1Lobt Jahwe! Ruft aus seinen Namen, macht den Völkern seine Taten bekannt! 2Singt ihm, spielt ihm und redet von all seinen Wundern! 3Rühmt euch seines heiligen Namens! Die ihn suchen, können sich freuen! 4Fragt nach Jahwe und seiner Macht, sucht seine Nähe zu aller Zeit! 5Denkt an die Wunder, die er tat, die Beweise seiner Macht und seine Rechtsentscheide. 6Ihr Nachkommen seines Dieners Abraham, ihr Söhne Jakobs, seine Erwählten: 7Das ist Jahwe, unser Gott! Seine Rechtsentscheide gelten in der ganzen Welt. 8Niemals vergisst er seinen Bund – sein Versprechen gilt tausend Generationen –, 9den er mit Abraham schloss, und seinen Eid mit Isaak. 10Er gab ihn Jakob als Ordnung, Israel als ewigen Bund. 11Er sagte: Dir will ich das Land Kanaan geben als Erbland, das euch zugeteilt ist. 12Sie waren damals leicht zu zählen, nur wenig Leute und Fremde dabei. 13Sie zogen von einem Volk zum anderen, von einem Reich zu einem anderen Volk. 14Er erlaubte keinem Menschen, sie zu bedrücken, ihretwegen wies er Könige zurecht: 15"Tastet meine Gesalbten nicht an, tut meinen Propheten nichts Böses!" 16Dann brachte er eine Hungersnot über das Land, entzog jeden Vorrat an Brot. 17Er schickte ihnen einen Mann voraus: Josef wurde als Sklave verkauft. 18Sie zwängten seine Füße in Fesseln, Eisen umschloss seinen Hals, 19bis eintraf, was er vorausgesagt hatte, bis das Wort Jahwes seine Unschuld bewies. 20Der König befahl, seine Fesseln zu lösen, der Herrscher über Völker ließ ihn frei. 21Er setzte ihn zum Herrn über sein Haus, zum Herrscher über seinen ganzen Besitz, 22um seine Oberen durch seinen Willen zu fesseln, seine Ältesten Weisheit zu lehren. 23Dann kam Israel nach Ägypten, Jakob wurde Gast im Lande Hams. 24Gott ließ sein Volk sehr fruchtbar sein, machte es stärker als seine Bedränger. 25Er änderte ihr Herz zum Hass gegen sein Volk, sie begannen seine Diener zu täuschen. 26Da schickte er Mose, seinen Diener, und Aaron, den Mann seiner Wahl. 27Sie taten die angekündigten Zeichen, seine Machtbeweise im Land der Hamiten. 28Er schickte Finsternis, machte es finster, diesmal widersprachen sie nicht. 29Er verwandelte ihre Gewässer in Blut, ließ ihre Fische darin sterben. 30Das Land wimmelte von Fröschen bis in den Palast ihres Königs. 31Auf seinen Befehl kam das Ungeziefer, Stechmücken über das ganze Gebiet. 32Er gab ihnen Hagel als Regen, Blitze flammten über das Land. 33Er ließ Trauben und Feigen verderben, zerbrach die Bäume in ihrem Gebiet. 34Er befahl: Da kamen Heuschreckenschwärme, und ihre Larven waren ohne Zahl. 35Sie fraßen alles Grün im Land, sie fraßen alle Felder kahl. 36Er erschlug alle Erstgeburt in ihrem Land, die Ersten ihrer Manneskraft. 37Dann führte er sie heraus, beladen mit Silber und Gold, kein Gebrechlicher fand sich in all ihren Stämmen. 38Ägypten war froh, als sie zogen, denn die Angst vor ihnen hatte sie gepackt. 39Er breitete eine Wolke als Decke aus, ein Feuer, um die Nacht zu erleuchten. 40Sie forderten; da ließ er Wachteln kommen und sättigte sie mit Himmelsbrot. 41Er öffnete den Felsen; da floss Wasser heraus. Es lief wie ein Strom in die Wüste. 42Ja, er dachte an sein heiliges Wort und an seinen Diener Abraham. 43Er führte sein Volk in Freude heraus, in Jubel seine Erwählten. 44Er gab ihnen die Länder der Völker, sie erhielten den Ertrag fremder Arbeit, 45damit sie seinen Ordnungen folgten und seinen Weisungen gehorchten. Halleluja, preist Jahwe!
