8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is the strength of my head; Judah is my law-giver;
The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come, And to him will be the obedience of peoples.
His majesty is as the firstling of his ox; And his horns are as the horns of a buffalo. With them shall he push the peoples Together to the ends of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim, And these are the thousands of Manasseh.
with him the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them: from Aroer, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the ravine, and all the plateau of Medeba to Dibon, and all the cities of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who reigned at Heshbon, to the border of the children of Ammon; and Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all mount Hermon, and the whole of Bashan to Salcah;
And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.
And Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 108
Commentary on Psalms 108 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Two Elohimic Fragments Brought Together
The אודך in Psalms 108:4 and the whole contents of this Psalm is the echo to the הודוּ of the preceding Psalm. It is inscribed a Psalm-song by David , but only because it is compiled out of ancient Davidic materials. The fact of the absence of the למנצח makes it natural to suppose that it is of later origin. Two Davidic Psalm-pieces in the Elohimic style are here, with trifling variations, just put together, not soldered together, and taken out of their original historical connection.
That a poet like David would thus compile a third out of two of his own songs (Hengstenberg) is not conceivable.
This first half is taken from Ps. 57:8-12. The repetition of confident is my heart in Psalms 57:1-11 is here omitted; and in place of it the “my glory” of the exclamation, awake my glory , is taken up to “I will sing and will harp” as a more minute definition of the subject (vid., on Psalms 3:5): He will do it, yea,his soul with all its godlike powers shall do it. Jahve in Psalms 108:4 is transformed out of the Adonaj ; and Waw copul . is inserted both before Psalms 108:4 and Psalms 108:6 , contrary to Psalms 57:1-11. מעל , Psalms 108:5 (as in Esther 3:1), would be a pleasing change for עד if Psalms 108:5 followed Psalms 108:5 and the definition of magnitude did not retrograde instead of heightening. Moreover Psalms 36:6; Jeremiah 51:9 (cf. על in Psalms 113:4; Psalms 148:13) favour עד in opposition to מעל .
Ps. 60:7-14 forms this second half. The clause expressing the purpose with למען , as in its original, has the following הושׁיעה for its principal clause upon which it depends. Instead of ועננוּ , which one might have expected, the expression used here is וענני without any interchange of the mode of writing and of reading it; many printed copies have ועננו here also; Baer, following Norzi, correctly has וענני . Instead of ולי ... לי , Psalms 60:9, we here read לי ... לי , which is less soaring. And instead of Cry aloud concerning me, O Philistia do I shout for joy (the triumphant cry of the victor); in accordance with which Hupfeld wishes to take התרועעי in the former as infinitive: “over ( עלי instead of עלי ) Philistia is my shouting for joy” ( התרועעי instead of התרועעי , since the infinitive does not admit of this pausal form of the imperative). For עיר מצור we have here the more usual form of expression עיר מבצר . Psalms 108:12 is weakened by the omission of the אתּה ( הלא ).