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Selected Verse: Psalms 68:11 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 68:11 |
Strong Concordance |
The Lord [0136] gave [05414] the word [0562]: great [07227] was the company [06635] of those that published [01319] it. |
|
King James |
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
gave the word--that is, of triumph.
company--or, choir of females, celebrating victory (Exo 15:20). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The Lord gave the word - The command, or the order. It is not certain to what the psalmist here refers; whether to some particular occasion then fresh in the recollection of the people, when a great victory had been gained, which it was the design of the psalm to celebrate; or whether it is a general statement in regard to the doings of God, having reference to all his victories and triumphs, and meaning that in all cases the command came from him. The subsequent verses make it evident that there is an allusion here to the ark of the covenant, and to the victories which had been achieved under that as a guide or protector. The entire psalm refers to the ark, and its triumphs; and the idea here seems to be, that in all the victories which had been achieved the "word" or the command came from God, and that its promulgation was immediately made by a "great company" who stood ready to communicate it or to "publish" it.
Great was the company of those that published it - Margin, army. More literally, "The women publishing it were a great host." The word used is in the feminine gender, and refers to the Oriental custom whereby females celebrated victories in songs and dances. See Exo 15:20-21; Jdg 11:34; Jdg 21:21; Sa1 18:6-7. The idea here is, that when there was a proclamation of war - when God commanded his people to go out to battle, and to take with them the ark, the females of the land - the singers - were ready to make known the proclamation; to celebrate the will of the Lord by songs and dances; to cheer and encourage their husbands, brothers, and fathers, as they went out to the conflict. The result is stated in the following verse. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The futures that now follow are no longer to be understood as referring to previous history; they no longer alternate with preterites. Moreover the transition to the language of address in Psa 68:14 shows that the poet here looks forth from his present time and circumstances into the future; and the introduction of the divine name אדני, after Elohim has been used eleven times, is an indication of a new commencement. The prosperous condition in which God places His church by giving it the hostile powers of the world as a spoil is depicted. The noun אמר, never occurring in the genitival relationship, and never with a suffix, because the specific character of the form would be thereby obliterated, always denotes an important utterance, more particularly God's word of promise (Psa 77:9), or His word of power (Hab 3:9), which is represented elsewhere as a mighty voice of thunder (Psa 68:34, Isa 30:30), or a trumpet-blast (Zac 9:14); in the present instance it is the word of power by which the Lord suddenly changes the condition of His oppressed church. The entirely new state of things which this omnipotent behest as it were conjures into existence is presented to the mind in v. 12b: the women who proclaim the tidings of victory - a great host. Victory and triumph follow upon God's אמר, as upon His creative יהי. The deliverance of Israel from the army of Pharaoh, the deliverance out of the hand of Jabin by the defeat of Sisera, the victory of Jephthah over the Ammonites, and the victorious single combat of David with Goliath were celebrated by singing women. God's decisive word shall also go forth this time, and of the evangelists, like Miriam (Mirjam) and Deborah, there shall be a great host.
Psa 68:12 describes the subject of this triumphant exultation. Hupfeld regards Psa 68:13-15 as the song of victory itself, the fragment of an ancient triumphal ode (epinikion) reproduced here; but there is nothing standing in the way that should forbid our here regarding these verses as a direct continuation of Psa 68:12. The "hosts" are the numerous well-equipped armies which the kings of the heathen lead forth to the battle against the people of God. The unusual expression "kings of hosts" sounds very much like an ironically disparaging antithesis to the customary "Jahve of Hosts" (Bttcher). He, the Lord, interposes, and they are obliged to flee, staggering as they go, to retreat, and that, as the anadiplosis (cf. Jdg 5:7; Jdg 19:20) depicts, far away, in every direction. The fut. energicum with its ultima-accentuation gives intensity to the pictorial expression. The victors then turn homewards laden with rich spoils. נות בּית, here in a collective sense, is the wife who stays at home (Jdg 5:24) while the husband goes forth to battle. It is not: the ornament (נוה as in Jer 6:2) of the house, which Luther, with the lxx, Vulgate, and Syriac, adopts in his version,
(Note: "Hausehre," says he, is the housewife or matron as being the adornment of the house; vid., F. Dietrich, Frau und Dame, a lecture bearing upon the history of language (1864), S. 13.)
