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COMMENTARY ON PSALM 86 A prayerfor David. CCORDING TO THE TITLE, the blessed David offered the prayer to the Lord God, begging to enjoy some assistance. He also prophesies the assault of the Assyrians on Jerusalem, and Hezekiah's hope in God. He also forecasts the calling and salvation of all the nations. I (2) Incline your ear, 0 Lord, and hearken to me, because I am poor and needy (v. 1). The prayer's beginning comes from a lowly attitude : though they both possessed the wealth of righteousness, the divinely inspired David and the remarkable Hezekiah paid no attention to that, focusing instead on natural poverty and asking God to take pity on it and the neediness going with it. The phrase Incline your ear, 0 Lord he used by analogy with a sick person unable through weakness to speak more loudly and obliging the physician to bring his ear down to his mouth. Guard my soul, because I am holy (v. 2). The inspired author is not inconsistent in calling himself poor and holy together: since both the one man and the other [1556] had unjust and lawless enemies who had in rio way been wronged by them and yet longed for their unjustified execution. He called both himself and Hezekiah holy for giving no cause to the enemies. What he means is something like this: Judged for myself, I am poor and needy, and have no wealth of virtue, but compared with the enemies I would give the impression of being holy. Mter all, they are impious and lawless, whereas I enjoy knowledge ofyou; they pursue [me] unjustly, whereas I accept their unjust attack. The person who, contrary to any reasonable expectation, is under I. So "shadow and reality" again, as Theodoret remarked of the previous psalm's reference. 72 COMMENTARYON PSALM 86 73 assault by those intent on doing wrong would say this up to the present and throughout life.2 (3) In good spirits, then, he said in what follows, Save your servant, 0 my God, who hopes in you: I hoped in you, 0 Lord, save [me]; grant salvation in return for hope. Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, because I cried to you aU day long (v. 3) provide me with your loving-kindness, 0 Lord: I constantly proclaim your mercy; Symmachus in fact rendered all day long as "every day." Gladden the soul ofyour servant (v. 4). He also says why: Because to you I lifted up my soul: do away with the despondency of the one embracing your service, and provide satisfaction to a soul assenting to you and waiting for your mercy. Because you, 0 Lord, are good, kind, and rich in mercy to all who call upon you (v. 5): you are by nature good and loving, and you supply the fountains of mercy to those who beg you. Aquila and Theodotion, on the other hand, said "forgiving" for kind; so kindness suggests long-suffering. (4) Give ear, 0 God, to my prayer; attend to the sound ofmy pleading (v. 6): exercising such goodness, then, kindly accept my pleading. At the same time he indicated through what follows the time when he asked the supplication to be acceptable. On the day ofmy distress I cried to you, because you hearkened to me (v. 7): having experience of your gentleness, I offer supplication; you had already granted my request when I made it.3 (5) There is no one like you amonggods, 0 Lord, and there is nothing like your works (v. 8). Since the impious Rabshakeh had used those arrogant words, "Surely none of the gods of the nations succeeded in rescuing [1557] their land from my hand, that the Lord would deliverJerusalem from my hand?"4 accordingly the inspired composition teaches Hezekiah to cry aloud, There is no one like you among gods, 0 Lord, and there is nothing like your works: while they have a name lacking substance, and even acquired it by stealth, you on the other hand bear a name corresponding to reality. It is very appropriate, in fact, that he associ2 . The long form of the text thinks it is time to apply the psalm personally. 3. Misreading of Hebrew tenses once again affects the commentator's interpretation , a past tense not bringing out the force of the original future. 4.2 Kings 18.35, a favorite text and character ofTheodoret's. [3.146.221.204] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 06:20 GMT...

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