Psalms 105:23(v51)Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham.
Psalms 106:22(v51)wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Red Sea.
Psalms 135:8(v51)He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal.
Psalms 105:36(v51)He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood.
Psalms 136:10(v51)to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Show all 34 cross-references
Ezekiel 7:4(v50)My eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations will be among you. Then you…
Exodus 13:15(v51)When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, Yahweh killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the…
2 Peter 2:4-5(v50)For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for…
Genesis 49:3(v51)“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.
Exodus 12:12(v51)For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will…
Exodus 12:13(v49)The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you…
Exodus 12:29-30(v51)At midnight, Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of…
Exodus 15:7(v49)In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
2 Samuel 24:16(v49)When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed…
1 Kings 22:21-22(v49)A spirit came out and stood before Yahweh, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a…
Psalms 11:6(v49)On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
Lamentations 4:11(v49)Yahweh has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.
Ezekiel 8:18(v50)Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will…
Ezekiel 9:10(v50)As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
Romans 8:32(v50)He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
Genesis 9:22-25(v51)Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it…
Genesis 10:6(v51)The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
Exodus 9:3-6(v50)behold, Yahweh’s hand is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the…
Job 1:12(v49)Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the…
Job 2:6-7(v49)Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with…
Job 20:23(v49)When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
Job 27:22(v50)For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand.
Psalms 105:27(v51)They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.
Isaiah 42:25(v49)Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It…
Ezekiel 5:11(v50)Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all…
Ezekiel 7:9(v50)My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will…
Zephaniah 3:8(v49)“Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may…
Romans 2:8-9(v49)but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, oppression, and anguish…
Hebrews 11:28(v51)By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn v5050. He made a way to his anger. To…
50. He made a way to his anger. To take away all excuse from this ungrateful people, whom the most evident and striking proofs of the goodness of God which were presented before their eyes could not keep in their obedience to him, it is here again repeated that the wrath of God overflowed Egypt like an impetuous torrent. The miracle adverted to is the last which was there wrought, when God, by the powerful hand of his angel, slew, in one night, all the first-born of Egypt. According to a common and familiar mode of speaking in the Hebrew language, the first-born are called the beginning, or the first-fruits of strength. Although the old advance to death as they decline in years, yet as they are in a manner renewed in their offspring, and thus may be said to recover their decayed strength, the term strength is applied to their children. And the first-born are called the beginning or the first-fruits of this strength, as I have explained more at large on Genesis 49:3. The houses of Egypt are called the tents of Ham, because Misraim, who gave the name to the country, was the son of Ham, Genesis 10:6. Farther, there is here celebrated the free love of God towards the posterity of Shem, as manifested in his preferring them to all the children of Ham, although they were possessed of no intrinsic excellence which might render them worthy of such a distinction.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv49, 51So called either of the effect, that is, of…
So called either of the effect, that is, of punishing the wicked: or else because they were wicked spirits, whom God permitted to vex men.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv49–51Psa 78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of…
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.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv49–51Indignation and trouble; other most grievous plagues, which were…
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 God’s 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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv49–51He made a way to his anger,.... Or, "for"…
He made a way to his anger,.... Or, "for" it, so that nothing could obstruct it, or hinder the execution of it; or "he weighed a path for his anger" (m); he weighed it in the balance of justice, and proportioned his anger to their crimes, and punished them according to their just deserts:
he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; which some understand of their cattle, and of the murrain that came upon them, by which they were destroyed, and which was the fifth plague of Egypt, Exo 9:3, so the Targum,
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"their beasts he delivered unto death;''
but Aben Ezra interprets it of the slaughter of the firstborn, expressed in the following verse; and so others.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv49, 51Evil angels - Whom God employed in producing these…
Evil angels - Whom God employed in producing these plagues.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn v49Verse 49. By sending evil angels] This is the…
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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv49–50Psa 78:49. He cast upon them the fierceness of…
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, משׁלחת, 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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv49–51He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger…
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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv49, 5149, 50. Evil angels—That is, good angels as the…
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.
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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.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv49–5149. He cast upon them the fierceness of his…
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.
