We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
For he established a covenant in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;
that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,
that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,
and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
They didn’t keep God’s covenant, and refused to walk in his law.
They forgot his doings, his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.
In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.
Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?”
Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel,
because they didn’t believe in God, and didn’t trust in his salvation.
Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven.
He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky.
Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.
He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.
He also rained meat on them as the dust, winged birds as the sand of the seas.
He let them fall in the middle of their camp, around their habitations.
So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.
They didn’t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,
when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of their fattest, and struck down the young men of Israel.
For all this they still sinned, and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.
But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.
But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and didn’t stir up all his wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
They didn’t remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,
he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.
He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost.
He gave over their livestock also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil.
He made a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,
and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies,
but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel,
so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men,
and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary’s hand.
He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.
Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn’t weep.
Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.
Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.
He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.
So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 26, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 44, 50, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 4. We will not conceal them from their children…
4. We will not conceal them from their children in the generation to come. Some take the verb נכחד, nechached, in the nephil conjugation, and translate it, they are not concealed or hidden. But it ought, according to the rules of grammar, to be resolved thus: — We will not conceal them from our posterity, implying, that what we have been taught by our ancestors we should endeavor to transmit to their children. By this means, all pretense of ignorance is removed; for it was the will of God that these things should be published from age to age without interruption; so that being transmitted from father to child in each family, they might reach even the last family of man. The end for which this was to be done is shown — that they might celebrate the praises of Jehovah, in the wonderful works which he hath done
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 41, 42, 45, 46, 49, 51, 53, 54, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 69, 72 By the testimony, and law, he meaneth the law…
By the testimony, and law, he meaneth the law written, which they were commanded to teach their children, Deut. 6:7.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–72 Psa 78:4 We will not hide [them] from their…
Psa 78:4 We will not hide [them] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
Ver. 4. We will not hide them from their children] The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with, 1Co 12:7, neither is any one born (much less born again) for himself; but must be as useful as may be in his generation,
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Paulum sepultae distat inertiae
Celata virtus - (Hor.).
The praises of the Lord] The praise worthy acts of God for his people, and against their enemies; for these two are not sundered, Php 1:28.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72 The praises, i.e. his glorious and praiseworthy actions, as…
The praises, i.e. his glorious and praiseworthy actions, as the following words explain it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv9, 40 In these verses,
In these verses,
I. The psalmist observes the late rebukes of Providence that the people of Israel had been under, which they had brought upon themselves by their dealing treacherously with God, Psa 78:9-11. The children of Ephraim, in which tribe Shiloh was, though they were well armed and shot with bows, yet turned back in the day of battle. This seems to refer to that shameful defeat which the Philistines gave them in Eli's time, when they took the ark prisoner, Sa1 4:10, Sa1 4:11. Of this the psalmist here begins to speak, and, after a long digression, returns to it again, Psa 78:61. Well might that event be thus fresh in mind in David's time, above forty years after, for the ark, which in that memorable battle was seized by the Philistines, though it was quickly brought out of captivity, was never brought out of obscurity till David fetched it from Kirjath-jearim to his own city. Observe, 1. The shameful cowardice of the children of Ephraim, that warlike tribe, so famed for valiant men, Joshua's tribe; the children of that tribe, though as well armed as ever, turned back when they came to face the enemy. Note, Weapons of war stand men in little stead without a martial spirit, and that is gone if God be gone. Sin dispirits men and takes away the heart. 2. The causes of their cowardice, which were no less shameful; and these were, (1.) A shameful violation of God's law and their covenant with him (Psa 78:10); they were basely treacherous and perfidious, for they kept not the covenant of God, and basely stubborn and rebellious (as they were described, Psa 78:8), for they peremptorily refused to walk in his law, and, in effect, told him to his face they would not be ruled by him. (2.) A shameful ingratitude to God for the favours he had bestowed upon them: They forgot his works and his wonders, his works of wonder which they ought to have admired, Psa 78:11. Note, Our forgetfulness of God's works is at the bottom of our disobedience to his laws.
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II. He takes occasion hence to consult precedents and to compare this with the case of their fathers, who were in like manner unmindful of God's mercies to them and ungrateful to their founder and great benefactor, and were therefore often brought under his displeasure. The narrative in these verses is very remarkable, for it relates a kind of struggle between God's goodness and man's badness, and mercy, at length, rejoices against judgment.
1. God did great things for his people Israel when he first incorporated them and formed them into a people: Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, and not only in their sight, but in their cause, and for their benefit, so strange, so kind, that one would think they should never be forgotten. What he did for them in the land of Egypt is only just mentioned here (Psa 78:12), but afterwards resumed, Psa 78:43. He proceeds here to show, (1.) How he made a lane for them through the Red Sea, and caused them, gave them courage, to pass through, though the waters stood over their heads as a heap, Psa 78:13. See Isa 63:12, Isa 63:13, where God is said to lead them by the hand, as it were, through the deep that they should not stumble. (2.) How he provided a guide for them through the untrodden paths of the wilderness (Psa 78:14); he led them step by step, in the day time by a cloud, which also sheltered them from the heat, and all the night with a light of fire, which perhaps warmed the air; at least it made the darkness of night less frightful, and perhaps kept off wild beasts, Zac 2:5. (3.) How he furnished their camp with fresh water in a dry and thirsty land where no water was, not by opening the bottles of heaven (that would have been a common way), but by broaching a rock (Psa 78:15, Psa 78:16): He clave the rocks in the wilderness, which yielded water, though they were not capable of receiving it either from the clouds above or the springs beneath. Out of the dry and hard rock he gave them drink, not distilled as out of an alembic, drop by drop, but in streams running down like rivers, and as out of the great depths. God gives abundantly, and is rich in mercy; he gives seasonably, and sometimes makes us to feel the want of mercies that we may the better know the worth of them. This water which God gave Israel out of the rock was the more valuable because it was spiritual drink. And that rock was Christ.
