Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 27:13
[I had fainted], unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
13. The word for unless is marked with dots in the Massoretic text as probably spurious. Omitting it, we may render;
I believe that I shall see &c.
If it is retained, the construction is an aposiopesis:
O! had I not believed &c.;
or an apodosis may be supplied, as in A.V.
to see ] The construction of the Heb. verb implies the sense, to see and enjoy.
in the land of the living ] Here, as in Psa 3:5; Psa 116:9; Psa 142:5; Isa 38:11; Isa 53:8; &c, this life on earth in contrast to Sheol, the land of death: not, as in the natural Christian application of the words and as the Targum already paraphrases, ‘the land of everlasting life’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I had fainted, unless I had believed – The words I had fainted are supplied by the translators, but they undoubtedly express the true sense of the passage. The psalmist refers to the state of mind produced by the efforts of his enemies to destroy him, as mentioned in Psa 27:12. So numerous, mighty, and formidable were they, that he says his only support was his faith in God; his belief that he would yet be permitted to see the goodness of God upon the earth. In this time of perplexity and trial he had confidence in God, and believed that He would uphold him, and would permit him to see the evidences of His goodness and mercy while yet on the earth. What was the ground of this confidence he does not say, but he had the fullest belief that this would be so. He may have had some special assurance of it, or he may have had a deep internal conviction of it, sufficient to calm his mind; but whatever was the source of this confidence it was that which sustained him. A similar state of feeling is indicated in the remarkable passage in Job, Job 19:25-27. See the notes at that passage.
To see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living – That is, that I should live, and yet see and enjoy the tokens of the divine favor here upon the earth.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 27:13
I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
The goodness of God in the land of the living
The words I had fainted are not in the original. The sentence is a broken one, such as one utters under strong emotion, suggesting possibilities, but leaving the hearer or reader to supply them for himself. O had I not believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living–and then he breaks off, and we are left to imagine what dreadful thing would have happened.
I. Gods goodness is often a matter of faith rather than of sight. A good purpose of His often takes time to ripen. Sometimes it is long before it even appears above ground. Meanwhile there is the bleak, dreary field. In Nature we know what to expect, so that the harvest is hardly a matter of faith. Still, our Lord teaches that the attitude of the farmer, while he waits for the harvest, should be that of His disciples in regard to the Kingdom of God. Faith in God implies faith in good. The word God is good. God is not God except He be good. But it is easier to believe this as an abstract fact than in its practical applications; for there are times when we cannot see the goodness of the Lord.
II. we faint because we do not see it. This brought out more strongly by the added words, in the land of the living. It is here where we want to see it, here in this scene of strife, rebellion, cruelty, extortion, and all manner of evil. We are not troubled about Gods goodness in the next world. The believer takes it for granted, indeed, that there every cloud will be dispelled and every hard question settled. It is Gods goodness in the land of the living which sometimes puzzles him. It might be comparatively easy, as I have said, to frame an abstract conception of a perfect being, and to write under it Supremely Good, but goodness is not an abstract thing. Goodness takes shape and consistency only by contact with objects. As a mere abstract quality it has no practical significance. You may as well affirm it of a statue. It has meaning only as it is exercised. But if God be infinitely good, how can sin and evil be? This is the knotty point. Neither the Epicurean, by getting rid of God in human life; nor the Deist, nor the Pantheist, give any real help. Given the existence of a personal God, and the existence and work of evil is not an easy matter to resolve. The question is summed up in a passage of that favourite book of our childhood, Robinson Crusoe, where the poor heathen Friday asks in all simplicity why God, being all-powerful, did not kill the devil. Many of us have asked the same question. And yet the fact of such goodness visible in the world and in human life is assumed by the psalmist. He has faith in it. He believed to see it in the land of the living. Can we see as much?
1. God does not throw us entirely upon testimony as to this, for His goodness can be seen, both here and now. However hard we may find it to reconcile this fact with other facts, it is true that the world and human life furnish multiplied evidences of Gods goodness which appeal to the ordinary sense. The provisions of Nature are illustrations of this. It was something more than mere ingenious artifice which made the bread-fruit grow in the tropics and not in the northern latitudes. Similarly this goodness is seen in a thousand things in the social and domestic life of men. There is the setting of the solitary in families, and the blessed ties which unite husband and wife and parent and child. There are these things and many more like them. And each one of us if we had our sorrows, we have had our joys. Life has brought blows, but it has also brought balsams: calamities, but also mitigations. Labour has been offset with rest; tears with smiles. No life has been utterly bleak and barren. And for many of the worst of our calamities we have had only ourselves to blame. They have come through our refusing the goodness of God. Now all these appeal to our senses, and God would have us reason from the seen to the unseen, from that we can comprehend to that which we cannot. If we look at the state of society alone and affirm the evidence of a beneficent will, we must often confess what seems as if the contrary were true.
