Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
beautiful metaphor. The Hebrew word,תוהtavah, signifies to mark out or describe. It is intimated, that when the people dared to limit the operations of God, according to their own pleasure, he was, as it were, shut up within bars of wood or iron, and his infinite power circumscribed within the narrow boundaries to which unbelief would confine it. And assuredly, whenever men do not go beyond their own understandings, it is as if they would measure God by their own small capacity, which is nothing else than to pull him down from his throne; for his Majesty must be brought into subjection to us, if we would have him to be regulated according to our own fancy.
Psalm 78:42-51
42. They remembered not his hand in the day that he delivered them from the oppressor: 824 43. When he set his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the field of Zoan. 44. When he turned their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they could not drink. 45. He sent among them a mixture 825 which devoured them; and the frog which destroyed them. 46. And he gave their fruit [or produce] to the
That is, Pharaoh, as the next verse shows. See Psalm 107:2.
This is the literal rendering of the original word,ערבarob, which is derived from the verb,ערבarab, he mingled It is not agreed among interpreters what is meant by this name given here, and in Exodus 8:21, and in Psalm 105:31, to one of the plagues which fell upon the Egyptians. The Chaldee has "a mixture of living creatures of the wood." "A mixture; a mixed collection of beasts," says Bythner. In our English Bible, it is "divers sorts of flies." Others read, "swarms of flies." Bishop Mant reads, "the ravening fly;" Fry, simply "the fly;" and Walford, "the horse-fly." "The Seventy," says Mant, "have rendered the original word translated 'fly,' when spoken of the Egyptian plague, constantly by κυνομυία, 'the dog-fly;' whence it is plain those translators thought it meant some particular species of fly, in opposition to those who are of opinion that it meant 'all sorts of flies.' (See Parkhurst on).ערבWhat particular species was intended has been much doubted. Bruce, however, seems to have decided the question, and fixed the insect to be the Ethiopian fly, called Zimb, of which he has given a particular description. Some of its effects are thus represented by him. 'As soon as this plague appears, and their buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake their food, and run wildly about the plain, till they die, worn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger. No remedy remains but to leave the black earth, and hasten down to the sands of Atbara; and there they remain, while the rains last, this cruel enemy not daring to pursue them further. Though his size be immense, as is his strength, and his body covered with a thick skin, defended with strong hair, yet even the camel is not capable of sustaining the violent punctures the fly makes with his pointed proboscis. When once attacked by this fly, his body, head, and legs, break out into large bosses, which swell, break, and putrefy, to the certain destruction of the creature. Even the elephant and rhinoceros, which, by reason of their enormous bulk, and the vast quantity of food and water they daily need, cannot shift to desert and dry places, as the season may require, are obliged to roll themselves in mud and mire; which, when dry, coats them over like armor, and enables them to stand their ground against this winged assassin.'" — Mant
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 2 caterpillar, 826 and their labor to the grasshopper. 827 47. And he destroyed their vines with hail, and their wild fig-trees 828 with hail,חסילchasil, which is derived from,חסלchasal, to consume, eat up, denotes a species of insect, so called from its devouring the fruits of the earth. But we are so little acquainted with the various kinds of destructive insects that ravage the Eastern countries, that it is somewhat difficult to determine the particular species meant by this term. It is distinguished from the locust in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, 2 Chronicles 6:28, and in Joel 1:4, where it is mentioned as eating up what the locusts had left. Harmer is of opinion that it is the species of insects now called sim in Persia, referred to in the following extract from Sir John Chardin's Travels: — "Persia is subject to have its harvests spoiled by hail, by drought, or by insects, either locusts or small insects which they call sim, which are small white lice, which fix themselves on the foot of the stalk of corn, gnaw it, and make it die. It is rare for a year to be exempt from one or other of these scourges, which affect the ploughed lands and the gardens," etc. On this Harmer observes, "The enumeration by Solomon and that of this modern writer, though not exactly alike, yet so nearly resemble each other, that one would be inclined to believe these small insects are what Solomon meant by the word [,חסילchasil] translated 'caterpillars' in our English version." — Harmer's Observations, volume 3, page 316. ,חסילchasil, is rendered βρουχος by the LXX., in 2 Chronicles 6:28, and by Aquila here, and also by the Vulgate in Chronicles and in Isaiah 33:4, and it is rendered by Jerome here, bruchus, "the chaffer," which every one knows to be a great devourer of the leaves of trees. The Syriac in Joel 1:4, 2:25, renders it,,צרצוראtzartzooro, which Michaelis, (Supplem. ad Lex. Heb., page 865,) from the Arabic,צרצרtsartzar, a cricket, interprets the mole-cricket, which, in its grub state, is also very destructive to corn, grass, and other vegetables, by cankering the roots on which it feeds. — See Parkhurst's Lexicon onחאל
The Hebrew word here translated "grasshopper" is,,ארבהarbeh, which properly means "locust." The locust receives no fewer than ten different names in Scripture, each of which indicates something characteristic. It is called,ארבהarbeh, from its extraordinary fecundity. No animal is more prolific; nor has Providence ever employed an agency more effective in destroying the fruits of the earth. Dr Russell, in his Natural History of Aleppo, observes that locusts "sometimes arrive in such incredible multitudes as it would appear fabulous to relate, destroying the whole of the verdure wherever they pass." A Traveller in Syria says, "That country, together with Egypt, Persia, and almost all the whole middle part of Asia, partakes in another scourge besides volcanoes and earthquakes, and that no less terrible; I mean those clouds of locusts of which travelers have spoken: the quantity of these insects is incredible to any man who has not seen it: the earth is covered by them for several leagues round. One may hear at a distance the noise they make in brousing the plants and trees, like an army plundering in secret. It would be better to be concerned with Tartars than these little destructive animals: one might say that fire follows their tract." — See Parkhurst's Lexicon on,רבה4.