2. When God began thus to bless them they began to affront him (Psa 78:17): They sinned yet more against him, more than they had done in Egypt, though there they were bad enough, Eze 20:8. They bore the miseries of their servitude better than the difficulties of their deliverance, and never murmured at their taskmasters so much as they did at Moses and Aaron; as if they were delivered to do all these abominations, Jer 7:10. As sin sometimes takes occasion by the commandment, so at other times it takes occasion by the deliverance, to become more exceedingly sinful. They provoked the Most High. Though he is most high, and they knew themselves an unequal match for him, yet they provoked him and even bade defiance to his justice; and this in the wilderness, where he had them at his mercy and therefore they were bound in interest to please him, and where he showed them so much mercy and therefore they were bound in gratitude to please him; yet there they said and did that which they knew would provoke him: They tempted God in their heart, Psa 78:18. Their sin began in their heart, and thence it took its malignity. They do always err in their heart, Heb 3:10. Thus they tempted God, tried his patience to the utmost, whether he would bear with them or no, and, in effect, bade him do his worst. Two ways they provoked him: - (1.) By desiring, or rather demanding, that which he had not thought fit to give them: They asked meat for their lust. God had given them meat for their hunger, in the manna, wholesome pleasant food and in abundance; he had given them meat for their faith out of the heads of leviathan which he broke in pieces, Psa 74:14. But all this would not serve; they must have meat for their lust, dainties and varieties to gratify a luxurious appetite. Nothing is more provoking to God than our quarrelling with our allotment and indulging the desires of the flesh. (2.) By distrusting his power to give them what they desired. This was tempting God indeed. They challenged him to give them flesh; and, if he did not, they would say it was because he could not, not because he did not see it fit for them (Psa 78:19): They spoke against God. Those that set bounds to God's power speak against him. It was as injurious a reflection as could be cat upon God to say, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? They had manna, but the did not think they had a table furnished unless they had boiled and roast, a first, a second, and a third course, as they had in Egypt, where they had both flesh and fish, and sauce too (Exo 16:3, Num 11:5), dishes of meat and salvers of fruit. What an unreasonable insatiable thin is luxury! Such a mighty thing did these epicures think a table well furnished to be that they thought it was more than God himself could give them in that wilderness; whereas the beasts of the forest, and all the fowls of the mountains, are his, Psa 50:10, Psa 50:11. Their disbelief of God's power was so much the worse in that they did at the same time own that he had done as much as that came to (Psa 78:20): Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, which they and their cattle drank of. And which is easier, to furnish a table in the wilderness, which a rich man can do, or to fetch water out of a rock, which the greatest potentate on the earth cannot do? Never did unbelief, though always unreasonable, ask so absurd a question: "Can he that melted down a rock into streams of water give bread also? Or can he that has given bread provide flesh also?" Is any thing too hard for Omnipotence? When once the ordinary powers of nature are exceeded God has made bare his arm, and we must conclude that nothing is impossible with him. Be it ever so great a thing that we ask, it becomes us to own, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst.
3. God justly resented the provocation and was much displeased with them (Psa 78:21): The Lord heard this, and was wroth. Note, God is a witness to all our murmurings and distrusts; he hears them and is much displeased with them. A fire was kindled for this against Jacob; the fire of the Lord burnt among them, Num 11:1. Or it may be understood of the fire of God's anger which came up against Israel. To unbelievers our God is himself a consuming fire. Those that will not believe the power of God's mercy shall feel the power of his indignation, and be made to confess that it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands. Now here we are told, (1.) Why God thus resented the provocation (Psa 78:22): Because by this it appeared that they believed not in God; they did not give credit to the revelation he had made of himself to them, for they durst not commit themselves to him, nor venture themselves with him: They trusted not in the salvation he had begun to work for them; for then they would not thus have questioned its progress. Those cannot be said to trust in God's salvation as their felicity at last who cannot find in their hearts to trust in his providence for food convenient in the way to it. That which aggravated their unbelief was the experience they had had of the power and goodness of God, Psa 78:23-25. He had given them undeniable proofs of his power, not only on earth beneath, but in heaven above; for he commanded the clouds from above, as one that had created them and commanded them into being; he made what use he pleased of them. Usually by their showers they contribute to the earth's producing corn; but now, when God so commanded them, they showered down corn themselves, which is therefore called here the corn of heaven; for heaven can do the work without the earth, but not the earth without heaven. God, who has the key of the clouds, opened the doors of heaven, and that is more than opening the windows, which yet is spoken of as a great blessing, Mal 3:10. To all that by faith and prayer ask, seek, and knock, these doors shall at any time be opened; for the God of heaven is rich in mercy to all that call upon him. He not only keeps a good house, but keeps open house. Justly might God take it ill that they should distrust him when he had been so very kind to them that he had rained down manna upon them to eat, substantial food, daily, duly, enough for all, enough for each. Man did eat angels' food, such as angels, if they had occasion for food, would eat and be thankful for; or rather such as was given by the ministry of angels, and (as the Chaldee reads it) such as descended from the dwelling of angels. Every one, even the least child in Israel, did eat the bread of the mighty (so the margin reads it); the weakest stomach could digest it, and yet it was so nourishing that it was strong meat for strong men. And, though the provision was so good, yet they were not stinted, nor ever reduced to short allowance; for he sent them meat to the full. If they gathered little, it was their own fault; and yet even then they had no lack, Exo 16:18. The daily provision God makes for us, and has made ever since we came into the world, though it has not so much of miracle as this, has no less of mercy, and is therefore a great aggravation of our distrust of God. (2.) How he expressed his resentment of the provocation, not in denying them what they so inordinately lusted after, but in granting it to them. [1.] Did they question his power? He soon gave them a sensible conviction that he could furnish a table in the wilderness. Though the winds seem to blow where they list, yet, when he pleased, he could make them his caterers to fetch in provisions, Psa 78:26. He caused an east wind to blow and a south wind, either a south-east wind, or an east wind first to bring in the quails from that quarter and then a south wind to bring in more from that quarter; so that he rained flesh upon them, and that of the most delicate sort, not butchers' meat, but wild-fowl, and abundance of it, as dust, as the sand of the sea (Psa 78:27), so that the meanest Israelite might have sufficient; and it cost them nothing, no, not the pains of fetching it from the mountains, for he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitation, Psa 78:28. We have the account Num 11:31, Num 11:32. See how good God is even to the evil and unthankful, and wonder that his goodness does not overcome their badness. See what little reason we have to judge of God's love by such gifts of his bounty as these; dainty bits are no tokens of his peculiar favour. Christ gave dry bread to the disciples that he loved, but a sop dipped in the sauce to Judas that betrayed him. [2.] Did they defy his justice and boast that they had gained their point? He made them pay dearly for their quails; for, though he gave them their own desire, they were not estranged from their lust (Psa 78:29, Psa 78:30); their appetite was insatiable; they were well filled and yet they were not satisfied; for they knew not what they would have. Such is the nature of lust; it is content with nothing, and the more it is humoured the more humoursome it grows. Those that indulge their lust will never be estranged from it. Or it intimates that God's liberality did not make them ashamed of their ungrateful lustings, as it would have done if they had had any sense of honour. But what came of it? While the meat was yet in their mouth, rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them (Psa 78:31), those that were most luxurious and most daring. See Num 11:33, Num 11:34. They were fed as sheep for the slaughter: the butcher takes the fattest first. We may suppose there were some pious and contented Israelites, that did eat moderately of the quails and were never the worse; for it was not the meat that poisoned them, but their own lust. Let epicures and sensualists here read their doom. The end of those who make a god of their belly is destruction, Phi 3:19. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them, and their ruin will be the greater.
