Psalm 77:13

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) In the sanctuary.—Rather, with the holy, i.e., with “Israel,” the “saint” of God.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 77:13. Thy way, O God — That is, thy doings, or, the course of thy providence; the various methods and causes of thy dealings with thy people; is in the sanctuary — Is there contained and declared. As the prosperity of wicked men, so also the afflictions and troubles of God’s people, are great riddles and stumbling-blocks to the ignorant and ungodly world, but a full and satisfactory resolution of them may be had from God’s sanctuary, as is observed in the former case, Psalm 73:16-17, and here in the latter. Or, בקדשׁ, bakkodesh, may be rendered, in holiness; and so the sense is, God is holy, and just, and true in all his works; yea, even in his judgments upon his people, and in the afflictions and troubles wherewith he chastises or tries individuals of them. Who is so great a God as our God — So able to save or to destroy?

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

77:11-20 The remembrance of the works of God, will be a powerful remedy against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God, and changes not. God's way is in the sanctuary. We are sure that God is holy in all his works. God's ways are like the deep waters, which cannot be fathomed; like the way of a ship, which cannot be tracked. God brought Israel out of Egypt. This was typical of the great redemption to be wrought out in the fulness of time, both by price and power. If we have harboured doubtful thoughts, we should, without delay, turn our minds to meditate on that God, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, that with him, he might freely give us all things.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary - Luther renders this, "O God, thy way is holy." Prof. Alexander, "O God, in holiness is thy way." DeWette, "O God, holy is thy way." The word rendered "sanctuary" - קדשׁ qôdesh - means properly "holiness." It is not the same word which in Psalm 73:17 is rendered "sanctuary" - מקדשׁ miqdâsh. The word here employed, however, may mean a holy place, a sanctuary, as the tabernacle Exodus 28:43; Exodus 29:30, or the temple 1 Kings 8:8; 2 Chronicles 29:7. In this passage the word is ambiguous. It means either that the way of God is holy, or in holiness; or, that it is in the sanctuary, or holy place. If the former, it is a statement of the result to which the psalmist came in regard to the divine character, from a contemplation of his doings. If the latter, it means that the way of God - the true principles of the divine administration - are to be learned in the place where he is worshipped, and from the principles which are there set forth. Compare the notes at Psalm 73:17. It seems to me that the former is the correct interpretation, as it accords better with the scope of the passage.

Who is so great a God as our God - In greatness no one can be compared with him. He is supreme over all. This is the first reflection of the psalmist in regard to God - that he is great; that he is superior to all other beings; that no one can be compared with him. The evident inference from this in the mind of the psalmist, as bearing on the subject of his inquiry, is, that it is to be expected that there will be things in his administration which man cannot hope to understand; that a rash and sudden judgment should not be formed in regard to him from his doings; that people should wait for the developments of his plans; that he should not be condemned because there are things which we cannot comprehend, or which seem to be inconsistent with goodness. This is a consideration which ought always to influence us in our views of God and his government.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. Thy way … in the sanctuary—God's ways of grace and providence (Ps 22:3; 67:2), ordered on holy principles, as developed in His worship; or implied in His perfections, if "holiness" be used for "sanctuary," as some prefer translating (compare Ex 15:11).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy way, i.e. thy doings, or the course of thy providence, which is oft called God’s way; the various methods and causes of thy dealings with thy people.

In the sanctuary; is there contained and declared. As the prosperity of wicked men, so also the grievous calamities of God’s people, are great riddles and stumbling-blocks to the ignorant and ungodly world; but a full and satisfactory resolution of them may be had from God’s sanctuary, as is observed in the former case by this same Asaph, Psalm 73:16,17, and here in the latter. Or, is in holiness. So the sense is, God is holy, and just, and true in all his works; yea, even in his judgments upon his own people, as will evidently appear from the issue of them.

Who is so great a God as our God? And although our God at present suspends his power, and doth not put it forth to deliver his people out of the hands of their idolatrous enemies, who thence take occasion to blaspheme his name, and to exalt their idol gods above him; yet he is still infinitely superior in power, both to them and to their gods, and can and will in his due time rescue his people from them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary,.... Or "in holiness" (y); that is, is holy, so the Syriac version, and to which the Targum agrees.

"O God, how holy are thy ways,''

see Psalm 145:17, or "in the sanctuary", the temple, the church of God, where he takes his walks, and manifests himself, and where the reasons of his providence, and dealing with his people, are opened and made known unto them, see Psalm 68:24,

who is so great a God as our God? the Targum is, as the God of Israel; he is great in his persons, perfections, and works, and is greatly to be loved, feared, and praised.

(y) "in sanctitate", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

Thy way, O God, is {h} in the sanctuary: who is so great a {i} God as our God?

(h) That is in heaven, to which we must ascend by faith, if we will know the ways of God.

