Psa 107:16-23 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 16. For he hath broken ] This is the reason given for thanks to God for his deliverance of the captives. It was not a simple deliverance; it was done so as to manifest the irresistible power of God. He tore the prison in pieces, and cut the bars of iron asunder.

‏ Psalms 107:16-23

Verse 16. For he hath broken] This is the reason given for thanks to God for his deliverance of the captives. It was not a simple deliverance; it was done so as to manifest the irresistible power of God. He tore the prison in pieces, and cut the bars of iron asunder.

Verse 17. Fools because of their transgression] This is the THIRD comparison; the captivity being compared to a person in a dangerous malady. Our Version does not express this clause well: Fools midderech pisham, because of the way of their transgressions, are afflicted. Most human maladies are the fruits of sin; misery and sin are married together in bonds that can never be broken.

Verse 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat] A natural description of a sick man: appetite is gone, and all desire for food fails; nutriment is no longer necessary, for death has seized upon the whole frame. See a similar image, Job 33:20.

Verse 19. Then they cry] The effect produced by affliction as before.

Verse 20. He sent his word, and healed them] He spoke: "Be thou clean, be thou whole;" and immediately the disease departed; and thus they were delivered from the destructions that awaited them.

Verse 21. O that men, &c.] The intercalary verse, or burden, as before.

Verse 22. And let them sacrifice] For their healing they should bring a sacrifice; and they should offer the life of the innocent animal unto God, as he has spared their lives; and let them thus confess that God has spared them when they deserved to die; and let them declare also "his works with rejoicing;" for who will not rejoice when he is delivered from death?

Verse 23. They that go down to the sea in ships] This is the FOURTH comparison. Their captivity was as dangerous and alarming as a dreadful tempest at sea to a weather-beaten mariner.