The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 2 — Section 384

" swallowed up;" J,e o.nd his company wore reo.dy to have destroyed all Israel, and to destroyed by fire, o.nd are alluded to in have raised ap e. new Israel out of the ver. 18 (so Hengstenberg). descendants of Mo~es, had not Moses Ver. 18.-And e. fire we.e kindled in their pleaded with extreme earm·stness on the company (see Numb. xvi. 85, 40; xxvi. 10). people'• beueU (Exod. xxllii. 82). The 1lame burned up the wicked. Korah Ver. 24.-Y ea, they despised the pleasant o.nd his " company" were more " wicked" lo.nd. The psalmist po.sees to the considera- than Dnthan, Abiram, and their followers, tion of another sin. Arter the ill report of sinoe they had received n fo.voar from God the spies (Namb. xiii. 27-33), the Israel- which ought to have so.tisfied them (Numb. ites "despised" the land promised to them xvi. 9, 10), and since they ought to have (Nnmb. xiv. 31), o.nd relinqnisheri all desire been better instructed in the Law than for it. They were rea,ly tQ have turned ordino.ry Israeli tee. Hence Korab alone is back into Egypt (Numb. xiv. 3). They mentioned in Jnde 11. believed not hie word; i.e. bis promise to Ver. 19.-They ma.de a calf in Horeb l(ive them the land (Gen. xv. 18-21 ; (comp. Exod. xxxii. 4; Deut. ix. 8-16). Exod. xxiii. 81, etc.). And worshipped the molten image; rather, Ver. 25.-Bnt murmured in their tents. a molten image (comp. Exod. xxxii. 4, 24; The '' mnrmuring" intended is undoubtedly Deut. ix. 12, 16). The sin wo.s not only that mentioned in Numb. xiv. 1-4-. The age.inst the liglit of nature, but was ex- phuseology employed is from Deut. i. 27. pressly forbidden by the second command- And heo.rkened not unto the voioe of the ment (Exod. xx. 4-, 5). Lord; i.e. hearkened not to the many pro• Ver. 20.-Thus they changed their glory mises which God ho.d made to drive out the into the similitude of an ox that eateth Cano.anitish nations before them (Exod. iii. grass; i.e. they exchanged the spirituo.l 17; vi. 8; xv. 15--17, etc.). revelo.tion of Jehovah, in all his glorious Ver. 26.-Therefore he lifted up his hand attributes, for a material emblem, which against them (comp. Numb. xiv. 30, mar- would naturally suggest low and unworthy gino.l rendering). The phrase is used with thoughts of the supreme Being. So Schultz reference to the uplifting of the hand which and Cheyne. The expression, "e.n ox that o.ccompanied o.n oath. To overthrow them eateth gra,a," emphasizes the contempt of in the wilderness (see Numb. xiv. W, 32, the writer for e. people who could so a.et. 37). The death in the wilderness of the He he.a, probably, in his thoughts not only entire generation which had set out from the golden ea.If, but the Apis bulls of Egypt, save only Joshna e.nd Caleb, is the Egypt. "overthrow" intended. Ver. 21.-They forgat God their Saviour Ver. 27.-To overthrow their seed also (comp. ver. 18). "God their Saviour" is among the nations. Like Ezekiel (Ezek. "God who had so recently saved them out xx. 23), the writer regards the Babylonish of the ho.nds of Pharaoh." Which had done captivity e.s in pert a punishment for tl,e great things in Egypt. The allusion is ains committed in the wilderness. And to principally to the long series of" plagues." soatter them in the lands (comp. Lev. xxvL Ver. 22.-Wondrons works in the land of 83; Deut. xxviii. 64). The Israelites werd Ham (comp. Pas. lxxviiL 51; cv. 28, 27, punished, not merely by being carried into for the expression "le.ad of Ham;" o.nd for cnptivity, but by being completely broken the "wo!'ks" themselves, seo Exod. vii.- up ns a nation, o.nd "sco.ttered" widely xii.). And terrible things by the Red Sea over Western Asia-some in Gozan and on (see Exod. xiv. 24-, 27-80). the Khabonr (2 Kings :xviL 6), somo in Ver. 28.-Therefore he said tho.t he would Haran (1 Chron. v. 26), some iu "the cities destroy them; litero.lly, and he said. On of the Medes" (2 Kings xviii. 11; Tobit i. the o.postasy o.t Sino.i, God expressed to H; iii. 7), others in "Babylonia (2 Kings Moses an intention to destroy the entire xxiv. H-16; 2 Chron. x:x.xvi. 20; Ezek. i. peovle of Israel, so.ve only himself, and to l~'l, etc.). The "scattering" has in later "make of him o. great nation" (Exod. times increased ever more o.nd more. xxxii. 10; comp. Deut. ix. H, 25). Had Ver. 28.-They joined themselves also not Moses his ohoeen stood before him in unto Baal-peor (see Numb. xxv. 8). The the breaoh. Moses wo.s " chosen " by God exo.ct expression used in the Pentateuch is to leo.d the Israelites out of Egypt (Exod. repeated. It signifies e. mystic union, snch iii. 10), and forced to accept the office us was supposed to exist between a he .. then (Exod. iv. 1-17). When Isruel angered god and his worshippers, and to be kept up God e.t Sino.i, be "stood in the go.p," like by so.crificio.l meals and the like. "Baal- e. brave soldier guo.rding his city when the peor "-i.e. "tho Lord of Pcbor "-is pro- enemy bus breached t.he wo.11 (Exod. xxxii. bably identifie,l with Chemosh. And o.ts 11-13, 81-84). To turn away his wrath, the sacrifices of the dead. The rorrespond- lest he should destroy them. God was ing phr,\se iu Numbers (xx.v. 2) is, "the 428 THE BOOK or PSALMS. [PB. 0"1. 1-48,