(i) He condemns all who worship anything save the only true God, whose glory appears through the world.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. in the sanctuary] Better, in holiness. Cp. Exodus 15:11. All the plan and method of God’s dealings in the world moves in the sphere of holiness, separate from all sin and imperfection, in accord with the perfection of His Nature. Cp. Habakkuk’s appeal to God’s holiness (Habakkuk 1:12.)

who &c.] Who is a great god (El) like God (Elohim)? For Elohim no doubt originally stood Jehovah as in the passage of Moses’ song, which the Psalmist has in mind (Exodus 15:11).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary; rather, in holiness. God's "way" - his conduct, his proceedings - however strange and mysterious it may seem to us, is always holy, i.e. just and right (comp. Genesis 18:25; Job 8:3). Who is so great a God as our God? God is both good and great; just in himself, and able to execute justice. Psalm 77:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With ואמר the poet introduces the self-encouragement with which he has hitherto calmed himself when such questions of temptation were wont to intrude themselves upon him, and with which he still soothes himself. In the rendering of הלּותי (with the tone regularly drawn back before the following monosyllable) even the Targum wavers between מרעוּתי (my affliction) and בּעוּתי (my supplication); and just in the same way, in the rendering of Psalm 77:11, between אשׁתּניו (have changed) and שׁנין (years). שׁנות cannot possibly signify "change" in an active sense, as Luther renders: "The right hand of the Most High can change everything," but only a having become different (lxx and the Quinta ἀλλοίωσις, Symmachus ἐπιδευτέρωσις), after which Maurer, Hupfeld, and Hitzig render thus: my affliction is this, that the right hand of the Most High has changed. But after we have read שׁנות in Psalm 77:6 as a poetical plural of שׁנה, a year, we have first of all to see whether it may not have the same signification here. And many possible interpretations present themselves. It can be interpreted: "my supplication is this: years of the right hand of the Most High" (viz., that years like to the former ones may be renewed); but this thought is not suited to the introduction with ואמר. We must either interpret it: my sickness, viz., from the side of God, i.e., the temptation which befalls me from Him, the affliction ordained by Him for me (Aquila ἀῤῥωστία μου), is this (cf. Jeremiah 10:19); or, since in this case the unambiguous חלותי would have been used instead of the Piel: my being pierced, my wounding, my sorrow is this (Symmachus τρῶσίς μου, inf. Kal from חלל, Psalm 109:22, after the form חנּות from חנן) - they are years of the right hand of the Most High, i.e., those which God's mighty hand, under which I have to humble myself (1 Peter 5:6), has formed and measured out to me. In connection with this way of taking Psalm 77:11, Psalm 77:12 is now suitably and easily attached to what has gone before. The poet says to himself that the affliction allotted to him has its time, and will not last for ever. Therein lies a hope which makes the retrospective glance into the happier past a source of consolation to him. In Psalm 77:12 the Chethb אזכיר is to be retained, for the כי in Psalm 77:12 is thus best explained: "I bring to remembrance, i.e., make known with praise or celebrate (Isaiah 63:7), the deeds of Jāh, for I will remember Thy wondrous doing from days of old." His sorrow over the distance between the present and the past is now mitigated by the hope that God's right hand, which now casts down, will also again in His own time raise up. Therefore he will now, as the advance from the indicative to the cohortative (cf. Psalm 17:15) imports, thoroughly console and refresh himself with God's work of salvation in all its miraculous manifestations from the earliest times. יהּ is the most concise and comprehensive appellation for the God of the history of redemption, who, as Habakkuk prays, will revive His work of redemption in the midst of the years to come, and bring it to a glorious issue. To Him who then was and who will yet come the poet now brings praise and celebration. The way of God is His historical rule, and more especially, as in Habakkuk 3:6, הליכות, His redemptive rule. The primary passage Exodus 15:11 (cf. Psalm 68:25) shows that בּקּדשׁ is not to be rendered "in the sanctuary" (lxx ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ), but "in holiness" (Symmachus ἐν ἁγιασμῷ). Holy and glorious in love and in anger. God goes through history, and shows Himself there as the incomparable One, with whose greatness no being, and least of all any one of the beingless gods, can be measured. He is האל, the God, God absolutely and exclusively, a miracle-working (עשׂה פלא, not עשׂה פלא cf. Genesis 1:11)

(Note: The joining of the second word, accented on the first syllable and closely allied in sense, on to the first, which is accented on the ultima (the tone of which, under certain circumstances, retreats to the penult., נסוג אחור) or monosyllabic, by means of the hardening Dagesh (the so-called דחיק), only takes place when that first word ends in ה- or ה-, not when it ends in ה-.))

God, and a God who by these very means reveals Himself as the living and supra-mundane God. He has made His omnipotence known among the peoples, viz., as Exodus 15:16 says, by the redemption of His people, the tribes of Jacob and the double tribe of Joseph, out of Egypt, - a deed of His arm, i.e., the work of His own might, by which He has proved Himself to all peoples and to the whole earth to be the Lord of the world and the God of salvation (Exodus 9:16; Exodus 15:14). בּזרוע, brachio scil. extenso (Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 4:34, and frequently), just as in Psalm 75:6, בּצוּאר, collo scil. erecto. The music here strikes in; the whole strophe is an overture to the following hymn in celebration of God, the Redeemer out of Egypt.