Nachschlagewerk zu Tehillim 68:39

Rabbi Shmuel Bar-Nachmani lived for more than one hundred years and the time of his influence extended from the days of Rabbi Jonathan, whose pupil he had been, until the rule of Rabbi Jehudah N’siah the Second. It appears that the Nasi did not approve of Rabbi Shmuel and when he once asked him the interpretation of the expression “by his name Jah” (Psalms, 68:4), he was dissatisfied with the reply and remarked: “It is regrettable that those scholars who could interpret this passage better are already dead.”³⁾בראשית רבה פּרשה י״ב פּיסקא ט׳.

Some Biblical descriptions of historical events, such as the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah, Rabbi Jose raised to great poetic heights. Expounding the verse, “why do you skip on wrinkled hills,” (Psalms, 68:17) he said: “When God was ready to give the Torah from Mount Sinai, the other mountains skipped about in confusion. They argued among themselves and each one claimed the honor of having God give the Torah to the Jews from its top.”