1_Praise ye Jehovah, etc. _The object of these opening words simply is, that the offspring of Abraham should place all their blessedness in the free adoption of God. It was indeed a blessing not to be despised that they had been created men, that they had been cherished in the world by God’s fatherl... [ Continue Reading ]
4_Seek ye Jehovah, and his strength _(204) Although he had in the preceding verse characterized the faithful by the honorable designation, _those who seek God, _yet he again exhorts them to earnestness in seeking him, which is not an unnecessary exhortation. Seeking God, it is true, is the mark by w... [ Continue Reading ]
6_Ye seed of Abraham his servant. _The Psalmist addresses himself by name to his own countrymen, whom, as has been stated, God had bound to himself by a special adoption. It was a bond of union still more sacred, that by the mere good pleasure of God they were preferred to all other nations. By call... [ Continue Reading ]
8_He hath remembered his covenant for ever _The Psalmist now celebrates the effect and actual fulfillment of the covenant, and proves from the deliverance wrought for the Israelites what he had stated before, namely, That God, while he reigned alike over all nations, extended his peculiar favor to t... [ Continue Reading ]
As Abraham was the first who was called when he was mingled with idolaters, the prophet begins with him. He, however, afterwards declares that the covenant was also confirmed in the hand of his son and his son’s son. God then deposited his covenant with Abraham, and by solemn oath engaged to be the... [ Continue Reading ]
11._Saying, I will give thee the land of Canaan _As this was only a small portion of the blessings offered to the fathers, the prophet seems at first view too much to limit the covenant of God, which extended even to the hope of an eternal inheritance. But he considered it enough to show, by the fig... [ Continue Reading ]
12._When they were but very few in number _The prophet here recounts the benefits which God had conferred upon the holy fathers from the commencement, to manifest that even long before the deliverance from Egypt, the covenant was not ineffectual. The great object aimed at in this recital, is to show... [ Continue Reading ]
14._He did not suffer men to hurt them _Abraham and his children had not merely two or three enemies: they were harassed by whole nations. As then many rose up one after another in troops against them, the Psalmist says indefinitely, that men were withheld from hurting them; for אדם, _adam, _is the... [ Continue Reading ]
15._Saying, Touch not my anointed ones _The Psalmist proceeds farther, affirming, that when God made war against kings for the sake of his servants, they were defended by him, not only as he is accustomed to succor the miserable and the unjustly oppressed, but because he had taken them under his spe... [ Continue Reading ]
16._And he called a famine upon the land _Here the inspired writer recounts a most illustrious proof of divine providence towards the chosen people, at the time when the covenant might seem to be void and disannulled. The inheritance of the land of Canaan (as has been stated above) was added, as an... [ Continue Reading ]
17._He sent a man before them _This whole passage graphically teaches us, that whatever befell that people was by the hand and counsel of God. The simple recital would have been to say, that the famine came upon the land, after Joseph had been sold by his brethren, and carried into Egypt. But the pr... [ Continue Reading ]
18_They afflicted his feet in the fetters _It is not without cause that the Psalmist prosecutes the winding course of Jacob’s early history, which might so confuse the minds of men as to prevent them from directing their attention to the counsel of God. What seemed less likely than to believe that G... [ Continue Reading ]
19._Until the time that his word came _Here the prophet teaches, that although, according to the judgment of the flesh, God seems to be too tardy in his steps, yet he holds supreme rule over all things, that he may at length accomplish in due time what he has determined. As to the term _word, _it is... [ Continue Reading ]
20._The king sent and loosed him _The Psalmist celebrates in high terms the deliverance of Joseph; for God’s singular power was conspicuously displayed in a matter so incredible. What is of more rare occurrence than for a most powerful monarch to bring a stranger out of prison to constitute him rule... [ Continue Reading ]
23._And Israel came into Egypt _The prophet does not rehearse the whole history, nor was this necessary. He only presents to our view how divine providence was concerned in it, which very few consider in reading the narrative of Moses. He accordingly declares, that after Joseph had been sent before... [ Continue Reading ]
24._And he greatly increased his people _The singular favor of God towards his Church is now commended by the additional circumstance, that within a short space of time, the chosen people increased beyond the common proportion. In this matter the wonderful blessing of God was strikingly displayed. S... [ Continue Reading ]
25._He turned their heart, so that they hated his people _The Egyptians, though at first kind and courteous hosts to the Israelites, became afterwards cruel enemies; and this also the prophet ascribes to the counsel of God. They were undoubtedly driven to this by a perverse and malignant spirit, by... [ Continue Reading ]
26_He sent Moses his servant _Here the prophet briefly adverts to such things regarding the deliverance of the people as were worthy of particular notice. Had the Egyptians of their own accord suffered the people to depart, neither the service of Moses nor miracles would have been required. God then... [ Continue Reading ]
27._They set among them the words of his signs _(223) The prophet, in the first place, briefly glances at those things which Moses has detailed at greater length. Nor does he follow the order of the events observed in the history; for he contents himself with showing, that the deliverance of the cho... [ Continue Reading ]
In the 28thverse he specifics one of these miracles, which yet was not the first in order, but from which it is easy to gather that God was the author of the deliverance of Israel, and in which the course of nature was entirely changed; for nothing is more astonishing than to see the light turned in... [ Continue Reading ]
29._He turned their waters into blood _How grievous this plague was to the Egyptians may be conjectured from the consideration, that the element of water is one of the two great means of supporting life. And the power of God shines forth the brighter, from the fact, that although the land of Egypt i... [ Continue Reading ]
31._He spake, and there came a swarm of flies _By the word _spake _the Psalmist intimates that _the flies _and _lice _came not forth by chance. The command, we know, was uttered by the mouth of Moses; for although God could have given the command himself, he interposed Moses as his herald. God, howe... [ Continue Reading ]
34._He spake, and the grasshopper came _This calamity, which was brought upon the fields, could not be attributed to Fortune; for the grasshoppers made their appearance suddenly and in countless multitudes, so that they covered all the land of Egypt. The miracle was very evident from the word spoken... [ Continue Reading ]
37._And he brought them forth with silver and gold _(230) The prophet, on the other hand, celebrates the grace of God which preserved the chosen people untouched and safe from all these plagues. If both parties had been indiscriminately afflicted with them, the hand of God would not have been so sig... [ Continue Reading ]
38._Egypt rejoiced at their departure _The Psalmist sets forth the power of God from the additional circumstance, that the Egyptians willingly allowed the chosen people to depart, when yet nothing was farther from their intention. Although they wished them destroyed a hundred times, yet they thought... [ Continue Reading ]
39._He spread out a cloud for a covering _The Psalmist enumerates certain miracles by which God continued his grace towards his people in the wilderness. This order is worthy of notice; for it was no small confirmation which was added to that incomparable work of redemption, when God ceased not to s... [ Continue Reading ]
42._For he remembered his holy promise _The Psalmist again mentions the cause why God dealt so graciously with that people, and sustained them so tenderly, namely, that he might fulfill his promise; for he had entered into a covenant with Abraham, engaging to be the God of his seed. Nor did the prop... [ Continue Reading ]
43._And he brought forth his people with joy _The prophet makes mention of _joy _and _gladness, _the more highly to magnify the greatness of God’s grace. It was no small matter, that at the very time when the Egyptians were afflicted by a severe and dreadful plague, — when the whole kingdom was full... [ Continue Reading ]
44_And he gave them the countries of the nations _The Psalmist sets forth the final cause why God in so many ways displayed his wonderful power in redeeming the people, why he did not cease to cherish and defend them in the deserts — why he gave them the possession of the land as he had promised; an... [ Continue Reading ]