Psalms 68:10

Thy congregation took up its abode therein:

In thy goodness, O God, thou dost provide for the afflicted.

The word rendered congregation, or, as R.V. marg., troop, or family, is a peculiar one. The corresponding Arabic word means "such a kindred group as was guided in war and on the march by one chief, migrating together, and forming generally a single settlement." Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, pp. 36 ff. From the meaning lifeor living, the word came to mean a clan, a group of one blood, on the old Semitic principle that "the life of the flesh lies in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11). Thou dost provide for the afflictedis a general truth, which found special illustration in regard to Israel, -afflicted" by the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 3:7; Exodus 3:17).