Psalms 78:63-72

63 Fire ate the young men of them; and the virgins of them were not bewailed/were not bewept. (The fire ate up their young men; and their virgins did not bewail them/and their virgins did not weep for them.)

64 The priests of them fell down by sword; and the widows of them were not bewept. (Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows did not weep for them.)

65 And the Lord was raised, as sleeping; as mighty greatly filled of wine. (Then the Lord was raised up; like one who had been sleeping, like a mighty man excited by wine.)

66 And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts; he gave to them everlasting shame. (And he struck his enemies on their back-sides; yea, he gave them up to everlasting shame.)

67 And he putted away the tabernacle of Joseph; and he chose not the lineage of Ephraim. (And he rejected the house of Joseph; and he chose not the tribe of Ephraim.)

68 But he chose the lineage of Judah; he chose the hill of Zion, which he loved. (But he chose the tribe of Judah; and he chose Mount Zion, which he loved.)

69 And he as an unicorn builded his holy place; in the land, which he founded into worlds. (And he built his holy place like his home in heaven/And he built his holy place as high as the heavens; and he founded it like the earth, to last forever.)

70 And he chose David his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep; (And he chose David to be his servant, and took him away from the flocks of sheep;)

71 he took him from behind sheep with lambs. To feed Jacob his servant; and Israel his heritage. (yea, he brought him out from following behind the sheep with their lambs, to feed his people Jacob; yea, his inheritance Israel.)

72 And he fed them in the innocence of his heart; and he led them forth in the understandings of his hands. (And David fed them from the innocence of his heart; and he led them forth by the skillfulness of his hands.)

Psalms 78:63-72 Meaning and Commentary

Maschil of Asaph. Or for "Asaph" {f}; a doctrinal and "instructive" psalm, as the word "Maschil" signifies; see Psalm 32:1, which was delivered to Asaph to be sung; the Targum is, "the understanding of the Holy Spirit by the hands of Asaph." Some think David was the penman of it; but from the latter part of it, in which mention is made of him, and of his government of the people of Israel, it looks as if it was wrote by another, and after his death, though not long after, since the account is carried on no further than his times; and therefore it is probable enough it was written by Asaph, the chief singer, that lived in that age: whoever was the penman of it, it is certain he was a prophet, and so was Asaph, who is called a seer, the same with a prophet, and who is said to prophesy, 2 Chronicles 29:30 and also that he represented Christ; for that the Messiah is the person that is introduced speaking in this psalm is clear from Matthew 13:34 and the whole may be considered as a discourse of his to the Jews of his time; giving them an history of the Israelites from their first coming out of Egypt to the times of David, and in it an account of the various benefits bestowed upon them, of their great ingratitude, and of the divine resentment; the design of which is to admonish and caution them against committing the like sins, lest they should be rejected of God, as their fathers were, and perish: some Jewish writers, as Arama observes, interpret this psalm of the children of Ephraim going out of Egypt before the time appointed.