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 After an exhortation to praise God, addressed especially to the chosen people, the writer presents the special reason for praise, in a summary of their history from the calling of Abraham to their settlement in Canaan, and reminds them that their obedience was the end of all God's gracious dealings. (Psa. 105:1-45)
call . . . name-- (
Ps 79:6;
Rom 10:13). Call on Him, according to His historically manifested glory. After the example of Abraham, who, as often as God acquired for Himself a name in guiding him, called in solemn worship upon the name of the Lord (
Gen 12:8;
Gen 13:4).
among the people--or, "peoples" (
Ps 18:49).
deeds--or, "wonders" (
Ps 103:7).
3 Seeking God's favor is the only true mode of getting true happiness, and His strength [
Ps 105:4] is the only true source of protection (compare
Ps 32:11;
Ps 40:16).
Glory . . . name--boast in His perfections. The world glories in its horses and chariots against the Church of God lying in the dust; but our hope is in the name, that is, the power and love of God to His people, manifested in past deliverances.
5 judgments . . . mouth--His judicial decisions for the good and against the wicked.
6 chosen--rather qualifies "children" than "Jacob," as a plural.
7 Rather, "He, Jehovah, is our God." His title, "JEHOVAH," implies that He, the unchangeable, self-existing Being, makes things to be, that is, fulfils His promises, and therefore will not forsake His people. Though specially of His people, He is God over all.
8 The covenant was often ratified.
word--answering to "covenant" [
Ps 105:9] in the parallel clause, namely, the word of promise, which, according to
Ps 105:10, He set forth for an inviolable law.
commanded--or, "ordained" (
Ps 68:28).
to a thousand generations--perpetually. A verbal allusion to
Deut 7:9 (compare
Exod 20:6).
9 Which covenant--or, "Word" (
Ps 105:8).
10 Alluding to God's promise to Jacob (
Gen 28:13). Out of the whole storehouse of the promises of God, only one is prominently brought forward, namely, that concerning the possession of Canaan [
Ps 105:11]. Everything revolves around this. The wonders and judgments have all for their ultimate design the fulfilment of this promise.
12 few . . . in number--alluding to Jacob's words (
Gen 34:30), "I being few in number."
yea, very few--literally, "as a few," that is, like fewness itself (compare
Isa 1:9).
strangers--sojourners in the land of their future inheritance, as in a strange country (
Heb 11:9).
13 from one nation to another--and so from danger to danger; now in Egypt, now in the wilderness, and lastly in Canaan. Though a few strangers, wandering among various nations, God protected them.
14 reproved kings--Pharaoh of Egypt and Abimelech of Gerar (
Gen 12:17;
Gen 20:3).
15 Touch not--referring to
Gen 26:11, where Abimelech says of Isaac, "He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
mine anointed--as specially consecrated to Me (
Ps 2:2). The patriarch was the prophet, priest, and king of his family.
my prophets--in a similar sense, compare
Gen 20:7. The "anointed" are those vessels of God, consecrated to His service, "in whom (as Pharaoh said of Joseph,
Gen 41:38) the Spirit of God is" [HENGSTENBERG].
16 God ordered the famine. God
called for a famine--as if it were a servant, ready to come at God's bidding. Compare the centurion's words, as to disease being God's servant (
Matt 8:8-
Matt 8:9).
upon the land--namely, Canaan (
Gen 41:54).
staff of bread--what supports life (
Lev 26:26;
Ps 104:15;
Isa 3:1).
17 Joseph was sent of God (
Gen 45:5).
18 hurt with fetters-- (
Gen 40:3).
was laid in iron--literally, "his soul" (see on
Ps 16:10), or, "he came into iron," or, he was bound to his grief (compare
Ps 3:2;
Ps 11:1). The "soul" is put for the whole person, because the soul of the captive suffers still more than the body. Joseph is referred to as being an appropriate type of those "bound in affliction and iron" (
Ps 107:10).
19 his word came--His prophecy (
Gen 41:11-
Gen 41:20) to the officers came to pass, or was fulfilled (
Judg 13:12,
Judg 13:17;
1Sam 9:6, explain the form of speech).
the word of the Lord--or, "saying," or "decree of the Lord."
tried him--or, "proved him," by the afflictions it appointed him to endure before his elevation (compare
Gen 41:40-
Gen 41:43).
