Some
of the psalms of praise are very short, others very long, to teach us that,
in our devotions, we should be more observant how our hearts work than how
the time passes and neither overstretch ourselves by coveting to be long nor
over-stint ourselves by coveting to be short, but either the one or the
other as we find in our hearts to pray. This is a long psalm; the general
scope is the same with most of the psalms, to set forth the glory of God,
but the subject-matter is particular. Every time we come to the throne of
grace we may, if we please, furnish ourselves out of the word of God (out of
the history of the New Testament, as this out of the history of the Old)
with new songs, with fresh thoughts--so copious, so various, so
inexhaustible is the subject. In the foregoing psalm we are taught to praise
God for his wondrous works of common providence with reference to the world
in general. In this we are directed to praise him for his special favours to
his church. We find the first eleven verses of this psalm in the beginning
of that psalm which David delivered to Asaph to be used (as it should seem)
in the daily service of the sanctuary when the ark was fixed in the place he
had prepared for it, by which it appears both who penned it and when and
upon what occasion it was penned, 1 Chron. xvi. 7, &c. David by it
designed to instruct his people in the obligations they lay under to adhere
faithfully to their holy religion. Here is the preface (ver. 1-7) and the
history itself in several articles. I. God's covenant with the patriarchs,
ver. 8-11. II. His care of them while they were strangers, ver. 12-15. III.
His raising up Joseph to be the shepherd and stone of Israel, ver. 16-22.
IV. The increase of Israel in Egypt and their deliverance out of Egypt, ver.
23-38. V. The care he took of them in the wilderness and their settlement in
Canaan, ver. 39-45. In singing this we must give to God the glory of his
wisdom and power, his goodness and faithfulness, must look upon ourselves as
concerned in the affairs of the Old-Testament church, both because to it
were committed the oracles of God, which are our treasure, and because out
of it Christ arose, and these things happened to it for ensamples.
1 O give thanks unto the LORD;
call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. 2
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous
works. 3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them
rejoice that seek the LORD.
4 Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek
his face evermore. 5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath
done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 6 O ye seed
of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. 7 He is
the LORD
our God: his judgments are in all the earth.
Our devotion is here warmly excited; and we are stirred up, that we may stir
up ourselves to praise God. Observe,
I. The duties to which we are here called, and they are many, but the
tendency of them all is to give unto God the glory due unto his name. 1. We
must give thanks to him, as one who has always been our bountiful
benefactor and requires only that we give him thanks for his favours--poor
returns for rich receivings. 2. Call upon his name, as one whom you
depend upon for further favours. Praying for further mercies is accepted as
an acknowledgment of former mercies. Because he has inclined his ear unto
me, therefore will I call upon him. 3. Make known his deeds (v.
1), that others may join with you in praising him. Talk of all his
wondrous works (v. 2), as we talk of things that we are full of,
and much affected with, and desire to fill others with. God's wondrous works
ought to be the subject of our familiar discourses with our families and
friends, and we should talk of them as we sit in the house and as we go
by the way (Deut. vi. 7), not merely for entertainment, but for the
exciting of devotion and the encouraging of our own and others' faith and
hope in God. Even sacred things may be the matter of common talk, provided
it be with due reverence. 4. Sing psalms to God's honour, as those
that rejoice in him, and desire to testify that joy for the encouragement of
others and to transmit it to posterity, as memorable things anciently were
handed down by songs, when writing was scarce. 5. Glory in his holy name;
let those that are disposed to glory not boast of their own accomplishments
and achievements, but of their acquaintance with God and their relation to
him, Jer. ix. 23, 24. Praise you his holy name, so some; but it comes
all to one, for in glorying in him we give glory to him. 6. Seek him;
place your happiness in him, and then pursue that happiness in all the ways
that he has appointed. Seek the Lord and his strength, that is, the ark
of his strength; seek him in the sanctuary, in the way wherein he has
appointed us to seek him. Seek his strength, that is, his grace, the
strength of his Spirit to work in you that which is good, which we cannot do
but by strength derived from him, for which he will be enquired of. Seek
the Lord and be strengthened; so divers ancient versions read it. Those
that would be strengthened in the inward man must fetch in strength
from God by faith and prayer. Seek his strength, and then seek his
face; for by his strength, we hope to prevail with him for his favour,
as Jacob did, Hos. xii. 3. "Seek his face evermore; seek to have
his favour to eternity, and therefore continue seeking it to the end of the
time of your probation. Seek it while you live in this world, and you shall
have it while you live in the other world, and even there shall be for ever
seeking it in an infinite progression, and yet be for ever satisfied in
it." 7. Let the hearts of those rejoice that do seek him (v.
