_An exhortation both to learn and to preach the law of God. The history of God's wrath against the incredulous and disobedient. The Israelites being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David._ Maschil of Asaph. _TITLE._ ףּלאס משׂהיל _MASKIIL LEASAPH_— This psalm contains a short account of the won... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN A PARABLE— _I will open my mouth in a wise moral: I will utter mysteries of ancient times._ The moral or design of this history is couched in the subsequent verses. See Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH WE HAVE HEARD AND KNOWN— _What we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us,_ Psalms 78:4 _we will not conceal from their sons of the next generation; relating the praises of the Lord._ Mudge. This solemn _charge and law,_ Psalms 78:5 does not here mean the whole law of Moses, but tha... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF EPHRAIM, &C.— _The sons of Ephraim, who were armed with the bow, were put to flight in the day of battle;_ Psalms 78:10 _because he kept not,_ &c. Green: who renders the 12th and following verses in the pluperfect, like the 11th. _He had wrought marvellous things; he had divided the... [ Continue Reading ]
FIELD OF ZOAN— _Field,_ or _territory of Tanis._ Mudge. The _land of Zoan,_ in Dr. Shaw's opinion, was only another appellation for the land of _Egypt,_ or the land of _Ham,_ by taking, as usual in poetical composition, a part for the whole, or one of the most remarkable places of Egypt, such as Zo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SINNED YET MORE— _Yet they sinned still more._... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ASKING MEAT FOR THEIR LUST— See Hasselquist's Travels, p. 290.... [ Continue Reading ]
ANGELS' FOOD— _Most excellent food—divine food._ Hiller. part 2: p. 165. _The bread of the mighty._ Houbigant. The Chaldee Paraphrase explains it by, _food which came from the habitation of angels;_ so that this verse is almost synonymous with the last; where it is called _food,_ or _corn from heave... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE NOT ESTRANGED FROM THEIR HOST— _But before they were averse to what they had desired, and while their meat was still in their mouths, the wrath of God,_ &c. Green: who, instead of the _fattest_ of them, reads, the _wealthiest._ Mudge renders it, _They were not come to nauseate their desire... [ Continue Reading ]
BELIEVED NOT FOR, &C.— _Believed not,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE SLEW THEM, &C.— _When he slew them, and they sought him, and returned,_ &c.—Ver. 35. _And remembered,_ &c.—Ver. 36. _Though they did flatter him—and lied,_ &c.—Ver. 37. _And their heart,_ &c.—Ver. 38. _Yet he, being full of compassion,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, THEY TURNED BACK, &C.— _And repeatedly put God to the proof, and set limits to the Holy One of Israel._ Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DESTROYED THEIR VINES— Egypt is not by any means a wine country, nor ever was; so far from it, that they were forced to use a sort of beer for common drink, and do so to this day, made of barley and some intoxicating drug; this country not producing, like other countries in the east, wine in such... [ Continue Reading ]
BY SENDING EVIL ANGELS AMONG THEM— I join the latter end of this verse to the beginning of the next (says Mudge) in one sentence, which is a very noble one. _He nicely weighed or marked out a mission of evil angels, to be a path for his anger._ This refers to his slaying the first-born, which is des... [ Continue Reading ]
DIVIDED THEM AN INHERITANCE BY LINE— Or, _Divided them by line for an inheritance._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE TURNED ASIDE, &C.— This is explained by Psalms 78:9 where the same word is used. The _bow_ means a body of bowmen, who in the crisis of battle, like the Ephraimites above, either turn their bows against you, or run away. Mudge.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THAT HE FORSOOK THE TABERNACLE— This relates to that part of the history of the Jews which is given 1 Samuel 4.; for, upon their sending for the ark of God from the tabernacle, in which it was deposited at Shiloh, God smote them, and suffered the Philistines to take the ark. And so true it is tha... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR MAIDENS WERE NOT GIVEN TO MARRIAGE— _Were not celebrated_ or _praised._ Mudge. i.e. They lost all their charms and agreeableness; or, perhaps, were no longer serenaded and praised in poetry and music. The next verse refers to Hophni and Phinehas, and the _widow_ of the latter, who, at her deli... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SMOTE HIS ENEMIES, &C.— This refers to the _emrods_ of the Philistines, which were _remembered to their everlasting disgrace,_ by the _golden ones_ which were kept ever after.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE HIGH PALACES— _Like the mountains, the high places._ This version is made probable by the next words, _like the earth:_ standing upon the top of Sion and making the summit of it, the _sanctuary_ had the air of a mountain; and the firmness of one now, being fixed there; for before it had been am... [ Continue Reading ]