67 68 69 70 71 72 and covered them with everlasting disgrace. However, he difdained the tents of Jofeph, and would no more refide in the tribe of Ephraim; where, like a palace, he reared his fanctuary, its foundation to be as durable as the earth ! whom he took from the fheep-folds ! From tending the fuckling ewes, he brought him to feed his own people fprung from Jacob, his own inheritance, the Ifraelites. He fed them with an upright heart, and with skilful hands conducted them. NOTES. Vér. 24. Celestial corn. The manna which the Arabs ftill call maneffama, i. e. celeftial manna; because they imagine it falls from the heavens like dew. See C. R.-Ver. 25. Every one ate a delicious food. This is commonly rendered: "Men ate the food of angels :" but the Heb. word never fignifies angels; but the rich, the great, the noble : and the meaning of the pfalmift is, that the Ifraelites found in the manna a dainty delicate food, such as might fuit the palates of the great. Thus, in fome parts of this island the common people call flour-bread, gentle-bread, or gentleman's-bread.—Ver. 30. Their longing was hardly fatisfied. This is in our public verfion rendered: " They were not eftranged from their luft." By Street: "They were not feparated from this object of their wishes." By Green: "Before they were averse to what they had defired:" which comes nearly to the true meaning.Ver. 46. to the cricket. As this infect is not mentioned among the plagues in Exodus, it must be included under the term locuft, which indeed the cricket much resembles. Some critics take it to be the mole cricket, or gryllotalpa.-Ver. 48. to the forky lightning. By Symmachus and Jerom the word is rendered birds of prey; a meaning which it fometimes has, and which is here preferred by fome modern tranflators: but as there is no mention of ravenous birds in Exodus; and as the plague of bail is exprefsly faid to have been accompanied with lightning, this feems to determine the proper meaning of the word.-Ver. 49. through the medium of messengers of evils. Our public verfion has : "by fending evil angels among them." Much better Purver: "fending meffengers of bad things:" and Street, "by fending the ministers of evil." The meffengers here alluded to are the plagues themselves; which are fuppofed to execute God's vengeance on guilty man. See C. R.-Ver. 51. the firflings of their manhood: lit. ftrength, vigour. See Jacob's benediction of Reuben, Gen. 49. 3.-Ver. 54. into his own ballowed lot, i. e. the land of Chanaan. Some however would render, with our public verfion, "to the border of his fanctuary;" and think that the mountain after mentioned is mount Zion. But the word mountain often denotes in the Hebrew writings a mountainous country: and I have no doubt of its being here in that fignification. See C. R.-Ver. 61. The enfign of his power. The ark, which was taken by tke Philistines.— Ver. 65. like a hero, exulting from wine. This oriental metaphor is repugnant to our ideas: but it could not be foftened without lofing its force. We would call fuch a hero pot-valiant.-Ver. 71. The fuckling ewes. The word fuckling is here the participle of the verb fuckle. A fuckling has unaccountably another meaning. Some render pregnant erves.-Ver. 72. and with fkilful hands conducted them. The old verfion, in the Liturgy, has well expreffed the meaning: "and ruled them prudently with all his power." PSALM LXXIX.-al. LXXVIII. The subject of this psalm is very similar to that of psalm 74. It was most probably composed by Jeremiah: but its present title is A PSALM OF ASAPH. Ι THE heathens, O GOD! have entered thine heritage; have polluted thine holy temple laid Jerufalem in ruinous heaps! 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 They have given the carcafes of thy fervants the flesh of thy worshippers to the beafts of the Their blood they have fhed, as water, around and there was no one at hand to bury them! How long, JEHOVAH! wilt thou be wroth? Pour out thine ire on nations, who own thee not, and on kingdoms, which invoke not thy name. For thefe have devoured Jacob, and laid his habitation defolate. Remember not, against us, our former iniquities: let thy kind compaffion speedily fuccour us: Help us, O thou, the GOD of our falvation : for the honour of thy name deliver us : for thy name's fake forgive our fins. Why fhould the heathens fay: "Where is their "GOD?" Let the vengeance of the blood of thy fervants, that hath been fhed, be manifefted among thofe nations, before our eyes. Let the fighs of the captive come before thee. By the strength of thy powerful arm, fave thofe who are threatened with death: and return, seven-fold, into our neighbours' bofoms, the reproach with which they have reproached thee, JEHOVAH ! So fhall we, thy people, and the flock of thy pasture, 13 be for ever thankful to thee, and celebrate thy praise,— from generation, to generation. PSALM LXXX.-al. LXXIX. This psalm is by some supposed to bave been written either in the reign of Joshaphat, when the Edomites and Ammonites invaded the land; or in the reign of Joram, when the Philistines ravaged the country. But, in my apprehension, neither of these occasions suits the tenor of the composition. There is no mention made in it either of Judab, or Jerusalem. The great burthen of the song are the calamities of the bouse of Joseph. Benjamin seems to be classed with them, because they bad been so clafsed in their march through the wilderness. See Num. 2. 18-24- We may, then, suppose, and indeed I think it bigbly probable, that this psalm was written by some Israelite, not Judabite poet, during the oppression of Israel by Hazael, king of Syria. See 2 Kings, 13. 3, 22. FOR THE FIRST MUSICIAN, ON SHOSHANIM- GIVE ear, O fhepherd of Ifrael! let thy countenance fhine on us, I 2 3 4 and we fhall be faved. How long, JEHOVAH, GOD of hosts! 5 wilt thou be wroth with a fupplicating people? The bread of forrow thou haft made them eat; 6 and made them drink tears in abundance! 7 Thou haft fet us at ftrife with our neighbours ; let thy countenance shine on us, and we fhall be faved. A vine thou broughteft out of Egypt; and, expelling nations, plantedst it in their land. it fpread its roots—and filled the land! The mountains were covered with its fhade; Its boughs it extended to the sea, and its shoots to the great river! Ah! why haft thou broken down its fences? 14 The boar from the foreft wasteth it, and the wild beafts of the fields devour it ! 15 GOD of hofts! return, we beseech thee: look down from the heavens, and fee; 16 17 18 19 and again regard this vine. For the plant which thy right hand planted, have perished at the frown of thy countenance ! the man whom thou broughtest up for thyself. Do thou but again revive us ; and thy name only will we invoke. |