8 And not be like their fathers, a stiff-necked and uncontrolled generation; a generation whose heart was hard, whose spirit was not true to God.
And their hearts were not right with him, and they did not keep their agreement with him.
And the Lord said to Moses, I have been watching this people, and I see that they are a stiff-necked people.
And they did not give ear, but became stiff-necked, like their fathers who had no faith in the Lord their God.
For I have knowledge of your hard and uncontrolled hearts: even now, while I am still living, you will not be ruled by the Lord; how much less after my death?
Go up to that land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, for fear that I send destruction on you while you are on the way.
Our fathers did not give thought to your wonders in Egypt; they did not keep in memory the great number of your mercies, but gave you cause for wrath at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
So that you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who put the prophets to death. Make full, then, the measure of your fathers. You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell?
But they would not be controlled by me, and did not give ear to me; they did not put away the disgusting things to which their eyes were turned, or give up the images of Egypt: then I said I would let loose my passion on them to give full effect to my wrath against them in the land of Egypt.
And he said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to an uncontrolled nation which has gone against me: they and their fathers have been sinners against me even to this very day. And the children are hard and stiff-hearted; I am sending you to them: and you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord. And they, if they give ear to you or if they do not give ear (for they are an uncontrolled people), will see that there has been a prophet among them. And you, son of man, have no fear of them or of their words, even if sharp thorns are round you and you are living among scorpions: have no fear of their words and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people. And you are to give them my words, if they give ear to you or if they do not: for they are uncontrolled. But you, son of man, give ear to what I say to you, and do not be uncontrolled like that uncontrolled people: let your mouth be open and take what I give you.
For they are an uncontrolled people, false-hearted, who will not give ear to the teaching of the Lord:
Those who are without friends, God puts in families; he makes free those who are in chains; but those who are turned away from him are given a dry land.
But if you put your heart right, stretching out your hands to him;
The high places, however, were not taken away, and the hearts of the people were still not true to the God of their fathers.
But still there is some good in you, for you have put away the wood pillars out of the land, and have given your heart to the worship of God.
My brothers, however, who went up with me, made the heart of the people like water: but I was true to the Lord with all my heart. And on that day Moses took an oath, saying, Truly the land where your feet have been placed will become a heritage for you and your children for ever, because you have been true to the Lord your God with all your heart.
From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.
Be certain then that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land as a reward for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people. Keep well in mind how you made the Lord your God angry in the waste land; from the day when you went out of Egypt till you came to this place, you have gone against the orders of the Lord.
But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 78
Commentary on Psalms 78 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 78
This psalm is historical; it is a narrative of the great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, the great sins wherewith they had provoked him, and the many tokens of his displeasure they had been under for their sins. The psalmist began, in the foregoing psalm, to relate God's wonders of old, for his own encouragement in a difficult time; there he broke off abruptly, but here resumes the subject, for the edification of the church, and enlarges much upon it, showing not only how good God had been to them, which was an earnest of further finishing mercy, but how basely they had conducted themselves towards God, which justified him in correcting them as he did at this time, and forbade all complaints. Here is,
As the general scope of this psalm may be of use to us in the singing of it, to put us upon recollecting what God has done for us and for his church formerly, and what we have done against him, so the particulars also may be of use to us, for warning against those sins of unbelief and ingratitude which Israel of old was notoriously guilty of, and the record of which was preserved for our learning. "These things happened unto them for ensamples,' 1 Co. 10:11; Heb. 4:11.
Maschil of Asaph.
Psa 78:1-8
These verses, which contain the preface to this history, show that the psalm answers the title; it is indeed Maschil-a psalm to give instruction; if we receive not the instruction it gives, it is our own fault. Here,
Psa 78:9-39
In these verses,
Psa 78:40-72
The matter and scope of this paragraph are the same with the former, showing what great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, how provoking they had been, what judgments he had brought upon them for their sins, and yet how, in judgment, he remembered mercy at last. Let not those that receive mercy from God be thereby emboldened to sin, for the mercies they receive will aggravate their sin and hasten the punishment of it; yet let not those that are under divine rebukes for sin be discouraged from repentance, for their punishments are means of repentance, and shall not prevent the mercy God has yet in store for them. Observe,