but: the dweller or homely one (cf. נות, a dwelling-lace, Job 8:6) of the house, ἡ οἰκουρός. The dividing of the spoil elsewhere belongs to the victors; what is meant here is the distribution of the portions of the spoil that have fallen to the individual victors, the further distribution of which is left for the housewife (Jdg 5:30., Sa2 1:24). Ewald now recognises in Psa 68:14. the words of an ancient song of victory; but v. 13b is unsuitable to introduce them. The language of address in Psa 68:14 is the poet's own, and he here describes the condition of the people who are victorious by the help of their God, and who again dwell peaceably in the land after the war. אם passes out of the hypothetical signification into the temporal, as e.g., in Job 14:14 (vid., on Psa 59:16). The lying down among the sheep-folds (שׁפתּים = משׁפּתים, cf. שׁפט, משׁפּט, the staked-in folds or pens consisting of hurdles standing two by two over against one another) is an emblem of thriving peace, which (like Psa 68:8, Psa 68:28) points back to Deborah's song, Jdg 5:16, cf. Gen 49:14. Just such a time is now also before Israel, a time of peaceful prosperity enhanced by rich spoils. Everything shall glitter and gleam with silver and gold. Israel is God's turtle-dove, Psa 74:19, cf. Psa 56:1, Hos 7:11; Hos 11:11. Hence the new circumstances of ease and comfort are likened to the varied hues of a dove disporting itself in the sun. Its wings are as though overlaid with silver (נחפּה, not 3. praet, but part. fem. Niph. as predicate to כּנפי, cf. Sa1 4:15; Mic 4:11; Mic 1:9; Ew. 317 a), therefore like silver wings (cf. Ovid, Metam. ii. 537: Niveis argentea pennis Ales); and its pinions with gold-green,
(Note: Ewald remarks, "Arabian poets also call the dove Arab. 'l-wrq'â, the greenish yellow, golden gleaming one, vid., Kosegarten, Chrestom. p. 156, 5." But this Arabic poetical word for the dove signifies rather the ash-green, whity blackish one. Nevertheless the signification greenish for the Hebrew ירקרק is established. Bartenoro, on Negaim xi. 4, calls the colour of the wings of the peacock ירקרק; and I am here reminded of what Wetzstein once told me, that, according to an Arab proverb, the surface of good coffee ought to be "like the neck of the dove," i.e., so oily that it gleams like the eye of a peacock. A way for the transition from green to grey in aurak as the name of a colour is already, however, opened up in post-biblical Hebrew, when to frighten any one is expressed by פנים הוריק, Genesis Rabba, 47a. The intermediate notions that of fawn colour, i.e., yellowish grey. In the Talmud the plumage of the full-grown dove is called זהוב and צהוב, Chullin, 22b.)
and that, as the reduplicated form implies, with the iridescent or glistening hue of the finest gold (חרוּץ, not dull, but shining gold).
Side by side with this bold simile there appears in v. 15 an equally bold but contrastive figure, which, turning a step or two backward, likewise vividly illustrates the results of their God-given victory. The suffix of בּהּ refers to the land of Israel, as in Isa 8:21; Isa 65:9. צלמום, according to the usage of the language so far as it is now preserved to us, is not a common noun: deep darkness (Targum = צלמות), it is the name of a mountain in Ephraim, the trees of which Abimelech transported in order to set fire to the tower of Shechem (Jdg 9:48.). The Talmudic literature was acquainted with a river taking its rise there, and also somewhat frequently mentions a locality bearing a similar name to that of the mountain. The mention of this mountain may in a general way be rendered intelligible by the consideration that, like Shiloh (Gen 49:10), it is situated about in the centre of the Holy Land.