2. But we must hold to what we know of Gods goodness and trust where we cannot know. The popular proverb says, Seeing is believing; but the Scripture reverses that proverb; believing is seeing. We shall faint if we do not believe. Because there is an earthquake shall I cease to believe in gravitation? I remember a land-locked bay, which, from some peculiarity or other, the tide used to leave two-thirds bare when it ebbed. It was one of the loveliest spots I ever saw at high water, but one of the most ghastly when the tide was out. I might stand by the shore and look out over the dismal expanse of mud, and say, The place is ruined: it never will be beautiful any more. I look down into the stagnant pools, and they are glassy and motionless under the hot sun, and I say, The tide is gone, the joy and life of the ocean come hither no more. Fool that I am. Out yonder in the ocean depths, even while I mourn, the sea is rallying, and gathering itself up to move upon the land. By and by the stagnant pools will begin to stir, and the little eddies to whirl, and pool to reach over to pool and to run into one, until soon the bay will be brimming again, and the mud-banks hidden and the fresh, living tide enfolding the rocks. There are periods of slack-water in the history of individuals, of churches, and of nations; periods of mud and stagnation; days and years without a ripple. And when the ripple begins to come, and the stagnation begins to be stirred, that which is the presage of better things often makes the prospect look uglier than before. It takes-strong souls to go through such periods; believing souls, which have settled faith in the laws of Gods tides, and which believe in the force when they do not see the ripple or the wave. Breaking-up is a not uncommon fact in the lives of good men and women. Occasionally they are thrown out of their tight, comfortable ships, and see the strips go to pieces, and have to cling to fragments or make rafts. It is hard to see goodness in such wreck as that; and yet when a ship goes down at sea, the man who has a life-preserver or a timber thinks himself happy. The question is whether we can bring ourselves to think that God is good when He transfers us from the ship to the timber: whether we can stretch the word goodness to cover timbers and rafts, and life-preservers as well as ships. If we have taken it for granted that Gods goodness means only a sound ship and a voyage compassed the whole way with its protections and comforts, then the wreck and the raft will come to us as terrible surprises. If, on the other hand, we believe in the fact of the goodness of the Lord, any way, ship or raft, storm or sunshine, sailing into port or washed ashore, we shall be strong-hearted and hopeful on the raft no less than on the ship. Only it is well that we take care how we build our ship to begin with. If it is to go to pieces, it is well that the pieces be strong; well that we provide something that will float when the wreck breaks up. If a mans life is put together with selfishness, greed, pride, vanity, he stands a poor chance when the structure is broken up. If he puts out to sea with only his money or his cunning or his social repute or his political or professional or business-standing under him, he will find that such timbers will not float him. They will break with the breaking of the ship. But faith, hope and love are buoyant. If a man has in his ship this triple plank of faith, nothing can send him to the bottom. Lifes currents will bear him to land alive. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
A sure cure for pessimism
I. faith expects to see enrapturing visions.
1. What? The goodness of the Lord. The forces of God are adequate to overcome the forces of evil. The eternal right must prosper. God will do more than hold His own. No good reason is there to be hopeless about a world that has God in it and over 2:2. Where? In the land of the living. That the goodness of the Lord will be seen in the land of the dead no one doubts; what we sometimes forget is that we are to look for increasing revelations of His goodness in the present. Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is. The meek shall inherit the earth. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
II. faith awakens fortitude. It gives strength of heart and hope; inspires courage; lights the eye; nerves the impotent arm; plucks victory from defeat.
III. faith leads to fidelity. Those who are full of faith are characterized by faithfulness; they can be depended upon to do their duty, for they have an abiding principle of obedience within their hearts. So long as we are in the world we must needs battle against adverse circumstances, but let us see to it that over against every evil we put the Heaven-provided antidote; that over against worldly trouble we put Divine comfort; that over against painful discipline we put the Divine purpose; that over against the worlds sin we put the worlds Saviour. (J. M. Campbell.)
