Psa 78:42-52 | TDavid | STEP | EXPOSITION Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand. Yet it must have been difficult to forget it. Such displays of divine power as those which smote Egypt with astonishment, it must have needed some more than usual effort to blot it from the tablets of memory. It is probably meant that they practically, rather than actually, forgot. He who forgets the natural returns of gratitude, may justly be charged with not remembering the obligation. Nor the days when he delivered them from the enemy. The day itself was erased from their calendar, so far as any due result from it or return for it. Strange is the faculty of memory in its oblivion as well as its records. Sin perverts man's powers, makes them forceful only in wrong directions, and practically dead for righteous ends. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand , etc. God hates forgetfulness of his blessings. First, because he has commanded that we should not forget them, Deuteronomy 4:9 8:14. Secondly, because forgetfulness is a sign of contempt. Thirdly, it is the peculiarity of singular carelessness. Fourthly, it springs from unbelief. Fifthly, it is the greatest mark of ingratitude. Thomas Le Blanc. Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand , etc. The rallying point of faith in time of trial is the primary manifestation of grace. To an Israelite a remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt is the test of active faith. In like manner, to the tried believer now it is the CROSS that furnishes the outlet of deliverance from the misty darkness with which Satan sometimes is permitted to envelope our conscience, when the Lord had not been kept watchfully before our face. Because Israel forgot that first deliverance, they went on frowardly in the way of evil. Because a Christian sometimes stops short of the Cross in his spiritual conflicts, he fails to defeat the enemy and remains unfruitful and unhappy, until by some special intervention of the great Restorer, he is again brought, in spirit, to that place where God first met him, and welcomed him in Jesus in the fulness of forgiveness and of peace. No intermediate experience, how truthful soever in its character, will meet his case. It is at the cross alone that we regain a thorough right mindedness about ourselves as well as about God. If we would glorify him, we must "hold fast the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end," Hebrews 3:14 . Arthur Pridham. Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand , etc. Eaten bread is soon forgotten. Nihil citius senescit quam gratia. Nothing so soon grows stale as a favour. John Trapp. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 42 . The day of days. The enemy encountered on that day. The conflict endured. The deliverance accomplished. The joy experienced. B. D.

Psalms 78:42-52

EXPOSITION Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand. Yet it must have been difficult to forget it. Such displays of divine power as those which smote Egypt with astonishment, it must have needed some more than usual effort to blot it from the tablets of memory. It is probably meant that they practically, rather than actually, forgot. He who forgets the natural returns of gratitude, may justly be charged with not remembering the obligation. Nor the days when he delivered them from the enemy. The day itself was erased from their calendar, so far as any due result from it or return for it. Strange is the faculty of memory in its oblivion as well as its records. Sin perverts man's powers, makes them forceful only in wrong directions, and practically dead for righteous ends. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand , etc. God hates forgetfulness of his blessings. First, because he has commanded that we should not forget them, Deuteronomy 4:9 8:14. Secondly, because forgetfulness is a sign of contempt. Thirdly, it is the peculiarity of singular carelessness. Fourthly, it springs from unbelief. Fifthly, it is the greatest mark of ingratitude. Thomas Le Blanc. Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand , etc. The rallying point of faith in time of trial is the primary manifestation of grace. To an Israelite a remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt is the test of active faith. In like manner, to the tried believer now it is the CROSS that furnishes the outlet of deliverance from the misty darkness with which Satan sometimes is permitted to envelope our conscience, when the Lord had not been kept watchfully before our face. Because Israel forgot that first deliverance, they went on frowardly in the way of evil. Because a Christian sometimes stops short of the Cross in his spiritual conflicts, he fails to defeat the enemy and remains unfruitful and unhappy, until by some special intervention of the great Restorer, he is again brought, in spirit, to that place where God first met him, and welcomed him in Jesus in the fulness of forgiveness and of peace. No intermediate experience, how truthful soever in its character, will meet his case. It is at the cross alone that we regain a thorough right mindedness about ourselves as well as about God. If we would glorify him, we must "hold fast the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end," Hebrews 3:14 . Arthur Pridham. Verse 42 . They remembered not his hand , etc. Eaten bread is soon forgotten. Nihil citius senescit quam gratia. Nothing so soon grows stale as a favour. John Trapp. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 42 . The day of days. The enemy encountered on that day. The conflict endured. The deliverance accomplished. The joy experienced. B. D.