(Note: In Tosifta Para, ch. viii., a river of the name of יורדת הצלמון is mentioned, the waters of which might not be used in preparing the water of expiation (מי חטאת), because they were dried up at the time of the war, and thereby hastened the defeat of Israel (viz., the overthrow of Barcochba). Grtz "Geschichte der Juden, iv. 157, 459f.) sees in it the Nahar Arsuf, which flows down the mountains of Ephraim past Bethar into the Mediterranean. The village of Zalmon occurs in the Mishna, Jebamoth xvi. 6, and frequently. The Jerusalem Gemara (Maaseroth i. 1) gives pre-eminence to the carob-trees of Zalmona side by side with those of Shitta and Gadara.)
השׁליג signifies to bring forth snow, or even, like Arab. aṯlj, to become snow-white; this Hiph. is not a word descriptive of colour, like הלבּין. Since the protasis is בּפרשׂ, and not בּפרשׂך, תּשׁלג is intended to be impersonal (cf. Psa 50:3; Amo 4:7, Mich. Psa 3:6); and the voluntative form is explained from its use in apodoses of hypothetical protases (Ges. 128, 2). It indicates the issue to which, on the supposition of the other, it must and shall come. The words are therefore to be rendered: then it snows on Zalmon; and the snowing is either an emblem of the glistening spoil that falls into their hands in such abundance, or it is a figure of the becoming white, whether from bleached bones (cf. Virgil, Aen. v. 865: albi ossibus scopuli; xii. 36: campi ossibus albent; Ovid, Fasti i. 558: humanis ossibus albet humus) or even from the naked corpses (Sa2 1:19, על־בּמותיך חלל). Whether we consider the point of comparison to lie in the spoil being abundant as the flakes of snow, and like to the dazzling snow in brilliancy, or in the white pallid corpses, at any rate בּצלמון is not equivalent to כּבצלמון, but what follows "when the Almighty scatters kings therein" is illustrated by Zalmon itself. In the one case Zalmon is represented as the battle-ground (cf. Psa 110:6), in the other (which better corresponds to the nature of a wooded mountain) as a place of concealment. The protasis בפרשׂ וגו favours the latter; for פּרשׂ signifies to spread wide apart, to cause a compact whole - and the host of "the kings" is conceived of as such - to fly far asunder into many parts (Zac 2:10, cf. the Niph. in Eze 17:21). The hostile host disperses in all directions, and Zalmon glitters, as it were with snow, from the spoil that is dropped by those who flee. Homer also (Iliad, xix. 357-361) likens the mass of assembled helmets, shields, armour, and lances to the spectacle of a dense fall of snow. In this passage of the Psalm before us still more than in Homer it is the spectacle of the fallen and far seen glistening snow that also is brought into the comparison, and not merely that which is falling and that which covers everything (vid., Iliad, xii. 277ff.). The figure is the pendant of the figure of the dove.
(Note: Wetzstein gives a different explanation (Reise in den beiden Trachonen und um das Haura=ngebirge in the Zeitscheift fr allgem. Erdkunde, 1859, S. 198). "Then fell snow on Zalmon, i.e., the mountain clothed itself in a bright garment of light in celebration of this joyous event. Any one who has been in Palestine knows how very refreshing is the spectacle of the distant mountain-top capped with snow. The beauty of this poetical figure is enhanced by the fact that Zalmon (Arab. ḏlmân), according to its etymology, signifies a mountain range dark and dusky, either from shade, forest, or black rock. The last would well suit the mountains of Haurn, among which Ptolemaeus (p. 365 and 370, Ed. Wilberg) mentions a mountain (according to one of the various readings) Ἀσαλμάνος.") |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Gave - He put this triumphant song into their mouths. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Great was the company of those that published it - המבשרות צבא רב hammebasseroth tsaba rab; "Of the female preachers there was a great host." Such is the literal translation of this passage; the reader may make of it what he pleases. Some think it refers to the women who, with music, songs, and dances, celebrated the victories of the Israelites over their enemies. But the publication of good news, or of any joyful event, belonged to the women. It was they who announced it to the people at large; and to this universal custom, which prevails to the present day, the psalmist alludes. See this established in the note on Isa 40:9 (note). |
20 And Miriam [04813] the prophetess [05031], the sister [0269] of Aaron [0175], took [03947] a timbrel [08596] in her hand [03027]; and all the women [0802] went out [03318] after [0310] her with timbrels [08596] and with dances [04246].
