Psalms 65:13

The pastures are clothed with flocks,.... Of sheep, which are so thick, that there is scarce anything to be seen upon the pastures but them; which look as if they were clothed with them: these may

This is added as the effect of these comfortable rains, that they fill the pastures with grass for cattle, and the valleys (which he mentions as the most fruitful places, though he doth not exclude the rest) with corn for the use of man. They shout for joy, they also sing, i.e. they are abundantly satisfied with thy goodness, and in their manner sing forth the praises and declare the goodness of their Creator and Benefactor. Compare . Such passions or actions as these are oft figuratively ascribed to lifeless creatures, both in sacred and profane poetical writings; which are said to rejoice or mourn, &c, when their condition is such as calls for rejoicing or mourning, and would cause them to do so, if they were capable of such actions

Psalms 65:13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.Ver. 13. The pastures, &c.] Here is stately rhetoric all along.

Verse 13. The pastures are clothed with flocks] Cattle are seen in every plain, avenue, and vista, feeding abundantly; and the valleys are clothed, and wave with the richest harvests; and transports of joy are heard every where in the cheerful songs of the peasantry, the singing of the birds, the neighing of the horse, the lowing of the ox, and the bleating of the sheep. Claudian uses the same image: - Viridis amictus montium. "The green vesture of the mountains." Shout for joy, they also sing.] They are not loud and unmeaning sounds, they are both music and harmony in their different notes; all together form one great concert, and the bounty of God is the subject which they all celebrate. What an inimitable description! And yet the nervous Hebrew is not half expressed, even by the amended translation and paraphrase above. ANALYSIS OF THE SIXTY-FIFTH PSALM This is wholly a poem of thanksgiving; and teaches us how, and for what, we are to praise God. 1. For spiritual; 2. For temporal blessings; and, 3. This publicly; in Zion - in his Church. It has two general parts: - I. Praise to God for his blessings to his followers, Psalms 65:1-5. II. His common benefits to all mankind, Psalms 65:6-13. I. He sets forth God's grace to his followers of which he reckons several particulars: - 1. He has established a public ministry among them, and an atoning sacrifice. 2. He directs and hears their prayers; and to him by sacrifice, prayer, and praise, may all human beings come. 3. Though evil tongues may prevail against them for a time, yet he will deliver them. 4. The transgressions committed against him he will accept an atonement for, and pardon, Psalms 65:1-4. See the notes. 5. All that truly worship him in his ordinances shall be made partakers of spiritual blessedness: "We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house," Psalms 65:4. 6. He works powerfully and terribly, but righteously, in behalf of his followers, against their enemies: "By terrible things in righteousness," Psalms 65:5. 1. He answers them when they call. 2. By terrible things, - as in Egypt, the wilderness, c. 3. And the motive to it is, his justice or righteousness, by which he punishes his enemies, and gives retribution to his people. All this he concludes with a double eulogy of God: 1. Showing what he is peculiarly to his people: "O God of our salvation." 2. What he is to ALL "the confidence of all the ends of the earth," for he sustains all, be they where they may. II. He descends from his peculiar providence, - the care he takes of, and the benefits he bestows on, his Church, - to his general providence, his ordering and sustaining the whole world; which he amplifies: - 1. "By his strength he setteth fast the mountains," c., which is true literally: but, tropologically, it may mean kingdoms and states. 2.

13. The meadows are clothed with sheep; And the vales are decked with wheat; They shout for joy, yea sing. With the last line cp. Isaiah 55:12. The vales (Heb. ‘çmek) denote “the long broad sweeps sometimes found between parallel ranges of hills” (Sinai and Pal., p. 481) which were the natural cornfields of Palestine (1 Samuel 6:13). The graphic touch of the Heb., which represents the pastures and vales as shouting one to another, can hardly be preserved in translation.

The pastures are clothed with flocks - The flocks stand so thick together, and are spread so far, that they seem to be a clothing for the pasture; or, the fields are entirely covered with them.

13. Pastures—The word properly means sheep, young sheep: but in Isaiah 30:23 it must take the sense of pasture. So here the connexion imposes the same sense, only the idea is sheepwalk. The sheepwalk shall be clothed with sheep.