Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 78:49
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels [among them].
49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger ] Lit., he sent, as in Psa 78:45. The same phrase is found in Job 20:23.
by sending evil angels among them] R.V., a band of angels of evil: lit. a mission of evil angels: not wicked angels, but destroying angels, commissioned by God to execute His purposes of punishment. Cp. “the destroyer,” Exo 12:23; and see 2Sa 24:16 f.; 2Ki 19:35; Job 33:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
49 51. The culmination of the plagues in the death of the firstborn.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger … – This verse is designed to describe the last, and the most dreadful of the plagues that came upon the Egyptians, the slaying of their first-born; and hence, there is such an accumulation of expressions: anger – fierce anger – wrath – indignation – trouble. All these expressions are designed to be emphatic; all these things were combined when the first-born were slain. There was no form of affliction that could surpass this; and in this trial all the expressions of the divine displeasure seemed to be exhausted. It was meant that this should be the last of the plagues; it was meant that the nation should be humbled, and should be made willing that the people of Israel should go.
By sending evil angels among them – There is reference here undoubtedly to the slaying of the first-born in Egypt. Exo 11:4-5; Exo 12:29-30. This work is ascribed to the agency of a destroyer (Exo 12:23; compare Heb 11:28), and the allusion seems to be to a destroying angel, or to an angel employed and commissioned to accomplish such a work. Compare 2Sa 24:16; 2Ki 19:35. The idea here is not that the angel himself was evil or wicked, but that he was the messenger of evil or calamity; he was the instrument by which these afflictions were brought upon them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 49. By sending evil angels] This is the first mention we have of evil angels. There is no mention of them in the account we have of the plagues of Egypt in the Book of Exodus, and what they were we cannot tell: but by what the psalmist says here of their operations, they were the sorest plague that God had sent; they were marks of the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble. Some think the destroying angel that slew all the first-born is what is here intended; but this is distinctly mentioned in Ps 78:51. An angel or messenger may be either animate or inanimate; a disembodied spirit or human being; any thing or being that is an instrument sent of God for the punishment or support of mankind.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Indignation and trouble; other most grievous plagues, which were mixed with and were the effects of his anger and wrath; whereby their miseries were greatly aggravated, and distinguished from the afflictions which God sent upon the Israelites in Egypt, which were only fatherly chastisements, and the effects of Gods love and occasions of their deliverance.
By sending evil angels, Heb. the sending (or the operation or effects) of evil angels, or of the angels or messengers of evil things; either of the angels whom God employed in producing these plagues; or of Moses and Aaron, who were to the Egyptians messengers of evil, and by whom these judgments were sent to and inflicted upon them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
49. evil angelsor, “angelsof evil”many were perhaps employed, and other evilsinflicted.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,…. This with the following words,
wrath, and indignation, and trouble, are thought by some to intend the other plagues, which are not particularly mentioned; or rather they express the manner in which they were all inflicted, in great wrath and hot displeasure for their sins and iniquities, and which particularly were shown
by sending evil angels among them; not evil in themselves, but because they were the instruments God made use of to bring evil things upon the Egyptians, as good angels often are; though some think that demons, devils, or wicked spirits, were sent among them at that time; the darkness was over all the land, and frightened them; in the Apocrypha:
“3 For while they supposed to lie hid in their secret sins, they were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness, being horribly astonished, and troubled with [strange] apparitions. 4 For neither might the corner that held them keep them from fear: but noises [as of waters] falling down sounded about them, and sad visions appeared unto them with heavy countenances.” (Wisdom 17)
According to Arama, the three last plagues are meant: the words may be rendered “messengers of evil things” l, as they are by some, and be understood of Moses and Aaron, who were sent time after time with messages of evil things to Pharaoh, in which were expressed his wrath and fury against them.
