Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 76:3
There broke he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.
3. There hath he broken the lightnings of the bow. The destruction of Sennacherib’s army apparently took place at some distance from Jerusalem, but Jerusalem is naturally spoken of as the scene of God’s action, because it was the seat of His presence (Psa 46:5 ff.) and it was on her behalf that He put forth His power.
For broken cp. Psa 46:9; Hos 2:18; Isa 9:4; Jer 49:35; and more generally, Isa 14:25. Arrows are called lightnings from the swiftness of their flight, rather than from any reference to fire-laden darts (Psa 7:13, note). The battle includes all instruments and equipments for war.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There brake he the arrows of the bow – That is, in Salem, or near Salem. The language is such as would be used in reference to invaders, or to armies that came up to storm the city. The occasion is unknown; but the meaning is, that God drove the invading army back, and showed his power in defending the city. The phrase the arrows of the bow, is literally, the lightnings of the bow, the word rendered arrows meaning properly flame; and then, lightning. The idea is, that the arrows sped from the bow with the rapidity of lightning.
The shield – Used for defense in war. See Psa 5:12; Psa 33:20; compare the notes at Eph 6:16.
And the sword – That is, he disarmed his enemies, or made them as powerless as if their swords were broken.
And the battle – He broke the force of the battle; the strength of the armies drawn up for conflict.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. There brake he the arrows of the bow] rishphey, the fiery arrows. Arrows, round the heads of which inflammable matter was rolled, and then ignited, were used by the ancients, and shot into towns to set them on fire; and were discharged among the towers and wooden works of besiegers. The Romans called them phalaricae; and we find them mentioned by Virgil, AEn. lib. ix., ver. 705: –
Sed magnum stridens contorta phalarica venit,
Fulminis acta modo.
On this passage Servius describes the phalarica as a dart or spear with a spherical leaden head to which fire was attached. Thrown by a strong hand, it killed those whom it hit, and set fire to buildings, &c. It was called phalarica from the towers called phalae from which it was generally projected. In allusion to these St. Paul speaks of the fiery darts of the devil, Eph 6:16, to the note on which the reader is requested to refer.
The shield and the sword] If this refers to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, it may be truly said that God rendered useless all their warlike instruments, his angel having destroyed 185,000 of them in one night.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
There, i.e. in Judah, or at or near Jerusalem.
The arrows, Heb. the sparks; the sparkling arrows, bright and shining, swift and piercing, like sparks of fire. The bow, the shield, and the sword; both offensive and defensive weapons, so as they could neither hurt Gods people, nor save themselves from ruin.
The battle; the force and fury of the battle, and all the power of the army, which was put in battle-array.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. brake . . . the arrowsliterally,”thunderbolts” (Ps78:48), from their rapid flight or ignition (compare Psa 18:14;Eph 6:16).
the battlefor arms (Ho2:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There brake he the arrows of the bow…. The Targum is,
“there brake he the arrows and the bows of the people that make war;”
the word , translated “arrows”, signifies “sparks or coals of fire”; see Job 5:7 and is used of arrows, because they fly swiftly, as sparks do, or because of their brightness, or because fiery; so we read of “the fiery darts of Satan”, Eph 6:16, and perhaps they may be meant here: when Christ our Lord suffered near Jerusalem, he spoiled principalities and powers, and broke their strength and might, and made peace by the blood of his cross, in which he triumphed over them; for the destroying of these instruments of war with what follow:
the shield, and the sword, and the battle, is expressive of making wars to cease, and causing peace; and may include the peace which was all the world over at the birth of Christ, and was foretold and expressed in much such language as here, Zec 9:9, and also that which was made by his sufferings and death, and which was published in his Gospel by his apostles, whom he sent forth unarmed, whose weapons were not carnal, but spiritual; and likewise the spiritual peace he gives to his people, quenching the fiery darts of Satan, and delivering them from the archers that shoot at them, and sorely grieve them; as well as that peace which shall be in the world and churches in the latter day; see
Ps 46:11,
Selah. [See comments on Ps 3:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. There he broke the arrows of the bow. We have here stated the particular way in which God was known in Judah. He was known by the wonderful proofs of his power, which he exhibited in preserving the city. Under these figures is described the destruction of the enemies of the chosen people. (268) They could not otherwise have been overthrown than by being despoiled of their armor and weapons of war. It is therefore said, that the arrows, the swords, and the shields, were broken, yea, all the implements of war; implying that these impious enemies of the Church were deprived of the power of doing harm. The fact indeed is, that they were wounded and slain, while their weapons remained uninjured; but this metonymy, by which what befell themselves is represented as happening to their implements of war, is not improper. Some translate the word רשפים, reshaphim, points of weapons! Properly, it should be rendered fires; (269) but it is more accurate to take it for arrows. Even birds are sometimes metaphorically so called, on account of their swiftness; and flying is attributed to arrows in Psa 91:6
(268) “This seems to allude to the miraculous destruction of the Assyrian army, as recorded in Isa 27:36.” — Warner.
