Into your hand I commit my spirit: you have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.
All Commentaries on Psalms 31:5 Go To Psalms 31
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Spirit. Hebrew, ruach. Our Saviour determines the signification of this word, and shows that the saints of the Old Testament believed that the soul survived after its separation from the body, which some commentators have unguardedly said could not be clearly proved. This text may be applicable both to David and to Jesus Christ in a literal sense, as nothing contradictory would ensue, no more than from the prediction, out of Egypt I have called my son, being verified both in the Israelites and in the Messias; as both may truly be styled sons of God, though in a different sense. It is not so with that other prophecy, Behold a virgin, which some say related both to the wife of the prophet and to the blessed Virgin: which cannot be, as they would not both have children, and still remain virgins. When two literal senses are admitted, they must not be contradictory. The verb is here in the future, both in Hebrew, Septuagint, and in the common Greek of the New Testament; (Luke xxiii. 46.) though some manuscripts of the latter have the present tense, which is adopted by Protestants (Berthier)
David commits his cause to God, being convinced that his promises would not be in vain. St. Stephen said in like manner, Lord receive my spirit; (Acts vii. 58.) and "the saints use this prayer when they leave the body "(St. Jerome; Calmet) as well as on any other important occasion, particularly when they receive the holy sacrament. (Worthington)
Redeemed, by freeing me from many dangers. The resurrection of Christ might be called a redemption; for which he had paid the price. (Berthier)