6 And it came to pass as they came [0935], when David [01732] was returned [07725] from the slaughter [05221] of the Philistine [06430], that the women [0802] came out [03318] of all cities [05892] of Israel [03478], singing [07891] and dancing [04246], to meet [07125] king [04428] Saul [07586], with tabrets [08596], with joy [08057], and with instruments of musick [07991].
7 And the women [0802] answered [06030] one another as they played [07832], and said [0559], Saul [07586] hath slain [05221] his thousands [0505], and David [01732] his ten thousands [07233].
21 And see [07200], and, behold, if the daughters [01323] of Shiloh [07887] come out [03318] to dance [02342] in dances [04246], then come ye out [03318] of the vineyards [03754], and catch [02414] you every man [0376] his wife [0802] of the daughters [01323] of Shiloh [07887], and go [01980] to the land [0776] of Benjamin [01144].
34 And Jephthah [03316] came [0935] to Mizpeh [04709] unto his house [01004], and, behold, his daughter [01323] came out [03318] to meet [07125] him with timbrels [08596] and with dances [04246]: and she was his only child [03173]; beside her he had neither son [01121] nor [0176] daughter [01323].
20 And Miriam [04813] the prophetess [05031], the sister [0269] of Aaron [0175], took [03947] a timbrel [08596] in her hand [03027]; and all the women [0802] went out [03318] after [0310] her with timbrels [08596] and with dances [04246].
21 And Miriam [04813] answered [06030] them, Sing [07891] ye to the LORD [03068], for he hath triumphed [01342] gloriously [01342]; the horse [05483] and his rider [07392] hath he thrown [07411] into the sea [03220].
21 And all his fugitives [04015] with all his bands [0102] shall fall [05307] by the sword [02719], and they that remain [07604] shall be scattered [06566] toward all winds [07307]: and ye shall know [03045] that I the LORD [03068] have spoken [01696] it.
10 Sing [07442] and rejoice [08055], O daughter [01323] of Zion [06726]: for, lo, I come [0935], and I will dwell [07931] in the midst [08432] of thee, saith [05002] the LORD [03068].
6 He shall judge [01777] among the heathen [01471], he shall fill [04390] the places with the dead bodies [01472]; he shall wound [04272] the heads [07218] over many [07227] countries [0776].
19 The beauty [06643] of Israel [03478] is slain [02491] upon thy high places [01116]: how are the mighty [01368] fallen [05307] !
6 I will not be afraid [03372] of ten thousands [07233] of people [05971], that have set [07896] themselves against me round about [05439].
7 And also I have withholden [04513] the rain [01653] from you, when there were yet three [07969] months [02320] to the harvest [07105]: and I caused it to rain [04305] upon one [0259] city [05892], and caused it not to rain [04305] upon another [0259] city [05892]: one [0259] piece [02513] was rained [04305] upon, and the piece [02513] whereupon it rained [04305] not withered [03001].
3 Our God [0430] shall come [0935], and shall not keep silence [02790]: a fire [0784] shall devour [0398] before [06440] him, and it shall be very [03966] tempestuous [08175] round about [05439] him.
