Psalm 76 commentary

PSALM 76 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

I�TRODUCTIO�

SPURGEO�, "TITLE. To the Chief Musician on �eginoth. The Precentor is here instructed to perform this song to the music of stringed instruments. The master of the harpers was called for his most skilful minstrelsy, and truly the song is worthy of the sweetest sounds that strings can yield. A Psalm or Song of Asaph. The style and matter indicate the same hand as that which wrote the preceding; and it is an admirable arrangement which placed the two in juxtaposition. Faith in the 75th Psalm sung of victories to come, and here it sings of triumphs achieved. The present Psalm is a most jubilant war song, a paean to the King of kings, the hymn of a theocratic nation to its divine ruler. We have no need to mark divisions in a song where the unity is so well preserved.

COKE, "Title. ידותון על למנצח lamnatseach al ieduthun.] If we give credit to the Septuagint version, this psalm was composed upon the same occasion as the former. Dr. Delaney thinks it was written upon another occasion; but he assigns no reason. I think it evident to a demonstration, says he, that the 76th psalm was written upon David's victory over the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim, though not by David. See Life of David, b. ii. c. 7.

ELLICOTT, "The LXX. (followed by the Vulgate) have added to the Hebrew inscription of this psalm the words “to the Assyrian,” indicating that at an early period it was, as it is still by many modern scholars, connected with the overthrow of Sennacherib. Certainly the Psalms 76:5-6 are most suitable to that event. On the other hand, the phrase in Psalms 76:9, “all the afflicted of the land,” breathes of a time of national oppression, and suggests a later date. Psalms 76:8-9 compared with Psalms 76:7-8 of Psalms 75 lead to the conclusion that both were inspired by the Song of Hannah and may both refer to the same circumstances. And some critics not only bring it into the Maccabæan age, but fix on the victory of Judas over Seron (1 Maccabees 3) as the actual event celebrated in this poem. The versification is quite regular.

1 God is renowned in Judah; in Israel his name is great.

BAR�ES, "In Judah is God known - That is, he has made himself known there in a special manner; he has evinced his watchful care over the city so as to demand a proper acknowledgment; he has manifested himself there as he has not elsewhere. It is true that God is known, or makes himself known everywhere; but it is also true that he does this in some places, and at some times, in a more marked and striking manner than he does in other places and at other times. The most clear and impressive displays of his character are among his own people - in the church. “His name is great in Israel.” Among the people of Israel; or, among his own people. The meaning here is, that, by some act referred to in the psalm, he had so displayed his power and his mercy in favor of that people, as to make it proper that his name should be exalted or praised.

CLARKE, "In Judah is God known - The true God revealed himself to the Jews. The Israelites, after the separation of the tribes, had the same knowledge, but they greatly corrupted the Divine worship; though still God was great, even in Israel.

GILL, "In Judah is God known,.... God is to be known, and is made known, by his works of creation, and by his providences, and particularly by his judgments in the whole world, even among the Gentiles; and he was made known by his word and ordinances, his statutes and his judgments, among the Jews, to whom these were specially given; and he is made known by his Spirit, and in his Son in a spiritual and saving manner to such who are Jews inwardly, or the true circumcision: moreover this may be understood of Christ, God manifest in the flesh, and regard his appearance in human nature in the land of Judea; he was, according to prophecy, of the tribe of Judah as man, and was born in Bethlehem, a city in that tribe, where David was, and of the family of David, that formerly lived there: and he was made known by John the Baptist, who came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and by his being baptized of him in Jordan; by his own ministry and miracles in that land, and by the preaching of his apostles in the several cities of it, he was known in person to many; and by the fame of his doctrine and miracles to more, though seemingly but to few:

his name is great in Israel; he himself is great, for his name is himself, being the

great God, and possessed of all divine perfections; his offices and titles are great, he is a great Saviour, a great High Priest, a great Prophet risen up in Israel, a great King, add the great Shepherd of the sheep; his works which make him known are great, his works of creation and providence, in which he is jointly concerned with his Father; the mighty works he did on earth, and especially the great work of our redemption; and his Gospel, which is called his name, Act_9:15, brings glad tidings of great and good things; by means of which, and the wonderful things he did in the land of Israel, his fame was spread about in it, for he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; here his marvellous works were done, and his Gospel first preached, which afterwards went into all the earth.

HE�RY, "The church is here triumphant even in the midst of its militant state. The psalmist, in the church's name, triumphs here in God, the centre of all our triumphs.

I. In the revelation God had made of himself to them, Psa_76:1. It is the honour and privilege of Judah and Israel that among them God is known, and where he is known his name will be great. God is known as he is pleased to make himself known; and those are happy to whom he discovers himself - happy people that have their land filled with the knowledge of God, happy persons that have their hearts filled with that knowledge. In Judah God was known as he was not known in other nations, which made the favour the greater, inasmuch as it was distinguishing, Psa_147:19, Psa_147:20.

JAMISO�, "Psa_76:1-12. On Neginoth - (See on Psa_4:1, title). This Psalm commemorates what the preceding anticipates: God’s deliverance of His people by a signal interposition of power against their enemies. The occasion was probably the events narrated in 2Ki_19:35; Isa_37:1-28. (Compare Psa_46:1-11).

These well-known terms denote God’s people and Church and His intimate and glorious relations to them.

CALVI�, "1.God is known in Judah. In the outset, we are taught that it was not by human means that the enemies of Israel were compelled to retire without accomplishing any thing, but by the ever-to-be-remembered aid of Jehovah. Whence came that knowledge of God and the greatness of his name which are spoken of, but because He stretched forth his hand in an extraordinary manner, to make it openly manifest that both the chosen people and the city were under his defense and protection? It is therefore asserted, that the glory of God was conspicuously displayed when the enemies of Israel were discomfited by such a miraculous interposition.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 1. In Judah is God known. If unknown in all the world beside, he has so revealed himself to his people by his deeds of grace, that he is no unknown God to them.His name is great in Israel. To be known, in the Lord's case, is to be honoured: those who know his name admire the greatness of it. Although Judah and Israel were unhappily divided politically, yet the godly of both nations were agreed concerning Jehovah their God; and truly whatever schisms may mar the visible church, the saints always "appear as one" in magnifying the Lord their God. Dark is the outer

world, but within the favoured circle Jehovah is revealed, and is the adoration of all who behold him. The world knows him not, and therefore blasphemes him, but his church is full of ardour to proclaim his fame unto the ends of the earth.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid.) iv. 1, a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 1. In Judah is God known. God is truly and savingly known only in and through his Son; God indeed is obscurely and darkly known in his works, as a God of power; in his providence, as a God of authority, wisdom, and order; in his common mercies, as a God of bounty; and in his punishments and judgments, as a God of justice; but in Christ opened and preached in the gospel, God is known with a clear, a comfortable, and saving knowledge, as a father of grace and singular mercy and lovingkindness. In Judah (saith the psalmist) is God known: his name is great in Israel. In Judah, in his church, where his word and ordinances are, where Christ is preached and the mystery of man's salvation is opened, there God is known truly without error, perspicuously without obscurities, and savingly without uncertainties; there he is known as a King in his courts, for the glory and beauty which he there manifests; as a teacher in his school, for the wisdom and knowledge which he there dispenses; as a dweller in his house, for the holy orders he there prescribes, and gracious rule and dominion he there erects and beareth in the souls of his servants; as a bridegroom in the banqueting house, for the spiritual dainties he there maketh, for the clear and open manifestation of himself, and love and comforts he there ministereth to his spiritual friends and guests; and his name is great in Israel; his power, wisdom, truth, love, and goodness is much magnified and very glorious in their apprehensions who know him in Christ Jesus. Alexander Grosse.Ver. 1. His name. By the name of God here, God himself is understood; for in so many good effects as God uttereth himself towards his kirk, so many names he giveth to himself whereby he may be praised of her. As for example, when he promises unto his kirk freely grace and mercy, his kirk giveth him a name, and calleth him merciful. When he keepeth his promise, and uttereth himself a faithful God to his kirk, his kirk giveth him a name, and calleth him a true God. When he delivereth his kirk out of danger, and sheweth him a mighty God, and terrible against his enemies, the kirk giveth him a name, and calleth him a potent God, and so forth in the rest of his effects: so that by the name of God is understood here God himself, as God maketh himself to be known in his wonderful works. Robert Bruce.Ver. 1. His name is great in Israel. Properly the great name in Israel, that is, the church, is the name of Jesus, which is great, first, by its efficacy: for it signifies Saviour. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Secondly, it is great in dignity: for it is the name that is above every name... Thirdly, it is great in the breadth if its range, Psalms 8:1 : How excellent is thy name in all the earth. Thomas Le Blanc.

COFFMA�, "THE WRATH OF MA� PRAISI�G GOD;

GOD'S CHAMPIO�SHIP OF HIS PEOPLE;

A PROPHETIC GLIMPSE OF THE JUDGME�T DAY;

THE CELEBRATIO� OF A GREAT MILITARY VICTORY

Any of the above titles is appropriate for this remarkable psalm. Many scholars view the occasion of it as that of God's destruction of Sennacherib's army in the times of Hezekiah, an interpretation with which this writer fully agrees, although some are hesitant to accept this, supposing that some other great victory could have inspired the psalm.

It is hardly possible for there to be a psalm which so exactly coincides with a historical situation, the overthrow of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem, as affirmed by the superscription in LXX.[1] �o known event corresponds so closely to allusions in this psalm as does the destruction of Sennacherib's army.[2] The occasion that springs to mind here is the elimination of Sennacherib's army by the angel of the Lord (Isaiah 37:36).[3] There were many other occasions in Jewish history to which the psalm would likewise be applicable (but he listed none of them).[4] Critics of all schools agree that the occasion here is the deliverance from the threat of Sennacherib's army, and we must therefore understand the `Asaph' of the title as designating not the original Asaph, but the division of the Levites named after him.[5]The paragraphing of the psalm is simple enough, there being four stanzas of three verses each. The psalm also divides into two parts, the first two stanzas speaking of the deliverance, and the last two stressing the results.

Psalms 76:1-3

"In Judah is God known:

His name is great in Israel,

In Salem also is his tabernacle,

And his dwelling place in Zion.

There he brake the arrows of the bow;

The shield, and the sword, and the battle.

(Selah)"

"In Judah ... in Israel" (Psalms 76:1). Rhodes thought these terms to be

"synonymous,"[6] but the setting of the psalm is in the days of the divided kingdom, and the words may apply to the two divisions, thus including all of God's people.

"Tabernacle ... dwelling-place" (Psalms 76:2). These renditions are unfortunate, because, the words thus translated actually mean "covert" or "lair."[7] "The poet probably intended both of these terms in a literal sense, conceiving of God as the Lion of Judah."[8]

"In Salem also" (Psalms 76:2). "Salem is the ancient name of Jerusalem, for the Salem of Melchizedek is one and the same with the Jerusalem of Adonizedek (Joshua 10:1)."[9]

"There he brake the arrows of the bow" (Psalms 76:3). The big word here is "there," a reference to Jerusalem, which was exactly where the judgment of God fell upon the mighty army of Sennacherib and destroyed it in a single night. �ote, that all of the significant military weapons of the enemy were destroyed: the arrows, the shield, the sword, and the `battle,' that latter word meaning `everything' that was required in the fighting of a battle. The horses, chariots and their riders would be mentioned a moment later. Delitzsch's comment on this was that, "God has broken in pieces the weapons of the worldly power directed against Judah."[10]

BE�SO�, "Verse 1-2Psalms 76:1-2. In Judah is God known — God’s people do not worship an unknown God, as the Athenians did, Acts 17:23, but one who hath made himself known, not only by his word and ordinances, but also by the glorious effects of his wisdom and power, exerted on their behalf, and against their potent and malicious enemies. His name is great in Israel — That is, famous and renowned, and greatly to be praised and admired. In Salem is his tabernacle — In Jerusalem, which was anciently called Salem, Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:1. And his dwelling-place in Zion — Largely so called, as it included Moriah, an adjoining hill, or another part of the same hill.

EBC, "IN contents and tone this psalm is connected with Psa_46:1-11; Psa_48:1-14. No known event corresponds so closely with its allusions as the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, to which the LXX in its superscription refers it. The singer is absorbed in the one tremendous judgment which had delivered the dwelling place of Jehovah. His song has but one theme-God’s forth flashing of judgment on Zion’s foes. One note of thankfulness sounds at the close, but till then all is awe. The psalm is divided into four strophes, of three verses each. The former two describe the act; the latter two deal with its results, in an awed world and thankful praise.

The emphatic words in the first strophe are those which designate the scene of the Divine act. The glow of humble pride, of wonder and thankfulness, is perceptible in the fourfold reiteration-"in Judah, in Israel, in Salem, in Zion"; all which names are gathered up in the eloquent "There" of Psa_76:3. The true point of view from which to regard God’s acts is that they are His Self-revelation. The reason why Israel is the object of the acts which manifest His name is that there He has chosen to dwell. And, since He dwells there, the special act of judgment which the psalm celebrates was there performed. "The lightnings of the bow" picturesquely designate arrows, from their swift flight and deadly

impact. (Compare Psa_46:9)

PULPIT, "THE present psalm consists of three stanzas—the first of three verses, terminated by the pause mark, "Selah;" the second of six verses, ended similarly, and the third (like the first) of three verses. It is a psalm of thanksgiving for some great and signal mercy, which has delivered Jerusalem, and at the same time benefited "all the afflicted of the earth" (Psalms 76:9). All the earth is therefore called upon to join with Israel in praising God, and making him an offering (Psalms 76:10-12). Critics of all schools (Hengstenberg, Canon Cook, Professor Alexander, Dr. Kay, Four Friends, etc.) agree in regarding the deliverance as that from Sennacherib. We must, therefore, understand the "Asaph" of the title as designating, not the individual, but the division of the Levites named after him.

In Judah is God known (comp. Psalms 9:16; Psalms 48:3). By "known" is meant "freshly made known," "revealed," as it were, "anew" by the recent wonderful deliverance. His Name is great in Israel; i.e. greatly honourcd and regarded, on account of what has happened.

K&D 1-3, "In all Israel, and more especially in Judah, is Elohim known (here,according to Psa_76:2, participle, whereas in Psa_9:17 it is the finite verb), inasmuch as

He has made Himself known (cf. �עו, Isa_33:13). His Name is great in Israel, inasmuch as He has proved Himself to be a great One and is praised as a great One. In Judah more especially, for in Jerusalem, and that upon Zion, the citadel with the primeval gates

(Psa_24:7), He has His dwelling-place upon earth within the borders of Israel. שלם is the ancient name of Jerusalem; for the Salem of Melchizedek is one and the same city with

the Jerusalem of Adonizedek, Jos_10:1. In this primeval Salem God has סו�ו, His

tabernacle there ,(as in Psa_27:5 ,ס�תו = ,Lam_2:6 ,ש�ו =) His dwelling-place, - a ,מעונתוword elsewhere used of the lair of the lion (Psa_104:22, Amo_3:4); cf. on the choice of

words, Isa_31:9. The future of the result ויהי is an expression of the fact which is evident from God's being known in Judah and His Name great in Israel. Psa_76:4 tells what it is

by which He has made Himself known and glorified His Name. ש�ה, thitherwards, in that same place (as in fact the accusative, in general, is used both in answer to the

question where? and whither?), is only a fuller form for שם, as in Isa_22:18; Isa_65:9;

2Ki_23:8, and frequently; Arab. taʤmma (tuʤmma) and �ן� (from �ה�) confirm the

accusative value of the ah. רשפי־קשת (with Phe raphatum, cf. on the other hand, Son_8:6)

(Note: The pointing is here just as inconsistent as in ילדות, and on the contrary

((.מר�ות

are the arrows swift as lightning that go forth (Job_41:20-28) from the bow; side by side with these, two other weapons are also mentioned, and finally everything that pertains

to war is gathered up in the word מלחמה (cf. Hos_2:18). God has broken in pieces the weapons of the worldly power directed against Judah, and therewith this power itself

(Isa_14:25), and consequently (in accordance with the prediction Hos_1:7, and Isa 10, 14, Isa_17:1-14, 29, Isa_31:1-9, 33, 37, and more particularly Psa_31:8) has rescued His people by direct interposition, without their doing anything in the matter.

BI 1-12, "In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel.

Glorious aspects of the Divine character

I. As the glorious resident in the midst of His people (Psa_76:1-2). God is everywhere; but is in an especial sense present with holy souls. They are represented as His “temple,” which implies—

1. Special connection with Him.

2. Special consecration to Him.

3. Special manifestation of Him.

II. As the triumphant conqueror of his enemies. He does His work—

1. Thoroughly (Psa_76:3-5).

2. Easily (Psa_76:6). His word is the fire that will burn up corruption, the hammer that will break the rocky heart, the sword that will slay moral evil.

3. Judicially (Psa_76:8-9). God is infinitely just in crushing all evil. Satan is a usurper, and all his hosts are rebels. As a just God, He will put all-enemies under His feel. In a moral sense, God is a “God of battles.” He is eternally warring against wrong.

III. As the absolute master of malign passions (Psa_76:10).

1. He subordinates human wrath. As the mariner makes the gale his servant to bear his vessel to the port, so God makes the malign passions of men and devils to bear on His great purposes to their complete fulfilment.

2. He restrains it. He allows the wrath of His creatures to go no further than He chooses. As He has set a boundary to the ocean, He has also to the human passions. “So far shalt thou go, and no further.”

IV. As the supreme object of human worship (Psa_76:11). This implies two things.

1. Devout resolutions. “Vow and pay unto the Lord your God.” In this clause we have the fundamental God, and do right, and we shall get on as much as He thinks good for us. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)

EXPOSITORS DICTIONARY OF TEXTS, Psalm 76:1

We call the Jews a people. What does this mean? It generally means a number of persons bound together by three things: by having one blood, one language, one land. Other bonds may usually come in, such as one set of customs, one law, one government, one religion. But the three I have mentioned are the most constant.

I. First one blood. The Jews mixed wonderfully little with other people till quite late in history, and the family feeling was part of their religion. One of the names by which they

are called is "The Children of Israel". Generation after generation was thus taught to look back to the first beginnings of the people. It lifted them out of base and earthly things. It carried them halfway to God. For God Himself was likewise known to them in the same form. Declaring Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He brought Himself near to them through their recollections of their forefathers.

II. Secondly, a people is held together by speaking one language. This bond of language the Jews possessed. Almost from the first it became intermixed with their thoughts about God. First the memory of His Commandments as written on the Tables of stone or spoken by the lips of Moses, then the possession of holy books, the short beginnings of a Bible, led them to feel that their common speech was not merely the necessary means of conversing with each other on the things of everyday life, but also supplied the outward form in which God spoke to their fathers and to them.

III. Again, men are made one people by dwelling in one land. And such was Judea or Jewry, the land of Israel to the Jews, the children of Israel. The affection which they bore it was one of the most powerful ties which helped them to feel that they were indeed one at times when other causes were tearing them asunder. God saw fit that for their sins they should be earned away prisoners into a strange land, and there they seemed ready to be scattered away and leave no traces on the face of the earth, till in due time part of them obtained leave to return to their own country, and then once more the people rose out of the dust. Their entrance into it was marked by wonderful signs of God"s presence and favour, and He taught them to look on continuance upon its sacred soil as the highest earthly blessing, the best reward for those who obeyed His laws.