l “numcios malorum”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When these plagues rose to the highest pitch, Israel became free, and removed, being led by its God, into the Land of Promise; but it continued still to behave there just as it had done in the desert. The poet in Psa 78:49-51 brings the fifth Egyptian plague, the pestilence (Exo 9:1-7), and the tenth and last, the smiting of the first-born ( ), Exo 11:1, together. Psa 78:49 sounds like Job 20:23 (cf. below Psa 78:64). are not wicked angels, against which view Hengstenberg refers to the scriptural thesis of Jacobus Ode in his work De Angelis, Deum ad puniendos malos homines mittere bonos angelos et ad castigandos pios usurpare malos , but angels that bring misfortune. The mode of construction belongs to the chapter of the genitival subordination of the adjective to the substantive, like , Pro 6:24, cf. 1Sa 28:7; Num 5:18, Num 5:24; 1Ki 10:15; Jer 24:2, and the Arabic msjdu ‘l – jam , the mosque of the assembling one, i.e., the assembling (congregational) mosque, therefore: angels (not of the wicked ones = wicked angels, which it might signify elsewhere, but) of the evil ones = evil, misfortune-bringing angels (Ew. 287, a). The poet thus paraphrases the that is collectively conceived in Exo 12:13, Exo 12:23; Heb 11:28. In Psa 78:50 the anger is conceived of as a stream of fire, in Psa 78:50 death as an executioner, and in 50 c the pestilence as a foe. (Gen 49:3; Deu 21:17) is that which had sprung for the first time from manly vigour ( plur. intensivus ). Egypt is called as in Ps 105 and Psa 111:1-10 according to Gen 10:6, and is also called by themselves in ancient Egyptian Kemi, Coptic Chmi, Kme (vid., Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, ch. 33). When now these plagues which softened their Pharaoh went forth upon the Egyptians, God procured for His people a free departure, He guided flock-like ( like , Jer 31:24, with Dag. implicitum ), i.e., as a shepherd, the flock of His people (the favourite figure of the Psalms of Asaph) through the desert, – He led them safely, removing all terrors out of the way and drowning their enemies in the Red Sea, to His holy territory, to the mountain which ( ) His right hand had acquired, or according to the accents (cf. supra, p. 104): to the mountain there ( ), which, etc. It is not Zion that is meant, but, as in the primary passage Exo 15:16., in accordance with the parallelism (although this is not imperative) and the usage of the language, which according to Isa 11:9; Isa 57:13, is incontrovertible, the whole of the Holy Land with its mountains and valleys (cf. Deu 11:11). is the poetical equivalent to , Num 34:2; Num 36:2, and frequently. The Beth is Beth essentiae (here in the same syntactical position as in Isa 48:10; Eze 20:41, and also Job 22:24 surely): He made them (the heathen, viz., as in Jos 23:4 their territories) fall to them (viz., as the expression implies, by lot, ) as a line of inheritance, i.e., (as in Psa 105:11) as a portion measured out as an inheritance. It is only in Psa 78:56 (and not so early as Psa 78:41) that the narration passes over to the apostate conduct of the children of the generation of the desert, that is to say, of the Israel of Canaan. Instead of from , the word here is from (a derivative of , not ). Since the apostasy did not gain ground until after the death of Joshua and Eleazar, it is the Israel of the period of the Judges that we are to think of here. , Psa 78:57, is not: a bow of slackness, but: a bow of deceit; for the point of comparison, according to Hos 7:16, is its missing the mark: a bow that discharges its arrow in a wrong direction, that makes no sure shot. The verb signifies not only to allow to hang down slack (cogn. ), but also, according to a similar conception to spe dejicere , to disappoint, deny. In the very act of turning towards God, or at least being inclined towards Him by His tokens of power and loving-kindness, they turned (Jer 2:21) like a vow that misses the mark and disappoints both aim and expectation. The expression in Psa 78:58 is like Deu 32:16, Deu 32:21. refers to their prayer to the Ba(a4lim (Jdg 2:11). The word , which occurs three times in this Psalm, is a word belonging to Deuteronomy (Deu 3:26). Psa 78:59 is purposely worded exactly like Psa 78:21. The divine purpose of love spurned by the children just as by the fathers, was obliged in this case, as in the former, to pass over into angry provocation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(49) Evil angels.So LXX. and Vulg., but in the Hebrew angels (or messengers) of ills (so Symmachus), with evident reference to the destruction of the firstborn.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
49, 50. Evil angels That is, good angels as the executioners of evil, as 2Ki 19:34; 1Ch 21:15. It is better to understand it thus than to personify the physical causes of the plague. The idea of wicked angels, Satanic agencies, is inadmissible here.
He made a way to his anger Literally, He weighed a path for his anger. His judgments were by due measure, accurately weighed out, according to their sin and the moral ends to be served. See Lev 26:21-28.
