Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 78:9
The children of Ephraim, [being] armed, [and] carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
9. This verse presents serious difficulties. (1) It seems to speak of some well-known act of cowardice on the part of the Ephraimites. But why should cowardice in war be censured, when it is disloyalty to God of which the Psalmist is speaking? It has been suggested that it refers to the slackness of Ephraim in prosecuting the conquest of Canaan (Judges 1), regarded as shewing their distrustfulness of God, in view of all the mighty works that He had done for them in the past. But it seems better to understand it figuratively (cp. Psa 78:57), to mean that the Ephraimites were like cowards who flee in battle, and failed to fight for the cause of God. (2) Why are the Ephraimites particularly named, when the context refers to all Israel? Possibly to point forward to the rejection of Ephraim and choice of Judah which is the climax of the Psalm ( Psa 78:67). Psa 78:10-11 must then be taken with Psa 78:9, as a literal description of the disobedience and unfaithfulness of the Ephraimites.
After all attempts to explain it, the verse remains obscure, and many commentators suppose that it is an interpolation or that the text is in some way corrupt. The absence of parallelism and rhythm casts some suspicion on it independently; and it may possibly have been a gloss suggested by Psa 78:57, and inserted here as an illustration of Israel’s want of stedfastness ( Psa 78:8). Psa 78:10 would follow naturally on Psa 78:8, introducing the description of the rebellious generation, whose conduct is held up to reprobation for the admonition of their descendants.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 16. Israel’s disobedience and ingratitude, in spite of all God’s mercies to them at the Exodus and in the wilderness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The children of Ephraim – The sons of Ephraim; that is, the descendants of Ephraim; the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim was one of the largest of the tribes of Israel, and was the chief tribe in the rebellion, and hence, the term is often used to denote the ten tribes, or the kingdom of Israel, in contradistinction from that of Judah. See Isa 7:2, Isa 7:5,Isa 7:8-9, Isa 7:17; Isa 11:13; Isa 28:1. The word is evidently used in this sense here, not as denoting that one tribe only, but that tribe as the head of the revolted kingdom; or, in other words, the name is used as representing the kingdom of that name after the revolt. See 1 Kings 12. This verse evidently contains the gist or the main idea of the psalm – to wit, that Ephraim, or the ten tribes, had turned away from the worship of the true God, and that, in consequence of that apostasy, the government had been transferred to another tribe – the tribe of Judah. See Psa 78:67-68.
Being armed – The idea in this phrase is, that they had abundant means for maintaining their independence in connection with the other tribes, or as a part of the nation, but that they refused to cooperate with their brethren.
And carrying bows – Margin, throwing forth. Literally, lifting up. The idea is, that they were armed with bows; or, that they were fully armed.
Turned back in the day of battle – That is, they did not stand by their brethren, or assist them in defending their country. There is probably no reference here to any particular battle, but the idea is, that in the wars of the nation – in those wars which were waged for national purposes – they refused to join with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in defense of the lawful government.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 78:9-17
The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
God in human history
I. A people is a community that are most favoured with privileges are oftentimes the most sinful. Ephraim was not only one of the largest, but one of the most favoured of the Jewish tribes. He descended from Joseph, the highly favoured of God. He received the benediction from the lips of Jacob; and yet this tribe was so prominent in the rebellion that it stands as the representative of the ten rebellious tribes. Two of its sins are referred to here.
1. Cowardice in battle (Psa 78:9). They had weapons for battle, but they had not the patriotic bravery to use them.
2. Disobedience to God (Psa 78:10).
II. God works specially in human history for mans advantage (Psa 78:11-12).
III. His special workings on behalf of man, whilst they should deter from sin, frequently fail of this purpose (Psa 78:17). When God, says an old author on this verse, began thus to bless them, they began to affront Him. As sin sometimes takes occasion by the commandment, so at other times it takes occasion by the deliverance, to become more exceedingly sinful. (Homilist.)
Cowards in battle
I. The historical advantages of these men. Children of Ephraim.
1. This gave them the advantage of having had brave ancestors. Joshua and Samuel were Ephraimites–noble sires; this a great honour; a correspondingly great responsibility. Blood is much; grace is more.
2. This gave them the advantages of a central location. After settlement in Canaan, Ephraim, numerous and powerful, occupied the central portion of the land. In its territory were Shiloh, with the tabernacle and ark; Shechem, with its holy and tender associations.
3. This gave them prominence and power. But they were false to their great mission. They were leaders, and leaders in evil. Being armed and carrying bows.
II. The military condition of the people.
1. They were defensively armed. So is the Christian.
2. They were offensively equipped.
3. They were skilful in the use of their weapons. We must know how to use this one offensive weapon.
III. The cowardly conduct of these men. They turned back in the day of battle.
1. They turned back. Weapons worthless if courage be wanting; courage is wanting if God be absent.
2. They did this in the day of battle. They betrayed their trust.
3. They brought disastrous consequences upon themselves. Merited doom. Sanctuary transferred. Gods rejection secured. We need bravery. Dare to be like Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Paul, Luther, Bunyan. Alas I that in these evil days–days of spiritual declension–there is so little genuine heroism in the Church. (R. S. McArthur, D. D.)
Turning back in the day of battle
I. What these men did. They turned their backs when the time for fighting came, and fled. This, I am sorry to say, is not an unusual thing among professing Christians. Some do this at the first appearance of difficulty. Timorous and Mistrust come running down tim hill crying, The lions! the lions! and thus may a pilgrim turn back towards the City of Destruction. Others are somewhat braver. During the first thrust they stand like martyrs and behave like heroes, but very soon, when the armour gets a little battered, and the fine plume on their helmet a little stained, they turn back in the day of battle. Some professors bear the fight a little longer. They are not to be laughed out Of their religion; they can stand the jeers of their old companions. Cowards, say they, are those who flee; but we shall never do this. But by and by the skirmishers have done their work, and it comes to a hand-to-hand fight; the struggle begins to be somewhat more arduous, and now shall we see what metal they are made of. We have seen grey-headed apostates as well as juvenile ones.
II. When they did it. In the day of battle.
1. At the only time when they were of any sort of use. If the Christian soldier never fights, of what good is he at all? Take off his colours, play The Rogues March, and turn him out of the barracks! And this is what will come to some professors who turn back in the day of battle! Their regimentals will be torn off, and they will be excluded from the Church of God because they turned back in the day of trial and at the time when they were needed.
2. They turned their backs, too, like fools, in the day when victory was to be won. The soldier wants to distinguish himself; he wants to rise out of the ranks; he wants to be promoted. He hardly expects an opportunity of doing this in time of peace; but the officer rises when in time of war he leads a successful charge. And so it is with the Christian soldier. I make no advance while I am not fighting. I cannot win if I am not warring.
