Still standing on this eminence from which he seems to behold the end, the poet basks in the realisation of that which has been obtained in answer to prayer. The ardent longing of the meek and lowly sufferers for the arising, the parusia of Jahve (Isaiah 26:8), has now been heard by Him, and that under circumstances which find expression in the following futt., which have a past signification: God has given and preserved to their hearts the right disposition towards Himself (הכין, as in Psalm 78:8; Job 11:13, Sir. 2:17 ἑτοιμάζειν καρδίας, post-biblical כּוּן

(Note: B. Berachoth 31a: the man who prays must direct his heart steadfastly towards God (יכוּן לבּו לשּׁמים).)

and to be understood according to 1 Samuel 7:3; 2 Chronicles 20:33, cf. לב נכון Psalm 51:12; Psalm 78:37; it is equivalent to "the single eye" in the language of the New Testament), just as, on the other hand, He has set His ear in the attitude of close attention to their prayer, and even to their most secret sighings (הקשׁיב with אזן, as in Proverbs 2:2; to stiffen the ear, from קשׁב, Arab. qasuba, root קש to be hard, rigid, firm from which we also have קשׁה, Arab. qsâ, קשׁה, Arab. qsh, qsn, cf. on Isaiah 21:7). It was a mutual relation, the design of which was finally and speedily to obtain justice for the fatherless and oppressed, yea crushed, few, in order that mortal man of the earth may no longer (בּל, as in Isaiah 14:21, and in post-biblical Hebrew בּל and לבל instead of פּן) terrify. From the parallel conclusion, Psalm 9:20-21, it is to be inferred that אנושׁ does not refer to the oppressed but to the oppressor, and is therefore intended as the subject; and then the phrase מן־הארץ also belongs to it, as in Psalm 17:14, people of the world, Psalm 80:14 boar of the woods, whereas in Proverbs 30:14 מארץ belongs to the verb (to devour from off the earth). It is only in this combination that מן־הארץ אנושׁ forms with לערץ a significant paronomasia, by contrasting the conduct of the tyrant with his true nature: a mortal of the earth, i.e., a being who, far removed from any possibility of vying with the God who is in heaven, has the earth as his birth-place. It is not מן־האדמה, for the earth is not referred to as the material out of which man is formed, but as his ancestral house, his home, his bound, just as in the expression of John ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς, John 3:31 (Lat. ut non amplius terreat homo terrenus). A similar play of words was attempted before in Psalm 9:20 אנושׁ אל־יעז. The Hebrew verb ערץ signifies both to give way to fear, Deuteronomy 7:21, and to put in fear, Isaiah 2:19, Isaiah 2:21; Isaiah 47:12. It does mean "to defy, rebel against," although it might have this meaning according to the Arabic ‛rḍ (to come in the way, withstand, according to which Wetzstein explains ערוּץ Job 30:6, like Arab. ‛irḍ, "a valley that runs slantwise across a district, a gorge that blocks up the traveller's way"

(Note: Zeitschrift fr Allgem. Erdkunde xviii. (1865) 1, S. 30.)).

It is related to Arab. ‛rṣ, to vibrate, tremble (e.g., of lightning).

Psalm 11:5 Parallel Commentaries

trieth

Psalm 7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God tries the hearts and reins.

Psalm 17:3 You have proved my heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tried me, and shall find nothing...

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Psalm 139:1,23,24 O lord, you have searched me, and known me...

Genesis 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said to him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried...

Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver...

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life...

1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire...

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you:

wicked

Psalm 5:4,5 For you are not a God that has pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with you...

Psalm 10:3 For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, and blesses the covetous, whom the LORD abhors.

Psalm 21:8 Your hand shall find out all your enemies: your right hand shall find out those that hate you.

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things does the LORD hate: yes, seven are an abomination to him...

Jeremiah 12:8 My heritage is to me as a lion in the forest; it cries out against me: therefore have I hated it.

Zechariah 11:8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.