Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 105:19
Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
19. Until the time that his word should come to pass
The promise of Jehovah tried him.
Two different Hebrew words are rendered word in the A.V. It seems best to understand them both of the word or promise of Jehovah communicated to Joseph in the dreams which excited the enmity of his brethren (Gen 37:5 ff.). The promise of Jehovah is as it were personified as Jehovah’s agent employed to fit Joseph for his high station (cp. Psa 119:50). It tested him, purified and refined his character (Job 23:10), as it led him through dark ways of humiliation, till the time came for him to be raised to the honour for which Providence destined him.
By some commentators ‘his word’ has been taken to mean Joseph’s word, either (1) his story of his dreams (Gen 37:5 ff; Gen 42:9), or (2) his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams (Gen 41:16 ff.). But ‘his word’ is not a natural expression for Joseph’s relation of his dream, and his liberation from prison took place before his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream was verified by the event.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Until the time that his word came – The word, or the communication from God.
The word of the Lord tried him – That is, tested his skill in interpreting dreams, and his power to disclose the future. Gen. 41. This furnished a trial of his ability, and showed that he was truly the favorite of God, and was endowed with wisdom from on high. The word rendered tried is that which is commonly applied to metals in testing their genuineness and purity. Compare the notes at Psa 12:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 105:19
Until the time that His word came: the word of the Lord tried him.
Gods promised tests
There is a contrast drawn between two words, his (i.e., Josephs)
and Gods. Josephs word, which delayed its coming, or fulfilment, was either his boyish narrative of the dreams that foreshadowed his exaltation, or, less probably, his words to his fellow-prisoners in the interpretation of their dreams. In either case the point to which our attention is directed, is the period when that word came to be fulfilled, and what nay text says is that during that long season of unfulfilled hope, the word of God, which was revealed in Josephs dream, and was the ground on which his own word rested–did what? Encouraged, heartened, strengthened him? No, that unfulfilled promise might encourage or discourage him; but the psalmist fixes our thoughts on another effect which, whether it encouraged or discouraged, it certainly had, namely, that it tested him, and found out what stuff he was made of, and whether there was staying power enough in him to hold on, in unconquerable faith, to a promise made long since, communicated by no more reliable method than a dream, and of the fulfilment of which not the faintest sign had, for all these weary years, appeared. It proved the depth and vitality of his faith, and his ability to see things that are not as though they were. Will this man be able continually through years of poverty and imprisonment to keep his eye on the light beyond, to see his star through clouds? We do not know how long his Egyptian bondage had lasted, nor how long before that his endurance of the active ill-will of his surly brothers had gone on. But at all events his chrysalis stage was very long, and one would not have wondered if he had said to himself, down in that desert pit or in that Egyptian dungeon, Ah, yes, they were dreams, and only dreams, or if he had, as so many of us do, turned his back on his youthful visions, and gained the sad power of being able to smile at his old hopes and ambitions. Cherish your youthful dreams. They are often the prophecies of capacities and possibilities, signs of what God means you to make yourselves. The trivial, short-lived anticipations which do not look beyond the end of next week are far less operative in making strong and noble characters than are those, of whatever kind they may be otherwise, which look far ahead and need years for their realization. It is a blessing to have the mark far, far away, because that means that the arm that pulls the bow must draw more strongly, and the eye that sees the goal must gaze more intently. Be thankful for the promise that cannot be fulfilled in this world, because it lifts us above the low levels, and makes us feel already as if we were endowed with immortality. The Word will test our patience, and it will test our willingness, though we be heirs of the Kingdom, to do humble tasks. Because Joseph was sure that Gods long-lingering word would be fulfilled, he did not mind though he had to be the lackey of his brothers, the Midianites chattel, Potiphars slave, Pharaohs prisoner, and a servant of servants in his dungeon. So with us, the measure of our willing acceptance of our present tasks, burdens, humiliations, and limitations is the measure of our firm faith in the promise that tarries. It was for Josephs sake that the slow years were multiplied between the first gleam of his future and the full sunshine of his exaltation. And it is for our sakes that God in like manner protracts the period of anticipation and non-fulfilment. If the vision tarry, wait for it. Is not the delaying of the blessing a means of increase of the blessing? And shall not we be sure that however long He that shall come may seem to tarry ere He comes, when He has come they who have waited for His coming more than they that watch for the morning and have sometimes been ready to cry out: Hath the Lord forgotten? Doth His promise fail for evermore? will be ashamed of their impatient moments and will humbly and thankfully exclaim: He came at the very right time and did not tarry. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Joseph: a sermon to young men
Josephs was a monumental and magnificent life, not so much because of the great station and good fortune that he won as because of the coherence and completeness of his career, character, and work being wielded together, and crowned with the fitting close. It was a sunbright, victorious life! Yet a life of public action and manifold dangers and responsibilities, through which no mere cleverness could have carried him successfully. Nothing but right-mindedness, together with capacity, could ever have borne him onward to so great and just renown. That right-mindedness was truth, honour, faith, love.
