Verse-by-Verse Bible CommentaryPsalms 105:18
They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Jump to: Barne's Notes • Gill's Exposition • Commentary Critical and Explanatory • Calvin's Commentary • Trapp's Commentary • Poole's Annotations • Whedon's Commentary • Haydock's Catholic Commentary • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes • Ellicott's Commentary • Treasury of Knowledge Other Authors
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole BibleWhose feet they hurt with fetters - In Genesis 40:3; it is said of Joseph that he was “bound” in prison. It is not improbable that his “feet” were bound, as this is the usual way of confining prisoners. He was laid in iron - In the prison. The margin is, “his soul came into iron.” The version in the Prayer-Book of the Episcopal Church is, the iron entered into his soul. This is a more striking and beautiful rendering, though it may be doubted whether the Hebrew will permit it. DeWette renders it, “In iron lay his body.” Copyright Statement Bibliography John Gill's Exposition of the Whole BibleWhose feet they hurt with fetters,.... For it seems Joseph was not only cast into prison, upon the calumny of his mistress; but had fetters put upon him, and his feet were made fast with them; and these were so close and heavy, as to pinch and gall and hurt him; which, though not mentioned in his history, was undoubtedly true; see Genesis 39:20. He was laid in iron: or "the iron" (or, as the Targum, "the iron chain") "went into his Soul" Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Biblehurt with fetters — (Genesis 40:3). was laid in iron — literally, “his soul” (see on Psalm 16:10), or, “he came into iron,” or, he was bound to his grief (compare Psalm 3:2; Psalm 11:1). The “soul” is put for the whole person, because the soul of the captive suffers still more than the body. Joseph is referred to as being an appropriate type of those “bound in affliction and iron” (Psalm 107:10). Copyright Statement Bibliography Calvin's Commentary on the Bible18They afflicted his feet in the fetters It is not without cause that the Psalmist prosecutes the winding course of Jacob’s early history, which might so confuse the minds of men as to prevent them from directing their attention to the counsel of God. What seemed less likely than to believe that God, by so directly opposite and circuitous a path, meant to accomplish what he had purposed? But his providence, by surmounting so many obstacles, is brought out more conspicuously, than if he had despatched the whole matter by a short and easy road. Had Joseph, as soon as he arrived in Egypt, been presented to the king, and made its governor, the way to what followed would have been easy. But when he was carried away to prison, and lay there separated from the society of men, living as one half-dead; and when his becoming known to the king was a long time subsequent to this, and beyond all expectation, such a sudden change renders the miracle much more evident. This circuitous course then, which the prophet recounts, serves not a little to illustrate the subject in hand. Joseph was many times dead before he was sold. Hence it follows, that God as often showed his care of his Church by delivering him who might be termed her father. When after, having been brought into Egypt, Joseph was conveyed from hand to hand till he descended into another grave, is it not the more clearly manifest from this that God, while he seems to be asleep in heaven, is all the while keeping the strictest watch over his servants, and that he is carrying forward his purpose more effectually by these various windings, than if he had gone straight forward, yea, than if he had run with rapid pace? For this reason the prophet affirms that his feet were afflicted in the fetters; a fact which, although not stated in the narrative of Moses, he speaks of as well known. And no doubt, many things were delivered by tradition to the Jews of which no mention is made in the Scriptures. (212) It is also probable enough, that, instead of being put at first under mild restraint, as was afterwards the case, he was rigorously confined. Whether we read, his soul entered into the iron, or the iron entered into his soul, (213) the meaning, which, in either case, is exactly the same, amounts to this, that the holy man was so galled with fetters, that it seemed as if his life had been given over to the sword. Whence it follows, that the safety of his life was as hopeless as the restoration of life to a dead body. Copyright Statement Bibliography John Trapp Complete CommentaryPsalms 105:18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Ver. 18. Whose feet they hurt with fetters] God hereby fitting him for that great service; as he did afterwards Moses, by forty years’ banishment in Midian, and David, by Saul’s persecution, till his soul was even as a weaned child, Psalms 131:2.
He was laid in iron] Heb. His soul came into iron; or, the iron entered into his soul; but sin entered not into his conscience. See a like phrase Luke 2:35. Copyright Statement Bibliography Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy BibleHeb. his soul came into iron; which seems to be added emphatically to aggravate his imprisonment, and to show how grievous it was to his very soul, which must needs sympathize with his body, and moreover was greatly vexed to consider both the great injury which was done to him, and yet the foul and public scandal which lay upon him. Copyright Statement Bibliography Whedon's Commentary on the Bible18. Hurt with fetters—The Egyptian laws were very severe against the crime of which Joseph was wickedly charged. “An attempt at adultery was to be punished with one thousand blows.”—Delitzsch. Joseph’s punishment was much lighter. Potiphar probably doubted the story of his wife. Still, Joseph was put with the “king’s prisoners” in a “dungeon,” or pit, “bound,” as guilty of a state crime, (Genesis 39:20,) until he obtained favour of the “keeper of the prison,” and his condition was alleviated. He was laid in iron—Hebrew, his soul came into iron. Copyright Statement Bibliography George Haydock's Catholic Bible CommentaryWicked. Two hundred and fifty accomplices, (Numbers xv. 35.; Calmet) and fourteen thousand seven hundred murmurers. (Menochius) Copyright Statement Bibliography E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible NotesWhose feet. Figure of speech Hysteresis. App-6. Further particulars Divinely revealed. He = His soul. Hebrew. nephesh. iron. Put by Figure of speech Metonomy (of Cause), for manacles made from it. Copyright Statement Bibliography Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) He was laid in iron.—The Prayer Book Version, “the iron entered into his soul,” has established itself so firmly among expressive proverbial sayings, that the mind almost resents the Authorised Version. The grammar of the clause does not decide its sense with certainty; for its syntax is rather in favour of the Prayer Book Version, though the feminine form of the verb makes in favour of the marginal rendering. Symmachus has, “his soul came into iron;” the LXX., “his soul passed through iron.” The Vulg., however, has the other Version, “the iron passed through his soul”—first found in the Targum. The parallelism is in favour of the Authorised Version. Copyright Statement Bibliography Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeWhose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
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