Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 77:16

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 77:16. The waters saw thee — What a fine image! He represents God approaching the Red Sea; and the waters, seeing him, took fright, and ran off before him, dividing to the right and left to let him pass. I have not found any thing more majestic than this.

The depths also were troubled. — Every thing appears here to have life and perception. The waters see the Almighty, do not wait his coming, but in terror flee away! The deeps, uncovered, are astonished at the circumstance; and as they cannot fly, they are filled with trouble and dismay. Under the hand of such a poet, inanimate nature springs into life; all thinks, speaks, acts; all is in motion, and the dismay is general.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 77:0 Has God’s favour of old changed?

Once again Asaph has a problem that is causing him much anxiety. (For his earlier problem see Psalms 73:0.) He cries to God in his distress but receives no answer (1-2). The more he thinks of God’s dealings with him, the more distressed he becomes. It seems that God not only refuses to comfort him, but even prevents him from sleeping (3-4). So as he lies awake on his bed, he thinks of God’s kindness to him in days gone by (5-6). God was gracious to him then; has he forgotten him now? It certainly seems so. It is as if God no longer helps him (7-10).

As his thoughts go beyond his troubles his confidence in the controlling care of God returns. The whole history of Israel is proof of God’s love and power (11-15). Events of particular note are Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea and God’s coming to his people at Mount Sinai (16-19). These events are an encouragement to Asaph. He knows that the God who guided Moses and Aaron is still the shepherd of his people (20).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE MARVELOUS MIRACLE AT THE RED SEA

“The waters saw thee, O God; The waters saw thee, they were afraid: The depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound: Thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lightened the world: The earth trembled and shook. Thy way was in the sea, And thy paths in the great waters, And thy footsteps were not known.”

Dummelow considered these words a reference to the Red Sea crossing; and McCullough affirmed that, “Psalms 77:20 interprets the preceding verses (Psalms 77:16-19) as pertinent to the Exodus.”The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IV, p. 414. Rawlinson likewise called these verses, “A magnificent description of the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea.”The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 110.

The problem with this understanding is that the account of the Red Sea crossing in Exodus says nothing about the clouds, the rain, the thunder and the lightning which are mentioned here. It could be that this information is supplementary to that given in Exodus; and we do not rule that out as a possibility. We have also observed that in the Psalms, the sacred writers often preempt language used by the pagans in speaking of their false gods to describe the actions of the true God. Baal, for example, was the storm God; but Baal never did anything, even in the false claims of mythology, that could be compared to what God did at the Red Sea.

We do not know, of course, that such an adaptation of mythological terminology is in view here; but one thing we feel very sure about is that, we do not have a separate psalm in these last five verses, describing God’s appearance in a thunderstorm, as in Psalms 29. This, of course, is the view of Briggs who said, “Psalms 77 is a composite”;International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 170. and the last five verses, “Describe the advent of Yahweh in a storm.”Ibid.

To us, by far the most acceptable interpretation is that which refers these verses to the Crossing of the Red Sea.

“And thy footsteps were not known” The strong suggestion here is that men cannot certainly know the purposes and intentions of Almighty God. His ways are above our ways; he has not revealed to men the reasons behind any of his actions; his deeds, as far as men are concerned, are indeed inscrutable.

Even today, when men are tempted to doubt because of conditions in the world which seem contrary to all truth and righteousness, it is the duty of all believers to “trust where they cannot see.” “God’s in his heaven,” all right, “But all is not well with the world.” There are many conditions that upright people recognize as contrary to the will of God; and such things should not be allowed to foster doubt in Christian hearts. Even though we do not know what it is, God surely knows what he is doing!

“Thy way was in the sea… paths in the great waters” As Kidner said, “All of the words here are a true picture of God’s sway over nature. Even when He was incarnate, the winds and the waves obeyed him, and the sea provided a path for Him.”Derek Kidner, Vol. II, p. 280.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The waters saw thee ... - The waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. There is great sublimity in this expression; in representing the waters as conscious of the presence of God, and as fleeing in consternation at his presence. Compare Revelation 20:11; Habakkuk 3:10-11.

