Psalms 78:1

These verses, which contain the preface to this history, show that the psalm answers the title; it is indeed Maschil - a psalm to give instruction; if we receive not the instruction it gives, it is our own fault. Here,

I. The psalmist demands attention to what he wrote (Psa 78:1): Give ear, O my people! to my law. Some make these the psalmist's words. David, as a king, or Asaph, in his name, as his secretary of state, or scribe to the sweet singer of Israel, here calls upon the people, as his people committed to his charge, to give ear to his law. He calls his instructions his law or edict; such was their commanding force in themselves. Every good truth, received in the light and love of it, will have the power of a law upon the conscience; yet that was not all: David was a king, and he would interpose his royal power for the edification of his people. If God, by his grace, make great men good men, they will be capable of doing more good than others, because their word will be a law to all about them, who must therefore give ear and hearken; for to what purpose is divine revelation brought our ears if we will not incline our ears to it, both humble ourselves and engage ourselves to hear it and heed it? Or the psalmist, being a prophet, speaks as God's mouth, and so calls them his people, and demands subjection to what was said as to a law. Let him that has an ear thus hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, Rev 2:7.

II. Several reasons are given why we should diligently attend to that which is here related. 1. The things here discoursed of are weighty, and deserve consideration, strange, and need it (Psa 78:2): I will open my mouth in a parable, in that which is sublime and uncommon, but very excellent and well worthy your attention; I will utter dark sayings, which challenge your most serious regards as much as the enigmas with which the eastern princes and learned men used to try one another. These are called dark sayings, not because they are hard to be understood, but because they are greatly to be admired and carefully to be looked into. This is said to be fulfilled in the parables which our Saviour put forth (Mat 13:35), which were (as this) representations of the state of the kingdom of God among men. 2. They are the monuments of antiquity - dark sayings of old which our fathers have told us, Psa 78:3. They are things of undoubted certainty; we have heard them and known them, and there is no room left to question the truth of them. The gospel of Luke is called a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us (Luk 1:1), so were the things here related. The honour we owe to our parents and ancestors obliges us to attend to that which our fathers have told us, and, as far as it appears to be true and good, to receive it with so much the more reverence and regard. 3. They are to be transmitted to posterity, and it lies as a charge upon us carefully to hand them down (Psa 78:4); because our fathers told them to us we will not hide them from their children. Our children are called theirs, for they were in care for their seed's seed, and looked upon them as theirs; and, in teaching our children the knowledge of God, we repay to our parents some of that debt we owe to them for teaching us. Nay, if we have no children of our own, we must declare the things of God to their children, the children of others. Our care must be for posterity in general, and not only for our own posterity; and for the generation to come hereafter, the children that shall be born, as well as for the generation that is next rising up and the children that are born. That which we are to transmit to our children is not only the knowledge of languages, arts and sciences, liberty and property, but especially the praises of the Lord, and his strength appearing in the wonderful works he has done. Our great care must be to lodge our religion, that great deposit, pure and entire in the hands of those that succeed us. There are two things the full and clear knowledge of which we must preserve the entail of to our heirs: - (1.) The law of God; for this was given with a particular charge to teach it diligently to their children (Psa 78:5): He established a testimony or covenant, and enacted a law, in Jacob and Israel, gave them precepts and promises, which he commanded them to make known to their children, Deu 6:7, Deu 6:20. The church of God, as the historian says of the Roman commonwealth, was not to be res unius aetatis - a thing of one age but was to be kept up from one generation to another; and therefore, as God provided for a succession of ministers in the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron, so he appointed that parents should train up their children in the knowledge of his law: and, when they had grown up, they must arise and declare them to their children (Psa 78:6), that, as one generation of God's servants and worshippers passes away, another generation may come, and the church, as the earth, may abide for ever; and thus God's name among men may be as the days of heaven. (2.) The providences of God concerning them, both in mercy and in judgment. The former seem to be mentioned for the sake of this; since God gave order that his laws should be made known to posterity, it is requisite that with them his works also should be made known, the fulfilling of the promises made to the obedient and the threatenings denounced against the disobedient. Let these be told to our children and our children's children, [1.] That they may take encouragement to conform to the will of God (Psa 78:7): that, not forgetting the works of God wrought in former days, they might set their hope in God and keep his commandments, might make his command their rule and his covenant their stay. Those only may with confidence hope for God's salvation that make conscience of doing his commandments. The works of God, duly considered, will very much strengthen our resolution both to set our hope in him and to keep his commandments, for he is able to bear us out in both. [2.] That they may take warning not to conform to the example of their fathers (Psa 78:8): That they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation. See here, First, What was the character of their fathers. Though they were the seed of Abraham, taken into covenant with God, and, for aught we know, the only professing people he had then in the world, yet they were stubborn and rebellious, and walked contrary to God, in direct opposition to his will. They did indeed profess relation to him, but they did not set their hearts aright; they were not cordial in their engagements to God, nor inward with him in their worship of him, and therefore their spirit was not stedfast with him, but upon every occasion they flew off from him. Note, Hypocrisy is the high road to apostasy. Those that do not set their hearts aright will not be stedfast with God, but play fat and loose. Secondly, What was a charge to the children: That they be not as their fathers. Note, Those that have descended from wicked and ungodly ancestors, if they will but consider the word and works of God, will see reason enough not to tread in their steps. It will be no excuse for a vain conversation that it was received by tradition from our fathers (Pe1 1:18); for what we know of them that was evil must be an admonition to us, that we dread that which was so pernicious to them as we would shun those courses which they took that were ruinous to their health or estates.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Psa 78:1 « Maschil of Asaph. » Give ear, O my people, [to] my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

Maschil of Asaph] Ode didasealiea Asaphi. The six first verses are proemial, wooing attention from the dignity, difficulty, antiquity, certainty, &c., of the matter in this psalm discoursed on, containing an abstract of the whole Pentateuch, and acquainting us with the ancient way of preaching, which was a historical narration of the miraculous mercies that God had from time to time conferred upon his people, their hateful abuse of his benefits, and their punishments thereupon. This is to be seen in various psalms, in St Stephen’s sermon, Act 7:1-60, and St Paul’s, Act 13:1-52, et est sane valde venerandum istud sanctae antiquitatis monumentum, This is a very venerable monument of holy antiquity, and teacheth us the right use of history, quae dicta est παρα το ισταναι τον ρουν, saith Plato.

Ver. 1. Give ear, O my people, to my law] i.e. To my doctrine, which hath its name in Hebrew from darting it into the soul; and these are the psalmist’s words in God’s name, calling for utmost attention.

Incline your ears, &c.] Lay them close to my lips, that no parcel of this sacred language fall to the ground by your default. Eνωτιζεσθε, Aurizate, auribus haurite, Receive it into your ears; yea, draw up the ears of your mind to the ears of your bodies, that one sound may pierce both, Act 2:14 Isa 55:3. "Hear, and give ear; be not proud; for the Lord hath spoken it," Jer 13:15.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_78:1

Give ear, O My people, to My law; incline your ears to the words of My mouth.

The obligation to obey Gods law

I. It is the law of your nature. The foundation of morality is laid deep in human nature; its principles result from the constitution of our frame; and its authority will be supreme, while there is a mind to discern, or a heart to feel, or a conscience to judge.

II. It is the law of heaven.

III. It is the law of society. Public depravity paves the way for public ruin.

IV. It is the Law of happiness. What does it forbid? Desires, passions, and vices, from which for our own sakes we should abstain, though there was no such prohibition. It forbids the gratification of desires which would lead us to ruin; the commission of vices which waken remorse, and deliver us up to the tormentors. What does the law of the Lord command? What is lovely, and pure, and praiseworthy; what tends to make men peaceable, gentle, humane, merciful, benevolent, and happy. (John Rogan.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Maschil of Asaph. This is rightly entitled an instructive Psalm. It is not a mere recapitulation of important events in Israelitish history, but is intended to be viewed as a parable setting forth the conduct and experience of believers in all ages. It is a singular proof of the obtuseness of mind of many professors that they will object to sermons and expositions upon the historical parts of Scripture, as if they contained no instruction in spiritual matters: were such persons truly enlightened by the Spirit of God, they would perceive that all Scripture is profitable, and would blush at their own folly in undervaluing any portion of the inspired volume.

The unity is well maintained throughout, but for the sake of the reader's convenience, we may note that Ps 78:1-8 may be viewed as a preface, setting forth the psalmist's object in the epic which he is composing. From Ps 78:9-41 the theme is Israel in the wilderness; then intervenes an account of the Lord's preceding goodness towards his people in bringing them out of Egypt by plagues and wonders, Ps 78:42-52. The history of the tribes is resumed at Ps 78:53, and continued to Ps 78:66, where we reach the time of the removal of the ark to Zion and the transference of the leadership of Israel from Ephraim to Judah, which is rehearsed in song from Ps 78:67-72.

Ver. 1. Give ear, O my people, to my law. The inspired bard calls on his countrymen to give heed to his patriotic teaching. We naturally expect God's chosen nation to be first in hearkening to his voice. When God gives his truth a tongue, and sends forth his messengers trained to declare his word with power, it is the least we can do to give them our ears and the earnest obedience of our hearts. Shall God speak, and his children refuse to hear? His teaching has the force of law, let us yield both ear and heart to it.

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Give earnest attention, bow your stiff necks, lean forward to catch every syllable. We are at this day, as readers of the sacred records, bound to study them deeply, exploring their meaning, and labouring to practice their teaching. As the officer of an army commences his drill by calling for "Attention, "even so every trained soldier of Christ is called upon to give ear to his words. Men lend their ears to music, how much more then should they listen to the harmonies of the gospel; they sit enthralled in the presence of an orator, how much rather should they yield to the eloquence of heaven.

Whole Psalm. This Psalm appears to have been occasioned by the removal of the sanctuary from Shiloh in the tribe of Ephraim to Judah, and the coincident transfer of preeminence in Israel from the former to the latter tribe, as clearly evinced by David's settlement as the head of the church and nation. Though this was the execution of God's purpose, the writer here shows that it also proceeded from the divine judgment on Ephraim, under whose leadership the people had manifested the same sinful and rebellious character which had distinguished their ancestors in Egypt. B. M. Smith, in "The Critical and Explanatory Pocket Bible." 1867.

Ver. 1. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears. Inclining the ears does not denote any ordinary sort of hearing, but such as a disciple renders to the words of his master, with submission and reverence of mind, silent and earnest, that whatever is enunciated for the purpose of instruction may be heard and properly understood, and nothing be allowed to escape. He is a hearer of a different stamp, who hears carelessly, not for the purpose of learning or imitation, but to criticise, to make merry, to indulge animosity, or to kill time. Musculus.

Ver. 1. Incline your ears. Lay them close to my lips, that no parcel of this sacred language fall to the ground by your default. John Trapp.

Ver. 1. To the words of my mouth. Was it not sufficient for the parallelism to say, To my words? Obviously. Why then is there any notice taken of the mouth? Because those who can prescribe laws to their subjects are also those who scorn to address them with their mouth. Such is the custom of kings, princes, pontiffs, both Roman and others. For the higher every one rises in dignity, the less he considers it becoming to him to speak to the people, to teach and instruct them by word of mouth. They think they owe nothing to the people, but are altogether taken up with this, that they may be looked up to as princes, and so retain a certain secular majesty of command. But, with one's own mouth to teach the ignorant, is a singular proof of love and paternal affection, such as becomes the preceptor, pastor and teacher. This Christ most constantly employed, because he was touched with paternal affection towards the lost sheep, and came as a shepherd to seek them. The manner of earthly princes he therefore rejected, and clothed himself with that paternal custom which becomes the shepherd and teacher, going about and opening his mouth in order to give instruction. See Matthew 5. Rightly, therefore, was the prophet not content with saying, Give ear, O my people, to my law: he adds, Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Thus he indicates that he was about to address and instruct them with paternal affection. Musculus.

Ver. 1. The duty of attending to God's word. Modes of neglecting the duty; ways of fulfilment; reasons for obedience; evils of inattention.

Valuable information upon THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT will be found in the following works: --

"Observations upon the Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians: in which is shewn the peculiarity of those Judgments, and their correspondence with the Rites and Idolatry of that People... By JACOB BRYANT. 1794."

"Israel in Egypt; or the Books of Genesis and Exodus illustrated by existing Monuments. By WILLIAM OSBURN. 1856."

UPON ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS

"The wanderings of the Children of Israel. By the late Rev. GEORGE WAGNER, 1862."

"The Church in the Wilderness." By WILLIAM SEATON. In two vols.

1821.

Psalms 78:2*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 78:1-2. Give ear, O my people — In these words “the psalmist opens his commission, and speaks as one having authority from above to instruct the world. He demands a large and attentive audience, while, by a series of examples, he sets forth the goodness of God, and the ingratitude of man, for the admonition of succeeding ages to the end of time.” To my law — The doctrine which I am about to deliver to you, concerning your duty, and the danger of neglecting it. I will open my mouth in a parable — I will speak to you with all freedom and plainness, uttering divers grave and weighty sentences, (such being often termed parables in Scripture,) or things of great moment for your instruction and advantage. I will utter dark sayings — So he calls the following passages, not because the words or sentences are in themselves hard to be understood, for they are generally historical and easy, but because the things contained in them, concerning God’s transcendent goodness to an unworthy people, and their unparalleled ingratitude for, and abuse of, such eminent favours, and their stupid ignorance and insensibleness under such excellent and constant teachings of God’s word and works, are indeed prodigious and hard to be believed. Of old — Of things done in ancient times, and in a great measure worn out of men’s minds.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

INTRODUCTION

Superscription,—“Maschil of Asaph,” i.e., an instruction of Asaph, a didactic song by Asaph. The Psalm was probably written by the celebrated Asaph in the time of David.

Occasion.—The Psalm seems to have been occasioned by the jealousy of the tribe of Ephraim, by reason of the position which the tribe of Judah held under David. For many years the haughty and powerful tribe of Ephraim was pre-eminent amongst the tribes. The sanctuary was placed in Shiloh, which is in this tribe. When David selected Jerusalem as the home of the sanctuary and the capital of the nation, “that haughty spirit which could brook no equal or superior chafed against the growing dominion of Judah” (Stanley). In this Psalm they are taught that what they regarded as a usurpation was in fact a Divine judgment; and the ten tribes are warned not to rebel against the Divine arrangements.

MAN’S RELATION TO THE LAW AND TESTIMONY OF GOD

(Psa_78:1-8.)

The Psalm opens with a summons of the people to attention. The Poet speaks as one who has a right to be heard with respectful attention, and who is about to make statements which were worthy of their particular regard. From the second verse it seems as though the Psalmist regarded the historical facts mentioned in the subsequent part of the Psalm as illustrations of spiritual facts and relationships. The history of the Israelites sets forth in clear light many aspects of human life and Divine providence. Amongst other things it strikingly illustrates—

1. The great goodness of God, in His care of His people, in His guidance of them, &c.

2. The abiding faithfulness of God, in fulfilling His promises and threatenings.

3. The sad tendency of human nature to ingratitude and departure from God. In this respect this history is a very painful one.

4. The inviolable connection between sin and suffering. These and other facts and tendencies of human life and the Divine government are set forth in striking and impressive aspects in this history.

The section now before us is introductory to the history recorded in the Psalm, and presents us with some important views of Man’s relation to the law and testimony of God.

I. Man has received a knowledge of the will and works of God. The Hebrews were acquainted with the laws, moral and ceremonial, which God had given unto them. They also had ordinances of Divine institution which were abiding testimonies of the character and will of God, and of their relation to Him. They were also acquainted with the wonderful facts of their own national history. They had the Scriptures. Hengstenberg holds that “by the testimony and the law in Psa_78:5 are meant the whole contents of the Pentateuch, the direct commandments contained in it, and the deeds of the Lord which are to be considered as indirect commandments.” This Pentateuch, with its marvellous history, its Divine legislation, and its revelations of God and His will, they possessed. They had much knowledge which they had received by tradition. As children, their souls had been thrilled as they listened with rapt attention to the narratives of the wondrous and glorious works of God on behalf of their ancestors. Their memories were richly stored with these glorious deeds, and Divine revelations.

What a noble and precious heritage is ours in this respect! We have the holy Word. Not simply the Pentateuch; but the inspired hymns of the ancient poets, the wise instruction of men moved by the Holy Ghost, &c. “The holy Scriptures, which are able to make men wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” What a rich and blessed possession we have in the Bible!

“Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord!

Star of eternity! The only star

By which the bark of man can navigate

The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss

Securely; only star, which rose on time,

And, on its dark and troubled billows, still

As generation, drifting swiftly by,

Succeeded generation, threw a ray

Of heaven’s own light, and to the hills of God—

The everlasting hills—pointed the sinner’s eye.”—Pollock.

We have also religious instruction. Much of the intellectual and spiritual wealth of the true and good of past ages has been handed down to us in books. The best utterances of the mind and heart of wise and holy men of this age are given to us in books. Who can estimate his indebtedness to literature! In our early days the earnest and loving teaching of Christian parents and Sunday school teachers was ours. And now we have the instruction, exhortation, and counsel of the Christian ministry. We have received a great and precious knowledge of the Divine will and way. The way of salvation is clearly made known unto us. “We see Jesus,” and in Him God has revealed Himself to us. “He that hath seen Me,” said Christ, “hath seen the Father.”

II. Man should impart a knowledge of the will and works of God to others. The Israelites were distinctly and repeatedly commanded to impart religious knowledge to their children. (Vide Deu_4:9; Deu_6:6-7; Deu_9:19.) It was a binding religious duty. To this the Psalmist refers in the fifth verse. The Psalmist’s resolve to communicate this knowledge to posterity has two points worthy of notice. He resolves,

1. To communicate a knowledge of His wondrous works. “Showing to the generation to come His strength, and the wonderful works that He hath done.” Their history was peculiarly rich in marvellous and glorious deeds which He had done on their behalf, and in judgments with which He had visited them by reason of their numerous and heinous sins. It was plenteously stored with wise teaching, and helpful encouragement to faithfulness, and grave warning against evil. He will impart to the children a knowledge of this remarkable history. He resolves,

2. To communicate a knowledge of His wondrous works that the generation to come might praise the Lord. He will narrate God’s glorious deeds of ancient date, not that national pride might be promoted thereby, but that God might be glorified. His was the power, and His shall be the praise. He will show to the children “the praises of the Lord.”

We, too, are bound to transmit to posterity the religious knowledge and the spiritual privileges that we enjoy. Our Lord lays down the principle with transparent clearness—“Freely ye have received, freely give.”

“Heav’n doth with us as we with torches do,

Not light them for themselves,

For if our virtues do not go forth of us

’Twere all alike as if we had them not.”

—Shakespeare.

The coming generations will need the knowledge of God that we possess. Our systems of philosophy and theology they may do without, our human creeds and religious formulæ they may in many things outgrow. But our knowledge of God, especially as revealed in Jesus Christ and His redemption, the generations that are to come will need. Nay, without it they will be undone.

III. Man should impart a knowledge of the will and works of God to others with a noble aim. The object of the impartation of this knowledge is thus stated by the Psalmist—“That the generation to come might know them, the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children,” &c. (Psa_78:6-8).

The object then aimed at was—

1. That the knowledge might be continued to the race. We have received from our fathers great treasures of information and experience, of knowledge and wisdom, and every generous emotion and every conviction of duty strongly urge us to hand them down to coming ages. If it is not in our power to make much addition to the treasures of the past, we can at least with scrupulous fidelity do our share to transmit those treasures undiminished to the coming generations.

2. That the coming generations might avoid the errors and sins of their ancestors. “That they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that prepared not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.” The history of the Israelites abounds with painful illustrations of the statements of this verse. With sad frequency throughout their journeyings in the wilderness they manifested a murmuring, stubborn, and rebellious spirit. Again and again they forsook the Lord God, and worshipped the idols of the idolatrous nations around them. Their history was to be made known that their posterity might take warning and shun their errors. Let us point out to the generations to come the sins of past ages with their consequences, that they may avoid them.

3. That the coming generations might be righteous. “That they might keep His commandments.” Let us so teach the law of God to the uprising generation that they shall regard it as “holy, just, and good,” a Divinely wise and benevolent thing, and shall loyally and heartily seek to comply with its requirements.

4. That the coming generations might be religious. “That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God.” Two things are aimed at in this.

(1) A recognition of the Divine presence and activity. “Not forget the works of God.” God is ever working in the universe, in history, in redemption. History should be studied with reverence as well as with inquisitiveness, for God has been working in it. Our life should be lived holily, for God is ever active within us and around us. In imparting instruction let us aim at the recognition of the Divine presence and agency by the generations to come—that the history, science, and philosophy of the future might not be materialistic, atheistic, but intelligent, humble, reverent.

(2) A calm trust in the Divine Being. “Set their hope in God,” i.e., “place their trust in God.” Let us endeavour to represent God to our children truthfully, in His Divine beauty, in His all-sufficiency, in His perfect reliableness, that so they might be attracted to Him, and be led to repose in Him with supreme and unfaltering trust.

Here, then, we have a grand end in imparting a knowledge of the will and works and ways of God—the continuation and increase of knowledge, the avoidance of error and sin, the promotion of Divine righteousness and religiousness amongst men—in a word, the furtherance of human progress in its path towards perfection.

The race advances, the world makes progress. Christianity is spreading and diffusing widely its blessings. Each generation grows richer in the highest knowledge and wisdom than its predecessor was. The time comes on apace when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Are we each doing what we can to usher in that time?

FOR A SABBATH-SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY

(Psa_78:2-8.)

The text is the preface or introduction to the whole Psalm.

It shows the design of Asaph in its composition.

Its design was the instruction of children.

Its style—parabolic and enigmatical. Spiritual truths hidden under narration of facts.

I. The interesting objects of our solicitude mentioned. Consider—

1. The love which welcomes them. The love of mother, father, friends.

2. The evils which surround them. A sinful nature within. Evil example without; public house, theatre, &c.

3. The possibilities which await them. Greatness in good or in evil.

II. The sacred duties which we owe to them.

First: They are weak; we must protect them. Jacob’s children, and Esau. (Genesis 32)

Second: They are helpless; we must provide for them.

