beat down: with showers thou wilt soften it; its vegetation thou wilt bless. The first verb means to water abundantly, the second to lower or beat down, implying a great violence of rain. The word translated showers, according to its etymology and usage, denotes frequent and abundant rains. Soften, dissolve, or loosen it. The Hebrew verb is a derivative of that in Psalms 46:6.

Vegetation, germination, that which sprouts or springs up from the seed when sown. Some make the verbs in the first clause infinitives, determined by the finite tenses which precede and follow. But their form permits them to be taken as imperatives, from which the transition to the future is entirely natural and in accordance with the usage of David’s psalms, whenever an expression of confident anticipation is to be immediately subjoined to one of strong desire. See above, on Psalms 54:1.

12. (Psalms 65:11). Thou hast crowned the year of thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness. The first clause may either mean, thou hast crowned the year with thy goodness, or, as some prefer to construe it, thou hast crowned the year of thy goodness, the year distinguished by thy goodness, with particular instances and proofs of that goodness. The obvious meaning of the strong but beautiful figure in the last clause is, that wherever he appears his movements are attended by a rich and fertilizing influence. Fatness is as usual a figure for rich food, and that for general abundance

13. (Psalms 65:12). They drop— the pastures of the wilderness, and (with) joy the hills are girt. The word translated pastures properly means dwellings, but is specially applied to folds and pastures, as the places to which flocks resort. See above, on Psalms 23:1. The word translated wilderness, according to its most probable etymology, originally signifies, not a barren desert, but a tract of country neither tilled nor thickly peopled, though perhaps luxuriant and abundant as a pasture ground. The general metaphor of clothing which occurs in the next verse, is here anticipated by the specific one of a girdle, as that which surrounds the body and confines the dress. See above, on Psalms 18:32.

14 (13). The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the vales shall be robed in grain; they shall shout (for joy), yea, they shall sing. Some translate the first clause, the flocks are clothed with lambs, denying that the first noun in Hebrew ever means pastures. But see above, on Psalms 37:20. The image presented in the first translation is certainly more natural and beautiful. It also makes the parallelism more complete, the fields being covered by the waving crops in the same sense that the meadows are covered by the grazing flocks. In the last clause the pastures and valleys, by a beautiful personification, are described as breaking forth into shouts of joy and songs of praise. See above, on Psalms 65:8.