They were afraid - On the word used here - חול chûl - see Psalms 10:5, note; Psalms 55:4, note. It may mean here to tremble or quake, as in pain Deuteronomy 2:25; Joel 2:6. - Alarm, distress, anguish, came over the waters at the presence of God; and they trembled, and fled.

The depths also were troubled - The deep waters, or the waters “in” the depths. It was not a ripple on the surface; but the very depths - the usually calm and undisturbed waters that lie below the surface - were heaved into commotion at the divine presence.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

16.The waters saw thee, O God! Some of the miracles in which God had displayed the power of his arm are here briefly adverted to. When it is said that the waters saw God, the language is figurative, implying that they were moved, as it were, by a secret instinct and impulse to obey the divine command in opening up a passage for the chosen people. Neither the sea nor the Jordan would have altered their nature, and by giving place have spontaneously afforded a passage to them, had they not both felt upon them the power of God. ⁽³⁰³⁾ It is not meant that they retired backward because of any judgment and understanding which they possessed, but that in receding as they did, God showed that even the inanimate elements are ready to yield obedience to him. There is here an indirect contrast, it being intended to rebuke the stupidity of men if they do not acknowledge in the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt the presence and hand of God, which were seen even by the waters. What is added concerning the deeps intimates, that not only the surface of the waters were agitated at the sight of God, but that his power penetrated even to the deepest gulfs.

(303) “‘The waters of the Red Sea,’ says Bishop Horne, ‘are here beautifully represented as endued with sensibility; as seeing, feeling, and being confounded, even to the lowest depths, at the presence and power of their great Creator, when he commanded them to open a way, and to form a wall on each side of it, until his people were passed over.’ This, in fact, is true poetry; and in this attributing of life, spirit, feeling, action, and suffering, to inanimate objects, there are no poets who can vie with those of the Hebrew nation.” — Mant.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 77:1-20

Psalms 77:1-20 :

I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me ( Psalms 77:1 ).

Now notice in the seventy-seventh psalm how the first part of it is centered around I. You might find it beneficial to underline every time he refers to my or I. The whole first part centers around I. "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice. And He gave ear unto me."

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? ( Psalms 77:2-9 )

When my attention is always on myself, I do lose that consciousness of God and it does seem that I am apart from Him.

And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings ( Psalms 77:10-12 ).

And now he gets turned around in verse Psalms 77:12 , as he begins now to refer to God, "Thy work and Thy doings." And thus, the psalm ends in a brighter note than it begins, because now the emphasis is taken off of me and put upon God.

How many times they say prayer changes things, and I believe this, but how many times prayer changes me and changes my attitudes. While I'm in prayer, God is working and changing my heart and my attitude.

We had a friend in Huntington Beach who was an alcoholic. And the family was always in an uproar. He would get to drinking and just everything would break lose. And there were always the threats of divorce and threats of everything. So one night, the doorbell rang. I went to the door, and here he stood. And he said, "I need help. My wife is going to leave me. My family doesn't love me. And I just had a big fight, tore the phone off of the wall and all. And I need help. I need God. But there is no one who will pray me through." Well, I didn't know what he meant to pray him through, what he was trying to pray through. He said, "No one will just pray with me long enough." And so I accepted that as a challenge. So I said, "Let's go over to the church." We were living right next door to it at the time. And I said, "I will pray with you just as long as you need prayer."

So he went over, we went over together, actually, and of course he smelled like a brewery itself. And we knelt down and he began to pray. I knelt beside him and I began to pray. But I was listening to his prayer. And it was, "Oh God, You know how they haven't been treating me right. You know, Lord, how they are so mean to me, and they don't understand me." It was just, "Lord, You know them and how bad they have been," and so forth. And he went on for an hour telling the Lord how bad the family was and how mistreated he was and how unfortunate and everything. And after an hour I noticed there came a change in the prayer. "God, my life is really messed up. Lord, I haven't been serving You. I know I should serve You. God, I am sorry that I haven't been serving You, and I have failed You, God. And I repent, Lord, and I am sorry." And I thought, "All right, now we are getting somewhere." We finally have prayed through, and I found out what his praying through all of the garbage that he had in his heart towards the family. Now he began to deal with the issues of his own heart. And after about an hour of praying this way, then his prayers changed again, and they were sort of, "Oh Lord, I thank You for Your help. Lord, I thank You that You love me. Lord, I thank You. Father, thank You." And then pretty soon he was sleeping.

So I went back to the office and got a blanket and I covered him and I went home. And when I got home, my wife said, "Well, how did it go?" And I said, "Well, I don't know for sure, but I left him sleeping in the Lord." And I relayed to her how there was an obvious change in the whole tone of his prayer which sounded good. Next morning I went over to the church and he was already gone, so I still didn't know how it went. But that evening at five o'clock, the doorbell rang again, and there he was spruced up suit, looking great, and he says, "What time does church start this evening anyhow?" God did a real work, a change in his life. But it was when he got his eyes off of himself and onto God that God began to work.

And that is always true. We need to get our eyes off of ourselves, off of our situation, off of our problem. We are so self-centered. And it's usually reflected so much in our prayers, "I, I, I, I, I, me, me, me." But when we can get our eyes off of ourselves and begin to focus on God, that is when God can really work.

Before I was born, my cousin died of spinal meningitis, who lived just two blocks away from my family in Ventura, or from where my family was building their new home. And my sister evidently was exposed by her cousin, and she too had spinal meningitis, and for all apparent signals had died. She had gone into convulsions, her eyes rolled back in her head, her jaw locked, she ceased breathing. My mother had been a lifelong Baptist. But on the way to the Baptist church, she was passing by a Pentecostal church where she used to sometimes stop in and enjoy their services and didn't make it always to the Baptist church, because it was two blocks further up the street. And when she saw her little daughter lying there in that rigid position, she knew it was too late for doctors to help, and she went running up the street to this Pentecostal church, because she knew that they knew how to really pray. The parsonage was next door to the church and she went up and rapped on the door, and when the minister came, she held her daughter. She was hysterical and she said, "My baby, my baby. I need God to heal my baby." And so she laid my sister's stiff body on the floor and as she was just really hysterically crying out to the Lord, the pastor, Dr. Mitzner, said to her, "Young lady, get your eyes off of your baby and get your eyes on Jesus, and just begin to worship Jesus and praise the Lord."

My father had come in from the pool hall, where he spent most of his time. And when my mother wasn't there... they were living in a hotel while their home was being built, the Fasno Hotel there in Ventura. He said to some people in the lobby, "Have you seen my wife?" And a nurse said, "Yes, Mr. Smith. Your little girl, I think, is dead, and she went running up the street I think to the church." And so my dad took off for the church, intending to beat up on the minister and grab his daughter and get her to some competent help. But when he saw her lying there, he realized that she was beyond man's help, and he just fell down on his knees and began to cry out to God. The pastor kept encouraging my mother, "Get your eyes off of your little girl. Get your eyes on the Lord." And she began to turn her eyes upon the Lord. She began to worship the Lord and she said, "Lord, if You will just give me my little girl back again, I will give my life to You. I will serve You the rest of my life. I will minister; I will do anything You ask me to do, God. I'll be Your servant the rest of my life, but give me my daughter back." And with that, my sister regained consciousness, was instantly healed completely. They took her home, and she was just laughing and just completely well.

Two months later, I was born in the Big Sisters Hospital in Ventura. When the doctors came in and told my mother, "You have a baby boy," she closed her eyes and said, "Lord, I will fulfill my vow to You through my son." My dad went down the hallway of the hospital saying, "Praise the Lord. It's a boy!" And so I grew up in a godly environment.

But the importance of getting your eyes off of yourself and on the Lord. How it changes the whole situation. I'll tell you, you get your eyes on yourself and your surrounding circumstances and you can go down fast. There is no quicker way to sink than to get your eyes on the waves and on your surrounding circumstances, upon yourself. But you get your eyes upon the Lord and you can walk on water.

So the psalmist began, eyes on himself. "I, I, me, my, me, I, I." But then he turns in the middle of the psalm and now the attention is towards the Lord. And thus, the psalm ends in a note of victory.

Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron ( Psalms 77:14-20 ).