3); for they have chosen well, are well fixed, and well employed, and they
may be sure that their labour will not be in vain, for he will not only be
found, but he will be found the rewarder of those that diligently seek
him. If those have reason to rejoice that seek the Lord, much
more those that have found him.
II. Some arguments to quicken us to these duties. 1. "Consider both
what he has said and what he has done to engage us for ever to him. You will
see yourselves under all possible obligations to give thanks to him, and
call upon his name, if you remember the wonders which should make deep and
durable impressions upon you,--the wonders of his providence which he has wrought
for you and those who are gone before you, the marvellous works that
he has done, which will be had in everlasting remembrance with the
thoughtful and with the grateful,--the wonders of his law, which he has
written to you, and entrusted you with, the judgments of his mouth,
as well as the judgments of his hand," v. 5. 2. "Consider
the relation you stand in to him (v. 6): You are the seed of
Abraham his servant; you are born in his house, and being thereby
entitled to the privilege of his servants, protection and provision, you are
also bound to do the duty of servants, to attend your Master, consult his
honour, obey his commands, and do what you can to advance his interests. You
are the children of Jacob his chosen, and are chosen and beloved
for the fathers' sake, and therefore ought to tread in the steps of those
whose honours you inherit. You are the children of godly parents; do not
degenerate. You are God's church upon earth, and, if you do not praise him,
who should?" 3. Consider your interest in him: He is the Lord our
God, v. 7. We depend upon him, are devoted to him, and from him
our expectation is. Should not a people seek unto their God (Isa.
viii. 19) and praise their God? Dan. v. 4. He is Jehovah our God. He
that is our God is self-existent and self-sufficient, has an irresistible
power and incontestable sovereignty: His judgments are in all the earth;
he governs the whole world in wisdom, and gives law to all nations, even to
those that know him not. The earth is full of the proofs of his power.
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The Divine Promise to the Patriarchs; Providences Concerning the
Patriarchs.
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8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever,
the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. 9
Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for
an everlasting covenant: 11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the
land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: 12 When they were but
a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. 13 When
they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another
people; 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved
kings for their sakes; 15 Saying, Touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 16 Moreover he called for
a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread. 17 He
sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a
servant: 18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in
iron: 19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. 20
The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let
him go free. 21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all
his substance: 22 To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach
his senators wisdom. 23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob
sojourned in the land of Ham. 24 And he increased his people
greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.
We are here taught, in praising God, to look a great way back, and to give
him the glory of what he did for his church in former ages, especially when
it was in the founding and forming, which those in its latter ages enjoy the
benefit of and therefore should give thanks for. Doubtless we may fetch as
proper matter for praise from the histories of the gospels, and the acts of
the apostles, which relate the birth of the Christian church, as the
psalmist here does from the histories of Genesis and Exodus, which relate
the birth of the Jewish church; and our histories greatly outshine theirs.
Two things are here made the subject of praise:--
I. God's promise to the patriarchs, that great promise that he would give to
their seed the land of Canaan for an inheritance, which was a type of the
promise of eternal life made in Christ to all believers. In all the
marvellous works which God did for Israel he remembered his covenant
(v. 8) and he will remember it for ever; it is the word
which he commanded to a thousand generations. See here the power of the
promise; it is the word which he commanded and which will take effect. See
the perpetuity of the promise; it is commanded to a thousand generations,
and the entail of it shall not be cut off. In the parallel place it is
expressed as our duty (1 Chron. xvi. 15), Be you mindful always of his
covenant. God will not forget it and therefore we must not. The promise
is here called a covenant, because there was something required on
man's part as the condition of the promise. Observe, 1. The persons with
whom this covenant was made--with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, grandfather,
father, and son, all eminent believers, Heb. xi. 8, 9. 2. The ratifications
of the covenant; it was made sure by all that is sacred. Is that sure which
is sworn to? It is his oath to Isaac and to Abraham. See to whom God swore
by himself, Heb. vi. 13, 14. Is that sure which has passed into a
law? He confirmed the same for a law, a law never to be repealed.
