Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 107:33
He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
33. He turneth ] He hath turned. The verbs in Psa 107:33-41 should be translated by the past tense, as referring to facts of experience, not merely to general truths. The Targ. refers Psa 107:33-34 to the drought in the time of Joel.
into dry ground ] R.V. into a thirsty ground. Psa 107:33 a is from Isa 50:2; with 33 b cp. Isa 35:7: Psa 107:35 is from Isa 41:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
33 38. Fertile lands are smitten with barrenness for the wickedness of their inhabitants: barren lands are transformed into a fruitful home for the poor and needy.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
33 43. The style of the Psalm changes, and its subject becomes more general. The refrain disappears, and instead of examples of God’s goodness in delivering various classes of men, we have proofs of His providential government of the world in the vicissitudes of countries and peoples.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He turneth rivers into a wilderness – He makes great changes in the earth; he shows that he has absolute dominion over it. See the notes at Isa 44:26-27. On the word wilderness, see the notes at Psa 107:4. The point here is, that God had such control over nature that he could make the bed of a river dry and barren as the rocky or sandy desert. He could effectually dry up the stream, and make it so dry and parched that nothing would grow but the most stunted shrubs, such as were found in the waste and sandy desert.
And the water-springs into dry ground – The very fountains of the rivers: not only drying up the river itself by leading it off into burning wastes where it would be evaporated by the heat, or lost in the sand – but so directly affecting the sources of the streams as to make them dry.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 107:33-43
He turneth rivers into a wilderness.
Gods management of man upon the earth
I. It involves great revolutions.
1. In the secular department (Psa 107:33-38). Sodoms fertile soil was smitten with barrenness. Canaan, at one time one of the most fruitful spots under heaven, is now one of the most worthless. How does God do this generally?
(1) He does it by man. To man He has given the power to change the character of the soil, to make orchards out of wildernesses, and gardens out of deserts, and thus cause the wilderness to blossom as the rose.
(2) He does it by man, with a due regard to mans character. By the moral, the wise, the industrious man, He makes the barren places fruitful; and by the corrupt, the indolent, the foolish man, He turns a fruitful land into barrenness.
2. In the social department.
(1) In families. Providence has been compared to a wheel; as the wheel goes round, those who are up to-day will be down to-morrow, and the reverse.
(2) In nations.
II. It repays the study of the wisest men. There is no subject for human study of such transcendent interest and importance as that of Gods management of mankind. The study of this subject will serve three purposes.
1. To rejoice the good. The righteous shall see it and rejoice. The righteous will see in the subject how wisely, how beneficently, how universally all things are managed, how all things work together for good to them that love God, how even evil is overruled to answer benevolent ends.
2. To confound the wicked. All iniquity shall stop her mouth. It shall be, says an old author, a full conviction of the folly of atheists, of those that deny the Divine providence, and forasmuch as practical atheism is at the bottom of all sin, it shall in effect stop the mouth of all iniquity. When sinners see how this punishment answers to their sin, and how justly God deals with them in taking away from them those gifts of His which they had abused, they shall not have one word to say for themselves. God will be justified, He will be clear.
3. To reveal Gods infinite lovingkindness to all.
(1) Human suffering, however great., is never equal in amount to that of human enjoyment. This is obvious from the circumstance that men, even in the greatest affliction and trial, earnestly desire the perpetuation of their life and struggle for it.
(2) Human suffering is generally, if not always, ascribable to human conduct. Either their ancestors or themselves have broken those organic, moral, and social laws, the observance of which is the condition of happiness.
