CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Psalm 78:55 Commentaries: He also drove out the nations before them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/newcom.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../vmenus/psalms/78-55.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcom/psalms/78-55.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="http://biblehub.com/commentaries/">Commentaries</a> > Psalm 78:55</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/78-54.htm" title="Psalm 78:54">◄</a> Psalm 78:55 <a href="../psalms/78-56.htm" title="Psalm 78:56">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/psalms/78.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/psalms/78.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/psalms/78.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/psalms/78.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/psalms/78.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/psalms/78.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/psalms/78.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/psalms/78.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/psalms/78.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/psalms/78.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/psalms/78.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/psalms/78.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/psalms/78.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/psalms/78.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/psalms/78.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/psalms/78.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/psalms/68-19.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/psalms/78.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/psalms/78.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kad/psalms/78.htm" title="Keil and Delitzsch OT">KD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kelly/psalms/78.htm" title="Kelly Commentary">Kelly</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/psalms/78.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/psalms/78.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/psalms/78.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/psalms/78.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/psalms/78.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/psalms/78.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/psalms/78.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/psalms/78.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/psalms/78.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/psalms/78.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/psalms/78.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/tod/psalms/78.htm" title="Treasury of David">TOD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/psalms/78.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/psalms/78.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>78:40-55. Let not those that receive mercy from God, be thereby made bold to sin, for the mercies they receive will hasten its punishment; yet let not those who are under Divine rebukes for sin, be discouraged from repentance. The Holy One of Israel will do what is most for his own glory, and what is most for their good. Their forgetting former favours, led them to limit God for the future. God made his own people to go forth like sheep; and guided them in the wilderness, as a shepherd his flock, with all care and tenderness. Thus the true Joshua, even Jesus, brings his church out of the wilderness; but no earthly Canaan, no worldly advantages, should make us forget that the church is in the wilderness while in this world, and that there remaineth a far more glorious rest for the people of God.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/psalms/78.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>He cast out the heathen also before them - literally, the nations. The idea of their being pagan, in the sense which is now attached to that word, is not in the original. The word is one which would be applied to any nation, without reference to its religion. These nations were, indeed, pagans according to the present use of that term, but that idea is not necessarily in the Hebrew word.<p>And divided them an inheritance by line - Divided to his people an inheritance by a measurement of the land. That is, the land was partitioned out among the tribes, by a survey, fixing their limits and boundaries. See <a href="/joshua/13-7.htm">Joshua 13:7</a>; 18; 19.<p>And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents - To dwell securely and quietly, no longer roaming from place to place, but having a fixed habitation and a home. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/psalms/78.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>55. by line—or, the portion thus measured.<p>divided them—that is, the heathen, put for their possessions, so tents—that is, of the heathen (compare De 6:11).<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/psalms/78.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/psalms/78.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>He cast out the Heathen also before them,.... The seven nations, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, <a href="/deuteronomy/7-1.htm">Deuteronomy 7:1</a>. <p>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 <a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/13-6.htm">Joshua 13:6</a>, <p>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. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/psalms/78.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/psalms/78.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">55</span>. And he drove out the nations before them,<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>And allotted them for the portion of their inheritance:<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>i.e. distributed the land of the Canaanites among the Israelites by lot. Cp. <a href="/joshua/23-4.htm" title="Behold, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea westward.">Joshua 23:4</a>; <a href="/psalms/105-11.htm" title="Saying, To you will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:">Psalm 105:11</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/psalms/78.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 55.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He cast out the heathen also before them</span> (comp. <a href="/exodus/34-24.htm">Exodus 34:24</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/7-1.htm">Deuteronomy 7:1</a>; <a href="/1_kings/21-26.htm">1 Kings 21:26</a>: <a href="/psalms/44-2.htm">Psalm 44:2</a>, etc.). "They get not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but God's right hand, and his arm, and the light of his countenance" (<a href="/psalms/44-3.htm">Psalm 44:3</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And divided them an inheritance by line.</span> The measuring line, which was employed in parcelling out territory, is intended (comp. <a href="/jeremiah/31-39.htm">Jeremiah 31:39</a>; <a href="/amos/7-17.htm">Amos 7:17</a>). Joshua's division of the land (<a href="/joshua/15.htm">Joshua 15-19</a>.) among the tribes is specially pointed at. <span class="cmt_word">And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> in the tents of the heathen - the abodes of the Hivites, Hittites, Amorites, Porizzites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. Psalm 78:55<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/psalms/78.