Third: They are ignorant; we must instruct them.

1. The nature of this duty. What must we teach?

(1) The praises of the Lord. “Out of the mouth,” &c. (Psa_8:2).

(2) The strength of the Lord.

(3) The wonderful works of the Lord. In nature, providence, grace.

2. The importance of this duty. The docility and impressibility of children.

3. The way to perform this duty. Parents, Christians, example, precept.

III. The object which we hope shall be realised.

1. The knowledge of truth shall be perpetuated.

2. Our children will put their hope in God.

3. They shall be better than their fathers.

—B. D. from The Study.

OUR RELATION TO OUR ANCESTORS AND SUCCESSORS

(Psa_78:3-4.)

Consider—

I. Our great obligations to our ancestors.

1. For the Bible.

2. For a glorious literature. How vast the number of books which are characterised by high and deep thinking, and pure and reverent feeling!

3. For holy and heroic examples. Martyrs, reformers, and a great multitude of obscure yet faithful and noble lives.

4. For religious teaching. We are immeasurably indebted to those who in the home, the school, and the church, have instructed us.

II. Our great duty to our successors.

1. To hand down to them intact the heritage of religious intelligence and privilege which we possess.

2. To seek to increase that heritage. The stream of blessing should grow broader and deeper.

3. To endeavour to lead them to prize and improve their heritage. That they may not only know His will, but do it; not only know His wondrous works, but praise and trust Him.

Be it ours to contribute something to the promotion of the progress of our race in all that is true, wise, and good.

MORAL COWARDICE AND ITS CAUSES

(Psa_78:9-11.)

The term “the children of Ephraim” is not used here in contradistinction to the rest of Israel, but as representing the whole, because of the prominent position of that tribe. “For more than four hundred years Ephraim, with its two dependent tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, exercised undisputed preeminence. Joshua the first conqueror; Gideon the greatest of the judges, whose brothers were ‘as the children of kings,’ and whose children all but established hereditary monarchy in their own line; Saul, the first king—belong to one or other of these three tribes.” The haughty spirit of the tribe “could brook no equal or superior, and chafed against the rise even of the kindred tribe of Manasseh in the persons of Gideon and Jephthah, and yet more against the growing dominion of Judah in David and Solomon, till it threw off the yoke altogether, and established an independent kingdom.”—(Stanley).

It seems clear to us that the Psalm does not refer to the disruption of the kingdom; but that our text refers to an event or series of events during the period of the Judges. We propose to regard the text as an illustration of Moral Cowardice and its Causes. Let us consider—

I. The illustration of moral cowardice. “The children of Ephraim, armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.” Whether this refers to one specific battle, or to several battles, or whether “the Ephraimites are merely compared to cowardly bowmen,” we need not attempt to decide. In either case they are charged with cowardice. The greatness of this cowardice is apparent from three facts.

1. They were men of might. Ephraim was a warlike tribe, famed for valiant men. Joshua was of this tribe. Perhaps they are specially named here because of their proud, domineering, boastful spirit.

2. They were fully armed. They were not surprised and attacked at a disadvantage. They were “armed and carrying bows.” Proud, boastful, powerful, and well armed, yet—

3. They refused to fight “Turned back in the day of battle.” A brave English drummer boy was taken captive in some battle by the French. He was ordered to beat several military signals, and obeyed. But, being commanded to beat a retreat, he pertinaciously refused. He had never beaten a retreat, and he never would do so. Unlike this heroic lad, the Israelites, with the strong and warlike tribe of Ephraim, turned their back to their foes and fled. A picture of what has often been the case in our spiritual history. We have been bold and courageous in speech, we have been supplied with weapons from the Divine armoury, yet we have fled before our foes, have weakly yielded to temptation, and dishonoured our uniform and our colours.

II. The causes of moral cowardice. “They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law,” &c.

1. They lacked the support of conscience. If conscience is with us in arduous and perilous enterprises, it will nerve the heart with courage and fill the arm with energy.

“What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?

Thrice is he arm’d that hath his quarrel just;

And he but naked, though lock’d up in steel,

Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.”

—Shakespeare.

But this “heart untainted” the men of Ephraim had not. “They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law.” Conscience in them was an accusing voice. And the consciousness of guilt “makes cowards of us all.” “The wicked flee when no man pursueth,” &c.

“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;

The thief doth fear each bush an officer.”

—Shakespeare.

If in our moral battles we would stand before our enemies, we need a clear self-approving conscience. Without it “every noise appals” us; with it we may be as “bold as a lion.”

2. They lacked the inspiration to be drawn from the recollection of past interpositions of God on their behalf. “They forgat His works, and His wonders that He had showed them.” When David did battle with Goliath of Gath, he was inspired and fortified by the recollection of what God had done for him and by him in former times. “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” In this spirit he met the foe, and speedily the proud, gigantic champion of Philistia fell before the shepherd boy, who trusted in the God who had aided him in the past. But the glorious doings of God on behalf of Israel were shamefully forgotten by them, and, when they went forth to battle, the inspiration, which they would have had if they had remembered His works, was missing, and they cowardly turned back. If we would meet the foes of the future hopefully and courageously we need to remember the victories of the past devoutly and thankfully.

3. They lacked the help of God. They did not seek Him whose covenant they had violated, and whose law they had disregarded. They could not trust Him whose wondrous works on their behalf they had basely allowed to sink into forgetfulness. And so they went up to battle without the Lord, and returned from battle dishonoured. “O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs upon their enemies? And the Lord said, Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies.”

As we contemplate this picture, let us learn the lessons which it has for us. We, too, have enemies which are both subtle and powerful—Satanic temptation, evil in society, proneness to sin in ourselves. We must battle with courage and fortitude against these foes, or they will vanquish us, and that means ruin. Complete and splendid armour, both offensive and defensive, is provided for us (Eph_6:11-18). Let us gird it on. And in this holy war let us go forth in the strength of God, and we shall return victorious. It has been well said that, “Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it.” We need moral courage; and for that we must have an approving conscience, the memory of past victories won by the help of God, and an unfaltering trust in Him. Without these, as cowards we shall turn our back to the foes. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”

SCENES FROM A REMARKABLE HISTORY

(Psa_78:12-20.)

In these verses we have a brief record of some of God’s wonderful and gracious dealings with His people, and of their great sin against Him. On the one side, the portion of history here referred to is luminous with the great and beneficent works of the Lord; on the other side, it is dark with the basest ingratitude, unbelief, and perversity of man. We have here—

I. A people divinely emancipated. By great signs and wonders wrought on their behalf Jehovah had delivered them from the cruel oppression of the Egyptians. His hand was clearly manifest—

1. In their deliverance out of Egypt. “Marvellous things did He in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.” It was because of His blessing that, notwithstanding their oppressions, they increased and multiplied and gathered power in Egypt. It was because of the wonders wrought by Him on their behalf, the stroke after stroke of judgment, each one severer than its predecessors, with which He smote their tyrannical lords, that they were at length permitted to go forth from the land of bondage.

2. In their deliverance from their pursuers at the Red Sea. Narrate the circumstances of the departure from Egypt, the encampment by the sea, the pursuit of the Egyptians after them, the apparently desperate situation in which they were placed, their alarm, murmurings, &c.; the prayer of Moses, the answer of Jehovah, &c. “He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters to stand as an heap.” “On a sudden,” writes the late Dean Milman, “Moses advances towards the sea, extends his rod, and a violent wind from the east begins to blow. The waters recede on both sides, a way appears; at nightfall, probably about eight o’clock, the caravan begins to defile along this awful pass. The wind continued in the same quarter all the night, but immediately they had passed over, and while the Egyptians, madly plunging after them, were in the middle of the passage, the wind as suddenly fell, the waters rushed back into their bed, the heavy chariot-wheels of the pursuers sank into the sand, broke and overthrew the chariots, and in this state of confusion the sea swept over the whole host, and overwhelmed the king and all the flower of the Egyptian army.” We have in this a triple wonder:—

(1.) The division of the sea. This was no ordinary phenomenon of nature, but an extraordinary manifestation of the presence and power of God.

(2.) The preparation of the road. When the waters were divided, the bed of the sea would not have been in a fit state for the great multitude to pass over, had not Jehovah prepared it for their passage.

(3.) The encouraging of the people to pass through the opening made for them. Such an unbelieving and craven-hearted crowd of serfs needed an infusion of courage ere they would have attempted to make such a passage. The Lord “caused them to pass through.” If ever any people were emancipated by God, the Israelites were when they came forth from the land of Egypt. His hand was manifestly outstretched to subdue the pride of the oppressors, and to rescue the oppressed from thraldom.

II. A people divinely led. “In the daytime also He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.” “The fiery, cloudy pillar” went before them in all their journeyings.

1. They were led constantly. In the day the cloud led them onward, and at night the pillar of fire moved mysteriously and majestically before them.

2. They were led divinely. The guiding pillar was not merely a sign to indicate their way, but a visible symbol of the presence of God. He Himself guided them. Rightly understood, the cloud and the fire were an assurance that God was with them to lead them, to protect them, to provide for them. What a proof of the goodness of God to them we have in this!

III. A people divinely provisioned. “He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths,” &c. Upon two occasions, at the command of God, Moses had smitten a rock, and water had flowed forth in abundance. (Vide Exo_17:6; Num_20:11.) But it was not simply water that God provided for them, but food and raiment also. “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” “I have led you,” said Moses, “forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.”

1. Their supplies were abundant. “As out of the great depths; … caused waters to run down like rivers.” Whatever God gives, He gives abundantly. His hand is free and bounteous. And if at any time the Israelites suffered from hunger or thirst it was by reason of their unbelief, or to humble them and impress them with their dependence upon God.

2. Their supplies were divine. An unriven rock was a most unlikely object from which to obtain water. Rocks are “not capable of receiving it either from the clouds above or the springs beneath.” Yet, when smitten by Moses, water copiously flowed from them. Moses was but the instrument of Jehovah in this matter. Moses smote the rocks, but God clave them and brought forth streams from them.

3. Their supplies are illustrative of ours. Ours are divine. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” &c. Ours are abundant. “God giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

IV. A people basely perverse and wicked. “And they sinned yet more against Him, by provoking the Most High in the wilderness,” &c. (Psa_78:17-20). Notice here,—

1. Divine signs leading to profane curiosity. The miracles which God had wrought on their behalf should have impressed the Israelites with a deep sense of the presence and power of God; and should have been to them signs of His almightiness, His hatred of tyranny and oppression, and His interest in the oppressed and afflicted. But, with amazing and saddening perversity, they regarded God with little more of reverence than the Egyptians did their magicians and sorcerers. They had seen the divine wonders, but failed to recognise in them divine signs. Having witnessed marvellous displays of His power, sinful curiosity is awakened within them, and they ask, “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? can He give bread also?” &c. They should have been humble, reverent, trustful; they were curious, profane, presumptuous.

2. Divine providence leading to a desire for the indulgence of appetite. The provision which God made for them seems to have awakened in them neither gratitude, contentment, nor faith; but a desire for the gratification of their animal appetite by a greater variety in their diet. And, with awful audacity and presumption, they tempted God by their questions as to His power, and by their demands upon Him. They “demanded meat for their lust” (נֶפֶשׁ= here, the animal soul). It was not a desire for what was necessary, but a craving for variety. And this craving was expressed, not as a humble request, but as an insolent demand, accompanied by profane questions as to the limit of the Divine power. This sin took its rise in the heart. There the evil desire sprang up and was fostered into strength. Then it expressed itself in speech. “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”

3. Divine goodness responded to by human distrust and ingratitude. No song of thankfulness arises from them as they call to mind the great goodness of God to them, but an impious challenge to Him to supply them with flesh. They utter no holy declaration of confidence in Him as they recall His wondrous works, but distrustful, irreverent inquiries.

As we look upon this picture of extreme wickedness, let us remember that it was an utter perversion of the dealings of God with them. God’s emancipation, guidance, and provisioning of them were both adapted and intended to awaken within them contentment, trust in Him, gratitude, and reverence to Him. But their own sinful hearts wickedly perverted the Divine relation to them and dealings with them in the way we have indicated. We have a power by which we may make evil the occasion of good. We may gather patience out of suffering. By means of defeat we may learn how to conquer. Through trial we may grow in strength and grace. But by the abuse of this power we may pervert a means of grace into an occasion of evil, out of the Divine longsuffering may educe arguments in favour of impenitence and presumption, may so treat God’s richest blessings that they shall become to us a dire curse.

CONCLUSION.—

1. See the terrible effects of slavery. These Israelites would not have been so utterly base, irreligious, and despicable had not their manhood been eaten out of them by slavery. Physical oppression had left them mere serfs in spirit.

2. See the depravity of human nature. In the midst of the richest goodness and the divinest signs, it remains ungrateful, unbelieving, impious.

3. See our need of Divine preservation. “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.”

DIVINE BLESSINGS

(Psa_78:15-16.)

I. Divine blessings from unlikely sources. Water from solid rocks. Emancipation of the Hebrews by means of the shepherd Moses. Redemption out of Nazareth. The Light of the World from a carpenter’s shop. Jesus Christ was “a root out of dry ground.” Most of the apostles were “unlearned and ignorant men.” Tenderness, trust, triumph out of suffering. Spiritual wealth out of temporal loss.

II. Divine blessings in rich abundance. “As out of the great depths, … like rivers.” All pure blessings God gives abundantly. Light, air, dew, beauty, &c. He gives abundantly. “Abundantly pardon.” “Plentuous redemption.” “Peace as a river, righteousness as the waves of the sea.” “Make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,” &c.

III. A type of the supreme blessing. 1Co_10:3-4. “That Rock was Christ.”

Analogy—

1. In the blessings. Christ gives “the water of life.”

2. In the mode of obtaining them. The rock was smitten and cleft. Christ “was wounded,” &c.

3. In the conditions of bestowal. “Freely.” “Without money and without price.” The river of life flows freely by, we have but to stoop down and drink.

HUMAN SIN AND DIVINE JUDGMENT

(Psa_78:21-31.)

In these verses we see how God regarded the conduct described in the preceding paragraph, and how He responded to the insolent demands of the Hebrews. The main teaching of this portion of the Psalm may be developed under two main topics.

I. Human Sin. We have here the Divine view of the sin of the perverse Israelites.

1. The nature of their sin. Unbelief. “They believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation.” They doubted either the power or the goodness of God, or both. He had given to them signal displays of His might and majesty, yet they perversely questioned His ability to provide for them. He had also given to them gracious assurances that He would guide, guard, and supply them, yet they seem to have doubted these assurances. Herein was their great sin in the sight of God. Unbelief is a sin which directly dishonours the Divine being and character. Amongst men of honour it is a great insult to discredit the word of another. But what shall we say of the sin of discrediting the word of God? It is an impeachment of His faithfulness. Or a tacit declaration that we doubt His ability to fulfil His promise. But whether we doubt His willingness or His ability to keep His promises, His goodness or His power, we dishonour Him. To this sin the Hebrews in the wilderness were very prone. It is lamentably prevalent in the present day. There are many sincere Christians who are often guilty in this respect. They fail to believe God’s promises, &c. In this Christian dispensation unbelief towards Christ is the damning sin. “He that believeth not shall be damned.”

2. The aggravation of their sin. “Though He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors,” &c. (Psa_78:22-25). The aggravation of their sin in distrusting God in the matter of provision is seen in that,

(1) He had hitherto supplied them with food. Though journeying in a wilderness, yet they had not suffered from the lack of anything. God had provided for their wants. He had supplied them with water (Exo_15:25; Exo_17:6), and quails (Exo_16:13), and with a regular supply of manna (Exo_16:14-26).

(2) He had supplied them with choice food. “The corn of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food.” The word translated “angels” has been variously rendered. But whatever rendering be adopted, the idea of rare, choice food is presented. The Hebrews in the wilderness were not supplied with coarse, common fare. Their food was delicate in its nature and rich in quality, such as is found on the tables of nobles or princes. Or it was so delicious and rare that, coming down as it did from heaven, the poet naturally speaks of it as “angels’ food.”

(3) He had supplied them with choice food in abundance. “He sent them meat to the full.” There was no lack of provisions. The supply was as abundant in quantity as it was rich in quality.

(4) He had supplied them with choice food supernaturally. The water was drawn from the rock miraculously. Concerning the manna, Dr. C. E. Stowe, writing in Smith’s “Bible Dict.,” says, “The manna of Scripture we regard as wholly miraculous, and not in any respect a product of nature.” The people had not to put forth any effort to procure this provision, except the mere gathering of it. It was manifestly the special provision of God for them. Yet “they believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation.” On this very question of their food supply they had distrusted God, and insolently called into question His power. While subsisting upon provisions miraculously supplied by God, and which clearly manifested His abounding goodness, they basely distrust Him and impiously propose to submit His power to tests of their invention. Much of the unbelief of this age is painfully aggravated in its character. When men do not trust Christ as their Saviour, is not their guilt the greater because His qualifications as such are so ample and convincing—in His teaching, miracles, life, resurrection, and in the witness of a great and ever-increasing multitude who have trusted Him and proved Him all-sufficient? When men distrust the providence of God in their lives, is not their sin aggravated by the abundant evidence of the universality, wisdom, and beneficence of that providence? When Christian men distrust the power, or faithfulness, or goodness of God, does not His gift of Christ to us make the sin of such distrust much greater? “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” The sin of the Israelites in its essential principle is deplorably common to day.

II. Divine judgment. “Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel. He caused,” &c. (Psa_78:26-31). This judgment against Israel,—

1. Reveals God’s observation of man’s life. “The Lord heard.” All human speech is audible to the Divine ear. During a dark period in the history of the ancient church, the few faithful and godly men “spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard,” &c. He hears the voice of prayer and of praise. Words of murmuring, complaint, and unbelief are heard and registered in heaven. The hard speeches and awful blasphemies of the wicked find their way to the ear of God. God is the great Auditor of human utterances. No sound escapes His ear.

2. Reveals God as affected by man’s life. He not only hears, but feels also. “The Lord heard, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel.” God is affected by man’s life. Our trust and praise of Him are gratifying to Him. Our distrust of Him and our murmuring against Him are grievous to Him. Men cannot tempt Him, or impiously challenge Him to display His power, as did the Hebrews in the wilderness, without provoking Him to anger. Let no one deceive himself in this matter. There is in God a principle of anger which burns with unquenchable fire against evil. While God is God His wrath must burn against sin. Being good and righteous He must punish evil doers unless they turn and repent.

3. Reveals the punishment as growing out of man’s sin.

(1) In the granting of their own demands. “They demanded meat for their lust.” Theirs was not an urgent prayer, which submits even the most eager desires to His will; but an impious demand that God would give them meat for the gratification of their animal appetite. God complied with their demand, and that which they had so eagerly coveted proved a great curse to them. The flesh which they had demanded occasioned their death. Let us beware of urging selfish desires in prayer to God. In every petition that we present to the throne of grace let us copy the example of Him who in His most impassioned prayer said, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Who has not become acquainted with instances in which God has granted the passionate demand that has been made to Him, and the demander has lived to rue the day when the demand was made and granted? What seems to us unquestionably desirable and good, may really be a thing of great peril and evil to us. The well-watered plain of Sodom nearly led to the ruin of Lot. That sick child over whom fond parents bend in anguish, and whose life they demand God to spare, may perchance grow up, and bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

(2) In their gluttony. When they had eaten of the quails which God sent into the camp, “and were well filled; they were not estranged from their lust.” They had eaten as much, or even more, than their physical nature required and could appropriate, yet they would have more. The drunkard and the glutton are never satisfied. And by the gluttony with which they devoured the flesh that they had demanded, “the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the young of Israel.”

“Heaven is most just, and of our pleasant vices

Makes instruments to scourge us.”

—Shakespeare.

“Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” In the judgments of God against sin there is nothing arbitrary. A sinner’s punishment is the natural fruit of His sin. The hell of every sinner is developed out of his own corrupt heart. Let the wicked be warned. They are “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

4. Reveals the punishment as being brought about by the forces of nature. “He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens; and by His power He brought in the south wind.” By means of a south-east wind, God brought immense quantities of quails into the camp of Israel. This wind is so spoken of as to lead us to conclude that it was miraculous. By His direct agency, He caused it to blow from that particular quarter. All the powers of nature are under His command. He can employ them as He pleases. The winds are His couriers, carrying messages of judgment or of mercy to men. Again, let the wicked be warned. You are not only preparing your own punishment, but God may command nature’s forces to aid in carrying out His judgment upon you. You are gathering the materials for your own hell-fire, and God may despatch the lightning-flash which shall kindle them into a blaze.

CONCLUSION.—Let us especially ponder,—

1. The great evil of unbelief. It is a reflection cast upon God; it grieves Him, &c.

2. The peril of unsubmissiveness in prayer. “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.”

3. The terribleness of the Divine anger. “The wrath of the Lamb; the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

4. The certainty of Divine retribution. The only way by which we may escape hell is by getting rid of a sinful character. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

MAN’S PROVOCATION OF GOD, AND GOD’S PATIENCE WITH MAN

(Psa_78:32-41.)

I. Man’s provocation of God. “They sinned still, and believed not for His wondrous works.” In the verses before us the Psalmist mentions two chief features of their provocation of God.

1. Their persistence in evil. They persevered in their unbelief. All the wondrous works which they had witnessed failed to quicken faith in them. Notwithstanding the many miracles which God had wrought in their sight, they still doubted His power. Notwithstanding His great and constant kindness to them, they still doubted His goodness. It was thus that they “limited the Holy One of Israel.” They regarded His willingness and ability to aid them as bounded. Man’s unbelief ever limits and dishonours God. They also persevered in their murmuring and rebellious spirit. “How often did they rebel in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert?” When any inconvenience met them, or any difficulty or privation confronted them, they at once fell to murmuring against Moses and against the Lord. Their mean and ungrateful spirits were constantly turning to thoughts and feelings of rebellion against God. And this, notwithstanding all God’s efforts to effect their moral reformation. His mercies awoke no feeling of humility, gratitude, or trust in them; but were followed by exhibitions of selfishness and unreasonable exaction. His judgments produced no lasting improvement in their character; for, as soon as they were removed, the people returned to their old courses. “For all this they sinned still.” What a correct representation is this of many sinners to-day! God has enriched them with countless blessings, but His goodness has not led them to repentance. He has smitten them with the rod of affliction, but they have not turned in penitence to Him. He has stripped them of temporal prosperity, He has taken from them the desire of their eyes at a stroke, He has shut them up in loneliness and sorrow of heart, yet have they not turned unto Him. He seems to have used every means for their salvation; yet “for all this they sinned still.”

2. Their spurious repentance. When God’s severe judgments were upon Israel they sought Him in apparent humility and penitence. But their penitence was neither deep nor sincere.

(1.) The confessions and promises which they made to God were untrue. “They did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their tongues. They could not deceive Him. Yet their repentance was false. Their prayers and professions made in affliction were not hearty, but were extorted by suffering. And the promises they made to God were not kept, but forgotten when the pain and peril were removed.

(2.) Their heart was not really turned to God. “Their heart was not right with Him.” In true repentance the soul turns from sin with loathing and abhorrence, and seeks God with humility, and faith, and prayer. It was not the sin that they shrank from, but the penalties of the sin.

(3.) Their life remained unchanged. “Neither were they stedfast in His covenant.” The promises made in affliction were speedily broken. Addison says that repentance is “the relinquishment of any practice, from the conviction that it has offended God. Sorrow, fear, and anxiety are properly not parts, but adjuncts of repentance; yet they are too closely connected with it to be easily separated.” Shakspeare defines it thus: “Repentance is heart’s sorrow, and a clear life ensuing.” But the Israelites did not relinquish their sinful practices. A “clear life” did not follow their pretended repentance. “He who seeks repentance for the past, should woo the angel virtue for the future.” But they provoked God by their frequent rebellions. His heart was grieved, and pained by their many and heinous sins against Him.

II. God’s patience with man. This was manifested in—

1. His judgments upon them. “Their days did He consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. He slew them.” His judgments were severe, but not so severe as they had deserved. They were not sufficiently severe to restrain the people from returning to their evil ways. And when they cried unto him, or Moses entreated Him for them, He withdrew His stroke away from them. And as for their bootless wanderings in the wilderness—were such craven-hearted creatures the men to go up against the Canaanites and conquer them? Retaining, as they did, the spirit of slaves, were they fit to be intrusted with freedom and independence in a land of their own? In His very judgments God manifested His patience and mercy, or, instead of leaving them to live out their life in the wilderness, He would have consumed them in His anger when they had provoked Him by their unbelief, and murmurings, and rebellion.

2. His mercies to them. “He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath.” In their base rebellions He did not destroy them. Though they had provoked Him many times, yet many times He turned His anger away from them. And when He did visit them in judgment, He did not pour the full flood of His fury upon them. “He did not deal with them after their sins, nor reward them according to their iniquities.” “He forgave their iniquity.” He not only removed the dark and threatening clouds of His wrath, but He lifted upon them the light of His forgiving and favouring countenance. How graciously and completely God forgives! “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” “Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” “Thou hast cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” “He will abundantly pardon.” Thus graciously and patiently God has dealt with us.

3. His remembrance of them. “He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.” He remembered their frailty and corruption. “They were flesh,” and liable to suffering and pain. “They were flesh,” and exposed to temptation, and prone to evil; and, therefore, He had long patience with them. He spared them when He would otherwise have destroyed them. He had compassion on them. He remembered their evanescence. “A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.” “Life is a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

“How short is human life! the very breath

Which frames my words, accelerates my death.”—H. More.

The Lord remembered this, and spared them when their sins loudly called for their destruction.

This subject urges its—

1. Warning to all who have long persisted in evil. This generation so patiently borne with, so mercifully dealt with, at last found their graves in the wilderness. Beware lest through further persistence in evil your life ends in utter failure as regards all that is true and good.

2. Encouragement even to the most sinful to seek the Lord. His long patience with you proclaims His willingness to pardon and save you. Turn unto Him heartily in true repentance (Isa_55:6-7).

3. Counsel to all. Let us not frustrate God’s gracious dealings with us. By judgments and by mercies He seeks to save us. Let us trust Him, and earnestly enter into His gracious designs concerning us.

MAN UNDER DIVINE CHASTISEMENT

(Psa_78:34-37.)

I. Man under Divine chastisement sorely smitten. “When He slew them.” See the case before us in this Psalm, Psa_78:30-31. Examples are frequently transpiring. There are some who, like this generation of Israelites, seem to need stroke upon stroke of the rod of God. (Comp. Isa_1:4-5.)

II. Man under Divine chastisement remembering God. “They remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High,” &c. “Reflection followed infliction.” They remembered God—

1. As their Rock. Three ideas here:

(1.) Security. “He shall dwell on high: His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks.”

(2.) Stability. “A stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.”

(3.) Shelter. “The shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

2. As their Redeemer. He had redeemed them from the bondage of Egypt; therefore He was able to save them, and worthy of their trust.

III. Man under Divine chastisement seeking God. “Then they sought Him; and they returned and inquired,” &c.

1. “They returned,” implying that they had departed from God. Here we have the reason of the chastisement.

2. “They inquired early after God.” In their prosperity they had forgotten God, in their affliction they promptly inquired after Him.

3. “They sought Him.” Aforetime they had neglected and forsaken Him; now they search for Him by prayers and sacrifices. How inexpressibly mean. “Like whipped curs, they licked their Master’s feet.”

IV. Man under Divine chastisement offering to God unreal repentance. “Nevertheless they did flatter Him,” &c., Psa_78:36-37. Repentance begotten of terror or suffering dies when the terror or suffering is removed. Their penitence was pretence. “Under the pressure of heavy judgments, the loss of property, the loss of friends, or the failure of health, men become serious, and resolve to give attention to religion. It is rarely that such purposes are founded in sincerity, and that the conversions apparently resulting from them are true conversions.” “The devil cannot be whipped out of human nature, though another devil, namely hypocrisy, may be whipped into it.” “Good resolutions called at their hearts as men do at inns; they tarried awhile, and then took their leave.” Two main features of true repentance were wanting to them.

1. Change of heart. “Their heart was not right with Him.” In true repentance sin is regarded as the “abominable thing,” and the sinner turns from it to God. But “they would fain be rid of their sufferings, but did not care to be rid of their sins.”

2. Reformation of life. “Neither were they steadfast in His covenant.” The truly penitent turn “from evil and do good.” They “make haste and delay not to keep God’s commandments.” But the Israelites “sinned still.” How awful to offer to God a mockery and a sham!

CONCLUSION.—

1. Remember the fate of this generation of the Israelites, and take warning.

2. Consider the mercy that sought to save them both by favours and by judgments, believe in it, accept it, and be saved.

THE EXERCISE OF THE DIVINE MEROY

(Psa_78:38-39.)

I. In holding back deserved punishment. “He destroyed them not,” &c. Notice—

1. Their sins against God were very heinous. Ingratitude, though His goodness to them was very great. Unbelief, though they had much to quicken and strengthen faith. Rebellion, though God’s rule over them had been marked by so much patience and generosity.

2. Their sins against God were very numerous. “How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert.” Many a time turned He His anger away.” God’s forbearing mercy was manifested—

(1.) In not inflicting the judgments threatened (Deu_9:13-20; Num_14:11-21).

(2.) In only partially inflicting the judgments threatened. As in the case of the judgment of the fiery flying serpents, and the healing of the diseased and dying by means of the brazen serpent. And others. How frequently when we have sinned has God graciously turned His anger away from us.

II. In forgiving great iniquities. How frequently God forgives. “Not until seven times; but until seventy times seven.” “He aboundeth in forgiveness.” How completely God forgives. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “I, I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” He not only removes His condemnation from us, but lifts upon us the light of His countenance.

III. In compassionating human frailties. “He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind,” &c. He remembered—

1. Man’s tendency to sin. “Flesh.” Our carnal appetites are depraved. By means of the flesh the soul is frequently tempted to evil.

2. Man’s exposure to suffering. “Flesh.” The body is subject to weariness, infirmity, disease, pain, death.

3. Man’s brief tenure of life. “A wind that,” &c.

(1.) Unsubstantial.

(2.) Ever-moving.

(3.) Never returning.

CONCLUSION.—In the great mercy of God to us, behold—

1. The grand support of frail humanity. (Psa_103:13-18.)

2. The grand hope of sinful humanity, Psa_78:38. (Psa_103:3-4; Psa_103:8-12.)

MAN’S LIFE UPON EARTH

(Psa_78:39.)

“He remembered that they were but flesh,” &c.

I. The weakness of human life. “He remembered that they were but flesh.” Man is here regarded—

1. As having a tendency to evil. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit.” Animal appetites are often opposed to spiritual aspirations. Animal passions to moral principles.

2. As being subject to weakness, affliction, and pain. There is much of physical suffering in human life upon earth, and the mystery and pain of death at the close.

II. The unsubstantiality of human life. “Wind.”

“Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”—Shakespeare.

Of the work of the most gifted and laborious of men how little result remains! Man himself passes away, leaving few traces behind him.

III. The impermanence of human life. “Passeth away. This is true of—

1. Individuals. “It is appointed unto men once to die.”

2. Generations. “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.”

“Fast to the driving winds the marshalled clouds

Sweep discontinuous o’er the ethereal plain!

Another still upon another crowds,

All hastening downwards to their native main.

Thus passes o’er through varied life’s career

Man’s fleeting age; the seasons as they fly

Snatch from us in their course, year after year,

Some sweet connection, some endearing tie.

The parent, ever honoured, ever dear,

Claims from the filial breast the pious sigh;

A brother’s urn demands the kindred tear,

And gentle sorrowsgush from friendship’s eye.

To-day we frolic in the rosy bloom

Of jocund youth—the morrow knells us to the tomb.”

3. The race in this world. The human race will not remain on this earth for ever. The earth as it now is will not continue for ever. The great drama shall be played out, and the theatre shall then be taken down.

IV. The irretrievableness of human life. “Cometh not again.” “When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.” Man passes hence to “the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns.” What an argument have we here for the prompt and faithful discharge of duty! “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might; for there is no,” &c. “I must work the works of Him that sent me while,” &c. There is no coming back to correct errors or to discharge neglected duties, &c.

V. The grand distinction of human life. It is remembered by God. He is interested in it.

1. He remembers our frailties and sufferings, and pities us.

2. Our weakness, and succours us.

3. Our capabilities, and saves us. Here is the glory of human life. God is concerned in it. He is working in it and for it. Through Him man shall

“Re-rise from ruin,

High, holy, happy, stainless as a star,

Imperishable as eternity.”

THE INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENTS

(Psa_78:42-53.)

In this paragraph the Psalmist speaks of the plagues with which God visited Egypt, and by means of which Pharaoh and his people were humbled, and the Israelites were delivered from bondage. He does not mention all the plagues, and those which he does mention are not named in the order of their occurrence. The subject is introduced here as affording another illustration of the great sinfulness of the unbelief and rebelliousness of the Hebrews.

I. The instruments by which Divine judgments are inflicted.

1. He uses their famous river as an instrument of His judgments. With them the river was the great means of life, and a thing in which they boasted themselves; but God turned all its waters into blood. When purified from slime, those waters were most delicious drink; but now they are most loathsome even to look upon. In this case, the great glory of a people was turned by God into their great curse. He can make our choicest treasures His instruments to scourge us for our sins.

2. He uses some most despicable creatures as instruments of His judgments. “Flies, frogs, caterpillars, locusts.” The great Pharaoh, with his princes and nobles, were greatly afflicted and tormented by these insignificant creatures. God can make use of the weakest and meanest creatures to bring down the pride of the loftiest princes. What they are deficient in strength, He makes up by increasing their numbers. Terrible plagues they were. No armour could ward off the flies. The frogs came in such shoals as to defy all repressive measures. While caterpillars and locusts came in dense clouds, devouring every green thing.

3. He uses the elements of nature as instruments of His judgments. “Hail, frost, lightnings.” The laws and forces of nature bow loyally to the Lord. The God of providence is the God of nature also, and when He pleases He can use nature’s elements and forces for the carrying out of His plans. In this case, He sends forth the hail as his scourge. The frost is the minister of His wrath. The lightnings are the executioners of His judgments.

4. He uses angels as instruments of His judgments. By the term “evil angels” we are to understand not that the angels spoken of were themselves wicked, but angels who were used by God for bringing evil or calamity upon the wicked. The reference is to the angel, or angels, who smote with death all the first-born of the Egyptians. All holy angels come and go at God’s command. “Angels that excel in strength, do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” He sends them forth to succour and deliver the righteous, or to smite and destroy the wicked, and they hasten to do His bidding. Thus we see that God can use any and all of His creatures as instruments to carry out His judgments, if He please to do so. He can arm all nature,—air, earth, fire, water—to fight against those who refuse to submit to Him. He can employ all ranks of creatures, from the tiny insect of an hour to the august “angel standing in the sun,” as messengers of His wrath. He can arm the universe to fight against the wicked.

II. The method according to which Divine judgments are inflicted. Two features of the Divine method of administering judgment stand prominently forth here.

1. Gradualness in the severity of the judgments. Pharaoh must suffer, but God will spare him as much as possible. The sternest judgments are reserved to the last, so that if the proud monarch will obey the commands of God he may escape their infliction. Mark the gradation in the severity of these judgments. First, they suffer privation and annoyance by reason of the water being turned into blood, and the plague of frogs. Then they suffer the irritation and the severe pain of body arising from the plague of flies and that of boils. Then they suffer the loss and disappointment of seeing the fruit of their labours consumed by caterpillars and locusts. They also saw the trees of their fields and vineyards destroyed by hail, and their flocks and herds first afflicted with a grievous murrain, and afterwards destroyed by hail and lightning. But still God has heavier and more terrible judgments in store. After every plague there is a pause in the storm of the Divine anger to ascertain if Pharaoh will repent and obey God. God has no pleasure in smiting him. But when the former plagues have failed to produce any lasting and salutary impression upon the king, God prepares to inflict the severest stroke of all, to “cast upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending” His angels to destroy all the first-born of the land of Egypt. And in one dread night all the first-born of the land were slain, “from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.” The gradualness with which God inflicts His judgments is a proof that even in wrath He remembers mercy. It should also act as a warning to the impenitent not to provoke God to do His worst. He has sharper swords in His armoury than He has as yet drawn against you.

2. The exemption of the Israelites from the judgments. When the Egyptians suffered the Lord separated the Israelites from them. From the common sufferings and trials of life the people of God are not exempted; but from the judgments of God they are exempted. When the world was destroyed by the flood, Noah and his family were saved. Before the fiery deluge consumed the cities of the plain, Lot was rescued from them. In the terrible siege and destruction of Jerusalem it is not known that any Christian perished. So will it be in the final judgment.

III. The object for which the Divine judgments are inflicted. The object of the judgments inflicted on Egypt was, at least, threefold—

1. The humbling of the proud Pharaoh and his advisers.

2. The emancipation of Israel from their captivity, &c.

3. The carrying out of His own great plan. The great plan of God, a small portion of which was developed by means of these judgments, stretches far beyond the Egyptians and the Israelites. It embraces all ages and all peoples. The Hebrews occupy a most important position in that plan. “Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came.” God makes all events contribute to the development of His own wise, benevolent, and glorious purposes.

CONCLUSION.—

1. Let the manifold instruments of Divine judgments lead the stout-hearted sinner to pause and consider. “If He will contend with him, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him and hath prospered?”

2. Let the method of Divine judgments, as here exhibited, strengthen our confidence in the righteousness and mercy of God. He is merciful to tyrants such as Pharaoh. He is righteous and will not in judgment “destroy the righteous with the wicked.”

3. Let us mark well the assurance which this subject gives us of the certainty of the accomplishment of the Divine purposes. He has engines of judgment wherewith to crush incorrigible rebels. He controls all events for the furtherance of his own vast and sublime designs. In the end evil shall be engulfed as in ocean’s depths, and the exultant praise of the good shall resound throughout the universe.

THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE DIVINE PRESENCE

(Psa_78:54-64.)

In this portion of the Psalm, as in the previous portions, we have brought before us the sad sins of the Hebrews, and the great goodness of God in His dealings with them both of mercy and of judgment. We may profitably group the teachings of the paragraph round Psa_78:60-61, as a centre, and take as our subject, The withdrawal of the Divine presence. When the Israelites had entered upon the possession of Canaan, they set up the tabernacle at Shiloh, where it remained during the period of the Judges. During the administration of Eli, who was at once high priest and judge, the moral condition of Israel grew extremely evil. His two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were notorious for their wickedness. “The war between the Philistines and Israelites broke out anew. A bloody battle was fought at Aphek, in which the Israelites were totally defeated. They determined to resort to those means of conquest which had proved irresistible under the direction of Joshua. They sent to Shiloh for the Ark, and the Ark was brought forth from its holy place, and was placed in the centre of the camp of Israel. But the days were gone when the rivers dried up, and the walls of cities fell down, and the enemy fled at once, before the symbol of the presence of Israel’s God. The measure was unauthorised by the Divine command.… The Israelites fought with desperate but unavailing resolution—the iron chariots of the Philistines triumphed. Thirty thousand Israelites perished, and the Ark of God fell into the hands of the uncircumcised—the guilty sons of Eli were slain in its defence. The aged high priest sat by the wayside in dreadful anxiety for the fate of the Ark. A messenger rushed in, bearing the sad intelligence; a wild cry ran through the whole city; the blind old man, now ninety-eight years of age, fell from his seat, broke his neck, and died.” (Vide 1 Samuel 4.) After seven months the Philistines sent back the Ark, which was placed successively at Nob and at Gibeon, and finally by David on Mount Zion. In our text we are taught that it was in consequence of the sins of the people that the Ark was removed for ever from Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim, and was at length placed upon Mount Zion, in the tribe of Judah. When the Ark was removed by the Philistines the Israelites felt that God had abandoned them, and that their independence and glory had departed for ever.

I. The withdrawal of the Divine presence is invariably preceded by many and aggravated sins.

1. The sins of Israel were many. They were guilty of oft-repeated acts of disobedience. “They kept not His testimonies.” As they had tempted and provoked God in the wilderness, so also did they in Canaan under the judges. They were guilty of unfaithfulness to God. They turned away from God in their hearts and in their lives, no reliance was to be placed upon them, they were untrue even in their most solemn engagements. As a treacherous bow in the hands of the archer fails of its true aim and may occasion disaster, so had they proved in relation to God utterly untrustworthy. They were guilty of idolatry. Imitating the idolatrous Canaanites, they had erected altars on high places, and bowed down to graven images. They committed spiritual adultery, and so moved God to jealousy. Can we wonder that God withdrew from them? That they, whom He had chosen as His own people, and called to be the witnesses to the nations of His essential unity, and blessed above all others,—that they should depart from Him unto idols is surely a trumpet-call for the display of His signal displeasure.

2. The sins of Israel were aggravated. To estimate their sin aright we must view it in the light of His dealings with them. Look at their disobedience in the light of His great goodness to them, their unfaithfulness in the light of His constant fidelity, their idolatry in the light of His non-abandonment of them notwithstanding their sins, and you will be able to appreciate the greatness of their wickedness which led to His withdrawal from their midst. “God never leaves us till we leave Him, never withdraws till we have driven Him from us.” See this in the case of Saul, the king of Israel. Not until he had grieved God by repeated acts of disobedience did God forsake him. See also the case of the Jews. Notwithstanding extreme provocation God continued to own and bless them, until they had filled up the measure of their iniquity by rejecting and crucifying Him, in the person of His Son. And even then He rejected them with unutterable sorrow and bitter tears. Thus He deals now with individuals. He does not desert the temple of the human soul until He is driven thence by inexpugnable depravity. He never says of any one, “let him alone,” unless he is hopelessly “joined unto his idols.” Thus He deals with churches also. Persistent infidelity to duty, truth, and God, will cause Him to depart from any church, leaving it in the darkness of error and evil to sink into dreary nothingness.

II. The withdrawal of the Divine presence is invariably succeeded by many and terrible calamities. In the case of Israel it was followed by—

1. The loss of power and honour. The Ark is spoken of by the Psalmist as the strength and glory, or ornament of God. On many occasions it had been a defence and an inspiration to Israel. It was the visible symbol of their distinction and glory as the chosen people of God, among whom He dwelt. When it was captured by their enemies, their inspiration and fortitude were gone, and their glory had suffered a dreary eclipse. Let God abandon a man, and all moral power, all spiritual dignity are gone. Let Him withdraw from a church, and, whatever else may remain, the spiritual life, strength, and glory have all passed away.

2. Defeat and slaughter in battle. In the battle of Aphek thirty thousand Israelites were slain. Forsaken by God, they could not stand before their enemies. In our personal spiritual conflicts we are strong only as we are animated by God. If He withdraw from us we shall fall an easy victim to our enemies. In the war of the Church against ignorance and sin she is strong in exact proportion as God is with her. If He desert her, though all her arrangements and offices are perfect in other respects, her victorious life and power are completely gone.

3. Great social misery. “The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given to marriage,” &c. The young men were slain in battle. The maidens were thus doomed to involuntary maidenhood. They “were not praised” in the songs which were usually sung at marriage celebrations. “Their priests fell by the sword.” The reference is to Hophni and Phinehas, who were sinners before the Lord exceedingly, and who were out of place amid the ferocity and carnage of a battle-field. When the priests of God were slain it was regarded as a most severe calamity. “And their widows made no lamentations.” Take one case in point. When the wife of Phinehas heard the issue of the battle of Aphek, she “was seized with the pains of premature labour; the women around her endeavoured to console her with the intelligence that she had borne a male child: she paid no attention to their words, and only uttered a passionate exclamation. The pride and exultation of maternal tenderness, the grief for her father-in-law and her husband, were absorbed in a deeper feeling. She said, The Ark of God is taken; and she called her child Ichabod, the glory is departed from Israel.” Sorrows for personal loss were swallowed up by the great sorrow for the national loss and dishonour. In Psa_78:63-64 we thus trace the outlines of a picture of extreme social misery. Let God withdraw from a people, and the greatest social wretchedness must supervene.

