LXXXIII. The array of proper names in this poem seems, at first sight, to promise an easy identification with some definite historical event. But our records nowhere speak of a confederation composed of all the tribes enumerated here; so that if we are to be governed by literal exactness, it is impo... [ Continue Reading ]
KEEP NOT THOU SILENCE, O GOD. — Literally, _God, not silence to thee._ (Comp. Isaiah 62:7; and see Note, Psalms 28:1.)... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE A TUMULT. — Literally, _roar like the sea._ So (correctly) LXX. and Vulg. (See Psalms 46:3.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE TAKEN CRAFTY COUNSEL. — Literally, _They have made their plot crafty_; or, as we say, “They have laid a deep plot.” HIDDEN ONES — _i.e.,_ those under God’s close protection, as in Psalms 17:8; Psalms 27:5; Psalms 31:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
For this attack against, not only the independence, but even the continued existence of Israel as a nation, compare Esther 3:6; Esther 3:9; Jeremiah 11:19; Jeremiah 31:36; Jeremiah 48:2; Isaiah 7:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE CONFEDERATE. — Literally, _they have cut a covenant,_ from the custom described in Genesis 15:17. (Comp. the Greek δρκια τέμνειν.) AGAINST THEE. — God and “His hidden ones” are one, a truth preparing the way for that grander truth of the identification of the Son of man with all needing he... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TABERNACLES — _i.e.,_ the tents of the nomad tribes. HAGARENES. — A tribe mentioned in 1 Chronicles 5:10; 1 Chronicles 5:19 (Hagarites), where see Note.... [ Continue Reading ]
(6-8) In the enumeration of the confederate powers, the psalmist seems to follow a geographical order. He first glances southwards and eastwards, then turns to the west, and, finally, to the north.... [ Continue Reading ]
GEBAL. — If this is a noun, as generally supposed, and as printed in the text, we must take it as a synonym of Edom (the _Gebalene_ of Eusebius). The Gebal of Ezekiel 27:9 is not to be thought of; but it is most likely a verb: “Both Ammon and Amalek are joined together, The Philistines (are joined)... [ Continue Reading ]
ASSUR. — For the more usual _Ashur,_ Assyria. Some, however, think the Syria is here intended, that name being, in the view of the Greek writers, a corruption of Assyria. (“The Greeks call them Syrians, but the Barbarians Assyrians.” — Herod, vii., 63.) And even if etymologically incorrect, the erro... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-12) For the historical allusion see references in margin. The splendid victories of Barak and Gideon were the constant theme of poets and prophets when trying to encourage their own generation by the examples of the past. (See Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 10:26; Habakkuk 3:7.)... [ Continue Reading ]
EN-DOR. — This place, for which see 1 Samuel 28, is not mentioned in Judges 4, but is in the battle-field not far from the Taanach and Megiddo of Deborah’s song. (Robinson, iii. 224)... [ Continue Reading ]
HOUSES. — Rather, _pastures._ (See Psalms 79:7.)... [ Continue Reading ]
A WHEEL. — Heb., _galgal._ (See Note, Psalms 77:18, and comp. Isaiah 17:13, where the Authorised Ver sion has literally _rolling thing,_ the margin “thistle down,” and the LXX., “dust of a wheel.”) Sir G. Grove (Smith’s _Bibl. Dict.,_ art. Oreb) says, “like the spherical masses of dry weeds which co... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses are rightly taken together. The figure occurs in Isaiah 10:17 (comp. Zechariah 12:6), but there as a metaphor; here as a simile. “Before the rains came the whole mountain side was in a blaze. Thorns and briars grow so luxuriantly here that they must be burned off always before the ploug... [ Continue Reading ]
THY NAME, O LORD. — Rather, _thy name_ (_which is_)_ Jehovah._ The nations were to seek Him not only as God, but as Jehovah God of Israel. This is proved by Psalms 83:18. No doubt the thought uppermost in the verse is the submission of the heathen to Jehovah’s power. But we may, looking back, read i... [ Continue Reading ]