The Meaning of Ps. 13:4b

Introduction

In the second line of Psalm 13:4 the psalmist requests that YHWH ha’irah enai. The meaning of the imperatival phrase in the context is not 100% clear and translations differ between construing the enlightening of my eyes as (1) providing light before the eyes in order to walk without tripping and (2) restoring strength and health.

Typical of construal (1) and (2) are the NIV and CSB respectively:

Give light to my eyes (NIV)

Revive me (NET)

Is the psalmist praying for spiritual light and restoration or physical restoration?

Construal (1): NIV, RSV, NVSR, NVI, Targum Psalms, Aquila, Theodotion

Construal (2): ESV, NET, CEV, NLT, GNT, HFA, NGÜ, NBS, BDS, PDV, NFC, DHH

Neutral: NRSV, Luther 2017, ELB, EÜ, ZÜR, GNB, TOB, NVR 95, LXX, Vulgate

Conclusion

The physical understanding of restoration seems to fit the use of ha’irah enai here. Though “shining his face” is not absent from the context (see v. 2), the following clause concerning physical death seems determinant.

If YHWH would turn his face, i.e. shine upon David, his path would be illuminated by the light emitted from YHWH’s face. Such seems to be the reading of the same expression in Ps 19:9. The Targum expands upon this spiritual interpretation by inserting ‘by your law’ after the phrase in question, and the result of sinning and dying, where only physical death is present in the MT. Aquila and Symmachus might be hinting at something similar in their addition of similarly to those dying. On the other hand, restoration of health is the main idea throughout the clear cases of hiphil. איר and ‘eyes’ in the Old Testament. Particularly, in Prov. 29:13, where the same expression is found, both the oppressor and the injured man are in the same situation, the Lord מאיר־עיני both of them, which seems to be true only if referring to physical well-being.

The implications of reading ha’irah enai is that our physical well-being and security is in YHWH’s hands, not just spiritual. In David’s current precarious circumstances, he can trust that even the day to day events of being in danger and deliverance from that danger, sickness, and even imminent death can be turned around by YHWH’s intervention. Indeed, as Prov. 29:13 reminds us, He holds the days of both the wicked and just in His hands.

Research

Translations

SEEING WITH MORE LIGHT (spiritual restoration):

(Tg) אַנְהִיר עֵינַי בְּאוֹרַיַתָךְ דִלְמָא אֱחוֹב וְאֶדְמוּךְ עִם חַיָבֵי מוֹתָא:

ilumina mis ojos

donne à mes yeux clarté

LIGHTING UP THEIR APPEARANCE (physical restoration, cf. 1 Sam. 14:29 ≠ 1 Sam. 3:2, 4:15, Deut. 34:7):

llena mis ojos de luz devuélveles la luz a mis ojos haz que recobre mi vigor

viens réparer mes forces

lass mich wieder froh werden und neuen Mut gewinnen

NEUTRAL CONSTRUAL:

alumbra mis ojos

donne la lumière à mes yeux

erleuchte meine Augen Mach hell meine Augen

φώτισον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου

ilumina oculos meos

Secondary Literature

Some want to take it both ways simultaneously:

“Revive and quicken me. The eyes are the index of vital energy. They 'waste away,' they lose their light, they 'are darkened,' by sickness or sorrow (vi. 7, xxxviii. 10; Lam. v. 17). They are 'enlightened' when strength and spirits are restored (i Sam. xiv. 27, 29; Ezr. ix. 8). It is the light of God's face, the illumination of His love and favour, which is the source of life (iv. 6; xxxi. 16; xxxvi. 9)” (Kirkpatrick 1987: 64)