4. The judgments of God upon them did not reform them, nor attain the end, any more than his mercies (Psa 78:32): For all this, they sinned still; they murmured and quarrelled with God and Moses as much as ever. Though God was wroth and smote them, yet they went on frowardly in the way of their heart (Isa 57:17); they believed not for his wondrous works. Though his works of justice were as wondrous and as great proofs of his power as his works of mercy, yet they were not wrought upon by them to fear God, nor convinced how much it was their interest to make him their friend. Those hearts are hard indeed that will neither be melted by the mercies of God nor broken by his judgments.
5. They persisting in their sins, God proceeded in his judgments, but they were judgments of another nature, which wrought not suddenly, but slowly. He punished them not now with such acute diseases as that was which slew the fattest of them, but a lingering chronical distemper (Psa 78:33): Therefore their days did he consume in vanity in the wilderness and their years in trouble. By an irreversible doom they were condemned to wear out thirty-eight tedious years in the wilderness, which indeed were consumed in vanity; for in all those years there was not a step taken nearer Canaan, but they were turned back again, and wandered to and fro as in a labyrinth, not one stroke struck towards the conquest of it: and not only in vanity, but in trouble, for their carcases were condemned to fall in the wilderness and there they all perished but Caleb and Joshua. Note, Those that sin still must expect to be in trouble still. And the reason why we spend our days in so much vanity and trouble, why we live with so little comfort and to so little purpose, is because we do not live by faith.
6. Under these rebukes they professed repentance, but they were not cordial and sincere in this profession. (1.) Their profession was plausible enough (Psa 78:34, Psa 78:35): When he slew them, or condemned them to be slain, then they sought him; they confessed their fault, and begged his pardon. When some were slain others in a fright cried to God for mercy, and promised they would reform and be very good; then they returned to God, and enquired early after him. So one would have taken them to be such as desired to find him. And they pretended to do this because, however they had forgotten it formerly, now they remembered that God was their rock and therefore now that they needed him they would fly to him and take shelter in him, and that the high God was their Redeemer, who brought them out of Egypt and to whom therefore they might come with boldness. Afflictions are sent to put us in mind of God as our rock and our redeemer; for, in prosperity, we are apt to forget him. (2.) They were not sincere in this profession (Psa 78:36, Psa 78:37): They did but flatter him with their mouth, as if they thought by fair speeches to prevail with him to revoke the sentence and remove the judgment, with a secret intention to break their word when the danger was over; they did not return to God with their whole heart, but feignedly, Jer 3:10. All their professions, prayers, and promises, were extorted by the rack. It was plain that they did not mean as they said, for they did not adhere to it. They thawed in the sun, but froze in the shade. They did but lie to God with their tongues, for their heart was not with him, was not right with him, as appeared by the issue, for they were not stedfast in his covenant. They were not sincere in their reformation, for they were not constant; and, by thinking thus to impose upon a heart-searching God, they really put as great an affront upon him as by any of their reflections.
7. God hereupon, in pity to them, put a stop to the judgments which were threatened and in part executed (Psa 78:38, Psa 78:39): But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity. One would think this counterfeit repentance should have filled up the measure of their iniquity. What could be more provoking than to lie thus to the holy God, than thus to keep back part of the price, the chief part? Act 5:3. And yet he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity thus far, that he did not destroy them and cut them off from being a people, as he justly might have done, but spared their lives till they had reared another generation which should enter into the promised land. Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, Isa 65:8. Many a time he turned his anger away (for he is Lord of his anger) and did not stir up all his wrath, to deal with them as they deserved: and why did he not? Not because their ruin would have been any loss to him, but, (1.) Because he was full of compassion and, when he was going to destroy them, his repentings were kindled together, and he said, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? Hos 11:8. (2.) Because, though they did not rightly remember that he was their rock, he remembered that they were but flesh. He considered the corruption of their nature, which inclined them to evil, and was pleased to make that an excuse for his sparing them, though it was really no excuse for their sin. See Gen 6:3. He considered the weakness and frailty of their nature, and what an easy thing it would be to crush them: They are as a wind that passeth away and cometh not again. They may soon be taken off, but, when they are gone, they are gone irrecoverably, and then what will become of the covenant with Abraham? They are flesh, they are wind; whence it were easy to argue they may justly, they may immediately, be cut off, and there would be no loss of them: but God argues, on the contrary, therefore he will not destroy them; for the true reason is, He is full of compassion.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–71 We will not hide them from their children,.... The…
We will not hide them from their children,.... The children of the Jewish fathers, but faithfully publish and declare them, as Christ and his apostles did; or the children of God and Christ, their spiritual seed and offspring:
showing to the generation to come; and so in all successive ages, by the ministration of the word, and the Spirit attending it; see Psa 22:30,
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the praises of the Lord; what he has done in predestination, redemption, and effectual calling, which is to the praise of the glory of his grace, Eph 1:6, and so all other truths of the Gospel, which are to the praise of Father, Son, and Spirit, and engage men to show it forth:
and his strength displayed; in Christ, the man of his right hand, made strong for himself, and in the redemption wrought out by him, as well as in the conversion of sinners by his mighty grace, and in the preservation of them by his power:
and his wonderful works that he hath done; in providence and grace; the miracles wrought by Christ, which were the wonderful works given him to finish, as proofs of his deity and Messiahship, and are testified in the Gospel for the confirmation of it; and especially the wonders of redeeming love, and calling grace, which are peculiarly to be ascribed unto him as the works his hands have wrought, and the wonderful decrees of God he made in eternity concerning these things.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 42, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51, 54, 57, 59, 60, 61, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69 Established - This is justly put in first place,…
Established - This is justly put in first place, as the chief of all his mercies. A testimony - His law, called a testimony, because it is a witness between God and men, declaring the duties which God expects from man, and the blessings which man may expect from God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 18, 22, 24, 25, 26, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 54, 57, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72 Verse 4. We will not hide them] In those…
Verse 4. We will not hide them] In those ancient times there was very little reading, because books were exceedingly scarce; tradition was therefore the only, or nearly the only, means of preserving the memory of past events. They were handed down from father to son by parables or pithy sayings, and by chronological poems. This very Psalm is of this kind, and must have been very useful to the Israelites, as giving instructions concerning their ancient history, and recounting the wonderful deeds of the Almighty in their behalf.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 21, 23, 25, 26, 30, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43, 49, 50, 52, 57, 60, 62, 65, 67, 69, 70, 72 Psa 78:4-5. Showing the praises of the Lord —…
Psa 78:4-5. Showing the praises of the Lord — His glorious and praiseworthy actions, as the following words explain it. For he established a testimony in Jacob — That is, his law, as it is called in the next clause; which is very often termed a testimony, because it is a witness between God and men, declaring both the duties which God expects from man, and the promises and blessings which man, in the performance of his duty, may expect from God. This is justly put in the first place as the chief of all the following mercies, and the foundation of their temporal and spiritual prosperity. Which he commanded, &c. — Which testimony, or law, God revealed to them, not for their own private use merely or chiefly, but for the benefit of all their posterity, to whom their parents were obliged to teach it, and who were required to hear, read, and study it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–72 We will not hide them from their children -…
We will not hide them from their children - From their descendants, however remote. We of this generation will be faithful in handing down these truths to future times. We stand between past generations and the generations to come. We are entrusted by those who have gone before us with great and important truths; truths to be preserved and transmitted in their purity to future ages. That trust committed to us we will faithfully discharge. These truths shall not suffer in passing from us to them. They shall not be stayed in their progress; they shall not be corrupted or impaired. This is the duty of each successive generation in the world, receiving, as a trust, from past generations, the result of their thoughts, their experience, their wisdom, their inventions, their arts, their sciences, and the records of their doings, to hand these down unimpaired to future ages, combined with all that they may themselves invent or discover which may be of use or advantage to the generations following.
Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord - The “reasons” why he should be praised, as resulting from his past doings - and the wags in which it should be done. We will keep up, and transmit to future times, the pure institutions of religion.
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And his strength - The records of his power.
And his wonderful works that he hath done - In the history of his people, and in his many and varied interpositions in their behalf.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 9. The psalmist has introduced his subject, and prepared…
9. The psalmist has introduced his subject, and prepared the way for the admonitory rehearsal of God’s acts of sovereign authority toward the nation.
The children of Ephraim—The reader will remember that the sacred ark and tabernacle had abode at Shiloh, within the tribal limits of Ephraim, more than 300 years, from the time of Joshua (Jos_18:1-10) until the time of Eli. 1Sa_1:3; 1Sa_1:9. The ark then passed from Shiloh and remained at Bethshemesh and Kirjath-jearim till David removed it to Zion. 2 Samuel 6. From this time the seat of the national worship was fixed within the tribal limits of Judah. The allusions of the psalmist are to the events recorded 1 Samuel 4, which should be read in this connexion. The tribe of Ephraim was specially reprehensible, because the ark being within its limits the Ephraimites were chiefly responsible for its protection; whereas it was by a military order that the priests brought it into the camp. The chief object of the psalmist being to show that the protectorship of the ark and national worship had passed, by the sovereign order of God, from Ephraim to Judah, he strikes at once and boldly into the heart of his theme, namely, the treacherous conduct of Ephraim in bringing the ark into the military camp, (1Sa_4:3-5,) by which they forfeited their rank as the ruling tribe. The allusion is to the events of 1 Samuel 4.
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Armed, and carrying bows—Literally, Armed and shooting with the bow, as in Jer_4:29. The description is that of an army advancing to battle and discharging its missiles as they advance.
Turned back— “Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent.” 1Sa_4:10
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72 5. a testimony … a law] Not the Mosaic…
5. a testimony … a law] Not the Mosaic legislation generally, but the express precept which enjoined upon Israelite parents the duty of teaching their children the great facts of Israel’s history, that the remembrance of them might be handed down from generation to generation. See Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26-27; Exo_13:8 ff., Exo_13:14; Deu_4:9; Deu_6:20 ff. Cp. in the N.T. 2Ti_2:2.
that they should make them known] Them refers to “the things which we have heard and known” &c., Psa_78:3-4. Cp. Deu_4:9.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 54, 57, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69, 71 (5) For he . . .—Better, taking the relative…
(5) For he . . .—Better, taking the relative of time (comp. Deu_11:6; Psa_139:15), For he established (it as) a testimony in Jacob and (as) a law appointed (it) in Israel when he commanded our forefathers to make them (the “wonderful works” of last verse) known to their children. For the custom see reference in margin.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72 We will not hide them from their children. They…
We will not hide them from their children. They shall still be handed down in the same way. We of this generation will still continue the practice of handing down, by word of mouth, to the next generation, how God has dealt with Israel. Asaph"s psalms were written, it must be remembered, to be recited in the services of the sanctuary. (comp. 2Ch_29:30) Showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord; i.e. the actions for which he deserves praise. And his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done (comp. vers. 12-16, and vers. 23-55).
Religious education.
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The first eight verses of this psalm have much to say upon this great question. Upon
I ITS AUTHORITY. "He commanded our fathers". (ver. 5; cf. De 6) That which reason, conscience, and experience would alike teach, the authority of God confirms by direct command. And it is at our peril that we neglect this. The sanctions that accompany the command have not to wait for the future life for their fulfilment; they are visible everywhere in the present, as they have been in all the past.
II ITS IMPORTANCE. This entire psalm is the sad record of the results of neglecting this command (see vers. 8, 40).
III ITS METHOD.
1. By entrusting this duty mainly to the parents (see ver. 5) those who might naturally be expected to feel the chief interest in, and responsibility for, their children.
2. Adopting the most interesting mode of instruction the parabolic (ver.2); the historic (ver. 4).
3. Charging the children with the responsibility of transmission (vers. 5, 6).
IV ITS HIGH AND HOLY PURPOSE. (Vers. 7, 8) S.C.
Vers. 4, 5. Our mission to the coming generation.
The interest of the Old Testament in children is seldom worthily recognized. The Divine confidence is felt in Abraham on this singular ground, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment". (Gen_18:19) The meaning of the most significant rite of the Mosaic system the Passover was to be carefully explained to the "children." The command is given concerning the holy laws, "Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up". (Deu_6:7) The psalmist speaks thus of his work: "This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord". (Psa_102:18) And the prophets repeat after Isaiah, and say, "The father to the children shall make known thy truth". (Isa_38:19) Dr. Horace Bushnell, in a very striking way, calls the religious teaching of religious families" the out-populating of the Christian stock." There is always hope for the new generation; but the foundation of that hope is the righteousness and faithfulness of this generation. Then they truly work for the children who work to fit the parents for influencing the children. Our mission to our children is if we follow the psalm
I TO TEACH THEE GOD"S DOINGS AND GOD"S WILL. This mission is entrusted first to parents. Only as civilization involves parental inabilities and disabilities, can the duty be delegated to servants, or to Sunday school teachers. The things we have to teach our children are:
1. God in history.
2. God in covenant.
3. God in law.
4. God in redemption.
Our power to do our work worthily depends on our own spiritual apprehensions. And they must not be left to pick up religious knowledge. God requires that we teach them.
II TO HELP THEM TO BEGIN LIVES OF TRUST AND OBEDIENCE. (See ver. 8) This we can do:
1. By commending such lives in the grace and beauty of our own. It is not enough to "allure to brighter worlds;" we can "lead the way.