EXPOSITION

Verse 43. How he had wrought his signs in Egypt. The plagues were ensigns of Jehovah's presence and proofs of his hatred of idols; these instructive acts of power were wrought in the open view of all, as signals are set up to be observed by those far and near.

And his wonders in the field of Zoan. In the whole land were miracles wrought, not in cities alone, but in the broad territory, in the most select and ancient regions of the proud nation. This the Israelites ought not to have forgotten, for they were the favoured people for whom these memorable deeds were wrought.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 43. Zoan, or San, seems to have been one of the principal capitals, or royal abodes, of the Pharaohs (Isaiah 19:11,13 Isaiah 30:4): and accordingly the field of Zoan, or the fine alluvial plain around the city, is described as the scene of the marvellous works which God wrought in the time of Moses. John Kitto.

Verse 43-51. Moses wrought wonders destructive, Christ wonders preservative: he turned water into blood, Christ water into wine; he brought flies and frogs and locusts and caterpillars, destroying the fruits of the earth, and annoying it; Christ increased a little of these fruits, five loaves and a few fishes, by blessing them, so that he herewith fed five thousand men: Moses smote both men and cattle with hail, and thunder and lightning, that they died, Christ made some alive that were dead, and saved from death the diseased and sick; Moses was an instrument to bring all manner of wrath and evil angels amongst them, Christ cast out devils and did all manner of good, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, limbs to the lame, and cleansing to the leper, and when the sea was tempestuous appeasing it; Moses slew their firstborn, thus causing an horrible cry in all the land of Egypt; Christ saveth all the firstborn, or by saving makes them so; for thus they are called, Hebrews 12:23. John Mayer.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None. EXPOSITION Verse 44 . And had turned their rivers into blood. The waters had been made the means of the destruction of Israel's newborn infants, and now they do as it were betray the crime -- they blush for it, they avenge it on the murderers. The Nile was the vitality of Egypt, its true life blood, but at God's command it became a flowing curse; every drop of it was a horror, poison to drink, and terror to gaze on. How soon might the Almighty One do this with the Thames or the Seine. Sometimes he has allowed men, who were his rod, to make rivers crimson with gore, and this is a severe judgment; but the event now before us was more mysterious, more general, more complete, and must, therefore, have been a plague of the first magnitude. And their floods, that they could not drink. Lesser streams partook in the curse, reservoirs and canals felt the evil; God does nothing by halves. All Egypt boasted of the sweet waters of their river, but they were made to loathe it more than they had ever loved it. Our mercies may soon become our miseries if the Lord shall deal with us in wrath. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 43-51 . See Psalms on " Psalms 78:43 " for further information. Verse 44 . Turned their rivers into blood , etc. This displays also the folly of creature worship. Pharaoh adores the life sustaining power of nature, as embodied in the majestic river before him. The God of nature transforms the running water into a river of death before his eyes. It demonstrates, in the way that was most striking to the Hebrew and the Egyptian, that the God of Israel was the true and only God of heaven and earth, and that all other objects of worship were but the creatures of God or the works of men's hands. James G. Murphy. Verse 44 . Turned their river into blood , etc. They looked upon their river not only as consecrated to a deity; but, if we may believe some authors, as their chief national god; and worshipped it accordingly ... They must have felt the utmost astonishment and horror, when they beheld their sacred stream changed and polluted, and the divinity whom they worshipped so shamefully soiled and debased. And these appearances must have had a salutary effect upon the Israelites; as they were hence warned not to accede to this species of idolatry; but to have it ever in contempt, as well as abhorrence. It is to be observed, that God might, if it had been the divine pleasure, have many different ways tainted and polluted the streams of Egypt. But he thought proper to change it to blood. Now the Egyptians, and especially their priests, were particularly nice and delicate in their outward habit and rites; and there was nothing which they abhorred more than blood, they seldom admitted any bloody sacrifices; and with the least stain of gore they would have thought themselves deeply polluted. Their affectation of purity was so great that they could not bear to come within contact with a foreigner, or even to handle his clothes; but to touch a dead body was an abomination, and required to be immediately expiated ... On these accounts the priests were continually making ablutions. There were four stated times, twice in the day, and as often in the night, at which they were all obliged to bathe themselves. Many accidents caused them to repeat it much oftener. Hence this evil brought upon them must have been severely felt, as "there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt," Exodus 7:21 . Jacob Bryant (1715-1804), in "Observations upon the Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians." Verse 44 . And their floods , that they could not drink. A third calamity accompanying this plague was the impossibility of drinking the water of the Nile, a vexation the keener felt by them, because the water of the Nile, after having been purified from the slime by a kind of almond dough is, on the one hand, most agreeable, tasteful and healthy, so that it appears to strangers almost as an artificially prepared drink -- whence the Egyptian proverb originated: "the water of the Nile is as sweet as honey and sugar," and the adage, "that if Mohammed had drank of it, he would have besought God to be immortal, that he might always enjoy it"; and it is on the other hand, the only drinkable water which the inhabitants can possibly use; for, says Maillet ( pg 20): "The well and cistern water in Egypt is detestable and unwholesome; fountains are so rare, that they are a kind of prodigy in that country; and, as rain water, that is out of the question, as scarcely any rain falls in Egypt." M. M. Kalisch, in "A Historical and Critical Commentary on the Old Testament." 1867. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 45. He sent diverse sorts of flies among them, which devoured them. Small creatures become great tormentors. When they swarm they can sting a man till they threaten to eat him up. In this case, various orders of insects fought under the same banner; lice and beetles, gnats and hornets, wasps and gadflies dashed forward in fierce battalions, and worried the sinners of Egypt without mercy. The tiniest plagues are the greatest. What sword or spear could fight with these innumerable bands? Vain were the monarch's armour and robes of majesty, the little cannibals were no more lenient towards royal flesh than any other; it had the same blood in it, and the same sin upon it. How great is that God who thus by the minute can crush the magnificent.

