16 The king is not saved by the multitude of [his] forces; a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
And Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me!
Thus saith Jehovah: Let not the wise glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in his might; let not the rich glory in his riches:
For not by their own sword did they take possession of the land, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst delight in them.
And Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the princes and the captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels made him fall there with the sword.
with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is Jehovah our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people depended upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he himself was before Lachish, and all his power with him), unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
And the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to exterminate and destroy [them]; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
Our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might in presence of this great company which cometh against us, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.
And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. And Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, it maketh no difference to thee to help, whether there be much or no power: help us, O Jehovah our God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name have we come against this multitude. Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. And Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that none of them was left alive; for they were crushed before Jehovah and before his army. And they carried away very much spoil.
And the children of Israel were numbered and victualled, and they went against them; and the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats; but the Syrians filled the land. And the man of God drew near, and spoke to the king of Israel and said, Thus saith Jehovah: Because the Syrians have said, Jehovah is a god of the mountains, but he is not a god of the valleys, I will give all this great multitude into thy hand, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. And they encamped one over against the other seven days; and it came to pass that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel smote of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day.
And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall pursue after them; and I will glorify myself in Pharaoh and in all his host, in his chariots and in his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have glorified myself in Pharaoh, in his chariots and in his horsemen.
And Ishbibenob, who was of the children of Raphah -- the weight of his lance was three hundred shekels of bronze, and he was girded with new [armour] -- thought to smite David. And Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the lamp of Israel. And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines, at Gob; then Sibbechai the Hushathite smote Saph, who was of the children of Raphah. And there was again a battle at Gob with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, smote Goliath the Gittite; now the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And there was again a battle, at Gath; and there was a man [there] of great stature, that had on each hand six fingers, and on each foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to Raphah. And he defied Israel; but Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother smote him. These four were born to Raphah, in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
And David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with sword, and with spear, and with javelin; but I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will Jehovah deliver thee up into my hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the camp of the Philistines this day to the fowl of the heavens and to the wild beasts of the earth. And all the earth shall know that Israel has a God; and all this congregation shall know that Jehovah saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is Jehovah's, and he will give you into our hands. And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and advanced to meet David, that David hasted, and ran towards the ranks to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into the bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead; and he fell on his face to the earth.
And there went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will shew ourselves to them. If they say thus to us, Stand still until we come to you, then we will stay in our place, and will not go up to them. And if they say thus, Come up to us, then we will go up; for Jehovah has given them into our hand; and this shall be the sign to us. And both of them shewed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armour-bearer and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you something. And Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, Come up after me; for Jehovah has delivered them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armour-bearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan; and his armour-bearer slew after him. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armour-bearer wrought was about twenty men, as it were on the half-furrow of an acre of land. And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the ravagers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked; for it was a trembling [from] God. And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on slaying one another.
And the Mid'ianites and the Amal'ekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is upon the seashore for multitude. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade; and he said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream; and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Mid'ian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat." And his comrade answered, "This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Jo'ash, a man of Israel; into his hand God has given Mid'ian and all the host." When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped; and he returned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise; for the LORD has given the host of Mid'ian into your hand." And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, "Look at me, and do likewise; when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.'" So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!" They stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the army ran; they cried out and fled. When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shit'tah toward Zer'erah, as far as the border of A'bel-meho'lah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naph'tali and from Asher and from all Manas'seh, and they pursued after Mid'ian. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of E'phraim, saying, "Come down against the Mid'ianites and seize the waters against them, as far as Beth-bar'ah, and also the Jordan." So all the men of E'phraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-bar'ah, and also the Jordan. And they took the two princes of Mid'ian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the wine press of Zeeb, as they pursued Mid'ian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.
The LORD said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Mid'ianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, 'My own hand has delivered me.'
And they went out, they and all their armies with them, a people numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And all these kings met together, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. And Jehovah said to Joshua, Be not afraid because of them; for to-morrow about this time will I give them all up slain before Israel: their horses shalt thou hough, and thou shalt burn their chariots with fire. And Joshua, and all the people of war with him, came upon them by the waters of Merom suddenly, and fell upon them. And Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, and to Misrephoth-maim, and to the valley of Mizpah eastward, and smote them until none were left remaining to them.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 33
Commentary on Psalms 33 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Praise of the Ruler of the World as Being the Defender of His People
The Davidic Maskמl, Psalms 32:1-11, is followed by an anonymous congregational song of a hymnic character, which begins just like the former closes. It owes its composition apparently to some deliverance of the nation from heathen oppression, which had resulted from God's interposition and without war. Moreover it exhibits no trace of dependence upon earlier models, such as might compel us to assign a late date to it; the time of Jeremiah, for instance, which Hitzig adopts. The structure is symmetrical. Between the two hexastichs, Psalms 33:1, Psalms 33:20, the materia laudis is set forth in eight tetrastichs.
