Psalm 68:14

When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 68:14. When the Almighty scattered kings in it — In Canaan, at the coming of the Israelites thither; it was white as snow in Salmon — “The Almighty appeared most illustrious as Salmon,” says Bishop Patrick, that is, as mount Salmon covered with snow: “The land and nation,” says Mr. Samuel Clark, “were then in a very flourishing, joyful condition, and resplendent, by the establishment of God’s pure worship there.” Dr. Hammond explains and confirms this interpretation of the passage more at large, as follows: “The construction lies thus: בפרשׂ שׁדי מלכים בה, O God, by scattering kings there; or, when thou, O God Almighty, didst scatter kings in, or on it, επ αυτης, say the LXX., that is, on Salmon, תשׁלג, tashleg, thou wast white as snow; or, thou didst snow, that is, thou didst there appear in the most shining, bright, propitious form; thy mercies made that place more beautiful than the crown of snow doth the head of that mountain, when it melts in fertile moisture on the neighbouring valleys.” “Salmon,” he adds, “was the name of a very high hill on this side Jordan, in the portion of the tribe of Ephraim, Jdg 9:40, and consequently used to have snow lying long upon it.” Poole however thinks, with many other interpreters, both Hebrew and Christian, and the Chaldee among the rest, that the word Salmon ought to be taken here, not for a proper, but a common name, signifying darkness, or a shadow, and therefore proposes rendering the clause, It was snow-white, or, Thou madest it snow-white in darkness; or, Thou didst cause light to shine out of darkness: that is, at a time when the state of thy people, and the land of Canaan, which thou hadst given them, was dark and dismal, or bloody, by reason of the wars raised against them by the Canaanitish kings, thou didst quickly change it, and whereas it was red like scarlet, or crimson, thou madest it whiter than snow. Thus Buxtorf translates תשׁלג בצלמון, tashleg betsalmon, nivesces, thou didst snow, or albesces sicut nix, in caligine. Thou didst grow white in darkness. Henry understands it of the church of God that then was: “She was white as snow in Salmon, purified and refined by the mercies of God.” Chandler renders the clause, When the Almighty scattered kings therein, thou didst make them joyful in Salmon; or, There was great joy in Salmon. Dr. Horne who doubtless had consulted the commentators above quoted and many others on the passage, acquiesces in this interpretation, observing, “The purport of this difficult verse seems to be, that all was white as snow, that is, all was brightness, joy, and festivity about mount Salmon, when the Almighty, fighting for his people Israel, vanquished their enemies in or about that part of the country.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

68:7-14 Fresh mercies should put us in mind of former mercies. If God bring his people into a wilderness, he will be sure to go before them in it, and to bring them out of it. He provided for them, both in the wilderness and in Canaan. The daily manna seems here meant. And it looks to the spiritual provision for God's Israel. The Spirit of grace and the gospel of grace are the plentiful rain, with which God confirms his inheritance, and from which their fruit is found. Christ shall come as showers that water the earth. The account of Israel's victories is to be applied to the victories over death and hell, by the exalted Redeemer, for those that are his. Israel in Egypt among the kilns appeared wretched, but possessed of Canaan, during the reigns of David and Solomon, appeared glorious. Thus the slaves of Satan, when converted to Christ, when justified and sanctified by him, look honourable. When they reach heaven, all remains of their sinful state disappear, they shall be as the wings of the dove, covered with silver, and her feathers as gold. Full salvation will render those white as snow, who were vile and loathsome through the guilt and defilement of sin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When the Almighty scattered kings in it - The Hebrew here is, "In the scattering of (that is, by) the Almighty of kings." The reference is to the act of God in causing kings to abandon their purposes of invasion, or to flee when their own countries were invaded. Compare Psalm 48:5-6. The language here is so general that it might be applied to any such acts in the history of the Hebrew people; to any wars of defense or offence which they waged. It may have reference to the scattering of kings and people when Joshua invaded the land of Canaan, and when he discomfited the numerous forces, led by different kings, as the Israelites took possession of the country. The close connection of the passage with the reference to the journey through the wilderness Psalm 68:7-9 would make it probable that this is the allusion. The phrase "in it," (margin, for her), refers doubtless to the land of Canaan, and to the victories achieved there.

