Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 106:26

Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

26. So he lifted up his hand unto them

That he would make them fall in the wilderness.

i.e. He swore solemnly. See Num 14:28-29; Num 14:32, “As I live your carcases shall fall in the wilderness.” ‘Lifting up the hand’ to heaven is man’s gesture as he appeals to God in an oath. The phrase is transferred ‘anthropopathically’ to God. Cp. Exo 6:8; Deu 32:40; Eze 20:23.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Therefore he lifted up his hand against them – Num 14:27-33. He resolved to cut them off, so that none of them should reach the promised land.

To overthrow them in the wilderness – literally, to cause them to fall.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

He lifted up his hand; he sware, as this phrase is commonly used, as Gen 14:22; Deu 32:40; Neh 9:15; Rev 10:5,6; of this dreadful and irrevocable sentence and oath of God, see Num 14.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

26. lifted up his handor,”swore,” the usual form of swearing (compare Nu14:30, Margin).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Therefore he lifted up his hand against them,…. A gesture used in swearing, Ge 14:22. So the Targum understands it here,

“and he lifted up his hand with an oath, because of them:”

and so it is interpreted by Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; and agrees with Nu 14:28. The same gesture was used by the Heathens in swearing, as by Latinus s. Or he lifted up his hand, in a way of judgment, to strike the blow; and which, when it lights on man with the indignation of his anger, falls heavy; see Isa 26:11. To overthrow them in the wilderness; as he did all the murmuring generation that came out of Egypt, all but Caleb and Joshua; all from twenty years and upwards, their carcasses fell in the wilderness; there they were wasted, consumed, and died, Nu 14:32.

s “—-Tenditque ad sidera dextram–Terram, mare, sidera juro”, Virg. Aeneid. 12.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

26. And he lifted up. He describes another example of the vengeance of God, the recollection of which ought to have been deeply seated in their hearts, so that cherishing a constant fear of him, they might watch over themselves with the utmost solicitude. No good having ensued from all this, it is obvious that the madness of that people was incurable. At that time God did restrain his anger, in that he did not disperse their offspring throughout various parts of the earth; but his threatening of itself ought to have sufficed for the subduing of their pride, had they not been incorrigible. To lift up the hand is in this passage susceptible of two meanings. In Scripture God is frequently said to lift up his hand to inflict punishment. But as it is generally admitted that the prophet is here speaking of swearing, (256) with this opinion I most readily coincide. The practice of lifting up the hand, as if they would have called God down from heaven, was a solemn usual rite among them, accompanying an oath; and is therefore improperly applied to God, whose sublimity rises above all things, and who, as the apostle says, cannot swear by a greater than himself, (Heb 6:13) In employing it, therefore, it must be understood that he borrows it from the common customs which prevail among men. Had not the Holy Land been preserved to the people by the prayers of Moses, awful indeed would their dispersion have been.

(256) The passage refers to the oath which God swore against that people recorded in Num 14:21. To the same oath there is an allusion in Psa 95:11. The Chaldee paraphrast has, “He lifted up his hand with an oath.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(26) Lifted up his hand.Not to strike, but to give emphasis to the oath pronounced against the sinners. (See Exo. 6:8, margin; Deu. 32:40; comp. Psa. 144:8.) The substance of the oath here referred to is given in Num. 14:28-35.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

26. He lifted up his hand In form of making oath, as in Deu 32:40; Gen 14:22. In the passage alluded to, (Num 14:30,) for “I sware,” the Hebrew is, I lifted up my hand.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments