Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 11

Put I my trust. —Better, as in Psalms 7:1, I find my refuge.

Flee as a bird. —Literally, Flee, you, a bird. The plural verb, with the singular noun, offers a difficulty which is not resolved by the reading which changes the verb to the singular, since your mountain has the plural suffix. We may supply the sign of comparison, as elsewhere sometimes omitted (Psalms 22:14); “Flee, you, like a bird;” or we may, with Ewald, take the noun as collective— a flock of birds. The idea of trepidation is conveyed in the original by the verb, which suggests the hurried flap of wings. Dr. Thomson, in The Land and the Book, finds in the habits of the dove an illustration of the passage; and compares Psalms 55:6, Oh that I had wings as a dove!

Privily. —See margin, which preserves the image of the archer lurking in a dark corner.

The foundations. This word refers to the principles of morality, which are the foundation of society. Symmachus and Jerome translate it as “laws.”

However, the rendering “What could the righteous do?” is doubtful. The image is of a house shattered by an earthquake ; in such a case, how can one find safety?

The Septuagint and Vulgate render it as: “Since they have destroyed what you have established, what has the righteous done?” The order of the Hebrew words seems to support this rendering: “While morality has been overthrown, the righteous what has he done?”

A suggested emendation, involving only a slight change in the Hebrew letters, would, however, produce a far better sense: “If the foundations be destroyed, what will become of the tower, or superstructure?”

(4) Temple. —Here, plainly from the parallelism, not any earthly building, but the heavenly palace of the Divine King. One thought of God’s supreme righteousness, high above earth’s anarchy and sin, is enough to reassure the psalmist and make him strong. “God’s in His heaven; all’s right with the world.”—Browning, Pippa Passes.

Rain snares. —Or nooses. (Compare to 1 Corinthians 7:35.) This is certainly an extraordinary figure, and various emendations have been suggested.

Ewald’s emendation, “coals of fire” (pecham for pachîm), is considered the best. For comparison, see Psalms 18:13, where the Hebrew word is gechalîm (“live, or red coals”). In contrast, pecham is used in Proverbs 26:21 as fuel for fire, distinct from live coals. However, in Isaiah 44:12 and Isaiah 54:16, pecham itself is plainly burning coal.

Ewald arranges the clauses as follows: “He causes coals of fire with brimstone to rain upon wicked men; a glowing blast is the portion of their cup.”

“Let us put our quarrel to the will of Heaven,
Who, when He sees the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders’ heads.”

—SHAKESPEARE: Richard II, Acts 1, Scene 2.

Horrible tempest. —Literally, wind of heats. For example, the Vulgate has spiritus procellarum, and the Targum uses storm and whirlwind. Just as in Latin, where aestus combines the ideas of heat and violent motion, so too does the Hebrew word used here. Probably, therefore, we must think of a hot, poisonous wind—the simoom.

Or might we see one more reminiscence of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, stamped indelibly on the Hebrew mind?