서론
無標題
英文原文
This psalm is historical; it is a narrative of the great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, the great sins wherewith they had provoked him, and the many tokens of his displeasure they had been under for their sins. The psalmist began, in the foregoing psalm, to relate God's wonders of old, for his own encouragement in a difficult time; there he broke off abruptly, but here resumes the subject, for the edification of the church, and enlarges much upon it, showing not only how good God had been to them, which was an earnest of further finishing mercy, but how basely they had conducted themselves towards God, which justified him in correcting them as he did at this time, and forbade all complaints. Here is, I. The preface to this church history, commanding the attention of the present age to it and recommending it to the study of the generations to come, Ps 78:1-8. II. The history itself from Moses to David; it is put into a psalm or song that it might be the better remembered and transmitted to posterity, and that the singing of it might affect them with the things here related, more than they would be with a bare narrative of them. The general scope of this psalm we have (Ps 78:9-11) where notice is taken of the present rebukes they were under (Ps 78:9), the sin which brought them under those rebukes (Ps 78:10), and the mercies of God to them formerly, which aggravated that sin, Ps 78:11. As to the particulars, we are here told, 1. What wonderful works God had wrought for them in bringing them out of Egypt (Ps 78:12-16), providing for them in the wilderness (Ps 78:23-29), plaguing and ruining their enemies (Ps 78:43-55), and at length putting them in possession of the land of promise, Ps 78:54,55. 2. How ungrateful they were to God for his favours to them and how many and great provocations they were guilty of. How they murmured against God and distrusted him (Ps 78:17-20), and did but counterfeit repentance and submission when he punished them (Ps 78:34-37), thus grieving and tempting him, Ps 78:40-42. How they affronted God with their idolatries after they came to Canaan, Ps 78:56-58. 3. How God had justly punished them for their sins (Ps 78:21,22) in the wilderness, making their sin their punishment (Ps 78:29-33), and now, of late, when the ark was taken by the Philistines, Ps 78:59-64. 4. How graciously God had spared them and returned in mercy to them, notwithstanding their provocations. He had forgiven them formerly (Ps 78:38,39), and now, of late, had removed the judgments they had brought upon themselves, and brought them under a happy establishment both in church and state, Ps 78:65-72. As the general scope of this psalm may be of use to us in the singing of it, to put us upon recollecting what God has done for us and for his church formerly, and what we have done against him, so the particulars also may be of use to us, for warning against those sins of unbelief and ingratitude which Israel of old was notoriously guilty of, and the record of which was preserved for our learning. "These things happened unto them for ensamples," 1Co 10:11, Heb 4:11.
1-8
The Importance of Religious Instruction
宗教教導的重要
亞薩的訓誨詩。
¹ 我的民哪，你們要留心聽我的訓誨，側耳聽我口中的言語。
² 我要開口說比喻，我要說出古時的謎語，
³ 是我們所聽見所知道的，也是我們祖宗告訴我們的。
⁴ 我們不將這些事向他們的子孫隱瞞，要將耶和華的美德和他的能力，並他所行的奇事，述說給後代聽。
⁵ 因為他在雅各中立法度，在以色列中設律法，就是他吩咐我們祖宗，要傳給子孫的，
⁶ 使後代的人可以曉得，並要起來告訴他們的子孫，
⁷ 好叫他們仰望神，不忘記神的作為，惟要守他的命令，
⁸ 不要像他們的祖宗，是頑梗悖逆、居心不正之輩，向著神心不誠實。
這幾節經文是這段歷史的序言，表明本篇正合其標題；它確實是訓誨詩——為要給人教導的詩篇；若我們不接受它所給的教導，過失便在我們自己。在此，
一、 詩人要求人留心聆聽他所寫的（詩78:1）：我的民哪，你們要留心聽我的訓誨。 有人認為這是詩人自己的話。大衛身為君王，或亞薩奉他的名作以色列甜美歌唱者的書記或國家秘書，在此呼召那交託他照管的百姓留心聽他的律法。他稱自己的教訓為律法或諭令；其本身就具有這樣的威嚴效力。每一條在亮光與愛心中領受的善道，都會對良心產生律法般的約束力；然而不止於此：大衛是君王，他要運用其王權來造就他的百姓。若神藉恩典使大人物成為敬虔人，他們就比別人更能行善，因為他們的話對周圍一切人將成為律法，因此那些人必須留心而聽從；因為神聖的啟示既已傳到我們耳中，我們若不肯側耳而聽，既謙卑自己又使自己決意聽從並留心，那又有何意義呢？或者，詩人身為先知，是作神的出口，於是稱他們為他的民，並要求人像順服律法一樣順服他所說的話。凡有耳的，就當這樣聽聖靈向眾教會所說的話（啟2:7）。
二、 聖經給出幾個理由，說明我們為何應當勤勉留意這裡所記述的事。1. 此處所論的事極為重大，當受深思，又甚為奇妙，需要深思（詩78:2）：我要開口說比喻，說那崇高而非凡的話，卻極其卓越、極當受你們注意；我要說出古時的謎語，要挑戰你們最嚴肅的關注，正如東方君王和博學之士彼此以謎語互相考較一樣。這些被稱為謎語，並非因難以明白，而是因極當欽慕，並當細加查考。這話被認為應驗在我們救主所設的比喻中（太13:35），那些比喻（正如本篇）乃是神在人間國度景況的描繪。2. 它們是古時的遺產——我們祖宗告訴我們的古時謎語（詩78:3）。這些事是確鑿無疑的；我們已聽見、已知道，沒有絲毫置疑的餘地。路加福音被稱為講述我們中間所確信的事（路1:1），此處所記的事也是如此。我們當孝敬父母與祖先，這義務要求我們留意祖宗告訴我們的話，並且既然顯明為真為善，就當更加尊敬、更加寶貴地領受。3. 它們當傳給後代，我們有責任小心將之傳遞下去（詩78:4）；因為我們的祖宗告訴了我們，我們便不向他們的子孫隱瞞。 我們的兒女被稱為他們的兒女，因為他們關心自己子孫的子孫，視之為自己的；我們在教導兒女認識神的事上，就是在向父母償還他們教導我們所欠的部分債務。不僅如此，若我們自己沒有兒女，也必須向他們的兒女，就是別人的兒女，傳講神的事。我們所當關心的，是一切後代，而不僅僅是我們自己的後代；是日後將要出生的世代，以及緊接著成長起來的這一代和已經出生的孩童。我們當傳給兒女的，不僅是語言、技藝、科學、自由與產業的知識，更特別是耶和華的讚美，以及他在奇事中所顯的能力。我們最大的心，是要把我們的信仰——那偉大的託付——純全完整地交在繼承者手中。有兩件事我們必須為繼承人保存其完整清楚的認識：—（一）神的律法；因為這律法頒佈時，特別吩咐要殷勤教訓兒女（詩78:5）：他在雅各中設立見證，或作約，在以色列中頒佈律法，賜給他們誡命與應許，並吩咐他們要使兒女知道（申6:7、20）。神的教會，正如歷史家論羅馬共和國所言，不應是res unius ætatis——一代人之物，而要一代一代存續下去；因此，正如神在利未支派和亞倫家中安排了祭司的傳承，他也命定父母要在自己兒女身上教導他律法的知識：待他們長大，他們又要起來將這些事告訴他們的兒女（詩78:6），使神僕人與敬拜者的一代過去，另一代又興起，教會就如大地一般永遠長存；如此，神在人中的名便如天之日頭般長久。（二）神對待他們的作為，無論是憐憫還是刑罰。前者似乎正是為此而記；神既吩咐人當將律法傳於後世，那麼他的作為也當一併傳揚——即對順從者所應許的成就，以及對悖逆者所宣告的威嚇。這些都要告訴我們的兒女和我們兒女的兒女，[一] 使他們得著激勵，順服神的旨意（詩78:7）：使他們不忘記神在古時所行的，好叫他們仰望神，謹守他的誡命，以他的誡命為準則，以他的約為倚靠。惟有那些以遵守他誡命為念的人，才能滿有把握地盼望神的拯救。神的作為若加以深思，就必大大堅固我們的心志，叫我們既仰望他，又遵守他的誡命，因為他足以扶持我們在這兩方面都站立得住。[二] 使他們得著警戒，不要效法他們祖宗的樣式（詩78:8）：使他們不要像他們的祖宗，是頑梗悖逆的一代。 請看，第一，他們祖宗的為人如何。他們雖是亞伯拉罕的後裔，與神立約，據我們所知還是當時世上惟一宣認神名的子民，卻頑梗悖逆，與神背道而馳，公然違背他的旨意。他們誠然宣認與神的關係，卻沒有憑誠實立心；他們對神的委身不夠真摯，對神的敬拜也不夠深入，因此他們的靈在他面前並不堅定，每逢試驗便即遠離。請注意，假冒為善就是通往背道的大道。凡不憑誠實立心的，在神面前就不能堅定，而是反覆無常。第二，對兒女的吩咐是甚麼：叫他們不要像他們的祖宗。 請注意，那些出於邪惡不虔先祖的人，只要肯思考神的言語與作為，就必看見充分理由，不去跟隨他們的腳蹤行。「祖宗傳下來的虛妄行為」（彼前1:18）不能成為藉口；因為我們既知道他們身上那惡的一面，就當以此為鑑戒，正如我們會避開那些損害他們健康或產業的行徑一樣，也當躲避那對他們如此有害的事。
英文原文
The Importance of Religious Instruction
Maschil of Asaph.
¹ Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
² I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
³ Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
⁵ For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
⁶ That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
⁷ That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
⁸ And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
These verses, which contain the preface to this history, show that the psalm answers the title; it is indeed Maschil—a psalm to give instruction; if we receive not the instruction it gives, it is our own fault. Here,