It was white as snow in Salmon - Margin, She was. The allusion is to the land of Canaan. But about the meaning of the phrase "white as snow in Salmon," there has been great diversity of opinion. The word rendered "was white as snow" is correctly rendered. It means to be snowy; then, to be white like snow. The verb occurs nowhere else. The noun is of frequent occurrence, and is always rendered snow. Exodus 4:6; Numbers 12:10; 2 Samuel 23:20; 2 Kings 5:27; et al. The word Salmon properly means shady, and was applied to the mountain here referred to, probably on account of the dark forests which covered it. That mountain was in Samaria, near Shechem. Judges 9:48. It is not known why the snow of that mountain is particularly alluded to here, as if there was any special whiteness or purity in it. It is probably specified by name only to give more vivacity to the description. There is much difference of opinion as to what is the meaning of the expression, or in what respects the land was thus white.

The most common opinion has been that it was from the bones of the slain which were left to bleach unburied, and which covered the land so that it seemed to be white. Compare Virg. AEn. v. 865; xii. 36. Ovid uses similar language, Fast. i: "Humanis ossibus albet humus."So also Horace, Serra. 1, 8: "Albis informem spectabant ossibus agrum." This interpretation of the passage is adopted by Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and DeWette. Others suppose it to mean that the land was like the dazzling whiteness of snow in the midst of blackness or darkness. This was the opinion of Kimchi, and this interpretation is adopted by Prof. Alexander. Tholuck supposes it to mean that, when war was waged on the kings and people, they fell as fast as snow-flakes on Mount Salmon; and that the idea is not so much the whiteness of the land, as the fact that they fell in great numbers, covering the land as the snow-flakes do. It is perhaps not possible to determine which of these explanations is correct. Either of them would accord with the meaning of the words and the general sense of the psalm. That of Tholuck is the most poetical, but it is less obvious from the Hebrew words used.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. Their enemies dispersed, the contrast of their prosperity with their former distress is represented by that of the snow with the dark and somber shades of Salmon.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In it; in Canaan, at the coming of the Israelites thither. The land was as white as Mount Salmon is with the snow, which falls and lies for a long time upon it; which is opposed to the native obscurity of that mountain by the many shady trees which were there, Judges 9:48. But because there is nothing certain, either concernirig the great height of this mountain, or concerning its snow, as we do read of snow of Lebanon, Jeremiah 18:14, other interpreters, both Hebrew and Christian, and the Chaldee among the rest, take this word Salmon for a common, and not a proper name, signifying darkness or a shadow, as the root from whence it comes unquestionably signifies. Nor is it strange if this word be no where else taken in that sense but here, because that is the lot of many Hebrew words, or of some significations of them, that they are to be found but in one text of Scripture. This being granted, the words are or may be rendered thus, it was snow-white, or thou madest it snow-white in darkness, or, as the Chaldee renders this word, in the shadow of death, i.e. thou didst cause light to shine out of darkness. When the state of thy people, and of the land of Canaan which thou hadst given to them, was dark and dismal or bloody, by reason of the wars raised against them by the Canaanitish kings, thou didst quickly change it; and whereas it was red like scarlet or crimson, thou madest it whiter than snow.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

When the Almighty scattered kings in it,.... His inheritance, his congregation, the church, Psalm 68:9. Which some understand of his diffusing, and spreading and giving, in large numbers, ministers and preachers of the Gospel, pastors and teachers; who are kings and spiritual governors, are over churches, and have the rule over them in the Lord: and so Jarchi interprets them of the disciples of the wise men. Or they may be understood of the Lord's bringing into his churches such as are made kings and priests unto God, and in whose hearts grace reigns; and even of kings, in a literal sense, who will be brought into the church in the latter day, Isaiah 49:23. Though they may be interpreted of wicked kings, and the destruction of them "by it" (f), the dove, the church of Christ; which will be done at the battle of Armageddon, at which time we read of the church being clothed in white, as follows; see Revelation 16:14. The name of "Almighty" well agrees with Christ, Revelation 1:8; or "Shaddai", who is sufficient, all sufficient; and whose grace is sufficient for his people, 2 Corinthians 12:9;

it was white as snow in Salmon; a mountain near to Shechem, Judges 9:48; which seems to have had its name from the shady trees upon it; and which also, as it seems from hence, was sometimes covered with snow; as was Lebanon, so called from the whiteness of the snow on it; and Olympus is called snowy by Homer, from the snow continually on it (g). Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it, "in darkness", or "in the shadow of death"; denoting, as Ainsworth observes, light in darkness; joy in tribulation: but rather it may design the purity of the church and people of God, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to them, which is as fine linen, clean and white; and through his pardoning blood, whereby their scarlet and crimson sins are as white as wool, as white as snow; and through the sanctifying grace of the Spirit, by which they are washed and cleansed, and made all glorious within; and through the holiness of their lives and conversations, they hating the garment spotted with the flesh; and washing their garments, and making them white in the blood of the Lamb: or they may be said to be so, as having got the victory over all their enemies; and especially this will be the case when the kings of the earth will be scattered and destroyed by the Almighty Saviour, Revelation 7:9.

