19 And they speak against God -- they said: `Is God able to array a table in a wilderness?'
and the people speak against God, and against Moses, `Why hast thou brought us up out of Egypt to die in a wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul hath been weary of this light bread.'
And the rabble who `are' in its midst have lusted greatly, and the sons of Israel also turn back and weep, and say, `Who doth give us flesh?
and the sons of Israel say unto them, `Oh that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, in our sitting by the flesh-pot, in our eating bread to satiety -- for ye have brought us out unto this wilderness to put all this assembly to death with hunger.'
And Moses saith, `In Jehovah's giving to you in the evening flesh to eat, and bread in the morning to satiety -- in Jehovah's hearing your murmurings, which ye are murmuring against Him, and what `are' we? your murmurings `are' not against us, but against Jehovah.' And Moses saith unto Aaron, `Say unto all the company of the sons of Israel, Come ye near before Jehovah, for He hath heard your murmurings;' and it cometh to pass, when Aaron is speaking unto all the company of the sons of Israel, that they turn towards the wilderness, and lo, the honour of Jehovah is seen in the cloud.
Whence have I flesh to give to all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give to us flesh, and we eat.
and the people strive with Moses, and speak, saying, `And oh that we had expired when our brethren expired before Jehovah!
and they speak against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the peoples of the land -- work of the hands of man.
nay, but, O man, who art thou that art answering again to God? shall the thing formed say to Him who did form `it', Why me didst thou make thus?
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,