Psalm 107:9

For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Longing soul.—Or, thirsty, as in Isaiah 29:8. (Comp. Psalm 107:5.) The word originally applies to an animal running up and down in search of food or water. (See Joel 2:9; Proverbs 28:15.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

107:1-9 In these verses there is reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon: but the circumstances of travellers in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive the horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands, exposed to the burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the Lord has redeemed from the bondage of Satan; who pass through the world as a dangerous and dreary wilderness, often ready to faint through troubles, fears, and temptations. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God, and communion with him, shall be filled with the goodness of his house, both in grace and glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For he satisfieth the longing soul - This does not mean - what is indeed true in itself - that God has made provision for the "soul" of man, and satisfies it when it longs or pants for its needed supply, but the reference is to the creatures of God - the living things that he has made; and the idea is, that he has made provision for their needs. He gives them food and drink, so that their needs are met. The "particular" reference here, however, in the word rendered "longing" is to "thirst," as contradistinguished from the other member of the verse, where the reference is to "hunger." So the word is used in Isaiah 29:8.

And filleth the hungry soul with goodness - Supplies the needs of the hungry with "good;" that is, with that which is "good" for it; which meets its needs, and imparts strength and happiness.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8, 9. To the chorus is added, as a reason for praise, an example of the extreme distress from which they had been delivered—extreme hunger, the severest privation of a journey in the desert.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The longing; either the thirsty, opposed to the hungry here following; or the hungry, as this general phrase is limited and expounded in the next clause.

With goodness; with the fruits of his goodness; with good things, Psalm 103:5; with food and gladness, Acts 14:17; with that good which they wanted and desired.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For he satisfieth the longing soul,.... The soul that is hungry and thirsty, and longs for food and drink, when nature in such circumstances craves. And so such who long for Christ and his grace, for an interest in him, and fellowship with him, the Lord satisfies with these things, as with marrow and fatness.

And filleth the hungry soul with goodness; with the goodness and fatness of his house; with good things; with the good things laid up in Christ and in the covenant; with the good things of the Gospel; with the grace and goodness of God in Christ; see Psalm 65:4.

Geneva Study Bible

For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Because he satisfied the longing soul,

And the hungry soul he filled with good.

The words refer to the particular case of those who were perishing with hunger and thirst, and do not, primarily at any rate, express a general truth, as the A.V. suggests. The language is derived from Jeremiah 31:25; Isaiah 29:8 (A.V. ‘his soul hath appetite’); Psalm 58:10-11; and Luke 1:53 is a reminiscence of this verse.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. The "satisfaction" intended seems to be spiritual rather than material (comp. Psalm 34:10; Luke 1:53). God alone can satisfy the cravings of man's spiritual nature. Psalm 107:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

It has actually come to pass, the first strophe tells us, that they wandered in a strange land through deserts and wastes, and seemed likely to have to succumb to death from hunger. According to Psalm 107:40 and Isaiah 43:19, it appears that Psalm 107:4 ought to be read לא־דרך (Olshausen, Baur, and Thenius); but the line is thereby lengthened inelegantly. The two words, joined by Munach, stand in the construct state, like פּרא אדם, Genesis 16:12 : a waste of a way equals ἔρημος ὁδός, Acts 8:26 (Ewald, Hitzig), which is better suited to the poetical style than that דּרך, as in משׁנה־כּסףp, and the like, should be an accusative of nearer definition (Hengstenberg). In connection with עיר מושׁב the poet, who is fond of this combination (Psalm 107:7, Psalm 107:36, cf. בּית־מושׁב, Leviticus 25:29), means any city whatever which might afford the homeless ones a habitable, hospitable reception. With the perfects, which describe what has been experienced, alternates in Psalm 107:5 the imperfect, which shifts to the way in which anything comes about: their soul in them enveloped itself (vid., Psalm 61:3), i.e., was nigh upon extinction. With the fut. consec. then follows in Psalm 107:6 the fact which gave the turn to the change in their misfortune. Their cry for help, as the imperfect יצּילם implies, was accompanied by their deliverance, the fact of which is expressed by the following fut. consec. ויּדריכם. Those who have experienced such things are to confess to the Lord, with thanksgiving, His loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men. It is not to be rendered: His wonders (supply אשׁר עשׂה) towards the children of men (Luther, Olshausen, and others). The two ל coincide: their thankful confession of the divine loving-kindness and wondrous acts is not to be addressed alone to Jahve Himself, but also to men, in order that out of what they have experienced a wholesome fruit may spring forth for the multitude. נפשׁ שׁוקקה (part. Polel, the ē of which is retained as a pre-tonic vowel in pause, cf. Psalm 68:26 and on Job 20:27, Ew. 188, b) is, as in Isaiah 29:9, the thirsting soul (from שׁוּק, Arab. sâq, to urge forward, of the impulse and drawing of the emotions, in Hebrew to desire ardently). The preterites are here an expression of that which has been experienced, and therefore of that which has become a fact of experience. In superabundant measure does God uphold the languishing soul that is in imminent danger of languishing away.