John Gill Commentary Psalms 76

In Judah is God known
God is to be known, and is made known, by his works of creation, and by his providences, and particularly by his judgments in the whole world, even among the Gentiles; and he was made known by his word and ordinances, his statutes and his judgments, among the Jews, to whom these were specially given; and he is made known by his Spirit, and in his Son in a spiritual and saving manner to such who are Jews inwardly, or the true circumcision:

moreover this may be understood of Christ, God manifest in the flesh, and regard his appearance in human nature in the land of Judea; he was, according to prophecy, of the tribe of Judah as man, and was born in Bethlehem, a city in that tribe, where David was, and of the family of David, that formerly lived there: and he was made known by John the Baptist, who came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and by his being baptized of him in Jordan; by his own ministry and miracles in that land, and by the preaching of his apostles in the several cities of it, he was known in person to many; and by the fame of his doctrine and miracles to more, though seemingly but to few:

his name is great in Israel ;
he himself is great, for his name is himself, being the great God, and possessed of all divine perfections; his offices and titles are great, he is a great Saviour, a great High Priest, a great Prophet risen up in Israel, a great King, add the great Shepherd of the sheep; his works which make him known are great, his works of creation and providence, in which he is jointly concerned with his Father; the mighty works he did on earth, and especially the great work of our redemption;

and his Gospel, which is called his name, (Acts 9:15) , brings glad tidings of great and good things; by means of which, and the wonderful things he did in the land of Israel, his fame was spread about in it, for he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; here his marvellous works were done, and his Gospel first preached, which afterwards went into all the earth.

In Salem also is his tabernacle That is, in Jerusalem, as the Targum expresses it, where the tabernacle of Moses and the ark of the covenant were, and afterwards the temple of Solomon, which the Targum here calls the house of the sanctuary;

and may be interpreted of the human nature of Christ, the true tabernacle which God pitched, and not man, in which the divine word when he was made flesh dwelt or tabernacled among the Jews at Jerusalem, and in other parts of Judea, (Hebrews 8:2) (John 1:14) .

Salem or Jerusalem often signifies the church of God in Gospel times, in the midst of which Christ resides, and where he grants his gracious presence, (Hebrews 12:22–24) and in the New Jerusalem the tabernacle of God will be with men, and he will dwell among them, (Revelation 21:2Revelation 21:3) .

The Septuagint translate the word, and render it, "in peace", as in (Hebrews 7:2) , the God of peace dwells among those that live in peace, (2 Corinthians 13:11) ,

and his dwelling place in Zion ; where the ark was brought by David, and the temple was built by Solomon, into which, as rebuilt by Zerubbabel, Christ came, and here he preached; a figure of the church, which is his habitation.

There broke he the arrows of the bow
&c.] The Targum is, "there broke he the arrows and the bows of the people that make war;" the word (ypvr), translated "arrows", signifies "sparks or coals of fire"; see (Job 5:7) (Song of Solomon 8:6) and is used of arrows, because they fly swiftly, as sparks do, or because of their brightness, or because fiery; so we read of "the fiery darts of Satan", (Ephesians 6:16), and perhaps they may be meant here: when Christ our Lord suffered near Jerusalem, he spoiled principalities and powers, and broke their strength and might, and made peace by the blood of his cross, in which he triumphed over them.

for the destroying of these instruments of war with what follow: the shield, and the sword, and the battle,
is expressive of making wars to cease, and causing peace; and may include the peace which was all the world over at the birth of Christ, and was foretold and expressed in much such language as here, (Zechariah 9:9Zechariah 9:10), and also that which was made by his sufferings and death, and which was published in his Gospel by his apostles, whom he sent forth unarmed, whose weapons were not carnal, but spiritual; and likewise the spiritual peace he gives to his people, quenching the fiery darts of Satan, and delivering them from the archers that shoot at them, and sorely grieve them; as well as that peace which shall be in the world and churches in the latter day; see (Psalms 46:11).

Selah. (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).

You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains
of prey .