(3) Human suffering may, and should, contribute to lasting enjoyment. Sufferings are disciplinary, they are only storms to purify the moral atmosphere of the world, medicated ingredients in the cup of life which, though bitter, are designed and suited to heal the diseases of the soul, and to make it happy and hale. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness] After having, as above, illustrated the state of the Jews in their captivity, and the deliverance which God wrought for them, he now turns to the general conduct of God in reference to the poor and needy; and his gracious interpositions in their behalf, the providential supply of their wants, and his opposition to their oppressors. On account of the wickedness of men, he sometimes changes a fruitful land into a desert. See the general state of Egypt in the present time: once a fertile land; now an arid, sandy wilderness. Again, by his blessing on honest industry, he has changed deserts into highly fertile ground. And, as for the wickedness of their inhabitants, many lands are cursed and rendered barren; so, when a people acknowledge him in all their ways, he blesses their toil, gives them rain and fruitful seasons, and fills their hearts with joy and gladness.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Rivers; either,
1. Properly so called; which he can divert or dry up when he pleaseth, as sometimes he hath done. Or rather,
2. Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore very fruitful, as the next verse explains this. And so
the water-springs, here and Psa 107:35, and the standing water, Psa 107 35, are taken.
Into a wilderness; into a dry ground, as it follows, which is like a parched and barren wilderness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33-41. He turneth rivers into awilderness, &c.God’s providence is illustriously displayedin His influence on two great elements of human prosperity, theearth’s productiveness and the powers of government. He punishes thewicked by destroying the sources of fertility, or, in mercy, givesfruitfulness to deserts, which become the homes of a busy andsuccessful agricultural population. By a permitted misrule andtyranny, this scene of prosperity is changed to one of adversity. Herules rulers, setting up one and putting down another.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He turneth rivers into a wilderness,…. A country abounding with rivers, as the country round about Sodom and the land of Canaan were, Ge 13:10. Such an one is sometimes, by the just judgment of God, turned into a desert.
And the water springs into dry ground: what was like a well watered garden becomes like dry and barren earth, on which nothing grows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Since in Psa 107:36 the historical narration is still continued, a meaning relating to the contemporaneous past is also retrospectively given to the two correlative . It now goes on to tell what those who have now returned have observed and experienced in their own case. Psa 107:33 sounds like Isa 50:2; Psa 107:33 like Isa 35:7; and Psa 107:35 takes its rise from Isa 41:18. The juxtaposition of and , since Deu 8:15, belongs to the favourite antithetical alliterations, e.g., Isa 61:3. , that which is salty (lxx cf. Sir. 39:23: ), is, as in Job 39:6, the name for the uncultivated, barren steppe. A land that has been laid waste for the punishment of its inhabitants has very often been changed into flourishing fruitful fields under the hands of a poor and grateful generation; and very often a land that has hitherto lain uncultivated and to all appearance absolutely unprofitable has developed an unexpected fertility. The exiles to whom Jeremiah writes, Psa 29:5: Build ye houses and settle down, and plant gardens and eat their fruit, may frequently have experienced this divine blessing. Their industry and their knowledge also did their part, but looked at in a right light, it was not their own work but God’s work that their settlement prospered, and that they continually spread themselves wider and possessed a not small, i.e., (cf. 2Ki 4:3) a very large, stock of cattle.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Wonders of Divine Providence. | |
33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. 35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings. 36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; 37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. 38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. 39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. 40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. 42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. 43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
The psalmist, having given God the glory of the providential reliefs granted to persons in distress, here gives him the glory of the revolutions of providence, and the surprising changes it sometimes makes in the affairs of the children of men.
I. He gives some instances of these revolutions.
1. Fruitful countries are made barren and barren countries are made fruitful. Much of the comfort of this life depends upon the soil in which our lot is cast. Now, (1.) The sin of man has often marred the fruitfulness of the soil and made it unserviceable, Psa 107:33; Psa 107:34. Land watered with rivers is sometimes turned into a wilderness, and that which had been full of water-springs now has not so much as water-streams; it is turned into dry and sandy ground, that has not consistency and moisture enough to produce any thing valuable. Many a fruitful land is turned into saltness, not so much from natural causes as from the just judgment of God, who thus punished the wickedness of those that dwell therein; as the vale of Sodom became a salt sea. Note, If the land be bad, it is because the inhabitants are so. Justly is the ground made unfruitful to those that bring not forth fruit unto God, but serve Baal with their corn and wine. (2.) The goodness of God has often mended the barrenness of the soil, and turned a wilderness, a land o drought, into water-springs, v. 35. The land of Canaan, which was once the glory of all lands for fruitfulness, is said to be, at this day, a fruitless, useless, worthless spot of ground, as was foretold, Deut. xxix. 23. This land of ours, which formerly was much of it an uncultivated desert, is now full of all good things, and more abundant honour is given to that part which lacked. Let the plantations in America, and the colonies settled there, compared with the desolations of many countries in Asia and Europe, that formerly were famous, expound this.