10 The sceptre [07626] shall not depart [05493] from Judah [03063], nor a lawgiver [02710] from between his feet [07272], until [03588] Shiloh [07886] come [0935]; and unto him shall the gathering [03349] of the people [05971] be.
48 And Abimelech [040] gat him up [05927] to mount [02022] Zalmon [06756], he and all the people [05971] that were with him; and Abimelech [040] took [03947] an axe [07134] in his hand [03027], and cut down [03772] a bough [07754] from the trees [06086], and took [05375] it, and laid [07760] it on his shoulder [07926], and said [0559] unto the people [05971] that were with him, What ye have seen [07200] me do [06213], make haste [04116], and do [06213] as I [03644] have done.
9 And I will bring forth [03318] a seed [02233] out of Jacob [03290], and out of Judah [03063] an inheritor [03423] of my mountains [02022]: and mine elect [0972] shall inherit [03423] it, and my servants [05650] shall dwell [07931] there.
21 And they shall pass [05674] through it, hardly bestead [07185] and hungry [07457]: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry [07456], they shall fret [07107] themselves, and curse [07043] their king [04428] and their God [0430], and look [06437] upward [04605].
9 For her wound [04347] is incurable [0605]; for it is come [0935] unto Judah [03063]; he is come [05060] unto the gate [08179] of my people [05971], even to Jerusalem [03389].
11 Now also many [07227] nations [01471] are gathered [0622] against thee, that say [0559], Let her be defiled [02610], and let our eye [05869] look [02372] upon Zion [06726].
15 Now Eli [05941] was ninety [08673] and eight [08083] years [08141] old [01121]; and his eyes [05869] were dim [06965], that he could [03201] not see [07200].
11 They shall tremble [02729] as a bird [06833] out of Egypt [04714], and as a dove [03123] out of the land [0776] of Assyria [0804]: and I will place [03427] them in their houses [01004], saith [05002] the LORD [03068].
11 Ephraim [0669] also is like a silly [06601] dove [03123] without heart [03820]: they call [07121] to Egypt [04714], they go [01980] to Assyria [0804].
1 To the chief Musician [05329] upon Jonathelemrechokim [03128], Michtam [04387] of David [01732], when the Philistines [06430] took [0270] him in Gath [01661]. Be merciful [02603] unto me, O God [0430]: for man [0582] would swallow me up [07602]; he fighting [03898] daily [03117] oppresseth [03905] me.
19 O deliver [05414] not the soul [05315] of thy turtledove [08449] unto the multitude [02416] of the wicked: forget [07911] not the congregation [02416] of thy poor [06041] for ever [05331].
14 Issachar [03485] is a strong [01634] ass [02543] couching down [07257] between two burdens [04942]:
16 Why abodest [03427] thou among [0996] the sheepfolds [04942], to hear [08085] the bleatings [08292] of the flocks [05739]? For the divisions [06390] of Reuben [07205] there were great [01419] searchings [02714] of heart [03820].
28 Thy God [0430] hath commanded [06680] thy strength [05797]: strengthen [05810], O God [0430], that which [02098] thou hast wrought [06466] for us.
8 The earth [0776] shook [07493], the heavens [08064] also dropped [05197] at the presence [06440] of God [0430]: even Sinai [05514] itself [02088] was moved at the presence [06440] of God [0430], the God [0430] of Israel [03478].
16 But I will sing [07891] of thy power [05797]; yea, I will sing aloud [07442] of thy mercy [02617] in the morning [01242]: for thou hast been my defence [04869] and refuge [04498] in the day [03117] of my trouble [06862].
14 If a man [01397] die [04191], shall he live [02421] again? all the days [03117] of my appointed time [06635] will I wait [03176], till my change [02487] come [0935].
14 When the Almighty [07706] scattered [06566] kings [04428] in it, it was white as snow [07949] in Salmon [06756].
14 When the Almighty [07706] scattered [06566] kings [04428] in it, it was white as snow [07949] in Salmon [06756].
24 Ye daughters [01323] of Israel [03478], weep over [01058] Saul [07586], who clothed [03847] you in scarlet [08144], with other delights [05730], who put [05927] on ornaments [05716] of gold [02091] upon your apparel [03830].
