15 Thou hast redeemed with strength Thy people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
`Therefore say to the sons of Israel, I `am' Jehovah, and I have brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and have delivered you from their service, and have redeemed you by a stretched-out arm, and by great judgments,
and they `are' Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast brought out by Thy great power, and by Thy stretched-out arm!
And Jacob saith unto Joseph, `God Almighty hath appeared unto me, in Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blesseth me, and saith unto me, Lo, I am making thee fruitful, and have multiplied thee, and given thee for an assembly of peoples, and given this land to thy seed after thee, a possession age-during. `And now, thy two sons, who are born to thee in the land of Egypt, before my coming unto thee to Egypt, mine they `are'; Ephraim and Manasseh, as Reuben and Simeon they are mine; and thy family which thou hast begotten after them are thine; by the name of their brethren they are called in their inheritance. `And I -- in my coming in from Padan-`Aram' Rachel hath died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, while yet a kibrath of land to enter Ephrata, and I bury her there in the way of Ephrata, which `is' Bethlehem.' And Israel seeth the sons of Joseph, and saith, `Who `are' these?' and Joseph saith unto his father, `They `are' my sons, whom God hath given to me in this `place';' and he saith, `Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I bless them.' And the eyes of Israel have been heavy from age, he is unable to see; and he bringeth them nigh unto him, and he kisseth them, and cleaveth to them; and Israel saith unto Joseph, `To see thy face I had not thought, and lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.' And Joseph bringeth them out from between his knees, and boweth himself on his face to the earth; and Joseph taketh them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards Israel's left, and Manasseh in his left towards Israel's right, and bringeth `them' nigh to him. And Israel putteth out his right hand, and placeth `it' upon the head of Ephraim, who `is' the younger, and his left hand upon the head of Manasseh; he hath guided his hands wisely, for Manasseh `is' the first-born. And he blesseth Joseph, and saith, `God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked habitually: God who is feeding me from my being unto this day: the Messenger who is redeeming me from all evil doth bless the youths, and my name is called upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and they increase into a multitude in the midst of the land.' And Joseph seeth that his father setteth his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and it is wrong in his eyes, and he supporteth the hand of his father to turn it aside from off the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh; and Joseph saith unto his father, `Not so, my father, for this `is' the first-born; set thy right hand on his head.' And his father refuseth, and saith, `I have known, my son, I have known; he also becometh a people, and he also is great, and yet, his young brother is greater than he, and his seed is the fulness of the nations;' and he blesseth them in that day, saying, `By thee doth Israel bless, saying, God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh;' and he setteth Ephraim before Manasseh.
and I pray unto Jehovah, and say, Lord Jehovah, destroy not Thy people, and Thine inheritance, whom Thou hast ransomed in Thy greatness; whom Thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand;
Remember Thy company. Thou didst purchase of old, Thou didst redeem the rod of Thy inheritance, This mount Zion -- Thou didst dwell in it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 77
Commentary on Psalms 77 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 77
Ps 77:1-20. To Jeduthun—(See on Ps 39:1, title). In a time of great affliction, when ready to despair, the Psalmist derives relief from calling to mind God's former and wonderful works of delivering power and grace.
1. expresses the purport of the Psalm.
2. his importunacy.
my sore ran … night—literally, "my hand was spread," or, "stretched out" (compare Ps 44:20).
ceased not—literally, "grew not numb," or, "feeble" (Ge 45:26; Ps 38:8).
my soul … comforted—(compare Ge 37:35; Jer 31:15).
3-9. His sad state contrasted with former joys.
was troubled—literally, "violently agitated," or disquieted (Ps 39:6; 41:5).
my spirit was overwhelmed—or, "fainted" (Ps 107:5; Jon 2:7).
4. holdest … waking—or, "fast," that I cannot sleep. Thus he is led to express his anxious feelings in several earnest questions indicative of impatient sorrow.
10. Omitting the supplied words, we may read, "This is my affliction—the years of," &c., "years" being taken as parallel to affliction (compare Ps 90:15), as of God's ordering.
11, 12. He finds relief in contrasting God's former deliverances. Shall we receive good at His hands, and not evil? Both are orderings of unerring mercy and unfailing love.
13. Thy way … in the sanctuary—God's ways of grace and providence (Ps 22:3; 67:2), ordered on holy principles, as developed in His worship; or implied in His perfections, if "holiness" be used for "sanctuary," as some prefer translating (compare Ex 15:11).
14-20. Illustrations of God's power in His special interventions for His people (Ex 14:1-31), and, in the more common, but sublime, control of nature (Ps 22:11-14; Hab 3:14) which may have attended those miraculous events (Ex 14:24).
15. Jacob and Joseph—representing all.
19. waters … , footsteps—may refer to His actual leading the people through the sea, though also expressing the mysteries of providence.