I. The psalmist demands attention to what he wrote (Ps 78:1): Give ear, O my people! to my law. Some make these the psalmist's words. David, as a king, or Asaph, in his name, as his secretary of state, or scribe to the sweet singer of Israel, here calls upon the people, as his people committed to his charge, to give ear to his law. He calls his instructions his law or edict; such was their commanding force in themselves. Every good truth, received in the light and love of it, will have the power of a law upon the conscience; yet that was not all: David was a king, and he would interpose his royal power for the edification of his people. If God, by his grace, make great men good men, they will be capable of doing more good than others, because their word will be a law to all about them, who must therefore give ear and hearken; for to what purpose is divine revelation brought our ears if we will not incline our ears to it, both humble ourselves and engage ourselves to hear it and heed it? Or the psalmist, being a prophet, speaks as God's mouth, and so calls them his people, and demands subjection to what was said as to a law. Let him that has an ear thus hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, Re 2:7.
II. Several reasons are given why we should diligently attend to that which is here related. 1. The things here discoursed of are weighty, and deserve consideration, strange, and need it (Ps 78:2): I will open my mouth in a parable, in that which is sublime and uncommon, but very excellent and well worthy your attention; I will utter dark sayings, which challenge your most serious regards as much as the enigmas with which the eastern princes and learned men used to try one another. These are called dark sayings, not because they are hard to be understood, but because they are greatly to be admired and carefully to be looked into. This is said to be fulfilled in the parables which our Saviour put forth (Mt 13:35), which were (as this) representations of the state of the kingdom of God among men. 2. They are the monuments of antiquity—dark sayings of old which our fathers have told us, Ps 78:3. They are things of undoubted certainty; we have heard them and known them, and there is no room left to question the truth of them. The gospel of Luke is called a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us (Lu 1:1), so were the things here related. The honour we owe to our parents and ancestors obliges us to attend to that which our fathers have told us, and, as far as it appears to be true and good, to receive it with so much the more reverence and regard. 3. They are to be transmitted to posterity, and it lies as a charge upon us carefully to hand them down (Ps 78:4); because our fathers told them to us we will not hide them from their children. Our children are called theirs, for they were in care for their seed's seed, and looked upon them as theirs; and, in teaching our children the knowledge of God, we repay to our parents some of that debt we owe to them for teaching us. Nay, if we have no children of our own, we must declare the things of God to their children, the children of others. Our care must be for posterity in general, and not only for our own posterity; and for the generation to come hereafter, the children that shall be born, as well as for the generation that is next rising up and the children that are born. That which we are to transmit to our children is not only the knowledge of languages, arts and sciences, liberty and property, but especially the praises of the Lord, and his strength appearing in the wonderful works he has done. Our great care must be to lodge our religion, that great deposit, pure and entire in the hands of those that succeed us. There are two things the full and clear knowledge of which we must preserve the entail of to our heirs:— (1.) The law of God; for this was given with a particular charge to teach it diligently to their children (Ps 78:5): He established a testimony or covenant, and enacted a law, in Jacob and Israel, gave them precepts and promises, which he commanded them to make known to their children, De 6:7,20. The church of God, as the historian says of the Roman commonwealth, was not to be res unius ætatis—a thing of one age but was to be kept up from one generation to another; and therefore, as God provided for a succession of ministers in the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron, so he appointed that parents should train up their children in the knowledge of his law: and, when they had grown up, they must arise and declare them to their children (Ps 78:6), that, as one generation of God's servants and worshippers passes away, another generation may come, and the church, as the earth, may abide for ever; and thus God's name among men may be as the days of heaven. (2.) The providences of God concerning them, both in mercy and in judgment. The former seem to be mentioned for the sake of this; since God gave order that his laws should be made known to posterity, it is requisite that with them his works also should be made known, the fulfilling of the promises made to the obedient and the threatenings denounced against the disobedient. Let these be told to our children and our children's children, [1.] That they may take encouragement to conform to the will of God (Ps 78:7): that, not forgetting the works of God wrought in former days, they might set their hope in God and keep his commandments, might make his command their rule and his covenant their stay. Those only may with confidence hope for God's salvation that make conscience of doing his commandments. The works of God, duly considered, will very much strengthen our resolution both to set our hope in him and to keep his commandments, for he is able to bear us out in both. [2.] That they may take warning not to conform to the example of their fathers (Ps 78:8): That they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation. See here, First, What was the character of their fathers. Though they were the seed of Abraham, taken into covenant with God, and, for aught we know, the only professing people he had then in the world, yet they were stubborn and rebellious, and walked contrary to God, in direct opposition to his will. They did indeed profess relation to him, but they did not set their hearts aright; they were not cordial in their engagements to God, nor inward with him in their worship of him, and therefore their spirit was not stedfast with him, but upon every occasion they flew off from him. Note, Hypocrisy is the high road to apostasy. Those that do not set their hearts aright will not be stedfast with God, but play fat and loose. Secondly, What was a charge to the children: That they be not as their fathers. Note, Those that have descended from wicked and ungodly ancestors, if they will but consider the word and works of God, will see reason enough not to tread in their steps. It will be no excuse for a vain conversation that it was received by tradition from our fathers (1Pe 1:18); for what we know of them that was evil must be an admonition to us, that we dread that which was so pernicious to them as we would shun those courses which they took that were ruinous to their health or estates.
