Page:04.BCOT.KD.PoeticalBooks.vol.4.Writings.djvu/310

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cf. Act 10:4), that which brings to remembrance with God him for whom it is offered up (not “incense,” as Hupfeld renders it); for the designation of the offering of jealousy, Num 5:15, as “bringing iniquity to remembrance before God” shows, that in the meal-offering ritual זכר retains the very same meaning that it has in other instances. Every meal-offering is in a certain sense a מנחת זכּרון a esnes . Hence here the prayer that Jahve would graciously remember them is combined with the meal-offerings.
As regards the ‛olah, the wish “let fire from heaven (Lev 9:24; 1Ki 18:38; 1Ch 21:26) turn it to ashes,” would not be vain. But the language does not refer to anything extraordinary; and in itself the consumption of the offering to ashes (Böttcher) is no mark of gracious acceptance. Moreover, as a denominative from דּשׁן, fat ashes, דּשּׁן means “to clean from ashes,” and not: to turn into ashes. On the other hand, דּשּׁן also signifies “to make fat,” Psa 23:5, and this effective signification is applied declaratively in this instance: may He find thy burnt-offering fat, which is equivalent to: may it be to Him a ריח ניחח [an odour of satisfaction, a sweet-smelling savour]. The voluntative ah only occurs here and in Job 11:17 (which see) and Isa 5:19, in the 3 pers.; and in this instance, just as with the cohortative in 1Sa 28:15, we have a change of the lengthening into a sharpening of the sound (cf. the exactly similar change of forms in 1Sa 28:15; Isa 59:5; Zec 5:4; Pro 24:14; Eze 25:13) as is very frequently the case in מה for מה. The alteration to ידשּׁנה or ידשׁנהּ (Hitzig) is a felicitous but needless way of getting rid of the rare form. The explanation of the intensifying of the music here is, that the intercessory song of the choir is to be simultaneous with the presentation upon the altar (הקטרה). עצה is the resolution formed in the present wartime. “Because of thy salvation,” i.e., thy success in war, is, as all the language is here, addressed to the king, cf. Psa 21:2, where it is addressed to Jahve, and intended of the victory accorded to him. It is needless to read נגדּל instead of נדגּל, after the rendering of the lxx megaluntheeso'metha. נדגּל is a denominative from דּגל: to wave a banner. In the closing line, the rejoicing of hope goes back again to the