3. They turned back, when turning back involved the most disastrous defeat. The ark of God was taken. Ichabod, the enemy cried, for the glory was departed from Israel, because the children of Ephraim turned back in the day of battle. And so, dear friends, unless God gives you preserving grace to stand fast to the end, do you not see that you are turning back to–what? To perdition.
III. Who they were that turned back.
1. Men of a noble parentage. Children of Ephraim.
2. They were armed, and had proper weapons, weapons which they knew how to use, and good weapons for that period of warfare. And as Christians, what weapons have we? Here is this Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Here is a quiver, filled with innumerable arrows, and God has put into our hands the bow of prayer, by which we may shoot them, drawing that bow by the arm of faith.
3. Another translation seems to show that these Ephraimites were very skilful in the use of the bow, and yet they turned back. Oh! may God grant that none of us who have preached to others, and preached to others with fluency and zeal, may ever have our own weapons turned against US.
IV. Why did they do it?
1. They kept not the covenant. Oh! that great covenant, ordered in all things and sure, when you can fall back upon that, how it strengthens you!
2. They refused to walk in His law. When we get a proud heart we very soon get beaten, for with the face of a lion, but the heart of a deer, such an one is afraid of the world. If I am willing to do what God tells me, as He tells me, when He tells me, and because He tells me, I shall not turn back in the day of battle.
3. They also seemed to have turned back because they had bad memories. They forgot His works, and the wonders that He had showed them. Some of you have had very wonderful manifestations of the Lords kindness, and if you forget all these I should not wonder if you should prove to be a mere professor and turn back.
V. What was the result of them turning back?
1. Their father mourned over them (1Ch 7:22). What a lamentation it brings into the Christian Church when a professor falls!
2. Owing to their turning back, the enemy remained. It is our turning back in the day of battle that leaves Canaan unconquered for our Lord.
3. But, worse than this, the ark itself was actually taken. Those of you who are armed and carry bows, men of learning, men who understand the Scriptures, I do pray you, do not turn back just now, for just now seems to be a time when the ark of God will be taken. It can never really be so, but still we must mind that it be not the tendency of our actions. We must all of us hold fast the truth now. If there is a man who has got a truth, let him draw his bow and shoot his arrows now, and not turn back in the day of battle. Now for your arrows! Now for your arrows! The more our foes shall conspire against Christ, the more do you make war against them. Give them double for their double; reward them as they reward you. Spare no arrows against Babylon. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Turning back in battle
True religion brings with it a courageous heart, and Dr. South has well and quaintly said, that since Christ has made a Christian course a warfare, of all men living a coward is the most unfit to make a Christian. And yet it is mournful to think that, of the great army of Christians who enrol themselves under the banner of the Cross, in Baptism and Confirmation, and who wear the uniform and carry the sword of Christian soldiers, so many resemble the ill-starred men of Ephraim, who, being armed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle! Courage can only be kept alive by zealous action. We can readily imagine a gallant regiment riding into the very valley of death at a dashing gallop, but it would be simply absurd to picture them crawling at a snails pace towards the expectant foe, coolly calculating the chances of disastrous defeat. As Christians, we profess to be engaged in a warfare against something, even the enemies of our salvation, the world, the flesh, and the devil–three most formidable and deadly foes. The office for the Lords Supper opens also with a prayer for the whole state of Christs Church militant–the Church which is engaged in open and determined war. We can all well afford to do good service for Christ and His kingdom, since the end draweth near. Here is the battlefield, and the land of the sword and the spear. There, already is sight to the eye of faith, in the triumphal procession of the conquerors, and the land of the wreath and the crown. (J. N. Norton.)
Our proneness to forget past mercies
We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a long connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst they were hot, and life was all hurry and bustle. The men on the deck of a ship see the beauty of the city that they have left behind better than when they were stumbling through its narrow streets. And though the view from the far-off waters of the receding houses may be an illusion, our view of the past, if we see God brooding over it all and working in it all, is no illusion. The meannesses are hidden, the narrow places are invisible, all the pain and suffering is quieted, and we are able to behold more truly than when we were in the midst of it the bearing, the purpose, and the blessedness alike of our sorrows and of our joys. Some of us are like people who, when they get better of their sicknesses, grudge the doctors bill. We forget the mercies as soon as they are past, because we only enjoyed the sensuous sweetness of them while it tickled our palate; and forgot, in the enjoyment of them, of whose love it was that they spoke to us. Sorrows and joys, bring them all in your thanksgivings, and forget not the works of God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. The children of Ephraim – turned back] This refers to some defeat of the Ephraimites; and some think to that by the men of Gath, mentioned 1Ch 7:21. R. D. Kimchi says this defeat of the Ephraimites was in the desert; and although the story be not mentioned in the law, yet it is written in the Books of the Chronicles, where we read, on the occasion of “Zabad the Ephraimite, and Shuthelah, c., whom the men of Gath, who were born in the land, slew and Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him,” 1Ch 7:20-22: but to what defeat of the Ephraimites this refers is not certainly known; probably the Israelites after the division of the two kingdoms are intended.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The children of Ephraim: this passage concerns, either,
1. The tribe of Ephraim, and some exploit of theirs, wherein they met with this disaster; whether it were that mentioned 1Ch 7:21, or some other not particularly related in any other place of Scripture. For we must not think that all the actions and events of the several tribes are recorded in Scripture, but only some of the most memorable ones. Or,
2. The ten tribes, who are very frequently called Ephraim, because that tribe was the chief of them, and the seat of the kingdom. And so this is referred by some to the captivity of the ten tribes, 2Ki 17, although the historical references of this Psalm seem not to go beyond Davids time. Or rather,
3. All the tribes and people of Israel, who are sometimes designed by the name of Ephraim, as Jer 31:9,18,20; Zec 10:7; as well they might be, because of the eminency of this tribe, out of which came Joshua their first governor in Canaan, and in which the ark of God continued for a long time, and whose people were both most numerous and most valiant; and therefore they are fitly named for all, to show that this slaughter was not made amongst them for any defect of power or courage in them, but merely from Gods just judgment upon them for their sins here following. And that Ephraim is here put for all Israel seems to be evident from the following verses, wherein the sins upon which this overthrow is charged are manifestly the sins of all the children of Israel, and they who are here called Ephraim, are called Jacob and Israel, Psa 78:21. And so this passage is by divers learned interpreters referred unto that dreadful overthrow related 1Sa 4; wherein they did not stand to fight, but turned their backs and fled, as is there expressed, which though it reached all Israel, yet Ephraim is particularly named, because as the ark, so the fight, was in that tribe; and therefore it may be presumed that the Ephraimites were a very considerable part of that Israelitish army. And the psalmist having related this amazing providence and judgment of God upon his own people, he falls into a large discourse of the causes of it, to wit, the great, and manifold, and continual sins of that and the former generations; which having prosecuted from hence to Psa 78:60, he there returns to this history, and relates the sad consequences of that disaster, to wit, the captivity of the ark, and Gods forsaking of Shiloh and Ephraim, and removing thence to the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, the reason of which change of place he designed to give in the relation of this passage.
