Poole on 2 Samuel 7:22-24: Praise to the Covenant God

Verse 22:[1]  Wherefore (1 Chron. 16:25; 2 Chron. 2:5; Ps. 48:1; 86:10; 96:4; 135:5; 145:3; Jer. 10:6) thou art great, O LORD God:  for (Deut. 3:24; 4:35; 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:2; Ps. 86:8; 89:6, 8; Is. 45:5, 18, 22) there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Thou art great, both in power and in goodness, as appears by the great and good things which thou hast done for me.

[There is no God beside (or except [Montanus, etc.]) thee, in all that we have heard (thus the Septuagint), ‎בְּכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־שָׁמַ֖עְנוּ]  According to all the things that we have heard (Munster, Pagnine, etc., similarly Vatablus).  There is no other God (as far as we have heard with our ears) beside thee (Syriac).  There is no equal to thee, neither has it been heard by our ears that a God is found beside thee (Arabic).  In, or out of, all the things that we have heard, etc.:  either from our own, or from foreign regions, in which strange gods rule, we have discerned nothing that appears to proceed from divine power; except those things that we have heard concerning thy mighty works (Sanchez).  As far as we have ever heard, we are compelled to acknowledge that thou art the one true God (Osiander).  There is no nation that is able to say the same concerning those that they repute as gods (Grotius).  Observe here the unity of the divine essence; but in what follows (Gods went[2]), a plurality of persons (Osiander).  Altogether as we have heard, etc., that is, what things had been promised to our ancestors, thou art now actually attesting to me (Malvenda out of Junius).

All that we have heard with our ears; what we have heard from our parents, or out of thy word, concerning the incomparable excellency of thy majesty, and of thy works; of that I have this day eminent experience.

Verse 23:[3]  And (Deut. 4:7, 32, 34; 33:29; Ps. 147:20) what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before (Deut. 9:26; Neh. 1:10) thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

[Now, what nation in the earth is like thy people Israel?וּמִ֤י כְעַמְּךָ֙ כְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל גּ֥וֹי אֶחָ֖ד בָּאָ֑רֶץ]  And who is like thy people, like Israel, one nation in the earth (Munster, Pagnine, Montanus).  One people (or one chosen [Jonathan]) in the earth? (Syriac) a singular people? (Vatablus).  And who, like thy people…another nation? (Septuagint).  In the place of אֶחָד/one, they were reading אַחַר/another (Mariana).  For what is, like thy people…another people? (Junius and Tremellius), that is, what could be compared with them in felicity and glory (Osiander).

[Because of which God went, that He might redeem it to Himself for a people (thus Pagnine, Strigelius), ‎אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָלְכֽוּ־אֱ֠לֹהִים לִפְדּֽוֹת־ל֙וֹ לְעָ֜ם]  Whom God went to redeem to Himself for a people (English, Dutch, similarly Montanus, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Malvenda).  [The Syriac orders the words differently, for a people, to redeem whom to Himself, etc.]  Ὡς ὡδήγησεν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς, as God led him (Septuagint).  As God led himself, or him (Nobilius).  Whose God went, so that He might redeem him to Himself for a people (Munster, Tigurinus).  Hebrew:  Gods went.  Thus in Genesis 20:13.[4]  Elohim is constructed with a plural verb concerning the true God (Malvenda out of Junius).  See what things are on Genesis 1:1[5] (Malvenda).  Hence we gather a plurality of persons in the divine (Osiander, Martyr).  Others refer it to Moses and Aaron, who were sent by God (certain interpreters in Martyr, Rabbi Salomon and Jonathan in Munster).  Who are refuted out of 1 Chronicles 17, where it is said of the true God, thou hast redeemed, etc.  Kimchi maintains that the plural is used of God for the sake of honor.  Why then does he subjoin, thou, Lord, etc., in the singular? for God ought always to be loaded with all honors (Martyr).

God went, to wit, into Egypt; an expression of God after the manner of men.

[And posit for Himself a name]  That is, so that He might make a reputation for Himself (Vatablus, Tostatus in Lapide, Sanchez, Tirinus, Malvenda).  Which sense is confirmed out of 1 Chronicles 17:21:  either, to acquire a name for him, that is, for the people, so that He might make the people famous (Malvenda).  Or, so that Israel might acquire this title, that it is called the people of God (Lapide, Sanchez).

To make him a name; to advance the glory of his power and goodness, and other perfections.  Compare Exodus 9:16.

[And do great things for them, etc.,וְלַעֲשׂ֙וֹת לָכֶ֜ם הַגְּדוּלָּ֤ה וְנֹֽרָאוֹת֙ לְאַרְצֶ֔ךָ מִפְּנֵ֣י עַמְּךָ֗ אֲשֶׁ֙ר פָּדִ֤יתָ לְּךָ֙ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם גּוֹיִ֖ם וֵאלֹהָֽיו׃]  [They render it variously.]  All the difficulty arises from גּוֹיִ֖ם וֵאלֹהָֽיו׃, nations and his gods, namely, to what they are referred, and whence they are governed (Dieu).  To do, or furnish, for you (or on your behalf [Dutch]) greatness (great things [Munster, Jonathan]) and terrible things for thy land, etc. (Montanus, similarly Pagnine, Junius and Tremellius, Jonathan), or to thy land (Dutch), or in thy land (Munster, Strigelius), because of thy land (Vatablus), or to be feared for the land itself (Malvenda), things reverently to be received (Hebrew:  things to be reverenced) of thy land, that is, by thy land (Malvenda out of Junius).  He turned the speech to Israel, then again to God, saying, terrible things in thy land (Munster).  To you, an Apostrophe[6] to the people (Junius).  I prefer that it be read לָהֶם, to them, that is, the Israelites (Piscator).  [This is supported by the Arabic, which thus renders it, through miracles wrought towards them, and blessings wherewith thou hast pursued them; and by Castalio, who renders it in this way, so that for his sake…He might act, etc.]  [Others otherwise:]  I translate it, to do for thee.  The matter itself requires, that it be referred to the same as the following affixes, namely, to God; to whom both the plural affix here, thereafter the singular affix, are applicable by the same right, and a plural verb and a singular affix were ascribed in the same construction, when it was said ‎ הָלְכֽוּ־אֱ֠לֹהִים לִפְדּֽוֹת־ל֙וֹ לְעָ֜ם, Gods went to redeem for Himself a people[7] (Dieu).  [This opinion is supported by the Syriac, which thus renders it, to do for Himself great things, etc., upon the earth.]  [Moreover, they render the following words in this way:]  From the face, or faces, of thy people (or because of thy people [Munster, Tigurinus, Vatablus, Mariana], or, before thy people [Strigelius, Osiander, Mariana, English, Dutch], or by expelling from the face of thy people [Junius and Tremellius, Piscator], or, to expel from the face, etc. [Malvenda, similarly the Septuagint]:  this word is understood out of 1 Chronicles 17:21 [Malvenda, Piscator]).  Whom thou hast redeemed to thyself out of Egypt (Montanus, Pagnine, Munster, Tigurinus, etc.), the nations, and gods of it (Montanus).  From the nations and gods (or judges [certain Hebrews in Munster]) of it, or of them (Pagnine, Dutch, English, Strigelius, Osiander).  This sense appears to be gathered out of verse 24 (Serarius).  That is, whom thou hast delivered into liberty, out of Egypt, and out of the nations and gods of it, that is, of Egypt.  Or the singular is in the place of the plural, of them (Vatablus).  Those vain deities were not able to retain the people any longer, etc. (Osiander):  or thus, they were rescued from the Egyptians, and from their idolatry; for in Egypt they worshipped idols, Deuteronomy 2; Ezekiel 16 (Martyr).  Others:  the people…whose God thou art (Syriac, Arabic).  [‎גּוֹיִם/nations they translate as people, and ‎וֵאלֹהָיו, and its god, they take as it were אֶלוֺהָיו וְאַתָּה, and thou its God, understanding, art.]  Others:  and thou smotest the nations and the gods of them, or of it (certain interpreters in Vatablus).  [Others conjoin it with what precedes in this manner:]  Because of the people whom thou hast redeemed…the nation with its judges (Munster, Tigurinus), or the elders of the people (Munster).  He understands Moses and other princes, who are called gods, John 10 (Serarius).  Others:  who hast redeemed to thyself out of Egypt nations (that is, Israel, whom he calls nations because it consists of multiple tribes and families) and gods, that is, the nobles of them (certain interpreters in Vatablus).  Others:  and the God of them; that is, thyself; for God seemed to be afflicted, when His own were afflicted (Vatablus, thus Martyr).  Or God is said to be redeemed, that is, His worship, whom the Egyptians were despising (Mariana out of Jerome).  Others thus translate the passage:  He did great things upon the earth, etc., and upon the nation, and upon the God of it.  The upon, which is before the earth, I also set before the nation, and the God:  And we read that in these three great things certainly happened:  For in the coming of the Israelites the land of the Amorites was agitated,[8] boulders and walls were cast down, the Jordan was opened;[9] war was waged against those nations, from heaven and otherwise, Joshua 5; 6; 1 Samuel 7; 14.  Horrible things also befell their gods, Dagon, 1 Samuel 5, and Baal, Judges 6, and the gods of Egypt, Numbers 33:4 (Sanchez).  Others thus:  to do for thy self greatness, and terrible things to thy land, the nations, and the gods of it, because of thy people whom thou hast redeemed for thyself out of Egypt, which clearly agrees in sense with 1 Chronicles 17:21.  For, this is the same thing, as if He be said to have cast out of His land the nations and gods of it for the sake of His people. גּוֹיִ֖ם וֵאלֹהָֽיו׃, the nations and gods of it, I refer to ‎לְאַרְצֶךָ, to thy land, and they are governed by that ל/to/for; for אֶרֶץ/land is of a common gender.  And by ‎גּוֹיִם/ nations I understand the nations and gods of the land of Canaan, as it is evident out of 1 Chronicles 17:21.  The nations and gods of it, that is, of thy land.  Moreover, rightly does David say that this very nation, living in his time, was redeemed out of Egypt.  For, as Maimonides[10] says, It is incumbent upon whomever in whatever age thus to place himself, as if he himself had just now departed from the slavery of Egypt (Dieu).

