19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. 20 The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. 21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: 22 To hind his princes at his plea sure; and teach his senators wisdom. enter, especially when the word expressing the 'place into which,' itself begins with '. "Iron" is here used in a metaphorical sense as in cvii. 10, "Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron." The Targ., however, rends. "A chain of iron went into (or, if aʼlâth, not allath, be read, "came upon”) his soul." Del., who takes barzel as fem. in sense of ancient Arab. phirzil, "iron fetter," rends. "Iron came upon his soul." Vulg. "Ferrum pertransiit animam ejus," cf. P. B.V. "the iron entered into his soul." 19. a. "Until the time that his word came." The expression "come,” as equiv. to “come true,” or “come to pass," is used in Judg. xiii. 12, 17, 1 Sam. ix. 6, Jer. xvii. 15. "His word," H. d'bâró, may be (1) Joseph's word, viz. his interpretation of the dreams of Pharaoh's officers (Gen. xli. 12), according to Hupf. and De Wette; or his declaration of the dreams which foretold his exaltation to his father and his brethren (Gen. xxxvii. 5—11), as Del. understands it; or (2) God's word, or promise revealed to Joseph in his dreams. Or, again, "His word came," may simply denote that Jehovah willed it, and immediately the king sent and released Joseph; cf. cvii. 20, “He sent His word and healed them." This last interpretation appears to be the best. b. "The word of the LORD." The Hebr. imrâh generally corresponds to λόγιον, dabar to λόγος or ῥῆμα. The meaning of this hemist. is that the promise or oracle of Jehovah, by its leading at first only to troubles and humiliations, and not to the exaltation which it foretold, tried and purified Joseph in the furnace of affliction, as gold and silver are refined by fire. The interpretation of Rashi (taking the pronom. suff. of ts'râphâthhoo as referring to d’bârô), that the oracle of God was in Joseph's mouth and purified his word so that his interpretation of the dreams was true and free from all dross, of untruth, is very improbable. 20. Cf. Gen. xli. 14. 22. a. "To bind:" cf. Pharaoh's words, Gen. xli. 44, "Without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." LXX. has TOû Taidevσai, rendg. the verb DN as though it were "D". The rootsar, zar, tsar, denotes "compressing," or "binding together," cf. Sanskrit sar-at, a thread, Gr. σeipá, elpa, Lat. sero. It is J. L. P. 13 23 Israel also came into Egypt; | and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24 And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies. 25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his ser vants. 26 He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen. 27 They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. remarkable that the same root in both families of languages also denotes "motion" and "scattering," cf. zára, and Sanskr. sri, [Lat. sero (?)]. the correct rendg. of the Hebr. 'naphshô. ing cnaphshô. zar, sar, ni zár-âh, "At his pleasure," this is LXX. ós éavrov, as if read b. Lit. "And that he should make wise his elders." 24. Cf. Exod. i. 7. 25. "He turned:" this is probably the correct rendg., since the Almighty is the subject of the verbs in the preceding and succeeding verses. The same verb is used transitively in v. 29. LXX. has kai μετέστρεψε τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν. But the Targ. rends. intransitively "their heart turned," according to the use of the verb in Lev. xiii. 3, 4, 13, 20; 1 Sam. xxv. 9; Ps. lxxviii. 9. 27. "His signs:" H. dib'rê ôthôthâv, lit. "words of His signs," cf. cxlv. 5. "Words of," or "matters of," may be pleonastic, see lxv. 3, note. Possibly the correct rendg. is, "They [Moses and Aaron] imposed upon them [the Egyptians] the commandments of His signs,” i.e. they worked among them the signs commanded by God. 28. a. "And made it dark:" better" and it darkened," lit. "and it made dark:" cf. the similar use of the Hiph. of châshac in cxxxix. 12. b. "And they rebelled not:" it is a disputed point whether this refers (1) to Moses and Aaron, as Del. contends, the Poet being supposed to contrast their conduct on this occasion with their rebellion at the waters of Meribah, Numb. xx. 24, xxvii. 14; or (2) to the Egyptians who, says Chrysostom, domov avtiotĥval oỷk ýdúvavтo; or (3) to the plagues which obediently came at God's command (Rashi). The LXX. erroneously omits the negative and rends. καὶ παρεπίκραναν τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ. Similarly the Syr. Probably it is to Pharaoh and the Egyptians that the words refer, for this plague it was which induced Pharaoh to allow every Israelite, man woman and child, to "go serve the Lord" (Exod. x. 24), it was only the cattle which he now wished to keep back. As Ab. Ez. has observed, it is on account of the peculiar efficaciousness of this ninth plague that the Psalmist mentions it first. 28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. 29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. 30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings. 31 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts. 32 He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. 33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts. 34 He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number, 35 And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. 36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. 37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. 29. The first plague, cf. Exod. vii. 14—25, Ps. lxxviii. 44. 30. The second plague, cf. Exod. viii. 1—14, Ps. lxxviii. 45 b. 31. a. Rend. "He spoke, and the gad-fly came:"—the fourth plague, cf. Exod. viii. 20-24. On ârôb, which we rend. gad-fly, cf. lxxviii. 45 a. The rendg. of the A. V. (as if this subst. were from R. ârab, miscuit) has the authority of Aquila's πáμμvia and Jerome's 66 omne genus muscarum." The Targ. Jonathan, Rashi, and Ab. Ez. absurdly suppose "all manner of wild beasts" to be meant. b. The third plague, cf. Exod. viii. 16—19. This is omitted in Ps. lxxviii. "Lice," or possibly "stinging-flies," the H. cinnîm, LXX. σκνίπες. 