_A.M. 2989. B.C. 1015._ This Psalm is a narrative of the wonderful things which God had done for his people Israel, from the time of their coming out of Egypt to that of David, and of their behaviour to him. And as it concludes there, Bishop Patrick is of opinion that it was probably composed by th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Give ear, O my people_ In these words “the psalmist opens his commission, and speaks as one having authority from above to instruct the world. He demands a large and attentive audience, while, by a series of examples, he sets forth the goodness of God, and the ingratitude of man, for the admonition... [ Continue Reading ]
_Showing the praises of the Lord_ His glorious and praiseworthy actions, as the following words explain it. _For he established a testimony in Jacob_ That is, his law, as it is called in the next clause; which is very often termed _a testimony_, because it is a witness between God and men, declaring... [ Continue Reading ]
_That they might set their hope in God_ That by the consideration of God's gracious promises, and his wonderful works wrought for his people, they might be encouraged to adhere to him, and trust in him alone. _And might not be as their fathers_ Who, though they were the seed of Abraham, the father o... [ Continue Reading ]
_The children of Ephraim, being armed, turned back in the day of battle_ “This defeat of the Ephraimites,” says Dr. Hammond, from Kimchi, “was in the desert: and although the story be not mentioned in the books of Moses, yet it is written in the Chronicles, (see 1 Chronicles 7:21,) where, from the c... [ Continue Reading ]
_They kept not the covenant of God_ Their cowardice was the effect of their unbelief and disobedience; _and refused to walk in his law _ Their disobedience was accompanied with obstinacy and contempt of God's laws. _And forgat his works_ Not historically, but practically. They did not so remember th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Marvellous things did he in the field_ That is, in the territory or jurisdiction, not excluding the city itself; _of Zoan_ An ancient and eminent city of Egypt. _In the day-time he led them with a cloud_ Which afforded them much comfort, both as a shadow from the scorching heat of the climate and s... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they sinned yet more_ Hebrew, ויוסיפו עוד לחשׂאלו, _They added yet to sin against him._ All these miraculous works did not alter their depraved nature; but it broke out into new and greater provocations; _in the wilderness_ In that very place where they were under such strong and singular oblig... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord heard, and was wroth_ Such rude and insolent language highly incensed the Divine Majesty. _So a fire was kindled against Jacob_ He sent lightning from heaven to consume those whom he had before cherished, Numbers 11:1. Or, the expression may be taken figuratively for the fire of God's ange... [ Continue Reading ]
_Though he commanded the clouds_, &c. It was a great aggravation of their unbelief and distrust, that they had had great experience of his power and goodness to them. For he had given them undeniable proofs of both, and those not only from earth beneath, but from the heaven above, having commanded t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Man did eat angels' food_ Such as was given by the ministry of angels, and, as the Chaldee reads it, descended from the dwelling of angels. Or, it may be so called because of its excellence, such food as might suit angels, if they needed or could eat food, and such as had some resemblance or relati... [ Continue Reading ]
_He caused an east wind to blow_, &c. First an eastern, and afterward a southern wind. _He rained flesh, &c., and feathered fowls like as the sand_ Hebrew, עו Š כנ Š, _gnoph chanap, fowl of wing_, or _winged fowl;_ but God took away from them the use of their wings, and made them fall into the hands... [ Continue Reading ]
_They were not estranged from their lust_, &c. Green translates the verse, _But before they were averse to what they had desired, and while their meat was still in their mouths, the wrath of God_, &c. The sense is, either, 1st, While their greedy appetite yet continued, and was not fully satisfied;... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their days did he consume in vanity_ In tedious and fruitless marches hither and thither, sometimes forward and sometimes backward, which they knew would never bring them, in their own persons, to their promised and much desired land; _and their years in trouble_ In manifold diseases, dangers, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_When he slew them_ Or condemned them to be slain; _then they sought him_ Confessed their sin, begged pardon, and prayed to him to deliver them from the threatened destruction. When some were slain, others, in a fright, cried for mercy, and promised to be obedient in future: _And they returned_ Name... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth_ As if they thought, by mere fair speeches, to prevail on Him who searches the heart, and requires truth in the inward parts, to revoke the sentence gone out against them, or remove the judgment under which they suffered. _And they lied unto him w... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he, being full of compassion_ Of pity for them amidst their sins and miseries; _forgave their iniquity_ Not simply and absolutely, for in that sense it is undeniably certain from the Holy Scriptures, God pardons none but true penitents, such as these were not; but respectively, and so far as no... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he remembered they were but flesh_ He considered the corruption of their nature, which inclined them to evil, and was pleased to make that a reason for his sparing them. See the same argument used to a like purpose, Genesis 8:21. Or, rather, _flesh_ here signifies the frailty and infirmity of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And limited the Holy One of Israel_ Prescribing to him what proofs he should give of his power and presence with them, and what methods he should take in leading them and providing for them; directing him what to do, and when, and in what manner, to do it, and murmuring if he did not always grant t... [ Continue Reading ]
_How he had wrought his signs in Egypt_ Here the Psalm goes back to the subject of Israelitish ingratitude, (mentioned Psalms 78:11,) in order to introduce an account of the miracles wrought in Egypt previous to Israel's deliverance from thence. “These miracles,” says Dr. Horne, “were intended to ev... [ Continue Reading ]
_He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger_ Anger in the highest degree, _wrath and indignation_, the cause, _and trouble_, (tribulation and anguish, Romans 2:8,) the effect. These he _cast upon them_ from on high, and did not spare. _By sending evil angels among them_ Hebrew, משׁלחת, _mishlacha... [ Continue Reading ]
_He made a way to his anger_ By removing every obstacle that mercy had thrown in the path of justice, he made a way for his indignation, which then rushed forth like a fiery stream. Hebrew, יפלס נתיב לאפו, _He weighed a path to his anger_, that is, he made a most smooth, even, and exact path, as if... [ Continue Reading ]
_But made his own people go out like sheep_ Distinguishing between them and the Egyptians, _as a shepherd divideth between the sheep and the goats_, having set his own mark upon these sheep, by the blood of the Lamb sprinkled on their door-posts. And they went forth as sheep, not knowing whither the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And dealt unfaithfully like their fathers_ They imitated their forefathers, both in their frequent apostacies from God, and in their falseness to their promises, when they pretended to repent of them. _They were turned aside like a deceitful bow_ Which seems likely to send the arrow to the mark, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
_So he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh_ The tabernacle which then was placed in Shiloh, from whence, as the Israelites fetched the ark, so God withdrew himself. This relates to that part of the Jewish history which is recorded 1 Samuel 4. For upon the Israelites sending for the ark of God, from the... [ Continue Reading ]
_He gave his people over unto the sword_ To the sword of his own justice, and of the enemies' rage, for _he was wroth with his inheritance;_ and that wrath of his was _the fire which consumed their young men_ in the prime of their time, by the sword or sickness, and made such devastation of them, th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep_, &c. “While, by his permission, the Philistines were chastising his people for their sins, he held his peace, and seemed unconcerned as one asleep: but when due chastisement had brought the delinquents to themselves, the cries of penitent Israel awakened, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moreover_ And as he smote his enemies for their sins, so he punished his own people for the same cause. _He refused the tabernacle of Joseph_ He did not suffer his ark to return to Shiloh, which was in the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph, but to go to Kirjath-jearim, which was in the tribe of B... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he built his sanctuary_ The temple of Solomon. David, indeed, erected only a tent for the ark, but a temple was then designed, and preparations were made for building it. _Like high palaces_ A very stately place, magnificent and glorious. It was built like the palaces of princes, and of the gre... [ Continue Reading ]
_He chose David also his servant_ Out of all the thousands of Israel, and put the sceptre into his hand, out of whose loins Christ was to come, and who was to be a type of him. _And took him from the sheepfold_ As Moses also was taken. For he delights to put honour on the humble and diligent, and to... [ Continue Reading ]
_So he fed them_ Having so great a trust put into his hands, he obtained mercy of the Lord to be found both skilful and faithful in the discharge of it; _he fed them_ That is, he ruled and taught them, guided and protected them, 1st, Very honestly; _according to the integrity of his heart_ Aiming at... [ Continue Reading ]