Which is to be understood not of Zion, as some interpret it; though it is true that the mountain of Zion, or the church of Christ, his kingdom and interest, shall in the latter day be more glorious and excellent than all other mountains, kingdoms, and interests; see (Isaiah 2:2) , but of God or Christ before spoken of; and so the Targum, ``bright, to be feared, are you, O God, to be praised from the house of your sanctuary.'' Christ, who is God over all, is "bright" ^F26 , splendid, and glorious, in his divine nature, being the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person: and "excellent" in his office as Mediator, and in all his works as such; and in human nature, at he is exalted at his Father's right hand, far above all principality, power, might, and dominion.

Signified here by "mountains of prey": the kingdoms of this world, because of their eminence and strength, are compared to mountains: see (Isaiah 41:15) (Jeremiah 51:25) (Zechariah 4:7) and may be called "mountains of prey", in allusion to mountains inhabited by beasts of prey, as lions and leopards; see (Song of Solomon 4:8) because obtained and possessed by tyranny and oppression.

Christ is more glorious and excellent than the kings of the earth; he is higher than they, and is King of kings; he is richer than they, the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein; he is wiser than they, by him kings reign, and princes decree justice; he is more powerful than they, and all must submit to him, and all will serve him hereafter; and his kingdom will be greater than theirs, more large and more lasting; it will be an everlasting one, and reach from sea to sea, and even to the ends of the earth.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: (rwan) "illustris", Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "illustrior", Tigurine, version; "splendidus", Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis; "bright", Ainsworth.

The stout hearted are spoiled
The Assyrian army, its officers and generals, that came up against Jerusalem, with great resolution and courage, and with daring impiety and blasphemy against the God of heaven, as Rabshakeh and others; these were spoiled, and their armour and riches became a prey to those they thought to have made a prey of.

So principalities and powers were spoiled by Christ upon the cross, and Satan, the strong man armed, has in the conversion of a sinner his armour taken from him, and his spoils divided by him that is stronger than he; and such as are stouthearted, and far from true righteousness, are stripped of their own, and made willing, in the day of Christ's power upon them, to submit to his; and as for antichrist, whose look is more stout than his fellows, that exalts himself above all that is called God, and opens his mouth in blasphemy against him and his followers, he shall be destroyed with the breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming:

or "the stout hearted have spoiled themselves" ^F1 ; as the Midianites did, or gave themselves for a prey; so the Targum, ``the stouthearted have cast off from them the weapons of war;'' threw away their armour, and ran away, such of them as were not destroyed by the angel. It is observable, that the Hebrew word, translated "spoiled", is in the Syriac form:

they have slept their sleep :
the sleep of death, as did the Assyrians when smitten by the angel, which was done in the night, when probably they were fast asleep, and so never awoke more, as the Babylonians, (Jeremiah 51:57) . So Jezebel, or the Romish antichrist, shall be cast into a bed, and her children killed with death, (Revelation 2:22Revelation 2:23) . Death is often in Scripture signified by a sleep, both the death of the righteous and of the wicked; but there is a difference between the one and the other; wherefore the death of the wicked here is called "their sleep"; the one sleep in Jesus, in his arms, and under his guardianship, the other not; to the one death is a true and proper rest from toil and labour, to the other only a cessation from doing mischief, (Job 3:17) , the one rests in hopes of a glorious resurrection, the other not; the one will awake in Christ's likeness, and to everlasting life; the other in the image of Satan, and to everlasting shame and contempt:

and none of the men of might have found their hands ;
none of the valiant soldiers in the Assyrian army could find their hands to fight their enemies, or defend themselves; as men in a deep sleep cannot find their hands to do anything, and are as if they had none, and still less in a dead sleep. The Targum is, ``they were not able to lay hold on their armour with their hands.'' This was the case of them that were killed; and as for those that remained alive, they were struck with such a panic, that their hearts could not endure, nor their hands be strong when God thus dealt with them; and so it will be with the antichristian army at the battle of Armageddon; and so it is with the wicked at death, they cannot find their hands so as to prevent it; and when it has seized upon them, they cannot find their hands to do any more mischief.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1:
  F1 (wllwtva) "praedae se exposnerunt", Tigurine version, Gejerus; "dediderunt se in praedam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.