Psalm 107:24

These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

107:23-32 Let those who go to sea, consider and adore the Lord. Mariners have their business upon the tempestuous ocean, and there witness deliverances of which others cannot form an idea. How seasonable it is at such a time to pray! This may remind us of the terrors and distress of conscience many experience, and of those deep scenes of trouble which many pass through, in their Christian course. Yet, in answer to their cries, the Lord turns their storm into a calm, and causes their trials to end in gladness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These see the works of the Lord - They - sailors - have a special opportunity to see the works of God. They see manifestations of his power which are not seen on the land. They see things which seem to come "directly" from God; which are "immediately" produced by him - not as the things which occur on the land, which are the result of "growth," and which are slowly developed. They seem in the solitariness and grandeur of the ocean to stand more directly in the presence of the great God.

And his wonders in the deep - In the abyss; in that which is distinguished for its "depth," as the mountains are for their height. Compare Psalm 148:7.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. These see … deep—illustrated both by the storm He raises and the calm He makes with a word (Ps 33:9).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

His wonderful works, either,

1. Of creation, fishes of various kinds and shapes, and some of prodigious greatness, which are unknown to other men. Or,

2. Of providence, in raising and laying storms, of which he speaks in the following verses

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

These see the works of the Lord,.... In creation, the sea itself, its flux and reflux; the creatures in it, fishes of various forms and sizes: and in providence, in preserving ships and men in the most imminent danger, and even to a miracle; sometimes causing the wind to change or to subside in a moment, whereby deliverance is wrought.

And his wonders in the deep; the strange and wonderful creatures that are in the deep waters of the sea, and to be seen nowhere else; and the amazing appearances of divine providence, in delivering when in the greatest distress, and none at hand to help, and all hope of salvation gone.

Geneva Study Bible

These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. These see &c.] These men have seen. Jehovah’s works are the storm, viewed as an evidence of His sovereignty over the elements: His wonders (or wonderful works, as in Psalm 107:8 &c.) are His miraculous interposition to still the storm and rescue the sailors.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. Storms, tempests, and sudden deliverances are the "wonders" especially meant (comp. Acts 27:14-44; 2 Corinthians 11:25). Psalm 107:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Others have returned to tell of the perils of the sea. Without any allegory (Hengstenberg) it speaks of those who by reason of their calling traverse (which is expressed by ירד because the surface of the sea lies below the dry land which slopes off towards the coast) the sea in ships (read boŏnijoth without the article), and that not as fishermen, but (as Luther has correctly understood the choice of the word) in commercial enterprises. These have seen the works and wonders of God in the eddying deep, i.e., they have seen with their own eyes what God can do when in His anger He calls up the powers of nature, and on the other hand when He compassionately orders them back into their bounds. God's mandate (ויּאמר as in Psalm 105:31, Psalm 105:34) brought it to pass that a stormy wind arose (cf. עמד, Psalm 33:9), and it drove its (the sea's) waves on high, so that the seafarers at one time were tossed up to the sky and then hurled down again into deep abysses, and their soul melted בּרעה, in an evil, anxious mood, i.e., lost all its firmness. They turned about in a circle (יחוגּוּ( elc from חגג equals חוּג) and reeled after the manner of a drunken man; all their wisdom swallowed itself up, i.e., consumed itself within itself, came of itself to nought, just as Ovid, Trist. i. 1, says in connection with a similar description of a storm at sea: ambiguis ars stupet ipsa malis. The poet here writes under the influence of Isaiah 19:3, Isaiah 19:14. But at their importunate supplication God led them forth out of their distresses (Psalm 25:17). He turned the raging storm into a gentle blowing ( equals דּממה דּקּה, 1 Kings 19:12). הקים construed with ל here has the sense of transporting (carrying over) into another condition or state, as Apollinaris renders: αὐτίκα δ ̓ εἰς αὔρην προτέρην μετέθηκε θύελλαν. The suffix of גּלּיהם cannot refer to the מים רבּים in Psalm 107:23, which is so far removed; "their waves" are those with which they had to battle. These to their joy became calm (חשׁה) and were still (שׁתק as in Jonah 1:11), and God guided them ἐπὶ λιμένα θελήματος αὐτῶν (lxx). מחוז, a hapax-legomenon, from Arab. ḥâz (ḥwz), to shut in on all sides and to draw to one's self (root Arab. ḥw, gyravit, in gyrum egit), signifies a place enclosed round, therefore a haven, and first of all perhaps a creek, to use a northern word, a fiord. The verb שׁתק in relation to חשׁה is the stronger word, like יבשׁ in relation to חרם in the history of the Flood. Those who have been thus marvellously rescued are then called upon thankfully to praise God their Deliverer in the place where the national church assembles, and where the chiefs of the nation sit in council; therefore, as it seems, in the Temple and in the Forum.

(Note: In exact editions like Norzi, Heidenheim, and Baer's, before Psalm 107:23, Psalm 107:24, Psalm 107:25, Psalm 107:26, Psalm 107:27, Psalm 107:28, and Psalm 107:40 there stand reversed Nuns (נונין הפוכין, in the language of the Masora נונין מנזרות), as before Numbers 10:35 and between Numbers 10:36 and Numbers 11:1 (nine in all). Their signification is unknown.)

Now follow two more groups without the two beautiful and impressive refrains with which the four preceding groups are interspersed. The structure is less artistic, and the transitions here and there abrupt and awkward. One might say that these two groups are inferior to the rest, much as the speeches of Elihu are inferior to the rest of the Book of Job. That they are, however, nevertheless from the hand of the very same poet is at once seen from the continued dependence upon the Book of Job and Isaiah. Hengstenberg sees in Psalm 107:33-42 "the song with which they exalt the Lord in the assembly of the people and upon the seat of the elders." but the materia laudis is altogether different from that which is to be expected according to the preceding calls to praise. Nor is it any the more clear to us that Psalm 107:33. refer to the overthrow of Babylon, and Psalm 107:35. to the happy turn of affairs that took place simultaneously for Israel; Psalm 107:35 does not suit Canaan, and the expressions in Psalm 107:36. would be understood in too low a sense. No, the poet goes on further to illustrate the helpful government of God the just and gracious One, inasmuch as he has experiences in his mind in connection therewith, of which the dispersion of Israel in all places can sing and speak.