PSALM 77 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

I�TRODUCTIO�

SPURGEO�, "TITLE. To the Chief Musician, to Jeduthun. It was meet that another leader of the psalmody should take his turn. �o harp should be silent in the courts of the Lord's house. A Psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a man of exercised mind, and often touched the minor key; he was thoughtful, contemplative, believing, but withal there was a dash of sadness about him, and this imparted a tonic flavour to his songs. To follow him with understanding, it is needful to have done business on the great waters, and weathered many an Atlantic gale.DIVISIO�S. If we follow the poetical arrangement, and divide at the Selahs, we shall find the troubled man of God pleading in Psalms 77:1-3, and then we shall hear him lamenting and arguing within himself, Psalms 77:4-9. From Psalms 77:10-15 his meditations run toward God, and in the close he seems as in a vision to behold the wonders of the Red Sea and the wilderness. At this point, as if lost in an ecstasy, he hurriedly closes the Psalm with an abruptness, the effect of which is quite startling. The Spirit of God knows when to cease speaking, which is more than those do who, for the sake of making a methodical conclusion, prolong their words even to weariness. Perhaps this Psalm was meant to be a prelude to the next, and, if so, its sudden close is accounted for. The hymn now before us is for experienced saints only, but to them it will be of rare value as a transcript of their own inner conflicts.

COKE, "Title. מזמור ףלאס ידותון על למנצח lamnatseach al ieduthun leasaph mizmor.] Whoever was the author of this psalm, he was manifestly under a great dejection of mind when he penned it. He speaks of himself as deserted of God, and given up to be a prey to the sorrows of his own disturbed and tormented heart, see Psalms 77:2-3. What the particular grief was which gave rise to this mournful complaint, does not appear; but, whatever it was, the sting of it lay in this, that the Psalmist apprehended himself to be forsaken of God, and, without doubt, this is of all afflictions the most insupportable; a grief which no medicine can reach, which all the powers of reason cannot assist: for the soul refuses to be comforted: that the Psalmist speaks of the sorrows of a religious well-disposed heart, is manifest from

the description that he gives of his conduct and behaviour under his distress. He was sorely troubled; but in the day of his trouble he sought the Lord. He was afflicted, but in his affliction he remembered God, Psalms 77:3. Whatever doubts he entertained as to his own condition, and the favour of God towards him, yet of the being, the power, and wisdom of God, he never doubted: this faith, which in his utmost extremity he held fast, proved to be his sheet-anchor, and saved him from the shipwreck, which the storms and tempests raised in his own breast seemed to threaten. See Bishop Sherlock's Discourses, vol. 2: p. 229 and the note on the last verse.

ELLICOTT, "The affliction out of which the mournful cry of this psalm rises is presented in such general terms that there is no single indication by which to refer it to one period more than another. As the consolation is sought entirely in the history of national deliverance, and not in any display of divine goodness toward the author individually, it is safe to conclude that the troubles described are also national rather than personal. At all events, for the time the poet’s individuality is entirely merged in the sense of public calamity. The question whether the psalm, or Habakkuk 3:10-15, which at its close it resembles, is the original, would, if it could be decided, be some guide in ascertaining the date of the composition. But there appear arguments equally strong on both sides of this question. There is a striking change of rhythm at Psalms 77:16, otherwise the structure is regular.

1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.

BAR�ES, "I cried unto God with my voice - That is, he cried or prayed audibly. It was not mere mental prayer. See the notes at Psa_3:4.

Even unto God with my voice - The repetition here is emphatic. The idea is that it was an earnest or fervent cry. Compare the notes at 2Co_12:8.

And he gave ear unto me - See Psa_5:1, note; Psa_17:6, note.

CLARKE, "I cried unto God - The repetition here marks the earnestness of the psalmist’s soul; and the word voice shows that the Psalm was not the issue of private meditation, but of deep mental trouble, which forced him to speak his griefs aloud.

GILL, "I cried unto God with my voice,.... Which is to be understood of prayer, and

that vocal, and which is importunate and fervent, being made in distress; see Psa_3:4, or "my voice was unto God" (h), "and I cried"; it was directed to him, and expressed in a very loud and clamorous way:

even unto God with my voice; or "my voice was unto God"; which is repeated to show that he prayed again and again, with great eagerness and earnestness, his case being a very afflicted one:

and he gave ear unto me; his prayer was not without success; God is a God hearing and answering prayer, according to his promise, Psa_50:15.

HE�RY 1-2, "We have here the lively portraiture of a good man under prevailing melancholy, fallen into and sinking in that horrible pit and that miry clay, but struggling to get out. Drooping saints, that are of a sorrowful spirit, may here as in a glass see their own faces. The conflict which the psalmist had with his griefs and fears seems to have been over when he penned this record of it; for he says (Psa_77:1), I cried unto God, and he gave ear unto me, which, while the struggle lasted, he had not the comfortable sense of, as he had afterwards; but he inserts it in the beginning of his narrative as an intimation that his trouble did not end in despair; for God heard him, and, at length, he knew that he heard him. Observe,

I. His melancholy prayers. Being afflicted, he prayed (Jam_5:13), and, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly (Psa_77:1): My voice was unto God, and I cried, even with my voice unto God. He was full of complaints, loud complaints, but he directed them to God, and turned them all into prayers, vocal prayers, very earnest and importunate. Thus he gave vent to his grief and gained some ease; and thus he took the right way in order to relief (Psa_77:2): In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. Note, Days of trouble must be days of prayer, days of inward trouble especially, when God seems to have withdrawn from us; we must seek him and seek till we find him. In the day of his trouble he did not seek for the diversion of business or recreation, to shake off his trouble that way, but he sought God, and his favour and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind must not think to drink it away, or laugh it away, but must pray it away. My hand was stretched out in the night and ceased not; so Dr. Hammond reads the following words, as speaking the incessant importunity of his prayers. Compare Psa_143:5, Psa_143:6.

II. His melancholy grief. Grief may then be called melancholy indeed, 1. When it admits of no intermission; such was his: My sore, or wound, ran in the night, and bled inwardly, and it ceased not, no, not in the time appointed for rest and sleep. 2. When it admits of no consolation; and that also as his case: My soul refused to be comforted; he had no mind to hearken to those that would be his comforters. As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that sings songs to a heavy heart, Pro_25:20. Nor had he any mind to think of those things that would be his comforts; he put them far from him, as one that indulged himself in sorrow. Those that are in sorrow, upon any account, do not only prejudice themselves, but affront God, if they refuse to be comforted.

JAMISO�, "Psa_77:1-20. To Jeduthun - (See on Psa_39:1, title). In a time of great affliction, when ready to despair, the Psalmist derives relief from calling to mind God’s former and wonderful works of delivering power and grace.

expresses the purport of the Psalm.

CALVI�, "1.My voice came to God, and I cried. This is not a mere complaint, as some interpreters explain it, denoting the surprise which the people of God felt in finding that he who hitherto had been accustomed to grant their requests shut his ears to them, and was called upon in vain. It appears more probable that the prophet either speaks of the present feeling of his mind, or else calls to remembrance how he had experienced that God was inclined and ready to hear his prayers. There can be no doubt that he describes the greatness of the sorrow with which he was afflicted; and, in nay opinion, he denotes a continued act both by the past and the future tenses of the verbs. In the first place, he declares that he did not foolishly rend the air with his cries, like many who pour forth bitter cries without measure and at random under their sorrows; but that he addressed his speech to God when necessity constrained him to cry. The copula and, which is joined to the verb cried, should be resolved into the adverb of time when, in this way, When I cried my voice came to God At the same time, he also shows, that although he had been constrained often to reiterate his cries, he had not given over persevering in prayer. What is added immediately after is intended for the confirmation of his faith: And he heard me. The copula and, as in many other places, is here put instead of the causal adverb for. The meaning is, that he encouraged himself to cry to God, from the consideration that it was God’s usual manner to show his favor and mercy towards him.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 1. I cried unto God with my voice. This Psalm has much sadness in it, but we may be sure it will end well, for it begins with prayer, and prayer never has an ill issue. Asaph did not run to man but to the Lord, and to him he went, not with studied, stately, stilted words, but with a cry, the natural, unaffected, unfeigned expression of pain. He used his voice also, for though vocal utterance is not necessary to the life of prayer, it often seems forced upon us by the energy of our desires. Sometimes the soul feels compelled to use the voice, for thus it finds a freer vent for its agony. It is a comfort to hear the alarm bell ringing when the house is invaded by thieves.Even unto God with my voice. He returned to his pleading. If once sufficed not, he cried again. He needed an answer, he expected one, he was eager to have it soon, therefore he cried again and again, and with his voice too, for the sound helped his earnestness.And he gave ear unto me. Importunity prevailed. The gate opened to the steady knock. It shall be so with us in our hour of trial, the God of grace will hear us in due season.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of

others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 1. In the beginning of the Psalm, before speaking of his sorrows, he hastens to show the necessary and most efficacious remedy for allaying sorrow. He says that he did not, as many do, out of their impatience of grief or murmuring, either accuse God of cruelty or tyranny, or utter blasphemous words by which dishonour might fall upon God, or by indulging in sorrow and distrust hasten his own destruction, or fill the air with vain complaining, but fled straight to God and to him unburdened his sorrow, and sought that he would not shut him out from that grace which he bountifully offers to all. This is the only and sure sovereign remedy which most effectually heals his griefs. Mollerus.Ver. 1. I cried. To the Orientals the word qeu presented the idea of a crash, as of the heavens sending out thunders and lightnings. Whence beyond other things he metaphorically says, he cried for sorrow; ...shaken with a tempest of thoughts he burst out into an open and loud sounding complaint. Hermann Venema.Ver. 1. Even unto God with my voice. The repetition here is emphatic. The idea is that it was an earnest or fervent cry. Albert Barnes.Ver. 1. (last clause). At the second knock, the door of grace flew open: the Lord heard me. John Collings.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:1. I cried unto God, &c. — This verse seems to contain the sum of the whole Psalm, consisting of two parts, namely, his earnest cry to God in his deep distress, and God’s gracious answer to his prayers, by supporting him under his troubles, and giving him assurance of a good issue out of them; of both which he speaks distinctly and particularly as he proceeds in the Psalm.

K&D, "The poet is resolved to pray without intermission, and he prays; fore his soul is comfortless and sorely tempted by the vast distance between the former days and the

present times. According to the pointing, והאזין appears to be meant to be imperative

after the form הקטיל, which occurs instead of הקטל and הקתילה, cf. Psa_94:1; Isa_43:8;

Jer_17:18, and the mode of writing הקטיל, Psa_142:5, 2Ki_8:6, and frequently; therefore et audi = ut audias (cf. 2Sa_21:3). But such an isolated form of address is not to be

tolerated; והאזין has been regarded as perf. consec. in the sense of ut audiat, although this

modification of האזין into האזין in connection with the appearing of the Waw consec.

cannot be supported in any other instance (Ew. §234, e), and Kimchi on this account

tries to persuade himself to that which is impossible, viz., that והאזין in respect of sound

stands for The preterites in Psa_77:3 .ויאזין express that which has commenced and

which will go on. The poet labours in his present time of affliction to press forward to the Lord, who has withdrawn from him; his hand is diffused, i.e., stretched out (not: poured

out, for the radical meaning of נגר, as the Syriac shows, is protrahere), in the night-time

without wearying and leaving off; it is fixedly and stedfastly (אמונה, as it is expressed in Exo_17:12) stretched out towards heaven. His soul is comfortless, and all comfort up to the present rebounds as it were from it (cf. Gen_37:35; Jer_31:15). If he remembers God, who was once near to him, then he is compelled to groan (cf. Psa_55:18, Psa_55:3;

and on the cohortative form of a Lamed He verb, cf. Ges. §75, 6), because He has hidden Himself from him; if he muses, in order to find Him again, then his spirit veils itself, i.e.,

it sinks into night and feebleness (התע�ף as in Psa_107:5; Psa_142:4; Psa_143:4). Each of the two members of Psa_77:4 are protasis and apodosis; concerning this emotional kind of structure of a sentence, vid., Ewald, §357, b.

COFFMA�, "Verse 1PSALM 77

THE PROBLEM OF HA�DLI�G DOUBT I� DIFFICULT TIMES

The big factor in this psalm is the problem of doubt. It appears to us that Dummelow's analysis of this psalm is as good as any. And from that understanding of it, it is not hard to figure out why the psalmist is almost overcome with doubt.

"Here we have the psalmist's experience of personal perplexity and darkness, caused by the contemplation of Israel's national distress. It may be dated approximately in the time of the exile: (1) Psalms 77:1-3 describe the psalmist's trouble, in which prayer has brought no comfort. (2) Psalms 77:4-9 tell how his remembrance of a brighter past suggests that perhaps God has now cast off his people forever. (3) In Psalms 77:10-20, he turns for comfort to the story of God's wondrous works of old, such as (a) the deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Psalms 77:15); (b) the marvelous miracle of the Red Sea crossing (Psalms 77:16-19); and (c) God's guidance of Israel through the wilderness experiences (Psalms 77:20)."[1]The terrible doubt and sorrow that depressed God's faithful remnant among the notoriously apostate people of Israel in the period ending in their Babylonian captivity must indeed have reached epic proportions. The reprobate nation fully deserved to be cut off forever, and their godless kingdom cried out to heaven for its destruction.

Of course, God did what God had to do. He liquidated the kingdom and sent the residue of it to Babylon, where, through generations of hardship, the righteous remnant were given the privilege of re-focusing their love, not upon an earthly state, but upon the godly lives required in those who really desired to be a part of God's "chosen people."

It was no slackening of God's love for his people that brought about the traumatic experience of the exile. It was required by the gross wickedness of the vast majority of racial Israel. It was impossible for the righteous minority to understand why things were everywhere turning into unqualified disaster and destruction for national Israel, hence, the terrible doubt of the psalmist expressed here.

Some scholars understand this psalm as a "national lament,"[2] and others think of it as the lament of an individual; but the simple truth seems to be that it is indeed the lament of an individual brought about by the terrible fate of the kingdom which was in the process of being providentially destroyed.

Psalms 77:1-3

DESCRIPTIO� OF THE PSALMIST'S CO�DITIO�

"I will cry unto God with my voice,

Even unto God with my voice; and he will give ear unto me.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:

My hand was stretched out in the night, and slacked not;

My soul refused to be comforted.

I remember God, and am disquieted:

I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.

(Selah)"

One may feel nothing but sympathetic concern for all of God's children who suffered the incredible agony of living through all of the sorrows that fell upon national Israel during those days leading up to the captivity. It was indeed a time of darkness and doubt for all of them.

"I sought the Lord" (Psalms 77:2) ... "My soul refused to be comforted" (Psalms 77:2) ... "I remember God ... am disquieted ... and my spirit is overwhelmed" (Psalms 77:3). The trouble was due to the cessation of God's blessings upon national Israel in the manner that he had once so gloriously done. The impossibility was not with God; it was with Israel; their sins and rebellion against the Lord had finally reached a climax beyond which God was determined to "cut them off." The precious saints who still loved the Lord still prayed for the beloved nation; but God could no longer answer such prayers. Given the lack of understanding on the part of the saints, and the rapidly worsening conditions afflicting the nation, and their doubt is easily understood.

ELLICOTT, "Verse 1(1) I cried . . .—Better, following the Hebrew literally,

“My voice to God—and let me cry;

My voice to God—and He hears me.”

The Authorised Version has followed the LXX. and Vulg. in neglecting the striking changes in mood running through this psalm. Soliloquy and narrative alternate as the poet’s mood impels him—now to give vent to his feelings in sobs and cries, now

to analyse and describe them.

WHEDO�, "1. I cried unto God— “My distresses were great, and I had none but God to go to.”—Hammond.

He gave ear unto me—The rabbinical construction takes the verb as a peculiar form of the imperative, (hear thou me,) which suits better the feelings of the psalmist as not having yet received the answer to prayer. The complaint goes on to Psalms 77:9, and the subsequent part of the psalm describes only the triumph of faith, not the formal fulfilment of his request. Compare Habakkuk 3:17-19

EBC, "THE occasion of the profound sadness of the first part of this psalm may be inferred from the thoughts which brighten it into hope in the second. These were the memories of past national deliverance. It is natural to suppose that present national disasters were the causes of the sorrow which enveloped the psalmist’s spirit and suggested questions of despair, only saved from being blasphemous because they were so wistful. But it by no means follows that the singer is simply the personified nation. The piercing tone of individual grief is too clear, especially in the introductory verses, to allow of that hypothesis. Rather, the psalmist has taken into his heart the troubles of his people. Public calamity has become personal pain. What dark epoch has left its marks in this psalm remains uncertain. If Delitzsch’s contention that Habakkuk 3:1-19 is in part drawn from it were indubitably established, the attribution of the psalm to the times of Josiah would be plausible; but there is, at least, room for doubt whether there has been borrowing, and if so, which is original and which echo. The calamities of the Exile in their severity and duration would give reasonable ground for the psalmist’s doubts whether God had not cast off His people forever. �o brief or partial eclipse of His favour would supply adequate occasion for these.

The psalm falls into two parts, in the former of which (Psalms 77:1-9) deepest gloom wraps the singer’s spirit, while in the latter (Psalms 77:10-20) the clouds break. Each of these parts fall into three strophes, usually of three verses; but in the concluding strophe, consisting of five, Selah stands at the end of the first and third, and is not present at the end of the second, because it is more closely connected with the third than with the first. In like manner the first strophe of the second part (Psalms 77:10-12) has no Selah, but the second has (Psalms 77:13-15); the closing strophe (Psalms 77:16-20) being thus parted off.

The psalmist’s agitation colours his language, which fluctuates in the first six verses between expressions of resolve or desire (Psalms 77:1, Psalms 77:3, Psalms 77:6) and simple statement of fact (Psalms 77:2, Psalms 77:4, Psalms 77:5). He has prayed long and earnestly, and nothing has been laid in answer on his outstretched palm. Therefore his cry has died down into a sigh. He fain would lift his voice to God, but dark thoughts make him dumb for supplication, and eloquent only in self-pitying monologue. A man must have waded through like depths to understand this pathetic bewilderment of spirit. They who glide smoothly over a sunlit surface of sea little know the terrors of sinking with choked lungs, into the abyss. A little experience will

go further than much learning in penetrating the meaning of these moanings of lamed faith. They begin with an elliptical phrase, which, in its fragmentary character, reveals the psalmist’s discomposure. "My voice to God" evidently needs some such completion as is supplied above; and the form of the following verb ("cry") suggests that the supplied one should express wish or effort. The repetition of the phrase in Psalms 77:1 b strengthens the impression of agitation. The last words of that clause may be a petition, "give ear," but are probably better taken as above. The psalmist would fain cry to God, that he may be heard. He has cried, as he goes on to tell in calmer mood in Psalms 77:2, and has apparently not been heard. He describes his unintermitted supplications by a strong metaphor. The word rendered "stretched out" is literally poured out as water, and is applied to weeping eyes. [Lamentations 3:49] The Targum substitutes eye for hand here. but that is commentary, not translation. The clause which we render "without ceasing" is literally "and grew not stiff." That word, too, is used of tears, and derivatives from it are found in the passage just referred to in Lamentations ("intermission"), and in Lamentations 2:18 ("rest"). It carries on the metaphor of a stream, the flow of which is unchecked. The application of this metaphor to the hand is harsh, but the meaning is plain-that all night long the psalmist extended his hand in the attitude of prayer, as if open to receive God’s gift. His voice "rose like a fountain night and day"; but brought no comfort to his soul; and he bewails himself in the words which tell of Jacob’s despair when he heard that Joseph was dead. So rooted and inconsolable does he think his sorrows. The thought of God has changed its nature, as if the sun were to become a source of darkness. When he looks up, he can only sigh; when he looks within, his spirit is clothed or veiled-i.e., wrapped in melancholy.

BI 1-20, "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me.

The faculty of human thought

The whole psalm may be used to illustrate the faculty of human thought. Throughout the whole the author speaks of “remembering, considering, musing,” making “diligent search,” meditating, etc, etc.

I. It is a power that can inflame the soul with longings for God (Psa_77:1-2). By thought this man brought the Eternal into his soul, even in the stillness and darkness of night. It presented Him as an Object to whom he appealed in his distress, and from whom he received relief.

II. It has power to fill the soul with mingled emotions.

1. Here is sadness (Psa_77:2-10). The writer says, “his soul refused to be comforted,” “he was troubled,” “overwhelmed,” so “troubled that he could neither sleep nor speak,” so troubled that he cries out, “Will God cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no more?” What sinful man can think upon God without being troubled with remorse and troubled with forebodings? Thought can lash the soul into a tempest, can kindle it into a hell.

2. Here is joy (Psa_77:10-20). “And I said, this is my infirmity;” or rather, my hope.

(1) The joy of gratitude. “I remember the years of the right hand of the Most

High.” Thoughts upon the past mercies of God have a power to kindle the soul into raptures of gratitude.

(2) Joy of adoration. “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary;” or, Thy way is holy. The holiness of God is suited to inspire us with holy rapture.

(3) Joy of trustfulness. “Thou art the God that doest wonders.” The psalmist remembers what God had done in conducting the children of Israel through the Red Sea into the promised land; and this inspired and exalted him with new hope. Thus, thought can fill the soul either with sadness or with joy. It createst the weather within—cloudy or sunny, stormy or calm; the seasons within—spring, summer, autumn, or winter. What a wonderful faculty is this with which Heaven has endowed us, this faculty of thought.

III. It is a power over which man has a personal control. The psalmist speaks of himself as directing his own thoughts. “I sought, I remembered, I considered.” This power over thought is the dignity of our nature, and is that which invests us with responsibility. Man has no direct power over any faculty but this. He has no immediate control over his feelings or faiths. He could no more awaken love or produce repentance by a direct effort, than he could create a world. He can think or not think—think upon this subject or that, in this aspect or another, consecutively or desultorily, profoundly or superficially. This he can do; and herein is his freedom. (Homilist.)

God’s ear open to the cry of the needy

A cheque without a signature at the bottom is nothing but a worthless piece of paper. The stroke of a pen confers on it all its value. The prayer of a poor child of Adam is a feeble thing in itself, but once endorsed by the hand of the Lord Jesus, it availeth much. There was an officer in the city of Rome who was appointed to have his doors always open, in order to receive any Roman citizen who applied to him for help. Just so the ear of the Lord Jesus is ever open to the cry of all who want mercy and grace. It is His office to help them. (J. C. Ryle.)

2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.

BAR�ES, "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord - Compare the notes at

Psa_50:15. This trouble may have been either mental or bodily; that is, it may have arisen from some form of disease, or it may have been that which sprang from difficulties in regard to the divine character, government, and dealings. That it “assumed” the latter form, even if it had its beginning in the former, is apparent from the following verses. Whether it was connected with any form of bodily disease must be determined by the proper interpretation of the next clause in this verse.

My sore ran in the night - Margin, “My hand.” It is evident that our translators sup. posed that there was some bodily disease - some running sore - which was the cause of his trouble. Hence, they so rendered the Hebrew word. But it is now generally agreed

that this is without authority. The Hebrew word is “hand” - yâd יד - a word which is

never used in the sense of sore or wound. The Septuagint renders it, “my hands are before him.” The Vulgate renders it in the same manner. Luther, “My hand is stretched out at night.” DeWette, “My hand is stretched out at night unwearied.” The word which

is rendered in our version “ran” - nâgar נגר - means to “flow;” and, in Niphil, to be

poured out, and then, “to be stretched out;” which is evidently its meaning here. The idea is, that his hand was stretched out in earnest supplication, and that this continued in the night when these troubles came most upon him. See Psa_77:4, Psa_77:6. In his painful meditations in the night. watches - in thinking on God and his ways, as he lay upon his bed, he stretched out his hand in fervent prayer to God.

And ceased not - The word used here - pûg פוג - means properly to be cold; then, to

be torpid, sluggish, slack. Here it means that the hand did not become weary; it did not fall from exhaustion; or, in other words, that he did not give over praying through weariness or exhaustion.

My soul refused to be comforted - I resisted all the suggestions that came to my own mind, that might have comforted me. My heart was so melancholy and downcast; my spirits were so crushed; my mind was so dark; I had become so morbid, that I loved to cherish these thoughts. I chose to dwell on them. They had obtained possession of me, and I could not let them go. There was nothing that my own mind could suggest, there was nothing that occurred to me, that would relieve the difficulty or restore peace to my soul. These sad and gloomy thoughts filled all my soul, and left no room for thoughts of consolation and peace. A truly pious man may, therefore, get into a state of mind - a sad, dispirited, melancholy, morbid state - in which nothing that can be said to him, nothing that will occur to himself, will give him comfort and peace. Compare Jer_31:15.

CLARKE, "My sore ran in the night, and ceased not - This is a most

unaccountable translation; the literal meaning of ידי'נגרה yadi'niggerah, which we translate my sore ran, is, my hand was stretched out, i.e., in prayer. He continued during the whole night with his voice and hands lifted up to God, and ceased not, even in the midst of great discouragements.

GILL, "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord,.... Not the creature, for help, and creature amusements to drive away trouble, but the Lord, in private, by prayer and supplication; a time of trouble is a time for prayer, Jam_5:13, all men have their trouble, but the people of God more especially; and there are some particular times in which they have more than usual, and then it may be said to be "a day of trouble" with them; which

sometimes arises from themselves, the strength of their corruptions, the weakness of their graces, their backwardness to duties, or poor performance of them; sometimes from others, from the profaneness or persecutions of the men of the world, from the heretical notions or wicked lives of professors; sometimes from the temptations of Satan, and at other times from the Lord himself more immediately, by his withdrawing his presence from them, or by laying his afflicting hand upon them; but, let the trouble come from what quarter it may, it is always right to seek the Lord. Some think reference is had to the time of trouble mentioned in Dan_12:1,

my sore ran in the night; my "stroke", or "wound" (i); so Kimchi interprets it; the wound that was made in his soul, and the pain and anguish, grief and trouble, which flowed from it; see Jer_6:7 though the word may be literally rendered "my hand" (k); and the sense is, either that his hand flowed or was wet with wiping his eyes, or with the tears that flowed from his eyes, which ran down to his fingers' ends; so the Targum,

"in the night my eye dropped with tears;''

or rather that his hand was stretched out, as waters, that are poured out and run, are spread, that is, in prayer; the stretching out of the hand being a prayer gesture:

and ceased not; was not remiss and feeble, or was not let down, as Moses's, Exo_17:11, it denotes the constancy of prayer, and his continuance in it; he prayed without ceasing:

my soul refused to be comforted: such was the greatness of his distress, like that of Jacob's and Rachel's, Gen_37:35, it is right to refuse comfort and peace, which men speak to themselves upon the false foundation of their own merit and works; or any but what comes from the God of all comfort, and through Christ, in whom is all solid consolation, and by his Spirit, who is the Comforter; but it is wrong to refuse any that comes from hence, and by means of the promises, the word and ordinances and ministries of the Gospel, or Christian friends; this shows the strength of unbelief.

JAMISO�, "his importunacy.

my sore ran ... night — literally, “my hand was spread,” or, “stretched out” (compare Psa_44:20).

ceased not — literally, “grew not numb,” or, “feeble” (Gen_45:26; Psa_38:8).

my soul ... comforted — (compare Gen_37:35; Jer_31:15).

CALVI�, "2.I sought the Lord in the day of my trouble. In this verse he expresses more distinctly the grievous and hard oppression to which the Church was at that time subjected. There is, however, some ambiguity in the words. The Hebrew word yad, which I have translated hand, is sometimes taken metaphorically for a , ידwound; and, therefore, many interpreters elicit this sense, My wound ran in the night, and ceased not, (286) that is to say, My wound was not so purified from ulcerous matter as that the running from it was made to stop. But; I rather take the word in its ordinary signification, which is hand, because the verb נגרה, niggera, which he uses, signifies not only to run as a sore does, but also to be stretched forth or extended. (287) �ow, when he affirms that he sought the Lord in the day of his trouble, and that his hands were stretched out to him in the night season, this

denotes that prayer was his continual exercise, — that his heart was so earnestly and unweariedly engaged in that exercise, that he could not desist from it. In the concluding sentence of the verse the adversative particle although is to be supplied; and thus the meaning will be, that although the prophet found no solace and no alleviation of the bitterness of his grief, he still continued to stretch forth his hands to God. In this manner it becomes us to wrestle against despair, in order that our sorrow, although it may seem to be incurable, may not shut our mouths, and keep us from pouring out our prayers before God.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. All day long his distress drove him to his God, so that when night came he continued still in the same search. God had hidden his face from his servant, therefore the first care of the troubled saint was to seek his Lord again. This was going to the root of the matter and removing the main impediment first. Diseases and tribulations are easily enough endured when God is found of us, but without him they crush us to the earth.My sore ran in the night, and ceased not. As by day so by night his trouble was on him and his prayer continued. Some of us know what it is, both physically and spiritually, to be compelled to use these words: no respite has been afforded us by the silence of the night, our bed has been a rack to us, our body has been in torment, and our spirit in anguish. It appears that this sentence is wrongly translated, and should be, "my hand was stretched out all night, "this shows that his prayer ceased not, but with uplifted hand he continued to seek succour of his God.My soul refused to be comforted. He refused some comforts as too weak for his case, others as untrue, others as unhallowed; but chiefly because of distraction, he declined even those grounds of consolation which ought to have been effectual with him. As a sick man turns away even from the most nourishing food, so did he. It is impossible to comfort those who refuse to be comforted. You may bring them to the waters of the promise, but who shall make them drink if they will not do so? Many a daughter of despondency has pushed aside the cup of gladness, and many a son of sorrow has hugged his chains. There are times when we are suspicious of good news, and are not to be persuaded into peace, though the happy truth should be as plain before us as the King's highway.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. Days of trouble must be days of prayer; in days of inward trouble, especially when God seems to have withdrawn from us, we must seek him, and seek till we find him. In the day of his trouble he did not seek for the diversions of business or recreation, to shake off his trouble that way, but he sought God, and his favour and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind, must not think to drink it away, or laugh it away, but pray it away. Matthew Henry.Ver. 2. My sore ran in the night. Hebrew: My hand was poured out; that is, stretched out in prayer; or wet with continual weeping. �on fuit remissa, nec retracta in lectum. John Trapp.Ver. 2. My sore ran in the night, and ceased not, etc. There is no healing of this

wound, no easing of this sore, no cleansing of the conscience, no quieting of a man's spirit: till God whom the soul seeketh show himself as the Physician, the evil continueth still and groweth. David Dickson.Ver. 2. My soul refused to be comforted. God has provided suitable and sufficient comfort for his people. He sends them comforters just as their circumstances require. But they at times refuse to hear the voice of the charmer. The Lord has perhaps taken away an idol--or he withholds his sensible presence, that they may learn to live by faith--or he has blighted their worldly prospects --or he has written vanity and emptiness upon all their gourds, cisterns, and delights. They give way to passion, as did Jonah--or they sink into sullen gloom--or allow unhumbled pride to rule the spirit--or yield to extreme sorrow, as Rachel did--or fall under the power of temptation--or imbibe the notion that they have no right to comfort. This is wrong, all wrong, decidedly wrong. Look at what is left you, at what the gospel presents to you, at what heaven will be to you. But the psalmist was recovered from this state. He was convinced that it was wrong. He was sorry for his sin. He was reformed in his spirit and conduct. He wrote this Psalm to instruct, caution, and warn us. Observe, they who are entitled to all comfort, often through their own folly, enjoy the least. The Lord's people are often their own tormentors, they put away the cup of comfort from them, and say they are unworthy of itO Thou source of every blessing,Chase my sorrows, cheer my heart,Till in heaven, thy smiles possessing,Life, and joy, and peace impart. James Smith.Ver. 2. My soul refused to be comforted. Poor I, that am but of yesterday, have known some that have been so deeply plunged in the gulf of despair, that they would throw all the spiritual cordials that have been tendered to them against the walls. They were strong in reasoning against their own souls, and resolved against everything that might be a comfort and support unto them. They have been much set against all ordinances and religious services; they have cast off holy duties themselves, and peremptorily refused to join with others in them; yea, they have, out of a sense of sin and wrath, which hath laid hard upon them, refused the necessary comforts of this life, even to the overthrow of natural life, and yet out of this horrible pit, this hell upon earth, hath God delivered their souls, and given them such manifestations of his grace and favour, that they would not exchange them for a thousand worlds. O despairing souls, you see that others, whose conditions have been as bad if not worse than yours, have obtained mercy. God hath turned their hell into a heaven; he hath remembered them in their low estate; he hath pacified their raging consciences, and quieted their distracted souls; he hath wiped all tears from their eyes; and he hath been a well spring of life unto their hearts. Therefore be not discouraged, O despairing souls, but look up to the mercyseat. Thomas Brooks.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord — Being afflicted, he prayed, James 5:13, and being in an agony he prayed the more fervently: he cried unto God. He did not apply to the diversion of business, or of any recreation, that he might by that means shake off his trouble; but he had recourse to God in prayer, and sought his favour and grace. In this he is an example for our

imitation. When under any trouble, and especially trouble of mind for sin, we must apply to God and spread our case before him. We must not endeavour to get rid of our trouble some other way, but must entreat him to remove it by lifting up the light of his countenance upon us. This, and only this, will give us peace of mind, and put joy and gladness into our hearts. My sore ran — Hebrew, ידי נגרה, jadi niggerah, my hand flowed, or poured forth, that is, was spread abroad, or stretched out to God in prayer and ceased not. — So Hammond, Patrick, Waterland, and Houbigant. In the night — Which to others was a time of rest and refreshment, but to me of sorrow and distress. My soul refused to be comforted — Without a gracious answer from God, and an assurance that he had not cast me off, but was again reconciled to me, Psalms 77:7-9 . Till I should obtain this, I rejected all those consolations which either my friends or my own mind suggested.

