_A.M. 2959. B.C. 1045._ It is not certain when, or by whom, this Psalm was composed; but it seems evidently to have been intended for the use of the church in their solemn feasts, and especially in the feast of trumpets. In the Jewish Liturgy it is still made use of upon this occasion. To this the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sing aloud unto God our strength_ Our refuge and defence against all our enemies. _Bring hither the timbrel_, &c. All which instruments were then prescribed and used in their solemn meetings. _Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon_ Which was a sacred and festival time. But this may be understood, eit... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this was a statute for Israel_ This is no human device, but a divine institution; God hath appointed and commanded this solemn feast to be announced and observed in this manner. _This_ Namely, the blowing of trumpets; _he ordained in Joseph_ Among the posterity of Joseph, namely, the people of... [ Continue Reading ]
_I removed his shoulder_ That is, the shoulder of my people; _from the burden_ I delivered them from the burdensome slavery of Egypt. _His hands were delivered from the pots_ Hebrew, מדוד תעברנה, _his hands passed from the pots_, or, as Chandler renders it, _his hands from the pots, through which th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear, O my people_ And who should hear me if my people will not? I have heard and answered thee, now wilt thou hear me? Hear what is said, with the greatest solemnity, and the most unquestionable certainty, for it is what I, the God of truth and love, thy lawgiver and thy judge, declare for thy pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_My people would not hearken to my voice_ But turned a deaf ear to all I said. “Two things,” says Henry, “the Lord complains of; 1st, Their disobedience to his commands. They did hear his voice, and that in such a manner as no people ever did; but they would not _hearken_ to it; they would not be go... [ Continue Reading ]
_So I gave them up_, &c. Upon their obstinate and oft-repeated acts of disobedience, and their rejection of my grace and mercy offered to them, I withdrew all the restraints of my providence, and my Holy Spirit and grace from them, and wholly left them to follow their own vain and foolish imaginatio... [ Continue Reading ]
_O that my people had hearkened unto me_ In this way does God testify his good-will to, and concern for, the welfare and happiness of these most refractory, disobedient, and obstinate sinners. The expressions are very affecting, and much like those he uttered by Moses concerning them, Deuteronomy 5:... [ Continue Reading ]
_I would soon have subdued their enemies_ Both those remaining Canaanites, whom now, for their unbelief and apostacy, I have left in the land, to be snares and plagues to them, and also all their encroaching and vexatious neighbours, who have so often invaded and laid waste their country. _The hater... [ Continue Reading ]
_He should have fed them with the finest wheat_ He would have made their country exceedingly fruitful and productive, especially of wheat and other grain, in the highest perfection. _And with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee_ That is, with all pleasant and precious fruits, and with... [ Continue Reading ]