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Start:	Jan 24, '08
Location:	Psalm 125: 1-5

Read:
Psalm 125:1-5

ticle 18 of 20 in this series.
Psalm 125: Security in the Lord

By: Allen Ross , Th.D., Ph.D. (Bio)

A Pilgrim Song

1 Those who trust in Yahweh are like Mount Zion
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

2 Jerusalem--as the mountains surround it,
so Yahweh surrounds His people
from this time forth and forever.

3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the lot of the righteous, to the extent that the righteous
stretch out their hands to iniquity.

4 Deal well, O Yahweh, with those who are good,
and with those who are upright in their hearts.

5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways,
Yahweh shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel!

Introduction

This psalm is a psalm of trust that seems to have been written when the nation was either under Gentile dominion or the rule of very wicked leaders. All that there is to go on is the expression “the scepter of wickedness” to refer to the leadership. The psalmist is convinced that those who walk in their integrity will not be caught up in the wickedness promoted by that government; those who become evil like the leaders will suffer the same fate that God has in store for the wicked.

The main emphasis of the theology of the psalm, then, concerns the security of the believers, especially in trying times--and the insecurity of the make-believers who will be exposed when times are trying.
Exegetical Summary

Message

As unshakable as the mountains of Jerusalem, the righteous believers are secure because God will not allow them to be tested beyond their endurance; but those who turn aside to wickedness will endure the same fate as the wicked.

Outline

I. The psalmist describes the security of the righteous believers, comparing them to the unshakable Mount Zion which is surrounded by mountains (1-3).

A. Comparing the believers to Mount Zion, he affirms their security (1).

B. Comparing Yahweh to the mountains around Jerusalem, he shows the protection the believers have (2).

C. Describing the wicked domination that the nation must endure, he shows how God limits that test to their endurance (3).

1. Foreign or wicked dominion that rests on the righteous will be limited.

2. It will be limited to their endurance so that they should not abandon their trust in Yahweh.

II. The psalmist prays for the prosperity of the righteous (4).

III. The psalmist predicts that those who do turn aside to their wickedness will suffer the same fate as the wicked and then offers a prayer for the peace of Israel (5).

A. The reprobates will be cut off with the wicked (5a).

B. There should be peace on Israel (5b).
Exposition
I. God’s people are made secure by the presence of the Lord (1-3).
A. They are as secure as Mount Zion (1).

The psalm begins with the righteous who trust in Yahweh (1-4); it will end with the contrast with the wicked (5). Both groups are introduced by participles to strengthen the comparison and contrast: verse one begins with “Those who trust in the LORD,” and verse five begins with “But those who turn aside.”

In verse one, “those who trust” (habbotekhim) is the qal active participle, masculine plural, with the definite article.43 It is functioning as a substantive (in place of a noun), and so the emphasis will be on the meaning or quality of the verb. This word “to trust” is the strongest word in the semantic field for finding security, feeling secure, confident, or relying on the LORD.44 The following prepositional phrase clarifies the nature of this trust--it is “in Yahweh.” These are true believers who have put all their confidence in the Lord.45

The rest of verse describes their security in Yahweh—they are like Mount Zion. The simile is meant to indicate the strength, security, and durability of their life of faith in Yahweh. “Mount Zion” came to be the designation for the Temple Mount, although it originally indicated the whole mountain complex for the city of Jerusalem.

The verse is cryptic in the Hebrew, but must include a relative clause. It simply says: “like Mount Zion [it] cannot be moved [it] dwells forever.” The two verbs (yimmot, and yeshev)46 are both third masculine singular forms and so cannot go with “those who trust” which is plural; they must go with Mount Zion. The second part then must be a relative clause even though there is no relative pronoun in the text: “which cannot be moved [but] remains forever.”47

There is a significant textual problem here in the manuscript, which will give us an opportunity to see how these things are resolved. The apparatus at the bottom of the page in the Hebrew Bible says that the Greek text has “the inhabitant of Jerusalem”; and it says that this is equivalent to or a translation of yoshev,48 what they assumed was the word in the Hebrew manuscript they were translating.49 The difference between that variant and what is in the standard Hebrew text amounts to one vowel, the first vowel in the verb: if it is a holem (o) as the Greek translation assumed, the form is the active participle (=the inhabitant of); if it is tsere (e) as in the Hebrew text, then the form is the imperfect tense (=it dwells). The Dead Sea Scroll, the third witness we have, offers no help on the form itself since that part of the scroll is broken away. Had it been present it would have had a waw if it had agreed with the Greek text’s “inhabitant of Jerusalem.”

