Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 78:47
He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
47. He killed their vines &c. The seventh plague, Exo 9:13 ff. Cp. Psa 105:33. Grapes and figs are among the fruits frequently represented in paintings in Egyptian tombs. The sycomore was and is one of the common trees of Egypt, much valued for its durable wood, of which mummy cases were commonly made.
with frost ] This is the rendering of the LXX, Aq., Syr., Jer., but great hailstones (R.V. marg.) or lumps of ice is more probably the meaning.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He destroyed their vines with hail – Margin, killed. See Exo 9:22-26. In the account in Exodus the hail is said to have smitten man and beast, the herb, and the tree of the field. In the psalm only one thing is mentioned, perhaps denoting the ruin by what would be particularly felt in Palestine, where the culture of the grape was so common and so important.
And their sycamore trees with frost – The sycamore is mentioned particularly as giving poetic beauty to the passage. Of the sycamore tree, Dr. Thomson remarks (land and the Book, vol. i. p. 25), It is a tender tree, flourishes immensely in sandy plains and warm vales, but cannot bear the hard, cold mountain. A sharp frost will kill them; and this agrees with the fact that they were killed by it in Egypt. Among the wonders performed in the field of Zoan, David says, He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost. Certainly, a frost keen enough to kill the sycamore would be one of the greatest wonders that could happen at the present day in this same field of Zoan. The word rendered frost – chanamal – occurs nowhere else. It is parallel with the word hail in the other member of the sentence, and denotes something that would be destructive to trees. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Arabic render it frost. Gesenius renders it ants.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 47. He destroyed their vines with hail] Though the vine was never plentiful in Egypt, yet they have some; and the wine made in that country is among the most delicious. The leaf of the vine is often used by the Egyptians of the present day for wrapping up their mince-meat, which they lay leaf upon leaf, season it after their fashion, and so cook it, making it a most exquisite sort of food, according to Mr. Maillet.
And their sycamore-trees] This tree was very useful to the ancient Egyptians, as all their coffins are made of this wood; and to the modern, as their barques are made of it. Besides, it produces a kind of fig, on which the common people in general live; and Mr. Norden observes that “they think themselves well regaled when they have a piece of bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher of water from the Nile.” The loss therefore of their vines and sycamore-trees must have been very distressing to the Egyptians.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Sycomore trees; or, wild fig trees, which were there in great plenty. Under these and the vines all other trees are comprehended. And this hail and frost did destroy the fruits of the trees, and sometimes the trees themselves.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
47, 48. The additional effectsof the storm here mentioned (compare Ex9:23-34) are consistent with Moses’ account.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He destroyed their vines with hail,…. Or “killed” k them; for there is a vegetative life in plants: this was the seventh plague of Egypt, attended with thunder and lightning, and was very terrible to Pharaoh, Ex 9:23, with this compare Re 16:21,
and their sycamore trees with frost: sycamore trees, according to Kimchi, were a sort of wild figs, and these with the vines are only mentioned; though the plague of hail destroyed all sorts of trees; because there were many of these in Egypt, and are put for all others; and who also observes, that the word , rendered “frost”, which is only used in this place, signifies a kind of hail; and so Aben Ezra interprets it of great hailstones which beat off the fruit of the sycamore trees: but R. Saadiah Gaon explains it by the Arabic word “Al-sakia”, which signifies a strong frost which breaks the buds of trees, and dries up their moisture. Jarchi will have it to be, according to the Midrash, a kind of locust, which comes and sits and cuts off the green of the trees and grass, and eats it. Aben Ezra makes mention of this sense, but rejects it.
k “occidit”, Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “interfecit”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(47) Vines.In the history of the plagues (Exo. 9:13-25) no mention is made either of vines or sycamores or of fig-trees, as in Psa. 105:33, and some consider that the poem reflects a Palestinian rather than an Egyptian point of view. But besides Num. 20:5 and Josephs dream there is abundance of evidence of the extensive cultivation of the vine in Egypt. The mural paintings contain many representations of vineyards. Wine stood prominent among the offerings to the gods, and a note on a papyrus of Rameses II. speaks of rations of wine made to workmen.
Sycamore.See 1Ki. 10:27.
Frost.The Hebrew word is peculiar to this place. The LXX. and Vulg. have hoar-frost, Aquila ice, Symmachus worm. The root of the word appears to mean to cut off, so that by derivation any devastating force would suit the word.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
47. Hail Not uncommon in Egypt, but this, for severity, exceeded any hail tempest ever known. The miracle consisted in the unwonted severity of the storm, (Exo 9:22-25,) and in its being foretold. Psa 78:18.
Sycamore Or fig mulberry, or wild fig tree, abounding in Egypt. Its leaves are like the mulberry, and its fruit like the fig, affording large supplies to the poor, and hence cultivated. 1Ch 27:28.
