Verse 1
Praise ye the Lord - This, which is a sort of title, is wanting in several MSS., and in the Syriac Version.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good - Ye who live by his bounty should praise his mercy. God is the good Being, and of all kinds of good he is the Author and Dispenser. That the term God among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, expressed both the Supreme Being and good or goodness, is evident from the Anglo-Saxon version of this clause: "Confess Lord for that God, (or good), for that on world mildheartness his." Which the old Psalter thus translates and paraphrases: -
Trans. Schifes to Lorde for he is gude; for in worlde the mercy of him.
Par - Schryfes synes, and louyngs to God. for he is gude of kynde, that nane do bot aske his mercy; for it lastes to the worlds ende in wriches whame it comfortes and delyvers: and the blysfulhede that is gyfen thrugh mercy is endles. That is: -
Confess your sins, and give praise to God, for he is good in his nature to all that ask his mercy; for it lasts to the world's end in comforting and delivering the wretched: and the blessedness that is given through mercy is endless.
Verse 2
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? - His acts are all acts of might; and particularly those in behalf of his followers.
Verse 3
Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times - How near do the Anglo-Saxon, the ancient Scottish Version, and the present translation, approach to each other!
Anglo-Saxon. "Blessed they that holdeth doom, and doth righteousness in ilkere tide."
Anglo-Scottish.
Blisful tha that kepes dome, and duse rightwisnes in ilk tyme.
Those are truly blessed, or happy, whose hearts are devoted to God, and who live in the habit of obedience. Those, the general tenor of whose life is not conformed to the will of God, have no true happiness.
Verse 4
Remember me - This and the following clauses are read in the plural by several MSS.: Remember Us - that We may rejoice, - that We may glory, etc.: and thus all the Versions except the Chaldee; and this is more agreeable to the context.
Verse 5
That I may see the good of thy chosen - That I may enjoy the good, for so the word see is understood among the Hebrews. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God," - they shall enjoy him, possess his favor, and be made like unto him.
Verse 6
We have sinned - Here the confession begins; what preceded was only the introduction to what follows: Our forefathers sinned, and suffered; we, like them, have sinned, and do suffer.
Verse 7
Our fathers understood not - They did not regard the operation of God's hands; and therefore they understood neither his designs nor their own interest.
At the sea, even at the Red Sea - Some of the rabbins suppose that the repetition of the words point out two faults of the Israelites at the Red Sea.
1. They murmured against Moses for bringing them out of Egypt, when they saw the sea before them, and Pharaoh behind them.
2. When the waters were divided, they were afraid to enter in, lest they should stick in the mud which appeared at the bottom.
The word seems to be added by way of explanation, and perhaps may refer to the above: they provoked על ים al yam, "At the sea;" בים סוף beyam suph, "In the sea Suph," or Red Sea. They provoked him at it and in it.
Verse 8
He saved them for his name's sake - למען שמו lemaan shemo, "on account of his name;" to manifest his own power, goodness, and perfections. There was nothing which he could draw from them as a reason why he should save them; therefore he drew the reason from himself. There is a singular gloss in the old Psalter on this verse: "Whan thai cam oute of Egypt to the rede Se, whare thai were closed on a syde with a hylle that na man mygt passe: on another side was the rede See: behynde tham was men of Egypt foluand; and for this thai began to gruch, forgetand Gods mygt: bot than he safed tham, depertand the Se in twelfe, to ilk kynde of Isrel a passage." It seems as if this author thought there were twelve passages made through the Red Sea, that each tribe should have a passage to itself.
Verse 9
He rebuked the Red Sea - In the descriptions of the psalmist every thing has life. The sea is an animated being, behaves itself proudly, is rebuked, and retires in confusion.
Verse 10
The hand of him that hated them - Pharaoh.
Verse 12
Then believed they - Just while the miracle was before their eyes.
Verse 13
They soon forgat his works - Three days afterwards, at the waters of Marah, [Exo 15:24].
They waited not for his counsel - They were impatient, and would not wait till God should in his own way fulfll his own designs.
Verse 15
Sent leanness - They despised the manna, and called it light, that is, innutritive, bread. God gave flesh as they desired, but gave no blessing with it; and in consequence they did not fatten, but grew lean upon it. Their souls also suffered want.
Verse 16
They envied Moses - A reference to the case of Korah and his company.
Aaron the saint - The anointed, the high priest of the Lord.
Verse 20
Thus they changed their glory - That is, their God, who was their glory; and they worshipped an ox in his stead. See the use St Paul makes of this, [Rom 1:23] (note); see also the note there. The incorruptible God was thus served by all the heathen world.