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49–51. The culmination of the plagues in the death of the firstborn.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv49–50(49) Evil angels.—So LXX. and Vulg., but in the…
(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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv49–51He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,…
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble. "The accumulation of terms signifying Divine wrath is designed to set forth the dreadful nature of this last judgment" (Hengstenberg) the death of the firstborn. By sending evil angels among them. Most modern critics regard this clause as in apposition with the preceding one, and consider the "wrath, indignation, and trouble" to be themselves the "evil angels" spoken of. Some, however, as Hengstenberg and Kay, interpret the passage of spiritual beings not, however, of spirits of evil, who are never said to be ministers of God"s wrath, but of good angels, who on this occasion were "ministers of woe."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv49–51Ver. 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of…
Ver. 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble. His last arrow was the sharpest. He reserved the strong wine of his indignation to the last. Note how the psalmist piles up the words, and well he might; for blow followed blow, each one more staggering than its predecessor, and then the crushing stroke was reserved for the end.
By sending evil angels among them. Messengers of evil entered their houses at midnight, and smote the dearest objects of their love. The angels were evil to them, though good enough in themselves; those who to the heirs of salvation are ministers of grace, are to the heirs of wrath executioners of judgment. When God sends angels, they are sure to come, and if he bids them slay they will not spare. See how sin sets all the powers of heaven in array against man; he has no friend left in the universe when God is his enemy.
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Ver. 49. By sending evil angels. Evils come uncalled, but not unsent. Are they nor here called angels? they are sent; the word angel means a messenger. Not things only without life, but not living creatures neither, brute, nor men, nor Satan's self can hurt unless God bid. The three days' darkness in Egypt, how came it? "He sent darkness, "saith David. Ps 105:28. So the hail, thunder, and lightning, the Lord sent them, saith Moses. The frogs, flies, lice, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, that infected Egypt, and the lions that slew the idolaters in Samaria (2Ki 17:1-41), the text saith of them all, Dominus immisit, the Lord sent them. And for men"Am I come" (saith Rabshakeh) "without the Lord?" He bade me go. Yea, the devil, the arch evil angel, who seeks to devour, yet must be sent ere he can do ought. The lying spirit in the mouths of the false prophets longed to seduce Ahab; God must first bid; Egredere, go forth, and do so. The use of this is easy without my help: not to fear, doing well; not man, fiend, any creature, can hurt you, God not sending them. But sinning, to fear everything. The weakest creature can quell the mightiest man, if God bid, go. A mouse (saith the poet) will bite a wicked man. Be it proud Herod, great Antiochus; if God but ask the creatures, Quem mittam, which of you shall I send? the worm will answer, Ecce me, send me; I will devour him. And such poor, silly, despicable creatures are some of these evil angels in my text. He sent: what sent he? evil angels, the next thing in this Scripture.
Evil angels? Par dispar, a pair of words which seem not well matched. The latter may say to the former, Quid mihi et tibi, what have I to do with thee? Angels were the best and holiest of God's creatures. They all were good, very good, Moses saith; but angels kat exochn, excellently good. Then is evil here an evil epithet for angels. And is never read but here, and here (some think) not well translated. But the phrase of evil angels hath other meaning here: evil angels, i.e., the angels, i.e., the messengers of evil. It is in the Hebrew, not (Mykalm), but (ykalm); insomuch that some expositors think the psalmist means the words of Moses and Aaron; that they were sent from God to be the messengers of evil, i.e., all of the plagues that God would bring on Egypt. That sense I censure not, but follow not. The Greek Fathers have anotherthat by the evil angels, are meant the evil spirits. Christ calls them angels too, thee devil's angels. Augustine likes not that sense. The most current exposition is as a Jewish writer speaks: the "evil angels" are the ten several plagues. Richard Clerke. (1634.)
Ver. 49. By sending evil angels among them. That the devil and his angels are so very evil, that for them everlasting fire is prepared, no believer is ignorant: but that there should be sent by means of them an infliction from the Lord God upon certain whom he judgeth to be deserving of this punishment, seemeth to be a hard thing to those who are little prone to consider how the perfect justice of God doth use well even evil things. For these indeed, as far as regardeth their substance, what other person but himself hath made? But evil he hath not made them; yet he doth use them, inasmuch as he is good, conveniently and justly; just as on the other hand unrighteous men do use his good creatures in evil manner: God therefore doth use evil angels not only to punish evil men, as in the case of all those concerning whom the Psalm doth speak, as in the case of king Ahab, whom a spirit of lying by the will of God did beguile, in order that he might fall in war; but also to prove and make manifest good men, as he did in the case of Job. Augustine.
None.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v51And smote all the firstborn in Egypt;. . .…
Psa_78:51-52
And smote all the firstborn in Egypt;. . . but made His own people to go forth like sheep.
