_A.M. 3294. B.C. 710._
This Psalm was composed upon occasion of some calamity which befell
the tribes of Israel after their division into two kingdoms, and
before the captivity of either of them. In which time all the evils
here mentioned did befall them, sometimes in one part, and sometimes
in ano... [ Continue Reading ]
_Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel_ O thou who hast undertaken to feed
and govern thy people of Israel, as a shepherd doth his flock, now
perform thine office, and rescue thy flock from those grievous wolves
which devour and destroy them; _thou that leadest_ Or, _didst lead_,
formerly; _Joseph_ That is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Before Ephraim_, &c. That is, before all the tribes; in the face of
all the people assembled at Jerusalem. These three, indeed, in some
sense included the whole, Benjamin being incorporated with Judah, and
the greatest part of Jerusalem, and the temple being in its lot,
Manasseh comprehending the c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Turn us again_ He means, either to our former quiet and flourishing
state; or, to thyself, from whom Ephraim and Manasseh, with the rest
of the ten tribes, have apostatized. See a similar prayer of Elijah
for them, 1 Kings 18:37. Instead of, _Turn us_, Mudge reads, _Restore
us_, which is equally ag... [ Continue Reading ]
_How long wilt thou be angry_, &c. Thou art so far from answering our
prayers, whereby we seek thy favour, that, by thy continuing and
increasing our miseries, thou seemest to be more incensed against us
by them. But the words may be rendered, _How long dost thou preserve
thy wrath during the prayer... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt_ Israel, or the church of God,
is often compared to a vine: see Isaiah 5:2; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel
17:6; Matthew 21:33. He alludes to the custom of transplanting trees
for their more advantageous growth. _Thou hast cast out the heathen_
The nations of Canaan, t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The hills were covered with the shadow of it_ Its branches extended
themselves over all the hills and mountains of Canaan; that is, the
people multiplied so much, and became so numerous, that they filled
not only the fruitful valleys, but even the barren mountains. _And the
boughs whereof were like... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why hast thou broken down her hedges_ That is, taken away thy
protection, which was to thy people for walls and bulwarks: _so that
all they which pass by do pluck her_ Pluck off her grapes, or tear off
her boughs, as the word ארוה, _aruah_, implies. Thus “the
psalmist, having described the exaltati... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the vineyard_ Hebrew, כנה, _channah_, which Buxtorf
_translates, surculus, planta, a branch_, or _plant_, but which Dr.
Hammond says “may be most fitly rendered _a root_, or _stock_, such
as is wont to be planted. For this we know,” proceeds he, “that a
branch of a vine, being laid in the groun... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is burned with fire_, &c. Namely, thy vineyard or branch; since,
upon our provoking sins, thou hast withdrawn thy mercy from us, the
enemies have broken in upon us, and great numbers of us are destroyed
already, and may be compared to the numerous branches of a remaining
stock, which, being cut... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let thy hand_ Thy power, to protect and strengthen him; _be upon the
man of thy right hand_ That king (whoever he was) of the house of
David, that was now to rule and go in and out before them. He calls
him _the man of God's right hand_, because he was the representative
of their state, which was d... [ Continue Reading ]