Charles Spurgeon

You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

“Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment. The new born earth was wrapped in aqueous swaddling bands. In the first ages, ere man appeared, the proud waters ruled the whole earth.”

They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

“They give drink to every beast of the field. Who else would water them if the Lord did not? They are his cattle, and therefore he leads them forth to watering. Not one of them is forgotten of him. The wild asses quench their thirst.”

wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

“And wine that maketh glad the heart of man. By the aid of genial showers the earth produces not merely necessaries but luxuries, that which furnishes a feast as well as that which makes a meal.”

The trees of the LORD have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,

“The watering of the hills not only produces the grass and the cultivated herbs, but also the nobler species of vegetation, which come not within the range of human culture: The trees of the Lord—the greatest, noblest, and most royal of trees; those too which…”

The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

“The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. This is the poetic interpretation of a roar. To whom do the lions roar? Certainly not to their prey, for the terrible sound tends to alarm their victims, and drive them away.”

Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until evening.

“Man goeth forth. It is his turn now, and the sunrise has made things ready for him. His warm couch he forsakes and the comforts of home, to find his daily food; this work is good for him, both keeping him out of mischief, and…”

When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

“THIS sentence describes the commissariat of creation. The problem is the feeding of the "creeping things innumerable, both small and great beasts," which swarm the sea, the armies of birds which fill the air and the vast hordes of animals which people the dry land!”

He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.

“He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth. The Lord who has graciously displayed his power in acts and works of goodness might, if he had seen fit, have overwhelmed us with the terrors of destruction, for even at a glance of his eye the…”

I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

“I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live, or, literally, in my lives. Here and hereafter the psalmist would continue to praise the Lord, for the theme is an endless one, and remains for ever fresh and new.”

May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

“My meditation of him shall be sweet. Sweet both to him and to me. I shall be delighted thus to survey his works and think of his person, and he will graciously accept my notes of praise. Meditation is the soul of religion.”

May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!

“Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. They are the only blot upon creation.”

He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

“And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law. Jacob in his wondrous dream (Ge 28:10-15) received a pledge that the Lord's mode of procedure with him would be in accordance with covenant relations: for said Jehovah, "I will not leave thee till I have…”

When they were few in number, few indeed, and strangers in the land,

“When they were but a few men in number. bpom ytm. Literally, "homines numeri", men of number; so few as easily to be numbered: in opposition to what their posterity afterwards were, as the sand of the sea, without number. Samuel Chandler.”

They bruised his feet with shackles and placed his neck in irons,

“Whose feet they hurt with fetters. From this we learn a little more of Joseph's sufferings than we find in the book of Genesis: inspiration had not ceased, and David was as accurate an historian as Moses, for the same Spirit guided his pen.”

until his prediction came true and the word of the LORD proved him right.

“Until the time that his word came. God has his times, and his children must wait till his "until" is fulfilled. Joseph was tried as in a furnace, until the Lord's assaying work was fully accomplished.”

The king sent and released him; the ruler of peoples set him free.

“The king sent and loosed him. He was thrust into the roundhouse by an officer, but he was released by the monarch himself. Even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.”

He turned their waters to blood and caused their fish to die.

“He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. So that the plague was not a mere colouring of the water with red earth, as some suppose, but the river was offensive and fatal to the fish.”

They devoured every plant in their land and consumed the produce of their soil.

“Did eat up all the herbs. The locusts had devoured every green herb and every blade of grass; and had it not been for the reeds, on which our cattle entirely subsisted while we skirted the banks of the river, the journey must have been…”

Egypt was glad when they departed, for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.

“Egypt was glad when they departed, which would not have been the case had the gold and silver been borrowed by the Israelites, for men do not carry their goods into a far country.”

He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.

“He spread a cloud for a covering. Never people were so favoured. What would not travellers in the desert now give for such a canopy?”

They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

“The people asked. But how badly, how wickedly! And yet his grace forgave the sin of their murmuring and heard its meaning: or perhaps we may consider that while the multitude murmured there were a few, who were really gracious people, who prayed, and therefore…”

He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.

“He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out. With Moses' rod and his own word he cleft the rock in the desert, and forth leaped abundant floods for their drinking where they had feared to die of thirst.”

For He remembered His holy promise to Abraham His servant.

“For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant. Here is the secret reason for all this grace. The covenant and he for whose sake it was made are ever on the heart of the Most High.”

that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!

“That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. This was the practical design of it all. The chosen nation was to be the conservator of truth, the exemplar of morality, the pattern of devotion: everything was so ordered as to place them in…”

Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people; visit me with Your salvation,

“How gracious a thing it is on God's part to make prayers for us! He puts them into our mouths. No one need say, "I cannot pray because I am unable to compose a sentence."”