Critical Notes. lxxxv.) 2. Cp. on xiv. 7, lx. 3; cxxvi. 4. (a gloss). Read probably py . שׁוֹבַבְתָּ נֶפֶשׁ יעקב אלהים as often, comes from ,סלה . 6. M; G anéoтpevas. An inwardly transitive' verb (Hengst., B.; comparing Ezek. xiv. 6, xviii. 30) is not natural here. Nor does in l. 5 allow us to take as partitive (Ol.). The phrase is 'hybrid' T (Hu.), but it is a scribe's fault. Schrader and Duhm read ID'WN ''; but another occurrence of would be intolerable. Probably non is right. M's error may presuppose a still earlier error (interrogative), which, in fact, Gr. reads by conjecture. 7f. M. Read probably 2 (Ixxx. 4).—M 7. Read (Gr., Bi., Che., Du.). Rather, 'now, at length' (suggested by gloss. For , G, Bä., Now. read lxxxv. (2) 7 (cp. v. 9), less naturally. If. The difficulties of this passage in MT admit of no ואל חסידיו And why ?יהוה beside הָאֵל adequate solution. Why .(14 .too is questionable (see on xlix כסלה ? חסידים the beside y? And how can a suspicion be expressed of the loyalty of G gives something quite different for v. 9b; see Bäthgen, Studien u. Kritiken, 1880, p. 762. Evidently there was considerable doubt among the early Jewish scholars how to read and explain this passage. Anyone, however, who has followed the scribes in their attempts to understand miswritten forms of ethnics, or perhaps to get rid of them, will not long remain in perplexity. The key is given by Zech. ix. 10, where a means is האל ; ישמעאלים then, comes from, אשמעה מה . יוריד ישמעאל ,אל־עמו .a correction from the margin, ירחמאל a fragment of ,(and o confounded מ) ירחמאל come from לכסלה and,אל חסידיו . ישמעאל in accordance with many parallels from) אל-ישובו 4. M. 2 (see on Ixxviii. 60).—M 7. Read ii (ST), with Geiger (Urschr., 318). 8 f. Read DM (7. 5). For the confusion see on cxliv. 2.-M. Read (precedes). T: 10. M D. Schrader (St. Kr. '68, p. 639), . But parallelism requires (Dy., We., Du.). y (Bevan, J. of Phil., xviii. ['89], 144, and Smend, AT Rel.-gesch., 419) is against 7. 6; sprang from. For 7775 read ₹77 (Du.). ་ PSALM LXXXVI. TRIMETERS. This psalm, like others, has had a history. Originally it was a psalm of persecution, or at any rate written in imitation of psalms of persecution; it is gratuitous to suppose that the original writer mixed up supplications for deliverance with thanksgiving for mercies received. The community, through its psalmists, is the real author both of the psalm of supplication and of the inserted thanksgivings. For though some scholars (Stekhoven, ZATW, ix. 132; J. Robertson, Croall Lectures on the Psalms) deny that the phrase X JA (v. 16) can have been applied to itself by the community, yet others of not inferior reputation (Stade, ZATW, viii. 126; Bä., ad loc.; Beer, Indiv.-ps.) find no difficulty in this. The present writer agrees with neither school. There is the strongest probability that another and much easier reading underlies our text. Nor, indeed, is it a priori likely that such a very unoriginal psalmist would have coined such a phrase. The possible literary reminiscences of the psalmist, or psalmists, are collected by Kobertson Smith in 077C2, 435-437; it is true, textual criticism may modify details of the list (see notes). Verses 14 and 15 seem, from the metrical irregularities, to be a later insertion. On this psalm, cp. Coblenz, pp. 63-65 (who shows the speaker to be the community). I A prayer. Of 'Arab-ethan. Incline thine ear, O Yahwè! and answer me, I Guard my soul, for in thee I take refuge, Deliver thy servant who trusteth in thee. Have pity upon me, O Yahwè! for unto thee 3 I call from those of Jerahmeel. Sustain the soul of thy servant, Guard me from those of Ishmael. 