Psalm 75:4

I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Fools . . . foolishly.—Better, arrogant . . . arrogantly. See Psalm 73:3. (Comp. 1Samuel 2:3.)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 75:4-5. I said — With authority and command; unto the fools — The wicked: I charged them; Deal not foolishly — Desist from your impious and injurious practices, which shall not now go unpunished as they have done. Lift not up your horn, &c. — Do not carry yourselves with pride and arrogance, boasting of your own strength; or with scorn and contempt toward me or any others of God’s people. It is a metaphor taken from untamed oxen, which will not bow their heads to receive the yoke, but lift up their heads and horns to avoid it. Or, למרום, lammarom, rendered, on high, means, against the high one, that is, against God, who is mentioned under this same title, Psalm 56:2; Isaiah 57:15. Speak not —

Against me and my government; with a stiff neck — With pride and contempt of my person, and with rebellion against God’s will declared concerning my advancement, of which you are not ignorant: see 2 Samuel 3:17-18.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

75:1-5 We often pray for mercy, when in pursuit of it; and shall we only once or twice give thanks, when we obtain it? God shows that he is nigh to us in what we call upon him for. Public trusts are to be managed uprightly. This may well be applied to Christ and his government. Man's sin threatened to destroy the whole creation; but Christ saved the world from utter ruin. He who is made of God to us wisdom, bids us be wise. To the proud, daring sinners he says, Boast not of your power, persist not in contempt. All the present hopes and future happiness of the human race spring from the Son of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I said unto the fools - To the wicked people in rebellion. Folly and wickedness in the Bible are synonymous terms, as they are identical in fact. See the notes at Psalm 14:1.

Deal not foolishly - Act not foolishly; carry not out your wicked plans. Do not pursue your schemes of wickedness and folly, for they cannot be successful, and they will only tend to involve you in ruin.

And to the wicked - The wicked people engaged in rebellion - either against a lawful human government, or against God.

Lift not up the horn - The horn is a symbol of strength. Compare Job 16:15; Daniel 7:7-8, Daniel 7:11, Daniel 7:21; Daniel 8:5, Daniel 8:8-9, Daniel 8:21. This is to be understood as the language of the person represented as speaking in the psalm - whether a prince, or whether God himself. It is counsel addressed to the wicked, that they should not attempt to put forth their strength in the accomplishment of their evil purposes. The reason given for this is stated in Psalm 75:6, namely, that success does not depend on chance, or on human power, but must come from God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4-8. Here the writer speaks in view of God's declaration, warning the wicked.

Lift … up the horn—to exalt power, here, of the wicked himself—that is, to be arrogant or self-elated.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I said, with authority and command; I charged them.

The fools, i.e. the wicked, as that is explained in the next clause.

Deal not foolishly; desist from your impious and injurious practices, which shall not now go unpunished, as they have done.

Lift not up the horn; do not carry yourselves either arrogantly, boasting of your own strength, or scornfully and maliciously towards me or others of God’s people.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I said unto the fools,.... To the vain gloriosos, proud boasters, mockers, and scoffers at the day of judgment, and burning of the world:

deal not foolishly; by glorying in themselves, boasting of their riches, and trusting in them; singing a requiem to themselves on account of their abundance, and by putting away the evil day far from them:

and to the wicked, lift not up the horn; of power, grandeur, and wealth, and use it to the injury of others; or be so elated with it as to look with disdain on others; or imagine they shall always continue in this exalted state, as antichrist the horned beast does, Revelation 18:7, the allusion is to horned beasts, particularly harts, which lift up their heads and horns in great pride (p): the phrase signifies to behave proudly and haughtily.

(p) Vid. "Suidam in voce"

Geneva Study Bible

I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. I say unto the arrogant, Deal not arrogantly. Cp. Psalm 73:3; Psalm 5:5. Rabshakeh and his colleagues and the Assyrians in general were the very type of such boastful, defiant arrogance (Isaiah 37:23; Isaiah 10:7 ff.; Nahum 1:11).

Lift not up the horn] A metaphor, derived from animals tossing their heads, to denote overweening, defiant self-consciousness of strength.

