Bible Commentaries

Thanksgiving Hymn in Honour of God Who Is Attested in the Earliest History of Israel

We have here another Psalm closing with Hallelujah, which opens theseries of the Hodu-Psalms. Such is the name we give only to Psalms whichbegin with הודו (Ps 105, Ps 107, Ps 118, Ps 136), just as we call those which beginwith הללויה (Ps 106, Psalm 111:1, Psalm 117:1-2, Ps 135, Psalm 146:1) Hallelujah-Psalms(alleluiatici). The expression להלּל וּלהודות, whichfrequently occurs in the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, pointsto these two kinds of Psalms, or at least to their key-notes.

The festival song which David, according to 1 Chronicles 16:7, handed over toAsaph and his brethren for musical execution at the setting down of theArk and the opening of divine service on Zion, is, so far as its first part isconcerned (1 Chronicles 16:8-22), taken from our Psalm (Psalm 105:1), which isthen followed by Psalm 96:1-13 as a second part, and is closed with Psalm 106:1, Psalm 106:47-48. Hitzig regards the festival song in the chronicler as the original, and therespective parallels in the Psalms as “layers or shoots.” “The chronicler,”says he, “there produces with labour, and therefore himself seeking foreignaid, a song for a past that is dead.” But the transition from Psalm 105:22 to Psalm 105:23 and from Psalm 105:33 to Psalm 105:34, so devoid of connection, the taking over of theverse out of Ps 106 referring to the Babylonian exile into Psalm 105:35, and even ofthe doxology of the Fourth Book, regarded as an integral part of the Psalm,into Psalm 105:36, refute that perversion of the right relation which has beenattempted in the interest of the Maccabaean Psalms. That festival song inthe chronicler, as has been shown again very recently by Riehm andKöhler, is a compilation of parts of songs already at hand, arranged for adefinite purpose. Starting on the assumption that the Psalms as a wholeare Davidic (just as all the Proverbs are Salomonic), because David calledthe poetry of the Psalms used in religious worship into existence, theattempt is made in that festival song to represent the opening of theworship on Zion, at that time in strains belonging to the Davidic Psalms.

So far as the subject-matter is concerned, Psalms 105 attaches itself to theAsaph Ps 78, which recapitulates the history of Israel. The recapitulationhere, however, is made not with any didactic purpose, but with thepurpose of forming a hymn, and does not come down beyond the time ofMoses and Joshua. Its source is likewise the Tôra as it now lies before us. The poet epitomizes what the Tôra narrates, and clothes it in a poetic garb.

Invitation to the praise - praise that resounds far and wide amongthe peoples - of the God who has become manifest wondrously in the deedsand words connected with the history of the founding of Israel. הודה לה, as in Psalm 33:2; Psalm 75:2, of a praising and thankful confessionoffered to God; קרא בשׁם ה, to call with the name ofJahve, i.e., to call upon it, of an audible, solemn attestation of God inprayer and in discourse (Symmachus, êçñõ). The joy of heart

(Note: The Mugrash of ישׂמח with the following Legarme seems here to be of equal value with Zakeph, 1 Chronicles 16:10.)

that is desired is the condition of a joyous opening of the mouth andIsrael's own stedfast turning towards Jahve, the condition of all salutaryresult; for it is only His “strength” that breaks through all dangers, and His“face” that lightens up all darkness. משׁפּטי־פּיו, as Psalm 105:7 teaches, areGod's judicial utterances, which have been executed without anyhindrance, more particularly in the case of the Egyptians, their Pharaoh,and their gods. The chronicler has פּיהוּ and זרע ישׂראל, which is so far unsuitable as one does not know whetherעבדו is to be referred to “Israel” the patriarch, or to the “seed ofIsrael,” the nation; the latter reference would be deutero-Isaianic. In bothtexts the lxx reads עבדו (ye His servants).

The poet now begins himself to do that to which he encourages Israel. Jahve is Israel's God: His righteous rule extends over the whole earth,whilst His people experience His inviolable faithfulness to His covenant. יהוה in Psalm 105:7 is in apposition to הוּא, for the God whobears this name is as a matter of course the object of the song of praise. זכר is the perfect of practically pledges certainty (cf. Psalm 111:5, where we find instead the future of confident prospect). The chronicler has זכרוּ instead (lxx again something different: μνημονεύωμεν ); but the object is not the demanding but the promissory side of the covenant, so that consequently it is not Israel's remembering but God's that is spoken of. He remembers His covenant in all time to come, so that exile and want of independence as a state are only temporary, exceptional conditions. צוּה has its radical signification here, to establish, institute, Psalm 111:9. לאלף דּור (in which expression דור is a specifying accusative) is taken from Deuteronomy 7:9. And since דּבר is the covenant word of promise, it can be continued אשׁר כּרת; and Haggai 2:5 (vid., Köhler thereon) shows that אשׁר is not joined to בריתו over Psalm 105:8 . וּשׁבוּעתו, however, is a second object to זכר (since דּבר with what belongs to it as an apposition is out of the question). It is the oath on Moriah (Genesis 22:16) that is meant, which applied to Abraham and his seed. לישׂחק (chronicler ליצחק), as in Amos 7:9; Jeremiah 33:26. To זכר is appended ויּעמרדה; the suffix, intended as neuter, points to what follows, viz., this, that Canaan shall be Israel's hereditary land. From Abraham and Isaac we come to Jacob-Israel, who as being the father of the twelve is the twelve-tribe nation itself that is coming into existence; hence the plural can alternate with the singular in Psalm 105:11. את־ארץ כּנען (chronicler, without the את) is an accusative of the object, and חבל נחלתכם accusative of the predicate: the land of Canaan as the province of your own hereditary possession measured out with a measuring line (Psalm 78:55).

The poet now celebrates the divine preservation which had sway over thesmall beginnings of Israel, when it made the patriarchs proof against harmon their wanderings. “Men of number” are such as can be easily counted, vid., the confessions in Genesis 34:30; Deuteronomy 26:5; ויּתהלּכוּ places the claim upon the hospitality at one time of this people and at another time of that people in the connection with it of cause and effect. כּמעט, as a small number, only such a small number, signifies, as being virtually an adjective: inconsiderable, insignificant, worthless (Proverbs 10:20). בּהּ refers to Canaan. In Psalm 105:13 the way in which the words גּוי and עם alternate is instructive: the former signifies the nation, bound together by a common origin, language, country, and descent; the latter the people, bound together by unity of government.

(Note: For this reason a king says עמּי, not גּויי; and גּוי only occurs twice with a suffix, which refers to Jahve (Psalm 106:5; Zephaniah 2:9); for this reason גּוי, frequently side by side with עם, is the nobler word, e.g., in Deuteronomy 32:21; Jeremiah 2:11; for this reason עם is frequently added to גּוי as a dignitative predicate, Exodus 33:13; Deuteronomy 4:6; and for this reason גּוים and עם ה are used antithetically.)

The apodosis does not begin until Psalm 105:14. It is different in connection with בּהיותכם in the text of the chronicler, and in this passage in the Psalter of the Syriac version, according to which Psalm 105:12 ought to be jointed to the preceding group. The variation ומממלכה instead of מממלכה is of no consequence; but לאישׁ (to any one whomsoever) instead of אדם, in connection with הניח, restores the current mode of expression (Ecclesiastes 5:11; 2 Samuel 16:11; Hosea 4:17) instead of one which is without support elsewhere, but which follows the model of נתן, נטשׁ, Genesis 31:28 (cf. supra p. 171); whilst on the other hand ובנביאי instead of ולנביאי substitutes an expression that cannot be supported for the current one (Genesis 19:9; 1:21). In Psalm 105:14 the poet has the three histories of the preservation of the wives of the patriarchs in his mind, viz., of Sarah in Egypt (Gen. 12), and of Sarah and of Rebekah both in Philistia (Psalm 20:1-9, Psalm 26:1-12, cf. especially Psalm 26:11). In the second instance God declares the patriarch to be a “prophet” (Psalm 20:7). The one mention has reference to this and the other to Gen. 17, where Abram is set apart to be the father of peoples and kings, and Sarai to be a princess. They are called משׁיהים (a passive form) as eing God-chosen princes, and נביאים (an intensive active form, from נבא, root נב, to divulge), not as being inspired ones (Hupfeld), but as being God's spokesmen (cf. Exodus 7:1. with Exodus 4:15.), therefore as being the recipients and mediators of a divine revelation.

