Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 77:16
The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
16. The waters and depths of the Red Sea are personified, as though they were conscious of the presence of their Creator and Lord. Cp. Heb 3:10, “The mountains saw thee, they were afraid”: and Psa 114:3; Exo 15:5; Exo 15:8. We miss in translation the pictorial force of the Heb. tenses: lit. they are afraid, the depths also tremble.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 19. The manifestation of God’s sovereignty over nature in that supreme act of redemption.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The waters saw thee … – The waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. There is great sublimity in this expression; in representing the waters as conscious of the presence of God, and as fleeing in consternation at his presence. Compare Rev 20:11; Hab 3:10-11.
They were afraid – On the word used here – chul – see Psa 10:5, note; Psa 55:4, note. It may mean here to tremble or quake, as in pain Deu 2:25; Joe 2:6. – Alarm, distress, anguish, came over the waters at the presence of God; and they trembled, and fled.
The depths also were troubled – The deep waters, or the waters in the depths. It was not a ripple on the surface; but the very depths – the usually calm and undisturbed waters that lie below the surface – were heaved into commotion at the divine presence.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. The waters saw thee] What a fine image! He represents God approaching the Red Sea; and the waters, seeing him, took fright, and ran off before him, dividing to the right and left to let him pass. I have not found any thing more majestic than this.
The depths also were troubled.] Every thing appears here to have life and perception. The waters see the Almighty, do not wait his coming, but in terror flee away! The deeps, uncovered, are astonished at the circumstance; and as they cannot fly, they are filled with trouble and dismay. Under the hand of such a poet, inanimate nature springs into life; all thinks, speaks, acts; all is in motion, and the dismay is general.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The waters saw thee; they felt the visible effects of thy powerful presence.
They were afraid; and stood still, as men or beasts astonished commonly do.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14-20. Illustrations of God’spower in His special interventions for His people (Ex14:1-31), and, in the more common, but sublime, control of nature(Psa 22:11-14; Hab 3:14)which may have attended those miraculous events (Ex14:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The waters saw thee, O God,…. The waters not of Jordan, but of the Red sea; these felt and perceived the power of God, in causing a strong east wind, which dried it up, and made way for the children of Israel to pass through it as on dry land: compare with this
Ps 114:3,
the waters saw thee; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to excite attention to it, as well as to express the psalmist’s admiration at it; the Targum is,
“they saw thy majesty in the midst of the sea, O God; they saw thy power upon the sea;”
not the Egyptians, but the sons of Jacob and Joseph; the old Syriac church understood these waters of the waters of Jordan, at the baptism of Christ, when in their way they saw the incarnate God, and felt his sacred body laid in them, by which he was made manifest to Israel; but Jerom better interprets them, by the help of
Re 17:15 of people, nations, and tongues; some of which saw Christ corporeally, others spiritually, and by faith, as preached in the Gospel to the Gentile world:
they were afraid; of the majesty of God, obeyed their Sovereign, of whom they stood in awe, gave way unto him, and fled at his rebuke, see
Ps 114:5 or “were in pain” z, as a woman in travail, as were the Gentile world at the preaching of the Gospel of redemption and salvation by Christ, Ro 8:22,
the depths also were troubled; not only the surface, or waves of the waters, were moved by the strong east wind, through the power of God, but the bottom of the sea was reached by it; the depths were congealed in the midst of it, the channels of water were seen, and the foundation of the world discovered, and the children of Israel went through the deep as on dry land, see Ex 15:8.