And frogs, which destroyed them. These creatures swarmed everywhere when they were alive, until the people felt ready to die at the sight; and when the reptiles died, the heaps of their bodies made the land to stink so foully, that a pestilence was imminent. Thus not only did earth and air send forth armies of horrible life, but the water also added its legions of loathsomeness. It seemed as if the Nile was first made nauseous and then caused to leave its bed altogether, crawling and leaping in the form of frogs. Those who contend with the Almighty, little know what arrows are in his quiver; surprising sin shall be visited with surprising punishment.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 45. Flies. Exodus 8:13-14, (~nk) or (~ynk). It is a matter of difficulty precisely to determine the species or kind of animals denoted by that expression; but so mush is certain:

Verse 45. He sent diverse sorts of flies. "I will send swarms of flies upon thee," etc. Exodus 8:21. Hebrew (br[), arob, a mixture, or mixed swarm, i.e., probably of flies, wasps, hornets, and other vexatious and stinging insects. It will be observed that "flies" in our version, being printed in italics, is not in the original ... the Septuagint renders (br[), arob, by kunomuian, dog fly, from its biting, an insect that fastens its teeth so deep in the flesh, and sticks so very close, that it oftentimes makes cattle run mad ... He sent (br[,) arob, divers sorts of flies among them which devoured them. The arob is described as devouring the Egyptians, which is an act which seems inapplicable to a fly. Upon the whole we strongly incline to the opinion which has found some able supporters of late years, that the Egyptian beetle (blatta Agyptiaca) is denoted in this place. The beetle, which is almost everywhere a nuisance, is particularly abundant and offensive in Egypt, and all the circumstances which the Scriptures in different places intimates concerning the arob, applies with much accuracy to this species. It devours everything that comes in its way, even clothes, books, and plants, and does not hesitate to inflict severe bites on men. If also we conceive that one object of these plagues was to chasten the Egyptians through their own idols, there is no creature of its class which could be more fitly employed than this insect. What precise place is filled in the religious system of that remarkable people has never, we believe, been exactly determined; but that it occupied a conspicuous place among their sacred creatures seems to be evinced by the fact, that there is scarcely any figure which occurs more frequently in Egyptian sculpture and painting. George Bush.