10 For thou, O Yahwè! art good and forgiving, 5 6 20 In Jerahmeel I seek thee, [O Yahwé!] All nations of the countries shall come And shall glorify thy name. 2 Thou art. 7 8 9 10 Show me, O Yahwè! thy way, And I will walk on in thy faithfulness. I will give thanks to thee' with all my heart, For great is thy lovingkindness towards me, 30 Give succour because of thy faithfulness; And my haters will see with shame That thou, O Yahwè! hast helped me and comforted me. 6. From those of Jerahmeel. Cp. lxxvii. 2 f. All the day long, is an edifying substitute, or rather disguise (cp. xxv. 5 &c.). 7 f. Sustain, i.e. lest I faint in the long struggle. Cp. lxiii. 2, Jer. iv. 31.-Guard me, &c. Cp. on xxv. I. 9 f. Cp. Ex. xxxiv. 6 f. The mercy of God was strongly felt in post-exilic times. A similar feeling in Babylon, in Nebuchadnezzar's time, prompted the application of the epithet rîmînu (cp., v. 15) to the great god Marduk.-D, 'forgiving,' here only; II 12 13 16 17 21 f. Cp. xxvii. 11, xxvi. 3. At the end of v. 11 the received text gives a fine prayer for the union' of the 'heart with a view to fearing God's name. This is usually taken to mean, 'concentrate all my powers and affections on thy service' (cp. Augustine's Confessions, i. 3, I, ii. 1, 1). G gives, 'let my heart rejoice,' &c. Neither rendering, however, gives a natural sense for a Hebrew prayer; satisfactory parallels are wanting. Appearances point strongly to the view that the passage is a misread and misunderstood gloss (see crit. n.) on the word 'Ishmael' in l. 26. 26. For from Ishmael' the editor has given from the lowest Sheol' (see crit. n.). This is due to a reminiscence of Dt. xxxii. 22. Captivity in a foreign land and sore oppression in their native land seemed like death to the Israelites (cp. lvi. 13). Verse 14 in M (taken from liv. 5, Ex. xxxiv. 6) describes one of the experiences which, collectively, are described sometimes as 'death.' Verse 15 comes from Ex. xxxiv. 6. 28. Help, i.e. as shown in victory over the foe. See on lxxxix(2), l. 1-4, and cp. Ebenezer, 'stone of help.' O Yahwè my God! 2 Jerahmeelites, Cushites (v. 11b). — (From Sheol) the lowest (v. 13).O God! the proud have assaulted me, a crew of violent ones have sought my soul, and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord! art a God compassionate and pitiful, | longsuffering, and rich in lovingkindness and faithfulness (v. 14 f.). 30. Because of thy faithfulness. As cxvi. 16. The text has '(to) the son of thy handmaid,' where Yahwe's 'handmaid' may possibly be taken to mean the people of Israel, out of which the pious community, and especially the inner circle of the Dy, his- and crit. n. 31. Cp. xl. 4, lii. 8, vi. II, xxxv. 4. Critical Notes. 3. M N TDIT . Elsewhere the more modest expression TTD is used. Another - is also surprising. Read 4. Mx, superfluous, but not to be omitted without ex (.due to editor אני) . כי חסיתי בך perhaps often stands for אלהים ; מירחמאלים planation, Possibly it represents .(1.6) כל היום If so, it may represent an early correction of . ירחמאל ,3 .see on xxv. 5, xlii. 4, lii) מירחמאלים Read .כל היום M .6 lvi. 2, &c. 7. Mп, cp. xc. 16. The context favours; cp. liv. 6. as in xxv. I, may, נפשי אשא ; is superfluous כי אליך, אדני .8 . שמרני מישמעאלים represent .3 .as in lxxvii בירחמאל דְּרַשְׁתִּיךְ read ביום צרתי For .13 . דרשתי' was lost after י' ; יהוה Insert ,27 .cvi) הארצות read probably אשר עשית For the prosaic .17 Gen. xxvi. 3 f.). 18. M adds 19. from /. 20. 22. Read 17", against metre. is metrically superfluous; it can be supplied in thought ; G kai mоpevσoμai. At the end of v. 11 M gives . This is usually illustrated by Jer. xxxii. 