“To call up a famine” is also a prose expression in 2 Kings 8:1. To breakthe staff of bread (i.e., the staff which bread is to man) is a very oldmetaphor, Leviticus 26:26. That the selling of Joseph was, providentiallyregarded, a “sending before,” he himself says in Genesis 45:5. Psalm 102:24 throws light upon the meaning of ענּה ב. The Kerîרגלו is just as much without any occasion to justify it as עינו inEcclesiastes 4:8 (for עיניו). The statement that iron came upon hissoul is intended to say that he had to endure in iron fetters sufferings thatthreatened his life. Most expositors take בּרזל as equivalent toבּבּרזל, but Hitzig rightly takes נפשׁו as an object,following the Targum; for ברזל as a name of an iron fetter

(Note: Also in ancient Arabic (firzil) (after the Aramaic פרזלא) directly signifies an iron fetter (and the large smith's shears for cutting the iron), whence the verb. denom. Arab. (farzala), c. acc. pers., to put any one into iron chains. Iron is called בּרזל from בּרז, to pierce, like the Arabic (ḥdı̂d), as being the material of which pointed tools are made.)

can change its gender, as do, e.g., צפון as a name of the north wind, andכבוד as a name of the soul. The imprisonment (so harsh at the commencement) lasted over ten years,until at last Joseph's word cam to pass, viz., the word concerning thisexaltation which had been revealed to him in dreams (Genesis 42:9). Accordingto Psalm 107:20, דברו appears to be the word of Jahve, but thenone would expect from Psalm 105:19 a more parallel turn of expression. What ismeant is Joseph's open-hearted word concerning his visions, and אמרת ה is the revelation of God conveying His promises, which came tohim in the same form, which had to try, to prove, and to purify him(צרף as in Psalm 17:3, and frequently), inasmuch as he was not to beraised to honour without having in a state of deep abasement proved afaithfulness that wavered not, and a confidence that knew no despair. The divine “word” is conceived of as a living effectual power, as in Psalm 119:50. The representation of the exaltation begins, according to Genesis 41:14, with שׁלח־מלך

(Note: Here שׁלח is united by Makkeph with the following word, to which it hurries on, whereas in Psalm 105:28 it has its own accent, a circumstance to which the Masora has directed attention in the apophthegm: שׁלוחי דמלכא זריזין שׁלוחי דחשׁוכא מתינין (the emissaries of the king are in haste, those of darkness are tardy); vid., Baer, Thorath Emeth, p. 22.)

and follows Genesis 41:39-41, Genesis 41:44, very closely as to the rest, according to which בּנפשׁו is a collateral definition to לאסּר (with an orthophonic Dag.) in the sense of בּרצונו: by his soul, i.e., by virtue of his will (vid., Psychology, S. 202; tr. p. 239). In consequence of this exaltation of Joseph, Jacob-Israel came then into Egypt, and sojourned there as in a protecting house of shelter (concerning גּוּר, vid., supra, p. 414). Egypt is called (Psalm 105:23, Psalm 105:27) the land of Chaam, as in Psalm 78:51; according to Plutarch, in the vernacular the black land, from the dark ashy grey colouring which the deposited mud of the Nile gives to the ground. There Israel became a powerful, numerous people (Exodus 1:7; Deuteronomy 26:5), greater than their oppressors.

