Psalm 78

1 Give heed, O my people, to my law: incline your ear to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter dark sayings which have been from the beginning.

3 All which we have heard and known, and our fathers have declared to us.

4 They were not hid from their children to a second generations; the fathers declaring the praises of the Lord, and his mighty acts, and his wonders which he wrought.

5 And he raised up a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, to make it known to their children:

6 that another generation might know, even the sons which should be born; and they should arise and declare them to their children.

7 That they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but diligently seek his commandments.

8 That they should not be as their fathers, a perverse and provoking generation; a generation which set not its heart aright, and its spirit was not steadfast with God.

9 The children of Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle.

10 They kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in his law.

11 And they forgot his benefits, and his miracles which he had shewed them;

12 the miracles which he wrought before their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanes.

13 He clave the sea, and led them through: he made the waters to stand as in a bottle.

14 And he guided them with a cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire.

15 he clave a rock in the wilderness, and made them drink as in a great deep.

16 And he brought water out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down as rivers.

17 And they sinned yet more against him; they provoked the Most High in the wilderness.

18 And they tempted God in their hearts, in asking meat for the desire of their souls.

19 They spoke also against God, and said, Will God be able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 Forasmuch as he smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and the torrents ran abundantly; will he be able also to give bread, or prepare a table for his people?

21 Therefore the Lord heard, and was provoked: and fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath went up against Israel.

22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.

23 Yet he commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

24 and rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven.

25 Man ate angels’ bread; he sent them provision to the full.

26 He removed the south wind from heaven; and by his might he brought in the south-west wind.

27 And he rained upon them flesh like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the seas.

28 And they fell into the midst of their camp, round about their tents.

29 So they ate, and were completely filled; and he gave them their desire.

30 They were not disappointed of their desire: but when their food was yet in their mouth,

31 then the indignation of God rose up against them, and slew the fattest of them, and overthrew the choice men of Israel.

32 In the midst of all this they sinned yet more, and believed not his miracles.

33 And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years with anxiety.

34 When he slew them, they sought him: and they returned and called betimes upon God.

35 And they remembered that God was their helper, and the most high God was their redeemer.

36 Yet they loved him only with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

38 But he is compassionate, and will forgive their sins, and will not destroy them: yea, he will frequently turn away his wrath, and will not kindle all his anger.

39 And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that passes away, and returns not.

40 How often did they provoke him in the wilderness, and anger him in a dry land!

41 Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They remembered not his hand, the day in which he delivered them from the hand of the oppressor.

43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanes:

44 and had changed their rivers into blood; and their streams, that they should not drink.

45 He sent against them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; and the frog, and it spoiled them.

46 And he gave their fruit to the canker worm, and their labours to the locust.

47 He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.

48 And he gave up their cattle to hail, and their substance to the fire.

49 He sent out against them the fury of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and affliction, a message by evil angels.

50 He made a way for his wrath; he spared not their souls from death, but consigned their cattle to death;

51 and smote every first-born in the land of Egypt; the first-fruits of their labours in the tents of Cham.

52 And he removed his people like sheep; he led them as a flock in the wilderness.

53 And he guided them with hope, and they feared not: but the sea covered their enemies.

54 And he brought them in to the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand had purchased.

55 And he cast out the nations from before them, and made them to inherit by a line of inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies.

57 And they turned back, and broke covenant, even as also their fathers: they became like a crooked bow.

58 And they provoked him with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 God heard and lightly regarded them, and greatly despised Israel.

60 And he rejected the tabernacle of Selom, his tent where he dwelt among men.

61 And he gave their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the enemy’s hand.

62 And he gave his people to the sword; and disdained his inheritance.

63 Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins mourned not.

64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows shall not be wept for.

65 So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and as a mighty man who has been heated with wine.

66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he brought on them a perpetual reproach.

67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;

68 but chose the tribe of Juda, the mount Sion which he loved.

