Psalms 78:44

Psa 78:44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

Ver. 44. And had turned their rivers into blood, &c.] Seven of those ten plagues of Egypt are here instanced, to aggravate the forgetfulness or perfidy of the Israelites. Good turns aggravate unkindness, and our offences are increased by our obligations.

And their floods, that they could not drink] Usque adeo ut aquae potabiles totam, alioqui stagnantem Aegyptum, deficerent. The Rabbis say (who told them I know not) that out of the same vessel an Egyptian drank blood and an Israelite water (Midras Tilling).

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.

44. (Psa 78:44) And turned to blood their rivers, and their streams they cannot drink. The general statement of the preceding verse is rendered more specific by the mention of several of the plagues in detail, beginning with the first. See Exo 7:18-20. The word translated rivers is the plural of one commonly applied to the Nile, and supposed to be of Egyptian origin. It may here be understood as denoting either the natural branches of the Nile, or the artificial channels by which its waters are employed in the irrigation of the country. In the last clause, by a very common trope, the writer speaks as he might have spoken at the time of the event.

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

Verse 44. Turned their rivers into blood] See on Ex 7:20.

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

44. When he turned their rivers into blood. The Psalmist does not enumerate in their order the miracles by which God gave evidence of his power in the deliverance of his people. He considered it enough to bring to their remembrance the well-known histories of these events, which would be sufficient to lay open the wickedness and ingratitude with which they were chargeable; nor is it necessary for us to stay long on these things, since the narrative of Moses gives a more distinct and fuller account of what is here briefly stated. Only I would have my readers to remember that, although God often punished the sins of the heathen by sending upon them hail and other calamities, yet all the plagues which at that time were inflicted upon the Egyptians were of an extraordinary character, and such as were previously unheard-of. A variety of words is therefore employed to enhance these memorable instances of the vengeance of God, as that he sent upon them the fierceness of his wrath, fury, anger, and affliction This accumulation of words is intended to awaken minds which are asleep to a discovery of so many miracles, of which both the number and the excellence might be perceived even by the blind themselves.

In the last place, it is added that God executed these judgments by angels. Although God has, according as it has pleased him, established certain laws, both in heaven and on earth, and governs the whole order of nature in such a manner as that each creature has assigned to it its own peculiar office; yet whenever it seems good to him he makes use of the ministration of angels for executing his commands, not by ordinary or natural means, but by his secret power, which to us is incomprehensible. Some think that devils are here spoken of, because the epithet evil or hurtful is applied to angel. This opinion I do not reject; but the ground upon which they rest it has little solidity. They say that as God dispenses his benefits to us by the ministry of elect angels, so he also executes his wrath by the agency of reprobate angels, as if they were his executioners. This I admit is partly true; but I deny that this distinction is always observed. Many passages of Scripture can be quoted to the contrary. When the army of the Assyrians laid siege to the holy city Jerusalem, who was it that made such havoc among them as compelled them to raise the siege, but the angel who was appointed at that time for the defense of the Church? (2 Kings 19:35.) In like manner, the angel who slew the first-born in Egypt (Exodus 11:5) was not only a minister and an executor of the wrath of God against the Egyptians, but also the agent employed for preserving the Israelites. On the other hand, although the kings of whom Daniel speaks were avaricious and cruel, or rather robbers, and turned all things upside down, yet the Prophet declares, (chapter 20:13,) that holy angels were appointed to take charge of them. It is probable that the Egyptians were given over and subjected to reprobate angels, as they deserved; but we may simply consider the angels here spoken of as termed evil, on account of the work in which they were employed, — because they inflicted upon the enemies of the people of God terrible plagues to repress their tyranny and cruelty. In this way, both the heavenly and elect angels, and the fallen angels, are justly accounted the ministers or executors of calamity; but they are to be regarded as such in different senses. The former yield a prompt and willing obedience to God; but the latter, as they are always eagerly intent upon doing mischief, and would, if they could, turn the whole world upside down, are fit instruments for inflicting calamities upon men.

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.

44. And turned their rivers into blood,

And their streams, that they could not drink.

See Exo_7:17 ff. The word for ‘rivers’ (y’ôr) is one specially used of the Nile and its canals.

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.

He sent divers sorts of flies among them,.... This was the fourth plague; see Exo 8:24, the word signifies a "mixture" (f), and the Targum renders it

"a mixture of wild beasts;''

so Josephus (g) understood this plague of various sorts of beasts of different forms, and such as had never been seen before. Aben Ezra, on Exo 8:24 interprets it of evil beasts mixed together, as lions, wolves, bears, and leopards; and Jarchi, on the same place, of serpents and scorpions: the Syriac and Arabic versions here, following the Septuagint, render the word "dog flies"; so called because they were, as Pliny (h) says, very troublesome to dogs, and so might give the Egyptians greater uneasiness, because they worshipped dogs. God can make use of very mean and contemptible instruments, the least of insects, to plague and distress the most powerful enemies of his people;

which devoured them; corrupted their land, Exo 8:24, perhaps produced a pestilence, which destroyed many of the inhabitants, or consumed the vegetables of the land; as but a few years ago (e), in New England, a sort of insects came out of little holes in the ground, in the form of maggots, and turned to flies, which for the space of two hundred miles poisoned and destroyed all the trees in the country (i):

and frogs, which destroyed them; with their stench; see Exo 8:5, with this plague compare Rev 16:13, this was the second plague.

