Psalm 19/Notes/Lexical.Vv. 10-11.622366

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  • Eaton also argues that "The description of this revelation ['the fear of YHWH'] as טהורה may well denote a sun-like brilliance, so that we should render 'clear-shining' or 'radiant' (AV, RSV) rather than 'clean' or 'holy' (Gunkel heilig, LXX άγνός, Jerome mundus). The Aramaic טיהרא is used of a bright sky and of midday (M. Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim..., p. 530), while in Hebrew טהר denotes 'clear brilliance' in Exod. xxiv. 10 and טֳהָר means 'lustre' in Ps lxxxix. 45... If then the psalm here pictures the revealed religion of Yahweh, the sum of his commandments as a radiant, enlightening sun, the appropriateness of the following עומדת לעד now appears: this light of revelation is as constant and enduring as the sun which Yahweh has created to operate so unfailingly" (Eaton 1968, 605). It could be that 'ethically clean' (HALOT, cf. SDBH; cf. Ps 12:7 and Pr 15:26) is the primary meaning, but that the quality of 'radiance' is also evoked.
  • מִשְׁפְּטֵי: "God’s mišpāṭîm are the individual commandments as well as the summary of the entire law" (TDOT 1998, 94). Cf. Ex. 21:1.
  • SDBH defines נפת as "virgin honey, dripping straight from the honeycomb; ≈ regarded as very desirable food of high quality." The 'honeycomb' is "associated with sweetness and health" (SDBH).