Psalms 77

Psalms 771. To the Chief Musician over (the choir or family of) Jeduthun. By Asaph. A Psalm. For the meaning of this title, see above, on Psalms 62:1. The psalm before us contains a complaint and prayer of the ancient church in times of deep distress.

It consists of two parts. In the first, the church describes her sad condition, and complains of God’s desertion, Psalms 77:1-9. In the second, she encourages herself by the remembrance of former deliverances, and especially of that from Egypt, Psalms 77:10-20. The particular historical occasion is not specified; but if, as some suppose, it be the crisis of affairs in the reign of Josiah, the name Asaph must be understood as a description of the family, and not of its progenitor. See above, on Psalms 1:1. There are several obvious imitations of this psalm in the third chapter of Habakkuk.

2. (Psalms 77:1). My voice unto God (I will raise) and will cry; my voice unto God (I will raise), and he will give ear to me. Some make the last verb an imperative, and (when I raise my voice) do thou give ear. But besides the sudden change of person, which, though common, is not to be assumed without necessity, the form of the Hebrew verb is that of an infinitive, to be determined by assimilation to the one before it. The last clause then really assigns a reason for the purpose expressed in the first. He would not pray if he despaired of being heard.

3. (Psalms 77:2). In the day of my distress the Lord I sought; my hand by night was spread, and grew not numb ; my soul refused to be comforted. Day is here put for time, but not without allusion to the mention of the night in the clause following, so as to express the idea that he prayed day and night. The verb translated spread means strictly spilt, poured out, scattered, but seems to be here poetically applied to the spreading of the hands as a customary gesture of entreaty. See above, on Psalms 44:20. The common ver sion, my sore ran, has no foundation in etymology or usage. For the meaning of the next verb, see above, on Psalms 38:8. Its form is future, but the copulative particle, though separated from it by the negative, may be considered as exerting a conversive force.

4. (Psalms 77:3). I remember God and murmur; I muse, and overwhelmed is my spirit. Selah. The recollection of God’s former kindness, as contrasted with what seems to be his present desertion, extorts from the sufferer an expression of disquietude. The second verb in Hebrew is the same with that in Psalms 39:6; Psalms 42:5; Psalms 42:11; Psalms 55:17. My spirit is not simply equivalent to myself, but suggests the additional idea of profound internal agitation.

5. (Psalms 77:4). Thou hast held fast my eyes; I am smitten and cannot speak. The word here rendered fast is properly a passive participle, meaning watched, kept, and here, from the connection, kept awake or open. This circumstance is added to enhance the description of his miserable state.

6. (Psalms 77:5). I thought on days of old, years of antiquities (or perpetuities.) The contrast of the present with the past is again urged as an aggravating circumstance in his condition.

7. (Psalms 77:6). I will remember my song in the night, with my heart will I muse, and my spirit inquires. The futures of the first clause have reference to the time of actual suffering. The word translated song means strictly a stringed instrument, or that kind of music, but is here used more generally to denote the musical expression of thanksgiving. In the night qualifies the words immediately preceding (my song), not the remoter antecedent (I remember). With my heart, i.e. in communion with it, with myself. My spirit inquires, i.e. I, from the bottom of my heart, ask the questions recorded in the following verses.

8. (Psalms 77:7). For ever will the Lord reject, and will he no more favour? It was thus that the spirit of the sufferer made inquiry. For ever, literally to eternities or ages. Reject, with abhorrence and contempt. See above, on Psalms 43:2; Psalms 44:9; Psalms 44:23; Psalms 60:2; Psalms 60:11; Psalms 74:1. The idiomatic form of the last clause is, will he not add to favour again (or any longer)?

9. (Psalms 77:8). Ceased for ever has his mercy, failed (his) word to generation and generation? The general term word here denotes specifically a word of promise. See above on Psalms 18:30). Generation and generation, i.e. all generations in succession, are not mentioned as the objects of the promise, to whom God’s word was pledged, but as the period of its failure.

10. (Psalms 77:9). Has the Mighty (One) forgotten to be gracious, or closed in wrath, his mercies? Selah. The use of the divine name El is here significant, as if it had been asked, does the goodness of God no longer bear proportion to his greatness? The verb translated closed is one found only in poetical style. The original expression for his mercies suggests the idea of his bowels, according to the idiom which represents the viscera as the seat of the ten-derest affections.

11. (Psalms 77:10). And I said, This is my affliction, the years of the right hand of the Highest. This may be regarded as the turning point of the entire composition. After all the repinings and misgivings just described, I said, at length, what I might and should have said before. My affliction, literally my sickness, that specific form of suffering beina put for suffering in general, as inflicted by the hand of God. The use of the word years seems to imply that the trial was one of long continuance. The divine name or description (Most High) suggests the duty and necessity of yielding to his sovereign pleasure.

