They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
Parallel Translations
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They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
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Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
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And still again they tried God, and set bounds to the Holy One of Israel.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Psalms 78:41 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 14:22 because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
- Hebrews 3:8-11 don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ”
- Acts 7:39 to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,
- Deuteronomy 6:16 You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.
- Psalms 78:19-20 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?”
- Numbers 14:4 They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”
- 2 Peter 2:21-22 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”
- 2 Kings 19:22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- Psalms 89:18 For our shield belongs to Yahweh, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
- Mark 5:35-36 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?” But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, they tempted him oft times.
That is, they tempted him oft times.
As they all do that measure the power of God by their capacity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God,…
Psa 78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
Ver. 41. Yea, they turned back and tempted God] They did it afresh, and after some resolutions and short winded wishes of doing better.
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And limited the Holy One] Designarunt, they prescribed to him, and set him his bounds which he must not pass; as Popilius, the Roman ambassador, drew a circle round about King Antiochus, and bade him give answer ere he stirred out of it, for he would be put off no longer. Now, God is limited, when as either his power is questioned, as Psa 78:20, or his will circumscribed, as if he were bound to serve man’s lusts, or means appointed him whereby he must work, and not otherwise.
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 They limited either,
They limited either,
1. God’s power, as above, Psa 78:19,20. Or,
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2. God’s will, directing and prescribing to him what to do, and when, and in what manner, and murmuring at him if he did not always grant their particular and various desires.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain They remembered not his hand,.... Which brought them out…
They remembered not his hand,.... Which brought them out of Egypt, and dashed their enemies in pieces, and which had been so often opened to supply their wants in the wilderness; the Targum renders it, the miracles of his hand:
nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy; Pharaoh king of Egypt; that very memorable day in which they were delivered out of his hands, that selfsame day which had been fixed, by promise and prophecy many hundreds of years before, in which the hosts of the Lord went out of Egypt, Exo 12:41, times when as well as places where deliverances and salvation have been wrought should not be forgotten; and forgetfulness of the goodness of God in times past is often the cause and occasion of sinning against him, which, by a remembrance of his kind appearances, might be prevented.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 41. Limited the Holy One of Israel.] The…
Verse 41. Limited the Holy One of Israel.] The Chaldee translates, "And the Holy One of Israel they signed with a sign." The Hebrew word התוו hithvu is supposed to come from the root תוה tavah, which signifies to mark; and hence the letter ת tau, which in the ancient Hebrew character had the form of a cross X, had its name probably because it was used as a mark. Mr. Bate observes that in hithpael it signifies to challenge or accuse; as one who gives his mark or pledge upon a trial, and causes his adversary to do the same. Here it most obviously means an insult offered to God.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 78:41-42. And limited the Holy One of Israel…
Psa 78:41-42. And limited the Holy One of Israel — Prescribing to him what proofs he should give of his power and presence with them, and what methods he should take in leading them and providing for them; directing him what to do, and when, and in what manner, to do it, and murmuring if he did not always grant their particular and various desires. They remembered not his hand — How strong it is, and how it had been stretched out for them; or the great and glorious works of his hand on their behalf. Nor the day — That remarkable and never to be forgotten day, that self-same day, as it is called, Exo 12:41, which God had fixed four hundred years before, Gen 15:13; when he delivered them from the enemy — Namely, from their greatest enemy, the tyrant Pharaoh, that zealously and unweariedly sought their ruin. There are some days, made remarkable by signal deliverances, which ought never to be forgotten; for the remembrance of them is calculated to encourage us in our greatest straits.
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 Yea, they turned back, and tempted God - They…
Yea, they turned back, and tempted God - They turned away from his service; they were disposed to return to Egypt, and to place themselves in the condition in which they were before they were delivered from bondage.