32. "For rain:" lit. “[As] their rains." LXX. ETO Tàs ẞpoxàs avtŵv xáλašav, see civ. 4, note. The seventh plague, cf. Exod. ix. 13-35, Ps. lxxviii. 47: the fifth and sixth, those of murrain and of boils, are omitted here, as well as in Ps. lxxviii., see there v. 48, note. "The trees:" the Hebr. êts, here used as a generic noun. 33. LXX. πᾶν ξύλον. 34, 35. The eighth plague, Exod. x. 1—20, where the only word used for "locust" is arbeh; here (34 6) we find also the word yelek, A.V. "caterpillers" (cf. Gen. li. 27): in lxxviii. 46, the word châsîl is used in addition to arbeh, see note in loc. 36. b. Lit. "The firstlings of all their strength." Cf. the expression in lxxviii. 51. This was the tenth and last plague, Exod. xii. 29, 30. 37. a. “With silver and gold,” cf. Exod. xii. 35, “They borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold, etc." b. "One feeble person:" lit. 66 one-stumbling," cf. Is. v. 27, "None shall be weary nor stumble among them." LXX. has ¿ árbevôv. Some take the word in an ethical sense, as meaning that though they took the silver and gold of the Egyptians, yet that in this 38 Egypt was glad when they departed for the fear of them fell upon them. 39 He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night. 40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. 42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant. 43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with glad ness: they stumbled (i.e. “sinned”) not, for “Egypt was glad when they departed, and willingly gave them the money, which, moreover, Israel had really earned as the unpaid wages of their years of servitude (Sanhdr. 91 a).” 39. a. "A covering." Hebr. 7, mâsâc, a covering of protection;" the word denotes the curtain of the tabernacle in Exod. xxvi. 36, xl. 5: here apparently it="a covering of protection." LXX. has dietétaσe veþéλnv eis okéñŋv avtoîs. Cf. Numb. ix. 15-17, and 1 Cor. Χ. Ι, οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν πάντες ὑπὸ τὴν νεφέλην ἦσαν· the cloud which preceded and protected the Israelites during their march being regarded as if covering the camp. According to Rabbinic tradition the Feast of Succoth (Tabernacles) was instituted in order to commemorate God's covering and protecting Israel with the an❜nê câbôd or clouds of glory," cf. Is. iv. 4. 40. a. 66 "The [people] asked:" lit., if the present reading be retained, "one asked;" no nominative to the verb being expressed. It is possible, however, that for the sing. should be read the plur. The final ↑ may have , "they [scil. the Israelites of v. 37] asked." been lost in the "and," immediately following. b. "Bread of heaven:" cf. Exod. xvi. 4, " Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you," and the expression "corn of heaven," in lxxviii. 24, where see note. The reference in this hemist. as in that v. is to the manna. 41. Cf. lxxviii. 20. 43, 44. The people of Canaan were destroyed because of their iniquity; Israel was to be there an holy nation bearing perpetual witness to God before the nations of the earth. Their tenure of the land depended upon their obedience to the Law. Almost the last words of the prophet are, 66 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, [even] the statutes and judgments," Mal. iv. 4. The Ps. closes with Hallelujah, with which word the next commences. In the LXX. the 'Aλnλovia with which civ. should have closed was erroneously 44 And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; 45 That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD. prefixed as a heading to this Ps. cv.: and here the two Hallelujahs become in the LXX. one only, that of this verse being eliminated. INTRODUCTION TO PSALM CVI. A CONFESSION TO JEHOVAH THE GOD OF COMPASSION. TITLE. "Hallelujah." WE have little doubt that this Psalm is written by the author of Psalm cv. It is similar in style and rhythm; it treats of the same subject, the past history of the nation, it takes up that subject almost at the very point to which the detailed account of cv. (which closes at v. 43) had carried it. Here however the Psalmist regards the past from a different point of view. Psalm cv. treated of the wonders wrought by Jehovah, the faithful Covenant God, before the sons of Israel. The Psalm before us exhibits the long-suffering compassion of Jehovah towards Israel itself, the rebellious nation which had murmured so often, and yet had never been utterly forsaken. The one Psalm regards Jehovah as the faithful Protector, the other as the merciful Governor. The one treated of Israel merely as the passive recipient of Divine favours, not a word being said (even in v. 40) of their ingratitude; the other portrays them as continually set in opposition to Jehovah, as faithful only when afflicted, and as succoured only to apostatize. Thus Psalm cvi. is strictly a confessional or penitential Psalm. As such it well illustrates one of the noblest phases of the Hebrew character, for throughout the national sins are exhibited with perfect impartiality, and extenuation, self-complacency and false patriotism here find no place. Seven great occasions of transgression in the wilderness are enumerated, the murmuring on the banks of the Red sea being the first and that at the waters of Meribah the last to be mentioned. After he has reached the time of the settlement in Palestine, the Psalmist passes on to a more general confession of the national transgressions, and detail and chronological sequence are altogether lost in the "many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him, etc." of v. 43. It would appear however from the conclusion that the nation had quite lately been enduring the yoke of a foreign oppressor: and to such a position the penitential tone of the whole Poem would certainly be most suitable. At the same time (see v. 46) indications of a deliverance would seem to |