Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 60

Have scattered us. —Literally, have broken us. A word applied to a wall or fence, Psalms 80:12, but in 2 Samuel 5:20 applied to the rout of an army, an event which gave its name to the locality, “plain of breaches.” So in English:

“And seeing me, with a great voice he cried,
They are broken, they are broken.”—

TENNYSON: Elaine.

On the other hand, the two succeeding verses seem to refer to a political convulsion rather than a military defeat, and it has been conjectured that the breach between the two kingdoms is here indicated. (See the use of perez=breach, in Judges 21:15.)

Earth. —Rather, land; since, though the image is drawn from an earthquake, in which the solid ground trembles and buildings totter and fall , the convulsion described is political, not physical.

Hard things — that is, a hard fate.

Wine of astonishment. — Literally, either wine of reeling — that is, an intoxicating draught — or wine as reeling — that is, bewilderment like wine, or wine, which is not wine, but bewilderment, depending on the construction.

In any case, the figure is the same one that we often encounter in Hebrew poetry (Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:22; Jeremiah 25:15, and others), expressing that infatuation which the pagan proverb so well describes:

“Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat.”

You have given. —Amid the uncertainty surrounding this verse, one thing is certain: the Authorized Version's rendering of its second clause must be abandoned. Instead of koshet (truth), we must read with the Septuagint and Symmachus kesheth (a bow). It is more than doubtful whether the preposition rendered because of can have that meaning. Nor can the rendering of the verb, that it may be displayed, be defended. Render it as: You have given Your fearers a banner, that they may rally to it from before the bow, and compare Isaiah 13:2.

From this verse onward the psalm appears again, with some variations noticed there, in Psalms 108:6-13.

Verses 6, 7, and 8, forming the center of the poem, are, plainly by their style, of different age and authorship from the beginning. Possibly, indeed, they formed an original poem by themselves, an ancient oracular saying descriptive of the relations of Israel to the tribes bordering on her territory, and were then employed by the compilers of this psalm and Psalm 108, to rouse the drooping spirits of the race in some less fortunate time. (See Introduction.) The speaker is God Himself, who, according to a familiar prophetic figure, appears in the character of a warrior, the captain of Israel, proclaiming the triumphs won through His might by their arms. .

Here, however, the picture is rather playful than terrible—rather ironic than majestic. The conqueror is returning, as in the passage of Isaiah referred to above, from the battle, but he is not painted glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength. The fury of the fight, the carnage, the bloodstained garments are all implied, not described. Instead of answering a challenge, as in Isaiah, by a description of the fight, here the champion simply proclaims the result of his victory as he proceeds to disarm and prepare for the bath—figures expressing the utmost contempt for the foe so easily subdued.