IV. We have now considered the three chief signs which mark a people in the proper sense of the word, and which the Bible shows to have marked the ancient people of God, the Jews. So far they were in a great measure like other peoples, old and new. The difference was that God made Himself known to no other people. That is what renders their history a treasure of the highest and best instruction to us; not a mere subject of curiosity for those who have time and opportunity to busy themselves about things that happened so very long ago, but a possession meant for the use of every one of us.

—J. F. A. Hort, Sermons on the Books of the Bible, p18.

EBC, "IN contents and tone this psalm is connected with Psalms 46:1-11; Psalms 48:1-14. No known event corresponds so closely with its allusions as the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, to which the LXX in its superscription refers it. The singer is absorbed in the one tremendous judgment which had delivered the dwelling place of Jehovah. His song has but one theme-God’s forth flashing of judgment on Zion’s foes. One note of thankfulness sounds at the close, but till then all is awe. The psalm is divided into four strophes, of three verses each. The former two describe the act; the latter two deal with its results, in an awed world and thankful praise.

The emphatic words in the first strophe are those which designate the scene of the

Divine act. The glow of humble pride, of wonder and thankfulness, is perceptible in the fourfold reiteration-"in Judah, in Israel, in Salem, in Zion"; all which names are gathered up in the eloquent "There" of Psalms 76:3. The true point of view from which to regard God’s acts is that they are His Self-revelation. The reason why Israel is the object of the acts which manifest His name is that there He has chosen to dwell. And, since He dwells there, the special act of judgment which the psalm celebrates was there performed. "The lightnings of the bow" picturesquely designate arrows, from their swift flight and deadly impact. {Compare Psalms 46:9}

2 His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

BAR�ES, "In Salem also - This was the ancient name for Jerusalem, and is evidently so used here. It continued to be given to the town until the time of David, when it was called “Jerusalem.” See the notes at Isa_1:1. The word properly means “peace,”

and is so rendered here by the Septuagint, +ν-ε/ρήν2-3-τόπος-αύτο; en eirēnē ho topos autou- “his place is in peace.” There may have been an allusion here to that ancient signification of the name, as being more poetical, and as suggesting the fact that God had restored peace to the city and nation when invaded.

Is his tabernacle - The tent, or sacred place where he is worshipped. Salem or Jerusalem was made the place of public worship, and the ark removed there by David, 2Sa_6:17.

And his dwelling-place in Zion - That is, on Mount Zion - the portion of Jerusalem in which David built his own palace, and which he made the place of public worship. This remained so until the temple was built on Mount Moriah; see the notes at Psa_2:6; compare Psa_9:11; Psa_48:12; Psa_65:1.

CLARKE, "In Salem also is his tabernacle - Salem was the ancient name of Zebus, afterward called Jerusalem. Here was the tabernacle set up; but afterwards, when the temple was built on Mount Zion, there was his habitation. The Psalm was evidently composed after the building of Solomon’s temple.

GILL, "In Salem also is his tabernacle,.... That is, in Jerusalem, as the Targum expresses it, where the tabernacle of Moses and the ark of the covenant were, and afterwards the temple of Solomon, which the Targum here calls the house of the sanctuary; and may be interpreted of the human nature of Christ, the true tabernacle which God pitched, and not man, in which the divine word when he was made flesh dwelt or tabernacled among the Jews at Jerusalem, and in other parts of Judea, Heb_8:2. Salem or Jerusalem often signifies the church of God in Gospel times, in the midst of which Christ resides, and where he grants his gracious presence, Heb_12:22 and in the New Jerusalem the tabernacle of God will be with men, and he will dwell among them, Rev_21:2. The Septuagint translate the word, and render it, "in peace", as in Heb_7:2, the God of peace dwells among those that live in peace, 2Co_13:11,

and his dwelling place in Zion; where the ark was brought by David, and the temple was built by Solomon, into which, as rebuilt by Zerubbabel, Christ came, and here he preached; a figure of the church, which is his habitation.

HE�RY, "In the tokens of God's special presence with them in his ordinances, Psa_76:2. In the whole land of Judah and Israel God was known and his name was great; but in Salem, in Zion, were his tabernacle and his dwelling-place. There he kept court; there he received the homage of his people by their sacrifices and entertained them by the feasts upon the sacrifices; thither they came to address themselves to him, and thence by his oracles he issued out his orders; there he recorded his name, and of that place he said, Her will I dwell, for I have desired it. It is the glory and happiness of a people to have God among them by his ordinances; but his dwelling-place is a tabernacle, a movable dwelling. Yet a little while is that light with us.

JAMISO�, "Salem— (Gen_14:18) is Jerusalem.

CALVI�, "2.And his tabernacle was in Salem Here the reason is assigned why God, putting the Assyrians to flight, vouchsafed to deliver the city of Jerusalem, and to take it under his protection. The reason is, because he had there chosen for himself a dwelling-place, in which his name was to be called upon. The amount, in short, is, first, that men had no ground to arrogate to themselves any share in the deliverance of the city here portrayed, God having strikingly showed that all the glory was his own, by displaying from heaven his power in the sight of all men; and, secondly, that he was induced to oppose his enemies from no other consideration but that of his free choice of the Jewish nation. God having, by this example, testified that his power is invincible for preserving his Church, it is a call and an encouragement to all the faithful to repose with confidence under his shadow. If his name is precious to himself, it is no ordinary pledge and security which he gives to our faith when he assures us that it is his will that the greatness of his power should be known in the preservation of his Church. Moreover, as the Church is a distinguished theater on which the Divine glory is displayed, we must always take the greatest care not to shroud or bury in forgetfulness, by our ingratitude, the benefits which have been bestowed upon it, and especially those which ought to be held in remembrance in all ages. Farther, although God is not now worshipped in the visible tabernacle, yet as by Christ he still dwells in the midst of us, yea even within us, we will doubtless

experience, whenever we are exposed to danger, that under his protection we are in perfect safety. If the earthly sanctuary of Jerusalem afforded to God’s ancient people succor while it stood, we may rest assured that he will have no less care of us who live in the present day, when we consider that he has vouchsafed to choose us as his temples in which he may dwell by his Holy Spirit. Here the prophet, in speaking of Jerusalem, uses merely the name of Salem, which was the simple and uncompounded name of the city, and had been applied to it very anciently, as appears from Genesis 14:18. Some think that the name in the course of time assumed its compound form, by having Jebus prefixed to Salem; for Jebus was the name by which it was afterwards known in the intervening period, as we learn from the Book of Judges, Jude 19:10, it being so called because it was inhabited by the Jebusites. But we will be more correct as to the etymology of the word, if we derive it from the verb יראה, yereh, which signifies will see, (267) because Abraham said,

“God will look out for himself a lamb for a burnt-offering,” (Genesis 22:8.)

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle. In the peaceful city he dwells, and the peace is perpetuated, because there his sacred tent is pitched. The church of God is the place where the Lord abides and he is to her the Lord and giver of peace.And his dwelling place in Zion. Upon the chosen hill was the palace of Israel's Lord. It is the glory of the church that the Redeemer inhabits her by his Holy Spirit. Vain are the assaults of the enemy, for they attack not us alone, but the Lord himself. Immanuel, God with us, finds a home among his people, who then shall work us ill?EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. 4,1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle. It is not without meaning that Jerusalem has the appellation of Salem; for it is thereby insinuated that the tabernacle of God, notwithstanding the assault of foes, in the very heart of the tumults of war remained in peace. How much more now that the invaders had been overthrown, would prosperity be enjoyed? Hermann Venema.Ver. 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle. God the Holy Ghost is a spirit of peace, he is the comforter; he seals up peace (2 Corinthians 1:22). This blessed dove brings the olive branch of peace in his mouth: now a peaceable disposition evidences something of God in a man, therefore God loves to dwell there. "In Salem is God's tabernacle:" Salem signifies peace; God dwells in a peaceable spirit. Thomas Watson.Ver. 2. In Salem also is his tabernacle, etc. All the old versions, as well as the two English ones, have missed one especial force of this passage. There is no direct reference in words to any human habitation, but to the lair of the Lion of Judah. The word wkm does not only mean his tabernacle, but his covert, and is so translated in another place (Jeremiah 25:38): "He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion; "and the vaguer word wtgwem which succeeds may well be translated by "den,

"or some equivalent phrase. Psalms 10:9. Simon De Muis.Ver. 2-3. The care of Salem, or Zion, lies at the bottom of all God's powerful acting and workings among the sons of men. Every mighty work of God throughout the world may be prefaced with these two verses. The whole course of affairs in the world in steered by Providence in reference to the good of Salem. John Owen.

PULPIT, "In Salem; i.e. Jerusalem. "Salem" was probably a shortened form of the full and complete name, like "Peer" for "Baalpeor," "Maachah" for "Aram-Maa-chah," "El Kuds" for "Beit-el-Kuds," and the like. (So Professor Cheyne.) "Salem" is the peaceful place, the place where God's presence breathed peace and tranquillity. It is only used here and in Genesis 14:11. Is his tabernacle; literally, his tent (comp. Psalms 15:1; Psalms 27:5, Psalms 27:6; Psalms 61:4). The temple is meant, as even Professor Cheyne sees. It took the place of the original "tabernacle," and was modelled upon it. And his dwelling place in Zion; or, "his lair" (comp. Psalms 104:22).

3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.[b]

BAR�ES, "There brake he the arrows of the bow - That is, in Salem, or near Salem. The language is such as would be used in reference to invaders, or to armies that came up to storm the city. The occasion is unknown; but the meaning is, that God drove the invading army back, and showed his power in defending the city. The phrase “the arrows of the bow,” is literally, “the lightnings of the bow,” the word rendered “arrows” meaning properly “flame;” and then, “lightning.” The idea is, that the arrows sped from the bow with the rapidity of lightning.

The shield - Used for defense in war. See Psa_5:12; Psa_33:20; compare the notes at Eph_6:16.

And the sword - That is, he disarmed his enemies, or made them as powerless as if their swords were broken.

And the battle - He broke the force of the battle; the strength of the armies drawn up for conflict.

CLARKE, "There brake he the arrows of the bow - rishphey, the fiery רשפיarrows. Arrows, round the heads of which inflammable matter was rolled, and then ignited, were used by the ancients, and shot into towns to set them on fire; and were discharged among the towers and wooden works of besiegers. The Romans called them phalaricae; and we find them mentioned by Virgil, Aen. lib. ix., ver. 705: -

Sed magnum stridens contorta phalarica venit,Fulminis acta modo.

On this passage Servius describes the phalarica as a dart or spear with a spherical leaden head to which fire was attached. Thrown by a strong hand, it killed those whom it hit, and set fire to buildings, etc. It was called phalarica from the towers called phalae from which it was generally projected. In allusion to these St. Paul speaks of the fiery darts of the devil, Eph_6:16, to the note on which the reader is requested to refer.

The shield and the sword - If this refers to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, it may be truly said that God rendered useless all their warlike instruments, his angel having destroyed 185,000 of them in one night.

GILL, "There brake he the arrows of the bow.... The Targum is,

"there brake he the arrows and the bows of the people that make war;''

the word רשפי, translated "arrows", signifies "sparks or coals of fire"; see Job_5:7 and is used of arrows, because they fly swiftly, as sparks do, or because of their brightness, or because fiery; so we read of "the fiery darts of Satan", Eph_6:16, and perhaps they may be meant here: when Christ our Lord suffered near Jerusalem, he spoiled principalities and powers, and broke their strength and might, and made peace by the blood of his cross, in which he triumphed over them; for the destroying of these instruments of war with what follow:

the shield, and the sword, and the battle, is expressive of making wars to cease, and causing peace; and may include the peace which was all the world over at the birth of Christ, and was foretold and expressed in much such language as here, Zec_9:9, and also that which was made by his sufferings and death, and which was published in his Gospel by his apostles, whom he sent forth unarmed, whose weapons were not carnal, but spiritual; and likewise the spiritual peace he gives to his people, quenching the fiery darts of Satan, and delivering them from the archers that shoot at them, and sorely grieve them; as well as that peace which shall be in the world and churches in the latter day; see Psa_46:11,

HE�RY, " In the victories they had obtained over their enemies (Psa_76:3): There broke he the arrows of the bow. Observe how threatening the danger was. Though Judah and Israel, Salem and Zion, were thus privileged, yet war is raised against them, and the weapons of war are furbished.

1. Here are bow and arrows, shield and sword, and all for battle; but all are broken and rendered useless. And it was done there, (1.) In Judah and in Israel, in favour of that people near to God. While the weapons of war were used against other nations they

answered their end, but, when turned against that holy nation, they were immediately broken. The Chaldee paraphrases it thus: When the house of Israel did his will he placed his majesty among them, and there he broke the arrows of the bow; while they kept closely to his service they were great and safe, and every thing went well with them. Or, (2.) In the tabernacle and dwelling-place in Zion, there he broke the arrows of the bow; it was done in the field of battle, and yet it is said to be done in the sanctuary, because done in answer to the prayers which God's people there made to him and in the performance of the promises which he there made to them, of both which see that instance, 2Ch_20:5, 2Ch_20:14. Public successes are owing as much to what is done in the church as to what is done in the camp. Now,

JAMISO�, "brake ... the arrows— literally, “thunderbolts” (Psa_78:48), from their rapid flight or ignition (compare Psa_18:14; Eph_6:16).

the battle— for arms (Hos_2:18).

CALVI�, "3.There he broke the arrows of the bow. We have here stated the particular way in which God was known in Judah. He was known by the wonderful proofs of his power, which he exhibited in preserving the city. Under these figures is described the destruction of the enemies of the chosen people. (268) They could not otherwise have been overthrown than by being despoiled of their armor and weapons of war. It is therefore said, that the arrows, the swords, and the shields, were broken, yea, all the implements of war; implying that these impious enemies of the Church were deprived of the power of doing harm. The fact indeed is, that they were wounded and slain, while their weapons remained uninjured; but this metonymy, by which what befell themselves is represented as happening to their implements of war, is not improper. Some translate the word רשפים, reshaphim, points of weapons! Properly, it should be renderedfires; (269) but it is more accurate to take it for arrows. Even birds are sometimes metaphorically so called, on account of their swiftness; and flying is attributed to arrows in Psalms 91:6

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 3. There brake he the arrows of the bow. Without leaving his tranquil abode, he sent forth his word and snapped the arrows of his enemies before they could shoot them. The idea is sublime, and marks the ease, completeness, and rapidity of the divine action.The shield, and the sword, and the battle. Every weapon, offensive and defensive, the Lord dashed in pieces; death bearing bolts and life preserving armour were alike of no avail when the Breaker sent forth his word of power. In the spiritual conflicts of this and every age, the like will be seen; no weapon that is formed against the church shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against her in judgment, she shall condemn.Selah. It is meet that we should dwell on so soul stirring a theme, and give the Lord our grateful adoration, --hence a pause is inserted.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10

77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 2-3. The care of Salem, or Zion, lies at the bottom of all God's powerful acting and workings among the sons of men. Every mighty work of God throughout the world may be prefaced with these two verses. The whole course of affairs in the world in steered by Providence in reference to the good of Salem. John Owen.Ver. 3. There. Observe how it is said, There he brake, namely, in his temple, his habitation there. For unto that his temple doth the coherence in the verse afore carry it, for that was last in mention, and with the greatest emphasis. In the story we read how that Sennacherib's overthrow was from Hezekiah's prayer in the temple; for upon Sennacherib's letter, and Hezekiah's hearsay of the blasphemy, he took himself thither, went instantly into the temple, and began his prayer thus: "O thou God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims." He invocates him under that style of his dwelling in the holiest, and so hearing prayers there. Thus you have it recorded both in Isaiah and in 2 Kings 19:15. And how suitably, in answer hereunto, it is said here in the Psalm, that God gave forth sentence presently out of his tabernacle, yea, and that so suddenly too, as that the very execution is said to be done there, that is, from thence. And yet again, in the eighth verse of the Psalm, it is said to be a sentence from heaven too; Thou didst cause judgment (so called because it was the sentence of God as a judge) to be heard from heaven. Thus Hezekiah prayed, and thus God heard; and both as in the temple. Thomas Goodwin.Ver. 3. There. These men, to wit the King of Asshur and his accomplices, came to cast out God out of his dwelling place; but he stood to the defence of his own house, and showed them that he would not remove for their pleasure. Robert Bruce.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 76:3. There brake he, &c. — That is, in Judah, or at or near Jerusalem; the arrows of the bow — Hebrew, רשפי קשת, rishpee kasheth, the sparks of the bow, the sparkling arrows, bright and shining, swift and piercing, like sparks of fire. Some render it, the fiery arrows of the bow, the shield and the sword — Both offensive and defensive weapons, so that they could neither hurt God’s people nor save themselves from ruin; and the battle — The force and fury of the battle, and all the power of the army put in battle array.

ELLICOTT, "(3) There.—This word in Psalms 14:5 does not appear to have a strictly definite local sense; and here may refer to time, possibly to some event, which we are not able with certainty to recover.

Arrows.—Literally, flashes. (See �ote, Song of Solomon 8:6.) The image may be derived from the lightning speed of the flight of arrows, or from the custom of shooting bolts tipped with flame (see �ote, Psalms 7:13), or the connection may be from the metaphor in Psalms 91:5-6, since the Hebrew word here used denotes pestilence in Habakkuk 3:5.

The shield, the sword, and the battle—Hosea 2:18 is the original of this. (Comp.

Psalms 46:9.) �otice the fine poetic touch in the climactic use of battle to sum up all the weapons of war.

PULPIT,"There brake he the arrows of the bow. The expression "there" seems certainly to show that the deliverance celebrated took place at, or very near to, Jerusalem. This would sufficiently suit the destruction of Sennacherib's army, which certainly occurred in the neighbourhood, though not very close to the city (see 2 Kings 19:32, 38). The word translated "arrows" ( רשפי ) means properly "lightnings" (comp. Psalms 78:48), and expresses the swift flight of the arrow, not actual "fiery darts." The shield, and the sword, and the battle; rather, the war equipment (Kay, Cheyne).

4 You are radiant with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game.

BAR�ES, "Thou art more glorious and excellent - The word rendered glorious

- na'ôr נאור - is from the verb which means “to shine,” to give light, and the word would properly refer to a luminous or “shining” object - as the sun, the source of light. Hence, it means “shining,” splendid, glorious; and it is thus applied to the Divine Being with reference to his perfections, being like light. Compare 1Jo_1:5. The word rendered “excellent,” means exalted, noble, great. These words are applied here to God from the manifestation of his perfections in the case referred to.

Than the mountains of prey - The word “prey” as employed here - Hereph טרף -means that which is obtained by hunting; and then, plunder. It is usually applied to the food of wild beasts, beasts of prey. Here it refers to the “mountains” considered as the abode or stronghold of robbers and banditti, from where they sally forth in search of plunder. These mountains, in their heights, their rocks, their fastnesses, furnished safe places of retreat for robbers, and hence, they became emblems of power. It is not improbable that the hordes referred to in the psalm had their abodes in such mountains, and hence, the psalmist says that God who made those mountains and hills was superior to them in strength and power.

