Page:04.BCOT.KD.PoeticalBooks.vol.4.Writings.djvu/382

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7]]), is like Jeremiah's style (Psa 42:10, cf. 1:10; Psa 18:9, and frequently, Sir. 49:7). In Psa 28:5, the prominent thought in David's mind is, that they shamefully fail to recognise how gloriously and graciously God has again and again acknowledged him as His anointed one. He has (2 Sam 7) received the promise, that God would build him a house, i.e., grant perpetual continuance to his kingship. The Absolomites are in the act of rebellion against this divine appointment. Hence they shall experience the very reverse of the divine promise given to David: Jahve will pull them down and not build them up, He will destroy, at its very commencement, this dynasty set up in opposition to God.

Verses 6-9


The first half of the Psalm prayed for deliverance and for judgment; this second half gives thanks for both. If the poet wrote the Psalm at one sitting then at this point the certainty of being answered dawns upon him. But it is even possible that he added this second part later on, as a memorial of the answer he experienced to his prayer (Hitzig, Ewald). It sounds, at all events, like the record of something that has actually taken place. Jahve is his defence and shield. The conjoined perfects in Psa 28:7 denote that which is closely united in actual realisation; and in the fut. consec., as is frequently the case, e.g., in Job 14:2, the historical signification retreats into the background before the more essential idea of that which has been produced. In משּׁירי, the song is conceived as the spring whence the הודות bubble forth; and instead of אודנּוּ we have the more impressive form אהודנּוּ, as in Ps 45:18; Psa 116:6; 1Sa 17:47, the syncope being omitted. From suffering (Leid) springs song (Lied), and from song springs the praise (Lob) of Him, who has “turned” the suffering, just as it is attuned in Psa 28:6 and Psa 28:8.[1]
The αὐτοί, who are intended by למו in Psa 28:8, are those of Israel, as in Psa 12:8; Isa 33:2 (Hitzig). The lxx (κραταίωμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ) reads לעמּו, as in Psa 29:11, which is approved by Böttcher, Olshausen and Hupfeld; but למו yields a similar sense. First of all

  1. There is a play of words and an alliteration in this sentence which we cannot fully reproduce in the English. - Tr.