ELLICOTT, "(2) My sore ran . . .—The text of this verse is evidently faulty. As it stands it is unintelligible. My hand was poured out and grew not dull (like a corpse).

The LXX. and Vulg. have, “with my hands against Him, and I was not deceived,” pointing to a different reading. Symmachus has, however, “my hand was stretched out,” which may be a possible meaning of the Hebrew, though a comparison with Lamentations 3:49 (comp. Lamentations 2:18) suggests that eye was written instead of hand. The Authorised Version’s sore comes from the Rabbins, who thought of the hand beating the breast, and rendered, “my blows were poured out.” Though the probable text may be beyond recovery, the feeling of the verse is quite palpable. It expresses the anguish of the poet’s soul—

“His vows in the night, so fierce and unavailing,

Stings of his shame and passion of his tears.”

WHEDO�, "2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord—�ot only the depth of the psalmist’s sufferings is here indicated, such as God only could relieve, but his true piety. His troubles brought him nearer to God. Psalms 50:15.

My sore ran in the night—Hebrew, My hand was stretched out all night; that is, in the posture of earnest supplication. Psalms 44:20; Psalms 88:9.

Ceased not—Rested not. Compare the painfulness of the attitude with Exodus 17:11-12

3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.[b]

BAR�ES, "I remembered God - That is, I thought on God; I thought on his character, his government, and his dealings; I thought on the mysteries - the incomprehensible things - the apparently unequal, unjust, and partial doings - of his administration. It is evident from the whole tenor of the psalm that these were the things which occupied his attention. He dwelt on them until his whole soul became sad; until his spirit became so overwhelmed that he could not find words in which to utter his thoughts.

And was troubled - The Septuagint renders this, ε,φράνθην euphranthēn - I was

rejoiced or delighted. So the Vulgate. Luther renders it, “When I am troubled, then I think on God.” Our translation, however, has probably given the true idea; and in that has expressed

(a) what often occurs in the case of even a good man - that by dwelling on the dark and incomprehensible things of the divine administration, the soul becomes sad and troubled to an extent bordering on murmuring, complaint, and rebellion; and may also serve to illustrate

(b) what often happens in the mind of a sinner - that he delights to dwell on these things in the divine administration:

(1) as most in accordance with what he desires to think about God, or with the views which he wishes to cherish of him; and

(2) as justifying himself in his rebellion against God, and his refusal to submit to him -for if God is unjust, partial, and severe, the sinner is right; such a Being would be unworthy of trust and confidence; he ought to be opposed, and his claims ought to be resisted.

I complained - Or rather, I “mused” or “meditated.” The word used here does not necessarily mean to complain. It is sometimes used in that sense, but its proper and common signification is to meditate. See Psa_119:15, Psa_119:23, Psa_119:27, Psa_119:48, Psa_119:78,Psa_119:148.

And my spirit was overwhelmed - With the result of my own reflections. That is, I was amazed or confounded by the thoughts that came in upon me.

CLARKE, "My spirit was overwhelmed - As the verb is in the hithpaeI conjugation, the word must mean my spirit was overpowered in itself. It purposed to involve itself in this calamity. I felt exquisitely for my poor suffering countrymen.

“The generous mind is not confined at home;It spreads itself abroad through all the public,And feels for every member of the land.”

GILL, "I remembered God, and was troubled,.... Either the mercy, grace, and goodness of God, as Jarchi; how ungrateful he had been to him, how sadly he had requited him, how unthankful and unholy he was, notwithstanding so much kindness;

and when he called this to mind it troubled him; or when he remembered the grace and goodness of God to him in time past, and how it was with him now, that it was not with him as then; this gave him uneasiness, and set him a praying and crying, that it might be with him as heretofore, Job_29:2, or rather he remembered the greatness and majesty of God, his power and his justice, his purity and holiness, and himself as a worm, a poor weak creature, sinful dust and ashes, not able to stand before him; he considered him not as his father and friend, but as an angry Judge, incensed against him, and demanding satisfaction of him:

I complained; of sin and sorrow, of affliction and distress: or "I prayed", or "meditated" (l); he thought on his case, and prayed over it, and poured out his complaint unto God, yet found no relief:

and my spirit was overwhelmed; covered with grief and sorrow, pressed down with affliction, ready to sink and faint under it:

HE�RY, " His melancholy musings. He pored so much upon the trouble, whatever it was, personal or public, that, 1. The methods that should have relieved him did but increase his grief, Psa_77:3. (1.) One would have thought that the remembrance of God would comfort him, but it did not: I remembered God and was troubled, as poor Job (Job_23:15); I am troubled at his presence; when I consider I am afraid of him. When he remembered God his thoughts fastened only upon his justice, and wrath, and dreadful majesty, and thus God himself became a terror to him. (2.) One would have thought that pouring out his soul before God would give him ease, but it did not; he complained, and yet his spirit was overwhelmed, and sank under the load. 2. The means of his present relief were denied him, v. 4. He could not enjoy sleep, which, if it be quiet and refreshing, is a parenthesis to our griefs and cares: “Thou holdest my eyes wakingwith thy terrors, which make me full of tossings to and fro until the dawning of the day.” He could not speak, by reason of the disorder of his thoughts, the tumult of his spirits, and the confusion his mind was in: He kept silence even from good while his heart was hot within him; he was ready to burst like a new bottle (Job_32:19), and yet so troubled that he could not speak and refresh himself. Grief never preys so much upon the spirits as when it is thus smothered and pent up.

JAMISO�, "His sad state contrasted with former joys.

was troubled — literally, “violently agitated,” or disquieted (Psa_39:6; Psa_41:5).

my spirit was overwhelmed — or, “fainted” (Psa_107:5; Jon_2:7).

CALVI�, "3.I will remember God, and will be troubled. The Psalmist here employs a variety of expressions to set forth the vehemence of his grief, and, at the same time, the greatness of his affliction. He complains that what constituted the only remedy for allaying his sorrow became to him a source of disquietude. It may, indeed, seem strange that the minds of true believers should be troubled by remembering God. But the meaning of the inspired writer simply is, that although he thought upon God his distress of mind was not removed. It no doubt often happens that the remembrance of God in the time of adversity aggravates the anguish and trouble of the godly, as, for example, when they entertain the thought that he is angry with

them. The prophet, however, does not mean that his heart was thrown into new distress and disquietude whenever God was brought to his recollection: he only laments that no consolation proceeded from God to afford him relief; and this is a trial which it is very hard to bear. It is not surprising to see the wicked racked with dreadful mental agony; for, since their great object and endeavor is to depart from God, they must suffer the punishment which they deserve, on account of their rebellion against him. But when the remembrance of God, from which we seek to draw consolation for mitigating our calamities, does not afford repose or tranquillity to our minds, we are ready to think that he is sporting with us. We are nevertheless taught from this passage, that however much we may experience of fretting, sorrow, and disquietude, we must persevere in calling upon God even in the midst of all these impediments.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. He who is the wellspring of delight to faith becomes an object of dread to the psalmist's distracted heart. The justice, holiness, power, and truth of God have all a dark side, and indeed all the attributed may be made to look black upon us if our eye be evil; even the brightness of divine love blinds us, and fills us with a horrible suspicion that we have neither part nor lot in it. He is wretched indeed whose memories of the Ever Blessed prove distressing to him; yet the best of men know the depth of this abyss.I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. He mused and mused but only sank the deeper. His inward disquietudes did not fall asleep as soon as they were expressed, but rather they returned upon him, and leaped over him like raging billows of an angry sea. It was not his body alone which smarted, but his noblest nature writhed in pain, his life itself seemed crushed into the earth. It is in such a case that death is coveted as a relief, for life becomes an intolerable burden. With no spirit left in us to sustain our infirmity, our case becomes forlorn; like man in a tangle of briars who is stripped of his clothes, every hook of the thorns becomes a lancet, and we bleed with ten thousand wounds. Alas, my God, the writer of this exposition well knows what thy servant Asaph meant, for his soul is familiar with the way of grief. Deep glens and lonely caves of soul depressions, my spirit knows full well your awful glooms!Selah. Let the song go softly; this is no merry dance for the swift feet of the daughters of music, pause ye awhile, and let sorrow take breath between her sighs.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. If our hearts or consciences condemn us, it is impossible to remember him without being troubled. It will then be painful to remember that he is our Creator and Redeemer, for the remembrance will be attended with a consciousness of base ingratitude. It will be painful to think of him as Lawgiver; for such thoughts will remind us that we have broken his law. It will be painful to think of his holiness; for if he is holy, he must hate our sins, and be angry with us as sinners: --of his justice and truth, for these perfections make it necessary that he should fulfil his threatenings and punish us for our sins. It will be painful to think of his omniscience--for this perfection makes him acquainted with our most secret offences, and renders it impossible for conceal them from his view;

of his omnipresence--for the constant presence of an invisible witness must be disagreeable to those who wish to indulge their sinful propensities. It will be painful to think of his power--for it enables him to restrain or destroy, as he pleases: of his sovereignty, for sinners always hate to see themselves in the hands of a sovereign God: of his eternity and immutability--for from his possessing these perfections it follows that he will never alter the threatening which he has denounced against sinners, and that he will always live to execute them. It will be painful to think of him as judge; for we shall feel, that as sinners, we have no reason to expect a favourable sentence from his lips. It will even be painful to think of the perfect goodness and excellence of his character; for his goodness leaves us without excuse in rebelling against him, and makes our sins appear exceedingly sinful. Edward Payson.Ver. 3. I remembered God, and was troubled. All had not been well between God and him; and whereas formerly, in his remembrance of God, his thoughts were chiefly exercised about his love and kindness, now they were wholly possessed with his own sin and unkindness. This causeth his trouble. Herein lies a share of the entanglements occasioned by sin. Saith such a soul in itself, "Foolish creature, hast thou thus requited the Lord?" Is this the return that thou hast made unto him for all his love, his kindness, his consolations, mercies? Is this thy kindness for him, thy love to him? Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Is this thy boasting of him, that thou hadst found so much goodness and excellence in him and his love, that though all men should forsake him, thou never would do so? Are all thy promises all thy engagements which thou madest unto God, in times of distress upon prevailing obligations, and mighty impressions of his good Spirit upon thy soul, now come to this, that thou shouldest so foolishly forget, neglect, despise, cast him off? Well! now he is gone; he is withdrawn from thee; and what wilt thou do? Art thou not even ashamed to desire him to return? They were thoughts of this nature that cut Peter to the heart upon his fall. The soul finds them cruel as death, and strong as the grave. It is bound in the chains of them, and cannot be comforted, Psalms 38:3-6. John Owen.Ver. 3. There are moments in the life of all believers when God and his ways become unintelligible to them. They get lost in profound meditation, and nothing is left them but a desponding sigh. But we know from Paul the apostle that the Holy Spirit intercedes for believers with God, when they cannot utter their sighs. Romans 8:26. Augustus F. Tholuck.Ver. 3. Selah. In the end of this verse is put the word Selah. And it doth note unto the reader or hearer what a miserable and comfortless thing man is in trouble, if God be not present with him to help him. It is also put as a spur and prick for every Christian man and woman to remember and call upon God in the days of their troubles. For as the Jews say, wheresoever this word Selah is, it doth admonish and stir up the reader or hearer to mark what was said before it; for it is a word always put after very notable sentences. John Hooper.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:3. I remembered God, and was troubled — Yea, the thoughts of God, and of his infinite power, wisdom, truth, and goodness, which used to be very sweet and consolatory to me, were now causes of terror and trouble, because these divine attributes appeared to be all engaged against me; and God himself, my

only friend, now seemed to be very angry with me, and to have become mine enemy. The word אהמיה, ehemajah, here rendered I was troubled, properly signifies, I was in a state of perturbation, like that of the tumultuous waves of the sea in a storm. I complained — Unto God in prayer; and my spirit was overwhelmed — So far was I from finding relief by my complaints, that they increased my misery. Hebrew, אשיחהותתעש Š רוחי, ashicha vetithgnatteph ruchi, I meditated, and my spirit covered, overwhelmed, or obscured itself. My own reasonings, instead of affording me light and comfort, only served to overwhelm me with greater darkness and misery. How frequently is this the case with persons in distress of soul, through a consciousness of their guilt, depravity, and weakness, and their desert of the wrath of God! This verse “is a fine description,” says Dr. Horne, “of what passes in an afflicted and dejected mind. Between the remembrance of God and his former mercies, and the meditation on a seeming desertion, under present calamities, the affections are variously agitated, and the prayers disturbed like the tumultuous waves of a troubled sea; while the fair light from above is intercepted, and the face of heaven overwhelmed with clouds and darkness."

ELLICOTT, "Verse 3(3) I remembered.—Better,

“If I remember God I must sigh;

I meditate, and my spirit faints.”

Or,

“Let me remember God, and sigh;

I must complain, and my spirit faints.”

The word rendered overwhelmed (comp. Psalms 142:3; Psalms 143:4) means properly covers itself up. In Psalms 107:5 it is translated fainted.

WHEDO�, "3. I remembered God, and was troubled—Or, moaned. This remembrance of God corresponds to his seeking him in the previous verse, and the trouble, or moaning, to the stretching out of his hand, specimens of poetic parallelism. He was “troubled” because God was now withdrawn and hidden from him.

I complained—Hebrew, meditated, same word as is rendered “commune,” Psalms 77:6. To meditate is to hold a subject steadily before the mind, to consider it in all its relations; more intensive than remember; thus, “I remembered God and was troubled; I meditated and was overwhelmed."

SBC, "There are two points of view under which we wish to present this subject: the strangeness of such an experience and some of the reasons that may account for it.

I. The strangeness of such an experience—that a man should remember God and yet be

troubled. For consider: (1) that such an experience is against all that is made known to us of the nature of God. From the very first, revelation has had one purpose, and could have only one: to present God in such a light that His sinful creatures should come and find rest in Him. (2) It becomes strange when we reflect not only on the nature of God, but on His promises. They are so universal, so free, so full, that they seem fitted to meet every want and satisfy every yearning of the human soul. That the heart of a man who hears these words and believes that they come from the lips of God should be troubled at remembering Him must seem very strange. (3) It must appear strange further when we consider that trouble at the thought of God is declared to be against the experience of all sincere seekers. There is a history of cases reaching all through the Bible, and the burden of them is, "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." The appeal of all ages has been, "O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come." (4) Such an experience is against all that we can reasonably believe of the nature of the soul of man. If one theory be true about man’s soul, it is this: that out of God no full, satisfying end can be found for it. The soul is greater than the whole world, and the greater cannot be blessed of the less.

II. Consider some of the reasons that may be given for such an experience as this. (1) The first reason is that many men do not make God the object of sufficient thought. (2) Another reason why many are troubled at the thought of God is that they are seeking Him with a wrong view of the way of access. (3) A third reason is that they are seeking Him with some reserved thought of sin. (4) A fourth reason is that they have a mistaken view of God’s manner of dealing with us in this world.

It is in the experience of the Divine life that doubts melt away or can be held in quiet expectancy of a solution, and that we approach gradually to the calm of those that rest beneath the altar. The thought of God that for a while brings trouble shall be made the source of hope, the pledge that all with you and with His universe shall be ordered to a happy end; and even here amid the trouble and struggle of earth, He can put into the mouth some notes of the praise of heaven.

J. Ker, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 305.

4 You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.

BAR�ES, "Thou holdest mine eyes waking - literally, “Thou holdest the watchings of my eyes.” Gesenius (Lexicon) translates the Hebrew word rendered “waking,” “eyelids.” Probably that is the true idea. The eyelids are the watchers or guardians of the eyes. In danger, and in sleep, they close. Here the idea is, that God held them so that they did not close. He overcame the natural tendency of the eye to shut. In

other words, the psalmist was kept awake; he could not sleep. This he traces to God. The idea is, that God so kept himself before his mind - that such ideas occurred to him in regard to God - that he could not sleep.

I am so troubled - With sad and dark views of God; so troubled in endeavoring to understand his character and doings; in explaining his acts; in painful ideas that suggest themselves in regard to his justice, his goodness, his mercy.

That I cannot speak - I am struck dumb. I know not what to say. I cannot find “anything” to say. He must have a heart singularly and happily free by nature from scepticism, or must have reflected little on the divine administration, who has not had thoughts pass through his mind like these. As the psalmist was a good man, a pious man, it is of importance to remark, in view of his experience, that such reflections occur not only to the minds of bad people - of the profane - of sceptics - of infidel philosophers, but they come unbidden into the minds of good people, and often in a form which they cannot calm down. He who has never had such thoughts, happy as he may and should deem himself that he has not had them, has never known some of the deepest stirrings and workings of the human soul on the subject of religion, and is little qualified to sympathize with a spirit torn, crushed, agitated, as was that of the psalmist on these questions, or as Augustine and thousands of others have been in after-times. But let not a man conclude, because he has these thoughts, that therefore he cannot be a friend of God - a converted man. The wicked man invites them, cherishes them, and rejoices that he can find what seem to him to be reasons for indulging in such thoughts against God; the good man is pained; struggles against them: endearours to banish them from his soul.

CLARKE, "Thou holdest mine eyes waking - Literally, thou keepest the watches of mine eyes - my grief is so great that I cannot sleep.

I am so troubled that I cannot speak - This shows an increase of sorrow and anguish. At first he felt his misery, and called aloud. He receives more light, sees and feels his deep wretchedness, and then his words are swallowed by excessive distress. His woes are too big for utterance. “Small troubles are loquacious; the great are dumb.” Curae leves loquuntur; ingentes stupent.

GILL, "Thou holdest mine eyes waking,.... Or, "the watches", or rather "keepers of the eyes" (m); the eyebrows, which protect the eyes; these were held, so that he could not shut them, and get any sleep; so R. Moses Haccohen interprets the words, as Jarchi observes; and so the Targum,

"thou holdest the brows of my eyes;''

a person in trouble, when he can get some sleep, it interrupts his sorrow, weakens it at least, if it does not put a stop to it; wherefore it is a great mercy to have sleep, and that refreshing, Psa_127:1, but to have this denied, and to have wearisome nights, and be in continual tossing to and fro, is very distressing:

I am so troubled that I cannot speak; his spirits were so sunk with weariness, and want of sleep in the night, that he could not speak in the morning; or his heart was so full with sorrow, that he could not utter himself; or it was so great that he could not

express it; or his thoughts were such that he dared not declare them; or he was so straitened and shut up in himself that he could not go on speaking unto God in prayer.

JAMISO�, "holdest ... waking — or, “fast,” that I cannot sleep. Thus he is led to express his anxious feelings in several earnest questions indicative of impatient sorrow.

CALVI�, "4.Thou hast held the watches of my eyes. (288) This verse is to the same effect with the preceding. The Psalmist affirms that he spent whole nights in watching, because God granted him no relief. The night in ancient times was usually divided into many watches; and, accordingly, he describes his continued grief, which pre. vented him from sleeping, by the metaphorical term watches. When he stated a little before that he prayed to God with a loud voice, and when he now affirms that he will remain silent, there seems to be some appearance of discrepancy. This difficulty has already been solved in our exposition of Psalms 32:3, where we have shown that true believers, when overwhelmed with sorrow, do not continue in a state of unvarying uniformity, but sometimes give vent to sighs and complaints, while, at other times, they are silent as if their mouths were stopped. It is, therefore, not wonderful to find the prophet frankly confessing that he was so overwhelmed, and, as it were, choked, with calamities, as to be unable to open his mouth to utter even a single word.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. The fears which thy strokes excite in me forbid my eyelids to fall, my eyes continue to watch as sentinels forbidden to rest. Sleep is a great comforter, but it forsakes the sorrowful, and then their sorrow deepens and eats into the soul. If God holds the eyes waking, what anodyne shall give us rest? How much we owe to him who giveth his beloved sleep!I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Great griefs are dumb. Deep streams brawl not among the pebbles like the shallow brooklets which live on passing showers. Words fail the man whose heart fails him. He had cried to God but he could not speak to man, what a mercy it is that if we can do the first, we need not despair though the second should be quite out of our power. Sleepless and speechless Asaph was reduced to great extremities, and yet he rallied, and even so shall we.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. Thou art afflicted with want of sleep: --A complaint incident to distempered bodies and thoughtful minds. Oh, how wearisome a thing it is to spend the long night in tossing up and down in a restless bed, in the chase of sleep; which the more eagerly it is followed, flies so much the farther from

us! Couldest thou obtain of thyself to forbear the desire of it, perhaps it would come alone: now that thou suest for it, like to some froward piece, it is coy and overly, and punishes thee with thy longing. Lo, he that could command a hundred and seven and twenty provinces, yet could not command rest. `On that night his sleep departed from him, 'Ezra 6:1, neither could be forced or entreated to his bed. And the great Babylonian monarch, though he had laid some hand on sleep, yet he could not hold it; for "his sleep brake from him, "Daniel 2:1. And, for great and wise Solomon, it would not so much as come within his view. "�either day nor night seeth he sleep with his eyes." Ecclesiastes 8:16. Surely, as there is no earthly thing more comfortable to nature than bodily rest (Jeremiah 31:26); so, there is nothing more grievous and disheartening... Instead of closing thy lids to wait for sleep, lift up thy stiff eyes to him that "giveth his beloved rest, "Psalms 127:2. Whatever be the means, he it is that holdeth mine eyes waking. He that made thine eyes, keeps off sleep from thy body, for the good of thy soul: let not thine eyes wake, without thy heart. The spouse of Christ can say, "I sleep, but my heart waketh, "Song of Solomon 5:2. How much more should she say, "Mine eyes wake, and my heart waketh also!" When thou canst not sleep with thine eyes, labour to see him that is invisible: one glimpse of that sight is more worth than all the sleep that thine eyes can be capable of. Give thyself up into his hands, to be disposed of at his will. What is this sweet acquiescence but the rest of the soul? which if thou canst find in thyself, thou shalt quietly digest the want of thy bodily sleep. Joseph Hall, in his "Balm of Gilead."Ver. 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. He adds that he was so cut down and lifeless that he could not speak. Little griefs, as it is often said, are uttered, great ones strike us dumb. In great troubles and fears the spirit fails the exterior members, and flows back to its fountain; the limbs stand motionless, the whole body trembles, the eyes remain fixed, and the tongue forgets its office. Hence it is that �iobe was represented by the poets as turned into a stone. The history of Psammentius also, in Herodotus, is well known, how over the misfortunes of his children he sat silent and overwhelmed, but when he saw his friend's calamities he bewailed them with bitter tears. Mollerus.Ver. 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Sometimes our grief is so violent that it finds no vent, it strangles us, and we are overcome. It is with us in our desertions as with a man that gets a slight hurt; at first he walks up and down, but not looking betimes to prevent a growing mischief, the neglected wound begins to fester, or to gangrene, and brings him to greater pain and loss. So it is with us many times in our spiritual sadness; when we are first troubled, we pray and pour out our souls before the Lord; but afterwards the waters of our grief drown our cries and we are so overwhelmed, that if we might have all the world we cannot pray, or at least we can find no enlargement, no life, no pleasure in our prayers; and God himself seems to take no delight in them, and that makes us more sad, Psalms 22:1. Timothy Rogers (1660-1729), in "A Discourse on Trouble of Mind, and the Disease of Melancholy."Ver. 4. Troubled. Or, bruised: the Hebrew word probably signifieth an astonishment caused by some great blow received. John Diodati.Ver. 4. I cannot speak. Words are but the body, the garment, the outside of prayer; sighs are nearer the heart work. A dumb beggar getteth an alms at Christ's gates, even by making signs, when his tongue cannot plead for him; and the rather,

because he is dumb. Objection. I have not so much as a voice to utter to God; and Christ saith, "Cause me to hear thy voice" (Song of Solomon 2:14). Answer. Yea, but some other thing hath a voice beside the tongue: "The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping" (Psalms 6:8). Tears have a tongue, and grammar, and language, that our Father knoweth. Babes have no prayer for the breast, but weeping: the mother can read hunger in weeping. Samuel Rutherford.Ver. 4. If through all thy discouragements thy condition prove worse and worse, so that thou canst not pray, but are struck dumb when thou comest into his presence, as David, then fall making signs when thou canst not speak; groan, sigh, sob, "chatter, "as Hezekiah did; bemoan thyself for thine unworthiness, and desire Christ to speak thy requests for thee, and God to hear him for thee. Thomas Goodwin.

K&D 4-9, "He calls his eyelids the “guards of my eyes.” He who holds these so that they remain open when they want to shut together for sleep, is God; for his looking up to Him keeps the poet awake in spite of all overstraining of his powers. Hupfeld and others render thus: “Thou hast held, i.e., caused to last, the night-watches of mine eyes,” -which is affected in thought and expression. The preterites state what has been hitherto and has not yet come to a close. He still endures, as formerly, such thumps and blows

within him, as though he lay upon an anvil (7עם), and his voice fails him. Then silent

soliloquy takes the place of audible prayer; he throws himself back in thought to the days of old (Psa_143:5), the years of past periods (Isa_51:9), which were so rich in the proofs of the power and loving-kindness of the God who was then manifest, but is now hidden. He remembers the happier past of his people and his own, inasmuch as he now in the night purposely calls back to himself in his mind the time when joyful thankfulness

impelled him to the song of praise accompanied by the music of the harp (89ילה belongs

according to the accents to the verb, not to נגינתי, although that construction certainly is strongly commended by parallel passages like Psa_16:7; Psa_42:9; Psa_92:3, cf. Job_35:10), in place of which, crying and sighing and gloomy silence have now entered. He gives himself up to musing “with his heart,” i.e., in the retirement of his inmost nature, inasmuch as he allows his thoughts incessantly to hover to and fro between the present and the former days, and in consequence of this (fut. consec. as in Psa_42:6) his spirit

betakes itself to scrupulizing (what the lxx reproduces with σκάλλειν, Aquila with

σκαλεύειν) - his conflict of temptation grows fiercer. Now follow the two doubting

questions of the tempted one: he asks in different applications, Psa_77:8-10 (cf. Psa_85:6), whether it is then all at an end with God's loving-kindness and promise, at the same time saying to himself, that this nevertheless is at variance with the

unchangeableness of His nature (Mal_3:6) and the inviolability of His covenant. פסA

(only occurring as a 3. praet.) alternates with מרB (Psa_12:2). ותDח is an infinitive construct formed after the manner of the Lamed He verbs, which, however, does also

occur as infinitive absolute (ותFש, Eze_36:3, cf. on Psa_17:3); Gesenius and Olshausen (who doubts this infinitive form, §245, f) explain it, as do Aben-Ezra and Kimchi, as the

plural of a substantive הDח, but in the passage cited from Ezekiel (vid., Hitzig) such a

substantival plural is syntactically impossible. קפץ'רחמים is to draw together or contract and draw back one's compassion, so that it does not manifest itself outwardly, just as he

who will not give shuts (יק7ץ) his hand (Deu_15:7; cf. supra, Psa_17:10).

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking — By those bitter and continual griefs, and those perplexing and distressing thoughts and cares, which thou excitest within me. I am so troubled that I cannot speak — The greatness of my sorrow so stupifies and confuses my mind, that I can scarcely open my mouth to declare my grief in proper terms; nor can any words sufficiently express the extremity of my misery: see Job 2:13.

COFFMA�,"Verse 4A� EXPRESSIO� OF THE PSALMIST'S DOUBTS

"Thou holdest mine eyes watching;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I have considered the days of old,

The years of ancient times.

I call to remembrance my song in the night:

I commune with mine own heart;

And my spirit maketh diligent search.

Will the Lord cast off forever?

And will he be favorable no more?

Is his lovingkindness clean gone forever?

Doth his promise fail forever more?

Hath God forgotten to be gracious?

Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?"

"Thou holdest mine eyes watching" (Psalms 77:4). The Anchor Bible translates this: "Mine eyes are accustomed to vigils; I pace the floor and do not recline."[3]

"I call to remembrance my song in the night" (Psalms 77:6). "Many have been the songs that he either composed or sang; and he had once derived much spiritual comfort from them; but they gave him no help now, and aroused no feelings of

confident faith."[4]

The six plaintive questions of Psalms 77:7-9 are eloquent expressions indeed of the doubts and fears of the psalmist. He strongly desired to find negative answers to all these questions, but the harsh conditions confronting the nation of Israel seemed to demand an affirmation of his worst fears, namely, that God indeed: (1) had cast off; (2) was no longer favorable; (3) His lovingkindness gone; (4) His promise had failed; (5) had forgotten to be gracious; (6) and had shut up His tender mercies.