CLARKE, "Than the mountains of prey - This is an address to Mount Zion. Thou art more illustrious and excellent than all the mountains of prey, i.e., where wild

beasts wander, and prey on those that are more helpless than themselves. Zion was the place where God dwelt; the other mountains were the abode of wild beasts.

GILL, "Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.Which is to be understood not of Zion, as some interpret it; though it is true that the mountain of Zion, or the church of Christ, his kingdom and interest, shall in the latter day be more glorious and excellent than all other mountains, kingdoms, and interests; see Isa_2:2, but of God or Christ before spoken of; and so the Targum,

"bright, to be feared, art thou, O God, to be praised from the house of thy sanctuary.''

Christ, who is God over all, is "bright" (z), splendid, and glorious, in his divine nature, being the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person: and "excellent" in his office as Mediator, and in all his works as such; and in human nature, at he is exalted at his Father's right hand, far above all principality, power, might, and dominion, signified here by "mountains of prey": the kingdoms of this world, because of their eminence and strength, are compared to mountains: see Isa_41:15 and may be called "mountains of prey", in allusion to mountains inhabited by beasts of prey, as lions and leopards; see Son_4:8 because obtained and possessed by tyranny and oppression. Christ is more glorious and excellent than the kings of the earth; he is higher than they, and is King of kings; he is richer than they, the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein; he is wiser than they, by him kings reign, and princes decree justice; he is more powerful than they, and all must submit to him, and all will serve him hereafter; and his kingdom will be greater than theirs, more large and more lasting; it will be an everlasting one, and reach from sea to sea, and even to the ends of the earth.

HE�RY 4-6, "This victory redounded very much, (1.) To the immortal honour of Israel's God (Psa_76:4): Thou art, and hast manifested thyself to be, more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. [1.] “Than the great and mighty ones of the earth in general, who are high, and think themselves firmly fixed like mountains, but are really mountains of prey, oppressive to all about them. It is their glory to destroy; it is thine to deliver.” [2.] “Than our invaders in particular. When they besieged the cities of Judah, they cast up mounts against them, and raised batteries; but thou art more able to protect us than they are to annoy us.” Wherein the enemies of the church deal proudly it will appear that God is above them. (2.) To the perpetual disgrace of the enemies of Israel, Psa_76:5, Psa_76:6. They were stouthearted, men of great courage and resolution, flushed with their former victories, enraged against Israel, confident of success; they were men of might, robust and fit for service; they had chariots and horses, which were then greatly valued and trusted to in war, Psa_20:7. But all this force was of no avail when it was levelled against Jerusalem. [1.] The stouthearted have despoiled and disarmed themselves (so some read it); when God pleases he can make his enemies to weaken and destroy themselves. They have slept, not the sleep of the righteous, who sleep in Jesus, but their sleep, the sleep of sinners, that shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt. [2.] The men of might can no more find their hands than the stout-hearted can their spirit. As the bold men are cowed, so the strong men are lamed, and cannot so much as find their hands, to save their own heads, much less to hurt their enemies. [3.] The chariots and horses may be truly said to be cast into a dead sleep when their drivers and their riders were so. God did but speak the word, as the God of Jacob

that commands deliverances for Jacob, and, at his rebuke, the chariot and horse were both cast into a dead sleep. When the men were laid dead upon the spot by the destroying angel the chariot and horse were not at all formidable. See the power and efficacy of God's rebukes. With what pleasure may we Christians apply all this to the advantages we enjoy by the Redeemer! It is through him that God is known; it is in him that God's name is great; to him it is owing that God has a tabernacle and a dwelling-place in his church. He it was that vanquished the strong man armed, spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly.

JAMISO�, "Thou— God.

mountains of prey— great victorious nations, as Assyria (Isa_41:15; Eze_38:11, Eze_38:12; Zec_4:7).

CALVI�, "It is farther added, (verse 4th,) that God is more glorious and terrible than the mountains of prey By the mountains of prey, is meant kingdoms distinguished for their violence and extortion. We know that from the beginning, he who exercised himself most in robbery and pillage, was the man who most enlarged his borders and became greatest. The Psalmist, therefore, here compares those great kings, who had acquired large dominions by violence and the shedding of human blood, to savage beasts, who live only upon prey, and their kingdoms to mountains covered with forests, which are inhabited by beasts inured to live by the destruction of other animals. The enemies of God’s ancient people had been accustomed to make violent and furious assaults upon Jerusalem; but it is affirmed that God greatly surpassed them all in power that the faithful might not be overwhelmed with terror.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 4. Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. Far more is Jehovah to be extolled than all the invading powers which sought to oppress his people, though they were for power and greatness comparable to mountains. Assyria had pillaged the nations till it had become rich with mountains of spoil, this was talked of among men as glory, but the psalmist despised such renown, and declares that the Lord was far more illustrious. What are the honours of war but brags of murder? What the fame of conquerors but the reek of manslaughter? But the Lord is glorious in holiness, and his terrible deeds are done in justice for the defence of the weak and the deliverance of the enslaved. Mere power may be glorious, but it is not excellent: when we behold the mighty acts of the Lord, we see a perfect blending of the two qualities.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 4. God was not known in Babylon, in Egypt, in other nations, his tabernacle

and dwelling place was not amongst them, therefore they were not glorious. But see what is in the fourth verse, Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey; thou Judah, thou Israel, thou Salem, thou Zion, that hast spiritual mercies and blessings, art more glorious than they, whatever their glory be. Have the nations abroad goodly towers? thou hast the temple; have they stately cities? thou hast Jerusalem, the city of God; have they wise men? thou hast the prophets; have they gods of gold, silver, and stones; thou hast the true living God, Jehovah, to be thy God; have they human laws that are good? thou hast divine laws that excel; have they temporal excellencies? thou hast spiritual; have they the glory of the world? thou hast the glory of heaven. William Greenhill.Ver. 4. The mountains of prey. Why are they called the mountains of prey? There is a reference to the lairs of the lions in the mountains, whence they rush forth upon those who come that way, and tear them in pieces. In the same way the dwelling place of God was represented above under the title of a tabernacle or lair. Moreover, this is a mystic epithet of the mountains of Judah, by which it is hinted that the enemies who venture to approach that lair are wont to be torn in sunder: a terrible example of which had just been shown in the case of the Assyrian, there overthrown, torn, and spoiled. Compare Isaiah 31:4. Hermann Venema.

COKE, "Psalms 76:4. Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey— The meaning of this verse is, that Jehovah, who sendeth help to his people from Mount Sion, is superior to the gods of the mountains, under whose protection the despoilers of the earth make their depredations. From the powerful assistance which Jehovah afforded his people from Mount Sion, the Assyrians called him, the God of the hills, and not of the vallies: see 1 Kings 20:23. Green. Houbigant renders it, thou art more radiant than light; thou art higher than the eternal mountains; and Mudge, Thou shonest forth glorious from the mountains of prey. It seems very doubtful what these mountains of prey were. See Psalms 29:9. The common sense given to the passage is, "Thou, O Sion, art far more impregnable, through the defence of God, than the mountains upon which the Assyrians had fortified themselves, and from which their soldiers made frequent excursions to ravage the country." Slept their sleep, in the next verse, means, so as never to awake again: (see 2 Kings 20:21.) and found their hands, or arms, signifies, are enabled to strike a stroke.

ELLICOTT, "(4) Thou art . . .—Better, Splendid art thou, glorious one, from the mountains of prey. The construction is somewhat doubtful and favours Hupfeld’s emendation (nora, i.e., to be feared, as in verses 8 and 13, instead of noar, i.e., glorious). Certainly the comparative of the Authorised Version is to be abandoned. The poet’s thought plainly proceeds from the figure of Psalms 76:2. The mountains are the mountains of prey of the Lion of Judah. True, a different image, as so frequently in Hebrew poetry, suddenly interrupts and changes the picture. The hero appears from the battle shining in the spoils taken from the foe.

PULPIT, "Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The psalmist, in this, the main portion of his psalm, directly addresses God. "Thou, O God," he says, "art glorious," or "terrible" (comp. Psalms 76:7, where the same

word is used), "and excellent, more than the mountains of prey," or perhaps "from the mountains of spoil;" i.e. from Jerusalem, where the spoils of the Assyrians are laid up, and where thou sittest and rulest. (So Professor Cheyne and Canon Cook.)

COFFMA�, "Verse 4"Glorious art thou, and excellent, more than mountains of prey.

The stouthearted are made a spoil, They have slept their sleep;

And none of the men of might have found their hands.

At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob,

Both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep."

"More than mountains of prey" (Psalms 76:4). There is some uncertainty of the meaning here. Delitzsch explained it as, "An appellation for haughty possessors of worldly power."[11]

"They have slept their sleep ... and none ... have found their hands" (Psalms 76:5). Briggs translated this verse this way:

"The stouthearted slept their last sleep,And the men of war did not find spoil."[12]SIZE>

The clause, "none have found their hands" in the �ew English Bible is rendered, "the men cannot lift a hand." The Septuagint (LXX) reads, "have found nothing in their hands." Rawlinson gave the meaning as, "They cannot even move a hand."[13] Such various attempts to give the meaning of an admittedly difficult verse should not concern us very much, because, what is being described here, according to Delitzsch, is, "A field of corpses, the effect of the omnipotent energy of the word of the God of Jacob."[14]

"Both chariot and horse ... into a dead sleep" (Psalms 76:6). Of course, no chariot ever went to sleep. The chariot here, by a figure of speech, refers to charioteer, just as the horse also includes the rider. Sudden death overcame the whole army.

"Cast into a deep sleep" (Psalms 76:6). "The sleep here is the sleep of death as distinguished from natural sleep."[15]

"One word from the sovereign lips of the God of Jacob, and all the noise of the camp is hushed, and we look upon a field of the dead, lying in awful stillness, dreamlessly sleeping their long slumber."[16]A GLIMPSE OF THE ETER�AL JUDGME�T DAY

We have previously quoted from Lord Byron's poem, but here are a few more lines of it:

"And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide.But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail.

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,

The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown."SIZE>

BE�SO�, "Psalms 76:4. Thou — O God, to whom he is thought to direct his speech here, as also Psalms 76:6, art more glorious, &c., than the mountains of prey —Than the greatest kings and empires of the earth, which in the prophetical writings are often compared to mountains. And they are called mountains of prey, because then they were generally established by tyranny, and maintained by preying on their own subjects, or other inferior kingdoms: or, which amounts to the same thing, than the most powerful enemies of thy people, upon whom they used, and now expected, to prey. Or, as some think, the psalmist asserts here that Jehovah, who sent help to his people from mount Zion, was superior to the idol gods of the mountains, under whose protection the despoilers of the earth made their depredations. Thus the powerful assistance which Jehovah afforded his people from mount Zion, caused the Syrians to call him the God of the hills, and not of the valleys, 1 Kings 20:23. But the words may be considered as an apostrophe to mount Zion, and then the sense is, Thou, O Zion, art infinitely more glorious and excellent, and far more impregnable, through the favour and protection of God, than the mountains upon which the Assyrians had fortified themselves, and from which their soldiers made frequent excursions, and ravaged the country; more safe and secure, through the defence of the Almighty, than “the arm of flesh and the instruments of war could render the kingdoms of the earth, which set themselves against Zion; and which, for their tyranny, and cruelty, and the ravages committed by them, are likened to those mountains, where beasts of prey, with similar dispositions, rove, and roar, and devour.” — Horne.

EBC, "The second strophe (Psa_76:4-6) comes closer to the fact celebrated, and describes, with magnificent sweep, brevity, and vividness, the death sleep of the enemy. But, before it shows the silent corpses, it lifts one exclamation of reverence to the God who has thus manifested His power. The word rendered "Effulgent" is doubtful, and by a slight transposition of letters becomes, as in Psa_76:7 which begins the next strophe, "dread." In Psa_76:4 b the rendering "more excellent than," etc., yields a comparison which can scarcely be called worthy. It is little to say of God that He is more glorious than the enemies’ "mountains of prey," though Delitzsch tries to recommend this rendering by supposing that God is represented as towering above "the Lebanon of the

hostile army of peoples." The Hebrew idiom expresses comparison by the preposition from appended to the adjective in its simple form, and it is best here to take the construction as indicating point of departure rather than comparison. God comes forth as "glorious," from the lofty heights where He sits supreme. But "mountains of prey" is a singular phrase, which can only be explained by the supposition that God is conceived of as a Conqueror, who has laid up his spoils in His inaccessible storehouse on high. But the LXX translates "everlasting mountains," which fits the context well, and implies a text, which might easily be misinterpreted as meaning "prey," which misinterpretation may afterwards have crept into the body of the text. If this alteration is not adopted, the meaning will be as just stated.

EBC, "The second strophe (Psalms 76:4-6) comes closer to the fact celebrated, and describes, with magnificent sweep, brevity, and vividness, the death sleep of the enemy. But, before it shows the silent corpses, it lifts one exclamation of reverence to the God who has thus manifested His power. The word rendered "Effulgent" is doubtful, and by a slight transposition of letters becomes, as in Psalms 76:7 which begins the next strophe, "dread." In Psalms 76:4 b the rendering "more excellent than," etc., yields a comparison which can scarcely be called worthy. It is little to say of God that He is more glorious than the enemies’ "mountains of prey," though Delitzsch tries to recommend this rendering by supposing that God is represented as towering above "the Lebanon of the hostile army of peoples." The Hebrew idiom expresses comparison by the preposition from appended to the adjective in its simple form, and it is best here to take the construction as indicating point of departure rather than comparison. God comes forth as "glorious," from the lofty heights where He sits supreme. But "mountains of prey" is a singular phrase, which can only be explained by the supposition that God is conceived of as a Conqueror, who has laid up his spoils in His inaccessible storehouse on high. But the LXX translates "everlasting mountains," which fits the context well, and implies a text, which might easily be misinterpreted as meaning "prey," which misinterpretation may afterwards have crept into the body of the text. If this alteration is not adopted, the meaning will be as just stated.

K&D 4-6, "The “mountains of prey,” for which the lxx has Iρέων-α/ωνίων (טרם?), is an emblematical appellation for the haughty possessors of power who also plunder every one that comes near them,

(Note: One verse of a beautiful poem of the MuNammel which Ibn DûchıV, the

phylarch of the Beni Zumeir, an honoured poet of the steppe, dictated to Consul Wetzstein runs thus: The noble are like a very lofty hill-side upon which, when thou

comest to it, thou findest an evening meal and protection (Arab. 'l-‛š' w-\ry).)

or the proud and despoiling worldly powers. Far aloft beyond these towers the glory of

God. He is נאור, illustris, prop. illumined; said of God: light-encircled, fortified in light, in

the sense of Dan_2:22; 1Ti_6:16. He is the �יר], to whom the Lebanon of the hostile army of the nations must succumb (Isa_10:34) According to Solinus (ed. Mommsen, p.

124) the Moors call Atlas Addirim. This succumbing is described in Psa_76:6. The strong

of heart or stout-hearted, the lion-hearted, have been despoiled, disarmed, exuti; וללו�אש

(Note: With orthophonic Gaja, vid., Baer's Metheg-Setzung, §45.)

is an Aramaizing praet. Hithpo. (like רb2 ,אתחCh_20:35, cf. Dan_4:16; Isa_63:3) with a passive signification. From Psa_76:6 we see that the beginning of the catastrophe is

described, and therefore נמו (perhaps on that account accented on the ult.) is meant inchoatively: they have fallen into their sleep, viz., the eternal sleep (Jer_51:39, Jer_51:57), as Nahum says (Nah_3:18): thy shepherds sleep, O king of Assyria, thy valiant ones rest. In Psa_76:6 we see them lying in the last throes of death, and making a last effort to spring up again. But they cannot find their hands, which they have lifted up threateningly against Jerusalem: these are lamed, motionless, rigid and dead; cf. the phrases in Jos_8:20; 2Sa_7:27, and the Talmudic phrase, “he did not find his hands and feet in the school-house,” i.e., he was entirely disconcerted and stupefied.

(Note: Dukes, Rabbinische Blumenlese, S. 191.)

This field of corpses is the effect of the omnipotent energy of the word of the God of

Jacob; cf. וb-וגער, Isa_17:13. Before His threatening both war-chariot and horse (-ו - are (ו-sunk into motionlessness and unconsciousness - an allusion to Ex. 15, as in Isa_43:17 : who bringeth out chariot and horse, army and heroes - together they faint away, they shall never rise; they have flickered out, like a wick they are extinguished.

5 The valiant lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep;not one of the warriors can lift his hands.

BAR�ES, "The stout-hearted are spoiled - The valiant men, the men who came so confidently to the invasion. The word “spoiled” here, as elsewhere in the Scriptures, means “plundered,” not (as the word is now used) “corrupted.” See the notes at Col_2:8.

They have slept their sleep - They are dead; they have slept their last sleep. Death, in the Scriptures, as in all other writings, is often compared with sleep.

And none of the men of might - The men who came forth for purposes of war and conquest.

Have found their hands - The Septuagint renders this, “Have found nothing in their hands;” that is, they have obtained no plunder. Luther renders it, “And all warriors must suffer their hands to fall.” De Wette, “Have lost their hands?” The idea seems to be,

that they had lost the use of their hands; that is, that they had no use for them, or did not find them of any use. They could not employ them for the purpose for which they were intended, but were suddenly stricken down.

CLARKE, "The stout-hearted are spoiled - The boasting blasphemers, such as Rab-shakeh, and his master Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.

They have slept their sleep - They were asleep in their tent when the destroying angel, the suffocating wind, destroyed the whole; they over whom it passed never more awoke.

None of the men of might - Is not this a strong irony? Where are your mighty men? their boasted armor, etc.?

GILL, "The stout hearted are spoiled,.... The Assyrian army, its officers and generals, that came up against Jerusalem, with great resolution and courage, and with daring impiety and blasphemy against the God of heaven, as Rabshakeh and others; these were spoiled, and their armour and riches became a prey to those they thought to have made a prey of. So principalities and powers were spoiled by Christ upon the cross, and Satan, the strong man armed, has in the conversion of a sinner his armour taken from him, and his spoils divided by him that is stronger than he; and such as are stouthearted, and far from true righteousness, are stripped of their own, and made willing, in the day of Christ's power upon them, to submit to his; and as for antichrist, whose look is more stout than his fellows, that exalts himself above all that is called God, and opens his mouth in blasphemy against him and his followers, he shall be destroyed with the breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming: or "the stout hearted have spoiled themselves" (a); as the Midianites did, or gave themselves for a prey; so the Targum,

"the stouthearted have cast off from them the weapons of war;''

threw away their armour, and ran away, such of them as were not destroyed by the angel. It is observable, that the Hebrew word, translated "spoiled", is in the Syriac form:

they have slept their sleep: the sleep of death, as did the Assyrians when smitten by the angel, which was done in the night, when probably they were fast asleep, and so never awoke more, as the Babylonians, Jer_51:57. So Jezebel, or the Romish antichrist, shall be cast into a bed, and her children killed with death, Rev_2:22. Death is often in Scripture signified by a sleep, both the death of the righteous and of the wicked; but there is a difference between the one and the other; wherefore the death of the wicked here is called "their sleep"; the one sleep in Jesus, in his arms, and under his guardianship, the other not; to the one death is a true and proper rest from toil and labour, to the other only a cessation from doing mischief, Job_3:17, the one rests in hopes of a glorious resurrection, the other not; the one will awake in Christ's likeness, and to everlasting life; the other in the image of Satan, and to everlasting shame and contempt:

and none of the men of might have found their hands; none of the valiant

soldiers in the Assyrian army could find their hands to fight their enemies, or defend themselves; as men in a deep sleep cannot find their hands to do anything, and are as if they had none, and still less in a dead sleep. The Targum is,

"they were not able to lay hold on their armour with their hands.''