Is that sure which is reduced to a mutual contract and stipulation? This is
confirmed for an everlasting covenant, inviolable. 3. The covenant
itself: Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, v. 11. The
patriarchs had a right to it, not by providence, but by promise; and their
seed should be put in possession of it, not by the common ways of settling
nations, but by miracles; God will give it to them himself, as it were with
his own hand; it shall be given to them as their lot which God assigns them
and measures out to them, as the lot of their inheritance, a sure
title, by virtue of their birth; it shall come to them by descent, not by
purchase, by the favour of God, and not any merit of their own. Heaven is
the inheritance we have obtained, Eph. i. 11. And this is the promise
which God has promised us (as Canaan was the promise he promised them), even
eternal life, 1 John ii. 25; Tit. i. 2.
II. His providences concerning the patriarchs while they were waiting for
the accomplishment of this promise, which represent to us the care God takes
of his people in this world, while they are yet on this side the heavenly
Canaan; for these things happened unto them for examples and
encouragements to all the heirs of promise, that life by faith as they did.
1. They were wonderfully protected and sheltered, and (as the Jewish masters
express it) gathered under the wings of the divine Majesty. This is
accounted for, v. 12-15. Here we may observe,
(1.) How they were exposed to injuries from men. To the three renowned
patriarchs, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, God's promises were very rich;
again and again he told them he would be their God; but his performances in
this world were so little proportionable that, if he had not prepared for
them a city in the other world, he would have been ashamed to be
called their God (see Heb. xi. 16), because he was always generous; and
yet even in this world he was not wanting to them, but that he might appear,
to do uncommon things for them, he exercised them with uncommon trials. [1.]
They were few, very few. Abraham was called alone (Isa. li. 2); he had but
two sons, and one of them he cast out; Isaac had but two, and one of them
was forced for many years to flee from his country; Jacob had more, but some
of them, instead of being a defence to him, exposed him, when (as he himself
pleads, Gen. xxxiv. 30) he was but few in number, and therefore might easily
be destroyed by the natives, he and his house. God's chosen are but a little
flock, few, very few, and yet upheld. [2.] They were strangers, and
therefore were the most likely to be abused and to meet with strange usage,
and the less able to help themselves. Their religion made them to be looked
upon as strangers (1 Pet. iv. 4) and to be hooted at as speckled birds,
Jer. xii. 9. Though the whole land was theirs by promise, yet they were so
far from producing and pleading their grant that they confessed
themselves strangers in it, Heb. xi. 13. [3.] They were unsettled (v.
13): They went from one nation to another, from one part of that land
to another (for it was then in the holding and occupation of divers nations,
Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 3, 18); nay, from one kingdom to another people,
from Canaan to Egypt, from Egypt to the land of the Philistines, which could
not but weaken and expose them; yet they were forced to it by famine. Note,
Though frequent removals are neither desirable nor commendable, yet
sometimes there is a just and necessary occasion for them, and they may be
the lot of some of the best men.
(2.) How they were guarded by the special providence of God, the wisdom and
power of which were the more magnified by their being so many ways exposed, v.
14, 15. They were not able to help themselves and yet, [1.] No men were
suffered to wrong them, but even those that hated them, and would gladly
have done them a mischief, had their hands tied, and could not do what they
would. This may refer to Gen. xxxv. 5, where we find that the terror of
God (an unaccountable restraint) was upon the cities that were round
about them, so that, though provoked, they did not pursue after the
sons of Jacob. [2.] Even crowned heads, that did offer to wrong them,
were not only checked and chidden for it, but controlled and baffled: He
reproved kings for their sakes in dreams and visions, saying,
"Touch not my anointed; it is at your peril if you do, nay, it
shall not be in your power to do it; do my prophets no harm."