2. By teaching them the lessons that we may be able to draw from our own experience.
3. By enforcing the warnings which are suggested by the ancient histories( see ver. 9).
4. By patiently aiding them in the formation of good religious habits.
III TO MAKE THEM FEEL THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE GENERATION FOLLOWING THEM. The object set before us, in teaching our children, is (ver. 7), "to the intent that, when they come up" into their fatherhoods and motherhoods, "they might show their children the same." So our influence should be repeating itself, generation after generation. Our faithfulness to our mission may put a new and nobler impress on the coming generations. R.T. (see Psa_145:4)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv4–72 Ver. 4. We will not hide them from their…
Ver. 4. We will not hide them from their children. Our negligent silence shall not deprive our own and our father's offspring of the precious truth of God, it would be shameful indeed if we did so.
Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord. We will look forward to future generations, and endeavour to provide for their godly education. It is the duty of the church of God to maintain, in fullest vigour, every agency intended for the religious education of the young; to them we must look for the church of the future, and as we sow towards them so shall we reap. Children are to be taught to magnify the Lord; they ought to be well informed as to his wonderful doings in ages past, and should be made to know
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his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done. The best education is education in the best things. The first lesson for a child should be concerning his mother's God. Teach him what you will, if he learn not the fear of the Lord, he will perish for lack of knowledge. Grammar is poor food for the soul if it be not flavoured with grace. Every satchel should have a Bible in it. The world may teach secular knowledge alone, it is all she has a heart to know, but the church must not deal so with her offspring; she should look well to every Timothy, and see to it that from a child he knows the Holy Scriptures. Around the fireside fathers should repeat not only the Bible records, but the deeds of the martyrs and reformers, and moreover the dealings of the Lord with themselves both in providence and grace. We dare not follow the vain and vicious traditions of the apostate church of Rome, neither would we compare the fallible record of the best human memories with the infallible written word, yet would we fain see oral tradition practised by every Christian in his family, and children taught cheerfully by word of mouth by their own mothers and fathers, as well as by the printed pages of what they too often regard as dull, dry task books. What happy hours and pleasant evenings have children had at their parents knees as they have listened to some "sweet story of old." Reader, if you have children, mind you do not fail in this duty.
Ver. 4. We will not hide from their children, etc. Thou must not only praise God thyself, but endeavour to transmit the memorial of his goodness to posterity. Children are their parent's heirs; it were unnatural for a father, before he dies, to bury up his treasure in the earth where his children should not find or enjoy it; now the mercies of God are not the least part of a good man's treasure, nor the least of his children's inheritance, being both helps to their faith, matter for their praise, and spurs to their obedience. "Our fathers have told us what works thou didst in their days, how thou didst drive out the heathen" etc., Ps 44:1-2; from this they ground their confidence, Ps 44:4, "Thou art my King, O God; command deliverances for Jacob, " and excite their thankfulness, Ps 44:8, "In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever." Indeed, as children are their parents heirs, so they become in justice liable to pay their parents' debts: now the great debt which the saint at death stands charged with, is that which he owes to God for his mercies, and, therefore, it is but reason he should tie his posterity to the payment thereof. Thus mayest thou be praising God in heaven and earth at the same time. William Gurnall.
Ver. 4-6. The cloth that is dyed in the wool will keep colour best. Disciples in youth will prove angels in age. Use and experience strengthen and confirm in any art or science. The longer thy child hath been brought up in Christ's school, the more able he will be to find out Satan's wiles and fallacies, and to avoid them. The longer he hath been at the trade the more skill and delight will he have in worshipping and enjoying the blessed God. The tree when it is old stands strongly against the wind, just as it was set when it was young.
The children of Merindal so answered one another in the matters of religion, before the persecuting Bishop of Cavailon, that a bystander said unto the bishop, I must needs confess I have often been at the disputations of the doctors in the Sorbonne, but I never learned so much as by these children. Seven children at one time suffered martyrdom with Symphrosia, a godly matron, their mother. Such a blessing doth often accompany religious breeding; therefore Julian the apostate, to hinder the growth and increase of Christianity, would not suffer children to be taught either human or divine learning.
Philip was glad that Alexander was born whilst Aristotle lived, that he might be instructed by Aristotle in philosophy. It is no mean mercy that thy children are born in the days of the gospel, and in a valley of vision, a land of light, where they may be instructed in Christianity. Oh, do not fail, therefore, to acquaint thy children with the nature of God, the natures and offices of Christ, their own natural sinfulness and misery, the way and means of their recovery, the end and errand for which they were sent into the world, the necessity of regeneration and a holy life, if ever they would escape eternal death! Alas! how is it possible they should ever arrive at heaven if they know not the way thither?
The inhabitants of Mitylene, sometime the lords of the seas, if any of their neighbours revolted, did inflict this punishment, -- they forbade them to instruct their children, esteeming this a sufficient revenge. --(Aelian.) Reader, if thou art careless of this duty, I would ask thee what wrong thy children have done thee that thou shouldest revenge thyself by denying them that which is their due. I mean pious instruction.
The Jewish rabbis speak of a very strict custom and method for the instruction of their children, according to their age and capacity. At five years old they were filii legis, sons of the law, to read it. At thirteen they were filli praecepti, sons of the precept, to understand the law. At fifteen they were Talmudistae, and went to deeper points of the law, even to Talmudic doubts. As thy children grow up, so do thou go on to instruct them in God's will. They are "born like the wild ass's colt, "Job 11:12 --that is, unruly, foolish, and ignorant. We often call a fool an ass, but here it is a "wild ass's colt, "which is most rude, unruly, and foolish. How, then, shall thy ignorant children come to know God or themselves without instruction?
Thy duty is to acquaint thy children with the works of God. Teach them his doings as well as his sayings. "Take heed to thyself, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons, "De 4:9. God's wonders should be had in everlasting remembrance. "He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered, "Ps 109:4. Now, one special way to do this is by writing them in our children's memories, hereby they are transmitted to posterity. This was the godly practice of the patriarchs, to instruct their children concerning the creation of the world, transgression of man, destruction of the old world, God's providence, the Messiah to be revealed, and the like. The parents' mouths were large books, in which their children did read the noble acts of the Lord. The precept is here urged (Ps 78:2-7) upon a double ground, partly for God's praise, in the perpetuity of his worthy deeds: his words are of great weight, and therefore, as curious pictures or precious jewels, must in memory of him be bequeathed from father to son whilst the world continueth. If they are written on paper or parchment they may perish (and is it not a thousand pities that such excellent records should be lost?); but if they be written by fathers successfully on their children's hearts, no time shall blot or wear them out, Ex 12:26-27. Therefore, as the rabbis observe, the night before the passover the Jews (to keep God's mercies in memory to his honour) were wont to confer with their children on this wise. The child said, Why is it called the passover? The father said, Because the angel passed over us when it slew the Egyptians, and destroyed us not. The child said, Why do we eat unleavened bread? The father answered, Because we were forced to hasten out of Egypt. The child said, Why do we eat bitter herbs? The father answered, To mind us of our afflictions in Egypt.
But the duty is also urged, partly for their own profit, Ps 78:7, That they might set their hope in God, etc. Acquaintance with God's favour will encourage their faith; knowledge of his power will help them to believe his promise. Reader, obedience to this precept may tend much to thy own and thy children's profit. By teaching thy children God's actions, thou wilt fix them the faster, and they will make the greater impression, upon thy own spirit. A frequent mention of things is the best art of memory: what the mouth preacheth often the mind will ponder much. Besides, it may work for thy children's weal; the more they be acquainted with the goodness, wisdom, power, and faithfulness of God which appear in his works, the more they will fear, love, and trust him. George Swinnock.
Ver. 4. A good resolution, and a blessed result. C. D.
Ver. 4.
I. What is to be made known? The praises of the Lord;
his strength and his wonderful works.
II. To whom are they to be made known? To the
generations to come.
III. By whom? Parents--one generation to another.
IV. How made known?
1. By hiding nothing.
2. By declaring everything God has done. G. R.
Psalms 78:5*
Ver. 4-6. See Psalms on "Ps 78:4" for further information.
Ver. 4-6. See Psalms on "Ps 78:4" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 41, 51, 56, 69, 70 We will not hide them from their children.
Psa_78:4
We will not hide them from their children.
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Children
I. The interesting objects of our solicitude mentioned. Consider--
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 (Gen_33:1-20.).
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
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 worlds 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
The text presents four grand arguments why we should zealously devote ourselves to this duty.
I. The peculiar character of scriptural truth. Consider it--
1. As a revelation of God.
2. As a law of duty.
3. As a history of Gods 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
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 (Psa_78:5-8). The transmittory arrangement implies--
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 Gods operations. The Eternal does not contradict Himself. The first Divine act on earths 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--
(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--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.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v7
Psalms
MEMORY, HOPE, AND EFFORT
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Psa 78:7.
In its original application this verse is simply a statement of God’s purpose in giving to Israel the Law, and such a history of deliverance. The intention was that all future generations might remember what He had done, and be encouraged by the remembrance to hope in Him for the future; and by both memory and hope, be impelled to the discharge of present duty.
So, then, the words may permissibly bear the application which I purpose to make of them in this sermon, re-echoing only {and aspiring to nothing more} the thoughts which the season has already, I suppose, more or less, suggested to most of us. Smooth motion is imperceptible; it is the jolts that tell us that we are advancing. Though every day be a New Year’s Day, still the alteration in our dates and our calendars should set us all thinking of that continual lapse of the mysterious thing-the creature of our own minds-which we call time, and which is bearing us all so steadily and silently onwards.
My text tells us how past, present, and future-memory, hope, and effort 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. Let us, then, take the three thoughts of our text and cast them into New Year’s recommendations.
I. First, then, let us associate God with memory by thankful remembrance.
Now I suppose that there are very few of the faculties of our nature which we more seldom try to regulate by Christian principles than that great power which we have of looking backwards. Did you ever reflect that you are responsible for what you remember, and for how you remember it, and that you are bound to train and educate your memory, not merely in the sense of cultivating it as a means of carrying intellectual treasures, but for a religious purpose? The one thing that all parts of our nature need is God, and that is as true about our power of remembrance as it is about any other part of our being. The past is then hallowed, noble, and yields its highest results and most blessed fruits for us when we link it closely with Him, and see in it not only, nor so much, the play of our own faculties, whether we blame or approve ourselves, as rather see in it the great field in which God has brought Himself near to our experience, and has been regulating and shaping all that has befallen us. The one thing which will consecrate memory, deliver it from its errors and abuses, raise it to its highest and noblest power, is that it should be in touch with God, and that the past should be regarded by each of us as it is, in deed and in truth, one long record of what God has done for us.
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. The men on the deck of a ship see the beauty of the city that they have left behind, better than when they were pressing through its narrow streets. And though the view of the receding houses from the far-off waters may be an illusion, our view of the past, if we see God brooding over it all, and working in it all, is no illusion. The meannesses are hidden, the narrow places are invisible, all the pain and suffering is quieted, and we are able to behold more truly than when we were in the midst of them, the bearing, the purpose, and the blessedness alike of our sorrows and of our joys.
Not a few of us are old enough to have had a great many mysteries of our early days cleared up. We have seen at least the beginnings of the harvest which the ploughshare of sorrow and the winter winds were preparing for us, and for the rest we can trust. Brethren! remember your mercies; remember your losses; and ‘for all the way by which the Lord our God has led us these many years in the wilderness,’ let us try to be thankful, including in our praises the darkness and the storm as well as the light and the calm. Some of us are like people who, when they get better of their sicknesses, grudge the doctor’s bill. We forget the mercies as soon as they are past, because we only enjoyed the sensuous sweetness of them whilst it tickled our palate, and did not think, in the enjoyment of them, whose love it was that they spoke of to us. Sorrows and joys, bring them all in your thanksgivings, and ‘forget not the works of God.’
Such a habit of cultivating the remembrance of God’s hand as moving in all our past, will not, in the slightest degree, interfere with lower and yet precious exercises of that same faculty. We shall still be able to look back, and learn our limitations, mark our weaknesses, gather counsels of prudence from our failures, tame our ambitions by remembering where we broke down. And such an exercise of grateful God-recognising remembrance will deliver us from the abuses of that great power, by which so many of us turn our memories into a cause of weakness, if not of sin. There are people, and we are all tempted to be of the number, who look back upon the past and see nothing there but themselves, their own cleverness, their own success; ‘burning incense to their own net, and sacrificing to their own drag.’ Another mood leads us to look back into the past dolefully and disappointedly, to say, ‘I have broken down so often; my resolutions have all gone to water so quickly; I have tried and failed over and over again. I may as well give it all up, and accept the inevitable, and grope on as well as I can without hope of self-advancement or of victory.’ Never! If only we will look back to God we shall be able to look forward to a perfect self. To-morrow need never be determined by the failures that have been. We may still conquer where we have often been defeated. There is no worse use of the power of remembrance than when we use it to bind upon ourselves, as the permanent limitations of our progress, the failures and faults of the past. ‘Forget the things that are behind.’ Your old fragmentary goodness, your old foiled aspirations, your old frequent failures-cast them all behind you!
And there are others to whom remembrance is mainly a gloating over old sins, and a doing again of these-ruminating upon them; bringing up the chewed food once more to be masticated. Some of us gather only poisonous weeds, and carry them about in the hortus siccus of our memories. Alas! for the man whose memory is but the paler portraiture of past sins. Some of us, I am sure, have our former evils holding us so tight in their cords that when we look back memory is defiled by the things which defiled the unforgettable past. Brethren! you may find a refuge from that curse of remembrance in remembering God.