39, where, however, G reads. Gr., Bi., Che.", following G S read . But see exeg. note. It is to be feared that we must read '. The former word is doubly represented. The corruptions are of a recurrent type. 23. M inserts. We might, however, keep N ; so Du. 26. M mana birg. Cp. Dt. xxxii. 22, J'aņa bixy-ty, The deliverance, however, is always represented as from Jerahmeel or Ishmael. or ישראל and שאול .are readily confounded ישמעאל . שאול is probably a rhetorical addition to תחתיה ; מישמעאל Read would seem נתן עז The phrase) עֶזְרְךְ 28. M. Rather (Gr.) The phrase would seem to say too much for the occasion; contrast lxviii. 36. 30. M. This passage and cxvi. 16 have been harmonized. The true reading is 7. The error was caused by the occurrence of Ty close by (in both passages). The proof of the correction is in v. 17a a, where in is unintelligible, and does .occurs in xxii. 32, &c השיע for עשה . ויראו וגו' not connect with comes from לטובה .(dittographed) הושיעה למען אמתך Read .Ezek, טבולים Cp. Crit. Bid. on . שִׂנְאֵי a gloss on, ישמעאל = אתבול xxiii. 15. PSALM LXXXVII. PENTAMETERS. A psalm of the expanded Israel, which is to include all the converted remnants of the neighbouring peoples (xviii. 44-46, lxxvi. 11, Zech. xiii. 16). A prophetic writer looked forward to the time when Misrim should be acknowledged by Yahwè as his people, Asshur as the work of his hands, and Israel as his inheritance (Isa. xix. 25); but the psalmist goes beyond this, though not beyond the prophetic writer of Isa. xliv. 3-5. The prospect which both the psalmist and the Second Isaiah open to us is that of the adoption by Zion of a number of N. Arabians, hitherto known as Asshurites, Rehobites, Jerahmeelites, Zarephathites, Misrites, Cushites, as her sons. Respectfully these new children address Zion as their mother and Israel as their father, and Yahwè ratifies the adoption by a note entered in the heavenly register of peoples. Happy is the city thus enriched by an enlarged spiritual citizenship. No earthly or heavenly power can subvert it. Well may the local congregation of Zion burst into choral songs of praise. The Holy Land, once thought to be the region of Horeb, is now the country whose centre is Zion. Here are the holy mountains; here are dwellings dearer to Yahwè than those which gather round the once venerated shrines of the mountain-land of Jerahmeel. It has been remarked by Wellhausen (Isr. u. Jüd. Gesch. 163), that the Judaizing of Palestine began with Galilee (2 Chr. xxx. 1,10 f., 25), then passed on to the coastdistricts (Philistia and Tyre,' l's. lxxxvii. 4), and later on advanced to Bashan (Ps. lxviii. 16, 23). It has also been remarked that the choice of Tyre in our psalm as the representative of Phoenicia suggests that the destruction of Sidon by Artaxerxes Ochus (350 B.C.) was in the past. According to Duhm, the dwellings of Jacob' in v. 2 are (cp. vv. 4ff,) all those places where Jews are settled, Alexandria, Tyre, &c. He regards this psalm as an expression of the feelings of the Jews of the Dispersion. One would gladly follow these able critics, but their theories are based on the corrupt traditional text. With regard to 2 Chr. xxx. 1, 5-11, it can be made probable that the Chronicler used an older document, in the original text of which reference was made to Jewish inhabitants of the Negeb. Of the Korahites. Marked. I Happy the city whose foundations | are on the holy mountains! Yahwè loves the gates of Zion | more than the dwellings of Jerahmeel. We glorify thee, we bless thee continually, | O thou city Ashhur, Rehob, and Jerahmeel- they are thy sons;1 their name; 6 I 3 4 5 Zion they address my Mother,' | Israel' my Father.' 1 Those of Asshur and Jerahmeel are thy sons (v. 7). |