Verse 45. Flies, which devoured them. (See Exodus 8:24.) "The land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies." Bochart understands by land, the inhabitants, whose blood these flies sucked, and left such a poison in it, that their bodies swelled, and many of them died. Le Clerc understands it of the flesh and other eatables, which these vermin having preyed upon, and fly blown, bred maggots, stench and putrefaction throughout the land, Jameson's Critical and Practical Exposition of the Pentateuch. 1748.

Verse 45. And frogs, which destroyed them. Galerius observes, that the Egyptians were punished in this plague upon all the five senses. The sight was punished, that was offended with the multitude, with the greatness, with the hideous form and colour of these frogs. Their hearing was offended with the croaking of them; for it was but harsh music to dainty ears. Their smell was offended with the stench of them. Their taste was offended that they came into their troughs, the places of their dough, and so hindered them of the food that was provided for their nourishment ... "The frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants," Exodus 8:4. So that thou shalt not rid thyself of this annoyance. What! in their meat, and drink; and upon their bodies! Then observe with me, beloved, God can lay judgments upon people, that shall be more painful, and troublesome, than odious, loathsome and noisome. Josiah Shute, in "Judgment and Mercy: or the Plague of Frogs" (inflicted, removed). 1645.

Verse 45. Frogs. The Egyptians suffered most keenly from the infliction. They were a singularly fastidious people, and abhorred the contact of anything that they held to be unclean. We may well realise, therefore, the effect of a visitation of frogs, which rendered their houses unclean by entering them, and themselves unclean by leaping upon them; which deprived them of rest by getting on their beds, and of food by crawling into their ovens and upon the dough in the kneading troughs. And, as if to make the visitation still worse, when the plague was removed, the frogs died in the places into which they had intruded, so that the Egyptians were obliged to clear their houses of the dead carcases, and to pile them up in heaps, to be dried by the sun, or eaten by birds and other scavengers of the East. As to the species of frog which thus invaded the houses of the Egyptians, there is no doubt whatever. It can be but the green, or edible frog (Rana esculenta), which is so well known for the delicacy of its flesh. This is believed to be the only aquatic frog of Egypt, and therefore must be the species which came out of the river into the houses. Both in Egypt and Palestine it exists in very great numbers, swarming in every marshy place, and inhabiting the pools in such numbers that the water can scarcely be seen for the frogs. Thus the multitudes of the frogs which invaded the Egyptians was no matter of wonder, the only miraculous element being that the reptiles were simultaneously directed to the houses, and their simultaneous death when the plague was taken away. J. G. Wood.

Verse 45. Frogs. The rod is lifted up again. Behold, the Nilus, which they had before adored, was never so beneficial as it is now troublesome; yielding them not only a dead, but a living annoyance: it never did so store them with fish as it now plagued them with frogs. Whatsoever any man makes his god, besides the true one, shall be one day his tormentor. These loathsome creatures leave their own element to punish them which rebelliously detained Israel from their own. No bed, no table, can be free from them: their dainty ladies cannot keep them out of their bosoms; neither can the Egyptians sooner open their mouths than they are ready to creep into their throats, as if they would tell them, that they came on purpose to revenge the wrongs of their Maker. Joseph Hall.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 45. The power of little things when commissioned to plague us.

