1、Whedons Commentary on the Bible Psalms (Vol. 2)(Daniel Whedon)76 Psalm 76 Verse 1 1. In Judah is God knownThe glory of Israel, then and now, is the knowledge and confession of an actually present God and Saviour. His presence supposes the fulness of his works of grace. IsraelNow represented only by
2、the kingdom of Judah, the ten tribes having already gone into captivity.Verse 2 2. SalemThe ancient name of Jerusalem, here poetically recalled.Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:1. His tabernacleSuch only it was when David first removed the ark to Mount Zion, (2 Samuel 6:17; and such was Gods dwelling place
3、during Davids life.Verse 3 3. There brake he the arrowsThe adverbial particle, , (sham,) “there,” is not to be understood of the place where the miracle of destruction was wrought, but of that whence the miraculous power emanated, namely Zion, or Salem, and should be translated thence, from thence.
4、Thus, “His dwelling-place in Zion. Thence brake he,” etc. So the word is used, Genesis 11:8, “The Lord scattered them abroad from thence;” and Genesis 26:17, “Isaac departed thence.” It is from his dwelling-place God hears and answers prayer. It is a lofty conception of Zion as the throne of Deity.
5、Arrows of the bowHebrew, Flames, or lightnings of the bow, that is, flaming or flashing arrows, a description not uncommon of furbished weapons. Job 39:23; Nahum 3:3. Comp. Ephesians 6:16. And the battleEither poetically for the weapons of war, or directly the war itself. This latter is the true ide
6、a. He shivered the battle; that is, ended the war by one stroke, in destroying the warriors. See Hosea 2:18, (Hebrews 76:20,) and the parallel passage, Psalms 46:9Verse 4 4. Mountains of preyThe verse is elliptical and obscure, but literally the words would seem to mean, mountains where beasts of pr
7、ey abounded and held high carnival. Song of Solomon 4:8. Others suppose the reference is to mountains whose rocky dens offered a retreat for robbers where they could bestow their plunder, and from which they issued forth. In either case the metaphor is easily deduced. The language is applicable to t
8、he haughty invaders who had spread terror throughout the nation, making it a war of plunder as well as of conquest, and who, probably, had stored their spoils in fortified high places, here called “mountains of prey”equal to plunder mountains. Stanley supposes reference is made to the “armory” of th
9、e “house of the forest of Lebanon” on Zion, where were displayed the shields of mighty men. See Song of Solomon 4:4; Isaiah 22:8. Hammond takes the idea to be, that God is more glorious in power and majesty than the strong mountain fortifications where the enemy made his rendezvous. Either sense mig
10、ht be accepted, though the first seems most natural.Verse 5 5. Stout-hearted are spoiledInstead of making plunder of Gods people they themselves are become a spoil. Slept their sleepTheir perpetual sleep, the sleep of death. Jeremiah 51:39-57. None have found their handsThey found not “their hands”
11、in the sense of discovering, bringing back to light, a lost object, though the least degree of self-consciousness would have sufficed for this; nor yet in the sense to have power over, as the word may signify. 1 Samuel 23:17; Psalms 21:9. These mighty men, whose name had been the terror of the natio
12、ns, now had neither consciousness to discover, nor ability to use, their hands. The words are in contrast with their boasted strength and skill.Verse 6 6. The chariot and horseCavalry and the war-chariot were the terror of ancient warfare. Dead sleepThe word indicates a profounder sleep than is natu
13、ral, (Daniel 8:18; Daniel 10:9,) and the language intimates that the judgment was not heralded by any alarm. Whatever physical cause was used, if any, it occasioned no disturbance of the camp. Silently, at the rebuke of Jehovah, from a deeper sleep than was natural they slept the sleep of death. See
14、 note on Psalms 46:6Verse 7 7. When once thou art angryFrom the moment of thy anger, or when once thine anger forms itself into a purpose. Time, with God, is nothing. He can do in an instant, as by the fiat, “Be light,” (Genesis 1:3,) as easily as in a thousand years. “He looketh on the earth, and i
15、t trembleth.” Psalms 104:32. He touched the Assyrian camp, and they slept the sleep of death.Verse 8 8. Judgment to be heard from heavenThe case was a clear one. No delay of secondary causes. The judgment fell like a bolt from heaven. No one, not even Sennacherib, doubted it was of God. The earth fe
16、ared, and was stillA sublime conception of the majesty of God. “When he arose to judgment” the tumult was hushed, the din of war ceased. Silence and fear pervaded the earth, when God arose for the “meek” ones. See on Psalms 46:10.“The Babylonian Talmud hath it, that this destruction of the army of t
17、he Assyrians was executed by lightning; and some of the targums are quoted for saying the same thing. But it seems most likely that it was effected by bringing on them the hot wind which is frequent in those parts, and often, when it lights among a multitude, destroys great numbers of them in a mome
18、nt, as it frequently happens in those vast caravans of Mohammedans who go their annual pilgrimages to Mecca.”Prideaux.And the words of Isaiah (Isaiah 37:7,) which threatened Sennacherib with a “blast” from heaven, seem to denote the same. The poet has the same:“For the angel of death spread his wing
19、s on the blast,And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed.”The account of Herodotus, (book ii, chap. 141,) 450 years before Christ, that “so immense a number of mice infested by night Sennacheribs camp that their quivers and bows, together with what secured their shields to their arms, were gn
20、awed in pieces,” and thus rendered the army powerless, while it corroborates the great fact of the catastrophe, and calls Sennacherib by name, is incorrect as to the circumstances, and puerile. See on Psalms 46Verse 10 10. The wrath of man shall praise theeAs furnishing an occasion for the display o
21、f the divine character and attributes in delivering his people and punishing sin, and hence the increased praises of the triumphant righteous. So of Pharaoh, Exodus 9:16, and chaps, 14 and 15. Remainder of wrathA passage much tortured by interpreters. Is the wrath of man, or of God, here intended? T
22、his depends upon the signification of the word , (hhagar,) rendered restrain in the common version. Its literal and usual sense is, to gird on, to bind. In this sense God is supposed to gird on the remainder of his wrath, not required for the present judgment, in order to new and further vengeance u
23、pon his enemies. But this certainly would not be , “the wrath of man,” which is the subject, and most literally defined. The word admits the sense of “restrain,” and the connexion requires it. Furst, though proposing another reading of the text, derives the sense “restrain” from the cognate Arabic a
24、nd Syriac roots, and says, “The signification of to restrain proceeds from to bind,” and renders , the remnant of hostile wrath, which would give what we conceive to be the exact idea. So Phillips: “The word may denote girding in the sense of restraining.” Calvin: “More simple is the interpretation,
25、 that although the enemies cease not to breathe cruelty, yet shalt thou impede and restrain them, that they shall not be able to bring their attempts to pass.”Verse 11 11. Vow, and pay unto the LordAs the fittest return for all his benefits. Psalms 116:12-14; Hosea 14:2. Bring presents unto him Acco
26、rding to Asiatic custom, taxes and tribute often take the form of presents, which the governors of provinces bring to their sovereign. They are a token of submission and loyalty. Thus, those who “brought no presents to Saul,” refused to acknowledge him as their king. 1 Samuel 10:27. See Psalms 68:29
27、; Psalms 72:10. The invasion of Sennacherib had been brought on by Hezekiahs having cast off the tributary yoke of Assyria, which Ahaz, his father, had wickedly assumed, and, in doing so, had revolted from Jehovah. Hezekiah now exhorts the nation to bring tribute to Jehovah, their only lawful sovere
28、ign. 2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28:16-25; Isaiah 7:1-12. Round about himThat is, the surrounding nations on every side of Judea. Let Jehovah be confessed by them and by all people to be the supreme God. And such should have been the effect of this miracle, especially in regard to Assyria; but it faile
29、d, as had also the preaching of Jonah about one hundred years before. To-day men are digging out the buried ruins of Nineveh, the proud capital, from the overlaying mounds of rubbish by which its very site had been lost from history; and among its inscribed and sculptured stone slabs are found the r
30、ecords and memorials of this same Sennacherib, his war with Hezekiah, and his siege of Lachish.Verse 12 12. Cut off the spirit of princesThe breath of princes, as in Job 9:18; Psalms 104:29. Or, the spirit of princes may be taken for the ambition, haughtiness, pride, of princes. “God puts an end to
31、the defiant, arrogant bearing of the tyrants of the earth, and becomes at last the feared of all the kings of the earth.”Delitzsch.77 Psalm 77 Verse 1 1. I cried unto God “My distresses were great, and I had none but God to go to.”Hammond. He gave ear unto meThe rabbinical construction takes the ver
32、b as a peculiar form of the imperative, (hear thou me,) which suits better the feelings of the psalmist as not having yet received the answer to prayer. The complaint goes on to Psalms 77:9, and the subsequent part of the psalm describes only the triumph of faith, not the formal fulfilment of his re
33、quest. Compare Habakkuk 3:17-19Verse 2 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the LordNot only the depth of the psalmists sufferings is here indicated, such as God only could relieve, but his true piety. His troubles brought him nearer to God. Psalms 50:15. My sore ran in the nightHebrew, My hand was
