Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 2
1012 Tabor and Hermon 1013 shall rejoice in thy name. 13. Thou hast a mighty arm: thou wilt strengthen thy hand, thou wilt exalt thy right hand. 14. Righteousness and judgment are the place of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
9. Thou governest the pride of the sea. I have already observed that what the prophet has hitherto spoken generally concerning the power of God, is to be referred to the miracle of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, which he now celebrates in express terms. According to the interpretation of some, God is said to still the impetuous waves of the sea, because he does not suffer it to break forth and overflow the whole world by a deluge. But I would read the 9th and 10th verses connectedly, and would understand the prophet as speaking of the Red Sea, which God divided to make a way for the chosen tribes to pass over. The Psalmist adds immediately after, that all the land of Egypt was overthrown as a wounded man By these words he magnifies the grace of God, which was displayed in the deliverance of the Church. He intended, there can be no doubt, to set before his own mind and the minds of others, the paternal love of God, to encourage both himself and others to have recourse to Him for succor, with the greater freedom and alacrity. And in affirming that God had broken in pieces his enemies with his mighty arm, he concludes from the past experience of the Church, that
Horsley renders the clause thus: — Thou hast crushed Rahab, that she lies gasping with her wounds; and has the following note: — "The word[ ",חללfor lies gasping with her wounds,] "as it is used here, and in Psalm 88:5, signifies not a dead carcass, but a person left for dead, under his wounds, upon the field of battle; a person so wounded, as to be fallen, and incapable of rising to defend himself, or annoy the enemy. It answers exactly to the Greek word, τραυματιας, by which the LXX. render it. We have no corresponding word in the English language." Dr Adam Clarke reads, "Thou, like a hero, hast broken down Egypt;" and observes, "Dr Kennicott has largely proved, that,חלל chalal, which we render wounded, slain, etc., means a soldier, warrior, hero; and it is certain that this sense agrees better with it than the other in a great number of places."
"The Hebrew word for 'the north,' is derived from a root signifying 'to hide, conceal.' The 'north' is probably so named; because in our northern hemisphere of the earth, the sun appears to move from east to south, and from south to west, and, towards mid-day, is at all times of the year southerly; whence the north side of a building, tree, or mountain, is usually 'concealed' or 'hidden' from his direct rays, and is, as we express it, in the shade. (See Parkhurst on,צפן4.) Simonis, also, assigns this as the reason of the name, in the judgment of some critics, or, in that of others, because the north is covered with snow, and of others again, with darkness; and so the Greek word for darkness, ζοφος, is continually used by Homer for the north: for the ancients thought that the north was always buried in gloom and thick darkness." — Mant
The original word,ימיןyamin, for "the south," signifies literally "the right hand." As the Hebrews, when they engaged in prayer, turned their faces eastward, they called the East,פניםthe face, and the West,,אחורthe hinder part The South, therefore, would necessarily be on their right hand; and hence,,ימיםyamin, came to be used to denote the south