EXPOSITION

Verse 46. He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust. Different sorts of devourers ate up every green herb and tree. What one would not eat another did. What they expected from the natural fertility of the soil, and what they looked for from their own toil, they saw devoured before their eyes by an insatiable multitude against whose depredation no defense could be found. Observe in the text that the Lord did it all -- "he sent," "he gave," "he destroyed," "he gave up," etc.; whatever the second agent may be, the direct hand of the Lord is in every national visitation.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 46. Caterpillar. (lysx), chasil, is rendered broucos by the LXX, in 2Ch 6:28, and by Aquila here, and also by the Vulgate in Chronicles and in Isaiah 33:4, and is rendered by Jerome here, bruchas, "the chaffer," which everyone knows to be a great devourer of the leaves of trees. The Syriac in Joel 1:4 2:25, renders it (arwcrc) tzartzooro, which Michaelis, from the Arabic (rcrc) tzartzar, a cricket, interprets the mole cricket, which in its grub state, is also very destructive to corn, grass, and other vegetables, by cankering the roots on which it feeds. Editorial note to Calvin in loc.

Verse 46. Caterpillar, In former times, any destructive, crawling creature occurring in cultivated places was thus called; now, by general consent, we restrict the term to the second stage of insects of the Lepidopterous order, namely, butterflies and moths. These caterpillars, by the voracity with which they attack the leaves, the fruit, and sometimes the solid wood of plants and trees, are made conspicuous even to those who are little acquainted with natural history. "Biblical Treasury."

Verse 46. Locust. Their quantity is incredible to all who have not themselves witnessed their astonishing numbers; the whole earth is covered with them for the space of several leagues. The noise they make in browsing on the trees and herbage may be heard at a great distance, and resembles that of an army plundering in secret. The Tartars themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals. One would imagine that fire had followed their progress. Wherever their myriads spread, the verdure of the country disappears; trees and plants stripped of their leaves and reduced to their naked boughs and stems, cause the dreary image of winter to succeed in an instant to the rich scenery of spring. When these clouds of locusts take their flight, to surmount any obstacles, or to traverse more rapidly a desert soil, the heavens may literally be said to be obscured with them. F. C., Comte de Volney.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 47. He destroyed their vines with hail. No more shall thy butler press the clusters into thy cup, O Pharaoh! The young fruit bearing shoots were broken off, the vintage failed.

And their sycomore trees with frost. Frost was not usual, but Jehovah regards no laws of nature when men regard not his moral laws. The sycomore fig was perhaps more the fruit of the many than was the vine, therefore this judgment was meant to smite the poor, while the former fell most heavily upon the rich. Mark how the heavens obey their Lord and yield their stores of hail, and note how the fickle weather is equally subservient to the divine will.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 47. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. The grape vine for the rich, and the sycomore fig for the poor, were cut off by the just judgment of God upon the nation. W. Wilson.

Verse 47. The sycomore (not sycamore, for this is altogether different, though, in consequence of a typographical error, often confounded with it in our Bibles) was the name of a tree, common in Egypt, Amos 7:14 Luke 19:4. This tree resembled the mulberry in its leaves, and the fig in its fruit; and on its produce the inferior ranks of people, for the most part, lived. The psalmist refers to but one sort, still he clearly means every kind, of valuable tree. William Keatinge Clay.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 47. (last clause). Sometimes it will not shoot. Sometimes it will. And when it does, it misses the mark.

EXPOSITION

Verse 48. He gave up their cattle also to the hail. What hail it must have been to have force enough to batter down bullocks and other great beasts. God usually protects animals from such destruction, but here he withdraws his safeguards and gave them up: may the Lord never give us up. Some read, "shut up," and the idea of being abandoned to destructive influences is then before us in another shape.

And their flocks to hot thunderbolts. Fire was mingled with the hail, the fire ran along upon the ground, it smote the smaller cattle. What a storm must that have been: its effects were terrible enough upon plants, but to see the poor dumb creatures stricken must have been heartbreaking. Adamantine was that heart which quailed not under such plagues as these, harder than adamant those hearts which in after years forgot all that the Lord had done, and broke off from their allegiance to him.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble. His last arrow was the sharpest. He reserved the strong wine of his indignation to the last. Note how the psalmist piles up the words, and well he might; for blow followed blow, each one more staggering than its predecessor, and then the crushing stroke was reserved for the end.

