Psalms · Chapter 77

Verse 1. I cried unto God] The repetition here marks the earnestness of the psalmist’s soul; and the word voice shows that the Psalm was not the issue of private meditation, but of deep mental trouble, which forced him to speak his griefs aloud.

Verse 1. I cried unto God, &c. — This verse seems to contain the sum of the whole Psalm, consisting of two parts, namely, his earnest cry to God in his deep distress, and God’s gracious answer to his prayers, by supporting him under his troubles, and giving him assurance of a good issue out of them; of both which he speaks distinctly and particularly as he proceeds in the Psalm.

Verse 1, 2. I cried unto God—In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night. There is no mention of any sore in the original. The literal reading is “My hand was stretched out in the night [in prayer] and ceased not.” I cried, I prayed, but no answer; the morning broke, but no ray of light to my fainting mind; the sun rose on the earth, but no sun of righteousness shone on me. Oh what sighs, what tears, what labouring thought: what profound researches of the mind! My spirit made diligent search: ver. 6.

1. I cried unto God— “My distresses were great, and I had none but God to go to.”—Hammond. He gave ear unto me—The rabbinical

construction takes the verb 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 verse 9, and the subsequent part of the psalm describes only the triumph of faith, not the formal fulfilment of his request. Compare Habakkuk 3:17-19.

V. 2. Night-Which to others was a time of rest and quietness.

Verse 2. My sore ran in the night, and ceased not] This is a most unaccountable translation; the literal meaning of hrgn ydy yadi niggerah, which we translate my sore ran, is, my hand was stretched out, i.e., in prayer. He continued during the whole night with his voice and hands lifted up to God, and ceased not, even in the midst of great discouragements.

Verse 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord — Being afflicted, he prayed, James 5:13, and being in an agony he prayed the more fervently: he cried unto God. He did not apply to the diversion of business, or of any recreation, that he might by that means shake off his trouble; but he had recourse to God in prayer, and sought his favour and grace. In this he is an example for our imitation. When under any trouble, and especially trouble of mind for sin, we must apply to God and spread our case before him. We must not endeavour to get rid of our trouble some other way, but must entreat him to remove it by lifting up the light of his countenance upon us. This, and only this, will give us peace of mind, and put joy and gladness into our hearts. My sore ran — Hebrew, hrgn ydy, jadi niggerah, my hand flowed, or poured forth, that is, was spread abroad, or stretched out to God in prayer and ceased not. — So Hammond, Patrick, Waterland, and Houbigant. In the night — Which to others was a time of rest and refreshment, but to me of sorrow and distress. My soul refused to be comforted — Without a gracious answer from God, and an assurance that he had not cast me off, but was again reconciled to me, verses 7-9. Till I should obtain this, I rejected all those consolations which either my friends or my own mind suggested.

Verse 1, 2. I cried unto God—In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night. There is no mention of any sore in the original. The literal reading is “My hand was stretched out in the night [in prayer] and ceased not.” I cried, I prayed, but no answer; the morning broke, but no ray of light to my fainting mind; the sun rose on the earth, but no sun of righteousness shone on me. Oh what sighs, what tears, what labouring thought: what profound researches of the mind! My spirit made diligent search: ver. 6.

2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord—Not only the depth of the psalmist’s sufferings is here indicated, such as God only could relieve, but his true piety. His troubles brought him nearer to God. Psalm 50:15. My sore ran in the night—Hebrew, My hand was stretched out all night; that is, in the posture of earnest supplication. Psalm 44:20; 88:9. Ceased not—Rested not. Compare the painfulness of the attitude with Exodus 17:11, 12.

V. 3. Troubled-Yea, the thoughts of God were now a matter of trouble, because he was angry with me. Overwhelmed-So far was I from finding relief.

Verse 3. My spirit was overwhelmed.] As the verb is in the hithpael conjugation, the word must mean my spirit was overpowered in itself. It purposed to involve itself in this calamity. I felt exquisitely for my poor suffering countrymen.

“The generous mind is not confined at home;

It spreads itself abroad through all the public,

And feels for every member of the land.”

Verse 3. I remembered God, and was troubled — Yea, the thoughts of God, and of his infinite power, wisdom, truth, and goodness, which used to be very sweet and consolatory to me, were now causes of terror and trouble, because these divine attributes appeared to be all engaged against me; and God himself, my only friend, now seemed to be very angry with me, and to have become mine enemy. The word hymha, ehemajah, here rendered I was troubled, properly signifies, I was in a state of perturbation, like that of the tumultuous waves of the sea in a storm. I complained — Unto God in prayer; and my spirit was overwhelmed — So far was I from finding relief by my complaints, that they increased my misery. Hebrew, yjwr ãc[ttw hjyva, ashicha vetithgnatteph ruchi, I meditated, and my spirit covered, overwhelmed, or obscured itself. My own reasonings, instead of affording me light and comfort, only served to overwhelm me with greater darkness and misery. How frequently is this the case with persons in distress of soul, through a consciousness of their guilt, depravity, and weakness, and their desert of the wrath of God! This verse “is a fine description,” says Dr. Horne, “of what passes in an afflicted and dejected mind. Between the remembrance of God and his former mercies, and the meditation on a seeming desertion, under present calamities, the affections are variously agitated, and the prayers disturbed like the tumultuous waves of a troubled sea; while the fair light from above is intercepted, and the face of heaven overwhelmed with clouds and darkness.”