Pharaoh king of Egypt was plagued (Gen. xii. 17) and Abimelech king of Gerar
was sharply rebuked (Gen. xx. 6) for doing wrong to Abraham. Note, First,
Even kings themselves are liable to God's rebukes if they do wrong. Secondly,
God's prophets are his anointed, for they have the unction of the Spirit,
that oil of gladness, 1 John ii. 27. Thirdly, Those that offer
to touch God's prophets, with design to harm them, may expect to hear of it
one way or other. God is jealous for his prophets; whoso touches them
touches the apple of his eye. Fourthly, Even those that touch the
prophets, nay that kill the prophets (as many did), cannot do
them any harm, any real harm. Lastly, God's anointed prophets are
dearer to him than anointed kings themselves. Jeroboam's hand was withered
when it was stretched out against a prophet.
2. They were wonderfully provided for and supplied. And here also, (1.) They
were reduced to great extremity. Even in Canaan, the land of promise, he
called for a famine, v. 16. Note, All judgments are at God's
call, and no place is exempt from their visitation and jurisdiction when God
sends them forth with commission. To try the faith of the patriarchs, God broke
the whole staff of bread, even in that good land, that they might
plainly see God designed them a better country than that was. (2.) God
graciously took care for their relief. It was in obedience to his precept,
and in dependence upon his promise, that they were now sojourners in Canaan,
and therefore he could not in honour suffer any evil to befal them or any
good thing to be wanting to them. As he restrained one Pharaoh from doing
them wrong, so he raised up another to do them a kindness, by preferring and
entrusting Joseph, of whose story we have here an abstract. He was to be the
shepherd and stone of Israel and to save that holy seed alive, Gen.
xlix. 24; l. 20. In order to this, [1.] He was humbled, greatly humbled (v.
17, 18): God sent a man before them, even Joseph. Many years before
the famine began, he was sent before them, to nourish them in the famine; so
vast are the foresights and forecasts of Providence, and so long its
reaches. But in what character did he go to Egypt who was to provide
for the reception of the church there? He went not in quality of an
ambassador, no, nor so much as a factor or commissary; but he was sold
thither for a servant, a slave for term of life, without any prospect
of being ever set at liberty. This was low enough, and, one would think, set
him far enough from any probability of being great. And yet he was brought
lower; he was made a prisoner (v. 18): His feet they hurt with
fetters. Being unjustly charged with a crime no less heinous than a rape
upon his mistress, the iron entered into his soul, that is, was very
painful to him; and the false accusation which was the cause of his
imprisonment did in a special manner grieve him, and went to his heart; yet
all this was the way to his preferment. [2.] He was exalted, highly exalted.
He continued a prisoner, neither tried nor bailed, until the time
appointed of God for his release (v. 19), when his word came,
that is, his interpretations of the dreams came to pass, and the report
thereof came to Pharaoh's ears by the chief butler. And then the word of
the Lord cleared him; that is, the power God gave him to foretel things
to come rolled away the reproach his mistress had loaded him with; for it
could not be thought that God would give such a power to so bad a man as he
was represented to be. God's word tried him, tried his faith and
patience, and then it came in power to give command for his release. There
is a time set when God's word will come for the comfort of all that trust in
it, Hab. ii. 3. At the end it shall speak, and not lie. God gave the
word, and then the king sent and loosed him; for the king's heart is
in the hand of the Lord. Pharaoh, finding him to be a favourite of Heaven, First,
Discharged him from his imprisonment (v. 20): He let him go free.
God has often, by wonderful turns of providence, pleaded the cause of
oppressed innocency. Secondly, He advanced him to the highest posts
of honour, v. 21, 22. He made him lord high chamberlain of his
household (he made him lord of his house); nay, he put him into the
office of lord-treasurer, the ruler of all his substance. He made him
prime-minister of state, lord-president of his council, to command his
princes at his pleasure and teach them wisdom, and general of his
forces. According to thy word shall all my people be ruled, Gen. xli.
