Psalmen 76:5 Kommentar

This psalm seems to have been penned upon occasion of some great victory obtained by the church over some threatening enemy or other, and designed to grace the triumph. The Septuagint calls it, "A song upon the Assyrians," whence many good interpreters conjecture that it was penned when Sennacherib's army, then besieging Jerusalem, was entirely cut off by a destroying angel in Hezekiah's time; and several passages in the psalm are very applicable to that work of wonder: but there was a religious triumph upon occasion of another victory, in Jehoshaphat's time, which might as well be the subject of this psalm (Ch2 20:28), and it might be called "a song of Asaph" because always sung by the sons of Asaph. Or it might be penned by Asaph who lived in David's time, upon occasion of the many triumphs with which God delighted to honour that reign. Upon occasion of this glorious victory, whatever it was, I. The psalmist congratulates the happiness of the church in having God so nigh (Psa 76:1-3). II. He celebrates the glory of God's power, which this was an illustrious instance of (Psa 76:4-6). III. He infers hence what reason all have to fear before him (Psa 76:7-9). And, IV. What reason his people have to trust in him and to pay their vows to him (Psa 76:10-12). It is a psalm proper for a thanksgiving day, upon the account of public successes, and not improper at other times, because it is never out of season to glorify God for the great things he has done for his church formerly, especially for the victories of the Redeemer over the powers of darkness, which all those Old Testament victories were types of, at least those that are celebrated in the psalms. To the chief musician on Neginoth. A psalm or song of Asaph.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 76 To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song of Asaph. The Targum is, "by the hand of Asaph:'' concerning "neginoth", see the title of Psa 4:1, this psalm is generally thought to be written on account of some great appearance of God for the Jews, or victory obtained by them over their enemies, either the Ammonites in the times of David; so the first part of the Syriac inscription is, "when Rabbah of the children of Ammon was destroyed;'' see Sa2 12:26 or in the time of Jehoshaphat, when they came up against him, and were in a wonderful manner defeated, which occasioned great joy and thankfulness, Ch2 20:1. The Septuagint version entitles the psalm "an ode against the Assyrian", in which it is followed by the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions: and it is the opinion of many that it was written on account of the defeat of Sennacherib, and his army, which came up against Jerusalem in the times of Hezekiah, and was destroyed by an angel in one night, and so slept their sleep, and a dead one, with which agree Psa 76:5, so Arama and Theodoret; Jarchi gives this reason for such an interpretation, because we do not find that any enemy fell at or near Jerusalem but he, as is said Psa 76:3, "there brake he the arrows of the bow", &c. nor was one arrow suffered to be thrown into the city, Kg2 19:32. Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of the war of Gog and Magog, yet to come; and the latter part of the Syriac inscription is, "moreover it shows the vengeance of the judgment of Christ against the ungodly;'' and indeed it seems to point out the latter day, when Christ shalt destroy the antichristian kings and states, and save his own people, and shall be feared and praised; as the former part of it may respect his incarnation, appearance, and dwelling in the land of Judea, and so the whole is of the same argument with the preceding psalm.

The stout hearted are spoiled,.... The Assyrian army, its officers and generals, that came up against Jerusalem, with great resolution and courage, and with daring impiety and blasphemy against the God of heaven, as Rabshakeh and others; these were spoiled, and their armour and riches became a prey to those they thought to have made a prey of. So principalities and powers were spoiled by Christ upon the cross, and Satan, the strong man armed, has in the conversion of a sinner his armour taken from him, and his spoils divided by him that is stronger than he; and such as are stouthearted, and far from true righteousness, are stripped of their own, and made willing, in the day of Christ's power upon them, to submit to his; and as for antichrist, whose look is more stout than his fellows, that exalts himself above all that is called God, and opens his mouth in blasphemy against him and his followers, he shall be destroyed with the breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming: or "the stout hearted have spoiled themselves" (a); as the Midianites did, or gave themselves for a prey; so the Targum, "the stouthearted have cast off from them the weapons of war;'' threw away their armour, and ran away, such of them as were not destroyed by the angel. It is observable, that the Hebrew word, translated "spoiled", is in the Syriac form: they have slept their sleep: the sleep of death, as did the Assyrians when smitten by the angel, which was done in the night, when probably they were fast asleep, and so never awoke more, as the Babylonians, Jer 51:57. So Jezebel, or the Romish antichrist, shall be cast into a bed, and her children killed with death, Rev 2:22. Death is often in Scripture signified by a sleep, both the death of the righteous and of the wicked; but there is a difference between the one and the other; wherefore the death of the wicked here is called "their sleep"; the one sleep in Jesus, in his arms, and under his guardianship, the other not; to the one death is a true and proper rest from toil and labour, to the other only a cessation from doing mischief, Job 3:17, the one rests in hopes of a glorious resurrection, the other not; the one will awake in Christ's likeness, and to everlasting life; the other in the image of Satan, and to everlasting shame and contempt: and none of the men of might have found their hands; none of the valiant soldiers in the Assyrian army could find their hands to fight their enemies, or defend themselves; as men in a deep sleep cannot find their hands to do anything, and are as if they had none, and still less in a dead sleep. The Targum is, "they were not able to lay hold on their armour with their hands.'' This was the case of them that were killed; and as for those that remained alive, they were struck with such a panic, that their hearts could not endure, nor their hands be strong when God thus dealt with them; and so it will be with the antichristian army at the battle of Armageddon; and so it is with the wicked at death, they cannot find their hands so as to prevent it; and when it has seized upon them, they cannot find their hands to do any more mischief. (a) "praedae se exposnerunt", Tigurine version, Gejerus; "dediderunt se in praedam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

