Advanced Commentary

Texts -- Psalms 78:16-72 (NET)

Context
78:16 He caused streams to flow from the rock , and made the water flow like rivers . 78:17 Yet they continued to sin against him, and rebelled against the sovereign One in the desert . 78:18 They willfully challenged God by asking for food to satisfy their appetite . 78:19 They insulted God , saying , “Is God really able to give us food in the wilderness ? 78:20 Yes , he struck a rock and water flowed out , streams gushed forth . But can he also give us food ? Will he provide meat for his people ?” 78:21 When the Lord heard this, he was furious . A fire broke out against Jacob , and his anger flared up against Israel , 78:22 because they did not have faith in God , and did not trust his ability to deliver them. 78:23 He gave a command to the clouds above , and opened the doors in the sky . 78:24 He rained down manna for them to eat ; he gave them the grain of heaven . 78:25 Man ate the food of the mighty ones. He sent them more than enough to eat . 78:26 He brought the east wind through the sky , and by his strength led forth the south wind . 78:27 He rained down meat on them like dust , birds as numerous as the sand on the seashores . 78:28 He caused them to fall right in the middle of their camp , all around their homes . 78:29 They ate until they were stuffed ; he gave them what they desired . 78:30 They were not yet filled up , their food was still in their mouths , 78:31 when the anger of God flared up against them. He killed some of the strongest of them; he brought the young men of Israel to their knees . 78:32 Despite all this , they continued to sin , and did not trust him to do amazing things. 78:33 So he caused them to die unsatisfied and filled with terror . 78:34 When he struck them down , they sought his favor; they turned back and longed for God . 78:35 They remembered that God was their protector , and that the sovereign God was their deliverer . 78:36 But they deceived him with their words , and lied to him. 78:37 They were not really committed to him, and they were unfaithful to his covenant . 78:38 Yet he is compassionate . He forgives sin and does not destroy . He often holds back his anger , and does not stir up his fury . 78:39 He remembered that they were made of flesh , and were like a wind that blows past and does not return . 78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness , and insulted him in the desert ! 78:41 They again challenged God , and offended the Holy One of Israel . 78:42 They did not remember what he had done , how he delivered them from the enemy , 78:43 when he performed his awesome deeds in Egypt , and his acts of judgment in the region of Zoan . 78:44 He turned their rivers into blood , and they could not drink from their streams . 78:45 He sent swarms of biting insects against them, as well as frogs that overran their land. 78:46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper , the fruit of their labor to the locust . 78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail , and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain . 78:48 He rained hail down on their cattle , and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock . 78:49 His raging anger lashed out against them, He sent fury , rage , and trouble as messengers who bring disaster . 78:50 He sent his anger in full force ; he did not spare them from death ; he handed their lives over to destruction . 78:51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt , the firstfruits of their reproductive power in the tents of Ham . 78:52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep ; he led them through the wilderness like a flock . 78:53 He guided them safely along, while the sea covered their enemies . 78:54 He brought them to the border of his holy land , to this mountainous land which his right hand acquired . 78:55 He drove the nations out from before them; he assigned them their tribal allotments and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down . 78:56 Yet they challenged and defied the sovereign God , and did not obey his commands . 78:57 They were unfaithful and acted as treacherously as their ancestors ; they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow . 78:58 They made him angry with their pagan shrines , and made him jealous with their idols . 78:59 God heard and was angry ; he completely rejected Israel . 78:60 He abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh , the tent where he lived among men . 78:61 He allowed the symbol of his strong presence to be captured ; he gave the symbol of his splendor into the hand of the enemy . 78:62 He delivered his people over to the sword , and was angry with his chosen nation . 78:63 Fire consumed their young men , and their virgins remained unmarried . 78:64 Their priests fell by the sword , but their widows did not weep . 78:65 But then the Lord awoke from his sleep ; he was like a warrior in a drunken rage. 78:66 He drove his enemies back ; he made them a permanent target for insults . 78:67 He rejected the tent of Joseph ; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim . 78:68 He chose the tribe of Judah , and Mount Zion , which he loves . 78:69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above; as secure as the earth , which he established permanently . 78:70 He chose David , his servant , and took him from the sheepfolds . 78:71 He took him away from following the mother sheep , and made him the shepherd of Jacob , his people , and of Israel , his chosen nation . 78:72 David cared for them with pure motives ; he led them with skill .

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

more

Arts

Hymns

(Note: In "active" or "on" condition, the hymns music will be played automatically when mouse hover on a hymns title)
  • [Psa 78:25] Very Bread, Good Shepherd, Tend Us
  • [Psa 78:39] Days And Moments Quickly Flying

