Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 65:12
They drop [upon] the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.
12. the pastures of the wilderness ] Jer 9:10; Jer 23:10; Joe 1:19-20; Joe 2:22. ‘Wilderness’ denotes the open uncultivated country used for pasturage, in contrast to the cultivated land or ‘field.’
and the little hills &c.] R.V., And the hills are girded with joy. For the personification of nature cp. Psa 96:11 ff; Isa 44:23; &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness – The waste places, or the waste parts of the land; the uncultivated places, the places of rocks and sands. The word wilderness in the Scriptures does not mean, as with us, a tract of country covered with trees, but a place of barren rocks or sands – an uncultivated or thinly inhabited region. See the notes at Mat 3:1; notes at Isa 35:1. In those wastes, however, there would be valleys, or places watered by springs and streams that would afford pastures for flocks and herds. Such are the pastures of the wilderness referred to here. Gods passing along those valleys would seem to drop, or distil, fertility and beauty, causing grass and flowers to spring up in abundance, and clothing them with luxuriance.
And the little hills rejoice on every side – Margin, as in Hebrew, are girded with joy. That is, Joyful, happy scenes surround them; or, they seem to be full of joy and happiness. The valleys and the hills alike seem to be made glad. The following remarks of Professor Hackett (Illustrations of Scripture, p. 30), will explain this passage. Another peculiarity of the desert is that, though the soil is sandy, it rarely consists, for successive days together, of mere sand; it is interspersed, at frequent intervals, with clumps of coarse grass and low shrubs, affording very good pasturage, not only for camels, the proper tenants of the desert, but for sheep and goats. The people of the villages on the borders of the desert are accustomed to lead forth their flocks to the pastures found there. We frequently passed on our way shepherds so employed; and it was interesting to observe as a verification of what is implied in the Saviours statement Mat 25:33, that the sheep and goats were not kept distinct, but intermixed with one another. The shepherds not only frequent the parts of the desert near their places of abode, but go often to a considerable distance from them; they remain absent for weeks and months, only changing their station from time to time, as their needs in respect to water and herbage may require. The incident related of Moses shows that the pastoral habits of the people were the same in his day: Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the further part of the desert, even to Horeb, Exo 3:1. It is of the desert in this sense, as supplying to some extent the means of pasturage, that the prophet Joel speaks in Joe 1:19; Joe 2:22. The psalmist also says Psa 65:12-13, with the same reference:
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness,
And thy paths drop fatness;
They drop fatness on the pastures of the wilderness.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. The pastures of the wilderness] Even the places which are not cultivated have their sufficiency of moisture, so as to render them proper places of pasturage for cattle. The terms wilderness and desert, in the Sacred Writings, mean, in general, places not inhabited and uncultivated, though abounding with timber, bushes, and herbage.
The little hills rejoice] Literally, The hills gird themselves with exultation. The metaphor appears to be taken from the frisking of lambs, bounding of kids, and dancing of shepherds and shepherdesses, in the joy-inspiring summer season.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They, Gods paths,
drop upon the pastures of the wilderness; which, though neglected by men, are furnished by God with food for wild beasts, which, being his creatures, he careth for by this means.
The little hills; the hills of Canaan, which for the generality of them were but small, if compared with the great and high mountains in divers parts of the world. He mentions
the hills, because these being most dry and parched with the sun, most need and are most refreshed with the rain.
Rejoice on every side; as being moistened and satisfied with rain in all parts and sides of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. wildernessplaces, thoughnot inhabited by men, fit for pasture (Lev 16:21;Lev 16:22; Job 24:5).
pasturesis literally,”folds,” or “enclosures for flocks”; and in Ps65:13 it may be “lambs,” the same word used and sotranslated in Ps 37:20; sothat “the flocks are clothed with lambs” (a figure forabundant increase) would be the form of expression.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They drop [upon] the pastures of the wilderness,…. As well as upon the ploughed land, and turn them into a fruitful field; which may denote the Gentile world, whither the Gospel was sent by Christ, and preached by his apostles; and whose doctrines dropped as the rain, and prospered to the thing whereunto they were sent, and made this wilderness as the garden of God;
and the little hills rejoice on every side; or “joy girds the hills”; or “they are girded with joy” r; or “gird themselves with joy”, as the Targum; being covered on all sides with grass, herbs, and trees: these may denote the churches of Christ, and little hills of Sion, who rejoice when the interest of Christ flourishes, Ps 68:14.
r “collesque exultatione accinguntur”, Tigurine version, Junius Tremellius, Piscator so Ainsworth; “accinxerunt se”, Pagninus; “accingent se”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(12) They drop upon.Supply fatness from the last verse.
And the little hills.See margin. The freshness and beauty of plant life, which suddenly, as by a miracle, in Eastern lands clothes the hill-sides, resembles a fair mantle thrown round their shoulders, as if to deck them for some festival.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 65:12 They drop [upon] the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Ver. 12. Rejoice on every side ] Heb. Are girded with joy, which in time of drought seems to be clad in sackcloth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
drop: Psa 104:10-13, Job 38:26, Job 38:27
rejoice: Heb. are girded with joy, Psa 65:6, Isa 55:9-13, Isa 61:10, Isa 61:11
Reciprocal: Deu 11:11 – General Psa 72:3 – little Psa 89:12 – rejoice Psa 96:12 – General Psa 98:8 – hills Psa 148:9 – Mountains Isa 35:2 – and rejoice Isa 51:23 – Bow Joe 2:21 – be glad Joe 2:22 – for the pastures