Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinarrows. Even birds are sometimes metaphorically so called, on account of their swiftness; andflying is attributed to arrows in Psalm 91:6It is farther added, (verse 4th,) that God is more glorious and terrible than the mountains ofprey By the mountains of prey, is meant kingdoms distinguished for their violence and extortion.We know that from the beginning, he who exercised himself most in robbery and pillage, was theman who most enlarged his borders and became greatest. The Psalmist, therefore, here comparesthose great kings, who had acquired large dominions by violence and the shedding of human blood,to savage beasts, who live only upon prey, and their kingdoms to mountains covered with forests,which are inhabited by beasts inured to live by the destruction of other animals. The enemies ofGod’s ancient people had been accustomed to make violent and furious assaults upon Jerusalem;but it is affirmed that God greatly surpassed them all in power that the faithful might not beoverwhelmed with terror.5. The stout-hearted were spoiled, The power of God in destroying his enemies is here exaltedby another form of expression. The verb , eshtolelu, which we translate were spoiled, is derivedfrom , shalal, and the letter , aleph, is put instead of the letter , he. 270 Some translate, were madefools; 271 but this is too forced. I, however, admit that it is of the same import, as if it had been said,that they were deprived of wisdom and courage; but we must adhere to the proper signification ofthe word. What is added in the second clause is to the same purpose, All the men of might have notfound their hands 272 that is to say, they were as incapable of fighting as if their hands had beenmaimed or cut off. In short, their strength, of which they boasted, was utterly overthrown. Thewords, they slept their sleep, 273 refer to the same subject; implying that whereas before they wereactive and resolute, their hearts now failed them, and they were sunk asleep in sloth and listlessness.The meaning, therefore, is, that the enemies of the chosen people were deprived of that heroiccourage of which they boasted, and which inspired them with such audacity; and that, in consequence,neither mind, nor heart, nor hands, none either of their mental or bodily faculties, could performpreserved by retaining some trace of the primary sense in the rendering of it — ‘fires or lightnings of the bow,’ i e., those hostileweapons which are most furious and formidable, as fire shot out from a bow.” — Hammond Parkhurst renders “glittering flashingarrows,” or rather, “fiery, or fire-bearing arrows;” such as, it is certain, were used in after times in sieges and in battles; the βεληπεπυρωμενα of the Greeks, to which Paul alludes in Ephesians 6:16, and the phalarica of the Romans, which Servius (on Virgil,Æn. lib. 9, 5, 705) describes as a dart or javelin with a spherical leaden head, to which combustible matter was attached, whichbeing set on fire, the weapon was darted against the enemy; and when thrown by a powerful hand, it killed those whom it hit,and set fire to buildings. Walford has, “fiery arrows.” “The arrows,” says he, “are described as fiery, to denote either the rapidityof their motion, or that they were tinged with some poisonous drugs to render them more deadly.”270 The verb is in the praet. hithpahel; and it has , aleph, instead of , he, according to the Chaldaic language, which changes, the Hebrew characteristic of hiphil and hithpahel into271 As the verb signifies, has plundered, spoiled; and as it is here in the praet. hithpahel, which generally denotes reciprocalaction, that is, acting on one’s self, it has been here rendered by some, despoiled themselves of mind, were mad, furious. Hammondreads, “The stout-hearted have despoiled or disarmed themselves.” The Chaldee paraphrase is, “They have cast away theirweapons.”272 “ , may be rendered have not found their hands, i e., have not been able to use them for resistance, for the offendingothers, or even for their own defense.” — Hammond The Chaldee paraphrase is, “They could not take their weapons in theirhands,” i e., they could not use their hands to manage their weapons. In the Septuagint, the reading is, εὕρον οὐδὲν ταῖς χερσιναὐτῶν; “they found nothing with their hands,” i e., they were able to do nothing with them: the vast army of Assyrians, the mostwarlike and victorious then in the world, achieved nothing, but “returned with shame to face to their own land,” (2 Chronicles32:21.)273 “They slept their sleep.” “They slept, but never waked again.” — Hammond. There may be here a direct allusion to thecatastrophe which befell the Assyrian army during the night, when, as they were fast asleep in their tents, a hundred and eighty-fivethousand of them were at once slain, Isaiah 37:36.119