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Psalms 78 β Commentary
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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 78:1 Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Psalm 78:1-72 THIS psalm is closely related to Psalm 105:1-45 ; Psalm 106:1-48 ; Psalm 107:1-43 . Like them, it treats the history of Israel, and especially the Exodus and wilderness wanderings, for purposes of edification, rebuke, and encouragement. The past is held up as a mirror to the present generation. It has been one long succession of miracles of mercy met by equally continuous ingratitude, which has ever been punished by national calamities. The psalm departs singularly from chronological order. It arranges its contents in two principal masses, each introduced by the same formula ( Psalm 78:12 , Psalm 78:43 ) referring to "wonders in Egypt and the field of Zoan." But the first mass has nothing to do with Egypt, but begins with the passage of the Red Sea, and is wholly occupied with the wilderness. The second group of wonders begins in Psalm 78:44 with the plagues of Egypt, touches lightly on the wilderness history, and then passes to the early history of Israel when settled in the land, and finishes with the establishment of David on the throne. It is difficult to account for this singular bouleversement of the history. But the conjecture may be hazarded that its reason lies in the better illustration of continual interlacing of mercy and unthankfulness afforded by the events in the wilderness, than by the plagues of Egypt. That interlacing is the main point on which the psalmist wishes to lay stress, and therefore he begins with the most striking example of it. The use of the formula in Psalm 78:12 looks as if his original intention had been to follow the order of time. Another peculiarity is the prominence given to Ephraim, both in Psalm 78:9 as a type of faithlessness, and in Psalm 78:67 as rejected in favour of Judah. These references naturally point to the date of the psalm as being subsequent to the separation of the kingdoms; but whether it is meant as rebuke to the northern kingdom, or as warning to Judah from the fate of Ephraim, is not clear. Nor are there materials for closer determination of date. The tone of the closing reference to David implies that his accession belongs to somewhat remote times. There are no regular strophes, but a tendency to run into paragraphs of four verses, with occasional irregularities. Psalm 78:1-4 declare the singerβs didactic purpose. He deeply feels the solidarity of the nation through all generations-how fathers and children are knit by mystic ties, and by possession of an eternal treasure, the mighty deeds of God, of which they are bound to pass on the record from age to age. The history of ancient days is "a parable" and a "riddle" or "dark saying," as containing examples of great principles, and lessons which need reflection to discern and draw out. From that point of view, the psalmist will sum up the past. He is not a chronicler, but a religious teacher. His purpose is edification, rebuke, encouragement, the deepening of godly fear and obedience. In a word, he means to give the spirit of the nationβs history. Psalm 78:5-8 base this purpose on Godβs declared will that the knowledge of His deeds for Israel might be handed down from fathers to sons. The obligations of parents for the religious training of their children, the true bond of family unity. the ancient order of things when oral tradition was the principal means of preserving national history, the peculiarity of this nationβs annals, as celebrating no heroes and recording only the deeds of God by men, the contrast between the changing bearers of the story and the undying deeds which they had to tell, are all expressed in these verses, so pathetic in their gaze upon the linked series of short-lived men, so stern in their final declaration that Divine commandment and mercy had been in vain, and that, instead of a tradition of goodness, there had been a transmission of stubbornness and departure from God, repeating itself with tragic uniformity. The devout poet, who knows what God meant family life to be and to do, sadly recognises the grim contrast presented by its reality. But yet he will make one more attempt to break the flow of evil from father to son. Perhaps his contemporaries will listen and shake themselves clear of this entail of disobedience. The reference to Ephraim in Psalm 78:9-11 is not to be taken as alluding to any cowardly retreat from actual battle. Psalm 78:9 seems to be a purely figurative way of expressing what is put without a metaphor in the two following verses. Ephraimβs revolt from Godβs covenant was like the conduct of soldiers, well armed and refusing to charge the foe. The better their weapons, the greater the cowardice and ignominy of the recreants. So the faithlessness of Ephraim was made darker in criminality by its knowledge of God and experience of His mercy. These should have knit the tribe to Him. A general truth of wide application is implied-that the measure of capacity is the measure of obligation. Guilt increases with endowment, if the latter is misused. A poor soldier, with no weapon but a sling or a stick, might sooner be excused for flight than a fully armed archer. The mention of Ephraim as prominent in faithlessness may be an allusion to the separation of the kingdoms. That allusion has been denied on the ground that it is the wilderness history which is here before the psalmistβs mind. But the historical retrospect does not begin till Psalm 78:12 , and this introduction may well deal with an event later than those detailed in the following verses. Whether the revolt of the Ten Tribes is here in view or not, the psalmist sees that the wayward and powerful tribe of Ephraim had been a centre of religious disaffection, and there is no reason why his view should not be believed, or should be supposed to be due to mere prejudiced hostility. The historical details begin with Psalm 78:12 , but, as has been noticed above, the psalmist seems to change his intention of first narrating the wonders in Egypt, and passes on to dilate on the wilderness history. "The field of Zoan" is the