[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

An interesting book on the Psalms by John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, involving rather incredible scholarship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mason_Neale
John Mason Neale (January 24, 1818 - August 6, 1866), was an English divine, scholar and hymn-writer.

http://books.google.com/books?id=HNgpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA364
Littledate, Richard Frederick (1833-1890), Anglican controversialist,

These two men wrote an unusual Commentary on the Psalms.

http://www.andrewespress.com/neale.html
A Commentary on the Psalms
http://books.google.com/books?id=B_U2AAAAMAAJ
A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediaeval Writers : and from the Various Office-books and Hymns of the Roman, Mozarabic, Ambrosian, Gallican, Greek, Coptic, Armenian, and Syriac Rites - John Mason Neale, Richard Frederick Littledale

You can see some of the sources they referenced

http://books.google.com/books?id=CD77u9SRGx4C&pg=PA84
S Augustine, Michael Ayguan, Bruno of Aste, Cassiodorus, Balthazar Corderius, Dionysius the Carthusian, Gerhohus, Hilary, Lorinus, Ludolphus, Parez, Remigius of S. Germanus, Euthymius Zigabenus.

And the section describing their commentaries starts at p. 75.

Psalm 12:6-7 begins on p.180 (verse numbers offset by 1, our verse 5 counts as their v.5 & 6) and goes to p. 181. http://books.google.com/books?id=CD77u9SRGx4C&pg=PA180 You will see the Augustine Commentary from above given, also Ambrose Lorinus, Parez, Chrysostom and more, plus verse references.

And here is the text for verse 7.

Thou shalt keep them, O Lord : thou shalt preserve him from this generation for ever.

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COMMENTARY

Keep them: that is, not as the passage is generally taken, Keep or guard Thy people, but

Thou shalt keep, or make good, Thy words: and by so doing,
shalt preserve him--him, the needy, him, the poor--from this generation.

Thou shalt keep Thy word
, -- "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall nourish thee;"

Thy word,
"I will inform thee, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go"

Thy word,
"Fear not, little flock ; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom;"

and so, preserving him from this generation, shalt hereafter give him a portion with that happier generation, the general assembly of the First-born which are written in heaven. .

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We will look at this more shortly, this little commentary has had a surprisingly central role in the current debate, and at the very least it can be a springboard for studies.

Shalom,
Steven