I. The dreams of his youth. Possibly we find it difficult entirely to sympathize with this part of the record, because we have a not unreasonable objection to precocious children and their egotism. But, notwithstanding this general prejudice, we should remember that genius is wont to be precocious and self-conscious. Moreover, in this child of genius egotism had no unpleasant expression. His narratives are far too artless and ingenuous to be charged with conceit. We must also recognize that his dreams arose from the growing consciousness of power, and were apprehensions of that immense capacity which he afterwards displayed. Oh, a few more dreams will not hurt our young people to-day–such dreams–dreams of honourable success, of usefulness, of widening influence! It is not surprising that young people in their first endeavours to realize themselves should make some mistakes–that they should carry themselves awkwardly, and fail in self-measurement. But after all, better this, a thousand times, than that they should not be at all aware of the day of natures visitation, nor imagine glorious possibilities from being alive, and more and more alive every day.
II. The discipline of life. If Joseph had nourished a too luxuriant imagination, time and circumstance soon clipped the tendrils. There is something as touching, as dramatic, in his being so suddenly dropped out of the bright world into the dark pit in the desert, and then hurried away into a slavery that might have been worse than death–cut off at a stroke from the care of his father, from the patriarchal home with its princely privileges, and reduced, politically, below the status of a man. Here was a fate overwhelming enough to bring a young fellow to despair, or to a degradation worse than that! But there was in him that quality of moral fibre which is braced and not weakened by lonely adversity. He has virtue, and he has faith, and these united shall prevail, so that there shall be nothing more admirable in all biography than the patience, cheerfulness, and fidelity with which he fulfils his lot. Adversity is a ladder, up or down, as we will. You can, so to speak, do what you like with your troubles, or let them do what they like with you; so that they shall either be stepping stones, upon which you shall rise to a clearer, graver view of God and life; or they shall be stones of stumbling and rocks of offence to cast you down to that limbo where the craven and futile whimper their lives away. But some of you are thinking that it was hard that Joseph should have to suffer for refusing to do wrong. I would counsel you to be very slow in saying that anything is hard, if you mean as a matter of providential treatment. A little faith and patience, and God will take care of it all.
III. The man that emerged. Joseph came forth from prison with faith in God unimpaired, with the old sweetness of temper, and clearness and fixity of moral equilibrium. He is not ashamed to stand before kings, and there is the unerring accent of modesty and faith in his words: It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. But I desire especially to point out the essential Christianity of the man, whom the word of the Lord had tried, so that he was made manifest to his generation as a pre-Christian Christian. That forgiveness of his brethren, so frank and free, without a thought behind, so foreign to every ancient code of obligation, shows him at a glance possessed by the spirit of Christ. Again in his large humanity he became an earthly Providence, and an expositor of the philanthropy of God our Saviour, not only nourishing his own family, and those brothers who plotted his ruin; but bearing the burdens of all the people, and with such benevolence and sympathy that, in the great language of that time, he was called the Saviour of the world. Finally, in his faith he saw something of Christs day. Loyal to his family and race, he was loyal also to the ancestral hope; and in his final charge showed clearly enough that his soul had her last anchorage there. By faith he gave commandment concerning his bones; and when, long centuries after, his people departed out of Egypt, they carried with them these dumb tokens of their great ancestors faith in the covenant of promise. This was a great life–pure, gracious, wise, imperial. All was on the grand scale; but all the goodliness thereof grew out of the virtues of his youth. The child was father of the man in reverence, and human kindness, and faith. So let it be with you. (A. H. Vine.)
Trial by the Word
I. The importance of trial.
1. Because trial and persecution test mens professions, they are used as the winnowing fan in the Lords hand. He will throughly purge His floor. In persecution, the mere professors, the camp-followers and hangers-on, soon flee away, for they have no heart to true religion when the profession of it involves the cross. They could walk with Jesus in silver slippers, but they cannot travel with Him when His bleeding feet go barefoot over the worlds rough ways, and therefore they depart every man to his own. Oh, man, if thou be a child of God thou art like a house which He is building with gold, and silver, and precious stones; but by reason of thine old nature thou art mixing up with the Divine material much of thine own wood, and hay, and stubble; therefore is it that the fire is made to rage around thee to burn out this injurious stuff which mars the whole fabric. If the Holy Spirit be pleased to bless thine afflictions to thee, then wilt thou be daily led to put away the materials of the old nature with deep abhorrence and repentance, and thus shall the true work of God, which He has built upon the sure foundation, stand in its true beauty, and thou shalt be builded for eternity.
2. Every good man is not only tested by trial, but is the better for it. To the evil man affliction brings evil, he rebels against the Lord, and, like Pharaoh, his heart is hardened. But to the Christian it is good to be afflicted, for, when sanctified by the Spirit, trial is a means of instruction to him second to none in value. In the case of Joseph.
(1) It corrected the juvenile errors of the past.
