Psalms 105

Psalms 105THIS, like the Seventy-Eighth, is a historical psalm, recounting God’s ancient dealings with his people, especially in Egypt. The practical design of the commemoration is not to bring the people to repentance, as in the case referred to, but to excite their hopes of an analogous deliverance. According to a theory already mentioned, this is the second member of a trilogy, added to one of older date (Psalms 101-103.) during the time of the captivity. It differs from the psalm before it in deriving from history the same consolation which is there derived from nature. After the introduction, Psalms 105:1-7, the arrangement is simply chronological, beginning withthe promise to Abraham, and ending with the conquest of Canaan, Psalms 105:8-44. The first fifteen verses of this psalm are found in 1 Chronicles 16, combined with Psalms 96 and ,three verses of Psalms 106. See above, on Psalms 96:1.

1. (Psalms 105:1) Give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name, make known among the nations his exploits. The original meaning of the second phrase is, call (him) by his name, i.e. give him the descriptive title most expressive of his divine perfections; or more specifically, call him by his name Jehovah, i.e. ascribe to him the attributes which it denotes, to wit, eternity and self-existence, together with that covenant relation to his people, which, though not denoted by the name, was constantly associated with it, and therefore necessarily suggested by it. The meaning of the next phrase is obscured, if not entirely concealed, in the common version, among the people. The plural form and sense of the original expression are essential to the writer’s purpose, which is to glorify the God of Israel among all nations. See above, on Psalms 18:49; Psalms 57:9. For the meaning of the last word, see above on Psalms 103:7.

2. (Psalms 105:2) Sing to him, play to him, muse on all his wondrous deeds. The exhortation seems to be addressed to the Gentiles, who are called upon to join in the praises and to share the blessings of the chosen people. For the meaning of the last verb, see above, on Psalms 104:34.

3. (Psalms 105:3) Glory in his holy name ! Glad shall be the heart of those who seek Jehovah. Congratulate yourselves that you possess a right and interest in the favour of so glorious a Being. The last clause presents as an inducement, that to seek the favour of this God is a source, and by implication the only source, of joy and happiness. Compare Psalms 34:2; Psalms 40:16; Psalms 49:6.

4. (Psalms 105:4) Seek Jehovah and his strength, seek his face evermore. The Hebrew verbs, although synonymous, are not identical. And his strength, the protection secured by his almighty power. Seek him, not as a finite being, but as the omnipotent Jehovah, the source, as well as the possessor, of all strength. Seek his face, not merely his presence, but his countenance, his favourable look or aspect. With the several expressions of this verse compare Psalms 9:10; Psalms 10:4; Psalms 14:2; Psalms 24:6; Psalms 34:4; Psalms 61:3; Psalms 62:7; Psalms 63:2; Psalms 68:34; Psalms 96:7.

5. (Psalms 105:5) Remember his wondrous deeds which he did, his miracles and the judgments of his mouth. They are exhorted not to forget them, as Israel is charged with doing, Psalms 78:11. Miracles, prodigies or wonders, proofs of divine power. There is no need of identifying these with the judgmentsof his mouth, which include his laws and the sentences pronounced upon his enemies. The latter is probably the prominent idea, as best suited to this context.

6. (Psalms 105:6) Ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye sons of Jacob, his chosen (ones). Descendants of the patriarchs, and therefore heirs of the patriarchal promises. The common version of the last phrase (his chosen), though exact, conveys a wrong idea, as it seems to make chosen an epithet of Jacob, which would also seem to be required by the parallelism; but the Hebrew word is plural, and describes the object of address as the church or chosen people. Compare Isaiah 65:9. Abraham is called the servant of God, in an emphatic sense, as being his chosen instrument and confidential agent. See above, on Psalms 18:1, and compare Ps. xc. 1. The parallel passage (1 Chronicles 16:13) has Israel his servant.

7. (Psalms 105:41) He is Jehovah our God; in all the earth (are) his judgments. His covenant relations are with us the seed of Abraham; but the proofs of his existence and vindicatory justice are common to all nations. This whole introduction seems intended to dispose both Jews and Gentiles to the praise of God.

8. (Psalms 105:8) He remembered for ever his covenant, the word he commanded for a thousand generations. There is here a kind of antithetical allusion to the exhortation in ver. 5 (Psalms 105:5). They should remember what he did, since he remembers what he promised. What he has done involves a pledge of what he will do. He has remembered (and will remember) his covenant to eternity. The word is the word of promise. He is said to have commanded it, partly because his promise is conditional and annexed to his commandment, and for that reason called a covenant; partly because all that God says must of necessity be said with authority, so that even his promises partake of the nature of commands. The last phrase, a thousand generations, is Mosaic. See Deuteronomy 7:9, and compare Exodus 20:6.

