--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 631 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/631/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 631. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/631/" --- # 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. ## 631. Psalms · 85 of 159 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/631/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/631/#p-N ### Verse 18 [¶1] By asking meat for their lust - לנפשם lenaphsham, "for their souls," i.e., for their lives; for they said in their hearts that the light bread, the manna, was not sufficient to sustain their natural force, and preserve their lives. It seems, however, from the expression, that they were wholly carnal; that they had no spirituality of mind; they were earthly, animal, and devilish. ### Verse 22 [¶3] They believed not in God - After all the miracles they had seen, they were not convinced that there was a Supreme Being! and, consequently, they did not trust in his salvation - did not expect the glorious rest which he had promised them. Their descendants in the present day are precisely in this state. Multitudes of them disbelieve the Divine origin of their law, and have given up all hopes of a Messiah. ### Verse 24 [¶5] The corn of heaven - The manna. It fell about their camp in the form of seeds; and as it appeared to come down from the clouds, it was not improperly termed heavenly corn, or heavenly grain, דגן שמים degan shamayim. The word shamayim is frequently taken to express the atmosphere. ### Verse 25 [¶7] Man did eat angels' food - לחם אבירים אכל איש lechem abbirim achal ish, "Man did eat the bread of the mighty ones;" or, each person ate, etc. They ate such bread as could only be expected at the tables of the rich and great, the best, the most delicate food. How little did this gross people know of the sublime excellence of that which they called light bread, and which they said their soul loathed; [Num 21:5]! It was a type of Jesus Christ for so says St. Paul: "They all ate the same spiritual meat, and drank the same spiritual drink," etc., [1Cor 10:3], [1Cor 10:4]. And our Lord calls himself "the bread that came down from heaven, that giveth life unto the world," [Joh 6:31-35] : but a Jew sees nothing but with the eyes of flesh. It is true their doctors or rabbins are full of allegories, mysteries, and conceits; but they are, in general, such as would disgrace the Cabinet des Fees, and would not be tolerated in the nursery. O, how thick a veil hangs over their gross and hardened hearts. ### Verse 26 [¶9] He caused an east wind to blow - See the note on [Num 11:31]. ### Verse 32 [¶11] For all this they sinned still - How astonishing is this! They were neither drawn by mercies, nor awed by judgments! But we shall cease to wonder at this, if we have a thorough acquaintance with our own hearts. ### Verse 33 [¶13] Their days did he consume in vanity - By causing them to wander forty years in the wilderness, vainly expecting an end to their labor, and the enjoyment of the promised rest, which, by their rebellions, they had forfeited. ### Verse 34 [¶15] When he slew them - While his judgments were upon them, then they began to humble themselves, and deprecate his wrath. When they saw some fall, the rest began to tremble. ### Verse 35 [¶17] That God was their rock - They recollected in their affliction that Jehovah was their Creator, and their Father; the Rock, the Source, not only of their being, but of all their blessings; or, that he was their sole Protector. [¶18] And the high God their Redeemer - ואל עליון גאלם veel elyon goalam, "And the strong God the Most High, their kinsman." That one who possessed the right of redemption; the nearest akin to him who had forfeited his inheritance; so the word originally means, and hence it is often used for a redeemer. The Hebrew word גאל goel answers to the Greek σωτηρ, a savior; and is given to the Lord Jesus Christ, the strong God, the Most High, the Redeemer of a lost world. After this verse there is the following Masoretic note: חצי הספר chatsi hassepher, "The middle of the book." And thus the reader has arrived at the middle of the Psalter, a book for excellence unparalleled. ### Verse 36 [¶20] Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth - What idea could such people have of God, whom they supposed they could thus deceive? They promised well, they called him their God, and their fathers' God; and told him how good, and kind, and merciful he had been to them. Thus, their mouth flattered him. And they said that, whatever the Lord their God commanded them to do, they would perform. [¶21] And they