But gave their life over Their living ones. “Life” is to be taken in the concrete for things having life. It is parallel to soul in the previous member, which also should be taken concretely.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 78:49. By sending evil angels among them I join the latter end of this verse to the beginning of the next (says Mudge) in one sentence, which is a very noble one. He nicely weighed or marked out a mission of evil angels, to be a path for his anger. This refers to his slaying the first-born, which is described as performed by a destroying angel. The path of his anger is considered as a certain width or extent of destroying powers, which he exactly measured out. He renders the whole verse thus, He measured out a mission of evil angels, to be a path for his anger; spared not their persons from death, and delivered over their cattle to the pestilence. Others by evil angels, understand the various plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians by the ministry of evil angels. Or, possibly, the plagues themselves may here be figuratively called evil angels or messengers, as they were the messengers of death and evil to them. See Exo 12:23.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels [among them].
Ver. 49. By sending evil angels among them ] i.e. Some messengers of his wrath and displeasure, whether good or evil angels it skills not.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sending = letting loose.
evil angels. In distinction from “demons”. Compare 1Ti 4:1, where both are mentioned. Compare Exo 12:23. 2Sa 24:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Safely Led, Yet Bent on Wandering
Psa 78:49-58
This section of the psalm deals largely with the books of Joshua and Judges. The failures that had characterized the Wilderness crossed the Jordan with the Chosen People, and were the reason of their sufferings and captivities in what might otherwise have been a period of uninterrupted blessedness. In fact, the sins of the Land of Promise were even more disastrous. The Israelites were intended to be to Jehovah what the bow is to the huntsman or warrior; but they absolutely failed Him. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow, Psa 78:57.
The lesson for older believers is very searching. Some readers of these words may recall that, at a notable period in the past, they crossed the river of death to sin and life unto God. Jordan stands for consecration. It should be remembered, however, that no matter how rich and lofty have been the experiences of past blessing, we cannot be immune from failures, unless we watch and pray and live in abiding fellowship with Jesus Christ. The soul which has passed the Jordan is attacked by the principalities and powers in the heavenlies, Eph 6:12, and has an even harder time of it. The nearer the Captain, the more perilous the position.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
cast: Psa 11:6, Job 20:23, Isa 42:25, Lam 4:11, Zep 3:8, Rom 2:8, Rom 2:9
by sending: 1Ki 22:21, 1Ki 22:22, Job 1:12, Job 2:6, Job 2:7
Reciprocal: Exo 10:21 – darkness 2Ki 15:37 – to send 2Ch 30:8 – the fierceness Job 40:11 – Cast Isa 63:10 – vexed Amo 4:10 – pestilence Rom 11:22 – therefore Rev 12:7 – his angels Rev 16:10 – full
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 78:49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger Anger in the highest degree, wrath and indignation, the cause, and trouble, (tribulation and anguish, Rom 2:8-9,) the effect. These he cast upon them from on high, and did not spare. By sending evil angels among them Hebrew, , mishlachath, the sending of evil angels, or, of the angels, or messengers, of evil things; namely, as most commentators understand it, the angels whom God employed in producing these plagues. The reader must observe, that some of the Egyptian plagues having been specified in the foregoing verses, others of them are here thrown together, and the whole scene is affirmed to have been a full display of wrath and vengeance, executed upon the oppressors of the church by evil angels, agents, or messengers; whether, by this expression, we understand the material instruments of divine displeasure, or angels employed as ministers of vengeance, or the actual appearance and ministration of evil spirits, suffered to torment the wicked in this world, as they certainly will do in the next. Tradition seems to have favoured this last opinion, since the author of the book of Wisdom, above referred to, describes the Egyptian darkness as a kind of temporary hell, in which there appeared to the wicked, whose conscience suggested to them every thing that was horrible, a fire kindled of itself, very dreadful; they were seared with beasts that passed by, and hissing of serpents; and they were vexed with monstrous apparitions, so that they fainted, and died for fear; while over them was spread a heavy night, an image of that darkness which should afterward receive them, Wisdom 17.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending {d} evil angels [among them].
(d) So called either for the effect, that is, of punishing the wicked: or else because they were wicked spirits, whom God permitted to vex men.