Pessimism, an untenable theory of the Universe
Yet, though the creed of despair it throws its dark shadow over thousands both in Germany and England. It argues thus:–Seeing the evil and misery that exist and have existed from the beginning, how is it possible to believe in a Being who is omnipotent and omniscient? If He knew of all this, He could have prevented it; and if He did not do so, how can I believe in His goodness? Now, none of us can fully despair of the difficulty, but yet there are considerations which may help our faith; as,
I. great as is the misery of the world, it is not so great as it sometimes seems. Anguish, suffering, sorrow, are not the prevailing notes in the music of earth. Calamities are the exception, not the rule.
II. Much of the misery we deplore is not so great to those who bear it as it appears to us. Use is second nature, and what we are used to does not make us unhappy as it otherwise would.
III. the capacity for sorrow is essential to the capacity for joy. A sorrowless world would be a joyless one.
IV. with much of mans misery God is not chargeable at all. It is the result of mans sin. (W. Garrett Herder.)
Believing to see
I have taken the whole verse, but the words at which I catch are these: Unless I had believed to see. Most people see to believe; but here is the true Gospel order. Oh that some now may believe to see I Note–
I. A doctrine stated. Salvation is by faith. That is the great act by which man is saved. If he believes he is saved.
II. difficulties of the awakened soul.
1. Want of feeling.
2. Sense of ill-desert.
3. Cannot see evidences in ourselves. But these will come if you believe first. They are the product, and not the cause, of faith.
4. Repentance not deep enough.
5. No great joy.
6. Sanctification and likeness to Christ so slight.
III. directions to more advanced believers. The whole course of the Christian life must be believing to see. In our enterprises for God in our inward conflicts. In doctrinal perplexities. In times of prosperity our only safeguard is to believe beforehand. In our journey to heaven. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The souls faith in the goodness of God
I. the condition of saints in this present world, as to the trials they are subjected to. We are born sinners into a world that lies in wickedness; and hence are brought forth to sorrow, as the sparks fly upward. We are cast on a climate where Satan rules. And those who are new-born, are the peculiar objects of his hatred and rage: whom he will, by policy or power, seek to deceive and destroy. It were hence easy to show, that the trials of saints in the present life are neither light nor few.
II. the souls faith in the goodness of God in the land of the living. That is, the felicity of the better world. Now, this faith is
1. Of a very earnest kind.
2. It causes the soul to prefer this goodness of the Lord above all things else.
3. It is accompanied with a well-grounded hope of the happiness to be enjoyed above.
4. It works the heart to a patient waiting for it.
5. It excites to most serious diligence that they do not come short.
III. in what manner this faith keeps the soul from fainting,
1. Because of the transcendent excellency the believing soul discerns in what God has promised.
2. Because such souls see in their sufferings that which will prepare them for the heavenly felicity (1Co 4:17).
3. Because they anticipate what awaits them there.
4. Because it arms them against all present temptation and murmuring of the flesh, and endues them with courage to hold on their way.
IV. application.
1. It is vain to expect peace on earth.
2. Hence be assured there is an after-state where God will distinguish between the good and the evil.
3. Consider how great our privilege in the Gospel.
4. Make sure that you be born again for a better world. (D. Wilcox.)
The fainting relieved by faith
What are the lessons which our text teaches?
I. It teaches that submission to the will of God flows from the word of God as the means. In the Word there are many clearly established principles, designed and calculated to quiet the mind under trials.
1. God admonishes us to this effect. The Word of God is the inspired commentary on the book of Providence. Compare the events of your life. Providence illustrates the Scriptures, and they explain Providence. If you look only at Providence, you cannot see the love of God to His people in those dispensations which are dark and afflictive. You would think that your heavenly Father trod forgotten you. But the Word of God answers us that it is not so.
2. For they show us that all events are appointed or permitted by God. Nothing is by chance.
3. And that all temporal things are subservient to what is spiritual (Rom 8:28; Psa 25:10; 2Co 4:17).
4. That death does not terminate our existence. Look to the future state in the light of Divine revelation: that unravels the whole mystery. All that was dark in the ways of Providence is there illuminated; all that appeared disorderly is there arranged; all that seemed evil is there felt and acknowledged to be good.
