A Commentary on the Book of Psalms: Psalm 104 — A Thanksgiving to God for His Benefits to His People of Israel
9–12 In order to confirm the truth of his assertion, he repeats it, and explains it at greater length, saying, “Which he made to Abraham;” he remembered the promise he made to Abraham, and confirmed the same promise “by his oath to Isaac.” And he appointed “the same” sworn promise “to Jacob for a law;” a decree, a statute, and as “an everlasting testament;” a treaty to hold forever. The words of promise contained in that treaty were, “I will give thee the land of Chanaan;” the land of promise, then inhabited by the Chanaanites; “the lot of your inheritance;” to be held by your children as their inheritance, usually distributed by lot, which promise was made to Abraham, in Gen. 17, to Isaac, in Gen. 26, and to Jacob, in Gen. 28. These promises were made to the Jews, “when they were but a small number;” very few, indeed; “and sojourners;” birds of passage, mere strangers in the same land, which leads us the more to admire the counsel, power, and wisdom of God, and his great regard for the patriarchs, in choosing out of the whole world one family, and that a poor one, and promising them, and afterwards fulfilling his promise of giving them a most extensive country, the seat of many kings. Much more wonderful is it that the same God should have chosen the little flock of the elect from out of the whole human race, to give them the kingdom of heaven, of which the land of promise was but a figure, as an eternal inheritance.
13–15 The prophet now records another of God’s favors, in having guarded and protected the patriarchs by a singular providence. He alludes to Abraham, who was twice in danger by reason of the beauty of his wife; to Isaac, who also was near suffering in that way; and to Jacob, who was all but ruined, first by Laban, then by Esau, and they all escaped through God’s singular care of them. “And they passed,” the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with their families, “from nation to nation;” from one province to another, “and from one kingdom to another people;” from the kingdom to the people of the kingdom of Egypt. “He suffered no man to hurt them;” nay more, “he reproved kings for their sake;” for instance, Pharao, the king of Egypt, and Abimelech, king of Gerara, for he said to those kings, “Touch ye not my anointed,” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; “and do no evil to my prophets;” to the three aforesaid, who are also my prophets, and by virtue thereof, anointed and consecrated to me. Do not molest them, trouble them, or do them any manner of harm. There can be no doubt of the three above named holy patriarchs having been prophets also, for Abraham foresaw the captivity of the people of Israel in Egypt, its duration, and its termination; as we read in Gen. 15. Isaac, shortly before his death, predicted to his son Esau, that he would be subservient to his younger brother Jacob, and that at one time he would shake off his yoke, all which regarded their posterity and not themselves; see Gen. 27. Jacob uttered several prophecies concerning each of his sons, especially Juda, from whose tribe he prophesied the Messias would come. Thus those patriarchs are very properly called prophets, and they are said to be “anointed,” not that they were visibly anointed with oil, as were the priests, kings, and sometimes the prophets in after times; but, because they had the internal and spiritual unction of the spirit poured upon them, of which Isaias says, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me.”
16–23 This is the third favor conferred by God on his people, in which we find a great field for praising the wonderful wisdom of God, who, from such a mass of evil, could bring such an amount of good. He gives an account of the great famine that overshadowed the earth in the time of Jacob, when he and all his family migrated into Egypt; see Gen. 37, etc. “And he called a famine upon the land.” God, in his providence, caused a dreadful famine, by reason of a dearth of corn, to overspread the earth. He speaks figuratively when he says, “called a famine,” as if it were an army he would call from one place to another, to let us see how obedient all things are to God, and how they answered at his nod and bidding; as also to let us see that things we suppose to happen by chance, are so ordained by God, for his own wise purposes. He repeats the same at greater length when he says, “And he broke in pieces all the support of bread.” That famine was caused by God’s having destroyed the bread they had to support them, for during a period of seven years not a grain of corn ripened in the country; as we read in Genesis: “He sent a man before them, Joseph;” on the occasion of the approaching famine, God sent into Egypt before the children of Israel, “a man,” a great man, “Joseph,” for the purpose of delivering Israel and all his family from the famine. History tells us that Joseph, through the envy of his brethren, was sold as a slave to some merchants on their way to Egypt; but David says he was sent there by God, who in his providence suffered him to be sold and transported into Egypt, for the purpose of afterwards introducing Jacob and his sons there in a most wonderful manner. He tells us how Joseph was sent there when he says, “he was sold for a slave,” by his brethren, to merchants on their way to Egypt. “They humbled his feet in fetters.” No sooner had Joseph got into Egypt than he was accused of criminality with his master’s wife, was thrown into prison for it, and had his feet bound with fetters of iron. “The iron pierced his soul until his word came.” His chains being heavy on him, afflicted and weighed him down, until “his word,” that is, his prophecy of the butler’s, his fellow captive, being released in a few days, “came,” was accomplished, and that led to his own liberation; see Genesis. “The word of the Lord inflamed him.”
That word or prophecy of Joseph was not his own; it was the word of the Lord, inspired and suggested by him. “The king sent and he released him: the ruler of the people and he set him at liberty.” King Pharao having heard from his butler of Joseph’s wisdom, sent to the prison, knocked off his manacles, and let him out free. “He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his possession.” He not only set him free, but he placed him over his own family and over the entire kingdom, to administer it, “that he might instruct his princes as himself, and teach his ancients wisdom.” King Pharao placed Joseph over his kingdom, not only for the purpose of administering to the bodily wants of his subjects during the famine, but also for the purpose of instructing his ministers and counselors in that science of government in which he seemed to be such an adept. “And Israel went into Egypt.” It was on this occasion that the patriarch Jacob came into Egypt; “and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Cham;” and thus, Jacob, or rather those descended from him, began to dwell in Egypt, called the land of Cham, by reason of Mizraim, the son of Cham, the son of Noe, having been the first to dwell therein.