40, 43, 44. He made him lord chief justice, to judge even his senators and
punish those that were disobedient. In all this Joseph was designed to be,
1. A father to the church that then was, to save the house of Israel from
perishing by the famine. He was made great, that he might do good,
especially in the household of faith. 2. A figure of Christ that
was to come, who, because he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a
servant, was highly exalted, and has all judgment committed to him. Joseph
being thus sent before, and put into a capacity of maintaining all his
father's house, Israel also came into Egypt (v. 23), where he
and all his were very honourably and comfortably provided for many years.
Thus the New-Testament church has a place provided for her even in the
wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time,
Rev. xii. 14. Verily she shall be fed.
3. They were wonderfully multiplied, according to the promise made to
Abraham that his seed should be as the sand of the sea for multitude, v.
24. In Egypt he increased his people greatly; they multiplied like
fishes, so that in a little time they became stronger than their enemies
and formidable to them. Pharaoh took notice of it. Exod. i. 9, The
children of Israel are more and mightier than we. When God pleases a
little one shall become a thousand; and God's promises, though they work
slowly, work surely.
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Israel's
Deliverance Out of Egypt.
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25 He turned their heart to hate his people,
to deal subtilly with his servants. 26 He sent Moses his
servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen. 27 They showed his
signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. 28 He sent
darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word.
29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. 30
Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their
kings. 31 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and
lice in all their coasts. 32 He gave them hail for rain, and
flaming fire in their land. 33 He smote their vines also and
their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts. 34 He
spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without
number, 35 And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and
devoured the fruit of their ground. 36 He smote also all the
firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. 37 He
brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one
feeble person among their tribes. 38 Egypt was glad when
they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them. 39 He spread
a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night. 40 The
people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread
of heaven. 41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out;
they ran in the dry places like a river. 42 For he
remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant. 43
And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with
gladness: 44 And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they
inherited the labour of the people; 45 That they might observe
his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD.
After the history of the patriarchs follows here the history of the people
of Israel, when they grew into a nation.
I. Their affliction in Egypt (v. 25): He turned the heart
of the Egyptians, who had protected them, to hate them and deal
subtilely with them. God's goodness to his people exasperated the
Egyptians against them; and, though their old antipathy to the Hebrews
(which we read of Gen. xliii. 32; xlvi. 34) was laid asleep for a while, yet
now it revived with more violence than ever: formerly they hated them
because they despised them, now because they feared them. They dealt
subtilely with them, set all their politics on work to find out ways and
means to weaken them, and waste them, and prevent their growth; they made
their burdens heavy and their lives bitter, and slew their male children as
soon as they were born. Malice is crafty to destroy: Satan has the serpent's
subtlety, with his venom. It was God that turned the hearts of the Egyptians
against them; for every creature is that to us that he makes it to be, a
friend or an enemy. Though God is not the author of the sins of men, yet he
serves his own purposes by them.
II. Their deliverance out of Egypt, that work of wonder, which, that it
might never be forgotten, is put into the preface to the ten commandments.
Observe,
1. The instruments employed in that deliverance (v. 26): He sent
Moses his servant on this errand and joined Aaron in commission with
him. Moses was designed to be their lawgiver and chief magistrate, Aaron to
be their chief priest; and therefore, that they might respect them the more
and submit to them the more cheerfully, God made use of them as their
deliverers.
2. The means of accomplishing that deliverance; these were the plagues of
Egypt. Moses and Aaron observed their orders, in summoning them just as God
appointed them, and they rebelled not against his word (v. 28)
as Jonah did, who, when he was sent to denounce God's judgments against
Nineveh, went to Tarshish. Moses and Aaron were not moved, either with a
foolish fear of Pharaoh's wrath or a foolish pity of Egypt's misery, to
relax or retard any of the plagues which God ordered them to inflict on the
Egyptians, but stretched forth their hand to inflict them as God appointed.
Those that are instructed to execute judgment will find their remissness
construed as a rebellion against God's word. The plagues of Egypt are here
called God's signs, and his wonders (v. 27); they were not
only proofs of his power, but tokens of his wrath, and to be looked upon
with admiration and holy awe. They showed the words of his signs (so
it is in the original), for every plague had an exposition going along with
it; they were not, as the common works of creation and providence, silent
signs, but speaking ones, and they spoke aloud. They are all or most of them
here specified, though not in the order in which they were inflicted. (1.)
