Psalms 33:19

Psa 33:19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

Ver. 19. To deliver their soul] Freedom from troubles he promiseth not; but deliverance in due time he assureth them; and support in the mean while, to keep them alive in famine.

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.

19. (Psa 33:19) To deliver from death their soul, and to keep them alive in the famine. The sentence is continued from the foregoing verse. His eye is towards them for the very purpose of interposing when he sees it to be necessary, for the rescue of their soul, their life, from death in general, to which is added one specific form of danger well known to the ancient Hebrews. The famine is a similar expression to the king in Psa 33:16, and to our common phrase the pestilence, when used in a generic sense, and not in reference to any particular disease or visitation.

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

Verse 19. To deliver their soul frown death] To watch over and protect them in all sudden dangers and emergencies, so that they shall not lose their LIVES by any accident.

And to keep them alive in famine.] Not only prevent sudden death by an instantaneous interposition of my power, but keep them from a lingering death, by extraordinary supplies granted them in an extraordinary manner; because I am all in all, and all everywhere.

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

Again, when it is affirmed, that God, in times of famine and dearth, has remedies in readiness to preserve the lives of the godly, we are taught that the faithful only pay due honor to his providence when they allow not their hearts to despond in the extremest indigence; but, on the contrary, raise their hopes even from the grave. God often suffers his servants to be hungry for a time that he may afterwards satiate them, and he overspreads them with the darkness of death that he may afterwards restore them to the light of life. Yea, we only begin to place our trust firmly in him when death comes to present itself before our eyes; for, until we have known by experience the vanity of the aids of the world, our affections continue entangled in them, and wedded to them. The Psalmist characterises believers by two marks, which comprehend the whole perfection of our life. The first is, that we reverently serve the Lord; and the second, that we depend upon his grace. Hypocrites may loudly boast of their faith, but they have never tasted even a little of the divine goodness, so as to be induced to look to him for what they need. On the contrary, when the faithful give themselves with their whole heart to the service and fear of God, this affection springs from faith; or rather the principal part of right worship, which the faithful render to God, consists in this, that they depend upon his mercy.

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.

19. death] Violent death by war or pestilence is meant, as the parallel line shews. Famine was a common scourge in Palestine (Psa_37:19).

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.

To deliver their soul from death,.... Not a corporeal death, for the soul dies not, and is never in any danger of death; and should life, or the whole man, be intended here, yet those that fear the Lord, and hope in his mercy, are not exempted and secured from a corporeal death, but die as other men; though sometimes indeed they are remarkably preserved from death, and even in a time of general calamity; but a spiritual death is meant, which, while in a state of nature, they are under; but, being quickened at conversion, they live spiritually, and are preserved from dying any more in this sense; and also from an eternal death, which shall never harm them, nor have any power over them;

and to keep them alive in famine; not corporeal, though the Lord does give meat to them that fear him, and sometimes in a miraculous way provides for them; as by sending ravens to feed them, and by increasing the cruse of oil; see Isa 41:17; but spiritual, a famine of hearing the word of the Lord; the Lord prepares a place for his church and people in the wilderness, where they are privately nourished with the word and ordinances, and their souls kept alive, Rev 12:6.

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

To deliver their soul from death - To preserve their “lives,” - for so the word “soul” is to be understood here. The meaning is, to keep them alive. That is, God is their Protector; He guards and defends them when in danger.

And to keep them alive in famine - In times of want. Compare Job 5:20. He can provide for them when the harvests fail. Famine was one of the evils to which the inhabitants of Palestine, and of Oriental countries generally, were particularly exposed, and it is often referred to in the Scriptures.

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

Their soul, i.e. their life, when he sees it to be expedient for them: sometimes it is better for them to die than to live, as both good and bad men have declared; and when it is so, it is known to God, but not to us. And therefore the constant accomplishment of this and the like promises in a literal sense is not to be expected, nor simply desired, but with submission to God’s wise and gracious will.

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

Ver. 19. To deliver their soul from death. The Lord's hand goes with his eye; he sovereignly preserves those whom he graciously observes. Rescues and restorations hedge about the lives of the saints; death cannot touch them till the King signs his warrant and gives him leave, and even then his touch is not so much mortal as immortal; he doth not so much kill us as kill our mortality. And to keep them alive in famine. Gaunt famine knows its master. God has meal and oil for his Elijahs somewhere. "Verily thou shalt be fed" is a divine provision for the man of faith. The Preserver of men will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. Power in human hands is outmatched by famine, but God is good at a pinch, and proves his bounty under the most straitened circumstances. Believer, wait upon thy God in temporals. His eye is upon thee, and his hand will not long delay.

Ver. 19. Life in famine, natural and spiritual, especially a famine of inward hope and legal satisfaction.

Psalms 33:20*

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

To deliver their soul from death. The protection and deliverance, which a man"s own strength cannot give, which no host, however numerous, can afford (ver. 16), which are not to be obtained from the largest chariot or cavalry force (ver. 17), can he and will be furnished freely by God, who alone keeps souls from death, and "delivers" those who are in peril. And to keep them alive in famine. Famine was a calamity from which Palestine often suffered. (see Gen_12:10 Gen_26:1 Gen_42:5 Rth_1:1 2Sa_21:1 1Ki_18:5 2Ki_8:1, etc.) The righteous were sometimes "kept alive" through a time of famine by miraculous means. (1Ki_17:6, 1Ki_17:16)

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