30 Have they not sped [04672]? have they not divided [02505] the prey [07998]; to every [07218] man [01397] a damsel [07356] or two [07361]; to Sisera [05516] a prey [07998] of divers colours [06648], a prey [07998] of divers colours [06648] of needlework [07553], of divers colours [06648] of needlework on both sides [07553], meet for the necks [06677] of them that take the spoil [07998]?
6 If thou wert pure [02134] and upright [03477]; surely now he would awake [05782] for thee, and make the habitation [05116] of thy righteousness [06664] prosperous [07999].
2 I have likened [01820] the daughter [01323] of Zion [06726] to a comely [05116] and delicate [06026] woman.
24 Blessed [01288] above women [0802] shall Jael [03278] the wife [0802] of Heber [02268] the Kenite [07017] be, blessed [01288] shall she be above women [0802] in the tent [0168].
20 And the old [02205] man [0376] said [0559], Peace [07965] be with thee; howsoever [07535] let all thy wants [04270] lie upon me; only lodge [03885] not in the street [07339].
7 The inhabitants of the villages [06520] ceased [02308], they ceased [02308] in Israel [03478], until that I Deborah [01683] arose [06965], that I arose [06965] a mother [0517] in Israel [03478].
12 Kings [04428] of armies [06635] did flee [05074] apace [05074]: and she that tarried [05116] at home [01004] divided [02505] the spoil [07998].
13 Though ye have lien [07901] among the pots [08240], yet shall ye be as the wings [03671] of a dove [03123] covered [02645] with silver [03701], and her feathers [084] with yellow [03422] gold [02742].
14 When the Almighty [07706] scattered [06566] kings [04428] in it, it was white as snow [07949] in Salmon [06756].
15 The hill [02022] of God [0430] is as the hill [02022] of Bashan [01316]; an high [01386] hill [02022] as the hill [02022] of Bashan [01316].
12 Kings [04428] of armies [06635] did flee [05074] apace [05074]: and she that tarried [05116] at home [01004] divided [02505] the spoil [07998].
14 And the LORD [03068] shall be seen [07200] over them, and his arrow [02671] shall go forth [03318] as the lightning [01300]: and the Lord [0136] GOD [03069] shall blow [08628] the trumpet [07782], and shall go [01980] with whirlwinds [05591] of the south [08486].
30 And the LORD [03068] shall cause his glorious [01935] voice [06963] to be heard [08085], and shall shew [07200] the lighting down [05183] of his arm [02220], with the indignation [02197] of his anger [0639], and with the flame [03851] of a devouring [0398] fire [0784], with scattering [05311], and tempest [02230], and hailstones [068] [01259].
34 Ascribe [05414] ye strength [05797] unto God [0430]: his excellency [01346] is over Israel [03478], and his strength [05797] is in the clouds [07834].
9 Thy bow [07198] was made quite [06181] naked [05783], according to the oaths [07621] of the tribes [04294], even thy word [0562]. Selah [05542]. Thou didst cleave [01234] the earth [0776] with rivers [05104].
9 Hath God [0410] forgotten [07911] to be gracious [02589]? hath he in anger [0639] shut up [07092] his tender mercies [07356]? Selah [05542].
14 When the Almighty [07706] scattered [06566] kings [04428] in it, it was white as snow [07949] in Salmon [06756].
9 O Zion [06726], that bringest good tidings [01319], get thee up [05927] into the high [01364] mountain [02022]; O Jerusalem [03389], that bringest good tidings [01319], lift up [07311] thy voice [06963] with strength [03581]; lift it up [07311], be not afraid [03372]; say [0559] unto the cities [05892] of Judah [03063], Behold your God [0430]!