TAKING occasion from the reference to Egypt and the exodus in.the close of the preceding chapter, the Prophet now puts into the mouth of Israel a song analogous to that of Moses, from which some of the expressions are directly borrowed. The structure of this Psalm is very regular, con sisting of two parts, in each of which the Prophet first tells the people what they will say, or have a right to say, when the foregoing promises are verified, and then addresses them again in his own person and in the usual language of prediction. In the first stanza, they are made to acknowledge the divine compassion and to express their confidence in God as the source of all their strength, and therefore the rightful object of their praise, vs. 1-3. In the second stanza, they exhort one another to make known what God has done for them, not only at home but among all nations, and are exhorted by the Prophet to rejoice in the manifested presence of Jehovah, vs. 4—6.
Ewald rejects this chapter, as an addition made by some reader or transcriber of Isaiah later than the exile. His reasons are, that the prophecy is wound up and complete at the close of the eleventh chapter, and that the style, phraseology, and tone, are not those of Isaiah. The first of these reasons he refutes himself by saying that the reference to Egypt in ch. 11: 16, probably suggested this addition to the later writer; a hypothesis which we are equally at liberty to apply to Isaiah himself, unless the passage is manifestly from another hand. This reduces Ewald’s arguments to one, and to that one Umbreit gives a sufficient answer when he says that the Prophet, intending to wind up his prophecy with a composition in the nature of a psalm, adopts of course the general style, which from the time of David had been used for that purpose. That he did not rather copy the manner of Moses, may be explained, not only on the ground that the other style had now become familiar to the people, but also on the ground that such an imitation might have made the comparison with Egypt and the exodus too prominent for the Prophet’s purpose, which was to express thanksgiving in a manner appropriate to all the deliverances of the church from evil, whether natural or spiritual. Hence too the indefiniteness of the language, and a seeming want of intimate connexion with the foregoing prophecy.
1. And thou—Israel, the people of God—shalt say in that day— when the foregoing promise is accomplished—I will praise thee—strictly, acknowledge thee as worthy, and as a benefactor—/or thou wast angry with me, but thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me.—The English version renders ^ though, but according to the masoretic interpunction, it must be read with the preceding words. The apparent incongruity of thanking God because he was angry, is removed by considering that the subject of the thanksgiving is the whole complex idea expressed in the remainder of the verse, of which God’s being angry is only one element. It was not simply because God was angry that the people praise him, but because he was angry and his anger ceased. The same idea is expressed by the English Version in another form, by intimating early in the sentence the relation of its parts, whereas it is characteristic of the Hebrew style to state things absolutely first, and qualify them afterwards. The same mode of expression is used by Paul in Greek, when he says (Romans 6: 17), God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have from the heart obeyed etc. This view of the matter precludes the necessity of taking?piac in the sense of I acknowledge thee to have been just in being angry at me. The force of the particle at the beginning of the second clause can be fully represented only by the English but.—-iti? is the abbreviated form of the future, commonly used to express a wish or a command, in which sense some explain it here, taking this clause as a prayer for deliverance. But this would confine the expression of thanksgiving to God’s being angry, the very incongruity which has just been shown not to exist. It must be taken either as a poetical substitute for siiaj with a present meaning, or as con tracted for sttjy m a Past sense, which is given in most versions. The force of the verb in this connexion is enhanced by a comparison with chap. 10:4, and the parallel verses of the foregoing context, where it is said repeatedly that God’s wrath had not turned back or away (stt xb). Thou comfortest me, not by words only but by deeds, which may seem to justify the version thou hast mercy on me, given by some writers.
2. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and not be afraid; for my strength and song is Jah Jehovah, and he is become my salvation. Some exchange the abstract for the concrete, my Saviour, but with a great loss of strength in the expression. The first verb may be rendered in the present (1 trust), as describing an actual state of mind; but the future form, while it sufficiently implies this, at the same time expresses a fixed determination, I will trust, be confident, secure. The next words contain a negative expression of the same idea. In certain connexions, T3>- seems to denote power as an element of glory, an object of admiration, and a subject of praise. Hence Gesenius and others assign praise as a secondary mean ing of the word itself, which is pushing the deduction and distinction of senses to extremes. Jarchi observes that iJfS, with Q in the first syllable, is never used except in combination with JTW, the orthography elsewhere being always 1*2. This variation may, however, be euphonic, and have no connexion with a difference of meaning. My praise and my song gives a good sense, but no better, and assuredly no stronger, than my strength and my song, i. e. the source of my protection and the subject of my praise. Kimchi and others regard rn«t, here and in the parallel passages, as an abbreviation of “rn^t; but the modern writers make it a collateral or cog nate form of rn^T, and supply the suffix from the preceding word.—Cocceius derives w* from ftx^ to be suitable, becoming, and considers it an abstract denoting the divine perfection. It is much more probably an abbreviation of njrn, and as such occurs at the end of many compound proper names. In the song of Moses, from which this expression is bor rowed, rrjiTi is omitted (Ex. 15: 2), as also in Ps. 118: 14, which is copied from the same. Nor does the combination Stiff? EP occur elsewhere, except in Isai. 26: 4. Some of the modern writers, therefore, have con tended that rvjrn is superfluous. But the fact of its occurrence in another passage of this very book precludes this emendation in the absence of ex ternal evidence. There is really nothing more surprising in the combination than in the frequent accumulation of the other divine names.
3. And ye shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation. —This is a natural and common figure for obtaining and enjoying divine favour. There is no need of supposing a particular allusion to the doctrines of religion. By this verse the Talmudists explain and justify the custom of pouring out water from the fountain of Siloam at the feast of tabernacles, a ceremony no doubt long posterior to the time of Isaiah.
4. And ye shall say (to one another) in that day, praise (or give thanks to) Jehovah, call upon his name (proclaim it), make, Jcnoivn among the nations his exploits (or achievements), remind (them) that his name is exalted. Some take v-nrm in the sense of praising, celebrating, and trans late hs for, because, in which case what follows is not the subject but the reason of the praise. The English Bible has make mention; but the strict sense of the Hiphil as a causative is perfectly appropriate and suits the context. Name is here used in the pregnant sense of that whereby God makes him self known, including explicit revelation and the exhibition of his attributes in all. On the usage of this word in the Psalms, see Hengstenberg on Ps. 8: 1.
5. Praise Jehovah (by singing, and perhaps with instruments) be cause he has done elevation (or sublimity, i. e. a sublime deed). Known is this (or be this) in all the earth.—lat means properly to play upon stringed instruments, then to sing with an accompaniment, then to sing in general. then to praise by singing or by music generally. In this last sense it may govern the noun directly.—The English Version, excellent things, is too inde finite for the singular form rvixa.—The Kethib ran^a is the Pual, the Keri rsTia the Hophal participle, of $^ to ‘know. Both forms are causative and passive, made, known, caused to be known. Knobel conjectures that r.stpa may have been a noun, synonymous with ns’nia, and analogous in form to r.5B^a from 5B^.—The English Version supplies is, and makes the last clause an appeal to the whole world for the truth of the thing celebrated. Most of the recent versions make it an imperative expression, exhorting to a general diffusion of the truth.
6. Cry out and shout (or sing), oh inhabitant of Zion (the people or the church personified as a woman), for great in the midst of thee (residing in thee by a special manifestation of his presence) is the Holy One of Israel (that Holy Being who has bound himself to Israel, in a peculiar and extraordinary manner, as their covenant God).
