Psalm 46:7

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Lord of hosts.—See Note on Psalm 24:10.

Refuge.—Rightly in the margin with idea of height, as giving security.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

46:6-11 Come and see the effects of desolating judgments, and stand in awe of God. This shows the perfect security of the church, and is an assurance of lasting peace. Let us pray for the speedy approach of these glorious days, and in silent submission let us worship and trust in our almighty Sovereign. Let all believers triumph in this, that the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, has been, is, and will be with us; and will be our Refuge. Mark this, take the comfort, and say, If God be for us, who can be against us? With this, through life and in death, let us answer every fear.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord of hosts - The God commanding, ordering, marshalling the hosts of heaven - the angels, and the starry worlds. See the notes at Isaiah 1:9. Compare Psalm 24:10. The reference here is to God considered as having control over all "armies," or all that can be regarded and described as a marshalled host, in earth and in heaven. Having such a Being, therefore, for a protector, they had nothing to fear. See Psalm 46:11.

Is with us - Is on our side; is our defender. The Hebrew phrase used here is employed in Isaiah 7:14 (notes); Isaiah 8:8 (notes), to describe the Messiah. See the notes at those passages.

The God of Jacob - See the notes at Psalm 24:6. The meaning is, The God whom Jacob acknowedged, and whom he found to be his friend, is with us.

Is our refuge - literally, a high place, as a tower, far above the reach of enemies. See Psalm 9:9, note; Psalm 18:2, note. So the margin, "an high place for us."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. with us—on our side; His presence is terror to our enemies, safety to us.

refuge—high place (Ps 9:9; compare also Ps 24:6, 10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Lord of hosts is with us,.... The Targum is, "the Word of the Lord of hosts". He whose name is Immanuel, which is, by interpretation, "God with us", Matthew 1:23; who is King of kings, and Lord of lords; who has all creatures in heaven and earth at his command, whom all the hosts of angels obey; he is on the side of his people, and therefore they have nothing to fear from all the hosts and armies of men; seeing more are they that are for them than they that are against them;

the God of Jacob is our refuge. As, in the former clause, the argument against fear of men is taken from the power of God, and the extent of his dominion, here it is taken from the grace of God, and his people's covenant interest in him: for by Jacob is meant the church of God, and all true believers, who are Israelites indeed; the Lord is the refuge and shelter of such in all times of distress and trouble, and therefore they need not fear; See Gill on Psalm 46:1.

Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psalm 3:2.

Geneva Study Bible

The LORD of hosts is {g} with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

(g) They are assured that God can and will defend his Church from all dangers and enemies.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. The refrain corresponds to Isaiah’s watchword Immanuel, ‘God is with us’ (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 8:10). The name Jehovah is retained (or has been restored) here even in the Elohistic collection in the familiar title Jehovah of hosts. This great title Jehovah Tsebâôth or ‘Lord of hosts’ was characteristic of the regal and prophetic period. Originally it may have designated Jehovah as “the God of the armies of Israel” (1 Samuel 17:45), Who went forth with His people’s hosts to battle (Psalm 44:9; Psalm 60:10). But as the phrase “host of heaven” was used for the celestial bodies (Genesis 2:1), and celestial beings (1 Kings 22:19), the meaning of the title was extended to designate Jehovah as the ruler of the heavenly powers, the supreme Sovereign of the universe. Hence one of the renderings of it in the LXX is Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, Lord Almighty, or rather, Lord All-Sovereign. See add. note on 1 Sam., p. 235. The title is a favourite one with Isaiah, and its use here is significant. He whose command all the hosts of heaven obey is Israel’s ally. Cp. 2 Kings 6:16 ff.

the God of Jacob] A title suggesting the thought of Jehovah’s providential care for the great ancestor of the nation, a thought upon which Hosea dwells (Psalm 12:2 ff.).

our refuge] Or, our high fortress: the same word as that in Psalm 9:9; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 48:3; Isaiah 33:16. Cp. the use of the cognate verb in Psalm 20:1. “The Name of the God of Jacob set thee up on high.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - The Lord of hosts is with us (comp. 2 Chronicles 15:2; 2 Chronicles 20:17; Isaiah 8:8, 10). This is the ground of assurance. Our God, Jehovah, is "the Lord of hosts" - one who has countless angels at his command (2 Kings 6:16, 17; Psalm 68:17; Matthew 26:53). And he is "with us" - on our side, ready to help. The God of Jacob is our Refuge; i.e. our covenant God, the God who entered into covenant with our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Psalm 46:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 46:5-8) Just as, according to Genesis 2:10, a stream issued from Eden, to water the whole garden, so a stream makes Jerusalem as it were into another paradise: a river - whose streams make glad the city of Elohim (Psalm 87:3; Psalm 48:9, cf. Psalm 101:8); פּלגיו (used of the windings and branches of the main-stream) is a second permutative subject (Psalm 44:3). What is intended is the river of grace, which is also likened to a river of paradise in Psalm 36:9. When the city of God is threatened and encompassed by foes, still she shall not hunger and thirst, nor fear and despair; for the river of grace and of her ordinances and promises flows with its rippling waves through the holy place, where the dwelling-place or tabernacle of the Most High is pitched. קדשׁ, Sanctum (cf. el-Ḳuds as a name of Jerusalem), as in Psalm 65:5, Isaiah 57:15; גּדל, Exodus 15:16. משׁכּני, dwellings, like משׁכּנות, Psalm 43:3; Psalm 84:2; Psalm 132:5, Psalm 132:7, equivalent to "a glorious dwelling." In Psalm 46:6 in the place of the river we find Him from whom the river issues forth. Elohim helps her לפנותבּקר - there is only a night of trouble, the return of the morning is also the sunrise of speedy help. The preterites in Psalm 46:7 are hypothetical: if peoples and kingdoms become enraged with enmity and totter, so that the church is in danger of being involved in this overthrow - all that God need to is to make a rumbling with His almighty voice of thunder (נתן בּקולו, as in Psalm 68:34; Jeremiah 12:8, cf. הרים בּמּטּה, to make a lifting with the rod, Exodus 7:20), and forthwith the earth melts (muwg, as in Amos 9:5, Niph. Isaiah 14:31, and frequently), i.e., their titanic defiance becomes cowardice, the bonds of their confederation slacken, and the strength they have put forth is destroyed - it is manifest that Jahve Tsebaoth is with His people. This name of God is, so to speak, indigenous to the Korahitic Psalms, for it is the proper name of God belonging to the time of the kings (vid., on Psalm 24:10; Psalm 59:6), on the very verge of which it occurs first of all in the mouth of Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11), and the Korahitic Psalms have a royal impress upon them. In the God, at whose summons all created powers are obliged to marshal themselves like the hosts of war, Israel has a steep stronghold, משׂגּב, which cannot be scaled by any foe - the army of the confederate peoples and kingdoms, ere it has reached Jerusalem, is become a field of the dead.