Ps 27:1 The title: The Hebrew title simply reads "Of David," as do most of the Greek codices. Note: some ancient Greek versions read, "Of David before he was anointed."
Ps 27:1 cont. With exultant spirit he proclaims God as the most benevolent helper: The Lord is my illumination, my light (Hebrew; Jerome; Aquila; Symmachus read gōr / phōs, that is, “happiness, joy, prosperity” [Calvin]); by the metaphor of light are signified favor, blessed life, and joy; and my salvation, my saving help (Jerome), Aquila and Symmachus sōtērion mou (“my salvation”), in whom, that is, the whole hope of salvation is placed, since he alone is able to save. Now if God as such is addressed and greeted with the whole affection of the soul, what follows more naturally than the triumphant cry: Whom shall I fear? If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom 8:31). The Lord is the protector of my life, the strength (Jerome), the fortress of my life; Aquila (fifth edition) periphragma (“defense”); of whom shall I be afraid? And how rightly he proclaims these praises of God is shown from what he has already experienced.
Ps 27:2: When evildoers draw near against me, when criminals came near against me, to eat my flesh, that they might utterly destroy and oppress me (cf. Ps 13:3; Mic 3:3); my enemies who trouble me, they themselves were weakened and fell, they themselves stumbled and collapsed. “I was by no means disappointed in my hope,” he says; “thus, relying on your help” (Theodotion). Without my undertaking anything against them, they, deprived of strength, fell, defeated by the hidden power of my light and my savior (cf. Eusebius).
Ps 27:3 Therefore, taught by such experience, he can with joyful spirit affirm (Ps 27:3): If camps should stand against me, my heart shall not fear; if, as it were, a whole army should advance into battle against me alone, I shall remain fearless. By a certain hyperbole he seems to look back to the promise given in the Law: Five of you shall pursue a hundred foreigners, and a hundred of you ten thousand (Lev 26:8). By a martial image he depicts the vexations of enemies: If battle should rise up against me—war (Hebrew; Jerome)—in this I will hope, that is, nevertheless, even in that condition I am full of confidence. By “camps” and “battle” he understands whatever can inspire terror (Genesis). Symmachus rightly explains the Hebrew nēṣer (…).
Ps 27:4 Where especially does he trust that he will dwell in God’s help? Ps 27:4: One thing I have asked of the Lord; this I will seek. Explain from the Hebrew with Jerome: “One thing I asked, this I seek, this I desire”: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; cf. Ps 23:6. Because of this repetition Duhm wishes this stich to be deleted. That I may behold the delight of the Lord—Hebrew noʿam (“pleasantness, beauty”); Jerome “beauty.” Symmachus has kallos (“beauty”); Aquila episkeptesthai en tō hierō (“to visit in his sanctuary”). He understands that sacred place of the tabernacle in which a certain majesty of the divine presence shone forth (Augustine), together with the sacred solemnities, offerings, festive pomp—namely the whole beauty and adornment of the worship of the Lord—and that I may visit his temple, episkepsasthai; Jerome: “and that I may attend to his temple.” Hebrew bāqar (cf. Ezek 34:11–12) bears the sense of caring for, taking charge of, providing for; hence he desires and asks either that he may provide for matters pertaining to worship, or, as Theodotion explains, episkopein panta ta kata nomon gignomena (“to oversee all that is done according to the Law”). Thus priestly ministry is dear to him, and the care of sacred things he holds in the divine dwelling place.
Ps 27:5-6 Moreover, concerning the use and notion of the temple (bayith), see 1 Sam 1:9; 1 Sam 3:3 and Ps … : in the house of the Lord, where God dwells in the midst of his people (Exod 25; 1 Kgs 9:9; Jer 7:7). There the greatest security and protection is granted (Ps 27:5): For he will hide me in his tabernacle, in his shelter, in the day of evils he will protect me—read: he protects me—in the hidden place of his tent, in the protection afforded by the tabernacle, the house of God and the temple. There, as if in a citadel or on a high place, he is set in safety: Upon a rock he has exalted me, he lifts me up (cf. Ps 17:3). Is there an allusion to the temple mount? And now 9ps 27:6) he lifts up my head above my enemies. Hebrew: “my head is lifted up.” Aquila: hypsōthē kephalē mou (“my head was exalted”); the fifth edition similarly; Jerome rightly translates: above my enemies who are around me. Likewise Aquila: epi tous echthrous mou tous kyklō me; and the Syriac in the same way (the LXX read sōbathē, whence the Vulgate circuivi).
