A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress
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A Brit-Am/Hebraic Tribes Commentary
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. On an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
Hebrew Original:
TO HIM WHO GRANTS VICTORY THROUGH THE POWER OF MUSIC, ON THE INSTRUMENT WITH EIGHT STRINGS, A PSALM OF DAVID. [S.R. Hirsch Translation].
S.R. Hirsch opined:
Israel is the only testimony in the world that there will be an Ultimate Redemption. The Jews are the true hope of humanity for a more humane existence.
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O LORD, how long?
4 Return, O LORD, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies' sake!
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
WHO WILL GIVE YOU THANKS: More correctly; Who will acknowledge thee?
Similarly, "JUDAH, YOU ART HE WHOM YOUR BRETHREN SHALL PRAISE" [Genesis 49:8] should more correctly be rendered:
"Yehudah, you are he whom your brothers shall
acknowledge the righteousness of."
6 I am weary with my groaning;
All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with my tears.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.
If one is afflicted with physical suffering one should go to doctors and
attempt to obtain healing. Together with seeking to be cured one should also
repent of bad deeds, wicked inclination and attitudes, and undertake to
reform oneself. Repentance is often the best doctor.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication;
The LORD will receive my prayer.
10 Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.
True repentance can entail separating oneself from evildoers and bad influences.
David is here actually saying to his enemies to get themselves gone. They who cause us to do wrong in some ways may also be our enemies even if they do not consciously intend it.
This Psalm is most suited to the situation of Judah who suffered
persecutions and oppressions and even today is hated for no reason by all
the peoples of the world with the exception of a few enlightened and
fair-minded individuals most of whom are in the ranks of "Joseph," i.e. Descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes.
All the peoples of the world will be ashamed and confounded at how they treated Judah.
The prayer of Judah and Israel will be heard.