Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The terms in which the pilgrims committed themselves to Yahweh's care before going to rest the last evening of their journey. The Hebrew negative х lo' (H3808)] is here different from that in Psalms 121:3, and is objective, asserting as a fact about to be manifested before the world (what in Psalms 121:3 was a hope) that "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." The "behold" points to a patent fact. If man's conceptions were not so gross, it would not have been needful to remind us that 'Yahweh slumbers not.' This whole psalm is a commentary on God's promise to Jacob (Genesis 28:15), the representative of all Israel, his posterity - "Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places where thou goest." A slip is easily made in a hilly country like Canaan, and is often attended with danger; so it forms the image in Psalms 121:3 of sudden falls, temporal and spiritual. From such falls the pilgrim believer truth to be 'kept.' None of Israel's enemies, it is true (Isaiah 5:27), "slumber nor sleep;" but what fear should that cause us, seeing that Israel's Keeper 'neither slumbers nor sleeps.' Hengstenberg reverses the translations-`shall neither sleep х nuwm (H5123)] nor (even) slumber' (fall asleep) х yaashen (H3462)]. Usage hardly supports him. Buxtorf favours the English version.