9. (Psalms 105:9) Which he ratified with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac. The sentence is continued from the foregoing verse. Ratified, literally cut; see above, on Psalms 1:5 (50:5). His oath (which he sware) to Isaac, or, his oath for (the benefit of) Isaac. The distinction, if any be intended, is that the covenant was formally made only with Abraham, and merely sanctioned or confirmed by oath to his successors. See Genesis 15:18; Genesis 26:3; Genesis 28:13. His oath is governed by remembered in ver. 8 (Psalms 105:8). Compare Psalms 89:27; Psalms 89:33).

10. (Psalms 105:10) And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel (for) an everlasting covenant. Confirmed it, literally made (or let) it stand, instead of suffering it to expire with the person to whom it was originally given. A statute, in the wide sense of a permanent arrangement, a perpetual constitution, or as it is called in the last clause, a compact of eternity, an everlasting covenant. See Genesis 28:13; Genesis 35:12.

11. (Psalms 105:11) Saying, To thee will I give the land of Canaan, as the portion of your heritage. The subject or substance of the promise is now more distinctly stated. The word translated portion primarily means a line, especially a measuring line, and then what is measured by it, to wit, a piece of land, a lot of ground. This was not to be given to the patriarchs in person, but to their descendants, as the portion of their heritage or their hereditary portion. The plural your may refer, however, to the patriarchs themselves, as the promise was repeated to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12. (Psalms 105:12) When as yet they could be numbered— very few, and strangers in it. The first clause involves an antithetical allusion to the promise, afterwards fulfilled, that they should be innumerable as the stars, or as the sand upon the shore, Gen. xxii. 17. The form of the original is highly idiomatic, in their being men of number, like a little, or like littleness itself. See above, on Psalms 68:2, and compare Isaiah 1:9 (50:9). Strangers, sojourners, living on the lands of others, at their will, or by their sufferance. See above, on Psalms 39:12.

In it, the land of Canaan, mentioned in the preceding verse. The whole verse qualifies the previous account of the patriarchal covenant, which was not made with Israel when already a great nation, but with their ancestors when few in number and without a settled home. The parallel passage (1 Chronicles 16:19) has when ye were. See Genesis 34:30, and compare Deuteronomy 33:6, Isaiah 10:19.

13. (Psalms 105:13) And they went about from nation to nation, from kingdom to another people. This may be regarded as in contrast with ver. 12 (Psalms 105:12), and (yet) they went about, notwithstanding their small number and their being strangers. Or Psalms 105:12-13, may be the protasis of the sentence, and Psalms 105:14 its apodosis. “When they were few and strangers, and went from nation to nation, he let no man,” etc. This verse describes the characteristic feature in the condition of the chosen people, during the patriarchal period of their history, namely, their migratory intercourse with various nations. These are mentioned in the first clause as distinct races, in the last as distinct states or bodies politic. Where we might have expected from kingdom to kingdom, the ear is somewhat disappointed by the phrase from kingdom, to another people, which may have been intended to distinguish the Egyptian and other monarchies from the more democratical or patriarchal institutions of the Arabians and other nations.

They went about seems to be the force of the reflexive or frequentative verb, as distinguished from that of the primitive, they went. See above, on Psalms 26:3; Psalms 35:14; Psalms 101:2, and compare Genesis 5:22; Genesis 17:1; Genesis 24:6; Genesis 24:9; Genesis 24:40; Genesis 48:15.

14. (Psalms 105:14) He suffered no man to oppress them, and reproved, for their sake, kings. The precise sense of the first clause is, he suffered not man (or men in general) to oppress them. The protection of the patriarchs is certainly one of the most striking facts in sacred history. The kings mentioned in the last clause are the kings of Egypt and Gerar (Genesis 17, Genesis 20:3), not without reference perhaps to those mentioned in Genesis 14:1.

15. (Psalms 105:15) Touch not mine anointed ones, and to my prophets do no harm. These are the words of God himself, and are designated as such in the English Bible, by supplying the word saying, which is expressed in the analogous case, ver. 11. Touch not, as in Genesis 26:11; Genesis 26:29. In the Old Testament, unction is the symbol of spiritual gifts, and especially of those imparted to the great theocratical offices. See above, on Psalms 2:2. From the case of Elisha (1 Kings 19:16) it would seem that prophets were anointed when inducted into office.

