And he brought them forth with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble among their tribes.
Psalm 105 retells Israel's story as a record of God's faithfulness. Verse 37 marks the turning point. A nation of slaves walks out of Egypt loaded with wealth, and not one of them lags behind. Two details carry the weight: where the silver and gold came from, and how a whole people left without a single weak member.
(The writers quoted below use an older wording of the second half: "there was not one feeble person among their tribes.")
One writer sets out what each psalm in this group is about.
Psalm 103 reviews God's moral dealings with the people. Psalm 104 reviews His dealings with creation, celebrating Jehovah, God of Israel, in connection with creation. Psalm 105 shows God's positive, special favour to them as His people, and Psalm 106 their failure under it.
Set beside the plagues just described, the verse draws a sharp line between two peoples on the same night.
The people of Egypt suffered the destruction of their land. But God delivers His own people. Despite the oppression they had endured, He brings them out with gold and silver. There is not one feeble person among their tribes.
The silver and gold were not stolen. Israel collected wages that Egypt had never paid.
In truth their wages were long overdue. No one had ever paid them. It is plain folly to think there was even the smallest breach of what was right and proper... They were to plunder their oppressors by God's authority. There was no question at all of deceit or dishonesty. Older translations give the impression of "borrowing," but that word is not needed here, and the passage does not support it.
That treasure had a purpose ahead of it — and a possible misuse.
God set apart the wealth that Israel took out of Egypt for His service in the tabernacle. It had a proper use, and God's claim rested on the wealth that came out of the land with them. Later the abuse of it comes out clearly, when the golden calf came before the dancing.
To feel the size of the claim, count the crowd it covers.
There were 600,000 men, so with the women and children the Israelites numbered at least two million... It must have been a wonderful sight to see such a crowd moving away from the scene of their slavery. It is often called the work of the mighty God.
The way they left says something about God. One writer applies that to the reader.
When God does His work, He does it in a way worthy of Himself. When Israel came out of Egypt, they did not come out ashamed of themselves. They came out full-handed and equipped. They came out as the host of God should. Not a dog dared to move his tongue against them, nor was there one feeble person among their tribes. And so with us sinners going out from under the power of darkness with our Redeemer. We are not to go out with fear and suspicion, as though we could hardly trust the arm that was saving us.
This strength did not last. One writer reads the change as a warning.
"Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you" (Deut. 25:17-18). Does this not show some decline? When God brought them out of Egypt in all the triumph of the salvation He had worked, the Psalmist tells us that "there was not one feeble among their tribes." ... God's provision for the wilderness meets every need. But only as we take in that rich provision as food for our souls do we stay strong and fresh in spirit. Otherwise we grow weak, and then Amalek attacks us.
One writer also reads the verse forward, to a future return of God's people.
None of those returning will be weary or slumber or sleep. That reminds one of the time when the Israelites came up out of Egypt, when "there was not one feeble person among their tribes." Something like this will happen again.
- Brought — this psalm is about God's special favour to His people. Leaving Egypt was His act, not Israel's success.
- Paid — the silver and gold were long-overdue wages. Israel took them by God's authority, with no dishonesty.
- Destined — that wealth was marked out for the tabernacle; turned to a golden calf instead, it became sin.
- Whole — around two million people left, and not one lagged behind. God works in a way worthy of Himself, so His people go out full-handed, not ashamed.
- Kept — that strength did not last. Later weakness left them open to Amalek. Only feeding on God's provision keeps a redeemed people fresh.
Egypt rejoiced at their departure; for the fear of them had fallen upon them.
Psalm 105 retells Israel's history as a record of God's acts, and verse 38 stops on one odd detail: Egypt was relieved to lose its slave workforce. Why the relief, and why did a great nation dread a crowd of leaving labourers?
Egypt's own wishes had turned around:
The Egyptians were at first so eager to keep them. At last, after their punishment, they were just as anxious to get rid of them. "He will drive you away completely." "They were driven out of Egypt and could not wait" (Ex. 11:1; Ex. 12:39).
The change started inside Egyptian hearts:
In fact, "Egypt was glad when they departed" (v. 38), for God put His fear into their hearts. The psalm does not mention that Pharaoh changed his mind after they left and tried to recapture them. But that foolish attempt ended in humiliating failure. He and his army drowned in the Red Sea.
The dread began on the night when the firstborn died and God judged Egypt's gods with them:
To add to the dismay, the hand of Jehovah was heavy also upon "all the gods of Egypt." (Ex. 12:12.) In this act He judged their gods — probably the living creatures that represented them. It must have caused terror in every temple. God's vengeance fell on the gods of the land. It proved Jehovah's supremacy over all the powers men worshipped… Besides, Jehovah's hand struck only the firstborn, whether of people or of cattle. It showed His power so clearly that all Egypt dreaded death. They begged Israel to be gone, so that they would not all die as the firstborn had died.
Israel left in a rush because their masters pushed them out. But the push came from God, and it kept to His timetable:
Israel left Egypt in such haste that they took no supplies for immediate use. All they carried was the dough and the kneading troughs, bound on their shoulders with their clothes. In this way they depended wholly on Jehovah's care. The haste of their departure did more than satisfy the urgency of the Egyptians, who were God's agents in the matter. It also made sure they left at the time Jehovah had appointed.
The rush also guarded Israel from one particular failure:
There is a wonderful little sidelight here. It was not leavened because they were driven out of Egypt… I think what God gives us here is this. If they had not been in such a hurry, the leaven might have got in. I will help them to start right, says God. And so they were hurried out so quickly that they had no time to fail in obedience. I will at least help them to keep My word once in their history, says God.
Israel went out looking less like a triumphant army and more like escapees. A later deliverance will have a different character:
A remarkable Scripture in Isaiah struck me recently. It speaks of Israel in a day to come, when God will deliver them again. "For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (Isa. 52:12). That is what they did in Exodus 12. They were like a lot of timid, frightened creatures fleeing from an angry enemy. They were "driven out of Egypt" (Ex. 12:39), so they went out in haste, and word reached the king of Egypt that "the people had fled" (Ex. 14:5)… One day it will not be in haste. By then they will have learned that the question is not between themselves and Pharaoh. It is between God and Pharaoh, as to whom they belong.
The psalm sets the whole exodus, Egypt's fear included, inside the keeping of an old promise:
Psalm 105 takes up the simple purpose of promise, and how God has remembered His covenant… So their history is traced from of old. It shows judgment on Egypt, and pure faithfulness of grace towards them… and the gift of the land, which was pure grace according to promise also.
- Judgment — God struck Egypt's gods along with the firstborn, and terror filled every temple.
- Dread — that judgment left the whole nation afraid of death, so dread fell on Egypt.
- Driven out — the masters who once refused to let Israel go now pushed them out and could not wait.
- Haste — God used Egypt's panic. It held His people to His timetable, and even kept them from disobeying.
- Grace — the psalm credits none of it to Israel. It records God remembering His covenant.