Psalms 104:7

Psa 104:7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.

Ver. 7. At thy rebuke they fled] At thy word of command and angry countenance, overawing that raging and ranging creature: so Christ rebuked the winds and waves.

They hasted away] They ran away headlong, as for life.

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.

7. (Psa 104:7) At thy rebuke they flee, at the voice of thy thunder they hasten away. The same power that produced the deluge put an end to it. The verbs agree with waters in ver. 6 (Psa 104:6). The divine command that they should cease or disappear is poetically spoken of as a rebuke. See above, on Psa 18:15; Psa 76:6, and compare Isa 1:2. The Hebrew particle means from, denoting both the time and cause of the effect described. The last verb is a passive meaning strictly to be panic-struck, or to flee in consequence of being panic-struck. See above, on Psa 31:22; Psa 48:5. The voice of thy thunder may be literally understood to mean the sound of thunder, or according to a well-known Hebrew idiom, thy voice of thunder, or thy thundering voice.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

104:7 The Lord created dry ground on day three of creation (Gen 1:9-13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. At thy rebuke they fled] When God separated the waters which were above the firmament from those below, and caused the dry land to appear. He commanded the separation to take place; and the waters, as if instinct with life, hastened to obey.

At the voice of thy thunder] It is very likely God employed the electric fluid as an agent in this separation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. At thy rebuke they flee,

At the voice of thy thunder they haste away,

7, 8. The graphic imperfects are continued, picturing the process of the separation of land and water.

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.

At thy rebuke they fled,.... The depths of water that covered the earth fled, went off apace, when Christ, the essential Word, gave the word of command that they should; saying, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so", Gen 1:9 and this being called a "rebuke", suggests as if there was something amiss, irregular and disorderly, and to be amended; as if these waters were not in their proper place.

At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away; ran off with great precipitancy; just as a servant, when his master puts on a stern countenance, and speaks to him in a thundering, menacing manner, hastes away from him to do his will and work. This is an instance of the mighty power of Christ; and by the same power he removed the waters of the deluge; when they covered the earth, and the tops of the highest hills; and rebuked the Red sea, and it became dry land; and drove back the waters of Jordan for the Israelites to pass through; and who also rebuked the sea of Galilee when his disciples were in distress: and with equal ease can he and does he remove the depth of sin and darkness from his people at conversion; rebukes Satan, and delivers out of his temptations, when he comes in like a flood; and rebukes the waters of affliction when they threaten to overwhelm; who are his servants, and come when he bids them come, and go when he bids them go.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

At thy rebuke they fled - At thy command; or when thou didst speak to them. The Hebrew word also implies the notion of “rebuke,” or “reproof,” as if there were some displeasure or dissatisfaction. Pro 13:1; Pro 17:10; Ecc 7:5; Isa 30:17; Psa 76:6. It is “as if” God had been displeased that the waters prevented the appearing or the rising of the dry land, and had commanded them to “hasten” to their beds and channels, and no longer to cover the earth. The allusion is to Gen 1:9, and there is nowhere to be found a more sublime expression than this. Even the command, “And God said, Let there be light; and there was light,” so much commended by Longinus as an instance of sublimity, does not surpass this in grandeur.

At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away - They fled in dismay. The Hebrew word - חפז châphaz - contains the idea of haste, trepidation, consternation, alarm, “as if” they were frightened; Psa 31:22. God spake in tones of thunder, and they fled. It is impossible to conceive anything more sublime than this.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

At thy rebuke; upon thy severe command, Gen 1:9; which he calls a rebuke, to imply that there was something in that state of things which might seem to need reproof and correction, even that confusion of earth and water together, which therefore God amended in his second day’s work.

