I will open. — A difficulty is started by the fact that the psalm deals with history, and is neither a proverb (mâshal) nor riddle (chîdah). But the Divine rejection of the northern tribes may be the covert meaning which the poet sees to have been wrapped up in all the ancient history. The word mâshal is also sometimes used in a wide, vague sense, embracing prophetic as well as proverbial poetry. (See Numbers 21:27.)
For “dark sayings,” literally, knotty points, see Numbers 12:8. In Habakkuk 2:6 the word seems to mean a sarcasm.
For the use of this passage in Matthew 13:35, see Note, New Testament Commentary.