Psalms 78:50

Psa 78:50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

Ver. 50. He made a way to his anger] Heb. He weighed a path, recompensing their unjust stiffness with his just judgments, and proceeding in his anger from lighter plagues to that heaviest of all the rest, the slaying of all the flower of Egypt in one night, Psa 78:51.

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 78:50-51. He made a way to his anger — By removing every obstacle that mercy had thrown in the path of justice, he made a way for his indignation, which then rushed forth like a fiery stream. Hebrew, יפלס נתיב לאפו, He weighed a path to his anger, that is, he made a most smooth, even, and exact path, as if he had done it by weight and measure, that so his anger might pass swiftly and freely, without interruption. The phrase also may be intended to signify the wisdom and justice of God in weighing out their plagues proportionably to their sins; that is, he did not cast his anger upon them rashly, but by weight: it was weighed with the greatest exactness, in the balances of justice: and though he exercised great severity toward them, it was only such as was answerable to their great and barbarous cruelty toward his people. For in his greatest displeasure he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures. The path of his anger is always weighed. He spared not their soul from death — But suffered death to ride in triumph among them; and gave their life over to the pestilence — Which cut off the thread of life immediately. And smote all the firstborn in Egypt — “An unlimited commission was given to the destroyer, who, at midnight, passed through the land, and gave the final stroke in every house.” “While all things,” says the author of the book of Wisdom, chap. Psa 18:14, “were in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course, thine almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction, and brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and, standing up, filled all things with death: and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth.” Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt; “and universal consternation reigned, inferior only to that which is to extend its empire over the world, when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised.” — Horne.

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

50. (Psa 78:50) He levels a path for his anger; and he did not withhold from death their soul, and their life to the plague gave up. For the meaning of the first verb, see above, on Psa 58:2. The meaning of the figure seems to be, that he removes all hindrance to his anger and allows it free scope. Not content with having smitten their possessions and their persons, he now extends his stroke to their lives. The word translated life more usually means an animal or animals collectively. See above, on Psa 68:10; Psa 68:30; Psa 74:19. If we retain this meaning here, the verse may be referred to the death of the Egyptian cattle by the murrain (Exo 9:1-7). But the parallelism and the context rather favour the translation life, and the reference of the passage to the death of the first-born, which was probably occasioned by a pestilence (Exo 9:15) and is expressly mentioned in the next verse.

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

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.

(50) Made a way.—Literally, levelled a path. So Symmachus.

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

50. He made a way to his anger] Lit., he levelled a path for his anger, i.e. gave it free course.

but gave their life over to the pestilence] This is the natural rendering of the words in this context. The rendering of R.V. marg., gave their beasts over to the murrain, is that of the Ancient Versions. But a reference to the murrain is out of place here, where the Psalmist is clearly describing the culmination of the plagues in the destruction of the firstborn. He emphasises the fact that after minor plagues had failed to touch Pharaoh’s conscience, God finally attacked the very lives of the Egyptians.

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.

And smote all the firstborn in Egypt,.... From the prince to the peasant; and not only the firstborn of men, but of beasts also, Exo 12:29,

the chief of their strength; or first of it, as the firstborn is called, Gen 49:3,

in the tabernacles of Ham; in the several cities, towns, villages, and houses of the Egyptians, the descendants of cursed Ham; for Mizraim, from whom the Egyptians have their name, and from whence they sprung, was a son of Ham's, Gen 10:6. Perhaps No Ammon may be particularly meant, Nah 3:8, the same with Memphis, and which signifies the mansion or palace of Ammon, that is, Ham; and so Chemmis, another city in Egypt, signifies the same (n); of which see Psa 105:23 this was the tenth and last plague: according to Suidas (o), the plagues of Egypt continued forty days.

(n) Dickinson Delph. Phoeniciz. cap. 4. (o) In voce

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

He made a way to his anger - Margin, he weighed a path. He leveled a path for it; he took away all hindrance to it; he allowed it to have free scope. The idea of weighing is not in the original. The allusion is to a preparation made by which one can march along freely, and without any obstruction. See the notes at Isa 40:3-4.

He spared not their soul from death - He spared not their lives. That is, he gave them over to death.

But gave their life over to the pestilence - Margin, their beasts to the murrain. The original will admit of either interpretation, but the connection seems rather to demand the interpretation which is in the text. Both these things, however, occurred.

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

He made a way, Heb. He weighed a path or causeway, i.e. he made a most smooth, and even, and exact path, as if he had done it by weight and measure, that so his anger might pass swiftly and freely without interruption. The phrase also seems to note the wisdom and justice of God in weighing out their plagues proportionably to their sins, and exercising great severity towards them answerably to their great and barbarous cruelty towards his people.

He spared not their soul from death, i.e. he punished them with death or killing plagues, as the next words explain it.

Their life; or, their beasts. So he speaks of the murrain among their cattle. But our translation seems better to agree with the next foregoing and following passages, which plainly speak of the death of persons.

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

Ver. 50. He made a way to his anger, coming to the point with them by slow degrees; assailing their outworks first by destroying their property, and then coming in upon their persons as through an open breach in the walls. He broke down all the comforts of their life, and then advanced against their life itself. Nothing could stand in his way; he cleared a space in which to do execution upon his adversaries.

He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence. In their soul was the origin of the sin, and he followed it to its source and smote it there. A fierce disease filled the land with countless funerals; Jehovah dealt out myriads of blows, and multitudes of spirits failed before him.

Ver. 50. He made a way to his anger. Literally"weighed a way:" implying that God, in punishing the Egyptians so severely, did nothing but what was just and equitable, when weighed in the balance of right. Pr 4:26. A. R. Fausset.

Ver. 50. He made a way to his anger. As if the psalmist had said, If there were not a way for his anger, that is, for the execution of his anger, he forced his way; though he did not find a way, yet he made one, and fought himself through all difficulties which seemed to oppose the destruction of his enemies. We put in the margin, he weighed a path, he made the path as exact as if he had put it into a balance; the way was fitted to the largeness of his own anger, and it was fitted to the dimensions of their wickedness. Thus he made a way to his anger, both by suiting the way to his anger and by removing all impediments out of the way of his anger. If God will work to save, who shall let it? and if God will work to destroy, who will or what shall let it? Joseph Caryl.

None.

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

He made a way to his anger; literally, he levelled a way for his anger; i.e. made a smooth path for it (Cheyne). He spared not their soul from death; rather, held not back their soul. But gave their life over to the pestilence. This is, undoubtedly, the true meaning, and not "he gave their beasts over to the murrain." Though no "pestilence" is expressly mentioned in Ex 12 as having caused the death of the firstborn, yet pestilence may assuredly have been the means employed.

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 continues to describe what God did to the Egyptians.

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.

He leveled a path for His anger Although the plagues were dispatched in anger, they performed only their orders; what they were commanded to kill, they killed, but nothing else. They went in their paths. In other commentaries I found as follows: He leveled a path for His anger When He smote every firstborn in Egypt, He showed the way for [the angel] who was destroying with anger to enter the houses of the Egyptians, but not the houses of the children of Israel.

...and...their body Heb. וחיתם, their body.

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.