Translated using ChatGPT
Argument: He urges the righteous to celebrate and to fear God, bringing forward very weighty reasons drawn from God’s immense goodness, justice, wisdom, and providence as shown in creating and governing the world. Finally, in the name of the whole people he professes hope and confidence in God and calls upon His goodness. This is a most august song.
Ps 33:1-3 “Rejoice, O righteous,” etc. — In the first three verses the proposition of the psalm is contained.
“In the psaltery of ten strings.” Some think that after the Greek and Latin, which we have rendered “of ten strings,” this is the name of another instrument, and therefore by supplying “and,” which is often omitted, they translate “and on the decachord.” Verse 4 of Psalm 92 strongly favors them, where the psaltery and the ten-stringed instrument are distinguished thus: “upon the psaltery and the decachord.” Ezra and Kimhi support this view. The Chaldee, however, Moses, Rashi, and others think differently. The Chaldee indeed interpreted “on the psaltery, the nabla of ten strings,” as do the Greek and Latin. Rashi explains it as “on the psaltery,” that is, rather, “with a choir of ten kinds of melody.” Moses, however, says “on the psaltery, a choir with ten openings.”
Moreover, it is uncertain what exactly is meant by nebel, which the Greek and Latin render “psaltery.” For some it is a chorus, commonly a bagpipe; for others a nabla — a word doubtless from Hebrew; for others a psaltery; for others a lyre. Ezra, on Isaiah 5:12, observes that it is a musical instrument consisting of eight openings. Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, book 7, chapter 10) affirms that the nabla contains twelve tones. You see that everything here is uncertain.
“Sing to him,” etc. — Sing new songs continually; for every day new material for divine praise presents itself to one who attentively considers God’s works. Thus Psalm 96:1, “Sing to the Lord a new song.”
Ps 33:4 “For the word of the Lord is right,” etc. — He sets forth arguments why God ought to be praised. “The word of the Lord,” according to Ezra and Kimhi, means God’s decrees and judgments — especially punitive judgments. He therefore says that the word of the Lord is right because whatever God decrees concerning man is right and just, and punishments inflicted by God are always beneficial to man. To this belongs what follows: “and all his works are in faith,” that is, in truth — whatever God does He does according to equity and goodness and according to the faith by which He has bound Himself to men; and if He sends evil upon a man, He sends it for his good.
In this sense Isaiah 12:1 says, “I will praise you, O Lord, because you were angry with me,” and Psalm 101:1, “I will sing of mercy and judgment.” Thus Job said (Job 1:21), “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” The pious worshipers of God place evil sent by God in the same category as good and gladly give thanks for both. So David says (Psalm 119:75), “I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” Likewise Micah 7:9, “I will bear the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against Him.”
What if here you take davar (דָּבָר, “word/thing”) — that is, “word” — for a thing, deed, or work? For that Hebrew word has a range as broad as our word “thing.” Then the same idea is expressed in both members according to Hebrew usage, and the sense will be: whatever God does is right and just. “Faith” or “fidelity” here signifies nothing other than equity and goodness, just as someone is said to act “in good faith” when he acts fairly and sincerely according to the obligation one man owes another.
There are some who explain this verse about God’s promises, which are right and which He certainly fulfills; but this interpretation is too narrow and less fitting to this passage.
Ps 33:5 “He loves righteousness and judgment.” The sense is that God sometimes exercises righteousness by preserving equality among all and giving each his due, and sometimes judgment by avenging one against another. Thus Ezra interprets righteousness and judgment. Mercy, however, surpasses these and embraces all, and therefore he says, “the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” “He loves righteousness,” that is, He loves to do righteousness.
Ps 33:6 “By the word of the Lord,” etc. — Another argument for praising God is taken from the work of creation. “By the spirit of his mouth,” that is, by His word — a Hebrew manner of speaking, similar to Isaiah 11:4: “He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.” “All their host,” that is, whatever is in the heavens, which are called a host because, as was said on Psalm 24:10, they are like soldiers subject to one leader and ruler of all, God, ready at His command and armed when and where He wills for the destruction of enemies.
Ps 33:7 “As a heap into their channels.” The Greek has “as in a bottle”; the Latin likewise. Both read nod meaning “bottle” instead of ned meaning “heap.” So Symmachus reads, translating ὡς ἀσκῷ (“as in a wineskin”), as does the Latin; likewise the Chaldee and Jerome: “gathering the waters of the sea as in a bottle.” “As in a bottle,” that is, He gathered into channels, as into a container, the waters formerly spread over the whole earth (see Genesis 1:9).
Basil, who reads “as a bottle,” explains it thus: now God swells the sea with storms of winds, now again calms it and draws it back into itself. Yet he affirms that in some copies it is read “into a bottle.” Whether you read “as in a bottle,” “into a bottle,” or “as a heap,” it makes no difference to the sense — both yield the same meaning.