This was the case of them that were killed; and as for those that remained alive, they were struck with such a panic, that their hearts could not endure, nor their hands be strong when God thus dealt with them; and so it will be with the antichristian army at the battle of Armageddon; and so it is with the wicked at death, they cannot find their hands so as to prevent it; and when it has seized upon them, they cannot find their hands to do any more mischief.

JAMISO�, "slept their sleep— died (Psa_13:3).

none ... found ... hands— are powerless.

CALVI�, "5.The stout-hearted were spoiled, The power of God in destroying his enemies is here exalted by another form of expression. The verb אשתוללו , eshtolelu, which we translate were spoiled, is derived from שלל, shalal, and the letter א, aleph, is put instead of the letter ה, he. (270) Some translate, were made fools; (271) but this is too forced. I, however, admit that it is of the same import, as if it had been said, that they were deprived of wisdom and courage; but we must adhere to the proper signification of the word. What is added in the second clause is to the same purpose, All the men of might have not found their hands (272) that is to say, they were as incapable of fighting as if their hands had been maimed or cut off. In short, their strength, of which they boasted, was utterly overthrown. The words,they slept their sleep, (273) refer to the same subject; implying that whereas before they were active and resolute, their hearts now failed them, and they were sunk asleep in sloth and listlessness. The meaning, therefore, is, that the enemies of the chosen people were deprived of that heroic courage of which they boasted, and which inspired them with such audacity; and that, in consequence, neither mind, nor heart, nor hands, none either of their mental or bodily faculties, could perform their office. We are thus taught that all the gifts and power which men seem to possess are in the hand of God, so that he can, at any instant of time, deprive them of the wisdom which he has given them, make their hearts effeminate, render their hands unfit for war, and annihilate their whole strength. It is not without reason that both the courage and power of these enemies are magnified; the design of this being, that the faithful might be led, from the contrast, to extol the power and working of God. The same subject is farther confirmed from the statement, that the chariot and the horse were cast into a deep sleep at the rebuke of God (274) This implies, that whatever activity characterised these enemies, it was rendered powerless, simply by the nod of God. Although, therefore, we may be deprived of all created means of help, let us rest contented with the favor of God alone, accounting it all-sufficient, since he has no need of great armies to repel the assaults of the whole world, but is able, by the mere breath of his mouth, to subdue and dissipate all assailants.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. They came to spoil, and lo! they are spoiled themselves. Their stout hearts are cold in death, the angel of the pestilence has dried up their life blood, their very heart is taken from them.They have slept their sleep. Their last sleep--the sleep of death.And none of the men of might have found their hands. Their arms are palsied, they cannot lift a finger, for the rigour of death has stiffened them. What a scene was that when Sennacherib's host was utterly destroyed in one night. The hands which were furious to pull down Jerusalem, could not even be raised from the sod, the most valiant warriors were as weak as the palsied cripples at the temple gate, yea, their eyes they could not open, a deep sleep sealed their vision in everlasting darkness. O God, how terrible art thou! Thus shalt thou fight for us, and in the hour of peril overthrow the enemies of thy gospel. Therefore in thee will we trust and not be afraid.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. There is indicated in these words that consternation of mind which deprives of judgment and power. The valiant are spoiled of their heart: that is, they who at other times were wise and courageous have now lost their heart, and have been reduced to foolishness and stupidity. Hermann Venema.Ver. 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. After the breaking of their weapons their spoliation is recorded, for that follows the slaughter of foes. �or is mention made of that without reason. They had come to spoil, therefore are they deservedly spoiled. Musculus.Ver. 5. The stouthearted are spoiled. Some translate it, They are spoiled of their stout heart. The stouthearted, the strong, are spoiled. The strong man may be spoiled by a stronger; that's a good sense, but it is more elegantly rendered, they are spoiled of their stout heart; that is, the Lord takes their heart out of their bosom. Daring men, who fear nothing, are turned into Magor-missabibs--fear round about; their stout hearts are taken from them, and they are so far from being a terror to other men, that they run from the shadow of a man; their courage is down; they cannot give a child a confident look, much less look dangers or enemies in the face. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 5. (last clause). The strength and power of a man is in his hands; if they be gone, all his hope is gone. If a man's sword be taken from him, he will do what he can with his hands; but if his hands be gone, he may go to sleep for any disturbance he will work. For men not to find their hands, is not to have that power for the execution of their designs which formerly they had. John Owen.Ver. 5. (last clause). As we say of a man that goes lamely or lazily, "he cannot find his feet; "so of a man that acts lamely or lazily, or of a soldier that fights faintly and

cowardly, he cannot find his hands. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 5-6.For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever were still!And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride:And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,And cold as the spray of the rock breaking surf.And there lay the rider distorted and pale,With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.George Gordon, Lord Byron.

BE�SO�, "Verse 5-6Psalms 76:5-6. The stout-hearted are spoiled — Of all that glory and advantage which they either had already obtained, or further expected from the success of their present expedition. They became a prey to those on whom they hoped to prey. They have slept their sleep — Even a perpetual sleep, or the sleep of death. They have slept so as never to awake again to life on earth. He terms their death sleep, because they were slain in the night, when they had composed themselves to sleep, and so passed, perhaps insensibly, from one sleep to another. �one of the men of might have found their hands — They had no more strength in, or use of their hands, against the destroying angel, than those who have no hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob — By a rebuking blast sent from thee; both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep — Are rendered motionless and useless, like persons in a dead sleep. The horses were killed, as well as their riders, and the chariots were of no further service.

EBC, "Psa_76:5 gives some support to the existing text, by its representation of the stout-hearted foe as "spoiled." They are robbed of their might, their weapons, and their life. How graphically the psalmist sets before the eyes of his readers the process of destruction from its beginning! He shows us the warriors falling asleep in the drowsiness of death. How feeble their "might" new! One vain struggle, as in the throes of death, and the hands which shot the "lightnings of the bow" against Zion are stiff for evermore. One word from the sovereign lips of the God of Jacob, and all the noise of the camp is hushed, and we look out upon a field of the dead, lying in awful stillness, dreamlessly sleeping their long slumber.

The third strophe passes from description of the destruction of the enemy to paint its widespread results in the manifestation to a hushed world of God’s judgment. In it anger and love are wondrously blended; and while no creature can bear the terrible blaze of His face, nor endure the weight of His onset "in the time of His anger," the most awful manifestations thereof have a side of tenderness and an inner purpose of blessing. The core of judgment is mercy. It is worthy of God to smite the oppressor and to save the "afflicted," who not only suffer, but trust. When He makes His judgments reverberate from on high, earth should keep an awed stillness, as nature does when thunder peals.

When some gigantic and hoary iniquity crashes to its fall, there is a moment of awed silence after the hideous tumult.

EBC, "Psalms 76:5 gives some support to the existing text, by its representation of the stout-hearted foe as "spoiled." They are robbed of their might, their weapons, and their life. How graphically the psalmist sets before the eyes of his readers the process of destruction from its beginning! He shows us the warriors falling asleep in the drowsiness of death. How feeble their "might" new! One vain struggle, as in the throes of death, and the hands which shot the "lightnings of the bow" against Zion are stiff for evermore. One word from the sovereign lips of the God of Jacob, and all the noise of the camp is hushed, and we look out upon a field of the dead, lying in awful stillness, dreamlessly sleeping their long slumber.

The third strophe passes from description of the destruction of the enemy to paint its widespread results in the manifestation to a hushed world of God’s judgment. In it anger and love are wondrously blended; and while no creature can bear the terrible blaze of His face, nor endure the weight of His onset "in the time of His anger," the most awful manifestations thereof have a side of tenderness and an inner purpose of blessing. The core of judgment is mercy. It is worthy of God to smite the oppressor and to save the "afflicted," who not only suffer, but trust. When He makes His judgments reverberate from on high, earth should keep an awed stillness, as nature does when thunder peals. When some gigantic and hoary iniquity crashes to its fall, there is a moment of awed silence after the hideous tumult.

The last Strophe is mainly a summons to praise God for His manifestation of delivering judgment. Psalms 76:10 is obscure. The first clause is intelligible enough. Since God magnifies His name by His treatment of opposing men, who set themselves against Him, their very foaming fury subserves His praise. That is a familiar thought with all the Scripture writers who meditate on God’s dealings. But the second clause is hard. Whose "wraths" are spoken of in it? God’s or man’s? The change from the singular ("wrath of man") to plural ("wraths") in b makes it all but certain that God’s fulness of "wrath" is meant here. It is set over against the finite and puny "wrath" of men, as an ocean might be contrasted with a shallow pond. If so, God’s girding Himself with the residue of His own wrath will mean that, after every such forth-putting of it as the psalm has been hymning, there still remains an unexhausted store ready to flame out if need arise. It is a stern and terrible thought of God, but it is solemnly true. His lovingkindness out measures man’s, and so does His judicial judgment. All Divine attributes partake of Infinitude, and the stores of His punitive anger are not less deep than those of His gentle goodness.

Therefore men are summoned to vow and pay their vows; and while Israel is called to worship, the nations around, who have seen that field of the dead, are called to do homage and bring tribute to Him who, as it so solemnly shows, can cut off the breath of the highest, or can cut down their pride, as a grape gatherer does the ripe cluster (for such is the allusion in the word "cuts down"). The last clause of the psalm, which stands somewhat disconnected from the preceding, gathers up the

lessons of the tremendous event which inspired it, when it sets Him forth as to be feared by the kings of the earth.

PULPIT, "The stout hearted are spoiled. A "vivid description of the catastrophe" now follows. The "stout hearted," the aggressors, the great dominant race, that has spoiled all the nations of the earth, and fears no one (comp. Isaiah 10:12-14, "The stout heart of the King of Assyria"), is itself spoiled in turn. They have slept their sleep. They have slept, and, as they slept (2 Kings 19:35), they found it indeed a sleep, even the sleep of death. And none of the men of might have found their hands. The mighty men, suddenly assaulted by the grim destroyer, Death, can make no resistance; they are paralyzed; they cannot even move a hand.

ELLICOTT, "(5) Are spoiled.—Literally, have let themselves be spoiled. The picture is of men rendered powerless, at a glance, a word, from God.

Slept their sleep.—Better, have sunk into a deep sleep.

�one of the men of might have found their hands.—This expression for powerlessness naturally grew into an idiom in a language that used the word hand as a synonym for strength. (Comp. Joshua 8:20, margin; Exodus 14:31, margin; Deuteronomy 32:36, margin.) Delitzsch quotes a Talmudic phrase, “We did not find our hands and feet in the school house.” We may compare the Virgilian use of manus (Æn. 6:688), and Shakespeare’s “a proper fellow of my hands,” and for the use of “find” compare the common phrase “find one’s tongue.”

6 At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both horse and chariot lie still.

BAR�ES, "At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob - At thy word; thy bidding; or, when God rebuked them for their attempt to attack the city. The idea is, that they were discomfited by a word spoken by God.

Both the chariot and horse ... - The Septuagint renders this, “They who are

mounted on horses.” The word rendered “chariot” here - rekeb רכב - may mean “riders, cavalry,” as well as chariot. See the notes at Isa_21:7. Hence, there would be less incongruity in the Hebrew than in our translation, where it is said that the “chariots” have fallen into a deep sleep. The idea may be either that horsemen and horses had fallen into a deep slumber, or that the rumbling of the chariot-wheels had ceased, and

that there was a profound silence, like a deep sleep.

CLARKE, "At thy rebuke - It was not by any human means that this immense army was overthrown; it was by the power of God alone. Not only infantry was destroyed, but the cavalry also.

The chariot and horse - That is, the chariot horses, as well as the men, were

Cast into a dead sleep -Were all suffocated in the same night. On the destruction of this mighty host, the reader is requested to refer to the notes on 2 Kings 19.

GILL, "At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob,.... The God of Jacob personally, and of his posterity, the children of Israel, and of the church, often so called who rebukes his people in love, but his enemies with furious rebukes, with rebukes in flames of fire; with such he rebukes the Heathen, destroys the wicked, and puts out their name for ever:

both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep; that is, the riders in chariots and on horses; such there were doubtless in the Assyrian army, it being usual to

have such in great armies. Kimchi observes, that the word נרדם, translated "cast into a dead sleep", is in the singular number, and interprets it of the king, the head of the men of might: but Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was not slain, he departed to his own country; wherefore he applies it to Gog and Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, Eze_39:1 and may very well be understood of the head of the apostasy, the king of the bottomless pit, the beast or false prophet, who being destroyed, the flesh of his captains and horsemen shall be the food of the fowls of the air, at the supper of the great God, Rev_19:17.

JAMISO�, "chariot and horse— for those fighting on them (compare Psa_68:17).

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 6. At thy rebuke. A word accomplished all, there was no need of a single blow.O God of Jacob. God of thy wrestling people, who again like their father supplant their enemy; God of the covenant and the promise, thou hast in this gracious character fought for thine elect nation.Both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. They will neither neigh nor rattle again; still are the trampings of the horses and the crash of the cars; the calvary no more creates its din. The Israelites always had a special fear of horses and scythed chariots; and, therefore, the sudden stillness of the entire force of the enemy in this department is made the theme of special rejoicing. The horses were stretched on the ground, and the chariots stood still, as if the whole camp had fallen asleep. Thus can the Lord send a judicial sleep over the enemies of the church, a premonition of the second death, and this he can do when they are in the zenith of power; and, as they imagine, in the very act of blotting out the remembrance of his people. The world's Rabshakahs can write terrible letters, but the Lord answers not with pen and ink, but with rebukes, which bear death in every syllable.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS

Whole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 5-6. See Psalms on "Psalms 76:6" for further information.Ver. 6. Cast into a deep sleep. It is observable that the verb here used is the same as is used in the narrative of the act of Jael, and of the death of the proud enemy of Israel, Sisera, cast into a deep sleep, by God's power, working by the hand of a woman. Christopher Wordsworth.

7 It is you alone who are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry?

BAR�ES, "Thou, even thou, art to be feared - To be had in reverence or veneration. The repetition of the word “thou” is emphatic, as if the mind paused at the mention of God, and remained in a state of reverence, repeating the thought. The particular “reason” suggested here why God should be had in reverence, was the display of his power in overthrowing by a word the mighty hosts that had come against the holy city.

And who may stand in thy sight -Who can stand before thee? implying that no one had the power to do it. “When once thou art angry.” If such armies have been overcome suddenly by thy might, then what power is there which could successfully resist thee?

CLARKE, "Thou, even thou, art to be feared - The Hebrew is simple, but very

emphatic: אתה-נורא-אתה attah-nora-attah, “Thou art terrible; thou art.” The repetition of the pronoun deepens the sense.

When once thou art angry? - Literally, From the time thou art angry. In the moment thy wrath is kindled, in that moment judgment is executed. How awful is this consideration! If one hundred and eighty-five thousand men were in one moment destroyed by the wrath of God, canst thou, thou poor, miserable, feeble sinner, resist his will, and turn aside his thunder!

GILL, "Thou, even thou, art to be feared,.... By his own people with reverence and godly fear, because of his greatness and goodness; and to be dreaded by his enemies; which seems to be the sense here, as appears by what follows:

and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? or "from the moment thou art angry" (b); so the Targum, from the "time", and Jarchi, from the "hour": that is, as soon as ever his anger begins, when it is kindled but a little, and how much less when it burns in its full strength? there is no standing before his justice, and at his judgment seat, with boldness and confidence, and so as to succeed, or come off acquitted, without having on his righteousness; and much less is there any standing before his wrath and fury, when his hand takes hold on judgment to execute it; see Nah_1:6.

HE�RY 7-10, "This glorious victory with which God had graced and blessed his church is here made to speak three things: -

I. Terror to God's enemies (Psa_76:7-9): “Thou, even thou, art to be feared; thy majesty is to be reverenced, thy sovereignty to be submitted to, and thy justice to be dreaded by those that have offended thee.” Let all the world learn by this event to stand in awe of the great God. 1. Let all be afraid of his wrath against the daring impiety of sinners: Who may stand in thy sight from the minute that thou art angry? If God be a consuming fire, how can chaff and stubble stand before him, though his anger be kindled but a little? Psa_2:12. 2. Let all be afraid of his jealousy for oppressed innocency and the injured cause of his own people: “Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven, then when thou didst arise to save all the meek of the earth (Psa_76:8, Psa_76:9); and then the earth feared and was still, waiting what would be the issue of those glorious appearances of thine.” Note, (1.) God's people are the meek of the earth (Zec_2:3), the quiet in the land (Psa_35:20), that can bear any wrong, but do none. (2.) Though the meek of the earth are by their meekness exposed to injury, yet God will, sooner or later, appear for their salvation, and plead their cause. (3.) When God comes to save all the meek of the earth, he will cause judgment to be heard from heaven; he will make the world know that he is angry at the oppressors of his people, and takes what is done against them as done against himself. The righteous God long seems to keep silence, yet, sooner or later, he will make judgment to be heard. (4.) When God is speaking judgment from heaven it is time for the earth to compose itself into an awful and reverent silence: The earth feared and was still, as silence is made by proclamation when the court sits. Be still and know that I am God, Psa_46:10. Be silent, O all flesh! before the Lord, for he is raised up to judgment, Zec_2:13. Those that suppose this psalm to have been penned upon the occasion of the routing of Sennacherib's army take it for granted that the descent of the destroying angel, who did the execution, was accompanied with thunder, by which God caused judgment to be heard from heaven,and that the earth feared (that is, there was an earthquake), but it was soon over. But this is altogether uncertain.

JAMISO�, "may ... sight— contend with Thee (Deu_9:4; Jos_7:12).