“O lighten mine eye], cf. 19:9, to which it has been assimilated by copyist in use of pl. eyes destroying rhyme. The antith. with "hide Thy face " v.2b indicates that it is here the turning of Yahweh's face upon the psalmist that lightens his eye as 4:7, 31:17, 67:2, 80:4, 8, 20, 118:27, 119:135, all on basis of the High-priest's blessing Nu. 6:25. The use of the phr. 1 S. 14:27, 29, Pr. 29:13, Ezr. 9:8, as well as context, favours the enlightenment of the eyes in the sense of the revival of physical strength and moral energy. But it is due here to the light of Yahweh's countenance, so that probably lighten is here pregnant, comprehending both conceptions. — / sleep in death]. Death is often conceived as sleep 76:6, 90:5, Je. 51:39, 57, Jb. 14:12, not implying that the dead continue in a state of sleep in Sheol, but that the state of dying is a falling asleep to awake in another world. The psalmist is in peril of death, unless the favour of God shine forth from the divine face upon him, with its quickening power” (Briggs 1906: 101)

“Specifically, the psalmist prays that the Lord would “enlighten” his eyes; the eye that was dim was clouded with both ill health and its consequent grief (cf. Job 17:7), so that the prayer is a request for restoration to health and deliverance from grief. When the eye was enlightened, it would signify a state of health (cf. Deut 34:7). But there is more than a prayer for physical health in the psalmist’s plea; at a deeper level, he desires to return to close fellowship with the Lord. Thus, when God’s face was hidden, the light of his countenance could not shine upon the psalmist (see vv 2–3), but when God turned to him again, not only would the psalmist see the light of the divine countenance, but his own eyes would be enlightened. When his eyes were enlightened, both spiritually and physically, he would not fall into the sleep of death which seemed so imminent.” (Craigie 1983)

“This idiom expresses the effect of God’s blessings. People relieved from troubles and blessed with God’s protection, peace, and favor show their inner spiritual condition in their outward appearance (cf. 36:8-9; 1Sa 14:27, 29). Their eyes sparkle with God’s grace. On the other hand, the experience of anguish is expressed by the dimness of the eyes (cf. 6:7; 38:10).” (VanGemeren 2006)

Alonso-Schökel hints at this approach: “Si Dios «esconde el rostro», sobreviene la oscuridad de la noche, el «sueño de la muerte»; si destapa el rostro, derrama luz y vida, porque su rostro es luminoso y fuente de luz. (Alonso-Schökel 1992: 257). However, he later considers the enlightening to be primarily physical: “«Da luz a mis ojos» en 1 Sm 14,27 29, la expresión significa en primer plano el recobrar las fuerzas un soldado exhausto, se puede traducir «le brillaron los ojos» En la liturgia penitencial de Esdras sirve para agradecer la supervivencia de un resto (9,8) «dando luz a nuestros ojos y concediéndonos respiro en nuestra esclavitud» En este salmo es correlativo y antitético del sueño de la muerte, pues el sueno nos cierra los ojos y la muerte nos los cierra para siempre” (ibid.: 258)

Other scholars read it as physical restoration:

“The Psalmist here, then, represents himself as a dying man, as one already half gone, who will soon be wholly overwhelmed with the darkness of death, if the Lord do not give him new power of life, set him free from consuming grief and sorrow, by granting him deliverance, and so prevent his threatening dissolution” (Hengstenberg 1863-64: 201)

“LIGHTEN MINE EYES, said not of spiritual but of physical support, as is clear from what follows, “lest I sleep the sleep of death ;” and also from the other passages where the same idiom occurs, I Sam. xiv. 27 and 29 (where the eyes of Jonathan are said to be enlightened, when, after being reduced to the extremity of faintness, he partakes of food), and Prov. xxix. 13. (Perowne: 1870-1: 173)

“Look on me” contrasts with “hide your face from me” (v. 1). Perhaps he has suffered a potentially lethal wound. If so, “light to my eyes” contrasts sharply with “sleep in death.” Sleep is an apt metaphor for death, for a sleeping body could at times be mistaken for a dead one. (Grogan 2008)

cf. Delitzsch 1883: 253-254 & Longman 2015

References

13:4