The patriarchs are here called prophets in the proper sense of the term, as denoting men inspired of God, and admitted to confidential intercourse with him. The allusion here is to Genesis 20:7, where God says to Abimelech of Abraham, “Restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for thee, and thou shalt live.” 16. (Psalms 105:16) And he called (for) a famine on the land; every staff of bread he brake. The Psalmist now passes from the Patriarchal to the Egyptian period of the history, by stating the occasion of Israel’s migration into Egypt. The meaning of the first clause seems to be, that he summoned famine, as his instrument or servant, to come down upon the land, as sent from above, that is to say, from himself. The meaning of the last clause is, that the people were deprived of every customary means and source of subsistence. The figure of a staff or stay is a Mosaic one. See Leviticus 26:26, and compare Isaiah 3:1. It is near akin to the description of food as staying or sustaining the heart. See above, on Psalms 104:15. The historical reference in the verse before us is to Genesis 41:54.

17. (Psalms 105:17) He sent before them a man; sold for a slave was Joseph. The same providential purpose is assigned to Joseph’s bondage by himself, Genesis 45:5. With the last clause compare Genesis 37:36. Some interpreters, assuming, as we have already seen, that this psalm was composed in the time of the captivity, suppose a parallel, in this verse, between Joseph and Daniel, both of whom, in addition to their personal qualities, were sent into captivity before the body of their brethren; both gained the royal favour, and were exalted to high station in the land of their captivity; and both employed the influence thus gained for the advantage of their countrymen. To the Jews in exile such a parallel must have been not only interesting, in a historical or poetical point of view, but consolatory and encouraging as a token for good, a sign that God was about to renew the exodus from Egypt in an exodus from Babylon.

18. (Psalms 105:18) They hurt, with the fetter, his feet; into iron came his soul. That Joseph was actually chained or fettered is included in the true sense of the word bound, applied to him in the history. See Genesis 40:3, and compare Genesis 39:20; Genesis 39:22. They, the Egyptians, or his gaolers; or the verb may be indefinitely construed, as if it had been said, his feet were hurt. The verb means elsewhere to humble or mortify, but is here used in its strict sense of afflicting, causing to suffer. The Prayer Book version of the last clause, the iron entered into his soul, is ungrammatical, the word for iron being masculine, while that for soul is, like the verb, feminine.

The general sense is given in the text of the English Bible, and the exact form in the margin. The mention of the soul, as in many other cases, is of course not meant to be exclusive of the body, but to suggest the idea or intimate and heartfelt suffering. See above, on Psalms 3:2; Psalms 11:1, etc.

19. (Psalms 105:19) Until the time that his word came (to pass), the saying of Jehovah tried him. The last verb properly denotes the assaying of metals, but is figuratively applied to moral trial and purgation. See above, on Psalms 12:6; Psalms 17:3; Psalms 18:30; Psalms 26:2. The most probable meaning of the verse is, that during the two years which intervened between his explanation of the prisoners’ dreams, and the favourable issue to which it ultimately led, his faith in the divine promise both to himself and to his people, was severely but favourably tried. Compare the history in Genesis 40 and Genesis 41.

20. (Psalms 105:20) The King sent and loosed him— the ruler of nations, and set him free. Both verbs strictly apply to the removal of his fetters, the first meaning properly to knock off (Isaiah 58:6), the other to open for the purpose of removing. See above, on Psalms 30:11. The king of Egypt is called a ruler of peoples, either in reference to the tribes or nomes of Egypt itself, or because there were other nations tributary to him.

21. (Psalms 105:21) He made him Lord of his house and ruler of all his wealth. The literal meaning of the first clause is, he placed him lord to his house. See Genesis 41:40-41; Genesis 41:43; Genesis 45:8. For the meaning of the last word in the sentence, see above, on Psalms 104:24 It is one of the points of resemblance which are thought to identify the two psalms as the work of the same author.

22. (Psalms 105:22) To bind his chiefs at his pleasure, and his elders to make wise. The words translated chiefs and elders are those commonly applied to the heads of tribes and families, the hereditary magistrates under the patriarchal system. The application of the second word to Egypt is found also in the history, Genesis 1:7. At his pleasure, literally with his soul, which some explain as a bold metaphor, describing Joseph’s mind or soul as the cord or chain with which he bound the Egyptians, i. e. forced them to perform his will. But see Psalms 17:9; Psalms 27:12; Psalms 41:2.

23. (Psalms 105:23) And (so) Israel entered Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. This was the main event, to which those just recited were preparatory. Israel and Jacob are the names both of the individual patriarch and of his descendants as a nation. In this case both the applications are admissible, or rather requisite, in order to exhaust the writer’s meaning. The patriarch himself came into Egypt, but his sons literally came with him, and all his descendants figuratively in him. The land of Ham, from whom Mizraim was descended. See above, on Psalms 78:51.

24. (Psalms 105:24) And he increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies. Increased, literally rendered fruitful. The same verb is used in the promise to Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 17:6; Genesis 28:2), and in the history of Israel in Egypt, Exodus 1:7. The word here used for enemies is one implying persecution and oppression. The singular pronouns in the Hebrew, made him stronger than his enemies, are in strict grammatical agreement with the collective noun people.

25. (Psalms 105:25) He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. The first clause asserts God’s sovereign control even of the free acts of his sinful creatures, a truth repeatedly affirmed in the history which this psalm recapitulates. See Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3, and compare 1 Samuel 26:9, 2 Samuel 16:10; 2 Samuel 24:1. The last verb occurs only in the history of Joseph, Genesis 37:18. The corresponding term in Exodus (Exodus 1:10) is let us deal wisely, or more exactly, let us make ourselves wise, as the verb in this case may be rendered, let us make ourselves subtle or crafty, both being reflexive forms. The historical allusion is of course to the murderous policy, which preceded the violent oppression of the Hebrews.

26. (Psalms 105:26) He sent Moses his servant (and) Aaron whom he chose. The meaning is not Moses (who was) his servant, or (because he was) his servant, but (to be) his servant, his instrument in the great work of delivering his people. See above, on ver. 6 (Psalms 105:6), and on Psalms 18:1; Psalms 36:1; Psalms 78:70.

27. (Psalms 105:27) They placed among them the words of his signs and wonders in the land of Ham. The first phrase seems to mean nothing more than set before them, or exhibited to them. Words of signs is by some understood to mean matters (or affairs) of signs, and to be either a pleonastic phrase for signs alone, or an emphatic phrase denoting all the signs. See above, on Psalms 65:3. The first is a gratuitous assumption, the last a forced interpretation. Better than either is the explanation which gives to words its proper meaning, and supposes stress to be intentionally laid on the divine word of Jehovah, and the prophetic word of Moses and Aaron, in the way of threatening and command, as well as on the physical effects which followed these denunciations.

Compare the use of words in Psalms 7:1, and the explanation there given. Signs, i.e. tokens of God’s presence and activity, and indications of his will. Wonders, prodigies, miracles, the same word that occurs above in ver. 5 (Psalms 105:5).

28. (Psalms 105:28) He sent darkness and made it dark, and they did not resist his words, or according to the marginal reading, his word. This is by some understood to mean the plague of darkness, which immediately preceded the slaughter of the first-born, Exodus 10:22. But to this explanation there are two objections first, that it entirely disturbs the order of the plagues, which is otherwise observed with great exactness, the only deviation being very trivial compared with this; secondly, because it would then be necessary to apply the last clause to Moses and Aaron, or to Israel in general, thereby making it unmeaning, or else to admit a contradiction of the history, which expressly says that the Egyptians did resist the word of God even after the plague of darkness, Exodus 10:27. The only remaining explanation is, that darkness, in the verse before us, as in many other cases, is a figure for calamity in general, and applied not to one plague in particular, but to the whole series, of which a more detailed account is then subjoined.

29. (Psalms 105:29) He turned their waters to blood and killed their fish. Here begins the moreparticular enumeration of the plagues of Egypt. Compare Psalms 78:44, where the inconvenience specified is that they could not drink the water, whereas here it is the loss of their accustomed food. This last word is used as a collective in both langnages.

30. (Psalms 105:30) Their land teemed with frogs— in the chambers of their kings. That even these were not safe from the hateful intruders, is an aggravating circumstance, particularly mentioned in the original threatening, and implied in the narrative of its execution. See Exodus 8:3; Exodus 8:9. The first verb means to bring forth in abundance, and is so used in the history of the creation, with particular reference to the genesis of animals, Genesis 1:20.

31. (Psalms 105:31) He said, and the fly came and gnats (or lice) in all their border. See above, on Psalms 78:45, where the gnats or lice are omitted, and the flies precede the frogs. So here, the flies, precede the lice, a.slight departure from the order of the history. See Exodus 8:5; Exodus 8:16. He said, i.e. he said so, which is tantamount to saying, he commanded. In all their border, i.e. every where within it, throughout the land. This expression. is borrowed from the history. See Exodus 8:2.