CALVI�, "7.Thou, even thou, art terrible. The repetition of the pronoun Thou, is intended to exclude all others from what is here predicated of God, as if it had been

said, Whatever power there is in the world, it at once vanishes away, and is reduced to nothing, when He comes forth and manifests himself; and, therefore, He alone is terrible. This is confirmed by the comparison added immediately after, which intimates that, although the wicked are so filled with pride as to be ready to burst with it, yet they are unable to abide the look and presence of God. But as he sometimes keeps silence, and seems merely to look on as an idle spectator, it is expressly asserted, that as soon as he begins to be angry, ruin will be near all the wicked. Although they may then for a time not only stand, but also rise above the clouds by their fury, we are here, notwithstanding, admonished that we ought to wait for the time of wrath. Let us also mark that this terror is denounced against the wicked in such a manner as that it sweetly draws all true believers to God.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared. �ot Sennacherib, nor �isroch his god, but Jehovah alone, who with a silent rebuke had withered all the monarch's host."Fear him, ye saints, and then ye shallHave nothing else to fear."The fear of man is a snare, but the fear of God is a great virtue, and has great power for good over the human mind. God is to be feared profoundly, continually, and alone. Let all worship be to him only.And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? Who indeed? The angels fell when their rebellion provoked his justice; Adam lost his place in Paradise in the same manner; Pharaoh and other proud monarchs passed away at his frown; neither is there in earth or hell any who can abide the terror of his wrath. How blest are they who are sheltered in the atonement of Jesus, and hence have no cause to fear the righteous anger of the Judge of all the earth.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared. The emphasis in the word thou, redoubled, implies as much as if he had said, �ot principalities, not powers, not hell, not death, nor anything for themselves, but thou, O Lord, alone art to be feared. Arguments and reasons to confirm it are two, here laid down in the text: the first is drawn from God's anger, who hath decreed, and accordingly executes vengeance upon all the proud. The second is drawn from his power; not princes, not armies, not men, not angels, are able to endure the breath of his fury; for, Who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?... The anger of God is a terrible, unspeakable, unsupportable, intolerable, burden. Every word in the text hath a special emphasis to prove this. Who may stand? Who? Shall angels? They are but like refracted beams or rays, if God should hide his face, they would cease to shine. Shall man? His glory and pomp, like the colours in the rainbow, vanish away, when God puts forth in anger the brightness of his face. Shall devils? If he speak the word, they are

tumbled down from heaven like lightning. Stand in thy sight. Stand. What! a reed against a cedar, a thistle in Lebanon against a cedar in Lebanon; a feather against a flame; a grasshopper against an Almighty, a head of glass against a rod of brass? When once thou art angry. Angry. By sending out his wrath, that it wounds like arrows; angry, in pouring it out, that it drowns like water; angry, in kindling of it, that it burns like fire; a consuming fire, but you tell me such a fire may be quenched; an unquenchable fire, but since that may cease to burn, when it lacks matter, it is in one word an everlasting fire, that never goes out. That, that's it; such anger as is never fully shown, but in punishment of reprobates; in no punishment, but that in hell; in none in hell, but that eternal. John Cragge's "Cabinet of Spiritual Jewells." 1657.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 76:7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared — Thy majesty is to be reverenced, thy sovereignty to be submitted to, and thy justice to be dreaded, by those that have offended thee. Let all the world learn, by this event, to stand in awe of the great God. Who may stand in thy sight — �amely, to contend with thee? Standing is here opposed to flight from, or falling before, the enemy. Surely, “neither the wisdom of the wise, nor the power of the mighty, no, nor the world itself, can stand a single moment before him when once he is angry.” If God be a consuming fire, how can the chaff and the stubble stand before him, though his wrath be kindled but a little? “Yet men continue to dread any frowns but those of heaven; and one poor, vain, sinful man shall, through a course of sixty or seventy years, incessantly and undauntedly tempt and provoke him who destroyed one hundred and eighty-five thousand in a night. What is this but madness?” — Horne.

COFFMA�, "Verse 7"Thou, even thou, art to be feared;

And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

Thou didst cause sentence to be heard from heaven;

The earth feared, and was still,

When God arose to judgment,

To save all the meek of the earth.

(Selah)"

In these three verses we have, "An announcement of the eschatalogical defeat of the nations at the last judgment."[17]

"Who may stand in thy sight?" (Psalms 76:7). This strongly reminds us of Rev. (Revelation 6:12-17), "Which is a most powerful exposition of this verse. The action here is no longer in the past, or localized, or defensive; here is a prophecy of God's striking the final blow against evil everywhere."[18] The result of this will be stated

in the final stanza, where God the Righteous Judge is represented as receiving the homage of the whole world as its King. The tenses here, of course, are sometimes called the prophetic perfects.

"Thou ... art to be feared" (Psalms 76:6). The RSV has "awesome," and James Moffatt's translation of the Bible (1929) has "terrible" here in place of "feared." Miller stated that, "`Terrible' is not too strong a translation here."[19] The judgment scene in Revelation 6:12-17 surely exhibits a great deal of terror at the appearance of God in the final judgment.

Yates summarized these three verses as follows.

"Thou, even thou, art to be feared. This is the judgment of God. The thought goes beyond the battle scene as God takes his seat in heaven. He is the judge to be feared, who strikes men with terror. All of the earth stands still as God saves the oppressed peoples of the earth, of whom Israel is representative."[20]Of course, God's amazing and sensational destruction of the Assyrian army was in itself a "token" of the final judgment, no doubt receiving almost universal attention from the whole world of that period.

"Man will not hear God's voice if he can help it, but God makes sure that he will hear it anyway. The echoes of God's judgment upon the haughty Sennacherib are still heard, and will ring on down through the ages, praising the justice of God."[21]

CO�STABLE, "Verses 7-10�o one is able to resist or oppose God when He decides to judge an enemy. Even the earth itself is quiet when He utters His judgments. Perhaps the psalmist referred here to the calm before a storm that represents God executing judgment. God"s judgments cause the righteous to praise Him and the wicked to think twice before opposing Him.

The �IV translation of Psalm 76:10, "Your wrath against men brings you praise," was probably the writer"s thought rather than the �ASB"s, "The wrath of man shall praise Thee." Both ideas are true, but the former appears to be in view here. Likewise, the last part of Psalm 76:10 probably refers to God"s judgments restraining unbelievers, as in the �IV, rather than God girding Himself with wrath, as in the �ASB. The emphasis is on God"s providential control (cf. Acts 2:23).

K&D 7-9, "Nahum also (Psa_1:6) draws the same inference from the defeat of

Sennacherib as the psalmist does in Psa_76:8. -ךh]-זjמ (cf. Rth_2:7; Jer_44:18), from the

decisive turning-point onwards, from the זj in Psa_2:5, when Thine anger breaks forth. God sent forth His judiciary word from heaven into the midst of the din of war of the hostile world: immediately (cf. on the sequence of the tenses Psa_48:6, and on Hab_3:10) it was silenced, the earth was seized with fear, and its tumult was obliged to cease, when, namely, God arose on behalf of His disquieted, suffering people, when He spoke

as we read in Isa_33:10, and fulfilled the prayer offered in extreme need in Isa_33:2.

SIMEON, "GOD GREATLY TO BE FEARED

Psalms 76:7. Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight, when once thou art angry?

THERE is not only a generally prevailing notion that God is merciful, but the consideration of his mercy is with many a ground and reason for dismissing from their minds all fear of his displeasure. But it is not in this partial view that the Deity is represented in the Scriptures of truth: on the contrary, the whole sacred records bear witness to him as a God who is greatly to be feared. On many occasions has his indignation against sin and sinners been most awfully displayed; as when, in one single night, he slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army, who had besieged Jerusalem and defied his power. It was probably on that occasion that the psalm before us was written: and in reference to it was this testimony given, “Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight, when thou art angry?” To establish and confirm this sentiment, is my purpose at this time.

I. To establish it—

But where shall I begin? or where shall I end? Of course, it is but a very partial view of this subject that can be presented in one discourse. Let us, however, notice,

1. What God is in himself—

[If we contemplate his natural perfections, we shall see this truth in very striking colours. He is omnipresent, so that we can never escape from him for a single moment. He is omniscient, so that there is not so much as a thought of our hearts which can be hidden from him. He is omnipotent also, to deal with men according to their deserts. His moral perfections, too, are well calculated to impress our minds with awe. So holy is he, that “he cannot behold iniquity” of any kind without the utmost abhorrence; and so just, that he cannot but enforce on men the observance of his laws, and execute his judgments upon them for every act of disobedience: and so unalterable is his truth, that sooner should heaven and earth pass away than one jot or tittle of his word should fail. Say, then, whether such a God be not greatly to be feared.]

2. What he has recorded respecting his dealings with mankind—

[Behold Adam in Paradise: he violated the command which had been given him respecting the forbidden tree: and how was he dealt with? The curse of God came upon him instantly; and he was driven from Paradise, and with all his posterity subjected to misery both in this world and the world to come. See the whole race of mankind after they had multiplied and filled the earth: they had provoked God to anger by their abominations: and he swept them all, with every living creature, from the face of the earth, a remnant only in the ark excepted, by an universal deluge. Trace the Deity at subsequent periods; his judgments upon Sodom and all the cities of the plain; his

wonders in Egypt; his judgments on all his own chosen people in the wilderness; his extirpation of all the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan: in a word, see his dealings either with nations or individuals, and you must come speedily to this same conclusion, that he is a God very greatly to be feared.]

3. What he has taught us to expect at his hands—

[He has told us plainly, that “the wicked shall be turned into hell, even all the nations that forget God [Note: Psalms 9:17.].” He has said, that “he will rain upon them snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; and that this shall be their portion to drink [Note: Psalms 11:6. See also Revelation 14:9-11.].” And what is the feeling which such declarations should inspire? Even in heaven itself they connect with these views the fear of God; saying, “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints! Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name [Note: Revelation 15:3-4.]?”]

Plain and undeniable as this sentiment is, I will nevertheless proceed,

II. To confirm it—

Here is an appeal to every child of man; “Who shall stand before God, when once he is angry?”

Indeed, God is angry with those who are disobedient to his laws—

[Of course, we are not to conceive of God as under the influence of such a feeling as we call anger: but he will surely act, in reference to sinners, as men do against those who have excited their displeasure; and this we call a manifestation of his anger. To this effect the Psalmist speaks: “God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword: he hath bent his bow, and made it ready: he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death [Note: Psalms 7:11-13.].”]

And who may stand in his sight, when once his anger is excited?

[Not even the angels in heaven could abide his wrath, when once they had kindled his indignation against them: how much less, then, can man, who is crushed before the moth [Note: 2 Peter 2:4.]! Shall it be thought that any man is so holy, as not to deserve God’s anger? Vain imagination! fatal conceit! “There is no man that liveth and sinneth not.” “In many things we all offend [Note: James 3:2.]:” and “if any man say he hath not sinned, he maketh God a liar [Note: 1 John 1:10.].” Even Job himself says, “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse [Note: Job 9:20.].” But possibly it may be thought that God will never proceed to extremities with all the human race; and that, consequently, if we are as good as the generality, we have nothing to fear. This, however, is a fatal delusion: for already is death inflicted upon all as the wages of sin; and on all who die in impenitence and unbelief will his ulterior judgments fall, even the destruction of body and soul in hell.”]

Application—

1. Let the ungodly, then, seek reconciliation with God—

[Indeed, indeed, ye have angered the Most High God, all ye who have lived to yourselves and not to him. But is there no way of reconciliation with him? Yes, blessed be his name! he has given his only dear Son to bear your sins in his own body on the tree, and to effect reconciliation for you through the blood of his Cross. Yes, and he has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, and commissioned us to proclaim, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” Happy are we, Brethren, to announce, that, however ye may have angered God in past times, ye may yet find mercy with him through the Son of his love. In the name of Christ himself, then, we address you; and in his stead we beseech you all, “Be ye reconciled to God [Note: 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.].”]

2. Let the godly forbear to anger him any more—

[Though God will be merciful to his repentant people, he will not spare any who shall live in sin. No: he commandeth “every one that nameth the name of Christ to depart from iniquity.” And so far will he be from overlooking sin in his professing people, that he has declared, “His judgments shall begin with them [Note: 1 Peter 4:17.]:” “You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities [Note: Amos 3:2.].” Presume not, then, upon your being in his favour, as though that would preserve you from his judgments: for I tell you, that of all who came out of Egypt, two only were suffered to enter into the land of Canaan: and the only evidence of real friendship with God, is the keeping of God’s commandments, and the doing unreservedly whatsoever is pleasing in his sight [Note: John 15:14.].”]

8 From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet—

BAR�ES, "Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heavens - It seemed to come from heaven; it was manifestly from thee. The overthrow of these enemies of thy people was a manifest judgment from thee, and should be so regarded.

The earth feared - The world itself seemed to hear the voice of God, and to stand in

awe.

And was still - It seemed to be profoundly attentive to what God said, and as if it reverently listened to his voice. It is not uncommon in the Scriptures to represent the earth - the hills, the mountains, the streams, the rivers, the plains - as conscious of the presence of God; as either rejoicing or trembling at his voice. Compare Psa_65:12-13; Psa_114:3-7; Hab_3:8-11.

CLARKE, "Thou didst cause judgment to be heard -When God declared by his prophet that the enemy should not prevail, but on the contrary be destroyed, the earth the land, and by metonymy the inhabitants of the land, were struck with astonishment and terror, so as not to be able to move. The great boaster Sennacherib, who carried terror, dismay and desolation every where, was now struck with dumb amazement; and the angel of the Almighty, in a moment, stopped the breath of those hosts in which he confided.

GILL, "Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven,.... When an angel was sent down from heaven, and destroyed the Assyrian army, a judgment of God upon them; at which time some think there was a violent clap of thunder, which is the voice of God: and it may refer to the judgments which God has decreed to execute on the antichristian states, the seven vials of his wrath he will pour upon them; for all decrees, as Aben Ezra on the place observes, come from heaven; or to the last judgment, when Christ the Judge shall descend from heaven, the voice of the archangel shall be heard, the last trumpet shall sound, the dead in their graves shall hear it, and rise and stand before the judgment seat, and hear the sentence pronounced:

the earth feared, and was still: or "trembled, and was quiet" (c); that is, again: some think there was an earthquake when the angel smote the Assyrian camp, but was quickly over. It may regard the panic the other nations were in when they heard of it, and therefore were still and quiet, and never offered to give the Israelites any disturbance. Some understand this of the remainder of the army that escaped with Sennacherib; these were seized with fear, and quickly withdrew, and silently departed into their own land. Aben Ezra observes it as the sense of some, "the earth feared", these are the wicked; "and was still", they are the righteous; so the Targum,

"the land of the people feared, the land of Israel was still;''

reference may be had to the consternation, fear, and dread, that will fall on them that escape the judgments inflicted on the antichristian party, Rev_11:13 and the fear and silence that will attend the last and awful judgment; see Zec_2:13.

JAMISO�, "God’s judgment on the wicked is His people’s deliverance (Psa_9:12; Psa_10:7).

CALVI�, "8.From heaven thou hast made thy judgment to be heard. By the name of heaven, the Psalmist forcibly intimates that the judgment of God was too manifest

to admit of the possibility of its being ascribed either to fortune or to the policy of men. Sometimes God executes his judgments obscurely, so that they seem to proceed out of the earth. For example, when he raises up a godly and courageous prince, the holy and lawful administration which will flourish under the reign of such a prince will be the judgment of God, but it will not be vividly seen to proceed from heaven. As, therefore, the assistance spoken of was of an extraordinary kind, it is distinguished by special commendation. The same remarks apply to the hearing of God’s judgment, of which the Psalmist speaks. It is more for the divine judgments to sound aloud like a peal of thunder, and to stun the ears of all men with their noise, than if they were merely seen with the eyes. There is here, I have no doubt, an allusion to those mighty thunder-claps by which men are stricken with fear. (280) When it is said, the earth was still, it is properly to be referred to the ungodly, who, being panic-struck, yield the victory to God, and dare no longer to rage as they had been accustomed to do. It is only fear which has the effect of bringing them to subjection; and, accordingly, fear is justly represented as the cause of this stillness. It is not meant that they restrain themselves willingly, but that God compels them whether they will or no. The amount is, that whenever God thunders from heaven, the tumults which the insolence of the ungodly stir up, when things are in a state of confusion, come to an end. We are, at the same time, warned of what men may expect to gain by their rebellion; for, whoever despise the paternal voice of God which is loudly uttered, must be destroyed by the bolts of his wrath.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 8. Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven. So complete an overthrow was evidently a judgment from heaven; those who saw it not, yet heard the report of it, and said, "This is the finger of God." Man will not hear God's voice if he can help it, but God takes care to cause it to be heard. The echoes of that judgment executed on the haughty Assyrian are heard still, and will ring on down all the ages, to the praise of divine justice.The earth feared and was still. All nations trembled at the tidings, and sat in humbled awe. Repose followed the former turmoils of war, when the oppressor's power was broken, and God was reverenced for having given quiet to the peoples. How readily can Jehovah command an audience! It may be that in the latter days he will, by some such miracles of power in the realms of grace, constrain all earth's inhabitants to attend to the gospel, and submit to the reign of his all glorious Son. So be it, good Lord.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.HI�TS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

BE�SO�, "Psalms 76:8-9. Thou didst cause judgment to be heard, &c. — Thou didst execute judgment upon thine enemies by an angel sent from heaven. The earth feared, and was still — The effect of this terrible judgment was, that the rest of the world was afraid to invade or disturb the land and people of Israel; and chose rather to be still and stay quietly in their own territories. When God — Who had long suffered their insolence; arose to judgment — To execute judgment upon his enemies, and the enemies of his people. Hebrew, בקום, bekum, in his arising, or, after he had risen, or, because he did arise; to save all the meek — The humble, the patient, the mild, and gentle; or, the godly, who are often called meek ones; of the earth — Rather, of the land, for whose sakes, and in answer to whose prayers, God wrought this great deliverance which reached to all the people of the land.

PULPIT, "Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven. By the destruction of Sennacherib's host, God spoke, as it were, with a voice of thunder, to the whole earth. He delivered a "judgment," or a "sentence" (Revised Version), which could not be ignored. The earth feared, and was still. All the world, i.e. all the Oriental world, feared. The attention of the nations of Western Asia generally was attracted (2 Chronicles 32:23), and their minds were affected with a wholesome fear of Jehovah. The result was that they remained at rest and gave Israel rest.

Psalms 76:9

9 when you, God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land.

BAR�ES, "When God arose to judgment - That is, when he came to overthrow and destroy the enemies of his people, as referred to in the former part of the psalm.

To save all the meek of the earth - Of the land - to wit, the land of Judea; or, to save his people when in affliction. The word “meek,” which with us usually means those who are forbearing under injuries, means here the humble, the afflicted, the crushed, the oppressed.

CLARKE, "The meek of the earth - The humbled or oppressed people of the land. The poor Jews, now utterly helpless, and calling upon the Lord for succor.

GILL, "When God arose to judgment,.... He may sometimes seem to be asleep, and to defer judgment, but he will arise and hasten it in his own time, and will take vengeance on all his and his people's enemies, as he did upon the army of the Assyrians, and will upon the antichristian powers, and upon all the wicked, and at the same time will save his own people, as follows:

to save all the meek of the earth; the quiet in the land, who are afflicted in this world, despised by the men of it, are lowly and humble, and mean in their own eyes; these the Lord takes notice of and cares for them, he will beautify them with salvation; these, all of them, even everyone of them, shall be saved in him with an everlasting salvation; this verse is by some connected with the preceding; so Kimchi, "the earth feared, and was still, when God arose to judgment", &c. and by others, as R. Moses and Aben Ezra, with the following.

