--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 598 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/598/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 598. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/598/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 598. Psalms · 52 of 159 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/598/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/598/#p-N ### Verse 1 [¶1] Judge me, O God, and plead my cause - ריבה ריבי ribah ribi, a forensic term, properly enough translated, plead my cause, be my counsellor and advocate. [¶2] Ungodly nation - The Babylonians; the impious, perfidious, wicked, and deceitful Babylonians. [¶3] The deceitful and unjust man - Nebuchadnezzar. ### Verse 2 [¶5] For those art the God of my strength - The psalmist speaks here, as in other places in the person of the whole Israelitish people then captive in Babylon. We still acknowledge thee for our God. Why are we cast off? Now that we are humbled and penitent, why are we not enlarged? Why are we not saved from this oppression of the Babylonians? ### Verse 3 [¶7] O send out thy light and thy truth - We are in darkness and distress, O send light and prosperity; we look for the fulfillment of thy promises, O send forth thy truth. Let thy fight guide me to thy holy hill, to the country of my fathers; let thy truth lead me to thy tabernacles, there to worship thee in spirit and in truth. ### Verse 4 [¶9] Then will I go unto the altar - When thy light - a favorable turn on our affairs, leads us to the land of our fathers, and thy truth - the fulfillment of thy gracious promises, has placed us again at the door of thy tabernacles, then will we go to thy altar and joyfully offer those sacrifices and offerings which thy law requires, and rejoice in thee with exceeding great joy. ### Verse 5 [¶11] Why art thou cast down - Though our deliverance be delayed, God has not forgotten to be gracious. The vision, the prophetic declaration relative to our captivity, was for an appointed time. Though it appear to tarry, we must wait for it. In the end it will come, and will not tarry; why then should we be discouraged? Let us still continue to trust in God, for we shall yet praise him for the fullest proofs of his approbation in a great outpouring of his benedictions. ### Introduction [¶13] The psalmist recounts the mercies of God; shows to his people how God in ancient times gave them the victory over all their enemies, [Psa 44:1-8]; points out their present miserable state, [Psa 44:9-16]; asserts that thy have not apostatized, and appeals to God for the truth of his assertion, [Psa 44:17-22]; and calls upon the Lord for deliverance from their enemies, [Psa 44:23-26]. [¶14] The title here is the same as that in [Psa 42:1-11] (note); which see. The Syriac says it was "A Psalm of the sons of Korah, which the people and Moses sung at Horeb." Such titles are fancies to which no credit should be attached. Like the preceding, it appears to belong to the time of the captivity. ### Verse 1 [¶16] We have heard with our ears - The psalmist begins with recounting the marvellous interpositions of God in behalf of the Jewish people, that he might the better strengthen his confidence, and form a ground on which to build his expectation of additional help. ### Verse 2 [¶18] Thou didst drove out the heathen - The Canaanites were as a bad tree planted in a good soil, and bringing forth bad fruit with great luxuriance. God plucked up this bad tree from the roots, and in its place planted the Hebrews as a good tree, a good vine, and caused them to take root, and fill the land. ### Verse 3 [¶20] For they got not the land - Neither by their valor, nor cunning, nor for their merit; yet, they were obliged to fight. But how did they conquer? By the right hand of the Lord, and by his arm; by his strength alone, and the light of his countenance - his favor most manifestly shown unto them. ### Verse 4 [¶22] Thou art my king - What thou wert to them, be to us. We believe in thee as they did; we have sinned and are in captivity, but we repent and turn unto thee; command, therefore, deliverances to Jacob, for we are the descendants of him in whose behalf thou hast wrought such wonders. ### Verse 5 [¶24] Through thee will we push down - Through thy Word, במימרא bemeimra, "Thy substantial Word." - Chaldee. If thou be with us, who can be successfully against us? Literally "We will toss them in the air with our horn;" a metaphor taken from an ox or bull tossing the dogs into the air which attack him. [¶25] Through thy name - Jehovah; the infinite, the omnipotent, the eternal Being; whose power none is able to resist. ### Verse 6 [¶27] I will not trust in my bow - As he is speaking of what God had already done for his forefathers, these words should be read in the past tense: "We have not trusted," etc. ### Verse 8 [¶29] In God we boast - We have told the heathen how great and powerful our God is. If thou do not deliver us by thy mighty power, they will not believe our report, but consider that we are held in bondage by the superior strength of their gods. ### Verse 9 [¶31] But thou hast cast off - Our enemies have dominion over us. [¶32] And goest not forth with our armies - Were we to attempt to muster our several tribes, and form a host, like our fathers when they came out of Egypt, thou wouldst not accompany us as thou didst them: the horses and chariots of the Babylonians would soon overtake and destroy us. ### Verse 10 [¶34] Thou makest us to turn back - This thou didst: and our enemies, profiting by the occasion, finding our strength was departed from us, made us an easy prey, captivated our persons, and spoiled us of our property. ### Verse 11 [¶36] And hast scattered us among the heathen - This most evidently alludes to the captivity. From the successful wars of the kings of Assyria and Chaldea against the kings of Israel and Judah, and the dispersion of the tribes under Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, and Nebuchadnezzar, Jews have been found in every province of the east; there they settled, and there their successors may be found to the present day. ### Verse 12 [¶38] Thou sellest thy people for nought - An allusion to the mode of disposing of slaves by their proprietors or sovereigns. Instead of seeking profit, thou hast made us a present to our enemies. ### Verse 14 [¶40] Thou makest us a byword - We are evidently abandoned by thee, and are become so very miserable in consequence, that we are a proverb among the people: "See the Hebrews! see their misery and wretchedness! see how low the wrath of God has brought down an offending people!" And the worst curse that can be imprecated against a wicked nation is: "Mayest thou become as wretched as the Jews;" or as the old Psalter: Thou has seet us reprove til our neghburs: scornyng and hethyng til tha that er in our umgang. That es, gref, tourment that es of our neghburs, and that hethyng es noght sone gave or passand, that we suffer of tha, that er al aboute us. When men sais so byfal ye, als byfel him." ### Verse 17 [¶42] Yet have we not forgotten thee - These are bold words; but they must be understood in a qualified sense. We have not apostatized from thee, we have not fallen into idolatry. And this was strictly true: the charge of idolatry could never be brought against the Jewish nation from the time of the captivity, with sufficient evidence to support it. ### Verse 19 [¶44] Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons - Thou hast delivered us into the hands of a fierce, cruel, and murderous people. We, as a people, are in a similar state to one who has strayed into a wilderness, where there are no human inhabitants; who hears nothing round about him but the hissing of serpents, the howling of beasts of prey, and the terrible roaring of the lion; and who expects every moment to be devoured.