Brothers, heed well the message of this subject to you personally. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.” You have grieved Him much already. Then pray to Him at once—

“Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay,

Though I have done Thee such despite,

Nor cast the sinner quite away,

Nor take Thine everlasting flight.”

—C. Wesley.

Let Christian churches also heed the warning voice. “Trust ye not in lying words saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are these.… But go ye now into my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.” “Repent,” ye backsliding churches, “and do your first works,” or God may say of you, “Pray not for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee.”

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

(Psa_78:65-72.)

In these verses God in His sovereignty is represented as—

I. Arousing Himself to interpose in human affairs. “Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And He smote,” &c. He arose,

1. To smite His enemies. He had made use of the Philistines to punish His people for their sins; but they were not His servants. Their pride and power were used by Him for the execution of His purposes, but they wist not what they did. And now He arises for their confusion. By raising up and sending forth against them His servant David He rebuked their insolence, curbed their power, and in due time drove them from every portion of the land of Canaan. Nay, more, “He put them to a perpetual reproach;” for, as Hengstenberg remarks, “The eternal shame is in accordance with the history. The Philistines went downward step by step, till they disappeared from the scene altogether.”

2. To adjust the affairs of His people. Though He withdrew from them for a season, He had not cast them off for ever. He again comes to their help, in the manner indicated in the text, and which we shall shortly consider. In the representation which the Psalmist gives of God arousing Himself, as a mighty man refreshed by sleep and wine, and shouting for the battle, there is much that is anthropomorphical and poetical. God never sleeps. His control of human affairs is continuous. His sovereign purposes are ever being developed under His superintendence. His activity is incessant. But there are periods in which His hand is not manifest in human affairs, in which He seems regardless of the interests of His people, as though He slept and knew not the state of those affairs. His sovereignty is calm, eternal, unchangeable. But its continuity and immutability of operation is not fully manifest to us. Thus, for a time, He appeared to resign His control of the affairs of Israel and to surrender them to their enemies. Now that His hand is again manifest, the poet pictures Him as a mighty warrior arousing from slumber and shouting with joy to do battle with His foes.

II. Rejecting men from the possession of privileges. “He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim.” He deposed Ephraim from the priority and supremacy which that tribe had hitherto held. Why did He so? This Psalm is a complete answer to the inquiry. Why, except that they were no longer worthy of holding that position; nay, that they were utterly unworthy. Our Lord, in many instances, represents God as rejecting men, and we believe that in every instance the rejection is because of some fatal flaw in the character of the men rejected. He delights not in rejecting men, but in accepting them.

III. Selecting men to the possession of privileges and the performance of duties. “He chose the tribe of Judah,” &c.

1. He selected Judah to receive the sanctuary. Ephraim had been tried, and had been found sadly wanting. Now the Lord will try Judah. So that tribe is raised to precedence. Within its territory on Mount Zion the sanctuary was established, and the seat of government placed; and from its people King David was chosen. And this was in accordance with God’s sovereign purposes. The supremacy of Judah had been predicted by Jacob long before (Gen_49:8-10). And from that tribe the Messiah was to come forth. God still selects men to be the recipients of privileges. Some enter upon the work of life with countless advantages, while others enter upon that work burdened and straitened by reason of disadvantages. He still selects nations to privileges, and honours, and responsibilities.

2. He selected David to become the sovereign. “He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds,” &c. Here is a remarkable example of Divine sovereignty.

(1.) God chooses a man of humble position to fill the most exalted position. “He took him from the sheepfolds,” &c. David was not of royal descent, nor was he selected because of his acquaintance with king’s courts, or with the arts of kingcraft. “He was bred not a scholar, not a soldier, but a shepherd.” He was chosen not for his appearance or position, but for his ability and character. “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

(2.) God chooses a man of eminent fitness for the most exalted position. David was a man of singularly great ability. He was remarkable for strength, courage, endurance, tact, ruling faculty, &c. He was distinguished as a shepherd, warrior, musician, poet, and king. He was a man of approved faithfulness. As a shepherd he was no hireling. He had risked his own life to defend that of some members of his flock. He seems to have been particularly careful of “those that were with young.” Having been faithful in his lowly sphere, God raised him to the honours and responsibilities of the most lofty sphere. He was a man of noble character. He is eminent for gentleness, generosity, and self-sacrifice; he was profoundly religious; but for the one black and painful exception, he lived as a man who had set God always before him; he was a man after God’s own heart. Thus in His sovereignty God selected the fittest instrument for the great work. He can use the most incompetent instrument for the most important task. But such is not His rule of action. In calling men to important posts, He selects for each post him who is most adapted for it. God’s sovereignty is a thing of infinite wisdom. He does not choose the most ignorant and incapable man for the greatest mission (as some men seem to hold and certainly preach), but the greatest and godliest. He can employ the feeblest intelligence. And He calls the man of scholarship, and genius, and heroism, and faith, and power, to consecrate himself thoroughly to His service.

IV. Establishing a beneficent institution. “He built His sanctuary like high,” &c. We have here the ideas of prominence and stability. “Palaces” is supplied by the translators. The tabernacle, and afterwards the temple, was the most conspicuous and important thing in the land. Its services appealed to all that was tender, true, and noble in their nature; its ministrations were fitted to help them to attain to strength and beauty of character. Those institutions which contribute to our right spiritual development are of all others the most valuable and beneficent. God established His sanctuary there. It was not to be removed as it was from Shiloh. It was to be a permanent institution, and permanent there. So it continued. The tabernacle gave place to its magnificent successor the temple, which remained with varying fortunes until its mission was accomplished, and then the local Jewish temple made way for the universal Christian Church.

V. Resulting in human advantage. The reign of the divinely elected king was an inestimable benefit to Israel. “He fed them according to the integrity of His heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of His hands.” His administration was pure and upright, wise and beneficent. During his reign the kingdom attained to a rank among nations and to a height of prosperity altogether unknown, if not unimagined, hitherto. In choosing a king for them, God’s sovereignty was the people’s prosperity.

From this rapid glance at these illustrations of the sovereignty of God, we learn—

1. That God’s sovereignty is not capriciously or unreasonably arbitrary, but a thing of the highest reason and Wisdom

2. God’s sovereignty is not weak and changeful, but eternally and immutably great and good.

3. God’s sovereignty is not tyrannical, but in perfect accordance with man’s entire moral freedom.

4. God’s sovereignty is not malevolent or maleficent, but benevolent and beneficent in the highest degree. In one word, it is the sovereignty of GOD, the supremely Wise and Good. “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

THE CALLING OF DAVID

(Psa_78:70-71.)

I. David’s Calling. Two questions present themselves.

1. How was David’s shepherd life an unconscious preparation for his calling? and

2. How did the Divine summons, when it came, fit him for his mighty destiny? Observe—He was sent back to his flocks. Nothing could train him more perfectly than that waiting. Two great convictions awakened in him then that formed in him elements of strength.

(1.) The belief in a Divine leader (see Psalms 23.)

(2.) The belief in a Divine choice.

II. Its modern lessons.

1. There is a Divine plan in every life.

2. There is a Divine vocation for every man.

3. There is a Divine Shepherd for every man.—E. L. HULL, in The Treasury of David.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psalms 78

Maschil of Asaph

1          Give ear, O my people, to my law:

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2     I will open my mouth in a parable:

I will utter dark sayings of old:

3     Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

4     We will not hide them from their children,

Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,

And his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

5     For he established a testimony in Jacob,

And appointed a law in Israel,

Which he commanded our fathers,

That they should make them known to their children:

6     That the generation to come might know them,

Even the children which should be born;

Who should arise and declare them to their children:

7     That they might set their hope in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But keep his commandments:

8     And might not be as their fathers,

A stubborn and rebellious generation;

A generation that set not their heart aright,

And whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

9     The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows,

Turned back in the day of battle.

10     They kept not the covenant of God,

And refused to walk in his law;

11     And forgat his works,

And his wonders that he had shewed them.

12     Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,

In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13     He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through;

And he made the waters to stand as a heap.

14     In the daytime also he led them with a cloud,

And all the night with a light of fire.

15     He clave the rocks in the wilderness,

And gave them drink as out of the great depths.

16     He brought streams also out of the rock,

And caused waters to run down like rivers.

17     And they sinned yet more against him

By provoking the Most High in the wilderness.

18     And they tempted God in their heart

By asking meat for their lust.

19     Yea, they spake against God; they said,

Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

20     Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out,

And the streams overflowed;

Can he give bread also?

Can he provide flesh for his people?

21     Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth:

So a fire was kindled against Jacob,

And anger also came up against Israel:

22     Because they believed not in God,

And trusted not in his salvation.

23     Though he had commanded the clouds from above,

And opened the doors of heaven,

24     And had rained down manna upon them to eat,

And had given them of the corn of heaven.

25     Man did eat angels’ food:

He sent them meat to the full.

26     He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven:

And by his power he brought in the south wind.

27     He rained flesh also upon them as dust,

And feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

28     And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,

Round about their habitations.

29     So they did eat, and were well filled:

For he gave them their own desire;

30     They were not estranged from their lust:

But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

31     The wrath of God came upon them,

And slew the fattest of them,

And smote down the chosen men of Israel.

32     For all this they sinned still,

And believed not for his wondrous works.

33     Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,

And their years in trouble.

34     When he slew them then they sought him:

And they returned and inquired early after God.

35     And they remembered that God was their Rock,

And the high God their Redeemer.

36     Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth,

And they lied unto him with their tongues.

37     For their heart was not right with him,

Neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

38     But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not:

Yea, many a time turned he his anger away,

And did not stir up all his wrath.

39     For he remembered that they were but flesh;

A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40     How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,

And grieve him in the desert!

41     Yea, they turned back and tempted God,

And limited the Holy One of Israel.

42     They remembered not his hand,

Nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy:

43     How he had wrought his signs in Egypt,

And his wonders in the field of Zoan:

44     And had turned their rivers into blood;

And their floods, that they could not drink.

45     He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them;

And frogs, which destroyed them.

46     He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar,

And their labour unto the locust.

47     He destroyed their vines with hail,

And their sycamore trees with frost.

48     He gave up their cattle also to the hail,

And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49     He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,

Wrath, and indignation, and trouble,

By sending evil angels among them.

50     He made a way to his anger;

He spared not their soul from death,

But gave their life over to the pestilence;

51     And smote all the firstborn in Egypt;

The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

52     But made his own people to go forth like sheep,

And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53     And he led them on safely, so that they feared not:

But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54     And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary,

Even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

55     He cast out the heathen also before them,

And divided them an inheritance by line,

And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56     Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God,

And kept not his testimonies:

57     But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers:

They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58     For they provoked him to anger with their high places,

And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59     When God heard this, he was wroth,

And greatly abhorred Israel:

60     So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,

The tent which he placed among men;

61     And delivered his strength into captivity,

And his glory into the enemy’s hand.

62     He gave his people over also unto the sword;

And was wroth with his inheritance.

63     The fire consumed their young men;

And their maidens were not given to marriage.

64     Their priests fell by the sword;

And their widows made no lamentation.

65     Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep,

And like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66     And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts:

He put them to a perpetual reproach.

67     Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph,

And chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

68     But chose the tribe of Judah,

The mount Zion which he loved.

69     And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,

Like the earth which he hath established forever.

70     He chose David also his servant,

And took him from the sheepfolds:

71     From following the ewes great with young he brought him

To feed Jacob his people,

And Israel his inheritance.

72     So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart;

And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.—The superscription (comp. Introd., § 8, No. 3) and also the introduction (Psa_78:1-8) give us to understand that the history of God’s dealings with His people are to be narrated in apophthegmatic style for the instruction and edification of succeeding generations, and that, especially, His judgments, inflicted upon Israel for their ingratitude and unfaithfulness, are to serve as a warning to them. The several examples of these, which are presented, sometimes in epic style, with a certain diffuseness, are divided into two groups. The former (Psa_78:9 ff.) relates events which transpired after the Exodus during the march through the wilderness, and concludes with a general reflection upon them (Psa_78:34-39). The latter begins with an exclamation over the frequency of Israel’s transgressions, and places them in sharp contrast with God’s acts of deliverance from their residence in Egypt, until the people were led like a flock by His chosen servant David. In both of them the rejection of the tribe of Ephraim is brought strongly out in contrast with the choice of that of Judah, and the removal of the sanctuary from Shiloh to Zion. We cannot, however, infer anything from this in favor of the assumption that the Psalm presupposes the schism of the kingdoms, or indeed, contains hostile allusions to the Samaritans, and that it is therefore to be dated as late as possible. For the discord between Ephraim and Judah is much older than the separation, and there is so little to be determined from hostile side-glances, that Ephraim’s sin is rather to be regarded as representing that of the whole people. To go back to the time of David (Muntinghe) and to ascribe the composition to the celebrated Asaph, is impossible only for those who assign the Pentateuch to a later age, for the latter, with the exception of Leviticus, is made use of in ail parts of the Psalms. We can certainly conclude nothing from the circumstance that the Psalm closes with the leading of the people by David, for the preceding one concludes with a reference to the leading of Moses and Aaron. But the opinion is just as untenable that such events were not recognized as marking great epochs until long after (Calvin). The expressions in Psa_78:69 need not be referred to the lofty magnificence of Solomon’s temple, much less to a later time. The literal agreement of Psa_78:64 with Job_27:15, alluding to mourning for the dead, Gen_23:2, decides in general nothing, and makes as little against the priority of Psa_78:41 as the Divine title “Holy One of Israel,” so frequent in Isaiah does (Compare Caspari, Zeitschrift für luth. Kirche und Theologie, 1844, No. 3). The application of Psa_78:2 to Christ’s manner of teaching, Mat_13:35, which does not, at any rate, prove that God or Christ speaks in the person of the Psalmist (Stier after the ancients), agrees well, on the other hand, with the circumstance that Asaph is termed already in the Old Testament the Seer (2Ch_29:30). Neither is this, indeed, decisive; for the name Asaph does not occur in Matthew, the citation being only made as the words of a prophet generally, on which account some MSS. with the Clementine Homilies ascribe this passage to Isaiah. In all points there is here wanting certain historical ground. Even the strongest argument against so early a composition, that all of the historical literature which was written for practical ends, was an offspring of later reflection in the unfortunate times in which the destruction of the kingdom was either threatened or accomplished (Hupfeld), is not altogether incontestable, for the whole biblical conception of history is not merely religious, and therefore practical, but is moulded in the spirit of the Theocracy and its Messianic aspect. [The hypothesis of the composition in the time of David and by Asaph “the seer,” is defended by Hengstenberg. He is followed by Alexander and most commentators. Perowne inclines to the supposition of a later origin on account of the triumphant tone employed in the conclusion, when speaking of Ephraim. All that can be said is that the probabilities are very strongly in favor of the view generally maintained. The subject is of more than ordinary interest as an argument for the genuineness of the Pentateuch is directly deducible from this hypothesis, if well established.—There is properly no strophical division as suits the semi-narrative style adopted.—J. F. M. ]

[In Psa_78:1 the word translated law in our version should have its original meaning, instruction. In Psa_78:8 instead of: stubborn, should be: faithless or disloyal.—J. F. M.]

Psa_78:9. The sons of Ephraim.—The whole of this verse has something strange in this connection. The expressions would lead one to understand an actual flight, perhaps an act of treachery in battle. Some therefore refer this (comp. Schnurrer in Comment, theol. ed. Velthusen, I. 76 ff.) to the defeat under Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13.) But this is unsuitable because there it is a defeat, while here it is a crime that is described. Others understand some flight of Ephraim to be here adduced as an example of defection. But the supplying of the particle “as” of comparison before the sentence (Luther, Geier, and others) is linguistically impossible. The sentence could, logically, be better completed thus: Ephraim’s sons (were like) archers armed with bows, who turned back (Venema, Köster, Olsh., De Wette). We would then have a figurative designation of desertion and unreliableness like the deceitful bow in Psa_78:57. But even so there is felt the need of the particle of comparison and then of the relative. And with what event is the defection to be connected? Is it that of the ten tribes (De Wette and others) when they separated from Judah? This is untenable, because it is the sins of the people against God in times before David that are spoken of. Let this be admitted, and the figurativeness of the expression relating to the turning back of those armed with bows be still maintained. Then the thought is clear, that the Ephraimites, in spite of their supply of arms, and efficiency in their use, proved themselves recreant and cowardly in defending and leading the cause of God (Delitzsch). But how comes the Psalmist to mention Ephraim in this place, where he has been speaking of the unfaithfulness of the fathers? Is Ephraim viewed as representing the whole people, perhaps on account of their predominance in the time of the Judges (Hengst.)? Or on account of the presumption with which Ephraim was upbraided, Jdg_8:12 [Psa_12:3?—J. F. M.] (Geier)? This is possible neither according to the words employed nor according to the facts. For the rejection of Ephraim and the choice of Judah form just “the cardinal point towards which the whole historical retrospect is directed,” Psa_78:67 f. If we are not, therefore, to regard these words and those that follow as a later insertion (Hupfeld, Hitzig), which is somewhat arbitrary, then we have only to hold the opinion that the verse contains a pragmatic preparation for the rejection of Shiloh and Ephraim as mentioned later (J. D. Michaelis) and at the same time to bear in mind how much the Asaph-Psalms have to do with the tribes of the sons of Joseph.

Psa_78:12. Zoan. Ancient Egyptian Zane, called by the Greeks Tanis, on the eastern shore of the arm of the Nile afterwards named, a very ancient (Num_13:23) residence of the Pharaohs. It is often mentioned by the prophets in the later occasions of contact with Egypt, not merely because it was the most easterly portion of that country, and that which lay nearest to the Hebrews, (Isa_19:11; Isa_19:13; Isa_30:4; Eze_30:14), but because it came directly into view as the residence of Pharaoh before which Moses wrought his miracles. Brugsch (Aus dem Orient 2:45), has no doubt that Moses directed his glance at the colossal sitting-statue of Rameses II. now in the pillar-court of the Royal Museum in Berlin, which was consecrated to the Baal-temple at Tanis after the expulsion of the Hyksosdynasty and was set up before its entrance. Ebers [Egypten und die Bücher Moses I. 274) says: “In ancient times this country, cleared by the Phœnicians, the best agriculturists of the world, irrigated by the Egyptians, the most skilful of all canal-makers, was the granary of half the world, and even under the Arabs, a golden meadow interspersed with villages and covered with broad fields of corn.” It is yet, for the time, uncertain, whence the Hebrew appellation of Egypt (Mizraim) is derived, whether it comes from an Egyptian root, (Reinisch, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akad. 1859, p. 379), or has a Shemitic origin (Ebers, p. 71 ff.). The Nile valley itself (though not its inhabitants) is called on Egyptian monuments, cham=black. This refers to the color of the ploughed land. For the same reason Syria, Phœnicia, and Palestine are called in the hieroglyphics tesr=red (Ebers, p. 55 f.).

Psa_78:24 f. Manna is in Psa_105:40 after Exo_16:4 called “bread” here “corn” of heaven: the latter scarcely without allusion to its form, and “bread of the strong,” for which the ancient versions put directly “angels’ bread,” as in Wis_16:20. This does not mean that it is the food of the angels or prepared by angels (Stier after the old expositors) but that it descends from heaven (Chald.), the abode of the angels. The angels are called, as in Psa_103:20, the strong heroes. This explanation is to be preferred to the other: bread of the great, the nobles (Schnurrer, Rosenmueller, De Wette, Gesenius). The sense of every one is recommended for אִושׁ by Exo_16:16 ff. But on account of the contrast this word may also mean: Man (Chald., Delitzsch, Hitzig).

Psa_78:38; Psa_78:41. And he, full of compassion. This verse, and before it, Deu_28:58-59; Deu_29:8, were recited when there were being administered to criminals the forty stripes save one which Paul according to 2Co_11:24 had received five times (Delitzsch). According to the Rabbinical numeration this verse is the middle of the 5896 stichs of the Psalter, and Psa_78:36 the middle one of its 2527 verses (comp. Buxtorf, Tiberias 1620, p. 133). [Psa_78:41. Perowne: הִתְווּ; “the Hiphil occurs again in Eze_9:4, in the sense of putting a mark on (the forehead). So it was taken by the Chald. here, and this has been explained in two ways (1) They put limits (marks) to the power of God, or (2) as Hengst., Del. and others, they branded with reproach. But it is better to connect it with the Syriac, meaning: “pœnituit, eum doluit.” Perowne, therefore, translates “troubled.” So Dr. Moll in his translation, “grieved.”—J. F. M.].

Psa_78:47. Vines—It is still remarked altogether erroneously by many expositors (by Hupfeld and Hitzig last) that the vine is named before other natural productions, according to a Canaanitish and not an Egyptian point of view. It is even said that Egypt had but little vine-culture—since none were permitted to drink wine (De Wette). It is just in Egypt that wine stands in the first rank of the liquors presented to the divinity (Ebers, p. 323). And there is a distinction made between the different sorts, choice and common, red and white, domestic and imported. The temple inscriptions at Dendera show also that a festival, the “full-drinking feast,” was celebrated in honor of Hathor, the goddess of lust and love, the “mistress of inebriety” Dümichen. (Bauurkunde von Dendera und Tempelinschriften, p. 29 f.). That wine was regarded as a necessity, even of the lower classes, appears from a note which an officer of Rameses II. in the fifty-second year of his reign, made on the back of a papyrus, and which gives the amount of rations of bread and wine distributed by him to the workmen. (Ebers., p. 326).

