Tehillim 106:26

26 Therefore [in oath] He lifted up His yad against them, that He would overthrow them in the midbar;

Tehillim 106:26 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 106:26

Therefore he lifted up his hand against them
A gesture used in swearing, ( Genesis 14:22 Genesis 14:23 ) ( Revelation 10:5 Revelation 10:6 ) . So the Targum understands it here,

``and he lifted up his hand with an oath, because of them:''

and so it is interpreted by Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; and agrees with ( Numbers 14:28-30 ) . The same gesture was used by the Heathens in swearing, as by Latinus ^F19. Or he lifted up his hand, in a way of judgment, to strike the blow; and which, when it lights on man with the indignation of his anger, falls heavy; see ( Isaiah 26:11 ) ( 30:30 ) . To overthrow them in the wilderness; as he did all the murmuring generation that came out of Egypt, all but Caleb and Joshua; all from twenty years and upwards, their carcasses fell in the wilderness; there they were wasted, consumed, and died, ( Numbers 14:32 Numbers 14:33 Numbers 14:35 ) ( 1 Corinthians 10:5 ) ( Hebrews 3:17 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 "----Tenditque ad sidera dextram--Terram, mare, sidera juro", Virg. Aeneid. 12.

Tehillim 106:26 In-Context

24 Then they despised the eretz chemdah (desirable land); they believed not His Devar;

25 But murmured in their ohalim, and paid heed not unto the kol (voice) of Hashem.

26 Therefore [in oath] He lifted up His yad against them, that He would overthrow them in the midbar;

27 To make their zera fall also among the Goyim, and to scatter them among the aratzot (lands).

28 They joined themselves also unto Ba’al-Pe’or, and ate the zivkhei mesim (sacrifices offered to the dead).