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Gods dealings with Egypt and Israel
I. The punishment of egypt. Egypt, through its kings, had become the determined adversary of God. Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice? was the challenge flung down by Pharaoh in defiance; and the Lord, who is a man of war, was not slow to accept it. Let us learn from this that, when God comes to try conclusions between Himself and His enemies, He may allow a certain time to elapse before He overthrows them, He may for a while smite gently, and so give opportunities for repentance; but if they be not accepted, we may depend upon it that God is not playing with sinners. In the case of Pharaoh, it was his own chickens that came home to roost; his sins brought their own punishment. He had slain many of the children of Israel, and God had, in effect, said to him, Israel is my firstborn; let my people go; and as he would not let Gods first-born go Gods stroke of judgment came upon his firstborn. This is, perhaps, the most dreadful truth about future retribution that a man will see his own sin in his suffering just as he sees his face in a glass. There is no escape from Gods judgment and no recovery from His blows.
II. The salvation of Israel (Psa_78:52).
1. God has His people to this day. Their distinguishing mark is faith.
2. God brings these people out from among all others. He brought Israel up out of Egypt; and if you are one of His people, He will fetch you out of the world. God did not drive His people out of Egypt, but He led them; they came willingly and gladly, for Egypt had become a place of misery to them. So does the world become, with all its sinful pleasures; its fine glories turn to emptiness and vanity to the true child of God, and God fetches him out of it all.
3. The Lord not only brings His people away from others, but He brings them to Himself: He made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock, He Himself going before them through the desert way like a shepherd, O poor wandering souls, come to God through Jesus Christ His Son, follow where He leads, and walk ever in His way!
4. Further, in bringing sinners to Himself, God will also bring them to one another. He made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He does not say that they should be like a solitary dog that comes at his masters whistle, but like a flock of sheep that move together in one direction. It is one of the marks of Gods people that they love each other; He leads them forth like a flock of sheep, He brings them into union with one another: gives them happy fellowship in His Church, and so guides them to heaven.
5. The Lord brings His people out from the world, and brings them to Himself, and to fellowship with one another, and then He guides them to a place of rest, even as He led Israel into Canaan. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v50General Information:
General Information:
The writer continues to describe what God did to the Egyptians.
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He leveled a path for his anger
The psalmist speaks of anger as if it were a person who could walk Yahweh getting ready to punish the people as if he were making a smooth road for a person to walk on. AT: "He was so angry that he did everything he could to harm them" or "It was as if his anger was an army and he made a smooth road for it to march on" (See: Metaphor and Personification)
he did not spare them from death
"he did not keep the Egyptians from dying" or "he did not permit the Egyptians to live"
gave them over to the plague
Asaph speaks of the plague as if it were a person who was going to harm the Egyptians. AT: "he made them all very ill with the plague" (See: Metaphor and Personification)
the firstborn of their strength
This phrase refers to the firstborn males of each family. AT: "the firstborn males" (See: Idiom)
in the tents of Ham
Here the word "tents" is a metonym for families. The word "Ham" refers to Egypt by the name of their ancestor. AT: "among the families of Egypt" (See: Metonymy)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v50 50. He made a way to his anger. To…
50. He made a way to his anger. To take away all excuse from this ungrateful people, whom the most evident and striking proofs of the goodness of God which were presented before their eyes could not keep in their obedience to him, it is here again repeated that the wrath of God overflowed Egypt like an impetuous torrent. The miracle adverted to is the last which was there wrought, when God, by the powerful hand of his angel, slew, in one night, all the first-born of Egypt. According to a common and familiar mode of speaking in the Hebrew language, the first-born are called the beginning, or the first-fruits of strength. Although the old advance to death as they decline in years, yet as they are in a manner renewed in their offspring, and thus may be said to recover their decayed strength, the term strength is applied to their children. And the first-born are called the beginning or the first-fruits of this strength, as I have explained more at large on Genesis 49:3. The houses of Egypt are called the tents of Ham, because Misraim, who gave the name to the country, was the son of Ham, Genesis 10:6. Farther, there is here celebrated the free love of God towards the posterity of Shem, as manifested in his preferring them to all the children of Ham, although they were possessed of no intrinsic excellence which might render them worthy of such a distinction.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv49, 51 So called either of the effect, that is, of…
So called either of the effect, that is, of punishing the wicked: or else because they were wicked spirits, whom God permitted to vex men.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv49–51 Psa 78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of…
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.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv49–51 Indignation and trouble; other most grievous plagues, which were…
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 God’s 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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv49–51 He made a way to his anger,.... Or, "for"…
He made a way to his anger,.... Or, "for" it, so that nothing could obstruct it, or hinder the execution of it; or "he weighed a path for his anger" (m); he weighed it in the balance of justice, and proportioned his anger to their crimes, and punished them according to their just deserts:
he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; which some understand of their cattle, and of the murrain that came upon them, by which they were destroyed, and which was the fifth plague of Egypt, Exo 9:3, so the Targum,
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"their beasts he delivered unto death;''
but Aben Ezra interprets it of the slaughter of the firstborn, expressed in the following verse; and so others.