12. (Psalms 77:11). I will commemorate the deeds of Jah; for I will remember thy wonders of old. The forms of the verb in the two clauses are different, though needlessly assimilated by the masoretic critics and the versions. The second is the primitive verb remember; the first its derivative, cause to be remembered, commemorate, celebrate. The literal meaning of the last words is from antiquity thy wonder, a collective and abstract expression for thy wondrous works. For the origin and use of the divine name, see above, on Psalms 68:4.

13. (Psalms 77:12). And I will meditate of all thy work, and of thy doings will I muse. The original expression is not of but in them, as if implying a complete absorption of the thoughts and feeling in the object.

14. (Psalms 77:13). O God, in holiness is thy way. What Mighty (One) is great like God? The common version, in the sanctuary, yields a good sense; but the other is entitled to the preference on account of Exo 15:11, to which place there is evident allusion. Holiness here means the divine perfection, all that distinguishes the Maker from his creatures. See above, on Psalms 22:3. Thy way, i.e. thy mode of dealing with thy creatures, and particularly with thy people. The use of the name El is again significant. Who is there like God, even among the mightiest and most exalted beings?

15. (Psalms 77:14). Thou (art) the Almighty doing wonders; thou hast made known in the nations thy strength. Thou art the true Almighty as distinguished from all counterfeits. Doing, i.e. habitually, characteristically, doing wonders. The next word has the singular form but a collective meaning, as in Psalms 77:11 above. In the nations, not only to them, but among them, in the midst of them, and in their own experience. The display of God’s omnipotence had not been confined to his own people, but extended to surrounding nations, This is particularly mentioned in the history of the exodus from Egypt. See Exodus 9:16; Exodus 15:14.

16. (Psalms 77:15). Thou hast redeemed with the arm thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. The particular display of the divine strength just referred to is now specified. Redeemed, recovered from captivity or bondage. With the arm, i.e. by the exercise of power. See above, on Psalms 44:3. Joseph is named as well as Jacob, in order to include the ten tribes in the statement, which might otherwise have been applied to Judah only, as the legitimate successor of the ancient Israel. In this clause some interpreters see a distinct allusion to the downfall of the kingdom of the ten tribes, as an event which had already taken place when the psalm was written.

17. (Psalms 77:16). The waters saw thee, God, the waters saw thee; they shake, yea, the depths quake. The historical reference is of course to the passage of the Red Sea, but at the same time with allusion to the symbolical use of seas in Scripture. See above, on Psalms 46:2. The transition from the past tense to the future or present shews that the writer suddenly transports himself into the midst of the events which he commemorates. The yea or nay in the last clause is emphatic. Not merely the surface of the water moves; its very depths are agitated and convulsed.

18 (Psalms 77:17). The clouds poured water; the skies gave a sound: yea, thine arrows fly. These are natural phenomena of storms, here noted as betokening God’s presence. See above, on Psalms 18:11-14. The skies, the vapours constituting the visible heavens. See above, on Psalms 68:34. Gave a sound, uttered their voice, a beautifiul description of the thunder. The yea indicates a climax. There was not only rain and thunder but lightning, the flashes of which are poetically spoken of as arrows. See above, on Psalms 18:14. The word translated fly is an intensive form of the verb to go, implying swiftness and perhaps diversity of direction, hither and thither, to and fro. See above, on Psalms 26:3; Psalms 35:14. With this verse compare Habakkuk 3:11.

19. (Psalms 77:18). The voice of thy thunder (was) in the whirlwind; lightnings made the world shine; (then) shook and quaked the earth. The word trans-lated whirlwind usually means a wheel, but is sometimes applied to anything whirled or driven round before the wind. See below, on Psalms 83:13, and compare Isaiah 17:13. Hence it may naturally be employed to designate the whirlwind itself as the cause of this rotary motion. This is surely more agreeable to usage than to make it descriptive of mere swiftness or velocity.

The common version, in the heaven, if not entirely arbitrary, must rest upon a supposed allusion to the convex appearance of the heavens. Made to shine, illuminated, lighted up. There is, however, no affinity between the Hebrew word and that for lightnings. The whole description is remarkably like that of the theophany in Psalms 18. See also Habakkuk 3:14.

20. (Psalms 77:19). In the sea (was) thy way and thy paths in great (or many) waters, and thy footsteps were not known. This may be understood as a general description of the divine operations as inscrutable, in which case the verbs supplied should have the present form, is thy way, are not known. It is more agreeable, however, to the context, and in far better keeping with the vivid graphic character of this part of the psalm, to understand the verse, at least in the first instance, as referring to the exodus from Egypt, when it might indeed be said that the way of Jehovah, as the deliverer and conductor of his people, was in the sea, and that his footsteps and theirs could not be traced, because the waters instantly rolled over them. With this verse compare Habakkuk 3:15.

21. (Psalms 77:20). Thou didst guide like a flock thy people, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Like a flock in perfect safety and with perfect ease. The comparison of Moses, at this juncture, to a shepherd, reappears in Isaiah 63:11-14. The conclusion of the psalm appears abrupt, but any devout Israelite could draw the inference for himself, that he who had so gloriously saved his people could deliver them again.