Bows; which includes arrows; and these being then the chiefest and most common weapons, are put for all other arms.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9-11. The privileges of thefirst-born which belonged to Joseph (1Ch 5:1;1Ch 5:2) were assigned to Ephraimby Jacob (Ge 48:1). Thesupremacy of the tribe thus intimated was recognized by its position(in the marching of the nation to Canaan) next to the ark (Nu2:18-24), by the selection of the first permanent locality forthe ark within its borders at Shiloh, and by the extensive andfertile province given for its possession. Traces of this prominenceremained after the schism under Rehoboam, in the use, by laterwriters, of Ephraim for Israel (compare Hos 5:3-14;Hos 11:3-12). Though astrong, well-armed tribe, and, from an early period, emulous andhaughty (compare Jos 17:14;Jdg 8:1-3; 2Sa 19:41),it appears, in this place, that it had rather led the rest incowardice than courage; and had incurred God’s displeasure, because,diffident of His promise, though often heretofore fulfilled, it hadfailed as a leader to carry out the terms of the covenant, by notdriving out the heathen (Exo 23:24;Deu 31:16; 2Ki 17:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The children of Ephraim being armed, and carrying bows,…. Or “casting” arrows out of the “bow” a; they went out well armed to meet the enemy, and they trusted in their armour, and not in the Lord; and being skilful in throwing darts, or shooting arrows, promised themselves victory:
but turned back in the day of battle; fled from the enemy, could not stand their ground when the onset was made: what this refers to is not easy to determine; some think this with what follows respects the defection of the ten tribes in Rehoboam’s time, which frequently go under the name of Ephraim; but we have no account of any battle then fought, and lost by them; and besides the history of this psalm reaches no further than the times of David; others are of opinion that it regards the time of Eli, when the Israelites were beaten by the Philistines, the ark of God was taken, Eli’s two sons slain, and thirty thousand more, 1Sa 4:1. Ephraim being put for the rest of the tribes, the ark being in that tribe; others suppose that the affair between the Gileadites and Ephraimites, in the times of Jephthah, is referred to, when there fell of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand,
Jud 12:1, many of the Jewish b writers take it to be the history of a fact that was done in Egypt before the children of Israel came out from thence; see 1Ch 7:20, so the Targum,
“when they dwelt in Egypt, the children of Ephraim grew proud, they appointed the end (or term of going out of Egypt), and they erred, and went out thirty years before the end, with warlike arms, and mighty men carrying bows, turned back, and were slain in the day of battle;”
though it seems most likely to have respect to what was done in the wilderness, as Kimchi observes, after they were come out of Egypt, and had seen the wonders of God there, and at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; and perhaps reference is had to the discomfiture of the Israelites by the Amalekites, when they went up the hill they were forbid to do, and in which, it may be, the Ephraimites were most forward, and suffered most; see Nu 14:40.
a “jacientes arcu”, Pagninus, Montanus; “jaculantes arcu”, Tigurine version, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus, Michaelis. b See Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 7. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Wonders Wrought in Behalf of Israel; The Crimes of the Israelites; Judgments Brought on the Israelites. | |
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. 10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; 11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had showed them. 12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as a heap. 14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. 15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. 16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. 17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. 18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. 19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 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? 21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; 22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: 23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. 25 Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full. 26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. 27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: 28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. 29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; 30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. 32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. 33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. 34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. 35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. 36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. 37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. 38 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. 39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
In these verses,
I. The psalmist observes the late rebukes of Providence that the people of Israel had been under, which they had brought upon themselves by their dealing treacherously with God, v. 9-11. The children of Ephraim, in which tribe Shiloh was, though they were well armed and shot with bows, yet turned back in the day of battle. This seems to refer to that shameful defeat which the Philistines gave them in Eli’s time, when they took the ark prisoner, 1Sa 4:10; 1Sa 4:11. Of this the psalmist here begins to speak, and, after a long digression, returns to it again, v. 61. Well might that event be thus fresh in mind in David’s time, above forty years after, for the ark, which in that memorable battle was seized by the Philistines, though it was quickly brought out of captivity, was never brought out of obscurity till David fetched it from Kirjath-jearim to his own city. Observe, 1. The shameful cowardice of the children of Ephraim, that warlike tribe, so famed for valiant men, Joshua’s tribe; the children of that tribe, though as well armed as ever, turned back when they came to face the enemy. Note, Weapons of war stand men in little stead without a martial spirit, and that is gone if God be gone. Sin dispirits men and takes away the heart. 2. The causes of their cowardice, which were no less shameful; and these were, (1.) A shameful violation of God’s law and their covenant with him (v. 10); they were basely treacherous and perfidious, for they kept not the covenant of God, and basely stubborn and rebellious (as they were described, v. 8), for they peremptorily refused to walk in his law, and, in effect, told him to his face they would not be ruled by him. (2.) A shameful ingratitude to God for the favours he had bestowed upon them: They forgot his works and his wonders, his works of wonder which they ought to have admired, v. 11. Note, Our forgetfulness of God’s works is at the bottom of our disobedience to his laws.
II. He takes occasion hence to consult precedents and to compare this with the case of their fathers, who were in like manner unmindful of God’s mercies to them and ungrateful to their founder and great benefactor, and were therefore often brought under his displeasure. The narrative in these verses is very remarkable, for it relates a kind of struggle between God’s goodness and man’s badness, and mercy, at length, rejoices against judgment.
1. God did great things for his people Israel when he first incorporated them and formed them into a people: Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, and not only in their sight, but in their cause, and for their benefit, so strange, so kind, that one would think they should never be forgotten. What he did for them in the land of Egypt is only just mentioned here (v. 12), but afterwards resumed, v. 43. He proceeds here to show, (1.) How he made a lane for them through the Red Sea, and caused them, gave them courage, to pass through, though the waters stood over their heads as a heap, v. 13. See Isa 63:12; Isa 63:13, where God is said to lead them by the hand, as it were, through the deep that they should not stumble. (2.) How he provided a guide for them through the untrodden paths of the wilderness (v. 14); he led them step by step, in the day time by a cloud, which also sheltered them from the heat, and all the night with a light of fire, which perhaps warmed the air; at least it made the darkness of night less frightful, and perhaps kept off wild beasts, Zech. ii. 5. (3.) How he furnished their camp with fresh water in a dry and thirsty land where no water was, not by opening the bottles of heaven (that would have been a common way), but by broaching a rock (Psa 78:15; Psa 78:16): He clave the rocks in the wilderness, which yielded water, though they were not capable of receiving it either from the clouds above or the springs beneath. Out of the dry and hard rock he gave them drink, not distilled as out of an alembic, drop by drop, but in streams running down like rivers, and as out of the great depths. God gives abundantly, and is rich in mercy; he gives seasonably, and sometimes makes us to feel the want of mercies that we may the better know the worth of them. This water which God gave Israel out of the rock was the more valuable because it was spiritual drink. And that rock was Christ.
