Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 78:17
And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
17. Yet went they on still to sin against him,
Rebelling against the Most High in the land of drought.
Both the occasions referred to in Psa 78:15-16 were connected with murmuring. The names of Massah and Meribah preserved the memory of Israel’s sin in tempting God and striving with Him. And to these sins they added other sins. Note how the words ‘rebel’ and ‘tempt’ recur like a refrain at the beginning of each division of the Psalm ( Psa 78:17-18 ; Psalms 40, 41; Psalms 56). Cp. Psa 95:9; Psa 106:7; Psa 106:14; Psa 106:33; Psa 106:43; Exo 17:2; Exo 17:7; Num 14:22; Num 20:10; Num 20:24; Deu 1:26; Deu 1:43; Deu 6:16; Deu 9:23; Deu 33:8; &c. The two words sum up Israel’s behaviour: they rebelled against God by constant disobedience to His revealed Will; they tempted Him, by sceptical doubts of His goodness, and insolent demands that He should prove His power.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
17 31. In spite of these miracles of mercy they sinned yet more, and tempted God in their unbelief, so that while He supplied their wants He was compelled to punish them for their sin. The order is logical not chronological. The first murmurings for food (Exodus 16) preceded the giving of the water: and the narratives of Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 are fused into one.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And they sinned yet more against him – literally, They added to sin against him. The idea is, that his mercies, and the proofs of his presence were only made the occasion of greater sin on their part. This may have been in two ways;
(1) their sin was thus more aggravated, as being committed against greater light; and
(2) they evinced more and more their depravity, in proportion as he bestowed mercies on them – not an uncommon thing with people.
By provoking the Most High – literally, embittering. They rebelled against him. They refused to submit to him. They forgot his mercies. Compare Deu 9:22.
In the wilderness – literally, in the dry place; in the desert. In the very place where they were most manifestly dependent on him – where there were no natural streams of water – where their needs were met by a miraculous supply – even there did they provoke him, and rebel against him. If he had simply stopped that miraculous supply of water they must have perished. But sinners forget how dependent they are on God, when they sin against him. On what can they rely, if he withdraws from them, and leaves them to themselves?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 78:17
And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness.
Sin multiplying with mercies
The more copiously the showers of mercies fell upon the Jew in the wilderness, the more abounding his sins.
I. This is a lamentably common character. Seeds of sin innumerable are imbedded in every depraved heart; and the sunbeams and showers of mercy often develop them into harvests, whose ripened grains fall down into the soul to be multiplied again, etc.
II. This is a monstrously unnatural character. The eternal design and the essential tendency of Divine goodness are to quicken all intelligent spirits into gratitude and virtue, to waken them into hallelujahs. The goodness of God should lead to repentance. Man is somehow denaturalized, dehumanized; he pursues a course hostile to the constitution of things.
III. This is a tremendously guilty character. It is treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Where they had such strong and singular obligations to obedience, both from the great things which God had then and there done for them, and from their dependence upon Gods favour and help for their safety and subsistence. This was a great aggravation of their sin and folly.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17-20. yet moreliterally,”added to sin,” instead of being led to repentance (Ro2:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they sinned yet more against him,…. Or, “and they added yet to sin against him” c; which was great ingratitude; they had sinned before, and it might have been hoped that the goodness of God to them would have engaged them to have sinned no more, at least at such a rate, and in such a manner, as they had done; but instead of sinning less, they sinned more and more, they added sin to sin; such is the corrupt heart of man, notwithstanding the grace of God, and the blessings of it vouchsafed unto him:
by provoking the most High in the wilderness; everything is aggravating; the object against whom they sinned was the most High, which betrays their impiety, folly, and vanity; and they did not slightly sin against him, but did those things which were highly provoking and exasperating; and that in the wilderness, where they received so many favours, and where they must have been starved and perish, and could not have lived, without immediate provision, support, and protection, from the hand of the Lord.
