Psalm 106:9

He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

106:6-12 Here begins a confession of sin; for we must acknowledge that the Lord has done right, and we have done wickedly. We are encouraged to hope that though justly corrected, yet we shall not be utterly forsaken. God's afflicted people own themselves guilty before him. God is distrusted because his favours are not remembered. If he did not save us for his own name's sake, and to the praise of his power and grace, we should all perish.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He rebuked the Red Sea also - The word rendered "rebuke" commonly means to chide - as when one is angry with another for having done wrong. Here it is evidently a poetic term, meaning that he spake "as if" he were angry; or "as if" the Red Sea did wrong in presenting an obstacle or obstruction to the passage of his people. Compare Exodus 14:21-22,

So he led them through the depths - Through what had been the abyss; what had seemed to be depths, being covered with water.

As through the wilderness - As through a desert or dry place; as he afterward led them through the wilderness. The waters parted asunder, and made a way for them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. rebuked—(Ps 104:7).

as through the wilderness—(Isa 63:11-14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

As securely as if they had walked upon the dry land.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up,.... By sending a strong east wind, which drove the waters back, and made the sea a dry land, Exodus 14:21.

So he led them through the depths; that is, the deep waters of the sea, which were cast up as an heap, and stood as a wall on each side, through which they passed.

As through the wilderness; or rather, "as on a plain"; for a passage through a wilderness where no roads are, and many obstructions be, is not easy; and so it is manifestly to be understood in Isaiah 63:13, where Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it a plain and smooth ground, a champaign country; and so the word is used for a plain, in opposition to mountains, in Jeremiah 9:10, and then the sense is, that God led them through the sea, being dried up, as if they were led through a plain and open country, where was nothing to obstruct their march; an emblem of baptism, 1 Corinthians 10:1, and of the passage of the people of God through this world; See Gill on Psalm 78:13.

Geneva Study Bible

He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. He rebuked &c.] Cp. Psalm 104:7; Isaiah 50:2; Nahum 1:4.

so he led them &c.] Apparently a reminiscence of Isaiah 63:13 : cp. Isaiah 51:10.

as through a wilderness] I.e. on dry ground, Exodus 14:22. But R.V. marg. may be right in rendering pasture-land, suggesting the metaphor of a flock, Psalm 77:20.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - He rebuked the Red Sea also (comp. Psalm 104:7, "At thy rebuke they [i.e. the waters] fled;" see also Isaiah 50:2; Nahum 1:4). The Hebrew poets constantly represent God's dealings with inanimate nature in terms proper to his dealings with his rational creatures, thus personifying material things. And it was dried up (see Exodus 14:21, 22). So he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness (comp. Isaiah 63:13). Midbar, the word translated "wilderness," is properly a smooth stretch of down, very level, and suited for sheep walks. Psalm 106:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The key-note of the vidduj, which is a settled expression since 1 Kings 8:47 (Daniel 9:5, cf. Bar. 2:12), makes itself heard here in Psalm 106:6; Israel is bearing at this time the punishment of its sins, by which it has made itself like its forefathers. In this needy and helpless condition the poet, who all along speaks as a member of the assembly, takes the way of the confession of sin, which leads to the forgiveness of sin and to the removal of the punishment of sin. רשׁע, 1 Kings 8:47, signifies to be, and the Hiph. to prove one's self to be, a רשׁע. עם in Psalm 106:6 is equivalent to aeque ac, as in Ecclesiastes 2:16; Job 9:26. With Psalm 106:7 the retrospect begins. The fathers contended with Moses and Aaron in Egypt (Exodus 5:21), and gave no heed to the prospect of redemption (Exodus 6:9). The miraculous judgments which Moses executed (Exodus 3:20) had no more effect in bringing them to a right state of mind, and the abundant tokens of loving-kindness (Isaiah 63:7) amidst which God redeemed them made so little impression on their memories that they began to despair and to murmur even at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:11.). With על, Psalm 106:7, alternates בּ (as in Ezekiel 10:15, בּנהר); cf. the alternation of prepositions in Joel 3:8. When they behaved thus, Jahve might have left their redemption unaccomplished, but out of unmerited mercy He nevertheless redeemed them. Psalm 106:8-11 are closely dependent upon Exodus 14. Psalm 106:11 is a transposition (cf. Psalm 34:21; Isaiah 34:16) from Exodus 14:28. On the other hand, Psalm 106:9 is taken out of Isaiah 63:13 (cf. Wisd. 19:9); Isaiah 63:7-64:12 is a prayer for redemption which has a similar ground-colouring. The sea through which they passed is called, as in the Tפra, ים־סוּף, which seems, according to Exodus 2:3; Isaiah 19:3, to signify the sea of reed or sedge, although the sedge does not grow in the Red Sea itself, but only on the marshy places of the coast; but it can also signify the sea of sea-weed, mare algosum, after the Egyptian sippe, wool and sea-weed (just as Arab. ṣûf also signifies both these). The word is certainly Egyptian, whether it is to be referred back to the Egyptian word sippe (sea-weed) or seebe (sedge), and is therefore used after the manner of a proper name; so that the inference drawn by Knobel on Exodus 8:18 from the absence of the article, that סוּף is the name of a town on the northern point of the gulf, is groundless. The miracle at the sea of sedge or sea-weed - as Psalm 106:12 says - also was not without effect. Exodus 14:31 tells us that they believed on Jahve and Moses His servant, and the song which they sang follows in Exodus 15. But they then only too quickly added sins of ingratitude.