Psalms 78:10

Psa 78:10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

Ver. 10. They kept not the covenant, &c.] And so betrayed themselves into the hands of divine justice, they were worthily worsted. See 2Ch 15:2.

And refused to walk in his law] They were set upon it, and would not be ruled by their father Ephraim, or any other that counselled them to the contrary; and haply said the like to them that Archidamus did to his too daring son, Aut viribus adde aut animis adime, Either add to thy forces or abate of thy courage.

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 78:10-11. They kept not the covenant of God — Their cowardice was the effect of their unbelief and disobedience; and refused to walk in his law — Their disobedience was accompanied with obstinacy and contempt of God’s laws. And forgat his works — Not historically, but practically. They did not so remember them as to love, and serve, and trust in that God, of whose infinite power and goodness they had had such ample experience.

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

10. (Psa 78:10) They kept not the covenant of God, and in his law refused to walk. They violated the condition of their national vocation, and refused to do the very thing for which they were brought out of Egypt.

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

Verse 10. They kept not the covenant of God] They abandoned his worship, both moral and ritual. They acted like the Ephraimites in the above case, who threw down their bows and arrows, and ran away.

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

10. They kept not the covenant of God. This is the reason assigned for the Ephraimites turning their backs in the day of battle; and it explains why the divine assistance was withheld from them. Others, it is true, were guilty in this respect as well as they, but the vengeance of God executed on that tribe, which by its influence had corrupted almost the whole kingdom, is purposely brought forward as a general warning. Since then the tribe of Ephraim, in consequence of its splendor and dignity, when it threw off the yoke, encouraged and became as it were a standard of shameful revolt to all the other tribes, the prophet intended to put people on their guard, that they might not suffer themselves in their simplicity to be again deceived in the same manner. It is no light charge which he brings against the sons of Ephraim: he upbraids them on account of their perfidiousness in despising the whole law and in violating the covenant. Although he employs these two words, law and covenant, in the same sense; yet, in placing the covenant first, he clearly shows that he is speaking not only of the moral law, the all-perfect rule of life, but of the whole service of God, of the truth and faithfulness of the divine promises, and of the trust which ought to be reposed in them, of invocation, and of the doctrine of true religion, the foundation whereof was the adoption. He therefore calls them covenant-breakers, because they had fallen from their trust in the promises, by which God had entered into covenant with them to be their Father. Yet he afterwards very properly adds the law, in which the covenant was sealed up, as it were, in public records. He aggravates the enormity of their guilt by the word refuse, which intimates that they were not simply carried away by a kind of thoughtless or inconsiderate recklessness, and thus sinned through giddiness, want of knowledge or foresight, but that they had purposely, and with deliberate obstinacy, violated the holy covenant of God.

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.

10. the covenant of God] See Exo_19:5; Exo_24:3; Exo_24:7-8.

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.

They kept not the covenant of God,.... Either the covenant of circumcision, which was neglected during their travels through the wilderness, Jos 5:5 or the covenant made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, Exo 24:7 and this is to be understood not of the children of Ephraim only, but of the Israelites in general, who in many instances broke the covenant, and were not steadfast in it, Psa 78:37; see Gill on Jer 31:32.

and refused to walk in his law; the law of God, which was given forth by him, by the disposition of angels, through the hands of a mediator, Moses, as a rule of their walk and conversation; but they refused to order their conversation according to it, being unwilling to be subject to it, but despised and cast it away; a sad instance of the corruption of human nature, and the depravity of man's will, boasted of for its freedom, yet what is common, and to be observed in all mankind.

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

They kept not the covenant of God - The covenant which God had made with the entire Hebrew people. They did not maintain their allegiance to Yahweh. Compare Deu 4:13, Deu 4:23; Deu 17:2.

And refused to walk in his law - Refused to obey his law. They rebelled against him.

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

Their disobedience was accompanied with obstinacy and contempt of God’s laws.

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

Ver. 10. They kept not the covenant of God. Vows and promises were broken, idols were set up, and the living God was forsaken. They were brought out of Egypt in order to be a people separated unto the Lord, but they fell into the sins of other nations, and did not maintain a pure testimony for the one only true God.

And refused to walk in his law. They gave way to fornication, and idolatry, and other violations of the decalogue, and were often in a state of rebellion against the benign theocracy under which they lived. They had pledged themselves at Sinai to keep the law, and then they wilfully disobeyed it, and so became covenant breakers.

Ver. 10. Walk in his law. Note, we must walk in the law of God, this is that narrow and sacred way which Christ traces before us. At Athens there was iera odov, the sacred way, by which, as Harpocratio relates, the priests of the mysteries travelled to Elusin. At Rome also there was a way which was called Via Sacra. To us also there is a way to the skies, consecrated by the footsteps of the saints. It behooves us therefore not to loiter, but to be ever on the march. Thomas Le Blanc.

Ver. 10-11. The gradations of sin: neglecting, rejecting, forgetting God. C. D.

Psalms 78:11*

Ver. 10-11. The gradations of sin: neglecting, rejecting, forgetting God. C. D.

Psalms 78:12*

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

10. They kept not the covenant of God—As already stated, they had forsaken God, and God had now forsaken them, and this was the real cause of their cowardice, which is here set down as crime. We must understand Ephraim, not exclusively, but as the leading tribe, and responsible for the day’s disasters, especially for the capture of the ark, which had been taken from Shiloh contrary to the will of God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They kept not the covenant of God. (comp. Deu_29:25 Deu_31:20 1Ki_19:10, 1Ki_19:14, etc.) And refused to walk in his law. (see Jud 2:11-13 8:33 10:10)

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