
Text -- Psalms 78:5 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
This is justly put in first place, as the chief of all his mercies.

Wesley: Psa 78:5 - -- His law, called a testimony, because it is a witness between God and men, declaring the duties which God expects from man, and the blessings which man...
His law, called a testimony, because it is a witness between God and men, declaring the duties which God expects from man, and the blessings which man may expect from God.
JFB -> Psa 78:3-8; Psa 78:5
JFB: Psa 78:3-8 - -- This history had been handed down (Exo 12:14; Deu 6:20) for God's honor, and that the principles of His law might be known and observed by posterity. ...
This history had been handed down (Exo 12:14; Deu 6:20) for God's honor, and that the principles of His law might be known and observed by posterity. This important sentiment is reiterated in (Psa 78:7-8) negative form.
Calvin -> Psa 78:5
Calvin: Psa 78:5 - -- 5.He established a testimony in Jacob 312 As the reception or approbation of any doctrine by men would not be a sufficient reason for yielding a firm...
5.He established a testimony in Jacob 312 As the reception or approbation of any doctrine by men would not be a sufficient reason for yielding a firm assent to its truth, the prophet proceeds farther, and represents God as the author of what he brings forward. He declares, that the father’s were not led to instruct their children in these truths under the mere impulse of their own minds, but by the commandment of God. Some understand the words, He hath established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, as implying that God had established a decree in Jacob, to be observed as an inviolable rule, which was, that the deliverance divinely wrought for the people should be at all times in the mouth of every Israelite; but this seems to give too restricted a sense. I therefore consider statute, or testimony, and law, 313 as referring to the written law, which, however, was partly given for this end, that by the remembrance of their deliverance, the people, after having been once gathered into one body, might be kept in their allegiance to God. The meaning then is, that God not only acquired a right to the Jews as his people by his mighty power, but that he also sealed up his grace, that the knowledge of it might never be obliterated. And, undoubtedly, it was then registered as it were in public records, when the covenant was ratified by the written law, in order to assure the posterity of Abraham that they had been separated from all other nations. It would have been a matter of very small importance to have been acquainted with, or to have remembered the bare history of what had been done, had their eyes not been, at the same time, directed to the free adoption and the fruit of it. The decree then is this, That the fathers being instructed in the doctrine of the law themselves, should recount, as it were, from the mouth of God, to their children, that they had been not only once delivered, but also gathered into one body as his Church, that throughout all ages they might yield a holy and pure obedience to him as their deliverer. The reading of the beginning of the second clause of the verse properly is, Which he commanded, etc. But the relative
TSK -> Psa 78:5
TSK: Psa 78:5 - -- For he : Psa 81:5, Psa 119:152, Psa 147:19; Deu 4:45, Deu 6:7, Deu 11:19; Isa 8:20; Rom 3:2; 1Jo 5:9-12
testimony : The word testimony is used for the...
For he : Psa 81:5, Psa 119:152, Psa 147:19; Deu 4:45, Deu 6:7, Deu 11:19; Isa 8:20; Rom 3:2; 1Jo 5:9-12
testimony : The word testimony is used for the ark, and for the law, written on tables of stone, put within the ark, and covered with the mercy seat. This testified the Lord’ s gracious presence with his people, and seemed to point out to them both the way of access and acceptance, and the standard or rule of their duty. Exo 25:16, Exo 25:21, Exo 40:3, Exo 40:20
that they : Psa 78:3, Psa 78:4; Gen 18:19; Isa 38:19; Eph 6:4

