PSALM 17 A PSALM OF DAVID [Psalms 17:1] HEAR THE RIGHT, O LORD, ATTEND UNTO MY CRY, GIVE EAR UNTO MY PRAYER, THAT GOETH NOT OUT OF FEIGNED LIPS. <<RIGHT>>: Hebrew "tsedek" i.e. justice. << MY CRY>>: Hebrew "rinati" my exultation usually used in the sense of joy but S.R. Hirsch says it can apply to strong emotional expression in general. He is praying in a genuine manner for a righteous cause. [Psalms 17:2] LET MY SENTENCE COME FORTH FROM THY PRESENCE; LET THINE EYES BEHOLD THE THINGS THAT ARE EQUAL. <<LET MY SENTENCE COME FORTH FROM THY PRESENCE>>: Rashi: For things I deserve to be punished over them put away from before you and let judgement not be passed. <<THINGS THAT ARE EQUAL>>: Hebrew "maysharim" meaning "straightforward matters", "upright dealings" from the root "Yashar" – straight, ascertain. From here ultimately came the English words "sure", "assure". [Psalms 17:3] THOU HAST PROVED MINE HEART; THOU HAST VISITED ME IN THE NIGHT; THOU HAST TRIED ME, AND SHALT FIND NOTHING; I AM PURPOSED THAT MY MOUTH SHALL NOT TRANSGRESS. The person praying has withstood temptation and also held up under tribulation. He has run the course of doubt and deliberation and come through strengthened by his ordeal. [Psalms 17:4] CONCERNING THE WORKS OF MEN, BY THE WORD OF THY LIPS I HAVE KEPT ME FROM THE PATHS OF THE DESTROYER. Radak: I keep your laws and will and keep others from doing wrong and from breaking the boundaries. [We are explaining this psalm as it seems to us but some of the Commentaries take a quite different path that may be equally valid or more so.]. [Psalms 17:5] HOLD UP MY GOINGS IN THY PATHS, THAT MY FOOTSTEPS SLIP NOT. [Psalms 17:6] I HAVE CALLED UPON THEE, FOR THOU WILT HEAR ME, O GOD: INCLINE THINE EAR UNTO ME, AND HEAR MY SPEECH. [Psalms 17:7] SHEW THY MARVELLOUS LOVINGKINDNESS, O THOU THAT SAVEST BY THY RIGHT HAND THEM WHICH PUT THEIR TRUST IN THEE FROM THOSE THAT RISE UP AGAINST THEM. <<SHEW THY MARVELLOUS LOVINGKINDNESS>>: Go beyond the bounds of normalcy. David had been appointed king by the Almighty. Those that rose against David were defying the Almighty (Radak). [Psalms 17:8] KEEP ME AS THE APPLE OF THE EYE, HIDE ME UNDER THE SHADOW OF THY WINGS, <<AS THE APPLE OF THE EYE>>: I understand this (as most others also would) to mean "Keep me as you instinctively would guard the pupil of your eye" but S.R. Hirch claims it means "eyelid" i.e. keep me as the eyelid protects the eye. Either way the basic meaning is the same. [Psalms 17:9] FROM THE WICKED THAT OPPRESS ME, FROM MY DEADLY ENEMIES, WHO COMPASS ME ABOUT. David was a king who attempted to rule righteously. He was beset round about with advisors and all kinds of well-to-doers who often had their own agenda that was not in line with the righteous aims of the king. David considered these self-seekers to be his personal enemies. His standards were far beyond those we take for granted nowadays. He was one of a kind. His task was to set a precedent of rulership and create a pattern of action that some time in the future may be once again taken up and developed. [Psalms 17:10] THEY ARE INCLOSED IN THEIR OWN FAT: WITH THEIR MOUTH THEY SPEAK PROUDLY. It is inevitable that even the good we do will be somehow connected with a search for our own benefit, our own "fat". There is nothing wrong with this as long as it is kept in the right perspective and subsidiary to the true search. The same applies to pride. We will always want something to gratify our ego. This may be accepted and acceptable but it must always be a minor consideration and one that is ignored whenever necessary. We may not all want to be saints all the time but we do not have to become sinners either. The people who were against David wanted to impose their own conceptions on Israel and the world. So to nowadays the whole world is against the State of Israel and within the State of Israel exist godless people who work against the State because of their own proud wish to impose their personal misconceptions over others. [Psalms 17:11] THEY HAVE NOW COMPASSED US IN OUR STEPS: THEY HAVE SET THEIR EYES BOWING DOWN TO THE EARTH; The enemy is waiting for us to make a slip (Radak, Iben Ezra). [Psalms 17:12] LIKE AS A LION THAT IS GREEDY OF HIS PREY, AND AS IT WERE A YOUNG LION LURKING IN SECRET PLACES. The evildoers are lying in ambush like a lion stalking its prey. [Psalms 17:13] ARISE, O LORD, DISAPPOINT HIM, CAST HIM DOWN: DELIVER MY SOUL FROM THE WICKED, WHICH IS THY SWORD: This could apply to physical enemies but I guess it applies to David wishing to escape from bad advice and wicked machinations of these in his kingdom who were (consciously or not) seeking to divert his rule from its righteous and necessary path. [Psalms 17:14] FROM MEN WHICH ARE THY HAND, O LORD, FROM MEN OF THE WORLD, WHICH HAVE THEIR PORTION IN THIS LIFE, AND WHOSE BELLY THOU FILLEST WITH THY HID TREASURE: THEY ARE FULL OF CHILDREN, AND LEAVE THE REST OF THEIR SUBSTANCE TO THEIR BABES. This verse is more difficult in the Hebrew to explain than it looks. Malbim: The men who run this world according to your will receive a reward in this life for themselves and their offspring. It can be interpreted otherwise. The concept of reward and punishment: There exists the principle that for what good bad people do they will be rewarded in this world and not in the next whereas the main reward of the righteous will be in the Future Life. This is so BUT on the whole there is a general principle that for everything you do you will be either rewarded or punished both in this world and the next. There exist apparent exceptions where bad people appear to have it good and good people suffer but in this too different explanations exist. If we could see the whole picture we would agree that things be as they are. In some way we already agree. At the same time disagreeable situations come upon us in order that we take heed and change what can be changed for the better. Often it only requires the first step to improve everything significantly. [Psalms 17:15] AS FOR ME, I WILL BEHOLD THY FACE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: I SHALL BE SATISFIED, WHEN I AWAKE, WITH THY LIKENESS. Through righteousness we may one day approach the Almighty. When we awaken (in the next life?) we will look upon HIS face when we have done what we should here and now. Note: The psalms were written in Biblical Hebrew and are difficult to translate often deliberately containing a manifold message capable of several interpretations. The translations we have in our possession usually offer an acceptable possibility but we are going according to what we understand to be the most pertinent according to what seems to us to have been the original intention. Instead of writing this commentary I could be discussing political matters etc but I would not be certain of what I say. Through the Psalms and the Bible in general the real innermost realizations of each one of us find expression. PSALMS INDEX HOME