The problem is a little more complicated yet. Where did the Greek text get the word “Jerusalem” in its reading “the inhabitant of Jerusalem”? Undoubtedly from the next line, since there were no verse divisions yet when they translated the text. This is an understandable translation, since the grammatical construction with “Jerusalem” in verse two is unusual; it is called an independent nominative absolute. The main word is isolated at the beginning of the sentence (the earlier grammars called it a dangling case, casus pendens in Gesenius’ grammar). This Hebrew construction would be simply translated: “Jerusalem--As the mountains surround it, so Yahweh surrounds His people.” But the Greek translator, thinking that the form before it was a participle, and realizing that “Jerusalem” was not smoothly linked to what came after it, apparently took “Jerusalem” to be a genitive after the participle. This gave the reading “the inhabitant of Jerusalem cannot be moved” (the participle serving as the subject of the verb before it). It seemed to solve the difficulty because the expression “the inhabitant of Jerusalem” is easily understood.

But the Greek reading is a little problematic theologically: is security limited only to the inhabitant of Jerusalem? While the expression “inhabitant of Jerusalem” is a fairly common Old Testament expression (Ps. 46:6; Isa. 28:16), and while the translation might fit in a time of war, the psalm seems to be talking about spiritual security in Yahweh. The Greek text was trying to get agreement in number.

How do interpreters and translators solve this kind of a problem? To solve it one must consider the “external evidence” and then the “internal evidence.” The external evidence looks at manuscripts. We already know that the Babylonian text type (what lies behind our Hebrew manuscript) has the imperfect (“it dwells”), and the Greek text type has a participle (“the inhabitant of”). But with the Dead Sea Scroll we also have the evidence of what is called the Palestinian text type. The Qumran scroll does not help us on the spelling of the word, but it does cast its vote with the Babylonian text. How so? Prefixed to the negative adverb is a relative pronoun, giving the form of SH-L-W-’ (“WHICH NOT”) in the scroll. This would mean that the line would have to be translated: “Those who trust in the LORD [are] like Mount Zion which cannot [be moved but forever d]wells.”50 This rules out the Greek interpretation in the Qumran manuscript. It seems that the Qumran scribes were aware of the ambiguity and chose to clarify what they were convinced the true reading was.51

The next thing one must do is the internal evidence, reasoning from the canons of criticism. It already looks like MT and DSS, two families, agree to show the original reading. But it has to be argued from the canon or rule that the “reading that best explains the origin of the other is to be preferred.” The Hebrew structure is cryptic, and the independent nominative absolute in verse 2 is unusual, making it a more difficult reading. The idea of the “inhabitant of Jerusalem” is almost idiomatic in the Old Testament. So one can explain how the Greek version would have come about from the Hebrew. But if the Greek version accurately reflected the original, it would be hard to explain why the Hebrew scribe would have broken it up and made a far more difficult line. So here too the Hebrew text is seen to preserve the original reading. The meaning is: the true believers are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abides forever.

So, there you have a little excursion through the operation of textual criticism, what the translators and commentators have to do whenever such a question arises about the text. It is not that we do not have the original text; rather, in such places it is a question of which it is. And sound method will decide. Fortunately, these psalms are not fraught with such difficulties, but a few exist and have to be sorted out with this method.

B. Their security comes from the Lord (2).

The second line is also cryptic due to the grammatical construction, as noted above; it says, “Jerusalem, mountains around it, and Yahweh around His people, from now and forever.” This should be rendered more smoothly: “Jerusalem--as the mountains are around it, even so Yahweh is around His people, from now and forever.” Some smooth it out even more: “As the mountains are around Jerusalem, even so Yahweh is around His people from now and forever. But that is too smooth; it misses the emphasis that was clearly intended by focusing on Jerusalem for a second.

“Jerusalem” has already been identified as the independent nominative absolute. In such constructions the subject is stranded out front to call particular emphasis to it. It will then be picked up in the clause with a resumptive pronoun.52 But one would not smooth it out to say “As the mountains are around Jerusalem,” for that destroys the force of the construction. “Jerusalem--as the mountains are around it.”