z “parturierunt”, Montanus, Vatablus; “dolore corruptae sunt, videl dolore parturientium”, Piscator; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When He directed His lance towards the Red Sea, which stood in the way of His redeemed, the waters immediately fell as it were into pangs of travail ( , as in Hab 3:10, not ), also the billows of the deep trembled; for before the omnipotence of God the Redeemer, which creates a new thing in the midst of the old creation, the rules of the ordinary course of nature become unhinged. There now follow in Psa 77:18, Psa 77:19 lines taken from the picture of a thunder-storm. The poet wishes to describe how all the powers of nature became the servants of the majestic revelation of Jahve, when He executed judgment on Egypt and delivered Israel. , Poel of (cognate , , Aethiopic , to rain), signifies intensively: to stream forth in full torrents. Instead of this line, Habakkuk, with a change of the letters of the primary passage, which is usual in Jeremiah more especially, has . The rumbling which the
(Note: We have indicated on Psa 18:12; Psa 36:6, that the are so called from their thinness, but passages like Psa 18:12 and the one before us do not favour this idea. One would think that we have more likely to go back to Arab. shq , to be distant (whence suhk , distance; sahk , distant), and that signifies the distances, like , the heights, from = suhk , in distinction from , an atom (Wetzstein). But the Hebrew affords no trace of this verbal stem, whereas , Arab. shq , contundere , comminuere (Neshwn: to pound to dust, used e.g., of the apothecary’s drugs), is just as much Hebrew as Arabic. And the word is actually associated with this verb by the Arabic mind, inasmuch as Arab. sahabun sahqun ( nubes tenues , nubila tenuia ) is explained by Arab. shab rqq . Accordingly , according to its primary notion, signifies that which spreads itself out thin and fine over a wide surface, and according to the usage of the language, in contrast with the thick and heavy , the uppermost stratum of the atmosphere, and then the clouds, as also Arab. anan , and the collective anan and anan (vid., Isaiah, at Isa 4:5, note), is not first of all the clouds, but the surface of the sky that is turned to us (Fleischer).)
cause to sound forth ( , cf. Psa 68:34) is the thunder. The arrows of God ( , in Habakkuk ) are the lightnings. The Hithpa. (instead of which Habakkuk has ) depicts their busy darting hither and thither in the service of the omnipotence that sends them forth. It is open to question whether denotes the roll of the thunder (Aben-Ezra, Maurer, Bttcher): the sound of Thy thunder went rolling forth (cf. Psa 29:4), – or the whirlwind accompanying the thunder-storm (Hitzig); the usage of the language (Psa 83:14, also Eze 10:13, Syriac golgolo ) is in favour of the latter. On Psa 77:19 cf. the echo in Psa 97:4. Amidst such commotions in nature above and below Jahve strode along through the sea, and made a passage for His redeemed. His person and His working were invisible, but the result which attested His active presence was visible. He took His way through the sea, and cut His path ( Chethb plural, , as in Jer 18:15) through great waters (or, according to Habakkuk, caused His horses to go through), without the footprints ( with Dag. dirimens ) of Him who passes and passed through being left behind to show it.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
16. The waters saw thee, O God! Some of the miracles in which God had displayed the power of his arm are here briefly adverted to. When it is said that the waters saw God, the language is figurative, implying that they were moved, as it were, by a secret instinct and impulse to obey the divine command in opening up a passage for the chosen people. Neither the sea nor the Jordan would have altered their nature, and by giving place have spontaneously afforded a passage to them, had they not both felt upon them the power of God. (303) It is not meant that they retired backward because of any judgment and understanding which they possessed, but that in receding as they did, God showed that even the inanimate elements are ready to yield obedience to him. There is here an indirect contrast, it being intended to rebuke the stupidity of men if they do not acknowledge in the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt the presence and hand of God, which were seen even by the waters. What is added concerning the deeps intimates, that not only the surface of the waters were agitated at the sight of God, but that his power penetrated even to the deepest gulfs.
(303) “‘The waters of the Red Sea,’ says Bishop Horne, ‘are here beautifully represented as endued with sensibility; as seeing, feeling, and being confounded, even to the lowest depths, at the presence and power of their great Creator, when he commanded them to open a way, and to form a wall on each side of it, until his people were passed over.’ This, in fact, is true poetry; and in this attributing of life, spirit, feeling, action, and suffering, to inanimate objects, there are no poets who can vie with those of the Hebrew nation.” — Mant.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) The waters saw thee.Possibly alluding to the look which troubled the Egyptians (Exo. 14:24).
Were afraid.Better, writhed, as in travail pains.
Went abroadi.e., darted hither and thither. The arrows are the lightnings.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(16-20) The prominence given to Joseph is a feature common to the Asaphic psalm. With this magnificent lyric of the passage of the Red Sea comp. Hab. 3:10-11. The narrative in Exodus says nothing of a storm, but Josephus has preserved the tradition (Ant., 2:16. 3). Philo also mentions the storm.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. The waters saw thee A bold figure. The waters saw God fighting for his people, and were afraid, or seized with pain, as the word denotes.