Psa_78:49. Evil angels.—Strictly: angels of the evil, that is, angels bringing misfortune (Delitzsch). Linguistically it is admissible to translate: angels of the wicked=wicked angels (Sept., Targ., Symmachus, Rabbins and most). Hengstenberg cites a sentence of Jac. Ode (de angelis p. 731 f.) deum ad puniendos malos homines mittere bonos angelos et ad castigandos pios usurpare malos. But even Hupfeld, who contends against this, as being too strict a distinction, referring to Jdg_9:23; 1Sa_16:14 : 1Ki_22:21 f; 1Ch_21:1; Job_1:7, acknowledges finally that they have their name: bad, not from their dispositions, but from their influence. The death of the first-born was (Exo_12:13; Exo_12:23), effected by the destroyer (Heb_11:8). The word in question may denote the Angel of Jehovah in His attribute of Avenger (2Sa_24:16), but may also be taken as a collective (1Sa_13:17).

Psa_78:54-61. To this mountain—This expression, in accordance with its position as being in apposition, and according to Exo_15:17, is to be understood of the Holy Land as a mountainous country. Deu_1:7; Deu_1:20; Deu_3:25; Isa_11:9. (Aben Ezra, Hitzig, Hupfeld, Delitzsch), but is not to be explained as a prophetic allusion to Zion (Hengst). In Psa_78:59. Israel is to be taken in the narrower sense=Ephraim. This is proved by the parallelism with Shiloh, Psa_78:60, and the contrast to Judah, Psa_78:67 (comp. Jer_7:12 f.). Shiloh was in the time of the Judges the chief seat of the Sanctuary (Jos_18:1 ff; Jos_21:2; 1Sa_1:4.) After the Ark of the Covenant had fallen into the hands of the Philistines, the tabernacle was not brought back to Shiloh, but was taken at first to Nob (1Sa_21:2); and after Saul had placed that city under ban was brought to Gibeon (1Ki_3:4), while the ark after its restoration to Israel was deposited in Kirjath jearim (1Sa_7:2). The ark is called in 1Sa_4:21, as here, כָּבוֹד [glory, Psa_78:61, M.] as the place where God manifested His majesty and glory, Comp. Psa_132:8.

Psa_78:65 f. That shouteth by reason of wine. This cannot allude to the battle-cry of a warrior (Hupfeld), when he is roused up from intoxication (Chald.), for intoxication is not spoken of in the text and wine is not parallel to sleep. The allusion must therefore be to the enkindling of the fire that animates the breast of the warrior, to his rapid change from a state of rest to action, and to the increased elasticity of his frame from the use of wine (J. H. Michaelis, Hengst., Del.). Following another derivation and comparing with Pro_29:6; Pro_29:1 we might translate: who allows himself to be overcome by wine (Schnurrer, De Wette, Stier, Hitzig). Yet this meaning existing in the Arabic is not established in Hebrew, and is less suitable in this connection. Böttcher explains: who recollects himself. In Psa_78:66 there is no allusion make to striking back (Geier, Hengst., Hupfeld) but to the disgrace inflicted upon the Philistines and recorded in 1Sa_5:6 (Targ., Sept., Vulg., Luther, Del., Hitzig).

Psa_78:69 ff. Like high, etc. In the Hebrew we have only an adjective=high, elevated. The following explanations have been given: Like high palaces (Aben Ezra, Kimchi), or mountains (Calvin, Köster, Hengst.,) or the heights of heaven (Isaaki, Stier, Hupfeld, Del.). The latter seems most natural=excelsa (Job_21:22), and there is no need of uniting the two Hebrew words, and reading כִּמְרוֹמִים in order to gain this meaning (Hitzig). But on account of the general nature of the expression and the absence of the article it is still doubtful whether heaven and earth are parallel, and that with reference to their firmness and duration, surviving all changes even to the end of the world. It appears, however, as if that were only expressed in the second member, while in the first there is presented the pre-eminent exaltation, the grandeur of the sanctuary as established by God. At all events the mode of expression favors the hypothesis of the early composition of the Psalm, because the threatening of the destruction of the Temple appears already in the earliest prophets. [In Psa_78:71עָלֹות means literally the suckling ones, that is the ewes. It has been misunderstood in Isa_40:11, in the same way.—J. F. M.].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The history of former times, especially of God’s dealings with His people and their conduct, should serve to instruct and warn succeeding generations, and should, therefore, in accordance with God’s will and word (Exo_10:1-2) be handed down by the parents to their children. “The terms parable and enigma applied to these events have reference to the fact, that everywhere in sacred history there lies a concealed background of instruction; that it is prophecy turned backward, that throughout it the mutato nomine de te fabula narratur prevails; that between all the lines are the words “let whosoever reads understand,” which call upon us to penetrate through the shell to the kernel, from the grapes of history to press out the wine of instruction” (Hengstenberg). “The highest view which can be taken of history is that in which its events are regarded as parables of God addressed to men” (Novalis).

2. Many things occur in the world which are as unexpected, and appear as strange, as once to God’s people appeared the rejection of Israel and the exaltation of Judah. And yet in the one case as in the other there is a visitation of God to be recognized. But there are many who will not be warned. They may hear recounted the judgments of God upon those of old, and concur in the opinion that they were inflicted justly. Yet none the less do they follow their footsteps; and thus there is perpetuated an ungrateful and faithless generation, concerning which God has to complain, that He has displayed His wonders to it in vain.

3. The more exalted the position, and the more signal the privileges which God confers upon a man or a nation, the greater is the responsibility and the more heinous the guilt, if the influence thereby gained leads other men also into false paths and brings them into conflict with God’s commands and promises. And there follows thereupon also a more dreadful punishment. For God will not abandon His design because those called first do not walk worthy of their vocation. He rejects the faithless and chooses for Himself other servants and in this He manifests the same ways of dealing as when He took David from tending his father’s flock, that he might feed the flock of God.

4. He who will ask something of God, must see to it that it be done in faith. For even the unbelieving and disobedient ask many things from Him and the Lord does not deny them. But the fulfilment of their wishes proves their destruction, for God’s judgments are thereby executed upon them. God also will be entreated, but will not be tempted. “To tempt God, means: to doubt whether He is God. It is characteristic of unbelief that it is wilfully ignorant of that by which God had before made proof of His Divinity, and acts towards Him, as though He now for the first time were giving evidence of it.” (Hengstenberg). Tempting God, therefore, is no less a falling away from faith than it is discontentment with and murmuring against Him. “Biblical History is a prophecy which in all ages is fulfilled in every man’s soul.” (Hamann).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

God teaches us even by His actions; but we are to understand, apply, and proclaim them.—The problems of history are solved when we contemplate the dealings of God.—We should always and in all things have regard both to the severity and to the goodness of God.—Forgetfulness of God’s goodness and the ungrateful reception of His favors are the causes of many sins.—God punishes unbelief and disobedience not only among the heathen but also among His own people.—The making known of God’s deeds is (1) A good custom of God’s people of old. (2) The will of God enjoined upon us. (3) The best means of glorifying Him.—God endures the proof well, when He is tempted, but it fares ill with those who undertake to do it.—He who would truly trust in God, must from the heart believe on Him; for he who believes thus, does not doubt.—Murmuring against God is as much opposed to faith as tempting God is.

Starke: How pleasing it is to God, that we hear His word, take it to heart and live in accordance with it! for it saves us from all that would harm the soul.—The best inheritance which parents can leave to their children, and the best art which they can teach them, is the knowledge of the glorious deeds of God and how to glorify His majesty.—It is an unadvised demand, that God should perform still more of His wonders, as if men would then have more faith, Luk_16:27 f. The example of Israel testifies to the opposite.—When God manifests His name especially in renowned cities and countries, He does it not because He slights other places, but because the outward splendor of such places is a fitting means of spreading His glory far and wide.—Unbelief is the denial of God, yea, the greatest sin of all, because from it result all other sins.—All creatures are ready at all times to execute God’s commands. Man alone contends against His Creator. Is that not to be deplored? Isa_1:5; Jer_8:7.—To seek God in distress is right and necessary, but if we do so that we may be freed from trouble, and are unwilling to forsake sin, we then dishonor God and lead ourselves the more deeply into sin.—If God punishes others, it should stir us up to repentance. He can find us out too, and visit us.—God sends not only exalted spirits or angels when He would punish men. He can do it also by means of feeble worms.—God proceeds gradually in the inflictions of His judgments, so that when men will not amend their ways after more gentle punishments, He keeps sending them more severe ones, which touch them more closely still.—Where God’s word is taught in its simplicity and purity, there let men hold fast to it and live according to its holy precepts, that He may not remove it from them.—What God has erected for His dwelling, shall stand forever according to His purpose.—He who is faithful in lesser matters, is employed by God in greater ones: experience confirms this not only in things temporal but in things spiritual also.—Luk_16:10.

Selnecker: Contempt of God’s word, pride and arrogance have never been of any benefit, and have always resulted in evil.—Menzel: God will not have these histories forgotten, but will have parents impress them well upon their children; and they will learn from them, (1) To recognize God’s glory and power, (2) to fear that God and trust in Him.—Frisch: To tempt God is nothing else than to demand from Him an exhibition of His utmost power, or an indication of His purposes with regard to us.—Renschel: God tries us with both hands, the hand of mercy and the hand of anger and punishment, and when men will not follow the one, He urges them with the other.—Oetinger: How obedience or disobedience were always attended by God’s blessings or judgments, and how He did not punish according to its desert, the greater sin that always followed great blessings, but so ordered Ephraim’s punishment that the whole nation came to enjoy new blessings on Zion under David’s reign.—Tholuck: Unbelief is so deeply rooted in men’s hearts that when God performs wonders on earth they doubt whether He does the same in heaven, and when He performs them in heaven, they tauntingly ask whether He can perform them on earth too.—Guenther: God can punish even by riches and affluence.—In faith in the word of prophecy let us diligently search that great Book of God, the history of the world, that we may discover the signs of the times, and that the Lord may enlighten our eyes unto eternal salvation!—Schaubach: The righteous judgments of God repeat themselves in the world’s history. Can it be that we have a reprieve, so that the punitive justice of the Lord shall not be inflicted upon us?—Taube: In the description of the plagues we gain a twofold view of God’s government, first, that everything subserves God’s plans in His ways and judgments; secondly, that God proceeds gradually in the severity of those judgments.

[Matt. Henry: Those cannot be said to trust in God’s salvation as their felicity at last, who cannot find in their hearts to trust in His providence for food convenient in the way to it.—Those hearts are hard indeed, which will neither be melted by the mercies of God, nor broken by His judgments.

Scott: Severe afflictions have been necessary to recover us from our backslidings, and though we were not mere hypocrites in returning to the Lord, yet we soon forget the salutary lesson, if our hearts have perhaps been sincere, they have not been steadfast with Him.—J. F. M.].

Footnotes:

[1][The reference to Pro_29:6, is hardly justifiable as יָרון there also is to be taken from רנן—J. F. M.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psalm 78

THIS psalm appears to have been written after David's elevation to the throne, and perhaps before he was acknowledged by the whole race of Israel (2Sa 5:5). Its design is to impress upon the public mind the true grounds of the transfer which had taken place, of the pre-eminence in Israel, from the tribe of Ephraim to that of Judah, as the execution of a divine purpose long before disclosed, and at the same time a just judgment on the sins committed by the people under the predominant influence of Ephraim, from the time of Joshua to that of Eli. The internal character of the psalm determines its external form, which is simple, and admits of no minute division, beyond that afforded by the historical logical design of the composition, to prove that the Israelites under the ascendancy of Ephraim were similar in character to the elder generation which came out of Egypt.

1. (Psa 78:1) Maschil. By Asaph. Listen, my people, to my law; incline your ear to the sayings of my mouth. This is eminently a didactic psalm, because it teaches the true meaning of events in the history of Israel which might otherwise seem to be mere matters of curiosity. For the same reason it was necessary that it should be so designated in the title or inscription. See above, on Psa 32:1; Psa 42:1; Psa 52:1, etc. The Asaph meant, as we have seen, is probably the contemporary and chief musician of David, but also an inspired psalmist. See above, on Psa 1:1. In this verse he invites attention, as if to something strange and unexpected. My people, fellow-members of the ancient church, not as individuals, however, but as an organised body. My law, my inspired instructions which, as such, have a binding authority and force.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psalm 78-83

Psalm 78

A Historical Retrospect

1. The call to hear (Psa 78:1-8)

2. Ephraim’s failure (Psa 78:9-11)

3. His dealings in power and mercy (Psa 78:12-55)

4. The continued provocation (Psa 78:56-64)

5. His sovereign grace in choosing David (Psa 78:65-72)

This historical retrospect needs no further comment. It is God speaking to the hearts of His people through their own history from Egypt to David. How graciously He dealt with them all the way! The crowning fact is His sovereign grace in choosing Judah, Mount Zion which he loved, building there His sanctuary, and choosing David His servant to feed Jacob His people and Israel His inheritance. Here we may well think of the Son of David, God’s Anointed in whom God’s sovereign grace is made known and who will yet feed Jacob and Israel His inheritance.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psalms 78

THIS psalm is closely related to Psalms 105-107. Like them, it treats the history of Israel, and especially the Exodus and wilderness wanderings, for purposes of edification, rebuke, and encouragement. The past is held up as a mirror to the present generation. It has been one long succession of miracles of mercy met by equally continuous ingratitude, which has ever been punished by national calamities. The psalm departs singularly from chronological order. It arranges its contents in two principal masses, each introduced by the same formula (Psa_78:12, Psa_78:43) referring to "wonders in Egypt and the field of Zoan." But the first mass has nothing to do with Egypt, but begins with the passage of the Red Sea, and is wholly occupied with the wilderness. The second group of wonders begins in Psa_78:44 with the plagues of Egypt, touches lightly on the wilderness history, and then passes to the early history of Israel when settled in the land, and finishes with the establishment of David on the throne. It is difficult to account for this singular bouleversement of the history. But the conjecture may be hazarded that its reason lies in the better illustration of continual interlacing of mercy and unthankfulness afforded by the events in the wilderness, than by the plagues of Egypt. That interlacing is the main point on which the psalmist wishes to lay stress, and therefore he begins with the most striking example of it. The use of the formula in Psa_78:12 looks as if his original intention had been to follow the order of time. Another peculiarity is the prominence given to Ephraim, both in Psa_78:9 as a type of faithlessness, and in Psa_78:67 as rejected in favour of Judah. These references naturally point to the date of the psalm as being subsequent to the separation of the kingdoms; but whether it is meant as rebuke to the northern kingdom, or as warning to Judah from the fate of Ephraim, is not clear. Nor are there materials for closer determination of date. The tone of the closing reference to David implies that his accession belongs to somewhat remote times.

There are no regular strophes, but a tendency to run into paragraphs of four verses, with occasional irregularities.

Psa_78:1-4 declare the singers didactic purpose. He deeply feels the solidarity of the nation through all generations-how fathers and children are knit by mystic ties, and by possession of an eternal treasure, the mighty deeds of God, of which they are bound to pass on the record from age to age. The history of ancient days is "a parable" and a "riddle" or "dark saying," as containing examples of great principles, and lessons which need reflection to discern and draw out. From that point of view, the psalmist will sum up the past. He is not a chronicler, but a religious teacher. His purpose is edification, rebuke, encouragement, the deepening of godly fear and obedience. In a word, he means to give the spirit of the nations history.

Psa_78:5-8 base this purpose on Gods declared will that the knowledge of His deeds for Israel might be handed down from fathers to sons. The obligations of parents for the religious training of their children, the true bond of family unity. the ancient order of things when oral tradition was the principal means of preserving national history, the peculiarity of this nations annals, as celebrating no heroes and recording only the deeds of God by men, the contrast between the changing bearers of the story and the undying deeds which they had to tell, are all expressed in these verses, so pathetic in their gaze upon the linked series of short-lived men, so stern in their final declaration that Divine commandment and mercy had been in vain, and that, instead of a tradition of goodness, there had been a transmission of stubbornness and departure from God, repeating itself with tragic uniformity. The devout poet, who knows what God meant family life to be and to do, sadly recognises the grim contrast presented by its reality. But yet he will make one more attempt to break the flow of evil from father to son. Perhaps his contemporaries will listen and shake themselves clear of this entail of disobedience.

The reference to Ephraim in Psa_78:9-11 is not to be taken as alluding to any cowardly retreat from actual battle. Psa_78:9 seems to be a purely figurative way of expressing what is put without a metaphor in the two following verses. Ephraims revolt from Gods covenant was like the conduct of soldiers, well armed and refusing to charge the foe. The better their weapons, the greater the cowardice and ignominy of the recreants. So the faithlessness of Ephraim was made darker in criminality by its knowledge of God and experience of His mercy. These should have knit the tribe to Him. A general truth of wide application is implied-that the measure of capacity is the measure of obligation. Guilt increases with endowment, if the latter is misused. A poor soldier, with no weapon but a sling or a stick, might sooner be excused for flight than a fully armed archer. The mention of Ephraim as prominent in faithlessness may be an allusion to the separation of the kingdoms. That allusion has been denied on the ground that it is the wilderness history which is here before the psalmists mind. But the historical retrospect does not begin till Psa_78:12, and this introduction may well deal with an event later than those detailed in the following verses. Whether the revolt of the Ten Tribes is here in view or not, the psalmist sees that the wayward and powerful tribe of Ephraim had been a centre of religious disaffection, and there is no reason why his view should not be believed, or should be supposed to be due to mere prejudiced hostility.

The historical details begin with Psa_78:12, but, as has been noticed above, the psalmist seems to change his intention of first narrating the wonders in Egypt, and passes on to dilate on the wilderness history. "The field of Zoan" is the territory of the famous Egyptian city of Tzan, and seems equivalent to the Land of Goshen. The wonders enumerated are the familiar ones of the passage of the Red Sea, the guidance by the pillar of cloud and fire, and the miraculous supply of water from the rock. In Psa_78:15-16, the poet brings together the two instances of such supply, which were separated from each other by the forty years of wandering, the first having occurred at Horeb in the first year, and the second at Kadesh in the last year. The two words "rocks," in Psa_78:15, and "cliff," in Psa_78:16, are taken from the two narratives of these miracles, in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.

The group of four verses (Psa_78:13-16) sets forth Gods mighty deeds; the next quartet of verses (Psa_78:17-20) tells of Israels requital. It is significant of the thoughts which filled the singers heart, that he begins the latter group with declaring that, notwithstanding such tokens of Gods care, the people "went on to sin yet more," though he hid specified no previous acts of sin. He combines widely separated instances of their murmurings, as he had combined distant instances of Gods miraculous supply of water. The complaints which preceded the fall of the manna and the first supply of quails, {Exodus 16} and those which led to the second giving of these {Numbers 11} are thrown together, as one in kind. The speech put into the mouths of the murmurers in Psa_78:19-20, is a poetic casting into bitter blasphemous words of the half-conscious thoughts of the faithless, sensuous crowd. They are represented as almost upbraiding God with His miracle, as quite unmoved to trust by it, and as thinking that it has exhausted His power. When they were half dead with thirst, they thought much of the water, but now they depreciate that past wonder as a comparatively small thing. So, to the churlish heart, which cherishes eager desires after some unattained earthly good, past blessings diminish as they recede, and leave neither thankfulness nor trust. There is a dash of intense bitterness and ironical making light of their relation to God in their question, "Can He provide flesh for His people?" Much good that name has done us, starving here! The root of all this blasphemous talk was sensuous desire; and because the people yielded to it, they "tempted God" - that is, they "unbelievingly and defiantly demanded, instead of trustfully waiting and praying" (Delitzsch). To ask food for their desires was sin; to ask it for their need would have been faith.

In Psa_78:21 the allusion is to the "fire of the Lord," which, according to Num_11:3, burnt in the camp, just before the second giving of quails. It comes in here out of chronological order, for the sending of manna follows it; but the psalmists didactic purpose renders him indifferent to chronology. The manna is called "corn of heaven" and "bread of the Mighty Ones"-i.e., angels, as the LXX renders the word. Both designations point to its heavenly origin, without its being necessary to suppose that the poet thought of angels as really eating it. The description of the fall of the quails (Psa_78:26-29) is touched with imaginative beauty. The word rendered above "made to go forth" is originally applied to the breaking up of an encampment, and that rendered "guided" to a shepherds leading of his flock. Both words are found in the Pentateuch, the former in reference to the wind that brought the quails, {Num_11:31} the latter in reference to that which brought the plague of locusts. {Exo_10:13} So the winds are conceived of as Gods servants, issuing from their tents at His command, and guided by Him as a shepherd leads his sheep. "He let it fall in the midst of their camp" graphically describes the dropping down of the wearied, storm, beaten birds.

Psa_78:30-33 paint the swift punishment of the peoples unbelief, in language almost identical with Num_11:33. The psalmist twice stigmatises their sin as "lust," and uses the word which enters into the tragical name given to the scene of the sin and the punishment-Kibroth-Hat-taavah (the graves of Lust). In Psa_78:32-33, the faint-hearted despondency after the return of the spies, and the punishment of it by the sentence of death on all that generation, seem to be alluded to.

The next group of four verses describes the peoples superficial and transient repentance, "When He slew them they sought Him"-i.e., when the fiery serpents were sent among them. But such seeking after God, which is properly not seeking Him at all, but only seeking to escape from evil, neither goes deep nor lasts long. Thus the end of it was only lip reverence proved robe false by life, and soon ended. "Their heart was not steadfast." The pressure being removed, they returned to their habitual position, as all such penitents do.

From the midst of this sad narrative of faithlessness, springs up, like a fountain in a weary land, or a flower among half-cooled lava blocks, the lovely description of Gods forbearance in Psa_78:38-39. It must not be read as if it merely carried on the narrative, and was in continuation of the preceding clauses. The psalmist does not say "He was full of compassion," though that would be much, in the circumstances; but he is declaring Gods eternal character. His compassions are unfailing. It is always His wont to cover sin and to spare. Therefore He exercised these gracious forbearances towards those obstinate transgressors. He was true to His own compassion in remembering their mortality and feebleness. What a melancholy sound, as of wind blowing among forgotten graves, has that summing up of human life as "a wind that goes and comes not again!"

