INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 105 This psalm was penned by David, and sung at the time when the ark was brought from the house of Obededom to the place which David had prepared for it; at least the first fifteen verses of it, the other part being probably added afterwards by the same inspired penman, as ap... [ Continue Reading ]
O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD,.... These are the words of David, either to the singers, or rather to the whole congregation of Israel, the seed of Abraham, and children of Jacob, Psalms 105:6 stirring them up to praise and thankfulness for their mercies, temporal and spiritual; for the Messiah they ha... [ Continue Reading ]
SING UNTO HIM, SING PSALMS UNTO HIM,.... Both vocally and instrumentally, with the voice and upon instruments of music, as were used in David's time. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, are to be sung now, even the song of Moses, and of the Lamb. The wondrous things God had done for his people were... [ Continue Reading ]
GLORY YE IN HIS HOLY NAME,.... In the knowledge of it, as proclaimed in Christ; in being called by his name, and in having the honour to call upon his name; in the holiness of it; and in Christ being made sanctification as well as righteousness, in whom all the seed of Israel are justified and glory... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEK THE LORD AND HIS STRENGTH,.... The ark, which is called his strength, and the ark of his strength, Psalms 78:61, because he had shown his great strength by it, in dividing the waters at Jordan, throwing down the walls of Jericho, and plaguing the Philistines because of it, when among them. This... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER HIS MARVELLOUS WORKS WHICH HE HATH DONE,.... Which Aben Ezra interprets of the works of creation; rather they seem to design the works of Providence in favour of the children of Israel: best of all, works of grace done for his saints, none of which are to be forgotten; especially the great... [ Continue Reading ]
O YE SEED OF ABRAHAM HIS SERVANT,.... These are the persons all along before addressed; the Israelites, who descended from Abraham, were his natural seed and offspring, and who had reason to give thanks unto the Lord and praise his name, since so many and such wonderful things had been done for them... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS THE LORD OUR GOD,.... Here begin the arguments to excite to praise and thankfulness; and the first is taken from what God is, and is to us; he is Jehovah, the Being of beings, a self-existent Being, the author of all beings, but receives his own from none; being undivided, independent, and sel... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH REMEMBERED HIS COVENANT FOR EVER,.... Another argument of praise taken from the covenant of grace, in which he is our God, and of which he is ever mindful; he remembers his covenant ones, whom he perfectly knows, and never forgets them; he remembers his covenant promises to them, and allows... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH COVENANT HE MADE WITH ABRAHAM,.... Or made it known unto him, and showed him his particular interest in it; promised that he would be his God, that he would bless him; and that in his seed, the Messiah, that should spring from him, all nations of the earth should be blessed, Genesis 12:2, comp... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CONFIRMED THE SAME UNTO JACOB FOR A LAW,.... The son of Isaac, and the grandson of Abraham, to whom it was renewed and confirmed, Genesis 28:13. It is true of his posterity that go by his name, and even of all the spiritual Israel of God, to whom this covenant is confirmed and made sure: or "cau... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING, UNTO THEE WILL I GIVE THE LAND OF CANAAN,.... To each of the above persons, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their posterity, the children of Israel. Not that the word "saying", as Gussetius c well observes, signifies that the words following it are expressive of the covenant, for that is e... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY WERE BUT A FEW MEN IN NUMBER,.... Or "men of number" d, that might easily be numbered; see Genesis 34:30, when this covenant, promise, and oath, were first made to Abraham, he was alone, and had no child; and when his posterity were increased in Jacob's time, and sojourned in Egypt, they w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY WENT FROM ONE NATION TO ANOTHER,.... From Chaldea to Mesopotamia; from thence to Canaan, and then into Egypt; and after that to Canaan again: which was the tour that Abraham took; and when in Canaan, and travelling from place to place there, might be said to go from nation to nation, since... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SUFFERED NO MAN TO DO THEM WRONG,.... Though strangers and unsettled, and moving from place to place; and few in number, and weak and defenceless. Thus the herdsmen of Gerar were not suffered to do any harm to Isaac and his herdsmen; but, on the contrary, the king of the place, with some of his c... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING, TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED,.... Or, "mine anointed ones"; my Christs, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were, who, though not anointed with material oil, yet were all that, that such were, who in later times were anointed with it. They were prophets, priests, and kings; and which all met in one per... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, HE CALLED FOR A FAMINE UPON THE LAND,.... On the land of Egypt; or rather on the land of Canaan, where Jacob and his sons sojourned; and which reached to all lands, Genesis 41:56 and calling for it, it came, being a servant at the command of the Lord; see 2 Kings 8:1. HE BRAKE THE WHOLE S... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SENT A MAN BEFORE THEM, EVEN JOSEPH,.... Who, though but a lad of seventeen years of age when he was sold into Egypt, yet was a grown man when he stood before Pharaoh, and interpreted his dreams of plenty and famine to come; and advised him to lay up store in the years of plenty, against the year... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE FEET THEY HURT WITH FETTERS,.... For it seems Joseph was not only cast into prison, upon the calumny of his mistress; but had fetters put upon him, and his feet were made fast with them; and these were so close and heavy, as to pinch and gall and hurt him; which, though not mentioned in his hi... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTIL THE TIME THAT HIS WORD CAME,.... Either the word of Joseph, interpreting the dreams of the butler and baker, till that came to be fulfilled; so the Syriac version, "till his word was proved by the event": or rather till the fame and report of that came to Pharaoh's ears, Genesis 41:13, or else... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING SENT AND LOOSED HIM,.... That is, Pharaoh king of Egypt sent messengers to the prison, and ordered Joseph to be loosed, as soon as ever he heard the account which the chief butler gave of him, and of his skill in interpreting dreams. EVEN THE RULER OF THE PEOPLE; or "peoples": the subjects... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MADE HIM LORD OF HIS HOUSE,.... That is, Pharaoh made Joseph lord chamberlain of his household; after he had him to court, and he had interpreted his dreams to him to his great satisfaction, and had given him such prudent advice to provide against the years of famine; see Genesis 41:33. So Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BIND HIS PRINCES AT HIS PLEASURE,.... Not to lay them in prison, and bind them with fetters, as he had been bound; but to give laws unto them as he pleased, and bind and oblige them to observe them: for, according to his word, all the people of Egypt, high and low, rich and poor, were to be ruled... [ Continue Reading ]
ISRAEL ALSO CAME INTO EGYPT,.... That is, Jacob, as afterwards expressed, who had the name of Israel, from his wrestling with God and prevailing. He came into Egypt, being invited by Pharaoh, and having heard of his son Joseph being alive, and of his exaltation. AND JACOB SOJOURNED IN THE LAND OF H... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE INCREASED HIS PEOPLE GREATLY,.... God increased the people of Israel greatly in the land of Egypt; they went down few, and became a populous nation; only sixty six persons, besides Jacob's sons' wives; and when they came out from thence were six hundred thousand footmen; yea, they increased t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TURNED THEIR HEART TO HATE HIS PEOPLE,.... Whom before they loved and esteemed: when Pharaoh and his servants heard of Joseph's father and brethren, they were greatly pleased, and invited them into Egypt; and, when come, placed them in the land of Goshen; but when a new king arose, and a new gene... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SENT MOSES HIS SERVANT,.... Into Egypt, to deliver his people Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians; in which, as in other things, he approved himself to be a faithful servant to the Lord; of this mission of his, see Exodus 3:10. In this he was a type of Christ, who appeared in the form of a s... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHOWED HIS SIGNS AMONG THEM,.... The Egyptians to whom they were sent; that is, Moses and Aaron did. In the original it is, "the words of his signs" x. They declared the words of God to them, that he would do such signs and wonders among them; or inflict such plagues upon them, in case they did... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SENT DARKNESS, AND MADE IT DARK,.... The land of Egypt; either he, God, or it, darkness, made it dark, or it was made dark; the Targum is, "made them dark;'' that is, the Egyptians; darkness was a messenger of the Lord's, who forms the light and creates darkness; it came at his word and covered... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TURNED THEIR WATERS INTO BLOOD,.... With which Egypt abounded; their streams, rivers, ponds, and pools, so that they had no water to drink; a just judgment upon them for shedding the innocent blood of infants, by drowning them in their rivers; this was the first of the ten plagues, Exodus 7:19, w... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR LAND BROUGHT FORTH FROGS IN ABUNDANCE,.... The land of Egypt, the moist, marshy, and watery places of it, the banks of the river Nile, out of the slime and mud of which these sprung; or, as Kimchi observes, wherever there were waters in the land there were frogs, for these came out of the stre... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SPAKE, AND THERE CAME DIVERS SORTS OF FLIES,.... Or a "mixture" z of various insects, and, as some interpret it, of wild beasts; and so Kimchi says evil beasts are meant, which were raised up to go into all their borders; the Arabic version renders it "dogflies", after the Septuagint; Psalms 78:4... [ Continue Reading ]