�o, God had not really "forgotten" His promise, nor shut off His mercies, nor cast off His true people, but the promises to Israel had always been conditional, that condition being their faithfulness to God; and when Israel no longer met that condition, God's blessings indeed ceased. That is why that such questions as these, as regarded the vast majority of ancient Israel, were indeed required to be answered affirmatively.

ELLICOTT, "Verse 4(4) Thou holdest mine eyes waking.—Rather, Thou hast closed the guards of my eyes—i.e., my eyelids. The Authorised Version mistakes the noun. guards, for a participle, and mistranslates it by the active instead of the passive. For the verb hold in the sense of shut, see �ehemiah 7:3, and Job 26:9, where God is described as veiling His throne in cloud, and so shutting it up, as it were, from the access of men.

I am so troubled.—The verb is used elsewhere of the awestruck state into which the mind is thrown by a mysterious dream (Genesis 41:8; Daniel 2:1; Daniel 2:3), and once (Judges 13:25) of inspiration, such as impelled the judges of old to become the liberators of their country. The parallelism here shows that it is used in the first connection. The poet has been struck dumb (the verb is rendered strike in the Lexicons) by a mysterious dream; he is too overawed to speak.

�ISBET, "THE PSALM OF THE SLEEPLESS �IGHT‘Thou holdest mine eyes waking.’Psalms 77:4I. The poet was in trouble, on what occasion cannot now be known, nor can we tell who wrote the poem, or at what period it was written. There are no traces of the authorship of David. But it is evidently very ancient. There is no allusion to the Temple worship. The one historical reference is to the Exodus. The appellation of the children of Israel, as sons of Jacob and Joseph, rather indicates that it was written prior to the division into two nations. Had it been of a late period Judah rather than Joseph would have been the term used. The word Jeduthun has no light for us.

All this makes the psalm really more helpful. The trouble was of a personal nature, hence the application of the poem is worldwide, suited for all in similar anxiety. It was not a national calamity, like the Captivity. It was ‘my trouble’—the Psalmist’s own sorrow. The help he sought was not for the nation, but for himself. The darkness was that of a cloudy night, when no stars are seen, for, whatever the trial

was, there came with it a doubt of the Divine mercy and a questioning of the Divine promise. Herein was the grief, for sorrow of soul is the soul of sorrow. He retired for rest, but the darkness brought no relief; indeed, in the quiet solitude of the bed-chamber the trouble seemed to increase. ‘Thou holdest my eyelids,’ he says to God. Sleep came not. The poem presents a vivid delineation of the mental bewilderment of an ancient night.

II. He thought of ‘the days of old,’ or, as in the original, of ‘the morning.’—A Midrash note says ‘of Abraham,’ who lived in the morning of faith. He recalled ancient times. He remembered one occasion when in the darkness he had such a sense of the Divine favour, that he sang for joy in the night season. At length he took the resolve to look away from self to an unchanging God. ‘This anxiety,’ said he, ‘is my infirmity, but I will think of the power of the Most High.’ He would turn round and no longer look at his own shadow, but at the bright sun. Soon the vision changes. On the canvas of the night comes vividly a scene of olden days. Other things were shut out, and this arose in his imagination.

It was the hour of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. How far the Psalmist’s vision was true to fact we cannot tell, he adds much to the record in Exodus. It was very real to him, and depicts a scene more full of awe than his own then present tribulation. Those lightning flashes were the arrows of the Almighty. He was marching mysteriously through the sea. Then comes a sublime contrast. Right in the centre, calm beneath the illumined cloud, went onwards the chosen people, led safely through it all by the appointed guides, like a peaceful flock directed by its shepherds to fresh pasture. With this grand etching the psalm closes. What more indeed is needed? The moral is so obvious it needs no stating. That old story abides in the Church as a picture-lesson of the mysterious but sure ways of God, and shows a safe path through the stormy dark sea of every period of anxious sorrow.

Illustration

‘It is well to pray that we may make the most of the wakeful hours, that they may be no more wasted ones than if we were up and dressed. They are His hours, for “the night also is Thine.” It will cost no more mental effort (nor so much) to ask Him to let them be holy hours, filled with His calming presence, than to let the mind run upon the thousand “other things” which seem to find even busier entrance during the night.

With thoughts of Christ and things DivineFill up this foolish heart of mine.It is an opportunity for proving the real power of the Holy Spirit to be greater than that of the Tempter. And He will without fail exert it, when sought for Christ’s sake.’

EBC, "In the next strophe of three verses (Psalms 77:4-6) the psalmist plunges yet deeper into gloom, and unfolds more clearly its occasion. Sorrow, like a beast of prey, devours at night; and every sad heart knows how eyelids, however wearied,

refuse to close upon as wearied eyes, which gaze wide opened into the blackness and see dreadful things there. This man felt as if God’s finger was pushing up his lids and forcing him to stare out into the night. Buffeted, as if laid on an anvil and battered with the shocks of doom, he cannot speak; he can only moan, as he is doing. Prayer seems to be impossible. But to say, "I cannot pray; would that I could!" is surely prayer, which will reach its destination, though the sender knows it not. The psalmist had found no ease in remembering God. He finds as little in remembering a brighter past. That he should have turned to history in seeking for consolation implies that his affliction was national in its sweep, however intensely personal in its pressure. This retrospective meditation on the great deeds of old is characteristic of the Asaph psalms. It ministers in them to many moods, as memory always does. In this psalm we have it feeding two directly opposite emotions. It may be the nurse of bitter Despair or of bright-eyed Hope. When the thought of God occasions but sighs, the remembrance of His acts can only make the present more doleful. The heavy spirit finds reasons for heaviness in God’s past and in its own.

The psalmist in his sleepless vigils remembers other wakeful times, when his song filled the night with music and "awoke the dawn." Psalms 77:6 is parallel with Psalms 77:3. The three key words, remember, muse, spirit recur. There, musing ended in wrapping the spirit in deeper gloom. Here, it stings that spirit to activity in questionings, which the next strophe flings out in vehement number and startling plainness. It is better to be pricked to even such interrogations by affliction than to be made torpid by it. All depends on the temper in which they are asked. If that is right, answers which will scatter gloom are not far off.

5 I thought about the former days, the years of long ago;

BAR�ES, "I have considered the days of old - Rather, “I do consider;” that is, “I think upon.” This refers to his resolution in his perplexity and trouble; the method to which he resorted in examining the subject, and in endeavoring to allay his troubles. He resolved to look at the past. He asked what was the evidence which was furnished on the subject by the former dealings of God with himself and with mankind; what could be learned from those dealings in regard to the great and difficult questions which now so perplexed his mind.

The years of ancient times - The records and remembrances of past ages. What is the testimony which the history of the world bears on this subject? Does it prove that God is worthy of confidence or not? Does it or does it not authorize and justify these painful thoughts which pass through the mind?

CLARKE, "I have considered the days of old - chishshabti, I have counted חשבתיup; I have reckoned up the various dispensations of thy mercy in behalf of the distressed, marked down in the history of our fathers.

GILL, "I have considered the days of old,.... Either the former part of his life, the various occurrences of it, how it had been with him in time past, what experience he had had of the divine goodness; so the Syriac version renders it, "I have considered my days of old"; or the preceding age, and what has happened in that, which his ancestors had acquainted him with; or rather many ages past, from the days of Adam to the then present time; at least it may include the Israelites coming out of Egypt, their passage through the Red sea and wilderness, the times of the judges, and what befell them in their days, and how they were delivered out of their troubles; as appears from the latter part of the psalm, and with which agrees the following clause:

the years of ancient times; or, "of ages" (n); of times long ago past; it is very useful to read the history of the Bible, with respect to ancient times, and so the ecclesiastical history of ages past, and observe the faith and dependence of the Lord's people upon him, and their deliverance out of trouble by him; which may be a means of strengthening faith in him, and of relief under present trials; but frequently the goodness of former times is only observed as an aggravation of the badness of the present ones, and of trouble in them; see Ecc_7:10, the Targum interprets the whole of happy days and times, paraphrasing it thus,

"I have mentioned the good days which were of old, the good years which were of ages past.''

HE�RY, "His melancholy reflections (Psa_77:5, Psa_77:6): “I have considered the days of old, and compared them with the present days; and our former prosperity does but aggravate our present calamities: for we see not the wonders that our fathers told us off.” Melancholy people are apt to pore altogether upon the days of old and the years of ancient times, and to magnify them, for the justifying of their own uneasiness and discontent at the present posture of affairs. But say not thou that the former days were better than these, because it is more than thou knowest whether they were or no, Ecc_7:10. Neither let the remembrance of the comforts we have lost make us unthankful for those that are left, or impatient under our crosses. Particularly, he called to remembrance his song in the night, the comforts with which he had supported himself in his former sorrows and entertained himself in his former solitude. These songs he remembered, and tried if he could not sing them over again; but he was out of tune for them, and the remembrance of them did but pour out his soul in him, Psa_43:4. See Job_35:10.

CALVI�, "5.I have recounted the days of old. There is no doubt that he endeavored

to assuage his grief by the remembrance of his former joy; but he informs us that relief was not so easily nor so speedily obtained. By the days of old, and the years of ancient times, he seems not only to refer to the brief course of his own life, but to comprehend many ages. The people of God, in their afflictions, ought, undoubtedly, to set before their eyes, and to call to their remembrance, not only the Divine blessings which they have individually experienced, but also all the blessings which God in every age has bestowed upon his Church It may, however, be easily gathered from the text, that when the prophet reckoned up in his own mind the mercies which God had bestowed in time past, he began with his own experience.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 5. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. If no good was in the present, memory ransacked the past to find consolation. She fain would borrow a light from the altars of yesterday to light the gloom of today. It is our duty to search for comfort, and not in sullen indolence yield to despair; in quiet contemplation topics may occur to us which will prove the means of raising our spirits, and there is scarcely any theme more likely to prove consolatory than that which deals with the days of yore, the years of the olden time, when the Lord's faithfulness was tried and proven by hosts of his people. Yet it seems that even this consideration created depression rather than delight in the good man's soul, for he contrasted his own mournful condition with all that was bright in the venerable experiences of ancient saints, and so complained the more. Ah, sad calamity of a jaundiced mind, to see nothing as it should be seen, but everything as through a veil of mist.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 5. The days of old. Doubtless to our first parents the darkness of the first night was somewhat strange; persons who had never seen anything but the light of the day, when the shadows of the night first did encompass them, could not be without some apprehension: yet when at the back of a number of nights they had seen the day spring of the morning lights constantly to arise; the darkness of the blackest nights was passed over without fear, and in as great security, as the light of the fairest days. To men who have always lived upon land, when first they set to sea, the winds, waves, and storms are exceeding terrible; but when they are a little beaten with the experience of tempests, their fears do change into resolution and courage. It is of no small use to remember that those things which vex most our spirit, are not new, but have already been in times before our days. Robert Baylie's Sermon before the House of Commons. 1643.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:5-6. I have considered the days of old — The mighty works of

God, wrought for his people in former times, if by that means I could get any comfort. I call to remembrance my song in the night — The many and great mercies and favours of God vouchsafed to me and his people, which have obliged me to adore him and sing his praise, not only in the day, the time appointed for that work, but also by night, as often as they came into my mind. My spirit made diligent search — What should be the reason of this strange and vast alteration, and how this sore trouble could come from the hand of so gracious and merciful a God as ours is, and what might be expected as to its continuance or removal. “A recollection of former mercies is the proper antidote against a temptation to despair in the day of calamity: and as in the divine dispensations, which are always uniform and like themselves, whatever has happened may, and probably will, happen again when the circumstances are similar; the experience of ancient times is to be called in to our aid, and duly consulted. Upon these topics we should, in the night of affliction, commune with our own hearts, and make diligent search, as Daniel did in Babylon, into the cause of our troubles, with the proper methods of shortening and bringing them to an end; by suffering them to have their intended and full effect in a sincere repentance, and thorough reformation.” — Horne.

6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

BAR�ES, "I call to remembrance my song in the night - Compare Job_35:10,

note; Psa_42:8, note. The word here rendered “song” - negıOynâh נגינה - means properly

the music of stringed instruments, Lam_5:14; Isa_38:20; then, a stringed instrument. It is the word which we have so often in the titles to the psalms (Psa_4:1-8; Psa_6:1-10; Psa_54:1-7; Ps. 55; Psa_67:1-7; Psa_76:1-12); and it is used here in the sense of song or psalm. The idea is, that there had been times in his life when, even in darkness and sorrow, he could sing; when he could find things for which to praise God; when he could find something that would cheer him; when he could take some bright views of God adapted to calm down his feelings, and to give peace to his soul. He recalls those times and scenes to his remembrance, with a desire to have those cheerful impressions renewed; and he asks himself what it was which then comforted and sustained him. He endeavors to bring those things back again, for if he found comfort then, he thinks that he might find comfort from the same considerations now.

I commune with mine own heart - I think over the matter. See the notes at Psa_4:4.

And my spirit made diligent search - In reference

(a) to the grounds of my former support and comfort; and

(b) in reference to the whole matter as it lies before me now.

CLARKE, "I call to remembrance my song in the night - I do not think that

neginath signifies some stringed נגינת neginathi means my song. We know that נגינתי

musical instrument that was struck with a plectrum, but here it possibly might be applied to the Psalm that was played on it. But it appears to me rather that the psalmist here speaks of the circumstances of composing the short ode contained in the seventh, eighth, and ninth verses; which it is probable he sung to his harp as a kind of dirge, if indeed he had a harp in that distressful captivity.

My spirit made diligent search - The verb חפש chaphas signifies such an investigation as a man makes who is obliged to strip himself in order to do it; or, to lift up coverings, to search fold by fold, or in our phrase, to leave no stone unturned. The Vulgate translates: ”Et scopebam spiritum meum.” As scopebam is no pure Latin word,

it may probably be taken from the Greek σκοπεω scopeo, “to look about, to consider attentively.” It is however used by no author but St. Jerome; and by him only here and in Isa_14:23 : And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction; scopabo eam in scopa terens. Hence we see that he has formed a verb from a noun scope, a sweeping brush or besom; and this sense my old Psalter follows in this place, translating the passage thus: And I sweped my gast: which is thus paraphrased: “And swa I sweped my gaste, (I swept my soul), that is, I purged it of all fylth.”

GILL, "I call to remembrance my song in the night,.... What had been an occasion of praising the Lord with a song, and which he had sung in the night seasons, when he was at leisure, his thoughts free, and he retired from company; or it now being night with him, he endeavoured to recollect what had been matter of praise and thankfulness to him, and tried to sing one of those songs now, in order to remove his melancholy thoughts and fears, but all to no purpose:

I commune with mine own heart; or "meditate" (o) with it; looked into his own heart, put questions to it, and conversed with himself, in order to find out the reason of the present dispensation:

and my spirit made diligent search; into the causes of his troubles, and ways and means of deliverance out of them, and what would be the issue and consequence of them; the result of all which was as follows.

CALVI�, "6.I will call to remembrance my song in the night. By his song he denotes the exercise of thanksgiving in which he had engaged during the time of his prosperity. (289) There is no remedy better adapted for healing our sorrows, as I have just now observed, than this; but Satan often craftily suggests to our thoughts the benefits of God, that the very feeling of the want of them may inflict upon our minds a deeper wound. It is, therefore, highly probable, that the prophet was pierced with bitter pangs when he compared the joy experienced by him in time past

with the calamities which he was presently suffering. He expressly mentions the night; because, when we are then alone by ourselves, and withdrawn from the society and presence of men, it engenders in the mind more cares and thoughts than are experienced during the day. What is added immediately after with respect to communing with his own heart, is to the same effect. Solitude has an influence in leading men to retire within their own minds, to examine themselves thoroughly, and to speak to themselves freely and in good earnest, when no created being is with them to impose a restraint by his presence.

The last clause of the verse, And my spirit will search diligently, admits of a twofold exposition. The word חפש, chaphas, for search diligently, (290) being in the masculine gender, and the word רוה, ruach, for spirit, being sometimes feminine, some commentators suppose that the name of God is to be understood, and explain the sentence as if the Psalmist had said, There is nothing, O Lord! so hidden in my heart into which thou hast not penetrated. And God is with the highest propriety said to search the spirit of the man whom he awakens from his indolence or torpor, and whom he examines by acute afflictions. Then all hiding — places and retreats, however obscure, are explored, and affections before unknown are brought into the light. As, however, the gender of the noun in the Hebrew language is ambiguous, others more freely translate, MY spirit hath searched diligently. This being the sense which is most generally embraced, and being, at the same time, the most natural, I readily adopt it. In that debate, of which the inspired writer makes mention, he searched for the causes on account of which he was so severely afflicted, and also into what. his calamities would ultimately issue. It is surely highly profitable to meditate on these subjects, and it is the design of God to stir us up to do this when any adversity presses upon us. There is nothing more perverse than the stupidity (291) of those who harden themselves under the scourges of God. Only we must keep within due bounds, in order that we may not be swallowed up of over much sorrow, and that the unfathomable depth of the Divine judgments may not overwhelm us by our attempting to search them out thoroughly. The prophet’s meaning is, that when he sought for comfort in all directions, he could find none to assuage the bitterness of his grief.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night. At other times his spirit had a song for the darkest hour, but now he could only recall the strain as a departed memory. Where is the harp which once thrilled sympathetically to the touch of those joyful fingers? My tongue, hast thou forgotten to praise? Hast thou no skill except in mournful ditties? Ah me, how sadly fallen am I! How lamentable that I, who like the nightingale could charm the night, am now fit comrade for the hooting owl.I commune with mine own heart. He did not cease from introspection, for he was resolved to find the bottom of his sorrow, and trace it to its fountain head. He made sure work of it by talking not with his mind only, but with his inmost heart; it was heart work with him. He was no idler, no melancholy trifler; he was up and at it, resolutely resolved that he would not tamely die of despair, but would fight for his hope to the last moment of life.

And my spirit made diligent search. He ransacked his experience, his memory, his intellect, his whole nature, his entire self, either to find comfort or to discover the reason why it was denied him. That man will not die by the hand of the enemy who has enough force of soul remaining to struggle in this fashion.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night. Either (1) "I will now, in the present night of affliction, remember my former songs." "Though this is a time of distress, and my present circumstances are gloomy, yet I have known brighter days. He that lifted me up, has cast me down, and he can raise me up again." Sometimes this reflection, indeed, adds a poignancy to our distress, as it did to David's trouble, Psalms 42:4. Yet it will bear a better improvement, which he seems to make of it; Psalms 77:11, and so Job, (Job 2:10.) "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" And his case shows that after the most sweeping calamities the Lord can again give things a turn in favour of them that hope in him. Therefore, present troubles should not make us forget former comforts, especially as the former so much exceeded our deserts, and the present afflictions fall so short of our demerits. Or (2) the text may mean, "I will remember how I have been enabled to sing in the former nights of affliction." And surely it is especially seasonable to remember supports and consolations granted under preceding distresses. Elihu complained (Job 35:10), "There is none that saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs on the night." David comforted himself with the thought, "Though deep calleth unto deep, yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me." Psalms 42:8. And the Lord promised by Isaiah (Isaiah 30:29), "Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept." �o doubt Paul and Silas remembered their song in the night, when imprisoned at Philippi; and it afforded them encouragement under subsequent trials. And cannot many of you, my brethren, in like manner, remember the supports and consolations you have enjoyed in former difficulties, and how the Lord turned the shadow of death into morning? And ought you not to trust to him that hath delivered, that he will yet deliver? He that hath delivered in six troubles, will not forsake you in seven. The "clouds may return after the rain, "but not a drop can fail without the leave of him, who rides on the heavens for your help, and in his excellency on the sky. Did you not forbode at first a very different termination of the former troubles? and did the Lord disappoint your fears, and put a new song into your mouth; and will you not now begin to trust him, and triumph in him? Surely you have found that the Lord can clear the darkest skies. "Light is sown for the righteous, "and ere long you shall see an eternal day. If such songs are given to the pilgrims of the night, how shall they sing in that world where the sun shall set no

more! There will be no night there. John Ryland. 1753-1825.Ver. 6. I call to remembrance: being glad in this scarcity of comfort, to live upon the old store, as bees do in winter. John Trapp.Ver. 6. My song in the night. The "songs of the night" is as favourite a word of the Old Testament as "glory in tribulation" is of the �ew, and it is one of those which prove that both Testaments have the self same root and spirit. John Kerr.Ver. 6. My spirit made diligent search. He falls upon self examination, and searcheth his spirit, to consider why the hand of God was so against him, and why the face of God was so hid from him. Some read it, "I digged into my spirit; "as Ezekiel digged into the wall, to search for and find out the abomination, that made the Lord thus leave him in the dark, and hide his face from him. He searcheth the wound of his spirit; that was another way to cure it. It is a notable way to cure the wounds of the soul, for the soul to search them. John Collings.Ver. 6 My spirit made diligent search. The verb vbx, chaphas, signifies such an investigation as a man makes who is obliged to strip himself in order to do it; or to lift up coverings, to search fold by fold, or in our own phrase, to leave no stone unturned. Adam Clarke.Ver. 6. My spirit made diligent search. As Ahasuerus, when he could not sleep, called for the records and chronicles of his kingdom, so the doubting soul betakes himself to the records of heaven, the word of God in the Scriptures, and one while he is reading there, another while looking into his heart, if he can find there anything that answers the characters of Scripture faith, as the face in the glass doth the face of man. David, when he was at a loss what to think of himself, and many doubts did clog his faith, insomuch that the thinking of God increased his trouble, he did not sit down and let the ship drive, as we say, not regarding whether God loved him or no, but communes with his own heart, and his spirit makes diligent search. Thus it is with every sincere soul under doubting: he dares no more sit down contented in that unresolved condition, than one who thinks he smells fire in his house dares settle himself to sleep till he hath looked in every room and corner, and satisfied himself that all is safe, lest he should be waked with the fire about his ears in the night: and the poor doubting soul is much more afraid, lest it should wake with hell fire about it: whereas a soul in a state and under the power of unbelief is secure and careless. William Gurnall.Ver. 6. Diligent search. Thus duty requires diligence. External acts of religion are facile; to lift up the eye to heaven, to bow the knee, to read a prayer, this requires no more labour than for a papist to tell over his beads; but to examine a man's self, to take the heart all in pieces as a watch, and see what is defective, this is not easy. Reflective acts are hardest. The eye can see everything but itself. It is easy to spy the faults of others, but hard to find out our own. Thomas Watson.

7 “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again?

BAR�ES, "Will the Lord cast off for ever? - This was the subject, and the substance, of his inquiry: whether it was a fair and just conclusion that God would show no mercy; would never be gracious again. Evidently the thought passed through his mind that this seemed to be the character of God; that things looked as if this were so; that it was difficult, if not impossible, to understand the divine dealings otherwise; and he asks whether this was a fair conclusion; whether he must be constrained to believe that this was so.

And will he be favorable no more? - Will he no more show favor to people? Will he pardon and save no more of the race of mankind?

CLARKE, "Will the Lord cast off for ever? - Will there be no end to this captivity? Has he not said, “Turn, ye backsliders; for I am married unto you: I will heal your backsliding, and love you freely.” Will he then be favorable no more? Thus the psalmist pleads and reasons with his Maker.

GILL, "Will the Lord cast off for ever?.... The Syriac version of this, and the two following verses, is not by way of interrogation, but affirmation: "the Lord hath forgotten me for ever, nor will he", &c. and so expresses the language of unbelief; but the Arabic version, in connection with the last words, with which it begins this verse, is, "and I weighed in my spirit whether the Lord", &c. and so makes it a subject of inquiry, and at most of questioning or doubting. The Targum, different from either, begins this and each of the verses thus, "is it possible that the Lord", &c. suggesting that it was not possible that he should do this and the other, and so speaks the language of faith. Unbelief in the psalmist said, the Lord will cast "me", or "his people", off, for either or both may be understood; which so appears when God hides his face, or does not immediately arise to help; or suffers the enemy to prevail, and difficulties and discouragements to obtain and continue; but Faith says, he will not cast off his people, whom he foreknew, from having a share in his affections, from being interested in his covenant, from his sight, and being the objects of his care, from enjoying the privileges of his house and family, or so as to perish eternally:

and will he be favourable no more? or bear good will, show kindness, be propitious, graciously accept, as the word (p) signifies; this question supposes that he had been favourable, and bore a good will, as the gracious purposes and kind intentions of his heart, the well stored covenant of his grace, and the mission of his Son to be a Saviour, show; that he has been propitious through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, and has accepted of the persons and services of his people, and indulged them with near communion with himself; but that now he is not, he having withdrawn the sense of his love, and the communications of his divine favours; and Unbelief says he will be so no more, and adds, I am cut off from before his eyes, and am as the slain, that are remembered no more; and shall go softly all my years, in the bitterness of my soul; but Faith says, he will be favourable again; that joy will come in the morning; that the Lord

will hear, and be a light unto the souls of his people, though in darkness; and will bring to the light, and cause to behold his righteousness.

HE�RY 7-10, ". His melancholy fears and apprehensions: “I communed with my own heart, Psa_77:6. Come, my soul, what will be the issue of these things? What can I think of them and what can I expect they will come to at last? I made diligent search into the causes of my trouble, enquiring wherefore God contended with me and what would be the consequences of it. And thus I began to reason, Will the Lord cast off for ever, as he does for the present? He is not now favourable; and will he be favourable no more? His mercy is now gone; and is it clean gone for ever? His promise now fails; and does it fail for evermore? God is not now gracious; but has he forgotten to be gracious? His tender mercies have been withheld, perhaps in wisdom; but are they shut up, shut up in anger?” Psa_77:7-9. This is the language of a disconsolate deserted soul, walking in darkness and having no light, a case not uncommon even with those that fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servant, Isa_50:10. He may here be looked upon, 1. As groaning under a sore trouble. God hid his face from him, and withdrew the usual tokens of his favour. Note, Spiritual trouble is of all trouble most grievous to a gracious soul; nothing wounds and pierces it like the apprehensions of God's being angry, the suspending of his favour and the superseding of his promise; this wounds the spirit; and who can bear that? 2. As grappling with a strong temptation. Note, God's own people, in a cloudy and dark day, may be tempted to make desperate conclusions about their own spiritual state and the condition of God's church and kingdom in the world, and, as to both, to give up all for gone. We may be tempted to think that God has abandoned us and cast us off, that the covenant of grace fails us, and that the tender mercy of our God shall be for ever withheld from us. But we must not give way to such suggestions as these. If fear and melancholy ask such peevish questions, let faith answer them from the Scripture: Will the Lord cast off for ever? God forbid, Rom_11:1. No; the Lord will not cast off his people, Psa_94:14. Will he be favourable no more? Yes, he will; for, though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion, Lam_3:32. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? No; his mercy endures for ever; as it is from everlasting, it is to everlasting, Psa_103:17. Doth his promise fail for evermore? No; it is impossible for God to lie, Heb_6:18. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? No; he cannot deny himself, and his own name which he hath proclaimed gracious and merciful, Exo_34:6. Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? No; they are new every morning (Lam_3:23); and therefore, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?Hos_11:8, Hos_11:9. Thus was he going on with his dark and dismal apprehensions when, on a sudden, he first checked himself with that word, Selah,“Stop there; go no further; let us hear no more of these unbelieving surmises;” and he then chid himself (Psa_77:10): I said, This is my infirmity. He is soon aware that it is not well said, and therefore, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? I said, This is my affliction” (so some understand it); “This is the calamity that falls to my lot and I must make the best of it; every one has his affliction, his trouble in the flesh; and this is mine, the cross I must take up.” Or, rather, “This is my sin; it is my iniquity, the plague of my own heart.” These doubts and fears proceed from the want and weakness of faith and the corruption of a distempered mind. note, (1.) We all know that concerning ourselves of which we must say, “This is our infirmity, a sin that most easily besets us.” (2.) Despondency of spirit, and distrust of God, under affliction, are too often the infirmities of good people, and, as such, are to be reflected upon by us with sorrow and shame, as by the psalmist here: This is my infirmity. When at any time it is working in us we must thus suppress the rising of it, and not suffer the evil spirit to speak. We must argue down the insurrections of unbelief, as the psalmist here: But I will remember the years of the

right hand of the Most High. He had been considering the years of ancient times (Psa_77:5), the blessings formerly enjoyed, the remembrance of which did only add to his grief; but now he considered them as the years of the right hand of the Most High, that those blessings of ancient times came from the Ancient of days, from the power and sovereign disposal of his right hand who is over all, God, blessed for ever, and this satisfied him; for may not the Most High with his right hand make what changes he pleases?

SBC 7-10, "The moral to be drawn from this Psalm is that in all troubles and adversities it is our own fault if we have not a light to guide and cheer us, and that the true remedy against despondency is to look back upon the love of God pledged to us and His mercy shown to us in former days.

I. As soon as David looks his desponding thoughts in the face, he sees their absurdity; and he sees, too, that all his painful feelings have arisen, not from the absence of God’s protecting care, but from his own weakness and foolishness. "I said, It is mine owninfirmity."

II. If the Psalmist allowed his mind a range wider than his own personal experience, and considered the past evidences of the presence of God with His Church, the conclusion would be the same. If God were with His Church, and David a member of it, he had sufficient to make distrust a fault and despondency a sin.

III. Each one of us in the ordinary progress both of his temporal and spiritual life may find much that is worthy of his imitation in the conduct of David as expressed in the text. In all the roughnesses of the road which we have to pass over, we may, after first acknowledging our own infirmity, repose our minds on the thought of God’s mercies to us in days gone by.

Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 2nd series, p. 66.

