Psalms 70

Psalms 70:70; Psalms 70:71. THERE are strong reasons for believing that these Psalms, like the first and second, are connected together, so as to form one pair, the 70th being like an introduction to the 71st. In the 71st there is no title;-a want which exists nowhere throughout the first and second books of Psalms, except where a pair of Psalms occurs. The fact, that the 70th Psalm is mere-ly a repetition of a part of the 40th, is very unfavourable to its being considered as occupying an entirely independent position, but admits of explanation, if the two Psalms be viewed as con-nected together. To this may be added, the analogy of the opening verses of the 71st, which are borrowed from Psalms 31 :Then both Psalms are as it were wrought together by an alpha-betical arrangement; the beginning, the middle, and the end of the whole are indicated by the three first letters of the alpha-bet. The 70th Psalm begins with א, the 71st with ב, which is doubled, for the purpose of rendering it less doubtful that this beginning is accidental, and concludes with ג, which alternates with ת, the appropriate letter for a conclusion, גת and תג. Finally, if we add the verses of the 70th to those of the 71st, we obtain the remarkable number 30, three decades.

The ground on which the relation of the 70th to the 71st Psalm depends, cannot be doubtful. It is the same which in Psalms 71. itself has been the cause of the passage at the begin-ning being borrowed from the 31st Psalm, and of the verbal references which occur, near the close of this passage, to the 22, 40, 35, and 38 Psalms, viz, the purpose to connect our Psalm with the other Davidic Psalms which refer to the suffering righteous man, and to point it out as a link of that chain: com-pare at Psalms 69. And in particular, Psalms 70. forms a transition between the 69. and 71.; the three together forming a kind of Trilogy. The 70th is a compend of the 40th Psalm, to which the 60th is very closely allied, and therefore is particu-larly well fitted to serve as the link of connection between the 69th and the 71st. As the variations between the 70th and the 40th Psalms have already been considered, in our remarks on the latter Psalm, we shall proceed at once to the 71st.