The call contained in this hexastich is addressed to the righteous and upright, who earnestly seek to live a godly and God-pleasing life, and the sole determining rule of whose conduct is the will and good pleasure of God. These alone know God, whose true nature finds in them a clear mirror; so on their part they are joyfully to confess what they possess in Him. For it is their duty, and at the same time their honour, to praise him, and make their boast in Him. נאוה is the feminine of the adjective נאוה (formed out of נאוי ), as in Psalms 147:1, cf. Proverbs 19:10. On כּנּור (lxx κιθάρα, κινύρα ) and נבל (lxx ψαλτήριον, νάβλα, ναῦλα , etc.) vid., Introduction §II. נבל is the name given to the harp or lyre on account of its resemblance to a skin bottle or flash (root נב , to swell, to be distended), and נבל עשׂור , “harp of the decade,”' is the ten-stringed harp, which is also called absolutely עשׂור , and distinguished from the customary נבל , in Psalms 92:4. By a comparison of the asyndeton expressions in Psalms 35:14, Jeremiah 11:19, Aben-Ezra understands by נבל עשור two instruments, contrary to the tenour of the words. Gecatilia, whom he controverts, is only so far in error as that he refers the ten to holes ( נקבים ) instead of to strings. The בּ is Beth instrum ., just like the expression κιθαρίζειν ἐν κιθάραις , Revelation 14:2. A “new song” is one which, in consequence of some new mighty deeds of God, comes from a new impulse of gratitude in the heart, Psalms 40:4, and frequently in the Psalms, Isaiah 42:10, Judith 6:13, Revelation 5:9. In היטיבוּ the notions of scite and strenue, suaviter and naviter , blend. With בּתרוּעה , referring back to רננו , the call to praise forms, as it were, a circle as it closes.
Now beings the body of the song. The summons to praise God is supported (1) by a setting forth of His praiseworthiness
(Note: We have adopted the word “praiseworthiness” for the sake of conciseness of expression, in order to avoid an awkward periphrasis, in the sense of being worthy to be praised. - Tr.)
( a ) as the God of revelation in the kingdom of Grace. His word is ישׂר , upright in intention, and, without becoming in any way whatever untrue to itself, straightway fulfilling itself. His every act is an act in אמוּנה , truth, which verifies the truth of His word, and one which accomplishes itself. On אהב , equivalent to אהב הוּא , vid., Psalms 7:10; Psalms 22:29. צדקה is righteousness as conduct; משׁפּט is right as a rule of judgment and a state or condition. חסד is an accusative, as in Psalms 119:64 : misericordia Domini plena est terra (the introit for Misercordias Sunday or the second Sunday after Easter).
God's praiseworthiness ( b ) as the Creator of the world in the kingdom of Nature. Jahve's דּבר is His almighty “Let there be;” and רוח פּיו (inasmuch as the breath is here regarded as the material of which the word is formed and the bearer of the word) is the command, or in general, the operation of His commanding omnipotence (Job 15:30, cf. Job 4:9; Isaiah 34:16, cf. Psalms 11:4). The heavens above and the waters beneath stand side by side as miracles of creation. The display of His power in the waters of the sea consists in His having confined them within fixed bounds and keeping them within these. נד is a pile, i.e., a piled up heap (Arabic nadd ), and more especially an inference to harvest: like such a heap do the convex waters of the sea, being firmly held together, rise above the level of the continents. The expression is like that in Joshua 3:13, Joshua 3:15, cf. Exodus 15:8; although there the reference is to a miracle occurring in the course of history, and in this passage to a miracle of creation. כּנס refers to the heap itself, not to the walls of the storehouses as holding together. This latter figure is not introduced until Psalms 33:7 : the bed of the sea and those of the rivers are, as it were, אוצרות , treasuries or storehouses, in which God has deposited the deep, foaming waves or surging mass of waters. The inhabitants ( ישׁבי , not יושׁבי ) of the earth have cause to fear God who is thus omnipotent ( מן , in the sense of falling back from in terror); for He need only speak the word and that which He wills comes into being out of nothing, as we see from the hexaëmeron or history of Creation, but which is also confirmed in human history (Lamentations 3:37). He need only command and it stands forth like an obedient servant, that appears in all haste at the call of his lord, Psalms 119:91.