22 To bind--Not literally bind; but exercise over them absolute control, as the parallel in the second clause shows; also
Gen 41:40,
Gen 41:44, in which not literal fettering, but commanding obedience, is spoken of. It refers to
Ps 105:18. The soul that was once bound itself now binds others, even princes. The same moral binding is assigned to the saints (
Ps 149:8).
teach . . . senators wisdom--the ground of his exaltation by Pharaoh was his wisdom (
Gen 41:39); namely, in state policy, and ordering well a kingdom.
23 Israel . . . and Jacob--that is, Jacob himself is meant, as
Ps 105:24 speaks of "his people." Still, he came with his whole house (
Gen 46:6-
Gen 46:7).
sojourned-- (
Gen 47:4).
land of Ham--or, Egypt (
Ps 78:51).
25 turned their heart--God controls men's free acts (compare
1Sam 10:9). "When Saul had turned his back to go from (God's prophet) Samuel, God turned (Margin) him another heart" (see
Exod 1:8, &c.). Whatever evil the wicked man plots against God's people, God holds bound even his heart, so as not to lay a single plan except what God permits. Thus Isaiah (
Isa 43:17) says it was God who brought forth the army of Pharaoh to pursue Israel to their own destruction (
Exod 4:21;
Exod 7:3).
26 Moses . . . chosen--both what they were by divine choice (
Ps 78:70).
27 signs--literally, "words of signs," or rather, as "words" in Hebrew means "things," "things of His signs," that is, His marvellous tokens of power (
Ps 145:5, Margin). Compare the same Hebraism (
Ps 65:3, Margin).
28 The ninth plague is made prominent as peculiarly wonderful.
they rebelled not--Moses and Aaron promptly obeyed God (
Heb 11:27); (compare Exo. 7:1-11:10 and
Ps 78:44-
Ps 78:51, with which this summary substantially agrees). Or, rather, the "darkness" here is figurative (
Jer 13:16), the literal plague of darkness (
Exod 10:22-
Exod 10:23) being only alluded to as the symbol of God's wrath which overhung Egypt as a dark cloud during all the plagues. Hence, it is placed first, out of the historical order. Thus, "They rebelled not (that is, no longer) against His word," refers to the Egyptians. Whenever God sent a plague on them, they were ready to let Israel go, though refusing when the plague ceased.
his word--His command to let Israel go [HENGSTENBERG]. Of the ten plagues, only eight are mentioned, the fifth, the murrain of beasts, and the sixth, the boils, being omitted.
29 He deprived them of their favorite "fish," and gave them instead, [
Ps 105:30] out of the water, loathsome "frogs," and (
Ps 105:31) upon their land tormenting "flies" (the dog-fly, according to MAURER) and "lice" (gnats, according to HENGSTENBERG).
32 gave them--referring to
Lev 26:4, "I give you rain in due season." His "gift" to Israel's foes is one of a very different kind from that bestowed on His people.
hail for rain--instead of fertilizing showers, hail destructive to trees. This forms the transition to the vegetable kingdom. The locusts in
Ps 105:34 similarly are destructive to plants.
33 their coasts--all their land (
Ps 78:54).
34 caterpillars--literally, "the lickers up," devouring insects; probably the hairy-winged locust.
36 the chief--literally, "the firstlings." The ascending climax passes from the food of man to man himself. The language here is quoted from
Ps 78:51.
37 with silver and gold--presented them by the Egyptians, as an acknowledgment due for their labors in their bondage (compare
Exod 12:35).
one feeble person--or, "stumbler," unfit for the line of march. Compare "harnessed," that is, accoutred and marshalled as an army on march (
Exod 13:18;
Isa 5:27).
38 (Compare
Exod 12:33;
Deut 11:25).
39 covering--in sense of protection (compare
Exod 13:21;
Num 10:34). In the burning sands of the desert the cloud protected the congregation from the heat of the sun; an emblem of God's protecting favor of His people, as interpreted by Isaiah (
Isa 4:5-
Isa 4:6; compare
Num 9:16).
42 The reasons for these dealings: (1) God's faithfulness to His covenant, "His holy promise" of Canaan, is the fountain whence flowed so many acts of marvellous kindness to His people (compare
Ps 105:8,
Ps 105:11).
Exod 2:24 is the fundamental passage [HENGSTENBERG]. (2) That they might be obedient. The observance of God's commands by Abraham was the object of the covenant with him (
Gen 18:19), as it was also the object of the covenant with Israel, that they might observe God's statutes.
remembered . . . and Abraham--or, "remembered His holy word (that is, covenant confirmed) with Abraham."
44 inherited the labour--that is, the fruits of their labor; their corn and vineyards (
Josh 21:43-
Josh 21:45).