Moreover, this verse also refers to the work of creation as does the preceding, which is why Basil’s explanation is less pleasing to me. It is no objection that the verbs are in the present (“he gathers,” “he sets”), though done at the beginning, because God continually preserves what He made, so it can rightly be said that He always does it.
“He lays up in storehouses,” that is, according to Rashi, under the earth; or he says “in storehouses” because God so restrains the waters in their channels that they are as though shut up in treasuries and cannot burst forth to overwhelm the earth. Thus Kimhi.
Ps 33:8. No commentary is give for this verse.
Ps 33:9 “For he spoke and it was.” — He now exhorts all to fear the Lord from consideration of His justice, mercy, and power, especially from His immense power, who by word alone can do all things. Hence the following verse: by word and command He made and established all — “Let there be light,” and there was light; “Let there be,” and He made the firmament (see Genesis 1).
“He commanded and it stood,” that is, whatever He commanded came to be. The same idea is repeated, but something more is implied when it says “it stood” than when it says “it was,” namely not only that all things were created by God’s word and command, but also that by that same word they continue and are preserved.
Ps 33:10-11 If all peoples together were to oppose God’s power and will with one consent, they would accomplish nothing; God will break all their efforts, before whom all nations are as though they were not, and are counted as less than nothing and vanity (Isaiah 40:17).
“But the counsel of the Lord,” etc. — This verse contains an antithesis to the preceding, teaching that events do not correspond to human plans but depend entirely on God’s counsel and will, with whom, as Job 12 says, are wisdom and strength, counsel and understanding; if He destroys, none can rebuild; if He shuts, none can open.
Ps 33:12 “Blessed is the nation,” etc. — Blessed, therefore, is that nation which acknowledges the true God and does not resist His providence, unlike other nations deluded by foolish and wicked opinions whose plans God overturns, as was said.
Ps 33:13 “The Lord looks from heaven,” etc. — Up to this point he has spoken of God’s power; now of His providence and knowledge by which He penetrates even the innermost recesses of the heart. Though the verbs are in the past in Hebrew, they should be understood in the present, as the context requires. He says emphatically “from heaven” to counter foolish men who say, “What does God know? Does He judge through darkness? Clouds are a covering to Him” (Job 22:14).
Ps 33:14 “From the seat of his dwelling,” that is, from heaven — as in 1 Kings 8:30, “from the place of your dwelling in heaven.” The Hebrew word mechon (מָכוֹן) properly signifies a firm and stable seat.
Ps 33:15 “He who fashions together,” etc. — The best proof of God’s infinite knowledge diffused through all things: God formed human hearts; therefore nothing in them can be hidden from Him. “He who planted the ear, shall he not hear? He who formed the eye, shall he not see?” (Psalm 94:9).
He says “together,” that is, all without exception — the word refers to their hearts, as if saying “the heart of all of them,” as Rashi interprets. Thus also in Sirach 18:1, “He who lives forever created all things together,” that is, all things universally without exception.
The sense therefore is: He who created the hearts of all men and therefore knows and inspects them. If He knows hearts, how much more works — which is why he adds, “who understands all their works.”
Rashi notes that some doctors refer “together” to “looks,” meaning “He looks at the heart of all together.” The Chaldee takes it this way: “He who created them looks together at their heart and understands all their works,” that is, by one simple glance. Kimhi seems to take it similarly.
Ezra interprets yachad (“together”) as echad (“one”), meaning: the former is one — not many — therefore He alone understands all human works.
Some Hebrews, according to Kimhi, read here yotser (“former”) as otser (“treasurer”), meaning that all human thoughts are stored in His treasury and therefore known to Him as things kept in a storehouse.
Ps 33:16 “The king is not saved,” etc. — He continues explaining God’s providence: a king is not saved by the multitude of an army but by God’s help, who governs all by His providence and “brings princes to nothing” (Isaiah 40:23).
Ps 33:17 “A horse is deceitful for salvation.” The sense is that a horse, however strong, does not help toward salvation without God, who gave the horse strength (Job 39).
Ps 33:18 “Behold, the eye of the Lord,” etc. — Not those who trust in their own strength are preserved, but those who trust in God’s mercy.
Ps 33:19 “From death,” that is, from sword or pestilence (Ezra).
Ps 33:20 “Our soul waits for the Lord,” because we see that those who fear Him and hope in His mercy always escape safe and sound, as stated above. “Our help,” that is, we acknowledge no other defender and protector.
Ps 33:21 “For in him our heart shall rejoice,” that is, we confidently hope He will assist us, and therefore we rejoice inwardly in His help. “Because in his holy name,” etc. — The reason for the preceding statement. If you translate the particle ki as “indeed,” as some of our writers sometimes do, the sense flows more smoothly: “in him our soul rests joyfully,” and thus the same idea is expressed here as in the preceding verse.
CONTINUE
Comments
Post a Comment