9-39
Wonders Wrought in Behalf of Israel; The Crimes of the Israelites;
為以色列所行的奇事；以色列人的罪過
⁹ 以法蓮的子孫帶着兵器、拿着弓，臨陣之日轉身退後。 ¹⁰ 他們不守神的約，不肯遵行祂的律法； ¹¹ 又忘記祂所行的，和祂所向他們顯示的奇事。 ¹² 祂在埃及地，在瑣安田，在他們祖宗眼前，施行奇妙的事。 ¹³ 祂將海分開，使他們走過去；又使水立起如壘。 ¹⁴ 白日用雲彩引導他們，整夜用火焰照亮。 ¹⁵ 祂在曠野分裂磐石，叫他們喝水，如同喝深淵之水。 ¹⁶ 祂又使水從磐石中流出，使江河湧下。 ¹⁷ 他們卻仍舊得罪祂，在乾旱之地悖逆至高者。 ¹⁸ 他們心中試探神，隨自己所欲的求食物。 ¹⁹ 他們並且妄論神，說：神能在曠野為我們擺設筵席嗎？ ²⁰ 看哪，祂擊打磐石，水就湧出，江河氾濫；祂還能賜糧食嗎？還能為祂的百姓預備肉嗎？ ²¹ 所以耶和華聽見了，就發怒；有火向雅各點起，怒氣也向以色列上騰； ²² 因為他們不信服神，不倚靠祂的拯救。 ²³ 祂卻吩咐雲彩從上而下，敞開天上的門， ²⁴ 降嗎哪給他們吃，把天上的糧食賜給他們。 ²⁵ 各人吃天使的食物；祂賜下糧食使他們飽足。 ²⁶ 祂使東風起於天上，又用能力引來南風。 ²⁷ 祂降肉在他們當中，多如塵土；又降飛鳥，多如海沙； ²⁸ 落在他們營中，在他們住處的四周。 ²⁹ 他們吃了，而且飽足；因為神將他們所願的賜給他們。 ³⁰ 他們貪而無厭。那時食物還在他們口中的時候， ³¹ 神的怒氣就向他們發作，殺了他們當中最肥壯的，打倒以色列的少年人。 ³² 雖是這樣，他們仍舊犯罪，不信祂奇妙的作為。 ³³ 因此祂使他們的日子全歸虛空，使他們的年歲盡歸驚恐。 ³⁴ 祂殺他們的時候，他們才求問祂；他們回心轉意，清晨切切地尋求神。 ³⁵ 他們也追念神是他們的磐石，至高的神是他們的救贖主。 ³⁶ 他們卻用口諂媚祂，用舌向祂說謊。 ³⁷ 因他們的心向祂不誠實，在祂的約上也不忠心。 ³⁸ 但祂有憐憫，赦免他們的罪孽，不把他們滅絕；祂屢次轉消祂的怒氣，不發盡祂的忿怒。 ³⁹ 祂想念他們不過是血氣；是一陣過去不再返回的風。
在這些經文中：
一、 詩人注意到以色列民近來所受的護理之工的責罰；這是他們行事詭詐對待神而招來的，詩 78:9-11。以法蓮的子孫——示羅就在這支派中——雖然裝備齊全、善於射箭，卻在戰陣之日轉身退後。這似乎是指以利時代非利士人使他們蒙受的那場可恥的敗績，那時敵人擄走了約櫃，撒上 4:10,11。詩人從此處開始說起，經過一大段插筆之後，又回到這事上，詩 78:61。這事在大衛時代——事隔四十餘年之後——依然如此記憶猶新，是理所當然的；因為在那場難忘的戰役中被非利士人擄去的約櫃，雖然很快便從被擄中得回，卻從未從隱藏中出來，直到大衛把它從基列耶琳接到自己的城裏。請留意：1。 以法蓮子孫可恥的懦弱——這支派本是善戰的支派，素來以勇士著稱，是約書亞的支派；這支派的子孫雖然裝備如昔，但一與敵人對面就轉身退後。須知，兵器若無尚武的精神，於人無益；而神若離去，這精神也便失去。罪使人喪膽，奪去人的心。2。 他們懦弱的原因，同樣可恥：這原因是（1）可恥地違背神的律法以及他們與祂所立的約（詩 78:10）；他們卑鄙地背信棄義，因為他們不守神的約；又卑鄙地頑梗悖逆（正如詩 78:8 所描述的），因為他們斷然拒絕遵行祂的律法，實際上是當面對祂說，他們不願受祂管治。（2）對神所施恩惠可恥的忘恩：他們忘記祂所行的和祂的奇事——這些本當受他們欽佩的奇事，詩 78:11。須知，我們對神作為的忘記，乃是我們違背祂律法的根源。
二、 他藉此回顧先例，將這事與他們列祖的遭遇相比；列祖也是這樣不記念神對他們的憐憫，對他們的創立者和大恩人不存感恩，因此屢次落在祂的不悅之下。這幾節的敍述十分特別，因為它記述了一場神的良善與人的邪惡之間的爭戰，最終憐憫勝過了審判。
1。 神當初將以色列民召集起來、使他們成為一個民族之時，為祂百姓行了大事：祂在他們祖宗眼前行了奇妙的事——不僅在他們眼前，也在他們的事上、為他們的益處而行，奇妙而仁慈，以致人會以為這些事永不被遺忘。祂在埃及地所行的事此處只簡略提及（詩 78:12），後文才詳細論述，詩 78:43。此處他繼續說明：（1）祂怎樣為他們在紅海中開出一條通道，並使他們——賜他們勇氣——走過去，儘管水在他們頭上立如壘堆，詩 78:13。見賽 63:12,13；那裏說神領他們如拉着手一般，帶他們經過深處，使他們不致絆跌。（2）祂怎樣在曠野無人走過的路上為他們預備引導者（詩 78:14）；祂一步一步地引導他們，白日以雲彩——這雲彩也為他們遮擋炎熱，整夜以火焰——這火也許溫暖了空氣；至少它使黑夜不再那麼可怕，也許還能驅逐野獸，亞 2:5。（3）祂怎樣在乾旱無水之地為他們的營盤供應新鮮的水——不是藉着打開天上的瓶子（那本是平常的方法），而是藉着擊開磐石（詩 78:15,16）：祂在曠野分裂磐石，這些磐石雖不能從上頭的雲、也不能從底下的泉得水，卻湧出水來。祂從乾硬的磐石中賜他們水喝——不是如蒸餾器一滴一滴地滴下，而是如江河湧流而下，又如出自大深淵。神豐盛地賜予，並富於憐憫；祂按時賜予，有時讓我們先感受到缺乏，好叫我們更認識恩典的價值。這水既是屬靈的飲水，便更為寶貴。那磐石就是基督。