So turning the situation around. Get your eyes off of yourself and get your eyes on the Lord, and you'll come in to the victory. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 77

Asaph described himself as tossing and turning on his bed, unable to sleep, in this individual lament psalm. He found that meditating on God’s deliverance of His people in the Exodus brought him comfort. This led him to ask God to manifest His power for His people again.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Asaph’s solution 77:10-20

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

These verses evidently describe the phenomena that accompanied the Exodus.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The waters saw thee, O God,.... The waters not of Jordan, but of the Red sea; these felt and perceived the power of God, in causing a strong east wind, which dried it up, and made way for the children of Israel to pass through it as on dry land: compare with this

Psalms 114:3,

the waters saw thee; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to excite attention to it, as well as to express the psalmist's admiration at it; the Targum is,

"they saw thy majesty in the midst of the sea, O God; they saw thy power upon the sea;''

not the Egyptians, but the sons of Jacob and Joseph; the old Syriac church understood these waters of the waters of Jordan, at the baptism of Christ, when in their way they saw the incarnate God, and felt his sacred body laid in them, by which he was made manifest to Israel; but Jerom better interprets them, by the help of

Revelation 17:15 of people, nations, and tongues; some of which saw Christ corporeally, others spiritually, and by faith, as preached in the Gospel to the Gentile world:

they were afraid; of the majesty of God, obeyed their Sovereign, of whom they stood in awe, gave way unto him, and fled at his rebuke, see

Psalms 114:5 or "were in pain" z, as a woman in travail, as were the Gentile world at the preaching of the Gospel of redemption and salvation by Christ, Romans 8:22,

the depths also were troubled; not only the surface, or waves of the waters, were moved by the strong east wind, through the power of God, but the bottom of the sea was reached by it; the depths were congealed in the midst of it, the channels of water were seen, and the foundation of the world discovered, and the children of Israel went through the deep as on dry land, see Exodus 15:8.

z חילו "parturierunt", Montanus, Vatablus; "dolore corruptae sunt, videl dolore parturientium", Piscator; so Ainsworth.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      11 I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.   12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.   13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?   14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.   15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.   16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.   17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.   18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.   19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.   20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

      The psalmist here recovers himself out of the great distress and plague he was in, and silences his own fears of God's casting off his people by the remembrance of the great things he had done for them formerly, which though he had in vain tried to quiet himself with (Psalms 77:5; Psalms 77:6) yet he tried again, and, upon this second trial, found it not in vain. It is good to persevere in the proper means for the strengthening of faith, though they do not prove effectual at first: "I will remember, surely I will, what God has done for his people of old, till I can thence infer a happy issue of the present dark dispensation," Psalms 77:11; Psalms 77:12. Note, 1. The works of the Lord, for his people, have been wondrous works. 2. They are recorded for us, that they may be remembered by us. 3. That we may have benefit by the remembrance of them we must meditate upon them, and dwell upon them in our thoughts, and must talk of them, that we may inform ourselves and others further concerning them. 4. The due remembrance of the works of God will be a powerful antidote against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God and changes not. If he begin, he will finish his work and bring forth the top-stone.

      Two things, in general, satisfied him very much:

      I. That God's way is in the sanctuary,Psalms 77:13; Psalms 77:13. It is in holiness, so some. When we cannot solve the particular difficulties that may arise in our constructions of the divine providence, this we are sure of, in general, that God is holy in all his works, that they are all worthy of himself and consonant to the eternal purity and rectitude of his nature. He has holy ends in all he does, and will be sanctified in every dispensation of his providence. His way is according to his promise, which he has spoken in his holiness and made known in the sanctuary. What he has done is according to what he has said and may be interpreted by it; and from what he has said we may easily gather that he will not cast off his people for ever. God's way is for the sanctuary, and for the benefit of it. All he does is intended for the good of his church.