They fled; they immediately went to the place which God had allotted to them. Of thy thunder; of thy sovereign command, which as they could not but hear, so they durst not disobey. He ascribes sense and reason to inanimate creatures by a figure called prosopopaeia.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 7. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. When the waters and vapours covered all, the Lord had but to speak and they disappeared at once. As though they had been intelligent agents the waves hurried to their appointed deeps and left the land to itself; then the mountains lifted their heads, the high lands rose from the main, and at length continents and islands, slopes and plains were left to form the habitable earth. The voice of the Lord effected this great marvel. Is not his word equal to every emergency? potent enough to work the greatest miracle? By that same word shall the waterfloods of trouble be restrained, and the raging billows of sin be rebuked: the day cometh when at the thunder of Jehovah's voice all the proud waters of evil shall utterly haste away. "O Lord, my God, thou art very great."

Ver. 7. At thy rebuke they fled. The famous description of Virgil comes to mind, who introduces Neptune as sternly rebuking the winds for daring without his consent to embroil earth and heaven, and raise such huge mountain-waves: then swifter than the word is spoken, he calms the swollen seas, scatters the gathered clouds, and brings back the sun. Lorinus.

Ver. 7. At the voice of thy that rider they hasted away, ran off with great precipitance: just as a servant, when his master puts on a stern countenance, and speaks to him in a thundering, menacing manner, hastens away from him to do his will and work. This is an instance of the mighty power of Christ; and by the same power he removed the waters of the deluge, when they covered the earth, and the tops of the highest hills; and rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry land; and drove back the waters of Jordan for the Israelites to pass through; and who also rebuked the Sea of Galilee when his disciples were in distress; and with equal ease can be and does he remove the depth of sin and darkness from his people at conversion; rebukes Satan, and delivers out of his temptations, when he comes in like a flood; and commands off the waters of affliction when they threaten to overwhelm; who are his servants, and come when he bids them come, and go when he bids them go. John Gill.

Ver. 7. At the voice of thy thunder. It is very likely God employed the electric fluid as an agent in this separation. Ingram Cobbin.

Ver. 7. They hasted away.

God said,

Be gathered now, ye waters under heaven

Into one place and let dry land appear.

Immediately the mountains huge appear

Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave

Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky:

So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low

Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,

Capacious bed of waters: Thither they

Hasted with glad precipitance, uprolled

As drops on dust conglobing from the dry:

Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,

For haste: such flight the great command impressed

On the swift floods: As armies at the call

Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)

Troop to their standard; so the watery throng,

Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,

If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,

Soft ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill;

But they, or under ground, or circuit wide

With serpent error wandering, found their way,

And on the washy ooze deep channels wore;

Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,

All but within those banks, where rivers now

Stream, and perpetual draw their tumid train,

The dry land, Earth; and the great receptacle

Of congregated waters, he called Seas:

And saw that it was good. John Milton.

Ver. 7. The power of the divine word in nature shows its power in other spheres.

Psalms 104:8*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. At thy rebuke they fled—There is a harshness in the words “rebuke,” voice of thy thunder, and in the terror implied in the terms “fled,” hasted away, as if they deemed that God was displeased at them, because, says Hengstenberg, “God is the enemy of disorder, and because the waters stood in an attitude of hostility to the realization of his purpose to manifest his glory on the earth.” This also favours the hypothesis that the condition of the earth’s surface was that of disorder and desolation, by reason of the undue prevalence of the waters of the ocean, which now give way to the present order of things. See the original fiat, Gen_1:9, and Compare Psa_106:9; Nah_1:4; Psa_18:15; Isa_50:2

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At thy rebuke they fled. It required only a few words from God (Gen_1:9) for the whole surface of the earth to be changed. The waters "fled they shifted their place removed from some portions of the earth"s surface, and "gathered themselves together" into others, allowing the dry land to appear. Elevations and depressions of the land must have at the same time occurred. At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. (comp. Job_40:9, "Hast thou an arm like God, or canst thou thunder with a voice like his? The voice of God, especially when he speaks in "rebuke," is as thunder.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rebuke - Upon thy command, Gen. i, 9. Fled - They immediately went to the place which God had allotted them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

From Your rebuke they fled When You said (Gen. 1:9): “Let the waters gather.” And from that voice they hastened away and gathered in the place that You founded for them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.