territory of the famous Egyptian city of Tzan, and seems equivalent to the Land of Goshen. The wonders enumerated are the familiar ones of the passage of the Red Sea, the guidance by the pillar of cloud and fire, and the miraculous supply of water from the rock. In Psalm 78:15-16 , the poet brings together the two instances of such supply, which were separated from each other by the forty years of wandering, the first having occurred at Horeb in the first year, and the second at Kadesh in the last year. The two words "rocks," in Psalm 78:15 , and "cliff," in Psalm 78:16 , are taken from the two narratives of these miracles, in Exodus 17:1-16 and Numbers 20:1-29 . The group of four verses ( Psalm 78:13-16 ) sets forth Godβs mighty deeds; the next quartet of verses ( Psalm 78:17-20 ) tells of Israelβs requital. It is significant of the thoughts which filled the singerβs heart, that he begins the latter group with declaring that, notwithstanding such tokens of Godβs care, the people "went on to sin yet more," though he hid specified no previous acts of sin. He combines widely separated instances of their murmurings, as he had combined distant instances of Godβs miraculous supply of water. The complaints which preceded the fall of the manna and the first supply of quails, { Exodus 16:1-36 } and those which led to the second giving of these { Numbers 11:1-35 } are thrown together, as one in kind. The speech put into the mouths of the murmurers in Psalm 78:19-20 , is a poetic casting into bitter blasphemous words of the half-conscious thoughts of the faithless, sensuous crowd. They are represented as almost upbraiding God with His miracle, as quite unmoved to trust by it, and as thinking that it has exhausted His power. When they were half dead with thirst, they thought much of the water, but now they depreciate that past wonder as a comparatively small thing. So, to the churlish heart, which cherishes eager desires after some unattained earthly good, past blessings diminish as they recede, and leave neither thankfulness nor trust. There is a dash of intense bitterness and ironical making light of their relation to God in their question, "Can He provide flesh for His people?" Much good that name has done us, starving here! The root of all this blasphemous talk was sensuous desire; and because the people yielded to it, they "tempted God" - that is, they "unbelievingly and defiantly demanded, instead of trustfully waiting and praying" (Delitzsch). To ask food for their desires was sin; to ask it for their need would have been faith. In Psalm 78:21 the allusion is to the "fire of the Lord," which, according to Numbers 11:3 , burnt in the camp, just before the second giving of quails. It comes in here out of chronological order, for the sending of manna follows it; but the psalmistβs didactic purpose renders him indifferent to chronology. The manna is called "corn of heaven" and "bread of the Mighty Ones"- i.e ., angels, as the LXX renders the word. Both designations point to its heavenly origin, without its being necessary to suppose that the poet thought of angels as really eating it. The description of the fall of the quails ( Psalm 78:26-29 ) is touched with imaginative beauty. The word rendered above "made to go forth" is originally applied to the breaking up of an encampment, and that rendered "guided" to a shepherdβs leading of his flock. Both words are found in the Pentateuch, the former in reference to the wind that brought the quails, { Numbers 11:31 } the latter in reference to that which brought the plague of locusts. { Exodus 10:13 } So the winds are conceived of as Godβs servants, issuing from their tents at His command, and guided by Him as a shepherd leads his sheep. "He let it fall in the midst of their camp" graphically describes the dropping down of the wearied, storm, beaten birds. Psalm 78:30-33 paint the swift punishment of the peopleβs unbelief, in language almost identical with Numbers 11:33 . The psalmist twice stigmatises their sin as "lust," and uses the word which enters into the tragical name given to the scene of the sin and the punishment- Kibroth-Hat-taavah (the graves of Lust). In Psalm 78:32-33 , the faint-hearted despondency after the return of the spies, and the punishment of it by the sentence of death on all that generation, seem to be alluded to. The next group of four verses describes the peopleβs superficial and transient repentance, "When He slew them they sought Him"- i.e ., when the fiery serpents were sent among them. But such seeking after God, which is properly not seeking Him at all, but only seeking to escape from evil, neither goes deep nor lasts long. Thus the end of it was only lip reverence proved robe false by life, and soon ended. "Their heart was not steadfast." The pressure being removed, they returned to their habitual position, as all such penitents do. From the midst of this sad narrative of faithlessness, springs up, like a fountain in a weary land, or a flower among half-cooled lava blocks, the lovely description of Godβs forbearance in Psalm 78:38-39 . It must not be read as if it merely carried on the narrative, and was in continuation of the preceding clauses. The psalmist does not say "He was full of compassion," though that would be much, in the circumstances; but he is declaring Godβs eternal character. His compassions are unfailing. It is always His wont to cover sin and to spare. Therefore He exercised these gracious forbearances towards those obstinate transgressors. He was true to His own compassion in remembering their mortality and feebleness. What a melancholy sound, as of wind blowing among forgotten graves, has that summing up of human life as "a wind that goes and comes not again!" With Psalm 78:40 the second portion of the psalm may be regarded as beginning. The first group, of historical details dealt first with Godβs mercies, and passed on to manβs requital. The second starts with manβs ingratitude, which it paints in the darkest colours, as provoking Him, grieving Him, tempting Him, and vexing Him. The psalmist is not afraid to represent God as affected with such emotions by reason of menβs indifference and unbelief. His language is not to be waved aside as anthroposnorphic and antiquated. No doubt, we