(2) He learned in his trial much that was good for present use. That God could be with him, even in a dungeon. That temporal things are not to be depended upon. To cease from man, etc.
(3) The chief use of trial is very often seen in our future lives. It gave Joseph power to bear power. It trained him to bear the other dangers of prosperity. In the prison he learned to speak out. His whole course had been a rehearsal fitting him to be bravely truthful before the king.
II. The peculiarity of the trial. The word of the Lord tried him. How was that? Potiphar tried him, and the chains tried him, but did the word of the Lord try him? Yes. But there is a previous question–how did he receive any word of the Lord? His dreams were to him the word of God, for they were communications from heaven; the instruction he received from his father was also the word of God to him; his knowledge of the covenant which God had made with Abraham and Isaac, and his father Jacob, was Gods word to him. Moreover, the secret teachings of the Holy Spirit quickened his conscience and afforded him light on the way. When there was no written Word the Divine Spirit spoke without words, impressing the truth upon the heart itself. All these were to Joseph the word of God. How did it try him? It tried him thus,–the word said to him in his conscience, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Without that word he would not have been tried, for nature suggested compliance with his mistresss desires. The test, however, he could bear: grace enabled him to flee youthful lusts and to cry, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? The trial which arose out of his innocence must have again tested him by the word of God. There he is in prison–for what? Why, for an action so pure that had he been set on a throne for it he would have well deserved it. Do you not think that many questions perplexed him while he lay in prison? What problems were put before him–Is there a moral governor of the universe? If so, why does He allow the innocent to suffer? Why am I in fetters, and the lewd woman in favour? Could not an omnipotent God deliver me? Why then does He leave me here? Could Joseph in the face of such questions still cling to the faithful word? He could, and he did; but the word tried him, and proved his constancy, his faith, and his integrity. Then, too, the word of the Lord which he had heard many years before would come to him and try him. His trembling heart would say, Has God ever spoken to you at all? Those dreams, were they not childish? That voice which you thought you heard in your heart, was it not imagination? This providence of God which has prospered you wherever you have gone, was it not after all good luck? Has the living God ever revealed Himself to one who at length became a slave? Look at your fetters, and ask if you can be His child?
III. The continuance and the conclusion of the trial. Trial does not last for ever. Cheer up; the tide ebbs out, but the flood will return again. He who counts the stars also numbers your sorrows, and if He ordains the number ten your trials will never be eleven. The text says, until; for the Lord appoints the bounds of the proud waters, and they shall no more go over your soul when they reach the boundary of the Divine Until. Until the time that His word came–the same word which tried Joseph in due time set him free. If the Lord gives the turnkey permission to keep us in prison, there we must remain, until He sends a warrant for our liberation, and then all the devils in hell cannot hold us in bondage for an instant longer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods promise as a refining fire
Tried is in the Hebrew smelted, and word of the Lord refers to the promise of greatness given to Joseph when a lad. This vision smelted his soul. How? It resulted in–
I. A purified faith. Before imprisonment, Joseph worked and God helped; the prison shut him in to God alone. Faith is this reaching Godward, and the Godward side of a man determines character.
II. A strengtheining character. The youth who entered came out a tried man. More strength is increased power, and power is valuable.
III. An enhanced value. He became worth more–to himself, to Pharaoh, to God. The promises of God Incarnate come to you in definite language. He offers you pardon, help, a growing likeness to Himself. Have you accepted? Are you holding fast? Your soul is in the furnace of the promises. Shall it come forth metal or slag? (Homiletic Review.)
Trial by the Word of God
His trial arose from the word of the Lord. The evils of his lot were great in themselves, but their magnitude was increased in consequence of the Divine intimation that he should be raised to greatness and honour. His faith was put to a rigorous test, his patience was severely tried.
I. Our knowledge of the Divine word is a means of trial. It tests our character, and it does this by leaving us without much we expected to receive, and imposing on us burdens from which we would fain be free: What forms, then, does this trial assume?
1. It is seen in relation to our belief, the Bible demanding our assent to truths which are beyond the range of human discovery. As Bishop Butler has said, There seems no possible reason to be given why we may not be in a state of moral probation with regard to the exercise of our understanding on the subject of religion, as we are with regard to our behaviour on common affairs. The former is a thing as much within our power and choice as the latter.
2. The next form of trial is in relation to our conduct. The Bible demands from us the discharge of duties which are not congenial with our nature, and large numbers who are ignorant of speculative difficulties feel strongly those that relate to Cbristian practice. We cannot practically fulfil the law of Christ without strenuous exertion. We must surrender pleasures we have prized and accept toils for which we have had no relish. We shall never be able to follow Christ unless we deny ourselves and count all things as loss for His sake. Is it not notorious that many, very many, refuse submission to the Gospel on this ground? And thus the Word of the Lord tries them.
3. The Word of God tries us in our experience or in respect to the fulfilment of its promises. We do not realize them at the time or in the manner we expect, many even dying in faith without seeing that for which they have waited.