I will remind you again about Illuminations, and that often, and will reckon them up from holy Scripture. For I myself shall be happier for remembering them (for what is sweeter than light to those who have tasted light?). I will dazzle you with my words: “There is sprung up a light for the righteous, and its partner joyful gladness.” And, “The light of the righteous is everlasting”;8 and “You are shining wondrously from the everlasting mountains” is said to God, I think of the angelic powers that aid our attempts to do good. You have heard David’s words: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” Now he asks that the Light and the Truth may be sent forth for him, now giving thanks that he has a share in it, in that the Light of God is marked on him; that is, that the signs of the illumination given are impressed on him and recognized.

"There have been troubled all the unwise in heart" [Psalm 76:5]....How have they been troubled? When the Gospel is preached. And what is life eternal? And who is He that has risen from the dead? The Athenians wondered, when the Apostle Paul spoke of the resurrection of the dead, and thought that he spoke but fables. But because he said that there was another life which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it gone up into the heart of man, [1 Corinthians 2:9] therefore the unwise in heart were troubled. But what has befallen them? "They have slept their sleep, and all men of riches have found nothing in their hands." They have loved things present, and have gone to sleep in the midst of things present: and so these very present things have become to them delightful: just as he that sees in a dream himself to have found treasure, is so long rich as he wakes not. The dream has made him rich, waking has made him poor. Sleep perchance has held him slumbering on the earth, and lying on the hard ground, poor and perchance a beggar; in sleep he has seen himself to lie on an ivory or golden bed, and on feathers heaped up; so long as he is sleeping, he is sleeping well, waking he has found himself on the hard ground, whereon sleep had taken him. Such men also are these too: they have come into this life, and through temporal desires, they have as it were slumbered here; and them riches, and vain pomps that fly away, have taken, and they have passed away: they have not understood how much of good might be done therewith. For if they had known of another life, there they would have laid up unto themselves the treasure which here was doomed to perish: like as Zacchæus, the chief of the Publicans, saw that good when he received the Lord Jesus in his house, and he says, "The half of my goods I give to the poor, and if to any man I have done any wrong, fourfold I restore." [Luke 19:8] This man was not in the emptiness of men dreaming, but in the faith of men awake....

This life is a dream life; these riches are, as it were, flowing through our sleep. Listen to the psalm, O poorest of the poor, Mr. Rich Man: "They have slept their sleep and have found nothing in their hands, all the people of riches." Sometimes, too, a beggar lying on the ground, shivering with cold but still overcome with sleep, will dream of untold wealth, and rejoice and grow proud in his sleep and not deign to recognize his ragged old father, and until he wakes up he is rich. So when he goes to sleep, he finds something false and unreal to rejoice in; when he wakes up he finds something only too real and true to grieve over. So the rich person when he dies is like the poor person when he wakes up, after seeing untold wealth in his sleep. I mean, there was that man too, "clothed in purple and fine linen," a certain rich man who was neither named nor fit to be named, a despiser of the poor man lying at his gate. He was clothed in purple and fine linen, as the Gospel testifies, and he feasted sumptuously every day. He died, he was buried; he woke up and found himself in the flames. So he slept his sleep and found nothing in his hands, that man of riches, because he had done nothing good with his hands.

“You marvelously illuminate from the eternal mountains.” He comes to the second part, where he explains in sequence the various miracles of the Lord. And to keep people from investigating where that illumination comes from, he added, “from the eternal mountains,” that is, from preachers, who are truly eternal mountains because they stand in constant and unchangeable loftiness. Earthly mountains are not permanent and they have no life. But preachers, who are always wise in the task of the Lord, know how to last forever. And he keeps the order of the truth in a beautiful way. He said that Lord illuminates through the eternal mountains, because he himself gave to the prophets and the apostles what was published through the whole world by their holy preaching. And keep in mind that by this epithet “eternal” he keeps separate true preachers from false ones. For the latter cannot be called “eternal” when they teach the corrupt things of their perversity and are destroyed along with their teachings.

To Jeduthun--(See on Psa 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. (Psa. 77:1-20) expresses the purport of the Psalm.

slept their sleep--died (Psa 13:3). none . . . found . . . hands--are powerless.