HE GAVE THEM HAIL FOR RAIN,.... Egypt, at least part of it, was not used to rain, but was watered by the overflowings of the Nile; but now it had hail for rain, and a grievous hail storm it was, such as was never seen in the land of Egypt before; hail being rare, if ever there, and so frost and snow... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SMOTE THEIR VINES ALSO, AND THEIR FIG TREES,.... So that they died; for in Psalms 78:47, it is said, he "killed" them; and it is not only used in common speech with us, but with classical writers b to speak of killing inanimate things, as trees, herbs, c. That is, the hail smote them, or God by t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SPAKE, AND THE LOCUSTS CAME,.... A great army of them, and covered the land, that it was even darkened by them; and were such as had never been seen before, or ever were since; this is the eighth plague, Exodus 10:12, with these compare the locusts in Revelation 9:3. AND CATERPILLARS, AND THAT W... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DID EAT UP ALL THE HERBS IN THEIR LAND,.... As these creatures usually do, unless restrained, Exodus 10:5. And devoured the fruit of their ground; which the hail left, Exodus 10:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SMOTE ALSO ALL THE FIRSTBORN IN THEIR LAND,.... Both of men and beasts; the firstborn of the king on the throne, and of the maidservant behind the mill, and of the captive in the dungeon; this was the last plague, and which prevailed upon the Egyptians to let Israel go, Exodus 11:5. THE CHIEF OF... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BROUGHT THEM FORTH ALSO WITH SILVER AND GOLD,.... That is, God brought forth the Israelites out of Egypt by means of the above plagues, laden with great riches, with jewels of gold and of silver, which they borrowed of the Egyptians at the command of the Lord; and so to be justified in what they... [ Continue Reading ]
EGYPT WAS GLAD WHEN THEY DEPARTED,.... The Egyptians, as the Targum; they were glad when the Israelites were gone, for whose sake they had been so much and so long plagued. So wicked men are glad to be rid of the company of good men, which is very disagreeable to them; so the Gergesenes were glad wh... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SPREAD A CLOUD FOR A COVERING,.... That is, the Lord spread one over their heads as an "umbrella", to protect them from the heat of the sun; this refers to the pillar of cloud, Exodus 13:20, though that seems to have been in an erect posture, and to go before the children of Israel to direct them... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE ASKED, AND HE BROUGHT QUAILS,.... The Targum is, "they asked flesh, and he brought quails,'' or pheasants; some render it partridges, others locusts: that is, the people of Israel asked flesh of the Lord, and he gave them quails; which he did twice, first at the same time the manna was... [ Continue Reading ]
HE OPENED THE ROCK, AND THE WATERS GUSHED OUT,.... That is, God opened the rock, who before is said to spread the cloud, and bring the quails, for it was a miraculous affair; or Moses, by divine orders, which was done by smiting it, when waters flowed out in great abundance, sufficient to give drink... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE REMEMBERED HIS HOLY PROMISE,.... It was not owing to the goodness of this people, to their obedience to the divine will, to any worthiness or merit of theirs, that such signs and wonders were wrought for them in Egypt; and that they were brought out from thence in such a manner as they were;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE BROUGHT FORTH HIS PEOPLE WITH JOY,.... Or "therefore" f, in consequence of his promise, and the remembrance of it, he brought Israel out of Egypt with great joy to them, they coming out with so much health and wealth; having their liberty, and in hope of shortly being settled in a land flowin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GAVE THEM THE LANDS OF THE HEATHEN,.... The countries of the seven nations that dwelt in Canaan; the Lord did it, who had a right to do it, being the possessor of heaven and earth; and who was provoked unto it by the sins of these Heathens, as well as promised it to his people the Israelites. A... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY MIGHT OBSERVE HIS STATUTES, AND KEEP HIS LAWS,.... All this the Lord did for them, to engage them by his goodness to them to observe the statutes he appointed them, and the laws he gave them; the contrary to which the Canaanites had done, which caused him to cast them out of the land; but... [ Continue Reading ]