Psalms:
Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72
Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106
Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles
Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language
The second of the Hallel Psalms, at least in today's configuration of Hallel. No title, no dedication, no descriptor.
For a full exegesis of the Hallel Psalms, and their history, go to my book "A Myrtle Among Reeds".
114:1 BE TS'ET YISRA-EL MI MITSRAYIM BEIT YA'AKOV ME AM LO'EZ
KJ (King James translation): When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
BN (BibleNet translation): When Yisra-El came out of Mitsrayim, when the house of Ya'akov left a people who spoke a foreign tongue...
MITSRAYIM: See the link.
114:2 HAYETAH YEHUDAH LE KADSHO YISRA-EL MAMSHELOTAV
KJ: Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
BN: Yehudah became his sanctuary, Yisra-El his dominion.
I try not to engage in theological dispute, but sometimes it is unavoidable; on this occasion because it impacts on our ability to date this Psalm:
HAYETAH YEHUDAH LE KADSHO is the issue. When Mosheh handed over to Yehoshu'a, in his closing speech at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, there is absolutely no sense whatsoever of one tribe standing out from, let alone above the rest: all were equal. Numbers 13:16 tells us that the new leader, Yehoshu'a (Joshua), came from the tribe of Ephrayim, and the priesthood was predominantly Mosheh's own tribe, the Beney Levi; but no single tribe stood out in either the political or the military sphere. Nor through the period of the Judges, after the occupation. The first king, Sha'ul, was a Bene Yamin (1 Samuel 9:1), and he ruled mostly from Giv'ah (1 Samuel 13:16, 15:34 et al), which is in the tribal territory of the Bene Yamin.
In the first eight years of his rule, David was king in Chevron, which was in the tribal territory of Yehudah, but technically excepted from the tribe as it had been awarded to Kalev ben Yephuneh as his reward for his positive report on Kena'an when Mosheh sent his twelve spies to reconnoitre. Only after King David conquered Yevus and Shalem and Nov and the other hill-towns, and conurbated them as Yeru-Shala'im, with his palace on Mount Tsi'on, did Yisra-El acquire an official capital, and though David was himself of the tribe of Yehudah, Yeru-Shala'im was in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin (Joshua 18:28).
And besides, there was no "sanctuary" in the tribal territory of Yehudah; the only places anywhere in Yisra-El that might be called a "sanctuary", in that they housed the Ark of the Covenant for a period, were Giv-On - in the tribe of Bin-Yamin according to Joshua 18:25 - and Shechem - in Ephrayim according to Joshua 21:21. The cult only acquired a spiritual capital - the "sanctuary" of this verse - under Shelomoh (Solomon), but, again, Yeru-Shala'im was in the tribal territory of Bin Yamin, not Yehudah.
So we can comfortably date this text to: not earlier than the Solomonic period, which means that David cannot be the author. But really not until after the death of Shelomoh, when the northern tribes broke away to form a separate kingdom after the civil war, and only then did Bin-Yamin and Yehudah merge into one, along with whatever had not already been absorbed of Shim'on, to form the land that would be called Yehudah from that time on.
Which also draws a historical line of not less than four hundred years between the first verse of this Psalm and the second.
And leaves open the problem of YISRA-EL MAMSHELOTAV, which I take to be the author's refusal to accept the break-up into two political kingdoms, a statement that YHVH intended Yisra-El to be a single, unified kingdom, and still regarded it as a single spiritual kingdom. Such a political position became obsolete when the northern tribes were taken into captivity in 720 BCE, which allows us still more data from which to date this Psalm.
114:3 HA YAM RA'AH VA YANOS HA YARDEN YISOV LE ACHOR
KJ: The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
BN: The sea saw it, and fled; the Yarden turned backward.
Once again a huge historical disparity, an incident from the Mosaic legends (Exodus 14) combined with another from the Yehoshu'aic (Joshua 3), more than forty years later, but presented as though they were simultaneous.
114:4 HE HARIM RAKDU CHE EYLIM GEVA'OT KIVNEY TSON
KJ: The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
BN: The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep.
114:5 MAH LECHA HA YAM KI TANUS HA YARDEN TISOV LE ACHOR
KJ: What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
BN: What's with you, the sea, that you flee? you, the Yarden, that you turn back?
The writing here is awkward and ungrammatical, presumably to make it fit the melody. I have translated it literally, so that this can be seen. Ditto the next verse. The main oddities are the use (or non-use) of the definite article, and the switching back and forth between past and present tenses.
