The Rock That is Higher Than I

There is disagreement as to the meaning of "the rock that is higher."

 

Not all agree. The KJV has "rock." The MKJV has "Rock." The NET Bible has "rocky."

 

I like John Gill. But I cannot always agree with him. With Psalms 61:2 that rock does not refer to the Person of God or Christ but to a safe place God places one.

 

I have always taken this to mean a place of safety and for me the ultimate place is Christ Jesus.
2Sa 22:32 "For who is God, besides the LORD? And who is a rock, besides our God?

Rock that is higher than I— “Rock,” here, is to be taken in the figurative sense of fortress, stronghold, place of security. The “Rock that is higher than I,” is one that is above his kingly command, safer than all his military defenses—the immediate protection of God himself. Out of himself, above himself, he seeks his refuge in God. Whedon

 

Well I, as a song leader in our Primitive Baptist Church, we use to sing this song called The Rock That Is Higher Than I... Penned in the 1800's by Erastus Johnson... Brother Glen

1 O sometimes the shadows are deep,
And rough seems the path to the goal,
And sorrows, sometimes how they sweep
Like tempests down over the soul!

Refrain:
O then to the Rock let me fly,
To the Rock that is higher than I;
O then to the Rock let me fly,
To the Rock that is higher than I!

2 O sometimes how long seems the day,
And sometimes how weary my feet;
But toiling in life's dusty way,
The Rock's blessed shadow, how sweet! [Refrain]

3 O near to the Rock let me keep
If blessings or sorrow prevail,
Or climbing the mountain way steep,
Or walking the shadowy vale. [Refrain]

 

Here it is acapella style... Brother Glen

http://mtzionprimitivebaptist.org/audio_files/hymn_mp3s/therockthatishigherthani.mp3

 

Actually, two words in the NET translate the original single noun: "rocky summit." So the NET is actually literal here. Here is the BDB lexicon definition:
1) rock, cliff (noun masculine)
1a) rocky wall, cliff
1b) rock (with flat surface)
1c) block of stone, boulder
1d) rock (specific)
1e) rock (of God)
1f) rock (of heathen gods)
1g) Rock (noun proper deity)

 

The Keil and Delitszch commentary, still authoritative after over 150 years, has:

not the land of Israel, as Kimchi thinks, the psalmist being now in the low lands of the Philistines; nor Jerusalem, and the fort and hill of Zion; he being now at the extreme and lower parts of the land: this sense is too low. Some think that some great difficulty is meant; which seemed insuperable, and like a rock inaccessible, which he could not get up to, and upon, and get over; and therefore desires the Lord would lead him up it, and over it, before whom every rock, mountain, and hill, becomes a plain, Zec_4:7; but rather Christ is meant, the Rock of Israel, the Rock of our salvation, and our refuge. He is higher than David, and all the kings of the earth; higher than the angels in heaven, and than the heavens themselves, Heb_7:26; and who by his height is able to protect and defend his people from all their enemies; and by the shade he casts to refresh and comfort them; and by the sufficiency in him to supply all their wants; for he is as a rock impregnable, and well stored, Isa_33:16. And here gracious souls desire to be led by the Spirit of God always, and especially when in distressing circumstances; and he does lead them to his blood for pardon and cleansing, and to his righteousness for justification and acceptance with God, and to his fulness for fresh supplies.

 

AMEN!!!... John Of Japan... I was going to post one of my favorites in acapella style but couldn't find it this will do... Its called The Solid Rock complete with lyrics... Now everyone can sing along... Brother Glen

 

C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch wrote a ten volume technical commentary on the Hebrew Old Testament, probably the best such commentary in existence, even though it is around 150 years old. Even Hebrew scholars in the 21st century consult it. It can be downloaded for free in e-sword, which itself is a free Bible software at www.e-sword.net.

I was not able to find any place in the quote from K&D that I posted which repeats something from Gill. I'm not opposing Gill, who was brilliant, but where do you say that K&D quoted Gill?

 

Aha! My bad. I had my commentary on e-sword set to Gill instead of K&D. So you are absolutely right, except that K&D did not quote Gill, that was me. And a wonderful quote it was by Gill, too!

Here is what K&D said:

"(Note: Just as in Num_32:29. the country east of Jordan is excluded from the name “the land of Canaan” in the stricter sense, so by the Jewish mind it was regarded from the earliest time to a certain extent as a foreign country (חוצה לארץ), although inhabited by the two tribes and a half; so that not only is it said of Moses that he died in a foreign land, but even of Saul that he is buried in a foreign land (Numeri Rabba, ch. viii. and elsewhere).)
Hurled out of the land of the Lord in the more limited sense into the country on the other side of the Jordan, David felt only as though he were banished to the extreme corner of the earth (not: of the land, cf. Psa_46:10; Deu_28:49, and frequently), far from the presence of God (Hengstenberg). It is the feeling of homelessness and of separation from the abode of God by reason of which the distance, in itself so insignificant (just as was the case with the exiles later on), became to him immeasurably great. For he still continually needed God's helpful intervention; the enveloping, the veiling, the faintness of his heart still continues (עָטַף, Arab. ‛tf, according to its radical signification: to bend and lay anything round so that it lies or draws over something else and covers it, here of a self-enveloping); a rock of difficulties still ever lies before him which is too high for his natural strength, for his human ability, therefore insurmountable. But he is of good courage: God will lead him up with a sure step, so that, removed from all danger, he will have rocky ground under his feet. He is of good courage, for God has already proved Himself to be a place of refuge to him, to be a strong tower, defying all attack, which enclosed him, the persecuted one, so that the enemy can gain no advantage over him (cf. Pro_18:10). He is already on the way towards his own country, and in fact his most dearly loved and proper home: he will or he has to (in accordance with the will of God) dwell (cf. the cohortative in Isa_38:10; Jer_4:21) in God's tabernacle (vid., on Psa_15:1) throughout aeons (an utterance which reminds one of the synchronous Psa_23:6). With גּוּר is combined the idea of the divine protection (cf. Arabic ǵâr ollah, the charge or protegé of God, and Beduinic ǵaur, the protecting hearth; ǵawir, according to its form = גֵּר, one who flees for refuge to the hearth). A bold figure of this protection follows: he has to, or will trust, i.e., find refuge, beneath the protection of God's wings. During the time the tabernacle was still being moved from place to place we hear no such mention of dwelling in God's tabernacle or house. It was David who coined this expression for loving fellowship with the God of revelation, simultaneously with his preparation of a settled dwelling-place for the sacred Ark. In the Psalms that belong to the time of his persecution by Saul such an expression is not yet to be found; for in Psa_52:7, when it is desired that Doeg may have the opposite of an eternal dwelling-place, it is not the sacred tent that is meant. We see also from its second part that this Psa_61:1-8 does not belong to the time of Saul; for David does not speak here as one who has drawn very near to his kingly office (cf. Psa_40:8), but as one who is entering upon a new stage in it."