2. When God began thus to bless them they began to affront him (v. 17): They sinned yet more against him, more than they had done in Egypt, though there they were bad enough, Ezek. xx. 8. They bore the miseries of their servitude better than the difficulties of their deliverance, and never murmured at their taskmasters so much as they did at Moses and Aaron; as if they were delivered to do all these abominations, Jer. vii. 10. As sin sometimes takes occasion by the commandment, so at other times it takes occasion by the deliverance, to become more exceedingly sinful. They provoked the Most High. Though he is most high, and they knew themselves an unequal match for him, yet they provoked him and even bade defiance to his justice; and this in the wilderness, where he had them at his mercy and therefore they were bound in interest to please him, and where he showed them so much mercy and therefore they were bound in gratitude to please him; yet there they said and did that which they knew would provoke him: They tempted God in their heart, v. 18. Their sin began in their heart, and thence it took its malignity. They do always err in their heart, Heb. iii. 10. Thus they tempted God, tried his patience to the utmost, whether he would bear with them or no, and, in effect, bade him do his worst. Two ways they provoked him:– (1.) By desiring, or rather demanding, that which he had not thought fit to give them: They asked meat for their lust. God had given them meat for their hunger, in the manna, wholesome pleasant food and in abundance; he had given them meat for their faith out of the heads of leviathan which he broke in pieces, Ps. lxxiv. 14. But all this would not serve; they must have meat for their lust, dainties and varieties to gratify a luxurious appetite. Nothing is more provoking to God than our quarrelling with our allotment and indulging the desires of the flesh. (2.) By distrusting his power to give them what they desired. This was tempting God indeed. They challenged him to give them flesh; and, if he did not, they would say it was because he could not, not because he did not see it fit for them (v. 19): They spoke against God. Those that set bounds to God’s power speak against him. It was as injurious a reflection as could be cat upon God to say, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? They had manna, but the did not think they had a table furnished unless they had boiled and roast, a first, a second, and a third course, as they had in Egypt, where they had both flesh and fish, and sauce too (Exo 16:3; Num 11:5), dishes of meat and salvers of fruit. What an unreasonable insatiable thin is luxury! Such a mighty thing did these epicures think a table well furnished to be that they thought it was more than God himself could give them in that wilderness; whereas the beasts of the forest, and all the fowls of the mountains, are his, Psa 50:10; Psa 50:11. Their disbelief of God’s power was so much the worse in that they did at the same time own that he had done as much as that came to (v. 20): Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, which they and their cattle drank of. And which is easier, to furnish a table in the wilderness, which a rich man can do, or to fetch water out of a rock, which the greatest potentate on the earth cannot do? Never did unbelief, though always unreasonable, ask so absurd a question: “Can he that melted down a rock into streams of water give bread also? Or can he that has given bread provide flesh also?” Is any thing too hard for Omnipotence? When once the ordinary powers of nature are exceeded God has made bare his arm, and we must conclude that nothing is impossible with him. Be it ever so great a thing that we ask, it becomes us to own, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst.
3. God justly resented the provocation and was much displeased with them (v. 21): The Lord heard this, and was wroth. Note, God is a witness to all our murmurings and distrusts; he hears them and is much displeased with them. A fire was kindled for this against Jacob; the fire of the Lord burnt among them, Num. xi. 1. Or it may be understood of the fire of God’s anger which came up against Israel. To unbelievers our God is himself a consuming fire. Those that will not believe the power of God’s mercy shall feel the power of his indignation, and be made to confess that it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands. Now here we are told, (1.) Why God thus resented the provocation (v. 22): Because by this it appeared that they believed not in God; they did not give credit to the revelation he had made of himself to them, for they durst not commit themselves to him, nor venture themselves with him: They trusted not in the salvation he had begun to work for them; for then they would not thus have questioned its progress. Those cannot be said to trust in God’s salvation as their felicity at last who cannot find in their hearts to trust in his providence for food convenient in the way to it. That which aggravated their unbelief was the experience they had had of the power and goodness of God, v. 23-25. He had given them undeniable proofs of his power, not only on earth beneath, but in heaven above; for he commanded the clouds from above, as one that had created them and commanded them into being; he made what use he pleased of them. Usually by their showers they contribute to the earth’s producing corn; but now, when God so commanded them, they showered down corn themselves, which is therefore called here the corn of heaven; for heaven can do the work without the earth, but not the earth without heaven. God, who has the key of the clouds, opened the doors of heaven, and that is more than opening the windows, which yet is spoken of as a great blessing, Mal. iii. 10. To all that by faith and prayer ask, seek, and knock, these doors shall at any time be opened; for the God of heaven is rich in mercy to all that call upon him. He not only keeps a good house, but keeps open house. Justly might God take it ill that they should distrust him when he had been so very kind to them that he had rained down manna upon them to eat, substantial food, daily, duly, enough for all, enough for each. Man did eat angels’ food, such as angels, if they had occasion for food, would eat and be thankful for; or rather such as was given by the ministry of angels, and (as the Chaldee reads it) such as descended from the dwelling of angels. Every one, even the least child in Israel, did eat the bread of the mighty (so the margin reads it); the weakest stomach could digest it, and yet it was so nourishing that it was strong meat for strong men. And, though the provision was so good, yet they were not stinted, nor ever reduced to short allowance; for he sent them meat to the full. If they gathered little, it was their own fault; and yet even then they had no lack, Exod. xvi. 18. The daily provision God makes for us, and has made ever since we came into the world, though it has not so much of miracle as this, has no less of mercy, and is therefore a great aggravation of our distrust of God. (2.) How he expressed his resentment of the provocation, not in denying them what they so inordinately lusted after, but in granting it to them. [1.] Did they question his power? He soon gave them a sensible conviction that he could furnish a table in the wilderness. Though the winds seem to blow where they list, yet, when he pleased, he could make them his caterers to fetch in provisions, v. 26. He caused an east wind to blow and a south wind, either a south-east wind, or an east wind first to bring in the quails from that quarter and then a south wind to bring in more from that quarter; so that he rained flesh upon them, and that of the most delicate sort, not butchers’ meat, but wild-fowl, and abundance of it, as dust, as the sand of the sea (v. 27), so that the meanest Israelite might have sufficient; and it cost them nothing, no, not the pains of fetching it from the mountains, for he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitation, v. 28. We have the account Num 11:31; Num 11:32. See how good God is even to the evil and unthankful, and wonder that his goodness does not overcome their badness. See what little reason we have to judge of God’s love by such gifts of his bounty as these; dainty bits are no tokens of his peculiar favour. Christ gave dry bread to the disciples that he loved, but a sop dipped in the sauce to Judas that betrayed him. [2.] Did they defy his justice and boast that they had gained their point? He made them pay dearly for their quails; for, though he gave them their own desire, they were not estranged from their lust (Psa 78:29; Psa 78:30); their appetite was insatiable; they were well filled and yet they were not satisfied; for they knew not what they would have. Such is the nature of lust; it is content with nothing, and the more it is humoured the more humoursome it grows. Those that indulge their lust will never be estranged from it. Or it intimates that God’s liberality did not make them ashamed of their ungrateful lustings, as it would have done if they had had any sense of honour. But what came of it? While the meat was yet in their mouth, rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them (v. 31), those that were most luxurious and most daring. See Num 11:33; Num 11:34. They were fed as sheep for the slaughter: the butcher takes the fattest first. We may suppose there were some pious and contented Israelites, that did eat moderately of the quails and were never the worse; for it was not the meat that poisoned them, but their own lust. Let epicures and sensualists here read their doom. The end of those who make a god of their belly is destruction, Phil. iii. 19. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them, and their ruin will be the greater.