CALVI�, "7.and 8.Will the Lord cast off for ever? The statements here made undoubtedly form a part of the searchings which engaged the Psalmist’s mind. He intimates that he was almost overwhelmed by a long succession of calamities; for he did not break forth into this language until he had endured affliction for so long a period as hardly to venture to entertain the hope that God would in future be favorable to him. He might well argue with himself whether God would continue to be gracious; for when God embraces us with his favor, it is on the principle that he will continue to extend it towards us even to the end. He does not properly complain or find fault with God, but rather reasoning with himself, concludes, from the nature of God, that it is impossible for him not to continue his free favor towards his people, to whom he has once shown himself to be a father. As he has traced all the blessings which the faithful receive from the Divine hand to the mere good pleasure of God, as to a fountain; so a little after he adds the Divine goodness, as if he had said, How can we suppose it possible for God to break off the course of his fatherly layout, when it is considered that he cannot divest himself of his own nature? We see, then, how by an argument drawn from the goodness of God, he repels the assaults of temptation. When he puts the question, Doth his word or oracle fail? he intimates that he was destitute of all consolation, since he met with no promise to support and strengthen his faith. We are indeed thrown into a gulf of despair when

God takes away from us his promises in which our happiness and salvation are included. If it is objected, that such as had the ]Law among their hands could not be without the word of God, I answer, that on account of the imperfection of the former dispensation, when Christ was not yet manifested, (295) special promises were then necessary. Accordingly, in Psalms 74:9, we find the faithful complaining that they saw not any longer their wonted signs, and that there was no longer a prophet who had knowledge of the time among them. If David was the penman of this psalm, we know that in matters of doubt and perplexity it was usual with him to ask counsel from God, and that God was accustomed to grant him answers. If he was deprived of this source of alleviation in the midst of his calamities, he had reason to bewail that he found no oracle or word to sustain and strengthen his faith. But if the psalm was composed by some other inspired prophet, this complaint will suit the period which intervened between the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity and the coming of Christ; for, during that time, the course of prophecy was in a manner broken off, and there was none endued with any peculiar gift of the Holy Spirit to raise up the hearts of those who were cast down, or to support and keep them from falling. In addition to this, it sometimes happens that although the word of God is offered to us, it yet does not enter into our minds, in consequence of our being involved in such deep distress, as to prevent us from receiving or admitting the smallest degree of comfort. But I embrace the former sense, which is, that the Church was now without those special announcements of prophecy with which she had formerly been favored, and that as she still depended upon the mere sight of the shadows of that economy, she stood constantly in need of fresh supports. From this we may gather the profitable lesson, that we ought not to be unduly disquieted, if God should at any time withdraw his word from us. It should be borne in mind, that he tries his own people by such wonderful methods, that they imagine the whole of Scripture to be turned from its proper end, and that although they are desirous to hear God speaking, they yet cannot be brought to apply his words to their own particular case. This, as I have said, is a distressing and painful thing; but it ought not to hinder us from engaging in the exercise of prayer.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 7. Wilt the Lord cast off forever? This was one of the matters he enquired into. He painfully knew that the Lord might leave his people for a season, but his fear was that the time might be prolonged and have no close; eagerly, therefore, he asked, will the Lord utterly and finally reject those who are his own, and suffer them to be the objects of his contemptuous reprobation, his everlasting cast offs? This he was persuaded could not be. �o instance in the years of ancient times led him to fear that such could be the case.And will he be favourable no more? Favourable he had been; would that goodwill never again show itself? Was the sun set never to rise again? Would spring never follow the long and dreary winter? The questions are suggested by fear, but they are also the cure for fear. It is a blessed thing to have grace enough to look such questions in the face, for their answer is self evident and eminently fitted to cheer the heart.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:7-9. Will the Lord cast off for ever? — “The psalmist now relates the process of his meditations, and of that controversy which arose in his heart between faith and distrust.” Most commentators suppose that the psalmist’s distress and despondency were occasioned chiefly, if not solely, by public calamities. Thus Poole seems to have understood the passage. “Will the Lord cast off — His peculiar and chosen people? This does not seem to agree either with God’s nature, or with that everlasting covenant which he hath made with them. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? — Are all the stores of his mercy quite spent? Doth he now cease to be what he hath styled himself, The Lord, gracious and merciful? &c. Doth his promise fail for evermore? — Will he never make good those gracious promises in which he hath commanded us to hope? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? —Because he hath so long disused so to be? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? — So as they can never flow forth, no, not to his own people?” In the same light it is considered by Dr. Horne, who observes upon it, “While he (the psalmist) viewed the distressful scene around him, he found himself strongly tempted to question God’s love of the church; to think that he had finally rejected his people; that the promised mercy of redemption would never be accomplished; and that indignation had restrained the bowels of our heavenly Father, which no longer yearned toward his afflicted children. These were the thoughts suggested to a desponding soul by the desolations of Zion at that time; and the state of things in the world may possibly be such as to suggest the like thoughts to many in the Christian Church, before our Lord shall appear again for her final redemption.” But there does not seem to be any intimation in the Psalm that the author’s trouble and dejection arose from public miseries. Personal trials and temptations might, and it seems probable from the expressions here used, that they were at least the principal causes of his distress and despondency. Thus Henry: “This is the language of a disconsolate soul, now walking in darkness, and having no light, a case not uncommon even with those who fear the Lord, and obey the voice of his servant, Isaiah 50:10.” Especially, we may add, when exercised with afflictive and trying dispensations of providence, or assaulted with sore temptations. Even “God’s own people, in a cloudy and dark day,” and the rather if they have grieved the Holy Spirit, which should have witnessed their sonship, and have defiled their conscience by yielding to any known sin, in temper, word, or work, or to lukewarmness and sloth, or the spirit of the world, “may be tempted to make desperate conclusions about their own spiritual state, or the condition of God’s church and kingdom in the world; and, as to both, may be ready to give up all for gone. We may be tempted to think that God has abandoned and cast us off; that the covenant of grace fails us, and that the tender mercy of our God shall be for ever withheld from us. But we must not give way to such suggestions as these. If fear and melancholy ask such peevish questions, let faith answer them from the Scripture. Will the Lord cast off for ever? God forbid, Romans 11:1. �o; the Lord will not cast off his” obedient “people, Psalms 94:14. Will he be favourable no more? Yes, he will; for though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion, Lamentations 3:32. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? �o; his mercy endureth for ever; as it is from everlasting, so it is to everlasting, Psalms 103:17. Doth his promise fail for evermore? �o; it is impossible for God to lie, Hebrews 6:18. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? �o; he cannot deny himself, and his own name, which he hath proclaimed to be gracious and

merciful, Exodus 34:6. Has his anger shut up his tender mercies? �o; they are new every morning, Lamentations 3:22.” Thus Henry. To whose encouraging observations we may add, nearly in the words of Sherlock, that “whether the calamities which afflicted the psalmist were private to himself, or public to his people and country, yet as long as his thoughts dwelt on them, and led him into expostulations with God for the severity of his judgments, he found no ease or relief. He complained heavily, but what did he get by his complaint? Was he not forced immediately to confess the impropriety and folly of it? I said, This is my infirmity. He said very right. In complaining, he followed the natural impressions of passion and impatience: in acknowledging the folly of his complaint, he spoke not only the language of grace, but of sense and reason. But this good man, being well grounded in religion, was able so far to get the better of his doubts and fears as to pass a right judgment in his own case: and to call to his assistance the proper reflections which the great works of Providence administered for the support and confirmation of his hope and confidence toward God. Here then was his comfort; here the cure of all his grief. The scene around him was dark and gloomy; but, dark as it was, it was under the guidance and direction of the hand which had never failed the faithful, to deliver him out of all his troubles."

ELLICOTT, "Verses 7-9(7-9) The self-questionings here follow as they rise sigh after sigh in the poet’s heart. God’s silences have always been more appalling to the human spirit than even the most terrible of His manifestations. To the pious Israelite, to whom the past history of his race appeared one scene of opportune interpositions to save at the moment when distress became too intolerable, it seemed as if the divine protection was altogether withdrawn when the misery was protracted and the sign of help withheld.

EBC, "The comparison of present national evils with former happiness naturally suggests such questions. Obviously, the casting off spoken of in Psalms 77:7 is that of the nation, and hence its mention confirms the view that the psalmist is suffering under public calamities. All the questions mean substantially one thing-has God changed? They are not, as some questions are, the strongest mode of asserting their negative; nor are they, like others, a more than half assertion of their affirmative; but they are what they purport to be - the anxious interrogations of an afflicted man, who would fain be sure that God is the same as ever, but is staggered by the dismal contrast of �ow and Then. He faces with trembling the terrible possibilities, and, however his language may seem to regard failure of resources or fickleness of purpose or limitations in long suffering as conceivable in God, his doubts are better put into plain speech than lying diffused and darkening, like poisonous mists, in his heart. A thought, be it good or bad, can be dealt with when it is made articulate. Formulating vague conceptions is like cutting a channel in a bog for the water to run. One gets it together in manageable shape, and the soil is drained. So the end of the despondent half of the psalm is marked by the bringing to distinct speech of the suspicions which floated in the singer’s mind and made him miserable. The Selah bids us dwell on the questions, so as to realise their gravity and prepare ourselves for their answer.

SIMEO�,"DESPO�DE�CY DEPICTED A�D REPROVED

Psalms 77:7-10. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And, I said, this is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

IT pleases God to deal with men in a great variety of ways: some, in their bodies, experience scarce any pain or sickness till the period of their dissolution; whilst others know little of health or ease through the greatest part of their lives. In like manner, the souls of some enjoy an almost uninterrupted course of peace and prosperity; whilst others are made to pass through deep waters, and to sustain fiery trials during a great part of their earthly pilgrimage. It is of these last that we propose at this time to speak. The afflictions of Asaph were certainly exceeding heavy: and the account, which in the preceding verses he gives of himself, shews, that he may well be considered as a mirror, wherein the Lord’s people in all ages may, under their several temptations, behold the workings of their own minds. Scarcely any one can experience a sorer temptation than his [�ote: He seems to have been that Asaph who was contemporary with David.]. When he wrote this psalm, he was brought through it [�ote: ver. 1.]: but he tells us faithfully, what were his views and feelings under it. He sought the Lord without intermission; but found no comfort [�ote: ver. 2.]: his very recollections of God’s character contributed only to augment his grief [�ote: ver. 3.]. To such a degree was his spirit oppressed, that he was deprived of all rest by night, and of all power of friendly communication by day; and he altogether sunk under his trouble [�ote: ver. 3, 4.]. In vain did he call to mind the consolations he had enjoyed under former trials [�ote: ver. 5, 6.], or examine to find the causes of this peculiar dispensation [�ote: ver. 6.]: he thought surely that God himself must have changed, and have cast off that character, which, in appearance at least, he had on all former occasions exhibited: yea, his darling attributes of mercy and truth seemed to have undergone a change, and to have assumed an aspect totally different from that in which they had hitherto been viewed [�ote: ver. 7–9.].

Happily, however, the snare was broken; and he saw, that these hard thoughts of God had no foundation in truth: they were the result only of his own weakness [�ote: ver. 10.]; and would be effectually removed by a more attentive consideration of all that God had done for his people of old [�ote: ver. 10–20.].

His temptation was at its height, when he asked the questions recorded in our text. We shall do well therefore to consider,

I. What these questions import—

They are not to be viewed as subjects of a merely speculative inquiry, but to be taken in connexion with all that agitation of mind that is depicted in the foregoing

context. In this view they express,

1. Disquieting apprehensions in reference to himself—

[He had thought in former times, that he was a monument of God’s “mercy,” and an object of his “favourable” regard: but now he seems as one cast out, and doomed to everlasting misery. It must be remembered, that interrogations, which in our language would imply a negation of the thing inquired about, have frequently in Scripture the force of affirmations [�ote: Jeremiah 2:14; Jeremiah 31:20.]: and thus it is in the various questions that are before us, in which therefore there is a very strong degree of apprehension intimated. Yet is this feeling by no means uncommon at the present day. Many in a season of darkness are led to write bitter things against themselves, and to account all their past profession a continued scene of hypocrisy and self-delusion. They think that they have resisted the Spirit, till they have utterly quenched his sacred motions; yea, that they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, and placed themselves, as it were, out of the reach of mercy: and such an unhappy degree of positiveness frequently accompanies these apprehensions, that they read their doom as if it had been already past, and disregard all means of grace as though it were utterly in vain to use them.]

2. Desponding fears in reference to God—

[He properly referred every thing to God as the one source of all good: but instead of deriving comfort from this, he made it an occasion of increased despondency. And thus it is with many: “They remember God, and are troubled.” Every attribute of the Deity is brought against them, to aggravate their guilt and ensure their condemnation. Even mercy and truth are regarded by them as arrayed in hostile attitude against them, and as uniting their influence on the side of offended justice. His paternal corrections are considered by them as judicial inflictions, and as the forerunners of yet heavier judgments in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. His delays in answering prayer are viewed as absolute refusals, and as decisive proofs of final dereliction. Hence their fears are vented in terms similar to those in the passage before us [�ote: Lamentations 3:17-18.].]

An apprehension of the true import of these questions will enable us to discover,

II. Whence they proceed—

Justly did Asaph say, “This is my infirmity:” and a grievous infirmity it was. Such questions as his arise,

1. From impatience—

[There is great impatience in the mind of man, yea, even of good men, and especially under any dark and mysterious dispensation. We are apt to think that God is, as it were, bound to hear us, and to interpose, either for the solution of our difficulties, or the removal of our trials, as soon as we call upon him. We cannot wait his leisure.

Like Saul, we think he has forgotten us; and, that our enemies will crush us, before he can come to our relief [�ote: 1 Samuel 13:12-13.], Thus David was exercised, as he himself tells us: “I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes [�ote: Psalms 31:22.].” To such a degree was he agitated on one occasion, that he declared, it was altogether in vain that he had served God: “Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency [�ote: Psalms 73:13; Psalms 73:21.].” And, as for all that God’s saints had spoken from the beginning of the world respecting the grace and mercy and fidelity of God, he did not hesitate to pronounce it all a downright falsehood: “I said in my haste, all men are liars [�ote: Psalms 116:11.].” The Prophet Jeremiah, too, cast reflections even upon God himself, as having deceived him by false promises; “Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived [�ote: Jeremiah 20:7.].” Alas! what a root of bitterness is an impatient spirit! and how greatly does it aggravate the calamities under which we suffer! Surely we should leave times and seasons, whether of trial or consolation, unto God, and say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him [�ote: Job 13:15.].”]

2. From unbelief—

[This is the great source of all our disquietude. If we truly believe that God ordered every thing with infallible wisdom, and unbounded goodness, and an inviolable fidelity, we could never be put into such a consternation as is expressed in our text. We should rather lie as clay in his hands; and leave him to fashion us according to his will, and to put us into as many successive furnaces as he sees fit, and to accomplish his own purposes in his own way. We should have it fixed as an immutable principle in our minds, that though “clouds and darkness may be round about him, justice and judgment are the basis of his throne:” and under the influence of this faith, we should adopt the language of the Prophet Habakkuk, and say, “Althougn the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation [�ote: Habakkuk 3:17-18.].”]

Happily the same authority that points out the source of these questions, shews us also,

III. How they should be answered—

Would we know what God will do, we should attentively consider what he hath done. We should mark his wonders of old, and observe all the diversified exercises of his perfections towards his people from the beginning of the world, and especially towards the Israelites whom he redeemed from the land of Egypt:

1. How mighty his power!

[When the moment for the deliverance of his people was arrived, not all the power of Egypt could detain them. Difficulties indeed were multiplied, but only for the purpose of displaying more gloriously his power in their behalf. The Red Sea

obstructed their flight; but it opened at God’s command, and made for his people a passage on dry ground; and then closed again to overwhelm their enemies. Their necessities in the wilderness were such as no human power or wisdom could supply: but this also only tended in the same manner to proclaim His might, who for the space of forty yean fed them with bread from heaven, and with water out of the stony rock, and caused their garments never to decay. Be it so then, that our difficulties are great, yea, insuperable by human power: then will God magnify towards us his power so much the more, and shew, that still, as in former times, he “makes the depths of the sea (not a place for his people to be drowned in, but) a way for the ransomed to pass over [�ote: Isaiah 51:10.].”]

2. How rich his mercy!

[Truly it was “not for their righteousness that he brought them out; for they were a stiff-necked people” from the very beginning: and “many a time would he have consumed them for their iniquities, but for his own name’s sake, that it should not be dishonoured among the heathen.” See their murmurings, their idolatries, their innumerable provocations, and then say, whether God’s grace be not sovereign, and his mercy infinite? And, if such surmises as those suggested in our text arise in our minds respecting him, let us remember, that he is the same God now as in former ages, and that now, as well as in former times, the very chief of sinners, if truly penitent, shall be accepted of him; and that “where sin has abounded, his grace shall much more abound [�ote: Romans 5:20.].”]

3. How mysterious his ways!

[In the space of a few months God had brought his people to the borders of Canaan; and yet for their murmuring and unbelief he turned them back into the wilderness, and caused them to wander there forty years, till all that generation, excepting two persons, were swept away. This was most mysterious: yet are we told on infallible authority, that “He led them by the right way.” In truth, that dispensation has afforded the richest instruction to the Church from that period to the present hour, and will continue to do so to the end of time: and it will be found that his darkest dispensations towards us also are the most replete with instruction to our souls. It is usually those who are most exercised with trials, that know most of themselves, and most of God. Whenever therefore his dealings with us appear strange and inexplicable, let us compose our minds with the reflection suggested toward the close of this psalm, “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known [�ote: Isaiah 51:10.].”]

4. How sure his promises!

[He had pledged himself to Abraham, that he would bring his posterity into the full possession of the Promised Land: and, though for their iniquities he caused all who came out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, yet he brought their children, who they supposed would fall an easy prey to their enemies, into that good land, and gave it them for their inheritance: and so perfectly did he fulfil his word to them in every

respect, that Joshua after many years could appeal to the whole nation, that “not one thing had failed of all the good things which the Lord their God had spoken concerning them; all was come to pass unto them, and not one thing had failed thereof [�ote: Joshua 23:14.].” Thus, if the thought arise in our hearts, “Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?” our answer must be, “�o:” “it is impossible for God to lie [�ote: Hebrews 6:18.]:” “his promises in Christ are all yea, and amen [�ote: 2 Corinthians 1:20.]:” and “his mercy endureth for ever [�ote: Psalms 136:1-26.].”]

Address,

1. Those who are walking in darkness—

[There are changes in the spiritual, as well as in the natural world. We must not any of us expect that our sun shall shine equally at all times with, unclouded splendour. �otwithstanding we may truly “fear God and obey the voice of his servants, we may yet be walking in darkness and have no light.” But in that state we are directed what to do: we must “trust in the Lord, and stay upon our God [�ote: Isaiah 50:10.].” The longest night will have an end: and if we wait patiently upon our God, “his way is prepared as the morning,” which, though the night appear exceeding long and tedious, will come at last [�ote: Hosea 6:3.]. He may for wise reasons hide his face from us for a time; but it shall not be for ever [�ote: Isaiah 54:7-8.]. Hear his own answer to the complaints which we are apt to make [�ote: Isaiah 49:14-16.] — — — And know, that though “heaviness may endure for a night, joy shall surely come to us in the morning [�ote: Psalms 30:5.]:” if only we wait till the appointed hour, “our light shall rise in obscurity, and our darkness shall be as the noon day [�ote: Isaiah 58:10.].”]

2. Those who enjoy the light of God’s countenance—

[O what a privilege, what an unspeakable blessing, is this! Learn to value it aright: and take care that you do not presume upon the mercy vouchsafed unto you. Do not be saying with David, “My mountain stands strong, I shall never be moved,” lest you provoke “God to hide his face from you, and you be troubled [�ote: Psalms 30:7.].” A slavish fear is doubtless to be avoided on the one hand; but so is a presumptuous security on the other. The true medium is, to “rejoice with trembling [�ote: Psalms 2:11.],” and to unite “the fear of the Lord with the comforts of the Holy Ghost [�ote: Acts 9:31.].” Be watchful then, that you do not by any unhallowed dispositions “grieve the Holy Spirit [�ote: Ephesians 4:30.];” but endeavour to “walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long [�ote: Proverbs 23:17.].”]

8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?

BAR�ES, "Is his mercy clean gone for ever? - The word rendered “clean gone” means to fail; to fail utterly. The idea is, Can it be that the compassion of God has become exhausted - that no more mercy is to be shown to mankind - that henceforth all is to be left to stern and severe justice? What would the world be if this were so! What must be the condition of mankind if mercy were no more to be shown to the race!

Doth his promise fail for evermore? - Margin, as in Hebrew, “to generation and generation.” The original Hebrew rendered “promise” means “word;” and the question is, whether it can be that what God has spoken is to be found false. Can we no longer rely on what he has said? All the hopes of mankind depend on that, and if that should fail, all prospect of salvation in regard to our race must be at an end.

CLARKE, "For evermore? - ”.ledor'vador, “to generation and generation לדר'ודרFrom race to race. Shall no mercy be shown even to the remotest generation of the children of the offenders?

GILL, "Is his mercy clean gone for ever?.... Or "his grace" (q); and mercy is no other than grace to objects in misery; Unbelief says it is gone, that no more will be shown, and that the treasures of it are exhausted; but Faith says it is not gone, and observes that God is the God of all grace, is rich in mercy, and abundant in goodness; that his Son is full of grace and truth, and so is the covenant; and that though there is an abundance of it given in conversion, and there are continual supplies of it afterwards; yet this grace is still sufficient, and this mercy abundant; salvation is by it, as for millions past, so for millions present and to come; the mercy of God is new every morning, it endures for ever, it is from everlasting to everlasting:

doth his promise fail for evermore? or word (r); his words of consolation, as Kimchi interprets it; the sense may be, will he speak never a word of comfort more? Unbelief says he will not, but Faith says he will; and that though he brings into the wilderness, yet he will speak comfortably there; and as he answered the Angel of the covenant with good and comfortable words, so he orders his ministers to speak, and by them he does speak comfortably to his people: or, in general, the word of the Gospel is meant; which though it may be sometimes scarce and rare, and there may be few preachers of it; yet it lives and abides for ever, it is the everlasting Gospel; or, in particular, the promise or promises of the Gospel: Faith says not one of these shall fail, grounding it upon the ability of God, and his power to perform: and upon his faithfulness, which he will never suffer to fail; and the promises of God are so far from

failing for evermore, that they never fail at all; there never was any instance of any; not one of the good things which God has spoken of, from the creation of the world to this present time, have ever failed; the promises are yea and amen in Christ; see Jos_23:14. The Targum interprets it differently of his evil word being fulfilled on every generation.

CALVI�, "9.Hath God forgotten to be merciful? The prophet still continues debating with himself the same subject. His object, however, is not to overthrow his faith, but rather to raise it up. He does not put this question, as if the point to which it refers were a doubtful matter. It is as if he had said, Hath God forgotten himself? or, hath he changed his nature? for he cannot be God unless he is merciful. I indeed admit that he did not remain unshaken as if he had had a heart of steel. But the more violently he was assailed, the more firmly did he lean upon the truth, That the goodness of God is so inseparably connected with his essence as to render it impossible for him not to be merciful. Whenever, therefore, doubts enter into our minds upon our being harassed with cares, and oppressed with sorrows, let us learn always to endeavor to arrive at a satisfactory answer to this question, Has God changed his nature so as to be no longer merciful? The last clause, Hath he shut up or restrained his compassions in his anger? is to the same effect. It was a very common and notable observation among the holy patriarchs, That God is long —suffering, slow to wrath, ready to forgive, and easy to be entreated. It was from them that Habakkuk derived the statement which he makes in his song,

“Even in his anger he will be mindful of his mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2)

The prophet, then, here comes to the conclusion, that the chastisement which he felt would not prevent God from being again reconciled to him, and returning to his wonted manner of bestowing blessings upon him, since his anger towards his own people endures only for a moment. Yea, although God manifests the tokens of his anger, he does not cease most tenderly to love those whom he chastises. His wrath, it its true, rests continually upon the reprobate; but the prophet, accounting himself among the number of God’s children, and speaking of other genuine believers, justly argues from the impossibility of the thing, that the temporary displeasure of God cannot break off the course of his goodness and mercy.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? If he has no love for his elect, has he not still his mercy left? Has that dried up? Has he no pity for the sorrowful?Doth his promise fail for evermore? His word is pledged to those who plead with him; is that become of none effect? Shall it be said that from one generation to another the Lord's word has fallen to the ground; whereas aforetime he kept his covenant to all generations of them that fear him? It is a wise thing thus to put unbelief through the catechism. Each one of the questions is a dart aimed at the very heart of despair. Thus have we also in our days of darkness done battle for life itself.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the

tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 8. Doth his promise fail for evermore? Let no appearing impossibilities make you question God's accomplishment of any of his gracious words. Though you cannot see how the thing can be done, it is enough, if God has said that he will do it. There can be no obstructions to promised salvation, which we need to fear. He who is the God of this salvation, and the Author of the promise, will prepare his own way for the doing of his own work, so that "every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low." Lu 3:5. Though the valleys be so deep that we cannot see the bottom, and the mountains so high that we cannot see the tops of them, yet God knows how to raise the one and level the other; Isaiah 53:1 : "I that speak in righteousness (or faithfulness) am mighty to save." If anything would keep back the kingdom of Christ, it would be our infidelity; but he will come, though he should find no faith on the earth. See Romans 3:3. Cast not away your confidence because God defers his performances. Though providence run cross, though they move backwards and forwards, you have a sure and faithful word to rely upon. Promises, though they be for a time seemingly delayed, cannot be finally frustrated. Dare not to harbour such a thought within yourselves. The being of God may as well fail as the promise of God. That which does not come in your time, will be hastened in his time, which is always the more convenient season. Timothy Cruso.

WHEDO�, "8. Is his mercy… gone for ever— “For ever,” here, is another of the class of strongest Hebrew words to denote eternal duration, and never occurs but once (Psalms 44:23) in such connexion, except in the psalms of the captivity. In Psalms 74 it occurs four times, (Psalms 77:1; Psalms 77:3; Psalms 77:10; Psalms 77:19,) also in Psalms 79:5; Psalms 89:46.

For evermore—Hebrew, to generation and generation.

9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

BAR�ES, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? - Has he passed over mercy in

administering his government? Has he ceased to remember that man needs mercy? Has he forgotten that this is an attribute of his own nature?

Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? - The original word here rendered “tender mercies” refers to the “bowels,” as the seat of compassion or mercy, in accordance with a usage common in Hebrew. See Psa_25:6, note; Isa_16:11, note; Isa_63:15, note. Compare Luk_1:78 (in Greek); Phi_1:8; Phi_2:1; 1Jo_3:17. We speak of the “heart” as the seat of affection and kindness. The Hebrews included the heart, but they used a more general word. The word rendered “shut up” means “closed;” and the question is whether his mercy was closed, or had ceased forever. The psalmist concludes that if this were done, it must be as the result of anger - anger in view of the sins of people.

CLARKE, "Hath God - in anger shut up his tender mercies? - The tender mercies of God are the source whence all his kindness to the children of men flows. The metaphor here is taken from a spring, the mouth of which is closed, so that its waters can no longer run in the same channel; but, being confined, break out, and take some other course. Wilt thou take thy mercy from the Israelites, and give it to some other people? This he most certainly did. He took it from the Jews, and gave it to the Gentiles.

GILL, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious,.... He has not, is it possible that he should? as the Targum; it is not; he cannot forget the purposes of his grace and mercy, nor the covenant and promises of it, nor people the objects of it; and much less can he for his grace and mercy itself, so agreeable to his nature, what he delights in, and which he has proclaimed in Christ:

hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?; as an avaricious man shuts up his hand, and will not communicate liberally; or as the sea is shut up with doors, that its waters may not overflow; no, the mercies of God are not restrained, though unbelief says they are, at least queries if they are not, Isa_63:15, but Faith says they flow freely through Christ, and the people of God are crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies; God gives liberally, and upbraideth not; and though he may hide his face in a little seeming wrath for a moment, yet with great mercies will he gather, and with everlasting kindness will he have mercy.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Has El, the Mighty One, become great in everything but grace? Does he know how to afflict, but not how to uphold? Can he forget anything? Above all, can he forget to exercise that attribute which lies nearest to his essence, for he is love?Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Are the pipes of goodness choked up so that love can no more flow through them? Do the bowels of Jehovah no longer yearn towards his own beloved children? Thus with cord after cord unbelief is smitten and driven out of the soul; it raises questions and we will meet it with questions: it makes us think and act ridiculously, and we will heap scorn upon it. The argument of this passage assumes very much the form of a reductio ad absurdam. Strip it naked, and mistrust is a monstrous piece of folly.

Selah. Here rest awhile, for the battle of questions needs a lull.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? In what pangs couldest thou be, O Asaph, that so woeful a word should fall from thee: Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Surely, the temptation went so high, that the next step had been blasphemy. Had not that good God, whom thy bold weakness questions for forgetfulness, in great mercies remembered thee, and brought thee speedily to remember thyself and him; that, which you confess to have been infirmity, had proved a sinful despair. I dare say for thee, that word washed thy cheeks with many a tear, and was worthy of more; for, O God, what can be so dear to thee, as the glory of thy mercy? There is none of thy blessed attributes, which thou desirest to set forth so much unto the sons of men, and so much abhorrest to be disparaged by our detraction, as thy mercy. Thou canst, O Lord, forget thy displeasure against thy people; thou canst forget our iniquities, and cast our sins out of thy remembrance, Micah 7:18-19; but thou canst no more forget to be gracious, than thou canst cease to be thyself. O my God, I sin against thy justice hourly, and thy mercy interposes for my remission: but, oh, keep me from sinning against thy mercy. What plea can I hope for, when I have made my advocate my enemy? Joseph Hall.Ver. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? The poor child crieth after the mother. What shall I do for my mother! Oh, my mother, my mother, what shall I do for my mother! And it may be the mother stands behind the back of the child, only she hides herself, to try the affection of the child: so the poor soul cries after God, and complains, Oh my Father! my Father! Where is my heavenly Father? Hath he forgotten to be gracious? Hath he shut up his lovingkindness in displeasure? when, (all the while), God is nearer than they think for, shining upon them in "a spirit of grace and supplications, "with sighs and "groans that cannot be uttered." Thus the gracious woman, weeps: My dear Saviour, my dear Lord and Master, he is "taken out of the sepulchre, and I know not where they have laid him!" Thus she complains to the disciples, and thus she complains to the angels, when Christ stood at her very back and overheard all: nay, when she turned her about and saw him, yet at first she did not know him; nay, when he spoke to her and she to him, yet she knew him not, but thought he had been the gardener, John 20:15. Thus it is with many a gracious soul; though God speaks home to their hearts in his Word, and they speak to him by prayer, and they cannot say but the Spirit "helps their infirmities; "yet they complain for want of his presence, as if there were nothing of God in them. Matthew Lawrence.Ver. 9. Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? The metaphor here is taken from a spring, the mouth of which is closed, so that its waters can no longer run in the same channel; but, being confined, break out and take some other course. Wilt thou take thy mercy from the Israelites and give it to some other people? Adam Clarke.Ver. 9. Selah. Thus was he going on with his dark and dismal apprehensions, when on a sudden he first checked himself with that word, Selah; stop there; go no further; let us hear no more of these unbelieving surmises; and then he chid himself, Psalms 77:10 : This is mine infirmity. Matthew Henry.

COKE, "Psalms 77:9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious— It is worth our while to observe the train of thoughts which this afflicted good man pursued, and what were the reflections in which he rested at last, as his best and only comfort and support. Whether the calamities which afflicted him were private to himself, or public to his people and country; yet, as long as his thoughts dwelt on them, and led him into expostulations with God on the severity of his judgments, he found no ease or relief. A weak man cannot rightly judge of the actions even of a man wiser than himself, of whose views and designs he is not master: much less can any man judge of the ways of God, to whose counsels he is not admitted, and to whose secrets he is a stranger. The Psalmist complained heavily, Psalms 77:9. But what did he get by his complaint? Was he not forced immediately to confess the impropriety and folly of it? I said, This is my infirmity. He said very rightly. In complaining, he followed the natural impressions of impatience: in acknowledging the folly of his complaint, he spoke the language not only of grace, but of sense and reason. But this good man, being well grounded in religion, was able so far to get the better of his doubts and fears, as to pass a right judgment in his own case, and to call to his assistance the proper reflections which the great works of Providence administered for the support and confirmation of his hope and confidence towards God. See Psalms 77:11-12. Here then was his comfort; here the cure of all his grief. The scene around him was dark and gloomy; but, dark as it was, it was under the guidance and direction of the hand which had never failed the faithful, to deliver him out of all his troubles. See Sherlock as above. We may read the next verse, And I said, this my affliction is a change of the right hand of the most High; [i.e.] from a change of his conduct towards me: his right hand; which had formerly wrought miracles for the deliverance of his people, though now it was turned against them.

10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.