3. I remembered God, and was troubled—Or, moaned. This

remembrance of God corresponds to his seeking him in the 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 complained—Hebrew, meditated, same word as is rendered “commune,” verse 6. To meditate is to hold a subject steadily 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.”

V. 4. Waking-By continual grief.

Verse 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking] Literally, thou keepest the watches of mine eyes-my grief is so great that I cannot sleep. I am so troubled that I cannot speak.] This shows an increase of sorrow and anguish. At first he felt his misery, and called aloud. He receives more light, sees and feels his deep wretchedness, and then his words are swallowed by excessive distress. His woes are too big for utterance. “Small troubles are loquacious; the great are dumb.” Curæ leves loquuntur; ingentes stupent.

Verse 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking — By those bitter and continual griefs, and those perplexing and distressing thoughts and cares, which thou excitest within me. I am so troubled that I cannot speak — The greatness of my sorrow so stupifies and confuses my mind, that I can scarcely open my mouth to declare my grief in proper terms; nor can any words sufficiently express the extremity of my misery: see Job 2:13.

4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking—Thou holdest the watches, or guards, of my eyes; that is, my eyelids. Sleep is God’s merciful gift, (Psalm 127:2,) and wakefulness is here confessed as a judgment. I cannot speak—But he could moan, as in verse 3. The extremes of loud moaning and speechless silence indicate the paroxysm and excess of his sorrow.

V. 5. The days-The mighty works of God in former times.

Verse 5. I have considered the days of old] ytbvj chishshabti, I have counted up; I have reckoned up the various dispensations of thy mercy in behalf of the distressed, marked down in the history of our fathers.

Verses 5, 6. I have considered the days of old — The mighty works of God, wrought for his people in former times, if by that means I could get any comfort. I call to remembrance my song in the night — The many and great mercies and favours of God vouchsafed to me and his people, which have obliged me to adore him and sing his praise, not only in the day, the time appointed for that work, but also by night, as often as they came into my mind. My spirit made diligent search — What should be the reason of this strange and vast alteration, and how this sore trouble could come from the hand of so gracious and merciful a God as ours is, and what might be expected as to its continuance or removal. “A recollection of former mercies is the proper antidote against a temptation to despair in the day of calamity: and as in the divine dispensations, which are always uniform and like themselves, whatever has happened may, and probably will, happen again when the circumstances are similar; the experience of ancient times is to be called in to our aid, and duly consulted. Upon these topics we should, in the night of affliction, commune with our own hearts, and make diligent search, as Daniel did in Babylon, into the cause of our troubles, with the proper methods of shortening and bringing them to an end; by suffering them to have their intended and full effect in a sincere repentance, and thorough reformation.” — Horne.

5. I have considered the days of old—I recount the providence of God toward the nation in ancient times, and contrast with that its present forsaken condition.

V. 6. My song-The mercies of God vouchsafed to me, and to his people, which have obliged me to sing his praises, not only in the day, but also by night.

Verse 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night] I do not think that ytnygn neginathi means my song. We know that tnygn neginath signifies some stringed musical instrument that was struck with a plectrum; but here it possibly might be applied to the Psalm that was played on it. But it appears to me rather that the psalmist here speaks of the circumstances of composing the short ode contained in the seventh, eighth, and ninth verses; which it is probable he sung to his harp as a kind of dirge, if indeed he had a harp in that distressful captivity.

My spirit made diligent search.] The verb cpj chaphas signifies such an investigation as a man makes who is obliged to strip himself in order to do it; or, to lift up coverings, to search fold by fold, or in our phrase, to leave no stone unturned. The Vulgate translates: “Et scopebam spiritum meum.” As scopebam is no pure Latin word, it may probably be taken from the Greek skopew scopeo, “to look about, to consider attentively.” It is however used by no author but St. Jerome; and by him only here and in Isaiah 14:23: And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction; scopabo eam in scopa terens. Hence we see that he has formed a verb from a noun scopæ, a sweeping brush or besom; and this sense my old Psalter follows in this place, translating the passage thus: And I sweped my gast: which is thus paraphrased: “And swa I sweped my gaste, (I swept my soul,) that is, I purged it of all fylth.”

Verses 5, 6. I have considered the days of old — The mighty works of God, wrought for his people in former times, if by that means I could get any comfort. I call to remembrance my song in the night — The many and great mercies and favours of God vouchsafed to me and his people, which have obliged me to adore him and sing his praise, not only in the day, the time appointed for that work, but also by night, as often as they came into my mind. My spirit made diligent search — What should be the reason of this strange and vast alteration, and how this sore trouble could come from the hand of so gracious and merciful a God as ours is, and what might be expected as to its continuance or removal. “A recollection of former mercies is the proper antidote against a temptation to despair in the day of calamity: and as in the divine dispensations, which are always uniform and like themselves, whatever has happened may, and probably will, happen again when the circumstances are similar; the experience of ancient times is to be called in to our aid, and duly consulted. Upon these topics we should, in the night of affliction, commune with our own hearts, and make diligent search, as Daniel did in Babylon, into the cause of our troubles, with the proper methods of shortening and bringing them to an end; by suffering them to have their intended and full effect in a sincere repentance, and thorough reformation.” — Horne.

6. My song in the night—In 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 present state. These meditations lead the psalmist to the earnest inquiries of verses 7-9, to ascertain if the known ways of God with his people offer any hope in the present distress.

