Psalms 78:56

Psa 78:56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

Ver. 56. Yet they tempted and provoked, &c.] Neither God’s judgments on their enemies nor his mercies to themselves could keep them within the bounds of obedience; but in a land of uprightness they would deal unjustly, and not behold the majesty of the Lord, Isa 26:10.

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_78:56-57

And kept not His testimonies: but turned back, and dealt unfaithfully their fathers.

The deceitfulness of the heart as to duty

I. As to the performance of duty, the heart discovers its power of deceit.

1. By diverting a person from those duties that are most spiritual in their nature. It will plead as to self-examination and meditation on the Word, that these duties are of too difficult a nature; that they require too close an attention; that it is very provoking to God to perform them carelessly; and therefore insist for the neglect of them, and for giving a preference to those of a more general nature.

2. By endeavouring to prevent any real communion with God, and to distract the mind by wandering in duty.

3. By inciting to hypocrisy. The people of God are sometimes disposed to appear to Him more fervent in duty than they really are, to make professions of love to Him which they do not presently feel, to express a hatred of sin and desire of His favour, without the immediate sense of either in their hearts.

4. By prompting the possessor to retain sin in his heart, even when he draws near to God.

5. By exciting a person to rely on his own strength.

6. By pleading uprightness of intention as an apology for a multitude of defects.

7. There are many, on the other hand, who please themselves with the form of duty, without any regard to the intention.

8. By stirring up the believer to spiritual pride after enjoying the Divine presence in duty.

9. By dissuading the Christian from duty, when the observation of it is attended with no comfort.

10. By making the person seek comfort from the mere performance of duty.

11. By inspiring one with greater boldness in duty, because of former comfort in the observation of it.

II. With respect to omission.

1. The heart urges the delay of duty, and thus discovers its deceitfulness, by promising a future opportunity.

2. It persuades us to omit duty by calling in the world to its aid. This is a faithful ally to the corrupt heart, always willing to lend its aid in turning us away from God.

3. It presents evil in opposition to present duty. When God presents an opportunity of serving Him, to which the renewed will consents, the deceitfulness of the heart offers a temptation to evil; and by the artfulness or force of the temptation endeavours to divert the believer from the good that he designs.

4. It dissuades from duty, because of insufficiency for performing it aright. The deceitful heart will often contradict itself, rather than fail of its intention, to baffle all the attempts of the believer in the service of his God. If engaged in duty, it persuades him to depend on his own strength. If he be convinced of the folly of this proposal, it will try to hinder him from duty, because of felt inability.

5. It prompts the Christian to resist the present call to duty, for want of a proper temper. By this is meant a right disposition of heart, liveliness of affections, a present feeling of the comforts of religion. A comfortable warmth of affections is most desirable, indeed, in the service of the Lord. But it is not essential to acceptable worship. A duty may be performed in the exercise of faith, while no sensible comfort is attained. But wilfully to omit any one for want of this is to renounce the true foundation of our access to God, which is only through Christ.

6. It dissuades from duty, by representing that an eminent measure of holiness is not necessary to salvation.

7. It inclines to the neglect of duty, lest others should construe it as presumption or hypocrisy. This is a modesty, for which God may be provoked so to chasten His people as to give them just cause of shame, and to cover their faces with deserved confusion.

We shall conclude with the following directions:--

1. Beware of neglecting the season of duty. Gods time is always the fittest for His own service.

2. Do not plead the world as an excuse for the omission of duty. God hath given you abundance of time to yourselves. To everything there is a season, etc. You may easily accomplish all your worldly business, and yet devote that time to God which He requires.

3. Be extremely suspicious of every excuse that your heart offers for the neglect of duty.

4. Quench not the Spirit, when exciting you to duty. This is grieving to the Holy Ghost, by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption.

5. Carry on, in the strength of promised grace, a constant war against the carnality of your hearts, against that opposition which is in them to duty. (J. Jamieson, M. A.)

