O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Ver. 1. _O give thanks unto the Lord_] Some tell us that this and the two following psalms were the great Hallelujah sung at solemn times in their assemblies. But others say better, that the great Hallelujah (as... [ Continue Reading ]
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. Ver. 2. _Sing unto him, sing_] Both with mouth and with musical instruments. _ Talk ye_] Or, meditate ye, let your heart indite a good matter, and your tongue be as the pen of a ready writer, Psalms 45:1 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. Ver. 3. _Glory ye in his holy name_] Of his power and goodness. See 1 Corinthians 1:31, with Jeremiah 9:23. _Non est gloriosior populus sub coelo quam Iudaicus,_ saith Alsted; there is not a more vain glorious people under... [ Continue Reading ]
Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. Ver. 4. _Seek the Lord, and his strength_] That is, his ark, at the remove whereof to Jerusalem this psalm was sung, 1 Chronicles 16:7,36, &c. Called it is God's strength and God's face here; yea, even God himself, Psalms 132:5. It is as if h... [ Continue Reading ]
Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; Ver. 5. _Remember his marvellous works, &c._] Deeply and diligently ponder both the works and words of God, comparing the one with the other, that ye may the better conceive of both.... [ Continue Reading ]
O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. Ver. 6. _O ye seed of Abraham, &c._] Do thus, or else your pedigree will profit you no more than it did Dives in the flames, that Abraham called him son. An empty title yieldeth but an empty comfort.... [ Continue Reading ]
He [is] the LORD our God: his judgments [are] in all the earth. Ver. 7. _He is the Lord_] Jehovah, the essentiator, the promise keeper, therefore praise him. He is also in covenant with us, and will we not do him this right? _ His judgments are in all the earth_] His executions upon the Egyptians... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word [which] he commanded to a thousand generations. Ver. 8. _He hath remembered his covenant_] 1Ch 16:15 it is, "Be ye mindful always of his covenant." God ever remembereth, though we many times forget it, and ourselves. _ The word which he commanded_... [ Continue Reading ]
Which [covenant] he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; Ver. 9. _Which covenant he made with Abraham, &c._] Whom he found an idolater, Joshua 24:2. He justified the ungodly, Romans 4:5 . _ And his oath_] "That by two immutable things," &c., Heb 6:18... [ Continue Reading ]
And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, [and] to Israel [for] an everlasting covenant: Ver. 10. _And confirmed the same, &c._] So God sealeth and sweareth to us again and again, in every sacrament, that all doubts of his love may be taken away, and our hearts lifted up (as Jehoshaphat's, 2Ch 1... [ Continue Reading ]
Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: Ver. 11. _Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan_] That most pleasant of all lands, Ezekiel 20:6, a type and pledge of heaven to the faithful.... [ Continue Reading ]
When they were [but] a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. Ver. 12. _When they were but a few men in number_] Seventy souls at their going down into Egypt, which yet (say the Hebrews truly) were more worth than the seventy nations of the whole world besides. Howbeit, God chose th... [ Continue Reading ]
When they went from one nation to another, from [one] kingdom to another people; Ver. 13. _When they went from one nation to another_] There were seven several nations in that land wherein they sojourned, flitting from place to place, and having no settled habitation, αστατουνρες, 1 Corinthians 4:1... [ Continue Reading ]
He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; Ver. 14. _He suffered no man, &c._] So as utterly to oppress them; for otherwise they had their illusages; such as was the taking away of Sarah, casting out of Isaac, the rape of Dinah, &c. Strangers meet many times with h... [ Continue Reading ]
Psalms 105:15 [Saying], Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Ver. 15. _Touch not mine anointed, &c._] This God speaketh not of kings, but to kings, concerning his people who have an unction from the Father, being sanctified and set apart for his peculiar. To touch these is to touch... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread. Ver. 16. _Moreover he called for a famine_] How easy is it with God soon to starve us all by denying us a harvest or two! If he do but call for a famine it is done. _ He brake the whole staff of bread_] Either by wit... [ Continue Reading ]
He sent a man before them, [even] Joseph, [who] was sold for a servant: Ver. 17. _He sent a man before them_] An eminent and eximious man, _Cuius vita fuit coelum quoddam lucidissimis virtutum stellis exornatum,_ to be their friend in the court, and to provide for their livelihood. No danger befall... [ Continue Reading ]
Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Ver. 18. _Whose feet they hurt with fetters_] God hereby fitting him for that great service; as he did afterwards Moses, by forty years' banishment in Midian, and David, by Saul's persecution, till his soul was even as a weaned child, Psalms 1... [ Continue Reading ]
Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. Ver. 19. _Until the time that his word came_] The time that God's purpose and promise of deliverance was fulfilled. This word of God profane persons call fate, fortune, &c. _ The word of the Lord tried him_] That he was affliction... [ Continue Reading ]
The king sent and loosed him; [even] the ruler of the people, and let him go free. Ver. 20. _The king sent and loosed him_] By his own master, Potiphar, who had laid him there at his wife's instance. Such as are bound ignominiously for righteousness' sake shall be one way or other loosed honourably... [ Continue Reading ]
He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: Ver. 21. _He made him lord of his house_] Thus, for his short braid of imprisonment, whereof he never dreamed, Joseph hath eighty years' preferment, more than ever he dreamed of: God's retributions are very bountiful.... [ Continue Reading ]
To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom. Ver. 22. _To bind his princes at his pleasure_] To overawe and to overrule them, to bind them in prison, if need so required, as himself had been bound, and that at his pleasure, or according to his own soul, _sine consensu Pharaoh... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. Ver. 23. _Israel also came into Egypt_] Whither he feared to go, till God promised him his presence and protection, Genesis 46:3,4. God saith the same in effect to us, when to descend into the grave, Fear not to go down, I will go... [ Continue Reading ]
