_A prayer at the removing of the ark. An exhortation to praise God for his mercies, for his care of the church, and for his great works._ To the chief musician, A Psalm _or_ Song of David. _TITLE._ שׁיר מזמור לדוד למנצח _LAMNATSEACH LEDAVID MIZMOR SHIIR._— This Psalm was composed by David, to be s... [ Continue Reading ]
AS SMOKE IS DRIVEN AWAY— i.e. "As smoke is violently scattered and dispersed by the wind, so do thou shake and entirely disperse them with a force that they cannot resist." See Schultens in Proverbs 21:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
SING UNTO GOD, &C.— _Sing unto God; celebrate his name in songs: prepare the way for Him who rideth through the deserts; his name is JAH, and exult ye before him._ Chandler. See Isaiah 40:2. The Psalmist here alludes to the passage of the Israelites through the desart, in their way to the Promised L... [ Continue Reading ]
A FATHER OF THE FATHERLESS, &C.— The meaning is, that God, who is present with us in his sanctuary, or in the ark of his presence, will provide for and defend, as a father, those who have been rendered fatherless by the sword; and as a judge avenge the widows' cause upon those who have unrighteously... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD SETTETH THE SOLITARY IN FAMILIES— Literally, _God causeth them to sit down into a family._ The word יחידים _iech-idim,_ rendered _solitary,_ signifies such as are left alone, and destitute of help; and seems to imply those whose fathers and families were destroyed either in Egypt, or in passing... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EARTH SHOOK, &C.— When the people arrived at Sinai, and God descended on the mountain, _the earth trembled at his presence; the heavens also dropped, i.e._ dissolved into showers, as the consequence of the mighty thunders and lightnings which bespoke the presence of the Almighty, and of the thic... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU, O GOD, DIDST SEND A PLENTIFUL RAIN— What this _shower_ was, is not by all agreed. Sometimes the Israelites were supplied with wells, and at other times God gave them miraculously water from rocks. The _dropping of the heavens,_ in the foregoing verse, cannot be intended; because this _plentifu... [ Continue Reading ]
THY CONGREGATION HATH DWELT THEREIN— There is no small difficulty in these words. The following appears to be the most natural sense of them. In the former verse the Psalmist tells us, that God had _confirmed,_ refreshed, and revived his _inheritance,_ by the plentiful, and, as it were, voluntary sh... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD GAVE THE WORD— Having celebrated the power and goodness of God, which fed them in the wilderness, he now proceeds to speak of the great deliverances that he wrought out for them from their enemies, with respect to whom _the Lord gave the word._ The Israelites engaged them by his order, (see... [ Continue Reading ]
KINGS OF ARMIES DID FLEE APACE— In the original it is, _fled away, fled away;_ the reduplication of the words denoting their hasty flight and utter dissipation. The kings who commanded the armies which opposed them fled with their routed forces, and were pursued and destroyed by the Israelites: _And... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH YE HAVE LIEN AMONG THE POTS— The word rendered pots, signifies, _kettles, pots,_ or _furnaces,_ for various uses, fixed in stone or brick, placed in double rows, and so regularly disposed for convenience and use; and refers to those pots or furnaces, at which the Israelites in Egypt wrought a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE ALMIGHTY SCATTERED KINGS— _When the Almighty scattered kings therein, thou didst make them joyful in Salmon._ Chandler. The _kings_ here referred to, may be Sihon, Og, and the kings of Midian, Numbers 31:8. _Therein_ may refer to the country of Midian, where these kings were taken and destr... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HILL OF GOD IS, &C.— _Is the hill of Bashan, is the craggy hill of Bashan, the hill of God?_ Psalms 68:16. _Why look you with envy, ye craggy hills? THIS IS the mountain God hath desired to dwell in: yea, the Lord will dwell there for ever._ Reading the words thus, with an interrogation, they ap... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHARIOTS OF GOD ARE TWENTY THOUSAND, &C.— _The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands; the Lord is among them, O Sinai, in the sanctuary._ See Deuteronomy 33:2. _The chariots of God_ here must mean, those invisible and heavenly chariots, that attendance of angels, which... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST ASCENDED ON HIGH— "Thou hast now marched up to the heights of mount Sion, and taken possession of this sacred hill;" God being figuratively said to do, what the ark had done; as he peculiarly resided, and gave frequently visible appearances of his majesty and glory in it. _Thou hast led ca... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO DAILY LOADETH US— _Who bears our burdens every day._ The verb עמס _amas,_ rendered _loadeth,_ signifies both to take on one's self, or carry a burden, and to place a burden on another; and hence it is used figuratively for to _bear_ and carry another with tenderness and affection. In this sense... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO GOD THE LORD BELONG THE ISSUES FROM DEATH— The original words may certainly be rendered, _The goings forth of Jehovah the Lord are unto death;_ or, _the goings forth of death belong to the Lord Jehovah._ In the first part of this verse the Psalmist declares, _that God is to us a God of salvatio... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD SHALL WOUND, &C.— According to the emphasis of the original word, _God shall exhaust,—draw forth the blood of, the head of his enemies,_ or utterly destroy them by the sword. "He will avenge himself on their devoted heads; nor shall their strength and craft be able to protect them from his indig... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SAID, I WILL BRING AGAIN FROM BASHAN, &C.— Abner, in his conference with the elders of Israel, tells them, _The Lord hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies._ 2 Sa... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THY FOOT MAY BE DIPPED— _That thou mayest shake thy foot in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same._ The verb refers to both clauses; and no word could be more proper. The motion of the foot, and the lapping of a dog's tongue in the blood of slaughtered enemies, both... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE SEEN THY GOINGS, O GOD— These words contain a sort of triumph, that this great work of translating the ark was now so happily accomplished. _Thy people have seen thy goings—thy marches, O God;_ the procession stopping several times, and being performed in several sorts of periods, in prope... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SINGERS WENT BEFORE— This verse and the following give some description of the procession. _The singers went before;_ for David had ordered the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren for singers, _by lifting up the voice with joy;_ 1 Chronicles 15:16. After these _came the players on ins... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESS YE GOD IN THE CONGREGATIONS— i.e. "Let all the assemblies of his people, and all who join them, celebrate the wonderful works and praises of God; _even the Lord_ (repeat the words _bless ye_) _from the fountain of Israel;" i.e._ all you who are of the posterity of Israel: Deuteronomy 11:28. It... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS LITTLE BENJAMIN WITH _THEIR RULER_— There is no need of this supplemental preposition _with;_ for as Benjamin is styled _little,_ because he was the least of the tribes, so he is called their _ruler_ or commander, because Saul, their first king, was of that tribe; and I apprehend that David... [ Continue Reading ]
THY GOD HATH COMMANDED THY STRENGTH— i.e. The great power of the Israelites, and the height of glory and strength to which the kingdom of David had arisen, was the work of God; which naturally makes way for the petition following, _Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us._ "Let the fo... [ Continue Reading ]
REBUKE THE COMPANY OF SPEARMEN— So our translators, though they have placed in the margin _the beast of the reeds._ The _beast of the reeds_ is the _crocodile_ or _river-horse,_ which both lay among the reeds that grew on the banks of the Nile: and as it is a very proper description of the Egyptian... [ Continue Reading ]
PRINCES SHALL COME OUT OF EGYPT, &C.— Rather, _Let princes come;—Let Ethiopia stretch,_ &c. The word חשׁמנים _chashmanniim,_ rendered _princes,_ signifies a princely person, accompanied by a numerous attendance; Parkhurst thinks it signifies persons in great haste. By _Ethiopia_ many understand the... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HIM THAT RIDETH UPON THE HEAVENS, &C.— _The heavens which were of old,_ means, the heavens which existed from the beginning of the creation; and God is said to _ride upon them,_ or _through them,_ either to denote his omnipresence, or to signify that he is the proprietor and lord of them, and ove... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS EXCELLENCY IS OVER ISRAEL— _His highness or majesty:_ he is the universal sovereign; but his kingdom is exalted over Israel in a particular manner. He hath taken them for his peculiar inheritance; and by them alone he is acknowledged as universal Creator; the supreme Lord of heaven and earth. _H... [ Continue Reading ]
O GOD, THOU ART TERRIBLE, &C.— I would join the words thus; _O God, the God of Israel, thou art terrible out of thy holy places._ Heaven was his sanctuary of old; his earthly sanctuary was on Sion; he was worthy to be feared, as inhabiting both; and he is represented as going out of them, to take ve... [ Continue Reading ]