CALVI�, "9.When God arose to judgment. The great object which God had in view in executing this judgment is now declared; which was, that he might furnish a proof of his fatherly love towards all his people. He is, therefore, introduced as speaking, not with his mouth, but with his hand, that he may show to all how precious in his sight is the salvation of all who fear and love him. Under the word arise, there is a reference to the inactivity and indolency ascribed by wicked men to God, an opinion which had led them to take so much liberty to themselves. God is then said to ascend into his judgment-seat, when he plainly indicates that he exercises a special care over his Church. The design of the passage is to show that it is as impossible for God to forsake the afflicted and innocent, as it is impossible for him to deny himself. It is to be observed that he is termed Judge, because he affords succor to the poor who are unrighteously oppressed. The appellation of the meek or humble of the earth is applied to the faithful, who, subdued by afflictions, seek not high things, but, with humble groaning, patiently bear the burden of the cross. The best fruit of afflictions is, when thereby we are brought to purge our minds from all arrogance, and to bend them to meekness and modesty. When such is the effect, we may conclude with certainty that we are under the guardianship and protection of God, and that he is ready to extend his aid and favor towards us.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 9. When God arose to judgment. Men were hushed when he ascended the judgment seat and actively carried out the decrees of justice. When God is still the people are in tumult; when he arises they are still as a stone.To save all the meek of the earth. The Ruler of men has a special eye towards the poor and despised; he makes it his first point to right all their wrongs. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." They have little enough of it now, but their avenger is strong and he will surely save them. He who saves his people is the same God who overthrows their enemies; he is as omnipotent to save as to destroy. Glory be unto his name.Selah. Here pause, and let devout contemplation adore the God of Jacob.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS

Whole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 9. God arose to judgment. This great judgment was wrought upon the enemies when God rose: it was not done when God sat; for the whole time when he sat his enemies were aloft, stirring their time, raging in murder, oppression, and blood... He bringeth in God here after the manner of earthly judges, after the custom of our judges; for first they sit down, they try, seek out, and advise, and after consideration they resolve, and after resolution they rise up, give forth judgment, and pronounce the sentence; even so the prophet bringeth in God after the same manner; sitting, and after sitting, rising and pronouncing the sentence. Robert Bruce.Ver. 9. To save all the meek. We see from this passage what care God takes of the afflicted. When he is angry with the ungodly, he is angry with them chiefly because they have oppressed the poor and the innocent. Although he detests all iniquity, yet he is most indignant with that which is committed against the needy and guiltless. So in Psalms 12:1-8, "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord." So in this verse, when God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Musculus.Ver. 9. Is not this the day when the Saviour comes to reign? the day when the results of things shall best be seen; the day when every saint with anointed eye shall see that events all tended to the glory of God; the day when they shall sing better far than now."Surely the wrath of man praiseth thee.Thou girdest thyself with the remnant of wrath." Andrew A. Bonar.

�ISBET, "DIVI�E JUDGME�T A�D ITS LESSO�S‘God arose to judgment.’Psalms 76:9The close relationship of this psalm to Psalms 75. is universally acknowledged. Without assuming this relationship we might, especially with a peculiar interpretation of Psalms 75:5, be led to bring it into connection with the defeat of the allied neighbouring nations, in the reign of Jehoshaphat, foretold by the Asaphite Jehaziel. It is now, with greater certainty, held to relate to the execution of that Divine judgment upon the Assyrians in the time of Hezekiah, which in the foregoing psalm was considered as in prophetic prospect.

I. It is first brought into view how God has again made His name glorious in His chosen dwelling-place in Jerusalem, by the annihilalation of the forces of the enemy, which before His rebuke sank down into the sleep of death (Psalms 76:2-7).

II. From this the inference is drawn (Psalms 76:8-10) that God, in the terribleness of His wrath, is irresistible when He arises to judgment for the deliverance of His

suffering ones.

III. To this, after presenting God’s truthfulness in support of this declaration, the Psalmist adds an exhortation to a course of conduct in agreement therewith (Psalms 76:11-12).—The enthusiastic feeling, the courageous tone, which characterise the prophecies and also the psalms of the Assyrian period meet us here also.

Illustrations

(1) ‘God needs only to arise to judgment and all the might of the rebellious world recoils upon itself. Therefore have believers every reason to thank God, and the heathen every reason to submit themselves to Him. For none can stand before God’s anger, and the wicked, even in their overthrow, must contribute to His glory.’

(2) ‘The whole psalm insists upon the glorifying of God, that He alone is to be feared. With this in view, therefore (1) The mercy is praised with which God has brought Himself so nigh to His people. (2) The judgments are praised which God has undertaken for the deliverance of His own. (3) Good instruction is given, how we are to regard all this, and to adore God with faith, hope, and confidence.’

PULPIT, "When God arose to judgment (see the preceding verses). God's "rising" is an anthropomorphism, drawn from the tact that men "rise up" when they proceed to take vengeance (comp. Psalms 3:7; Psalms 7:6; Psalms 44:26; Psalms 68:1, etc.). To save all the meek of the earth. God's vengeances on the wicked are, in great measure, for the relief of the righteous. Sennacherib's discomfiture relieved "the meek of the earth," i.e. not only Israel, but many other downtrodden and oppressed nations. The psalmist's sympathies are with all the victims of Assyrian ambition.

10 Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.[c]

BAR�ES, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee - It shall be the occasion of praise; or, honor shall accrue to thee from it, “as if” it were employed in thy praise,

and “as if” it were voluntarily engaged in promoting thy glory. The deliverance of the people by the direct interposition of God in the case referred to in the psalm, the sudden and entire overthrow of the invading forces by his power, led to this reflection. The overruling power of God was displayed. The “wrath” of the invading host had given occasion for this manifestation of the divine perfections; or, in other words, his character would not have been displayed in this manner if it had not been for these wicked purposes of people. It is not that there was anything in the wrath itself, or in their plans or intentions, that was in itself “adapted” to honor God; but that it was overruled by him, so that he took “occasion” from it to display his own character.

The wicked conduct of a child is an “occasion” for the display of the just character and the wise administration of a parent; the act of a pirate, a rebel, a murderer, furnishes an “occasion” for the display of the just principles of law, and the stability and power of a government. In like manner, the sins of the wicked are made an occasion for the display of the divine perfections in maintaining law; in the administering of justice; in preserving order. But there is another sense, also, in which the wrath of man is made the occasion for glorifying God. It is, that since there is such wrath, or since there are such wicked purposes, God makes use of that wrath, or of those wicked purposes, as he does of the powers of nature - of pestilence, disease, and storms, as instruments to accomplish his own designs, or to bring about great results. Thus he made use of the treasonable purpose of Judas, and the mad passions and the angry feelings of the Jews, in bringing about the work of redemption by the death of his Son; thus be made use of the purposes of Sennacherib in order to punish his own people (see the notes at Isa_10:5-7); thus he employed Cyrus to “execute his counsel” Isa_46:10; and thus he made use of the wrath evinced in persecuting the church to secure its permanent establishment in the world. Whether these things could be accomplished “without” that wrath, is a question which is too high for man to determine. It is certain, also, that the fact that God overrules the wrath of people does not justify that wrath. The purposes of people are, like the pestilence and the storm, what they are in themselves; and the nature of their conduct is not affected by any use that God may make of it. People must be judged according to their own deeds, not for what God does through their wickedness.

The remainder of wrath - The word “remainder” here - she'êrıVyth שארית - means properly “part;” what remains, especially after a defeat or slaughter - the “survivors” of a battle, Jer_11:23; Jer_44:14; Mic_7:18; Zep_2:7. Gesenius renders it here (Lexicon)

“extreme wrath,” retained even in extremity. The Septuagint, +γκατάλειµµα

engkataleimma - “the things which are left.” So the Vulgate, “reliquice.” Luther, “When men rage against thee, thou turnest it to honor; and when they rage yet more, thou art yet prepared.” Venema supposes that the meaning is the whole wrath. As in Arabic the word used here means “wholeness,” or the whole of anything; and according to this, the idea would be that it was not merely wrath in general, or in a general sense, that would be made use of, but all that there was in wrath; it would all be made use of in advancing the divine purposes. The allusion seems to be to something that had been laid up in a magazine - as provision or arms, when the soldier went forth to war - which he would make use of if necessary, so that “all” might be ultimately consumed or employed. The control of God was over “this” as well as over that which was actually employed; he could overrule that which was employed. He could restrain people from at all using this that was kept in reserve. The idea seems to be that all the “wrath” which is “manifested” among people would be made to praise God, or would be overruled for his glory - and “all” which would “not” contribute to this end he would keep back, he would check; he would prevent its being put forth - so that “all” should be under his control, and “all”

disposed of as he should will. There was nothing in the heart or the purposes of man that was beyond his jurisdiction or control; man could do nothing in his wrathful plans that God could not dispose of in his own way, and for his own honor.

Shalt thou restrain - The word used here - châgar חגר - means literally to bind around; to gird; to gird up, as of a garment or sword that is girded on, 1Sa_17:39; 1Sa_25:13; Psa_45:3; or sackcloth, Isa_15:3; Jer_49:3. The Septuagint renders this, “and the

remainder of wrath shall make a feast to thee,” +ορτάσει-σοί heortasei soi - that is, it shall praise or honor thee as in a festival. So the Vulgate. Prof. Alexander renders it, “Shalt thou gird about thee;” that is, God would gird it on as a sword, and would make use of it as a weapon for executing his own purposes. So DeWette, “And with the last wrath thou shalt gird thyself.” Others render it, “Thou restrainest the remainder of thy wrath” - that is, punishment - “when the wrath of man will not promote the knowledge of thyself” It seems to me, however, that our translators have expressed the exact idea in the psalm; and the meaning is, that the whole of the wrath of man is under the control of God, and that whatever there is, or would be, in the manifestation of that wrath, or in carrying out the purposes of the heart, which could not, in the circumstances, be made to promote his glory, or which would do injury, he would check and restrain. He would suffer it to proceed no further than he chose, and would make it certain that there should be no exhibition of wrathful feelings on the part of man which would not, in some way, be made to promote his honor, and to advance his own great purposes. He has absolute control over the passions of people, as he has over the pestilence, over earthquakes, and over storms, and can make all tributary to his glory, and executioners of his will.

CLARKE, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee - The rage of Sennacherib shall only serve to manifest thy glory. The stronger he is, and the more he threatens, and the weaker thy people, the more shall thy majesty and mercy appear in his destruction and their support.

The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain - The Hebrew gives rather a different sense: “Thou shalt gird thyself with the remainder of wrath.” Even after thou hast sent this signal destruction upon Sennacherib and his army, thou wilt continue to pursue the remnant of the persecutors of thy people; their wrath shall be the cause of the excitement of thy justice to destroy them. As a man girds himself with his girdle, that he may the better perform his work, so thou wilt gird thyself with wrath, that thou mayest destroy thy enemies. A good maxim has been taken from this verse: “God often so counterworks the evil designs of men against his cause and followers, that it turns out to their advantage and his glory; nor does he permit them to go to the extent of what they have purposed, and of what they are able to perform. He suffers them to do some mischief, but not all they would or can do.” But how different is the reading of the Vulgate! Quoniam cogitatio hominis confitebitur tibi: et reliquiae cogitationis diem festum agent tibi: “The thought of man shall praise thee; and the remains of thought shall celebrate a feast day to thee.” The Septuagint and the Ethiopic have understood the text in the same way. Some translate thus: “Certainly, the ferocity of the man (Sennacherib) shall praise thee: and thou shalt gird thyself with the spoils of the furious.” The spoils of this great army shall be a booty for thy people. Probably this is the true notion of the place. The old Psalter renders it thus: For thoght of man sal schrife(confess) to the, and levyngs (remains) of thoght a feste day till the sal wirk. The paraphrase is curious, of which this is the substance: “When man forsakes perfitly his

synne, and sithen (afterwards) rightwisness werks; it is a feste day; whenne the conscience is clered, and makes feste with the swetnes of goddes lufe, restand fra besynes of any creatur in erth: Than is God at hame with his spouse dwelland.”

GILL, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee,.... Either the wrath which comes from God, and has man for its object; and that either as it regards the people of God; so the Targum,

"when thou art angry with thy people, thou hast mercy on them, and they shall confess unto thy name;''

or praise thee; see Isa_12:1, they are deserving of the wrath of God, but are not appointed to it, and are delivered from it by Christ, who bore it for them as their representative; by which as the justice of God is glorified, it is matter of praise to them; when the law enters into their consciences, it works wrath there, which being removed by the application of pardoning grace, is an occasion of praise to God; and whereas, under afflictive dispensations, they apprehend and deprecate the wrath of God, when they are delivered from them their mouths are filled with songs of praise: or, as it regards wicked men, so it came forth upon the old world, and drowned it; upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and reduced them to ashes; upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, in the plagues inflicted on them; all which turned to the praise and glory of God; of the last instance, see Rom_9:17, it came upon the wicked Jews to the uttermost in the destruction of their nation, city, and temple; and upon Rome Pagan, in the entire demolition of it as such; and so it will come upon Rome Papal, which will be attended with great joy, praise, and thanksgiving in the saints; see Rev_11:17 or else this is to be understood of the wrath which is in man, and comes forth from him, and has him for its subject; which though it does not work the righteousness of God, yet the righteousness of God is glorified both in checking and punishing it; and the more it rages and burns against the people of God, the greater reason have they to praise the Lord when delivered from it; see Psa_124:1, so the wrath of the Assyrian monarch, and of railing and blaspheming Rabshakeh, gave the people of the Jews a greater occasion to praise the Lord for their wonderful deliverance; so the wrath of men against Christ, his church and people, his ministers, Gospel, and ordinances, will all turn to the glory of his name, when in the issue it will be seen that these are established, overcoming all the rage and malice of men:

the remainder of wrath shall thou restrain: that which remains in a man's breast, he has not yet vented, God can and does keep in, that it may not break forth; this very likely was verified in Sennacherib, who might breathe revenge, and threaten the Jews with a second visit; but was prevented by a sudden and violent death. Some read the words, "the remainder of wraths thou wilt gird" (d); that is, those that remain, and are not destroyed through the rage and fury of men, God will gird with strength to defend themselves, and resist their enemies that may rise up against them, or with gladness, because of deliverance from them; see Psa_18:32. Some understand this of the wrath of God, which he has in reserve and store for wicked men, and render the words thus, with the remainder of wrath wilt thou gird thyself (e); and so come forth like an armed man, clad with zeal, and arrayed with the garments of wrath and vengeance; see Isa_49:17.

HE�RY, " Comfort to God's people, Psa_76:10. We live in a very angry provoking world; we often feel much, and are apt to fear more, from the wrath of man, which seems

boundless. But this is a great comfort to us, 1. That as far as God permits the wrath of man to break forth at any time he will make it turn to his praise, will bring honour to himself and serve his own purposes by it: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, not only by the checks given to it, when it shall be forced to confess its own impotency, but even by the liberty given to it for a time. The hardships which God's people suffer by the wrath of their enemies are made to redound to the glory of God and his grace; and the more the heathen rage and plot against the Lord and his anointed the more will God be praised for setting his King upon his holy hill of Zion in spite of them, Psa_2:1, Psa_2:6. When the heavenly hosts make this the matter of their thanksgiving-song that God has taken to himself his great power and has reigned, though the nations were angry(Rev_11:17, Rev_11:18), then the wrath of man adds lustre to the praises of God. 2. That what will not turn to his praise shall not be suffered to break out: The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Men must never permit sin, because they cannot check it when they will; but God can. He can set bounds to the wrath of man, as he does to the raging sea. Hitherto it shall come and no further; here shall its proud waves be stayed.God restrained the remainder of Sennacherib's rage, for he put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his jaws (Isa_37:29); and, though he permitted him to talk big, he restrained him from doing what he designed.

JAMISO�, "Man’s wrath praises God by its futility before His power.

restrain— or, “gird”; that is, Thyself, as with a sword, with which to destroy, or as an ornament to Thy praise.

CALVI�, "10.Surely the wrath of men shall praise thee. Some understand these words as denoting, that after these enemies shall have submitted to God, they will yield to him the praise of the victory; being constrained to acknowledge that they have been subdued by his mighty hand. Others elicit a more refined sense, That when God stirs up the wicked, and impels their fury, he in this way affords a most illustrious display of his own glory; even as he is said to have stirred up the heart of Pharaoh for this very purpose, (Exodus 14:4; Romans 9:17.) Understood in this sense, the text no doubt contains a profitable doctrine, but this being, I am afraid, too refined an explanation, I prefer considering the meaning simply to be, that although at first the rage of the enemies of God and his Church may throw all things into confusion, and, as it were, envelop them in darkness, yet all will at length redound to his praise; for the issue will make it manifest, that, whatever they may contrive and attempt, they cannot in any degree prevail against him. The concluding part of the verse, The remainder of wrath thou wilt restrain, may also be interpreted in two ways. As the word חגר , chagar, signifies to gird, some supply the pronoun thee, and give this sense, All the enemies of the Church are not yet overthrown; but thou, O God! wilt gird thyself to destroy those of them who remain. The other interpretation is, however, the more simple., which is, that although these enemies might not cease to breathe forth their cruelty, yet God would effectually restrain them, and prevent them from succeeding in the accomplishment of their enterprises. (281) Perhaps, also, it would not be unsuitable to explain the verb thus, Thou wilt gather into a bundle, as we say in French, “Tu trousseras,” i.e., Thou wilt truss or pack up. Let us therefore learn, while the wicked would involve in obscurity and doubt the providence of God, to wait patiently until he glorify himself by

bringing about a happier state of things, and trample under foot their infatuated presumption, to their shame and confusion. But if new troubles arise from time to time, let us remember that it is his proper office to restrain the remainder of the wrath of the wicked, that they may not proceed to greater lengths. Meanwhile, let us not be surprised if we observe fresh outrages every now and then springing forth; for, even to the end of the world, Satan will always have partisans or agents, whom he will urge forward to molest the children of God.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. It shall not only be overcome but rendered subservient to thy glory. Man with his breath of threatening is but blowing the trumpet of the Lord's eternal fame. Furious winds often drive vessels the more swiftly into port. The devil blows the fire and melts the iron, and then the Lord fashions it for his own purposes. Let men and devils rage as they may, they cannot do otherwise than subserve the divine purposes.The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Malice is tethered and cannot break its bounds. The fire which cannot be utilised shall be damped. Some read it "thou shalt gird, "as if the Lord girded on the wrath of man as a sword to be used for his own designs, and certainly men of the world are often a sword in the hand of God, to scourge others. The verse clearly teaches that even the most rampant evil is under the control of the Lord, and will in the end be overruled for his praise.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 10. Surly the wrath of man shall praise thee. Persecutions tend to correct the failings of good men, and to exercise and illustrate their several graces and virtues. By these, good men are usually made much better and more approved, while they tend to exercise our patience, to quicken our devotion, to evidence out zeal and Christian fortitude, and to show to the whole world what love we bear to the truth, and how much we are willing to undergo for the honour of God. Till they have suffered something for it, truth is too apt to grow cheap and be less prized many times, even by those that are good men in the main; whereas we are apt on the contrary, never to value it at a higher rate, or to be more zealous for it, or to make better use of it, than when it is opposed and persecuted. What more truly beneficial therefore, or tending to the divine glory, than for God, who useth to bring good out of evil, to make use also of the opposers of his truth, to rouse up his servants whom he sees growing more remiss and negligent than they should be, and to suffer such temptations to assault them, by which their drowsy minds may be spurred on into a greater love and zeal for the truth, and a deeper sense of the divine benefit in it, and in general, excited to the more diligent performance of their duty. Richard Pearson. 1684.Ver. 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee. In the Septuagint it is, The wrath of man shall keep holy day to thee, shall increase a festival for thee. God many times

