Psalms 48:7

Psa 48:7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

Ver. 7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish] i.e. Of the ocean, or of the Mediterranean Sea, Isa 2:16; Isa 23:1; Isa 23:6; Isa 23:10; Isa 23:14. The meaning is, Like as thou, O God, with thine east wind, that Euroclydon especially, which Pliny calleth Navigantium pestem (the mariner’s mischief), art wont to dash and drown the tallest ships at thy pleasure; so thou both canst and wilt deal by thy Church’s enemies. To whom, therefore, this text should be as those knuckles of a man’s hand were to Belshazzar, to write them their destiny; or as Daniel was to him, to read it unto them.

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.

Psa 48:7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish, &c. — Thou didst no less violently and suddenly destroy these raging enemies of Jerusalem, than sometimes thou destroyest the ships at sea with a fierce and vehement wind, such as the eastern winds were in those parts.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. (Psa 48:7). With an east wind thou wilt break ships of Tarshish. It is an interesting coincidence that such a disaster did befall the navy of Jehoshaphat himself. See 1Ki 22:49 (48), 2Ch 20:36-37. Some suppose this to be specifically meant in the case before us, while others understand it as a figurative description of God's sovereign control over all inferior agents. The east wind seems to be mentioned as the one most to be dreaded in the neighbouring seas. The trade to Tarshish and Ophir was almost the only maritime commerce known to the contemporary Hebrews. See 2Ch 9:21, and compare Isa 2:16; Isa 23:1; Isa 23:14; Isa 60:9.

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

48:7 The ships of Tarshish, built for long voyages, represent human accomplishment (see also 2 Chr 9:21; Isa 2:16). Their destruction might be the event mentioned in 1 Kgs 22:48.

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

That is, of Cilicia, or of the sea called Mediterranean.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

ships of Tarshish--as engaged in a distant and lucrative trade, the most valuable. The phrase may illustrate God's control over all material agencies, whether their literal destruction be meant or not.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish] Calmet thinks this may refer to the discomfiture of Cambyses, who came to destroy the land of Judea. "This is apparently," says he, "the same tempest which struck dismay into the land-forces of Cambyses, and wrecked his fleet which was on the coasts of the Mediterranean sea, opposite to his army near the port of Acco, or the Ptolemais; for Cambyses had his quarters at Ecbatana, at the foot of Mount Carmel; and his army was encamped in the valley of Jezreel." Ships of Tarshish he conjectures to have been large stout vessels, capable of making the voyage of Tarsus, in Cilicia.

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

7. By the east wind thou breakest in pieces the ships of Tarshish Commentators are divided in their view of this passage. But let us rest contented with the natural sense, which is simply this, that the enemies of the Church were overthrown and plunged into destruction, just as God by suddenly raising storms sinks the ships of Cilicia to the bottom of the sea. The Psalmist celebrates the power which God is accustomed to display in great and violent storms; and his language implies that it is not to be wondered at if God, who breaks by the violence of the winds the strongest ships, had also overthrown his enemies, who were inflated with the presumptuous confidence which they reposed in their own strength. By the sea of Tarshish the Hebrews mean the Mediterranean Sea, because of the country of Cilicia, which in ancient times was called Tarshish, as Josephus informs us, although in process of time this name came to be restricted to one city of the country. But as the chief part of the naval traffic of the Jews was with Cilicia, there is here attributed to that country by synecdoche what was common to other countries which were at a greater distance and less known.

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.

(7) Breakest.—It is natural at first sight to connect this verse immediately with the disaster which happened to the fleet of Jehoshaphat (1Ki_22:48-49; 2Ch_20:36). And that event may indeed have supplied the figure, but a figure for the dispersal of a land army. We may render:

With a blast from the east

Thou breakest (them as) Tarshish ships.

Or,

With a blast from the east

(Which) breaketh Tarshish ships (thou breakest them),

according as we take the verb, second person masculine, or third person feminine.

Shakespeare, in King John, compares the rout of an army to the dispersion of a fleet—

“So, by a roaring tempest on the flood,

A whole Armada of convicted sail

Is scattered and disjoined from fellowship.”

This is preferable to the suggestion that the seaboard tribes were in the alliance, whose break-up the psalm seems to commemorate, and that the sudden dispersion of their Armada ruined the enterprise. Tarshish ships, a common term for large merchantmen (comp. East Indiamen), from their use in the Tarshish trade, are here symbols of a powerful empire. Isaiah, in Isaiah 33, compares Assyria to a gallant ship. For the “east wind,” proverbially destructive and injurious, and so a ready weapon of chastisement in the Divine hand, see Job_27:21; Isa_27:8; and Eze_27:26, where its harm to shipping is especially mentioned.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. With an east wind

Thou shatterest ships of Tarshish.