II. The trial is of limited duration. It lasted until His word came, but no longer. As there came an hour of deliverance to Joseph, so there will to us, premising, of course, that we continue faithfully in the path of duty. Never will God alter the truth we are to believe, relax the duties to which He summons us, or modify the essential character of His promises; but our relation to His Word shall become such that the trial, the element of pain and disappointment shall pass away.
1. When we accept the truth of Christ on sufficient evidence, although its substance is immutable, although we may never find it to be logically explicable, it will yet gain our assent in an ever-increasing degree. It will quicken and purify our spiritual perceptions, removing the blindness thrown over us by sin. It will restore our nature to a holy condition, sanctifying us and imparting the power of recognition which comes from sympathy.
2. The duties to which we are summoned will not always be uncongenial. We shall be empowered with strength equal to our need. Our souls will become more able for works of righteousness. By reliance on God, by resolute perseverance, our work will lose its irksomeness and become a service of gratitude and joy.
3. The promises of Scripture may not secure the results we expect. That which we rightly look for may be delayed. But we shall be assured that God is doing for us the thing which is best, that He is adapting His mercy to the necessities of our condition, that He is leading us from one stage of glory to another, and will, in due time, perfect that which concerneth us. (J. Stuart.)
The trial of man by the promises of God
By the word of the Lord that tried him, the psalmist evidently refers to the dreams of his future destiny which were sent to Joseph from God; and in saying that they tried him until His word came, he evidently means that his faith in those promises was tested by his long imprisonment, until the day of his deliverance dawned.
I. Gods promises must try man.
1. By revealing his secret unbelief.
2. That He may accomplish His own purposes of discipline.
II. God sends the hour of deliverance.
1. Sometimes by death. Elijah.
2. Sometimes by transforming the height of trial into the height of blessing. The three youths in Babylon.
3. Sometimes by the glance of love on the failing soul. Peter.
4. Sometimes by continuing the trial, but increasing the power to endure it. Paul.
III. God makes the trial by promise fulfil the promise itself. We hope not for an Egyptian kingdom, our dream-vision is of a heavenly inheritance, and the palace of a heavenly King. But every temptation resisted, every mocking voice of doubt overcome, is an aid upwards and onwards. Trials, sufferings, struggles, are angels arraying the soul in the white robes of the heavenly world, and crowning it with the crown that fadeth not away. And when the end comes, then it will be seen that the long dreary endeavour to hold fast the dream-promise–the firm resolute no to the temptation to disbelieve, are all more than recompensed with the exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (E. L. Hull, B.A.)
From the pit to the throne
I. The severity of His sufferings. Confined in a stifling, foetid prison, his feet bound by fetters. His religious notions added greatly to his distress. What had he gained by his integrity? Could there be any truth in what his father had taught him of good coming to the good, and evil to the bad? Was there a God who judged righteously on the earth? You who have been misunderstood, who have sown seeds of holiness and love to reap nothing but disappointment, loss, suffering, and hate, you know something of what Joseph felt in that wretched dungeon hole. Then, too, disappointment poured her bitter drops into the bitter cup. What had become of those early dreams, those dreams of coming greatness, which had filled his young brain with splendid phantasmagoria? Were these not from God? He had thought so–yes, and his venerable father had thought so too, and he should have known, for he had talked with God many a time. Were they the delusions of a fevered brain, or mocking lies? Was there no truth, no fidelity, in heaven or earth?
II. These sufferings wrought very beneficially. Iron entered into his soul. The iron crown of suffering precedes the golden crown of glory. I may be asked, Why does God sometimes fill a whole life with discipline, and give few opportunities for showing the iron quality of the soul? Why give iron to the soul, and then keep it from active service? Ah, that is a question which goes far to prove our glorious destiny. There is service in the sky. And it may be that, God counts a human life of seventy years of suffering not too long an education for a soul which may serve Him through the eternities.
III. Josephs comfort in the midst of these sufferings.
1. He was there in the prison, but the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him in the palace of Potiphar; but when Joseph went to prison, the Lord-went there too. The only thing that severs us from God is sin; so long as we walk with God, God will walk with us; and if our path dips down from the sunny upland lawns into the valley with its clinging mists, He will go at our side.
2. Moreover, the Lord showed him mercy. That prison cell was the mount of vision, from the height of which he saw, as he had never seen before, the panorama of Divine lovingkindness. It were well worth his while to go to prison to learn that. It was in prison that Bunyan saw his wondrous allegory, and St. Paul met the Lord, and St. John looked through heavens open door, and Joseph saw Gods mercy. God has no chance to show His mercy to some of us except when we are in some sore sorrow.
3. God can also raise up friends for His servants in most unlikely places, and of most unlikely people. The Lord gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. All hearts are open to our King; at His girdle swing the keys by which the most unlikely door can be unlocked.