4. The judgments of God upon them did not reform them, nor attain the end, any more than his mercies (v. 32): For all this, they sinned still; they murmured and quarrelled with God and Moses as much as ever. Though God was wroth and smote them, yet they went on frowardly in the way of their heart (Isa. lvii. 17); they believed not for his wondrous works. Though his works of justice were as wondrous and as great proofs of his power as his works of mercy, yet they were not wrought upon by them to fear God, nor convinced how much it was their interest to make him their friend. Those hearts are hard indeed that will neither be melted by the mercies of God nor broken by his judgments.
5. They persisting in their sins, God proceeded in his judgments, but they were judgments of another nature, which wrought not suddenly, but slowly. He punished them not now with such acute diseases as that was which slew the fattest of them, but a lingering chronical distemper (v. 33): Therefore their days did he consume in vanity in the wilderness and their years in trouble. By an irreversible doom they were condemned to wear out thirty-eight tedious years in the wilderness, which indeed were consumed in vanity; for in all those years there was not a step taken nearer Canaan, but they were turned back again, and wandered to and fro as in a labyrinth, not one stroke struck towards the conquest of it: and not only in vanity, but in trouble, for their carcases were condemned to fall in the wilderness and there they all perished but Caleb and Joshua. Note, Those that sin still must expect to be in trouble still. And the reason why we spend our days in so much vanity and trouble, why we live with so little comfort and to so little purpose, is because we do not live by faith.
6. Under these rebukes they professed repentance, but they were not cordial and sincere in this profession. (1.) Their profession was plausible enough (Psa 78:34; Psa 78:35): When he slew them, or condemned them to be slain, then they sought him; they confessed their fault, and begged his pardon. When some were slain others in a fright cried to God for mercy, and promised they would reform and be very good; then they returned to God, and enquired early after him. So one would have taken them to be such as desired to find him. And they pretended to do this because, however they had forgotten it formerly, now they remembered that God was their rock and therefore now that they needed him they would fly to him and take shelter in him, and that the high God was their Redeemer, who brought them out of Egypt and to whom therefore they might come with boldness. Afflictions are sent to put us in mind of God as our rock and our redeemer; for, in prosperity, we are apt to forget him. (2.) They were not sincere in this profession (Psa 78:36; Psa 78:37): They did but flatter him with their mouth, as if they thought by fair speeches to prevail with him to revoke the sentence and remove the judgment, with a secret intention to break their word when the danger was over; they did not return to God with their whole heart, but feignedly, Jer. iii. 10. All their professions, prayers, and promises, were extorted by the rack. It was plain that they did not mean as they said, for they did not adhere to it. They thawed in the sun, but froze in the shade. They did but lie to God with their tongues, for their heart was not with him, was not right with him, as appeared by the issue, for they were not stedfast in his covenant. They were not sincere in their reformation, for they were not constant; and, by thinking thus to impose upon a heart-searching God, they really put as great an affront upon him as by any of their reflections.
7. God hereupon, in pity to them, put a stop to the judgments which were threatened and in part executed (Psa 78:38; Psa 78:39): But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity. One would think this counterfeit repentance should have filled up the measure of their iniquity. What could be more provoking than to lie thus to the holy God, than thus to keep back part of the price, the chief part? Acts v. 3. And yet he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity thus far, that he did not destroy them and cut them off from being a people, as he justly might have done, but spared their lives till they had reared another generation which should enter into the promised land. Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, Isa. lxv. 8. Many a time he turned his anger away (for he is Lord of his anger) and did not stir up all his wrath, to deal with them as they deserved: and why did he not? Not because their ruin would have been any loss to him, but, (1.) Because he was full of compassion and, when he was going to destroy them, his repentings were kindled together, and he said, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? Hos. xi. 8. (2.) Because, though they did not rightly remember that he was their rock, he remembered that they were but flesh. He considered the corruption of their nature, which inclined them to evil, and was pleased to make that an excuse for his sparing them, though it was really no excuse for their sin. See Gen. vi. 3. He considered the weakness and frailty of their nature, and what an easy thing it would be to crush them: They are as a wind that passeth away and cometh not again. They may soon be taken off, but, when they are gone, they are gone irrecoverably, and then what will become of the covenant with Abraham? They are flesh, they are wind; whence it were easy to argue they may justly, they may immediately, be cut off, and there would be no loss of them: but God argues, on the contrary, therefore he will not destroy them; for the true reason is, He is full of compassion.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
9. The children of Ephraim being armed, and shooting with the bow. The sacred writer sets before us an example of this unfaithfulness in the children of Ephraim. As those who are pertinaciously set upon doing evil are not easily led to repentance and reformation by simple instruction, the punishments with which God visited the children of Ephraim are brought forward, and by these it is proved that they were reprobates. Since they were a warlike people, it was an evidence of the divine displeasure for them to turn their backs in battle. And it is expressly declared, that they were skillful in shooting with the bow; (317) for it is an additional stigma to represent such as were armed with weapons to wound their enemies at a distance as fleeing through fear. From this, it is the more abundantly manifest that they had incurred the displeasure of God, who not only deprived them of his aid, but also made their hearts effeminate in the hour of danger.