(269) “The Hebrew רשף, [here rendered arrows, ] signifies fire, Job 5:7, where ‘sparks that fly upward’ are poetically expressed by בני רשף, ‘the sons of the fire.’ By metaphor it is applies to an ‘arrow’ or ‘dart’ shot out of a bow, and, by the swiftness of the motion, supposed to be inflamed. See Son 8:6, where of love it is said, (not the coals, but) ‘the arrows thereof are arrows of fire,’ it shoots, and wounds, and burns a man’s heart, inflames it vehemently by wounding it. The poetical expression will best be preserved by retaining some trace of the primary sense in the rendering of it — ‘fires or lightnings of the bow,’ i e. , those hostile weapons which are most furious and formidable, as fire shot out from a bow.” — Hammond Parkhurst renders “glittering flashing arrows,” or rather, “fiery, or fire-bearing arrows;” such as, it is certain, were used in after times in sieges and in battles; the βελη πεπυρωμενα of the Greeks, to which Paul alludes in Eph 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, which being 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 rapidity of their motion, or that they were tinged with some poisonous drugs to render them more deadly.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) There.This word in Psa. 14:5 does not appear to have a strictly definite local sense; and here may refer to time, possibly to some event, which we are not able with certainty to recover.
Arrows.Literally, flashes. (See Note, Son. 8:6.) The image may be derived from the lightning speed of the flight of arrows, or from the custom of shooting bolts tipped with flame (see Note, Psa. 7:13), or the connection may be from the metaphor in Psa. 91:5-6, since the Hebrew word here used denotes pestilence in Hab. 3:5.
The shield, the sword, and the battleHos. 2:18 is the original of this. (Comp. Psa. 46:9.) Notice the fine poetic touch in the climactic use of battle to sum up all the weapons of war.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. There brake he the arrows The adverbial particle, , ( sham,) “there,” is not to be understood of the place where the miracle of destruction was wrought, but of that whence the miraculous power emanated, namely Zion, or Salem, and should be translated thence, from thence. Thus, “His dwelling-place in Zion. Thence brake he,” etc. So the word is used, Gen 11:8, “The Lord scattered them abroad from thence;” and Gen 26:17, “Isaac departed thence.” It is from his dwelling-place God hears and answers prayer. It is a lofty conception of Zion as the throne of Deity.
Arrows of the bow Hebrew, Flames, or lightnings of the bow, that is, flaming or flashing arrows, a description not uncommon of furbished weapons. Job 39:23; Nah 3:3. Comp. Eph 6:16.
And the battle Either poetically for the weapons of war, or directly the war itself. This latter is the true idea. He shivered the battle; that is, ended the war by one stroke, in destroying the warriors. See Hos 2:18, (Hebrews 76:20,) and the parallel passage, Psa 46:9
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 76:3. There brake he the arrows, &c. The fiery arrows of the bow, &c. That is, there, before the walls of Jerusalem, he overthrew the enemy, and destroyed all their military preparations. See 2Ki 19:32.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The best comment on this verse is the apostle’s general observation, If God be for us, who can be against us? Jesus is both a Sun and a Shield; and no weapon formed against his people can prosper. Rom 8:31 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 76:3 There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.
Ver. 3. There brake he the arrows of the bolt, ] There? Where? Surely in Zion, in the holy assemblies where the saints were praying, there the arrow, shield, spear, &c., were broken. This made the queen-mother of Scotland say, that she more feared the prayers of John Knox than an army of thirty thousand fighting soldiers. The king of Sweden, as soon as he set foot in Germany, fell down to prayer, and what great things did he in a little time! Now for the fruit of prayer, cried those great gallants at Edgehill fight, and did great exploits. The word here rended arrows signifieth fiery darts, see Eph 6:16 ; a burning coal, Job 5:7 ; a lightening bolt, Psa 78:48 ; the plague, or carbuncle, Deu 32:24 Hab 3:5 . Strabo saith that Orites, Gynmetes, and Ethiopians shot fiery arrows: so might the Assyrians. Confer Psa 120:4 .
The shield, and the sword, and the battle
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
There. Emphatic. Hebrew. sham. Compare Gen 2:8. Exo 40:3 (therein). Deu 1:39 (thither). 2Ch 6:11 (in it).
brake He = hath He broken in pieces.
battle. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), for other weapons used in battle.
Selah. Connecting the Jebusite defeat with God Who gave it; and passing on from the third person to the second. See App-66. Note the emphasis on “Thou”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
There: Psa 46:9, 2Ch 14:12, 2Ch 14:13, 2Ch 20:25, 2Ch 32:21, Isa 37:35, Isa 37:36, Eze 39:3, Eze 39:4, Eze 39:9, Eze 39:10
Reciprocal: 1Sa 2:4 – The bows Psa 37:15 – bows Psa 65:5 – terrible Jer 51:56 – every
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 76:3. There brake he, &c. That is, in Judah, or at or near Jerusalem; the arrows of the bow Hebrew, , rishpee kasheth, the sparks of the bow, the sparkling arrows, bright and shining, swift and piercing, like sparks of fire. Some render it, the fiery arrows of the bow, the shield and the sword Both offensive and defensive weapons, so that they could neither hurt Gods people nor save themselves from ruin; and the battle The force and fury of the battle, and all the power of the army put in battle array.