2. Necessitous families are raised and enriched, while prosperous families are impoverished and go to decay. If we look broad in the world, (1.) We see many greatly increasing whose beginning was small, and whose ancestors were mean and made no figure, v. 36-38. Those that were hungry are made to dwell in fruitful lands; there they take root, and gain a settlement, and prepare a city for habitation for themselves and theirs after them. Providence puts good land under their hands, and they build upon it. Cities took rise from rising families. But as lands, will not serve for men without lodgings, and therefore they must prepare a city of habitation, so lodgings, though ever so convenient, will not serve without lands, and therefore they must sow the fields, and plant vineyards (v. 37), for the king himself is served of the field. And yet the fields, though favoured with water-springs, will not yield fruits of increase, unless they be sown, nor will vineyards be had, unless they be planted; man’s industry must attend God’s blessing, and then God’s blessing will crown man’s industry. The fruitfulness of the soil should engage, for it does encourage, diligence; and, ordinarily, the hand of the diligent, by the blessing of God, makes rich, v. 38. He blesses them also, so that they are, in a little time, multiplied greatly, and he diminishes not their cattle. As in the beginning, so still it is, by the blessing of God, that the earth and all the creatures increase and multiply (Gen. i. 22), and we depend upon God for the increase of the cattle as well as for the increase of the ground. Cattle would decrease many ways if God should permit it, and men would soon suffer by it. (2.) We see many that have thus suddenly risen as suddenly sunk and brought to nothing (v. 39): Again they are diminished and brought low by adverse providences, and end their days as low as they began them; or their families after them lose as fast a they got, and scatter what they heaped together. Note, Worldly wealth is an uncertain thing, and often those that are filled with it, ere they are aware, grow so secure and sensual with it that, ere they are aware, they lose it again. Hence it is called deceitful riches and the mammon of unrighteousness. God has many ways of making men poor; he can do it by oppression, affliction, and sorrow, as he tempted Job and brought him low.
3. Those that were high and great in the world are abased, and those that were mean and despicable are advanced to honour, Psa 107:40; Psa 107:41. We have seen, (1.) Princes dethroned and reduced to straits. He pours contempt upon them, even among those that have idolized them. Those that exalt themselves God will abase, and, in order thereunto, will infatuate: He makes them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. He baffles those counsels by which they thought to support themselves, and their own power and pomp, and drives them headlong, so that they know not what course to steer, nor what measures to take. We met with this before, Job 12:24; Job 12:25. (2.) Those of low degree advanced to the posts of honour (v. 41): Yet setteth he the poor on high, raiseth from the dust to the throne of glory,1Sa 2:8; Psa 113:7; Psa 113:8. Those that were afflicted and trampled on are not only delivered, but set on high out of the reach of their troubles, above their enemies, and have dominion over those to whom they had been in subjection. That which adds to their honour, and strengthens them in their elevation, is the multitude of their children: He maketh him families like a flock of sheep, so numerous, so useful, so sociable with one another, and so meek and peaceable. He that sent them meat sent them mouths. Happy is the man that has his quiver filled with arrows, for he shall boldly speak with the enemy in the gate, Ps. cxxvii. 5. God is to be acknowledged both in setting up families and in building them up. Let not princes be envied, nor the poor despised, for God has many ways of changing the condition of both.