Here the question may be raised, Why the children of Ephraim only are blamed, when we find a little before, all the tribes in general comprehended in the same sentence of condemnation? Some commentators refer this to the slaughter of the sons of Ephraim by the men of Gath, who came forth against them to recover their cattle of which they had been despoiled, 1Ch 7:20. (318) But this exposition is too restricted. Perhaps the kingdom of Israel had fallen into decay, and had been almost ruined when this psalm was composed. It is therefore better to follow the opinion of other interpreters, who think, that by the figure synecdoche, the children of Ephraim are put for the whole people. But these interpreters pass over without consideration the fact, which ought not to be overlooked, that the Ephraimites are purposely named because they were the means of leading others into that rebellion which took place when Jeroboam set up the calves, (1Kg 12:25.) What we have already said must be borne in mind, that towards the close of the psalm, the rejection of the tribe of Ephraim is, not, without cause, contrasted with the election of the tribe of Judah. The children of Ephraim are also here spoken of by way of comparison, to warn the true children of Abraham from the example of those who cut themselves off from the Church, and yet boasted of the title of the Church without exhibiting holy fruits in their life. (319) As they surpassed all the other tribes in number and wealth, their influence was too powerful in beguiling the simple; but of this the prophet now strips them, showing that they were deprived of the aid of God.
(317) Of the Ephraimites shooting with the bow, or being archers, we have an intimation in Gen 49:24, where, in Jacob’s blessing on Joseph, the father of Ephraim, it is said, “His bow abode in strength.”
(318) Dr Morison supposes, that the history here referred to, is that of the Israelites going up contrary to the divine command to take possession of the promised land, when, for their temerity, they were smitten and humbled before their enemies. (Deu 1:42.) “The tribe of Ephraim,” he observes, “is doubtless specially singled out, because they were the most warlike of all the chosen tribes, and because, perhaps, they led on the other tribes to the fatal act of rebellion against the expressed will of the God of Israel.” This, perhaps, may be considered as receiving some support from comparing the number of the tribe of Ephraim (Num 2:19) when they came out of Egypt, with their number when taken in the plains of Moab, at the termination of their wanderings in the wilderness, (Num 26:37.) At the former period, they amounted to 40,500, at the latter, to 32,500, eight thousand less; whereas, during those forty years the other tribes had considerably increased.
(319) “ Sans en monstrer les fruicts en leur vie.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Armed, and carrying bows.Following Jer. 4:29, and from analogy with Jer. 44:9 (handle and bend the bow) we get as literal rendering of the Hebrew here, drawing and shooting with the bow. LXX. and Vulgate, bending and shooting with the bow. But a close comparison of this verse with Psa. 78:57 of this psalm, and with Hos. 7:16, has suggested to a recent commentator a much more satisfactory explanation, The sons of Ephraim (are like men) drawing slack bowstrings which turn back in the day of battle. Both the disappointment on the day of battle and the cause of the disappointment, which are mentioned in the text, will be appreciated by the English reader who remembers that the result of the battle of Crey was determined at the outset by a shower of rain which relaxed the strings of our enemys bows (Burgess, Notes on the Hebrew Psalms.)[15]
[15] This translation assumes that the primitive meaning of the verb rmah is was slack. Certainly the root idea of the word (comp. the cognate rphah and the meaning of the derivation in Pro. 10:4; Pro. 12:24) seems to have been relaxation. That turned back, both here and in Psa. 78:57, refers to the recoil of a bow, seems indubitable.
By taking this sense of a comparison of the general character of Ephraim to a bow with a relaxed string that fails at the moment it is wanted (a figure made more expressive by the fact that archery was a practice in which Ephraim excelled), we are freed from the necessity of conjecturing a particular incident to account for this verse, which seems to break the sequence of thought. The whole historical retrospect is intended to lead up to the rejection of the northern kingdom (represented by Ephraim), but the poet is unable to keep back his climax, and thrusts it in here almost parenthetically.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. The psalmist has introduced his subject, and prepared the way for the admonitory rehearsal of God’s acts of sovereign authority toward the nation.
The children of Ephraim The reader will remember that the sacred ark and tabernacle had abode at Shiloh, within the tribal limits of Ephraim, more than 300 years, from the time of Joshua (Jos 18:1-10) until the time of Eli. 1Sa 1:3 ; 1Sa 1:9. The ark then passed from Shiloh and remained at Bethshemesh and Kirjath-jearim till David removed it to Zion. 2 Samuel 6. From this time the seat of the national worship was fixed within the tribal limits of Judah. The allusions of the psalmist are to the events recorded 1 Samuel 4, which should be read in this connexion. The tribe of Ephraim was specially reprehensible, because the ark being within its limits the Ephraimites were chiefly responsible for its protection; whereas it was by a military order that the priests brought it into the camp. The chief object of the psalmist being to show that the protectorship of the ark and national worship had passed, by the sovereign order of God, from Ephraim to Judah, he strikes at once and boldly into the heart of his theme, namely, the treacherous conduct of Ephraim in bringing the ark into the military camp, (1Sa 4:3-5,) by which they forfeited their rank as the ruling tribe. The allusion is to the events of 1 Samuel 4.
Armed, and carrying bows Literally, Armed and shooting with the bow, as in Jer 4:29. The description is that of an army advancing to battle and discharging its missiles as they advance.
Turned back “Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent.” 1Sa 4:10
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 78:9. The children of Ephraim, &c. The sons of Ephraim, who were armed with the bow, were put to flight in the day of battle; Psa 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 sea, &c. The history here referred to seems to be that of the Israelites going up, contrary to God’s command, to take possession of the land of Canaan, when they were smitten before their enemies. Deu 1:42. The Ephraimites are here specified, probably, as being the most warlike tribe, and as having led on, perhaps, the rest of the tribes to the engagement. See Bishop Hare. Others think that the passage refers to a defeat of the Ephraimites, mentioned 1Ch 7:21. Upon which Dr. Hammond observes from Kimchi thus: “This defeat of the Ephraimites was in the desart, and although the history be not mentioned in the Law, or Books of Moses, yet it is written in the Books of Chronicles; where, on occasion of Zabad the Ephraimite, and Shutela, &c. it is, added, whom the men of Gath, who were born in that land, slew; and Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him. From the circumstance of Ephraim’s mourning it appears, that this happened before the Israelites entered into Canaan; and the manner of the relation shews that it was a considerable slaughter. Kimchi collects the greatness of it, by comparing the sum of the Ephraimites when they came out of Egypt, and were 40,500, with their number in the plains of Moab, which was no more than 32,500; 8000 short: whereas in that time (about 38 years) most of the other tribes were greatly increased. To this defeat and great slaughter of the Ephraimites by the men of Gath, an effect of their cowardice and unbelief, the Psalmist here,” says the learned Doctor, most probably refers.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
We need only refer to the history of Israel in the wilderness, to discover to what particular period of the church the prophet in these verses refers. Perhaps, as in several other parts of scripture, Ephraim, as one of the tribes of Israel, is put for the whole. Jer 31:20 ; Hos 11:8 . But when the Reader hath paid all due respect to this interesting passage, considered as an history, I beg to call his attention to a subject, suggested from it, of an infinitely higher nature. Did the Lord lead Israel through the midst of the Red Sea? Did he go before them in a cloud, and give them drink from the rock? And are we not told by the Holy Ghost, that a sacramental design was in all these things? It is indeed expressly said, in so many words, that believers were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and that that rock which followed them was Christ. And what a sweet thought is it, that, while we read the church’s history in this remote and distant period of it, the same, in reality, is going on now; for Christ is still present with his church and people; he goeth before his redeemed, whom he hath brought out of spiritual Egypt in the cloud of his Holy Spirit, and causeth them to have blessed enjoyments of his presence, by his visits and his protection. I pray the Reader to consult the whole of the first eleven verses of 1Co 10 , in this place.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 78:9 The children of Ephraim, [being] armed, [and] carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
Ver. 9. The children of Ephraim being armed, &c. ] This the Rabbis interpret of eight thousand Ephraimites, who would needs break prison, as it were, out of Egypt (before the time that God had set for their deliverance thence), and seize upon Palestine, the promised land; but with evil success; for they were slain by the men of Gath, to the great grief of their father Ephraim, 1Ch 7:21-23 , and to the increase of their servitude in Egypt, Exo 1:8-14 This is historia Caballica. See R. Solomon on those words, Exo 15:14 , the people shall hear and be afraid; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina, who, remembering what a slaughter they once made of these Ephraimites, shall fear the just revenge of that cruelty. Others interpret this text by Jdg 1:29 , and some by 2Ki 17:1-18 , with Hos 10:6-8 , &c., but this to me seemeth most likey. These are ancient things, and of such the psalmist promiseth to treat, Psa 78:2-3 .