4. There is always alleviation for our troubles in ministry to others. Joseph found it so. A new interest came into his life, and he almost forgot the heavy pressure of his own troubles amid the interest of listening to the tales of those who were more unfortunate than himself. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
Changes of fortune overruled
The chief lesson to be learned from the swift and violent alternations of fortune, to which he was subject, is not that men are like shuttlecocks, tossed up and down by random blows, either of blind chance or of hostile men, but that they are moved and guided by one loving will, which weaves malice and murderous intents into its great web, and uses unconscious men and women to effect its purposes. The point of a wheel that is at the top at one moment, is at the bottom at the next; but the wheel moves on steadily on its course, and the revolutions advance it to its goal. The naked boy in the pit, the sad captive in the prison, the favourite of Pharaoh, were equally set in these places by God, though envy and baulked lust and a despots whim were the immediate occasions of the violently contrasted conditions. Lifes bewildering mutations would look very differently if we habitually grasped the calming confidence that opposite states, such as joy and sorrow, elevation and depression, gain and loss, came from one source, and tended to one end, as surely as the opposite motions of two cog-wheels, working into each other, result in the forward motion of the hands of a watch. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Until the time that his word came] This appears to refer to the completion of Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams of the chief butler and baker.
The word of the Lord tried him.] This seems to refer to the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, called imrath Yehovah, “the oracle of the Lord,” because sent by him to Pharaoh. See Ge 41:26, and Kennicott in loco.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The time; till which time his eminent prudence, and innocency, and piety gave him no relief.
His word; either,
1. Josephs word, or his prophecy concerning the chief butler and baker; which is said to come when it was fulfilled, as that word is used, Jdg 13:12,17; Eze 24:24, and elsewhere. But the event confutes this; for Joseph was not delivered at that time, but two years after it, Gen 41:1. Or rather,
2.
The word of the Lord, as it follows; the pronoun relative being here put before the substantive, to which it belongs, as it is also Exo 2:6; Job 33:20; Pro 5:22; 14:13. He seems to speak of that word or revelation which came first to Pharaoh in a dream, Gen 41:1,2, &c.; and then to Joseph concerning the interpretation of it. Psa 105:15,16. For the word of the Lord is said to come, not only when it comes to pass, but also and most commonly when it is first revealed, as Jer 7:1; 11:1; 18:1; and God is said to come when he doth reveal it, as Gen 20:3; 31:24.
Tried him; either,
1. Tried his sincerity and constancy. But that was not done by Gods word, but by his rod. Or rather,
2. Discovered him, to wit, unto Pharaoh and his courtiers, how innocent, and holy, and knowing a person he was; or purged him from those calumnies which were cast upon him, and so prepared the way for his release, which here follows, Psa 105:20. This verse may well be rendered thus,
Until the time that his word came, even the word of the Lord, which tried him; such ellipses being most usual in the Hebrew text.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. his word cameHis prophecy(Ge 41:11-20) to theofficers came to pass, or was fulfilled (Jdg 13:12;Jdg 13:17; 1Sa 9:6,explain the form of speech).
the word of the Lordor,”saying,” or “decree of the Lord.”
tried himor, “provedhim,” by the afflictions it appointed him to endure before hiselevation (compare Ge41:40-43).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Until the time that his word came,…. Either the word of Joseph, interpreting the dreams of the butler and baker, till that came to be fulfilled; so the Syriac version, “till his word was proved by the event”: or rather till the fame and report of that came to Pharaoh’s ears, Ge 41:13, or else the word of the Lord, concerning his advancement and exaltation, signified in dreams to him,
Ge 37:7, as it follows:
the word of the Lord tried him: it tried his faith and patience before it was accomplished; and when it was, it purged him and purified him, as silver in a furnace, and cleared him of the imputation and calumny of his mistress; for, even in the view of Pharaoh, he appeared to be a man in whom the Spirit of God was, Ge 41:38. Some think that Christ, the essential Word, is intended, who came and visited him, tried and cleared him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. Until the time that his word came Here the prophet teaches, that although, according to the judgment of the flesh, God seems to be too tardy in his steps, yet he holds supreme rule over all things, that he may at length accomplish in due time what he has determined. As to the term word, it is here doubtless to be taken, not for doctrine or instruction, but for a heavenly decree. The relative his admits of being understood as well of God himself as of Joseph; but its application to the latter appears to me to be preferable, implying that Joseph remained in prison until the issue of his affliction was manifested, which was hidden in the divine purpose. It is always to be kept in mind, that the prophet calls back the minds of men from that impious imagination, which would represent fortune as exercising a blind and capricious control over human affairs. Since nothing could be more involved in uncertainty than the welfare of the Church, whilst Joseph was accounted as a condemned person, the prophet here elevates our minds, and bids us look at the hidden word, that is, the decree, the proper opportunity and time for the manifestation of which had not yet arrived. After the same manner I explain what follows, the word of God tried him To expound it of Joseph’s prophesying, (214) as many do, seems too refined. Until the happy issue appeared, which God kept long hidden and in suspense, Joseph’s patience was severely tried. What worldly men, who acknowledge not God to be the Governor of human affairs, call fate, the prophet distinguishes by a more appropriate name, terming it word, and the word of each man. Nor do I see any impropriety in using the French word destinée. When the Stoics dispute, or rather babble, about destiny, they not only involve themselves and the thing also of which they treat in intricate mazes, but, at the same time, involve in perplexity an indubitable truth; for in imagining a concatenation of causes, they divest God of the government of the world. It is an impious invention so to link together causes, interwoven with each other, as that God himself should be tied to them. Our faith then ought to mount up to his secret counsel, by which, uncontrolled, he directs all things to their end. This passage also teaches us that God will continue the afflictions of the godly only until they are thereby thoroughly proved.