69 And he built his sanctuary as the place of unicorns; he founded it for ever on the earth.

70 He chose David also his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep.

71 He took him from following the ewes great with young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he tended them in the innocency of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Psalm 78 Commentary

Chapter 78

Attention called for. (1-8) The history of Israel. (9-39) Their settlement in Canaan. (40-55) The mercies of God to Israel contrasted with their ingratitude. (56-72)

Verses 1-8 These are called dark and deep sayings, because they are carefully to be looked into. The law of God was given with a particular charge to teach it diligently to their children, that the church may abide for ever. Also, that the providences of God, both in mercy and in judgment, might encourage them to conform to the will of God. The works of God much strengthen our resolution to keep his commandments. Hypocrisy is the high road to apostacy; those that do not set their hearts right, will not be stedfast with God. Many parents, by negligence and wickedness, become murderers of their children. But young persons, though they are bound to submit in all things lawful, must not obey sinful orders, or copy sinful examples.

9-39. Sin dispirits men, and takes away the heart. Forgetfulness of God's works is the cause of disobedience to his laws. This narrative relates a struggle between God's goodness and man's badness. The Lord hears all our murmurings and distrusts, and is much displeased. Those that will not believe the power of God's mercy, shall feel the fire of his indignation. Those cannot be said to trust in God's salvation as their happiness at last, who can not trust his providence in the way to it. To all that by faith and prayer, ask, seek, and knock, these doors of heaven shall at any time be opened; and our distrust of God is a great aggravation of our sins. He expressed his resentment of their provocation; not in denying what they sinfully lusted after, but in granting it to them. Lust is contented with nothing. Those that indulge their lust, will never be estranged from it. Those hearts are hard indeed, that will neither be melted by the mercies of the Lord, nor broken by his judgments. Those that sin still, must expect to be in trouble still. And the reason why we live with so little comfort, and to so little purpose, is, because we do not live by faith. Under these rebukes they professed repentance, but they were not sincere, for they were not constant. In Israel's history we have a picture of our own hearts and lives. God's patience, and warnings, and mercies, imbolden them to harden their hearts against his word. And the history of kingdoms is much the same. Judgments and mercies have been little attended to, until the measure of their sins has been full. And higher advantages have not kept churches from declining from the commandments of God. Even true believers recollect, that for many a year they abused the kindness of Providence. When they come to heaven, how will they admire the Lord's patience and mercy in bringing them to his kingdom!

40-55. Let not those that receive mercy from God, be thereby made bold to sin, for the mercies they receive will hasten its punishment; yet let not those who are under Divine rebukes for sin, be discouraged from repentance. The Holy One of Israel will do what is most for his own glory, and what is most for their good. Their forgetting former favours, led them to limit God for the future. God made his own people to go forth like sheep; and guided them in the wilderness, as a shepherd his flock, with all care and tenderness. Thus the true Joshua, even Jesus, brings his church out of the wilderness; but no earthly Canaan, no worldly advantages, should make us forget that the church is in the wilderness while in this world, and that there remaineth a far more glorious rest for the people of God.

Verses 56-72 After the Israelites were settled in Canaan, the children were like their fathers. God gave them his testimonies, but they turned back. Presumptuous sins render even Israelites hateful to God's holiness, and exposed to his justice. Those whom the Lord forsakes become an easy prey to the destroyer. And sooner or later, God will disgrace his enemies. He set a good government over his people; a monarch after his own heart. With good reason does the psalmist make this finishing, crowning instance of God's favour to Israel; for David was a type of Christ, the great and good Shepherd, who was humbled first, and then exalted; and of whom it was foretold, that he should be filled with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. On the uprightness of his heart, and the skilfulness of his hands, all his subjects may rely; and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Every trial of human nature hitherto, confirms the testimony of Scripture, that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and nothing but being created anew by the Holy Ghost can cure the ungodliness of any.

Chapter Summary

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.