BAR�ES, "And I said, This is my infirmity - The meaning of this phrase is not, as would appear from our translation, that his reflections on the subject were to be traced to his weakness, or were a proof of weakness of mind, but that the subject overpowered him. This verse has been very variously rendered. The Septuagint and the Vulgate translate it, “And I said, now I begin; this is a change of the right hand of the Most High,” with what meaning it is difficult to see. Luther renders it, “But yet I said, I must suffer this; the right hand of the Most High can change all;” a beautiful sentiment, but probably not the idea in the original. The Hebrew means, “This makes me sick;” that

is, “This distresses me; it afflicts me; it overwhelms me. Such reflections prostrate me, and I cannot bear up under them. I “must” seek relief. I “must” find it somewhere. I “must” take some view of this matter which will save me from these dreadful thoughts that overpower and crush the soul.” Any deep mental emotion may have this effect, and it is not strange that such a result should be produced by the momentous thoughts suggested by religion, as it sometimes attends even the manifestation of the divine mercy to the soul. Compare the notes at Dan_10:8-9. The course of thought which the psalmist pursued, and in which he found relief, is stated in the following verses. It consisted of an attempt to obtain, from the remembrance of the divine administration in past times, views of God which would lead to confidence in him. The views thus obtained, as will be seen, were two-fold:

(a) That, as far as his dealings could be understood, God was worthy of confidence; and

(b) That in the ways of God there are, and must be, many things which man cannot comprehend.

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High - That is, the years when God displayed his power; when he reached out his right hand; when he manifested his true character; when there was a proper exhibition to the world of what he is, and of the true principles of his administration. The words “But I will remember” are not in the original, though, as they occur in the following verse, they are not improperly supplied by the translators. The original, however, is more striking and emphatic: “This makes me sick! The years of the right hand of the Most High!” The history of those years occurred to his mind. They rose to his view suddenly in his sorrow. They came before him in such a form and manner that he felt they should be inquired into. Their history should be examined. In that history - in those remembered years -“relief” might be found. It was natural to look there for relief. He instinctively turned, therefore, to examine the records of those years, and to inquire what testimony they bore in regard to God; what there might be in them that would give relief to a troubled heart.

CLARKE, "And I said, This is my infirmity - The Hebrew is very obscure, and

has been differently translated: ואמר'חלותי'היא'שנות'ימימן'עליון vaomar'challothi'hi'shenoth'

yemin'elyon; “And I said, Is this my weakness? Years the right hand of the Most High.” If

chalah, and signifies to pray, as De Dieu has thought, then חלה challothi comes from חלותי

his translation may be proper: Precari hoc meum est; mutare dextram Altissimi. “To pray, this my business; to change the right hand of the Most High.” I can do nothing else than pray; God is the Ruler of events. Mr. N. M. Berlin translates, “Dolere meum hoc est; mutare est dextra Altissimi.” To grieve is my portion; to change (my condition) belongs

to the right hand of the Most High. Here שנות shenoth, which we translate years, is

derived from שנה shanah, to change. This latter appears to me the better translation; the

sum of the meaning is, “I am in deep distress; the Most High alone can change my condition.” The old Psalter, following the Vulgate, - Et dixi, Nunc coepi: haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi, - translates: And I said, Now I began this chaunchyng of ryght hand of hihegh (highest) Alswa say, God sal noght kast al man kynde fra his sigt with outen ende: for nowe I began to understand the syker; (the truth); that man sal be brogt to endles; and thar fore, now I said, that this chaunchyng fra wreth to mercy, is thrugh Ihu Criste that chaunges me fra ill to gude, fra noy to gladnes.

Once more, Coverdale, who is followed by Matthews and Becke, takes the passage by

storm: “At last I came to this poynte, that I thought; O why art thou so foolish? The right hande of the Most Hyest can chaunge all.”

GILL, "And I said, this is my infirmity,.... Referring either to what he had said in the preceding verses; and which is to be considered either as checking and correcting himself for what he had said, and acknowledging his evil in it; and it is as if he had said, this is a sin against God, that I am guilty of in questioning his love, and disbelieving his promises; it is an iniquity I am prone unto, a sin that easily besets me; it flows from the corruption of my nature, and the plague of my heart, and shows a distempered mind; it is owing to the weakness of my faith and judgment; I have said this rashly, and in haste, without well weighing and considering things, and I am sorry for it, I will stop and proceed no further: or else as comforting and encouraging himself in his melancholy circumstances; and the sense is, this is an "infirmity", an affliction and trouble that I am at present exercised with; but it is but a temporal one, it will not always last; I shall get over it, and out of it; it is a sickness, but not to death; and it is "mine", what is allotted to me; every man has his affliction and cross, and this is mine, and I must bear it patiently; see Jer_10:19, or else this refers to what follows, which some render, "the changes of the right hand of the most High" (s); and the meaning may be, this is my affliction and trouble, that there are changes in the right hand of the most High; that is, that that hand which used to be exerted in his favour, and against his enemies, was now withdrawn, and hid in his bosom; see Psa_74:11, and that which liberally distributed favours to him was now laid upon him in an afflictive way; and to this sense is the Targum,

"this is my infirmity, the change of the power of the right hand (or the powerful right hand) of the most High;''

though another Targum is,

"this is my prayer, &c. the years of the end from the right hand;''

and Aben Ezra makes mention of some as so interpreting the first clause, to which De Dieu agrees, who renders the whole, "and I said, this is my prayer, that the right hand of the most High might be changed"; that is, that his dispensations of providence might be changed; that he would bring him out of these afflicted, sorrowful, and melancholy circumstances, into a more comfortable one: as these words may be understood as what the psalmist comforted himself with, that there are "changes of the right hand of the most High"; I have been greatly troubled and distressed, and I have been so weak as to call in question the mercy and favour of God, and his promises to me, which I own is my sin; but I have reason to believe it will not be always thus with me, God will take off his hand, it shall not always lie thus heavy upon me; though he cause grief, he will have compassion, and turn again to me; there will be a change, and I will wait till that comes:

but Kimchi thinks the word אזכור, "I will remember", which stands at the beginning of

the next verse, belongs to that and this; and is to be supplied here, as it is in our translation, and interprets the whole to the like sense;

but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High; which the psalmist proposed to do as a means to remove his doubts, despondency, and unbelief, and to relieve and strengthen his faith; as that God was the most High in all the earth, and above his enemies; that he had a right hand of power, which in years past had been

exerted on the behalf of his people, and on his behalf; which was not impaired and shortened, but the same as ever, and sooner or later would be again used in his favour.

JAMISO�, "Omitting the supplied words, we may read, “This is my affliction - the years of,” etc., “years” being taken as parallel to affliction (compare Psa_90:15), as of God’s ordering.

CALVI�, "10.And I said, My death, the years of the right hand, etc. This passage has been explained in various ways. Some deriving the word חלותי, challothi, from chalah, which signifies to kill, consider the prophet as meaning, that being , חלהoverwhelmed with an accumulation of calamities, the only conclusion to which he could come was, that God had appointed him to utter destruction; and that his language is a confession of his having fallen into despair. Others translate it to be sick, to be infirm or enfeebled, which is much more agreeable to the scope of the passage. (296) But they differ with respect to the meaning. According to some interpreters, the prophet accuses and reproves himself for his effeminacy of mind, and for not setting himself more manfully to resist temptation. (297) This exposition may be admitted; for the people of God ordinarily gather courage after having for a time wavered under the shock of temptation. I, however, prefer a different interpretation, namely, that this was a disease merely temporary, and on this account, he compares it indirectly to death; even as it is said in Psalms 118:18,

“The Lord hath chastised me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.” Also, “I shall not die, but live.” (Psalms 118:18)

He, therefore, I have no doubt, unburdens himself by cherishing the confident persuasion, that although he was at present cast down, it was only for a season, and that therefore it behoved him patiently to endure this sickness or disease, since it was not mortal. �or are commentators agreed in the explanation of the second clause. Those who connect this verse with the preceding verses, think that the prophet was reduced to such a state of despondency at first, that he looked upon himself as utterly undone; and that afterwards he lifted up his head at times, even as those who are thrown into the deep in a shipwreck repeatedly rise above the water. Besides, they would have this to be understood as a word of encouragement addressed by some one to the prophet, desiring him to call to remembrance the years in which he had experienced that God was merciful to him. But it will be more appropriate to understand it thus:, Thou hast no reason to think that thou art now doomed to death, since thou art not laboring under an incurable disease, and the hand of God is wont to make whole those whom it has stricken. I do not reject the opinion of those who translate שנות, shenoth, by changes; (298) for as the Hebrew verb שנה , shanah, signifies to change, or to do a thing again and again, the Hebrews have taken from it the word שנות, shenoth, which they employ to denote years, from their revolving character, from their turning round, as it were, in the same orbit. But in whatever way we may understand it, the comfort of which I have spoken will remain firm, which is, that the prophet, assuring himself of a favorable change in his condition, does not look upon himself as doomed to death. Others give a

somewhat different interpretation, arriving at it in another way: (299) as if the prophet had said, Why shouldst thou not patiently endure the severity of God at this time, when hitherto he has cherished thee by his beneficence? even as Job said,

“Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not also receive evil?” (Job 2:10)

But it is more probable that the prophet directs his view to the future, and means that it became him to await the years or revolutions of the right hand of the Most High, until lie should afford clear and undisputed evidence of the return of his favor towards him.

“Then I said, My disease is this, The change of the right hand of the High God.”

“There is no authority,” he observes, “for the version, ‘I will remember the years;’ his meaning is, the power of God has changed and altered my condition; from a state of health and peace, he has brought me into disease, and pain, and sorrow. This, he says, he will remember, so as to inspire some hope that the power which had brought low would again raise him up.”

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 10. And I said, This is my infirmity. He has won the day, he talks reasonably now, and surveys the field with a cooler mind. He confesses that unbelief is an infirmity, a weakness, a folly, a sin. He may also be understood to mean, "this is my appointed sorrow, "I will bear it without complaint. When we perceive that our affliction is meted out by the Lord, and is the ordained portion of our cup, we become reconciled to it, and no longer rebel against the inevitable. Why should we not be content if it be the Lord's will? What he arranges it is not for us to cavil at.But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. Here a good deal is supplied by our translators, and they make the sense to be that the psalmist would console himself by remembering the goodness of God to himself and others of his people in times gone by: but the original seems to consist only of the words, "the years of the right hand of the most High, "and to express the idea that his long continued affliction, reaching through several years, was allotted to him by the Sovereign Lord of all. It is well when a consideration of the divine goodness and greatness silences all complaining, and creates a childlike acquiescence.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 10. This is my infirmity. Literally, this is my disease, --which appears to mean, This is my lot and I must bear it; lo! it is a partial evil, for which the equity of God's government should not be questioned. The authorised version, This is my infirmity, suggests, perhaps advisedly, another signification, viz., These thoughts are but hallucinations of my agony, --but to this gloss I should scruple to commit myself. C. B. Cayley.Ver. 10. It is the infirmity of a believer to be thinking of himself, and drawing false

inferences (for all such inferences are necessarily erroneous), from what he sees or feels, as to the light in which he is beheld and estimated on the part of God. It is his strength, on the other hand, to remember the right hand of the Most High--to meditate upon the changeless truth and mercy of that God who has committed himself in holiness to the believing sinner's sure salvation, by causing the Son of his love to suffer in our stead the dread reality of penal death. Arthur Pridham.Ver. 10. Infirmity. An infirmity is this, --some sickness or indisposition of the soul, that arises from the weakness of grace. Or an infirmity is this, --when the purpose and inclination of the heart is upright, but a man wants strength to perform that purpose; when "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41); when a man can say with the apostle, "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not, "Romans 7:18. When the bent and inclination of the soul is right, but either through some violence of corruption or strength of temptation, a man is diverted and turned out of the way. As the needle in the seaman's compass, you know if it be right it will stand always northwards, the bent of it will be toward the �orth Pole, but being jogged and troubled, it may sometimes be put out of frame and order, yet the bent and inclination of it is still northward; this is an infirmity. James �alton. 1664.Ver. 10. It is unnecessary to state all the renderings which the learned have given of this verse. It is unquestionably ambiguous, as the word ytwlh may be derived from different roots, which have different significations. I derive it from lwx or llx which signifies to be in pain as a woman in labour, and as it is in the infinitive, I render it, "the time of my sorrow or pain." The next term, twgv, I derive from hgv to change, as the Chaldee does, Ainsworth, Hammond, and others; and I render it potentially. I consider the whole as a beautiful metaphor. The author considers himself as in distress, like a woman in travail; and like her, hopes soon to have his sorrow turned to joy. He confides in God's power to effect such a change; and hence naturally recollects the past instances of God's favour to his people. Benjamin Boothroyd.Ver. 10. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. �ot the moments, nor the hours, nor days of a few short afflictions, that his left hand hath dealt to me: but the years of his right hand; those long, large, and boundless mercies wherewith he hath comforted me. Thomas Adams.Ver. 10. I will remember the years, etc. The words in the Hebrew text are shenoth jemin gneljon, which I find to be variously rendered and translated by interpreters. I shall not trouble you with them all at this present time, but only take notice of two of them, which I conceive are the principal and most comprehensive; the one is our oldest English translation, and the other of our last and newest; the former reads the words thus: The right hand of the Most High can change all this. The latter reads the words thus, as we have it now before us, I will remember the years, etc. The main ground of this variation is the different exposition of the Hebrew word shenoth, which may be translated either to change, from the verb in the infinitive mood, or else may be translated years, from the noun in the plural number. This hath given the occasion to this difference and variety of translation, but the sense is very good and agreeable which way soever we take it-- First, take it according to the former translation, as it does exhibit to us the power of God. The right hand of the Lord can change all this. This was that whereby David did support himself in his present affliction; that the Lord was able to change and alter this his condition to

him, and that for the better... For the second sense here before us, that's this: I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High; where the word remember is borrowed from the next following verse, to supply the sense of this, as otherwise being not in the text. �ow here the prophet David fetches a ground of comfort from God's practice, as before he did from his power; there, from what God could do; here, from what he has done already in former time, and ages, and generations. Thomas Horton.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:10. And I said — I thus answered these objections; This is my infirmity — These suspicions of God’s faithfulness and goodness proceed from the weakness of my faith, and from the mistake of a diseased mind. But I will remember the years, &c. — That is, the years in which God hath done great and glorious works, which are often ascribed to God’s right hand in the Scriptures. It may be proper to observe here, that as the word שנות, shenoth, here rendered years, also signifies changes, the verse is rendered otherwise by some learned interpreters, without any such supplement as is in our translation, thus; This is my affliction, or grievance, the change of the right hand of the Most High — �amely, that that right hand of God, which formerly hath done such great and wonderful things for his people, is, at this time, not only not drawn forth for their defence, but is also stretched out against them. So Bishop Patrick. “This is the thing which sorely afflicts me, to see such alterations in the proceedings of the Most High, that the same hand which formerly protected us, now severely scourges us.” As if he had said, I could bear the malice and rage of our enemies, from whom we could not expect better things, but that our gracious and covenanted God should forsake and afflict his own people, is to me intolerable. The reader will observe that this interpretation proceeds on the supposition that the psalmist’s distress was occasioned by public, and not by private calamities, which supposition, however, does not seem to be sufficiently supported by the general tenor of the Psalm.

COFFMA�, "Verse 10THE HISTORY OF GOD'S LOVE OF ISRAEL E�COURAGI�G

"And I said, This is my infirmity;

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

I will make mention of the deeds of Jehovah;

For I will remember thy wonders of old.

I will meditate also upon all thy work,

And muse on thy doings.

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:

Who is a great God like unto God?

Thou art the God that doest wonders:

Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples.

Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah)"

"This is my infirmity" (Psalms 77:10). Here the psalmist acknowledges that all of those doubts and misgivings are his own infirmity, not God's. He then announces that he will think upon the wonderful things God has done in the past for Israel.

"Thy way is in the sanctuary" (Psalms 77:13). Later versions render this, "Thy way is holy," but that seriously weakens the passage. God's way is always in and through the institution which he has created to establish and nourish faith. It was true of the ancient sanctuary for Israel, and it is true in the Church of God today.

Psalms 77:10 here is the turning point in the psalm. The psalmist's recognition of the fact that the fault was with himself, not with God, and his resolution to think upon the wonders of what God had already done for His people, and his determination to find in the sanctuary the solution for all his doubts, we believe, must surely have resulted, as Barnes suggested. "By all this his mind was comforted, and his soul was made calm. God heard his prayer and gave him peace."[5]

"Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples" (Psalms 77:14). This is a reference to the fact that God had delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery in such a sensational manner that nobody on earth could have been unaware of it.

"Thou hast redeemed thy people ... sons of Jacob and Joseph" (Psalms 77:15). As Dummelow noted, this is a clear reference to, "God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt."[6] This was not the only wonderful thing, however, that God had done. The psalmist went on to mention others.

It appears to us that the mention of "Jacob" and "Joseph" in this context is due to the fact that in the times of this psalm, the kingdom was divided, Jacob standing for the Southern Israel, and Joseph for the �orthern Israel. Cheyne also so understood this.

ELLICOTT, "Verse 10(10) And I said . . .—The word rendered “infirmity” may, by derivation, mean “wounding” or “piercing.” So Symmachus, “my wound;” Aquila, “my sickness.” Gesenius says, “that which makes my sickness.” If we keep this meaning we must understand mental sickness or “madness,” and understand the poet to say that to indulge in despairing cries is mere madness (comp. King Lear’s, “Oh! that way madness lies”), he will recall God’s ancient deliverances, and so re-establish his faith. But it seems more natural to take a sense which the cognate verb very

commonly bears (Leviticus 19:8; Ezekiel 36:22; Psalms 74:7; Psalms 89:39), and render, “I said this (such despair) is on my part profanation, profanation of the years of the right hand of the Most High.” To despair of continued help from One who had been so gracious in the past is a kind of blasphemy. The word “profanation” must be understood as repeated for the sake of the grammar.

WHEDO�, "10. The tone of the psalm abruptly changes. The remaining portion describes the grounds of his faith and hope.

This is my infirmity— Literally, This is my disease; that is, my complaint and despondency are the natural outworkings of my excessive sufferings.

Years of the right hand of the Most High—The transition is abrupt, like Habakkuk 3. The ellipsis is supplied, in our English version, by the words, “But I will remember,” which is in analogy with Psalms 77:11. The idea is, that he would rally and sustain his faith and hope by recalling the great works of God toward his people of old, and his original purpose concerning them. This was a common antidote to unbelief and despair during the captivity, as the psalms of that period show. הלותי, (hallothee,) translated infirmity, in Piel takes the sense of entreaty, supplication, and many read it, “This is my entreaty— the years of the right hand,” etc. But the sense already given seems most natural and most in accordance with the connexion. By changing the Hebrew accents Dr. Conant reads the verse:—

“And I said, This is my infirmity!Years of the right hand of the Most High Will I commemorate—the deeds of Jah,For I will remember thy wonders of old."

EXPOSITORS DICTIO�ARY OF TEXTS, "The Portal of a �ew Period: A �ew Year"s Sermon

Psalm 77:10

The �ew Year admonishes with a triple exhortation. It bids us think of three tenses and of a threefold progression. We are bidden to reflect on the good old time, to give thanks for the new and better time, and to work for the future time, the best of all.

I. Think of the days of old and of the wonders of the Most High. Gratitude demands such meditation. But such thankfulness for the mercies of the past does not involve discouragement of the conditions of the present. Where should we be today if the philosophy of the old pessimists were true? �oble souls of the older times were ever apt to work mournfully on the world of their own day. Bernard of Clairvaux looks back wistfully to the olden time "when the Apostles cast their nets to catch men, not as we do, to gain gold and silver". And all sections have thus looked back aspiring to regain the purity of the old days of Christendom.

II. Think devoutly on all the goodness of the grace of God manifested from the days of the Apostles down to the days of your youth, but give thanks for the new, better

time which God accords to us. In many an aspect is this indeed the better time. Today men have begun to realize that Christianity, rightly understood, is the noblest socialism, that is to say, it is the fellowship of love. Men now begin at last to comprehend that humanity is a whole, a corporate unity, a body, and that the unruly, the destitute, yes, even the criminals are members—sick and sad members indeed, but nevertheless members needing care and protection.

III. Thank God for the better, brought about by the grace of Christ, but let us lift up our eyes and our hearts to greet the better time that is still to come. The past, that panorama in which progress and retrogression are alike portrayed, reveals that as the doctrines and teachings of the Divine Man have spread so mankind has been the better, the brighter, the purer, the more humane and thoughtful. It is the sign of the times—it is the happy portent for the future. Work for the future, the best time! It still remains for us to struggle towards that best and to conquer it for our successors, for this better present age is deformed by blots that are dark and saddening. Truly something better than present conditions must be achieved, and let each of us resolve, by word and example, to bring about the desired confirmation. For each individual life great tasks are in prospect.

—Paul von Zimmerman, Homiletic Review, 1909 , vol. LXII. p64.

The Spell of Christ

Psalm 77:10-11

The Gospels in their narrative simplicity do not as a rule pause to analyse motives, still less to debate and comment upon the fascinations and qualities of Him whom they present. The simple but vivid brevity of the notices will compel from us the thought necessary to interpret them: and in pressing past the excited and thronging multitudes to see how hearts were truly won, we shall be saved from fancying that the main and central strength of the Gospel then lay in anything but what it lies in now.

I. Among the causes of that strength we shall be both right and reverent if we assign a chief place to what, in other case, we call personal influence, or the ascendancy of character. At the outset there is record of it usually expressed: "Jesus increased in favour with man". With His ministry this became a more definite attraction. The bidding to John and James , to Andrew and Peter, to Philippians , to Matthew , to leave all and follow Him implies for its success a strong spell of personal influence, to which the eager, impulsive offers to follow Him whithersoever He went bear a voluntary witness.

II. From the personal influence of a preacher we turn naturally to the influence of His message. In Him the word and the character were not only harmonious: they were one in their effect. Surely nothing was more unique alike in Christ and His teaching than the truth, adequacy, and tenderness of His treatment of sin. In every

epistle of the Apostles, in every word of their preaching, and in the convictions of the believers, there appears that intense and vivid conception of the contrast between good and evil, which almost invented for itself a new vocabulary in such words as "sin" and "holiness".

III. It is sometimes alleged that the prominence thus given to sin is an artificial and conventional thing. To such a challenge Christian teaching can, I think, give no answer but a direct contradiction, and an appeal to fact, as such fact, inward and moral, can be interpreted by the sincere and humble-hearted, and by them alone. The motto of the school of Christ is written by the Master Himself across its portal: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear".

—Bishop Talbot, Oxford University Sermons, p16.

EBC, "The second part begins in Psalms 77:10 with an obscure and much-commented on verse, of which two explanations are possible, depending mainly on the meanings of the two words "sickness" and "years." The former word may mean "my wounding" or "my sickness." The latter is by many commentators taken to be an infinitive verb, with the signification to be changed, and, by others to be a plural noun meaning "years, " as in Psalms 77:6. �eglecting some minor differences, we may say that those who understand the word to mean being changed explain the whole thus: "This is my wound (misery, sorrow), that the right hand of the Most High has changed." So the old versions, and Hupfeld, Perowne, and Baethgen. But the use of the word in Psalms 77:6 for "years creates a strong presumption that its sense is the same here. As to the other word, its force is best seen by reference to a closely parallel passage in Jeremiah 10:19 -"I said, Truly this is my grief (margin, sickness), and I must bear it"; where the word for grief, though not the same as in the psalm, is cognate. The most probable meaning, then, for the expression here is, "This my affliction is sent from God, and I must bear it with resignation." Then follows an elevating thought expressed in its simplest form like an exclamation, "the years, " etc., -i.e., "I will remember (comp. Psalms 77:6) the time when the right hand of Jehovah had the preeminence" (Cheyne, in loc.). Delitzsch leaves the ellipsis unfilled, and takes the whole to mean that the psalmist says to himself that the affliction allotted will only last for the time which the mighty hand of God has determined. The rendering adopted above avoids the awkwardness of using the same word in two different senses in the same context, yields an appropriate meaning, especially in view of the continual references to remembering, and begins the new strophe with a new note of hopefulness, whereas the other renderings prolong the minor key of the first part into the second. It is therefore to be preferred. The revolution in feeling is abrupt. All is sunny and bright in the last half. What makes the change? The recognition of two great truths: first, that the calamity is laid on Israel, and on the psalmist as a member of the nation, by God, and has not come because of that impossible change in Him which the bitter questions had suggested; and, second, the unchangeable eternity of God’s delivering power. That second truth comes to him as with a flash, and the broken words of Psalms 77:10 b hail the sudden rising of the new star.

The remainder of the psalm holds fast by that thought of the great deeds of God in the past. It is a signal example of how the same facts remembered may depress or gladden, according to the point of view from which they are regarded. We can elect whether memory shall nourish despondency or gladness. Yet the alternative is not altogether a matter of choice; for the only people to whom "remembering happier things" need not be "a sorrow’s crown of sorrow" are those who see God in the past, and so are sure that every joy that was and is not shall yet again be, in more thrilling and lasting form. If He shines out on us from the east that we have left behind, His brightness will paint the western sky towards which we travel. Beneath confidence in the perpetuity of past blessings lies confidence in the eternity of God. The "years of the right hand of the Most High" answer all questions as to His change of purpose or of disposition, and supply the only firm foundation for calm assurance of the future. Memory supplies the colours with which Hope paints her truest pictures. That which hath been is that which shall be may be the utterance of the blase man of the world, or of the devout man who trusts in the living God, and therefore knows that

"There shall never be one lost good!

What was shall live as before."

K&D 10-15, "With ואמר the poet introduces the self-encouragement with which he

has hitherto calmed himself when such questions of temptation were wont to intrude

themselves upon him, and with which he still soothes himself. In the rendering of ה8ותי(with the tone regularly drawn back before the following monosyllable) even the Targum

wavers between מרעותי (my affliction) and 9עותי (my supplication); and just in the same

way, in the rendering of Psa_77:11, between ניוXאש (have changed) and שנין (years). שנותcannot possibly signify “change” in an active sense, as Luther renders: “The right hand of the Most High can change everything,” but only a having become different (lxx and the

Quinta Yλλοίωσις, Symmachus \πιδευτέρωσις), after which Maurer, Hupfeld, and Hitzig

render thus: my affliction is this, that the right hand of the Most High has changed. But

after we have read שנות in Psa_77:6 as a poetical plural of שנה, a year, we have first of all to see whether it may not have the same signification here. And many possible interpretations present themselves. It can be interpreted: “my supplication is this: years of the right hand of the Most High” (viz., that years like to the former ones may be

renewed); but this thought is not suited to the introduction with ואמר. We must either

interpret it: my sickness, viz., from the side of God, i.e., the temptation which befalls me

from Him, the affliction ordained by Him for me (Aquila Yabωστία'µου), is this (cf. Jer_

10:19); or, since in this case the unambiguous חלותי would have been used instead of the

Piel: my being pierced, my wounding, my sorrow is this (Symmachus τρdσίς'µου, inf. Kal

from חלל, Psa_109:22, after the form ותDח from חנן) - they are years of the right hand of the Most High, i.e., those which God's mighty hand, under which I have to humble myself (1Pe_5:6), has formed and measured out to me. In connection with this way of taking Psa_77:11, Psa_77:12 is now suitably and easily attached to what has gone before.

The poet says to himself that the affliction allotted to him has its time, and will not last for ever. Therein lies a hope which makes the retrospective glance into the happier past a

source of consolation to him. In Psa_77:12 the Chethîb כי is to be retained, for the אזכירin Psa_77:12 is thus best explained: “I bring to remembrance, i.e., make known with

praise or celebrate (Isa_63:7), the deeds of Jāh, for I will remember Thy wondrous doing

from days of old.” His sorrow over the distance between the present and the past is now mitigated by the hope that God's right hand, which now casts down, will also again in His own time raise up. Therefore he will now, as the advance from the indicative to the cohortative (cf. Psa_17:15) imports, thoroughly console and refresh himself with God's

work of salvation in all its miraculous manifestations from the earliest times. gי is the most concise and comprehensive appellation for the God of the history of redemption, who, as Habakkuk prays, will revive His work of redemption in the midst of the years to come, and bring it to a glorious issue. To Him who then was and who will yet come the poet now brings praise and celebration. The way of God is His historical rule, and more

especially, as in Hab_3:6, הליכות, His redemptive rule. The primary passage Exo_15:11

(cf. Psa_68:25) shows that דשh9 is not to be rendered “in the sanctuary” (lxx \ν'τi'jγίl),

but “in holiness” (Symmachus \ν'jγιασµi). Holy and glorious in love and in anger. God

goes through history, and shows Himself there as the incomparable One, with whose greatness no being, and least of all any one of the beingless gods, can be measured. He is

.cf עשה'פלא not ,עשה'פלא) the God, God absolutely and exclusively, a miracle-working ,האלGen_1:11)

(Note: The joining of the second word, accented on the first syllable and closely allied in sense, on to the first, which is accented on the ultima (the tone of which,

under certain circumstances, retreats to the penult., נסוג'אחור) or monosyllabic, by

means of the hardening Dagesh (the so-called דחיק), only takes place when that first

word ends in ה- or ה-, not when it ends in ה-.))

God, and a God who by these very means reveals Himself as the living and supra-mundane God. He has made His omnipotence known among the peoples, viz., as Exo_15:16 says, by the redemption of His people, the tribes of Jacob and the double tribe of Joseph, out of Egypt, - a deed of His arm, i.e., the work of His own might, by which He has proved Himself to all peoples and to the whole earth to be the Lord of the world and

the God of salvation (Exo_9:16; Exo_15:14). '9זרוע, brachio scil. extenso (Exo_6:6; Deu_

4:34, and frequently), just as in Psa_75:6, 9צואר, collo scil. erecto. The music here strikes

in; the whole strophe is an overture to the following hymn in celebration of God, the Redeemer out of Egypt.

SBC, "There are three kinds of speaking in this Psalm: speaking to God, speaking to our fellows, and speaking to one’s self.

I. To how many of our thoughts, and feelings, and spiritual utterances may we apply these words: "This is my infirmity"! Of hard thoughts of God, of dark views of His providence, of distrustful feelings towards God, and often of corresponding thoughts, and views, and feelings towards men, we may say, "This is my infirmity." And the weakness of the body, faults in the spirit, and Satanic influence are the fountains and the causes of these utterances. The Psalmist resolves, as an antidote to despondency and

fear, to bring the past and the present, recollections and existing consciousness, the day of his trouble and years of joyousness, the right hand of the Most High and his enemies and troubles—he resolves to bring them into comparison, to bring them together. "I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High."

II. These words, "the right hand of the Most High," represent the power of God as manifested in all sovereignty and sufficiency on behalf of those who trust in Him. (1) God works. Power is continually going out of Him. (2) God works perfectly. His work is right-hand work. (3) He works as the Most High. He fills the above as well as the beneath. There is One higher than the Law: the Lawgiver.

III. Notice two or three brief exhortations springing from this subject. (1) Commune with your own heart; talk to yourself. (2) Give memory its full share of work in your religious life. (3) Avoid contracted views. Look at today, but look at the years. Look at second causes, and agents, and means; but ever consider the right hand of the Most High.