gets up in the world on Satan's shoulders. When matters are ravelled and disordered, he can find out the right end of the thread, and how to disentangle us again; and when we have spoiled a business, he can dispose it for good, and make an advantage of those things which seem to obscure the glory of his name. Thomas Manton.Ver. 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee. The wrath of wicked men against the people of God is very tributary to his praise.1. It puts them upon many subtle devices and cunning stratagems, in frustrating of which the wisdom of God and his care of his Church is very much illustrated.2. The wrath of wicked men impels them to many violent and forcible attempts upon the people of God to destroy them, and so gives him occasion to manifest his power in their defence.3. It makes them sometimes fit to be his instruments in correcting his people, and so he vindicates himself from the suspicion of being a patron to sin in them that are nearest to him, and makes them that hate holiness promote it in his people, and them that intend them the greatest hurt, to do them the greatest good.4. It administers occasion to him for the manifestation of the power of his grace in upholding the spirits of his people and the being of his church in despite of all that enemies can do against them.5. It serves very much to adorn God's most signal undertakings for his people in the world.6. It serves to manifest the glory of God's justice upon his people's enemies in the day when he rises up to avenge himself upon them, when he shall stand over them, lashing them with scorpions, and at every blow mind their former cruelties. Here, take that for your inhuman rage against my people at such a place, and that for your barbarous usage of them at such a time. �ow see how good it is to be imprisoned, beaten, tortured, burnt, and sawn asunder. Thus the enemies themselves are often constrained to acknowledge with Adoni Bezek the righteous hand of God upon them in the day of inquisition. Condensed from John Warren's Sermon before Parliament. 1656.Ver. 10. The wrath of man. Wrath is anger accented unto the highest pitch, or blown up into a flame. The wrath of man, (in the original it is The wrath of Adam, or the wrath of clay, weak, impotent man) shall praise thee, i.e., it shall turn to the praise and glory of God through his overruling providence, though quite otherwise intended. God will bring honour to himself, and serve his own holy and wise designs out of it... This expression, the wrath of man, imports the weakness and impotence of it; it is but the wrath of Adam, or of red clay. How contemptibly doth the Spirit of God speak of man, and of the power of man, in Scripture? "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" The wrath of man, when it is lengthened out to its utmost boundaries, can only go to the length of killing the body, or in the breaking the sheath of clay in which the soul lodges, and then it can do no more. Ebenezer Erskine.Ver. 10. Shall praise thee. God turns the wrath of man to the praise of his adorable sovereignty. �ever have the Lord's people had such awful impressions of the sovereignty of God, as when they have been in the furnace of man's wrath, then they become dumb with silence. When the Chaldean and Sabean robbers are let loose to plunder and spoil the substance of Job, he is made to view adorable sovereignty in

it, saying, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord." It is in such a case as this that God says to his own people, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen." What work of God about the church is advanced by the wrath of men?1. His discovering work; for by the wind of man's wrath he separates between the precious and the vile, betwixt the chaff and the wheat. In the day of the church's prosperity and quiet, hypocrites and true believers are mingled together, like the chaff and the wheat in the barn floor: but the Lord, like the husbandman, opens the door of his barn, and puts the wind of man's wrath through it, that the world may know which is which. O, sirs, much chaff is cast up already, both among ministers and professors; but it is like the wind and sieve may cast up much more yet ere all be done.2. God's purging work is advanced among his own children by the wrath of men: there is much of the dross of corruption cleaves to the Lord's people while in the wilderness. �ow, the Lord heats the furnace of man's wrath, and casts his people into it, that when he has tried them, he may bring them forth as gold.3. God's uniting work is hereby advanced. In a time of peace and external tranquillity the sheep of Christ scatter and divide among themselves; but God lets loose the dogs upon them, and then the flock runs together; or like pieces of metal cast into the fire, they run together in a lump.4. God's enlarging work, or his work of spreading the gospel, is sometimes advanced by the wrath of man. Acts 8:1-5. The gospel, like the chamomile, the more it is trodden upon, the more it spreads. Ebenezer Erskine.Ver. 10. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. The remainder of wrath, i.e. what is left behind of the wrath of men, when God has glorified himself thereby. Even after God has defeated the purposes of wicked men, and made them contribute to his glory, yet there is abundance of wrath remaining. But what becomes of that wrath that is left? God shall restrain it. The word signifies to gird up. However God may see fit to slacken the bridle of his providence, and suffer wicked men to vent their wrath and enmity, as far as it shall contribute to his glory; yet the super abounding and the remainder of his wrath that is not for his glory and his people's profit, God will gird it up, that they shall not get it vented... If any wrath of man remain beyond what shall bring in a revenue of praise unto God, he will restrain it, and bind it up like the waters of a mill: he will suffer as much of the current of water to run upon the wheel, as serves to carry it about and grind his corn, but the remainder of the water he sets it off another way: so God will let out as much of the current of man's wrath as shall serve the ends of his glory and our good, but the remainder of the stream and current he will restrain, and turn another way. In Isaiah 28:1-29 we are told that God will not be aye "threshing his corn, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." All this comfort is sure and certain, there is not the least peradventure about it, that the flame of man's wrath shall praise the Lord, and the superfluous fire shall be quenched, or hemmed in; for here we have God's parole of honour for it: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Ebenezer Erskine.Ver. 10. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. twmh Chemoth, "wrath, "in

the plural number, seems to be put in opposition to chamoth, the single wrath of man in the former part of the verse; to shew there is more wrath which God is to restrain, than merely that of man. There is also more pride which needs a like restraint; namely, that of the first Lucifer, who sinned, and, as is thought, fell by aspiring to ascend, and to be like the Most High. There are finally, other counsels also, as well as other wrath and pride, besides human, which God confounds. There is a wisdom that descendeth not from above (no, nor grows on earth) but is devilish, James 3:15. And both wrath, pride, and wisdom, of devils as well as men, shall God restrain, when he pleases not to turn them to his praise. Let there be hellish plots, yet our God shall confound them.From "A Sermon preached"... before the Queen... By Edward (Wetenhall) Lord Bishop of Corke and Rosse. 1691.Ver. 10. Thou shalt restrain. This, in the Hebrew, is expressed in one word, rygxt, which imports the girding or binding of it on every side, that it shall by no means break out, but shall be kept in, as a dog in a chain, as a lion in his den, how violent soever. Cornelius Burges, in "Another Sermon preached to the Honourable House of Commons... �ovember the fifth, 1641."

COKE,"Psalms 76:10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, &c.— This alludes to the insolent menaces of the Assyrians, and their disgraceful defeat. It seems probable from the two foregoing verses, that mighty thunderings preceded the destruction of the Assyrians; When God arose to judgment, i.e. sent forth his anger to destroy them.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 76:10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee — The furious attempts and blasphemous speeches of thine enemies shall serve thy glory, and cause thy people and others to praise and magnify thee for that admirable wisdom, power, faithfulness, and goodness which thou didst discover on that occasion. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain — Thou shalt prevent and disappoint the succeeding malicious designs of thine enemies, who will meditate revenge for those shameful and terrible overthrows. Or, as the Hebrew may be properly rendered, with the remainder of wrath shalt thou gird thyself; that is, thou shalt put it on as an ornament, which the girdle was; thou shalt adorn thyself with it as a conqueror adorns himself with the spoils of his enemies.

COFFMA�, "Verse 10"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee:

The residue of wrath shalt thou gird upon thee.

Vow, and pay unto Jehovah your God:

Let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.

He will cut off the spirit of princes:

He is terrible to the kings of the earth."

Here again we have echoes of that judgment scene in Revelation 6:12-17, where the kings of the earth are seen crying for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from The Lamb and from Him that sitteth upon the throne.

"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee" (Psalms 76:10). We have chosen this as an appropriate title of this whole psalm. Sennacherib was angry against God's people; but that vicious anger exhibited by his deployment of an arrogant and blasphemous army against Jerusalem surely `praised God' in its total destruction. It is always thus in history.

Pharaoh was angry with God's people and decided to exterminate all of them, by his edict commanding the destruction of all male children in the �ile River. Did that anger praise God? Indeed! Pharaoh's edict did not destroy God's people; it only bounced the infant Moses out of the River and into the lap of Pharaoh's daughter, from which position Moses eventually delivered God's people, destroying Pharaoh and all his host in the process. Thousands of other examples of the same phenomenon might be cited.

"The residue of wrath shalt thou gird upon thee" (Psalms 76:10). This makes much more sense if the marginal reading is used. "The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."

"Vow, and pay unto Jehovah your God" (Psalms 76:11). The blessing of God upon his people and his protection of them against every enemy carries with it a reciprocal behavior pattern that is also binding upon Christians today. In order for the soul of redeemed persons to grow in the likeness of the Saviour, it is absolutely necessary that they should heed the admonition, "Freely ye have received; freely give." A stingy, penurious Christian is a contradiction of terms.

Kidner pointed out that not only are God's followers commanded to give (in the first part of this little paragraph); "But in the second half the surrounding world also are summonsed to pay tribute to the True God, who alone should be feared."[22]

The great lesson of this psalm, according to McCaw, is that the mighty victory over the most terrible army on earth in a single night, accomplished by a single word upon the lips of the Lord, "Should be seen as the pledge and foretaste of God's ultimate subjection of the entire world to do his will."[23]

EBC. "The last Strophe is mainly a summons to praise God for His manifestation of delivering judgment. Psa_76:10 is obscure. The first clause is intelligible enough. Since God magnifies His name by His treatment of opposing men, who set themselves against Him, their very foaming fury subserves His praise. That is a familiar thought with all the Scripture writers who meditate on God’s dealings. But the second clause is hard. Whose "wraths" are spoken of in it? God’s or man’s? The change from the singular ("wrath of man") to plural ("wraths") in b makes it all but certain that God’s fulness of "wrath" is

meant here. It is set over against the finite and puny "wrath" of men, as an ocean might be contrasted with a shallow pond. If so, God’s girding Himself with the residue of His own wrath will mean that, after every such forth-putting of it as the psalm has been hymning, there still remains an unexhausted store ready to flame out if need arise. It is a stern and terrible thought of God, but it is solemnly true. His lovingkindness out measures man’s, and so does His judicial judgment. All Divine attributes partake of Infinitude, and the stores of His punitive anger are not less deep than those of His gentle goodness.

Therefore men are summoned to vow and pay their vows; and while Israel is called to worship, the nations around, who have seen that field of the dead, are called to do homage and bring tribute to Him who, as it so solemnly shows, can cut off the breath of the highest, or can cut down their pride, as a grape gatherer does the ripe cluster (for such is the allusion in the word "cuts down"). The last clause of the psalm, which stands somewhat disconnected from the preceding, gathers up the lessons of the tremendous event which inspired it, when it sets Him forth as to be feared by the kings of the earth.

PULPIT, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. The sentiment is general, but no doubt there is a special reference to the recent deliverance. The "wrath of man," i.e. man's wicked fury and hostility of God and his people, shall give occasion for great deeds on God's part—deeds which will bring him praise and honour. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Either, "the unexpended fury of thine enemies, that which they have not vented, thou wilt hold in check, and prevent from doing mischief;" or else," with thine own unexpended wrath wilt thou gird thyself against the wicked, as with a weapon." (So Kay, Cheyne, and the Revised Version.)

K&D 10-12, "The fact that has just been experienced is substantiated in Psa_76:10from a universal truth, which has therein become outwardly manifest. The rage of men shall praise Thee, i.e., must ultimately redound to Thy glory, inasmuch as to Thee,

namely (Psa_76:1 as to syntax like Psa_73:3), there always remains a שארית, i.e., a still

unexhausted remainder, and that not merely of חמה, but of חמת, with which Thou canst

gird, i.e., arm, Thyself against such human rage, in order to quench it. שארית-חמת is the infinite store of wrath still available to God after human rage has done its utmost. Or

perhaps still better, and more fully answering to the notion of שארית: it is the store of the

infinite fulness of wrath which still remains on the side of God after human rage (חמה) has spent itself, when God calmly, and laughing (Psa_2:4), allows the Titans to do as they please, and which is now being poured out. In connection with the interpretation: with the remainder of the fury (of hostile men) wilt Thou gird Thyself, i.e., it serves Thee

only as an ornament (Hupfeld), the alternation of חמה and חמת is left unexplained, and

�חuר is alienated from its martial sense (Isa_59:17; Isa_51:9, Wisd. 5:21 [20]), which is

required by the context. Ewald, like the lxx, reads -ךuח�, vορτάσει-σοι, in connection with

which, apart from the high-sounding expression, שארית-חמת (+γκατάλειµµα-+νθυµίου) must denote the remainder of malignity that is suddenly converted into its opposite; and one does not see why what Psa_76:11 says concerning rage is here limited to its remainder.

Such an inexhaustiveness in the divine wrath-power has been shown in what has just recently been experienced. Thus, then, are those who belong to the people of God to vow and pay, i.e., (inasmuch as the preponderance falls upon the second imperative) to pay their vows; and all who are round about Him, i.e., all the peoples dwelling round about

Him and His people (ל־סביביו�, the subject to what follows, in accordance with which it is

also accented), are to bring offerings (Psa_68:30) to God, who is מורא, i.e., the sum of all that is awe-inspiring. Thus is He called in Isa_8:13; the summons accords with Isaiah's prediction, according to which, in consequence of Jahve's deed of judgment upon Assyria, Aethiopia presents himself to Him as an offering (Isa_18:1-7), and with the fulfilment in 2Ch_32:23. Just so does v. 13a resemble the language of Isaiah; cf. Isa_25:1-12; Isa_33:1; Isa_18:5 : God treats the snorting of the princes, i.e., despots, as the vine-dresser does the wild shoots or branches of the vine-stock: He lops it, He cuts it off, so that it is altogether ineffectual. It is the figure that is sketched by Joe_3:13, then filled in by Isaiah, and embodied as a vision in Rev_14:17-20, which is here indicated. God puts an end to the defiant, arrogant bearing of the tyrants of the earth, and becomes at last the feared of all the kings of the earth - all kingdoms finally becomes God's and His Christ's.

EXPOSITORS DICTIONARY OF TEXTS, "The Divine Coercion of Evil

Psalm 76:10

Let us note for our consolation and encouragement the two precious truths expressed by the text—the Divine restraint of evil, and the Divine compulsion of evil to issues of good and blessing. For, whatever the variations in the interpretation of the original by the great scholars, this is substantially the significance of the passage before us.

I. The Divine Restraint of Evil.—"The remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." The mighty army of Sennacherib, splendidly equipped, full of fury and confidence, suddenly and mysteriously melted away under the power of Jehovah, leaving Jerusalem intact and joyful; and the permanent significance of this event Isaiah , that no weapon formed against the kingdom of God shall finally prosper, that every conspiracy in a critical hour shall be brought to nought.

1. In nature we see abounding examples of the fact that limits are fixed to the destructive forces, limits they may not transgress. There is a benign law, a delicately poised balance, a sovereign virtue, an antiseptic quality, in the very constitution of things, which keeps the destructive elements within bounds, and preserves the world a theatre of life, sweetness, health, and beauty. And as the snake is in the grass, the hawk in the sky, the poison-plant in the woods, so the octopus, alligator, and shark infest the waters; yet the protective law operates there also, sheltering whatsoever passeth through the depths of the seas.

Evil is full of boasting; it is insolent, mocking, rampant, apparently irresistible; it threatens to occupy the whole sphere—annihilating all that is good, soiling whatever is beautiful, quenching in darkness whatever is joyous; yet somehow it breaks off unaccountably where and when we did not expect it to break off, not having wrought

nearly the mischief that seemed inevitable. "Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at My presence which have placed the sand for the bound, of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and, though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?"

2. If in nature these gracious limits are imposed on the genius of destruction, let us be assured that stern circumscriptions restrain moral evil and render impossible its triumph.

II. The Divine Compulsion of Evil.—"Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee." Not merely restrained, but coerced to most desirable issues. Not only is Zion saved from evil, she is served by it. The peoples of the earth, the estranged heathen peoples, through their defeats and humiliations, are to attain to true insight and reverence. The most furious and the most enraged are to come to the thankful acknowledgment of God. Such is the significance of the closing strophe of this Psalm. The rage of kings and peoples is overruled to the glory of the Church of God and to the ultimate salvation of the revolters.

Let us, however, be clear as to what is exactly meant by evil working good. We must remember that evil is evil, not good in the making, not undeveloped good. Essential evil is the deliberate contradiction of the Divine will, the positive violation of the Divine law, programme, design, the clash of God"s will and the creature"s. And, secondly, that good is never brought out of evil—that is impossible. When it is affirmed that evil works for good, we mean that God so antagonizes wicked men, vile institutions, and malign movements, that in the final result they develop the good they threaten to destroy. The selfishness, pride, and licence of the world are made to work its purification.

Let us not be overpowered by the vision of the power of evil. Whatever is done against us in our personal life by the injustice of men or the maliciousness of demons shall, whilst we remain faithful, work for our final gain. What is the moral of the book of Job but the subordination of alien wrath to the profit of the saint? From a great fight of unmerited affliction we see the patriarch emerge more rich and powerful than when the storm burst upon him, and with a deepened experience that must have given to his restored prosperity tenfold interest and satisfaction. The government of God extorted from the malice of hell splendid spoils in which Job was arrayed. So now with every loyal child of God. "All things work together for good to them that love God."

—W. L. Watkinson, The Fatal Barter, pp62-76.

11 Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them;

let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared.

BAR�ES, "vow, and pay unto the Lord your God - That is, Pay your vows, or sacredly observe them. On the word “vow,” see the notes at Psa_22:25. Compare Psa_50:14; Psa_56:12; Psa_66:13. The word refers to a voluntary promise made to God.

Let all that be round about him - All that worship him, or that profess to honor him.

Bring presents - Bring gifts or offerings; things expressive of gratitude and homage. See the notes at Psa_45:12. Compare Isa_16:1, note; Isa_18:7, note; Isa_60:5, note.

Unto him that ought to be feared -Margin, “to fear.” The meaning would be well expressed by the word dread; “to the Dread One.” It was not to inspire fear that the presents were to be brought; but they were to be brought to One who had shown that he was the proper object of dread or reverence.

CLARKE, "Vow, and pay unto the Lord - Bind yourselves to him, and forget not your obligations.

Let all that be round about him - All the neighboring nations, who shall see God’s judgments against his enemies, should

Bring presents unto him - Give him that homage which is due unto him.

That ought to be feared - lammora, “to the terrible One;” lest they be למוראconsumed as the Assyrians have been.