(f) "per eam, vel propter eam", Gejerus. (g) Iliad. c. v. 420. & 18. v. 615.

Geneva Study Bible

When the Almighty scattered kings {l} in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.

(l) In the land of Canaan, where his Church was.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. Of this verse, as of Psalm 68:13, the meaning is uncertain. Possibly it too is a fragment, significant to those who remembered its original context, but necessarily obscure to us. It is doubtful, too, if the text is sound. In it, R.V. therein, must mean ‘in the land.’ Salmon, R.V. Zalmon, is only known to us as the name of a wooded hill near Shechem, from which Abimelech fetched wood to burn the tower of Shechem (Jdg 9:48). But the name, which means ‘dark’ or ‘shady’ (cp. Black Mountain, Black Forest), may have been borne by other mountains. If Zalmon near Shechem is intended, it may be mentioned either as a central point in the land, or from its connexion with some historical incident of which no record has been preserved, or simply to heighten the picturesqueness of the simile by representing the snowstorm as seen against the background of the dark mountain. Shaddai, ‘The Almighty’, only occurs once again in the Psalter (Psalm 91:1).

(1) Taking the second line as a simile, we may render with R.V.,

When the Almighty scattered kings therein,

(It was as when) it snoweth in Zalmon.

But what is meant by the simile? It has been supposed to refer to the bones of the enemy bleaching on the field of battle (cp. Verg. Aen. xii. 36, campiqiu ingentes ossibus albent: “The vast plains are white with bones”): or to the glistening of the armour &c. dropped by the fugitives in their flight: but it is far more suggestive to think, not of fallen snow lying on the ground, but of falling snow. The snowflakes driven before the storm are an apt emblem of the kings driven in pell-mell flight by the breath of the Lord, and this explanation suits the context. By the thought of the victory won for Israel by God in spite of the sloth of many an Israelite (Psalm 68:13) the poet is naturally carried back to the battle-scene, and desires to emphasise the fact that the Almighty had fought for Israel, sweeping the foe before Him like the snowflakes swept along by the hurricane.

(2) Taking the second line literally, we may render with R.V. marg., It snowed in Zalmon. The words will then refer to a snowstorm which accompanied and completed the rout of the kings. They can scarcely refer to the hardships endured by those who took up arms amid the rigours of an exceptionally severe winter, in contrast to the luxurious ease of the cowards who are chidden in Psalm 68:13; still less can they be the words of those cowards excusing themselves from taking part in the war by the severity of the weather.

(3) Some combine the literal and figurative explanations, interpreting it snowed in Zalmon to mean that “the mountain clothed itself in a bright garment of light in celebration of the joyful event. Whoever has been in Palestine knows how refreshing is the sight of the distant mountain peaks covered with snow.” This however is too far-fetched an explanation to be probable.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - When the Almighty scattered kings in it; i.e. "in the land" (comp. ver. 10). Most of the defeats of kings, referred to above (see the comment on ver. 12), took place within the limits of Palestine. It was white as snow in Salmon. The present text has only the two words which mean, "it snows on Salmon;" whence it is concluded that something must have fallen out. Professor Cheyne supplies כְּמוֵ הַשֶּׁלֶג like snow," and understands the passage to mean that, when the kings were scattered, "it was like snow when it snows on Salmon" - the ground was all covered with glistering arms, armour, and garments. Salmon was a wooded hill near Shechem (Judges 9:48). Psalm 68:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The futures that now follow are no longer to be understood as referring to previous history; they no longer alternate with preterites. Moreover the transition to the language of address in Psalm 68:14 shows that the poet here looks forth from his present time and circumstances into the future; and the introduction of the divine name אדני, after Elohim has been used eleven times, is an indication of a new commencement. The prosperous condition in which God places His church by giving it the hostile powers of the world as a spoil is depicted. The noun אמר, never occurring in the genitival relationship, and never with a suffix, because the specific character of the form would be thereby obliterated, always denotes an important utterance, more particularly God's word of promise (Psalm 77:9), or His word of power (Habakkuk 3:9), which is represented elsewhere as a mighty voice of thunder (Psalm 68:34, Isaiah 30:30), or a trumpet-blast (Zechariah 9:14); in the present instance it is the word of power by which the Lord suddenly changes the condition of His oppressed church. The entirely new state of things which this omnipotent behest as it were conjures into existence is presented to the mind in v. 12b: the women who proclaim the tidings of victory - a great host. Victory and triumph follow upon God's אמר, as upon His creative יהי. The deliverance of Israel from the army of Pharaoh, the deliverance out of the hand of Jabin by the defeat of Sisera, the victory of Jephthah over the Ammonites, and the victorious single combat of David with Goliath were celebrated by singing women. God's decisive word shall also go forth this time, and of the evangelists, like Miriam (Mirjam) and Deborah, there shall be a great host.

