Psalms 77:10

And I said, this is my infirmity,.... Referring either to what he had said in the preceding verses; and which is to be considered either as checking and correcting himself for what he had said, and

And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. -This is the transition point to hope.

I said; I thus answered these objections. This is my infirmity; these suspicions of God’ s faithfulness and goodness proceed from the weakness of my faith, and from the mistake of a diseased mind. But I will remember; which words may be understood out of the following verse, as other words frequently are in like cases. The years of the right hand of the Most High; the years wherein God hath done great and glorious works, which are oft ascribed to God’ s right hand, as 20:6 45:4 118:15. But the word rendered years doth also signify changing, and accordingly this verse is by other learned interpreters, and may well be, rendered otherwise, without any such supplement as is in our translation, thus, And I said, This is my affliction or grievance, ( the sum of all, and the chief cause of my trouble and anxiety, is this,) the change of the right hand of the Most High; that right hand which formerly hath done such great and wonderful things for his people, is at this time not only hid in God’ s bosom, and not drawn forth for their defence, but is also stretched forth against them, and is the principal cause of all our present miseries. I could bear the malice and rage of our enemies, from whom we could not expect better things, but that our gracious and covenanted God should forsake and persecute his own people, this is that which makes it intolerable.

Psalms 77:10 And I said, This [is] my infirmity: [but I will remember] the years of the right hand of the most High.Ver. 10. And I said, This is my infirmity] My frailty and folly. Here he begins to recollect, and recall himself, as every good soul will, after its extravagancies and outbursts. Vatablus rendereth it, Mors mea est, This is my death; Beza, Caedes mea haec, This is my death wound, sc. whereof I should surely die, were it not for the change of God’ s hand upon me. But I will remember, &c.] This is supplied out of the following verse. Some make no such supply, but render the text thus, The right hand of the Most High can change these things. Others, This is the change of the right hand of the Most High, and is therefore to be taken patiently; shall we receive good at God’ s hands, and not evil? Job 2:10. I am not utterly deserted, but only the case is a little altered, the right hand of the Most High alternated.

(10) And I said . . .—The word rendered “infirmity” may, by derivation, mean “wounding” or “piercing.” So Symmachus, “my wound;” Aquila, “my sickness.” Gesenius says, “that which makes my sickness.” If we keep this meaning we must understand mental sickness or “madness,” and understand the poet to say that to indulge in despairing cries is mere madness (comp. King Lear’s, “Oh! that way madness lies”), he will recall God’s ancient deliverances, and so re-establish his faith. But it seems more natural to take a sense which the cognate verb very commonly bears (Leviticus 19:8; Ezekiel 36:22; Psalms 74:7; Psalms 89:39), and render, “I said this (such despair) is on my part profanation, profanation of the years of the right hand of the Most High.” To despair of continued help from One who had been so gracious in the past is a kind of blasphemy. The word “profanation” must be understood as repeated for the sake of the grammar.

Verse 10. And I said, This is my infirmity] The Hebrew is very obscure, and has been differently translated: ואמר חלותי היא שנות ימימן עליון vaomar challothi hi shenoth yemin elyon; "And I said, Is this my weakness? Years the right hand of the Most High." If חלותי challothi comes from חלה chalah, and signifies to pray, as De Dieu has thought, then his translation may be proper: Precari hoc meum est; mutare dextram Altissimi. "To pray, this my business; to change the right hand of the Most High." I can do nothing else than pray; God is the Ruler of events. Mr. N. M. Berlin translates, "Dolere meum hoc est; mutare est dextra Altissimi." To grieve is my portion; to change (my condition) belongs to the right hand of the Most High. Here שנות shenoth, which we translate years, is derived from שנה shanah, to change. This latter appears to me the better translation; the sum of the meaning is, "I am in deep distress; the Most High alone can change my condition." The old Psalter, following the Vulgate,-Et dixi, Nunc coepi: haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi,-translates: And I said, Now I began this chaunchyng of ryght hand of hihegh (highest) Alswa say, God sal noght kast al man kynde fra his sigt with outen ende: for nowe I began to understand the syker; (the truth;) that man sal be brogt to endles; and thar fore, now I said, that this chaunchyng fra wreth to mercy, is thrugh Ihu Criste that chaunges me fra ill to gude, fra noy to gladnes. Once more, Coverdale, who is followed by Matthews and Becke, takes the passage by storm: "At last I came to this poynte, that I thought; O why art thou so foolish? The right hande of the Most Hyest can chaunge all."

10–20. The history of the past is the most convincing answer to these questions, the best cordial for his fainting spirits. Cp. Isaiah 63:7 ff.

And I said, This is my infirmity - The meaning of this phrase is not, as would appear from our translation, that his reflections on the subject were to be traced to his weakness, or were a proof of

10. The tone of the psalm abruptly changes. The remaining portion describes the grounds of his faith and hope.