With Psa_78:40 the second portion of the psalm may be regarded as beginning. The first group, of historical details dealt first with Gods mercies, and passed on to mans requital. The second starts with mans ingratitude, which it paints in the darkest colours, as provoking Him, grieving Him, tempting Him, and vexing Him. The psalmist is not afraid to represent God as affected with such emotions by reason of mens indifference and unbelief. His language is not to be waved aside as anthroposnorphic and antiquated. No doubt, we come nearer to the unattainable truth, when we conceive of God as grieved by mens sins and delighting in their trust, than when we think of Him as an impassive Infinitude, serenely indifferent to tortured or sinful hearts. For is not His name of names Love?

The psalmist traces Israels sin to forgetfulness of Gods mercy, and thus glides into a swift summing up of the plagues of Egypt, regarded as conducing to Israels deliverance. They are not arranged chronologically, though the list begins with the first. Then follow three of those in which animals were the destroyers: namely, the fourth, that of flies; the second, that of frogs; and the eighth, that of locusts. Then comes the seventh, that of hail; and, according to some commentators, the fifth, that of the murrain, in Psa_78:49, followed by the tenth in Psa_78:51. But the grand, sombre imagery of Psa_78:49 is too majestic for such application. It rather sums up the whole series of plagues, likening them to an embassy (lit., a sending) of angels of evil. They are a grim company to come forth from His presence-Wrath, Indignation, and Trouble. The same power which sent them out on their errand prepared a way before them; and the crowning judgment, which, in the psalmists view was also the crowning mercy, was the death of the firstborn.

The next quartet of verses (Psa_78:52-55) passes lightly over the wilderness history and the settlement in the land, and hastens on to a renewed narration of repeated rebellion, which occupies the next group (Psa_78:56-59). These verses cover the period from the entrance on Canaan to the fall of the sanctuary of Shiloh, during which there was a continual tendency to relapse into idolatry. That is the special sin here charged against the Israel of the time of the Judges. The figure of a "deceitful bow," in Psa_78:57, well describes the people as failing to fulfil the purpose of their choice by God. As such a weapon does not shoot true, and makes the arrow fly wide, however well aimed and strongly drawn, so Israel foiled all Divine attempts, and failed to carry Gods message to the world, or to fulfil His will in themselves. Hence the next verses tell, with intense energy and pathos, the sad story of Israels humiliation under the Philistines. The language is extraordinarily strong in its description of Gods loathing and rejection of the nation and sanctuary and is instinct with sorrow blended with stern recognition of His righteousness in judgment. What a tragic picture the psalmist draws! Shiloh, the dwelling place of God, empty forever more; the "Glory"-that is, the Ark-in the enemys hands; everywhere stiffening corpses; a pall of silence over the land; no brides and no joyous bridal chaunts; the very priests massacred, unlamented by their widows, who had wept so many tears already that the fountain of them was dried up, and even sorrowing love was dumb with horror and despair!

The two last groups of verses paint Gods great mercy in delivering the nation from such misery. The daring figure of His awakening as from sleep and dashing upon Israels foes, who are also His, with a shout like that of a hero stimulated by wine, is more accordant with Eastern fervour than with our colder imagination; but it wonderfully expresses the sudden transition from a period, during which God seemed passive and careless of His peoples wretchedness, to one in which His power flashed forth triumphant for their defence. The prose fact is the long series of victories over the Philistines and other oppressors, which culminated in the restoration of the Ark, the selection of Zion as its abode, which involved the rejection of Shiloh and consequently of Ephraim (in whose territory Shiloh was), and the accession of David. The Davidic kingdom is, in the psalmists view, the final form of Israels national existence; and the sanctuary, like the kingdom, is perpetual as the lofty heavens or the firm earth. Nor were his visions vain, for that kingdom subsists and will subsist forever, and the true sanctuary, the dwelling place of God among men, is still more closely intertwined with the kingdom and its King than the psalmist knew. The perpetual duration of both is, in truth, the greatest of Gods mercies, outshining all earlier deliverances; and they who truly have become the subjects of the Christ, the King of Israel and of the world, and who dwell with God in His house, by dwelling with Jesus; will not rebel against Him any more, nor ever forget His wonders, but faithfully tell them to the generations to come.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

Ps 78 This wisdom psalm exhorts the people to learn wisdom and faithfully pass it on.

78:1-8 The prologue is an invitation to learn wisdom.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Read Ps. 32.

The Prophet under the name of a teacher calleth the people his, and the doctrine his, as Paul calleth the Gospel his, whereof he was but the preacher, as Rom. 2:16 and 16:25.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

PSALM LXXVIII

An enumeration of the principal effects of the goodness of God

to his people, 1-16;

of their rebellions and punishment, 17-33;

their feigned repentance, 34-37;

God's compassion towards them, 38, 39;

their backsliding, and forgetfulness of his mercy, 40-42;

the plagues which he brought upon the Egyptians, 43-51;

the deliverance of his own people, and their repeated

ingratitude and disobedience, 52-58;

their punishment, 59-64;

God's wrath against their adversaries, 65, 66;

his rejection of the tribes of Israel and his choice of the

tribe of Judah, and of David to be king over his people, 67-72.

NOTES ON PSALM LXXVIII

The title, Maschil of Asaph; or, according to the margin, A Psalm for Asaph to give instruction; contains nothing particular. The Arabic has, "A sermon from Asaph to the people." The Psalm was probably not written by David, but after the separation of the ten tribes of Israel, and after the days of Rehoboam, and before the Babylonish captivity, for the temple was still standing, Ps 78:69. Calmet supposes that it was written in the days of Asa, who had gained, by the aid of the Syrians, a great victory over the Israelites; and brought back to the pure worship of God many out of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. See 2Ch 15:16-16:14.

Verse 1. Give ear, O my people] This is the exordium of this very pathetic and instructive discourse.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1. Give ear, O my people! to my law. From the close of the psalm, it may with probability be conjectured, that it was written long after the death of David; for there we have celebrated the kingdom erected by God in the family of David. There also the tribe of Ephraim, which is said to have been rejected, is contrasted with, and set in opposition to, the house of David. From this it is evident, that the ten tribes were at that time in a state of separation from the rest of the chosen people; for there must be some good reason why the kingdom of Ephraim is branded with a mark of dishonor as being illegitimate and bastard.

Whoever was the inspired writer of this psalm, he does not introduce God speaking as is thought by some, but he himself addresses the Jews in the character of a teacher. It is no objection to this that he calls the people his people, and the law his law; it being no uncommon thing for the prophets to borrow the name of Him by whom they were sent, that their doctrine might have the greater authority. And, indeed, the truth which has been committed to their trust may, with propriety, be called theirs. Thus Paul, in Romans 2:16, glories in the gospel as his gospel, an expression not to be understood as implying that it was a system which owed its origin to him, but that he was a preacher and a witness of it. I am somewhat doubtful whether interpreters are strictly correct in translating the word תורה, torah, by law. The meaning of it seems to be somewhat more general, as appears from the following clause, where the Psalmist uses the phrase, the words of my mouth, in the same sense. If we consider with what inattention even those who make great professions of being the disciples of God listen to his voice, we will admit that the prophet had good reason for introducing his lessons of instruction by a solemn call of attention. He does not, it is true, address the unteachable and obstinate, who frowardly refuse to submit themselves to the word of God; but as even true believers themselves are generally too backward to receive instruction, this exhortation, so far from being superfluous, was highly necessary to stir up the sluggish and inactive among them.

To secure for himself the greater attention, he declares it to be his purpose to discuss subjects of a great, high, and difficult character. The word משל, mashal, which I have translated a parable, denotes grave and striking sentences, such as adages, or proverbs, and apophthegms. As then the matter itself of which we treat, if it is weighty and important, awakens the minds of men, the inspired penman affirms that it is his purpose to utter only striking sentences and notable sayings. The word חידות, chidoth, which, following others, I have rendered enigmas, is here used, not so much for dark sentences, as for sayings which are pointed and worthy of special notice. He does not mean to wrap up his song in ambiguous language, but clearly and distinctly to dwell both upon the benefits of God and the ingratitude of the people. Only, as I have said, his design is to stimulate his readers to weigh and consider more attentively the subject propounded. This passage is quoted by Matthew, (Matthew 13:35,) and applied to the person of Christ, when he held the minds of the people in suspense by parables which they could not understand. Christ’s object in doing so, was to prove that he was a distinguished prophet of God, and that thus he might be received with the greater reverence. Since he then resembled a prophet because he preached sublime mysteries in a style of language above the common kind, that which the sacred writer here affirms concerning himself, is with propriety transferred to him. If in this psalm there shines forth such a majesty as may justly stir up and inflame the readers with a desire to learn, we gather from it with what earnest attention it becomes us to receive the gospel, in which Christ opens and displays to us the treasures of his celestial wisdom.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(1) For the formal opening see Psa_49:1, Note.

My people.—An expression pointing to a position of weight and authority.

My law.—Here, rather instruction, or doctrine.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1, 2. Cp. the opening of Psalms 49, noting that while there ‘all peoples’ are addressed, in accordance with the wider scope of the teaching of the ‘Wise Men,’ here Israel is addressed in the spirit of prophecy. It was the function of prophecy to interpret the past, as well as to foretell the future. my law] Rather, my teaching, as in Pro_1:8, and often. See note on Psa_1:2.

1–8. The Psalmist’s solemn invitation to his countrymen to listen to his teaching. He proposes to set forth the lessons to be drawn from Israel’s past history, in obedience to God’s command to hand on the tradition of His mighty works for the encouragement and warning of each successive generation.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Give ear, O my people,.... The Jews were Christ's people, he descending from their fathers according to the flesh; they were his own, to whom he came, though rejected by them; they were his nation and people that delivered him up into the hands of the Romans; see Rom 9:4 thus it is usual with persons to call those, who are of the same nation with them, their people, Est 7:3 and especially for kings to call their subjects so; see Ch1 28:2, and such was Christ; he was King of the Jews, though they would not have him reign over them; and therefore he here speaks as one having royal authority, and requires attention to him, and obedience to his word, which he calls his law:

to my law; meaning neither the moral nor the ceremonial law, but the doctrine of the Gospel, or law of faith, called the Messiah's law, Isa 2:3. This is the doctrine which he as man received of his Father, and which he taught and delivered to his disciples, and which concerns himself, his person, office, and grace, and is sometimes called the doctrine of Christ, Jo2 1:9,

incline your ears to the words of my mouth; the several doctrines of the everlasting Gospel preached by him, which were words of wisdom and of grace, of righteousness and eternal life, of peace, pardon, and everlasting salvation: these ought to be heard and diligently attended to; the matter contained in them requires attention; the office Christ bears demands it of men; all that have ears to hear should hear; all Christ's sheep do hear his voice, understand it, and act according to it: hear ye him was the instruction of Moses, and the direction of Christ's heavenly Father, Deu 18:15, and great is the danger such incur who hear him not, but neglect and despise his word, Heb 2:2.

(f) , Sept. "ipsi Asaph", Pagninus, Montanus; "tradita Asapho", Piscator.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Give ear, O my people - This is not an address of God, but an address of the king or ruler of the people, calling their attention to an important subject; to wit, his right to rule over them, or showing why the power had been vested in him.

To my law - The word law here seems to mean what he would say, as if what he should choose to say would have the force and authority of law. What follows is not exactly law in the sense that it was a rule to be obeyed; but it is something that is authoritatively said, and should have the force of law.

Incline your ears ... - Be attentive. What is to be said is worthy of your particular regard. Compare the notes at Psa 5:1.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

My people: if Asaph was the composer of this Psalm, he might well call the Israelites his people, not only as he was their prophet and teacher, but also because they were of the same country and parentage with him; upon which account this very phrase of my people is used of them, not only by queen Esther, Est 7:3,4, but also by the Shunammitish woman, 2Ki 4:13.

My law, i.e. the doctrine which I am about to deliver to you, concerning your duty, and the danger of neglecting it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This long historical Ps. may be compared with Psalms 105, 106, and with Deuteronomy 32. It traces the course of God's relations with His people from the exodus down to the time of David, and dwells on the repeated manifestations of Israel's rebelliousness, on the chastisements by which they were visited, and on the patient mercy of God which continued to bless them in spite of all their sins. The Ps. does not follow a strict chronological order, but records first Israel's ingratitude for God's provision of food and drink in the wilderness (Psa_78:12-34), and afterwards the plagues of Egypt (Psa_78:43-51), the journey to Canaan (Psa_78:52-55), the defections of Israel in the days of the Judges (Psa_78:56-58), the calamities of the Philistine wars (Psa_78:56-64), and the establishment of David's kingdom (Psa_78:65-72). While the conduct of the whole nation is in view throughout the Ps. the tribe of Ephraim is singled out for special condemnation at the first (Psa_78:9-11), and emphasis is afterwards laid on its rejection in favour of Judah, and on the rejection of Shiloh in favour of Jerusalem as the national sanctuary (Psa_78:67-69). The date of the Ps. is subsequent to the building of the Temple (Psa_78:69), but apparently before its destruction by the Babylonians. The phrase 'the Holy One of Israel' (Psa_78:41) is characteristic of Isaiah's prophecies (Isa_6:13; Isa_10:17; Isa_29:23), and suggests that the Ps. was written in or after his time. The historical allusions are confined to the primitive narrative of the Pentateuch (JE), which was earlier than the exile. The references to Ephraim indicate a time after the disruption of the kingdom (1 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 10), but the object of the Ps. was probably not to rebuke Ephraim, but rather to warn the whole nation by recalling the lessons of the past.

1. Law] RM 'teaching.'

2. Parable] in the sense of 'didactic poem.' Dark sayings] lit. 'riddles.' The history of Israel is an enigma, requiring an explanation such as the Psalmist gives. These two words occur together in Psa_49:4; Pro_1:6; Eze_17:2. The v. is quoted in Mat_13:34-35 with reference to Christ's method of teaching by parables.

3, 4. The vv. are connected. Read, 'The things which we have heard.. we will not hide from their children': cp. Deu_4:9; Deu_6:7; Deu_11:19.

9. This v. does not refer to a particular incident, but is a general figurative description of Ephraim's opportunity and failure, anticipating what is said in Psa_78:67. Even before the revolt of Jeroboam Ephraim had shown a tendency to rivalry with Judah (2Sa_19:41 to 2Sa_20:22).

12. Zoan] Tanis, a city in the Delta of the Nile: see Psa_78:43.

18, 21. Cp. Exodus 16, 17 Null.

26. The wind that brought the quails (Num_11:31).

29. Their own desire] RV 'that they lusted after.'

36, 37. There was no real change of heart. His covenant] see Exo_24:7.

40. Provoke] RV 'rebel against.'

41. Limited] RV 'provoked.'

43-51. The plagues in Egypt.

44. Floods] RV 'streams.'

45. Divers sorts] RV'swarms.'

47. Frost] RM 'great hailstones.'

48. Hot thunderbolts] lightning (Exo_9:24).

49. By sending evil angels among them] RV 'aband of evil angels,' the disasters being personified as messengers of God.

51. Tabernacles] RV 'tents.'

Ham] or Kem, meaning 'black,' because of the soil, was the Egyptian name for Egypt.

54. Sanctuary] the land of Canaan, as sacred to God. This mountain] the mountain land of Canaan: cp. Exo_15:17.

55. Heathen] RV 'nations.' Divided.. an inheritance] see Joshua 13, etc.

56-64. The reference is to the days of the Judges.

57. Unfaithfully] RV 'treacherously.'

A deceitful bow] which causes the archer to miss the mark (Hos_7:16).

60. Shiloh] see on Jdg_18:31; 1Sa_1:3, 1Sa_1:24; Jer_7:12-14; Jer_26:6.

61. Strength.. glory] the ark: see 1 Samuel 4.

64. Priests] see 1Sa_4:11. Made no lamentation] In the perils of the time mourning rites could not be observed: see Job_27:15.

65. For this bold figure cp. Isa_42:13, Isa_42:14.

66. In the hinder parts] RV 'backward.'

67. Joseph.. Ephraim] Joseph was the father of Ephraim. Both names are used for the northern kingdom as a whole. Shiloh, where the ark had been, was in the territory of Ephraim. Now it was taken to Zion.

69. High palaces] RV'heights,'the heavens. Like the earth] firm as the earth.

71. Great with young] RV 'that give suck,' as in Isa_40:11.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This, the first of the "historical psalms," though assigned by the rationalistic school (De Wette, Ewald, Koster, Hitzig) to a period subsequent to the Captivity, is generally allowed by more sober critics (Hengstenberg, Kay, Wordsworth, Canon Cook, Professor Alexander) to belong to the Davidical agei.e. either to the reign of David or to that of Solomon. The abrupt conclusion when David"s time is reached indicates that the writer cannot carry the lessons of history any further. The way in which David is spoken of (ver. 72), and the (apparent) mention of the temple in ver. 69, indicate that Solomon"s reign was begun, and make "a few years after the accession of Solomon" the most probable date of the composition. There is thus no reason for rejecting the authorship of Asaph, which is asserted by the title.

The psalm is, as the title also declares, one of "instruction." It seeks to keep the people faithful to David and his house, and to check their tendency to place themselves under the leadership of the tribe of Ephraim, by recalling the whole course of God"s dealings with Israel in the past, from the time of the sojourn in Egypt to the establishment of David"s kingdom. It also seeks to keep them faithful to God, by showing how all their past calamities and sufferings had arisen out of their unfaithfulness (vers. 8, 10, 22, 32, 37, etc.).

The psalm divides itself merely into a preface or introduction (vers. 1-8), and a continuous narrative (vers. 9-72).

Vers. 1-8. The introduction calls special attention to the teaching that is about to be put forth, which it declares to be traditional (ver. 3), and, further, to be the sort of instruction which God had especially commanded to be given to his people by their teachers (vers. 5, 6) for their edification (vers. 7, 8).

Give ear, O my people, to my law; rather, to my teaching. Hat-torah torah with the article is "the Law;" but torah alone is any teaching or instruction. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Dr. Kay regards the words of ver. 1 as "God"s own words,

(1) on account of the expression, O my people;" and

(2) on account of my Law." But "my people" is not inappropriate in the mouth of a psalmist, and occurs in Psa_59:11 and Psa_144:2. It "indicates the love in which the effort of the psalmist originated" (Hengstenberg). And "law," as already observed, is not the proper, or at any rate not the only, meaning of torah.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-72. Whole psalm: Warnings against unbelief.

I ITS PURPOSE.

1. To warn Ephraim; not to taunt and exult over him, but to warn. This psalm seems to belong to the period of the disruption. Ephraim, with the other northern tribes, had broken away from Judah and from the worship of God, and this psalm seems designed, by its recital of their old sins and the consequences thereof, to warn them against like sin in the future. (cf. 2Ch 13)

2. To warn Judah. If they had been greatly exalted of God, and by his presence amongst them were so still, let them take warning by Ephraim"s sin, that they fall not in like manner.

II ITS CONTENTS.

1. After an exordium (vers. 1-4), in which he asks attention, and tells the manner of his speech, its source, and its intent;

2. He begins his history, telling of the covenant, and wherefore God had appointed it, and what a failure on Israel"s part it had been (vers. 5-8).

3. Then he gives the details of his story. He charges Ephraim as being most in fault; how they broke the covenant, refused God"s Law, and forgot his works the wonders of the Exodus and of the wilderness, the pillar of fire, and the water out of the rock; how they tempted God in spite of all, and taunted him with their unbelief as to his power to provide them bread.

4. Then the psalm recites how God was wroth with them, and gave them the flesh they lusted after, but the plague along with it, letting them eat of the fruit of their own ways (ver. 31).

5. Next he tells of their miserable repentance (vers. 34-36), and how oft, nevertheless, God forgave them (vers. 38, 39).

6. Then from vers. 42-58 there is a further recital of God"s favour, and their ingratitude and disobedience. Then from vers. 59-67 is told the final rejection of Ephraim, and from thence onward the choosing of Judah and of David, and the justification of that choice (ver. 72). But

III WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF ALL THIS FOR US TODAY?

1. The fearful strength of the evil heart of unbelief. Religious privilege cannot restrain it; miracles cannot convince it; nor mercies persuade it; nor awful judgments permanently change it.

2. Inquire whence deliverance from such evil heart may come.

(1) Do not encourage it. Sin makes unbelief our interest we cannot afford to believe.

(2) If we have given such encouragement, by true repentance take it away.

(3) Encourage faith. Let it be your real interest to believe, as the real believer knows it is. He loves faith.

(4) By constant communion keep close to God. S.C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. The responsibility of hearers.

"Incline your ears." This psalm is regarded as the first and greatest of the historical psalms. It is "an inspired comment on the sacred history, with an avowed didactic purpose of warning, by a recital of God"s repeated mercies, and of Israel"s repeated sins. The historical psalms have a double value. They illustrate and confirm the historic record, always giving it vividness, and occasionally adding fresh touches of detail. But their real importance lies in the light which they throw on the religious conception of that history, which, indeed, alone makes it a continual lesson on the eternal will of God, and the unchanging characteristics of humanity." This psalm may be compared to the modern sermon or religious address, which differs from teaching in being an appeal to feeling, emotion, and principle, as well as to intellect. The Hebrew people were, and still are, easily interested in public teachers who can skilfully review the national history. But the point to which attention is now directed is, that there is a double responsibility when the teacher and the taught come together an effort demanded of the hearer as well as of the teacher. He must "incline his ear." Dr. Clay Trumbull points out, in relation to Sunday school work, that "intelligent, purposeful teaching includes the idea of two persons, both of them active. "Teaching," as causing another to know, includes the mutual effort of two persons to the same end. The teacher must endeavour to cause the pupil to learn a particular fact or truth which he wants him to know; the learner must endeavour to learn that particular fact or truth. Until the two are at this common work, the process of teaching has not begun: until the learner has learned, the teacher has not taught." The counsel to "incline our ears," or "our heart," is repeated again and again in Scripture. (see Jos_24:23 1Ki_8:58 Psa_119:36, 112 141:4 Pro_5:13 Jer_7:24 Jer_25:4, etc.) It seems designed to impress on us that we are responsible for malting the effort to hear profitably. Men make effort to listen to music; they make effort to catch every word of the orator; they can and they ought to make effort to heed the religious teacher. The responsibility of hearers may be said to concern four things.

