43 How he set his signs in Egypt, His wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 Turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, And their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, Their sycamore-fig trees with frost.
48 He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, And a band of angels of evil.
50 He made a path for his anger. He didn't spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence,
51 And struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
55 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.
56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And didn't keep his testimonies;
57 But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
59 When God heard this, he was angry, And greatly abhorred Israel;
60 So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;
61 And delivered his strength into captivity, His glory into the adversary's hand.
62 He also gave his people over to the sword, And was angry with his inheritance.
63 Fire devoured their young men; Their virgins had no wedding song.
64 Their priests fell by the sword, And their widows couldn't weep.
65 Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
66 He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, And didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he has established forever.
70 He also chose David his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From following the ewes that have their young, He brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, And Israel, his inheritance.
72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
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,