Psalm 78:41

41 And they were turned, and tempted God; and they wrathed the holy of Israel. (Again and again they tempted God; and they angered the Holy One of Israel.)

Psalm 78:41 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 78:41

Yea, they turned back, and tempted God
They talked of going back to Egypt, and of choosing a captain to lead them back thither, ( Numbers 14:3 Numbers 14:4 ) , and they turned back from the Lord, and from his good ways, and chose their own ways, and followed after idols; or the sense is, they again tempted God, not only at Meribah, but elsewhere; they tempted him again and again, even ten times, as before observed:

and limited the Holy One of Israel;
or "signed" ^F4 him; signed him with a sign, so the Targum; they tempted him by asking a sign of him, as Jarchi interprets it; insisting that a miracle be wrought, by which it might be known whether the Lord was among them or not, ( Exodus 17:7 ) , with which compare ( Matthew 16:1 ) , or they set bounds, so Kimchi; to his power and goodness, saying, this he could do, and the other he could not; see ( Psalms 78:19 Psalms 78:20 ) , and so men limit the Lord when they fix on a blessing they would have, even that, and not another; and the measure of it, to what degree it should be bestowed on them, as well as set the time when they would have it; whereas the blessing itself, and the degree of it, and the time of giving it, should be all left with the Lord; who knows which and what of it is most convenient for us, and when is the best time to bestow it on us.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (wwth) "signaverunt", Pagninus.

Psalm 78:41 In-Context

39 And he bethought, that they be flesh; a spirit going, and not turning again. (And he remembered, that they be but flesh; like the wind passing by, and never returning.)

40 How oft made they him wroth in desert; they stirred him into ire in a place without water. (How often they made him angry in the wilderness; yea, they stirred him to anger in a place without water.)

41 And they were turned, and tempted God; and they wrathed the holy of Israel. (Again and again they tempted God; and they angered the Holy One of Israel.)

42 They bethought not on his hand; in the day in which he again-bought them from the hand of the troubler. (They did not remember his power; yea, the day when he saved them from the hand of the troubler.)

43 As he setted his signs in Egypt; and his great wonders in the field of Tanis. (How he showed his signs, or his miracles, in Egypt; yea, his great wonders on the plain of Zoan.)