1._My voice came to God, and I cried. _This is not a mere complaint, as some interpreters explain it, denoting the surprise which the people of God felt in finding that he who hitherto had been accustomed to grant their requests shut his ears to them, and was called upon in vain. It appears more pro... [ Continue Reading ]
2._I sought the Lord in the day of my trouble. _In this verse he expresses more distinctly the grievous and hard oppression to which the Church was at that time subjected. There is, however, some ambiguity in the words. The Hebrew word יד _, yad, _which I have translated _hand, _is sometimes taken m... [ Continue Reading ]
3._I will remember God, and will be troubled. _The Psalmist here employs a variety of expressions to set forth the vehemence of his grief, and, at the same time, the greatness of his affliction. He complains that what constituted the only remedy for allaying his sorrow became to him a source of disq... [ Continue Reading ]
4._Thou hast held the watches of my eyes. _(288) This verse is to the same effect with the preceding. The Psalmist affirms that he spent whole nights in watching, because God granted him no relief. The night in ancient times was usually divided into many watches; and, accordingly, he describes his c... [ Continue Reading ]
5._I have recounted the days of old. _There is no doubt that he endeavored to assuage his grief by the remembrance of his former joy; but he informs us that relief was not so easily nor so speedily obtained. By the _days of old, _and _the years of ancient times, _he seems not only to refer to the br... [ Continue Reading ]
6._I will call to remembrance my song in the night. _By _his song _he denotes the exercise of thanksgiving in which he had engaged during the time of his prosperity. (289) There is no remedy better adapted for healing our sorrows, as I have just now observed, than this; but Satan often craftily sugg... [ Continue Reading ]
7.and 8._Will the Lord cast off for ever? _The statements here made undoubtedly form a part of the searchings which engaged the Psalmist’s mind. He intimates that he was almost overwhelmed by a long succession of calamities; for he did not break forth into this language until he had endured afflicti... [ Continue Reading ]
9._Hath God forgotten to be merciful? _The prophet still continues debating with himself the same subject. His object, however, is not to overthrow his faith, but rather to raise it up. He does not put this question, as if the point to which it refers were a doubtful matter. It is as if he had said,... [ Continue Reading ]
10._And I said, My death, the years of the right hand, etc. _This passage has been explained in various ways. Some deriving the word חלותי, _challothi, _from חלה _, chalah, _which signifies _to kill, _consider the prophet as meaning, that being overwhelmed with an accumulation of calamities, the onl... [ Continue Reading ]
11._I will remember the works of God. _The prophet now, inspired with new courage, vigorously resists the temptations, which had so far prevailed against him as well nigh to overwhelm his faith. This remembering of the works of God differs from the remembering of which he had previously spoken. Then... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Thy ways, O God! are in the sanctuary. _Some translate _in holiness, _and they are led to do this, because it seems to them a cold and meagre form of expression to say, that _God’s ways are in his sanctuary _But as the rules of grammar will not easily admit of this, we must inquire whether a pro... [ Continue Reading ]
14._Thou art the God that doest wonders. _The Psalmist confirms the preceding sentence, proving the greatness of God from the wonderful character of his works. He does not speak of the hidden and mysterious essence of God which fills heaven and earth, but of the manifestations of his power, wisdom,... [ Continue Reading ]
15._Thou hast redeemed thy people by thy arm. _The Psalmist here celebrates, above all the other wonderful works of God, the redemption of the chosen people, to which the Holy Spirit everywhere throughout the Scriptures invites the attention of true believers, in order to encourage them to cherish t... [ Continue Reading ]
16._The waters saw thee, O God! _Some of the miracles in which God had displayed the power of his arm are here briefly adverted to. When it is said that the _waters saw God, _the language is figurative, implying that they were moved, as it were, by a secret instinct and impulse to obey the divine co... [ Continue Reading ]
17._The clouds poured out waters. _As the noun מים, _mayim, _cannot be taken in the construct state, the verb, I have no doubt, is put transitively; but it makes little difference as to the sense, whether we take this view, or read as if מים, _mayim, _were in the construct state and the verb passive... [ Continue Reading ]
19._Thy ways are in the sea. _The miracle which was wrought in drying up the Red Sea is here again described in different phraseology. What, properly speaking, refers to the Israelites is applied to God, under whose protection and guidance they passed dry-shod through the midst of the Red Sea. It is... [ Continue Reading ]