Psalms 135:8

135:5-14 God is, and will be always, the same to his church, a gracious, faithful, wonder-working God. And his church is, and will be, the same to him, a thankful, praising people: thus his name endures for ever. He will return in ways of mercy to them, and will delight to do them good.

Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. Which was the last of the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians; and is particularly mentioned, because, by means of it, they were made willing to let the children of Israel go out of their land: and so this includes the deliverance of the Israelites, God's firstborn, when he slew the firstborn of Egypt; and who were typical of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven; and the deliverance of them, through the blood of the passover, was an emblem of the deliverance of those by the blood of Christ; see Exodus 12:22 .

Psalm 135:8 . Who smote the firstborn of Egypt — From the general works of nature he comes to God’s special works of providence toward his people. “Egypt was the theatre of the grand contest between the God of Israel and the gods of the heathen. The superiority of the former over the latter was shown in every possible way, by the miracles of Moses, which demonstrated all the powers of nature, to be under the dominion of Jehovah, and to act at his command, so that, instead of being able to protect, they were made to torment and destroy their deluded votaries.”

Verse 8. - Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast (comp. Exodus 12:29 ). The most stupendous of the plagues of Egypt is given the first place in the account of God's wonderful dealings with men, and especially with his people. It gave them the deliverance out of Egypt, which made them a people ( Exodus 12:31-33 ). Psalm 135:8

Who smote the firstborn of Egypt - As the last and the greatest of the plagues brought upon the Egyptians; the chief and crowning judgment under which they were made willing that the children of Israel should go, and which was in fact the judgment which secured their freedom. This is selected here evidently for this reason, instead of recounting all the plagues which were brought upon the Egyptians. Both of man and beast - Exodus 11:5. Margin, as in Hebrew, From man unto beast. That is, including both; smiting both.

[Reformed Biblical] elections from other Scriptures. It has been called a mosaic, and compared to a tessellated pavement. At the outset, its first two verses (Psalms 135:1-2) are taken from Psalms 134:1-3; while the latter part of Psalms 135:2 and the commencement of Psalms 135:3 put us in mind of Psalms 116:19; and Psalms 135:4 suggests Deuteronomy 7:6. Does not Psalms 135:5 remind us of Psalms 95:3? As for Psalms 135:7, it is almost identical with Jeremiah 10:13, which may have been taken from it. The passage contained in Psalms 135:13 is to be found in Exodus 3:15, and Psalms 135:14 in Deuteronomy 32:36. The closing verses, Psalms 135:8-12, are in Psalms 136. From Psalms 135:15 to the end the strain is a repetition of Psalms 115:1-18 This process of tracing the expres sions to other sources might be pushed further without straining the quotations; the whole Psalm is a compound of many choice extracts, and yet it has all the continuity and freshness of an original poem. The Holy Spirit occasionally repeats himself; not because he has any lack of thoughts or words, but because it is expedient for us that we hear the same things in the same form. Yet, when our great Teacher uses repetition, it is usually with instructive variations, which deserve our careful attention. DIVISION. The first fourteen verses contain an exhortation to praise Jehovah for his goodn