Troubled Agitated. The word indicates an irregular motion, like an army which trembles, wavers, and staggers when stricken with fear. The allusion is to the Red Sea passage. Compare Psa 104:7-9
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
What a beautiful and sublime manner of expression is here, in the waters seeing God. The prophet hath a similar thought: Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Hab 3:8 . The Reader will, no doubt, perceive that both these references are to one and the same subject, Israel’s deliverance from Egypt through the Red Sea. But what a flood of glory pours in upon the subject, when we read in that solemn transaction the fullest representation of our everlasting deliverance from all the Pharaohs of hell and destruction, through the red sea of Christ’s blood! Here Jesus made a way indeed for his indeed to pass over, when he went forth for the salvation of his people. Heb 3:13 ; Isa 51:9-11 . The clouds pouring out water, the skies sending out a sound, the thunders and the lightnings accompanying God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt, and through the wilderness, their history fully explains: Exo 14:19 , etc. But the gospel sense of these passages comes home with a tenfold beauty and strength to the believer’s heart, when he marks, through the whole of it, Jesus vanquishing all the powers of hell, destroying Satan, and bringing in an everlasting victory in the sea of glass, that all his redeemed might sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb; Rev 15:2-4 . Surely in the contemplation of this subject every redeemed heart will join the beautiful and pious language of the man of God, and acknowledge that, though the ways of God are dark and hidden, like his paths in the sea, yet Jesus hath led, and Jesus doth lead, and Jesus will lead his people, whom he hath saved from their sins, and bring them home to himself as his glorious flock, the jewels of his redemption-crown, to himself and the Father in glory forever.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 77:16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
Ver. 16. The waters saw thee, O God they were afraid] This is check to such as will not see to fear so mighty a God. “Lord,” saith the prophet, “when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them,” Isa 26:11 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 77:16-20
16The waters saw You, O God;
The waters saw You, they were in anguish;
The deeps also trembled.
17The clouds poured out water;
The skies gave forth a sound;
Your arrows flashed here and there.
18The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lit up the world;
The earth trembled and shook.
19Your way was in the sea
And Your paths in the mighty waters,
And Your footprints may not be known.
20You led Your people like a flock
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psa 77:16-20 The psalmist looks backwards to Genesis (cf. Psa 77:15) and to the Exodus (cf. Psa 77:20). The God of creation has become the warrior of Israel!
The Psalm does not state the psalmist’s final conclusion. Hopefully, his remembrance and meditation on YHWH’s person and acts caused him to reject his conclusion/question of Psa 77:10.
Psa 77:16 the waters
SPECIAL TOPIC: Waters
Psa 77:20 a This phrase is characteristic of Asaph’s Psalms (cf. Psa 74:1; Psa 78:52; Psa 78:70-72; Psa 79:13; Psa 80:2). What a beautiful title (i.e., Shepherd) for the Creator/Redeemer God! He is with us and for us (cf. Psalms 23).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. Is this Psalm an individual lament or a national lament?
2. Why are Psa 77:7-10 so theologically significant??
3. Is Psa 77:10 a positive message or a negative message?
4. Does this Psalm use imagery from creation or the exodus?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
The waters. Figure of speech Epizeuxis (App-6), for emphasis: i.e. the waters of the Nile, and the Red Sea (Exo 14:21-31).
The depths. Not referring to the “abyss” of Babylonian mythology, which was a corruption of primitive truth (Gen 1:2), but the Red Sea emphasized in the preceding clause.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 77:16-19
Psa 77:16-19
THE MARVELOUS MIRACLE AT THE RED SEA
“The waters saw thee, O God;
The waters saw thee, they were afraid:
The depths also trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
The skies sent out a sound:
Thine arrows also went abroad.
The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lightened the world: The earth trembled and shook.
Thy way was in the sea,
And thy paths in the great waters,
And thy footsteps were not known.”
Dummelow considered these words a reference to the Red Sea crossing; and McCullough affirmed that, “Psa 77:20 interprets the preceding verses (Psa 77:16-19) as pertinent to the Exodus. Rawlinson likewise called these verses, “A magnificent description of the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea.