And some of us, unwisely and ungratefully, live in the light of departed blessings, so as to have no hearts either for present mercies or for present duties. There is no more weakening and foolish misdirection of that great gift of remembrance than when we employ it to tear down the tender greenery with which healing time has draped the ruins; or to turn again in the wound which is beginning to heal the sharp and poisoned point of the sorrow which once pierced it. For all these abuses-the memory that gloats upon sin; the memory that is proud of success; the memory that is despondent because of failures; the memory that is tearful and broken-hearted over losses-for all these the remedy is that we should not forget the works of God, but see Him everywhere filling the past.
II. Again, let us live in the future by hope in Him.
Our remembrances and our hopes are closely connected; one might almost even say that the power by which we look backwards and that by which we look forwards are one and the same. At all events, 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.’ For him ‘hopes, and fears that kindle hopes,’ will be ‘an indistinguishable throng’; and there will be as much of pain as of pleasure in his forward glance.
But if, according to my text, we set our hopes on God, then we shall have a certainty absolute. What a blessing it is to be able to look forward to a future as fixed and sure, as solid and as real, as much our possession, as the irrevocable past! The Christian man’s hope, if it be set on God, is not a ‘may be,’ but a ‘will be’; and he can be as sure of to-morrow as he is of yesterday.
They whose hopes are set on God have a certain hope, a sufficient one, and one that fills all the future. All other expectations are fulfilled, or disappointed, as the case may be, but are left behind and outgrown. This one only never palls, and is never accomplished, and yet is never disappointed. So if we set our hopes on Him, we can face very quietly the darkness that lies ahead of us. Earthly hopes are only the mirrors in which the past reflects itself, as in some king’s palace you will find a lighted chamber, with a great sheet of glass at each end, which perpetuates in shining rows the lights behind the spectator. A curtain veils the future, and earthly hope can only put a mirror in front of it that reflects what has been. But the hope that is set on God draws back the curtain, and lets us see enough of a fixed, eternal future to make our lives bright and our hearts calm. The darkness remains; what of that, if
‘I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care’?
Set your hopes on God, and they will not be ashamed.
III. Lastly, let us 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 which make such service a delight.
If my memory weakens me for present work, either because it depresses my hope of success, or because it saddens me with the remembrance of departed blessings, then it is a curse and not a good. And if I dream myself away in any future, and forget the exigencies of the imperative and swiftly-passing moment, then the faculty of hope, too, is a curse and a weakening. But both are delivered from their possible abuses, if both are made into means of helping us to fill the present with loving obedience. These two faculties are like the two wings that may lift us to God, like the two paddles, one on either side of the ship, that may drive us steadily forward, through all the surges and the tempest. They find their highest field in fitting us for the grinding tasks and the heavy burdens that the moment lays upon us.
So, dear friends! we are very different in our circumstances and positions. For some of us Hope’s basket is nearly empty, and Memory’s sack is very full. For us older men the past is long, the earthly future is short. For you younger people the converse is the case. It is Hope whose hands are laden with treasures for you, Memory carries but a little store. Your past is brief; your future is probably long. The grains of sand in some of our hour-glasses are very heaped and high in the lower half, and running very low in the upper. But whichever category we stand in, one thing remains the same for us all, and that is duty, keeping God’s commandments. That is permanent, and that is the one thing worth living for. ‘Whether we live we live unto the Lord; or whether we die we die unto the Lord.’
So let us front this New Year, with all its hidden possibilities, with quiet, brave hearts, resolved on present duty, as those ought who have such a past to remember and such a future to hope for. It will probably be the last on earth for some of us. It will probably contain great sorrows for some of us, and great joys for others. It will probably be comparatively uneventful for others. It may make great outward changes for us, or it may leave us much as it found us. But, at all events, God will be in it, and work for Him should be in it. Well for us if, when its hours have slidden away into the grey past, they continue to witness to us of His love, even as, while they were wrapped in the mists of the future, they called on us to hope in Him! Well for us if we fill the passing moment with deeds of loving obedience! Then a present of keeping His commandments will glide into a past to be thankfully remembered, and will bring us nearer to a future in which hope shall not be put to shame. To him who sees God in all the divisions and particles of his days, and makes Him the object of memory, hope, and effort, past, present, and future are but successive calm ripples of that mighty river of Time which bears him on the great ocean of Eternity, from which the drops that make its waters rose, and to which its ceaseless flow returns.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv22, 25 (See Scofield "Psa 2:12")
trusted
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 The Narrative of God’s Deeds
The Narrative of God’s Deeds
v. 12. Marvelous things did He in the sight of their fathers, before the exodus, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan, this being the residence of the Pharaohs at the time of the deliverance from Egypt, Num 14:22. The miracles performed by Moses were probably all done in or near this capital, and it is mentioned also at a later date because it was located in the most easterly portion of Egypt, in the part nearest to the land of Canaan.
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v. 13. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, Exo 14:21; and He made the waters to stand as an heap, Exo 15:8.
v. 14. In the daytime also He led them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire, this pillar of fire being mentioned frequently in the account of the wilderness journey, Exo 13:21-22.
v. 15. He clave the rocks in the wilderness, on two different occasions, Exo 17:5; Num 20:11, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
v. 16. He brought streams also out of the rock, in performing the miracles just referred to, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
v. 17. And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness, with their continual rebellious murmurings.
v. 18. And they tempted God in their heart, Mat 15:19, by asking meat for their lust, when they declared that their soul loathed the very sight of the manna, Num 11:4-6.
v. 19. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
v. 20. Behold, He smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed, giving them water in rich abundance; can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people? It was a blasphemous murmuring in the face of the great miracles performed for their benefit.
v. 21. Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth, Numbers 11; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel,
v. 22. because they believed not in God, had no faith in the covenant God, and trusted not in His salvation, the deliverance which He had promised them;
v. 23. though He had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven,
v. 24. and had rained down manna upon them to eat and had given them of the corn of heaven, miraculous food, Joh 6:31.
v. 25. Man did eat angels’ food, so called because it came down from heaven, Psa 105:40; He sent them meat to the full, all they needed to sustain their lives by the way.
v. 26. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven, and by His power He brought in the south wind, the exact direction of the wind therefore being southeast, Num 11:31.
v. 27. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, in great abundance, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea, a day’s journey wide around their camp and two cubits high;
v. 28. and He let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
v. 29. So they did eat and were well filled, falling upon the quails with the greatest greed; for He gave them their own desire.
v. 30. They were not estranged from their lust, they were still indulging their desire to the full; but while their meat was yet in their mouths,
v. 31. the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them, those physically in the best condition, and smote down the chosen men of Israel, those in the fullness of their strength, Num 11:33.
v. 32. For all this they sinned still, refusing to let the punishments of the Lord lead them to repentance, and believed not for His wondrous works, even His miracles did not succeed in bringing about a lasting change of heart in them.
v. 33. Therefore their days did He consume in vanity, literally, "He caused their days to vanish in a breath," and their years in trouble, with abrupt speed, for by His decision all the members of the nation which were forty years of age at the time of the exodus died in the wilderness.
