promise fail for evermore 1 The promise with thy mighty strength) redeemed thy which he made to Abra.hnm, lean~, nnd people. The deliverance from Egypt is Jacob, that he would be with their seed for constantly called o. "redemption'' (Exorl. ever (Gen. xvii. 7-13; xxvi. 24; xxxv. 11, vi. 6; xv. 13; Dent vii. 8; ix. 26, etc. ; 2 12). Sam. vii. 23; I Chrou. xvii. 21, etc.). It Ver. 9.-llath God forgotten to be gracious 1 is brought forwnrd here "as the greatest Oo.n God, who forgets nothing and no one and most wonderfol of a.II the works of God, (lea. xlix. 15), ha.ve forgotten his own a11d hence as containing the stron~cst pledge na.ture, which is to bo "merciful and of future deliverance" (Hengstenberg). The gracious, long-suffering, a.nd abundant in sons of Jacob and Joseph. A new desi=a- goodness" (Exod, xxxiv. 6)? Assuredly tion of the people of Israel, and one which not. The higher nature in the psalmist, as elsewhere occurs only in Obad_ 18. Pro- Profossor Oheyne nbserves, expostulates with fessor Cheyne •uggests that it is a geo- the lower one. Hath he in anger shut up graphical diviaion-byJacobsouthern Israel, his tender mercies 1 Has he shut them up, and by Joseph northern Israel, being in- "as in a closed hand" (Kay, Canon Cook)? tended (comp. Hos. xii 2; Amos v. 6, 15; (comp. Deut. xv. 7). vi. 6). Ver. 10.-And I said, This ie my infirmity; Ver. 16.-The wa.ters saw thee, 0 God, i.e. "the fault is not in God, but in myself" the watera saw thee. Professor Cheyne -in my own weakness and want of faith. regards this and tho three following verses But I will remember the years of the right as not belonging properly to this psalm, but hand of the Most High_ There is no" I will e. "fragment of another," accidentally tran ■- remember" in the original, which expresses ferred to this place. Bnt mo~t commentator3 the thought of the writer imperfectly; but see in the passage e. moat esaent:Lil portion some such phrase must of necessity be of the poem. It is the thought of the de- supplied. The words are retained iu the liverance from Egypt that especially sustains Revised Version and by Professor Cheyne. and comforts the psalmist in his extreme The remembrance _of God's mercies during distress_ The passage is prepared for by the many years that are past is thnt which vers. 11 and H, and is exegetical of ver. 15. beat sustains us in e. time of severe trouble_ They were afraid. They shrank from the Ver. 11.-I will remember the works of sight of God, and made e. way for his people the Lord. The same thought is carried on to pass over_ The depths also ware troubled. and expressed more clearly in the present The very abysses trembled with fear, ancl and the ensuing verse. Then a special re- moved themselves, leaving the bottom of membrance is made of one particular mercy the sea dry (see Exod. :xiv. 29). -the deliverance from Egypt (vera. 13-20). Ver. 17.-The clouds pon:red ont water. Bnrely I will remember thy wonders of old The description here becomes more poetical (comp. Exod. xv. 11). than historic:i.l, unless, indeed, we may sup- Ver. 12--I will meditate also of all thy pose that tbe writer possessed, besides what work, and talk of thy doings ; rather, as in is said in Exodus, some traditional account the Revised Version, and muse on thy doings of the passage. The skies sent out e. sound ; (comp. ver. 3)_ or, "uttered a voice "-the voice of the Ver. 13.-Thy way, 0 God, is in the thunder, beyond a doubt (compare next sanctuary; rather, in holiness_ God's" way" verse). Thine arrows also want abroe.d ; i.e. -hie conduct, his proceedings-however lightuings darted hither and thither (see strange e.nd mysterious it may seem to Ps. xviii. H; 2 Sam. xxii. 15). us, is always holy, i.e. just e.nd right Ver. 18.-The voioe of thy thunder was in (comp. Gen. xviii. 25; Job viii. 3)- Who the heavens; mther, in the tt!hirlwina is so great a God e.s our God 1 God is both (Kay, Cheyne, Revised Version). A storm good and great'; just in himself, and able to of wind usually accompnnies thunder and execute justice: lightning. This the author, with poetical Ver. H.-Thou art the God the.t doest exaggeration, heightens into e." whirlwind" wonders. The gods of the heathen could (comp. Ps_ lx.x.:xiii. 13; Isa. xvii. 13). The do nothing. They were weakness, vanity, lightnings lightened the world. More hyper- nothingness. Jehovah alone was powerful. bole. Not only did they "go abroad" (ver. He could work, and could "work wonders." 17), darting hither and thither, but their This clause prepares the way for the magni- intense brightness illuminated the whole ficent description of the delivero.nce of Israel earth. The earth trembled and shook. at the Red See., which oooupics vors.16-19. Through the reverberation of air, the earth Thou hast deolared thy atrength among the seems to shake in e. heavy thunderstorm. people; re.ther, among the peoplea-i.e. in Ver. 19.-Thy way is in the sea; rather, the sight of many heuthen no.tions (comp. was in the sea. Thou wentest, i.e., in person Exod. xv. H-16). before thy people in their passage across the Ver. 15.-Thou hast with thine arm (i.6. dry bed of the Bed See.; truly there, though 112 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [1'8, LXXVII, 1-20,
invi~ible (comp. Exod. xv. 18; Pse. lxxviii. Ver. 20.-Thou leddeat thy people like a 52, 53 ; c\'"i. 9 ; lei\, lxiii. 13). And thy ffook ( comp. lea. lxiiL ll; Ps. lxxviil. 52). path in the great waters; literally, thy By the hand of lllosea and A1uon. God wae pall... So the Revised Version. And thy the true Leader. Moses and Aeron were bui foot~tepa are not known; rather, tDere not. hie instruments. Moses at one time refused No one perceived thy presence, muoh lees to lead any more, unless God would pledge discernl'd thy footsteps. As in cxtemel himself to go up with him (see Exod. xxxiil. nature end in the humo.n heart, God worked 12-16). secretly.