II. He makes some improvement of these remarks; such surprising turns as these are of use, 1. For the solacing of saints. They observe these dispensations with pleasure (v. 42): The righteous shall see it and rejoice in the glorifying of God’s attributes and the manifesting of his dominion over the children of men. It is a great comfort to a good man to see how God manages the children of men, as the potter does the clay, so as to serve his own purposes by them, to see despised virtue advanced and impious pride brought low to the dust, to see it evinced beyond dispute that verily there is a God that judges in the earth. 2. For the silencing of sinners: All iniquity shall stop her mouth; it shall be a full conviction of the folly of atheists, and of those that deny the divine providence; and, forasmuch as practical atheism is at the bottom of all sin, it shall in effect stop the mouth of all iniquity. When sinners see how their punishment answers to their sin, and how justly God deals with them in taking away from them those gifts of his which they had abused, they shall not have one word to say for themselves; for God will be justified, he will be clear. 3. For the satisfying of all concerning the divine goodness (v. 43): Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, these various dispensations of divine providence, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. Here is, (1.) A desirable end proposed, and that is, rightly to understand the loving kindness of the Lord. It is of great use to us, in religion, to be fully assured of God’s goodness, to be experimentally acquainted and duly affected with it, that his lovingkindness may be before our eyes, Ps. xxvi. 3. (2.) A proper means prescribed for attaining this end, and that is a due observance of God’s providence. We must lay up these things, mind them, and keep them in mind, Luke ii. 19. (3.) A commendation of the use of this means as an instance of true wisdom: Whoso is wise, let him by this both prove his wisdom and improve it. A prudent observance of the providences of God will contribute very much to the accomplishing of a good Christian.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness Here then is an account of changes which it would be the height of folly to attribute to chance. Fruitful lands become unfruitful, and barren lands assume the new aspect of freshness and fruitfulness. And how happens it that one district becomes sterile, and another becomes fat and fertile, contrary to what they were wont to be, but because that God pours out his wrath upon the inhabitants of the one, by taking his blessing from them, and renders the other fruitful to feed the hungry? It may be ascribed to the thinness of the population, that many parts of Asia and Greece, once exceedingly fruitful, now lie uncultivated and unproductive; but we must ascribe to the providence of God, which the prophet praises, the well authenticated fact, that in some places the earth that was fruitful has now become barren and parched, while others are beginning to be fertile.
It is, however, not sufficient merely to observe, that these wonderful revolutions of the surface of the earth are the result of God’s overruling purpose, unless we also observe, in the second place, what the prophet does not omit, that the earth is cursed by him on account of the iniquity of its inhabitants, who prove themselves to be undeserving of being so amply sustained by his bountiful hand. He has put pools and springs of water for fields or countries where there is an abundance of water; because moisture is required to nourish the plants by which fruit is produced. The term saltness is employed metaphorically, inasmuch as there is nothing more sterile than salt; hence that saying of Christ’s,
“
If the salt have lost its saltness, what further purpose will it serve?” Mar 9:50
not even indeed for barrenness. And, consequently, when men designed to doom any place to remain unproductive, they usually sowed it with salt. And probably it is in allusion to this ancient custom, that the prophet says that the land was covered with salt.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(33) The change in character and style of the psalm at this point is so marked as to suggest an addition by another hand. It is not only that the artistic form is dropped, and the series of vivid pictures, each closed by a refrain, succeeded by changed aspects of thought, but the language becomes harsher, and the poet, if the same, suddenly proclaims that he has exhausted his imagination.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33-42. These verses comprehend the last two strophes, the first ending with Psa 107:38, and the latter with Psa 107:42. The whole comprises a description of what God can do in his sovereign grace and judgment with a nation. Their depression and exaltation proceed alike from him. Psa 107:33-34 are a description of the land of Judah after the desolating wars and conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, answering to Jeremiah’s vision of the country at the same date. Jer 4:20; Jer 4:23. Psa 107:35-38 are a reversed view after the return of the exiles and the appearance of their first harvest, when the land responded to tillage, and God’s blessing had returned upon the husbandman.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A further section describes the life of the tillers of the soil when they are deprived of the needed moisture in their fields, as well as when they receive an abundance of rain.
v. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, v. 34. a fruitful land into barrenness, v. 35. He turneth the wilderness, v. 36. And there He maketh the hungry to dwell, v. 37. and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase, v. 38. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
From the wonders of redeeming grace upon the mighty waters, the Psalmist makes a transition to the dry and barren land of the wilderness, whence he takes occasion to set forth another striking representation of the Lord’s goodness. He describes under this similitude, a barren land where no water is, and purposely made so for the wickedness of the inhabitants. Such was the plain of Jordan, where were Sodom and Gomorrah; Gen 13:10 ; and such were the seven churches, to whom the Epistles of John were delivered, of which scarce a vestige remains. Rev 2:3 . He next describes the visitation of God in mercy, when the Lord makes the wilderness to blossom as a rose, and draws an unanswerable argument for the righteous to mark God’s gracious dealings, and rejoice, while such views must stop the mouth of iniquity.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 107:33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
Ver. 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness ] Hitherto the psalmist hath set forth God’s good providence in delivering men from several deaths and dangers; now he declareth the same in his just and powerful transmutations in nature, while according to the good pleasure of his will he changeth men’s condition, either from good to evil, or from evil to good, beyond all expectation; it is even he that doeth it, whatsoever a company of dizzy headed men dream to the contrary, as one phraseth it. It is God who drieth up those rivers, whereby the land was made fat and fertile, Isa 41:17 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 107:33-38
33He changes rivers into a wilderness
And springs of water into a thirsty ground;
34A fruitful land into a salt waste,
Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35He changes a wilderness into a pool of water
And a dry land into springs of water;
36And there He makes the hungry to dwell,
So that they may establish an inhabited city,
37And sow fields and plant vineyards,
And gather a fruitful harvest.
38Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly,
And He does not let their cattle decrease.
Psa 107:33-43 God’s judgment is depicted and here has a purpose. That purpose is the restoration of God’s people and their blessing. This is very similar to the blessing and cursing section of Lev 26:1-13 and Deuteronomy 27-30.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Psa 107:33-34. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
Hearken unto this, ye who are men of understanding. God can soon take away from any people the privileges which they cease to prize. He sent barrenness upon the earth in the days of our first father, Adam; and he has long cursed with barrenness the very land in which this Psalm was written. He can give us what he pleases, and he can take it all away when he pleases. And, spiritually, God can easily turn a fruitful land into barrenness. The means of grace, the ministry of his Word which was once very rich and fertile to you, may suddenly lose all its savour and all its fruitfulness. Ay, even his own Word, which may be compared to water-springs, may suddenly seem to you to be but as dry ground; and your secret devotions, your reading of godly books, your conversation with gracious men and women, all of which were like wells of water, may seem to be dried up. If you walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to you. He turneth a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. When the people of God fall from their steadfastness, when they wander from the paths of holiness, it is easy for God to let them know that the best means are only means, and that the best earthly supplies are barrenness itself apart from him. God grant that it may never be so with any of us! But now see what happens when the Lord turns his hand the other way:
Psa 107:35. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
He can make the sandy desert into a lake of water, he can make that which was barren as the desert of Sahara to become as fruitful as the garden of the Lord. And if you are just now mourning your barrenness, believe in the omnipotence of his grace which can work such wonderful transformations as these for you. All my fresh springs are in thee, said the psalmist; and so they are with us; therefore, why should not those fresh springs now flow into our nature so as to make the dry ground into water springs?
Psa 107:36-37. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; and sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.
See, brothers and sisters, when God blesses us, then we begin to work for him. When he works, we work. He blesses the barren land with fruitfulness, and then we sow the fields, and plant vineyards. We do not sit still because God is at work; nay, rather, we obey the apostolic injunction, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Psa 107:38-39. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
God has a great many rods, and we get a great many smarts because of our many sins. If we were but saved from our sins, we should not need all these rods, oppression affliction, and sorrow, tribulation, and anguish, and pain, and distress. I will not tell you the names of all of them, but they are very many, and their strokes are very painful. May God grant that we may be quit of sin, for only so shall we be quit of many of these sorrows.
Psa 107:40. He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
God makes very little of earths biggest men: He poureth contempt upon princes. He has wonderful ways of making very poor those who are very rich in themselves. He makes those who were lords of all the fields to be exiles and wanderers in the wilderness, where there is no way. Do not get proud, brethren, or else that may be your lot. He who is so near perfection that he need not pray, God be merciful to me a sinner, may before long be so near desperation that he will not have to pray even the publicans prayer. Let none of us become too great, lest we soon be made very little.