34、stretched out all night; that is, in the posture of earnest supplication. Psalms 44:20; Psalms 88:9. Ceased notRested not. Compare the painfulness of the attitude with Exodus 17:11-12Verse 3 3. I remembered God, and was troubledOr, moaned. This remembrance of God corresponds to his seeking him in th
35、e previous verse, and the trouble, or moaning, to the stretching out of his hand, specimens of poetic parallelism. He was “troubled” because God was now withdrawn and hidden from him. I complainedHebrew, meditated, same word as is rendered “commune,” Psalms 77:6. To meditate is to hold a subject ste
36、adily before the mind, to consider it in all its relations; more intensive than remember; thus, “I remembered God and was troubled; I meditated and was overwhelmed.”Verse 4 4. Thou holdest mine eyes wakingThou holdest the watches, or guards, of my eyes; that is, my eyelids. Sleep is Gods merciful gi
37、ft, (Psalms 127:2,) and wakefulness is here confessed as a judgment. I cannot speakBut he could moan, as in Psalms 77:3. The extremes of loud moaning and speechless silence indicate the paroxysm and excess of his sorrow.Verse 5 5. I have considered the days of oldI recount the providence of God towa
38、rd the nation in ancient times, and contrast with that its present forsaken condition.Verse 6 6. My song in the nightIn my happier days my nights were often spent in praise and thanksgiving, now in mourning or silent grief. This applied to the nation in comparing their earlier history with their pre
39、sent state. These meditations lead the psalmist to the earnest inquiries of Psalms 77:7-9, to ascertain if the known ways of God with his people offer any hope in the present distress.Verse 7 7. Will the Lord cast off for everHebrew, to eternity. The word is one of the strongest to denote endless du
40、ration. Will he be favourable no moreA strong negative, agreeing with the former member in intensity.Verse 8 8. Is his mercy gone for ever “For ever,” here, is another of the class of strongest Hebrew words to denote eternal duration, and never occurs but once (Psalms 44:23) in such connexion, excep
41、t in the psalms of the captivity. In Psalms 74 it occurs four times, (Psalms 77:1; Psalms 77:3; Psalms 77:10; Psalms 77:19,) also in Psalms 79:5; Psalms 89:46. For evermoreHebrew, to generation and generation.Verse 9 9. Forgotten to be gracious shut up his tender mercies “He asks whether it is, then
42、, all at an end with Gods loving-kindness and promise, at the same time saying to himself that this, nevertheless, is at variance with the unchangeableness of his nature and the inviolability of his covenant.” Delitzsch. Here end the dark questionings of his agitated mind.Verse 10 10. The tone of th
43、e psalm abruptly changes. The remaining portion describes the grounds of his faith and hope. This is my infirmity Literally, This is my disease; that is, my complaint and despondency are the natural outworkings of my excessive sufferings. Years of the right hand of the Most HighThe transition is abr
44、upt, like Habakkuk 3. The ellipsis is supplied, in our English version, by the words, “But I will remember,” which is in analogy with Psalms 77:11. The idea is, that he would rally and sustain his faith and hope by recalling the great works of God toward his people of old, and his original purpose c
45、oncerning them. This was a common antidote to unbelief and despair during the captivity, as the psalms of that period show. , (hallothee,) translated infirmity, in Piel takes the sense of entreaty, supplication, and many read it, “This is my entreaty the years of the right hand,” etc. But the sense
46、already given seems most natural and most in accordance with the connexion. By changing the Hebrew accents Dr. Conant reads the verse:“And I said, This is my infirmity! Years of the right hand of the Most High Will I commemoratethe deeds of Jah, For I will remember thy wonders of old.”Verse 11 11. T
47、he works of the LordHebrew, The doings of Jah. A poetic abbreviation of Jehovah, which appears in the earlier Hebrew poetry.Exodus 15:2; Exodus 17:16, and often in the psalms.Verse 13 13. Thy wayThe way of God is his historical path, or mode of dispensation, especially in redemption. In the sanctuar
48、yThe word is rarely used in the abstract for holiness, but almost always in the concrete for holy name, person, or place. So here it is to be understood of the holy place, or sanctuary. Gods way is in his sanctuary, where is the oracle, the living word. See Psalms 73:17Verse 15 15. Sons of Jacob and
49、 Joseph “Joseph,” here, represents the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, (Genesis 48,) and these, in later times, the kingdom of Israel. Psalms 80:2; Isaiah 11:13. “Jacob and Joseph” stand for the total Hebrew family. See introductory note, Psalms 81. The thought of the psalmist is on the redemption of his race.Verse 16 16. The waters saw theeA bold figure. The waters saw God fighting for his people, and were afraid, or seized with pain, as the word denotes. TroubledAgitated. The word indicates an i