The plague of darkness, v. 28. This was one of the last, though here
mentioned first. God sent darkness, and, coming with commission, it
came with efficacy; his command made it dark. And then they
(that is, the people of Israel) rebelled not against God's word,
namely, a command which some think was given them to circumcise all among
them that had not been circumcised, in doing which the three days' darkness
would be a protection to them. The old translation follows the LXX., and
reads it, They were not obedient to his word, which may be applied to
Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who, notwithstanding the terror of this plague, would
not let the people go; but there is no ground for it in the Hebrew. (2.)
The turning of the river Nilus (which they idolized) into blood, and
all their other waters, which slew their fish (v. 29), and so
they were deprived, not only of their drink, but of the daintiest of their
meat, Num. xi. 5. (3.) The frogs, shoals of which their land brought forth,
which poured in upon them, not only in such numbers, but with such fury,
that they could not keep them out of the chambers of their kings and
great men, whose hearts had been full of vermin, more nauseous and more
noxious-contempt of, and enmity to, both God and his Israel. (4.) Flies of
divers sorts swarmed in their air, and lice in their clothes, v. 31;
Exod. viii. 17, 24. Note, God can make use of the meanest, and weakest, and
most despicable animals, for the punishing and humbling of proud oppressors,
to whom the impotency of the instrument cannot but be a great mortification,
as well as an undeniable conviction of the divine omnipotence. (5.)
Hail-stones shattered their trees, even the strongest timber-trees in their
coasts, and killed their vines, and their other fruit-trees, v.
32, 33. Instead of rain to cherish their trees, he gave them hail to crush
them, and with it thunder and lightning, to such a degree that the fire
ran along upon the ground, as if it had been a stream of kindled
brimstone, Exod. ix. 23. (6.) Locusts and caterpillars destroyed all
the herbs which were made for the service of man and ate the bread out
of their mouths, v. 34, 35. See what variety of judgments God has,
wherewith to plague proud oppressors, that will not let his people go. God
did not bring the same plague twice, but, when there was occasion for
another, it was still a new one; for he has many arrows in his quiver.
Locusts and caterpillars are God's armies; and, how weak soever they are
singly, he can raise such numbers of them as to make them formidable, Joel i.
4, 6. (7.) Having mentioned all the plagues but those of the murrain and
boils, he concludes with that which gave the conquering stroke, and that was
the death of the first-born, v. 36. In the dead of the night
the joys and hopes of their families, the chief of their strength and
flower of their land, were all struck dead by the destroying angel. They
would not release God's first-born, and therefore God seized theirs by way
of reprisal, and thereby forced them to dismiss his too, when it was too
late to retrieve their own; for when God judges he will overcome, and
those will certainly sit down losers at last that contend with him.
3. The mercies that accompanied this deliverance. In their bondage, (1.)
They had been impoverished, and yet they came out rich and wealthy. God not
only brought them forth, but he brought them forth with silver and gold,
v. 37. God empowered them to ask and collect the contributions of
their neighbours (which were indeed but part of payment for the service they
had done them) and inclined the Egyptians to furnish them with what they
asked. Their wealth was his, and therefore he might, their hearts were in
his hand, and therefore he could, give it to the Israelites. (2.) Their
lives had been made bitter to them, and their bodies and spirits broken by
their bondage; and yet, when God brought them forth, there was not one
feeble person, none sick, none so much as sickly, among their tribes.