S. Martin, Penny Pulpit, No. 878.

11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

BAR�ES, "I will remember the works of the Lord - That is, I will call them to remembrance, or I will reflect on them. I will look to what God has “done,” that I may learn his true character, or that I may see what is the proper interpretation to be put on his doings in respect to the question whether he is righteous or not; whether it is proper to put confidence in him or not. Or, in other words, I will examine those doings to see if I cannot find in them something to calm down my feelings; to remove my despondency; and to give me cheerful views of God.

Surely I will remember thy wonders of old - Thy wonderful dealings with mankind; those acts which thou hast performed which are suited to excite amazement and wonder.

CLARKE, "I will remember the works of the Lord - I endeavor to recollect what thou hast done in behalf of our fathers in past times; in no case hast thou cast them off, when, with humbled hearts, they sought thy mercy.

GILL, "I will remember the works of the Lord,.... His works of creation and providence, his government of the world, and particularly his regard for his own people, and his preservation of them, especially the people of Israel, whom he had not cast off, nor would and so might serve to strengthen his faith, that he would not cast him off for ever: and in like manner, what God has done for his people in a way of grace, in their redemption by Christ, and in a work of grace upon their souls, may be improved to the removing of doubts and fears, and unbelief, and for the strengthening of faith: there is a double reading of this clause, that in the margin is followed by us; but in the text it is written, "I will cause to remember"; that is, I will declare and show forth to others the works of the Lord:

surely I will remember thy wonders of old; such as were done in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; which exceeded the power and reason of man, and which showed ancient love and old friendship subsisting between God and his people; so the remembrance of God's everlasting love, his ancient covenant, and the grace and blessings given in Christ before the world was, may be of use against despondency, and for the support and encouragement of faith.

HE�RY, "The psalmist here recovers himself out of the great distress and plague he was in, and silences his own fears of God's casting off his people by the remembrance of the great things he had done for them formerly, which though he had in vain tried to quiet himself with (Psa_77:5, Psa_77:6) yet he tried again, and, upon this second trial, found it not in vain. It is good to persevere in the proper means for the strengthening of faith, though they do not prove effectual at first: “I will remember, surely I will, what God has done for his people of old, till I can thence infer a happy issue of the present dark dispensation,” Psa_77:11, Psa_77:12. Note, 1. The works of the Lord, for his people, have been wondrous works. 2. They are recorded for us, that they may be remembered by us. 3. That we may have benefit by the remembrance of them we must meditate upon them, and dwell upon them in our thoughts, and must talk of them, that we may inform ourselves and others further concerning them. 4. The due remembrance of the works of God will be a powerful antidote against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God and changes not. If he begin, he will finish his work and bring forth the top-stone.

JAMISO�, "He finds relief in contrasting God’s former deliverances. Shall we receive good at His hands, and not evil? Both are orderings of unerring mercy and unfailing love.

CALVI�, "11.I will remember the works of God. The prophet now, inspired with new courage, vigorously resists the temptations, which had so far prevailed against him as well nigh to overwhelm his faith. This remembering of the works of God differs from the remembering of which he had previously spoken. Then he contemplated from a distance the divine benefits, and he found the contemplation of them inadequate to assuage or mitigate his grief. Here he takes hold of them, so to speak, as assured testimonies of God’s everlasting grace. To express the greater earnestness, he repeats the same sentence, interjecting an affirmation; for the word ki, is here used simply to confirm or enhance the statement. Having then, as it ,כי

were, obtained the victory, he triumphs in the remembrance of the works of God, being assuredly persuaded that God would continue the same as he had shown himself to be from the beginning. In the second clause, he highly extols the power which God had displayed in preserving his servants: I will remember thy wonderful works from the beginning. He employs the singular number, thy secret, or thy wonderful work; but I have not hesitated to correct the obscurity by changing the number. We will find him soon after employing the singular number to denote many miracles. What he means in short is, that the wonderful power of God which he has always put forth for the preservation and salvation of his servants, provided we duly reflect upon it, is sufficient to enable us to overcome all sorrows. Let us learn from this, that, although sometimes the remembrance of the works of God may bring us less comfort than we would desire, and our circumstances would require, we must nevertheless strive, that the weariness produced by grief may not break our courage. This is deserving of our most careful attention. In the time of sorrow, we are always desirous of finding some remedy to mitigate its bitterness; but the only way by which this can be done is, to cast our cares upon God. It, however, often happens, that the nearer he approaches us, the more, to outward appearance, does he aggravate our sorrows. Many, therefore, when they derive no advantage from this course, imagine that they cannot do better than forget him. Thus they loathe his word, by the hearing of which their sorrow is rather embittered than mitigated, and what is worse, they desire that God, who thus aggravates and inflames their grief, would withdraw to a distance. Others, to bury the remembrance of him, devote themselves wholly to worldly business. It was far otherwise with the prophet. Although he did not immediately experience the benefit which he could have desired, yet he still continued to set God. before his view, wisely supporting his faith by the reflection, that as God changes neither his love nor his nature, he cannot but show himself at length merciful to his servants. Let us also learn to open our eyes to behold the works of God; the excellence of which is of little account in our estimation, by reason of the dimness of our eyes, and our inadequate perception of them; but which, if examined attentively, will ravish us with admiration. The Psalmist repeats in the 12th verse, that he will meditate continually upon these works, until, in due time, he receive the full advantage which this meditation is calculated to afford. The reason why so many examples of the grace of God contribute nothing to our profit, and fail in edifying our faith, is, that as soon as we have begun to make them the subjects of our consideration, our inconstancy draws us away to something else, and thus, at the very commencement, our minds soon lose sight of them.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 11. I will remember the works of the Lord. Fly back my soul, away from present turmoil, to the grandeurs of history, the sublime deeds of Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts; for he is the same and is ready even now to defend his servants as in days of yore.Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. Whatever else may glide into oblivion, the marvellous works of the Lord in the ancient days must not be suffered to be forgotten. Memory is a fit handmaid for faith. When faith has its seven years of famine, memory like Joseph in Egypt opens her granaries.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS

Whole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 11. I will remember, etc. Remember and commemorate, as the Hebrew (by a double reading) imports. John Trapp.Ver. 11. I will remember. Faith is a considering grace: he that believes will not make haste; no, not to think or speak of God. Faith hath a good memory, and can tell the Christian many stories of ancient mercies; and when his present meal falls short, it can entertain the soul with a cold dish, and not complain that God keeps a bad house. Thus David recovered himself, when he was even tumbling down the hill of temptation: This is my infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember thy wonders of old. Therefore, Christian, when thou art in the depths of affliction, and Satan tempts thee to asperse God, as if he were forgetful of thee, stop his mouth with this: �o, Satan, God hath not forgot to do for me, but I have forgot what he hath done for me, or else I could not question his fatherly care at present over me. Go, Christian, play over thy own lessons, praise God for past mercies, and it will not be long before thou hast a new song put into thy mouth for a present mercy...Sometimes a little writing is found in a man's study that helps to save his estate, for want of which he had gone to prison; and some one experience remembered keeps the soul from despair, a prison which the devil longs to have the Christian in. "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope, "La 3:21. David was famous for his hope, and not less eminent for his care to observe and preserve the experiences he had of God's goodness. He was able to recount the dealings of God with him; they were so often the subject of his meditation and matter of his discourse, that he had made them familiar to him. When his hope is at a loss, he doth but exercise his memory a little, and he recovers himself presently, and chides himself for his weakness. I said, this is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. The hound, when he hath lost his scent, hunts backwards and so recovers it, and pursues his game with louder cry than ever. Thus, Christian, when thy hope is at a loss, and you question your salvation in another world, then look backward and see what God hath already done for thee. Some promises have their day of payment here, and others we must stay to receive in heaven. �ow the payment which God makes of some promises here, is an earnest given to our faith that the others also shall be faithfully discharged when their date expires; as every judgment inflicted here on the wicked is sent as a pledge of that wrath the full sum whereof God will make up in hell. William Gurnall.Ver. 11. The works of the Lord... Thy wonders. The psalmist does not mean to draw a distinction between the works and the wonders of God; but, rather, to state that all God's works are wonders... All, whether in providence or grace--all God's works are wonderful. If we take the individual experience of the Christian, of what is that experience made up? Of wonders. The work of his conversion, wonderful! --arrested in a course of thoughtlessness and impiety; graciously sought and gently compelled to be at peace with God, whose wrath he had provoked. The communication of knowledge, wonderful! --Deity and eternity gradually piled up; the Bible taken page by page, and each page made a volume which no searching can exhaust. The assistance in warfare, wonderful! --himself a child of corruption, yet enabled to grapple with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and often to trample them under foot. The solaces in affliction, wonderful! --sorrow sanctified so as to minister to joy,

and a harvest of gladness reaped from a field which has been watered with tears. The foretastes of heaven, wonderful! --angels bringing down the clusters of the land, and the spirit walking with lightsome tread the crystal river and the streets of gold. All wonderful! Wonderful that the Spirit should strive with man; wonderful that God should bear with his backslidings; wonderful that God should love him notwithstanding his pollution; wonderful that God should persist in saving him, in spite, as it were, of himself. Oh! those amongst you who know anything, experimentally, of salvation through Christ, well know that the work is wonderful in its commencement, wonderful in its continuance, and they will need no argument to vindicate the transition from works to wonders. It will be the transition of your own thoughts and your own feelings, and you will never give in the record of God's dealings with yourselves without passing, as the psalmist passed, from mentioning to ascription. Ye may set yourselves to commemorate God's works, ye will find yourselves extolling God's wonders. Ye may begin with saying, I will remember the works of the Lord; but ye will conclude by exclaiming, Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. Henry Melvill.Ver. 11. Thy wonders. The word is in the singular here, and also in Psalms 77:14. So also in the next verse, Thy work, because the one great wonder, the one great work in which all others were included, is before his thoughts. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 11. Thy wonders. He had before spoken to others, but here he turns to God. It is good for a soul in a hard exercise, to raise itself from thinking of God and of his works, unto speaking unto God directly: no ease or relief will be found till address be made unto himself, till we turn our face toward him and direct our speech unto him, as here the psalmist doth, from the midst of the eleventh verse to the end of the psalm. David Dickson.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:11. I will remember the works of the Lord — I will seriously consider what God has formerly done for his people, many times far above their expectation, and I will take comfort from hence, because he is still the same that he was, in power, goodness, and mercy, and, therefore, will pity and help in the present trial, which distresses me. Thus the psalmist, being restored to a right state of mind, instead of brooding any longer over his trouble, wisely resolves to turn his thoughts toward the divine dispensations of old; to meditate on God’s former works and wonders; the displays which he had made of his wisdom and power, of his mercy and grace in behalf of his people, as well of individuals as of the whole nation, and hereby to strengthen and invigorate his faith in the expected deliverance.

ELLICOTT, "Verse 11(11) I will remember.—The written text is, “I will celebrate.” The intention is the same in both cases. Instead of continuing to despair, the poet resolves on seeking encouragement for his faith in grateful praise of God for past mercies, and especially for the ancient deliverance from Egypt, which occupies the prominent place in his thoughts; “works” and “wonders” should be in the singular, referring to this one mighty deliverance.

12 I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

BAR�ES, "I will meditate also of all thy work - That is, with a view to learn thy real character; to see whether I am to be constrained by painful facts to cherish the thoughts which have given me such trouble, or whether I may not find reasons for cherishing more cheerful views of God.

And talk of thy doings - Or rather, “I will muse on thy doings” - for so the Hebrew word signifies. It is not conversation with others to which he refers; it is meditation -musing - calm contemplation - thoughtful meditation. He designed to reflect on the doings of God, and to ask what was the proper interpretation to be put on them in regard to his character. Thus we must, and may, judge of God, as we judge of our fellow-men. We may, we must, inquire what is the proper interpretation to be put on the events which occur under his administration, and form our opinions accordingly. The result of the psalmist’s reflections is stated in the following verses.

GILL, "I will meditate also of all thy work,.... Or "works" (t), which were many; he desired not to forget any of them, but remember the multitude of his tender mercies, and not only call them to mind, but dwell upon them in his meditations and contemplations, in order to gain some relief by them under his present circumstances:

and talk of thy doings: for the good of others, and so for the glory of God, as well as to imprint them on his own mind, that they might not be forgotten by him; for all things that are talked of, and especially frequently, are better remembered, see Psa_145:4, the Targum is,

"I will meditate on all thy good works, and speak of the causes of thy wonders.''

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 12. I will meditate also of all thy work. Sweet work to enter into Jehovah's work of grace, and there to lie down and ruminate, every thought being absorbed in the one precious subject.And talk of thy doings. It is well that the overflow of the mouth should indicate the good matter which fills the heart. Meditation makes rich talking; it is to be lamented that so much of the conversation of professors is utterly barren, because they take no time for contemplation. A meditative man should be a talker, otherwise he is a mental miser, a mill which grinds corn only for the miller. The subject of our meditation should be choice, and then our task will be edifying; if we meditate on folly and affect to speak wisdom, our double mindedness will soon be known unto

all men. Holy talk following upon meditation has a consoling power in it for ourselves as well as for those who listen, hence its value in the connection in which we find it in this passage.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

13 Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?

BAR�ES, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary - Luther renders this, “O God, thy way is holy.” Prof. Alexander, “O God, in holiness is thy way.” DeWette, “O God, holy

is thy way.” The word rendered “sanctuary” - qôdesh קדש - means properly “holiness.” It

is not the same word which in Psa_73:17 is rendered “sanctuary” - miqdâsh. The מקדשword here employed, however, may mean a holy place, a sanctuary, as the tabernacle Exo_28:43; Exo_29:30, or the temple 1Ki_8:8; 2Ch_29:7. In this passage the word is ambiguous. It means either that the way of God is holy, or in holiness; or, that it is in the sanctuary, or holy place. If the former, it is a statement of the result to which the psalmist came in regard to the divine character, from a contemplation of his doings. If the latter, it means that the way of God - the true principles of the divine administration - are to be learned in the place where he is worshipped, and from the principles which are there set forth. Compare the notes at Psa_73:17. It seems to me that the former is the correct interpretation, as it accords better with the scope of the passage.

Who is so great a God as our God - In greatness no one can be compared with him. He is supreme over all. This is the first reflection of the psalmist in regard to God -that he is great; that he is superior to all other beings; that no one can be compared with him. The evident inference from this in the mind of the psalmist, as bearing on the subject of his inquiry, is, that it is to be expected that there will be things in his administration which man cannot hope to understand; that a rash and sudden judgment should not be formed in regard to him from his doings; that people should wait for the developments of his plans; that he should not be condemned because there are things

which we cannot comprehend, or which seem to be inconsistent with goodness. This is a consideration which ought always to influence us in our views of God and his government.

CLARKE, "Thy way - is in the sanctuary - See Psa_73:17. I must go to the sanctuary now to get comfort, as I went before to get instruction. What a mercy to have the privilege of drawing near to God in his ordinances! How many doubts have been solved, fears dissipated, hearts comforted, darknesses dispelled, and snares broken, while waiting on God in the means of grace!

Some understand the words, Thy way is in holiness - all thy dispensations, words, and works are holy, just and true. And as is thy majesty, so is thy mercy! O, who is so great a God as our God?

GILL, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary,.... Or "in holiness" (y); that is, is holy, so the Syriac version, and to which the Targum agrees.

"O God, how holy are thy ways,''

see Psa_145:17, or "in the sanctuary", the temple, the church of God, where he takes his walks, and manifests himself, and where the reasons of his providence, and dealing with his people, are opened and made known unto them, see Psa_68:24,

who is so great a God as our God? the Targum is, as the God of Israel; he is great in his persons, perfections, and works, and is greatly to be loved, feared, and praised.

HE�RY, "Two things, in general, satisfied him very much:

I. That God's way is in the sanctuary, Psa_77:13. It is in holiness, so some. When we cannot solve the particular difficulties that may arise in our constructions of the divine providence, this we are sure of, in general, that God is holy in all his works, that they are all worthy of himself and consonant to the eternal purity and rectitude of his nature. He has holy ends in all he does, and will be sanctified in every dispensation of his providence. His way is according to his promise, which he has spoken in his holiness and made known in the sanctuary. What he has done is according to what he has said and may be interpreted by it; and from what he has said we may easily gather that he will not cast off his people for ever. God's way is for the sanctuary, and for the benefit of it. All he does is intended for the good of his church.

II. That God's way is in the sea. Though God is holy, just, and good, in all he does, yet we cannot give an account of the reasons of his proceedings, nor make any certain judgment of his designs: His path is in the great waters and his footsteps are not known, Psa_77:19. God's ways are like the deep waters which cannot be fathomed (Psa_36:6), like the way of a ship in the sea, which cannot be tracked, Pro_30:18, Pro_30:19. God's proceedings are always to be acquiesced in, but cannot always be accounted for. He specifies some particulars, for which he goes as far back as the infancy of the Jewish church, and from which he gathers, 1. That there is no God to be compared with the God of Israel (Psa_77:13): Who is so great a God as our God? Let us first give to God the glory of the great things he has done for his people, and acknowledge him, therein, great above all comparison; and then we may take to ourselves the comfort of what he has

done and encourage ourselves with it.

JAMISO�, "Thy way ... in the sanctuary — God’s ways of grace and providence (Psa_22:3; Psa_67:2), ordered on holy principles, as developed in His worship; or implied in His perfections, if “holiness” be used for “sanctuary,” as some prefer translating (compare Exo_15:11).

CALVI�, "13.Thy ways, O God! are in the sanctuary. Some translate in holiness, and they are led to do this, because it seems to them a cold and meagre form of expression to say, that God’s ways are in his sanctuary But as the rules of grammar will not easily admit of this, we must inquire whether a profitable truth may not be drawn from the term sanctuary, which is the proper signification of the original word בקדש, bakkodesh. Some are of opinion that this is an abrupt exclamation, as if it had been said, O God, who art in the sanctuary! O thy ways! but of this I do not approve; for they do violence to the words of the prophet. The clause should be read in one connected sentence, and the word sanctuary is to be taken either for heaven or for the temple. I am rather inclined to refer it to heaven, conceiving the meaning to be, that the ways of God rise high above the world, so that if we are truly desirous to know them, we must ascend above all heavens. Although the works of God are in part manifest to us, yet all our knowledge of them comes far short of their immeasurable height. Besides, it is to be observed, that none enjoy the least taste of his works but those who by faith rise up to heaven. And yet, the utmost point to which we can ever attain is, to contemplate with admiration and reverence the hidden wisdom and power of God, which, while they shine forth in his works, yet far surpass the limited powers of our understanding. If it is objected, that it is wrong to attempt to confine to heaven the ways of God, which are extended through the whole world, the answer is easy; for although there is not a single corner of the globe in which God does not exhibit some proof of his power and operation, yet the wonderful character of his works escapes the eyes of men. If any would rather understand sanctuary as meaning the temple, it may be noticed, that we have met with an almost similar sentence in Psalms 73:16,

“When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God.”

The temple, indeed, in which God manifested himself was, as it were, a heaven on earth. (300) It is now obvious that the meaning of the inspired writer is, that as at the commencement he had uttered distressing complaints, so now, having attained to a calm and settled state of mind, he admires and adores the high ways of God, and conscious of his own weakness, quietly and modestly keeps himself within the bounds prescribed to him, not permitting himself to judge or pass sentence upon the secret judgments of God according to the dictates of his carnal understanding. He therefore immediately after exclaims, Who is so great a God as our God? By this comparison, he does not mean that there are many gods, but he indirectly rebukes the deep infatuation of the world who, not contented with the only true God whose glory is so conspicuous, invent for themselves many gods. If men would look upon

the works of God with pure eyes, they would be led without much difficulty to rest with satisfaction in him alone.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, or in holiness. In the holy place we understand our God, and rest assured that all his ways are just and right. When we cannot trace his way, because it is "in the sea, "it is a rich consolation that we can trust it, for it is in holiness. We must have fellowship with holiness if we would understand "the ways of God to man." He who would be wise must worship. The pure in heart shall see God, and pure worship is the way to the philosophy of providence.Who is so great a God as our God? In him the good and the great are blended. He surpasses in both. �one can for a moment be compared with the mighty One of Israel.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. The word sanctuary is to be taken either for heaven or for the temple. I am rather inclined to refer it to heaven, conceiving the meaning to be, that the ways of God rise high above the world, so that if we are truly desirous to know them, we must ascend above all heavens. Although the works of God are in part manifest to us, yet all our knowledge of them comes far short of their immeasurable height. Besides, it is to be observed, that none enjoy the least taste of his works but those who by faith rise up to heaven. And yet, the utmost point to which we can ever attain is, to contemplate with admiration and reverence the hidden wisdom and power of God, which, while they shine forth in his works, yet far surpass the limited powers of our understanding. John Calvin.Ver. 13. Thy way is in the sanctuary. That is, every one of the elect may and ought to learn in thy church the conduct and proceedings of thy providence towards those that were thine. John Diodati.Ver. 13,19. In the sanctuary and In the sea. His way is in the sanctuary, and His wayis in the sea. �ow there is a great difference between these two things. First of all, God's way is in the sanctuary, where all is light, all is clear. There is no mistake there. There is nothing, in the least degree, that is a harass to the spirit. On the contrary, it is when the poor, troubled one enters into the sanctuary, and views things there in the light of God, that he sees the end of all else-- everything that is entangled, the end of which he cannot find on the earth. But not only is God's way in the sanctuary (and when we are there, all is bright and happy); but God's way is in the "sea." He walks where we cannot always trace his footsteps. God moves mysteriously by times, as we all know. There are ways of God which are purposely to try us. I need not say that it is not at all as if God had pleasure in our perplexities. �or is it as if we had no sanctuary to draw near to, where we can rise above it. But, still, there is a great deal in the ways of God that must be left entirely in his own hands. The way of God is thus not only in the sanctuary, but also in the sea. And yet, what we find even in connection with his footsteps being in the sea is, "Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron." That was through the sea; afterwards, it was through the wilderness. But it had been through the sea. The beginnings of the ways of God with his people were there; because, from first to last, God must be the confidence of the saint. It may be an early lesson of his soul, but it

never ceases to be the thing to learn. How happy to know that, while the sanctuary is open to us, yet God himself is nearer still--and to him we are brought now. As it is said (1 Peter 3:1-22), "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." This is a most precious thing; because there we are in the sanctuary at once, and brought to God himself. And I am bold to say, that heaven itself would be but a small matter if it were not to God that we are brought. It is better than any freedom from trial--better than any blessing, to be in the presence of the One we belong to; who is himself the source of all blessing and joy. That we are brought to him now is infinitely precious. There we are in the sanctuary brought to God. But, still, there are other ways of God outside the sanctuary --In the sea. And there we often find ourselves at a loss. If we are occupied with the sea itself, and with trying to scan God's footsteps there, then they are not known. But confidence in God himself is always the strength of faith. May the Lord grant us increasing simplicity and quietness in the midst of all that we pass through, for his name's sake. From "Things �ew and Old." 1865.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:13. Thy way, O God — That is, thy doings, or, the course of thy providence; the various methods and causes of thy dealings with thy people; is in the sanctuary — Is there contained and declared. As the prosperity of wicked men, so also the afflictions and troubles of God’s people, are great riddles and stumbling-blocks to the ignorant and ungodly world, but a full and satisfactory resolution of them may be had from God’s sanctuary, as is observed in the former case, Psalms 73:16-17, and here in the latter. Or, בקדש, bakkodesh, may be rendered, in holiness; and so the sense is, God is holy, and just, and true in all his works; yea, even in his judgments upon his people, and in the afflictions and troubles wherewith he chastises or tries individuals of them. Who is so great a God as our God — So able to save or to destroy?

EXPOSITORS DICTIO�ARY OF TEXTS, "The Sanctuary of God

Psalm 77:13

The sanctuary is the place in which God is known and His truth honoured and spoken.

I. The Enthroned Bible.—There is in Paris an old picture which represents an early Christian assembly, and above it a throne, but on that throne is seated neither king nor bishop. There rests simply an open Bible. In the sanctuary the Word of God is enthroned—the Word written, the Word spoken. In the sanctuary God"s nature, character, and creative power are made known.

II. God"s Way of Creation.—We hear a great deal about the discoveries of modern science; but the first verse of the Bible, the Book of the sanctuary, outweighs them all. The favourite theory of the day, though it is getting some hard knocks from some of your scientific men, is the theory of evolution; but that theory affirms not the cause, but simply the method of creation. The creative power remains the same whether by a direct act or by the slower process of evolution or development. Of

course we are speaking of theistic evolution, for there is an atheistic form which would get life out of matter, instinct out of life, mind out of instinct, and free will out of necessity. There are atheistic evolutionists who will swallow all theories, anything but the sublime declaration of the sanctuary, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

III. God"s Way of Providence.—By providence is meant His affectionate care over all that He has made. The universe is a cradle, and the hand of the Father—the Mother God—rocks it and all things here are to serve His children. He has placed all things under laws, and these laws are cruel only to those who are too ignorant or too careless to obey them. You say these laws are immutable, that they roll along relentlessly. But we should remember that these laws are also controllable. Who is the wise man? Why the man who subjugates these laws not by violating them, but by harvesting them and using them.

IV. The Indwelling Spirit.—There is also the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The holy man must be followed by the Holy Ghost. He is the great revealer. He is within our hearts directing the current of our thoughts towards the pure, the spiritual, the heavenly. He so pure yet seeing our impurity dwelling within, moulding and fashioning that He may behold in us His fruits of purity and love. Thus we have in the sanctuary God"s way made known as the Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. The Church exists to promote man"s welfare everywhere. It is the way of the highest instruction, it is the way of consolation.

—Hugh Johnston, Christian World Pulpit, �o1868 , p120.

EBC, "The strophe in Psalms 77:13-15 fixes on the one great redeeming act of the Exodus as the pledge of future deeds of a like kind, as need requires. The language is deeply tinged with reminiscences of Exodus 15:1-27. "In holiness" (not "in the sanctuary"), the question "Who is so great a God?" the epithet "Who doest wonders," all come from Exodus 15:11. "[Thine] arm" in the psalm recalls "By the greatness of Thine arm" in Exodus (Psalms 77:16), and the psalmist’s "redeemed Thy people" reproduces "the people which Thou hast redeemed". [Exodus 15:13] The separate mention of "sons of Joseph" can scarcely be accounted for if the psalm is prior to the division of the kingdoms. But the purpose of the designation is doubtful. It may express the psalmist’s protest against the division as a breach of ancient national unity or his longings for reunion.

14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.

BAR�ES, "Thou art the God that doest wonders - It is, it must be, the characteristic of God, the true God, to do wonderful things; things which are suited to produce amazement, and which we can little hope to be able to understand. Our judgment of God, therefore, should not be hasty and rash, but calm and deliberate.

Thou hast declared thy strength among the people - Thou hast manifested thy greatness in thy dealings with the people. The word “people” here refers not especially to the Hebrew people, but to the nations - the people of the world at large. On a wide scale, and among all nations, God had done that which was suited to excite wonder, and which people were little qualified as yet to comprehend. No one can judge aright of what another has done unless he can take in the whole subject, and see it as he does who performs the act - unless he understands all the causes, the motives, the results near and remote - unless he sees the necessity of the act - unless he sees what would have been the consequences if it had not been done, for in that which is unknown to us, and which lies beyond the range of our vision, there may be full and sufficient reasons for what has been done, and an explanation may be found there which would remove all the difficulty.

CLARKE, "Thou - doest wonders - Every act of God, whether in nature or grace, in creation or providence, is wondrous; surpasses all power but his own; and can be comprehended only by his own wisdom. To the general observer, his strength is most apparent; to the investigator of nature, his wisdom; and to the genuine Christian, his mercy and love.

GILL, "Thou art the God that doest wonders,.... In nature, providence, and grace; it seems chiefly to regard what was done for the Israelites in Egypt, and in the wilderness, see Psa_78:12,

thou hast declared thy strength among the people; the nations of the world, who heard what the Lord did for Israel by his mighty power, and with an outstretched arm, as follows.

HE�RY 14-16, "That he is a God of almighty power (Psa_77:14): “Thou art the God that alone doest wonders, above the power of any creature; thou hast visibly, and beyond any contradiction, declared thy strength among the people.” What God has done for his church has been a standing declaration of his almighty power, for therein he has made bare his everlasting arm. (1.) God brought Israel out of Egypt, Psa_77:15. This was the beginning of mercy to them, and was yearly to be commemorated among them in the passover: “Thou hast with thy arm, stretched out in so many miracles, redeemed thy people out of the hand of the Egyptians.” Though they were delivered by power, yet they are said to be redeemed, as if it had been done by price, because it was typical of the great redemption, which was to be wrought out, in the fulness of time, both by price and power. Those that were redeemed are here called not only the sons of Jacob, to whom the promise was made, but of Joseph also, who had a most firm and lively belief of the

performance of it; for, when he was dying, he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and gave commandment concerning his bones. (2.) He divided the Red Sea before them (Psa_77:16): The waters gave way, and a lane was made through that crowd instantly, as if they had seen God himself at the head of the armies of Israel, and had retired for fear of him. Not only the surface of the waters, but the depths, were troubled, and opened to the right and to the left, in obedience to his word of command.

JAMISO�, "Illustrations of God’s power in His special interventions for His people (Exo_14:1-31), and, in the more common, but sublime, control of nature (Psa_22:11-14; Hab_3:14) which may have attended those miraculous events (Exo_14:24).

CALVI�, "14.Thou art the God that doest wonders. The Psalmist confirms the preceding sentence, proving the greatness of God from the wonderful character of his works. He does not speak of the hidden and mysterious essence of God which fills heaven and earth, but of the manifestations of his power, wisdom, goodness, and righteousness, which are clearly exhibited, although they are too vast for our limited understandings to comprehend. Literally, the words are, Thou art the God that doest a Wonder; but the singular number is here evidently put for the plural, an instance of which we have seen before. From this we learn that the glory of God is so near us, and that he has so openly and clearly unfolded himself, that we cannot justly pretend any excuse for ignorance. He, indeed, works so wonderfully, that even the heathen nations are inexcusable for their blindness. For this reason it is added, Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples. This has an immediate reference to the deliverance of the Church; but, at the same time, it shows that the glory of God, which he had clearly and mightily displayed among the nations, could not be despised without the guilt of grievous impiety having been incurred.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 14. Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou alone art Almighty. The false gods are surrounded with the pretence of wonders, but you really work them. It is thy peculiar prerogative to work marvels; it is no new or strange thing with thee, it is according to thy wont and use. Herein is renewed reason for holy confidence. It would be a great wonder if we did not trust the wonder working God.Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. �ot only Israel, but Egypt, Bashan, Edom, Philistia, and all the nations have seen Jehovah's power. It was no secret in the olden time and to this day it is published abroad. God's providence and grace are both full of displays of his power; he is in the latter peculiarly conspicuous as "mighty to save." Who will not be strong in faith when there is so strong an arm to lean upon? Shall our trust be doubtful when his power is beyond all question? My soul see to it that these considerations banish thy mistrusts.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 14. The God that doest wonders. If he said, Thou art the God that hast done wonders, it would be plain that he spake only of those ancient miracles which were wrought in former days: but now that he saith, Thou art the God that doest

wonders, he evidently refers to those wonderful works, which he is doing now, and shall not cease to do even to the end of the world. Gerhohus.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:14-15. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people —By the mighty acts of it here following. Thou hast redeemed thy people — �amely, out of Egypt, after a long and hard bondage; which he here mentions to strengthen his faith in the present trouble. The sons of Jacob and Joseph — The people of the Jews are very properly styled the sons of Joseph, as well as of Jacob. For as Jacob was, under God, the author of their being, so was Joseph the preserver of it. The Chaldee paraphrast appears to have understood the words thus, rendering them, The sons which Jacob begat and Joseph nourished. Joseph was indeed a kind of second father, and they might well be called his sons; without whose care, humanly speaking, there had been no such redemption, nor people to be redeemed.