v. 34. When He slew them, then they sought Him, making a show at outward reformation, more from fear than from conviction; and they returned and enquired early after God, Num 21:7.
v. 35. And they remembered, with a repentance of fear, that God was their Rock, Deu 32:15-37, and the high God their Redeemer, from whom alone they might expect deliverance of body and soul.
v. 36. Nevertheless, they did flatter Him with their mouth, trying to appease Him with a feigned change of heart, and they lied unto Him with their tongues.
v. 37. For their heart was not right with Him, they were not sincere in their repentance, it was not a lasting sorrow which they felt, neither were they steadfast in His covenant, they did not prove themselves faithful.
v. 38. But He, being full of compassion, of merciful patience, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not, especially since Moses interceded for them time and again; yea, many a time turned He His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath. Cf Num 14:20.
v. 39. For He remembered that they were but flesh, weak and sinful mortals; a wind that passeth away and cometh not again, altogether evanescent.
v. 40. How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness, with rebellion upon rebellion, and grieve Him in the desert, troubling His loving fatherly heart with their unruly behavior.
v. 41. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, testing out His kindness in a total of ten temptations, Num 14:22, and limited the Holy One of Israel, worrying, troubling, vexing Him with their rebellious conduct.
v. 42. They remembered not His hand, outstretched as it had been for their deliverance, nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy, from the oppression of the Egyptians,
v. 43. how He had wrought His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the field of Zoan,
v. 12. the psalmist now turning to a recital of the plagues which God sent upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians in order to compel them to give Israel permission to leave,
v. 44. and had turned their rivers into blood, in the first general plague, Exo 7:17, and their floods, that they could not drink.
v. 45. He sent divers sorts of flies among them, the insect pests of the fourth plague, Exo 8:21-29, which devoured them, and frogs, in the second plague, Exo 8:2, which destroyed them.
v. 46. He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, literally, "the eater," the cricket, and their labor unto the locust, in the eighth plague, Exo 10:13-15.
v. 47. He destroyed their vines, the growth of which was a very important industry in ancient Egypt, with hail, in the seventh plague, Exo 9:23-25, and their sycomore-trees, the sycomore fig-trees of the Orient, with frost, great hailstones.
v. 48. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, Exo 9:23, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts, for the play of lightning accompanying the hail was unparalled, Exo 9:22-24.
v. 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them, that is, angels bringing all these misfortunes, destroying messengers of Jehovah.
v. 50. He made a way to His anger, giving it free rein; He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence, in the plague of murrain, Exo 9:6;
v. 51. and smote all the first-born in Egypt, in the final plague, Exo 12:29; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham, in the habitations where the Egyptians, the descendants of Ham, dwelled;
v. 52. but made His own people to go forth like sheep, under His protecting leadership, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock, Psa 77:20.
v. 53. And He led them on safely, so that they feared not, there was no reason for worry or fear; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies, covering them, wiping them out.
v. 54. And He brought them to the border of His Sanctuary, literally, "to the boundary of His holiness," the region or land in which His holiness was to rule, even to this mountain, which His right hand had purchased, the Holy Land itself.
v. 55. He cast out the heathen also before them, under the leadership of Joshua, and divided them an inheritance by line, Jos 13:7, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents, every family in its own home, according to the allotment.
v. 56. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, even after they were in possession of the Promised Land with all its blessings, Jdg 2:11, and kept not His testimonies, all the regulations intended for the guidance of their conduct,
v. 57. but turned back, aside from the prescribed path, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers, they apostatized from their promised loyalty to Jehovah; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow, one which turns back and thus fails to shoot the arrow placed upon it.
v. 58. For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, the altars on the hills devoted to idolatry, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images, with the idols to which they turned in preference to Him.
v. 59. When God heard this, He was wroth, filled with indignation, and greatly abhorred Israel, although not to the point of total rejection,
v. 60. so that He forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh, where it had first been erected after the conquest of the country, Jos 18:1; the tent which He placed among men, where He had promised to dwell and to reveal Himself to His people, for the Tabernacle was later erected near Gibeon, apparently on the hill between this town and Nob;
v. 61. and delivered His strength, namely, the Ark of the Covenant, into captivity, by letting the Philistines capture it, 1 Samuel 4, and His glory into the enemy’s hand, 1Sa 4:21-22.
v. 62. He gave His people over also unto the sword, 1Sa 4:10; and was wroth with His inheritance, with the people which belonged to Him by virtue of their deliverance.
v. 63. The fire, namely, that of wars, consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage, no marriage anthems were intoned in their honor, for they were killed or dragged into exile during the troublous times of the judges.
v. 64. Their priests fell by the sword, Hophni and Phinehas being examples, 1Sa 4:11; and their widows made no lamentation, being kept from the customary rites of mourning by the terrors of war. But then came the change of Israel’s fortunes.
v. 65. Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, for it had seemed to Israel that He had slumbered while the heathen were enslaving His people, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine, filled with heroic courage by its proper enjoyment.
v. 66. And He smote His enemies in the hinder parts, His blows raining down upon the backs, principally of the Philistines, who at that time were the chief enemies of Israel; he put them to a perpetual reproach, the disgrace recorded 1Sa 5:6.
v. 67. Moreover, He refused the Tabernacle of Joseph, taking it away from Shiloh, in the midst of the tribe of Ephraim, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
v. 68. but chose the tribe of Judah, the bearer of the Messianic promise, the Mount Zion which He loved, selecting Jerusalem as the city of His central Sanctuary.
v. 69. And He built his Sanctuary like high palaces, firm as the heights of heaven, most excellent and glorious, like the earth which He hath established forever, founded most solidly.
v. 70. He chose David also His servant, the ancestor of the Messiah, and took him from the sheepfolds, 1Sa 16:11;
v. 71. from following the ewes great with young He brought him to feed Jacob, His people, and Israel, His inheritance, the children of Israel being a type of the spiritual Israel, and David a type of the great Shepherd, the Messiah Himself, Isa 40:11.
v. 72. So he fed them, as their ruler, with all care and kindness, according to the integrity of his heart, striving after ever greater understanding of their needs, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands, with the proper appreciation of all that was best for them. Herein also David prefigured the great King of the Church, whose understanding of our needs and wants resulted in our eternal redemption.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 29, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39, 42, 44, 47, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 67, 70 he established
he established
"Yahweh established"
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covenant decrees
Other possible meanings are "testimonies" or "laws."
translationWords
covenant
decree
Jacob
appoint
law, laws
Israel
command
teach
generation
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 23, 26, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 56, 60, 67, 68, 70 78:5-6 The telling of the story should motivate God’s…
78:5-6 The telling of the story should motivate God’s people to obey what he commanded (Deut 6:4-9).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.