lied unto him - I think the Vulgate gives the true sense of the Hebrew: Dilexerunt eum in ore suo; et lingua sua mentiti Bunt ei, - "They loved him with their mouth; and they lied unto him with their tongue." "That is," says the old Psalter, "thai sayde thai lufed God, bot thai lighed, als thair dedes schewes; for thai do noght als thai hight; for when God ceses to make men rad; than cese thai to do wele." ### Verse 37 [¶23] Their heart was not right - When the heart is wrong, the life is wrong; and because their heart was not right with God, therefore they were not faithful in his covenant. ### Verse 38 [¶25] But he, being full of compassion - Feeling for them as a father for his children. [¶26] Forgave their iniquity - יחפר yechapper, made an atonement for their iniquity. [¶27] And did not stir up all his wrath - Though they often grieved his Spirit, and rebelled against him, yet he seldom punished them; and when he did chastise them, it was as a tender and merciful Father. He did not stir up all his wrath - the punishment was much less than the iniquity deserved. ### Verse 39 [¶29] He remembered that they were but flesh - Weak mortals. He took their feeble perishing state always into consideration, and knew how much they needed the whole of their state of probation; and therefore he bore with them to the uttermost. How merciful is God! [¶30] A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again - I believe this to be a bad translation and may be productive of error; as if when a man dies his being were ended, and death were an eternal sleep. The original is, רוח הולך ולא ישוב ruach holech velo yashub: and the translation should be, "The spirit goeth away, and it doth not return." The present life is the state of probation; when therefore the flesh - the body, fails, the spirit goeth away into the eternal world, and returneth not hither again. Now God, being full of compassion, spared them, that their salvation might be accomplished before they went into that state where there is no change; where the pure are pure still, and the defiled are defiled still. All the Versions are right; but the polyglot translator of the Syriac, rocho, has falsely put ventus, wind, instead of spiritus, soul or spirit. The Arabic takes away all ambiguity: "He remembered that they were flesh; and a spirit which, when it departs, does not again return." The human being is composed of flesh and spirit, or body and soul; these are easily separated, and, when separated, the body turns to dust, and the spirit returns no more to animate it in a state of probation. Homer has a saying very like that of the psalmist: - Ανδρος δε ψυχη παλιν ελθειν ουτε ληἱστη, Ουθ' ἑλετη, επει αρ κεν αμειψεται ἑρκος οδοντων. [¶31] IL. ix., ver., 408. "But the soul of man returns no more; nor can it be acquired nor caught after it has passed over the barrier of the teeth." [¶32] Pope has scarcely given the passage its genuine meaning: - "But from our lips the vital spirit fled [¶33] Returns no more to wake the silent dead." [¶34] And the Ossian-like version of Macpherson is but little better: "But the life of man returns no more; nor acquired nor regained is the soul which once takes its flight on the wind." What has the wind to do with the ἑρκος οδοντων of the Greek poet? [¶35] Several similar sayings may be found among the Greek poets; but they all suppose the materiality of the soul. ### Verse 41 [¶37] Limited the Holy One of Israel - The Chaldee translates, "And the Holy One of Israel they signed with a sign." The Hebrew word התוו hithvu is supposed to come from the root תוה tavah, which signifies to mark; and hence the letter ת tau, which in the ancient Hebrew character had the form of a cross X, had its name probably because it was used as a mark. Mr. Bate observes that in hithpael it signifies to challenge or accuse; as one who gives his quark or pledge upon a trial, and causes his adversary to do the same. Here it most obviously means an insult offered to God. ### Verse 44 [¶39] Turned their rivers into blood - See on [Exo 7:20] (note). ### Verse 45 [¶41] He sent - flies - and frogs - See on [Exo 8:6] (note), and [Exo 8:24] (note). ### Verse 46 [¶43] The caterpillar and - the locust - See on [Exo 10:13] (note). ### Verse 47 [¶45] He destroyed their vines with hail - Though the vine was never plentiful in Egypt, yet they have some; and the wine made in that country is among the most delicious. The leaf of the vine is often used by the Egyptians of the present day for wrapping up their mince-meat, which they lay leaf upon leaf, season it after their fashion, and so cook it, making it a most exquisite sort of food, according to Mr. Maillet.