Psalms 78:26

26 He let East Wind break loose from the skies, gave a strong push to South Wind.

Psalms 78:26 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 78:26

He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens
In the airy heaven: or "he caused it to go" F6; to go forth out of its place, out of the repositories and treasures of it, from whence he brings the wind, ( Psalms 130:7 ) the winds are under the power and government of God, they are his servants that obey him; he says to one, Go, and it goes; and to another, Come, and it comes; stormy wind fulfils his word of command, and obeys its Creator:

and by his power he brought in the south wind;
into the heavens, into the air, as before, and with it he brought the quails; and which made his power to appear the greater, since they do not fly with the south wind, which is too moist and heavy for them, as naturalists observe {g}; it looks as if first one wind blew, and then another was used for the bringing of them from the place where they were; perhaps about the Red sea, where they are said to have been in great numbers; and that the east wind brought them to a certain point, and then the south wind blew to bring them into the camp of Israel, where, by the moistness of it, they fell; hence fowlers, as the above naturalists relate, observe the south wind, in order to take them; though it may be that only one wind is intended, namely, the southeast wind; and so Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, understand it.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (eoy) "fecit proficisci", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus.
F7 Aristot. de Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 12. Plin. Hist. l. 10. c. 23.

Psalms 78:26 In-Context

24 He rained down showers of manna to eat, he gave them the Bread of Heaven.
25 They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.
26 He let East Wind break loose from the skies, gave a strong push to South Wind.
27 This time it was birds that rained down - succulent birds, an abundance of birds.
28 He aimed them right for the center of their camp; all round their tents there were birds.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.