come nearer to the unattainable truth, when we conceive of God as grieved by menβs sins and delighting in their trust, than when we think of Him as an impassive Infinitude, serenely indifferent to tortured or sinful hearts. For is not His name of names Love? The psalmist traces Israelβs sin to forgetfulness of Godβs mercy, and thus glides into a swift summing up of the plagues of Egypt, regarded as conducing to Israelβs deliverance. They are not arranged chronologically, though the list begins with the first. Then follow three of those in which animals were the destroyers: namely, the fourth, that of flies; the second, that of frogs; and the eighth, that of locusts. Then comes the seventh, that of hail; and, according to some commentators, the fifth, that of the murrain, in Psalm 78:49 , followed by the tenth in Psalm 78:51 . But the grand, sombre imagery of Psalm 78:49 is too majestic for such application. It rather sums up the whole series of plagues, likening them to an embassy (lit., a sending) of angels of evil. They are a grim company to come forth from His presence-Wrath, Indignation, and Trouble. The same power which sent them out on their errand prepared a way before them; and the crowning judgment, which, in the psalmistβs view was also the crowning mercy, was the death of the firstborn. The next quartet of verses ( Psalm 78:52-55 ) passes lightly over the wilderness history and the settlement in the land, and hastens on to a renewed narration of repeated rebellion, which occupies the next group ( Psalm 78:56-59 ). These verses cover the period from the entrance on Canaan to the fall of the sanctuary of Shiloh, during which there was a continual tendency to relapse into idolatry. That is the special sin here charged against the Israel of the time of the Judges. The figure of a "deceitful bow," in Psalm 78:57 , well describes the people as failing to fulfil the purpose of their choice by God. As such a weapon does not shoot true, and makes the arrow fly wide, however well aimed and strongly drawn, so Israel foiled all Divine attempts, and failed to carry Godβs message to the world, or to fulfil His will in themselves. Hence the next verses tell, with intense energy and pathos, the sad story of Israelβs humiliation under the Philistines. The language is extraordinarily strong in its description of Godβs loathing and rejection of the nation and sanctuary and is instinct with sorrow blended with stern recognition of His righteousness in judgment. What a tragic picture the psalmist draws! Shiloh, the dwelling place of God, empty forever more; the "Glory"-that is, the Ark-in the enemyβs hands; everywhere stiffening corpses; a pall of silence over the land; no brides and no joyous bridal chaunts; the very priests massacred, unlamented by their widows, who had wept so many tears already that the fountain of them was dried up, and even sorrowing love was dumb with horror and despair! The two last groups of verses paint Godβs great mercy in delivering the nation from such misery. The daring figure of His awakening as from sleep and dashing upon Israelβs foes, who are also His, with a shout like that of a hero stimulated by wine, is more accordant with Eastern fervour than with our colder imagination; but it wonderfully expresses the sudden transition from a period, during which God seemed passive and careless of His peopleβs wretchedness, to one in which His power flashed forth triumphant for their defence. The prose fact is the long series of victories over the Philistines and other oppressors, which culminated in the restoration of the Ark, the selection of Zion as its abode, which involved the rejection of Shiloh and consequently of Ephraim (in whose territory Shiloh was), and the accession of David. The Davidic kingdom is, in the psalmistβs view, the final form of Israelβs national existence; and the sanctuary, like the kingdom, is perpetual as the lofty heavens or the firm earth. Nor were his visions vain, for that kingdom subsists and will subsist forever, and the true sanctuary, the dwelling place of God among men, is still more closely intertwined with the kingdom and its King than the psalmist knew. The perpetual duration of both is, in truth, the greatest of Godβs mercies, outshining all earlier deliverances; and they who truly have become the subjects of the Christ, the King of Israel and of the world, and who dwell with God in His house, by dwelling with Jesus; will not rebel against Him any more, nor ever forget His wonders, but faithfully tell them to the generations to come. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.
Illustrator
Give ear, O My people, to My law; incline your ears to the words of My mouth. Psalm 78:1 The obligation to obey God's law John Rogan. I. IT IS THE LAW OF YOUR NATURE. The foundation of morality is laid deep in human nature; its principles result from the constitution of our frame; and its authority will be supreme, while there is a mind to discern, or a heart to feel, or a conscience to judge. II. IT IS THE LAW OF HEAVEN. III. IT IS THE LAW OF SOCIETY. Public depravity paves the way for public ruin. IV. IT IS THE LAW OF HAPPINESS. What does it forbid? Desires, passions, and vices, from which for our own sakes we should abstain, though there was no such prohibition. It forbids the gratification of desires which would lead us to ruin; the commission of vices which waken remorse, and deliver us up to the tormentors. What does the law of the Lord command? What is lovely, and pure, and praiseworthy; what tends to make men peaceable, gentle, humane, merciful, benevolent, and happy. ( John Rogan. ) I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old. Psalm 78:2 The nature and design of parabolic teaching T. Jackson, M. A. The word here translated parable did not probably convey to the mind of the psalmist the signification which we ordinarily attach to it. It might mean nothing more than a sublime, figurative, and sententious manner of stating facts or imparting moral lessons; or nothing more than a poem in which this style should prevail. I. THE NATURE OF PARABOLIC TEACHING. It is that which discerns most deeply and employs most judiciously these manifold analogies and comparisons, more or less partaking of what we understand