The parallelism shows that a comparison is intended: “mountains are around it // and Yahweh is around His people.” This is why it may be translated “as . . .so.” The Greek text simply translates this out: “The mountains are around it and the Lord is round about His people.”

The point of the line carries the simile of verse one further. The psalmist draws upon the fact that valleys surround most of Jerusalem, and on the perimeter of these valleys are mountains. The city itself is on a mountain. And so he compares this ring of mountains that surround Jerusalem to the way the Lord protects His people--it is like a natural defense on every side.

C. Their testing will not be beyond their endurance (3).

It is in this verse that one finds the major issue of the psalm, and the reason that the people need to know that they are secure in Yahweh. The nation is suffering under wicked leaders, either unbelieving Israelites or more probably Gentile powers, who are making it very difficult for the believers to hold their integrity. The psalmist is convinced that God will not let it become so severe that even the elect would turn aside. The verse is paralleled in the New Testament by the apostle Paul’s declaration that the Lord will not permit us to be tested above that which we are able, but with the testing will make a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). Here, basic to that way of escape is the wholehearted trust in God that brings security in the faith.

The first half of the verse in the MT reads, “For the rod of wickedness will not rest on the lot of the righteous.” The “rod” is a metonymy of subject or adjunct, representing the governmental rule or dominion. Leaders had the scepter of the administration; it represented their authority. Here, however, “rod” is followed by an attributive genitive: “the rod of wickedness” is a wicked rod (=rule).

To have this rod “rest” (somewhat ironic) on the “lot of the righteous” means that they live under the burden of the wicked government until God breaks the rod. The word “lot” is a figure of comparison, probably a hypocatastasis. They did not cast lots for this, but it is as if the lot fell for them to receive this wicked rule. So it represents the “portion” allotted to the righteous. This rod, this wicked ruler or government, will not lie on the life that the righteous have to the extent that . . . . The rod will lie on them as well as on the unrighteous, of course; but it will have a limited effect.

There are two textual problems here. The first concerns the verb. The MT has the qal imperfect yanuakh, “will [not] rest,”53 with “the rod” as the subject. The DSS as well as Jerome in his translation of the Hebrew into Latin (Psalterium iuxta hebraeos, or PIH) also agree with this. The apparatus at the bottom of the page in the Hebrew Bible tells us that the Greek has aphesei, meaning “leave, permit.” This, the editors suggest, would be equal to yaniakh, the hiphil of the same verb. If the whole Greek line is checked, it reads, “For the Lord will not allow the rod of sinners to be upon . . . .” So the Greek version adds “Lord” as the subject of the verb rather than taking “the rod” as the subject.54

Since the Hebrew of the MT and DSS agree, the external evidence is in favor of their reading (“the rod will not rest”). The internal evidence also supports that reading. One would note in looking at a photo copy of the DSS that the Hebrew letters waw and yod are not written that differently in these manuscripts, and so it would be an easy mistake to assume it was a yod when it was actually a waw. Moreover, since “Yahweh” is the subject throughout the psalm, it was a simple conclusion for the Greek translator that He was the implied subject here as well, and so “Lord” was added in the Greek version. It is far easier to see a scribe adding the word “Lord” to clarify a text, than to see a Hebrew scribe deleting the name “Yahweh” from a sentence that would have made perfectly good sense and harmonized with the rest of the psalm. It is easier to see a scribe adding it in the Greek translation than to see a scribe deleting it from his manuscript and making “rod” the subject. No, the Hebrew text was more than likely the original reading.

The other textual difficulty here is a smaller one, but nonetheless important. The Hebrew uses a rare word resha‘, “wickedness”; the Greek, Syriac, and a few Hebrew Masoretic manuscripts apparently took it to be the far more common word rasha‘, “the wicked,” reading “the rod of the wicked.” In the MT version (“the rod of wickedness”) the genitive would be a metonymy of adjunct describing the rule; in the other reading (“the rod of the wicked”) it would refer to the sinners who were ruling. Granted, this is not a major difference. But it does indicate the scribal tendencies toward the common and the general words when they did not have the oral tradition that would have indicated a more rare word. The MT preserves that better reading, because one can explain the Greek text’s using a common form when looking at these letters; whereas if the original reading was the common form, one would be hard pressed to explain why the Hebrew scribe put in a rare form, “wickedness.”