And limited the Holy One of Israel - The idea is, that they set a limit to the power of God; they fancied or alleged - (and this is a thing often done practically even by the professed people of God) - that there was a boundary in respect to power which he could not pass, or that there were things to be done which he had not the ability to perform. The original word - תוה tâvâh - occurs but three times in the Scriptures; in 1Sa 21:13, where it is rendered scrabbled (in the margin, made marks); in Eze 9:4, where it is rendered set, that is, set a mark (margin, mark); and in the place before us. It is rendered here by the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, to provoke to anger. DeWette translates it troubled. Professor Alexander, “On the Holy One of Israel (they) set a mark.” The idea in the word would seem to be that of making a mark for any purpose; and then it means to delineate; to scrawl; or to set a mark for a limit or boundary. Thus it might be applied to God - as if, in estimating his character or his power, they set limits or bounds to it, as one does in marking out a farm or a house-lot in a city or town. There was a limit, in their estimation, to the power of God, beyond which he could not act; or, in other words, his power was defined and bounded, so that beyond a certain point he could not aid them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 41. Limited—See on Psa_78:18-19. They either questioned God’s power,…
41. Limited—See on Psa_78:18-19. They either questioned God’s power, or prescribed to him what to do and what not to do.
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 41. And they turned again and tempted God,
41. And they turned again and tempted God,
And provoked the Holy One of Israel.
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limited (A.V.) would mean “entertained mean and circumscribed notions of His power and goodness and faithfulness” (Kay), or ‘hindered His action by their unbelief’ (Mat_13:58). But more probably the word means provoked (LXX, Syr., Jer.).
the Holy One of Israel] A title characteristic of the Book of Isaiah, and found in the Psalter only here and in Psa_71:22, Psa_89:18. It denotes that it was in His character of a Holy God that Jehovah had become the God of Israel. Though the title is not used in the Pentateuch, the thought is expressed there. In the chastisements of His people Jehovah proved Himself to be a Holy God, Who could not tolerate sin; and it was because Moses and Aaron failed to acknowledge that holiness, that they were punished by exclusion from Canaan (Num_20:12-13).
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 (41) Limited.—A verb used in Eze_9:4 for putting a…
(41) Limited.—A verb used in Eze_9:4 for putting a mark on the forehead, which has been very variously explained. Some render branded or cast a stigma on—i.e., brought discredit on the Divine name. The LXX. and Vulg. have “exasperated,” and so some moderns “crossed,” “thwarted.” Grätz emends to “asked signs from,” but perhaps the ideas of marking something that has been tried, and that of trying or tempting are sufficiently near to allow us to render tempted.
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 Yea, they turned back and tempted God; rather, again…
Yea, they turned back and tempted God; rather, again and again they tempted God (Hengstenberg, Kay, Cheyne); see Exo_17:2, 7 Deu_6:16. And limited the Holy One of Israel. (comp. Num_34:7, Num_34:8) This may mean either "they set limits to his power in their own minds" (see ver. 20), or "they actually limited his power to help and succour them by their want of faith" (comp. Mar_6:5, "He could there do no mighty work," explained in Mat_13:58 to have been "because of their unbelief"). The other meanings suggested and" provoked are less probable.
Limiting God.
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This psalm contains many instances of this. It is a painful thing to see even a bird or beast, made for freedom and longing after it, caged or chained or otherwise kept in captivity. Yet more is it distressing to see a man of noble aspiration, of lofty capacity, of patriotic spirit, and intent on doing good, get "cribbed, cabined, and confined" by petty prejudices, mean jealousies, base motives, and vile conduct, on the part of those around him; and often such a sight has been seen. And the cry of a soul awfully limited and bound down is heard in Rom_7:24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me," etc.? What barrier in the way of blessing do such limitings set up? But what must it be to limit God? How much more sad and deplorable that must be! Now
I MAN CAN LIMIT GOD.
1. But this may be questioned. It should seem impossible when we think of the greatness and power of God, of his universal sway, of his infinite wisdom, of the hurt and harm that must come of such conduct. All such considerations seem to render impossible the limiting of God.
2. But undoubtedly man can do this. For else he would be a mere machine, not a man; he would have no more volition than a tree or a bird. If he is to be able to say "Yes" to God, he must be able also to say "No." And he can and does. Scripture asserts it see this whole psalm. God stood ready to bless, but Israel would have none of his counsel, and set at nought all his reproof. Reason asserts it, for it steadily affirms that we are free, and can will and choose as we please. Experience asserts it. Concerning nations, Churches, individuals, has not God again and again said, as Jesus did when he wept over Jerusalem, "How often would I have gathered thee... but ye would not!"? We read how in some places Christ could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief.
II AND MEN DO THIS STILL.
1. Very often in their prayers and desires. They insist too much upon definite blessings being given. They ask some temporal blessing rain, or health, or the sparing of life, or it may be a spiritual blessing; but they limit God to definite time, manner, and means. And such prayers come to nothing, for they have asked amiss. And then men make a mock at prayer. We need to remember our Lord"s words in Gethsemane, "Father, not my will, but," etc.
2. Yet more do we limit God in our thoughts. (See vers. 19, 20) And all anxious care and foreboding is really a limiting of God. Hence Christ so forbade it. (see Mt 6) How Jacob limited God when he cried, "All these things are against me"! We shall get help against this by heeding Paul"s counsel, (Php 4) "Be careful for nothing, but," etc. But if foreboding care is guilty of this, yet more is despair, whether for ourselves or for others.
3. But most of all, and worst, our sins limit God. The Church at Laodicea kept the Lord outside her door. And how often we stand in our children"s way, when God would bless them, by our worldliness and unbelief! We will not let God bless us or them. God would, but we would not. May the Lord pardon us every one, and save us from this sin! S.C.
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 Ver. 41. Yea, they turned back. Their hearts sighed…
Ver. 41. Yea, they turned back. Their hearts sighed for Egypt and its fleshpots. They turned to their old ways again and again, after they had been scourged out of them. Full of twists and turns, they never kept the straight path.
And tempted God. As far as in them lay they tempted him. His ways were good, and they in desiring to have them altered tempted God. Before they would believe in him they demanded signs, defying the Lord to do this and that, and acting as if he could be cajoled into being the minion of their lusts. What blasphemy was this! Yet let us not tempt Christ lest we also be destroyed by the destroyer.
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And limited the Holy One of Israel. Doubted his power and so limited him, dictated to his wisdom and so did the same. To chalk out a path for God is arrogant impiety. The Holy One must do right, the covenant God of Israel must be true, it is profanity itself to say unto him thou shalt do this or that, or otherwise I will not worship thee. Not thus is the Eternal God to be led by a string by his impotent creature. He is the Lord and he will do as seemeth him good.
Ver. 41. They turned back. As for that expression, wbwvyw, which we translate, and they turned back; that is, say some, to go back again into Egypt, or as others, returned back to their old wont of rebellion; I say, it hath no such meaning here; it is a Hebraism, and should be rendered, they returned and tempted, that is, saepius tentaverunt, they oftentimes tempted him, or they tempted him again. Thomas Froysel, in "Sermons concerning Grace and Temptation." 1678.
Ver. 41. Tempted God. This only expresses the fact that men act towards him as if he could be tempted, or in a way fitted to put him to the proof, to provoke his righteous displeasure, and make him proceed against them, as it were just for him actually to do because of their offences. It is not in the least degree opposed to the statement of James"God cannot be tempted with evil, "which is the the effect that he cannot be influenced by evil, so as to be drawn into it, turned toward itso as to feel its power or experience its contamination. He is infinitely far removed from it, raised above it, under all its forms. He is so because of the absolute perfection of his being and blessedness. John Adam, in "Exposition of the Epistle of James." 1867.
Ver. 41. Limited the Holy One of Israel. They limited either
1. God's power, as above, Ps 78:19-20. Or, 2. God's will, directing and prescribing to him what to do, and when, and in what manner; and murmuring at him if he did not always grant their particular and various desires. Matthew Poole.
Ver. 41. They limited the Holy One of Israel. Here, then, is an awful charge, and mysterious it seems to us as awful. How dreadful that man, the worm, should arrogate to himself that, to say to him that made him, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." Amazing, I say, the charge! to contract the dimensions and operations of the Deity. Amazing insolence, to draw a boundary line, beyond which the Creator himself must not pass, to define and prescribe to the Lawgiver of nature himself the pathway of his providence! The turpitude is immense. But we know, my friends, that the crime is not uncommon; and one of the natural results of sin seem to be this, that the sinful spirit, whether of man or of the lost archangel, unable to shake the firm foundations of the Eternal Throne, amuses its malignity, and seeks a temporary cessation from its withering cares, in putting up barriers on the outskirts and frontiers of the Almighty empire, vainly hoping to annoy the Possessor of the throne they cannot disturb. Affecting words! Do they affect you as they affect me? They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. Somehow, it seems no combination of words could have been so affecting. They limited God. They limited the Almighty. They limited the Infinite. No! These words have an awful and affecting surge of meaning in them; for wile they describe Him, awful and self contained Being whose essence is eternity and power; whose self existence is declared by the amazing marvels of nature; whose life was essential being. They limited HimThe One in whose being all being was swallowed up and absorbedThe One before whose glance mountains and hills fled away and were not foundThe One from everlasting, God; high over all, blessed for ever more. The One to whom all the nations were as the drop of a bucket, and who took up the isles as a very little thing, Him, they limited. They had known his character as The Holy One; it was all they knew of his character; but it was surrounded with an awfulness more dread than even the solitary power and self repose of Deity. In awful words and meanings they had heard his character proclaimedThe Holy One. Him they limited. Him, whose throne was curtained with the dreadful wings of sinless archangels, crying through the darkness of that ineffable brightness, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! and whose holiness was asserted even by the disorders of the rolling world. They limited him. More personal, and therefore more wonderful, became the enormity. The generation of their race had testified for Him, the Holy One of Israel; they had beheld the marvels of his holiness and power in Egypt, in the Red Sea; they had heard of the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; they had heard of him who had spoken to their Captain in the bush burning with fire; they beheld his pillar of fire and cloud; they knew themselves divinely selected and chosen; and him who chose they limited! That which should have ensured their faith became only the fountain of their criminality. E. Paxton Hood.
Ver. 41. They limited the Holy One of Israel. God cannot bear it with patience, that we should limit him, either to the time, or manner, or means of help. He complains of the Jews for this presumption, they limited the Holy One of Israel. It is insufferable to circumscribe an infinite wisdom and power. He will work, but when he pleases, and how he pleases, and by what instruments he pleases, and if he please, without instruments, and if he please by weak and improbable, by despised and exploded instruments. Joseph Caryl, in a "Sermon before the House of Commons, "entitled, "The Works of Ephesus."
Ver. 41. (last clause). This was Israel's sin, and has it not often been ours? Our God is the "Holy One, "and will do what is most for His glory; he is the Holy One of Israel, and will therefore consult his people's welfare. We must not limit his wisdom, for it is infinite; we must not limit his power, for it is omnipotent; we must not limit him to time, for he will display his sovereignty: he will not be tied to walk by our rules, or be bound to keep our time; but he will perform his word, honour our faith, and reward them that diligently seek him. James Smith.
Ver. 41. Limited. In the only other place where the Hebrew word occurs (Ezr 9:4), it means to set a mark upon a person, which some apply here, in the figurative sense of stigmatising or insulting. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Ver. 41. Limited the Holy One of Israel, or signed him; signed him with a sign, so the Targum; they tempted him by asking a sign of him, as Jarchi interprets it; insisting that a miracle be wrought, by which it might be known whether the Lord was among them or not, Ex 17:7; with which compare Mt 15:1: or they set bounds, so Kimchi, to his power and goodness, saying, this he could do, and the other he could not; see Ps 78:19-20; and so men limit the Lord when they fix on a blessing they would have, even that, and not another; and the measure of it, to what degree it should be bestowed on them, as well as the set time when they would have it; whereas the blessing itself, and the degree of it, and the time of giving it, should be all left with the Lord who knows which and what of it is most convenient for us, and when is the best time to bestow it on us. John Gill.
Ver. 41. Limited the Holy One of Israel mistrust of God's power to effectuate all his graces, to do what is needed in any case for his people, and carry out his purposes for them. The moment I suppose anything cannot be for blessing, I limit God. This is a great sindoubly, when we think of all he has done for us. The Holy Ghost ever reasons from God's revealed, infinite love to all its consequences. He reconciled; surely he will save to the end. He did not spare his Son; how shall he not give all things? J. N. Darby.
None.
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 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited…
Psa_78:41
Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel
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Limiting God
I.
We limit the Holy One of Israel by dictating to him. Shall mortal dare to dictate to his Creator? Shall it be possible that man shall lay down his commands, and expect the King of heaven to pay homage to his arrogance? Will a mortal impiously say, Not Thy will but mine be done?
1. O heir of heaven, be ashamed, and be confounded, while I remind thee that thou hast dared to dictate to God! How often have we in our prayers not simply wrestled with God for a blessing--for that was allowable--but we have imperiously demanded it. Christ will have nothing to do with dictatorial prayers, He will not be a partaker with us in the sin of limiting the Holy One of Israel. Oftentimes, too, I think, we dictate to God with regard to the measure of our blessing. We ask the Lord that we might grow in the enjoyment of His presence, instead of that He gives us to see the hidden depravity of our heart. The blessing comes to us, but it is in another shape from what we expected. We go again to our knees, and we complain of God that He has not answered us. You must leave the measuring of your mercies with Him who measures the rain and weighs the clouds of heaven. Beggars must not be choosers, and especially they must not be choosers when they have to deal with infinite wisdom and sovereignty. And yet further, I fear that we have often dictated to God with regard to the time. We pray again and again, and at last we begin to faint. And why is this? Simply because that in our hearts we have been setting a date and a time to God.
2. I will address myself now to those who cannot call themselves the children of God, but who lately have been stirred up to seek salvation. There are many of you who are not hardened and careless now. Sinner, what hast thou been doing, while thou hast Said, I will restrain prayer because God has not as yet answered me? Hast thou not been stipulating with God as to the day when He shall save thee? Suppose it is written in the book of Gods decree, I will save that man and give him peace after he has prayed seven years, would that be hard upon thee? Is not the blessing of Divine mercy worth waiting for?
II. We limit the Holy One of Israel by distrust.
1. Children of God, purchased by blood and regenerated by the Spirit, you are guilty here; for by your distrust and fear you have often limited the Holy One of Israel, and have said in effect, that His ear is heavy that it cannot hear, and that His arm is shortened that it cannot save. In your trials you have done this. You have looked upon your troubles, you have seen them roll like mountain waves; you have hearkened to your fears, and they have howled in your ears like tempestuous winds, and you have said, My hark is but a feeble one, and it will soon be shipwrecked. It is true that God has said that through tempests and teasings He will bring me to my desired haven. But alas! such a state as this was never contemplated in His promise; I shall sink at last and never see His face with joy. What hast thou done, fearful one? O thou of little faith, dost thou know what sin thou hast committed? Thou hast judged the omnipotence of God to be finite. Thou hast said that thy troubles are greater than His power, that thy woes are more terrible than His might. I say retract that thought; drown it and thou shalt not be drowned thyself. Give it to the winds, and rest thou assured that out of all thy troubles He will surely bring thee, and in thy deepest distress He will not forsake thee.
2. And now I turn to the poor troubled heart, and although I accuse of sin, yet I doubt not the Spirit shall bear witness with the conscience, and leading to Christ, shall this morning deliver from its galling yoke. Poor troubled one, thou hast said in thy heart, My sins are too many to be forgiven. What hast thou done? Repent thee, and let the tear roll down thy cheek. Thou hast limited the Holy One of Israel. Thou hast put thy sins above His grace. Thou hast considered that thy guilt is more omnipotent than omnipotence itself. He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Christ. Thou canst not have exceeded the boundlessness of His grace. Be thy sins ever so many, the blood of Christ can put them all away; and if thou doubtest this, thou art limiting the Holy One of Israel. Another says, I do not doubt His power to save, but what I doubt is His willingness. What hast thou done in this? Thou hast limited the love, the boundless love of the Holy One of Israel.
3. If you will now consider how faithful God has been to His children, and how true He has been to all His promises, I think that saint and sinner may stand together and make a common confession and utter a common prayer: Lord, we have been guilty of doubting Thee; we pray that we may limit Thee no longer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Limiting the Holy One
I. Men do it in their intellectual theories. In their theories they limit Him--
1. In the sphere of His agency.
2. In the range of His mercy.
3. In the sovereignty of His action.
II. Men do it in their religious formalities.
1. In their prostration before material representations of Him.
2. In stereotyped forms of worship of Him.
3. In specially identifying Him with certain places of worship.
III. Men do it in their moral habitudes.
1. By their sins they exclude Him from the temple of their nature.
2. By their sins they obstruct His influence upon their sphere. (Homilist.)
Unbelief limiting God
I. In what way we may limit the Holy One of Israel. To limit is to set bounds to His operations; to circumscribe or confine Him in His ability to effect certain purposes or works, Now, God is often limited--
1. In the extent and freeness of His mercy. The Jews could not conceive of publicans and sinners being interested in Messiahs regards.
2. The penitent sinner often does this as to the ability and willingness of God to save.
3. The believer in trouble often does this in confining God to a certain mode of deliverance.
4. We often do this in the contractedness of our prayers.
II. The evil of limiting the Holy One of Israel. To limit the Holy One of Israel is--
1. To bring down the Creator to the standard of the creature.
2. Disbelieving His Holy Word.
3. Ungrateful reflection upon Him for past mercies.
4. To limit our mercies and enjoyments. He says, Be it unto you according unto your faith. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Limiting the Holy One of Israel
I. This is the crime of idolatry and heathenism. Let us beware how we create an image of God in our minds, dishonourable to Him, and, by its limitation to our poor faculty, become the means of limiting the Holy One of Israel.
II. Idolatry is the growth of a seed deeper than itself, and that seed is sin. Sin limits the Holy One of Israel: the corrupt influence in the mind--in the heart, the perverted imagination, the perverted will. Sin closes the avenues by which God enters the human soul, and narrows the Divine Being in the conception. How dreadful does it seem, that man should build for himself a prison in which he shelters himself from the Almighty! Here at least the Almighty cannot come, hither He cannot penetrate; into the malignity of this heart, into the impurity of the world, He cannot descend.
III. By unbelief, or doubt, we limit the Holy One of Israel. Doubt is constantly taking the circumference of God with the compasses of man, and measuring His movements by earthly motheds and estimating His force and His ages by our notations and mechanics. How frequently men, Christian men, walk amidst the very mysteries and eternities of Godhead only to limit the Holy One of Israel. You talk of the boundlessness of His being--they run to and fro with a measuring line to take the dimensions of it. They limit the Holy One of Israel.
IV. There is a disposition in some philosophers to limit the Holy One of Israel even in the operations of nature. Night, it has been eloquently said, has had three daughters, Religion, Superstition, and Atheism. The firstborn, the eldest and loveliest, is Religion; it is through her guiding that all the stars are heard to sing together, and it is her voice which proclaims, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmaments show His handiwork. But Superstition was early born of the visions of the night; she named the Zodiac--she named the longest known of the planets--she hung over them the veil of fate, and made them the arbitrary mistresses and ministers of Destiny. But these latter ages have given birth to the third daughter of the dark hours--Atheism. (E. P. Hood.)
The sin of limiting God
I. The Being against whom the sin is committed. It is no one less than God Himself. He is here called the Holy One. God is essentially holy. He is holy in His law--as poor thoughtless sinners, that trifle with His law and disregarding all the claims of conscience, shall find either in this world or the next. He is still more manifestly holy in the Gospel; in which every doctrine, every promise, every precept, is but one glorious manifestation of His holiness. Now, that there should be even in the true Israel a proneness to limit the Holy One--that when they come into some new trial, into some new emergency, into some untried state--when they come to that stage in their journey that they have never travelled before, then there should be a proneness to limit the Holy One--oh! it marketh out that which should cause you and me to lay our mouths in the lowest dust.
II. The sin (Psa_78:19-20).
1. To limit God is to limit His power; and He is omnipotent. There is nothing difficult with God; alike easy were it, to utter a promise or create a world. To limit the Omnipotent is another word for denying Him to be God.
2. To limit Jehovah is to limit His wisdom; and He is omniscient. He knows every thought, every desire, every misgiving, every infirmity, every sinking of heart; He knows it all. But this is to deny Him, as such.
3. We limit Him when we have misgivings as to His faithfulness. He has given a promise; and how seldom can you and I say, I believe it simply because God says it; I do not take it now on the testimony of saints, I take it simply because God says it; God declares it, and I believe it! But when we do not so, how is there a secret limiting of the faithfulness that is truth!--for He cannot deny Himself; He not only does not, but He cannot.
4. We limit Him when we mark out a line for His sovereignty, whereas He gives no account of any of His matters.
5. And if we are brought into the region of a dark Providence, when everything seems against us, when our most favourite desires seem to be blasted, when we are touched the most sensibly where we the least desired it--because the Lord seems to thwart one, one seems to limit His goodness. As if there could be an unkind thought in God; as if there could be any want of willingness in God to bless His child; as if He could withhold any good thing.
III. The cause. They remembered not His hand. The immediate cause of their limiting the Holy One of Israel was, no doubt, their unbelief; but this their unbelief seemed to have a cause, and that cause was their forgetfulness of Gods mercies. They remembered not His hand--the outstretched hand. What! when the poor soul first felt its weight and burden of sin--when the secrets within were developed--when the man began to see himself a sinner--and when there was the outstretched hand, and Come unto me, and Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out!--the hand that still sustains I that tender hand, that gentle hand, that strong hand, that broad hand, enough to cover us amidst the storm and the tempest. Oh! it is no small sin not to remember the hand of our God. We thereby grieve the Spirit; we thereby strengthen unbelief; we thereby weaken faith; we thereby displease our Heavenly Father. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.