V. 7. Cut off-His peculiar people.

Verse 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever?] Will there be no end to this captivity? Has he not said, “Turn, ye backsliders; for I am married unto you: I will heal your backsliding, and love you freely.” Will he then be favourable no more? Thus the psalmist pleads and reasons with his Maker.

Verses 7-9. Will the Lord cast off for ever? — “The psalmist now relates the process of his meditations, and of that controversy which arose in his heart between faith and distrust.” Most commentators suppose that the psalmist’s distress and despondency were occasioned chiefly, if not solely, by public calamities. Thus Poole seems to have understood the passage. “Will the Lord cast off — His peculiar and chosen people? This does not seem to agree either with God’s nature, or with that everlasting covenant which he hath made with them. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? — Are all the stores of his mercy quite spent? Doth he now cease to be what he hath styled himself, The Lord, gracious and merciful? &c. Doth his promise fail for evermore? — Will he never make good those gracious promises in which he hath commanded us to hope? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? — Because he hath so long disused so to be? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? — So as they can never flow forth, no, not to his own people?” In the same light it is considered by Dr. Horne, who observes upon it, “While he (the psalmist) viewed the distressful scene around him, he found himself strongly tempted to question God’s love of the church; to think that he had finally rejected his people; that the promised mercy of redemption would never be accomplished; and that indignation had restrained the bowels of our heavenly Father, which no longer yearned toward his afflicted children. These were the thoughts suggested to a desponding soul by the desolations of Zion at that time; and the state of things in the world may possibly be such as to suggest the like thoughts to many in the Christian Church, before our Lord shall appear again for her final redemption.” But there does not seem to be any intimation in the Psalm that the author’s trouble and dejection arose from public miseries. Personal trials and temptations might, and it seems probable from the expressions here used, that they were at least the principal causes of his distress and despondency. Thus Henry: “This is the language of a disconsolate soul, now walking in darkness, and having no light, a case not uncommon even with those who fear the Lord, and obey the voice of his servant, Isaiah 50:10.” Especially, we may add, when exercised with afflictive and trying dispensations of providence, or assaulted with sore temptations. Even “God’s own people, in a cloudy and dark day,” and the rather if they have grieved the Holy Spirit, which should have witnessed their sonship, and have defiled their conscience by yielding to any known sin, in temper, word, or work, or to lukewarmness and sloth, or the spirit of the world, “may be tempted to make desperate conclusions about their own spiritual state, or the condition of God’s church and kingdom in the world; and, as to both, may be ready to give up all for gone. We may be tempted to think that God has abandoned and cast us off; that the covenant of grace fails us, and that the tender mercy of our God shall be for ever withheld from us. But we must not give way to such suggestions as these. If fear and melancholy ask such peevish questions, let faith answer them from the Scripture. Will the Lord cast off for ever? God forbid, Romans 11:1. No; the Lord will not cast off his” obedient “people, Psalm 94:14. Will he be favourable no more? Yes, he will; for though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion, Lamentations 3:32. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? No; his mercy endureth for ever; as it is from everlasting, so it is to everlasting, Psalm 103:17. Doth his promise fail for evermore? No; it is impossible for God to lie, Hebrews 6:18. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? No; he cannot deny himself, and his own name, which he hath proclaimed to be gracious and merciful, Exodus 34:6. Has his anger shut up his tender mercies? No; they are new every morning, Lamentations 3:22.” Thus Henry. To whose encouraging observations we may add, nearly in the words of Sherlock, that “whether the calamities which afflicted the psalmist were private to himself, or public to his people and country, yet as long as his thoughts dwelt on them, and led him into expostulations with God for the severity of his judgments, he found no ease or relief. He complained heavily, but what did he get by his complaint? Was he not forced immediately to confess the impropriety and folly of it? I said, This is my infirmity. He said very right. In complaining, he followed the natural impressions of passion and impatience: in acknowledging the folly of his complaint, he spoke not only the language of grace, but of sense and reason. But this good man, being well grounded in religion, was able so far to get the better of his doubts and fears as to pass a right judgment in his own case: and to call to his assistance the proper reflections which the great works of Providence administered for the support and confirmation of his hope and confidence toward God. Here then was his comfort; here the cure of all his grief. The scene around him was dark and gloomy; but, dark as it was, it was under the guidance and direction of the hand which had never failed the faithful, to deliver him out of all his troubles.”

Ver. 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever? Is his mercy clean gone? Must I groan and sigh in darkness all my days? Am I cast off for my sins, and doomed to perish at last? Are all my prayers sent back empty? Are all the intercessions of the saints on my account disregarded?

7. Will the Lord cast off for ever—Hebrew, to eternity. The word is one of the strongest to denote endless duration. Will he be favourable no more—A strong negative, agreeing with the former member in intensity.

Verse 8. For evermore?] rdw rdl ledor vador, “to generation and generation.” From race to race. Shall no mercy be shown even to the remotest generation of the children of the offenders?