(m) "ponderavit semitam furori suo", Pagninus, Vatablus; "libravit semitam irae suae", Tigurine version; "iter ad iram suam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv49, 51 Evil angels - Whom God employed in producing these…
Evil angels - Whom God employed in producing these plagues.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v49 Verse 49. By sending evil angels] This is the…
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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv49–50 Psa 78:49. He cast upon them the fierceness of…
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, משׁלחת, 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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv49–51 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger…
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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv49, 51 49, 50. Evil angels—That is, good angels as the…
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.
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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.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv49–51 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his…
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.
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49–51. The culmination of the plagues in the death of the firstborn.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv49–50 (49) Evil angels.—So LXX. and Vulg., but in the…
(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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv49–51 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,…
He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble. "The accumulation of terms signifying Divine wrath is designed to set forth the dreadful nature of this last judgment" (Hengstenberg) the death of the firstborn. By sending evil angels among them. Most modern critics regard this clause as in apposition with the preceding one, and consider the "wrath, indignation, and trouble" to be themselves the "evil angels" spoken of. Some, however, as Hengstenberg and Kay, interpret the passage of spiritual beings not, however, of spirits of evil, who are never said to be ministers of God"s wrath, but of good angels, who on this occasion were "ministers of woe."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv49–51 Ver. 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of…
Ver. 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble. His last arrow was the sharpest. He reserved the strong wine of his indignation to the last. Note how the psalmist piles up the words, and well he might; for blow followed blow, each one more staggering than its predecessor, and then the crushing stroke was reserved for the end.
By sending evil angels among them. Messengers of evil entered their houses at midnight, and smote the dearest objects of their love. The angels were evil to them, though good enough in themselves; those who to the heirs of salvation are ministers of grace, are to the heirs of wrath executioners of judgment. When God sends angels, they are sure to come, and if he bids them slay they will not spare. See how sin sets all the powers of heaven in array against man; he has no friend left in the universe when God is his enemy.
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Ver. 49. By sending evil angels. Evils come uncalled, but not unsent. Are they nor here called angels? they are sent; the word angel means a messenger. Not things only without life, but not living creatures neither, brute, nor men, nor Satan's self can hurt unless God bid. The three days' darkness in Egypt, how came it? "He sent darkness, "saith David. Ps 105:28. So the hail, thunder, and lightning, the Lord sent them, saith Moses. The frogs, flies, lice, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, that infected Egypt, and the lions that slew the idolaters in Samaria (2Ki 17:1-41), the text saith of them all, Dominus immisit, the Lord sent them. And for men"Am I come" (saith Rabshakeh) "without the Lord?" He bade me go. Yea, the devil, the arch evil angel, who seeks to devour, yet must be sent ere he can do ought. The lying spirit in the mouths of the false prophets longed to seduce Ahab; God must first bid; Egredere, go forth, and do so. The use of this is easy without my help: not to fear, doing well; not man, fiend, any creature, can hurt you, God not sending them. But sinning, to fear everything. The weakest creature can quell the mightiest man, if God bid, go. A mouse (saith the poet) will bite a wicked man. Be it proud Herod, great Antiochus; if God but ask the creatures, Quem mittam, which of you shall I send? the worm will answer, Ecce me, send me; I will devour him. And such poor, silly, despicable creatures are some of these evil angels in my text. He sent: what sent he? evil angels, the next thing in this Scripture.
Evil angels? Par dispar, a pair of words which seem not well matched. The latter may say to the former, Quid mihi et tibi, what have I to do with thee? Angels were the best and holiest of God's creatures. They all were good, very good, Moses saith; but angels kat exochn, excellently good. Then is evil here an evil epithet for angels. And is never read but here, and here (some think) not well translated. But the phrase of evil angels hath other meaning here: evil angels, i.e., the angels, i.e., the messengers of evil. It is in the Hebrew, not (Mykalm), but (ykalm); insomuch that some expositors think the psalmist means the words of Moses and Aaron; that they were sent from God to be the messengers of evil, i.e., all of the plagues that God would bring on Egypt. That sense I censure not, but follow not. The Greek Fathers have anotherthat by the evil angels, are meant the evil spirits. Christ calls them angels too, thee devil's angels. Augustine likes not that sense. The most current exposition is as a Jewish writer speaks: the "evil angels" are the ten several plagues. Richard Clerke. (1634.)