15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

BAR�ES, "Thou hast with thine arm - That is, with strength or power, the arm being a symbol of strength. Exo_6:6; Exo_15:16; Psa_10:15.

Redeemed thy people - Thou didst rescue or deliver them from Egyptian bondage. See the notes at Isa_43:3.

The sons of Jacob and Joseph - The descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Jacob is mentioned because he was the ancestor of the twelve tribes; Joseph, because he was conspicuous or eminent among the sons of Jacob, and particularly because he acted so important a part in the affairs of Egypt, from whose dominion they were redeemed.

CLARKE, "The son. of Jacob and Joseph - “The sons which Jacob begat and Joseph nourished.” says the Chaldee. The Israelites are properly called the sons of Joseph as well as of Jacob, seeing Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons, were taken into the number of the tribes. All the latter part of this Psalm refers to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt; and the psalmist uses this as an argument to excite the expectation of the captives. As God delivered our fathers from Egypt, so we may expect him to deliver us from Chaldea. It required his arm to do the former, and that arm is not shortened that it cannot save.

GILL, "Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,.... The people of Israel out of Egypt, which was typical of the redemption of the Lord's people by Christ, the arm and power of God:

the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Joseph is particularly mentioned for honour's sake, and because he was the means of supporting Jacob and his family in Egypt; and had special faith in their deliverance from thence; the Targum is,

"the sons whom Jacob begot, and Joseph nourished.''

JAMISO�, "Jacob and Joseph — representing all.

CALVI�, "15.Thou hast redeemed thy people by thy arm. The Psalmist here celebrates, above all the other wonderful works of God, the redemption of the chosen people, to which the Holy Spirit everywhere throughout the Scriptures invites the attention of true believers, in order to encourage them to cherish the hope of their salvation. It is well known that the power of God was at that time manifested to the Gentiles. The truth of history, indeed, through the artifice of Satan, was corrupted and falsified by many fables; but this is to be imputed to the wickedness of those in whose sight those wonderful works were wrought, who, although they saw them, chose rather to blind their eyes and disguise the truth of their existence, than to preserve the true knowledge of them. (301) How can we explain the fact that they made Moses to be I know not what kind of a magician or enchanter, and invented so many strange and monstrous stories, which Josephus has collected together in his work against Apion, but upon the principle that it was their deliberate purpose to bury in forgetfulness the power of God? It is not, however, so much the design of the prophet to condemn the Gentiles of the sin of ingratitude, as to furnish himself and others of the children of God matter of hope as to their own circumstances; for at the time referred to, God openly exhibited for the benefit of all future ages a proof of his love towards his chosen people. The word arm is here put metaphorically for power of an extraordinary character, and which is worthy of remembrance. God did not deliver his ancient people secretly and in an ordinary way, but openly, and, as it were, with his arm stretched forth. The prophet, by calling the chosen tribes the sons of Jacob and Joseph, assigns the reason why God accounted them as his people. The reason is, because of the covenant into which he entered with their godly ancestors. The two tribes which descended from the two sons of Joseph derived their origin from Jacob as well as the rest; but the name of Joseph is expressed to put honor upon him, by whose instrumentality the whole race of Abraham were preserved in safety. (302)

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. All Israel, the two tribes of Joseph as well as those which sprang from the other sons of Jacob, were brought out of Egypt by a display of divine power, which is here ascribed not to the hand but to the arm of the Lord, because it

was the fulness of his might. Ancient believers were in the constant habit of referring to the wonders of the Red Sea, and we also can unite with them, taking care to add the song of the Lamb to that of Moses, the servant of God. The comfort derivable from such a meditation is obvious and abundant, for he who brought up his people from the house of bondage will continue to redeem and deliver till we come into the promised rest.Selah. Here we have another pause preparatory to a final burst of song.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph. The distinction between the sons of Jacob and Joseph is not meaningless. For by the sons of Jacob or Israel the believing Jews are properly intended, those that trace their descent to him not only according to the flesh but according to faith. Of whom although Joseph was one, yet since he was sold by his brethren and after many sufferings among foreign tribes raised to high rank, it is highly congruous to distinguish him from the sons of Jacob, and he is fitly regarded as a prince of the Gentiles apart from Jacob's sons, who sold him. Gerhohus.Ver. 15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Was it Joseph or was it Jacob that begat the children of Israel? Certainly Jacob begat, but as Joseph nourished them, they are called by his name also. Talmud.

COKE, "Psalms 77:15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph— The people of the Jews are very properly styled the sons of Joseph, as well as of Jacob. For as Jacob was, under God, the author of their being; so was Joseph the preserver of it. The Chaldee paraphrast understood it thus; rendering it, The sons which Jacob begat and Joseph nourished. The allusion in this and the following verses, is to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt; and the plain inference is, that the same goodness and power may be expected to afford the same salvation in the present despondency and distress. See Bishop Lowth's 26th Prelection for a critique upon this psalm.

WHEDO�, "15. Sons of Jacob and Joseph— “Joseph,” here, represents the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, (Genesis 48,) and these, in later times, the kingdom of Israel. Psalms 80:2; Isaiah 11:13. “Jacob and Joseph” stand for the total Hebrew family. See introductory note, Psalms 81. The thought of the psalmist is on the redemption of his race.

16 The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed.

BAR�ES, "The waters saw thee ... - The waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. There is great sublimity in this expression; in representing the waters as conscious of the presence of God, and as fleeing in consternation at his presence. Compare Rev_20:11; Hab_3:10-11.

They were afraid - On the word used here - chûl חול - see Psa_10:5, note; Psa_55:4, note. It may mean here to tremble or quake, as in pain Deu_2:25; Joe_2:6. - Alarm, distress, anguish, came over the waters at the presence of God; and they trembled, and fled.

The depths also were troubled - The deep waters, or the waters “in” the depths. It was not a ripple on the surface; but the very depths - the usually calm and undisturbed waters that lie below the surface - were heaved into commotion at the divine presence.

CLARKE, "The waters saw thee - What a fine image! He represents God approaching the Red Sea; and the waters, seeing him, took fright, and ran off before him, dividing to the right and left to let him pass. I have not found any thing more majestic than this.

The depths also were troubled - Every thing appears here to have life and perception. The waters see the Almighty, do not wait his coming, but in terror flee away! The deeps, uncovered, are astonished at the circumstance; and as they cannot fly, they are filled with trouble and dismay. Under the hand of such a poet, inanimate nature springs into life; all thinks, speaks, acts; all is in motion, and the dismay is general.

GILL, "The waters saw thee, O God,.... The waters not of Jordan, but of the Red sea; these felt and perceived the power of God, in causing a strong east wind, which dried it up, and made way for the children of Israel to pass through it as on dry land: compare with this Psa_114:3,

the waters saw thee; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to excite attention to it, as well as to express the psalmist's admiration at it; the Targum is,

"they saw thy majesty in the midst of the sea, O God; they saw thy power upon the sea;''

not the Egyptians, but the sons of Jacob and Joseph; the old Syriac church understood these waters of the waters of Jordan, at the baptism of Christ, when in their way they saw the incarnate God, and felt his sacred body laid in them, by which he was made manifest to Israel; but Jerom better interprets them, by the help of Rev_17:15 of people, nations, and tongues; some of which saw Christ corporeally, others spiritually, and by faith, as preached in the Gospel to the Gentile world:

they were afraid; of the majesty of God, obeyed their Sovereign, of whom they stood in awe, gave way unto him, and fled at his rebuke, see Psa_114:5 or "were in pain" (z), as a woman in travail, as were the Gentile world at the preaching of the Gospel of redemption and salvation by Christ, Rom_8:22,

the depths also were troubled; not only the surface, or waves of the waters, were moved by the strong east wind, through the power of God, but the bottom of the sea was reached by it; the depths were congealed in the midst of it, the channels of water were seen, and the foundation of the world discovered, and the children of Israel went through the deep as on dry land, see Exo_15:8.

CALVI�, "16.The waters saw thee, O God! Some of the miracles in which God had displayed the power of his arm are here briefly adverted to. When it is said that the waters saw God, the language is figurative, implying that they were moved, as it were, by a secret instinct and impulse to obey the divine command in opening up a passage for the chosen people. �either the sea nor the Jordan would have altered their nature, and by giving place have spontaneously afforded a passage to them, had they not both felt upon them the power of God. (303) It is not meant that they retired backward because of any judgment and understanding which they possessed, but that in receding as they did, God showed that even the inanimate elements are ready to yield obedience to him. There is here an indirect contrast, it being intended to rebuke the stupidity of men if they do not acknowledge in the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt the presence and hand of God, which were seen even by the waters. What is added concerning the deeps intimates, that not only the surface of the waters were agitated at the sight of God, but that his power penetrated even to the deepest gulfs.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 16. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid. As if conscious of its Maker's presence, the sea was ready to flee from before his face. The conception is highly poetical, the psalmist has the scene before his mind's eye, and describes it gloriously. The water saw its God, but man refuses to discern him; it was afraid, but proud sinners are rebellious and fear not the Lord.The depths also were troubled. To their heart the floods were made afraid. Quiet caves of the sea, far down in the abyss, were moved with fear; and the lowest channels were left bare, as the water rushed away from its place, in terror of the God of Israel.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 16. The waters saw thee, O God, etc. "The waters of the Red Sea, "says Bishop Horne, "are here beautifully represented as endued with sensibility; as seeing, feeling, and being confounded, even to the lowest depths, at the presence and power of their great Creator, when he commanded them to open a way, and to form a wall on each side of it, until his people were passed over." This in fact is true poetry; and in this attributing of life, spirit, feeling, action, and suffering to inanimate objects, there are no poets who can vie with those of the Hebrew nation. Richard Mant.Ver. 16. The depths also were troubled. The depths are mentioned in addition to the waters, to show that the dominion and power of God reach not only to the surface of the waters, but penetrate to the most profound abysses, and agitate and restrain the waters from their lowest bottom. Mollerus.

Ver. 16-18. The waters saw thee, but men do not see thee. The depths were troubled, but men say in their heart, There is no God. The clouds poured out water, but men pour not out cries and tears unto God. The skies send out a sound, but men say not, Where is God my Maker? Thine arrows also went abroad, but no arrows of contrition and supplication are sent back by men in return. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, but men hear not the louder thunders of the law. The lightnings lightened the world, but the light of truth shines in darkness and the darkness comprehends it not. The earth trembled and shook, but human hearts remain unmoved."My heart it shakes not at the wrathAnd terrors of a God." George Rogers.Ver. 16-19. As soon as ever the whole Egyptian army was within it, the sea flowed to its own place, and came down with a torrent raised by storms of wind, and encompassed the Egyptians. Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunders and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted upon them; nor was there anything which used to be sent by God upon men, as indications of his wrath, which did not happen at this time; for a dark and dismal might oppressed them. And thus did all these men perish, so that there was not one man left to be a messenger of this calamity to the rest of the Egyptians. Josephus.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:16-18. The waters saw thee, O God — They felt the visible effects of thy powerful presence. They were afraid — And stood still, as men or beasts astonished commonly do. The clouds poured out water — �amely, upon the Egyptians. The skies sent out a sound — In terrible thunder; thine arrows also went abroad — Hail-stones, or rather, lightnings, or thunderbolts, called God’s arrows, Psalms 18:14; Psalms 144:6. The earth trembled and shook — By an earthquake. This tempest is not particularly recorded in its proper place, yet it may well be collected from what is related Exodus 14:24-25. That the Lord looked on the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. For these verses of the Psalm seem to explain in what way he looked upon them, “namely, by thunders and lightnings, storms and tempests, rain, hail, and earthquake, the usual tokens and instruments of the Almighty’s displeasure. Josephus, in like manner, relates that the destruction of the Egyptians was accompanied by storms of rain, by dreadful thunders and lightnings; and, in short, by every possible circumstance of terror, which could testify and inflict upon man the vengeance of an incensed God.”

COFFMA�, "THE MARVELOUS MIRACLE AT THE RED SEA

"The waters saw thee, O God;

The waters saw thee, they were afraid:

The depths also trembled.

The clouds poured out water;

The skies sent out a sound:

Thine arrows also went abroad.

The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;

The lightnings lightened the world: The earth trembled and shook.

Thy way was in the sea,

And thy paths in the great waters,

And thy footsteps were not known."

Dummelow considered these words a reference to the Red Sea crossing; and McCullough affirmed that, "Psalms 77:20 interprets the preceding verses (Psalms 77:16-19) as pertinent to the Exodus."[8] Rawlinson likewise called these verses, "A magnificent description of the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea."[9]

The problem with this understanding is that the account of the Red Sea crossing in Exodus says nothing about the clouds, the rain, the thunder and the lightning which are mentioned here. It could be that this information is supplementary to that given in Exodus; and we do not rule that out as a possibility. We have also observed that in the Psalms, the sacred writers often preempt language used by the pagans in speaking of their false gods to describe the actions of the true God. Baal, for example, was the storm God; but Baal never did anything, even in the false claims of mythology, that could be compared to what God did at the Red Sea.

We do not know, of course, that such an adaptation of mythological terminology is in view here; but one thing we feel very sure about is that, we do not have a separate psalm in these last five verses, describing God's appearance in a thunderstorm, as in Psalms 29. This, of course, is the view of Briggs who said, "Psalms 77 is a composite";[10] and the last five verses, "Describe the advent of Yahweh in a storm."[11]

To us, by far the most acceptable interpretation is that which refers these verses to the Crossing of the Red Sea.

"And thy footsteps were not known" (Psalms 77:19). The strong suggestion here is that men cannot certainly know the purposes and intentions of Almighty God. His ways are above our ways; he has not revealed to men the reasons behind any of his actions; his deeds, as far as men are concerned, are indeed inscrutable.

Even today, when men are tempted to doubt because of conditions in the world which seem contrary to all truth and righteousness, it is the duty of all believers to "trust where they cannot see." "God's in his heaven," all right, "But all is not well with the world." There are many conditions that upright people recognize as

contrary to the will of God; and such things should not be allowed to foster doubt in Christian hearts. Even though we do not know what it is, God surely knows what he is doing!

"Thy way was in the sea ... paths in the great waters" (Psalms 77:19). As Kidner said, "All of the words here are a true picture of God's sway over nature. Even when He was incarnate, the winds and the waves obeyed him, and the sea provided a path for Him."[12]

EBC, "The final strophe differs from the others in structure. It contains five verses instead of three, and the verses are (with the exception of the last) composed of three clauses each instead of two. Some commentators have supposed that Psalms 77:16-19 are an addition to the original psalm, and think that they do not cohere well with the preceding. This view denies that there is any allusion in the closing verses to the passage of the Red Sea, and takes the whole as simply a description of a theophany, like that in Psalms 18:1-50. But surely the writhing of the waters as if in pangs at the sight of Gods such an allusion. Psalms 77:19, too, is best understood as referring to the path through the sea, whose waters returned and covered God’s footprints from human eyes. Unless there is such a reference in Psalms 77:16-19, the connection with the preceding and with Psalms 77:20 is no doubt loose. But that is not so much a reason for denying the right of these verses to a place in the psalm as for recognising the reference. Why should a mere description of a theophany, which had nothing to do with the psalmist’s theme, have been tacked on to it? �o doubt, the thunders, lightnings, and storm so grandly described here are unmentioned in Exodus; and, quite possibly, may be simply poetic heightening of the scene, intended to suggest how majestic was the intervention which freed Israel. Some commentators, indeed, have claimed the picture as giving additional facts concerning the passage of the Red Sea. Dean Stanley, for example, has worked these points into his vivid description; but that carries literalism too far.

The picture in the psalm is most striking. The continuous short clauses crash and flash like the thunders and lightnings. That energetic metaphor of the waters writhing as if panic struck is more violent than Western taste approves, but its emotional vigour as a rendering of the fact is unmistakable. "Thine arrows went to and fro" is a very imperfect transcript of the Hebrew, which suggests the swift zigzag of the fierce flashes. In Psalms 77:18 the last word offers some difficulty. It literally means a wheel, and is apparently best rendered as above, the thunder being poetically conceived of as the sound of the rolling wheels of God’s chariot. There are several coincidences between Psalms 77:16-19 of the psalm and Habakkuk 3:10-15 : namely, the expression "writhed in pain," applied in Habakkuk to the mountains; the word rendered "overflowing" (A.V.) or "tempest" (R.V.) in Habakkuk 3:10, cognate with the verb in Psalms 77:17 of the psalm, and there rendered "poured out"; the designation of lightnings as God’s arrows. Delitzsch strongly maintains the priority of the psalm; Hupfeld as strongly that of the prophet.

The last verse returns to the two-claused structure of the earlier part. It comes in lovely contrast with the majestic and terrible picture preceding, like the wonderful

setting forth of the purpose of the other theophany in Psalms 18:1-50, which was for no higher end than to draw one poor man from the mighty waters. All this pomp of Divine appearance, with lightnings, thunders, a heaving earth, a shrinking sea, had for its end the leading the people of God to their land, as a shepherd does his flock. The image is again an echo of Exodus 15:13. The thing intended is not merely the passage of the Red Sea but the whole process of guidance begun there amid the darkness. Such a close is too abrupt to please some commentators. But what more was needful or possible to be said, in a retrospect of God’s past acts, for the solace of a dark present? It was more than enough to scatter fears and flash radiance into the gloom which had wrapped the psalmist. He need search no further. He has found what he sought; and so he hushes his song and gazes in silence on the all-sufficient answer which memory has brought to all his questions and doubts. �othing could more completely express the living, ever-present worth of the ancient deeds of God than the "abruptness" with which this psalm ceases rather than ends.

K&D 16-19, "When He directed His lance towards the Red Sea, which stood in the

way of His redeemed, the waters immediately fell as it were into pangs of travail (יחילו, as

in Hab_3:10, not חילוqו), also the billows of the deep trembled; for before the

omnipotence of God the Redeemer, which creates a new thing in the midst of the old creation, the rules of the ordinary course of nature become unhinged. There now follow in Psa_77:18, Psa_77:19 lines taken from the picture of a thunder-storm. The poet wishes to describe how all the powers of nature became the servants of the majestic

revelation of Jahve, when He executed judgment on Egypt and delivered Israel. זרם, Poel

of זרם (cognate זרף ,זרב, Aethiopic זנם, to rain), signifies intensively: to stream forth in full

torrents. Instead of this line, Habakkuk, with a change of the letters of the primary

passage, which is usual in Jeremiah more especially, has זרם'מים'עבר. The rumbling which

the שחקים

(Note: We have indicated on Psa_18:12; Psa_36:6, that the שהקים are so called from their thinness, but passages like Psa_18:12 and the one before us do not favour

this idea. One would think that we have more likely to go back to Arab. srq, to be

distant (whence surs, distance; sarıOs, distant), and that שהקים signifies the distances,

like שמים, the heights, from שחק = surs, in distinction from שחק, an atom (Wetzstein).

But the Hebrew affords no trace of this verbal stem, whereas שחק, Arab. srq,

contundere, comminuere (Neshwân: to pound to dust, used e.g., of the apothecary's

drugs), is just as much Hebrew as Arabic. And the word is actually associated with

this verb by the Arabic mind, inasmuch as Arab. sarâbun sarqun (nubes tenues, nubila

tenuia) is explained by Arab. srâb rqıOq. Accordingly שהקים, according to its primary

notion, signifies that which spreads itself out thin and fine over a wide surface, and

according to the usage of the language, in contrast with the thick and heavy פני'הארץ,

the uppermost stratum of the atmosphere, and then the clouds, as also Arab. a‛nân,

and the collective ‛anan and ‛anân (vid., Isaiah, at Isa_4:5, note), is not first of all the

clouds, but the surface of the sky that is turned to us (Fleischer).)

cause to sound forth (נתנו, cf. Psa_68:34) is the thunder. The arrows of God ('חצציך, in

Habakkuk 'יךvח) are the lightnings. The Hithpa. (instead of which Habakkuk has יח8כו) depicts their busy darting hither and thither in the service of the omnipotence that sends

them forth. It is open to question whether לBלB denotes the roll of the thunder (Aben-Ezra, Maurer, Böttcher): the sound of Thy thunder went rolling forth (cf. Psa_29:4), - or the whirlwind accompanying the thunder-storm (Hitzig); the usage of the language

(Psa_83:14, also Eze_10:13, Syriac golgolo) is in favour of the latter. On Psa_77:19 cf.

the echo in Psa_97:4. Amidst such commotions in nature above and below Jahve strode along through the sea, and made a passage for His redeemed. His person and His working were invisible, but the result which attested His active presence was visible. He

took His way through the sea, and cut His path (Chethîb plural, 'שביליך, as in Jer_18:15) through great waters (or, according to Habakkuk, caused His horses to go through),

without the footprints (בותhע with Dag. dirimens) of Him who passes and passed

through being left behind to show it.

17 The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth.

BAR�ES, "The clouds poured out water - Margin, “The clouds were poured forth with water.” The translation in the text is the more correct. This is a description of a storm; but to what particular storm in history does not appear. It was evidently some exhibition of the divine greatness and power in delivering the children of Israel, and may have referred to the extraordinary manifestation of God at Mount Sinai, amidst lightnings, and thunders, and tempests. Exo_19:16. For a general description of a storm, as illustrating this passage, see Job_36:26-33, notes; Job_37:1-5, notes; and Psa_29:1-11.

The skies sent out a sound - The voice of thunder, which seems to come from the sky.

Thine arrows also - The lightnings - compared with burning or ignited arrows. Such arrows were anciently used in war. They were bound round with rags, and dipped in some combustible substance - as turpentine - and shot into houses, grain-fields, haystacks, or towns, for the purpose of setting them on fire. It was not unnatural to compare the rapid lightnings with such blazing arrows.

Went abroad - They moved rapidly in all directions.

CLARKE, "The clouds poured out water - It appears from this that there was a violent tempest at the time of the passage of the Red Sea. There was a violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain. These three things are distinctly marked here.

1. “The skies sent out a sound:” the Thunder.

2. “Thine arrows went abroad:” the Lightning.

3. “The clouds poured out water:” the Rain. In the next verse we have,

4. An Earthquake: “The earth trembled and shook,” Psa_77:18.

GILL, "The clouds poured out water,.... This, with some other circumstances which follow, are not related by Moses in the history of this affair; but as they are here recorded by an inspired penman, there is no doubt to be made of the truth of them; besides Josephus (a) relates the same things; he says, that at the time when the Egyptians were drowned in the Red sea, rains descended from heaven, and there were terrible thunders, lightnings, and thunderbolts; this was when the Lord looked through the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, Exo_14:24,

the skies sent out a sound; or the airy clouds, the lighter ones, and which were higher in the heavens, as the others before mentioned were thick clouds, full of water, and hung lower; these were thunderclouds, and thunder is the sound which they sent forth, as in the following verse:

thine arrows also went abroad: that is, lightnings, as in Psa_18:14, so Aben Ezra; but Kimchi interprets them of hailstones.

HE�RY 17-19, "He destroyed the Egyptians (Psa_77:17): The clouds poured out waterupon them, while the pillar of fire, like an umbrella over the camp of Israel, sheltered it from the shower, in which, as in the deluge, the waters that were above the firmament concurred with those that were beneath the firmament to destroy the rebels. Then the skies sent out a sound; thy arrows also went abroad, which is explained (Psa_77:18): The voice of thy thunder was heard in the heaven (that was the sound which the skies sent forth); the lightnings lightened the world - those were the arrows which went abroad, by which the host of the Egyptians was discomfited, with so much terror that the earth of the adjacent coast trembled and shook. Thus God's way was in the sea, for the destruction of his enemies, as well as for the salvation of his people; and yet when the waters returned to their place his footsteps were not known (Psa_77:19); there was no mark set upon the place, as there was, afterwards, in Jordan, Jos_4:9. We do not read in the story of Israel's passing through the Red Sea that there were thunders and lightning, and an earthquake; yet there might be, and Josephus says there were, such displays of the divine terror upon that occasion. But it may refer to the thunders, lightnings, and earth quakes, that were at Mount Sinai when the law was given.

CALVI�, "17.The clouds poured out waters. As the noun מים, mayim, cannot be taken in the construct state, the verb, I have no doubt, is put transitively; but it

makes little difference as to the sense, whether we take this view, or read as if מים, mayim, were in the construct state and the verb passive; that is, whether we read, The clouds poured out waters, or, The waters of the clouds were poured out. The meaning obviously is, that not only the sea and the river Jordan, but also the waters which were suspended in the clouds, yielded to God the honor to which he is entitled, the air, by the concussion of the thunder, having poured forth copious showers. The object is to show, that, to whatever quarter men turn their eyes, the glory of God is illustriously manifested, that it is so in every part of creation, above and beneath, from the height of heaven to the depths of the sea. What history is here referred to is involved in some degree of uncertainty. (304) Perhaps it is that which is recorded in Exodus 9:23; where we are informed, that hail mingled with thunder and lightning was one of the dreadful plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians. The arrows which went abroad are, no doubt, to be taken metaphorically for lightnings. With this verse we are to connect the following, in which it is said, that the voice of the thunder was heard in the air, and that the lightnings illumined the world, so that the earth trembled The amount is, that at the departure of the people from Egypt, ample testimony was borne to the power of God, both to the eyes and the ears of men; peals of thunder having been heard in every quarter of the heavens, and the whole sky having shone with flashes of lightning, while at the same time the earth was made to tremble.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 17. The clouds poured out water. Obedient to the Lord, the lower region of the atmosphere yielded its aid to overthrow the Egyptian host. The cloudy chariots of heaven hurried forward to discharge their floods.The skies sent out a sound. From the loftier aerial regions thundered the dread artillery of the Lord of Hosts. Peal on peal the skies sounded over the heads of the routed enemies, confusing their minds and adding to their horror.Thine arrows also went abroad. Lightnings flew like bolts from the bow of God. Swiftly, hither and thither, went the red tongues of flame, on helm and shield they gleamed; anon with blue bale fires revealing the innermost caverns of the hungry sea which waited to swallow up the pride of Mizraim. Behold, how all the creatures wait upon their God, and show themselves strong to overthrow his enemies.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 16-18. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:16" for further information."My heart it shakes not at the wrathAnd terrors of a God." George Rogers.

18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world;

the earth trembled and quaked.

BAR�ES, "The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven - Compare the notes at

Psa_29:1-11. The word rendered “heaven” here - galgal גלגל - means properly “a wheel,”

as of a chariot, Isa_5:28; Eze_10:2, Eze_10:6; Eze_23:24; Eze_26:10. Then it means a “whirlwind,” as that which rolls along, Eze_10:13. Then it is used to denote chaff or stubble, as driven along before a whirlwind, Psa_83:13; Isa_17:13. It is never used to denote heaven. It means here, undoubtedly, the whirlwind; and the idea is, that in the ragings of the storm, or of the whirlwind, the voice of God was heard - the deep bellowing thunder - as if God spoke to people.

The lightnings lightened the world - The whole earth seemed to be in a blaze.

The earth trembled and shook - See the notes at Psa_29:1-11.

GILL, "The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven,.... Thunder is the voice of God, Job_37:5 this is heard in "the orb" (b), or the air, so called, because spherical; the Targum is

"the voice of thy thunder was heard in the wheel;''

so the word here used sometimes signifies; so Eze_10:13, and is so rendered here by some (c); some think this refers to the wheels of the chariots of the Egyptians, which were taken off, it may be by the force of thunder and lightning, so that they drove on heavily, Exo_14:25,

the lightnings lightened the world; not only that part of the world where the Israelites and Egyptians were, but the whole world; for lightning comes out of the east, and shines to the west, Mat_24:27, this was in the night, and a very dark night it was, as Josephus (d) affirms; see Psa_97:4,

the earth trembled and shook; there was an earthquake at the same time; unless this is to be understood of the panic which the inhabitants of the earth were put into on hearing of this wonderful event, Jos_2:9.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, or in the whirlwind. Rushing on with terrific swiftness and bearing all before it, the storm was as a chariot driven furiously, and a voice was heard (even thy voice, O Lord!) out of the fiery car, even as when a mighty man in battle urges forward his charger, and shouts to it aloud. All heaven resounded with the voice of the Lord.The lightnings lightened the world. The entire globe shone in the blaze of Jehovah's lightnings. �o need for other light amid the battle of that terrible night, every wave gleamed in the fire flashes, and the shore was lit up with the blaze. How pale were

men's faces in that hour, when all around the fire leaped from sea to shore, from crag to hill, from mountain to star, till the whole universe was illuminated in honour of Jehovah's triumph.The earth trembled and shook. It quaked and quaked again. Sympathetic with the sea, the solid shore forgot its quiescence and heaved in dread. How dreadful art thou, O God, when thou comest forth in thy majesty to humble thine arrogant adversaries.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 16-18. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:16" for further information."My heart it shakes not at the wrathAnd terrors of a God." George Rogers.Ver. 16-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:16" for further information.

ELLICOTT, "Verse 18(18) In the heavens.—Literally, in the vault. The Hebrew, galgal, from gâlal, “to roll,” has the same derivation as “vault” (volutum, from volvo). It is strange that this rendering, which so well suits the parallelism, should have been set aside by modern scholars in favour of “whirlwind” or “rolling chariot wheels.” The LXX. and Vulg. have “wheel,” but possibly with reference to the apparent revolution of the sky. The word, where it occurs in Isaiah 17:13, means something rolled by the whirlwind, not the whirlwind itself.

19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.

BAR�ES, "Thy way is in the sea - Probably the literal meaning here is, that God had shown his power and faithfulness in the sea (that is, the Red Sea), in delivering his people; it was there that his true character was seen, as possessing almighty power, and as being able to deliver his people. But this seems to have suggested, also, another idea -that the ways of God, in his providential dealings, were like walking through the sea, where no permanent track would be made, where the waves would close on the path, and where it would be impossible by any footprints to ascertain the way which he had taken. So in regard to his doings and his plans. There is nothing by which man can determine in regard to them. There are no traces by which he can follow out the divine designs - as none can follow one whose path is through the trackless waters. The subject is beyond man’s reach, and there should be no rash or harsh judgment of the Almighty.

And thy path in the great waters - The additional idea here may be, that the ways or plans of God are vast - like the ocean. Even in shallow waters, when one wades through them, the path closes at once, and the way cannot be traced; but God’s goings are like those of one who should move through the great ocean - over a boundless sea -where none could hope to follow him.