Verses 7-9. Will the Lord cast off for ever? — “The psalmist now relates the process of his meditations, and of that controversy which arose in his heart between faith and distrust.” Most commentators suppose that the psalmist’s distress and despondency were occasioned chiefly, if not solely, by public calamities. Thus Poole seems to have understood the passage. “Will the Lord cast off — His peculiar and chosen people? This does not seem to agree either with God’s nature, or with that everlasting covenant which he hath made with them. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? — Are all the stores of his mercy quite spent? Doth he now cease to be what he hath styled himself, The Lord, gracious and merciful? &c. Doth his promise fail for evermore? — Will he never make good those gracious promises in which he hath commanded us to hope? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? — Because he hath so long disused so to be? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? — So as they can never flow forth, no, not to his own people?” In the same light it is considered by Dr. Horne, who observes upon it, “While he (the psalmist) viewed the distressful scene around him, he found himself strongly tempted to question God’s love of the church; to think that he had finally rejected his people; that the promised mercy of redemption would never be accomplished; and that indignation had restrained the bowels of our heavenly Father, which no longer yearned toward his afflicted children. These were the thoughts suggested to a desponding soul by the desolations of Zion at that time; and the state of things in the world may possibly be such as to suggest the like thoughts to many in the Christian Church, before our Lord shall appear again for her final redemption.” But there does not seem to be any intimation in the Psalm that the author’s trouble and dejection arose from public miseries. Personal trials and temptations might, and it seems probable from the expressions here used, that they were at least the principal causes of his distress and despondency. Thus Henry: “This is the language of a disconsolate soul, now walking in darkness, and having no light, a case not uncommon even with those who fear the Lord, and obey the voice of his servant, Isaiah 50:10.” Especially, we may add, when exercised with afflictive and trying dispensations of providence, or assaulted with sore temptations. Even “God’s own people, in a cloudy and dark day,” and the rather if they have grieved the Holy Spirit, which should have witnessed their sonship, and have defiled their conscience by yielding to any known sin, in temper, word, or work, or to lukewarmness and sloth, or the spirit of the world, “may be tempted to make desperate conclusions about their own spiritual state, or the condition of God’s church and kingdom in the world; and, as to both, may be ready to give up all for gone. We may be tempted to think that God has abandoned and cast us off; that the covenant of grace fails us, and that the tender mercy of our God shall be for ever withheld from us. But we must not give way to such suggestions as these. If fear and melancholy ask such peevish questions, let faith answer them from the Scripture. Will the Lord cast off for ever? God forbid, Romans 11:1. No; the Lord will not cast off his” obedient “people, Psalm 94:14. Will he be favourable no more? Yes, he will; for though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion, Lamentations 3:32. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? No; his mercy endureth for ever; as it is from everlasting, so it is to everlasting, Psalm 103:17. Doth his promise fail for evermore? No; it is impossible for God to lie, Hebrews 6:18. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? No; he cannot deny himself, and his own name, which he hath proclaimed to be gracious and merciful, Exodus 34:6. Has his anger shut up his tender mercies? No; they are new every morning, Lamentations 3:22.” Thus Henry. To whose encouraging observations we may add, nearly in the words of Sherlock, that “whether the calamities which afflicted the psalmist were private to himself, or public to his people and country, yet as long as his thoughts dwelt on them, and led him into expostulations with God for the severity of his judgments, he found no ease or relief. He complained heavily, but what did he get by his complaint? Was he not forced immediately to confess the impropriety and folly of it? I said, This is my infirmity. He said very right. In complaining, he followed the natural impressions of passion and impatience: in acknowledging the folly of his complaint, he spoke not only the language of grace, but of sense and reason. But this good man, being well grounded in religion, was able so far to get the better of his doubts and fears as to pass a right judgment in his own case: and to call to his assistance the proper reflections which the great works of Providence administered for the support and confirmation of his hope and confidence toward God. Here then was his comfort; here the cure of all his grief. The scene around him was dark and gloomy; but, dark as it was, it was under the guidance and direction of the hand which had never failed the faithful, to deliver him out of all his troubles.”

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 (Psalm 44:23) in such connexion, except in the psalms of the captivity. In Psalm 74 it occurs four times, (verses 1, 3, 10, 19,) also in 79:5; 89:46. For evermore—Hebrew, to generation and generation.

Verse 9. Hath God-in anger shut up his tender mercies?] The tender mercies of God are the source whence all his kindness to the children of men flows. The metaphor here is taken from a spring, the mouth of which is closed, so that its waters can no longer run in the same channel; but, being confined, break out, and take some other course. Wilt thou take thy mercy from the Israelites, and give it to some other people? This he most certainly did. He took it from the Jews, and gave it to the Gentiles.