      II. That God's way is in the sea. Though God is holy, just, and good, in all he does, yet we cannot give an account of the reasons of his proceedings, nor make any certain judgment of his designs: His path is in the great waters and his footsteps are not known,Psalms 77:19; Psalms 77:19. God's ways are like the deep waters which cannot be fathomed (Psalms 36:6), like the way of a ship in the sea, which cannot be tracked, Proverbs 30:18; Proverbs 30:19. God's proceedings are always to be acquiesced in, but cannot always be accounted for. He specifies some particulars, for which he goes as far back as the infancy of the Jewish church, and from which he gathers, 1. That there is no God to be compared with the God of Israel (Psalms 77:13; Psalms 77:13): Who is so great a God as our God? Let us first give to God the glory of the great things he has done for his people, and acknowledge him, therein, great above all comparison; and then we may take to ourselves the comfort of what he has done and encourage ourselves with it. 2. That he is a God of almighty power (Psalms 77:14; Psalms 77:14): "Thou art the God that alone doest wonders, above the power of any creature; thou hast visibly, and beyond any contradiction, declared thy strength among the people." What God has done for his church has been a standing declaration of his almighty power, for therein he has made bare his everlasting arm. (1.) God brought Israel out of Egypt, Psalms 77:15; Psalms 77:15. This was the beginning of mercy to them, and was yearly to be commemorated among them in the passover: "Thou hast with thy arm, stretched out in so many miracles, redeemed thy people out of the hand of the Egyptians." Though they were delivered by power, yet they are said to be redeemed, as if it had been done by price, because it was typical of the great redemption, which was to be wrought out, in the fulness of time, both by price and power. Those that were redeemed are here called not only the sons of Jacob, to whom the promise was made, but of Joseph also, who had a most firm and lively belief of the performance of it; for, when he was dying, he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and gave commandment concerning his bones. (2.) He divided the Red Sea before them (Psalms 77:16; Psalms 77:16): The waters gave way, and a lane was made through that crowd instantly, as if they had seen God himself at the head of the armies of Israel, and had retired for fear of him. Not only the surface of the waters, but the depths, were troubled, and opened to the right and to the left, in obedience to his word of command. (3.) He destroyed the Egyptians (Psalms 77:17; Psalms 77:17): The clouds poured out water upon them, while the pillar of fire, like an umbrella over the camp of Israel, sheltered it from the shower, in which, as in the deluge, the waters that were above the firmament concurred with those that were beneath the firmament to destroy the rebels. Then the skies sent out a sound; thy arrows also went abroad, which is explained (Psalms 77:18; Psalms 77:18): The voice of thy thunder was heard in the heaven (that was the sound which the skies sent forth); the lightnings lightened the world--those were the arrows which went abroad, by which the host of the Egyptians was discomfited, with so much terror that the earth of the adjacent coast trembled and shook. Thus God's way was in the sea, for the destruction of his enemies, as well as for the salvation of his people; and yet when the waters returned to their place his footsteps were not known (Psalms 77:19; Psalms 77:19); there was no mark set upon the place, as there was, afterwards, in Jordan, Joshua 4:9. We do not read in the story of Israel's passing through the Red Sea that there were thunders and lightning, and an earthquake; yet there might be, and Josephus says there were, such displays of the divine terror upon that occasion. But it may refer to the thunders, lightnings, and earth quakes, that were at Mount Sinai when the law was given. (4.) He took his people Israel under his own guidance and protection (Psalms 77:20; Psalms 77:20): Thou leddest thy people like a clock. They being weak and helpless, and apt to wander like a flock of sheep, and lying exposed to the beasts of prey, God went before them with all the care and tenderness of a shepherd, that they might not fail. The pillar of cloud and fire led them; yet that is not here taken notice of, but the agency of Moses and Aaron, by whose hand God led them; they could not do it without God, but God did it with and by them. Moses was their governor, Aaron their high priest; they were guides, overseers, and rulers to Israel, and by them God led them. The right and happy administration of the two great ordinances of magistracy and ministry is, though not so great a miracle, yet as great a mercy to any people as the pillar of cloud and fire was to Israel in the wilderness.

      The psalm concludes abruptly, and does not apply those ancient instances of God's power to the present distresses of the church, as one might have expected. But as soon as the good man began to meditate on these things he found he had gained his point; his very entrance upon this matter gave him light and joy (Psalms 119:130); his fears suddenly and strangely vanished, so that he needed to go no further; he went his way, and did eat, and his countenance was no more sad, like Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:18.