Psalms 78:19

Psa 78:19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Ver. 19. Yea, they stake against God] Their villanous and foul thoughts blistered and brake out at their lips.

Can God furnish a table?] This was a blasphemous question. God can do more than he will; but whatsoever he will do shall be done, and nothing can hinder it. "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean," said he in the Gospel. And this was better than that of the other, who said, "If thou canst do any thing, help us," Mar 9:22

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_78:19

Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

A table in the wilderness

Here is--

I. A base ingratitude. He had done so, and they had participated in the banquet.

II. A miserable scepticism. Can He do it? He who peopled immensity with innumerable worlds and systems, etc. What an insane and imbecile scepticism is this! not worth argument.

III. A. living rebellion. The question shows that rebellion was a rampant spirit within them. (Homilist.)

The resources of God

I. The nature and import of the question. It is not the language of faith, but of doubt, distrust and unbelief.

II. The resources of God.

1. As the God of Nature. The heavens declare the glory of God, etc.

2. As the God of providence. To the Christian believer this doctrine is an unmixed source of Divine consolation. He believes that the same providing mind which bestowed the unspeakable gift is engaged to supply his daily bread.

3. As the God of grace--enlightening, preventing, convincing, justifying, sanctifying and comforting and strengthening grace.

III. A God infinite in His resources, as He is able, is also willing to communicate His blessings to His needy creatures. He is a sun of brightness and a sea of fulness.

IV. There is as much wisdom, mercy and goodness in what He withholds as in what He gives. The state of probation allotted to the Christian is of a mixed character. The brightest clay has the pillar of a cloud, and the darkest night a pillar of fire. The unmixed wine of the kingdom is reserved for the kingdom. The withheld mercies of our God are frequently blessings in disguise, so disguised that only the eye of faith can see through it. (W. B. Browne.)

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

Ver. 19. From this verse we learn that unbelief of God is a slander against him.

Yea, they spake against God. But how? The answer is,

They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? To question the ability of one who is manifestly Almighty, is to speak against him. These people were base enough to say that although their God had given them bread and water, yet he could not properly order or furnish a table. He could give them coarse food, but could not prepare a feast properly arranged, so they were ungrateful enough to declare. As if the manna was a mere makeshift, and the flowing rock stream a temporary expedient, they ask to have a regularly furnished table, such as they had been accustomed to in Egypt. Alas, how have we also quarrelled with our mercies, and querulously pined for some imaginary good, counting our actual enjoyments to be nothing because they did not happen to be exactly conformed to our foolish fancies. They who will not be content will speak against providence even when it daily loadeth them with benefits.

Ver. 19. It is particularly to be observed, that the sin of which the children of Israel were on this occasion guilty, was not in wishing for bread and water, but in thinking for one moment, that after the Lord had brought them out of Egypt, he would suffer them, for the lack of any needful thing, to come short of Canaan. It was no sin to be hungry and thirsty; it was a necessity of their nature. There is nothing living that does not desire and require food: when we do not we are dead, and that they did so was no sin. Their sin was to doubt either that God could or would support them in the wilderness, or allow those who followed his leading to lack any good thing. This was their sin. It is just the same with the Christian now. These Israelites did not more literally require a supply of daily food for their bodies, than does the Christian for his soul. Not to do so is a sign of death, and the living soul would soon die without it. And so far from its being a sin, our Lord has pronounced that man blessed who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, adding the most precious promise, that all such shall be satisfied. But it is a sin, and a very great sin, should this food not be perceptibly, and to the evidence of our senses, immediately supplied, to murmur and be fearful. It was for the trial of their faith that these things happened to the Israelites, as do the trials of all Christians in all ages: and it is "after we have suffered a while" that we may expect to be established, strengthened, settled. Brownlow North, in "Ourselves. A Picture sketched from the History of the Children of Israel." (1865.)

Ver. 19-20. After all their experience, they doubted the divine omnipotence, as if it were to be regarded as nothing, when it refused to gratify their lusts. Unbelief is so deeply rooted in the human heart, that when God performs miracles on earth, unbelief doubts whether he can perform them in heaven, and when he does them in heaven, whether he can do them on earth? Augustus F. Tholuck.

Ver. 19. Unbelief a slander of God.

Psalms 78:20*

Ver. 19-20. See Psalms on "Ps 78:19" for further information.