His praiseworthiness ( c ) as the irresistible Ruler in the history of men. Since in 2 Samuel 15:34; 2 Samuel 17:14, and frequently, הפר עצה is a common phrase, therefore heepiyr as in Psalms 89:34, Ezekiel 17:19, is equivalent to הפר (Ges. §67, rem. 9). The perfects are not used in the abstract, but of that which has been experienced most recently, since the “new song” presupposes new matter. With Psalms 33:11 compare Proverbs 19:21. The עצת of God is the unity of the “thoughts of His heart,” i.e., of the ideas, which form the inmost part, the ultimate motives of everything that takes place. The whole history of the world is the uninterrupted carrying out of a divine plan of salvation, the primary object of which is His people, but in and with these are included humanity at large.
Hence the call to praise God is supported (2) by a setting forth of that which His people possess in Him. This portion of the song is like a paraphrase of the אשׁרי in Deuteronomy 33:29. The theme in Psalms 33:12 is proved in Psalms 33:13 by the fact, that Jahve is the omniscient Ruler, because He is the Creator of men, without whose knowledge nothing is undertaken either secretly or openly, and especially if against His people. Then in Psalms 33:16 it is supported by the fact, that His people have in Jahve a stronger defence than the greatest worldly power would be. Jahve is called the fashioner of all the hearts of men, as in Zechariah 12:1, cf. Proverbs 24:12, as being their Maker. As such He is also the observer of all the works of men; for His is acquainted with their origin in the laboratory of the heart, which He as Creator has formed. Hupfeld takes יחד as an equalisation ( pariter ac ) of the two appositions; but then it ought to be וּמבין (cf. Psalms 49:3, Psalms 49:11). The lxx correctly renders it καταμόνας , singillatim . It is also needless to translate it, as Hupfeld does: He who formed, qui finxit ; for the hearts of men were not from the very first created all at one time, but the primeval impartation of spirit-life is continued at every birth in some mysterious way. God is the Father of spirits, Hebrews 12:9. For this very reason everything that exists, even to the most hidden thing, is encompassed by His omniscience and omnipotence. He exercises an omniscient control over all things, and makes all things subservient to the designs of His plan of the universe, which, so far as His people are concerned, is the plan of salvation. Without Him nothing comes to pass; but through Him everything takes place. The victory of the king, and the safety of the warrior, are not their own works. Their great military power and bodily strength can accomplish nothing without God, who can also be mighty in the feeble. Even for purposes of victory ( תּשׁוּעה , cf. ישׁוּעה , Psalms 21:2) the war-horse is שׁקר , i.e., a thing that promises much, but can in reality do nothing; it is not its great strength, by which it enables the trooper to escape ( ימלּט ) . “The horse,” says Solomon in Proverbs 21:31, “is equipped for the day of battle, but התּשׁוּעה לה , Jahve's is the victory,” He giveth it to whomsoever He will. The ultimate ends of all things that come to pass are in His hands, and - as Psalms 33:18. say, directing special attention to this important truth by הנּה - the eye of this God, that is to say the final aim of His government of the world, is directed towards them that fear Him, is pointed at them that hope in His mercy ( למיחלים ). In Psalms 33:19, the object, לחסדּו , is expanded by way of example. From His mercy or loving-kindness, not from any acts of their own, conscious of their limited condition and feebleness, they look for protection in the midst of the greatest peril, and for the preservation of their life in famine. Psalms 20:8 is very similar; but the one passage sounds as independent as the other.
Accordingly, in this closing hexastich, the church acknowledges Him as its help, its shield, and its source of joy. Besides the passage before us, חכּה occurs in only one other instance in the Psalter, viz., Psalms 106:13. This word, which belongs to the group of words signifying hoping and waiting, is perhaps from the root חך (Arab. ḥk' , ḥkâ , firmiter constringere sc. nodum ), to be firm, compact, like קוּה from קוה , to pull tight or fast, cf. the German harren (to wait) and hart (hard, compact). In Psalms 33:20 we still hear the echo of the primary passage Deuteronomy 33:29 (cf. Deuteronomy 33:26). The emphasis, as in Psalms 115:9-11, rests upon הוּא , into which בּו , in Psalms 33:21, puts this thought, viz., He is the unlimited sphere, the inexhaustible matter, the perennial spring of our joy. The second כּי confirms this subjectively. His holy Name is His church's ground of faith, of love, and of hope; for from thence comes its salvation. It can boldly pray that the mercy of the Lord may be upon it, for it waits upon Him, and man's waiting or hoping and God's giving are reciprocally conditioned. This is the meaning of the כּאשׁר . God is true to His word. The Te Deum laudamus of Ambrose closes in the same way.