give a conception of the “hosts” which Elohim is to set in array against the “kings of hosts,” i.e., the martial power of the kingdom of the world, for the protection and for the triumph of His own people. Chariots of fire and horses of fire appear in 2Ki 2:11; 2Ki 6:17 as God's retinue; in Dan 7:10 it is angelic forces that thus make themselves visible. They surround Him on both sides in many myriads, in countless thousands. אדני בם (with Beth raphatum ),[1] the Lord is among them (cf. Isa 45:14), i.e., they are round about Him, He has them with Him (Jer 41:15), and is present with them. It now becomes clear why Sinai is mentioned, viz., because at the giving of the Law Jahve revealed Himself on Sinai surrounded by “ten thousands of saints” (Deu 33:2.). But in what sense is it mentioned? Zion, the poet means, presents to the spiritual eye now a spectacle such as Sinai presented in the earlier times, although even Sinai does not belong to the giants among the mountains:[2]
God halts there with His angel host as a protection and pledge of victory to His people. The conjectures בא מסיני and בם מסיני (Hitzig) are of no use to us. We must either render it: Sinai is in the sanctuary, i.e., as it were transferred into the sanctuary of Zion; or: a Sinai is it in holiness, i.e., it presents a spectacle such as Sinai presented when God by His appearing surrounded it with holiness. The use of the expression בּקּדשׂ in Psa 68:25, Psa 77:14; Exo 15:11, decides in favour of the latter rendering.
With Psa 68:19 the Psalm changes to prayer. According to Psa 7:8; Psa 47:6, למּרום appears to be the height of heaven; but since in Psa 68:16-18 Zion is spoken of as Jahve's inaccessible dwelling-place, the connection points to מרום ציּון, Jer 31:12, cf. Eze 17:23; Eze 20:40. Moreover the preterites, which
- ↑ This is one of the three passages (the others being Isa 34:11; Eze 23:42; cf. Ew. §93, b) in which the dageshing of the opening mute of the following word is given up after a soft final consonant, when the words are connected by a conjunctive accent or Makkeph.)
- ↑ Cf. the epigram in Sadi's Garden of Roses, “Of all mountains Sinai is the smallest, and yet the greatest in rank and worth in the estimation of God,” etc. On the words סיני בקדשׁ which follow we may to a certain extent compare the name of honour given to it in Arabic, ṭûr m‛ana, “Sinai of Pensiveness” (Pertsch, Die persischen Handschriften der Gothaer Bibliothek, 1859, S. 24).
