Verses 11-13
11-13. Fourth strain . Now Jehovah is compared with the imaginary gods of the heathen .
Who like thee among the gods, Jehovah This is four words in Hebrew, whose initials stand thus, מכבי , which, it is said, were inscribed as a motto upon the banner of the Maccabees, giving them their name . Ewald doubts this derivation, (since Maccabi is spelled with a ק ,) but it is poetically true, for here is the flame whence that family of heroes caught their fire . (See Apocrypha, Books of Maccabees .) So also the names Micha and Michael signify, “Who is like God?”
Holiness This is the distinguishing attribute of Jehovah among the imperfect and sinful deities created by man’s imagination .
Fearful in praises Fearful because of the awful judgments which call forth these praises . The first triplet of this strain is an apostrophe setting forth Jehovah’s attributes against those of the heathen gods; the second returns once more to the deliverance of his people, and gliding in the last line into the prophetic strain which follows . The Red Sea deliverance being the pledge of grander things in store for Israel, the inspired bard now turns away from the past, and is borne forth into the future on the long, final wave of the song .
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