(214) It is so understood by Dr Kennicott. He refers the first clause of the verse to the completion of Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams of the chief butler and baker; an opinion which cannot be admitted, for Joseph was not delivered at that time, but two years after it, Gen 41:1. He refers the second clause to the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, called the Word or Oracle of Jehovah, because sent by him to Pharaoh. In this sense Hammond also interprets it. “ The word of the Lord. ” says he, “is God’s showing him the meaning of those dreams, (Gen 41:39) God’s telling him, or revealing to him, the interpretation of them.” Some who take this view explain the verb tried, not as referring to the trial of Joseph’s patience, but as referring to the proof of his innocence. “ צרפ,” says Street, “in its primary sense, signifies to refine metals, or to examine their purity by fire: by metaphor it is applied to the human heart, and signifies to purify, to prove, to examine; but as metal, already free from dross, would not be refined, but only show its purity on being assayed, so here the Word seems to signify showed him to be innocent. Joseph, protesting his innocence to Pharaoh’s butler, says, (Gen 40:10) ‘Here also have I done nothing that they should put me in the dungeon;’ and Pharaoh assigns it as his reason for taking him from prison, and setting him over the land of Egypt, (Gen 41:38) ‘Can ye find as this is a man in whom the Spirit of God is?’ His interpreting, by the inspiration of God, their dreams, exempted him at once from being any longer looked on as a criminal, and raised him to the highest honors.” “This word,” says Phillips, “proved Joseph, or purified him, as the verb literally means, for it made him appear pure or innocent in the eyes of the people, who were thus assured that God was with him, and that he must therefore be a pious person, and not guilty of the crime for which he was thrown into a dungeon.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) Until the time that his word camei.e., until his (Josephs) interpretation of the dreams was fulfilled (Gen. 41:12). (For the expression his word came, equal to came to pass, comp. Jdg. 13:12.)
Word of the Lord.As a different Hebrew word from that in the previous clause is used, better render, saying (or, oracle) of Jehovah.
Tried him.Better, purified him, i.e., proved him innocent of the charge for which he was imprisoned. (For this sense of the verb, see Psa. 17:3; Psa. 18:30; Pro. 30:5, margin.) The psalmist means that by enabling him to foretell the dreams of Pharaohs servants, God brought about the proof of his innocence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Until the time The trial of grace must come before the honour of reward.
His word came That is, His word came to pass, as 1Sa 9:6.
The word of the Lord The word which God revealed to him in prison and before Pharaoh. Gen 40:12; Gen 41:25.
Tried him The meaning is, that the interpretation which Joseph gave of dreams, while in prison, must come to pass, as a test of his supernatural knowledge, before he could gain the confidence of the king and rise above his reproach and suffering.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 105:19. Until the time, &c. Until the time that his saying came to pass, the word of the Lord purged him. Green renders it, Until the time that his prediction had come to pass, and the word of the Lord had cleared him. See Gen 41:14.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 105:19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
Ver. 19. Until the time that his word came ] The time that God’s purpose and promise of deliverance was fulfilled. This word of God profane persons call fate, fortune, &c.