They went out that very night that the plague swept away all the first-born
of Egypt, and yet they went out all in good health, and brought not with
them any of the diseases of Egypt. Surely never was the like, that among so
many thousands there was not one sick! So false was the representation which
the enemies of the Jews, in after-ages, gave of this matter, that they were
all sick of a leprosy, or some loathsome disease, and that therefore the
Egyptians thrust them out of their land. (3.) They had been trampled upon
and insulted over; and yet they were brought out with honour (v. 38):
Egypt was glad when they departed; for God had so wonderfully owned
them, and pleaded their cause, that the fear of Israel fell upon them,
and they owned themselves baffled and overcome. God can and will make his
church a burdensome stone to all that heave at it and seek to
displace it, so that those shall think themselves happy that get out of its
way, Zech. xii. 3. When God judges, he will overcome. (4.) They had
spent their days in sorrow and in sighing, by reason of their bondage; but
now he brought them forth with joy and gladness, v. 43. When
Egypt's cry for grief was loud, their first-born being all slain, Israel's
shouts for joy were as loud, both when they looked back upon the land of
slavery out of which they were rescued and when they looked forward to the
pleasant land to which they were hastening. God now put a new song into
their mouth.
4. The special care God took of them in the wilderness. (1.) For their
shelter. Besides the canopy of heaven, he provided them another heavenly
canopy: He spread a cloud for a covering (v. 39), which was to
them not only a screen and umbrella, but a cloth of state. A cloud was often
God's pavilion (Ps. xviii. 11) and now it was
Israel
's; for they also were his hidden ones. (2.) For their guidance and
refreshment in the dark. He appointed a pillar of fire to give light in
the night, that they might never be at a loss. Note, God graciously
provides against all the grievances of his people, and furnishes them with
convenient succours for every condition, for day and night, till they come
to heaven, where it will be all day to eternity. (3.) He fed them both with
necessaries and dainties. Sometimes he furnished their tables with wild fowl
(v. 40): The people asked, and he brought quails; and, when
they were not thus feasted, yet they were abundantly satisfied with the
bread of heaven. Those are curious and covetous indeed who will not be
so satisfied. Man did eat angels' food, and that constantly and on
free-cost. And, as every bit they ate had miracle in it, so had every drop
they drank: He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out, v.
41. Common providence fetches waters from heaven, and bread out of the
earth; but for Israel the divine power brings bread from the clouds and
water from the rocks: so far is the God of nature from being tied to the
laws and courses of nature. The water did not only gush out once, but it ran
like a river, plentifully and constantly, and attended their camp in
all their removes; hence they are said to have the rock follow them
(1 Cor. x. 4), and, which increased the miracle, this river of God
(so it might be truly called) ran in dry places, and yet was not
drunk in and lost, as one would have expected it to be, by the sands of the
desert of Arabia. To this that promise alludes, I will give rivers in the
desert, to give drink to my chosen, Isa. xliii. 19, 20.
5. Their entrance, at length, into Canaan (v. 44): He gave them
the lands of the heathen, put them in possession of that which they had
long been put in hopes of; and what the Canaanites had taken pains for God's
Israel had the enjoyment of: They inherited the labour of the people;
and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. The Egyptians had long
inherited their labours, and now they inherited the labours of the
Canaanites. Thus sometimes one enemy of the church is made to pay another's
scores.
6. The reasons why God did all this for them. (1.) Because he would himself
perform the promises of the word, v. 42. They were unworthy and
unthankful, yet he did those great things in their favour because he
remembered the word of his holiness (that is, his covenant) with
Abraham his servant, and he would not suffer one iota or tittle of that
to fall to the ground. See Deut. vii. 8. (2.) Because he would have them to
perform the precepts of the word, to bind them to which was the greatest
kindness he could put upon them. He put them in possession of Canaan, not
that they might live in plenty and pleasure, in ease and honour, and might
make a figure among the nations, but that they might observe his statutes
and keep his laws,--that, being formed into a people, they might be
under God's immediate government, and revealed religion might be the basis
of their national constitution,--that, having a good land given them, they
might out of the profits of it bring sacrifices to God's altar,--and that,
God having thus done them good, they might the more cheerfully receive his
law, concluding that also designed for their good, and might be sensible of
their obligations in gratitude to live in obedience to him. We are therefore
made, maintained, and redeemed, that we may live in obedience to the will of
God; and the hallelujah with which the psalm concludes may be taken both as
a thankful acknowledgment of God's favours and as a cheerful concurrence
with this great intention of them. Has God done so much for us, and yet does
he expect so little from us? Praise you the Lord.
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