Verses 7-9. Will the Lord cast off for ever? — “The psalmist now relates the process of his meditations, and of that controversy which arose in his heart between faith and distrust.” Most commentators suppose that the psalmist’s distress and despondency were occasioned chiefly, if not solely, by public calamities. Thus Poole seems to have understood the passage. “Will the Lord cast off — His peculiar and chosen people? This does not seem to agree either with God’s nature, or with that everlasting covenant which he hath made with them. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? — Are all the stores of his mercy quite spent? Doth he now cease to be what he hath styled himself, The Lord, gracious and merciful? &c. Doth his promise fail for evermore? — Will he never make good those gracious promises in which he hath commanded us to hope? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? — Because he hath so long disused so to be? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? — So as they can never flow forth, no, not to his own people?” In the same light it is considered by Dr. Horne, who observes upon it, “While he (the psalmist) viewed the distressful scene around him, he found himself strongly tempted to question God’s love of the church; to think that he had finally rejected his people; that the promised mercy of redemption would never be accomplished; and that indignation had restrained the bowels of our heavenly Father, which no longer yearned toward his afflicted children. These were the thoughts suggested to a desponding soul by the desolations of Zion at that time; and the state of things in the world may possibly be such as to suggest the like thoughts to many in the Christian Church, before our Lord shall appear again for her final redemption.” But there does not seem to be any intimation in the Psalm that the author’s trouble and dejection arose from public miseries. Personal trials and temptations might, and it seems probable from the expressions here used, that they were at least the principal causes of his distress and despondency. Thus Henry: “This is the language of a disconsolate soul, now walking in darkness, and having no light, a case not uncommon even with those who fear the Lord, and obey the voice of his servant, Isaiah 50:10.” Especially, we may add, when exercised with afflictive and trying dispensations of providence, or assaulted with sore temptations. Even “God’s own people, in a cloudy and dark day,” and the rather if they have grieved the Holy Spirit, which should have witnessed their sonship, and have defiled their conscience by yielding to any known sin, in temper, word, or work, or to lukewarmness and sloth, or the spirit of the world, “may be tempted to make desperate conclusions about their own spiritual state, or the condition of God’s church and kingdom in the world; and, as to both, may be ready to give up all for gone. We may be tempted to think that God has abandoned and cast us off; that the covenant of grace fails us, and that the tender mercy of our God shall be for ever withheld from us. But we must not give way to such suggestions as these. If fear and melancholy ask such peevish questions, let faith answer them from the Scripture. Will the Lord cast off for ever? God forbid, Romans 11:1. No; the Lord will not cast off his” obedient “people, Psalm 94:14. Will he be favourable no more? Yes, he will; for though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion, Lamentations 3:32. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? No; his mercy endureth for ever; as it is from everlasting, so it is to everlasting, Psalm 103:17. Doth his promise fail for evermore? No; it is impossible for God to lie, Hebrews 6:18. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? No; he cannot deny himself, and his own name, which he hath proclaimed to be gracious and merciful, Exodus 34:6. Has his anger shut up his tender mercies? No; they are new every morning, Lamentations 3:22.” Thus Henry. To whose encouraging observations we may add, nearly in the words of Sherlock, that “whether the calamities which afflicted the psalmist were private to himself, or public to his people and country, yet as long as his thoughts dwelt on them, and led him into expostulations with God for the severity of his judgments, he found no ease or relief. He complained heavily, but what did he get by his complaint? Was he not forced immediately to confess the impropriety and folly of it? I said, This is my infirmity. He said very right. In complaining, he followed the natural impressions of passion and impatience: in acknowledging the folly of his complaint, he spoke not only the language of grace, but of sense and reason. But this good man, being well grounded in religion, was able so far to get the better of his doubts and fears as to pass a right judgment in his own case: and to call to his assistance the proper reflections which the great works of Providence administered for the support and confirmation of his hope and confidence toward God. Here then was his comfort; here the cure of all his grief. The scene around him was dark and gloomy; but, dark as it was, it was under the guidance and direction of the hand which had never failed the faithful, to deliver him out of all his troubles.”

9. Forgotten to be gracious… shut up his tender mercies— “He asks whether it is, then, all at an end with God’s 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.

V. 10. I said-These suspicions of God’s faithfulness proceed from the weakness of my faith. The years-The years wherein God hath done great and glorious works, which are often ascribed to God’s right-hand.

Verse 10. And I said, This is my infirmity] The Hebrew is very obscure, and has been differently translated: ˆwyl[ ימים twnv ayh ytwlj ואמר vaomar challothi hi shenoth yemin elyon; “And I said, Is this my weakness? Years the right hand of the Most High.” If ytwlj challothi comes from hlj chalah, and signifies to pray, as Deuteronomy Dieu has thought, then his translation may be proper: Precari hoc meum est; mutare dextram Altissimi. “To pray, this my business; to change the right hand of the Most High.” I can do nothing else than pray; God is the Ruler of events. Mr. N. M. Berlin translates, “Dolere meum hoc est; mutare est dextra Altissimi.” To grieve is my portion; to change (my condition) belongs to the right hand of the Most High. Here twnv shenoth, which we translate years, is derived from hnv shanah, to change. This latter appears to me the better translation; the sum of the meaning is, “I am in deep distress; the Most High alone can change my condition.” The old Psalter, following the Vulgate,—Et dixi, Nunc coepi: haec mutatio dexteræ Excelsi,—translates: And I said, Now I began this chaunchyng of ryght hand of hihegh (highest) Alswa say, God sal noght kast al man kynde fra his sigt with outen ende: for nowe I began to understand the syker; (the truth;) that man sal be brogt to endles; and thar fore, now I said, that this chaunchyng fra wreth to mercy, is thrugh Ihu Criste that chaunges me fra ill to gude, fra noy to gladnes.

Once more, Coverdale, who is followed by Matthews and Becke, takes the passage by storm: “At last I came to this poynte, that I thought; O why art thou so foolish? The right hande of the Most Hyest can chaunge all.”