The unfaithfulness of Gods people

When the bow is unbent, the rift it has may be undiscerned, but go to use it by drawing the arrow to the head and it flies in pieces; thus doth a false heart when put to the trial. As the ape in the fable, dressed like a man, when nuts are thrown before her, cannot then dissemble her nature any longer, but shows herself an ape indeed; a false heart betrays itself before it is aware, when a fair occasion is presented for its lust; whereas sincerity keeps the soul pure in the face of temptation. (W. Gurnall.)

Disobeying the King

To break the kings laws is punishable, but to pull him out of his throne, and set up a scullion in it and give him the honour and obedience of a king, this is another kind of matter, and much more intolerable. The first commandment is not like the rest, which require only obedience to particular laws in a particular action, but it establisheth the very relations of sovereign and subject, and requires a constant acknowledgment of these relations, and make it high treason against the God of heaven in any that should violate that command. Now, this is the sin of every worldling: he hath taken down God from the throne in his soul and set up the flesh and the world in His stead; these he valueth and delighteth in; these have his very heart, while God that made it and redeemed it is set lightly by. (Richard Baxter.)

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

56. (Psa 78:56) And they tempted and resisted God, Most High, and his testimonies did not keep. Having brought down the narrative of God's dealings with the older race to the conquest of Canaan, the Psalmist now resumes his charge (against the following generations) of being no better than their fathers. To tempt God and resist him, or rebel against him, has the same sense as in Psa 78:18; Psa 78:40. The divine title referred to here, suggests that their rebellion was against the highest and the most legitimate of all authority. His testimonies against sin, contained in his commandments; hence the use of the verb keep. The form of expression, in both clauses of this verse, is borrowed from Deu 6:16-17.

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

78:56-64 Israel’s rebellion desecrated the Promised Land. The people built shrines to false gods and worshiped idols (78:58) during the period of the judges (e.g., Judg 2:11; 3:7, 17-18).

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

56. And they tempted and provoked the Most High God. Here they are upbraided for having, notwithstanding the many tokens of the divine favor by which they were distinguished, persevered in acting perfidiously: yea, even although God from time to time conferred upon them new benefits, to recover them to their allegiance to him, they, notwithstanding, by their rebellion, shook off his yoke. With respect to the word tempt, we have already explained its import. But it is added in general, that they provoked God, because they had not kept his covenant By this last clause, their open and gross rebellion is the more completely demonstrated; for, although they had been plainly taught their duty, they nevertheless refused to submit to the authority of God. The law is called testimonies or agreements, because, as men enter into contracts upon certain conditions, so God, by his covenant, entered into a contract with this people, and bound them to himself. In speaking of them in this manner, there is pronounced upon them no light censure; but when they are charged in the next verse with apostasy and perfidiousness, that fills up the measure of their guilt. God had adopted them to be his people: they, on the other hand, despising his favor, voluntarily renounce it. He had gathered them together under his wings; and they, by their waywardness, scatter themselves in all directions. He had promised to be a father to them; and they refuse to be his children. He had shown them the way of salvation; and they, by going astray, willingly precipitate themselves into destruction. The prophet, therefore, concludes, that in every age they showed themselves to be an impious and wicked people. It is again to be noticed, that the fault which is most severely condemned in them is, that they too much resembled their fathers. This is particularly mentioned, to prevent any man from deceiving himself by supposing, that in indiscriminately imitating his ancestors he is doing right, and that he may not think of making use of their example as an argument for defending his own conduct. The instability of the people is next expressed by a very apposite figure, which Hosea also employs in Hosea 7:16. As archers are deceived when they have a bow which is too weak, or ill bent, or crooked and flexible, so it is stated, that this people turned back, and slipped away by their deceitful and tortuous craftiness, that they might not be governed by the hand 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.

