And they sing the song of Moses the servant of
God
Not that in ( Deuteronomy
32:1 ) but that in ( Exodus 15:1 ) and the
sense is, either that they observed the law of Moses, which he as
a servant in the Lord's house faithfully delivered, and kept it
distinct from the Gospel, and did not blend them together, as in
the times before; or rather, that they sung a song like that of
Moses, and on a like occasion. Pharaoh was the very picture of
the pope of Rome; his oppression and cruel usage of the
Israelites represent the tyranny and cruelty of the Romish
antichrist; and the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and the
destruction of the Egyptians at the Red sea, which occasioned the
song of Moses, were an emblem of God's bringing his people out of
antichristian bondage, and of the ruin of antichrist, upon which
this song is sung; and Rome, in this book, is called Egypt, (
Revelation 11:8 ) . The
Jews have a notion, that the very song of Moses itself will be
sung in the world to come, in the days of the Messiah; for they
say, there are in it the times of the Messiah, and of Gog and
Magog, and of the resurrection of the dead, and the world to come
F12. And this song was sung by the
Levites in the daily service F13.
And the song of the Lamb;
the Lamb of God, who was slain for the sins of men; the same song
of which mention is made, ( Revelation
5:9 ) ( 14:3 ) the
song of redeeming love, a song of praise for the blessings of
grace which come through him, and of deliverance by him:
saying, great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God
Almighty;
Christ is in this song addressed as a divine person, as Lord of
all, God over all, blessed for ever, the Almighty God, as his
works declare him to be; his works of creation, providence, and
redemption, which are all great and marvellous, particularly the
accomplishment of the glorious things spoken of his church, and
the destruction of his enemies, which are here designed:
just and true are thy ways, thou King of
saints:
made so by his Father, and acknowledged by all his people, and
especially at this time, when his kingdom will more visibly and
gloriously appear: the Alexandrian copy, one of Stephens's, the
Complutensian edition, and Arabic version, read, King of nations,
as in ( Jeremiah
10:7 ) from whence this, and the beginning of the next verse,
seem to be taken; the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read,
"King of ages", an everlasting King, as in ( Jeremiah
10:10 ) but the generality of copies read as we have it: and
the ways of this King are just and true; his purposes, decrees,
and counsels of old, are faithfulness and truth; all his
proceedings towards his own people, his subjects, are mercy and
truth; his precepts and ordinances, his worship and service, are
just and true, in opposition to every false way; and all his
judgments upon his enemies, which are intended, are just, being
what their sins deserved, and are true, being agreeably to his
word and threatenings.