I CULTIVATING THE HABIT OF LISTENING. Which involves drawing the mind in from other subjects, and fixing it on one. Of some people this praise can be spoken they are good listeners.

II HEARING WITH INTELLIGENT ATTENTION. Involving the activity of the mind in relation to what is heard. Thinking as well as listening.

III HEARING WITH PERSONAL INTEREST. For religious truth is not abstract, but relative to individuals. A man does not bear the right relation to it until he sees how it concerns himself.

IV HEARING WITH PURPOSE OF OBEDIENCE. For all religious teaching is designed to be, in some way, a guide to conduct. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This psalm is a narrative of the great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, the great sins wherewith they had provoked him, and the many tokens of his displeasure at them. Here is, The preface, ver. 1-8. The general scope of this psalm, ver. 9-11. As to the particulars, we are told, what God had done for them; how ungrateful they were for his favours; how God had justly punished them; and how graciously he had spared them, notwithstanding all their provocations, ver. 12-72. Maschil of Asaph.

My law - The doctrine which I am about to deliver. 2. Parable - Weighty sentences. Dark sayings - Not that the words are hard to be understood, but the things, God's transcendent goodness, their unparallel'd ingratitude; and their stupid ignorance and insensibleness, under such excellent teachings of God's word and works, are prodigious and hard to be believed. Of old - Of things done in ancient times.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The poet begins very similarly to the poet of Ps 49. He comes forward among the people as a preacher, and demands for his tra a willing, attentive hearing. תּורה is the word for every human doctrine or instruction, especially for the prophetic discourse which sets forth and propagates the substance of the divine teaching. Asaph is a prophet, hence Psa 78:2 is quoted in Mat 13:34. as ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου.

(Note: The reading διὰ Ἠσαΐ́ου τοῦ προφήτου is, although erroneous, nevertheless ancient; since even the Clementine Homilies introduce this passage as the language of Isaiah.)

He here recounts to the people their history מנּי־קדם, from that Egyptaeo-Sinaitic age of yore to which Israel's national independence and specific position in relation to the rest of the world goes back. It is not, however, with the external aspect of the history that he has to do, but with its internal teachings. משׁל is an allegory or parable, παραβολή, more particularly the apophthegm as the characteristic species of poetry belonging to the Chokma, and then in general a discourse of an elevated style, full of figures, thoughtful, pithy, and rounded. חידה is that which is entangled, knotted, involved, perlexe dictum. The poet, however, does not mean to say that he will literally discourse gnomic sentences and propound riddles, but that he will set forth the history of the fathers after the manner of a parable and riddle, so that it may become as a parable, i.e., a didactic history, and its events as marks of interrogation and nota-bene's to the present age. The lxx renders thus: ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολαῖς τὸ στόμα μου, φθέγξομαι προβλήματα ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς. Instead of this the Gospel by Matthew has: ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολαῖς τὸ στόμα μου, ἐρεύξομαι κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ καταβολῆς (κόσμου), and recognises in this language of the Psalm a prophecy of Christ; because it is moulded so appropriately for the mouth of Him who is the Fulfiller not only of the Law and of Prophecy, but also of the vocation of the prophet. It is the object-clause to נכחד, and not a relative clause belonging to the "riddles out of the age of yore," that follows in Psa 78:3 with אשׁר, for that which has been heard only becomes riddles by the appropriation and turn the poet gives to it. Psa 78:3 begins a new period (cf. Psa 69:27; Jer 14:1, and frequently): What we have heard, and in consequence thereof known, and what our fathers have told us (word for word, like Psa 44:1; Jdg 6:13), that will we not hide from their children (cf. Job 15:18). The accentuation is perfectly correct. The Rebı̂a by מבניהם has a greater distinctive force than the Rebı̂a by אחרון (לדור); it is therefore to be rendered: telling to the later generation (which is just what is intended by the offspring of the fathers) the glorious deeds of Jahve, etc. The fut. consec. ויּקם joins on to אשׁר עשׂה. Glorious deeds, proofs of power, miracles hath He wrought, and in connection therewith set up an admonition in Jacob, and laid down an order in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, viz., to propagate by tradition the remembrance of those mighty deeds (Exo 13:8, Exo 13:14; Deu 4:9, and other passages). להודיעם has the same object as והודעתּם in Deu 4:9; Jos 4:22. The matter in question is not the giving of the Law in general, as the purpose of which, the keeping of the laws, ought then to have been mentioned before anything else, but a precept, the purpose of which was the further proclamation of the magnalia Dei, and indirectly the promotion of trust in god and fidelity to the Law; cf. Psa 81:5., where the special precept concerning the celebration of the Feast of the Passover is described as a עדוּת laid down in Joseph. The following generation, the children, which shall be born in the course of the ages, were to know concerning His deeds, and also themselves to rise up (יקוּמוּ, not: come into being, like the יבאוּ of the older model-passage Ps 22:32) and to tell them further to their children, in order that these might place their confidence in god (שׂים כּסל, like שׁית מחסה in Psa 73:28), and might not forget the mighty deeds of God (Psa 118:17), and might keep His commandments, being warned by the disobedience of the fathers. The generation of the latter is called סורר וּמרה, just as the degenerate son that is to be stoned is called in Deu 21:18. הכין לבּו, to direct one's heart, i.e., to give it the right direction or tendency, to put it into the right state, is to be understood after Psa 78:37, Ch2 20:33, Sir. 2:17.

Psa 78:9

Psa 78:9, which comes in now in the midst of this description, is awkward and unintelligible. The supposition that "the sons of Ephraim" is an appellation for the whole of Israel is refuted by Psa 78:67. The rejection of Ephraim and the election of Judah is the point into which the historical retrospect runs out; how then can "the sons of Ephraim" denote Israel as a whole? And yet what is here said of the Ephraimites also holds good of the Israelites in general, as Psa 78:57 shows. The fact, however, that the Ephraimites are made specially conspicuous out of the "generation" of all Israel, is intelligible from the special interest which the Psalms of Asaph take in the tribes of Joseph, and here particularly from the purpose of practically preparing the way for the rejection of Shiloh and Ephraim related further on. In Psa 78:10 and Psa 78:11 the Ephraimites are also still spoken of; and it is not until Psa 78:12, with the words "in sight of their fathers," that we come back again to the nation at large. The Ephraimites are called נושׁקי רומי־קשׁת in the sense of נושׁקי קשׁת רומי קשׁת; the two participial construct forms do not stand in subordination but in co-ordination, as in Jer 46:9; Deu 33:19; Sa2 20:19, just as in other instances also two substantives, of which one is the explanation of the other, are combined by means of the construct, Job 20:17, cf. Kg2 17:13 Ker. It is therefore: those who prepare the bow, i.e., those arming themselves therewith (נשׁק as in Ch1 12:2; Ch2 17:17), those who cast the vow, i.e., those shooting arrows from the bow (Jer 4:29), cf. Bttcher, 728. What is predicated of them, viz., "they turned round" (הפך as in Jdg 20:39, Jdg 20:41), stands in contrast with this their ability to bear arms and to defend themselves, as a disappointed expectation. Is what is meant thereby, that the powerful warlike tribe of Ephraim grew weary in the work of the conquest of Canaan (Judg. 1), and did not render the services which might have been expected from it? Since the historical retrospect does not enter into details until Psa 78:12 onwards, this especial historical reference would come too early here; the statement consequently must be understood more generally and, according to Psa 78:57, figuratively: Ephraim proved itself unstable and faint-hearted in defending and in conducting the cause of God, it gave it up, it abandoned it. They did not act as the covenant of God required of them, they refused to walk (ללכת, cf. ללכת, Ecc 1:7) within the limit and track of His Tra, and forgot the deeds of God of which they had been eye-witnesses under Moses and under Joshua, their comrades of the same family.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Maschil

Maschil, instruction.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A Review of Israel’s History as a Source of Consolation.

Maschil of Asaph, a didactic poem, intended to instruct the children of Israel in the wonderful ways of the Lord and to warn them against apostasy.

The Introduction

v. 1. Give ear, O my people, to my law, the religious teacher calling attention to his instruction which he is now about to begin; incline your ears to the words of my mouth, in the attitude of most careful attention.

v. 2. I will open my mouth in a parable, in proverbial sayings; I will utter dark sayings of old, make statements which would appear as oracles or riddles if unexplained, or if the application to present conditions were omitted,

v. 3. which we, the people of the older generation, have heard and known, and our fathers have told us, this being the custom in Israel, according to God’s command, Deu 6:6-7; Deuteronomy 20-25.

v. 4. We will not hide them from their children, by refusing to hand them down by word of mouth and by written record, showing to the generation to come, the children which are now growing up, the praises of the Lord, the acts of His government which redound to His glory, and His strength, in its various manifestations, and His wonderful works that He hath done.

v. 5. For He established a testimony in Jacob, setting it up to be observed in the midst of His people, and appointed a Law in Israel, laying it down as a rule of life, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, Deu 4:9;

v. 6. that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and, in turn, declare them to their children;

v. 7. that they might set their hope in God, making Him the one foundation of their trust, and not forget the works of God, all the miracles by which He manifested Himself, but keep His commandments, observing all that He had ordered,

v. 8. and might not be as their fathers, the reference being chiefly to those of the wilderness journey, a stubborn, faithless, disloyal, and rebellious generation, Exo 32:9; Deu 21:18; a generation that set not their heart aright, did not direct it to the service of God alone, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God, was not faithful toward Him.

v. 9. The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, fully equipped for battle, turned back in the day of battle; although this tribe possessed the privileges, and therefore should have fulfilled the duties, of the first-born, by being leaders of the nation in everything that was good, its members showed their leadership rather in apostasy from God.

v. 10. They kept not the covenant of God, they were backsliders almost from the start, permitting idolatry within their coasts almost immediately after the conquest of Canaan, and refused to walk in His Law;

v. 11. and forgat His works and His wonders that He had showed them, not heeding the impressive lessons connected with the guidance of the Lord. So much is said, by way of introduction and summary, to prepare the way for the warning contained in the remainder of the hymn.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 78:20

Notice what kind of unbelief is here. It does not deny the past fact. It acknowledges that God has done a miracle of mercy. But in that miracle it finds no such revelation of God Himself and His perpetual character and love as gives assurance that He will again be powerful and merciful. These Israelites have no accumulated faith. They are just where they were before the last miracle relieved them. That miracle stands wholly by itself. It does not promise or imply another.

I. The power of accumulation of life differs extremely in different men. Some men gather living force, wisdom, faith, out of every experience. Other men leave the whole experience behind them, and carry out with them nothing but the barren recollection of it. And the difference, when we examine it, depends on this: on whether the man has any conception of a continuous, unbroken principle or personal association running through life, and bringing out of each experience its soul and essence to be perpetually kept.

II. The true unity of life is the unity of a long journey in which, though the quick railroad is constantly compelling you to leave each new scene behind you, the wise, kind company of the friend whom you are travelling with, and who in each new scene has had the chance to show you something new of his wisdom and kindness, has been continually with you and bound the long journey into a unit.

III. Suppose a human soul looking out into the mysterious and unrevealed experiences of the everlasting world. The window of death is wide open; and the soul stands up before it, and looks through, and sees eternity. How shall the soul carry with it the sense of safety and assurance in God, which it has won within His earthly care, forth into this unknown, untrodden vastness whither it now must go? Only in one way; only by deepening as deeply as possible its assurance that it is God—not accident, not its own ingenuity, not its brethren’s kindness—that it is God who has made this earthly life so rich and happy. Wrapped into Him, the soul may be not merely resigned; it may be even impatient to explore those larger regions where the power which has made itself known to it here shall be able to display to it all the completeness of its nature and its love.

IV. There is a difference between coming out of sorrow thankful for relief and coming out of sorrow full of sympathy with, and trust in, Him who has released us. To the soul that finds in all life new and ever deeper knowledge of Christ, life is for ever accumulating. This is the only real transfiguration of the dusty road, the monotony and routine of living.

Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 320.

References: Psa 78:23-25.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 459. Psa 78:25.—H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1497.

Psa 78:34-37

I. It is a subject well worthy of the serious consideration of all persons who desire to be in the safe way of salvation how commonly it happens that the best intentions and resolutions, made in times of danger and affliction, are thought little or nothing more of when the alarm is over. Every one knows that numbers of persons who have been on the very brink of death, and have been restored, yet have been in no respect whatever the better afterwards for such a fearful warning. Indeed, it is so common a case that no one wonders at it.

II. To a reflecting mind it seems little less than a- miracle that we should be preserved in the manner we are from day to day. And is not this matter for daily thankfulness and should not the consideration of it make us ever feel as persons every moment rescued from the brink of ruin, every moment supported by an unseen, almighty hand? However, as these daily mercies are so slightly regarded, our tender Father frequently by some more signal visitation calls us back from carelessness and folly. It is a truth ever to be remembered by us that the resolutions and vows we make in such hours of trial and on the bed of sickness are remembered and recorded in God’s book. They will be brought forward again in the great day of final account.

III. We ought to be very careful of trusting to a partial amendment, of thinking that because we are better than we once were, or better than many other people, therefore we are in the way to heaven. Amidst this dim and perplexing prospect, the comfort is that our heavenly Father knows our weakness and our wants, that Christ Jesus, who is hereafter to be our Judge, is now touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. i., p. 126.

References: Psa 78:38.—Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iii., p. 57. Psa 78:40.—F. E. Paget, Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life, vol. i., p. 88.

Psa 78:41

I. Ever since the fall of man, there has been a natural tendency in the human heart to "limit the Holy One of Israel." This is the crime of idolatry and of heathenism. This was the contest of the Hebrew worship with the surrounding nations. Let us beware how we create an image of God in our minds dishonourable to Him, and by its limitation to our poor faculty become the means of limiting the Holy One of Israel.

II. For idolatry is not its own root; it is the growth of a seed deeper than itself, and that seed is sin. Sin limits the Holy One of Israel, the corrupt influence in the mind and in the heart, the perverted imagination, the perverted will. Sin closes the avenues by which God enters the human soul, and narrows the Divine Being in the conception.

III. There is no power so subtle as unbelief, doubt. By this we limit the Holy One of Israel. Doubt makes the Divine Being subservient to our own estimate of what He is. How frequently Christian men walk amidst the very mysteries and eternities of Godhead only to limit the Holy One of Israel.

IV. Some philosophers limit the Holy One of Israel even in the operations of nature. There is a feeling that as we enlarge the boundaries of the universe God is carried to a more remote distance from us. The past fills the soul ever with fear. It is so whenever we are led out into infinity. Night has had three daughters: Religion, Superstition, and Atheism.

V. Again, when on behalf of God we appeal to man as free, and invite him to love, and trust, and believe, doubt says, In what way can man’s responsibility so act as not to limit God’s royalty, if we are ambassadors for Christ? God Himself anticipates these objections; in prayer He aids: in speaking He aids. He is on the side of the freedom of man; He, too, will aid man to assert his freedom: and he who doubts the possibility of this limits the Holy One of Israel, who giveth His Holy Spirit to them that ask.

E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 365.

References: Psa 78:41.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 272. Psa 78:41, Psa 78:42.—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. v., p. 241.

Psa 78:69

I. Stability and permanence are, perhaps, the especial ideas which a church brings before the mind. It represents, indeed, the beauty, the loftiness, the calmness, the mystery, and the sanctity of religion also, and that in many ways. Still, more than all these, it represents to us its eternity.

II. See what a noble principle faith is. The Christian throws himself fearlessly on the future, because he believes in Him which is, and which was, and which is to come. One lays the foundation, and another builds thereupon; one levels the mountain, and another "brings forth the head-stone with shoutings."

III. The Churches which we inherit are the fruits of martyrdom. Their foundations are laid very deep, even in the preaching of the Apostles, and the confession of saints, and the first victories of the Gospel in our land. The Church alone can plant the Church.

J. H. Newman, Selection from the Parochial and Plain Sermons, p. 377 (also vol. vi., p. 270).

Psa 78:70

I. Consider David’s calling. The words of the text form the clearest and grandest explanation of the wonderful process by which the unknown shepherd became Israel’s greatest king. Two questions present themselves here: (1) How was David’s shepherd life an unconscious preparation for his calling? The effect of solitude is to awaken faith in the invisible. Sailors see portents in the clouds, hear words in the night wind; shepherds have a strong belief in the supernatural. In solitude and stillness the deeper soul awakens. Amid the stillness of the ancient hills, David, the shepherd youth, was learning to feel a presence which surrounded him behind and before, and to realise the nearness of One who read his thoughts in the silence. (2) How did the Divine summons fit him for his vocation? The hour came when he was to know that through all his years he had been trained for it, when "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward." And now observe, he was sent back to his flocks, in the full knowledge of his grand destiny sent to pass years of silent waiting. There were two great convictions awakened in him then that formed in him elements of strength through all his career: (a) the belief in a Divine Leader; (b) the belief in a Divine choice.

II. Notice the modern lessons of David’s calling. (1) There is a Divine plan in every life. (2) There is a Divine vocation for every man. (3) There is a Divine Shepherd for every man.

E. L. Hull, Sermons Preached at King’s Lynn, 1st series, p. 132.

References: Psa 78:70, Psa 78:71.—F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 36. Psa 79:13.—F. W. Farrar, Old Testament Outlines, p. 124. Psalm 79—J. H. Hitchens, Catholic Sermons, vol. ii., p. 73. Psalm 79—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 217. Psalm 79—P. Thomson, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 247.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The consistency of God’s ways, in which His grace is sovereign still.

Maskil of Asaph.

The seventy-eighth psalm is most fittingly entitled a "Maskil" -an instruction. It surveys the history from Egypt until David: a sufficient sample, man being, as he is, the same at all times; and David’s history being also the type, as we are well aware, of that of his Son and Lord. We can understand, therefore, why with this gleam of brightness the psalm ends; grace in him seen sovereign and victorious, after the long course of failure, as it will be in the end foreshadowed by it. The six sections mark this victory of God’s grace, which is seen in measure all through, while everywhere His holiness and consistency with His character are conspicuous also.

1. The first section gives us God’s provision for His people, illustrated by the one who here addresses them. God is not satisfied with giving a written word to them, necessary as this is, and the basis of everything. His will is that there should be preachers of the Word and of all the works of the Lord of which it testifies and from which it draws its precious instruction. Preachers were to be in every family in Israel, and these preachers not an official class, but the heads of the families themselves. Practically, those who were competent to speak, spoke: the things they heard and knew they were not to hide, and such capacity is always responsibility, and in the nature of things must be, -a responsibility which none can devolve upon another. But let us hear the psalmist.

(a) He speaks with the authority of one speaking for God, -with the consciousness of the importance of what he utters. The language of conviction will ever be authoritative, and on that account held for assumptive and dogmatic by those who are either not near enough to God to know the secret of it, or not conscious enough of being afar off to want to change the confusion of twilight for the clear outlines of the day What comfort can there be for the soul, apart from the certainty of what it holds for truth? what happiness in the path, except there is full assurance of this being with God? Surely, none whatever. And the apostle Peter expresses what the goodness of God intends for us when he says: If any one speak, let him speak as oracles of God," that is, as God’s mere mouthpiece: while for the walk the Lord Himself declares: "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Thus the blessedness to which we are called is manifest. Oh that we may live up to the full privileges that are ours!

He begins then with an exhortation to obedience:

"Give ear, O my people, to my law": or "instruction," some would say; and that is, indeed, the primary meaning of the word; yet it is that regularly used for "law" (torah), and we must take it at least as implying the authority which truth ever has for the true. This is, in fact, what the numerical structure lays emphasis on the number being that which speaks of sovereignty, supremacy. Therefore, "incline your ears unto the sayings of my mouth."

This "instruction" needs, however, penetration and discernment: "I will open my mouth in a parable I will pour out deep things of old."

It is not, therefore, that only which is unmistakable at first sight that is authoritative. But how many excuse themselves from obedience on just such grounds! Thus Scripture, which is professedly oftentimes "deep," as here, becomes a thing so far which may be unknown, nay, slighted, without blame. "Deep" things are for the deep, the people who have mind for it, or taste, or learning, or leisure, or all of these! Parables, types, prophecies, the larger part of what they too, with the rest, call "the word of God," become so much spiritual bric-à-brac, which it is rather a proof of sobriety of mind to do without, or, at least, to value at a low rate. But is the psalmist commending to us these things, or the reverse, when he speaks of them as "deep things" or "parables"? Does he address himself to the many or to the few? to the people as a whole, or to some spiritual aristocracy? after all, not an aristocracy by spiritual qualities, but by natural, or even by circumstantial differences? For there is, let it be known, a spiritual aristocracy, (if you please to call it so,) but it is defined by devotedness and diligence of heart: and where these are found, the race of the prophets still is found, to whom the words of Amos will apply (Amo 3:7): "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets."

When we go on to look at the psalm which is thus characterized, however, we may have difficulty in discussing how it fulfills the titles which are thus given to it. From beginning to end it is historic, -an appeal to facts which we already have in books that are devoted to the "wonderful works" of the Lord in relation to Israel. For God never left such things to tradition merely. What would tradition be in the hands of those whose incompetency every way the history itself demonstrates so absolutely? But this history, being what it is, and of what it is, is just what is suited to utter divine secrets to the heart that is attentive. It is the ways of God put in connection with the men and their ways, to which these apply. Thus, since we are men, and the same God is ours and theirs, the history becomes a parable or similitude, -something by which, as we compare things together, what we are and what God is to us will be brought out. Thus the very history becomes a mirror for us, not merely of ourselves, but of ourselves in the light of God. How good thus to know ourselves!

Then indeed, our own history and the history of God’s people at all times, become united in one glorious whole, which fills the soul with light and blessing. "What we have heard and known," and what "our fathers have told us" come into the most instructive agreement. Our lives are seen not to be broken and disjointed, and so far, meaningless fragments, but are lifted into significance and power. The actors in all this human history become friends and counsellors. The precepts of the Word are powerfully enforced, illustrated, and fastened in their place by these vivid pictures, all the more fitted to lay hold of us by the exceptional magnitude of the events which come before us in them, -only made plainer, and not distorted by their magnitude.