32. (Psalms 105:32) He gave them hail for rain (and) flaming fire in their land. This, which is the common version, represents the sense correctly, but with a deviation from the form of the original, which is highly idiomatic. A bald translation is, he gave their rains hail, fire of flames in their land. The terms are chosen for the sake of an allusion to the promise in Leviticus 26:4, I will give your rains in their season. Instead of these he gave the Egyptians a destructive hail-storm. Compare Psalms 78:48.

33. (Psalms 105:33) And smote their vine and their fig-tree, and shattered the trees of their border. Compare Psalms 78:47, where sycamores are particularly mentioned. The history says nothing of the vines, but speaks of the breaking of the trees, using the same intensive verb as here. See Exodus 9:25. Their border, as before, means their land or territory in its whole extent, just as the ends of the earth is put for all its parts. See above, on Psalms 2:8.

34. (Psalms 105:34) He said, and the arbeh came, and the yelek, and (that) without number. The two Hebrew words, here retained, denote varieties of the locust, and have no equivalents in English. See above, on Psalms 78:46, where the first word here stands second, and the place of the other is supplied by hasil, another distinctive term of the same kind. Without number, literally there is no number. See the same expression, Psalms 104:25.

35. (Psalms 105:35) And devoured every herb in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. The verb, though varied in the common version, is the same in both clauses of the Hebrew. See above, on Psalms 37:2; Psalms 104:14, and compare the original narrative, Exodus 10:5; Exodus 10:15.

36. (Psalms 105:36) And he smote all the first-born in their land, the first fruits of all their strength. For the meaning the last clause, see above, on Psalms 78:51, and compare Exodus 12:29-30.

37. (Psalms 105:37) And he brought them out with silver and with gold, and there was not in his tribes a totterer (or stumbler). The first clause relates to the spoiling of the Egyptians, Exodus 12:35-36. The last word denotes a person unfit for military service. Compare Isaiah 5:27.

38. (Psalms 105:38) Glad was Egypt at their going forth, for their fear had fallen upon them. This panic terror, which followed the last plague and facilitated the escape of Israel (Exodus 11:1; Exodus 12:31-33), accounts for the readiness with which the Egyptians gave whatever was demanded, and completely vindicates the children of Israel from the charge of borrowing what they never meant to pay. The terms used in the history denote the acts, of asking and giving, not those of borrowing and lending. The terms of the last clause are derived from Exodus 15:16, Deuteronomy 11:25.

39. (Psalms 105:39) He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give, light by night. See above, on Psalms 78:14. The poetical description of the cloud as covering the host is derived from the statement that “the cloud of Jehovah was over (or above) them by day,” Numbers 10:34. Compare Numbers 9:16, Nehemiah 9:12, Isaiah 4:5-6.

40. (Psalms 105:40) (The people) asked and he made quails come— and bread of heaven satisfied them. See above, on Psalms 78:25-27, and compare Exodus 16:4-13, Numbers 11:31. As to the alternation of the singular and plural forms, see above, on ver. 24 (Psalms 105:24). Bread may be either the subject of the verb, as given above, or a qualifying term, (with) bread.

41. (Psalms 105:41) He opened a rock and forth gushed waters; they ran in the wastes, a river. See above, on Psalms 78:16; Psalms 78:20. The word translated wastes means, according to its etymology, dry places.

42. (Psalms 105:42) Because he remembered his holy word with Abraham his servant. This brings us back to the statement in ver. 8, 9 (Psalms 105:8-9), in proof of which this long array of facts has been presented. Nothing of all this would have taken place if God had been forgetful of his covenant. This covenant is here meant by his holy word, which is therefore followed by the preposition with, as in Exodus 9:24, where the covenant is expressly mentioned.

43. (Psalms 105:43) And brought out his people in, joy, in triumph his chosen (ones). He remembered his promise, and in execution of it brought out his people, etc. The parallelism of people and chosen throws light upon the latter term, as used in ver. 6 (Psalms 105:6).

44. (Psalms 105:44) And gave to them nations’ lands, and peoples’ labour they inherit. The prominent idea is not that of gentiles or heathen, in the religious sense, but that of other nations, and whole nations, to whose place and possessions they succeeded. Labour is put for its result or product, as a synonymous Hebrew word is in Psalms 78:46.

45. (Psalms 105:45) To the end that they might keep his statutes and his laws observe. Hallelujah! The emphatic phrase at the beginning, corresponding to our phrases, to the end, for the purpose, or in order that, points this out as the qualification or condition of the promise which had been so gloriously verified. The same condition is expressed or implied elsewhere. See above, on Psalms 78:7, and compare Genesis 18:19, Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 26:17. Hallelujah (praise ye Jah), as above, in Psalms 104:35.