by a continued metaphor. And he who has the greatest moral perfection will assuredly be the best adapted to the discernment of the lessons they imply. The Lord Jesus Christ, then, must be, from His very character and offices, best acquainted with this method of instruction. He who made all things and without whom not anything was made that was made, He is not only the Word, but the Wisdom of God β pronouncing His dark sayings and forming His secret things in the progress of the world and the Church, so that Egypt is still the type of bondage, and Israel's journey through the wilderness to the land of promise one long parable, as Asaph saw darkly, of God's dealings with His saints in the latter day. Every hour we behold Him illustrating the nature of this varying and marvellous instruction; aiding us to its definition; supplying the materials of which its innumerable comparisons are formed. II. THE ADAPTATION OF PARABOLIC TEACHING TO THE CONDITION OF MANKIND UPON EARTH. The human mind is so constituted, as to be unable to comprehend essences, properly speaking. The principles of causation are a sealed book to us. The progress of language, the manner in which we give names to objects, are of themselves sufficient proofs of this view. In everything pertaining to our moral conduct and choice, we follow another kind of evidence, and are influenced by another kind of reasoning. We determine what shall be our preference, not because we know absolutely the best course, but because our minds remark that what we are about to do bears a likeness to some other event or circumstance, which on another occasion, we have observed, came to pass. The rule and measure of our hopes and fears concerning the success of our pursuits; our expectation that others will act so and so under such circumstances; and our judgment that such actions proceed from such principles β all these rely upon our having observed the like to what we hope, fear, expect, judge; we say, upon our having observed the like, either with respect to others or ourselves. Our very life, then, is guided by a sort of parable, and hence the adaptation of its formal development to our circumstances and condition. But that propriety is illustrated not only by the connection of reasoning on probabilities, or likelihoods, or parallel courses of events, with the teaching by parables. We prove it also by the shortness of human life. A moral question comes before us; we make a parable to ourselves; we compare the subject on which we want to learn with another, where the decision and propriety is obvious. We do this involuntarily, because our time is so short; it is now or never. Here is another ground of arguing the adaptation of parabolical teaching to the necessities of mankind. We have said, what must the case be with the masses of which the world is constituted! Engaged as they are from morning to night in obtaining a scant supply for the wants of their bodies, they have no time or opportunity to rise, were the rising possible, above the range of this kind of information. But to them it seems strangely forcible. It strikes a chord in their understanding and heart. Metaphors are ever popular with the multitude. Children (and the mass of mankind are but children of a larger growth) love to be instructed by a similitude. It casts them on a new field of discovery; it opens their mind to a fresh series of glorious thoughts and feelings. And is it presumptuous to suppose that all this was part of ancient and venerable design on the part of our Lord Jesus Christ the Creator, and by creating the Teacher, as well as the Redeemer of our species? ( T. Jackson, M. A. ) We will not hide them from their children. Psalm 78:4 Children The Study. I. THE INTERESTING OBJECTS OF OUR SOLICITUDE MENTIONED. Consider β 1. The love which welcomes them. 2. The evils which surround them. 3. The possibilities which await them. II. THE SACRED DUTIES WHICH WE OWE TO THEM. 1. They are weak; we must protect them ( Genesis 33 .). 2. They are helpless; we must provide for them. 3. They are ignorant; we must instruct them. III. THE OBJECT WHICH WE HOPE SHALL BE REALIZED. 1. The knowledge of truth shall be perpetuated. 2. Our children will put their hope in God. 3. They shall be better than their fathers. ( The Study. ) The knowledge of national benefits and deliverances transmitted to the rising generation N. Hill. I. POINT OUT A FEW OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE HEARD AND KNOWN, OR WHICH OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US, and which we, with the psalmist, may style "The praises of the Lord, and His strength, and the wonderful works that He hath done." II. RECOMMEND AND ENFORCE THE RESOLUTION IN MY TEXT. The great Gad may justly expect that we acquaint ourselves with His ways and works; that we endeavour to trace Him in the natural, providential, and civil world, and in the world of grace; and that we treasure up in our hearts each signal deliverance He hath wrought. But a genuine disciple of Jesus, and a child of God, will neither wish to live nor to die unto himself. What we have known of the wonderful works of God in favour of our fathers, of ourselves, or of ages to come, we should transmit to the rising generation. I am apprehensive that one cause of the languishing state of public spirit, and of pious zeal, in this age, is the want of knowledge. Had the minds of persons in the present day been early and deeply impressed with the conduct of God to this highly favoured country, the privileges they enjoy would be more dear and important in their esteem, and patriotism would not be that empty boast which we have too much reason to apprehend it now is. With the knowledge of those "things we have heard, and known, and which our fathers have told us," transmit, as far as possible, the things themselves. On our part let nothing be left untried, that they who are soon to fill our places in civil and religious life, and that their descendants, even to the world's last period, may stand forth, under God, the guardians of each important and sacred right, and approve themselves the unshaken friends of their country, of Jesus, and of the Gospel. ( N. Hill. ) The transmission of Scriptural truth to posterity J. Belcher. The text presents four grand arguments why we should zealously devote ourselves to this duty. I. THE PECULIAR CHARACTER OF SCRIPTURAL TRUTH. Consider it β 1. As a revelation of God. 2. As a law of duty. 3. As a history of God's conduct. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH WE HAVE BEEN PUT INTO ITS POSSESSION. As we have received the knowledge of God and the way of happiness from our fathers, who showed us by their lips and their lives the way of happiness, we are bound, by every consideration of gratitude, to give to others what has been so freely given to us. III. THE DIVINE ARRANGEMENTS AS TO ITS TRANSMISSION. Fathers are commanded to make known the commands and the character of Gad to their children. Various powerful reasons might be assigned for this infinitely wise arrangement. The young come into our world with an awfully strong bias to evil, and it is unspeakably important to check the workings of their depravity by presenting the most powerful considerations which tend to the accomplishment of such an end. Nor must it be forgotten here, that, as immortal creatures, the character of man is usually formed in youth for eternity. IV. THE GREAT RESULTS WHICH IT IS INTENDED TO ACCOMPLISH. Every individual who receives the knowledge of God, in the love of it, becomes a moral sun, diffusing light and warmth around him, the glorious effects of which shall be felt through all the changes of time, and in eternity itself. ( J. Belcher. ) The true method by which generation helps generation Homilist. I. TRUE RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE IS A THING IMPARTED TO MAN. It is that "which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us." It is not inbred nor discovered. Without denying that man has a capacity to discover God as the Creator, all history shows that he has never done so; and as to His redeeming capacity, that, in the nature of the case, transcends all human conceptions. As sinners, this is the knowledge of God we require, and it involves the former. And we have it, not by intuition or discovery, but by impartation. It has been transmitted to us through many generations. 1. They have handed it down to us by inspired documents. 2. They have handed it down to us by their own teaching. II. TRUE RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE IS IMPARTED TO US, NOT TO MONOPOLIZE, BUT TO TRANSMIT (vers. 5-8). The transmittory arrangement implies β 1. That the children of every generation have a capacity for receiving this knowledge. There is no danger of teaching religion boo soon. 2. That the children of every generation will require this knowledge. Coming generations may not require our philosophies, poetries, and governments; they may out-grow our sciences, and despise our civilization, but they will require our religion. Though they may not require our lamps, they will need our sun. 3. The eternal harmony of all God's operations. The Eternal does not contradict Himself. The first Divine act on earth's theatre will harmonize with the last. The whole will form one great anthem filling eternity with music. III. TRUE RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE IS TO BE THUS TRANSMITTED IN ORDER TO ELEVATE POSTERITY. 1. The grand result aimed at is threefold β(1) Rightness of intellect. "Not forget the works of God." A constant recognition of Divine agency.(2) Rightness of heart. "That they might set their hope in God," and "set their heart aright"; the heart fixed on God as the supreme Good.(3) Rightness of conduct. "Keep His commandments." To bring immortal man to this sublime rightness β this rightness in thought, feeling, and action, is the grand and ultimate end of all this teaching. Glorious end! 2. It is coming slowly but surely. Humanity is rising, and every true thought arid virtuous act helps it on. ( Homilist. ) For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel... that they should make them known to their children. Psalm 78:5-8 The parents' prerogative: how is it used D. Davies. ? β Dr. Adam Clarke reminds us that there are no less than five generations specified in these verses. God has blessed no age for its own sake only. There is a chain of Divine purposes in the history of God's dealings with men, one link of which joins another in continuous progression until all, in their united and related capacity, present one completed purpose which is all-embracing and Godlike. This truth was repeatedly emphasized in the earliest days of God's special dealings with the Jewish people. Moreover, the duty of handing down to succeeding generations the truth which they had received was specially enforced in the case of parents, the natural guardians of the rising race, and, therefore, according to the law of Moses, the first special custodians of Divine truth. It is important to notice how tenaciously the Jewish people clung to the title "the Children of Israel," and how frequently in later days, when the title "Children of Israel" had fallen into comparative disuse, they nevertheless clung to the memory of their "fathers," especially the three great primitive fathers of the race β Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All this shows what a large place the family and its associations and relationships occupied in the life of the nation. There can be no doubt that it is God's will that the parent should be the first teacher and guide of the family, and if this is neglected by the parent no one else can fully compensate for that neglect. Hence the repeated emphasis placed in the Old Testament on the duties of parents. I say "parents" because the law demanded filial honour alike to "father and mother." Now, in the household of the Jew there were certain religious duties to be performed by the mother. For instance, the lighting of the Sabbath lamp, as also the preparation of the Sabbath meal, and the fastening of the scroll of parchment upon the door-post, was done, not by the father, but the mother. Thus Jewish children from their earliest age learnt to associate certain religious acts commemorative of great facts in the history of God's dealings with the nation with some of the mother's duties. The child would ask, "Mother, what are you doing?" She would reply, "Kindling the Sabbath