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>When these plagues rose to the highest pitch, Israel became free, and removed, being led by its God, into the Land of Promise; but it continued still to behave there just as it had done in the desert. The poet in <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/78-49.htm">Psalm 78:49-51</a> brings the fifth Egyptian plague, the pestilence (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/9-1.htm">Exodus 9:1-7</a>), and the tenth and last, the smiting of the first-born (מכּת בּכרות), <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/11-1.htm">Exodus 11:1</a>, together. <a href="/psalms/78-49.htm">Psalm 78:49</a> sounds like <a href="/job/20-23.htm">Job 20:23</a> (cf. below <a href="/psalms/78-64.htm">Psalm 78:64</a>). מלאכי רעים are not wicked angels, against which view Hengstenberg refers to the scriptural thesis of Jacobus Ode in his work De Angelis, Deum ad puniendos malos homines mittere bonos angelos et ad castigandos pios usurpare malos, but angels that bring misfortune. The mode of construction belongs to the chapter of the genitival subordination of the adjective to the substantive, like אשׁת רע, <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/6-24.htm">Proverbs 6:24</a>, cf. <a href="/1_samuel/28-7.htm">1 Samuel 28:7</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/5-18.htm">Numbers 5:18</a>, <a href="/numbers/5-24.htm">Numbers 5:24</a>; <a href="/1_kings/10-15.htm">1 Kings 10:15</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/24-2.htm">Jeremiah 24:2</a>, and the Arabic msjdu 'l-jâm‛, the mosque of the assembling one, i.e., the assembling (congregational) mosque, therefore: angels (not of the wicked ones equals wicked angels, which it might signify elsewhere, but) of the evil ones equals evil, misfortune-bringing angels (Ew. ֗287, a). The poet thus paraphrases the המּשׁחית that is collectively conceived in <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/12-13.htm">Exodus 12:13</a>, <a href="/exodus/12-23.htm">Exodus 12:23</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-28.htm">Hebrews 11:28</a>. In <a href="/psalms/78-50.htm">Psalm 78:50</a> the anger is conceived of as a stream of fire, in <a href="/psalms/78-50.htm">Psalm 78:50</a> death as an executioner, and in 50c the pestilence as a foe. ראשׁית אונים (<a href="/genesis/49-3.htm">Genesis 49:3</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/21-17.htm">Deuteronomy 21:17</a>) is that which had sprung for the first time from manly vigour (plur. intensivus). Egypt is called חם as in <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/105.htm">Psalm 105</a> and <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/111-1.htm">Psalm 111:1-10</a> according to <a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/10-6.htm">Genesis 10:6</a>, and is also called by themselves in ancient Egyptian Kemi, Coptic Chmi, Kme (vid., Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, ch. 33). When now these plagues which softened their Pharaoh went forth upon the Egyptians, God procured for His people a free departure, He guided flock-like (כּעדר like בּעדר, <a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/31-24.htm">Jeremiah 31:24</a>, with Dag. implicitum), i.e., as a shepherd, the flock of His people (the favourite figure of the Psalms of Asaph) through the desert, - He led them safely, removing all terrors out of the way and drowning their enemies in the Red Sea, to His holy territory, to the mountain which (זה) His right hand had acquired, or according to the accents (cf. supra, p. 104): to the mountain there (זה), which, etc. It is not Zion that is meant, but, as in the primary passage <a href="/exodus/15-16.htm">Exodus 15:16</a>., in accordance with the parallelism (although this is not imperative) and the usage of the language, which according to <a href="/isaiah/11-9.htm">Isaiah 11:9</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/57-13.htm">Isaiah 57:13</a>, is incontrovertible, the whole of the Holy Land with its mountains and valleys (cf. <a href="/deuteronomy/11-11.htm">Deuteronomy 11:11</a>). בּחבל נחלה is the poetical equivalent to בּנחלה, <a href="/numbers/34-2.htm">Numbers 34:2</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/36-2.htm">Numbers 36:2</a>, and frequently. The Beth is Beth essentiae (here in the same syntactical position as in <a href="/isaiah/48-10.htm">Isaiah 48:10</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/ezekiel/20-41.htm">Ezekiel 20:41</a>, and also <a href="/job/22-24.htm">Job 22:24</a> surely): He made them (the heathen, viz., as in <a href="/joshua/23-4.htm">Joshua 23:4</a> their territories) fall to them (viz., as the expression implies, by lot, בגורל) as a line of inheritance, i.e., (as in <a href="/psalms/105-11.htm">Psalm 105:11</a>) as a portion measured out as an inheritance. It is only in <a href="/psalms/78-56.htm">Psalm 78:56</a> (and not so early as <a href="/psalms/78-41.htm">Psalm 78:41</a>) that the narration passes over to the apostate conduct of the children of the generation of the desert, that is to say, of the Israel of Canaan. Instead of עדוריו from עדוּת, the word here is עדוריו from עדה (a derivative of עוּד, not יעד). Since the apostasy did not gain ground until after the death of Joshua and Eleazar, it is the Israel of the period of the Judges that we are to think of here. קשׁת רמיּה, <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/78-57.htm">Psalm 78:57</a>, is not: a bow of slackness, but: a bow of deceit; for the point of comparison, according to <a href="http://biblehub.com/hosea/7-16.htm">Hosea 7:16</a>, is its missing the mark: a bow that discharges its arrow in a wrong direction, that makes no sure shot. The verb רמה signifies not only to allow to hang down slack (cogn. רפה), but also, according to a similar conception to spe dejicere, to disappoint, deny. In the very act of turning towards God, or at least being inclined towards Him by His tokens of power and loving-kindness, they turned (<a href="/jeremiah/2-21.htm">Jeremiah 2:21</a>) like a vow that misses the mark and disappoints both aim and expectation. The expression in <a href="/psalms/78-58.htm">Psalm 78:58</a> is like <a href="http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/32-16.htm">Deuteronomy 32:16</a>, <a href="/deuteronomy/32-21.htm">Deuteronomy 32:21</a>. שׁמע refers to their prayer to the Ba(a4lim (<a href="/judges/2-11.htm">Judges 2:11</a>). The word התעבּר, which occurs three times in this Psalm, is a word belonging to Deuteronomy (<a href="/deuteronomy/3-26.htm">Deuteronomy 3:26</a>). <a href="/psalms/78-59.htm">Psalm 78:59</a> is purposely worded exactly like <a href="/psalms/78-21.htm">Psalm 78:21</a>. The divine purpose of love spurned by the children just as by the fathers, was obliged in this case, as in the former, to pass over into angry provocation. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/psalms/78-55.htm">Psalm 78:55 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../psalms/78-54.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Psalm 78:54"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Psalm 78:54" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../psalms/78-56.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Psalm 78:56"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Psalm 78:56" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>