Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John CalvinPsalm 68:25-2725. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; in the midst were thedamsels playing with timbrels. 47 26. Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, O ye whoare of the fountain of Israel! 27. There is little Benjamin their ruler, the princes of Judah in theirassembly, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.25. The singers went before It is evident that he does not now speak of an army in battle array,but of a solemn assembly held for offering up thanksgivings to God for victory. God had openlyshown that he was their leader in war, and to him the song of triumph is with propriety addressed.Mention is made of distinct choirs employed in his service, and particularly of such as played uponthe timbrel; for, absurd as the practice may appear to us, it was then customary for the women toplay upon that instrument. By the fountain 48 from which they are called upon to bless God, someunderstand the heart, as it is known that those praises which proceed from the lips merely, and arehypocritical, meet with the Divine reprobation. But I conceive the true meaning to be, that all aresummoned to praise the Lord who could deduce their origin from the patriarch Jacob. Many mightnot sustain the character which answered to their high vocation; but, as the whole race had beenchosen of God, the Psalmist very properly invites them to engage in this devotional exercise. Atthe same time, I see nothing objectionable in the opinion, if any persist in preferring it, that theterm is here used to distinguish the true saints of God from those who vainly boasted of being theposterity of Abraham, while they had degenerated from his spirit. Those only who walk in thefootsteps of his faith are reckoned to be his children. It has caused some surprise that, in a generaldescription of the sacred assemblies of the people, precedence should have been given to the tribeof Benjamin According to certain interpreters, this is owing to the position which it occupied, asbeing next to David; and honor is put upon the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, 49 which, thoughthey lay at a great distance, were in a particular manner friendly and attached to him. Others think47 “The musical instrument here rendered ‘timbrels’ was a sort of small drum, carried in the hand, (Exodus 15:20,) and playedon by beating with the hand or fingers, as is probable from Nahum 2:7. It was used both on civil and religious occasions; and isoften mentioned, as here, to have been beaten by women, but was sometimes played on by men. It was very like, if not the samekind of instrument as the modern Syrian diff, which is described by Dr Russell as ‘a hoop, (sometimes with bits of brass fixedin it to make a jingling,) over which a piece of parchment is distended. It is beat with the fingers; and is the true tympanum ofthe ancients, as appears from its figure in several relievos representing the orgies of Bacchus, and the rites of Cybele. It is worthobserving, that, according to Juvenal, the Romans had this instrument from Syria.’ Niebuhr also has given us a similar description,and a print of an instrument which, (according to his German spelling,) he says, they call doff: He informs us that they ‘hold itby the bottom, in the air, with one hand, while they play on it with the other.’ The Oriental diff appears to be very like what isknown to the French and English by the name of tambourine.” — Mant.48 “A metaphor denoting the posterity of Israel, springing, as it were, from a common source or fountain.” — Mant BishopHare’s conjectural emendation gives a good sense; but it seems unnecessary. Instead of , mimmekor, he proposes to read ,mekor; and then the passage would run thus: —“The fount whence blessings spring to Israel’s race.”Horsley reads, “The Lord of the stock of Israel;” and explains it of the Messiah, who was of the stock of Israel accordingto the flesh. Fry conceives that the reading more strictly may be, “from the quarry of Israel; dug, as it were, from this pit, hewnfrom this rock. See Isaiah 51:1.”“They blessed Elohim in the congregations,The Lord from the stock of Israel, (or from the quarry of Israel.)”49 Zebulun and Naphtali were in Galilee, divided from the country of the half-tribe of Manasseh; the former by the Jordan,the latter by the Lake of Gennesareth.20