Ver. 49. By sending evil angels among them. That the devil and his angels are so very evil, that for them everlasting fire is prepared, no believer is ignorant: but that there should be sent by means of them an infliction from the Lord God upon certain whom he judgeth to be deserving of this punishment, seemeth to be a hard thing to those who are little prone to consider how the perfect justice of God doth use well even evil things. For these indeed, as far as regardeth their substance, what other person but himself hath made? But evil he hath not made them; yet he doth use them, inasmuch as he is good, conveniently and justly; just as on the other hand unrighteous men do use his good creatures in evil manner: God therefore doth use evil angels not only to punish evil men, as in the case of all those concerning whom the Psalm doth speak, as in the case of king Ahab, whom a spirit of lying by the will of God did beguile, in order that he might fall in war; but also to prove and make manifest good men, as he did in the case of Job. Augustine.
None.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt;. . .…
Psa_78:51-52
And smote all the firstborn in Egypt;. . . but made His own people to go forth like sheep.
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Gods dealings with Egypt and Israel
I. The punishment of egypt. Egypt, through its kings, had become the determined adversary of God. Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice? was the challenge flung down by Pharaoh in defiance; and the Lord, who is a man of war, was not slow to accept it. Let us learn from this that, when God comes to try conclusions between Himself and His enemies, He may allow a certain time to elapse before He overthrows them, He may for a while smite gently, and so give opportunities for repentance; but if they be not accepted, we may depend upon it that God is not playing with sinners. In the case of Pharaoh, it was his own chickens that came home to roost; his sins brought their own punishment. He had slain many of the children of Israel, and God had, in effect, said to him, Israel is my firstborn; let my people go; and as he would not let Gods first-born go Gods stroke of judgment came upon his firstborn. This is, perhaps, the most dreadful truth about future retribution that a man will see his own sin in his suffering just as he sees his face in a glass. There is no escape from Gods judgment and no recovery from His blows.
II. The salvation of Israel (Psa_78:52).
1. God has His people to this day. Their distinguishing mark is faith.
2. God brings these people out from among all others. He brought Israel up out of Egypt; and if you are one of His people, He will fetch you out of the world. God did not drive His people out of Egypt, but He led them; they came willingly and gladly, for Egypt had become a place of misery to them. So does the world become, with all its sinful pleasures; its fine glories turn to emptiness and vanity to the true child of God, and God fetches him out of it all.
3. The Lord not only brings His people away from others, but He brings them to Himself: He made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock, He Himself going before them through the desert way like a shepherd, O poor wandering souls, come to God through Jesus Christ His Son, follow where He leads, and walk ever in His way!
4. Further, in bringing sinners to Himself, God will also bring them to one another. He made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He does not say that they should be like a solitary dog that comes at his masters whistle, but like a flock of sheep that move together in one direction. It is one of the marks of Gods people that they love each other; He leads them forth like a flock of sheep, He brings them into union with one another: gives them happy fellowship in His Church, and so guides them to heaven.
5. The Lord brings His people out from the world, and brings them to Himself, and to fellowship with one another, and then He guides them to a place of rest, even as He led Israel into Canaan. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v50 General Information:
General Information:
The writer continues to describe what God did to the Egyptians.
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He leveled a path for his anger
The psalmist speaks of anger as if it were a person who could walk Yahweh getting ready to punish the people as if he were making a smooth road for a person to walk on. AT: "He was so angry that he did everything he could to harm them" or "It was as if his anger was an army and he made a smooth road for it to march on" (See: Metaphor and Personification)
he did not spare them from death
"he did not keep the Egyptians from dying" or "he did not permit the Egyptians to live"
gave them over to the plague
Asaph speaks of the plague as if it were a person who was going to harm the Egyptians. AT: "he made them all very ill with the plague" (See: Metaphor and Personification)
the firstborn of their strength
This phrase refers to the firstborn males of each family. AT: "the firstborn males" (See: Idiom)
in the tents of Ham
Here the word "tents" is a metonym for families. The word "Ham" refers to Egypt by the name of their ancestor. AT: "among the families of Egypt" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
die
plague
firstborn
strength
tent
Ham
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.