By sending evil angels among them. Messengers of evil entered their houses at midnight, and smote the dearest objects of their love. The angels were evil to them, though good enough in themselves; those who to the heirs of salvation are ministers of grace, are to the heirs of wrath executioners of judgment. When God sends angels, they are sure to come, and if he bids them slay they will not spare. See how sin sets all the powers of heaven in array against man; he has no friend left in the universe when God is his enemy.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 49. By sending evil angels. Evils come uncalled, but not unsent. Are they nor here called angels? they are sent; the word angel means a messenger. Not things only without life, but not living creatures neither, brute, nor men, nor Satan's self can hurt unless God bid. The three days' darkness in Egypt, how came it? "He sent darkness," saith David. Psalms 105:28. So the hail, thunder, and lightning, the Lord sent them, saith Moses. The frogs, flies, lice, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, that infected Egypt, and the lions that slew the idolaters in Samaria (2 Kings 17:1-41), the text saith of them all, Dominus immisit, the Lord sent them. And for men -- "Am I come" (saith Rabshakeh) "without the Lord?" He bade me go. Yea, the devil, the arch evil angel, who seeks to devour, yet must be sent ere he can do ought. The lying spirit in the mouths of the false prophets longed to seduce Ahab; God must first bid; Egredere, go forth, and do so. The use of this is easy without my help: not to fear, doing well; not man, fiend, any creature, can hurt you, God not sending them. But sinning, to fear everything. The weakest creature can quell the mightiest man, if God bid, go. A mouse (saith the poet) will bite a wicked man. Be it proud Herod, great Antiochus; if God but ask the creatures, Quem mittam, which of you shall I send? the worm will answer, Ecce me, send me; I will devour him. And such poor, silly, despicable creatures are some of these evil angels in my text. He sent: what sent he? evil angels, the next thing in this Scripture.

Evil angels? Par dispar, a pair of words which seem not well matched. The latter may say to the former, Quid mihi et tibi, what have I to do with thee? Angels were the best and holiest of God's creatures. They all were good, very good, Moses saith; but angels kat exochn, excellently good. Then is evil here an evil epithet for angels. And is never read but here, and here (some think) not well translated. But the phrase of evil angels hath other meaning here: evil angels, i.e., the angels, i.e., the messengers of evil. It is in the Hebrew, not (~ykalm), but (ykalm); insomuch that some expositors think the psalmist means the words of Moses and Aaron; that they were sent from God to be the messengers of evil, i.e., all of the plagues that God would bring on Egypt. That sense I censure not, but follow not. The Greek Fathers have another -- that by the evil angels, are meant the evil spirits. Christ calls them angels too, thee devil's angels. Augustine likes not that sense. The most current exposition is as a Jewish writer speaks: the "evil angels" are the ten several plagues. Richard Clerke. (--1634.)

Verse 49. By sending evil angels among them. That the devil and his angels are so very evil, that for them everlasting fire is prepared, no believer is ignorant: but that there should be sent by means of them an infliction from the Lord God upon certain whom he judgeth to be deserving of this punishment, seemeth to be a hard thing to those who are little prone to consider how the perfect justice of God doth use well even evil things. For these indeed, as far as regardeth their substance, what other person but himself hath made? But evil he hath not made them; yet he doth use them, inasmuch as he is good, conveniently and justly; just as on the other hand unrighteous men do use his good creatures in evil manner: God therefore doth use evil angels not only to punish evil men, as in the case of all those concerning whom the Psalm doth speak, as in the case of king Ahab, whom a spirit of lying by the will of God did beguile, in order that he might fall in war; but also to prove and make manifest good men, as he did in the case of Job. Augustine.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 50. He made a way to his anger, coming to the point with them by slow degrees; assailing their outworks first by destroying their property, and then coming in upon their persons as through an open breach in the walls. He broke down all the comforts of their life, and then advanced against their life itself. Nothing could stand in his way; he cleared a space in which to do execution upon his adversaries.

