NOTE ON v. 12 "Kiss the son." A great deal of needless difficulty is made over the translation of these words. The verb used in the Hebrew means, "Kiss ye," i.e. "pay ye homage to"; the following substantive means either "son" or "pure one." Thus the clause means, either, "Pay ye homage to one who is JEHOVAH'S SOn" (cp. v. 7), or 'Pay ye homage to one who is pure" (and therefore chosen of God; cp. Ps. lxxiii. 1). If we accept the obvious translation of the Hebrew text we have in vv. 11, 12 a very natural reference to the contents of v. 2, and moreover a strikingly appropriate conclusion to the whole Psalm. According to v. 2 the nations were guilty of a twofold rebellion, “Against the LORD and against his anointed," and so in vv. II, 12 they are summoned to make a twofold submission, "Serve the LORD with fear, . . . Pay homage to his son." Moreover the dual reference to JEHOVAH and his Messiah is thus maintained in each of the four divisions of the Psalm: in v. 2 JEHOVAH and his anointed, in v. 6 JEHOVAH and his king, in v. 7 JEHOVAH and his son, in v. 12 JEHOVAH and his pure one (his son). On the other hand, the choice between the translations "son" and "pure one" is hard to make. If the meaning be "son," the word is borrowed from the Aramaic as in Prov. xxxi. 2; if it be "pure one," the word is Hebrew (cp. Ps. lxxiii. 1). In later Hebrew words borrowed from the kindred language, Aramaic, are not uncommon, and on the supposition that this Psalm is late, the presence of the Aramaic bar, "son," is not at all surprising, even though "KISS THE SON" 35 "my son" in the same Psalm (v. 7) is represented by the pure Hebrew form běni. (The case would have been different had the word ben, "son" occurred uninflected, for then ben and bar would have been used indifferently in one Psalm). As it is, the use of an ambiguous word, which if it means 'son" connotes pure one," helps greatly the connexion of thought in the Psalm. It is not a son only, but a pure one, the chosen son indeed, to whom the nations have to make submission. 66 Perhaps no difficulty would have been raised, had not the Septuagint (and the versions which follow it) given a different rendering, Spá§are Taideias, "lay hold on chastening." The Vulgate similarly has apprehendite disciplinam, and the Targum, which (unlike the Vulgate) is independent of the Septuagint, has "Receive instruction." It has been supposed that these renderings point to a Hebrew reading different from the Massoretic and preferable to it, but the evidence is too slight. The renderings of Aquila (καταφιλήσατε ἐκλεκτῶς) and of Symmachus (προσκυνήσατε καθαρῶς, whence Jerome took his adorate pure) show that the Massoretic reading prevailed at least as early as the second century of the Christian era. Peshitta gives unambiguously, "Kiss the son." The PSALM VIII Of the chief musician; set to the Gittith. A Psalm of David. THE GLORY OF GOD IN DELIVERING MAN 1. JEHOVAH our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all the earth! 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou founded a stronghold Because of thine adversaries To still the enemy and avenger. THE GLORY OF GOD IN GRANTING GLORY TO MAN 3. For I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars which thou hast established; 4. What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him? 5. Thou makest him a little less than God, And thou crownest him with glory and majesty. 6. Thou givest him dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet; 7. All sheep and oxen, Yea, and the behemoth (Job xl. 15) of the field; 8. The birds of the heaven and the fishes of the sea; He passeth over the paths of the seas. 9. JEHOVAH Our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all the earth! TH HE subject of this Psalm is the Condescension of God to man. God's glory is above the heavens ; he is higher than all things, but he has stooped to confer signal honour upon Mankind. The Psalm is |