lamp," or "Preparing the Sabbath meal," or "Fastening the parchment upon the door-post so that all may know we love and serve the Lord God of Israel." She would also tell the child the spiritual significance of all these customs. Thus the mother was a mighty power in Israel in forming the character, and determining the destiny, of the rising race. Moreover, the mother was the privileged teacher of the child during the earliest and most impressionable period of his life, and, oh, how wonderfully the Jewish mother availed herself of this opportunity! We find a striking instance of the mother's influence, even in a home, far away from any synagogue, where, moreover, the father was a heathen man, in Paul's allusion to Timothy, who from a child had known the Holy Scriptures. Now, parents, will you relinquish that vantage ground upon which God has placed you? Will you give it up instead of availing yourself of your prerogative to the fully Are you willing to send your children forth to the world without the advantage of your unique influence? Is it your will that, though you have the power placed in your hands so to influence your children that they shall find it exceptionally difficult to forget you and your teaching, they shall yet go forth into this fashionable, giddy, sinful world without the advantage of any such training as God calls upon you to give them, and all this because you idly trust that somehow or other some self-denying teacher may compensate for your neglect? Oh, parents, to have a conscience void of offence, and our hands clean so that not a spot of their blood shall remain upon us! ( D. Davies. ) Bible education, and its safest guarantee C. Hebert, M. A. I. THE REAL GROUND OF THE DUTY OF TRANSMITTING KNOWLEDGE FROM MAN TO MAN. It is not a work of choice, to be done or not done, to be done partially or done heartily and entirely, at our option and after our judgment; but a positive duty laid down and imposed upon us by the express command of the Most High. II. WHAT KIND OF KNOWLEDGE GOD HAS COMMANDED TO BE IMPARTED. 1. God has specially honoured and particularly prescribed religious knowledge. Indeed, what can be more inconsistent or unwise, than to educate man for time, add to leave his soul unfitted, unstored, untaught for the measureless eternity through which it will endure? 2. God has not excluded other instruction. III. THE TIME WHICH GOD PARTICULARLY SPECIFIES FOR IMPARTING INSTRUCTION ( Deuteronomy 11:18, 19 ; Isaiah 28:9 , etc. ). ( C. Hebert, M. A. ) Children to be instructed in the Scriptures D. Bees. I. THE PECULIAR BENEFIT WHICH THE LORD CONFERRED UPON ISRAEL. "He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel." The law and the testimony may now be said to belong to us, and to belong to us in a far more eminent sense than they ever did to Israel. The canon of Scripture is now completed. We have not only Moses and the prophets, but also the evangelists and the apostles. We are favoured with all the revelations which in different ages of the world it has pleased God to communicate to His Church, and particularly with the glorious gospel of His grace. II. THE IMPORTANT DUTY WHICH GOD REQUIRED ISRAEL TO DISCHARGE IN VIRTUE OF THE BENEFIT CONFERRED UPON THEM. Having established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, "He commanded the fathers," etc. In proportion as the glory of the Gospel excels that of the law, are our obligations to see that the minds of our children are well imbued with its truths. And is not a knowledge of those truths absolutely necessary to their well-being and happiness? Can they be saved without it? Must they not perish without it? What is the body to the soul? Or what are the concerns of time compared with those of eternity? Let us weigh them in the balances of the sanctuary, end we shall find them to be lighter than vanity. Shall these, then, engross our cares in reference to our children, while we overlook their best and highest interests? ( D. Bees. ) That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. Psalm 78:7, 8 On the deceitfulness of the heart J. Jamieson, M. A. I. SHOW WHAT IS IMPLIED IN A DILIGENT OBSERVATION OF PROVIDENTIAL DISPENSATIONS. 1. A close investigation of the various steps of Providence towards us. 2. Attention to the temper of our hearts, to the dictates of conscience, and to the motions of the Holy Spirit, which concur with these dispensations. 3. An accurate trial of the meaning of all dispensations by the infallible standard of revelation. 4. An earnest desire of perceiving God's design as of a loving nature. 5. A faithful recording of these dispensations. II. ILLUSTRATE SOME OF THE DECEITS PRACTISED BY THE HEART, IN ORDER TO PREVENT A DILIGENT OBSERVATION OF PROVIDENTIAL DISPENSATIONS. 1. It entices us to indifference about practical religion. 2. It represents them as uncertain. 3. It represents many events as trifling and unworthy of attention. 4. It opposes this exercise, as if it unavoidably tended to enthusiasm. 5. It is represented as a great bondage to ourselves. 6. The heart may perhaps plead that this course is neglected by many who are as good Christians as we. III. ADVERT TO THE DESIGNS OF THE DECEITFUL HEART IN DISSUADING US FROM OBSERVING DIVINE DISPENSATIONS. 1. It wishes to deprive God of the glory resulting from this exercise. 2. By this inexcusable negligence the delusive heart designs to deprive believers of much real comfort. There are two channels in which the Lord communicates consolation to His people. These are His Word and Providence. But we lose much of our comfort if we keep these separate. (1) Diligent observation would eminently open up the mystery of Providence. (2) It tends to increase a holy fear of God. (3) It is an illustrious means of discovering Divine love. (4) It tends greatly to strengthen faith. (5) It is a great inducement to live closely with God. (6) This practice must throw great light on the evil of sin, by discovering providential frowns and chastisements for those parts of our conduct that might otherwise appear trivial. IV. SUGGEST SOME MOTIVES FOR ENCOURAGING CHRISTIANS TO THIS EXERCISE. 1. The command of God ( Deuteronomy 4:9 ). 2. God has pledged His faithfulness for the success of this work. 3. The example of the saints. 