Psa 138:1-2 | KD | STEP | There will come a time when the praise of Jahve, which according to was obliged to be dumb in the presence of the heathen, will, according to , be sung by the kings of the heathen themselves. In the lxx side by side with τῷ Δαυίδ also has the inscription Ἱιερεμίου, and has Ἀγγαίου καὶ Ζαχαρίου. Perhaps these statements are meant to refer back the existing recension of the text of the respective Psalms to the prophets named (vid., Köhler, Haggai , S. 33). From the fact that these names of psalmodists added by the lxx do not come down beyond Malachi, it follows that the Psalm-collection in the mind of the lxx was made not later than in the time of Nehemiah. The speaker in , to follow the lofty expectation expressed in , is himself a king, and according to the inscription, David. There is, however, nothing to favour his being the author; the Psalm is, in respect for the Davidic Psalms, composed as it were out of the soul of David - an echo of 2 Sam. 7 (1 Chr. 17). The superabundant promise which made the throne of David and of his seed an eternal throne is here gratefully glorified. The Psalm can at any rate be understood, if with Hengstenberg we suppose that it expresses the lofty self-consciousness to which David was raised after victorious battles, when he humbly ascribed the glory to God and resolved to build Him a Temple in place of the tent upon Zion.

‏ Psalms 138:1-2

The Mediator and Perfecter

There will come a time when the praise of Jahve, which according to Psa 137:3 was obliged to be dumb in the presence of the heathen, will, according to Psa 138:5, be sung by the kings of the heathen themselves. In the lxx Psa 137:1-9 side by side with τῷ Δαυίδ also has the inscription Ἱιερεμίου, and Psa 138:1-8 has Ἀγγαίου καὶ Ζαχαρίου. Perhaps these statements are meant to refer back the existing recension of the text of the respective Psalms to the prophets named (vid., Köhler, Haggai, S. 33). From the fact that these names of psalmodists added by the lxx do not come down beyond Malachi, it follows that the Psalm-collection in the mind of the lxx was made not later than in the time of Nehemiah.

The speaker in Psa 138:1-8, to follow the lofty expectation expressed in Psa 138:4, is himself a king, and according to the inscription, David. There is, however, nothing to favour his being the author; the Psalm is, in respect for the Davidic Psalms, composed as it were out of the soul of David - an echo of 2 Sam. 7 (1 Chr. 17). The superabundant promise which made the throne of David and of his seed an eternal throne is here gratefully glorified. The Psalm can at any rate be understood, if with Hengstenberg we suppose that it expresses the lofty self-consciousness to which David was raised after victorious battles, when he humbly ascribed the glory to God and resolved to build Him a Temple in place of the tent upon Zion. Psa 138:1-2

The poet will give thanks to Him, whom he means without mentioning Him by name, for His mercy, i.e., His anticipating, condescending love, and for His truth, i.e., truthfulness and faithfulness, and more definitely for having magnified His promise (אמרה) above all His Name, i.e., that He has given a promise which infinitely surpasses everything by which He has hitherto established a name and memorial for Himself (על־כּל־שׁמך, with ō instead of ŏ, an anomaly that is noted by the Masora, vid., Baer’s Psalterium, p. 133). If the promise by the mouth of Nathan (2 Sam. 7) is meant, then we may compare 2Sa 7:21. גּדל, גּדול, גּדלּה are repeated in that promise and its echo coming from the heart of David so frequently, that this הגדּלתּ seems like a hint pointing to that history, which is one of the most important crises in the history of salvation. The expression נגד אלהים also becomes intelligible from this history. Ewald renders it: “in the presence of God!” which is surely meant to say: in the holy place (De Wette, Olshausen). But “before God will I sing praise to Thee (O God!)” - what a jumble! The lxx renders ἐναντίον ἀγγέλων, which is in itself admissible and full of meaning, ^{▼▼Bellarmine: Scio me psallentem tibi ab angelis, qui tibi assistunt, videri et attendi et ideo ita considerate me geram in psallendo, ut qui intelligam, in quo theatro consistam.} but without coherence in the context of the Psalm, and also is to be rejected because it is on the whole very questionable whether the Old Testament language uses אלהים thus, without anything further to define it, in the sense of “angels.” It might be more readily rendered “in the presence of the gods,” viz., of the gods of the peoples (Hengstenberg, Hupfeld, and Hitzig); but in order to be understood of gods which are only seemingly such, it would require some addition. Whereas אלהים can without any addition denote the magisterial possessors of the dignity that is the type of the divine, as follows from Psa 82:1 (cf. Psa 45:7) in spite of Knobel, Graf, and Hupfeld; and thus, too (cf. נגד מלכים in Psa 119:46), we understand it here, with Rashi, Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, Falminius, Bucer, Clericus, and others. What is meant are “the great who are in the earth,” 2Sa 7:9, with whom David, inasmuch as he became king from being a shepherd, is ranked, and above whom he has been lifted up by the promise of an eternal kingship. Before these earthly “gods” will David praise the God of the promise; they shall hear for their salutary confusion, for their willing rendering of homage, that God hath made him “the highest with respect to the kings of the earth” (Psa 89:28).