And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies. Ver. 24. _And he increased his people greatly_] Against all the power of Egypt set against them. _ And made them stronger than their enemies_] They were not so for present, but the Egyptians conceited and feared they w... [ Continue Reading ]
He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants. Ver. 25. _He turned their heart to hate_] Men's hearts are in God's hands, and he formeth and fashioneth their opinions of and affections to others at his pleasure, yet without sin. _ To deal subtilly with his servants_]... [ Continue Reading ]
He sent Moses his servant; [and] Aaron whom he had chosen. Ver. 26. _He sent Moses his servant_] _Quando duplieantur lateres, venit Moses,_ say the Jews at this day. _ And Aaron, &c._] God usually sendeth his by two and two, for mutual helps and comfort.... [ Continue Reading ]
They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. Ver. 27. _They showed his signs_] Heb. the words of his signs; for God's wondrous works are vocal, they are real sermons of God's power and justice. See Exodus 4:8 .... [ Continue Reading ]
He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. Ver. 28. _He sent darkness_] Palpable darkness, by reason of most black and thick vapours of the earth mingling themselves with the air; such as Aben Ezra said that he once felt, sailing upon the ocean, the gross vapours th... [ Continue Reading ]
He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. Ver. 29. _And he turned their waters into blood_] A just hand of God upon them for their cruelty in drowning the Hebrew infants, and a real forewarning, if they could have seen it, of the death of their firstborn, and their final overthrow at... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings._ Ver. 30. _The land brought forth frogs in abundance_] Like grass that grows upon the ground, or as fishes spawned in the sea, as the word signifieth, Genesis 1:20. Some think they were not common frogs, _sed venenatas et... [ Continue Reading ]
He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, [and] lice in all their coasts. Ver. 31. _He stake, and there came divers sorts of flies_] Heb. a mixture, _sc._ of wasps, hornets, dog flies (the most troublesome of all other κυνομυιαι), all sorts of insects. _ And lice in all their coasts_] This t... [ Continue Reading ]
He gave them hail for rain, [and] flaming fire in their land. Ver. 32. _He gave them hail for rain_] Rain was rare in Egypt; but now they had hail for rain, a giftless gift. Heb. he gave their rain hail, Exodus 9:23 . _ And flaming fire in their land_] That they might see that he was Lord of all t... [ Continue Reading ]
He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts. Ver. 33. _He smote their vines also, and their fig trees_] Of the fruitfulness of these trees in Egypt, strange things are reported by Solinus and others; but this extraordinary hail mingled with fire, marred them i... [ Continue Reading ]
He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number, Ver. 34. _He spake, and the locusts came_] These are called God's great army, and their terrible invasion is graphically described, Joel 2:3,5, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. Ver. 35. _And did eat up all the herbs_] All that the fiery hail had not blasted and beaten down. _ And devoured the fruit of their ground_] But not yet the fruit of their bodies, that plague was reserved to the la... [ Continue Reading ]
He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. Ver. 36. _He smote also all the firstborn_] This he did last of all, the next spring after the first plague inflicted, _et non nisi coactus,_ as that emperor once said when he subscribed a writ for execution of a certai... [ Continue Reading ]
He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and [there was] not one feeble [person] among their tribes. Ver. 37. _He brought them forth also with silver and gold_] Which they had dearly earned in Egypt, but could not get, till God, the right owner of all, set them in a course, Exodus 12:35,36,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them._ Ver. 38. _Egypt was glad when they departed_] For they said, We are all dead men, Exodus 12:33. The devil for like cause spake Christ fair to be rid of him, Mark 1:24 . _ For the fear of them fell upon them_] God can make th... [ Continue Reading ]
He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night. Ver. 39. _He spread a cloud_] It must needs be a very large one that could cover such an army from the extraordinary heats there; for the deserts of Arabia are extreme hot, both by reason of the climate and also of the sand's re... [ Continue Reading ]
Psalms 105:40 [The people] asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. Ver. 40. _The people asked_] Not as suppliants, but as malcontents, and therefore had what they asked, with a vengeance. _ And satisfied them with the bread of heaven_] Never was any prince in his... [ Continue Reading ]
He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places [like] a river. Ver. 41. _He opened the rock_] Set it abroach, giving them _pluviam escatilem, et petram aquatilem,_ as Tertullian hath it. _ They ran in the dry places_] _Per deserta Sinis et Tzinis,_ saith Junius. See 1 Co... [ Continue Reading ]
For he remembered his holy promise, [and] Abraham his servant. Ver. 42. _For he remembered his holy promise_] Holy, that is, firm, and inviolable, Heb. the word of his holiness, that is, his sacred and gracious engagement, whereby he had made himself a voluntary debtor to Abraham's posterity. _ An... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he brought forth his people with joy, [and] his chosen with gladness:_ Ver. 43. _And he brought forth his people with joy_] According to his promise made to Abraham; and according to the time they were afflicted, so were they comforted, Psalms 90:15 .... [ Continue Reading ]
And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; Ver. 44. _And gave them the lands of the heathen_] God doth not his work to the halves, he will perfect that which concerneth us, Psalms 138:8, and preserve all his unto his heavenly kingdom, 2 Timothy 4:18 . _ An... [ Continue Reading ]
That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD. Ver. 45. _That they might observe his statutes_] Here the psalmist showeth the final cause of all the service of God; what should be the result, his praise. _ Praise ye the Lord_] _Loquitur ad prudentes,_ saith Aben Ezra,... [ Continue Reading ]