II. submission flows from faith as from the instrument. Many have read the discoveries of Divine revelation, and have been strangers to unfeigned submission, because they do not fully and firmly believe these discoveries. That the exercise of faith is necessary in order to maintain this state of mind, appears from the following considerations:–
1. Those truths contained in the Scriptures, designed and calculated to produce submission, relate to things unseen and eternal (2Co 4:1-18.).
2. Faith prevents hasty and unwarranted conclusions respecting the doings of God. It is a common error, when a trial befalls us, to conclude at once that it is against us; and this error results from unbelief of the faithfulness of God to His promises. This was the conclusion of David, who said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. But Blessed are all they that wait for Him. It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord (Heb 2:3-4).
3. Faith has respect to the time past, as well as the time to come: to what is recorded of the doings of the Lord, as well as to what is promised.
4. All the treasures of grace are communicated through Christ, and by Him to His people; and of His fulness they all receive. (Robert Cranston.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. I had fainted, unless I had believed] The words in italics are supplied by our translators; but, far from being necessary, they injure the sense. Throw out the words I had fainted, and leave a break after the verse, and the elegant figure of the psalmist will be preserved: “Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” —-What! what, alas! should have become of me!
Dr. Hammond has observed that there is a remarkable elegance in the original, which, by the use of the beautiful figure aposiopesis, makes an abrupt breaking off in the midst of a speech. He compares it to the speech of Neptune to the winds that had raised the tempest to drown the fleet of AEneas.-AEneid. lib. i., ver. 131.
Eurum ad se zephyrumque vocat: dehinc talia fatur;
Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri?
Jam coelum terramque, meo sine numine, venti,
Miscere, et tantas audetis tollere moles?
Quos ego-sed motos praestat componere fluctus.
To Eurus and the western blast he cried,
Does your high birth inspire this boundless pride?
Audacious winds! without a power from me,
To raise at will such mountains on the sea?
Thus to confound heaven, earth, the air, and main;
Whom I——but, first, I’ll calm the waves again.
PITTS.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I had fainted: these words are added to complete the sense; for the speech is abrupt and imperfect, as is very usual, not only in the Holy Scripture, but in many other authors, in all vehement passions or commotions of mind, such as David was in at this time. Having declared what perfidious and cruel enemies did now assault and encompass him, he now subjoins what impression the thoughts thereof made upon him, and speaks like one that wanted words to express how sad and desperate his condition would have been, if he had not been supported by faith in Gods promises.
To see the goodness of the Lord; to enjoy (which is oft expressed by seeing) the mercy which God hath promised me.
In the land of the living, i.e. in this world, which is oft so called, as Job 28:13; Psa 52:5; 116:9; 142:5; Isa 38:11; 53:8; Jer 11:9; Eze 32:32, and is opposed to the grave, which is the place of the dead. And David was thus earnestly desirous of this mercy in this life, not because he placed his portion in these things, which he so solemnly disclaims, Psa 17:14, but because the truth and glory of God were highly concerned in making good the promise of the kingdom made to him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. The strong emotion isindicated by the incomplete sentence, for which the EnglishVersion supplies a proper clause; or, omitting that, andrendering, “yet I believed,” &c., thecontrast of his faith and his danger is expressed.