4. The consideration of God's constant and tender remembrance of you may encourage you to this exercise. 5. The recollection of former mercies will afford you an argument with God for renewed instances of His love. V. CONCLUDING CAUTIONS. 1. Beware of making Providence the rule of your conduct. This would be to put it in the place of the world, which is not merely the principal, but the only rule. 2. Judge not of providential dispensations by their outward aspect. 3. In all your observation of Divine providence, still remember that the ways of God are unsearchable. His judgments are a great deep. 4. Beware of forming a rash judgment with respect to God's designs. "He that believeth h shall not make haste." 5. Be especially on your guard against harsh and uncharitable judgment. ( J. Jamieson, M. A. ) Memory, hope and effort A. Maclaren, D. D. My text tells us how past, present and future β memory, hope and effort, β may be ennobled and blessed. In brief, it is by associating them all with God. It is as the field of His working that our past is best remembered. It is on Him that our hopes may most wisely be set. It is keeping His commandments which is the consecration of the present. I. ASSOCIATE GOD WITH MEMORY BY THANKFUL REMEMBRANCE. We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a long connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst they were hot, and life was all hurry and bustle. II. LIVE IN THE FUTURE BY HOPE IN HIM. Hope owes to Memory the pigments with which it paints, the canvas on which it paints, and the objects which it portrays there. But in all our earthly hopes there is a feeling of uncertainty which brings alarm as well as expectation. And he whose forward vision runs only along the low levels of earth, and is fed only by experience and remembrance, will never be able to say, "I hope with certitude and I know that my hope shall be fulfilled." But they whose hopes are set on God have a certain hope, a sufficient one, and one that fills all the future. III. LIVE IN THE PRESENT BY STRENUOUS OBEDIENCE. After all, memory and hope are meant to fit us for work in the flying moment. Both should impel us to this keeping of the commandments of God; for both yield motives which should incline us thereto. A past full of blessing demands the sacrifice of loving hearts and of earnest hands. A future so fair, so far, so certain, so sovereign; and a hope that grasps it, and brings some of its sweet fragrance into the else scentless air of the poor present, ought to impel to service, vigorous and continual. Both should yield motives; both should impel to such service. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. Psalm 78:9-17 God in human history Homilist. I. A PEOPLE IS A COMMUNITY THAT ARE MOST FAVOURED WITH PRIVILEGES ARE OFTENTIMES THE MOST SINFUL. Ephraim was not only one of the largest, but one of the most favoured of the Jewish tribes. He descended from Joseph, the highly favoured of God. He received the benediction from the lips of Jacob; and yet this tribe was so prominent in the rebellion that it stands as the representative of the ten rebellious tribes. Two of its sins are referred to here. 1. Cowardice in battle (ver. 9). They had weapons for battle, but they had not the patriotic bravery to use them. 2. Disobedience to God (ver. 10). II. GOD WORKS SPECIALLY IN HUMAN HISTORY FOR MAN'S ADVANTAGE (vers. 11, 12). III. HIS SPECIAL WORKINGS ON BEHALF OF MAN, WHILST THEY SHOULD DETER FROM SIN, FREQUENTLY FAIL OF THIS PURPOSE (ver. 17). "When God," says an old author on this verse, "began thus to bless them, they began to affront Him." As sin sometimes takes occasion by the commandment, so at other times it takes occasion by the deliverance, to become more exceedingly sinful. ( Homilist. ) Cowards in battle R. S. McArthur, D. D. I. THE HISTORICAL ADVANTAGES OF THESE MEN. "Children of Ephraim." 1. This gave them the advantage of having had brave ancestors. Joshua and Samuel were Ephraimites β noble sires; this a great honour; a correspondingly great responsibility. Blood is much; grace is more. 2. This gave them the advantages of a central location. After settlement in Canaan, Ephraim, numerous and powerful, occupied the central portion of the land. In its territory were Shiloh, with the tabernacle and ark; Shechem, with its holy and tender associations. 3. This gave them prominence and power. But they were false to their great mission. They were leaders, and leaders in evil. "Being armed and carrying bows." II. THE MILITARY CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 1. They were defensively armed. So is the Christian. 2. They were offensively equipped. 3. They were skilful in the use of their weapons. We must know how to use this one offensive weapon. III. THE COWARDLY CONDUCT OF THESE MEN. They "turned back in the day of battle." 1. They turned back. Weapons worthless if courage be wanting; courage is wanting if God be absent. 2. They did this in the day of battle. They betrayed their trust. 3. They brought disastrous consequences upon themselves. Merited doom. Sanctuary transferred. God's rejection secured. We need bravery. Dare to be like Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Paul, Luther, Bunyan. Alas I that in these evil days β days of spiritual declension β there is so little genuine heroism in the Church. ( R. S. McArthur, D. D. ) Turning back in the day of battle I. WHAT THESE MEN DID. They turned their backs when the time for fighting came, and fled. This, I am sorry to say, is not an unusual thing among professing Christians. Some do this at the first appearance of difficulty. Timorous and Mistrust come running down tim hill crying, "The lions! the lions!" and thus may a pilgrim turn back towards the City of Destruction. Others are somewhat braver. During the first thrust they stand like martyrs and behave like heroes, but very soon, when the armour gets a little battered, and the fine plume on their helmet a little stained, they turn back in the day of battle. Some professors bear the fight a little longer. They are not to be laughed out Of their religion; they can stand the jeers of their old companions. "Cowards," say they, "are those who flee; but we shall never do this." But by and by the skirmishers have done their work, and it comes to a hand-to-hand fight; the struggle begins to be somewhat more arduous, and now shall we see what metal they are made of. We have seen grey-headed apostates as well as juvenile ones. II. WHEN THEY DID IT. "In the day of battle." 