He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence. In their soul was the origin of the sin, and he followed it to its source and smote it there. A fierce disease filled the land with countless funerals; Jehovah dealt out myriads of blows, and multitudes of spirits failed before him.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 50. He made a way to his anger. Literally -- "weighed a way:" implying that God, in punishing the Egyptians so severely, did nothing but what was just and equitable, when weighed in the balance of right. Proverbs 4:26. A. R. Fausset.

Verse 50. He made a way to his anger. As if the psalmist had said, If there were not a way for his anger, that is, for the execution of his anger, he forced his way; though he did not find a way, yet he made one, and fought himself through all difficulties which seemed to oppose the destruction of his enemies. We put in the margin, he weighed a path, he made the path as exact as if he had put it into a balance; the way was fitted to the largeness of his own anger, and it was fitted to the dimensions of their wickedness. Thus he made a way to his anger, both by suiting the way to his anger and by removing all impediments out of the way of his anger. If God will work to save, who shall let it? and if God will work to destroy, who will or what shall let it? Joseph Caryl.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 51. And smote all the firstborn in Egypt. No exceptions were made, the monarch bewailed his heir as did the menial at the mill. They smote the Lord's firstborn, even Israel, and he smites theirs.

The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham. Swinging his scythe over the field, death topped off the highest flowers. The tents of Ham knew each one its own peculiar sorrow, and were made to sympathise with the sorrows which had been ruthlessly inflicted upon the habitations of Israel. Thus curses come home to roost. Oppressors are repaid in their own coin, without the discount of a penny.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 51. The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham. The sun of the last day of the sojourn of Israel in Egypt had set. It was the fourth day after the interview with Moses. Pharaoh, his princes, and the priests of his idols would doubtless take courage from this unwonted delay. Jehovah and his ministers are beaten at length, for now the gods of Egypt prevail against them. The triumph would be celebrated in pomps and sacrifices, in feasts and dances. Nothing is more likely than that the banquet halls of Pharaoh at Rameses were blazing with lamps, and that he and his princes were pouring forth libations of wine to their gods, and concerting schemes amid their revelry, for the perpetuation of the thraldom of Israel ... Pharaoh Sethos started from his couch that night yelling in fierce and bitter agony, and gnawing at the sharp arrow that was rankling in his vitals, like a wounded lion. His son, his firstborn, his only son, just arrived at man's estate, just crowned king of Egypt, and associated with his father in the care of sovereignty, writhed before him in mortal throes, and died. His transports of grief were reechoed, and with no feigned voice, by the princes, the councillors, and the priest that partook of his revelry. Each one rends his garments and clasps to his bosom the quivering corpse of his firstborn son. On that fearful night "there was a great cry throughout the land of Egypt," but if we have rightly read its history, the loudest, wildest wail of remorseful anguish would arise from Pharaoh's banquet hall! William Osburn, in "Israel in Egypt." 1856.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 52. But made his own people to go forth like sheep. The contrast is striking, and ought never to have been forgotten by the people. The wolves were slain in heaps, the sheep were carefully gathered, and triumphantly delivered. The tables were turned, and the poor serfs became the honoured people, while their oppressors were humbled before them. Israel went out in a compact body like a flock; they were defenceless in themselves as sheep, but they were safe under their Great Shepherd; they left Egypt as easily as a flock leaves one pasture for another.

And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. Knowing nothing of the way by their own understanding or experience, they were, nevertheless, rightly directed, for the All wise God knew every spot of the wilderness. To the sea, through the sea, and from the sea, the Lord led his chosen; while their former taskmasters were too cowed in spirit, and broken in power, to dare to molest them.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 52. But made his own people to go forth like sheep. It is not said that they went forth like sheep; but that he made them go forth like sheep. It is not a description of the character of the people, but a commendation of the providence and goodness of God, by which, after the manner of a good shepherd, he led forth from Egypt his own people with all security, like sheep snatched from the midst of wolves. Musculus.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 52.