2。 當神開始這樣賜福給他們時，他們卻開始冒犯祂（詩 78:17）：他們卻仍舊得罪祂——比在埃及時所犯的更多，雖然他們在那裏已夠壞了，結 20:8。他們忍受為奴的痛苦，比忍受得釋放的艱難還容易；他們對督工的埋怨，從來沒有像對摩西和亞倫那樣多；彷彿他們得釋放是為要行這一切可憎的事，耶 7:10。罪有時因誡命而有機會發動，有時卻因蒙拯救而有機會變得更加罪大惡極。他們悖逆至高者。 雖然祂至高無上，他們明知自己與祂不相匹敵，卻仍舊悖逆祂，甚至向祂的公義挑釁；這事竟發生在曠野——在那裏祂把他們置於自己的憐憫之下，所以他們理當因着利益而討祂喜悅；在那裏祂向他們顯出如此大的憐憫，所以他們理當因着感恩而討祂喜悅；然而他們就在那裏說了、行了明知道會惹動祂的事：他們心中試探神，詩 78:18。他們的罪始於心，便從那裏得了惡毒。他們心裏常常迷糊，來 3:10。他們如此試探神，將祂的忍耐試驗到極處，看祂是否仍會容忍，實際上就是叫祂盡其所能地對付他們。他們以兩種方式惹動祂：（1）藉着要求——或說強求——那祂看為不宜賜給他們的東西：他們隨自己所欲的求食物。 神已經在嗎哪裏賜他們充飢的食物，又滋養又可口，且極豐盛；又曾將鱷魚的頭砸碎，從其中賜給他們滋養信心的食物，詩 74:14。但這一切都不能使他們滿足；他們必須有所滿足情慾的食物，要有珍饈百味來滿足奢侈的口味。再沒有甚麼比我們對自己的分生發怨言、放縱肉體的欲望更惹動神了。（2）藉着不信祂有能力賜給他們所求的。這才是真正試探神。他們向祂挑戰，要祂賜肉給他們；祂若不賜，他們便要說那是因為祂不能，而非因為祂看為不宜（詩 78:19）：他們並且妄論神。 凡給神的能力設限的，就是妄論神。說神能在曠野為我們擺設筵席嗎？ 這是對神最為不利的非議。他們有嗎哪，卻不以此為已擺設的筵席，除非像在埃及那樣有煮有烤、有頭盤二盤三盤——在那裏他們有魚有肉，也有調味（出 16:3、民 11:5），有肉菜又有果盤。奢侈之心何等無理、何等不能滿足！這些好食之徒以為一桌豐盛的筵席如此了不起，甚至以為這是神自己在曠野中也不能賜給他們的；殊不知林中的百獸和山上的飛鳥都是祂的，詩 50:10,11。他們對神能力的不信更為可惡，因為他們同時承認神已行了同等的事（詩 78:20）：看哪，祂擊打磐石，水就湧出——他們和牲畜都喝了。在曠野擺設筵席——富人也能行——與從磐石中取水——地上最有權勢的人也不能行——哪一樣更容易呢？從來沒有不信——雖然它總是不合理的——問過如此荒謬的問題：「那使磐石化為江河的，還能賜糧食嗎？那賜了糧食的，還能預備肉嗎？」全能者有難成的事嗎？一旦自然的常軌被超越，神便已露出膀臂，我們就當斷定在祂沒有難成的事。無論我們所求的是何等大的事，我們都當承認：「主啊，你若肯，你能。」
3。 神公義地因這挑釁而發怒，對他們大為不悅（詩 78:21）：耶和華聽見了，就發怒。 須知，神是我們一切埋怨和不信的見證人；祂聽見，也大為不悅。有火向雅各點起——耶和華的火在他們中間焚燒，民 11:1。這也可理解為神的怒火向以色列上騰。對不信的人而言，我們的神自己就是烈火。那些不肯信神憐憫之大能的，必感受祂怒氣的大能，並要承認落在祂手中真是可怕的。 此處告訴我們：（1）神為何如此發怒（詩 78:22）：因為他們如此行就表明他們不信服神；他們對祂向自己所作的啟示不存信心，因為他們不敢將自己交託給祂，不敢以自己冒險於祂；他們不倚靠祂已開始為他們成就的拯救；否則他們就不會這樣質問這拯救的進展。那些不能在前往福分的途中信靠神的護理來得着日用之糧的人，不能稱為信靠神的拯救為其最終福分的人。他們不信之所以更為嚴重，是因為他們對神的能力與良善已有親身的經歷，詩 78:23-25。祂已給了他們無可辯駁的能力憑據，不僅在地上，也在天上；因為祂從上頭吩咐雲彩，如同那創造它們、命其存在的主；祂隨己意使用它們。它們通常藉着雨水使地生出土產；但如今當神如此吩咐之時，它們自己便降下土產，所以這裏稱為天上的糧食；因為天能沒有地而行其工，地卻不能沒有天而行其工。掌管雲彩的鑰匙的神敞開了天上的門——這比打開窗戶更甚，而後者已經被稱為極大的福氣，瑪 3:10。凡憑信心和禱告祈求、尋找、叩門的，這些門隨時為他們敞開；因為天上的神富於憐憫，賜給一切求告祂的人。祂不僅預備豐盛的筵席，更是門戶大開。神向他們恩慈至此——降嗎哪給他們吃：實在的食物，每日按時，豐足夠用，人人有分——他們竟敢不信祂，這實在當受責備。各人吃天使的食物——這食物若是天使需要飲食，他們也會吃並為之感恩；或更恰當地說，這是藉着天使的服事而賜下的，又（如迦勒底譯本所讀）是從天使的居所降下來的。每一個以色列人，連最小的孩子，都吃大能者的食物（旁註如此讀）；最弱的胃口也能消化，但它卻如此滋養，可作壯士的強身之糧。供應雖如此豐美，他們卻不受限制，從未短缺；因為祂賜糧食使他們飽足。他們若收取得少，那是自己的過失；然而即便如此，他們也沒有缺乏，出 16:18。神從我們出生以來每日為我們所預備的供應，雖不如這嗎哪那樣帶着神蹟的成分，卻絕不缺少憐憫；因此大大加重了我們對神不信的罪。（2）祂如何表達祂對這挑釁的不悅——不是拒絕賜給他們所貪求的，而是把它賜給他們。[1] 他們質問祂的能力嗎？祂立時給他們一個具體的證明，叫祂確能在曠野擺設筵席。 風雖然似乎隨意吹，但當祂喜悅之時，祂能使之成為祂採辦食物的差役，詩 78:26。祂使東風吹起，又使南風吹來——或是東南風；或先藉東風將鵪鶉從那一方帶來，再藉南風從另一方帶來更多；於是祂降肉在他們當中，且是最精緻的肉——不是屠夫的肉，而是飛禽，而且數量極多，多如塵土，多如海沙（詩 78:27），連最卑微的以色列人也能充足；且分文不花，甚至連從山上取來的勞力也免去，因為祂使其落在他們營中，在他們住處的四周，詩 78:28。記載見民 11:31,32。請看神對邪惡忘恩之人有何等大的良善，又當希奇祂的良善不能勝過他們的邪惡。又請看我們何等沒有理由單憑這類豐厚的恩賜來判斷神的愛；美味珍饈並非祂特別恩寵的憑據。基督把乾餅賜給祂所愛的門徒，卻把蘸了調味的餅遞給賣祂的猶大。[2] 他們向祂的公義挑釁，誇口自己已達目的嗎？祂使他們為這些鵪鶉付了極重的代價；因為祂雖將他們所願的賜給他們，他們卻貪而無厭（詩 78:29,30）；他們的食欲永不能滿足；他們吃飽了卻仍未滿意；因為他們自己也不知道要的是甚麼。情慾的本性正是如此：它不能因任何事物滿足，越被縱容就越發挑剔。放縱情慾的人永不會脫離情慾。或者這話暗示神的豐富並未使他們為自己忘恩的貪求感到羞愧——他們若稍有羞恥之心，本當如此。然而結果如何呢？食物還在他們口中的時候——還在舌下當作美味含着——神的怒氣就向他們發作，殺了他們當中最肥壯的（詩 78:31），就是那些最奢侈、最膽大的人。見民 11:33,34。他們如待宰之羊被養肥：屠夫先取最肥的。我們可以設想有一些敬虔知足的以色列人，適量地吃了鵪鶉，毫髮無損；因為毒害他們的不是肉，而是他們自己的情慾。願好食者和放縱肉體的人在此讀到他們的結局。以肚腹為神的人，結局就是沉淪，腓 3:19。愚頑人的安逸必毀滅他們，他們的滅亡也必更大。