Verse 10. And I said — I thus answered these objections; This is my infirmity — These suspicions of God’s faithfulness and goodness proceed from the weakness of my faith, and from the mistake of a diseased mind. But I will remember the years, &c. — That is, the years in which God hath done great and glorious works, which are often ascribed to God’s right hand in the Scriptures. It may be proper to observe here, that as the word twnv, shenoth, here rendered years, also signifies changes, the verse is rendered otherwise by some learned interpreters, without any such supplement as is in our translation, thus; This is my affliction, or grievance, the change of the right hand of the Most High — Namely, that that right hand of God, which formerly hath done such great and wonderful things for his people, is, at this time, not only not drawn forth for their defence, but is also stretched out against them. So Bishop Patrick. “This is the thing which sorely afflicts me, to see such alterations in the proceedings of the Most High, that the same hand which formerly protected us, now severely scourges us.” As if he had said, I could bear the malice and rage of our enemies, from whom we could not expect better things, but that our gracious and covenanted God should forsake and afflict his own people, is to me intolerable. The reader will observe that this interpretation proceeds on the supposition that the psalmist’s distress was occasioned by public, and not by private calamities, which supposition, however, does not seem to be sufficiently supported by the general tenor of the Psalm.

Ver. 10. I said, this is my infirmity, to distrust and doubt. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High, when he rode on the cloud; when he divided the sea, and drove asunder the nations. The God who once delivered his people, can yet deliver me.

What was this case of Asaph? Answer, a nervous gloom, a milder species of melancholy, superinduced by some grief of heart, and which preyed on the mind. If otherwise, it might be great heaviness through manifold temptations.

What are the best remedies? Answer, the kindest treatment that circumstances will allow. A temperate diet, and cooling medicines, attended with air and exercise. Especially let the good man be undisturbed in prayer, for that eases the heart of all its grief. Let him be prompted always to remember the years of the Most High, looking at the brightest traits of providence and grace, and accustomed to dwell on the promises of God.

I mention kind treatment, because those nuances and discouragements fall on persons of fine sense and exquisite feelings with the greater severity. A young gentlemen of a catholic family, being sorely buffeted, though able to attend his professional duties, fell for two months under great depression, and uttered his heart in the following lines.

Ah, who can tell my soul’s distress?

Who can conceive my wretched plight?

All day by hell how sore opprest,

By dreams and visions of the night!

While on the bed my body lay,

Ere balmy sleep had closed my eyes;

Anon, my soul a hunted prey,

Sees hosts of hellish hounds arise.

Alas, my soul was sore opprest,

While ghostly foes their malice spent;

No hope of ease, no thought of rest,

Nor earth, nor grave a prospect lent.

In ruins laid, my soul sweat blood,

In agonies of dire despair;

I cried aloud, my God, my God,

My dearest Saviour, hear my prayer.

But yet my soul disdains to flee,

Or hide from Satan’s furious blast;

I claim the promised victory,

To vanquish all my foes at last.

10. The tone of the 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 High—The transition is abrupt, like Habakkuk 3. The ellipsis is supplied, in our English version, by the words, “But I will remember,” which is in analogy with verse 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 concerning them. This was a common antidote to unbelief and despair during the captivity, as the psalms of that period show. ytwlh, (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 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 commemorate—the deeds of Jah,

For I will remember thy wonders of old.”

Verse 11. I will remember the works of the Lord] I endeavour to recollect what thou hast done in behalf of our fathers in past times; in no case hast thou cast them off, when, with humbled hearts, they sought thy mercy.

Verse 11. I will remember the works of the Lord — I will seriously consider what God has formerly done for his people, many times far above their expectation, and I will take comfort from hence, because he is still the same that he was, in power, goodness, and mercy, and, therefore, will pity and help in the present trial, which distresses me. Thus the psalmist, being restored to a right state of mind, instead of brooding any longer over his trouble, wisely resolves to turn his thoughts toward the divine dispensations of old; to meditate on God’s former works and wonders; the displays which he had made of his wisdom and power, of his mercy and grace in behalf of his people, as well of individuals as of the whole nation, and hereby to strengthen and invigorate his faith in the expected deliverance.

11. The works of the Lord—Hebrew, The doings of Jah. A poetic abbreviation of Jehovah, which appears in the earlier Hebrew poetry. Exodus 15:2 and 17:16, and often in the psalms.

V. 13. In holiness-God is holy and just, and true in all his works.

Verse 13. Thy way-is in the sanctuary] See Psalm 73:17. I must go to the sanctuary now to get comfort, as I went before to get instruction. What a mercy to have the privilege of drawing near to God in his ordinances! How many doubts have been solved, fears dissipated, hearts comforted, darknesses dispelled, and snares broken, while waiting on God in the means of grace!

Some understand the words, Thy way is in holiness-all thy dispensations, words, and works are holy, just and true. And as is thy majesty, so is thy mercy! O, who is so great a God as our God?

Verse 13. Thy way, O God — That is, thy doings, or, the course of thy providence; the various methods and causes of thy dealings with thy people; is in the sanctuary — Is there contained and declared. As the prosperity of wicked men, so also the afflictions and troubles of God’s people, are great riddles and stumbling-blocks to the ignorant and ungodly world, but a full and satisfactory resolution of them may be had from God’s sanctuary, as is observed in the former case, Psalm 73:16, 17, and here in the latter. Or, vdqb, bakkodesh, may be rendered, in holiness; and so the sense is, God is holy, and just, and true in all his works; yea, even in his judgments upon his people, and in the afflictions and troubles wherewith he chastises or tries individuals of them. Who is so great a God as our God — So able to save or to destroy?

Ver. 13. Thy way, oh God, is in the sanctuary. Thy counsel is deep and high; thou redeemest thy people, and confoundest all thy foes. Zion has but to trust, and await the openings of thy righteousness. On the ground of covenanted mercy, the sons of Jacob have claims on their father’s God.