Questions

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Psalm 78:43 places the scene of the plagues in northern Egypt near Zoan.The plagues were penal; God sent them to punish Pharaoh for his refusal to obey God and to move him to obey Yahweh. They involved natural occurrences rat...
  • The "rabble"(v. 4) were the non-Israelites who had come out of Egypt with God's people (Exod. 12:38). It did not take them long to become discontented with conditions in the desert and to complain about their bland diet of ma...
  • Not all the people who later assembled to see the ark were as careful as those from Bethshemesh, however. The Mosaic Law specified that no one was to look into the ark or that person would die (Num. 4:5, 20; cf. 2 Sam. 6:6-7)...
  • A second group of seven Levites (v. 5) led the people in the prayer of praise that Nehemiah included in this book perhaps on a different day than the prayer he wrote about in verses 1-4."The prayer is intended to instruct the...
  • The texts of the individual psalms do not usually indicate who wrote them.1However some of the titles of the individual psalms do contain information about the writers.2This is the only really reliable information we have as ...
  • I. Book 1: chs. 1-41II. Book 2: chs. 42-72III. Book 3: chs. 73-89IV. Book 4: chs. 90-106V. Book 5: chs. 107-150...
  • In this psalm David urged those who sin against the Lord to seek His pardon with the encouragement that He is gracious with the penitent. He will, however, chasten the unrepentant.Students of this penitential psalm have often...
  • This psalm pictures God seated in His heavenly throne room. He has two indictments against His people Israel. The wicked among them were hypocritical in their worship, a violation of the first part of the Decalogue, and in th...
  • 71:14-18 Regardless of the outcome in his case the writer determined to continue trusting and praising God. The Lord had demonstrated His righteousness, salvation, and mighty deeds for a long time and in many ways. Therefore ...
  • A man or men named Asaph wrote 17 of the psalms in this book (Pss. 73-83). Other writers were the sons of Korah (Pss. 84-85, 87), David (Ps. 86), Heman (Ps. 88), and Ethan (Ps. 89). Asaph, Heman, and Ethan were musicians from...
  • 74:3 There is no record that any of Israel's enemies ever destroyed the temple in David's day to the extent that this verse implies. Perhaps Asaph was speaking hyperbolically, namely describing the destruction in extreme term...
  • This didactic psalm teaches present and future generations to learn from the past, and it stresses the grace of God."This could be sub-titled, in view of verses 12 and 68, From Zoan to Zion, for it reviews the turbulent adole...
  • 78:12-20 In his historical review Asaph began with the plagues in Egypt (v. 12). He drew broad strokes on his verbal canvas tracing God's faithfulness to the generation that left Egypt in the Exodus (vv. 12-16). Each verse in...
  • 89:38-45 Next Ethan recounted what God had permitted to overtake David. He was now weak and defeated rather than being strong and successful. God had apparently cut David off and gone back on His promises. The fall of Jerusal...
  • Allen, Ronald B. "Evidence from Psalm 89."In A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus, pp. 55-77. Edited by Donald K. Campbell and Jeffrey L. Townsend. Chicago: Moody Press, 1992._____. Lord of Song. Portland: Multnomah P...
  • This pericope concludes the sections on the culmination of Israel's future (65:17-66:24), Israel's future transformation (chs. 56-66), Israel's hope (chs. 40-66), and the whole book, Yahweh's salvation. As 56:1-8, it clarifie...
  • 8:1 The following prophecy came to Ezekiel during September of 592 B.C. as he was sitting in his house with the elders of Israel.141This would have been during the time when he was lying on his right side for part of the day ...
  • 7:14 Amos replied that he was not a prophet by his own choosing; he did not decide to pursue prophesying as a career. Neither had he become a prophet because his father had been one. In Amos' culture it was common and expecte...
  • The message of the false prophets was not completely wrong; it just presented the positive aspects of God's promises to Israel but omitted the negative. Micah's message had been mainly negative; the people needed to repent or...
  • Jesus' genealogy and virgin birth prove His legal human qualification as Israel's King. His baptism was the occasion of His divine approval. His temptation demonstrated His moral fitness to reign. The natural question a thoug...
  • 13:34 Matthew stressed the importance of parables in Jesus' teaching. This verse is a chiasm in the Greek text with "parables"in the middle. Jesus constantly used parables in His spoken ministry to the multitudes following Hi...
  • This section of the text contains Jesus' enigmatic and attractive description of the Bread of Life. Jesus was whetting His hearers' appetites for it (cf. 4:10). The pericope ends with their asking Him to give them the Bread (...
  • Having announced His departure Jesus proceeded to offer the Holy Spirit for those who believed on Him (cf. chs. 14-16).7:37 The feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days (cf. Deut. 16:13). However the day following the feast was...
  • Following the blowing of the second trumpet something "like [cf. 6:13] a great mountain"that was on fire came crashing down from heaven into the waters of one or more of the earth's seas. This resulted in a third of the ocean...
  • 9:1 Again John saw a "star"(cf. 6:13; 8:10), but this time the "star"was an intelligent being. If "fallen"(Gr. peptokota) has theological connotations, the "star"may refer to Satan (vv. 2, 11; cf. 1:20; Job. 38:7; Luke 10:18)...
  • 14:1 "And I looked"(Gr. kai eidon) introduces three scenes in chapter 14 (vv. 1, 6, 14), as this phrase did twice in chapter 13 (vv. 1, 11). "Behold"(Gr. idou, cf. v. 14) calls special attention to the greatness of the sight ...
  • All the fresh water sources (springs, rivers, lakes, etc.) become blood in this plague (cf. 8:11; Exod. 7:24; Ps. 78:43-44). If the water is literal water, should we not understand the blood as literal blood too? People canno...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

Back to Commentary Page


TIP #03: Try using operators (AND, OR, NOT, ALL, ANY) to refine your search. [ALL]
created in 0.06 seconds
powered by
bible.org - YLSA