The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 2 — Section 383

Dau. ix. 5-8). We hava committed ini- believe. They sang hia praise, Tho allu- quity ; or, "dealt perveraely" (Ko.y). We sion is to the "Song of Mose•" (Exod. xv have done wickedly. The confession is ns 1-18), in which tho Israelites gonerally brond anrl genernl as possible, including all joined (Exo,I. xv. l, 20). • under sin-the "fathers" from Moses down- Ver. 13.-They soon forgat his worka; w:irds, the whole nation from the time of its litern.lly, t/1ey hasted anil jorgat liis worlte. Fettlement in Can&an, nnd even the afflicted Their gratitude and devotion wero short- exiles in Babylon. Their guilt is empha- lived. They almo6t immediately forgot the sized by the use of three verbs, ee.ch more omnipotence and extreme goodness of God forcible than the Inst. toward, them. '.rhey "murmured" at Ver. 7.-0ur fathers understood. not thy l\larah (Exod. xv. 24), complo.ined in the wonders in Egypt; rather, c0'11$idered not- wilderness of Sin (Exod. xvi. 3), "lusted" did not give serious thought to them; took (Numb. :xi. 4), "tempted God," etc. They them as mattera of course, and so were not waited not for his counsel ; i.e. "they did impressed by them. They remembered not not Wl\it for the development of Go,l's plans the multitude or thy meroies (cnmp. Ps. respectiug them, preforring (ver. 43) their lxix. 16; IS&. !xiii. 7; Lam. iii. 32; and own counsel" (Kay). infra, ver. 45). But provoked him; rather, Ver. 14.-llut lusted exceedingly in the were r-ebellious (see the Revised Version). wilderness; literally, "lusted a lust." The At the sea, even at the Red Sea (comp. expression is f.tlkcn from Numb. xi. 4, where Ernd. xiv. II, 12). it is trauslated in the Authorized Version Ver. S.-Nevertheless he saved them for by "r~n a- lusting.'' The lust was for his Name's sake, that he might ma.ke his "flesh," and for "the fish, the cucumbers, mighty power to be known. (On this tho melons, and the leeks, and the onions, motive for the mighty works done in Egypt, ond the garlic, which they did eat in Egypt s, e Exod. vii. 5; xiv. 4, 18; xv. 11-16.) freely" (Nun,b. xi. 5). And tempted God in Yer. 9.-Re rebuked the Red Sea also the desert ( comp. Ps. l.xxviii. 18). (comp. Ps. civ. 7, "At tl1y rebuke they Ver. 15.-And he gave them their request. [ i.e. the waters] fled ; " sec also Isa. 1. 2 ; By sending the quails (Numb. xi. 31, 32). Na.Ii. i. 4). The Hebrew poets constantly But sent leanness into their soul. By repreiient God's dealings with inanimate "leanness" is meant dissatisfaction or dis- nature in terms proper to his dealings with gust. After eating freely of the quails for his rational creatures, thus personifying a full month, the food bec11,me " loathsome" materiel things. And it was dried up (see to them (Numb. xi. 20). Whether it Exod. xiv. 21, 22). So he led them through actually produced the pestilence which the depths, as through the wilderness followed (Numb. xi. 33), or whether that ( comp. Isa. l.xiii. 13). Mid.bar, the word was a separate aud distinct nfllict1on, it is translated " wilderness," is properly a impossible to determine (compare, on the smooth stretch of down, very level, and whole subject, Pa. lx.xviii. 18-31, and the suited for sheep-walks. comment ad loc.). 'Ver. l O.-And he saved them from the Ver. 16.-They envied Moses alao in the hand of him that hated them. The Ph,naoh camp. The writer passes now to the sin of of the Exodus, whose "hatred" had been Korab, Dathan, and Abiram, with their shown by hi~ oppression (Exocl. ii. 23; followcra, which was "envy" or jealousy of iii. 9; v. G---19), his prolonged refUBal lo the high position assigned by God himself let Israel go, and f.nal pursuit of tbelll, aud (Exod. iii. 10; iv. 1-17) to Moses and attempt to destroy them oa the wc,teru Auron (comp. Numb. xvi. 1-3). These shore of the Red :3ea (Exod. xiv. 5-J0). "gainsayers" (Jude 11) maintained that And rede~med them from the hand r,f the they had ns much right to be priests as enemy. The deliverance from Eg-ypt, typi- Moses and Aaron, siuce "all the congrega- fyinn- man's deliverance from sin, is con- tion was holy" (Numb. xvi. 3). Aud Aaron stantly spoken of as a" redemption" (Pos. the saint of the Lord; or, the holy one. It lxxiv. 2; cvii. 2; E:i:od. 'l'i. 6, 7; xv.16,ctc.). is rather Aaron's official sanctity (Lev. viii. Ver. 11.-And the waters covered their 2-12) than his personal holiness that is enemie■ (aee Exod. xiv. 28-30; xv. 10). intended. (Compare the use of the phrase There was not one of them left. The words "man of God" in 1 Kings xiii. I, 4, 6, etc.) of Exod. xiv. 28 (last clause) are almost Ver. 17 .-The earth opaned and swallowed "'xactly followed. (On the true meaning of up Dathan (see Numb. xvi. 31-33). And tLe expression, see the 'Pulpit Commen- covered the company of Abiram. It is asked tary' on Exod. xiv., p. 314.) why there is no mention of Korah here, and Y0r. 12.-Then believed they his words. suggested that he owed his escape from Bo iu Exod. xiv. 31, "The people feared the mention to the favouritism of the Levitical Lord and believed the Lord " - believed, "temple-poets" (Cheyne). But the real that is, wllen they could no longer dis- reason seems to be that Korab was not rs. ov1. 1-48.J THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 427