And thy footsteps are not known - The word rendered “footsteps” means properly the print made by the “heel,” and the print made by the foot. The idea here is, that there are no traces in regard to many of the dealings of God, which appear most incomprehensible to us, and which trouble us most, as there can be no footprints left in the waters. We should not venture, therefore, to sit in judgment on the doings of God, or presume that we can understand them.

CLARKE, "Thy way is in the sea - Thou didst walk through the sea, thy path was through a multitude of waters.

Thy footsteps are not known - It was evident from the effects that God was there: but his track could not be discovered; still he is the Infinite Spirit, without parts, limits, or passions. No object of sense.

GILL, "Thy way is in the sea,.... In the sea of Suph, as the Targum, the Red sea; it was the Lord that made the way in the sea for the Israelites, and went before them, and led them through it:

and thy path in the great waters; because the word rendered path is written with יyod, and is in the plural number, though the Masorites observe, that that letter is redundant, and so the word is singular; hence the Jews imagine there were more paths than one, even twelve, according to the number of the tribes, and which they think is intimated in Psa_136:13,

and thy footsteps are not known; not by the Egyptians, who assayed to follow after the people of Israel with the Lord at the head of them, nor by any since; for the waters returned and covered the place on which the Israelites went as on dry ground; so that no footsteps or traces were to be seen at all ever since; and such are the ways God, many of them in providence as well as in grace, Rom_11:33, it may be rendered "thy heels", which made the footsteps or impressions; which latter being the works of God, may be seen and known, but not the former, he being invisible; so Gussetius (e) observes.

JAMISO�, "waters ... , footsteps — may refer to His actual leading the people through the sea, though also expressing the mysteries of providence.

CALVI�, "19.Thy ways are in the sea. The miracle which was wrought in drying up the Red Sea is here again described in different phraseology. What, properly speaking, refers to the Israelites is applied to God, under whose protection and guidance they passed dry-shod through the midst of the Red Sea. It is declared that a path had been opened up for them in a very strange and unusual manner; for the sea was not drained by the skill of man, nor was the river Jordan turned aside from its ordinary course into a different channel, but the people walked through the midst of the waters in which Pharaoh and his whole army were soon after drowned. On this account, it is said, that the footsteps of God were not known, for no sooner had God made the people to pass over than he caused the waters to return to their accustomed course. (305)

The purpose for which this was effected is added in the 20th verse, — the deliverance of the Church: Thou didst lead thy people like a flock. (306) And this deliverance should be regarded by all the godly as affording them the best encouragement to cherish the hope of safety and salvation. The comparison of the people to sheep, tacitly intimates that they were in themselves entirely destitute of wisdom, power, and courage, and that God, in his great goodness, condescended to perform the office of a shepherd in leading through the sea, and the wilderness, and all other impediments, his poor flock, which were destitute of all things, that he might put them in possession of the promised inheritance. This statement is confirmed, when we are told that Moses and Aaron were the persons employed in conducting the people. Their service was no doubt illustrious and worthy of being remembered; but God displayed in no small degree the greatness of his power in opposing two obscure and despised individuals to the fury and to the great and powerful army of one of the proudest kings who ever sat on a throne. What could the rod of an outlaw and a fugitive, and the voice of a poor slave, have done of themselves, against a formidable tyrant and a warlike nation? The power of God then was the more manifest when it wrought in such earthen vessels. At the same time, I do not deny that it is here intended to commend these servants of God, to whom he had committed such an honorable trust.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea. Far down in secret channels of the deep is thy roadway; when thou wilt thou canst make a sea a highway for thy glorious march.And thy path in the great waters. There, where the billows surge and swell, thou still dost walk; Lord of each crested wave.And thy footsteps are not known. �one can follow thy tracks by foot or eye. Thou art alone in thy glory, and thy ways are hidden from mortal ken. Thy purposes thou wilt accomplish, but the means are often concealed, yea, they need no concealing, they are in themselves too vast and mysterious for human understanding. Glory be

to thee, O Jehovah.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 16-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:16" for further information.Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, etc. Until lately, not much was known of oceanic currents, nor of their influences on the condition of particular localities and the intercourse of man with man. They are now seen to be the way or path of the Creator in the great waters. �umerous agencies tend to the production of these currents. Amongst them we may reckon the propagation of the tide wave in its progress over the globe, the duration and strength of certain winds, the variations in density which seawater undergoes in different latitudes, and at different depths, by change of temperature, and the quantity of salt it contains, and by the hourly alterations of atmospheric pressure which take place within the tropics. The oceanic currents are nearly constant in breadth, crossing the sea in many directions. Long bands of seaweed carried by the currents shew at once their velocity, and the line of demarcation between the waters at rest and the waters in motion. Between the tropics there is a general movement of the sea from east to west, called the equatorial current, supposed to be due to the trade winds, and the progress of the tide wave. There are narrower currents carrying warm water to higher and cold water to lower latitudes. Edwin Sidney, in "Conversations on the Bible and Science." 1860.Ver. 19. Thy way is in the sea, where no man can wade, except God be before him, but where any man may walk if God take him by the hand and lead him through. David Dickson.Ver. 19. Thy footsteps are not known. He often goeth so much out of our sight, that we are unable to give an account of what he doeth, or what he is about to do. Frequently the pillar of divine providence is dark throughout, to Israelites as well as Egyptians; so that his own people understand not the riddles, till he is pleased to be his own interpreter, and to lead them into his secrets. Samuel Slater(-1704), in "The Morning Exercises."Ver. 19. Thy footsteps are not known. That is, they are not always known; or, they are not known in all things; yea, they are not altogether known in anything. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 19. Thy footsteps are not known. Upon some affair of great consequence which had occurred in some providential dispensation, Luther was very importunate at the throne of grace to know the mind of God in it; and it seemed to him as if he heard God speak to his heart thus: "I am not to be traced." Referring to this incident, one adds, "If he is not to be traced, he may be trusted; "and that religion is of little value which will not enable a man to trust God where he can neither trace nor see him. But there is a time for everything beneath the sun, and the Almighty has his `times and seasons.' It has been frequently with my hopes and desires, in regard to providence, as with my watch and the sun, which has often been ahead of true time; I have gone faster than providence, and have been forced to stand still and wait, or I have been set back painfully. That was a fine sentiment of Flavel, "Some providence, like Hebrew letters, must be read backwards." Quoted in "Christian Treasury, "1849. Author not mentionedL

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:19. Thy way is in the sea, &c. — Or rather, was, at that time; thou didst walk and lead thy people in untrodden paths; and thy footsteps — Or, though thy footsteps were not seen — God walked before his people through the sea, though he left no footsteps of himself behind him. Thus “the dispensations and ways of God, like the passage through the Red sea, are all full of mercy to his people; but they are also, like that, often unusual, marvellous, inscrutable; and we can no more trace his footsteps than we could have done those of Israel, after the waters had returned to their place again. Let us resolve, therefore, to trust in him at all times; and let us think that we hear Moses saying to us, as he did to the Israelites, when seemingly reduced to the last extremity, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah.” — Horne.

ELLICOTT, "(19) Are not known.—“We know not, they knew not, by what precise means the deliverance was wrought; we know not by what precise track through the gulf the passage was effected. We know not; we need not know. The obscuring, the mystery, here as elsewhere, was part of the lesson. . . . All that we see distinctly is, that through this dark and terrible night, with the enemy pressing close behind, and the driving sea on either side, He led His people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Stanley, Jewish Church, i. 128).

To some minds the abruptness of the conclusion of the psalm marks it as unfinished. But no better end could have been reached in the poet’s perplexity than that to which he has been led by his musings on the past, the thought of the religious aids ready to his hand, in the faith and worship left by Moses and Aaron. We are reminded of him who recalled the thoughts of the young man, searching for a higher ideal of duty, back to the law and obedience. Or if the psalm is rather an expression of the feeling of the community than of an individual, there is a pointed significance in the conclusion given to all the national cries of doubt and despair—the one safe course was to remain loyal and true to the ancient institutions.

WHEDO�, "19. Thy way is in the sea—So wonderful and unsearchable are the ways of God! Pharaoh essayed to follow the divine footsteps, and perished. The true explanation of this sentence is in the last clause of the verse: “Thy footsteps are not known.” God had walked through the sea, and it had closed and left no track. So his invisible footsteps in providence and redemption may not be discovered or followed by curious and presumptuous inquiry. This is the admonition of Ecclesiastes 7:14

EXPOSITORS DICTIO�ARY OF TEXTS, "The Highway in the Sea

Psalm 77:19

Doubtless when the Psalmist penned our text his first thought was the crossing of the Red Sea. He was seeking to revive his drooping heart by recalling the saving power of God in Israel"s past. Thy way is the sea—were there not glimpses in that of truths which the Exodus never could exhaust? So did the writer feel—so must we all feel—and it is on some of these suggestions that I wish to speak.

I. First, then, think of the sea as an object of dread. There were two places above all others dreaded by the Jews. The one was the desert and the other was the sea. The desert—for it was across the desert that these armies came which besieged Jerusalem and pillaged it. And the sea—because it was full of storm and treachery in Jewish eyes; it was the hungry, cruel, insatiable deep. �ow comes the voice of the great Jewish singer and says to the people, "God"s way is in the sea". In the very sphere and element they dread is the path and purpose of divinity. I think we should all do well to learn that lesson—God"s way is in the very thing we dread. We love the energy and glow of life; but we dread the silence of death and the cold grave—but the way of the Lord of heaven is in the sea.

II. Again, the sea is the abiding home of mystery. There is a twofold mystery about the sea—illimitable distance and unfathomed depths. Do you think it is profitless and idle dreaming to see in that a parable of life? The commonest life in the heart of the common crowd is more mysterious than any ocean, and it is its distance and its depths that make it so. It is not the achievements of man which are mysterious: it is the things which man never can achieve, and which he yet longs and hopes and hungers for, through century after century of failure. It is the reach of it through death into eternity that encircles with mystery the life of man.

III. Once more, the sea is the element of restlessness. We are not here to be satisfied and rounded. We are here to strive and yearn and toil and pray for things that are too large for threescore years. And in that distressing and yet Divine unrest there is the way and ordering of God. God"s way is never in the stagnant pool; His way is ever in the restless sea.

IV. Lastly, I would have you note this about the sea; it is the meeting-place of all the waters. It is not in the things that isolate and part us that the way of God is preeminently seen; it is the things that draw us heart to heart; it is in the meeting-place of all the waters. In our sorrows and joys, our hopes and aspirations we are blended like the waters in the sea. And it is there, where we mingle in a common brotherhood, that the seeing eye will find the way of God.

—G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, p83.

The Secrecy of God

Psalm 77:19

Men tell us that there are few more impressive sights than that of a burial at sea. It is even more solemn and arresting than the last rites beside an earthly grave. There is the ceasing of the throbbing engines; the gathering of the hushed crowd upon the deck. There is the simple service; the lifting of the body; and then—the plunge into the deep. And it is this element of silent secrecy, this hiding in unfathomable depths, which thrills and solemnizes and subdues. Something like that was in the poet"s mind when he said of God, "Thy way is in the sea". Mingling with all his other

thoughts was this, that God has His unfathomable secrets.

I. �ote first some of the spheres in which the Divine secrecy is notable, and we shall think, to begin with, of God"s gifts.

1. Think, for example, of the gift of love. In the darkest spot of earth some love is found. There is no man so brutal and so base but some one loves him and thrills at his approach. And yet how silent and how secret love Isaiah , hiding itself away from human eye, chary of uttering its depths in language, and speaking in a momentary glance. It is so always with the love of God. God"s love is here, bedewing every thorn, shining on every hedge around the home. And yet how secret and hidden it all is—how meaningless to blind or holden eyes—till Christ has come, and showed His wounded side, and led us to the glory of the cross.

2. The same thing also is true of the gift of life. Life is the one impenetrable secret. We have it, and we thank God for it to-night, and yet the wisest knows not what it is.

3. Then once again this element of secrecy is evident in the providence of life. �ot with the sound of bell does God arrive, when the feet are at the turning of the ways. Over the silent sea the boat approaches, with some one in it predestined to be ours; but the oars are muffled and we hear it not, as it comes from the haven of the far away. Decked with the broidery of common moments, the moments which are not common reach us. Wearing the aspect of our usual hours, our great hours of destiny arrive.

4. �ote the element of secrecy in God"s approaching to the soul in grace.

II. The secrecy of God is meant to be a spur to drive us on.

1. There are things that we are better not to hear, and God has the gracious strength to keep a secret. How often have we said in conversation, "Ah, how I wish you had never told me that!" We can never look with the same eyes again since that one word was whispered in our ear. And we put it from us, and it comes again, and it rises from the dead when we least wish it; and we are meaner, and we are ashamed, just because some one could not keep a secret. There are times when there is strength in speech. There are times when there is strength in silence.

2. The secrecy of God should give us hope. There is hope for the world, and there is hope for men when we can say "God"s footsteps are not known".

3. The secrecy of God is meant by God to keep us faithful. It is the pattern for our common life. It is given to help us on our daily round. Rarely are we summoned to great deeds. To many of us they never come at all. We are not beckoned along the shining road to anything that might arrest the world. We make our journey by a quiet way, with crosses that are very commonplace, with duties that are ordinary duties, nnlustred by any sparkle as of dew. There are blessings in a life like that.

When a man is famous his footsteps are well known. He is not the nearer God on that account. From the tiniest violet up to Jesus Christ God moves in quiet and unobtrusive paths. And if it is thus He lavishes His beauty, and makes His infinite sacrifice of love, we can be very near Him in our calling.

—G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p45.

SBC, "There must be mystery in religion—a religion which lies between the finite and the Infinite. Take away mystery, and we should tear out a page of evidence. But there is more hiddenness about the providence of God than there is about the grace of God. He has revealed much more clearly what He does and what He wills about our souls than about our bodies. This is the reason, perhaps, why faith finds it so much harder work to trust for time than it does for eternity, and why there are so many who have no fear for their salvation, and yet who are hourly anxious about their daily wants.

I. The distinction between the degree of the mystery of providence and grace underlies the text. There is a climax and an anticlimax. (1) Observe "way," "path," "footsteps." The way is greater than the path; the way is broad: the path is necessarily narrow, as in the familiar verse, "In all thy ways"—i.e., in all thy great things—"acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy little things," thy "paths;" while "footsteps" are smaller still than paths—little isolated marks lying here and there along the path. So it runs down—way, path, footsteps. (2) Now see the ascending scale. "Thy way is in the sea"—the sea classically is always shallow water—"Thy path in the great waters," which lie far out, more unfathomable than the shallows of the shore; while the "footsteps" are altogether out of sight, something beyond the sea and beyond the great waters, utterly out of reach: they "are not known."

II. As respects God’s hidden ways, there are one or two things which we ought to consider. (1) God never meant you to understand them. We are to seek the solution of hard problems, and the quelling of our fears, and the answer to our doubts, not in the events themselves, but in the character of God, not in the book of present history, but in the volume of the Scriptures. (2) Faith has its helps. As we live on, many things which were once fearful, involved, and hard come out kind, simple, and plain; we see, if not all, yet some, of the reasons: and we are satisfied where we were once most dissatisfied. The past stands sponsor for the future.

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 7th series, p. 124.

In the history of Israel we find not merely an impressive symbol, but a great practical truth, the truth, namely, that those who follow God follow a Leader whose footsteps are not known; that, in other words, he who accepts the service of God accepts with it much which he cannot understand. Mystery is bound up with God’s revelation and dealing with the human race.

I. We are not to conclude that because there is a mystery in God’s dealings they are therefore without a plan. We are to remember that the confusion is in us, and not in God’s work; that God’s counsel is not darkened because we are blind.

II. We are not to conclude that this mystery of providence is the outgrowth of

unkindness.

III. The Psalmist has evidently reached very satisfactory conclusions on this subject. The secret of his confidence is revealed in the thirteenth verse, in the words, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary," or "Thy way is in holiness." No matter how strange the way if it be a way of holiness!

IV. "Thou leddest Thy people." The true philosophy of life is summed up here, in simply following God.

M. R. Vincent, Gates into the Psalm Country, p. 181.

20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

BAR�ES, "Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron - This satisfied and comforted the mind of the psalmist. God had never forsaken his people. He had shown himself faithful in his dealings with them. He had acted the part of a good shepherd. In all the dangers of their way; in their perilous journey through the wilderness; amidst foes, privations, and troubles - rocks, sands, storms, tempests - when surrounded by enemies, and when their camp was infested with poisonous serpents - God had shown himself able to protect his people, and had been faithful to all his promises and covenant-engagements. Looking back to this period of their history, the psalmist saw that there was abundant reason for confiding in God, and that the mind should repose on him calmly amid all that was dark and mysterious in his dealings. In view of the past, the mind ought to be calm; encouraged by the past, however incomprehensible may be God’s doings, people may come to him, and entrust all their interests to him with the confident assurance that their salvation will be secure, and that all which seems dark and mysterious in the dealings of God will yet be made clear.

CLARKE, "Thou leddest thy people like a flock - This may refer to the pillar of cloud and fire. It went before them, and they followed it. So, in the eastern countries, the shepherd does not drape, but leads, his flock. He goes before them to find them pasture, and they regularly follow him.

By the hand of Moses and Aaron - They were God’s agents; and acted, in civil and sacred things, just as directed by the Most High.

GILL, "Thou leddest thy people like a flock,.... Either through the Red sea, according to R. Moses Hacohen, as Aben Ezra observes; see Isa_63:11, or rather, as he

and Kimchi, through the wilderness, after they were led through the sea; the people of Israel are compared to a flock of sheep; the Lord is represented as the Shepherd of them, who took care of them, protected and preserved them from their enemies:

by the hand of Moses and Aaron; the one was their civil and the other their ecclesiastical governor, and both under the Lord, and instruments of his, in guiding and conducting the people in all things needful for them. The Arabic version adds, "Allelujah"; from all this the psalmist concluded, though it is not mentioned, that as God had delivered his people of old out of their straits and difficulties, so he hoped and believed, that as he could, he would deliver him in his own time and way; and by this means his faith was relieved and strengthened.

HE�RY, "He took his people Israel under his own guidance and protection (Psa_77:20): Thou leddest thy people like a clock. They being weak and helpless, and apt to wander like a flock of sheep, and lying exposed to the beasts of prey, God went before them with all the care and tenderness of a shepherd, that they might not fail. The pillar of cloud and fire led them; yet that is not here taken notice of, but the agency of Moses and Aaron, by whose hand God led them; they could not do it without God, but God did it with and by them. Moses was their governor, Aaron their high priest; they were guides, overseers, and rulers to Israel, and by them God led them. The right and happy administration of the two great ordinances of magistracy and ministry is, though not so great a miracle, yet as great a mercy to any people as the pillar of cloud and fire was to Israel in the wilderness.

The psalm concludes abruptly, and does not apply those ancient instances of God's power to the present distresses of the church, as one might have expected. But as soon as the good man began to meditate on these things he found he had gained his point; his very entrance upon this matter gave him light and joy (Psa_119:130); his fears suddenly and strangely vanished, so that he needed to go no further; he went his way, and did eat, and his countenance was no more sad, like Hannah, 1Sa_1:18.

JAMISO�, "Illustrations of God’s power in His special interventions for His people (Exo_14:1-31), and, in the more common, but sublime, control of nature (Psa_22:11-14; Hab_3:14) which may have attended those miraculous events (Exo_14:24).

K&D, "If we have divided the strophes correctly, then this is the refrain-like close. Like a flock God led His people by Moses and Aaron (Num_33:1) to the promised goal. At this favourite figure, which is as it were the monogram of the Psalms of Asaph and of his school, the poet stops, losing himself in the old history of redemption, which affords him comfort in abundance, and is to him a prophecy of the future lying behind the afflictive years of the present.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. What a transition from tempest to peace, from wrath to love. Quietly as a flock Israel was guided on, by human agency which veiled the excessive glory of the divine presence. The smiter of Egypt was the shepherd of Israel. He drove his foes before him, but went before his people. Heaven and earth fought on his side

against the sons of Ham, but they were equally subservient to the interests of the sons of Jacob. Therefore, with devout joy and full of consolation, we close this Psalm; the song of one who forgot how to speak and yet learned to sing far more sweetly than his fellows.

COFFMA�, "Verse 20GOD'S GUIDA�CE OF ISRAEL I� THE WILDER�ESS

"Thou leddest thy people like a flock,

By the hand of Moses and Aaron."

This was another of the mighty works of God upon which the psalmist had resolved to meditate; and this was indeed a wonder. The manna from heaven, the water from the rock, the victories over enemies, the bitter waters made sweet, the thunders of Sinai, the giving of the Law, etc., etc. There was never anything else in the history of mankind that deserves to be compared with what God did for Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai.

As Leupold expressed it, "A man is well on the way to recovery from all uncertainty and doubts when he remembers the record of God's guidance of his people in the past, and the fact of God's always providing adequate leadership for his true followers."[13]

The great lesson of this psalm is that those who love God must trust him however distasteful or even disastrous may be the circumstances through which it is our duty to pass. This writer has known persons who in some disaster, such as the sudden death of a beloved child, have turned against God in bitterness and unbelief; but such a reaction is never right. God loves his children no matter what wretched sorrows they suffer; and the heart of faith must always, "take it to the Lord in prayer." There is no consolation, utterly no help, anywhere else.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 77:20. Thou leddest thy people — First through the sea, and afterward through the vast howling wilderness to Canaan; like a flock — With singular care and tenderness, as a shepherd doth his sheep. The Psalm concludes abruptly, and does not apply those ancient instances of God’s power to the present distresses, whether personal or national, as one might have expected. For as soon as the good man began to meditate on these things he found he had gained his point. His very entrance upon this matter gave him light and joy; his fears suddenly and strangely vanished, so that he needed to go no further; he went his way and did eat, and his countenance was no more sad.Whole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 77:1" for further information.Ver. 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock, etc. From this verse the afflicted may learn many consolations. First, that the best people that be are no better able to resist temptation, than the simple sheep is able to withstand the brier that catcheth

him. The next, that man is of no more ability to beware of temptations, than the poor sheep is to avoid the brier, being preserved only by the diligence of the shepherd. The third, that as the shepherd is careful of his entangled and briard sheep, so is God of his afflicted faithful. And the fourth is, that the people of Israel could take no harm of the water, because they entered the sea at God's commandment. Whereof we learn, that no danger can hurt when God doth command us to enter into it; and all dangers overcome us if we choose them ourselves, besides God's commandment; as Peter, when he went at God's commandment upon the water, took no hurt; but when he entered into the bishop's house upon his own presumption, was overcome and denied Christ. The Israelites, when they fought at God's commandment, the peril was nothing; but when they would do it of their own heads, they perished: so that we are bound to attend upon God's commandment, and then no danger shall destroy us, though it pain us. The other doctrine is in this, that God used the ministry of Moses and Aaron in the deliverance of his people, who did command them to do nothing but that the Lord did first bid. Whereof we learn that such as be ministers appointed of God, and do nothing but as God commandeth, are to be followed; as Paul saith, "Follow me, as I follow Christ." John Hooper.Ver. 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock. Observe, the good shepherd leads his followers like sheep: First, with great solicitude and care, to protect them from wolves. Secondly, with consideration and kindness, for the sheep is a harmless animal. Thirdly, with a wise strictness, for sheep easily wander, and they are of all animals the most stupid. Thomas Le Blanc.Ver. 20. Leddest thy people. Our guiding must be mild and gentle, else it is not duxisti, but traxisti; drawing and driving, and no leading. Leni spiritu non dure manu, rather by an inward sweet influence to be led, than by an outward extreme violence to be forced forward. So did God lead his people here. �ot the greatest pace, I wist, for they were a year marching that they might have posted in eleven days, as Moses saith. (De 1:2.) �o nor yet the nearest way neither, as Moses telleth us. (Exodus 8:18.) For he fetched a compass divers times, as all wise governors by his example must do, that desire rather safely to lead, than hastily to drive forward. "The Spirit of God leadeth this people, "saith Isaiah (Isaiah 63:14) "as an horse is ridden down the hill into a valley; " which must not be at a gallop, lest horse and ruler both come down one over another; but warily and easily. Lancelot Andrewes.Ver. 20. By the hand of Moses and Aaron. He says not, Moses and Aaron led the people of Israel; but, Thou leddest the people, and that thy people, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Great was the power of these two men; nevertheless neither of them was the shepherd of the sheep, but each was a servant to the one and only true shepherd, to whom the sheep exclusively belonged. �or yet was either the leader of the sheep, but the shepherd himself was present and led his own flock, to whom these two acted as servants. There are therefore three things to be learned from this passage. First, the sheep do not belong to the servants, but to the true shepherd. Secondly, the true shepherd is the leader of his own sheep. Thirdly, the offices of Moses and Aaron was to attend to this duty, that the Lord's sheep should be properly led and pastured. So Christ himself leads the sheep, his own sheep, and for this work he employs the ministry of his servants. Musculus.Ver. 20. The psalmist has reached the climax of his strain, he has found relief from

his sorrow by forcing his thoughts into another channel, by dwelling on all God's mightiest wonders of old; but there he must end: in his present intensity of passion he cannot trust himself to draw forth in detail any mere lessons of comfort. There are seasons when even the holiest faith cannot bear to listen to words of reasoning; though it can still find a support whereon to rest, in the simple contemplation, in all their native grandeur, of the deeds that God hath wrought. Joseph Francis Thrupp.

WHEDO�, "20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock—A beautiful Asaphic figure, (Psalms 80:1,) and a resting of faith at last in the great Shepherd of Israel. Here the psalm abruptly closes, as if the author had left it unfinished. But “where our psalm leaves off, Habakkuk, chap. 3, goes on, taking it up from that point like a continuation. For the prophet begins with the prayer to revive that deed of redemption of the Mosaic days of old, and in the midst of wrath to remember mercy; and, in expressions and figures which are borrowed from our psalm, he then beholds a fresh deed of redemption, by which that of old is eclipsed.”—Delitzsch.

COKE, "Psalms 77:20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock— The complaints of good men in the Scriptures of the Old Testament are of two sorts: one regards the national calamities of the Jews, the other the sufferings of particular men. The first (as well as the second) seems to have made a principal subject of the Psalmist's complaint in this psalm, as is probable from the conclusion, in which he reckons up the great things formerly done by God for the deliverance of his people; and concludes with one of the greatest: Thou leddest thy people like a flock, [through the Red Sea and through the wilderness, to the Promised Land,] by the hand of Moses and Aaron. His seeking comfort from a remembrance of God's great kindness to Israel, intimates that his sorrow was partly on account of their sufferings. See Bishop Sherlock as above.

REFLECTIO�S.—1st, Among the several conflicts that we may endure, are those inward temptations, trials, and bodily pains, with which our spirit may be afflicted; but let us not despair of comfort and relief, when it stands here on record, I cried—and he gave ear unto me. We have here,

1. The Psalmist's fervent and incessant prayers in the day of his trouble. I cried with my voice, earnest and aloud, I sought the Lord, with eager importunity; my sore ran in the night, his heart bled with anguish; or, my hand was stretched out in the night in prayer to God, and ceased not. �ote; (1.) In our distress we are especially called upon to fly to the compassionate bosom of our God, and pour out our complaints to him. (2.) If we would succeed, we must be both importunate and unwearied in our application.

2. His anguish was bitter, and he found no immediate relief. My soul refused to be comforted; laid hold on none of the promises; yea, when suggested to him, he thrust them from him as if they belonged not to him. I remembered God, and instead of finding relief from thence, I was troubled; his inexorable justice, and terrible majesty, fastened on his mind, and sunk him in deeper dejection. I complained of my sufferings, and my spirit was overwhelmed, as if my trials were too heavy to be

borne. Thou holdest mine eyes waking; no balmy sleep brought for a time a truce of respite to his afflicted spirit: I am so troubled, that I cannot speak; his distress so unutterable, and his soul so dejected. �ote; (1.) Under deep temptation we are apt to feed our own sorrows, and reject the consolations that God's word suggests to us. (2.) If we cannot speak but in groans, that is a language which God can understand, and will answer.

3. His melancholy fears occasioned great searchings of heart. I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search into the cause of my distress, and where it would end; and, between hope and fear, reason with myself, Will the Lord cast off for ever? as he seems now to have forsaken me; and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy, so often shown to me, clean gone for ever? Is there no more mercy, not a drop yet in store for me? doth his promise fail evermore? that no word of comfort shall again refresh my spirit? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? is it possible? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? so mused, so reasoned his dejected heart; and it speaks the strength of the temptation, which could cause him to question in the least degree truths so evident.

4. One beam of hope at last brightens up the prospect; he had gone far in his fears, much farther than he had any real cause for; now he stops short, and chides his unbelieving heart. I said, This is my infirmity, my lot of affliction, under which I ought not to complain; or rather my weakness and sin, ever to entertain a doubt of the love and compassions of my God: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High, that he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, able to save to the uttermost, and therefore ever to be remembered and trusted. �ote; (1.) We have already got, in a measure, out of our troubles when we begin to condemn our unbelief, and to cast our care upon God. (2.) There is no sin more besetting, none more to be lamented, than this dishonourable distrust of God's willingness to save.

2nd, Though we find not the immediate effect of the means of grace, we must not grow weary in using them: when we continue in God's way, we shall certainly succeed at last.

1. He continues to meditate on God's works and ways for the comfort of his soul. I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old; the great things he had done for his people of old, and the earnest of what he will do for them in future. I will meditate also of all thy work, of providence, redemption, and grace, for his own strength and consolation, and talk of thy doings, for the support and edification of others. �ote; (1.) It becomes us often to remember the wonders of God's dispensations of providence and grace towards us, to awaken our greater thankfulness and gratitude. (2.) What he has done for our souls should be spoken of to his glory, and for the encouragement of others who may be in the like distress.

2. He acknowledges God's way to be holy. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, or in holiness; all his dispensations altogether righteous, and they who wait upon him in

his sanctuary will see the reasons of them opened and made known to them. �ote; Though we may not always be able to solve particular difficulties in God's dealings with men, yet this principle we must hold fast, that God is holy in all his ways, and just in all his works.

3. He magnifies God's power and grace, so eminently displayed in behalf of his people: Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast declared thy strength among the people, in those stupendous miracles wrought for their redemption out of Egypt. Afraid and troubled at the presence of God, the depths of the Red Sea were discovered, and its waters stood up as congealed into a wall of stone; the showering skies poured down torrents on the Egyptians, the thunders roared, the lightnings flashed, the earth quaked, and filled them with terror and dismay before the waters overwhelmed them; circumstances which, though not recorded in the Mosaic history, attended that fatal overthrow of Israel's enemies: whilst Israel, conducted by the way which God had opened through the sea, following his paths in these great waters, passed safely through; and then the sea returned to his strength, and no footsteps remained: thus, like a flock, God led them by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and brought them at last to the promised rest in Canaan. In all which he gloriously manifested his power and grace towards his people, and hath given his faithful followers everlasting cause to triumph in him: Who is so great a god as our God? �ote; (1.) The redemption of Israel from Egypt, is typical of our redemption from the bondage of corruption. (2.) Like this passage through the sea, so are many of the works of God's grace and providence, incomprehensible to us; we can only stand on the shore and cry, O the depth! Romans 11:33. (3.) As God of old thus delivered his people, so will he ever lead, guide, and preserve his faithful ones; and they who trust in him shall not be disappointed of their hope.