Psalms 78:2

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN A PARABLE ( maashaal (H4912)) - a similitude (see note, Psalms 49:4). I WILL UTTER - literally, sputter out (cf. Psalms 19:2, note); I will give vent to. The Spirit, after being pent up, eager for utterance, breaks forth like a gushing fountain. DARK SAYINGS - enigmas. The historical events which he details were enigmatical veils of religious truth, or instruction ( maskiyl (H4905), in the title) hidden beneath, which under the Spirit he unfolds. Compare the same use of sacred...

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 diligently to their children, that the church may abide for ever. Also, that the providences of God, both in mercy and in judgment, might encourage them to conform to the will of God. The works of God much strengthen our resolution to keep his commandments. Hypocrisy is the high road to apostacy; those that do not set their hearts right, will not be stedfast with God. Many parents, by negligence and wickedness, become murderers of their children. But young persons, though they are bound to submit in all things lawful, must not obey sinful orders, or copy sinful examples. #9-39. Sin dispirits men, and takes away the heart. Forgetfulness of God's works is the cause of disobedience to his laws. This narrative relates a struggle between God'...

Verse Psalms 78:2. _IN A PARABLE_] Or, I will give you _instruction_ by numerous _examples_; see Psalms 49:1, which bears a great similarity to this; and see the notes there. The term _parable_, in its various acceptations, has already been sufficiently explained; but משל _mashal_ may here mean _example_, as opposed to תורה _torah, law_ or _precept_, Psalms 78:1....

I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN A PARABLE - See the notes at Psalms 49:4. The word “parable” here means a statement by analogy or comparison; that is, he would bring out what he had to say by a course of reasoning founded on an analogy drawn from the ancient history of the people. I WILL UTTER DARK SAYINGS OF OLD - Of ancient times; that is, maxims, or sententious thoughts, which had come down from past times, and which embodied the results of ancient observation and reflection. Compare Psalms 49:4, where the word rendered “dark sayings” is explained. He would bring out, and apply, to the present case, the maxims of ancient wisdom....

EXPOSITION This, the first of the "historical psalms," though assigned by the rationalistic school (De Wette, Ewald, Koster, Hitzig) to a period subsequent to the Captivity, is generally allowed by more sober critics (Hengstenberg, Kay, Wordsworth, Canon Cook, Professor Alexander) to belong to the Davidical age—_i.e._ either to the reign of David or to that of Solomon. The abrupt conclusion when David's time is reached indicates that the writer cannot carry the lessons of history any further. The way in which David is spoken of (Psalms 78:72), and the (apparent) mention of the temple in Psalms 78:69, indicate that Solomon's reign was begun, and make "a few years after the accession of Solomon" the most probable date of the composition. There is thus no reason for rejecting the authors

I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH,.... Speak freely, boldly, and without reserve, Ephesians 6:19, so Christ opened his mouth, Matthew 5:2, IN A PARABLE; not that what follows in this psalm was such, but what were delivered by our Lord in the days of his flesh, who spake many parables; as of the sower, and of tares, and of the grain of mustard seed, and many others, and without a parable he spake not, and so fulfilled what he here said he would do, Matthew 13:34. I WILL UTTER DARK SAYINGS OF OLD; sayings that relate to things of old; meaning not to the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and what follows in the psalm, delivered, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, in figurative and topica

PSALM 78-83 Psalms 78 A Historical Retrospect _ 1. The call to hear (Psalms 78:1)_ 2. Ephraim's failure (Psalms 78:9) 3. His dealings in power and mercy (Psalms 78:12) 4. The continued provocation (Psalms 78:56) 5. His sovereign grace in choosing David (Psalms 78:65) This historical retrospect needs no further comment. It is God speaking to the hearts of His people through their own history from Egypt to Da

LXXVIII. THE LESSON OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY. The northern tribes have been perverse from the first. Their wickedness has culminated in the schismatical religion of the Samaritans. God, on the contrary, has chosen Zion, the sanctuary of Judah. The Ps. must have been written before John Hyrcanus (134 B.C.) destroyed the Samaritan shrine on Mt. Gerizim (p. 608). PSALMS 78:1. Introduction. PSALMS 78:2. PARABLE: rather poem. DARK SAYINGS: rather enigmas in the history of Israel and Judah which the Psalmist explains. Psalms 78:4. Point with LXX, It was not hid from their children: they told it for the generation that was, etc....

I WILL OPEN, &C. Quoted in Matthew 13:35. PARABLE... DARK SAYINGS. Compare Psalms 49:5. Same words. The Psalm has. moral: showing that Divine history contains more than appears on the surface....

Cp. the opening of Psalms 49, noting that while there -all peoples" are addressed, in accordance with the wider scope of the teaching of the -Wise Men," here Israel is addressed in the spirit of prophecy. It was the function of prophecy to interpret the past, as well as to foretell the future. _my law_ Rather, my teaching, as in Proverbs 1:8, and often. See note on Psalms 1:2....