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 =Psalm 138=

The Mediator and Perfecter
There will come a time when the praise of Jahve, which according to Psa 137:3 was obliged to be dumb in the presence of the heathen, will, according to Psa 138:5, be sung by the kings of the heathen themselves. In the lxx Psa 137:1-9 side by side with τῷ Δαυίδ also has the inscription Ἱιερεμίου, and Psa 138:1-8 has Ἀγγαίου καὶ Ζαχαρίου. Perhaps these statements are meant to refer back the existing recension of the text of the respective Psalms to the prophets named (vid., Köhler, Haggai, S. 33). From the fact that these names of psalmodists added by the lxx do not come down beyond Malachi, it follows that the Psalm-collection in the mind of the lxx was made not later than in the time of Nehemiah. The speaker in Psa 138:1-8, to follow the lofty expectation expressed in Psa 138:4, is himself a king, and according to the inscription, David. There is, however, nothing to favour his being the author; the Psalm is, in respect for the Davidic Psalms, composed as it were out of the soul of David - an echo of 2 Sam. 7 (1 Chr. 17). The superabundant promise which made the throne of David and of his seed an eternal throne is here gratefully glorified. The Psalm can at any rate be understood, if with Hengstenberg we suppose that it expresses the lofty self-consciousness to which David was raised after victorious battles, when he humbly ascribed the glory to God and resolved to build Him a Temple in place of the tent upon Zion.