c “et addiderunt adhuc ad peccandum ei”, Montanus, “vel peccare”, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. Yet they continued still to sin against him. The prophet, having briefly declared how God, by a continual succession of benefits, had clearly manifested the greatness of his love towards the children of Abraham, now adds, that after having been laid under such deep and solemn obligations to him, they, as was natural to them, and according to their customary way, wickedly rebelled against him. In the first place, he accuses them of having provoked him grievously, by pertinaciously adding iniquity to iniquity; and then he points out the particular kind of the provocation with which they were chargeable. By the word provoke, he intimates, that it was no light offense which they had committed, but wickedness so heinous and aggravated as not to be endured. From the place in which it was committed, he aggravates the enormity of the sin. It was in the very wilderness, whilst the remembrance of their deliverance was yet fresh in their memory, and where they had every day full in their view tokens of the presence of God, and where even necessity itself should have constrained them to yield a true and holy obedience — it was in that place, and under these circumstances, that they repressed not their insolence and unbridled appetite. (325) It was then, certainly, a proof of monstrous infatuation for them to act in such a wanton and disgraceful manner as they did, at the very time when their want of all things should have proved the best remedy for keeping them under restraint, and to do this even in the presence of God, who presented before them such manifestations of his glory as filled them with terror, and who allured them so kindly and tenderly to himself.
(325) “ Qu’ils n’ont point reprime leur insolence et appetit desordonne.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) They sinned yet more and more.This implies the discontent which had already shown itself before the miraculous supply of water.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 78:17. And they sinned yet more Yet they sinned still more.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here we have a full representation of Israel’s unworthiness, as the preceding verses gave us a short relation of God’s mercy. Reader, had you and I been present when, at the lifting up of the rod of Moses, water issued from a dry unpromising rock, could we have thought it possible that Israel would have again doubted God’s power or his love? Pause. – Are we better than they? What hath not Jesus done for you, for me, for all his church and people? And do we not find rebellious murmurings, unbelief, and a thousand instances of a corrupt heart, breaking out continually? Oh! precious, precious Jesus, what would become of me, or what should I do with this wicked heart of mine, had I not thy perfect righteousness to trust in, and thy blood to cleanse me?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 78:17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
Ver. 17. And they sinned yet more against him ] The better he was to them the worse were they toward him, as if God had hired them to be wicked; and this was ordinary with them, and is still among us. Oh the Divine patience!
By provoking the most High in the wilderness
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 78:17-20
17Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18And in their heart they put God to the test
By asking food according to their desire.
19Then they spoke against God;
They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out,
And streams were overflowing;
Can He give bread also?
Will He provide meat for His people?
Psa 78:17-20 This strophe continues to describe the acts of the ungrateful, disobedient Israelites of the exodus and wilderness wandering period.
Psa 78:18 they put God to the test The verb (BDB 650, KB 702, Piel imperfect with waw) is used several times of Israel testing God (cf. Exo 17:2; Num 14:22; Deu 6:16; Psa 78:18; Psa 78:41; Psa 78:56; Psa 95:9; Psa 106:14).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
sinned. Hebrew. chata’. t
he MOST HIGH. Hebrew. Elyon. App-4. Compare Psa 78:35, and Psa 77:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 78:32, Psa 95:8-10, Psa 106:13-32, Deu 9:8, Deu 9:12-22, Heb 3:16-19
Reciprocal: Psa 78:40 – How oft Psa 95:9 – When Mat 4:3 – command Act 13:18 – about
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 78:17-20. And they sinned yet more Hebrew, , They added yet to sin against him. All these miraculous works did not alter their depraved nature; but it broke out into new and greater provocations; in the wilderness In that very place where they were under such strong and singular obligations to obedience, both for the great things which God had then and there done for them, and from their dependance upon his favour and help for their safety and subsistence; where, indeed, without his singular providence, they had all perished. This was certainly a great aggravation of their sin and folly. And they tempted God Desired a new trial and proof of his power, as the next verse shows. See Num 11:4. By asking meat for their lust Not for their necessary subsistence, for which they had in manna, but out of an inordinate and luxurious appetite. Yea, they spake against God, &c. At last they openly declared and manifested that distrust of his power which was in their hearts, saying, Can God furnish a table? Is he able to provide, not only bare support and sustenance, but variety of nourishing and pleasant food, here in this barren wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, &c. It is true he hath brought water out of a rock for us in abundance; but can he give bread also? Not such light food as this manna is, but more substantial bread, here where no corn grows? Can he provide flesh for his people? Can he make an ample provision for all this multitude of such flesh as this place does not afford? They should have said, Lord, if thou wilt thou canst. For is any thing too hard for Omnipotence? When once the ordinary powers of nature are exceeded, and God has made bare his arm, and put forth his almighty power, we must conclude nothing is impossible with him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
78:17 And they {k} sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
(k) Their wicked malice could be overcome by no benefits, which were great and many.