Psalms 77
DOYLYVer. 2. — my sore ran &c.] This is rendered more literally by an ancient Greek version, “my hand was stretched out in the night without intermission.” Bps. Horne and Lowth.
Psalms 77:6
- I call to remembrance &c.] I called to mind the songs I had composed, in memory of thy signal mercies; I spent whole nights in silent meditation, and in revolving in my mind what could be the cause, that Thou shouldest forsake thy people. Travell, Bp. Patrick.
Psalms 77:10
- — This is my infirmity: &c.] “My weakness of faith” to entertain such thoughts. Dr. Wells, Bp. Horne. But I will remember that the power of God endureth for ever.
Psalms 77:12
- — the spirit] The pride. Merrick.
Why are the miraculous exertions of Omnipotence recorded in the Book of Life, but to suggest to us this reflection, that God, and God only, is the proper object of our fear; since neither the wisdom of the wise, nor the power of the mighty, no, not the world itself, can stand a single moment before Him, “when once He is angry?” Yet we continue to dread any frowns but those of Heaven. Bp. Horne.
Psalm LXXVII. This Psalm is of that diversified and unequal kind which ascends from a cool and deliberate opening to a high degree of sublimity. The Prophet, oppressed with a heavy weight of affliction, displays the extreme dejection and perturbation of his soul, and most elegantly and pathetically describes the conflicts and internal contests to which he is subjected, before he is enabled to rise from the depths of woe to any degree of hope or confidence. In the character of a suppliant he first pours forth his earnest prayers to the God of his hope. He next endeavours to mitigate his sorrows by the remembrance of former times; but this, on the contrary, only seems to aggravate his sufferings, by the comparison of his present adversity with his former happiness. Again, recollecting the different methods by which the Almighty seeks the salvation of his people, appearing frequently to frown upon those “in whom he delighteth:” reconsidering also the vast series of mercies which He had bestowed upon his chosen people; the miracles which He had wrought in their favour; in a word, the goodness, the holiness,
Psalms 77:13
- Thy way, &c.] The meaning is, The methods of thy providence are just and holy. Bp. Patrick, Old Translation.
Psalms 77:16
- The waters saw thee, &c.] The waters of the Red sea are here beautifully represented as endued with sensibility, as seeing, feeling, and being confounded, even to the lowest depths, at the presence and power of their great Creator, when He commanded them to open a way, and to form a wall on each side of it, until his people were passed over. Bp. Horne.
Psalms 77:17
- — thine arrows] That is, thy lightnings, or thunderbolts. Poole.