Psalms 8:2-3 - comparing Delitzsch with Eusebius

 I am thinking that my conversation with Dr. D is nearing a pause. I found my initial impression of Ps. 1 in his commentary would require a lot of work to decode his thought pattern. I think I have found several attempts to make the book more accessible to the general public, so I expect my attempts would not add much at the moment. So maybe it is time to make this the 'end of the current semester' in my studies. I think I will go back to music for a while.

Given that Dr. D is sparing in his praise and excessively critical of Eusebius: "for the interpretation is superficial, and capriciously allegorical and forced", perhaps I can find a little to compare, to see what we think.

Eusebius begins his commentary (available here) with this on Psalm 8

He uses the title “for the end” here in reference to things prophesied about the consummation of the ages, and “concerning the winepresses” on account of the Churches that are existing in the whole earth, which are being referred to as “winepresses” by the law of allegory.

We see immediately that a. he is reading the Greek (lmnxk for the leader is rendered εἰς τὸ τέλος) and b. Delitzsch's accusation may be true: Eusebius of Caesarea speaks of a 'law' of allegory.

And immediately, again reading the LXX, he runs to literary figures around wine-presses and altars:

At that time there was one people, and this was Israel, to whom belonged the temple that they referred to as “tower,” and the “winepress” as the altar before the temple, according to the expression of Isaiah (Isa 5.2). The plural here of “winepresses” indicates the many altars which are divided together according to the portion of the churches. Wherefore also in the 83rd Psalm [84] which bears the same superscription, many “altars,” “dwellings” and “courts” are predicted...

So what does Eusebius do with these verses?

2. O Lord, our Lord, how marvelous is your name in all the earth! For Your magnificence is exalted high above the heavens. 3. From the mouth of infants and nurslings you have prepared praise for the sake of your enemies, to put down the enemy and avenger. (vv. 2-3)

The marvel in all the earth did not happen of old, but rather after the appearing of the Savior, when indeed “a congregation of peoples” [συναγωγὴ λαῶν] surrounded him (Ps 7.8), which is in harmony with what was said here, From the mouth of babes, etc. For he teaches that after his ascension on high the fresh and new congregation is made to consist of souls that are babes because of the regeneration, which [congregation] in Christ consists of the whole inhabited world after his ascension.  

 I love the allusion to Psalms 7:8 - but yes - he is allowing himself free association. And every time I work with the psalms, I get more from them.

To say that Delitzsch goes to the other extreme would be an understatement. His explanations are only for the few scholars of his time that understood fluently Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and more. I frankly don't believe everything he says for a number of reasons:

• There are lots of writers who have argued over the translation and sense of verse 2 and 3. 
• I can't follow his arguments and I am not sure why they seem so important to him.
• The arguments interrupt my reading.
• Dr. D is a magnificent grammarian who is also a human, and therefore prone to error and misleading information, even though in preponderance, my sense is to trust his opinion.
• But his approach loses me. It may even be disorganized as far as presentation is concerned.
• The copy I am working from is seriously decrepit, missing even English words. I have seen others, but I prefer to work from an original. It forces me to read. It is clear that there is better OCR, at least one search mechanism for PDF and for Google able to interpret Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. 
• Some day if I ever can read it, I may take note with benefit.

I have to assume he is giving us his own translation (translated from the German) - but his comments indicate a stronger sense for wbt than indicated in the translation.

2. JAHVE, our Lord,
How excellent is Thy name in all the earth,
Who hast covered the heavens with Thy glory!
3. Out of the mouth of children and sucklings hast Thou founded a power,
Because of Thine adversaries,
To still the enemy and the revengeful.

 Opening paragraph is important and focuses on this psalm directing its thought to verse 5.

The omission of any reference to the sun in ver. 4 shews that Ps. viii. is a hymn of this kind composed in the night, or at least one in which the writer transfers himself in thought to the night season. The poet has the starry heavens before him, he begins with the glorious revelation of Jahve's power on earth and in the heavens, and then pauses at man, comparatively puny man, to whom Jahve condescends in love and whom He has made lord over His creation.

No wine-press here:

According to which it is a Philistine cithern, just as there was (according to Athenaeus and Pollux) a peculiar Phoenician and Carian flute played at the festivals of Adonis, called γίγγρας, and also an Egyptian flute and a Doric lyre. All the Psalms bearing the inscription אַל־הַגִּתִּית (viii. lxxxi. lxxxiv.) are of a laudatory character. The gittith was, therefore, an instrument giving forth a joyous sound, or (what better accords with its occurring exclusively in the inscriptions of the Psalms), a joyous melody, perhaps a march of the Gittite guard, 2 Sam xv 18 (Hitzig).

But Delitzsch does agree with Eusebius that "the subject speaking in the Psalm is not one individual, but a number of persons; and who should they be but the church of Jahve ..."

So what did I do with these verses?

I was inconsistent on the inscription - taking yl-hgitit as musing (hgh) = muttering, meditating, in both this psalm and 81. But in 84, I used at the gittith settlement. I must reconsider this.

Verses 2-3:

2. Yahweh our Lord how majestic your name in all the earth,
whose splendour is chanted above the heavens.
3. From the mouths of babies and nurslings, you have founded strength,
for the sake of your adversaries,
that you might cease enemy and vengeance.

I agree on the sense of put down / still / cease for לְהַשְׁבִּ֥ית Dr. D. writes: to restrain (lhwbit to cause any one to sit or lie down, rest, to put him to silence). My glosses for this word seek its variations without appealing to cognate languages, but simply to see the force of the verb wbt. I would rather accept Sabbath without force. It is strange that this word takes the sense of both rest and destroy in its semantic range.

Music of the accents in the Hebrew Text

Performance here.

Perhaps I will continue with this psalm...