The problem with this understanding is that the account of the Red Sea crossing in Exodus says nothing about the clouds, the rain, the thunder and the lightning which are mentioned here. It could be that this information is supplementary to that given in Exodus; and we do not rule that out as a possibility. We have also observed that in the Psalms, the sacred writers often preempt language used by the pagans in speaking of their false gods to describe the actions of the true God. Baal, for example, was the storm God; but Baal never did anything, even in the false claims of mythology, that could be compared to what God did at the Red Sea.
We do not know, of course, that such an adaptation of mythological terminology is in view here; but one thing we feel very sure about is that, we do not have a separate psalm in these last five verses, describing God’s appearance in a thunderstorm, as in Psalms 29. This, of course, is the view of Briggs who said, “Psalms 77 is a composite”; and the last five verses, “Describe the advent of Yahweh in a storm.
To us, by far the most acceptable interpretation is that which refers these verses to the Crossing of the Red Sea.
“And thy footsteps were not known” (Psa 77:19). The strong suggestion here is that men cannot certainly know the purposes and intentions of Almighty God. His ways are above our ways; he has not revealed to men the reasons behind any of his actions; his deeds, as far as men are concerned, are indeed inscrutable.
Even today, when men are tempted to doubt because of conditions in the world which seem contrary to all truth and righteousness, it is the duty of all believers to “trust where they cannot see.” “God’s in his heaven,” all right, “But all is not well with the world.” There are many conditions that upright people recognize as contrary to the will of God; and such things should not be allowed to foster doubt in Christian hearts. Even though we do not know what it is, God surely knows what he is doing!
“Thy way was in the sea … paths in the great waters” (Psa 77:19). As Kidner said, “All of the words here are a true picture of God’s sway over nature. Even when He was incarnate, the winds and the waves obeyed him, and the sea provided a path for Him.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 77:16. This verse refers to the scenes at and in the Red Sea. The waters were not literally afraid or troubled. It means that fear was caused by them.
Psa 77:17-20. The closing verse of this paragraph shows that David was still writing about the deliverance of Israel from Egypt by way of the Red Sea. We therefore should take many of the references to the weather conditions in a figurative or general sense. There is nothing in the history of Exodus 14, 15 that indicates any literal rainfall at that time. The actual event was the opening and closing of the Sea. That mighty deed induced the Psalmist to paint a picture in general of God’s control of all the elements of the universe.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Psa 114:3-6, Exo 14:21, Jos 3:15, Jos 3:16, Hab 3:8-10, Hab 3:15
Reciprocal: Exo 14:24 – looked unto Jos 4:23 – which he dried 1Sa 7:10 – thundered 2Sa 22:14 – thundered Job 36:29 – the noise Psa 29:3 – The voice Psa 68:9 – didst Psa 104:32 – looketh Ecc 12:2 – nor Eze 1:18 – they were so Eze 38:22 – an overflowing Hab 3:10 – the overflowing Zec 10:11 – smite 1Co 10:1 – and all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 77:16-18. The waters saw thee, O God They felt the visible effects of thy powerful presence. They were afraid And stood still, as men or beasts astonished commonly do. The clouds poured out water Namely, upon the Egyptians. The skies sent out a sound In terrible thunder; thine arrows also went abroad Hail-stones, or rather, lightnings, or thunderbolts, called Gods arrows, Psa 18:14; Psa 144:6. The earth trembled and shook By an earthquake. This tempest is not particularly recorded in its proper place, yet it may well be collected from what is related Exo 14:24-25. That the Lord looked on the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. For these verses of the Psalm seem to explain in what way he looked upon them, namely, by thunders and lightnings, storms and tempests, rain, hail, and earthquake, the usual tokens and instruments of the Almightys displeasure. Josephus, in like manner, relates that the destruction of the Egyptians was accompanied by storms of rain, by dreadful thunders and lightnings; and, in short, by every possible circumstance of terror, which could testify and inflict upon man the vengeance of an incensed God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
77:16 The {k} waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
(k) He declares how the power of God was declared when he delivered the Israelites through the Red Sea.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
These verses evidently describe the phenomena that accompanied the Exodus.