Being armed and carrying bows
Turned back in the day of battle
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 78:9-16
9The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows,
Yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk in His law;
11They forgot His deeds
And His miracles that He had shown them.
12He wrought wonders before their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
14Then He led them with the cloud by day
And all the night with a light of fire.
15He split the rocks in the wilderness
And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.
16He brought forth streams also from the rock
And caused waters to run down like rivers.
Psa 78:9-16 This strophe alludes to the exodus. Some of the allusions are unclear (i.e., Psa 78:9), but many are (Contextual Insights, C) very clear.
Ephraim may be a way of referring to the Northern Tribes. Joseph and Joshua were both from the tribe of Ephraim, which numerically was the largest tribe. Ephraim and Manasseh were both sons of Joseph by an Egyptian mother. Jacob blessed Ephraim above the firstborn Manasseh (cf. Gen 48:14-20).
Psa 78:10 Note the verbs keep (BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal perfect, negated) and walk (BDB 229, KB 246) are parallel and describe covenant life. Obedience to the Mosaic covenant was crucial (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-30).
Psa 78:11 The current generation of the Israelites forgot all that YHWH had done for them during the exodus (cf. Deu 8:11-20). So in the verses that follow many of YHWH’s mighty acts of deliverance are enumerated.
Psa 78:12 Zoan This term (BDB 858) is from an Egyptian root for stronghold. This stronghold/fort was located in the Delta region of Egypt, also known as Goshen (eastern Nile Delta), where the Israelites settled in Joseph’s day. The city was known by different names in different periods.
1. Zoan (cf. Num 13:22)
2. Tannis
3. Avaris
4. Rameses (named after Rameses II, cf. Exo 1:11; Exo 12:37; Num 33:3)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Ephraim. The mention of Ephraim is not “perplexing”. See explanation in next verse, and in the events of Jdg 12:1-6; Jdg 12:17, Jdg 12:18 : viz. the introduction of idolatry. It is sin which is spoken of. See Psa 78:57, “deceitful bow”. Compare Hos 7:16; Hos 10:6-8.
carrying bows: i.e. though equipped as bowmen, yet were faithless. This is transferred to the moral application.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
This story of the children of Israel, after they came out of Egypt, is like a looking-glass in which we may, with great sadness, see ourselves reflected.
Psa 78:9. The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
They had every opportunity of serving their God; he had provided them with fit weapons for the war, but they were cowardly, so they turned back in the day of battle.
Psa 78:10-11. 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.
Let each one of us ask, Does the psalmist describe me?
Psa 78:12-13. 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.
What a marvelous miracle that dividing of the Red Sea was! Did it not make an abiding impression upon them? I will be bound to say that many of them said, We shall never doubt God again. Yet, soon they did doubt, and murmur, and rebel against him!
Psa 78:14-16. 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.
It seemed as if there was nothing that the Lord would not do for them; all that they needed for food and refreshment was given to them freely.
Psa 78:17-18. And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
He had given them food for their necessities, but now they must have meat for their lusts.
Psa 78:19. Yea, they spoke against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
So you see, dear friends, what speaking against God really is; I am afraid that we also have often done that. To question Gods power, is to speak against him. Perhaps you have thought lightly of your unbelieving speeches, but God does not think lightly of them; to my mind it seems that there is hardly anything that so grieves him as the doubts of his people concerning him.
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?
There ought to have been no question as to the Lords power; the God who could fetch water out of a rock could, if he pleased, make loaves of bread out of the sand under their feet, or cause the very stars to drop with meat for them if necessary.
Psa 78:21. Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth:
He was really angry with his people because they doubted him. He loved them, and because he loved them, it cut him to the quick that they should have questioned his power to bless them.
Psa 78:21-23. So a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
Unbelief is very hard to kill. God opens the doors and windows of heaven to feed his people; yet, nevertheless, the next time they are in trouble, they begin to stagger at the promise. Oh, shameful unbelief!
Psa 78:24-29. 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;
Yet that was not a blessing to them; and, brethren, let us ever be afraid of our own desire, unless that desire comes from the Lord. You know how David puts it in the 37th Psalm: Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. If, however, thou findest thy delight in any earthly thing, it shall be a plague to thee to have the desire of thy heart: He gave them their own desire;
Psa 78:30. They were not estranged from their lust.
For the more last gets, the more lust wants. It is like the daughter of the horse-leech, that always cries, Give! Give! God can satisfy the longing soul, but all the world cannot satisfy the cravings of lust.
Psa 78:30-31. 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.
They received what they pined for, but they had a curse with it. Affliction with a blessing is far better than prosperity with a curse.
Psa 78:32. For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
They were dyed ingrain with unbelief, so that it seemed as if it could not be washed out of them.
Psa 78:33. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
A great part of our trouble is the fruit of our own unbelief. It is like hemlock in the furrows of the field. They who distrust God are making a rod for their own back; and before they have done with it, they will have to rue the day in which they thought themselves wiser than God.
Psa 78:34-36. When he slew them, then they sought him : and they returned and inquired early after God. 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.