to seeis to experience(Ps 22:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[I had fainted],…. When false witnesses rose up against him, and threatened to take away his life, and the life of his friends, in the most barbarous and cruel manner: the people of God are subject to faintings, in the present state of things; by reason of afflictions; because of the nature, number, and continuance of them; and especially when they apprehend them to be in wrath and sore displeasure: and on account of their sins, and the corruptions of their hearts; fearing lest there should be no pardon for them; or that the true work of grace is not in them; or that they shall fall, to the dishonour of the name of God, and to the reproach of his, cause and interest; or that they shall perish eternally: likewise, by reason of Satan’s temptations, which are sometimes so grievous, that if Christ did not pray for them, their faith would fail; and also on account of the hidings of God’s face, which they cannot bear: they are sometimes ready to faint in the way of their duty, in the course of their profession, because of the difficulties and discouragements, reproaches and persecutions, they meet with; and sometimes in the expectation of blessings; and of the fulfilment of promises, and of answers of prayer, which have been long deferred. This clause is not in the original text, but is a supplement of our translators; and it is generally agreed there is a defect of expression, which must be supplied in some way or other: the Jewish interpreters generally refer it to the preceding words; one supplies thus m, “those false witnesses would have rose up against me, and consumed me”; another n after this manner, “mine enemies had almost got the dominion over me”; a third o, “I had almost perished at their sayings”: and a fourth p, “and they would have destroyed me”. Perhaps it may be as well supplied from Ps 119:92; “I should then have perished in mine affliction”; it follows,
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living: both the providential goodness of the Lord, in supplying him with the, necessaries of life, and in delivering him out of the hands of his enemies; and his special goodness, which he has laid up in his covenant, and in his son; even all spiritual blessings in Christ, in whom he causes all his goodness to pass before his people. The psalmist believed that he should “see”; that is, enjoy all these, or whatever was needful for him; all the good things of life, all special favours; as supports under afflictions, views of pardoning grace under a sense of sin, strength against Satan’s temptations, and deliverance out of them; the discoveries of the love of God, and the light of his countenance, after desertions, and divine refreshments in his house, from his word and ordinances; and at last all the glories of the other world; and faith in these things is the best antidote against faintings. By “the land of the living” may be meant either the land of Canaan, where the living God was worshipped, and living saints dwelt, in opposition to other lands, the habitations of men dead in sins; and at a distance from which David now might be; or else the world in general, in opposition to the place and state of the dead; or, as some think, heaven, or he life of the world to come, as Kimchi expresses it; and so Apollinarius paraphrases it,
“I shall see the blessed God with my eyes in the land of the blessed.”
The word , rendered “unless”, is one of the fifteen words which are extraordinarily pointed in the Hebrew Bible.
m Jarchi. n Aben Ezra. o Kimchi. p Abendana, Not. in Miclol Yophi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Self-encouragement to firmer confidence of faith. Joined to Psa 27:12 (Aben-Ezra, Kimchi), Psa 27:13 trails badly after it. We must, with Geier, Dachselt, and others, suppose that the apodosis is wanting to the protasis with its pointed with three points above,
(Note: The has not any point above it, because it might be easily mistaken for a Cholem, vid., Baer’s Psalterium p. 130.)
and four below, according to the Masora (cf. B. Berachoth 4 a), but a word which is indispensably necessary, and is even attested by the lxx ( ) and the Targum (although not by any other of the ancient versions); cf. the protasis with , which has no apodosis, in Gen 50:15, and the apodoses with after in Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10; 1 Sam. 35:34; 2Sa 2:27 (also Num 22:33, where = = ), which are likewise to be explained per aposiopesin . The perfect after ( ) has sometimes the sense of a plusquamperfectum (as in Gen 43:10, nisi cunctati essemus ), and sometimes the sense of an imperfect, as in the present passage (cf. Deu 32:29 , si saperent ). The poet does not speak of a faith that he once had, a past faith, but, in regard to the danger that is even now abiding and present, of the faith he now has, a present faith. The apodosis ought to run something like this (Psa 119:92; Psa 94:17): did I not believe, were not confidence preserved to me…then ( ( ne or ) I should perish; or: then I had suddenly perished. But he has such faith, and he accordingly in Psa 27:14 encourages himself to go on cheerfully waiting and hoping; he speaks to himself, it is, as it were, the believing half of his soul addressing the despondent and weaker half. Instead of (Deu 31:7) the expression is, as in Ps 31:25, , let thy heart be strong, let it give proof of strength. The rendering “May He (Jahve) strengthen thy heart” would require ; but , as e.g., Psa 25:17, belongs to the transitive denominatives applying to the mind or spirit, in which the Hebrew is by no means poor, and in which the Arabic is especially rich.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
13. Unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah. It is generally agreed among interpreters, that this sentence is incomplete. Some, however, are of opinion, that the Hebrew particle לולא lulë, is used for the purpose of affirmation, as if it were a species of oath; the Hebrews being accustomed to swear elliptically; for breaking off in the middle of the discourse and leaving it imperfect, they supplied an imprecation, namely, that God would punish them in case they perjured themselves. But the greater number give a different interpretation, namely, that David intimates that he was supported solely by faith, otherwise he had perished a hundred times. The meaning which they elicit, accordingly, is, Had I not relied on the promise of God, and been assuredly persuaded that he would safely preserve me, and had I not continued firm in this persuasion, I had utterly perished: There was no other remedy. Some understand by the land of the living, the heavenly inheritance; but this interpretation is forced, and disagrees with the usual style of Scripture. When Hezekiah laments in his song recorded in Isa 38:11, that he had no hope of seeing God “in the land of the living,” he means, without all doubt, the present life, as he immediately adds, “I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.” A similar form of speech occurs also in another place, (Jer 11:19.) David then believed that he would still enjoy the goodness of God in this world, although he was now deprived of all experience of his favor, and could see no spark of light. From the darkness of death, therefore, he promises himself a view of the divine favor, and by this persuasion his life is sustained, although, according to the judgment of carnal reason, it was past recovery and lost. It is to be observed, however, that David does not rashly go beyond the divine promise. It is true that “godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come,” (1Ti 4:8😉 but he would have never dared to entertain this persuasion had he not been informed by a special revelation, and assuredly promised a successor, who should always sit upon his throne, (Psa 132:11.) He was, therefore, justly persuaded that he would not die till this promise was fulfilled. Lest any man, therefore, by an unwarranted imitation of his example, should overleap the boundaries of faith, it is necessary to understand what was peculiar to him, and did not belong to us. In general, however, we ought all to hope that, although God may not openly work deliverance for us, or show us his favor in a visible manner, he will, nevertheless, be always merciful to us, even in the present life.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
13. Unless I had believed Faith in God saved him, and this is the testimony of every godly man in affliction. The original is abrupt and emphatic, omitting the consequence (by aposiopesis) that had followed had he not trusted in God, to be supplied by the imagination. Our English text supplies the omission by the words “I had fainted,” but, as “the land of the living” is the place where he had believed to see the goodness of the Lord, and as this is to be contrasted with sheol, or the place of the dead, we should rather read “ I had perished, unless I had believed,” etc.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Unless I had believed to see,
The goodness of YHWH in the land of the living.
And finally he brings out the fact that he had almost been in despair. Had it not been that he had believed to see the goodness of YHWH in the land of the living, he could not have endured, such was the anguish resulting from his rejection. When our spiritual legs fail us it is good that we can look to the certainty that ‘the Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms’ (Deu 33:27).
‘Unless I had believed.’ We would expect something to come before this. Some add words in translation like ‘I had fainted unless –’. That is clearly the idea. LXX has simply, ‘I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’ Alternately he may be saying, ‘such as breathe out cruelty were it not that I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’ with the idea that his faith in YHWH in some way prevents them from behaving in that way towards him. But it is undoubtedly very awkward.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 27:13. I had fainted, unless, &c. The words I had fainted, are not in the Hebrew. Dr. Hammond observes, that there is a very remarkable elegance in the original; which, by the use of a beautiful figure, makes an abrupt breaking off in the midst of the speech. He compares it to that celebrated threat of Neptune in Virgil:
Quos egoSed motos praestat componere fluctus; Whom Ibut first I’ll calm the waves again. PITT.
And he rightly adds, that the beauty of this figure, consisting in the abrupt breaking off, is wholly lost and spoiled by adding that which the divine poet purposely omitted or concealed. The Chaldee translation preserves this beauty; but all the rest, by filling up the break, or altering the sense a little, destroy it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
How beautiful this verse is also, if read as the words of Jesus. Through the whole of Christ’s ministry, he had an eye to the promised aid of his Father. God had said that he would strengthen him for the work, and carry him through it; and therefore Jesus is continually reminding the Father of his covenant-engagement. Psa 89:21 , etc. Psa 22:1 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 27:13 [I had fainted], unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Ver. 13. I had fainted, unless I had believed ] Saved he was then by his faith, which drank to him as it were in a cup of Nepenthes, and fetched him again when ready to swoon and sink. See Psa 119:92 . The word rendered unless here is (as the Masorites note) one of the fifteen Scripture words, that were extraordinarily pointed by the men of the great synagogue ( Lule habet puncta supra and infra ). Hebrew Text Note The reason whereof given by Kimchi and others (as if David doubted of his salvation) is not satisfactory nor sound.
To see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I had fainted, unless. The Hebrew word has the extraordinary points (see App-31) in the MSS. to show that the Massorites regarded it as not having been in the primitive text. Its presence accounts for the insertion (in italics) in the Authorized Version and Revised Version They are not found in some codices, the Septuagint, Syriac, or Vulgate. The verse should read: “I have believed that I shall see the goodness”, &c.