4。 神對他們的審判沒有使他們悔改，沒有達到目的，正如祂的憐憫也沒有（詩 78:32）：雖是這樣，他們仍舊犯罪；他們仍舊如從前那樣埋怨、與神和摩西爭鬧。雖然神發怒擊打他們，他們卻仍舊偏行己路（賽 57:17）；他們不信祂奇妙的作為。 雖然祂公義的作為與祂憐憫的作為同樣奇妙、同樣證明祂的大能，但他們仍不因此受感而敬畏神，也不因而深信與祂結交才是他們的利益所在。那些既不被神的憐憫所軟化、也不被祂的審判所打碎的心，實在剛硬至極。
5。 他們既然堅持犯罪，神便繼續施行審判，只是這些審判是另一種性質的——並不突然，而是緩慢的。祂如今不以殺滅他們中最肥壯的那種急性災病懲罰他們，而是以拖延的慢性病（詩 78:33）：因此祂使他們的日子全歸虛空——在曠野中——他們的年歲盡歸驚恐。 他們被一個不可挽回的判決定了罪，要在曠野中熬過三十八個冗長的年頭，這些年頭實在歸於虛空；因為那些年間沒有向迦南邁進一步，反倒退回，如陷迷宮般來回遊蕩，沒有向征服迦南進一步；不僅虛空，更是驚恐，因為他們的屍首被判倒在曠野，全都在那裏滅亡，惟有迦勒和約書亞存留。須知，仍舊犯罪的人必仍舊在禍患之中。我們之所以在如此多的虛空和禍患中度日，活着少有安慰、少有目的，其原因就是我們不憑信心而活。
6。 在這些責罰之下他們表面悔改，但他們在這認罪中並不真心誠懇。（1）他們的認罪外表看來相當不錯（詩 78:34,35）：祂殺他們的時候——或判他們被殺之時——他們才求問祂；他們承認過犯，懇求赦免。當有些人被殺時，其餘的人在驚恐中向神呼求憐憫，並應許悔改、要作好人；那時他們回心轉意，清晨切切地尋求祂。 這樣看來，人會以為他們是切慕尋見祂的人。他們假裝如此行，是因為他們如今——無論先前怎樣忘記——記起了神是他們的磐石，所以如今需要祂時，便投奔祂、在祂裏面投靠；又記起至高的神是他們的救贖主——領他們出埃及的那位——所以他們可以放膽來到祂面前。患難之所以臨到，是要我們記念神為我們的磐石、我們的救贖主；因為我們在興盛時易於忘記祂。（2）他們在這認罪中並不誠懇（詩 78:36,37）：他們不過用口諂媚祂——彷彿他們以為可用巧言說服祂撤銷判決、移去刑罰，心中卻暗藏一旦危險過去便背約的打算；他們不是全心全意歸向神，而是假意歸向，耶 3:10。他們一切的認罪、禱告、應許，都是在刑架上擠出來的。他們顯然口是心非，因為他們並不持守所說的。他們在陽光下消融，在蔭影中卻又凍結。他們不過用舌頭向神說謊，因為他們的心不與祂同在，心向祂不正——這從結局便可看出，因為他們在祂的約上不忠心。 他們的悔改既不真誠，因為不恆久；他們既想如此欺哄那察看人心的神，實際上是對祂最重的冒犯，與他們任何的非議一樣。
7。 神因而憐憫他們，止住了所威脅並已部分執行的審判（詩 78:38,39）：但祂有憐憫，赦免他們的罪孽。 人或以為這虛假的悔改該使他們罪惡滿盈。向聖潔的神如此說謊、如此私留幾分價銀——更是那最重要的幾分——還有甚麼比這更惹動祂的？徒 5:3。然而祂有憐憫，赦免他們的罪孽——赦免到此地步：祂沒有毀滅他們、沒有把他們從一個民族中剪除——這本是祂公義可作的——卻存留他們的性命，直到他們養育了另一代可以進入應許之地的人。不要毀壞，因為福在其中，賽 65:8。祂屢次轉消祂的怒氣（因祂是祂怒氣的主），並不發盡祂的忿怒，不照他們所當受的待他們：祂為何不如此呢？不是因為他們的滅亡會使祂有所損失，而是：（1）因為祂滿有憐憫，當祂要毀滅他們之時，祂的憐愛大大發動，祂說：以法蓮哪，我怎能捨棄你？以色列啊，我怎能交出你？ 何 11:8。（2）因為他們雖然不當地忘記祂是他們的磐石，祂卻記念他們不過是血氣。 神顧念他們本性的敗壞——這敗壞使他們傾向於惡——並樂意以此作為祂存留他們的藉口，雖然這實在不能作為他們犯罪的藉口。見創 6:3。祂也顧念他們本性的軟弱與脆弱，並知道滅絕他們何等容易：他們如一陣過去不再返回的風。 他們很快便可被除滅，但他們一旦離去，便永不復返；那麼與亞伯拉罕所立的約又將如何呢？他們是肉體，是風——由此不難推論：他們可以公義地、立刻被剪除，剪除了也無人受損；但神的推論正相反，所以祂不毀滅他們；因為真正的原因乃是：祂滿有憐憫。
英文原文
Wonders Wrought in Behalf of Israel; The Crimes of 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, Ps 78:9-11. 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 4:10,11. Of this the psalmist here begins to speak, and, after a long digression, returns to it again, Ps 78:61. 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 (Ps 78:10); they were basely treacherous and perfidious, for they kept not the covenant of God, and basely stubborn and rebellious (as they were described, Ps 78:8), 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, Ps 78:11. 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 (Ps 78:12), but afterwards resumed, Ps 78:43. 