The word of the Lord tried him
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psalms
GOD’S PROMISES TESTS
Psa 105:19
I do not think I shall be mistaken if I affirm that these words do not convey any very clear idea to most readers. They were spoken with reference to Joseph, during the period of his imprisonment. For the understanding of them I think we must observe that there is a contrast drawn between two ‘words,’ ‘his’ i.e . Joseph’s and God’s. If we lay firm hold of that clue, I think it will lead us into clear daylight, and it will be obvious that Joseph’s word, which delayed its coming, or fulfilment, was either his boyish narrative of the dreams that foreshadowed his exaltation, or less probably, his words to his fellow-prisoners in the interpretation of their dreams. In either case, the terminus ad quem , the point to which our attention is directed, is the period when that word came to be fulfilled, and what my text says is that during that long season of unfulfilled hope, the ‘word of God,’ which was revealed in Joseph’s dream, and was the ground on which his own ‘word’ rested-did what? Encouraged, heartened, strengthened him? No, that unfulfilled promise might encourage or discourage him; but the Psalmist fixes our thoughts on another effect which, whether it encouraged or discouraged, it certainly had, namely, that it tested him, and found out what stuff he was made of, and whether there was staying power enough in him to hold on, in unconquerable faith, to a promise made long since, communicated by no more reliable method than a dream, and of the fulfilment of which not the faintest sign had, for all these weary years, appeared. His circumstances, judged by appearances, shattered his early visions, and bade him believe them to be no more than the boyish aspirations which grown men dismiss or find melt away of themselves when life’s realities wake the dreamer. We might either say that the non-fulfilment of the promise tested Joseph, or that the promise, by its non-fulfilment, tested him. The Psalmist chooses the latter more forcible and half paradoxical mode of speech. It proved the depth and vitality of his faith, and his ability to see things that are not as though they were. Will this man be able continually through years of poverty and imprisonment to keep his eye on the light beyond, to see his star through clouds? Will he despise the ‘light affliction,’ in the potent and immovable belief that it is ‘but for a moment?’ Thus, for all these years the great blessed word, or the hope that was built upon it, tested Joseph in the very depths of his soul. And is not that just what our anticipations, built upon God’s assurances, whether they are in regard to earthly matters that seem long in coming, or whether they, as they ought to do, travel beyond the bounds of the material, to grasp the hope which is the promise, ‘the hope of eternal life,’ ought to do for us, test us and find out what sort of people we are? And they do!
Let us go back to the man in our text. According to some commentators, he was imprisoned for something like ten years. We do not know how long his Egyptian bondage had lasted, nor how long before that his endurance of the active ill-will of his surly brothers had gone on. But at all events his chrysalis stage was very long, and one would not have wondered if he had said to himself, down in that desert pit or in that Egyptian dungeon, ‘Ah, yes! they were dreams, and only dreams,’ or if he had, as so many of us do, turned his back on his youthful visions, and gained the sad power of being able to smile at his old hopes and ambitions. Brethren! especially you young men and women, cherish your youthful dreams. They are often the prophecies of capacities and possibilities, signs of what God means you to make yourselves. But that is apart from my subject. Suppose we had clear before us, with unwavering confidence in its reality, the great promise which God has given us, do you not think that its presence would purify our souls, and give power and dignity to our lives?
The promise was a test, says my text. The word which it employs to designate the manner of testing or trying, is one drawn from the smelting operations of the goldsmith, by which, heat being applied, the mass is made fluid and the dross is run off, and as the result of the trial, there flows out gold refined by fire.
‘Having these promises, dearly beloved! let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.’ ‘Every man who hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.’ The result of the great promise of eternal life and of the hope that it kindles is meant to be that it shall purge our spirits from meanness, from sense, from undue dependence upon the miserable trivialities of to-day, that it shall emancipate us from slavery to the moment, and lead us into the liberty of the eternities, ‘while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen.’ Oh! if we would only see clearly and habitually before us-for we could if we would-what God’s heart inclines Him to do for us, and what He certainly will do for us, in the far-off future, if we will only let Him, do you not think that these trifles that put us off our equanimity this morning would have been borne with a little more composure? Do you not think that the things that looked so huge when we were down abreast of them would, by the laws of perspective, diminish in their proportions as we rose steadily above them, until all the hubbub in the valley was unheard on the mountain peak, and the great trees that waved their giant branches below and shut out the sky from our eyes while we were among them would dwindle to a green smear on the plain, and all the foes ‘show scarce so gross as beetles,’ from the height from which we look down upon them? Get up beside God’s promise, if you would take the true dimensions of cares and tasks, and burdens and sorrows. Then, brother! you will learn the truth of the paradox, ‘light . . . but for a moment’; though often they all but crush the burden-bearing shoulder and seem to last through slow years.
‘The word of the Lord tried him,’ and because it tried him, it purified him. If we give credence, as we ought to, to that word, it will purify us , and it will test of what contexture our faith is. The further away the object of any hope is, the more noble the cherishing of it makes a life. The trivial, short-lived anticipations which do not look beyond the end of next week are far less operative in making strong and noble characters than are those, of whatever kind they may be otherwise, which look far ahead and need years for their realisation. It is a blessing to have the mark far, far away, because that means that the arm that pulls the bow must draw more strongly, and the eye that sees the goal must gaze more intently. Be thankful for the promise that cannot be fulfilled in this world because it lifts us above the low levels, and already makes us feel as if we were endowed with immortality.
The word will test our patience, and it will test our willingness, though we be heirs of the kingdom, to do humble tasks. Christian men in this world are sons of a King, and look forward to a royal inheritance, but in the meantime they have, as it were, to keep a little huckster’s shop in a back alley. But if we adequately realised the promise of our inheritance, the meanness of our surroundings and the triviality of our occupations would not make us mean or trivial, but our souls would be ‘like stars’ and ‘dwell apart’ while we travelled ‘on life’s common way in cheerful godliness,’ and did small duties in such a manner as to make them great.
