Psalms 78:54

Psa 78:54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, [even to] this mountain, [which] his right hand had purchased.

Ver. 54. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary] i.e. Of Judea, which country he had consecrated to himself for the place and chief seat of religion; whence it is called, the holy land. It had been a loathsome land, Ezr 9:11, filled with filthiness from corner to corner, but now otherwise. How it was afterwards again polluted, see Isa 1:21-23.

Even to this mountain] Moriah, whereon stood the temple; or, to this mountainous country of Judea.

Which his right hand, &c.] See Psa 44:3.

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.

54. (Psa 78:54) And brought them to his holy border, this mountain (which) his right hand won. The bound or border of his holiness, the frontier of the land which he had set apart as holy. This mountain may, agreeably to Hebrew usage, mean this hilly country, as it does in Deu 3:25. But there is no doubt a particular reference to mount Zion, in the wide sense, as the central point of the theocracy, designated as such long before the conquest of Canaan. See Gen 22:14, and compare Exo 15:13; Exo 15:17. His right hand, the exertion of his strength. Won, purchased, not in the restricted modern sense of buying, but in the old and wide sense of acquiring.

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

Meaning, Canaan, which God had consecrated to himself, and appointed to his people.

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

Verse 54. The border of his sanctuary] קדשו kodsho, "of his holy place," that is, the land of Canaan, called afterwards the mountain which his right hand had purchased; because it was a mountainous country, widely differing from Egypt, which was a long, continued, and almost perfect level.

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

(54) This mountain—i.e., Zion, though from its apposition to border some prefer to take it of all the mountain country of Judæa.

Purchased.—Rather, acquired.

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

54. The border of his sanctuary may mean the land of Canaan, as that in which He purposed to place His temple, and this mountain may denote Mount Zion. But it is preferable to render to his holy border, the land separate from all other lauds, to be consecrated by His Presence, and known henceforth as the Holy Land: and in the next line, to the mountain land, which &c. This is the sense in Exo_15:17, which evidently was in the poet’s mind. Cp. Deu_3:25; Isa_11:9.

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 cast out the Heathen also before them,.... The seven nations, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, Deu 7:1.

and divided them an inheritance by line: the land of Canaan was divided among the nine tribes and a half by Joshua, the other two and a half having had their portion assigned them on the other side; this distribution was made very exactly by lot, by line, and measure, so that every tribe had their proper portion and inheritance; see Jos 13:6,

and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents; in the cities, towns, villages, and houses of the Heathen cast out before them.

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

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary - The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “to the mountain of his holiness”; that is, his holy mountain. But the reference is rather to the whole land of Canaan. He brought them to the borders of that land - the land of promise - the holy land. They who came out from Egypt did not indeed enter that land, except Caleb and Joshua, but they were conveyed to its borders before all of them fell. It was true also that the people - the Hebrew people - came to the promised land, and secured its possession.

Even to this mountain - Mount Zion, for the object of the psalm was to show that the worship of God was properly celebrated there. See Psa 78:68. The meaning is not that the people who came out of Egypt actually inherited that mountain, but that their descendants - the people of God - had been put in possession of it.

Which his right hand had purchased - Had procured, or obtained possession of. That is, he had secured it by his power.

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

Of his sanctuary; or, of his holiness, or his holy place i.e. the land of Canaan, which is so called, Ezr 9:8; Zec 2:12, &c., as being separated by God from all other lands for his people and service, and sanctified by his presence and dwelling in it.

This mountain; either,

1. The mountain upon which the tabernacle or temple stood. Or rather,

2. The mountainous country of Canaan, which called a land of hills and valleys, Deu 11:11. And the word mountain is oft used in Scripture for a mountainous country, as Gen 36:8; Deu 1:7; Jos 11:21.

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

Ver. 54. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary. He conducted them to the frontier of the Holy Land, where he intended the tabernacle to become the permanent symbol of his abode among his people. He did not leave them halfway upon their journey to their heritage; his power and wisdom preserved the nation till the palm trees of Jericho were within sight on the other side of the river.

Even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. Nor did he leave them then, but still conducted them till they were in the region round about Zion, which was to be the central seat of his worship. This the Lord had purchased in type of old by the sacrifice of Isaac, fit symbol of the greater sacrifice which was in due season to be presented there: that mountain was also redeemed by power, when the Lord's right hand enabled his valiant men to smite the Jebusites, and take the sacred hill from the insulting Canaanite. Thus shall the elect of God enjoy the sure protection of the Lord of hosts, even to the border land of death, and through the river, up to the hill of the Lord in glory. The purchased people shall safely reach the purchased inheritance.

Ver. 54. He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, or holiness; that is, to the holy land; so called in diverse respects, but especially because of his sanctuary, the place of his residence; to which he makes all the land to be but as bounds and limits, because of the eminency of that place, the holiness whereof did, as it were, spread to all other parts of the land, as if the whole had been a sanctuary, and consecrated ground. It is therefore to the honour of the whole land, as well as of the sanctuary, that he calleth it, the holy border, a border of his sanctuary. Westminster Assembly's Annotations.

None.

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

54. Border of his sanctuary—The border of his holy place, that is, Canaan, so called because measured by line, limited and devoted for ever to the covenanted people for the moral ends of God’s great plan of redemption.

This mountain—Either parallel to “holy place,” in the previous hemistich, or the author anticipates himself, and the phrase is to be understood of the mountains of Judah, in which were Zion and Moriah, as the religious centre of the nation. See Psa_78:68

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

And he brought them to the Border of his sanctuary. The "sanctuary" is here probably the Holy Land, as in Exo_15:17; or we may translate wOvdq lWbg "his holy territory." Even to this mountain.

Mount Zion, on which the writer regards himself as standing while his words are chanted in the temple service. Which his right hand had purchased; or, had gotten, "had won." God"s right hand won the whole land for his people.

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

Holy place - The land of Canaan, separated by God from all other lands. Mountain - The mountainous country of Canaan; the word mountain is often used in scripture for a mountainous country.

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

General Information:

The writer continues to describe what God did for the people of Israel.

his right hand acquired

The words "right hand" are a metonym for power. AT: "he won for himself using his own power" (See: Metonymy)

assigned them their inheritance

Possible meanings are 1) God assigned the Israelites their inheritance in the land in which the other nations had once lived or 2) God assigned to the nations he had driven out an inheritance somewhere else. "gave them land that would always be theirs"

in their tents

Possible meanings are 1) he settled Israel in their own tents in the land or 2) he settled Israel in the tents from which he had driven the other nations. Most of these "tents" were actually houses, both when the other nations lived in them and when the Israelites lived in them. AT: "in their homes" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

holy

right hand

cast out

nation

assign

inherit

tribe

Israel

tent

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