Verse 24:[11]  For (Deut. 26:18) thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever:  (Ps. 48:14) and thou, LORD, art become their God.

Thou hast confirmed to thyself; partly by thy promises, and that sure covenant which thou hast made with them; and partly by thy glorious works wrought on their behalf, as it appears this day.  Thou art become their God, in a peculiar manner, and by special relation and covenant; for otherwise he is the God and Father of all things, 1 Corinthians 8:6.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎עַל־כֵּ֥ן גָּדַ֖לְתָּ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֑ה כִּֽי־אֵ֣ין כָּמ֗וֹךָ וְאֵ֤ין אֱלֹהִים֙ זֽוּלָתֶ֔ךָ בְּכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־שָׁמַ֖עְנוּ בְּאָזְנֵֽינוּ׃

[2] 2 Samuel 7:23:  “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went (‎הָלְכֽוּ־אֱ֠לֹהִים; note the plural verb) to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?”

[3] Hebrew: וּמִ֤י כְעַמְּךָ֙ כְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל גּ֥וֹי אֶחָ֖ד בָּאָ֑רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָלְכֽוּ־אֱ֠לֹהִים לִפְדּֽוֹת־ל֙וֹ לְעָ֜ם וְלָשׂ֧וּם ל֣וֹ שֵׁ֗ם וְלַעֲשׂ֙וֹת לָכֶ֜ם הַגְּדוּלָּ֤ה וְנֹֽרָאוֹת֙ לְאַרְצֶ֔ךָ מִפְּנֵ֣י עַמְּךָ֗ אֲשֶׁ֙ר פָּדִ֤יתָ לְּךָ֙ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם גּוֹיִ֖ם וֵאלֹהָֽיו׃

[4] Genesis 20:13:  “And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander (‎הִתְע֣וּ אֹתִ֗י אֱלֹהִים֘; note the plural verb) from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.”

[5] Genesis 1:1:  “In the beginning God (‎אֱלֹהִים, formally plural) created (‎בָּרָא, singular) the heaven and the earth.”

[6] That is, an exclamatory passage addressed a person or thing (usually absent).

[7] A woodenly literalistic rendering.

[8] See Numbers 21; Deuteronomy 2:24-3:22.

[9] Joshua 3.

[10] Moses Maimonides, or Rambam (1135-1204), is reckoned by many to be the greatest Jewish scholar of his age.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, Rabbinic tradition, natural science, and Aristotelian philosophy, Maimonides demonstrates great command and almost equal facility.

[11] Hebrew:  ‎וַתְּכ֣וֹנֵֽן לְ֠ךָ אֶת־עַמְּךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֧ל׀ לְךָ֛ לְעָ֖ם עַד־עוֹלָ֑ם וְאַתָּ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה הָיִ֥יתָ לָהֶ֖ם לֵאלֹהִֽים׃ ס