Narration of the exodus out of Egypt after the plagues that went forthover that land. Psalm 105:25 tells how the Egyptians became their “oppressors.” Itwas indirectly God's work, inasmuch as He gave increasing might to Hispeople, which excited their jealousy. The craft reached its highest pitch inthe weakening of the Israelites that was aimed at by killing all the malechildren that were born. דּברי signifies facts, instances, as in Psalm 65:4; Psalm 145:5. Here, too, as in Ps 78, the miraculous judgments of the tenplagues to not stand in exactly historical order. The poet begins with theninth, which was the most distinct self-representation of divine wrath,viz., the darkness (Exodus 10:21-29): (shā'lach) (chō'shech). The former word(שׁלח) has an orthophonic Gaja by the final syllable, whichwarns the reader audibly to utter the guttural of the toneless final syllable, which might here be easily slurred over. The Hiph. החשׁיך has its causative signification here, as also in Jeremiah 13:16; the contracted mode of writing with i instead of (ı̂) may be occasioned by the Waw convers. Psalm 105:28 cannot be referred to the Egyptians; for the expression would be a mistaken one for the final compliance, which was wrung from them, and the interrogative way of taking it: nonne rebellarunt, is forced: the cancelling of the לא, however (lxx and Syriac), makes the thought halting. Hitzig proposes ולא שׁמרו: they observed not His words; but this, too, sounds flat and awkward when said of the Egyptians. The subject will therefore be the same as the subject of שׂמוּ; and of Moses and Aaron, in contrast to the behaviour at (Mê) -(Merı̂bah) (Numbers 20:24; Numbers 27:14; cf. 1 Kings 13:21, 1 Kings 13:26), it is said that this time they rebelled not against the words (Kerî, without any ground: the word) of God, but executed the terrible commands accurately and willingly. From the ninth plague the poet in Psalm 105:29 passes over to the first (Exodus 7:14-25), viz., the red blood is appended to the black darkness. The second plague follows, viz., the frogs (Exodus 8:1-15); Psalm 105:20 looks as though it were stunted, but neither has the lxx read any ויבאו (ויעלו), Ex. 7:28. In Psalm 105:31 he next briefly touches upon the fourth plague, viz., the gad-fly, ערב, lxx κυνόμυια (Exodus 8:20-32, vid., on Psalm 78:45), and the third (Exodus 8:16-19), viz., the gnats, which are passed over in Ps 78. From the third plague the poet in Psalm 105:32, Psalm 105:33 takes a leap over to the seventh, viz., the hail (Ex 9:13-35). In Psalm 105:32 he has Exodus 9:24 before his mind, according to which masses of fire descended with the hail; and in Psalm 105:33 (as in Psalm 78:47) he fills in the details of Exodus 9:25. The seventh plague is followed by the eighth in Psalm 105:34, Psalm 105:35, viz., the locust (Ex 10:1-20), to which ילק (the grasshopper) is the parallel word here, just as חסיל (the cricket) is in Psalm 78:46. The expression of innumerableness is the same as in Psalm 104:25. The fifth plague, viz., the pestilence, murrain (Exodus 9:1-7), and the sixth, viz., שׁחין, boils (Exodus 9:8-12), are left unmentioned; and the tenth plague closes, viz., the smiting of the first-born (Exodus 11:1.), which Psalm 105:36 expresses in the Asaphic language of Psalm 78:51. Without any mention of the institution of the Passover, the tenth plague is followed by the departure with the vessels of silver and gold asked for from the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35; Exodus 11:2; Exodus 3:22). The Egyptians were glad to get rid of the people whose detention threatened them with total destruction (Exodus 12:33). The poet here draws from Isaiah 5:27; Isaiah 14:31; Isaiah 63:13, and Exodus 15:16. The suffix of שׁבטיו refers to the chief subject of the assertion, viz., to God, according to Psalm 122:4, although manifestly enough the reference to Israel is also possible (Numbers 24:2).

Now follows the miraculous guidance through the desert to the takingpossession of Canaan. The fact that the cloud (ענן, root ען, tomeet, to present itself to view, whence the Arabic (‛ănăn), the visibleoutward side of the vault of heaven) by day, and becoming like fire bynight, was their guide (Exodus 13:21), is left out of consideration in Psalm 105:39 . With למסך we are not to associate the idea of a coveringagainst foes, Exodus 14:19., but of a covering from the smiting sun, for פּרשׁ (Exodus 40:19), as in Isaiah 4:5., points to the idea of a canopy. Inconnection with the sending of the quails the tempting character of thedesire is only momentarily dwelt upon, the greater emphasis is laid on theomnipotence of the divine goodness which responded to itשׁאלוּ is to be read instead of שׁאל, the w before w having beenoverlooked; and the Kerîwrites and points שׂליו (like סתיו,עניו) in order to secure the correct pronunciation, after theanalogy of the plural termination יו -. The bread of heaven (Psalm 78:24.) is the manna. In Psalm 105:41 the giving of waterout of the rock at Rephidim and at Kadesh are brought together; theexpression corresponds better to the former instance (Exodus 17:6, cf. Numbers 20:11). הלכוּ refers to the waters, and נהר forכּנּהרות, Psalm 78:16, is, as in Psalm 22:14, an equation instead of acomparison. In this miraculous escort the patriarchal promise moves ontowards its fulfilment; the holy word of promise, and the stedfast, provedfaith of Abraham - these were the two motives. The second את is, likethe first, a sign of the object, not a preposition (lxx, Targum), inconnection with which Psalm 105:42 would be a continuation of Psalm 105:42 , dragging on without any parallelism. Joy and exulting are mentioned as the mood of the redeemed ones with reference to the festive joy displayed at the Red Sea and at Sinai. By Psalm 105:43 one is reminded of the same descriptions of the antitype in Isaiah, Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 55:12, just as Psalm 105:41 recalls Isaiah 48:21. “The lands of the heathen” are the territories of the tribes of Canaan. עמל is equivalent to יגיע in Isaiah 45:14: the cultivated ground, the habitable cities, and the accumulated treasures. Israel entered upon the inheritance of these peoples in every direction. As an independent people upon ground that is theirs by inheritance, keeping the revealed law of their God, was Israel to exhibit the pattern of a holy nation moulded after the divine will; and, as the beginning of the Psalm shows, to unite the peoples to themselves and their God, the God of redemption, by the proclamation of the redemption which has fallen to their own lot.