Were we thus more realizing the ways of God with us, the natural consequence would follow that we should be (how much!) more competent witnesses to those that come after us in the same path. "What we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us, we will not hide from their children, showing to the generations to come the praises of Jehovah, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done." This is what secures the blessing that is in it, that it is His praises that are being thus sustained and spread abroad. God is in His place, and thus all else, in the same proportion that He is so.

(b) The second part here declares this perpetual testimony to be designed of God, to maintain the memory of His acts and the authority of His commands, in view of the constant proneness upon man’s part to forget. The living voice of the preacher was to make, in the lower sense of this, the Word living. And the preacher was not to be official, but, as we may say, the one everywhere installed by nature. God, as the Author of nature, confirms its appointment. We may now pass on to the history.

2. The second section shows us now, in brief but decisive contrast, the ways of the people and the ways of God. As to the people, this is put in the most general terms, the tribe of Ephraim being taken as their representatives, for reasons which we shall have presently to consider. The ways of God are shown by reference to the great features of His intervention for them in Egypt and the wilderness. The miracles in Egypt are only referred to, and come up for review more fully afterwards; the others are not spoken of again in the psalm.

(a) On the people’s side there is not seen merely failure. It is carefully explained that what might seem that was in reality much more. With God, they could not fail. If they did so, it was because they refused to walk in His law. At first sight, what is said of Ephraim also appears as if it were an incident only, but it is not so. Ephraim is but representative of the conduct of all the tribes; their action as typical as they themselves are.

When Israel entered the land, it was under the Ephraimite, Joshua. When the ark came first to rest in the land, it was in Ephraimitic Shiloh that it rested. "Shiloh" is the name given to Messiah in Jacob’s prophecy as to the tribes (Gen 49:1-33), and means He who gives peace": the rest of the ark might well seem to intimate that that peace was now at hand.

The tribe of Ephraim, the younger of the brother tribes of Joseph, but in Jacob’s prophecy concerning these (Gen 48:1-22) exalted to the first place, might well therefore in Joshua’s time claim the leadership in Israel. Reuben had lost the birthright which was his originally, and Joseph, the first-born of Rachel, had gained it: these two sons of his taking place with the sons of Jacob themselves, showing him to have the double portion of the first-born. Every way, therefore, in title as in fact, the preeminence then belonged to Ephraim.

But the title under which they inherited the land at that time had, as we well know, one fundamental defect: it was this, that it was held according to the covenant of law, -the covenant which, in ignorance of themselves and of God, they had taken upon themselves to keep. Their failure therefore to hold this title was inevitable; although only by degrees did this become apparent. In Jacob’s blessing of the tribes Judah occupies a large place; but Joseph, it might be claimed, one still larger. If Shiloh is spoken of in connection with. Judah, the Shepherd and Stone of Israel is spoken of in connection with the other: what the connection, might still be doubtful. In Moses’ blessing, Joseph again has undeniably the larger place. No other tribe could claim precedence, if Judah failed.

Apart from all typical significance, (which, of course, could not be pleaded in the case,) Joshua, therefore, was the natural leader in taking possession of the land, and might well seem to emphasize the claim of Ephraim. Thus Ephraim comes into the psalm here as the representative tribe: but it is no longer said of him; as of Joseph it had been, "his bow abode in strength." The language might seem in designed opposition to this: "the children of Ephraim; archers equipped, turned back in the day of encounter." Equipped they were, and therefore sufficient to have stood. God had not failed them; circumstances were not too strong for them. Nor lacked there any assurance of successful issue. They stood upon ground secured to them by the divine promise: "every place that the sole of your foot shall tread on shall be your own." Yet in spite of all this, they turned back: it was no mere failure: "they kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law; and they forgat His works, and His wonders that He had shown them."

(b) This is a common history, and it was that of the whole nation. Yet what had He not done for them! It was no unknown God who laid claim to their obedience. He had manifested Himself to them in mighty miracles by which He had shaken to its centre what was then the greatest kingdom upon earth, which held them in its cruel grip relentlessly. He had made the sea to yield a path for their escape, the waters standing as a heap while they passed through. He had Himself led them by that which, always the opposite of nature, answered to their need, a cloud by day, the light of fire by night. In the wilderness He had cleft the rocks for them; at Horeb and at Meribah, and given them drink abundantly, as out of the depths. Nay, He had brought streams out of the rock, and caused the waters to run down like rivers.*

{*The last two verses refer" of course" to the same two miracles" though these are differently emphasized. The fourth verse speaks of need met simply, though abundantly met the fifth of what in the language of Scripture would be called "living", i.e."running" waters. The typical interpretation would give here a gleam of light as to the structure: for" while 4 is the number of the creature" 5 -that is 4 plus 1, -brings into connection with this the thought of God in relation to the creature" which the "’living water" as the type of the Spirit of God (Joh 7:38-39) would answer to. But this involves" of course" interpretation of this character, and as ruling where the literal meaning seems the first thing. The natural constantly is the basis of the spiritual" as we have often seen but I can only suggest the question and leave it.}

3. (a) The third section shows how the people had sinned in the very presence of God so manifested to them. It was not a later generation merely that did so, with whom the knowledge of these things had grown dim in the years that had elapsed since their recurrence, but the very generation among whom such miracles had been displayed. People scoff now, because they see no miracles; but so they did when the miracles were before their eyes: they sinned yet more against Him, and provoked the Most High in the desert," -there where His supremacy over all nature had been unequivocally demonstrated in their behalf. Miracles did not repress the craving of hearts away from God, for which one thing denied could turn the bounteous Giver into one incompetent to secure the blessing of those with whom He had charged Himself. Yet in the same breath they own what He had already done in bringing water out of the rock. To provide flesh, they thought, was a more difficult thing, and transcended His ability. Thus they turned His hand against themselves: "fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger went up" in the flame that rose against Israel." Unbelief was the only sin with them; as it always has been the sin that provoked judgment: unbelief that came not from lack of evidence, for of that there was abundance, but from wills that rebelled against His easy yoke.

(b) As in the book of Numbers, when the people are murmuring about the food which God has given them, and craving flesh, as we are here reminded, the Spirit of God turns to describe this manna which they are rejecting, so now does the psalmist, though in a different manner. He especially dwells upon it as bread from heaven, and then upon the strength given by it, for that is surely what is meant by calling it "the bread of the mighty" -bread that produces might. Nor are we to think of any figurative sense of the words, or any typical significance of the manna itself. The purpose to which he applies the history forbids any thought of this in the case, as is evident. The marvel was great indeed, and fitted to appeal to the heart, that the food which the desert soil denied should come to them from heaven! When we think of the precisely measured quantity, on the sixth day double every other day, following them wherever they journeyed for forty years, until it ceased, just after passing Jordan, -it was a stupendous miracle. No wonder that imagination should picture it, (as the Septuagint, but not the Hebrew, does) as "angels’ food." No wonder that it should be really -prepared in such a manner, with such abundant care, -"bread of the mighty"; like the food in the strength of which Elijah went forty days and forty nights, through this same wilderness, "to Horeb, the mount of God." "Provision to the full" it was, excluding any possible need of any other. And that is the point here.

God had provided for them; and how then could that provision be other than perfectly adapted to their need? In fact, it was the food to nourish a race of mighty men. Yet that wilderness-food was but the type of ours. This spiritual manna, what ought it not to produce in us in the way of strength and courage! what spiritual heroes ought we not to be! Nay, we should say rather, what will there not be in this way, if God’s food be really partaken of in faith and simplicity. Communication with Christ, -the entering into that self-sacrificing love which brought Him down to us, and gave Him for our sins! what manner of men must this make of us, in all holy conversation and godliness! If this be lacking, it is not that God’s provision has failed, for that cannot be, but that we have despised and turned away from it: and who can doubt that this is largely the case now? Plenty of activity in benevolent work there may be, where this is true; and the very enthusiasm for this work which leads professing Christians to associate for such ends with the deniers and despisers of Christ Himself, is the surest evidence of this.

(c) The people, however, have turned from the manna: they desire flesh; and, their craving being ungratified, they have questioned even the ability of God to give it. He will not therefore permit this. They shall see that His hand is not shortened, and that the creatures that He has made are subject to Him, though sin has made man a rebel. Once more the powers of heaven therefore are in activity: the east wind unites with the south wind to accomplish His will, and flesh is rained upon them more plentifully than manna was. Nor is there the least trouble in procuring it: it is all round about them; at their very doors: "He let it fall in the midst of their camp, -round about their habitations." The manifestation of His power and goodness is complete.

(d) But this necessarily becomes a new test for the people. God cannot be manifested to them without its being that. What will they do now, when His power and love to them are so perfectly demonstrated? Will they judge themselves for all these murmurings, and give Him the glory due to Him? Have they hearts capable of being touched by this new grace, which comes so entirely in the way which they have themselves indicated for it?

Alas, there is no response. This mercy is to them only the satisfaction of their lust. They eat to repletion of the food, hardened and stupefied by it, instead of blest; and the judgment of God falls upon them. It is, in fact, now the only remedy which even mercy knows. Judgment therefore picks out the fat ones, and the choice men of Israel are stricken down: and with what effect? "For all this, they sinned yet, and believed not His wondrous works." The genesis of unbelief, as rather in the heart than in the head, is perfectly apparent.

4. This ends the detailed story of the wilderness, to which we have only a general reference again (verses 40, 41), and the place is reached in which we may now survey man, this fallen creature. and ask, what is he? It is a question very necessary to be faced and answered, if we ourselves are to go on with God. If we trust in man, it is ourselves we trust in: for we are men. If we trust in ourselves, in that exact proportion will God’s ways be dark to us, and Himself unknown. The Cross it is in which together man finds his judgment, and God manifests Himself in the glory that is His. If it be not man’s due, then is the cross mere martyrdom; and Christ at best but Prince of martyrs. If it be man’s due, and by a death under His wrath on sin God alone could save us, then how completely must man be put out of sight, in order that there may be a righteous ground for our salvation, -that God may be righteous in it. And Christianity is not the restoration (even by grace) of this ruined creature. It is the setting aside -the crucifixion of the old man, that Christ may be now the New Man, in whom God sees us, and in whom we see ourselves, -that I may live, no longer I, but Christ in me (Gal 2:20). Faith, which is but the turning of the back on self, being now the only principle of fruitfulness and power, we walk in Christ as we live in Christ. They are the true circumcision who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Php 3:3).

The review here is of the greatest importance, and we have it with such completeness as man’s history thus far could give it, in seven sections, in which there is not omitted the pitifulness of God’s estimate, while He is truthful in it. True, "He consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror;" yet it was the only thing that would in any wise recall them to Himself: for "when He slew them, then they sought Him, and returned, and sought diligently after the Mighty One." It was might that they needed to be put forth for them; and the memory of former deliverances wrought with them: "they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Mighty One, the Most High, their Redeemer."

Something now was surely accomplished. Their need had been most real, and the remembrance of God was also real; the days of the Judges come to our mind, when "the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah, and Jehovah raised them up a deliverer." Yet how constantly had fresh captivity followed deliverance! Alas, it was manifest that when they turned to God it was but halfheartedly: the greatness of their need had constrained them, and not a love responsive to the love that had been shown them. They had flattered Him with their mouth, and lied unto Hint with their tongue, and their heart was not firm with Him, and they were not steadfast in His covenant."

What hope then in man, whom judgment brings but to a forced and temporary amendment, and mercies move but to forgetting Him altogether? Yet He went on still in mercy manifest, or chastening with what was mercy in disguise: "He was compassionate, and forgave their perversity, and destroyed them not; and often turned away His anger, and did not stir up all His wrath." And why? Ah, "He remembered that they were flesh: breath that goeth and returneth not." Frailty and transience could not be more perfectly characterized than by that which is the sign and accompaniment of the life within man. Flesh, too, is that which in all its waste and renewal teaches the same lesson; while as the lowest part of him; and yet into which he seems altogether sunk, it speaks of ruin, which, to be such for a creature such as man, must be moral ruin. The Lord’s argument from this condition is, that he "must be born again."

5. The following section shows Israel’s history in conformity with this; and God’s dealings with them until everything seems gone; His link with them broken, the ark in captivity, the priests that served it slain. It is the history of centuries of long-suffering on His part, though compressed in so brief a space. But in truth the elements are few and simple, and the history in its general character monotonous enough. It is prefaced by a longer detail of how he had acted on their behalf in Egypt to deliver them: showing to them and to men at large in impressive detail the complete dependence of all things upon Himself. Hence in the world’s insubjection to Him, the subjection of things to man is lost, and the course of nature is turned against him. Such lessons learned at the start, how much would have been spared them! How strange that each generation must needs learn by experience what the combined experience of the race has been ineffectual to teach it! Israel is in all this a constant example to us.

(a) The wilderness is first of all glanced at, to remind us how they rebelled against Him there, -how "they turned back, and tempted the Most High, and set limits to the Holy One of Israel." One would imagine rather that it would be said, that they set limits to the Mighty One, -that is, to His power; but the thought is that it is His holiness which, in view of their sin, hinders Him from coming in for them. Is it not so, that God’s "delights are with the sons of men," and that, as we see in Christ come down among us, He would give free way to His love, but that unbelief on our part forces Him behind the veil, puts "bounds around the Mighty," in His very love to us? Alas, so can His redeemed ones act, though partakers of a better redemption, that Israel of old should he their sign: for they remembered not His hand, -the day when He redeemed them from the oppressor: how He set His signs in Egypt, His miracles in the field of Zoan." Signs of this kind are for His people to read, that they may escape them. They take effect as to the world, the state of which they reveal as away from God, and the contrast between it and His people; who are yet warned by them of the things "on account of which the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience."

(b) Such an application of the plagues of Egypt follows in the next section: in the very first of which we see, as before remarked, nature rebelling against those in rebellion against God. The river, in its various channels by which the land was watered, and which was the very sign of their independence of heaven, -which they adored as a god, and yet could claim as their own making (Eze 29:3) -things which to all idolatry agree well together, -the river was turned into blood, so that they could not drink of it. The support of life becomes the very symbol of death, and of death by violence, the infliction of the penalty. It is, in fact, not merely the insurrection of nature that is here, but penalty from the Creator of nature -death from the Life-giver.

Next, in another order from that in Exodus, and two miracles being classed together to make the lesson clear, -the pride of Egypt is abased by two of the meanest instrumentalities, the "swarms" (no doubt, of insects) and the croakers of the marsh," as the word for frogs seems to mean in Hebrew.

Then the fruit of their labor, as that of unclean hands, is put under the ban and destroyed by what Joel calls the army of the Lord. And then nature itself is smitten by that which speaks of the withdrawal of God from it. Afterwards nature as in subjection to and sympathy with man, of which the cattle naturally speak.*

{*"The number five, as applied to man, speaks of man with God, the 4 of the creature being added to the 1 of the Creator. . . But in the lower sphere in which we now are -penetrated everywhere as it is, however, with divine meaning -the 1 represents man instead of God, but man as His vicegerent and in His image. Thus this last character of the rasorial type, as described by Mr. Swainson, the ’aptitude and disposition of those accomplishing it to submit to his dominion,’ is surely as remarkable as unexpected an illustration of the number before us. Man with God means man subject to Him, under His dominion: here we have the image of that in the lower creatures." ("Spiritual Law in the Natural World," p. 137.)}

Next, we find "a mission of messengers of ill," the more open manifestation and fullness of evil as from Him. And then death itself, and by pestilence, as the end of all, closes the list. No doubt, the death of the first-born is here included, though this is given in another connection, separately, as it stands in the book of Exodus itself, apart from the other plagues.

(c) We now find Israel put in possession of the land, toward which the death of the first-born is the first decisive step; the deliverance of the people follows, with which is connected God’s guidance of them in the wilderness. The wilderness is no more mentioned. Then we have their safety from the presence of God with them; their enemies being buried in the sea; and then at once they are at the land: "He brought them to His holy border, this mountain which His right hand acquired." Last comes the governmental award of the land, of which for their sins He dispossessed the nations of Canaan.

All this is briefly told, but more effectually for its very brevity. God is now for them, and nothing can even delay His progress, except the unbelief and folly of those with whom He has charged Himself. In fact there was on this account a delay during the lifetime of the whole generation; but this is not now in question, and has indeed been already considered. The psalmist designs all this but as introduction to the story of their defection in the land, after all this power displayed for them.

(d) The departure is now, still in the concisest manner, told out. There is nothing new in their course except the new opportunities afforded by the high places of the land: the departure is, first, negative rebellion, "they observed not His testimonies." Then, more positively and decisively, "they turned back, and dealt faithlessly, like their fathers: they turned aside like a deceitful bow." The next verse shows a direct attack upon the central worship: high places which the one sanctuary was intended to displace rose up again, and graven images moved the Lord to jealousy.

(e) The recompense follows in the next two sections: first of all, in His removal of the profaned sanctuary. Shiloh is given up, and the tent He had in wondrous loving-kindness pitched among men. And He gave His strength" the ark of His strength" (Psa 132:8) into captivity among the Philistines; and his beauty (or splendor) -still the ark, but in another aspect of it, -into the hand of the oppressor of Israel. Thus God, in every visible sign of relationship, had departed from Israel, and Ichabod, according to the declaration of the dying wife of Phinehas, was written upon the nation at large. Every regularly constituted link was snapped asunder. God might still speak by a prophet, and in fact did so, for this depended upon a grace which was sovereign with Him; His inalienable prerogative, whenever He was pleased to exercise it. But the established order of things was at an end. Nor was the ark restored to its place till David’s time (1Ch 13:3; Psa 132:6).

(f) If things went on otherwise well, man might feel little, alas, the loss of his great treasure. But because God will not give them up to this, more sensible chastening must ensue. Therefore, in very acknowledgment that in the thoughts of His heart they were still His people, He delivered them up to the sword; their young men were consumed in the fire of His anger, so that the maidens went unwedded. Their priests also fell by the sword, making the sanctuary doubly desolate; and their widows were dumb with a grief that went beyond the grief of widowhood.

This is the end, then, in fact, of the legal covenant, in one important aspect of it. The people had failed under it as first given -failed utterly at Sinai itself. Priesthood was then a resource, and with a modification of the first unsparing severity of law, they were put under it a second time, in the hands of a mediator: first, Moses, but then the family of Aaron. Now these, too, had utterly failed, and all was gone once more. Samuel may be in this strait another Moses, and introduce one last method of trial after the legal sort, by the king. But the issue cannot now be any more doubtful, for "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." The song of Moses had indeed foreseen it all from the beginning; and he who would take God’s estimate of things could never at any time have been in doubt. Now it was proved, however, by ample experience, in the national history. Thus a momentous conclusion had in fact been reached. Man is "flesh," and of man in the flesh here is an end. Though David follow therefore in this psalm; this is not put now as if it were a new trial. David is but the expression of a grace in God which will need indeed Another in whom rightly to manifest itself; but the grace is here, and with David in this way seen, the psalmist ends. For faith there is left an open secret, to which his own last words bear witness. (2Sa 23:1-7.)

6. The sixth section is clearly therefore a fresh division of the psalm; and not a continuation of the former one. It is also, beautifully, as we know, a trumpet-note of victory after defeat, but the Lord’s victory, and not man’s. And so, exactly, its opening words declare. Two verses are devoted to this thought.

(a) The Lord -not Jehovah, but Adonai, the Sovereign Lord -awakes, as the strong figure puts it, as one out of sleep; and His full strength is manifest at once with Him. He is "like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine." The excited energy of man is needed to furnish the figure: "He smote His adversaries backward; an everlasting reproach He inflicted upon them."

(b) But the new grace must have new experience. It must be seen that this is not a reinstating of the old conditions. The first-born, the primacy of nature, is once more rejected. The tent of Joseph is not restored; God’s sovereignty of choice cannot be properly shown out in the taking up again for His abode the tribe of Ephraim. His new relation is one that depends solely upon the love that is in His own heart, and thus Zion becomes unchangeably the destined seat of His earthly kingdom, and Judah the tribe with which this is connected. And now the "tent" correspondingly gives place to a permanent dwelling. He builds as for eternity: "He built His sanctuary like the heights, -like the earth, which He founded for ever."

From these thoughts He has not departed. From this free choice he could not depart. In His counsel Zion is still, according to its name, the "fixed," and Judah the worshiper. Yet a little while, and His old abode shall he revisited in His love, in a favor no more to be withdrawn, as all the prophets witness. And thus we see how true a beginning of grace is exhibited here.

(c) The psalm ends with the "Anointed." The structure emphasizes this, and not merely the King: though he is King, and must be anointed, to be this. The eyes of the prophet are afar off, though David is in immediate sight: David, the "Beloved," here too God’s heart has chosen, and will not give up its choice. David, first of all, His servant, proved in the lowly service of the flock, by and by to serve His true flock on the throne: to be shepherd to Jacob -well known as that, yet "His people," and "Israel His inheritance."

And God’s thought was realized -though but partially indeed -in David. It is easy to hear the Voice that speaks to us in it with how much deeper meaning: "And he tended them after the integrity of His heart, and guided them with the skilfulness of His hands."

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)

A maschil of Asaph

"This is a maschil that Asaph wrote." See how "a psalm of Asaph" is translated in Psalms 50:1.

A maschil

This may refer to a style of music. See how you translated this in Psalms 32:1.

Hear my teaching

The noun "teaching" can be translated with a verb. AT: "Hear what I teach" or "Hear me as I teach you" (See: Abstract Nouns)

the words of my mouth

The word "mouth" represents the person. AT: "my words" (See: Synecdoche)

open my mouth in parables

The idiom "open my mouth" means to speak. AT: "speak in parables" (See: Idiom)

sing about

"tell." See how "pours out" is translated in Psalms 19:2.

hidden things

If your language has a word for sayings that are purposely difficult to understand, you might use it here.

translationWords

Asaph

people group

word

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.