Psalms 78:3

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. WHICH WE HAVE HEARD ... WE WILL NOT HIDE. See introductory remarks. Translate, 'What we have heard, etc., we will not hide (omit them) from their children,' etc. There is a change from the singular, in Psalms 78:1, to the plural, in Psalms 78:3, which shows that is not to be immediately connected in sense with , but with . In Psalms 78:1 God is speaking by the Psalmist. In...

3._What we have heard and known. _There seems to be some discrepancy between what the Psalmist had stated in the commencement, when he said that he would speak of great and hidden matters, and what he now adds, that his subject is a common one, and such as is transmitted from one age to another by the father to the son. If it was incumbent upon the fathers to recount to their children the things here spoken of, these things ought, of course, to have been familiarly known to all the people, yea, even to those who were most illiterate, and had the weakest capacity. Where, then, it may be said, are the enigmas or dark sentences of which he has just now made mention? I answer, that these things can easily be reconciled; for although the psalm contains many things which are generally known, yet he illustrates them with all the splendor and ornaments of diction, that he may the more powerfully...

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 78:3. _WHICH WE HAVE HEARD AND KNOWN_] We have heard the _law_, and known the _facts_....

WHICH WE HAVE HEARD AND KNOWN - Which have been communicated to us as certain truth. AND OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US - That is, we have heard and known them by their telling us; or, this is the means by which we have known them. They have come down to us by tradition from ancient times....

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

WHICH WE HAVE HEARD AND KNOWN,.... The change of number from "I" to "we" have made some think that the disciples of Christ are here introduced speaking; but there is no need to suppose that, since our Lord uses the same form of speech, John 3:11, AND OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US; this may not only regard the Jewish ancestors, from whom our Lord descended according to the flesh, and so refer to the following account of the wonderful things done for the people of Israel; but also the divine Father of Christ, from whom, as his only begotten Son that lay in his bosom, and as Mediator, and the Angel of the great council, he heard and became acquainted with the secrets and mysteries of grace, and with his Father's mind and will; all which he declared and made known to his apostles, and in so doing used them as his friends,...

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....

KNOWN. come to know....