Psa 107:41. Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.
God always has an eye of pity for the poor, and especially for the spiritually poor. While he poureth contempt upon princes with one hand, he is lifting the poor from the dunghill with the other.
Psa 107:42. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice:
When Gods providence and grace are at work with men, the righteous shall see it, and understand it, and be glad.
Psa 107:42. And all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
She is generally very noisy and boastful; but, sometimes, when Gods judgments are abroad, she is obliged to hold her tongue. All iniquity shall stop her mouth. O Lord, stop it speedily, for she is making a great noise just now!
Psa 107:43. Whose is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
Those who watch providence will never be without a providence to watch?
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Psa 107:33-38
Psa 107:33-38
“He that turneth rivers into a wilderness,
And watersprings into a thirsty ground;
A fruitful land into a salt desert,
For the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
He turneth a wilderness into a pool of water,
And a dry land into water springs.
And there he maketh the hungry to dwell,
That they may prepare a city of habitation,
And sow fields, and plant vineyards,
And get them fruits of increase.
He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly;
And he suffereth not their cattle to decrease.”
“Rivers into a wilderness … springs into a thirsty ground for their wickedness” (Psa 107:33-34). “Some of these verses have historical allusions that refer back to earlier verses in the psalm; so that the entire psalm is a unity, composed by one author.
Dahood applied the first two verses here to the Canaanites who were displaced by Israel’s settlement in Canaan, because of the sinfulness of the Canaanites. “This is a metaphor of Israel’s exchanging the desert (wilderness) for the land flowing with milk and honey.
“There he maketh the hungry to dwell” (Psa 107:36). “The hungry here are the Israelites, that same word being applied to them also in Psa 107:5; Psa 107:9, pointing to the unity of authorship.
This whole paragraph praises God for his blessing of Israel in the Promised Land.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 107:33. Many of the statements in this and some following verses have a general meaning or may be said to be true either as history or prophecy. God’s absolute control of all the parts of the earth is the basic thought in the mind of the Psalmist. Considering the first clause of this verse as prophecy, I will make a quotation from ancient history to show a noted instance of its fulfillment. “Alexander, designing to fix the seat of his empire at Babylon, projecting the bringing back the Euphrates into its natural and former channel, had actually set his men to work. But the Almighty, who watched over the fulfilling of his prophecy, defeated this enterprise by the death of Alexander, which happened soon after. It is easy to comprehend how, after this, Babylon being neglected to such a degree as we have seen, its river was converted into an inaccessible pool . . . By means of all these changes, Babylon became an utter desert, and all the country around fell into the same state of desolation and horror; so that the ablest geographers at this day (A.D. 1729) cannot determine the place where it stood.”–Rollin’s History, Vol. 1, pp. 558-560.
Psa 107:34. A noted instance of this kind of performance was in the destruction of Sodom and the other cities of the plain, recorded in Gen 13:10; Gen 19:24-25.
Psa 107:35. I do not know whether the Psalmist had any specific event in mind when he wrote this. We have plenty of evidence in the Bible that God can reverse any condition of the earth and the seasons that he wishes.
Psa 107:36. The purpose in bringing about the conditions mentioned in the preceding verse was to supply the needs of the hungry people. City for habitation meant to prepare a substantial place for them to live.
Psa 107:37. Although the ground was cursed after the sin of Adam, the normal condition since is the production of crops upon the labor of man with the soil. However, certain times have been when special judgments were placed upon the fields because of the misdeeds of the people. When God’s wrath had been satisfied, he then permitted the earth to resume its service for man and yield fruits of increase.
Psa 107:38. The preceding verse has to do with the blessings of the land. This one pertains to the increase of livestock. When the people do that which is right, God will not suffer their cattle to decrease.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Loving-Kindnesses of the Lord
Psa 107:33-43
The measure changes here. From Psa 107:33 the psalmist drops the refrain and describes, not deliverance from peril or pain, but the sudden alternations wrought by Gods providence. Lands pass from fertility to barrenness, and human lives from prosperity to trouble, and back again. But through all these vicissitudes runs the same loving-kindness, as is clearly discerned by those who have eyes to see and hearts to take heed. How little did Josephs brethren realize that behind all the strange experiences they had with his steward, in his house, and in the matter of the cup, a brothers heart was yearning to reach a moment when all disguise might be laid aside! Similarly we fail to believe that Love is above and through and in all things.
