Psalms 105:27

My Notes

What Does Psalms 105:27 Mean?

Psalm 105:27 recounts the exodus plagues as something performed through Moses and Aaron — and the description reframes the plagues as divine speech acts: signs and wonders that function as God's words.

"They shewed his signs among them" — the Hebrew samu-vam divrey 'othothav (they set/placed among them the words of His signs). The marginal note reveals the literal Hebrew: "words of his signs." The signs ('othoth — signs, marks, signals, tokens) are called divrey — words. The plagues weren't just events. They were messages. Each sign was a word from God — communicated through action rather than speech, but carrying content as deliberately as a spoken sentence.

"And wonders in the land of Ham" — the Hebrew umophĕthim bĕ'erets Cham (and wonders/portents in the land of Ham). Ham is the ancestor of Egypt in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10:6 — "the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim" — Mizraim being Egypt). Calling Egypt "the land of Ham" reaches back to the genealogical origin, placing the plague narrative inside the larger biblical story of nations.

The Hebrew mopheth (wonder, portent, sign, miracle) carries a different nuance than 'oth (sign). An 'oth is a signal — something that points to a meaning beyond itself. A mopheth is a portent — something that evokes awe, something that stops you in your tracks because it exceeds natural explanation. The plagues were both: they pointed (signs) and they stunned (wonders).

The phrase "they shewed" refers to Moses and Aaron — the human instruments. But the signs are "his" — God's. The agents are human. The signs are divine. Moses and Aaron performed. God authored. The words belonged to God. The mouths (and hands) belonged to the prophets.

Psalm 105 recounts the plagues (v. 28-36) in a different order than Exodus, selecting and rearranging for poetic and theological effect rather than chronological accuracy. The psalmist's concern isn't the sequence of the plagues. It's the message they carried. They were words. God's words. Delivered in darkness, blood, frogs, and death.

Reflection Questions

• 1.The plagues are called 'words of His signs.' How does understanding God's actions as words — intentional communication — change how you read the events of your own life?
• 2.Moses and Aaron were the human instruments; the signs were God's. Where in your life are you the instrument through whom God is communicating something you didn't originate?
• 3.The psalmist calls Egypt 'the land of Ham' — connecting the plagues to the oldest family narrative. How does seeing your situation inside God's larger story change its meaning?
• 4.God spoke through blood, darkness, and death. What 'words' might God be speaking through difficult events in your life right now that you haven't yet read?

Devotional

The plagues were words. God's words. Delivered not in sentences but in blood and darkness and death.

The marginal note reveals what the Hebrew actually says: "the words of His signs." Not just signs. Words of signs. Each plague was a message — a divine communication aimed at Pharaoh, at Egypt, at the watching world. The Nile turning to blood was a sentence. The darkness that covered the land for three days was a paragraph. The death of the firstborn was the final statement. God was speaking. Egypt's gods were the audience. And the message was: I am the LORD, and there is none else.

Moses and Aaron delivered the words. They raised the staff. They stretched the hand. They stood before Pharaoh and announced what was coming. But the signs were His — God's. The human instruments carried the message. The divine author composed it. Every frog, every locust, every boil was a word placed in creation the way a word is placed on a page.

The phrase "land of Ham" reaches deep. Ham is Egypt's ancestor in the Genesis genealogy. By naming Egypt this way, the psalmist locates the plagues inside the oldest story in the Bible — the narrative of nations that goes back to Noah's sons. The wonders performed in Egypt aren't isolated events. They're God intervening in the story of the nations, in the land of one of Noah's grandsons, to rescue a people and demonstrate His sovereignty.

If you've ever wondered whether God communicates through events — not just through words on a page but through what happens to you and around you — the plagues are the precedent. God speaks in multiple media. Sometimes through prophets. Sometimes through signs. Sometimes through wonders that stop you cold. The question isn't whether God still communicates through events. It's whether you're reading the words of His signs.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture