(Heb.: 13:2-3) The complicated question: till when, how long...for ever (as in Psalm 74:10; Psalm 79:5; Psalm 89:47), is the expression of a complicated condition of soul, in which, as Luther briefly and forcibly describes it, amidst the feeling of anguish under divine wrath "hope itself despairs and despair nevertheless begins to hope." The self-contradiction of the question is to be explained by the conflict which is going on within between the flesh and the spirit. The dejected heart thinks: God has forgotten me for ever. But the spirit, which thrusts away this thought, changes it into a question which sets upon it the mark of a mere appearance not a reality: how long shall it seem as though Thou forgettest me for ever? It is in the nature of the divine wrath, that the feeling of it is always accompanied by an impression that it will last for ever; and consequently it becomes a foretaste of hell itself. But faith holds fast the love that is behind the wrath; it sees in the display of anger only a self-masking of the loving countenance of the God of love, and longs for the time when this loving countenance shall be again unveiled to it. Thrice does David send forth this cry of faith out of the inmost depths of his spirit. To place or set up contrivances, plans, or proposals in his soul, viz., as to the means by which he may be able to escape from this painful condition, is equivalent to, to make the soul the place of such thoughts, or the place where such thoughts are fabricated (cf. Proverbs 26:24). One such עצה chases the other in his soul, because he recognises the vanity of one after another as soon as they spring up. With respect to the יומם which follows, we must think of these cares as taking possession of his soul in the night time; for the night leaves a man alone with his affliction and makes it doubly felt by him. It cannot be proved from Ezekiel 30:16 (cf. Zephaniah 2:4 בּצּהרים), that יומם like יום (Jeremiah 7:25, short for יום יום) may mean "daily" (Ew. 313, a). יומם does not mean this here, but is the antithesis to לילה which is to be supplied in thought in Psalm 13:3. By night he proposes plan after plan, each one as worthless as the other; and by day, or all the day through, when he sees his distress with open eyes, sorrow (יגון) is in his heart, as it were, as the feeling the night leaves behind it and as the direct reflex of his helpless and hopeless condition. He is persecuted, and his foe is in the ascendant. רוּם is both to be exalted and to rise, raise one's self, i.e., to rise to position and arrogantly to assume dignity to one's self (sich brsten). The strophe closes with ‛ad-āna which is used for the fourth time.

Psalm 14:2 Parallel Commentaries

The Lord

Psalm 33:13,14 The LORD looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons of men...

Psalm 102:19,20 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth...

Genesis 6:12 And God looked on the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth.

Genesis 11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

Genesis 18:21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me; and if not, I will know.

Isaiah 63:15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory: where is your zeal and your strength...

Isaiah 64:1 Oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might flow down at your presence,

Lamentations 3:50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.

any

Psalm 82:5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

Psalm 107:43 Whoever is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the LORD.

Proverbs 2:9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yes, every good path.

Proverbs 8:5 O you simple, understand wisdom: and, you fools, be you of an understanding heart.

Proverbs 9:4,16 Whoever is simple, let him turn in here: as for him that wants understanding, she said to him...

Isaiah 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire...

Jeremiah 4:22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are silly children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil...

Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand...

Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed...

Romans 3:11 There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.

seek

Psalm 69:32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

2 Chronicles 19:3 Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have taken away the groves out of the land...

2 Chronicles 30:19 That prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers...

Isaiah 8:19 And when they shall say to you, Seek to them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards that peep, and that mutter...

Isaiah 55:6 Seek you the LORD while he may be found, call you on him while he is near:

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is...