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

19. (Psa 78:19) And spake of God (and) said, Will the Almighty be able to set a table in the wilderness? This they not only said, but said it speaking of or against God. The unreasonableness of the doubt is aggravated by the use of a divine name which implies omnipotence. As if they had said, Can he do this who can do everything?

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

Thus when we give place to sin, we are moved to doubt of God’s power, except he will always be ready to serve our lust.

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

19. And they spake against God. The prophet had said that they tempted God in their heart; and now he adds, that they were not ashamed openly to utter with their impure and blasphemous tongues, the impiety which they had inwardly conceived. From this, it is the more abundantly manifest that malignity and wickedness had taken entire possession of their hearts. Thus we see how lust conceives sin, when it is admitted into the soul with unhallowed consent. Afterwards the sin develops itself farther, even as we see the Israelites proceeding to such a length of profane wantonness, as to call in question the power of God, as if they made no account of it, any farther than as it ministered to their lust. By the table prepared which is spoken of, is to be understood the dainty food, which was their ordinary fare in Egypt. A single dish did not satisfy their appetite. They were not contented unless they could gratify themselves with great abundance and variety. When it is said in the following verse, Behold! God smote the rock, and the waters gushed out, etc., this, I have no doubt, is the language of bitter irony, with which the prophet taunts their unblushing insolence. It is not very likely that they spake in this manner; but he relates, as it were, with their mouth, or in their person, the things which took place before their eyes.

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.

(19, 20) A comparison of these verses with the references in the margin shows how the ancient narratives fared under poetical treatment.

Furnish a table.—Comp. Psa_23:5, Note

Gushed out.—Comp. Psa_105:41.

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

19. Can God furnish] R.V., Can God prepare?

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.

Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed,.... This they allow was done by him, for these are their words continued; suggesting, that though the waters did gush out upon smiting the rock, yet they might have been in the caverns of it before, and had remained there a long time, and might have come out of themselves; and therefore this was no such great matter, and might easily be accounted for:

but can he give bread also? solid, substantial bread, and not like this light bread, the manna, as they called it, Num 21:5, can he give us bread of corn, in a wilderness which is not a place of seed, where no corn grows? can he do this? this would show his power indeed:

can he provide flesh for his people? for so great a multitude, and in a place where no cattle are? let him do this, and we will believe his power; or else the words intimate that the smiting of the rock, and the waters flowing in such large streams, were an instance of his power, and therefore he that could do the one could do the other; he that could bring such large quantities of water out of a rock could give them solid bread and suitable flesh, and fulness of both; and should he not do so, they must conclude that he bore no good will to them, and had no love and kindness for them.

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

Yea, they spake against God - That is, in the manner which is immediately specified - by calling in question his power, or his ability to provide for them in the wilderness. See Num 11:4.

They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? - In the desert. The word rendered “furnish” is in the margin “order.” It means to arrange; to set in order; and here to arrange and provide for, as at a feast. The precise words used by the complaining Hebrews are not quoted here, but the substance of what they said is retained. The idea is, that what they spake was “equivalent” to saying that God could not prepare a table for them; that is, provide for them, in the desert.

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

19. They spake against God—And, in reply, “the wrath of God arose against them.” Psa_78:21.

Can God furnish a table— “For one single meat could not content them, unless they might delight themselves in manifold plenty and variety.”—Calvin.

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

Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?. (see Num_11:4) But the psalmist either feels himself at liberty to expand the account given in the Pentateuch, or has a further knowledge of the real feelings of the people, which has come to him by tradition (compare the comment on ver. 12).

Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams (literally, the torrent courses) overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? These were probably the people"s thoughts rather than their words. An "evil heart of unbelief" underlay their clamours and their murmurings. They doubted God"s power to relieve their wants, notwithstanding all the proofs that they had had of his omnipotence.

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

They spoke

the Israelites spoke

Can God really lay out a table for us in the wilderness?

This can be translated as a statement. AT: "We do not believe that God can really lay out a table for us in the wilderness!" or "God, prove to us that you can really lay out a table for us in the wilderness!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

lay out a table

The idiom "lay out a table" means to prepare a table for a meal. Here the word "table" is a metonym for the food on the table. AT: "provide us with food" (See: Idiom and Metonymy)

waters gushed out

much water came out quickly

But can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?

The people are laughing at God to insult him with these questions. AT: "But we will not believe that he can give us bread also or provide meat for his people until we see him do it." (See: Rhetorical Question)

bread ... meat

food from plants or food from animals. Though this is a merism for all kinds of food, it is best to translate it literally if possible. (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

God

bread

people of God

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