Psalm 78:60

EXPOSITION

Verse 60. So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men. His glory would no more reveal itself there, he left Shiloh to become a complete ruin. At the door of that tent shameless sin had been perpetrated, and all around it idols had been adored, and therefore the glory departed and Ichabod was sounded as a word of dread concerning Shiloh and the tribe of Ephraim. Thus may the candlestick be removed though the candle is not quenched. Erring churches become apostate, but a true church still remains; if Shiloh be profaned Zion is consecrated. Yet is it ever a solemn caution to all the assemblies of the saints, admonishing them to walk humbly with their God, when we read such words as those of the prophet Jeremiah in is seventh chapter, "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. Go ye now unto 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." Let us take heed, lest as the ark never returned to Shiloh after its capture by the Philistines, so the gospel may be taken from us in judgment, never to be restored to the same church again.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 60. It is a heathenish delusion and false confidence to suppose that God is bound to any place or spot, as the Trojans thought because they had the temple of Pallas in their city it could not be taken, and in the present day the manner of the Papists is to bind Christ to Rome and the chair of Peter, and then defiantly maintain "I shall never be moved" Ps 10:6. For, they say, the ship of Peter may sink a little, but not altogether. Then the only point that is deficient is this, that they are not the ship of Peter, but rather an East Indiaman with a cargo of Italian apes and such like foreign merchandise, pearls, purple, silk, brass, iron, silver, gold, incense, lead, that they may carry on simony and make merchandise of religion, and deceive the whole world Revelation 18:11-24 . Johann Andreas Cramer. 1723-1788.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 59-72.

1. A gloomy sunset, Psalms 78:59-60 .
2. A baleful might, Psalms 78:60-64 .
3. A blessed sunrise, Psalms 78:65-72 . C. D.