Life resembles this psalm, so full is it of change and trying experiences. Few enjoy unbroken years of prosperity. We are poured from vessel to vessel, and are forbidden to settle on our lees. Our nests are stirred up to teach us how to fly. For most there is the wilderness, the cell, sickness, and the tossing of the ocean waves. But always believe in the love of God. Do not forget to cry; and when your cry has brought an answer of peace, do not forget to praise.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
turneth: 1Ki 17:1-7, Isa 13:19-21, Isa 19:5-10, Isa 34:9, Isa 34:10, Isa 42:15, Isa 44:27, Isa 50:2, Eze 30:12, Joe 1:20, Nah 1:4, Zep 2:9, Zep 2:13
watersprings: 1Ki 18:5, Jer 14:3, Amo 4:7, Amo 4:8
Reciprocal: Jdg 6:39 – dry 2Ki 2:21 – there shall Isa 32:15 – the spirit Jer 51:36 – and I will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 107:33-38. He turneth rivers Land watered with rivers; into a wilderness Into dry ground, as it follows, like a parched and barren wilderness, that has not moisture enough to produce any thing valuable; a fruitful land into barrenness Hebrew, , limleechah, into saltness, which causes barrenness; for the wickedness of them that dwell therein He doth not inflict these judgments without cause, but for the punishment of sin in some, and the prevention of it in others. Thus the plain of Jordan, which, before the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, was well watered everywhere, like the garden of Jehovah, (Gen 13:10,) hath, since that overthrow, been a land of salt, and sulphur, and perpetual sterility. Nay, even the fruitful Palestine itself, that flowed with milk and honey, is at this day a region of utter desolation, so that the very possibility of its ever having sufficed to maintain the people who formerly possessed it is now called in question. And, indeed, while the rain of heaven shall continue to be in the hand of God, how easy is it for him, by withholding it during a few months, to blast all the most promising hopes of man; and, instead of plenty, joy, and health, to visit him with famine, pestilence, and death. On the other hand, (Psa 107:35,) he turneth the wilderness The barren and desolate wilderness; into a standing water Into a well-watered and fruitful land. When the ways of a people please God, the rain shall descend from above, the springs shall rise from beneath, the earth shall yield her increase, the cattle shall feed in large pastures, the seasons shall be kindly, the earth salutary, and the smiling face of nature shall attest the loving-kindness of the Lord. Thus, in the dispensations of grace, hath he dealt with Jews and Gentiles. The synagogue of the former, once rich in faith, watered with the benedictions of heaven, fruitful in prophets and saints, adorned with the services of religion, and the presence of Jehovah, hath been, since the murder of the Son of God, cursed with infidelity, parched like the withered tops of the mountains of Gilboah, barren and desolate as the land of their ancient residence, whose naked rocks seem to declare to all the world the hard-heartedness and unprofitableness of its old possessors. When the fruitful field thus became a forest, the wilderness, at the same time, became a fruitful field. A church was planted in the Gentile world, and the Spirit was poured out upon it from on high. In that wilderness did waters break out, and streams in that desert. There was faith sown, and holiness was the universal product. The wilderness and the solitary place was glad, and the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. It blossomed abundantly, and rejoiced even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon was given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. The privileges and honours of the synagogue were conferred upon the church; and the nations now saw the glory of Jehovah, and the excellency of our God, Isa 32:15; Isa 35:1-2. Horne.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3. The providence of God 107:33-43
The following verses contain a second major reason for praising God, namely: His providential governing of the world.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
God controls nature so that it becomes His instrument of cursing or blessing His people. The repetition of the phrase "an inhabited city" (Psa 107:36, cf. Psa 107:4; Psa 107:7) is a unique feature of this psalm. It may refer to the captives returning to Jerusalem-their long anticipated destination-in the three returns from Babylon that the Old Testament records.