13. Thy way—The way of God is his historical path, or mode of dispensation, especially in redemption. In the sanctuary—The 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. God’s way is in his sanctuary, where is the oracle, the living word. See Psalm 73:17.

Verse 14. Thou-doest wonders] Every act of God, whether in nature or grace, in creation or providence, is wondrous; surpasses all power but his own; and can be comprehended only by his own wisdom. To the general observer, his strength is most apparent; to the investigator of nature, his wisdom; and to the genuine Christian, his mercy and love.

Verses 14, 15. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people — By the mighty acts of it here following. Thou hast redeemed thy people — Namely, out of Egypt, after a long and hard bondage; which he here mentions to strengthen his faith in the present trouble. The sons of Jacob and Joseph — The people of the Jews are very properly styled the sons of Joseph, as well as of Jacob. For as Jacob was, under God, the author of their being, so was Joseph the preserver of it. The Chaldee paraphrast appears to have understood the words thus, rendering them, The sons which Jacob begat and Joseph nourished. Joseph was indeed a kind of second father, and they might well be called his sons; without whose care, humanly speaking, there had been no such redemption, nor people to be redeemed.

Verse 15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph.] “The sons which Jacob begat and Joseph nourished.” says the Chaldee. The Israelites are properly called the sons of Joseph as well as of Jacob, seeing Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons, were taken into the number of the tribes. All the latter part of this Psalm refers to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt; and the psalmist uses this as an argument to excite the expectation of the captives. As God delivered our fathers from Egypt, so we may expect him to deliver us from Chaldea. It required his arm to do the former, and that arm is not shortened that it cannot save.

Verses 14, 15. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people — By the mighty acts of it here following. Thou hast redeemed thy people — Namely, out of Egypt, after a long and hard bondage; which he here mentions to strengthen his faith in the present trouble. The sons of Jacob and Joseph — The people of the Jews are very properly styled the sons of Joseph, as well as of Jacob. For as Jacob was, under God, the author of their being, so was Joseph the preserver of it. The Chaldee paraphrast appears to have understood the words thus, rendering them, The sons which Jacob begat and Joseph nourished. Joseph was indeed a kind of second father, and they might well be called his sons; without whose care, humanly speaking, there had been no such redemption, nor people to be redeemed.

15. Sons of Jacob and Joseph— “Joseph,” here, represents the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, (Genesis 48,) and these, in later times, the kingdom of Israel. Psalm 80:2; Isaiah 11:13. “Jacob and Joseph” stand for the total Hebrew family. See introductory note, Psalm 81. The thought of the psalmist is on the redemption of his race.

V. 16. Afraid-And stood still, as men astonished, do.

Verse 16. The waters saw thee] What a fine image! He represents God approaching the Red Sea; and the waters, seeing him, took fright, and ran off before him, dividing to the right and left to let him pass. I have not found any thing more majestic than this.

The depths also were troubled.] Every thing appears here to have life and perception. The waters see the Almighty, do not wait his coming, but in terror flee away! The deeps, uncovered, are astonished at the circumstance; and as they cannot fly, they are filled with trouble and dismay. Under the hand of such a poet, inanimate nature springs into life; all thinks, speaks, acts; all is in motion, and the dismay is general.

Verses 16-18. The waters saw thee, O God — They felt the visible effects of thy powerful presence. They were afraid — And stood still, as men or beasts astonished commonly do. The clouds poured out water — Namely, upon the Egyptians. The skies sent out a sound — In terrible thunder; thine arrows also went abroad — Hail-stones, or rather, lightnings, or thunderbolts, called God’s arrows, Psalm 18:14, and 144:6. The earth trembled and shook — By an earthquake. This tempest is not particularly recorded in its proper place, yet it may well be collected from what is related Exodus 14:24, 25. That the Lord looked on the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. For these verses of the Psalm seem to explain in what way he looked upon them, “namely, by thunders and lightnings, storms and tempests, rain, hail, and earthquake, the usual tokens and instruments of the Almighty’s displeasure. Josephus, in like manner, relates that the destruction of the Egyptians was accompanied by storms of rain, by dreadful thunders and lightnings; and, in short, by every possible circumstance of terror, which could testify and inflict upon man the vengeance of an incensed God.”

Ver. 16. After the word selah, ver. 15, a forte, or enlivened chorus of music struck up; for the true sublime and beautiful with which this psalm closes required vivacity. The waters saw thee, oh God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the depths were troubled. In like manner, or in his own gracious way, the Lord will yet arise to succour the tempted, and wipe away the tears from Zion in the day of her oppression.

16. The waters saw thee—A bold figure. The waters saw God fighting for his people, and were afraid, or seized with pain, as the word denotes. Troubled—Agitated. The word indicates an irregular motion, like an army which trembles, wavers, and staggers when stricken with fear. The allusion is to the Red Sea passage. Compare Psalm 104:7-9.

V. 17. Poured-When the Israelites passed over the sea. Arrows-Hail-stones or lightnings.

Verse 17. The clouds poured out water] It appears from this that there was a violent tempest at the time of the passage of the Red Sea. There was a violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain. These three things are distinctly marked here. 1. “The skies sent out a sound:” the THUNDER. 2. “Thine arrows went abroad:” the LIGHTNING. 3. “The clouds poured out water:” the RAIN. In the next verse we have, 4. An EARTHQUAKE: “The earth trembled and shook,” Psalm 77:18.