In the land of the living. See note on Isa 38:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 27:13-14
Psa 27:13-14
“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah
In the land of the living.
Wait for Jehovah:
Be strong and let thy heart take courage;
Yea, wait thou for Jehovah.”
McCaw’s summary of these two verses is helpful.
“These words are a testimony and strong exhortation to steadfast endurance. This conclusion of the anthem emphasizes human frailty, but stresses the fact of Divine intervention, the utter certainty of the Lord’s sufficiency, and the patience of faith which waits with confidence.
“Both parts of this Psalm bear testimony to a vital faith. And as Ash stated, “The psalm ends, as it began, with trust, trust tried by difficult times.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 27:13. The first 3 words have none in the original. The connection, as well as David’s trust in the Lord which has been expressed in So many places, indicates that he was making a positive statement. He meant to say that he actually did believe in seeing the goodness of the Lord.
Psa 27:14. This verse is an exhortation addressed to himself to wait on the Lord. That means to trust the Lord and be ready to do his bidding. If he will do that the Lord will strengthen him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
fainted: Psa 42:5, Psa 56:3, Psa 116:9-11, 2Co 4:1, 2Co 4:8-14, 2Co 4:16, Eph 2:8
in the: Psa 52:5, Psa 56:13, Psa 142:5, Job 33:30, Isa 38:11, Isa 38:19, Jer 11:19, Eze 26:20
Reciprocal: Jdg 13:23 – he have showed Psa 40:1 – I waited Psa 62:5 – wait Psa 119:50 – This Psa 119:92 – I should Isa 33:2 – be gracious Isa 40:31 – not faint Isa 50:10 – let Jer 45:3 – I fainted Eze 32:23 – the land Jon 2:7 – my soul Luk 18:1 – and not Luk 21:19 – General 2Th 3:13 – be not weary Heb 11:1 – is the 1Pe 3:10 – see 1Pe 5:7 – Casting
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 27:13. I had fainted These words are not in the original, but are added to complete the sense. For the speech is abrupt and imperfect, as is very usual, not only with the inspired penmen, but many other authors, in all vehement passions or commotions of mind, such as David was in at this time. Having declared what perfidious and cruel enemies assaulted and encompassed him, he now subjoins what impression the thoughts thereof made upon him, and speaks like one that wanted words to express how sad and desperate his condition would have been, if he had not been supported by faith in Gods promises. Even the best saints are subject to faint when their troubles become grievous and tedious; their spirits are overwhelmed, and their flesh and heart fail; but then faith is a sovereign cordial: it keeps them from desponding under their burdens; it keeps them hoping, and praying, and waiting; it maintains in them honourable thoughts of God, and an expectation of relief in due time. But what was it, the belief of which kept David from fainting? That he should see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living By which he means, not only a continuance of the mercy and grace of God to his soul which he already possessed, and which supported him under his trials, but that he should outlive his troubles, and see or enjoy in this life that deliverance from them, and from all his enemies, implied in the promise of the kingdom which God had given him. For, by the land of the living, he means this world, which is often so called in Scripture, and is opposed to the grave, which is the place of the dead. And David was thus earnestly desirous of this mercy in this life, not because he placed his portion in these things, but because the truth and glory of God were highly concerned in making good the promise of the kingdom to him. Heaven, however, is still more properly termed the land of the living; where there is no more death; this earth being rather the land of the dying. And nothing is so effectual to keep the soul from fainting under the calamities of this present time as the believing hope of seeing the goodness of the Lord in that world, with foresights of those glories, and foretastes of those pleasures, which are for evermore.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
27:13 [I had fainted], unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD {h} in the land of the living.
(h) In this present life before I die, as in Isa 38:11.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
David’s confidence in God returned, and he rejoiced in the prospect of the Lord’s deliverance. He encouraged himself and his readers to wait for that rescue, and to strengthen themselves with faith in God (cf. Deu 31:7; Jos 1:6-7; Jos 1:9; Jos 1:18; Jos 10:25; 1Co 16:13).
Believers can remain positive and confident about their spiritual safety as they delight in the Lord. When fear raises its head, the way to defeat it is to return to trust in Yahweh. [Note: See Swindoll, pp. 94-105; and John Mark Soden, "Whom Shall I Fear? Psalms 27," Exegesis and Exposition 3:1 (Fall 1988):1-24.]