Ver. 4. He is the rock— Houbigant translates thus: Creatoris perfecta sunt opera; the Creator's work is perfect. We interpret הצור hatzur, says he, of the Creator: for the word is derived in this place from צור tzur, to form, to effect; as פעלו paalo, his work, demonstrates; not from צור tzur, a rock: for this appellation of God is then used, when God is considered as a refuge for salvation, or, a rock of salvation; or when at any time allusion is made to a similitude drawn from a rock: but no such similitude is found in this place. In other parts of this song, הצור is applied to GOD, (and in our version rendered rock,) when there is nothing in the sentence which coincides with this or that similitude.—All his ways are judgment, Houbigant renders, omnis hujus viae sunt ordinatae, all his ways are regular, well ordered, or conducted: משׁפט mishpat, denotes whatever is done in a certain way and method, by an appointed manner and judgment. The words which follow, God is faithful, and not given to change, strengthen the sentence: not given to change, (which is a meaning the original word will bear,) very aptly agrees with faithful, which it follows, and whose force it sustains and augments: so afterwards, He is just, and also constant, corresponds, agreeably to the method of this metrical composition, with the preceding clause. Moses uses this preface, asserting that God is faithful and constant to the promises he has given, in opposition to the infidelity and inconstancy of Israel, which he mentions afterwards; and saying, almost with St. Paul, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? See Romans 3:3. This verse, according to Houbigant, should be read thus:
The works of the Creator are perfect: For all his ways are regularly established. He is a faithful God, and immutable: He is just, and also unchangeable.
We would just observe, respecting the version of הצור hatzur, for rock, that the Vulgate, the LXX, the Samaritan, Arabic, and Syriac, all agree in rendering it GOD; neither is there a hint in any as if the word signified rock, or that it should be made a distinct sentence with He is put before it, according to our version, for which words there is nothing in the Hebrew.