(e) This was written about 1750. Editor. (f) "mixtionem", Montanus; "miscellam", Vatablus; "a mixed swarm", Ainsworth. (g) Antiqu. l. 2. c. 14. sect. 3. (h) Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 34. (i) See Philosoph. Transact. vol. 2. p. 766. See also p. 781.

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

And had turned their rivers into blood - Exo 7:20. There was properly but one river in Egypt - the Nile. But there were several branches of that river at the mouth; and there were numerous artificial streams or canals cut from the river, to anyone of which the word river might be also given. Compare the notes at Isa 11:15.

And their floods ... - Their streams; the canals and branches of the Nile, where they usually obtained a supply of water.

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

The several branches and streams of the river Nilus, and those many rivulets which they brought from it.

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

Ver. 44. And had turned their rivers into blood. The waters had been made the means of the destruction of Israel's newborn infants, and now they do as it were betray the crimethey blush for it, they avenge it on the murderers. The Nile was the vitality of Egypt, its true life blood, but at God's command it became a flowing curse; every drop of it was a horror, poison to drink, and terror to gaze on. How soon might the Almighty One do this with the Thames or the Seine. Sometimes he has allowed men, who were his rod, to make rivers crimson with gore, and this is a severe judgment; but the event now before us was more mysterious, more general, more complete, and must, therefore, have been a plague of the first magnitude.

And their floods, that they could not drink. Lesser streams partook in the curse, reservoirs and canals felt the evil; God does nothing by halves. All Egypt boasted of the sweet waters of their river, but they were made to loathe it more than they had ever loved it. Our mercies may soon become our miseries if the Lord shall deal with us in wrath.

Ver. 44. Turned their rivers into blood, etc. This displays also the folly of creature worship. Pharaoh adores the life sustaining power of nature, as embodied in the majestic river before him. The God of nature transforms the running water into a river of death before his eyes. It demonstrates, in the way that was most striking to the Hebrew and the Egyptian, that the God of Israel was the true and only God of heaven and earth, and that all other objects of worship were but the creatures of God or the works of men's hands. James G. Murphy.

Ver. 44. Turned their river into blood, etc. They looked upon their river not only as consecrated to a deity; but, if we may believe some authors, as their chief national god; and worshipped it accordingly...They must have felt the utmost astonishment and horror, when they beheld their sacred stream changed and polluted, and the divinity whom they worshipped so shamefully soiled and debased. And these appearances must have had a salutary effect upon the Israelites; as they were hence warned not to accede to this species of idolatry; but to have it ever in contempt, as well as abhorrence. It is to be observed, that God might, if it had been the divine pleasure, have many different ways tainted and polluted the streams of Egypt. But he thought proper to change it to blood. Now the Egyptians, and especially their priests, were particularly nice and delicate in their outward habit and rites; and there was nothing which they abhorred more than blood, they seldom admitted any bloody sacrifices; and with the least stain of gore they would have thought themselves deeply polluted. Their affectation of purity was so great that they could not bear to come within contact with a foreigner, or even to handle his clothes; but to touch a dead body was an abomination, and required to be immediately expiated...On these accounts the priests were continually making ablutions. There were four stated times, twice in the day, and as often in the night, at which they were all obliged to bathe themselves. Many accidents caused them to repeat it much oftener. Hence this evil brought upon them must have been severely felt, as "there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt, " Ex 7:21. Jacob Bryant (1715-1804), in "Observations upon the Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians."

Ver. 44. And their floods, that they could not drink. A third calamity accompanying this plague was the impossibility of drinking the water of the Nile, a vexation the keener felt by them, because the water of the Nile, after having been purified from the slime by a kind of almond dough is, on the one hand, most agreeable, tasteful and healthy, so that it appears to strangers almost as an artificially prepared drinkwhence the Egyptian proverb originated: "the water of the Nile is as sweet as honey and sugar, "and the adage, "that if Mohammed had drank of it, he would have besought God to be immortal, that he might always enjoy it"; and it is on the other hand, the only drinkable water which the inhabitants can possibly use; for, says Maillet (I. pg 20): "The well and cistern water in Egypt is detestable and unwholesome; fountains are so rare, that they are a kind of prodigy in that country; and, as rain water, that is out of the question, as scarcely any rain falls in Egypt." M. M. Kalisch, in "A Historical and Critical Commentary on the Old Testament." 1867.

None.

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

And had turned their rivers into blood. (see Exo_7:19, Exo_7:20) "Their rivers" are the many branches of the Nile, some natural, some artificial (Herod., 2:17), by which Lower Egypt is traversed. And their floods; or, their streams; i.e. the smaller canals, which diffused the Nile water over the entire land. That they could not drink. (see Exo_7:21)

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

General Information:

The writer describes what God did.

swarms of flies

so many flies that it looked like a cloud

that devoured them

The flies made the Egyptians almost as unhappy as they would have if they had eaten the Egyptians. (See: Metaphor and Hyperbole and Generalization)

gave their crops to the grasshopper and their labor to the locust

"allowed the grasshoppers to eat all their crops and allowed the locusts to eat everything they had worked hard to produce"

overran their land

"went everywhere in their land"

grasshopper

a plant-eating insect with long legs used for jumping

He gave their crops to the grasshopper

Asaph speaks of the crops as a gift that God gave to the grasshoppers. AT: "He allowed the grasshopper to eat their crops" (See: Metaphor)

their labor to the locust

"he gave their labor to the locust." Asaph speaks of the people's labor as if it were a gift that God gave to the grasshoppers. The word "labor" is a metonym for the crops that their labor had produced. AT: "he allowed the locusts to eat the crops they had worked so hard to produce" (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)

translationWords

blood

devour

labor

locust

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