GILL, "Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God,.... Not monastic vows, which the Papists would infer from these and such like words; nor ceremonial ones, but spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, such as men sometimes make in times of distress, or when delivered, Psa_66:13 and which when vowed ought to be paid, Ecc_5:4, not to creatures, angels, or saints, but to God, from whom the mercy desired must be expected, and from whence it comes, Psa_50:14, these words are an address to such who were delivered from wrath, either of God or man:

let all that be round about him; who surround the throne of his grace, gather together in his house to attend his word and ordinances, who are his servants, and constantly and faithfully adhere to him; among whom he grants his presence, they are near to him, and he to them. It is a periphrasis of the assembly of the saints; see Psa_89:7. The Targum is,

"all ye that dwell round about his sanctuary;''

the allusion is to the situation of the camp of Israel, and the tabernacle in the wilderness, Num_2:1 compare with this Rev_4:4,

bring presents unto him that ought to be feared, or "to the fear" (f), which is one of the names of God; see Gen_31:42 and who is and ought to be the object of the fear and reverence of men; the "presents", to be brought to him are the sacrifices of prayer and praise, yea, the whole persons, the souls and bodies, of men; see Psa_72:10, compare with this 2Ch_32:22. The Targum is,

"let them bring offerings into the house of the sanctuary of the terrible One;''

of him that is to be feared, with a godly fear by good men, and to be dreaded by evil men, as follows.

HE�RY 11-12, ". Duty to all, Psa_76:11, Psa_76:12. Let all submit themselves to this great God and become his loyal subjects. Observe, 1. The duty required of us all, all that are about him, that have any dependence upon him or any occasion to approach to him; and who is there that has not? We are therefore every one of us commanded to do our homage to the King of kings: Vow and pay; that is, take an oath of allegiance to him and make conscience of keeping it. Vow to be his, and pay what you vow. Bind your souls with a bond to him (for that is the nature of a vow), and then live up to the obligations you have laid upon yourselves; for better it is not to vow than to vow and not to pay.And, having taken him for our King, let us bring presents to him, as subjects to their sovereign, 1Sa_10:27. Send you the lamb to the ruler of the land, Isa_16:1. Not that God needs any present we can bring, or can be benefited by it; but thus we must give him honour and own that we have our all from him. Our prayers and praises, and especially our hearts, are the presents we should bring to the Lord our God. 2. The reasons to enforce this duty: Render to all their due, fear to whom fear is due; and is it not due to God? Yes; (1.) He ought to be feared: He is the fear (so the word is); his name is glorious and fearful,; and he is the proper object of our fear; with him is terrible majesty. The God of Abraham is called the fear of Isaac (Gen_31:42), and we are commanded to make him our fear, Isa_8:13. When we bring presents to him we must have an eye to him as greatly to be feared; for he is terrible in his holy places. (2.) He will be feared, even by those who think it their own sole prerogative to be feared (Psa_76:12): He shall cut off the spirit of princes; he shall slip it off as easily as we slip off a flower from the stalk or a bunch of grapes from the vine; so the word signifies. He can dispirit those that are most daring and make them heartless; for he is, or will be, terrible to the kings of the earth; and sooner or later, if they be not so wise as to submit themselves to him, he will force them to call in vain to rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from his wrath, Rev_6:16. Since there is no contending with God, it is as much our wisdom as it is our duty to submit to him.

JAMISO�, "Invite homage to such a God (2Ch_32:23), who can stop the breath of kings and princes when He wills (Dan_5:23).

SBC, "I. A vow is a resolution, and something more. A vow affects not only the judgment, but the heart. A vow should not be based upon expediency, but upon

rectitude, upon foundations which cannot change.

II. Vows are to be made to God, or in the name of God; they are deeply religious acts. What subjects are fit for the solemnity of vows? (1) The religious consecration of periods of time, (2) the godly training of children, (3) the religious devotion of sums of money, and (4) a fuller dedication of energy to Divine service.

III. We are not only to vow: we are also to pay our vows. (1) To vow and not to pay destroys the finest qualities and powers of manhood. (2) In not paying a vow, man loses faith in himself; he is a liar to his own soul.

Parker, City Temple, vol. i., p. 218.

Reference: Psa_76:11.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 16.

Psalms 76:11

(with Rom_1:14-15)

The missionary plea one of justice.

I. The Divine plea. Justice demands our labours and contributions to the missionary cause on behalf of God. Pay thy debts to Him. To think of compensating the Lord for what He has bestowed would be as absurd as it would be profane. But this we can do, for evincing that we are actuated by a sense of justice: we can endeavour to please Him. (1) He is pleased when He is praised, when men glorify His name. (2) After the praise of His name, that which pleases God most is the happiness of His children, a gratification consequently which a just man who is sensible of his obligations will labour to secure for Him. God’s family is commensurate with the race of man. By attention to their interests you may so far discharge the onerous debts which you owe their Father. The only efficient antidote to their disease is the Gospel, which, by the terms of our argument, we are bound, in justice to their Father, to send them.

Consider the plea for missions on the ground of justice to Christ. (1) The honour of His Father pleases Christ. He has made it the first object of that formula of prayer which He has constructed for our direction, as if He would exclude from praying for daily bread or the pardon of sin that man who takes no interest in the hallowing of the Father’s name and the hastening of His kingdom, when His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. (2) Christ is pleased by being praised. (3) Christ also is pleased by the sight of the happiness of His brethren. (4) Christ is pleased with the moral beauty and respectability of His brethren.

How shall a quickened, comforted, ennobled sinner evince that he is animated by a sense of justice towards the Holy Ghost but by delivering himself up to Him to be employed and used as an agent in the cleansing out of this polluted earth, that it may be made a temple in which He may complacently dwell?

II. The human plea. Justice demands our co-operation in the missionary cause: (1) In the name of the Church. To the Church catholic has the Divine commission been issued that the Gospel be preached to every creature. (2) In the name of the missionaries. (3) In the name of the heathen themselves. (a) All of them have a claim on us by the bond of the brotherhood of our common humanity. (b) Many heathen, as well as others, have claims of justice on us for being at the expense of both much labour and wealth in

communicating the Gospel to them by the rule of making them some compensation for wrongs. (c) We are under obligations of justice to be zealous in the missionary cause by Paul’s rule of reckoning his debts in Rom_1:14, Rom_1:15. In this text he represents himself as being a debtor to all who had been converted by his ministry. He says he had had fruit among them. They had contributed to the glory of his heavenly crown, and they gratified his heart and honoured him by taking his King to be their King.

W. Anderson, Discourses, p. 118.

CALVI�, "11.Vow and pay to Jehovah your God. The faithful are now exhorted to the exercise of gratitude. As under the law the custom prevailed among the Jews of vowing sacrifices for singular blessings which God had conferred upon them, by which they solemnly acknowledged that their safety depended solely upon him, and that to him they were entirely indebted for it, they are called anew to engage in this exercise of religion; and by the word pay it is intended to inculcate steadfastness, —to teach them that they should not make merely a sudden and inconsiderate acknowledgement, but that they should also testify at all times that the remembrance of their deliverance was deeply fixed in their hearts. Their most important business, no doubt, was seriously to reflect with themselves that God was the author of their salvation; but still it is to be observed, that the solemn profession of religion, by which every man stimulates not only himself but also others to the performance of their duty, is far from being superfluous. In the second clause, those addressed seem to be the neighboring nations; as if it had been said, that such a special manifestation of the goodness of God was worthy of being celebrated even by foreign and uncircumcised nations. (282) But it appears to me, that the sense most agreeable to the context is, that these words are addressed either to the Levites or to all the posterity of Abraham, both of whom are not improperly said to be round about God, both because the tabernacle was pitched in the midst of the camp so long as the Israelites traveled in the wilderness, and also because the resting-place assigned for the ark was mount Zion, whither the people were accustomed to resort from all the surrounding parts of the country. And the Levites had intrusted to them the charge of the temple, and were appointed to keep watch and ward round about it. The word למורא , lammora, is referred to God by the majority of interpreters, and they translate it terrible. The term fear is, however, sometimes taken in a passive sense for God himself. (283) If it is applied to the Gentiles and to irreligious men, (284) the sense will be, that they shall be tributaries to God; because, being stricken with fear, they shall no longer dare to offer him any resistance. But it is more probable that this word has a reference to God, whom the prophet justly declares to be worthy of being feared, after having given such a remarkable proof of his power.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 11. Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God. Well may we do so in memory of such mercies and judgments. To vow or not is a matter of choice, but to discharge our vows is our bounden duty. He who would defraud God, his own God, is a wretch indeed. He keeps his promises, let not his people fail in theirs. He is their faithful God and deserves to have a faithful people.Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. Let surrounding nations submit to the only living God, let his own people with alacrity

present their offerings, and let his priests and Levites be leaders in the sacred sacrifice. He who deserves to be praised as our God does, should not have mere verbal homage, but substantial tribute. Dread Sovereign, behold I give myself to thee.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 11. Round about him. A description of his people, as the twelve tribes pitched round about the tabernacle, �umbers 2:2; and the twenty-four elders were round about God's throne, Revelation 4:4. So the Chaldee expounds it; --Ye that dwell about his sanctuary. Henry Ainsworth.

PULPIT, "Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God. The people of Israel are now addressed. Under the circumstances, they are sure to have made vows to God in the time of their great trouble, before the deliverance came. �ow, when the deliverance has come, let them pay these vows. Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared; literally, unto the Terrible One. By "all that are round about him" the psalmist seems to mean, not Israel only, but those other oppressed ones who had shared the benefit of the deliverance (comp. Psalms 76:9). That presents were brought by some of these is recorded by the writer of Chronicles (2 Chronicles 32:23).

CO�STABLE, "Verse 11-123. The fearful character of God"s judgments76:11-12

Since God is such a fearful Judges , His people should be careful to pay the gifts they vow to give Him. Leaders should fear Him and submit to His authority rather than rebelling against Him.

An appreciation of God"s power can and should produce submission and worship in those who can benefit or suffer from His judgment.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 76:11. Vow unto the Lord — Vow a sacrifice of thanksgiving; either at this time, for this wonderful deliverance, or hereafter, in all your future straits and troubles: let this experience encourage you to make such vows to God with confidence of success. And pay — But when God hath accepted your vows, and given you the desired deliverance, forget not to pay your vows. Let all that be round about him — All the tribes of Israel, who have the benefit of this mercy: or, rather, all the neighbouring nations, on every side, to whom the fame of this mighty work of God hath or shall come; bring presents — I advise them, for the future, if they love themselves, to cease from all hostilities against Jehovah and his people, and to

submit themselves to the God of Israel; unto him that ought to be feared — Whom, though they do not love, yet they see and feel that they have great reason to fear, and to seek his favour.

12 He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.

BAR�ES, "He shall cut off the spirit of princes - That is, He will cut down their pride; he will break them down. Luther renders it, “He shall take away the wrath of princes.” The allusion is to what he had done as celebrated in this psalm. He had shown that he could rebuke the pride and self-confidence of kings, and could bring them low at his feet.

He is terrible to the kings of the earth -When they are arrayed against him.

(1) they are wholly under his control.

(2) he can defeat their plans.

(3) he can check them when he pleases.

(4) he can, and will, make their plans - even their wrath - the means of promoting or carrying out his own purposes.

(5) he will allow them to proceed no further in their plans of evil than he can make subservient to the furtherance of his own.

(6) he can cut down the most mighty of them at his pleasure, and destroy them forever.

CLARKE, "He shall cut off the spirit of princes - Even in the midst of their conquests, he can fill them with terror and dismay, or cut them off in their career of victory.

He is terrible to the icings of the earth - “He is the only Ruler of princes;” to him they must account. And a terrible account most of them will have to give to the great God; especially those who, instigated by the desire of dominion, have, in the lust of conquest which it generates, laid countries waste by fire and sword, making widows and orphans without number, and extending the empire of desolation and death.

Thus all are under his dominion, and are accountable to him. Even those whom man cannot bring to justice, God will; and to judge them is one grand use of a final judgment day.

GILL, "He shall cut off the spirit of princes,.... The pride of their spirits, as the Targum, humble their proud spirits, and bring them down; or dispirit them, take away their courage from them, upon which they flee apace to rocks and mountains to cover them; or confound them, blast their schemes, and carry their counsel headlong, and even take away their breath, or life; which he can as easily do as a man can cut off a bunch of grapes from the vine, as the word (g) here used signifies; the destruction of the wicked is expressed by cutting down the vine of the earth, and casting it into the winepress of God's wrath, Rev_14:17,

he is terrible to the kings of the earth; as he was to the king of Assyria, when he sent his angel, and destroyed his army; and as he has been to others in all ages; so he will be to the kings of the earth that have committed fornication with the whore of Rome, who will be in the utmost panic at the time of her destruction, Rev_18:9, and who will themselves be overcome by the Lamb, Rev_16:14. The Targum is, he is to be feared above all the kings of the earth.

CALVI�, "12.He will cut off (285) the spirit of princes. As the Hebrew word בצר, batsar, occasionally signifies to strengthen, some think it should be so translated in this passage. But as in the two clauses of the verse the same sentiment is repeated, I have no doubt that by the first clause is meant that understanding and wisdom are taken away from princes; and that by the second, God is represented in general as terrible to them, because he will cast them down headlong from their loftiness. As the first thing necessary to conduct an enterprise to a prosperous issue is to possess sound foresight, in which the people of God are often deficient from the great perplexity in which they are involved in the midst of their distresses, while, on the other hand, the ungodly are too sharp-sighted in their crafty schemes; it is here declared that it is in the power of God to deprive of understanding, and to inflict blindness on those who seem to surpass others in acuteness and ingenuity. The majority of princes being enemies to the Church of God, it is expressly affirmed, that He is sufficiently terrible to subdue all the kings of the earth. When it is said, that their spirit is cut off, or taken away from them, it is to be limited to tyrants and robbers whom God infatuates, because he sees that they apply all their ingenuity and counsels to do mischief.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 12. He shall cut off the spirit of princes. Their courage, skill, and life are in his hands, and he can remove them as a gardener cuts off a slip from a plant. �one are great in his hand. Caesars and �apoleons fall under his power as the boughs of the tree beneath the woodman's axe.He is terrible to the kings of the earth. While they are terrible to others, he is terrible to them. If they oppose themselves to his people, he will make short work of them; they shall perish before the terror of his arm, "for the Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name." Rejoice before him all ye who adore the God of Jacob.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. �o Psalm has a greater right to follow Psalms 75:1-10 than this, which is inscribed To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments

(vid. iv. 1), a Psalm by Asaph, a song. Similar expressions (God of Jacob, Ps 75:10 77:7; saints, wicked of the earth, Ps 75:9 76:10), and the same impress throughout speak in favour of unity of authorship. In other respects too, they form a pair: Psalms 75:1-10 prepares the way for the divine deed of judgments as imminent, which Psalms 76:1-12 celebrates as having taken place. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 12. Cut off. He deals with princes as men deal with a vine. An axe is too strong for a cluster of grapes, or a sprig of a vine; it easily cuts them off: so God by a judgment easily cuts off the spirit of princes; they are not able to stand against the least judgments of God: when he puts strength into worms, or any other creature they fall. William Greenhill, in a Sermon, entitled, "The Axe at the Root."Ver. 12. The Lord cuts off the spirit of princes; the word is, he slips off, as one should slip off a flower between one's fingers, or as one should slip off a bunch of grapes from a vine, so soon is it done. How great uncertainty have many great ones, by their miserable experience, found in their outward glory and worldly felicity! What a change hath a little time made in all their honours, riches, and delights! That victorious emperor Henry the Fourth, who had fought fifty-two pitched battles, fell to that poverty before he died, that he was forced to petition to be a prebend in the church of Spier, to maintain him in his old age. And Procopius reports of King Gillimer, who was a potent king of the Vandals, who was so low brought, as to intreat his friends to send him a sponge, a loaf of bread, and a harp; a sponge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread to maintain his life, and a harp to solace himself in his misery. Philip de Comines reports of a Duke of Exeter, who though he had married Edward the Fourth's sister, yet he saw him in the Low Countries begging barefoot. Bellisarius, the chief man living in his time, having his eyes put out, was led at last in a string, crying, "give a halfpenny to Bellisarius." Jeremiah Burroughs.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 76:12. He shall cut off — Dr. Waterland reads, bring down, and Dr. Horne, restrain, the spirit of princes — Their pride and elation of mind, such as was that of the king of Assyria, before he was forced to return with shame of face to his own land. Or their courage; he can dispirit those that are most daring, and make them heartless; for he is, or will be, terrible to the kings of the earth — And sooner or later, if they be not so wise as to submit themselves to him, he will force them to call in vain to rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from his wrath, Revelation 6:15. The original word, however, יבצר, jibtzar, is borrowed from gathering the vintage, and signifies literally, He shall cut off their spirit, that is their breath and life, as men do their grapes in the time of vintage, namely, suddenly, violently, and irresistibly, as he did the Assyrian army. This is all they shall get by opposing him. Since, then, there is no contending with him, it is as much the wisdom, as it is the duty, of all, even of captains and generals of armies, of princes and kings, to submit to him, and make their peace with him. Reader, let this be thy care.

PULPIT, "He shall cut off the spirit of princes. "The spirit" seems here to mean "the life." God cuts off princes in their prime as a gardener cuts off bunches of grapes (comp. Isaiah 18:5). He is terrible to the kings of the earth. �ot "princes" only— נגידים —but "kings"— also are cut off in their prime when God—מלכים

pleases. Sennacherib's untimely death (2 Kings 19:37) followed not many years after the destruction of his host, in which there must have been many "princes."

COKE, "Psalms 76:12. He shall cut off, &c.— Him that cutteth off, or bringeth down, &c. The spirit signifies the pride and elation of the mind; such as was that of the king of Assyria, before he was forced to return with shame of face to his own land.

REFLECTIO�S.—The church of God is often made to sing her triumphant songs, even here below.

1. God is here represented as eminently appearing for her. In Judah is God known; there he had made the most glorious revelation of himself, and of his will: his name is great in Israel, exalted and praised by his people, and magnified in the wonders he had wrought on their behalf. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion; favoured with his immediate presence, visible in the Shecinah of glory. And this may refer to the incarnation of the Son of God, made known in Judah by the preaching of the Baptist, as Israel's exalted Saviour, who pitched his tabernacle among men, appeared in the flesh at Jerusalem; and in his church, the spiritual Zion, continues to take up his abode.

2. A glorious victory is obtained, whether by David, by Jehoshaphat, by Hezekiah, or, by the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom emphatically it may be applied, over the powers of sin, Satan, death, and hell. The enemies are represented as stout hearted, as men of might, as completely armed. But there is no contending against God; the arrows are broken, the shield, the sword, and the battle: unable to defend themselves, the mighty are fallen with their chariots and horses; they sleep the sleep of death, and the weak take the spoil. Thus hath our Redeemer spoiled principalities and powers; and, following him, the weakest believer seizes the prey, and triumphs over vanquished foes; for all the enemies of Christ's church and people, however many or mighty, shall be rooted out at the last.

3. The whole is ascribed to God alone, his is the work, to him must be the praise. �ot by our might or power, but at thy rebuke, O God, they are cast down. Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey; tyrannical kings, and all the persecuting powers, are nothing in the hands of his omnipotence; the higher they are exalted, the more will he be glorified in their abasement; for every mountain shall be brought low. �ote; In all the dangers to which God's people are exposed, they must look to the glorious power of God, engaged for them, and not be afraid.