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Psa 78:5
Barnes: Psa 78:5 - -- For he established a testimony in Jacob - He ordained or appointed that which would be for a "witness"for him; that which would bear testimony ...
For he established a testimony in Jacob - He ordained or appointed that which would be for a "witness"for him; that which would bear testimony to his character and perfections; that which would serve to remind them of what he was, and of his authority over them. Any law or ordinance of God is thus a standing and permanent witness in regard to his character as showing what he is.
And appointed a law in Israel - That is, He gave law to Israel, or to the Hebrew people. Their laws were not human enactments, but were the appointments of God.
Which he commanded our fathers ... - He made it a law of the land that these testimonies should be preserved and faithfully transmitted to future times. See Deu 4:9; Deu 6:7; Deu 11:19. They were not given for themselves only, but for the benefit of distant generations also.
Poole -> Psa 78:5
Poole: Psa 78:5 - -- He established: this is justly put in the first place, as the chief of all the following mercies, and the foundation both of their temporal and of th...
He established: this is justly put in the first place, as the chief of all the following mercies, and the foundation both of their temporal and of their eternal felicity.
A testimony i.e. his law , as it is called in the next clause; which is very oft called a testimony , because it is a witness between God and men, declaring both the duties which God expects from man, and the promises and blessings which man in the performance of his duty may expect from God.
In Jacob peculiarly; for no other nation enjoyed this privilege, as is more fully expressed, Psa 147:19,20 . Which testimony or law God revealed to them, not for their own private use, but for the benefit of all their posterity, whom their parents were obliged to teach, Deu 6:7 , and all their children to hear, and read, and study; by which we may see how contrary to the mind of God that foolish and wicked assertion is, that ignorance is the mother of devotion.
Haydock -> Psa 78:5
Haydock: Psa 78:5 - -- Zeal, or jealousy, as God has the greatest affection for his people, and resents their infidelity as a kind of adultery. (Calmet) ---
Sin is the so...
Zeal, or jealousy, as God has the greatest affection for his people, and resents their infidelity as a kind of adultery. (Calmet) ---
Sin is the source of misery. (Worthington)
Gill -> Psa 78:5
Gill: Psa 78:5 - -- For he established a testimony in Jacob,.... So the law is called, being a testification of the divine will, Exo 25:16 and the Scriptures, the writing...
For he established a testimony in Jacob,.... So the law is called, being a testification of the divine will, Exo 25:16 and the Scriptures, the writings of the Old Testament, which testify of Christ, his person, office, sufferings, and death, Isa 8:20 and particularly the Gospel, which is the testimony of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his apostles, 2Ti 1:8 which bears witness to the love and grace of God in the salvation of men by Christ; to the dignity of Christ's person, to the fulness of his grace, to each of the offices and relations he bears and stands in to his people; to the virtue of his obedience, sufferings, and death; to redemption, righteousness, peace and pardon by him: this is established in the house of Jacob, as the Targum; in the church, which is the pillar and ground of truth, among the saints and people of God, to whom it is delivered, and by whom it will be kept, and with whom it will remain throughout all ages; for it is the everlasting Gospel:
and appointed a law in Israel; the law given on Mount Sinai was peculiar to them, and so were the word and oracles, they were committed to them; and not only the writings of Moses, but the prophets, are called the law, Joh 10:34, but the Gospel seems to be here meant; see Gill on Psa 78:1, this was ordained before the world for our glory, and is put and placed in the hands and hearts of the faithful ministers of it, and is published among, and received by, the true Israel of God:
which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children; that is, the testimony and the law, and the things contained in them; the Jewish fathers were frequently commanded to teach their children the law of Moses, Deu 4:9 and it was their practice to instruct them in the knowledge of the Scriptures, 2Ti 3:15, and it becomes Christian parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, by making known to them the principles of the Christian religion, and the truths of the Gospel, Eph 6:4.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Psa 78:5 Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lo...
Geneva Bible -> Psa 78:5
Geneva Bible: Psa 78:5 For he established a ( d ) testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to thei...

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Psa 78:1-72
TSK Synopsis: Psa 78:1-72 - --1 An exhortation both to learn and to preach, the law of God.9 The story of God's wrath against the incredulous and disobedient.67 The Israelites bein...
MHCC -> Psa 78:1-8
MHCC: Psa 78:1-8 - --These are called dark and deep sayings, because they are carefully to be looked into. The law of God was given with a particular charge to teach it di...
Matthew Henry -> Psa 78:1-8
Matthew Henry: 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 instructio...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Psa 78:1-11
Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 78:1-11 - --
The poet begins very similarly to the poet of Ps 49. He comes forward among the people as a preacher, and demands for his tôra a willing, attentiv...
Constable: Psa 73:1--89:52 - --I. Book 3: chs 73--89
A man or men named Asaph wrote 17 of the psalms in this book (Pss. 73-83). Other writers w...

Constable: Psa 78:1-72 - --Psalm 78
This didactic psalm teaches present and future generations to learn from the past, and it stres...

Constable: Psa 78:1-8 - --1. Introduction to the instruction 78:1-8
Asaph appealed to his audience to listen to his instru...