1. At the only time when they were of any sort of use. If the Christian soldier never fights, of what good is he at all? Take off his colours, play "The Rogues' March," and turn him out of the barracks! And this is what will come to some professors who turn back in the day of battle! Their regimentals will be torn off, and they will be excluded from the Church of God because they turned back in the day of trial and at the time when they were needed. 2. They turned their backs, too, like fools, in the day when victory was to be won. The soldier wants to distinguish himself; he wants to rise out of the ranks; he wants to be promoted. He hardly expects an opportunity of doing this in time of peace; but the officer rises when in time of war he leads a successful charge. And so it is with the Christian soldier. I make no advance while I am not fighting. I cannot win if I am not warring. 3. They turned back, when turning back involved the most disastrous defeat. The ark of God was taken. "Ichabod," the enemy cried, for the glory was departed from Israel, because the children of Ephraim turned back in the day of battle. And so, dear friends, unless God gives you preserving grace to stand fast to the end, do you not see that you are turning back to β what? To perdition. III. WHO THEY WERE THAT TURNED BACK. 1. Men of a noble parentage. "Children of Ephraim." 2. They were armed, and had proper weapons, weapons which they knew how to use, and good weapons for that period of warfare. And as Christians, what weapons have we? Here is this "Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Here is a quiver, filled with innumerable arrows, and God has put into our hands the bow of prayer, by which we may shoot them, drawing that bow by the arm of faith. 3. Another translation seems to show that these Ephraimites were very skilful in the use of the bow, and yet they turned back. Oh! may God grant that none of us who have preached to others, and preached to others with fluency and zeal, may ever have our own weapons turned against US. IV. WHY DID THEY DO IT? 1. "They kept not the covenant." Oh! that great covenant, "ordered in all things and sure," when you can fall back upon that, how it strengthens you! 2. "They refused to walk in His law." When we get a proud heart we very soon get beaten, for with the face of a lion, but the heart of a deer, such an one is afraid of the world. If I am willing to do what God tells me, as He tells me, when He tells me, and because He tells me, I shall not turn back in the day of battle. 3. They also seemed to have turned back because they had bad memories. "They forgot His works, and the wonders that He had showed them." Some of you have had very wonderful manifestations of the Lord's kindness, and if you forget all these I should not wonder if you should prove to be a mere professor and turn back. V. WHAT WAS THE RESULT OF THEM TURNING BACK? 1. Their father mourned over them ( 1 Chronicles 7:22 ). What a lamentation it brings into the Christian Church when a professor falls! 2. Owing to their turning back, the enemy remained. It is our turning back in the day of battle that leaves Canaan unconquered for our Lord. 3. But, worse than this, the ark itself was actually taken. Those of you who are armed and carry bows, men of learning, men who understand the Scriptures, I do pray you, do not turn back just now, for just now seems to be a time when the ark of God will be taken. It can never really be so, but still we must mind that it be not the tendency of our actions. We must all of us hold fast the truth now. If there is a man who has got a truth, let him draw his bow and shoot his arrows now, and not turn back in the day of battle. Now for your arrows! Now for your arrows! The more our foes shall conspire against Christ, the more do you make war against them. Give them double for their double; reward them as they reward you. Spare no arrows against Babylon. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Turning back in battle J. N. Norton. True religion brings with it a courageous heart, and Dr. South has well and quaintly said, that "since Christ has made a Christian course a warfare, of all men living a coward is the most unfit to make a Christian." And yet it is mournful to think that, of the great army of Christians who enrol themselves under the banner of the Cross, in Baptism and Confirmation, and who wear the uniform and carry the sword of Christian soldiers, so many resemble the ill-starred men of Ephraim, who, "being armed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle!" Courage can only be kept alive by zealous action. We can readily imagine a gallant regiment riding into the very valley of death at a dashing gallop, but it would be simply absurd to picture them crawling at a snail's pace towards the expectant foe, coolly calculating the chances of disastrous defeat. As Christians, we profess to be engaged in a warfare against something, even the enemies of our salvation, the world, the flesh, and the devil β three most formidable and deadly foes. The office for the Lord's Supper opens also with a prayer "for the whole state of Christ's Church militant" β the Church which is engaged in open and determined war. We can all well afford to do good service for Christ and His kingdom, since the end draweth near. Here is the battlefield, and the land of the sword and the spear. There, already is sight to the eye of faith, in the triumphal procession of the conquerors, and the land of the wreath and the crown. ( J. N. Norton. ) Our proneness to forget past mercies A. Maclaren, D. D. We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a long connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst th
Matthew Henry
78:1-8 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. 78:9-39. 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! 78:40-55. 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. 78:56-72 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.
Benson