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, Ps 78:13. See Isa 63:12,13, 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 (Ps 78:14); 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, Zec 2:5. (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 (Ps 78:15,16): 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 (Ps 78:17): They sinned yet more against him, more than they had done in Egypt, though there they were bad enough, Eze 20:8. 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 7:10. 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, Ps 78:18. Their sin began in their heart, and thence it took its malignity. They do always err in their heart, Heb 3:10. 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 74:14. 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 (Ps 78:19): 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 (Ex 16:3, Nu 11:5), dishes of meat and salvers of fruit. What an unreasonable insatiable thing 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, Ps 50:10,11. 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 (Ps 78:20): 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 (Ps 78:21): 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, Nu 11:1. 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 (Ps 78:22): 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, Ps 78:23-25. 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 3:10. 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, Ex 16:18. 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, Ps 78:26. 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 (Ps 78:27), 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, Ps 78:28. We have the account Nu 11:31,32. 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 (Ps 78:29,30); 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 (Ps 78:31), those that were most luxurious and most daring. See Nu 11:33,34. 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, Php 3:19. 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 (Ps 78:32): 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 57:17); 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 (Ps 78:33): 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 (Ps 78:34,35): 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 (Ps 78:36,37): 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 3:10. 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 (Ps 78:38,39): 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? Ac 5:3. 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 65:8. 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? Ho 11:8. (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 Ge 6:3. 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.
40-72
Judgments and Mercies; Wonders Wrought for Israel; Renewed Mercies
