וַיִּרְא֤וּ אֹתוֹ֙ הָעָ֔ם וַֽיְהַלְל֖וּ אֶת־אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם כִּ֣י אָמְר֗וּ נָתַ֨ן אֱלֹהֵ֤ינוּ בְיָדֵ֙נוּ֙ אֶת־א֣וֹיְבֵ֔נוּ וְאֵת֙ מַחֲרִ֣יב אַרְצֵ֔נוּ וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר הִרְבָּ֖ה אֶת־חֲלָלֵֽינוּ׃
Nang makita siya ng mga tao, pinuri nila ang kanilang diyos, sapagkat sinabi nila, “Ibinigay ng aming diyos sa aming mga kamay ang aming kaaway, ang nagwasak ng aming lupain, at ang pumatay sa marami sa amin.”
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach: (Mechilta bachodesh 10) the entire line is a warning not to apply human yardsticks to the way one relates to G’d. Humans revere people who have done them favors, i.e. they only worship and show respect to their deities if these deities treated them in the way they expected or demanded to be treated. If the deity in question did not fulfill their expectations they do no longer show honor and respect to it. An example are the Philistines who did acknowledge their deity when they had captured Samson and gave credit for their success to their deity (Judges 16,24). When idolaters experienced disaster such as described in Isaiah 8,21: “and when he is hungry, he shall rage and revolt against his king and his divine beings,” he takes out his rage on his gods. The Torah’s message to us here is that we have to thank the Lord both for the good and for the unpleasant (which we are foolishly assuming is evil). This is what David said in Psalms 116,13: “I raise the cup of deliverance and invoke the name of the Lord.” In the same psalm verses 3-4 he said: “when the torments of She-ol overtook me, I came upon trouble and sorrow; and I invoked the name of the Lord.” David invoked the same G’d, rain or shine, We find similar sentiments expressed by Job 1,21 who exclaimed after suffering painful reverses: “the Lord has given and the Lord has taken; may the name of the Lord be praised.”