114:6 HE HARIM TIRKEDU CHE EYLIM GEVA'OT KIVNEY TSON
KJ: Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
BN: The mountains, that you skipped like rams; heights, like young sheep?
114:7 MI LIPHNEY ADON CHULI ARETS MI LIPHNEY ELOHA YA'AKOV
KJ: Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
BN: Tremble, Earth, in the presence of Adonis, in the presence of the god of Ya'akov...
For the past two hundred years, scholars have debated theories as to why the deity is sometimes YHVH and sometimes Elohim, and sometimes YHVH Elohim, and sometimes other names altogether, and they have come up with all manner of theories (not one of them borne out in the texts alas) about why this should be. At no point, as far as I am aware, has anyone yet come up with an equivalent theory as to why Ya'akov is sometimes called Ya'akov, but sometimes Yisra-El, and why, as in this verse, his descendants are sometimes called Beney Ya'akov, but, as in verse 1, Beney Yisra-El. We know when the change took place - at Penu-El, in Genesis 32:28 - and that even the Genesis text continues to call him Ya'akov in spite of this, but also, occasionally Yisra-El...
ADONIS: See the link. And also note, after seeing it, that Phoenician Adonis was known as Eshmun, and Eshmun-Azar, "the helper of Adonis", was the full king-name of the man we erroneously call Hiram of Tyre - Hiram, is really Hu-Ram, which translates as "the great". It wqas this king who provided the cedar, the architects and engineers, and most of the builders, of the Solomonic Temple.
114:8 HA HOPHCHI HA TSUR AGAM MAYIM CHALAMIYSH LE MA'YENO MAYIM
KJ: Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
BN: ...who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
This feels like an unfinished Psalm. But if there is a continuation somewhere, nothing in Psalm 115 suggests that it is there.
114:1 BE TS'ET YISRA-EL MI MITSRAYIM BEIT YA'AKOV ME AM LO'EZ
בְּצֵאת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם בֵּית יַעֲקֹב מֵעַם לֹעֵז
KJ (King James translation): When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
BN (BibleNet translation): When Yisra-El came out of Mitsrayim, when the house of Ya'akov left a people who spoke a foreign tongue...
MITSRAYIM: See the link.
YA'AKOV: Ditto. We have seen this variation between YA'AKOV and YISRA-EL for the naming of the nation many times in these Psalms; see my previous notes as well as the links. Also worth looking at Deuteronomy 32:9.
114:2 HAYETAH YEHUDAH LE KADSHO YISRA-EL MAMSHELOTAV
הָיְתָה יְהוּדָה לְקָדְשׁוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל מַמְשְׁלוֹתָיו
KJ: Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
BN: Yehudah became his sanctuary, Yisra-El his dominion.
I try not to engage in theological dispute, but sometimes it is unavoidable; on this occasion because it impacts on our ability to date this Psalm:
HAYETAH YEHUDAH LE KADSHO is the issue. When Mosheh handed over to Yehoshu'a, in his closing speech at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, there is absolutely no sense whatsoever of one tribe standing out from, let alone above the rest: all were equal. Numbers 13:16 tells us that the new leader, Yehoshu'a (Joshua), came from the tribe of Ephrayim, and the priesthood was predominantly Mosheh's own tribe, the Beney Levi; but no single tribe stood out in either the political or the military sphere. Nor through the period of the Judges, after the occupation. The first king, Sha'ul, was a Bene Yamin (1 Samuel 9:1), and he ruled mostly from Giv'ah (1 Samuel 13:16, 15:34 et al), which is in the tribal territory of the Bene Yamin.
In the first eight years of his rule, David was king in Chevron, which was in the tribal territory of Yehudah, but technically excepted from the tribe as it had been awarded to Kalev ben Yephuneh as his reward for his positive report on Kena'an when Mosheh sent his twelve spies to reconnoitre. Only after King David conquered Yevus and Shalem and Nov and the other hill-towns, and conurbated them as Yeru-Shala'im, with his palace on Mount Tsi'on, did Yisra-El acquire an official capital, and though David was himself of the tribe of Yehudah, Yeru-Shala'im was in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin (Joshua 18:28).
And besides, there was no "sanctuary" in the tribal territory of Yehudah; the only places anywhere in Yisra-El that might be called a "sanctuary", in that they housed the Ark of the Covenant for a period, were Giv-On - in the tribe of Bin-Yamin according to Joshua 18:25 - and Shechem - in Ephrayim according to Joshua 21:21. The cult only acquired a spiritual capital - the "sanctuary" of this verse - under Shelomoh (Solomon), but, again, Yeru-Shala'im was in the tribal territory of Bin Yamin, not Yehudah.
So we can comfortably date this text to: not earlier than the Solomonic period, which means that David cannot be the author. But really not until after the death of Shelomoh, when the northern tribes broke away to form a separate kingdom after the civil war, and only then did Bin-Yamin and Yehudah merge into one, along with whatever had not already been absorbed of Shim'on, to form the land that would be called Yehudah from that time on.
Which also draws a historical line of not less than four hundred years between the first verse of this Psalm and the second.
And leaves open the problem of YISRA-EL MAMSHELOTAV, which I take to be the author's refusal to accept the break-up into two political kingdoms, a statement that YHVH intended Yisra-El to be a single, unified kingdom, and still regarded it as a single spiritual kingdom. Such a political position became obsolete when the northern tribes were taken into captivity in 720 BCE, which allows us still more data from which to date this Psalm.
114:3 HA YAM RA'AH VA YANOS HA YARDEN YISOV LE ACHOR
הַיָּם רָאָה וַיָּנֹס הַיַּרְדֵּן יִסֹּב לְאָחוֹר
KJ: The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
BN: The sea saw it, and fled; the Yarden turned backward.
Once again a huge historical disparity, an incident from the Mosaic legends (Exodus 14) combined with another from the Yehoshu'aic (Joshua 3), more than forty years later, but presented as though they were simultaneous.
114:4 HE HARIM RAKDU CHE EYLIM GEVA'OT KIVNEY TSON
הֶהָרִים רָקְדוּ כְאֵילִים גְּבָעוֹת כִּבְנֵי צֹאן
KJ: The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
BN: The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep.
114:5 MAH LECHA HA YAM KI TANUS HA YARDEN TISOV LE ACHOR
מַה לְּךָ הַיָּם כִּי תָנוּס הַיַּרְדֵּן תִּסֹּב לְאָחוֹר
KJ: What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
BN: What's with you, the sea, that you flee? you, the Yarden, that you turn back?
The writing here is awkward and ungrammatical, presumably to make it fit the melody. I have translated it literally, so that this can be seen. Ditto the next verse. The main oddities are the use (or non-use) of the definite article, and the switching back and forth between past and present tenses.
114:6 HE HARIM TIRKEDU CHE EYLIM GEVA'OT KIVNEY TSON
הֶהָרִים תִּרְקְדוּ כְאֵילִים גְּבָעוֹת כִּבְנֵי צֹאן
KJ: Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
BN: The mountains, that you skipped like rams; heights, like young sheep?
114:7 MI LIPHNEY ADON CHULI ARETS MI LIPHNEY ELOHA YA'AKOV
מִלִּפְנֵי אָדוֹן חוּלִי אָרֶץ מִלִּפְנֵי אֱלוֹהַּ יַעֲקֹב
KJ: Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
BN: Tremble, Earth, in the presence of Adonis, in the presence of the god of Ya'akov...
For the past two hundred years, scholars have debated theories as to why the deity is sometimes YHVH and sometimes Elohim, and sometimes YHVH Elohim, and sometimes other names altogether, and they have come up with all manner of theories (not one of them borne out in the texts alas) about why this should be. At no point, as far as I am aware, has anyone yet come up with an equivalent theory as to why Ya'akov is sometimes called Ya'akov, but sometimes Yisra-El, and why, as in this verse, his descendants are sometimes called Beney Ya'akov, but, as in verse 1, Beney Yisra-El. We know when the change took place - at Penu-El, in Genesis 32:28 - and that even the Genesis text continues to call him Ya'akov in spite of this, but also, occasionally Yisra-El...
ADONIS: See the link. And also note, after seeing it, that Phoenician Adonis was known as Eshmun, and Eshmun-Azar, "the helper of Adonis", was the full king-name of the man we erroneously call Hiram of Tyre - Hiram, is really Hu-Ram, which translates as "the great". It wqas this king who provided the cedar, the architects and engineers, and most of the builders, of the Solomonic Temple.
114:8 HA HOPHCHI HA TSUR AGAM MAYIM CHALAMIYSH LE MA'YENO MAYIM
הַהֹפְכִי הַצּוּר אֲגַם מָיִם חַלָּמִישׁ לְמַעְיְנוֹ מָיִם
KJ: Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
BN: ...who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
This feels like an unfinished Psalm. But if there is a continuation somewhere, nothing in Psalm 115 suggests that it is there.
Psalms:
Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72
Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106
Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles
Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language
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