Verses 16-18. The waters saw thee, O God — They felt the visible effects of thy powerful presence. They were afraid — And stood still, as men or beasts astonished commonly do. The clouds poured out water — Namely, upon the Egyptians. The skies sent out a sound — In terrible thunder; thine arrows also went abroad — Hail-stones, or rather, lightnings, or thunderbolts, called God’s arrows, Psalm 18:14, and 144:6. The earth trembled and shook — By an earthquake. This tempest is not particularly recorded in its proper place, yet it may well be collected from what is related Exodus 14:24, 25. That the Lord looked on the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. For these verses of the Psalm seem to explain in what way he looked upon them, “namely, by thunders and lightnings, storms and tempests, rain, hail, and earthquake, the usual tokens and instruments of the Almighty’s displeasure. Josephus, in like manner, relates that the destruction of the Egyptians was accompanied by storms of rain, by dreadful thunders and lightnings; and, in short, by every possible circumstance of terror, which could testify and inflict upon man the vengeance of an incensed God.”

17. The clouds poured out water—The rain refers to the desert life of the people, not to the passage of the Red Sea, which was not in a thunderstorm. Psalm 68:7-9, where see note. A sound—Thunder. Arrows—Lightnings. A beautiful poetic conception. Verse 18; Habakkuk 3:11; Psalm 18:14.

Verses 16-18. The waters saw thee, O God — They felt the visible effects of thy powerful presence. They were afraid — And stood still, as men or beasts astonished commonly do. The clouds poured out water — Namely, upon the Egyptians. The skies sent out a sound — In terrible thunder; thine arrows also went abroad — Hail-stones, or rather, lightnings, or thunderbolts, called God’s arrows, Psalm 18:14, and 144:6. The earth trembled and shook — By an earthquake. This tempest is not particularly recorded in its proper place, yet it may well be collected from what is related Exodus 14:24, 25. That the Lord looked on the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. For these verses of the Psalm seem to explain in what way he looked upon them, “namely, by thunders and lightnings, storms and tempests, rain, hail, and earthquake, the usual tokens and instruments of the Almighty’s displeasure. Josephus, in like manner, relates that the destruction of the Egyptians was accompanied by storms of rain, by dreadful thunders and lightnings; and, in short, by every possible circumstance of terror, which could testify and inflict upon man the vengeance of an incensed God.”

18. Earth trembled and shook—A description of an earthquake, which associates literally with Sinai, not the Red Sea. See Exodus 19:18; 20:18; Hebrews 12:18, 19.

V. 19. Not known-Because the water returned and covered them.

Verse 19. Thy way is in the sea] Thou didst walk through the sea, thy path was through a multitude of waters.

Thy footsteps are not known.] It was evident from the effects that God was there: but his track could not be discovered; still he is the Infinite Spirit, without parts, limits, or passions. No object of sense.

Verse 19. Thy way is in the sea, &c. — Or rather, was, at that time; thou didst walk and lead thy people in untrodden paths; and thy footsteps — Or, though thy footsteps were not seen — God walked before his people through the sea, though he left no footsteps of himself behind him. Thus “the dispensations and ways of God, like the passage through the Red sea, are all full of mercy to his people; but they are also, like that, often unusual, marvellous, inscrutable; and we can no more trace his footsteps than we could have done those of Israel, after the waters had returned to their place again. Let us resolve, therefore, to trust in him at all times; and let us think that we hear Moses saying to us, as he did to the Israelites, when seemingly reduced to the last extremity, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah.” — Horne.

19. Thy way is in the sea—So wonderful and unsearchable are the ways of God! Pharaoh essayed to follow the divine footsteps, and perished. The true explanation of this sentence is in the last clause of the verse: “Thy footsteps are not known.” God had walked through the sea, and it had closed and left no track. So his invisible footsteps in providence and redemption may not be discovered or followed by curious and presumptuous inquiry. This is the admonition of Ecclesiastes 7:14.

V. 20. Leddest-First through the sea, and afterwards through the wilderness, with singular care and tenderness, as a shepherd doth his sheep.

Verse 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock] This may refer to the pillar of cloud and fire. It went before them, and they followed it. So, in the eastern countries, the shepherd does not drive, but leads, his flock. He goes before them to find them pasture, and they regularly follow him. By the hand of Moses and Aaron.] They were God’s agents; and acted, in civil and sacred things, just as directed by the Most High.

Verse 20. Thou leddest thy people — First through the sea, and afterward through the vast howling wilderness to Canaan; like a flock — With singular care and tenderness, as a shepherd doth his sheep. The Psalm concludes abruptly, and does not apply those ancient instances of God’s power to the present distresses, whether personal or national, as one might have expected. For as soon as the good man began to meditate on these things he found he had gained his point. His very entrance upon this matter gave him light and joy; his fears suddenly and strangely vanished, so that he needed to go no further; he went his way and did eat, and his countenance was no more sad.

20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock—A beautiful Asaphic figure, (Psalm 80:1,) and a resting of faith at last in the great Shepherd of Israel. Here the psalm abruptly closes, as if the author had left it unfinished. But “where our psalm leaves off, Habakkuk, chap. 3, goes on, taking it up from that point like a continuation. For the prophet begins with the prayer to revive that deed of redemption of the Mosaic days of old, and in the midst of wrath to remember mercy; and, in expressions and figures which are borrowed from our psalm, he then beholds a fresh deed of redemption, by which that of old is eclipsed.”—Delitzsch.