Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 78:10
They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
10. the covenant of God ] See Exo 19:5; Exo 24:3; Exo 24:7-8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They kept not the covenant of God – The covenant which God had made with the entire Hebrew people. They did not maintain their allegiance to Yahweh. Compare Deu 4:13, Deu 4:23; Deu 17:2.
And refused to walk in his law – Refused to obey his law. They rebelled against him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. They kept not the covenant of God] They abandoned his worship, both moral and ritual. They acted like the Ephraimites in the above case, who threw down their bows and arrows, and ran away.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Their disobedience was accompanied with obstinacy and contempt of Gods laws.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
They kept not the covenant of God,…. Either the covenant of circumcision, which was neglected during their travels through the wilderness, Jos 5:5 or the covenant made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, Ex 24:7 and this is to be understood not of the children of Ephraim only, but of the Israelites in general, who in many instances broke the covenant, and were not steadfast in it, Ps 78:37,
[See comments on Jer 31:32]
and refused to walk in his law; the law of God, which was given forth by him, by the disposition of angels, through the hands of a mediator, Moses, as a rule of their walk and conversation; but they refused to order their conversation according to it, being unwilling to be subject to it, but despised and cast it away; a sad instance of the corruption of human nature, and the depravity of man’s will, boasted of for its freedom, yet what is common, and to be observed in all mankind.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. They kept not the covenant of God. This is the reason assigned for the Ephraimites turning their backs in the day of battle; and it explains why the divine assistance was withheld from them. Others, it is true, were guilty in this respect as well as they, but the vengeance of God executed on that tribe, which by its influence had corrupted almost the whole kingdom, is purposely brought forward as a general warning. Since then the tribe of Ephraim, in consequence of its splendor and dignity, when it threw off the yoke, encouraged and became as it were a standard of shameful revolt to all the other tribes, the prophet intended to put people on their guard, that they might not suffer themselves in their simplicity to be again deceived in the same manner. It is no light charge which he brings against the sons of Ephraim: he upbraids them on account of their perfidiousness in despising the whole law and in violating the covenant. Although he employs these two words, law and covenant, in the same sense; yet, in placing the covenant first, he clearly shows that he is speaking not only of the moral law, the all-perfect rule of life, but of the whole service of God, of the truth and faithfulness of the divine promises, and of the trust which ought to be reposed in them, (320) of invocation, and of the doctrine of true religion, the foundation whereof was the adoption. He therefore calls them covenant-breakers, because they had fallen from their trust in the promises, by which God had entered into covenant with them to be their Father. Yet he afterwards very properly adds the law, in which the covenant was sealed up, as it were, in public records. He aggravates the enormity of their guilt by the word refuse, which intimates that they were not simply carried away by a kind of thoughtless or inconsiderate recklessness, and thus sinned through giddiness, want of knowledge or foresight, but that they had purposely, and with deliberate obstinacy, violated the holy covenant of God.
(320) “ De la verite et fidelite des promesses, et de la foy qu’on y doit adjouster.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
10. They kept not the covenant of God As already stated, they had forsaken God, and God had now forsaken them, and this was the real cause of their cowardice, which is here set down as crime. We must understand Ephraim, not exclusively, but as the leading tribe, and responsible for the day’s disasters, especially for the capture of the ark, which had been taken from Shiloh contrary to the will of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 78:10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
Ver. 10. They kept not the covenant, &c. ] And so betrayed themselves into the hands of divine justice, they were worthily worsted. See 2Ch 15:2 .
And refused to walk in his law
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
kept not. See note on Psa 78:9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The story of how the children of Israel behaved themselves towards their gracious God.
Psa 78:10-16. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through, and he made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He clave the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
In such a scene of miracles, surrounded by such prodigies of goodness, what did they do?
Psa 78:17. And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
What a fierce fire must sin be that it is even fed by the rivers of Gods goodness, and burns by means of that which ought to have quenched every spark of it. Yet there is such a fire as that raging in our hearts, and even Gods mercies will make us more sinful unless his abounding grace comes with them to teach us how to use them aright.
Psa 78:18. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
Not for their needs, but for their lust. It is a dreadful thing when prayer itself is prostituted, and the mercy-seat becomes a place for the expression of sinful desires which ought never to have been in our hearts. It was so, however, with these children of Israel.
Psa 78:19. Yea, they spake against God;
As you read that they spake against God, you naturally suppose that they uttered some blasphemy, or some denial of his Deity. Listen and learn:
Psa 78:19. They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
That is speaking against him, to speak unbelievingly, to speak in a questioning way concerning his power. I am afraid that there are very few of us who can plead innocence on this score.
Psa 78:20. Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people?
These things, which they lusted after, they also turned into subjects for unbelief; and they even misused the miracle, which they dared not deny.
Psa 78:21-22. Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israe;. Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:
This was the provoking sin. The Lord would not endure such wanton and wicked unbelief as this. After he had turned the rocks into rivers, could he not turn the stones into bread, and the dust of the desert into flesh, if he chose to do so?
Psa 78:23-32. Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels food: he sent them meat to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: and he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; they were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this they sinned still,
Mercy failed to move them, and judgment failed too. The right hand of Gods gifts and the left hand of his chastisement were equally ignored.
Psa 78:32-34. And believed not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
Perhaps some of them fought him even while they were dying; and the remnant that survived trembled, and returned and enquired early after God.
Psa 78:35-36. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
Oh, this is terrible! One would have thought that they would have been sincere when they were broken down with sorrow, but it was not so. And I fear that the kind of religion which has to be whipped into us is never good for much. It must have in it the element of spontaneousness if it is to be sincere; it was not so with these people.
Psa 78:37-41. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
In their unbelieving imagination, they circumscribed his power; they thought that he could do something, but not everything; they believed him one day, and doubted him the next.
Psa 78:42-45. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: and had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
All these judgments fell upon their enemies, but they failed to remember them,
Psa 78:46-56. He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; and smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: but made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
Oh, these terrible yets! Though God was faithful to the end, and kept his covenant, and brought them into the land which he swore to their fathers that he would give them. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies.
Psa 78:57-61. But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; and delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemys hand.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psa 78:10-61; and 1Pe 4:1-13.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Deu 31:16, Deu 31:20, Jdg 2:10-12, 2Ki 17:14, 2Ki 17:15, Neh 9:26-29, Jer 31:32
Reciprocal: Exo 16:28 – General 2Ki 10:31 – walk 1Ch 16:17 – for a law Psa 78:57 – they were Eze 5:6 – for they Eze 11:12 – General Heb 8:9 – they continued
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 78:10-11. They kept not the covenant of God Their cowardice was the effect of their unbelief and disobedience; and refused to walk in his law Their disobedience was accompanied with obstinacy and contempt of Gods laws. And forgat his works Not historically, but practically. They did not so remember them as to love, and serve, and trust in that God, of whose infinite power and goodness they had had such ample experience.