Psalms 111 — DBY — Scriptura

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111Hallelujah! I will celebrate Jehovah with [my] whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the assembly.
^{Verse 2}Great are the works of Jehovah; sought out of all that delight in them.
^{Verse 3}His work is majesty and splendour, and his righteousness abideth for ever.
^{Verse 4}He hath made his wonders to be remembered: Jehovah is gracious and merciful.
^{Verse 5}He hath given meat unto them that fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.
^{Verse 6}He hath shewn his people the power of his works, to give them the heritage of the nations.
^{Verse 7}The works of his hands are truth and judgment; all his precepts are faithful:
^{Verse 8}Maintained for ever and ever, done in truth and uprightness.
^{Verse 9}He sent deliverance unto his people; he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and terrible is his name.
^{Verse 10}The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do [his precepts]: his praise abideth for ever.

Commentary

That which the poet purposes doing in Psa 111:1, he puts into execution from Psa 111:2 onwards. ועדה, according to Psa 64:7; Psa 118:14, is equivalent to ועדתם. According to Psa 111:10, הפציהם in Psa 111:2 apparently signifies those who find pleasure in them (the works of God); but חפצי = חפצי (like שׂמחי, Isa 24:7 = שׂמחי) is less natural than that it should be the construct form of the plural of חפץ, that occurs in three instances, and there was no need for saying that those who make the works of God the object of their research are such as interest themselves in them. We are led to the right meaning by לכל־חפצו in Kg1 9:11 in comparison with Isa 44:28; Isa 46:10, cf. Isa 53:10, where חפץ signifies God's purpose in accordance with His counsel: constantly searched into, and therefore a worthy object of research (דרשׁ, root דר, to seek to know by rubbing, and in general experimentally, cf. Arab. drâ of knowledge empirically acquired) according to all their aims, i.e., in all phases of that which they have in view. In Psa 111:4 זכר points to the festival which propagates the remembrance of the deeds of God in the Mosaic age; טרף, Psa 111:5, therefore points to the food provided for the Exodus, and to the Passover meal, together with the feast of unleavened bread, this memorial (זכּרון, Exo 12:14) of the exemption in faithfulness to the covenant which was experienced in Egypt. This Psalm, says Luther, looks to me as though it had been composed for the festival of Easter. Even from the time of Theodoret and Augustine the thought of the Eucharist has been connected with Psa 111:5 in the New Testament mind; and it is not without good reason that Psa 111:1-10 has become the Psalm of the church at the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In connection with הגּיד one is reminded of the Pesach-Haggada. The deed of redemption which it relates has a power that continues in operation; for to the church of Jahve is assigned the victory not only over the peoples of Canaan, but over the whole world. The power of Jahve's deeds, which He has made known to His people, and which they tell over again among themselves, aims at giving them the inheritance of the peoples. The works of His hands are truth and right, for they are the realization of that which is true and which lasts and verifies itself, and of that which is right, that triumphantly maintains its ground. His ordinances are נאמנים (occasionally pointed נאמנים), established, attested, in themselves and in their results authorizing a firm confidence in their salutariness (cf. Psa 19:8). סמוּכים, supported, stayed, viz., not outwardly, but in themselves, therefore imperturbable (cf. סמוּך used of the state of mind, Psa 112:8; Isa 26:3). עשׂוּים, moulded, arranged, viz., on the part of God, "in truth, and upright;" ישׂר is accusative of the predicate (cf. Psa 119:37), but without its being clear why it is not pointed וישׁר. If we have understood Psa 111:4-6 correctly, then פּדוּת glances back at the deliverance out of Egypt. Upon this followed the ratification of the covenant on Sinai, which still remains inviolable down to the present time of the poet, and has the holiness and terribleness of the divine Name for a guarantee of its inviolability. The fear of Jahve, this holy and terrible God, is the beginning of wisdom - the motto of the Chokma in Job (Job 28:28) and Proverbs (Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10), the Books of the Chokma. Psa 111:10 goes on in this Proverbs-like strain: the fear of God, which manifests itself in obedience, is to those who practise them (the divine precepts, פקודים) שׂכל טּוב (Pro 13:15; Pro 3:4, cf. Ch2 30:22), a fine sagacity, praiseworthy discernment - such a (dutiful) one partakes of everlasting praise. It is true, in glancing back to Psa 111:3, תּהלּתו seems to refer to God, but a glance forward to Psa 112:3 shows that the praise of him who fears God is meant. The old observation therefore holds good: ubi haec ode desinit, sequens incipit (Bakius).

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