56. Yet &c.] Yet they tempted and rebelled against God the Most High. In spite of all God’s goodness to them, they persisted in their old unfaithfulness. Cp. Psa_78:17-18; Psalms 40, 41. God the Most High is not El Elyôn, as in Psa_78:35; but Elôhîm Elyôn, the equivalent of Jehovah the Most High, Psa_7:17; Psa_47:2.

his testimonies] His commandments, regarded as bearing witness to His will. Cp. Psa_19:7; Psa_25:10.

56–58. The unfaithfulness of Israel in Canaan during the period of the Judges.

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.

But turned back,.... From God and his worship, apostatized from the true religion, and turned to idols:

and dealt unfaithfully, like their fathers; in the wilderness; see Psa 78:8,

they were turned aside like a deceitful bow; that promises well to carry the arrow right, but drops it at the feet of the archer; or carries it another way, so that it misses the mark, The Targum is,

"as a bow casting arrows;''

to the ground, and not to the mark; see Hos 7:16, or being too much stretched is suddenly broken, and kills the archer; or returns to its own nature; so Arama.

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

Yet they tempted and provoked ... - They tried the patience of God, and provoked him to anger after they were peaceably settled in the promised land. See Jdg 2:10-13. The object is to show that it was the character of the people that they were prone to depart from God. Compare Psa 78:10-11, note; Psa 78:17, note; Psa 78:40, note.

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

Ver. 56. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God. Change of condition had not altered their manners. They left their nomadic habits, but not their tendencies to wander from their God. Though every divine promise had been fulfilled to the letter, and the land flowing with milk and honey was actually their own, yet they tried the Lord again with unbelief, and provoked him with other sins. He is not only high and glorious, but most High, yea, the most High, the only being who deserves to be so highly had in honour; yet, instead of honouring him, Israel grieved him with rebellion.

And kept not his testimonies. They were true to nothing but hereditary treachery; steadfast in nothing but in falsehood. They knew his truth and forgot it, his will and disobeyed it, his grace and perverted it to an occasion for greater transgression. Reader, dost thou need a looking glass? See here is one which suits the present expositor well; does it not also reflect thine image?

None.

Ver. 56-57. On the deceitfulness of the heart, with respect to the performance of duty. J. Jamieson. I. 326.

On the deceitfulness of the heart, with respect to the omission of duty. J. Jamieson. I. 353.

Ver. 56-57. On the deceitfulness of the heart, with respect to the performance of duty. J. Jamieson. I. 326.

On the deceitfulness of the heart, with respect to the omission of duty. J. Jamieson. I. 353.

None.

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

56. Yet they tempted… God—Profiting nothing by the nation’s experience in the wilderness, the people now repeat the follies and incur the punishments of their forefathers. The Israel of Canaan and the Israel of the wilderness are alike. The complaint here recorded, is for sins committed after the death of Joshua. Jdg_2:7-13. On “tempted,” see on Psa_78:18, and Psa_95:9-10.

Provoked—Properly, rebelled against. The idea is that of active antagonism. See on Psa_78:8, and Psa_107:11, where the same word occurs.

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

Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God (comp. above, ver. 17). The Israelites continued to "tempt and provoke God" after they had obtained possession of the Holy Land, and divided it among them. (see Jud 2:11-19 3:12 4:1 6:1 10:6-15 13:1, etc.) And kept not his testimonies; or, his ordinances (Cheyne).

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

General Information:

The writer continues to describe what God did for the people of Israel.

challenged and defied

These words mean almost the same thing. The writer uses them both to emphasize that the Israelites did not believe that God would either provide for them or punish evil as he had said he would. (See: Doublet)

challenged

They wanted God to prove that he could do what he said he would do before they would believe him. See how you translated this idea in Psalms 78:18.

defied

refused to obey

were unfaithful and acted treacherously

These words mean almost the same thing. The writer uses them both to emphasize that the Israelites did not do for God what they had said they would do. (See: Doublet)

translationWords

Most High

command

faithful

ancestor

bow and arrow

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

Yet they tried and provoked during the days of the judges.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.