As he gazes upon the wreck of the Assyrian enterprise, the poet apostrophises God with mingled awe and thankfulness. The language is plainly metaphorical. God’s might is irresistible. He shatters the stately ships of Tarshish with a sudden storm: with equal ease He annihilates the vast Assyrian army. Cp. Isa_14:24-27, noting the phrase, “I will break the Assyrian in my land.” For the metaphor comp. Eze_27:26, where the fall of Tyre is described as a wreck; and Isa_33:23, where Jerusalem in her extremity (or, according to some commentators, the Assyrian power) is represented as a disabled ship.

The east wind, notorious for its destructiveness, is often employed as a symbol of judgement (Job_27:21; Isa_27:8; Jer_18:17); and ships of Tarshish,—the largest vessels, such as were employed for the voyage to Tartessus in the S.W. of Spain (cp. ‘East Indiamen’)—were emblems of all that was strong and stately (Isa_2:16). The alternative rendering of R.V. marg., ‘As with the east wind that breaketh the ships of Tarshish,’ is grammatically possible, but less suitable.

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.

We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God,.... Jarchi interprets it, "we have waited for thy lovingkindness"; to see thy salvation; and some, as Ben Melech observes, explain it of hope and expectation; as if the sense was, "we have hoped for thy lovingkindness"; so the Syriac version renders it, and the word used has the signification of tarrying, Sa1 14:9. God has his set time to favour his Zion, and till that time comes it is right in them to be hoping, expecting, and waiting for it. The Chaldee paraphrase is, "we have esteemed thy goodness"; it being very excellent, exceeding valuable, and better than life itself; but other Jewish writers, as Menachem, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, render it as we do, "we have thought", &c. The lovingkindness of God towards his people in Christ is a very delightful and profitable subject to dwell in meditation upon, to consider the objects, instances, cause, and nature of it; and serves greatly to encourage faith and hope, to draw out love to God, and engage to a ready and cheerful obedience to his will; and this is sometimes done in public, as well as in private conversation, and in the closet; as follows;

in the midst of thy temple; the church of Christ, which is of his building, where he dwells, and grants his presence, and is often called the temple of God in the New Testament, in allusion to Solomon's temple; see Co1 3:16; here the word of God is preached, his ordinances administered, and his presence granted; which are instances of his lovingkindness, and lead his people to think of it; and particularly when the faithful ministers of the Gospel make mention of it, and the ordinance of the supper is administering, which is intended to bring to remembrance the love of God and Christ: moreover, in the latter day, to which this psalm belongs, the temple of God will be opened, Rev 11:19; that is, the true worship of God will be restored, and pure and undefiled religion freely exercised; the Gospel will be clearly and fully preached; and the ordinances administered as they were first delivered, which will lead the saints to think of the lovingkindness of God unto them; and particularly when they shall see the angels with the seven vials the executioners of God's wrath on the antichristian states, go forth from the temple to pour them out upon them, Rev 15:6.

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

Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish - On the ships of Tarshish, see the notes on Isa 2:16. The allusion to these ships here may have been to illustrate the power of God; the ease with which he destroys that which man has made. The ships so strong - the ships made to navigate distant seas, and to encounter waves and storms - are broken to pieces with infinite ease when God causes the wind to sweep over the ocean. With so much ease God overthrows the most mighty armies, and scatters them. His power in the one case is strikingly illustrated by the other. It is not necessary, therefore, to suppose that there was any actual occurrence of this kind particularly in the eye of the psalmist; but it is an interesting fact that such a disaster did befall the navy of Jehoshaphat himself, 1Ki 22:48 : “Jehoshaphat made “ships of Tarshish” to go to Ophir for gold; but they went not: “for the ships were broken” at Ezion-geber.” Compare 2Ch 20:36-37. This coincidence would seem to render it not improbable that the discomfiture of the enemies of Jehoshaphat was particularly referred to in this psalm, and that the overthrow of his enemies when Jerusalem was threatened called to remembrance an important event in his own history, when the power of God was illustrated in a manner not less unexpected and remarkable. If this was the allusion, may not the reference to the “breaking of the ships of Tarshish” have been designed to show to Jehoshaphat, and to the dwellers in Zion, that they should not be proud and self-confident, by reminding them of the ease with which God had scattered and broken their own mighty navy, and by showing them that what he had done to their enemies he could do to them also, notwithstanding the strength of their city, and that their “real” defense was not in walls and bulwarks reared by human hand, anymore than it could be in the natural strength of their position only, but in God.