The second line of the verse gives the purpose or the result of the first, as indicated by the use of lema‘an, “that.” This pagan oppression will not be burdening them to the extent that, or “so that,” they will turn away from their integrity. The idiom that is used here is “stretch out their hands”; it could be explained as a metonymy of cause if their participation in evil included the act, or it could be explained as a hypocatastasis if it means their sinning is like reaching out and taking something. The righteous will not be caused to get involved in evil just because there is a wicked government making it difficult for them to hold to their integrity.

Now the noun “evil, wickedness, lawlessness” is ‘avlatah. The point may be that oppression would force them to comply with evil practices, or that a wicked government would influence them to live on a lower standard of righteousness.

II. God’s people long for God’s goodness (4).

It is the prayer of the righteous in any age that God extend goodness to His people so that they need not endure oppression and evil in high places for too long. So verse four is a prayer; it literally says: “Do good, O Yahweh, to the good [people], and to those who are upright in their hearts.”55

The translation of hetivah should not be left as “do good” in smooth, proper English--but that is its force. One would have to translated it as “treat well, favor” them, or “deal with [with]” them. But it means to cause good things to happen. The hiphil imperative is a prayer or a request; and the use of an imperative stresses the urgency of the prayer.

The use of the adjective as a substantive (“to the good [people]”) underscores that this would be a reward. There are good people suffering under pagan government control, trying to hold to their integrity; so the Lord should do good things for them. The verb would be a metonymy of adjunct or effect, describing the freedom and the prosperity that God would give to His people.

These good people are also described as the “upright in their hearts.” In the Old Testament the word “heart” is commonly a metonymy of subject, representing the will or the choices that people make. These people make “right, righteous, upright” choices. They do not conform to the world.

III. Unbelievers who turn aside to wickedness have no protection from judgment (5).

In view of the emphasis of the psalm so far, what the psalmist must now be saying is that those who do turn aside to wickedness are not the righteous or the upright in heart--they show they are not by their abandoning the faith. It is as the apostle John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us” (1 John 2:19).

The first word of the verse is an irregular verb; it is the hiphil participle of the verb natah, “to turn aside.” The form is substantival--“But those who turn aside.” It also functions as an independent nominative absolute again, for the suffix on the verb picks up the idea as the direct object--“As for those who turn . . . the Lord will lead them out . . . .”

The adverbial accusative following the participle is put into the plural to intensify the idea: ‘aqalqallotam is “to their crookednesses.” The form is also a reduplicated form of the root to add to the intensity. This word does not describe a small infraction of the law, or a sin of ignorance. It describes intense corrupt activities.

For these the doom is sealed. Yahweh will lead them away with the “practitioners of iniquity.” Here another participle is used to show that these are not simply people who sin, they are doers of evil. The word “iniquity” would be clearly an objective genitive after the participle.

The psalm closes with the prayer or the wish that peace be upon Israel. This could be made a separate sub-point in the exposition, or simply a summing up of the desire expressed in the prayer.
Conclusion

The psalm is a psalm of confidence in the Lord, filled with hope for better times, but with a note of warning for those who surrender their integrity in bad times. The main idea can be worded in a number of ways, but it is essentially saying that True believers will hold to their integrity in trying times because they are secure in their faith. The instruction to be drawn from this would be on making sure that one’s faith is in the Lord, and that it is growing so that it can withstand such tests. A strong faith will be secure in the Lord and will be characterized by righteousness and uprightness in heart.

On the other hand, there are many people who profess to be in the faith, but there is insufficient evidence of growth. They have not demonstrated a secure faith that leads to righteousness. In evil times they are apt to show that they were merely professing believers and not genuine believers (a theme important to Hebrews), by being caught up in the prevailing moods and attitudes of the day, especially if they are popular or sanctioned by the powers that be. There is not the strong conviction of the faith that leads them to hold to their integrity at such times. The history of the faith is filled with times when this was a real problem.

The task of the believers, then, is to develop a wholehearted trust in the Lord, so that in times of trial or temptation, they will hold fast to their faith and remain loyal to God’s revealed will.

Thanks to Bible.org