Psalm 68:12 describes the subject of this triumphant exultation. Hupfeld regards Psalm 68:13-15 as the song of victory itself, the fragment of an ancient triumphal ode (epinikion) reproduced here; but there is nothing standing in the way that should forbid our here regarding these verses as a direct continuation of Psalm 68:12. The "hosts" are the numerous well-equipped armies which the kings of the heathen lead forth to the battle against the people of God. The unusual expression "kings of hosts" sounds very much like an ironically disparaging antithesis to the customary "Jahve of Hosts" (Bttcher). He, the Lord, interposes, and they are obliged to flee, staggering as they go, to retreat, and that, as the anadiplosis (cf. Judges 5:7; Judges 19:20) depicts, far away, in every direction. The fut. energicum with its ultima-accentuation gives intensity to the pictorial expression. The victors then turn homewards laden with rich spoils. נות בּית, here in a collective sense, is the wife who stays at home (Judges 5:24) while the husband goes forth to battle. It is not: the ornament (נוה as in Jeremiah 6:2) of the house, which Luther, with the lxx, Vulgate, and Syriac, adopts in his version,

(Note: "Hausehre," says he, is the housewife or matron as being the adornment of the house; vid., F. Dietrich, Frau und Dame, a lecture bearing upon the history of language (1864), S. 13.)

but: the dweller or homely one (cf. נות, a dwelling-lace, Job 8:6) of the house, ἡ οἰκουρός. The dividing of the spoil elsewhere belongs to the victors; what is meant here is the distribution of the portions of the spoil that have fallen to the individual victors, the further distribution of which is left for the housewife (Judges 5:30., 2 Samuel 1:24). Ewald now recognises in Psalm 68:14. the words of an ancient song of victory; but v. 13b is unsuitable to introduce them. The language of address in Psalm 68:14 is the poet's own, and he here describes the condition of the people who are victorious by the help of their God, and who again dwell peaceably in the land after the war. אם passes out of the hypothetical signification into the temporal, as e.g., in Job 14:14 (vid., on Psalm 59:16). The lying down among the sheep-folds (שׁפתּים equals משׁפּתים, cf. שׁפט, משׁפּט, the staked-in folds or pens consisting of hurdles standing two by two over against one another) is an emblem of thriving peace, which (like Psalm 68:8, Psalm 68:28) points back to Deborah's song, Judges 5:16, cf. Genesis 49:14. Just such a time is now also before Israel, a time of peaceful prosperity enhanced by rich spoils. Everything shall glitter and gleam with silver and gold. Israel is God's turtle-dove, Psalm 74:19, cf. Psalm 56:1, Hosea 7:11; Hosea 11:11. Hence the new circumstances of ease and comfort are likened to the varied hues of a dove disporting itself in the sun. Its wings are as though overlaid with silver (נחפּה, not 3. praet, but part. fem. Niph. as predicate to כּנפי, cf. 1 Samuel 4:15; Micah 4:11; Micah 1:9; Ew. 317 a), therefore like silver wings (cf. Ovid, Metam. ii.:537: Niveis argentea pennis Ales); and its pinions with gold-green,

(Note: Ewald remarks, "Arabian poets also call the dove Arab. 'l-wrq'â, the greenish yellow, golden gleaming one, vid., Kosegarten, Chrestom. p. 156, 5." But this Arabic poetical word for the dove signifies rather the ash-green, whity blackish one. Nevertheless the signification greenish for the Hebrew ירקרק is established. Bartenoro, on Negaim xi. 4, calls the colour of the wings of the peacock ירקרק; and I am here reminded of what Wetzstein once told me, that, according to an Arab proverb, the surface of good coffee ought to be "like the neck of the dove," i.e., so oily that it gleams like the eye of a peacock. A way for the transition from green to grey in aurak as the name of a colour is already, however, opened up in post-biblical Hebrew, when to frighten any one is expressed by פנים הוריק, Genesis Rabba, 47a. The intermediate notions that of fawn colour, i.e., yellowish grey. In the Talmud the plumage of the full-grown dove is called זהוב and צהוב, Chullin, 22b.)

and that, as the reduplicated form implies, with the iridescent or glistening hue of the finest gold (חרוּץ, not dull, but shining gold).