Some men are like dull animals that will not go without the whip. Many of us cannot be kept right without constant affliction; if our God gives us a little smooth walking, we go half-asleep, or we trip and stumble; so he is compelled, as it were, to make our way very rough, and often to strike us with the rod, to keep us from falling altogether into sinful slumber. How many there are who, when they do seem to turn to God, in times of sickness, are not truly penitent! A death-bed repentance may be true; but, oh, what a risk there is that it may be false!
Psa 78:37-51. 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. 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. 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:
This is what God did with their enemies who had oppressed them, that he might set his people at liberty. After all that, ought they not to have trusted him as a little child trusts its mother, without ever a question or a doubt While he thus overthrew their enemies, see what he did for his own people.
Psa 78:52-56. 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. Be 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;
This sad note seems to come over and over again, as if they never could have too much of grieving God; yet the Lord was still tender towards them. Well may we sing,
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
Psa 78:57-64. 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. He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
They were dumb with excess of grief. When God chastises his children, he does not play at it. Sometimes, when be is angry at their sin, he lays on the blows fast and heavily, till their very bones are broken, so that they may hate sin as God hates it, and seek after holiness even as God loves it. So, dear friends, I pray that, if any of us have lost the consolations of God, and are feeling the weight of his rod, we may begin to inquire what secret thing it is in us which has angered him, and go back to him, and seek to stand before him as once we did; for, otherwise, he will smite, and smite, and smite yet again and again. But, notice, that the Lord never delights in chastening his children; he is glad to have done with the necessary correction. So, when their enemies were most cruel with them,
Psa 78:65-69. Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
You see that we are getting into clear water now; it was all broken water, storm and hurricane, while we heard of what Israel did; but when we come to deal with God in Christ, of whom David is the type, then how sweetly everything goes!
Psa 78:70-72. He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: from following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Blessed be God who puts away the sin of his people, because he delighteth in mercy!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Psa 78:9-11
Psa 78:9-11
EPHRAIM; A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF INFIDELITY
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.
They kept not the covenant of God,
And refused to walk in his law;
And they forgat his doings, and his wondrous works
that he had showed them.”
“Ephraim … turned back in the day of battle” (Psa 78:9). Dahood interpreted this to mean that, “Despite the Ephraimites having been selected as Yahweh’s elite bowmen, the Ephraimites were later rejected for cowardice. Some able scholars, however, reject that view. “There is no Biblical record of any cowardice on their part; and the words here are probably a powerful metaphor meaning exactly what is more literally stated in the next two verses. Maclaren also understood the passage as metaphorical.
The prominence of the Ephraimites as the largest tribe had been aided by Moses’ appointment of Joshua, an Ephraimite, as his successor to lead the people into Canaan.
It was natural that Joshua, an Ephraimite, should have located the tabernacle in Ephraim’s territory, effectively making that tribe, in a sense, `the capital’ of all Israel. However, the great failure of Ephraim was not the rapture of the kingdom after the reign of Solomon, but their wickedness during the period of the Judges, a wickedness that eventually led to the removal of the tabernacle in Ephraim’s territory (at Shiloh), and to the transfer of the leadership of the kingdom to the Davidic dynasty, as well as the relocation of the tabernacle in Jerusalem. What is in view here is not a single event, such as the rebellion against the son of Solomon, but a reference to, “The success of Israel under the leadership of Ephraim during the whole period of the Judges.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 78:9. Ephraim did not refer to the northern kingdom because the place in history of which David was writing was many years .before. But the tribe of Ephraim was one outstanding group of the descendants of Jacob and the writer merely cited it as a typical example of the rebellion of which he was writing.
Psa 78:10. A covenant is a contract between two or more parties. If either fails to do his part the covenant will be broken. The children of Israel failed in their part and thus were guilty as truce breakers.
Psa 78:11. They did not forget in the sense of having a lapse of memory. They failed to respect the memory of those wondrous works.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The children: Some think this refers to a defeat of the Ephraimites mentioned in 1Ch 7:20-22, but it probably refers to the conduct and defeat of the ten tribes of which Ephraim was the head. Nothing is recorded in the history of Israel concerning the cowardice of the Ephraimites, as distinct from that of the other tribes: some therefore think, “that the children of Ephraim” is put by a figure of speech for the nation in general. Deu 1:41-44, Jos 17:16-18, 1Sa 4:10, 1Sa 31:1
carrying: Heb. throwing forth
turned: Jdg 9:28, Jdg 9:38-40, Luk 22:33
Reciprocal: Jdg 12:4 – fugitives Zec 11:8 – and my Luk 9:62 – No Act 15:38 – who
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 78:9. The children of Ephraim, being armed, turned back in the day of battle This defeat of the Ephraimites, says Dr. Hammond, from Kimchi, was in the desert: and although the story be not mentioned in the books of Moses, yet it is written in the Chronicles, (see 1Ch 7:21-22,) where, from the circumstances of Ephraims mourning, it appears it happened before the Israelites entered into Canaan; and the manner of the relation shows it was a considerable slaughter. Bishop Patrick, however, supposes it refers to the Ephraimites refusing, with the other tribes, (which they probably discouraged,) to go up and engage the Canaanites, when commanded of God, as is recorded Deu 1:26. But the most probable opinion seems to be, that it refers to that shameful defeat which the Philistines gave the Israelites in Elis time, when they took the ark, as is related 1Sa 4:10-11. Shiloh, which was then made desolate, was in the tribe of Ephraim, and perhaps the Ephraimites on that occasion led on the battle, but, by giving away afterward, caused a general defeat. That Ephraim is here put for all Israel, says Poole, seems evident from the following verses, wherein the sins upon which this overthrow is charged are manifestly the sins of all the children of Israel, and they who are here called Ephraim are called Jacob and Israel, Psa 78:21. And the psalmist, having related this amazing providence and judgment of God upon his own people, falls into a large discourse on the causes of it, to wit, the great, and manifold, and continual sins of that and the former generations; which having prosecuted from hence to Psa 78:60, he there returns to this history, and relates the sad consequences of that disaster, namely, the captivity of the ark, and Gods forsaking of Shiloh and Ephraim, and removing thence to the tribe of Judah and mount Zion. Well might that event be fresh in mens minds in Davids time, which was only about forty years after it; for the ark, which, in that memorable battle, was seized by the Philistines, though it was quickly brought out of captivity, was never brought out of obscurity, till David fetched it from Kirjath-jearim.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
78:9 The children of {h} Ephraim, [being] armed, [and] carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
(h) By Ephraim he means also the rest of the tribes, because they were most in number: whose punishment declares that they were unfaithful to God, and by their multitude and authority had corrupted all others.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. A notable defection 78:9-11
It is difficult to identify with certainty the occasion that these verses describe. Ephraim was not only the name of one tribe in Israel. It was also the name of the northern nation of Israel after the United Kingdom split in Rehoboam’s day. Assuming the writer was a contemporary of David, Ephraim the tribe appears to be in view here. In any case, the writer used this incident as a bad example that his hearers should avoid.