Psa 5:1-3 | KD | STEP | The evening prayer is now followed by a second morning prayer, which like the former draws to a close with כּי־אתּה ( ; ). The situation is different from that in -8. In that Psalm David is fleeing, here he is in Jerusalem and anticipates going up to the Temple service. If this Psalm also belongs to the time of the rebellion of Absolom, it must have been written when the fire which afterwards broke forth was already smouldering in secret. The inscription אל־הנּחילות is certainly not a motto indicative of its contents (lxx, Vulg., Luther, Hengstenberg). As such it would stand after מזמור. Whatever is connected with למנצח, always has reference to the music. If נחילות came from נחל it might according to the biblical use of this verb signify “inheritances,” or according to its use in the Talmud “swarms,” and in fact swarms of bees (Arab. naḥl ); and נחילות ought then to be the beginning of a popular melody to which the Psalm is adapted. Hai Gaon understands it to denote a melody resembling the hum of bees; Reggio a song that sings of bees. Or is נחילות equivalent to נחלּות ( excavatae ) and this a special name for the flutes (חלילים)? The use of the flute in the service of the sanctuary is attested by , cf. ; 1Ki 1:40. The praep . אל was, then, more appropriate than על; because, as Redslob has observed, the singer cannot play the flute at the same time, but can only sing to the playing of another. The Psalm consists of four six line strophes. The lines of the strophes here and there approximate to the caesura-schema. They consist of a rising and a sudden lowering. The German language, which uses so many more words, is not adapted to this caesura-schema [and the same may be said of the English].

‏ Psalms 5:1-3

Morning Prayer before Going to the House of God

The evening prayer is now followed by a second morning prayer, which like the former draws to a close with כּי־אתּה (Psa 4:8; Psa 5:12). The situation is different from that in Psa 3:1-8. In that Psalm David is fleeing, here he is in Jerusalem and anticipates going up to the Temple service. If this Psalm also belongs to the time of the rebellion of Absolom, it must have been written when the fire which afterwards broke forth was already smouldering in secret.

The inscription אל־הנּחילות is certainly not a motto indicative of its contents (lxx, Vulg., Luther, Hengstenberg). As such it would stand after מזמור. Whatever is connected with למנצח, always has reference to the music. If נחילות came from נחל it might according to the biblical use of this verb signify “inheritances,” or according to its use in the Talmud “swarms,” and in fact swarms of bees (Arab. naḥl); and נחילות ought then to be the beginning of a popular melody to which the Psalm is adapted. Hai Gaon understands it to denote a melody resembling the hum of bees; Reggio a song that sings of bees. Or is נחילות equivalent to נחלּות (excavatae) and this a special name for the flutes (חלילים)? The use of the flute in the service of the sanctuary is attested by Isa 30:29, cf. 1Sa 10:5; 1Ki 1:40. ^{▼▼On the use of the flute in the second Temple, vid., Introduction p. 19.}

The praep. אל was, then, more appropriate than על; because, as Redslob has observed, the singer cannot play the flute at the same time, but can only sing to the playing of another.

The Psalm consists of four six line strophes. The lines of the strophes here and there approximate to the caesura-schema. They consist of a rising and a sudden lowering. The German language, which uses so many more words, is not adapted to this caesura-schema [and the same may be said of the English]. Psa 5:1-3 (Hebrew_Bible_5:2-4) The introit: Prayer to be heard. The thoughts are simple but the language is carefully chosen. אמרים is the plur. of אמר (אמר), one of the words peculiar to the poetic prophetical style. The denominative האזין (like audire = aus, οὖς dare) belongs more to poetry than prose. הגיג (like אביב) or מחיר (like מחיר) occurs only in two Psalms לדוד, viz., here and Psa 34:4. It is derived from הגג = הגה (vid., Psa 1:2) and signifies that which is spoken meditatively, here praying in rapt devotion. Beginning thus the prayer gradually rises to a vox clamoris. שׁועי from שׁוע, to be distinguished from שׁוּעי (inf. Pi.) Psa 28:2; Psa 31:23, is one word with the Aram. צוח, Aethiop. צוּע (to call). On הקשׁיב used of intent listening, vid., Psa 10:17. The invocation מלכּי ואלהי, when it is a king who utters it, is all the more significant. David, and in general the theocratic king, is only the representative of the Invisible One, whom he with all Israel adores as his King. Prayer to Him is his first work as he begins the day. In the morning, בּקר (as in Psa 65:8 for בּבּקר, Psa 88:13), shalt Thou hear my cry, is equivalent to my cry which goes forth with the early morn. Hupfeld considers the mention of the morning as only a “poetical expression” and when getting rid of the meaning prima luce, he also gets rid of the beautiful and obvious reference to the daily sacrifice. The verb ערך is the word used of laying the wood in order for the sacrifice, Lev 1:7, and the pieces of the sacrifice, Lev 1:8, Lev 1:12; Lev 6:5, of putting the sacred lamps in order, Exo 27:21; Lev 24:3., and of setting the shew-bread in order, Exo 40:23; Lev 24:8. The laying of the wood in order for the morning offering of a lamb (Lev 6:5 [Lev 6:12], cf. Num 28:4) was one of the first duties of the priest, as soon as the day began to dawn; the lamb was slain before sun-rise and when the sun appeared above the horizon laid piece by piece upon the altar. The morning prayer is compared to this morning sacrifice. This is in its way also a sacrifice. The object which David has in his mind in connection with אערך is תּפלּתי. As the priests, with the early morning, lay the wood and pieces of the sacrifices of the Tamı̂d upon the altar, so he brings his prayer before God as a spiritual sacrifice and looks out for an answer (צפּה speculari as in Hab 2:1), perhaps as the priest looks out for fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, or looks to the smoke to see that it rises up straight towards heaven.