Frost The Hebrew word occurs nowhere else in Scripture, but as it is parallel to “hail” in the preceding member, the obvious climax of the verse would lead us to suppose icy hailstones of great weight, which destroyed animals, and even trees, where the common hailstone destroyed only the vine. See Jos 10:11; Rev 16:21. The marginal reading is “great hailstones.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 78:47. He destroyed their vines Egypt is not by any means a wine country, nor ever was; so far from it, that they were forced to use a sort of beer for common drink, and do so to this day, made of barley and some intoxicating drug; this country not producing, like other countries in the east, wine in such quantities, as to be tolerably proportionate to the wants of its inhabitants. We may therefore, perhaps, wonder that their vines should have been considered by the Psalmist as so important to be singled out, together with their sycamores, from their other trees, in his account of the destruction made among them by the hail; and may fancy that there must have been other trees of much more consequence to them, and in particular the date, which Maillet affirms to be the most esteemed at this time in Egypt on account of its profitableness. But it ought to be remembered, that many trees which are now found in Egypt, might not have been introduced in those times. Dr. Pococke supposes, that very few of the present Egyptian trees are natives; the sycamore and the vine might at that time therefore be very well thought the most valuable that they had. Their sycamores were undoubtedly very important to them, and their destruction a heavy loss. The ancient Egyptian coffins were made of this kind of wood, as are the modern barques according to Norden, of which they have such numbers on the Nile; and, consequently, we may believe that their ancient barques, of multitudes of which they must always have stood in great need, on account of their country, were made of the same wood. But beside these uses, they produce a sort of fig upon which, Norden informs us, the people, for the greater part, live; thinking themselves well regaled when they have a piece of bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher filled with water from the Nile. If their vines too were as useful then as they are now, the loss of them was very great. Their fruit serves for a considerable part of the entertainments that they give their friends: so Norden was treated by the Aga of Essuaen with coffee, and some bunches of grapes of an excellent taste, but small. If we may believe Maillet, they make still more of the leaves of their vines than they do of their fruit, using them when young prodigiously; for, minced-meat being one great part of their diet, they wrap it up in little parcels in vine-leaves, and, laying thus leaf upon leaf, season it after their mode, and so cook it, and make it a most exquisite sort of food, and one of the most delicious that comes upon their tables. But, beside these uses, they make some wine, which, though now it is made in very small quantities, as it is also in other Mahometan countries, yet was anciently much more plentiful, and even exported: for though, as was before observed, Egypt never produced wine in such quantities as to be tolerably proportionate to the number of its inhabitants, as in many other countries; yet they made so much, and that so delicious, as that it was carried to Rome, and so much drank there, as to be very well known in that seat of luxury; insomuch that Maillet, who never forgets any of the excellencies of this country, tells us, it was the third in esteem of their wines. It was made then, without doubt, and in considerable quantities, for the use of Pharaoh, and of his court, (Gen 40:9; Gen 40:23.) who, probably, could procure no such wine from abroad, nor were acquainted with such liquors as the great now drink in Egypt; and consequently the loss of their vines must have been considerable. As to the date-trees, which are said to be the most important now of any to the Egyptians, and which are mentioned neither in this psalm nor in the 105th; may we not suppose that the storm of hail did not reach them? The trees, it is certain, which produce the best dates in Egypt, grow in the desarts, where it seems nothing else grows, and there they are in great numbers; and as hailstones are not wont to extend very far, so there is no reason in the world to suppose that this storm reached to those desarts. It was sufficient if it fell with severity before the eyes of Pharaoh, and demolished the country which was cultivated, and particularly that part which was near to him; agreeable to which, we may observe, that the vineyards of Egypt were in the country of Fioum, which, according to William of Tyre, is but one day’s journey from Cairo, and consequently less from Memphis, the old royal city; Memphis and Fioum lying both south-west of Cairo. As for the sycamores,
Dr. Pococke tells us, they are planted near villages, especially about Cairo, and consequently not far from Memphis. Upon the whole, it is no wonder that we have no account of any damage done to their date-trees, and that their sycamores and vines are distinguished from their other trees in the Mosaic history of this desolation. See Observations, p. 370.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.
Ver. 47. He destroyed their vines with hail ] Heb. He killed, Quia planta habet animam vegetativain, ut Job 14:8 , saith Kimchi.
And their sycamores with frost
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
destroyed = killed.
hail. The seventh plague (Exo 9:18).
frost. Word occurs nowhere else. Probably = hailstones.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
destroyed: or, killed
with hail: Psa 105:32, Psa 105:33, Exo 9:18-34
sycamore: From the value of the sycamore in furnishing wood for various uses, from the grateful shade which its wide spreading branches afforded, and on account of the fruit, which Mr. Maillet says the Egyptians hold in the highest estimation, we may conceive somewhat of the loss they sustained when “their vines were destroyed with hail; and their sycamore trees with frost.” See note on 1Ch 27:28.
frost: or, great hailstones
Reciprocal: Exo 9:23 – and hail 2Ch 9:27 – the sycamore Job 37:10 – General Psa 147:17 – casteth Rev 8:7 – hail