4, 5. A warning to all presumptuous braggarts, based on the Divine utterances of Psalm 75:2-3. It is disputed whether the speaker is still God, as in Psalm 75:2-3, or the poet, but the latter alternative is preferable. The interposition of Selah marks the end of the Divine speech, and I said naturally introduces a fresh speaker. Moreover there is no break between Psalm 75:5 and Psalm 75:6, but it is clear that God is no longer speaking in Psalm 75:6-7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - I said. It is doubtful who is the speaker. Professor Cheyne regards the entire passage from the beginning of ver. 2 to the end of ver. 5 as spoken by the Almighty; but most commentators assign vers. 4 and 5 to the psalmist or the people of Israel. Unto the fools; i.e. to the enemy which was attacking Israel; literally, to the boasters, or to the arrogant ones (see Revised Version). Deal not foolishly; rather, deal not so arrogantly. Do not set yourselves so proudly against the Almighty. And to the wicked, Lift not up the horn; i.e. be not fierce and menacing, like a bull who threatens with his horns. Psalm 75:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The church in anticipation gives thanks for the judicial revelation of its God, the near approach of which He Himself asserts to it. The connection with ו in וקרוב שׁמך presents a difficulty. Neither here nor anywhere else is it to be supposed that ו is synonymous with כּי; but at any rate even כי might stand instead of it. For Hupfeld's attempt to explain it: and "near is Thy name" Thy wonders have declared; and Hitzig's: and Thou whose Name is near, they declare Thy wondrous works - are past remedy. Such a personification of wonders does not belong to the spirit of Hebrew poetry, and such a relative clause lies altogether beyond the bounds of syntax. If we would, however, take וקרוב שׁמך, after Psalm 50:23, as a result of the thanksgiving (Campensis), then that for which thanks are rendered would remain undefined; neither will it do to take קרוב as referring to the being inwardly present (Hengstenberg), since this, according to Jeremiah 12:2 (cf. Deuteronomy 30:14), would require some addition, which should give to the nearness this reference to the mouth or to the heart. Thus, therefore, nothing remains for us but to connect the nearness of the Name of God as an outward fact with the earnest giving of thanks. The church has received the promise of an approaching judicial, redemptive revelation of God, and now says, "We give Thee thanks, we give thanks and near is Thy Name;" it welcomes the future act of God with heartfelt thanksgiving, all those who belong to it declare beforehand the wonders of God. Such was really the position of matters when in Hezekiah's time the oppression of the Assyrians had reached its highest point - Isaiah's promises of a miraculous divine deliverance were at that time before them, and the believing ones saluted beforehand, with thanksgiving, the "coming Name of Jahve" (Isaiah 30:27). The כּי which was to be expected after הודינו (cf. e.g., Psalm 100:4.) does not follow until Psalm 75:3. God Himself undertakes the confirmation of the forthcoming thanksgiving and praise by a direct announcement of the help that is hailed and near at hand (Psalm 85:10). It is not to be rendered, "when I shall seize," etc., for Psalm 75:3 has not the structure of an apodosis. כּי is confirmatory, and whatever interpretation we may give to it, the words of the church suddenly change into the words of God. מועד in the language of prophecy, more especially of the apocalyptic character, is a standing expression fore the appointed time of the final judgment (vid., on Habakkuk 2:3). When this moment or juncture in the lapse of time shall have arrived, then God will seize or take possession of it (לקח in the unweakened original sense of taking hold of with energy, cf. Psalm 18:17; Genesis 2:15): He Himself will then interpose and hold judgment according to the strictly observed rule of right (מישׁרים, adverbial accusative, cf. במישׁרים, Psalm 9:9, and frequently). If it even should come to pass that the earth and all its inhabitants are melting away (cf. Isaiah 14:31; Exodus 15:15; Joshua 2:9), i.e., under the pressure of injustice (as is to be inferred from Psalm 75:3), are disheartened, scattered asunder, and are as it were in the act of dissolution, then He (the absolute I, אנכי) will restrain this melting away: He setteth in their places the pillars, i.e., the internal shafts (Job 9:6), of the earth, or without any figure: He again asserts the laws which lie at the foundation of its stability. תכּנתּי is a mood of certainty, and Psalm 75:4 is a circumstantial clause placed first, after the manner of the Latin ablative absolute. Hitzig appropriately compares Proverbs 29:9; Isaiah 23:15 may also be understood according to this bearing of the case.

The utterance of God is also continued after the Sela. It is not the people of God who turn to the enemies with the language of warning on the ground of the divine promise (Hengstenberg); the poet would then have said אמרנוּ, or must at least have said על־כּן אמרתּי. God Himself speaks, and His words are not yet peremptorily condemning, as in Psalm 50:16., cf. Psalm 46:11, but admonitory and threatening, because it is not He who has already appeared for the final judgment who speaks, but He who announces His appearing. With אמרתּי He tells the braggarts who are captivated with the madness of supposed greatness, and the evil-doers who lift up the horn or the head,

(Note: The head is called in Sanscrit iras, in Zend aranh, equals κάρα; the horn in Sanscrit, ringa, i.e., (according to Burnlouf, Etudes, p. 19) that which proceeds from and projects out of the head (iras), Zend rva equals κέρας, קרן (ḳarn).)

hat He will have once for all said to them, and what they are to suffer to be said to them for the short space of time till the judgment. The poet, if we have assigned the right date to the Psalm, has Rabshakeh and his colleagues before his mind, cf. Isaiah 37:23. The ל, as in that passage, and like אל in Zechariah 2:4 (vid., Khler), has the idea of a hostile tendency. אל rules also over Psalm 75:6: "speak not insolence with a raised neck." It is not to be construed עתק בצוּאר, with a stiff neck. Parallel passages like Psalm 31:19; Psalm 94:4, and more especially the primary passage 1 Samuel 5:3, show that עתק is an object-notion, and that בצוּאר by itself (with which, too, the accentuation harmonizes, since Munach here is the vicarius of a distinctive), according to Job 15:26, has the sense of τραχηλιῶτες or ὑπεραυχοῦντες.