44 And had turned their rivers into blood, So that they could not drink of their streams. 45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, Which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. 46 He gave also their fruits unto the caterpillar, And their labor unto the locust. 47 He destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycamore-trees with frost. 48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunder-bolts. 49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, A host of angels of evil. 50 He made a way for his anger; He spared them not from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence, 51 And smote all the first-born in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. 52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, Even to this mountain which his right hand had pur chased. 55 He cast out the heathen also before them, Ver. 49. "A host of angels of evil." Either the plagues of Egypt are here personified as messengers of evil, or personal angels are represented as the agents of God in producing those plagues. N. 56 And divided their land as an inheritance, by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high And kept not his statutes; 57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fa thers; They turned aside, like a deceitful bow. 58 They provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their graven im ages. 59 When God saw this, he was wroth, And greatly abhorred Israel; 60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, 63 Fire consumed their young men, And their maidens were not given to marriage. Ver. 57. "Like a deceitful bow"; i. e. which sends the arrow in a false direction, so that it does not hit the mark. N. Ver. 58. "High places," i. e. places of worship for idols. N. Ver. 60. This passage refers to the disastrous period at the close of Eli's priesthood, when the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines, the ark of God, which had been carried by the Israelites into the battle, taken by the enemy, and Hophni and Phinehas, the priests, the sons of Eli, slain. See 1 Sam. iv. Ver. 61. "His strength," "his glory "; i. e. the ark of the covenant. N. 64 Their priests fell by the sword, 65 And their widows made no lamentation. But at length the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, And like a mighty man refreshed with wine. 66 And he smote his enemies, and drove them back, And put them to a perpetual reproach. 67 Yet he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, And chose not the tribe of Ephraim; 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, The Mount Zion which he loved; 69 Where he built his sanctuary like the heavens ; Like the earth, which he hath established for ever. 70 He chose David, also, his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; 71 From tending the suckling ewes, he brought him To feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. 72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. Ver. 64. "Made no lamentation"; i. e. in the midst of the general terror and calamity, they had no time to give to the customary lamentations for the dead. N. PSALM LXXXIII. COMBINATION AGAINST JUDAH IN THE REIGN OF IT appears from 2 Chron. xx. that in the reign of Jehoshaphat the little kingdom of Judah was in great peril. The neighboring nations combined to overthrow it. If we look on the map, we see that the powers enumerated in the sixth and following verses very nearly encompass the territory of Judah. Edom is on the south, Moab on the southeast, Ammon on the east, the Hagarenes, or descendants of Hagar, on the northeast, the Philistines and people of Tyre on the west, while the Ishmaelites and Amalek are the wandering tribes of the Arabian desert, the children of Lot being Moab and Ammon. The very multiplicity of her enemies saved Judah; for discord broke out among them, and they turned their arms against one another. But while the event was in suspense, the patriotic song of Asaph may well be excused, if it deals in maledictions, which, even in our own day, would not be thought unpardonable in the poet of an invaded people, trembling before an enemy of overwhelming power. The enumeration, in the ninth and following verses, of the former triumphs of their nation, and of the enemies subdued by their ancestors, was admirably adapted to inspire courage and hope. PSALM LXXXIII. 1 O GOD, keep not thou silence! Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God! 2 For lo, thine enemies begin to rage, And they that hate thee lift up the head. 3 They take crafty counsel against thy people, And consult against thy chosen ones. 4 They say," Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." 5 They consult together with one consent; They are confederate against thee, 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Of Moab and the Hagarenes, 7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, The Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre. 8 The Assyrians also are joined with them; They lend their strength to the children of Lot. 9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites, As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook Kison, 10 Who perished at Endor; They were trampled as dung to the earth. 11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb; 13 O my God, make them like whirling chaff, As the stubble before the wind! 14 As fire burneth a wood, Ver. 9. For "Midianites," "Sisera," and "Jabin," see Judges iv. and vii. N. Ver. 11. For "Oreb," and "Zeeb," &c., see Judges vii. and viii. N. |