審判與憐憫；為以色列所行的奇事；重施的憐憫
⁴⁰ 他們在曠野悖逆他，在荒地叫他擔憂，何其多呢！
⁴¹ 他們再三試探神，惹動以色列的聖者。
⁴² 他們不記念他的能力，和救贖他們脫離敵人的日子；
⁴³ 他怎樣在埃及顯神蹟，在瑣安田顯奇事，
⁴⁴ 把他們的江河並河汊的水都變為血，使他們不能喝。
⁴⁵ 他叫他們中間飛起各樣的蒼蠅來 devouring，又有青蛙毀滅他們。
⁴⁶ 把他們的農產交給蝗蟲，把他們勞碌得來的交給蝗蟲。
⁴⁷ 他們的葡萄樹被冰雹毀壞，他們的桑樹被寒霜毀壞。
⁴⁸ 又把他們的牲畜交給冰雹，把他們的羊群交給雷轟。
⁴⁹ 他使猛烈的怒氣和忿怒、惱恨、苦難，成群的惡天使降與他們。
⁵⁰ 他為怒氣修平了路，不惜他們的靈魂免死，將他們的性命交給瘟疫。
⁵¹ 在埃及擊殺他們一切長子，在含的帳棚中擊殺他們力量之始的。
⁵² 卻領出自己的民如羊，在曠野引導他們如羊群。
⁵³ 他領他們穩妥前行，使他們不至懼怕；海卻淹沒他們的仇敵。
⁵⁴ 他帶他們到自己聖所的邊界，到他右手所得的這山。
⁵⁵ 他在他們前面趕出外邦人，用繩子將地分給他們為業，叫以色列支派的人住在他們的帳棚裏。
⁵⁶ 他們仍舊試探悖逆至高的神，不守他的法度，
⁵⁷ 反倒退後如同他們的祖宗；他們如同翻背的弓。
⁵⁸ 因他們的高處惹他怒氣，因他們雕刻的偶像激起他的憤恨。
⁵⁹ 神聽見就發怒，極其憎惡以色列；
⁶⁰ 甚至離棄示羅的帳幕，就是他在人間所搭的帳棚；
⁶¹ 又將他的能力交與人擄去，將他的榮耀交在敵人手中。
⁶² 他將他的百姓交與刀劍，向他的產業發怒。
⁶³ 少年人被火燒滅；處女也無喜歌。
⁶⁴ 祭司倒在刀下；寡婦卻不作哀歌。
⁶⁵ 那時主如睡醒之人，像勇士飲酒呼喊。
⁶⁶ 他打退了他的敵人，叫他們永蒙羞辱。
⁶⁷ 並且他棄絕約瑟的帳幕，不揀選以法蓮支派；
⁶⁸ 卻揀選猶大支派，他所喜愛的錫安山。
⁶⁹ 他建造聖所如同高峰，又像他所建立的地，存到永遠。
⁷⁰ 又揀選他的僕人大衛，從羊圈中將他召來，
⁷¹ 叫他不再跟從那些帶仔的母羊，為要牧養自己的百姓雅各，和自己的產業以色列。
⁷² 於是他按心中的純正牧養他們，用手中的巧妙引導他們。
本段的主旨和範圍與前段相同，說明神曾向以色列施了何等大的憐憫，他們是何等惹動他，他因他們的罪降了何等審判，然而他在審判中至終仍記念憐憫。願那些從神領受憐憫的人不因此壯膽犯罪，因為他們所領受的憐憫要加重他們的罪，加速罪的刑罰；然而願那些因罪受神責罰的人不因此沮喪而不悔改，因為他們的刑罰是悔改的途徑，並不攔阻神為他們所保留的憐憫。請看，
一、以色列在曠野的罪再次被反省，因為記下來是為了警戒我們（詩78:40-41）：他們在曠野悖逆他，何其多呢！ 不是一次兩次，而是多次；悖逆的重複是它的大加重，其所在之地也是如此（詩78:17）。神記賬他們多少次惹動他，他們自己卻不記。民14:22：他們這些次試探我。 他們惹動他，與其說是激怒他，不如說是叫他擔憂；因為他看他們如自己的兒女（以色列是我的兒子，我的長子），兒女不孝敬的行為，比起激怒慈父，更叫他擔憂；他們放在心上，覺得不忍心（賽1:2）。他們叫他擔憂，因為他們使他不得不苦待他們，這並非他所樂意。他們在他面前自卑之後，又再三試探神，如先前一樣，並惹動以色列的聖者——為他該用甚麼證據證明他的大能和與他們同在、該用甚麼方法引導他們供應他們而劃定規條。他們把他限制在他們的方式和他們的時間之內，似乎不覺得他們是在與他相爭。我們去限制以色列的聖者，是僭越；因為他既是聖者，就必行最使他得榮耀的事；既是以色列的聖者，就必行最使他們得益的事；我們若去為他定規，就是控告他的智慧，又暴露我們自己的驕傲愚妄。他們日後限制神的緣由，乃在於忘記了他先前的恩惠（詩78:42）：他們不記念他的能力，記念那能力何等大、曾怎樣為他們伸出，也不記念救贖他們脫離敵人的日子——法老那個尋求他們滅亡的大仇敵。有些日子因着顯著的拯救而與別不同，永不可忘記；因為記念這些日子，會在我們最大的困境中鼓勵我們。
二、神對以色列的憐憫，他們在試探神、限制神時所忘記的；這裏所列神為他們所行的奇事之目錄，比先前（詩78:12等）起點更高，延伸更遠。
- 這從他們出埃及的拯救開始，以及神迫使埃及人釋放他們的災難：這些是神在埃及所顯的神蹟（詩78:43），他在瑣安田所顯的奇事，就是在瑣安的鄉間，如同我們說，在 N. 鄉間，意即在某一個鄉間。
(1) 埃及的幾樣災在此被一一提及，大聲說出神的大能和他對以色列的恩寵，以及對他和以色列仇敵的威嚇。例如：[1] 水變為血；他們曾因神百姓的血——甚至嬰孩的血——喝醉了，如今神給他們血喝，因為他們是配得的（詩78:44）。[2] 蒼蠅和青蛙的煩擾——成群成隊的昆蟲，吞噬他們，毀滅他們（詩78:45）。因為神若願意，能使最軟弱最微不足道的動物成為他烈怒的器皿；它們在力量上所缺的，可在數目上補足。[3] 蝗蟲之災，吞噬了他們的農產，並他們勞碌所得的（詩78:46）。它們被稱為神的大軍（珥2:25）。[4] 冰雹毀壞了他們的樹木，特別是葡萄樹——最弱的樹（詩78:47）；又毀壞了他們的牲畜，特別是羊群——最弱的牲畜，被雷轟擊殺（詩78:48）；那寒霜（原文是凝結的雨水）如此猛烈，連桑樹也被毀壞。[5] 長子之死，是埃及災中末了也是最重的，成全了以色列的拯救；這在心意中是首先（出4:23），在執行上是末後；因為較輕的方法若能成事，這災便可避免：但在此被詳盡描述（詩78:49-51）。第一，神的怒氣是它的緣由。如今烈怒已經到了埃及人身上至極；法老的心既在較輕的審判使之軟化之後屢次剛硬，神如今就激起他一切的烈怒；因為他使猛烈的怒氣——最高程度的怒氣——和忿怒惱恨（其因）並苦難（其果——患難困苦，羅2:8-9）降與他們。這是他從高處傾倒在他們身上而不留情，他們也不能逃出他的手（伯27:22）。他為怒氣修平了路（原文作「他稱量了怒氣的路徑」）。他不是不確定地把怒氣傾倒在他們身上，而是按重量。他的怒氣在公義的天平上以最大的精確被稱量；因為他在最大的不悅中，也從未、也永不會對他的任何受造之物行不義：他的怒氣的路徑總是經過稱量的。第二，神的天使是這執行中所用的器皿：他差遣惡天使進入他們中間——並非在自己的本性上是惡的，而是相對於所奉的差遣而言是惡的；它們是毀滅的天使，或刑罰的天使，遍行埃及全地，照着神怒氣所稱量的路徑，不殺所有的人，只殺長子。善良的天使對罪人而言就成為惡天使。使聖潔的神作仇敵的人，不要指望聖潔的天使作朋友。第三，執行本身非常嚴厲：他不惜他們的靈魂免死，任憑死亡在他們中間誇勝，將他們的性命交給瘟疫，立刻割斷生命的線；因為他在埃及擊殺一切長子（詩78:51），他們力量之始的——他們各家的指望；兒女是父母的力量，長子是力量之始的。如此，因以色列在神眼中寶貴，他使別人代替他們，使萬民代替他們的性命（賽43:4）。