Because Joseph was sure that God’s long-lingering word would be fulfilled, he did not mind though he had to be the lackey of his brothers, the Midianites’ chattel, Potiphar’s slave, Pharaoh’s prisoner, and a servant of servants in his dungeon. So with us, the measure of our willing acceptance of our present tasks, burdens, humiliations, and limitations is the measure of our firm faith in the promise that tarries.
‘If we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it,’ says the Apostle, though most of us would have said exactly the opposite. We generally suppose that the more ardent the hope, the more is it impatient of delay. Paul had learned better. The more certain the assurance, the better we can tolerate the procrastination of its fulfilment.
So, brethren! God’s greatest gift to us, like all His other gifts, has in it the quality of testing us; and we can come to a pretty fair approximation to an estimate of what sort of Christian people we are, by observing how we deal with God’s promises of help according to our need here and of heaven hereafter. How do we deal with them? Why, a sadly large number of us never think about them at all; and a large proportion of the others would a great deal rather stay working in the huckster’s shop in the back alley, than go home to the King. I am quite sure that if the inmost sentiments of the bulk of professing Christians about a future life were dragged into light, these would be a revelation of a faith all honeycombed with insincerity. God tests us, and it is a sharp test if we submit ourselves to it; He tests us by His promises. ‘Child, wilt thou believe?’ is the first testing question put to us by these. ‘Wilt thou keep them hid in thy heart?’ is the next. ‘Wilt thou go out towards them in desire?’ is the next. ‘Wilt thou live worthy of them?’ is the last. ‘The word of the Lord tried him.’
So let us be thankful for the delays of love, for the wide gap between promise and realisation. It was for Joseph’s sake that the slow years were multiplied between the first gleam of his future and the full sunshine of his exaltation. And it is for our sakes that God in like manner protracts the period of anticipation and non-fulfilment. ‘If the vision tarry, wait for it.’ ‘Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus their brother’ very dearly. ‘When He heard, therefore, that he was sick, He abode still two days’-to give time for Lazarus to die-’in the same place where He was.’ Ay, and when each sister came to Him with her most natural and yet most faithless ‘Lord! if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died,’ He only said, ‘If thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God.’ Was not Lazarus dearer, restored from the grave, than he would have been, raised from his sickbed? Is not the delaying of the blessing a means of increase of the blessing? And shall not we be sure that however long ‘He that shall come’ may seem to tarry ere He comes, when He has come they who have waited for His coming more than they that watch for the morning and have sometimes been ready to cry out: ‘Hath the Lord forgotten? Doth His promise fail for ever more?’ will be ashamed of their impatient moments and will humbly and thankfully exclaim: ‘He came at the very right time and did not tarry.’ ‘Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him,’ and the coming of that word was all the more blessed for every heavy-laden hour of hope deferred, which, by God’s grace, did not make the heart sick, but prepared it for fuller possession of the blessings enhanced by the delays of love.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
his word: i.e. Joseph’s word: i.e. his interpretation of the dreams.
came: came to pass. Compare Jdg 7:13, Jdg 7:21. 1Sa 9:6.
word = utterance, as in Psa 119:38 = what is said; here, the prophetic promise.
tried = proved: i.e. proved his faith in the Divine promise (Gen 37:5-11).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
his word: Psa 44:4, Gen 41:11-16, Gen 41:25, Pro 21:1, Dan 2:30, Act 7:10
Reciprocal: Gen 39:20 – into the prison Gen 39:21 – gave him Gen 40:23 – but forgat him Gen 41:14 – sent Gen 41:37 – the thing Psa 107:14 – brake Jer 39:14 – took
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 105:19-22. Until the time that his word came Dr. Waterland renders the verse, Until the time that his saying came to pass, the word of the Lord purged him: and Green translates it, Until the time that his prediction had come to pass, and the word of the Lord cleared him. The meaning seems evidently to be, that notwithstanding his eminent prudence, innocence, and piety, he was detained in prison until the time that his word, or cause, came before the king, and was known; (so it is in our old translation;) or, until his word, or prediction, concerning the chief butlers promotion, came to pass; for this was the means of Josephs enlargement and justification; since a person, guilty of the crime with which he stood charged, would not have been inspired to foretel future events. Can we find, said Pharaoh, such a man as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Gen 41:38. The word of the Lord tried him Either, 1st, Discovered him unto Pharaoh and his courtiers, and showed how innocent, holy, and wise a person he was, and thereby cleared him from those calumnies which had been cast upon him, and so prepared the way for his release, as it follows Psa 105:20. Or, 2d, Tried his sincerity and constancy, (the word of the Lord being put for his commandment or decree,) tried him in the furnace of affliction, there refining and preparing him for his approaching exaltation to glory and honour. He made him ruler of all his substance Hebrew, , of all his possession; that is, of his whole kingdom. To bind his princes By his commands; and, if they were refractory, to punish them. And teach his senators wisdom His wisest counsellors, whom he commanded to receive instruction from Joseph on all occasions.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
105:19 Until {l} the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
(l) So long he suffered adversity as God had appointed, and till he had sufficiently tried his patience.