intercession · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
forth
תִּכּ֤וֹןti.Kon
H3559
properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
before
לְפָנֶ֑יךָle.fa.Nei.kha
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
incense
קְטֹ֣רֶתke.To.ret
H7004
a fumigation · noun, common feminine singular absolute
up
מַֽשְׂאַ֥תmas.'At
H4864
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct
hands
כַּ֝פַּ֗יka.Pai
H3709
the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix
evening
עָֽרֶב'A.rev
H6153
dusk · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sacrifice
מִנְחַתmin.chat-
H4503
a donation · noun, common feminine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Revelation 8:3-4 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it wi…
Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and go…
1 Timothy 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Daniel 9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, tou…
Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense sh…
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Psalms 63:4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Luke 1:9-10 According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 141:1-4
Mercy to accept what we do well, and grace to keep us from doing ill, are the two things which we are here taught by David's example to pray to God for.
I. David loved prayer, and he begs of God that his prayers might be heard and answered, Psa 141:1, Psa 141:2. David cried unto God. His crying denotes fervency in prayer; he prayed as one in earnest. His crying to God denotes faith and fixedness in prayer. And what did he desire as the success of his prayer? 1. That God would take cognizance of it: "Give ear to my voice; let me have a gracious audience." Those that cry in prayer may hope to be heard in prayer, not for their loudness, but their liveliness. 2. That he would visit him upon it:…
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense,.... Which was offered every morning on the altar of incense, at which time the people were praying, Exodus 30:1; and was an emblem of it, even of pure, holy, and fervent prayer; which being offered on the altar Christ, which sanctifies every gift, and by him the High Priest; through whom every sacrifice is acceptable unto God; and through whose blood and righteousness, and the sweet incense of his mediation and intercession, it becomes fragrant and a sweet odour to the Lord; and being directed to him, it goes upwards, is regarded by him, and continues before him as sweet incense; which is what the psalmist prays for; see Malachi 1:11;
and t…
Psalm 141:1-4
1. O Jehovah! I have cried unto thee, make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. 2. Let my prayer be directed as incense before thy face; the lifting up of my hands, as [234] the evening sacrifice. 3. Set a watch, O Jehovah! upon my mouth, keep a guard upon the door of my lips. 4. Incline not my heart to an evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity, and that I may not eat of their dainties.
1. O Jehovah! I have cried unto thee. From such an exordium and manner of praying, it is evident that David was laboring under no small trial, as he repeats his requests, and insists upon receiving help. Without venturing to say anything definit…
The Church Fathers
Thus we possess other hands, of which it is said: "The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice." For if I lift up these hands of mine, while the hands of my soul remain hanging down, and not raised to holy and good deeds, then the lifting up of my hands will not be an evening sacrifice.
A sermon has to be preached about the evening sacrifice. We prayed after all as we sang, and we sang as we prayed, "May my prayer rise straight up like incense in your presence; the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice." In the prayer we observe the person, in the extension of the hands we recognize the cross. So this is the sign that we carry on our foreheads, the sign by which we have been saved. A sign that was mocked, in order to be honored; despised in order to be glorified. God appears in visible form, so that as man he may intercede; he remains hidden so that as man he may die. "For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory." So this sacrifice, in which the priest is also the victim, has redeemed us by the shedding of the Creator's blood.
Does any one perchance flatter himself with this notion, that although in the morning, water alone is seen to be offered, yet when we come to supper we offer the mingled cup? But when we sup, we cannot call the people together to our banquet, so as to celebrate the truth of the sacrament in the presence of all the brotherhood. But still it was not in the morning, but after supper, that the Lord offered the mingled cup. Ought we then to celebrate the Lord's cup after supper, that so by continual repetition of the Lord's supper we may offer the mingled cup? It behoved Christ to offer about the evening of the day, that the very hour of sacrifice might show the setting and the evening of the world; as it is written in Exodus, "And all the people of the synagogue of the children of Israel shall kill it in the evening." And again in the Psalms, "Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice." But we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord in the morning.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Altar — (Heb. mizbe’ah, from a word meaning “to slay”), any structure of earth (Ex. 20:24) or unwrought stone (20:25) on which sacrifices were offered. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places…
Frankincense — (Heb. lebonah; Gr. libanos, i.e., “white”), an odorous resin imported from Arabia (Isa. 60:6; Jer. 6:20), yet also growing in Palestine (Cant. 4:14). It was one of the ingredients in the perfume of…
Incense — A fragrant composition prepared by the “art of the apothecary.” It consisted of four ingredients “beaten small” (Ex. 30:34-36). That which was not thus prepared was called “strange incense” (30:9).…
Daily Sacrifice, The · Peculiarly acceptable — Peculiarly acceptable
Evening, The · Part of the daily sacrifice offered in — Part of the daily sacrifice offered in
Hands, The · Were lifted up: In prayer — Were lifted up: In prayer
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The very beginning of Psa 141:1-10 is more after the manner of David than really Davidic; for instead of haste thee to me, David always says, haste thee for my help, Psa 22:20; 38:23; Psa 40:14. The לך that is added to בּקראי (as in Psa 4:2) is to be explained, as in Psa 57:3 : when I call to Thee, i.e., when I call Thee, who art now far from me, to me. The general cry for help is followed in Psa 141:2 by a petition for the answering of his prayer. Luther has given an excellent rendering: Let my prayer avail to Thee as an offering of incense; the lifting up of my hands, as an evening sacrifice (Mein Gebet msse fur dir tgen wie ein Reuchopffer, Meine Hende auffheben, wie ein Abendopffer). תּכ…
Ps 141 The psalmist prays for rescue and wisdom, and he envisions the end of evil. The principle of retribution (141:10) unifies the psalm.
141:1-2 The psalmist prays urgently for rescue. He does not have at hand either incense or an evening offering (Exod 29:38-39), but his prayers and devotion are the reality that those elements represent (cp. Isa 1:13; Rev 5:8). • Upraised hands are a posture of prayer (Pss 28:2; 88:9; 143:6; Exod 9:29; 1 Tim 2:8).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 141:2
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense. As incense is carefully prepared, kindled with holy fire, and devoutly presented unto God, so let my prayer be. We are not to look upon prayer as easy work requiring no thought. It needs to be "set forth"; what is more, it must be set forth "before the Lord, "by a sense of his presence and a holy reverence for his name: neither may we regard all supplication as certain of divine acceptance, it needs to be set forth before the Lord "as incense, "concerning the offering of which there were rules to be observed, otherwise it would be rej…