And for such protection he offers sacrifices of thanksgiving: I will offer. The notion “I went around” (circuivi) does not fit this place; for one who offers does not “go around.” And I will sacrifice in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation, sacrifices with trumpet-blasts—Hebrew teruʿah, sacrifices in which trumpets were sounded, as is said in Num 10:10: you shall blow the trumpets over the burnt offerings and peace offerings. The Greek has a variant reading: thysian ainēseōs kai…; Jerome: hostias iubili (cf. Ps 46:6; 88:16; 150:2). I will sing and chant a psalm to the Lord; cf. 1 Chr 25:1 and 2 Chr 29:28: when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord also began, and the trumpets. In private sacrifices it is scarcely probable that trumpets were used; therefore here there is an indication that it is not David alone who opens the feelings of his own soul, but that through the psalmist the voices and sentiments of the devout worshipers of God are expressed.
Ps 27:7 That this divine protection may also be continually granted in the future is prayed for in what follows (v. 7ff.). Hence there is no need to consider this part (with Duhm and Baethgen) as a fragment alien to the psalm, as though in these verses someone else in a wholly different condition were speaking, so that the expressed meanings would in no way cohere with those described in Ps 27:1–6. The connection can be established quite easily: for what he so ardently desired in v. 4, he now urgently requests in the following words, recalling from the beginning the petition already expressed and earnestly commending it to God (v. 7): Hear, O Lord, my voice with which I cry to you; Jerome: hear my voice as I call upon you; have mercy on me and hear me.
Ps 27:8 This desire is expressed even more strongly in v. 8: My heart has said to you—my heart converses with you, thinks of you continually; my face has sought you—so Symmachus also: hē pros ton theon orexis mou (“my intention and effort are directed to you”); my countenance, my eyes, seek you; I am occupied in pleasing you. This desire and this seeking of mine is constant: Your face, O Lord, I will seek—your favor, your grace, your will and approval I diligently seek and desire. The LXX expressed this sentence twice: zētēsa to prosōpon sou, to prosōpon sou, Kyrie, zētēsō; the Hebrew text “my heart said to you: seek my face” is certainly corrupt. A good sense is obtained from the LXX: my heart said to you (I speak to you, I ask you): I seek your face; and thus the Hebrew text should be emended. Baethgen translates more subtly: “Yours, says my heart, is the word: ‘Seek my face.’”
Ps 27:9 That this grace of God may continually be at hand he desires in v. 9: Do not turn away—do not hide (Hebrew; Jerome) your face from me; do not withdraw your favor from me; do not decline in anger from your servant, do not cast me away. Be my helper—Hebrew; Jerome: my help; Aquila likewise boēthos mou genou. A reason is given: hitherto you have always been my help; from this the petition is strengthened: do not reject me; what you have always granted me, grant continually in your faithfulness. Do not forsake me nor despise me—Hebrew: do not reject me nor forsake me—O God of my salvation, that is, the giver of my salvation, in whom my whole hope of salvation is placed.
Ps 27:10 And how true it is that our salvation is placed in God is expressed by a conditional statement in the Hebrew: Even if my parents should forsake me, the Lord will gather me. And in this way v. 10 is also to be taken: For (Hebrew kî also introduces a condition) my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me up. This is the same thought as in Isa 49:15: Can a woman forget her infant? Even if she should forget, I will not forget you. The love of God and his fidelity are stronger than that affection which nature knows as the strongest, namely maternal affection.
Ps 27:11-12 That he may deserve protection, he therefore prays (v. 11): Set a law before me, O Lord, in your way—Hebrew; Jerome: show me your way, or teach me your way; teach me to live as you will. For whoever in all things follows the norm set by God will have divine help. A life free from faults is also required, lest opportunity for slander be given to enemies lying in wait: and guide me in the straight path because of my enemies; see Ps 5:9. And how necessary this is is explained in Ps 27:12: Do not hand me over to the souls of those who afflict me—“soul” stands for the affection of the soul; here, therefore: do not hand me over to the fury of my enemies; for false witnesses have risen up against me (Jerome), and iniquity has lied to itself—the wicked have lied to their own ruin; Hebrew: and he breathes out violence; Aquila (sixth edition): pseudos, adikia (“falsehood,” “injustice”), similarly Jerome, and open deceit.
Ps 27:13 Although, therefore, false witnesses, slanderers, and violent men rise up against him, yet his confidence is strengthened (v. 13): I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living—in the land or region where humans live, therefore in this present life; cf. Ps 52:7; Isa 38:11. Sheol is the region of the dead; this earth of ours is the land of the living.
In the Hebrew at the beginning stands lûlēʾ (“unless”); then it must be explained by aposiopesis: “unless I had believed… (then I would have perished)”; cf. Ps 119:92: Unless your law had been my meditation, then I would have perished in my affliction. But already the ancient Jews indicated by superposed points that this word should be deleted. The LXX read only kî (“for”) and referred it to the preceding clause; hence in the Vulgate the si appears at the end of the verse.
Ps 27:14 The psalm is concluded with a general exhortation (v. 14): Wait for the Lord; act manfully; let your heart be strengthened; and wait for the Lord—hope in the Lord. In a similar manner an address and exhortation to the whole assembly of the faithful is found at the end of Psalm 30
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