Side by side with this bold simile there appears in v. 15 an equally bold but contrastive figure, which, turning a step or two backward, likewise vividly illustrates the results of their God-given victory. The suffix of בּהּ refers to the land of Israel, as in Isaiah 8:21; Isaiah 65:9. צלמום, according to the usage of the language so far as it is now preserved to us, is not a common noun: deep darkness (Targum equals צלמות), it is the name of a mountain in Ephraim, the trees of which Abimelech transported in order to set fire to the tower of Shechem (Judges 9:48.). The Talmudic literature was acquainted with a river taking its rise there, and also somewhat frequently mentions a locality bearing a similar name to that of the mountain. The mention of this mountain may in a general way be rendered intelligible by the consideration that, like Shiloh (Genesis 49:10), it is situated about in the centre of the Holy Land.

(Note: In Tosifta Para, ch. viii., a river of the name of יורדת הצלמון is mentioned, the waters of which might not be used in preparing the water of expiation (מי חטאת), because they were dried up at the time of the war, and thereby hastened the defeat of Israel (viz., the overthrow of Barcochba). Grtz "Geschichte der Juden, iv. 157, 459f.) sees in it the Nahar Arsuf, which flows down the mountains of Ephraim past Bethar into the Mediterranean. The village of Zalmon occurs in the Mishna, Jebamoth xvi. 6, and frequently. The Jerusalem Gemara (Maaseroth i. 1) gives pre-eminence to the carob-trees of Zalmona side by side with those of Shitta and Gadara.)

השׁליג signifies to bring forth snow, or even, like Arab. aṯlj, to become snow-white; this Hiph. is not a word descriptive of colour, like הלבּין. Since the protasis is בּפרשׂ, and not בּפרשׂך, תּשׁלג is intended to be impersonal (cf. Psalm 50:3; Amos 4:7, Mich. Psalm 3:6); and the voluntative form is explained from its use in apodoses of hypothetical protases (Ges. 128, 2). It indicates the issue to which, on the supposition of the other, it must and shall come. The words are therefore to be rendered: then it snows on Zalmon; and the snowing is either an emblem of the glistening spoil that falls into their hands in such abundance, or it is a figure of the becoming white, whether from bleached bones (cf. Virgil, Aen. v. 865: albi ossibus scopuli; xii. 36: campi ossibus albent; Ovid, Fasti i.:558: humanis ossibus albet humus) or even from the naked corpses (2 Samuel 1:19, על־בּמותיך חלל). Whether we consider the point of comparison to lie in the spoil being abundant as the flakes of snow, and like to the dazzling snow in brilliancy, or in the white pallid corpses, at any rate בּצלמון is not equivalent to כּבצלמון, but what follows "when the Almighty scatters kings therein" is illustrated by Zalmon itself. In the one case Zalmon is represented as the battle-ground (cf. Psalm 110:6), in the other (which better corresponds to the nature of a wooded mountain) as a place of concealment. The protasis בפרשׂ וגו favours the latter; for פּרשׂ signifies to spread wide apart, to cause a compact whole - and the host of "the kings" is conceived of as such - to fly far asunder into many parts (Zechariah 2:10, cf. the Niph. in Ezekiel 17:21). The hostile host disperses in all directions, and Zalmon glitters, as it were with snow, from the spoil that is dropped by those who flee. Homer also (Iliad, xix. 357-361) likens the mass of assembled helmets, shields, armour, and lances to the spectacle of a dense fall of snow. In this passage of the Psalm before us still more than in Homer it is the spectacle of the fallen and far seen glistening snow that also is brought into the comparison, and not merely that which is falling and that which covers everything (vid., Iliad, xii. 277ff.). The figure is the pendant of the figure of the dove.

(Note: Wetzstein gives a different explanation (Reise in den beiden Trachonen und um das Haura equals ngebirge in the Zeitscheift fr allgem. Erdkunde, 1859, S. 198). "Then fell snow on Zalmon, i.e., the mountain clothed itself in a bright garment of light in celebration of this joyous event. Any one who has been in Palestine knows how very refreshing is the spectacle of the distant mountain-top capped with snow. The beauty of this poetical figure is enhanced by the fact that Zalmon (Arab. ḏlmân), according to its etymology, signifies a mountain range dark and dusky, either from shade, forest, or black rock. The last would well suit the mountains of Haurn, among which Ptolemaeus (p. 365 and 370, Ed. Wilberg) mentions a mountain (according to one of the various readings) Ἀσαλμάνος.")