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

This is not reported as a matter of fact, for we read of no ships in those expeditions to which this Psalm relates, nor did any ships come near Jerusalem, because that was at a great distance from the sea, and from any navigable river running into the sea; but only added by way of illustration or allusion. The sense is, Thou didst no less violently and suddenly destroy these proud and raging enemies of Jerusalem, than sometimes thou destroyest the ships at sea with a fierce and vehement wind, such as the eastern winds were in those parts, Exo 14:21; Job 27:21; Jer 18:17; Eze 27:26. The words are and may be rendered thus, Thou didst break them as (such ellipses of the pronoun, and of the note of similitude, being very frequent; as I have again and again showed) the ships of the sea (for Tarshish, though properly the name of a maritime place in Cilicia, Eze 27:25; Jon 1:3, is usually put for the sea, as 1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 9:21; Psa 72:10; Isa 2:16; Jer 10:9) are broken

with an east wind. Albeit the enemies of Jerusalem, which are compared to the raging waters of the sea in Psa 46:2,3, may as fitly be compared to ships upon the sea.

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

Ver. 7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As easily as vessels are driven to shipwreck, dost thou overturn the most powerful adversaries; or it may mean the strength of some nations lies in their ships, whose wooden walls are soon broken; but our strength is in our God, and therefore, it fails not; or there may be another meaning, though thou art our defence, yet thou takest vengeance on our inventions, and while thou dost preserve us, yet our ships, our comforts, our earthly ambitions, are taken from us that we may look alone to thee. God is seen at sea, but he is equally present on land. Speculative heresies, pretending to bring us wealth from afar, are constantly assailing the church, but the breath of the Lord soon drives them to destruction. The church too often relies on the wisdom of men, and these human helps are soon shipwrecked; yet the church itself is safe beneath the care of her God and King.

Ver. 7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. It is only by her Lord that the church gained "the true riches; "when she enters into traffick with the world, she takes the means of the world for her resources; and when she trusts in her wealth, in her political power, in earthly cunning, to make merchandise, the instruments she adopts come to nothing in her hands, and leave her helpless and poor. From "A Plain Commentary on the Book of Psalms (The Prayer Book Version), chiefly founded on the Fathers, "1859.

Ver. 7. With an east wind, which, in Judea, is a very violent and destructive wind. Kennicot renders the verse thus, As the east wind dasheth in pieces the ships of Tarshish; founding his conjecture upon the similarity in form of two Hebrew letters, signifying the one in, and the other as. Daniel Cresswell.

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

Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. The literal exposition is wholly out of place, since history does not speak of any co-operation of a fleet with a land army in any attack upon Pales. fine. The expression must be used metaphorically of a great and violent destruction wrought by the arm of God upon Israel"s foes. Still, the imagery would scarcely have been used, unless there had been something in the circumstances of the time to suggest it, as there certainly was in Jehoshaphat"s time, whose fleet of "ships of Tamhish" was "broken" at Ezion-geber. (2Ki_22:4-8) The poet may have witnessed the catastrophe.

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

Breakest - Thou didst no less violently and suddenly destroy these raging enemies of Jerusalem, than sometimes thou destroyest the ships at sea with a fierce and vehement wind, such as the eastern winds were in those parts.

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

With the east wind you break the ships of Tarshish

Possible meanings are 1) this is a metaphor in which the author describes the kings being afraid as if they were ships that shake because God destroys them with a strong wind. AT: "They shook with fear, as the ships of Tarshish shake when you break them with the east wind" or 2) this is an apostrophe in which the author describes God's great power. (See: Metaphor and Apostrophe)

the east wind

Possible meanings are 1) "a wind blowing from the east" or 2) "a strong wind."

the ships of Tarshish

Possible meanings are that this refers to 1) ships that sail to or are built in the city of Tarshish or 2) any large ocean-going ship.

As we have heard

It is implied that what they have heard is the great things that God has done in the past. AT: "As we have heard about the great things that God has done" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

so have we seen

This means that they have seen the proof that the things that they have heard are true. AT: "so we have seen God do great things now" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

in the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God

Both of these phrases refer to Jerusalem. AT: "in the city of our God, Yahweh of hosts" (See: Parallelism)

establish it

"make it secure." Here the word "establish means to preserve and make something secure.

translationWords

Tarshish

Yahweh of hosts

eternity

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.