(2) 藉着對埃及人的這些災，神為自己的民如羊一般出來開了路，把他們和埃及人分別出來，如同牧人分別綿羊山羊一般——他已經以羔羊的血灑在門框上為這些羊蓋上自己的記號。他使他們如羊一般出來，不知往何處去，又在曠野引導他們，如同牧人引導羊群，以一切可能的謹慎溫柔（詩78:52）。他領他們穩妥前行，雖在危險的路上，使他們不至懼怕——就是不必懼怕；他們確曾在紅海驚惶（出14:10），但對他們所說的、為他們所作的，有效平息了他們的懼怕。海卻淹沒他們的仇敵——那些冒險追入海中的（詩78:53）。海對以色列是通道，對逼迫者卻是墳墓。
- 這延展到他們在迦南的定居（詩78:54）：他帶他們到自己聖所的邊界——帶到他在其中設立聖所的那地，那聖所可說是那地的中心、首都、冠冕和榮耀。作為神聖所邊界的地是有福之地。那地的福分在於神在那裏被認識，那裏有他的聖所和居所（詩76:1-2）。全地一般，特別是錫安，是他右手所得的山——他以自己的大能為自己分別出來的。見詩44:3。他使他們乘駕地的高處（賽58:14，申32:13）。他們發現迦南人完全平靜地佔有那地，神卻在他們面前趕出外邦人——不但作為全地的主除去他們對那地的所有權，更親自執行對他們所宣告的判決，又作為萬軍之主把他們趕出去，使他的百姓以色列踐踏他們的高處，用繩子將地分給各支派為業，使他們住在他們所滅之人的房屋中。神本可以把無人居住的未開墾曠野（面積或許與迦南相近）變為肥沃土壤，在那裏栽種他們；但他為他們所定的地是要作天上的預表，所以必須是萬國的榮耀；也必須是爭戰而得的，因為天國是努力進入的。
三、以色列定居迦南之後的罪（詩78:56-58）。兒女像他們的祖宗，把舊的敗壞帶入新的居所。雖然神為他們作了這麼多，他們仍舊試探悖逆至高的神。他賜給他們法度，他們卻不遵守；他們起頭大有盼望，卻退後，對神說好話卻行事詭詐，如同翻背的弓——似乎能把箭射中目標，拉開之時卻折斷，把箭掉在射手腳邊，或許還使箭反彈到他臉上。在他們身上無可把握，對他們的應許或信仰毫無信心可投。他們有時似乎奉獻給神，卻立刻退後，因他們的高處和他們雕刻的偶像惹他怒氣。拜偶像是他們最容易纏累的罪，雖然他們多次承認悔改，卻同樣多次再犯。拜偶像或藉着偶像敬拜神（似乎他是偶像），都是屬靈的淫亂，所以藉此他們被說為激起他的憤恨（申32:16、21）。
四、神因這些罪降在他們身上的審判。他們在迦南的地業並不比他們是以色列的後裔更能保障他們在罪惡的路上。在地上萬族中，我只認識你們；因此，我必追討你們的一切罪孽（摩3:2）。拜偶像在外邦中被寬容，在以色列中卻不然：1. 神不喜悅他們（詩78:59）：神聽見——聽見他們罪孽的呼聲上達他面前——就發怒；他視為極其嚴重，本該如此，又極其憎惡以色列——他曾大愛、大喜悅的以色列。那些原是他所揀選之民的，成了他烈怒的世代。擅敢的罪——特別是拜偶像——使連以色列人在神眼中也成為可憎，落在他的公義之下。2. 他離棄在他們中間的帳幕，撤去那榮耀上的防護（詩78:60）。神從不離開我們，直到我們離開他；從不退去，直到我們把他趕走。他的名是忌邪者，他是忌邪的神；所以他既已與自己許配的百姓擁抱外人的懷抱，被憎惡棄絕、不再與他們同居，也就不足為奇了。示羅的帳幕是神在人間所搭的帳棚——神在其中要實實在在與人同住在地上；但當他的百姓詭詐地離棄它，他就公義地離棄它，於是它的榮耀盡都逝去。沒有神同在的帳幕，對以色列毫無喜樂可言。3. 他把一切都交在敵人手中。神所離棄的，就成了毀滅者輕易的獵物。非利士人是與以色列的神為死仇的，也照樣與以色列為仇，神卻要用他們作責罰他百姓的鞭。(1) 神容許他們把約櫃擄去，作為勝利的戰利品，以表明他不但離棄了帳幕，更離棄了約櫃本身——它如今不再作他同在的憑證（詩78:61）：他將自己的能力交與擄去，如同被削弱被制伏了一樣，他的榮耀蒙了被交在敵人手中的羞辱。其事見撒上4:11。約櫃在以色列人中既如外人，不久在非利士人中作俘虜也就不足為奇。(2) 他容許以色列的軍隊被非利士人擊潰（詩78:62-63）：他將他的百姓交與刀劍——交在自己公義的刀劍和敵人烈怒的刀劍之下，因他向自己的產業發怒；他的怒氣成了火，燒滅了他們的少年人——在壯年之時，或死於刀劍或死於疾病，毀滅如此之大，以致他們的處女也無喜歌——就是不得婚嫁（這在眾人中是尊貴的），因為沒有少年人可嫁，又因以色列的災禍苦難如此多而大，婚禮的歡樂被認為不合時宜，人說：不懷孕不生養的子宮有福了。 普遍的毀滅造成男丁稀少。賽13:12：我必使人比純金更少；以致七個女人必拉住一個男人（賽4:1，賽3:25）。然而這還不是最壞的：(3) 連他們的祭司——侍候約櫃的——也倒在刀下，何弗尼和非尼哈。他們倒下是公義的，因為他們自甘卑賤，在耶和華面前是極大的罪人；他們的祭司職分不但不是他們的保護，反而加重他們的罪、加速他們的傾覆。他們死於刀劍是公義的，因為他們在戰場上擅自暴露自己，沒有呼召也沒有權柄。我們若走出自己的地位、走出本分之道，就是把自己置於神的保護之外。祭司倒下之時，他們的寡婦卻不作哀歌（詩78:64）。一切喪禮的儀式都在實質的憂傷中失喪埋沒；非尼哈的妻子並沒有哀悼丈夫的死，自己反而死了——當她叫兒子以迦博之時（撒上4:19等）。
五、神在憐憫中回轉歸向他們，並在此後恩典地為他們顯現。我們未讀到他們的悔改和歸向神，但神為以色列的苦難擔憂（士10:16），又關心自己的尊榮，恐怕仇敵惹動，恐怕他們行得奇異（申32:27）。所以那時主如睡醒之人（詩78:65），像勇士飲酒呼喊——不但像一個從睡眠中醒來、從因飲酒而沉醉的迷糊中恢復過來的人（那人此後才注意先前似乎全然忽略的事），更像是因睡眠得舒暢、並因適度清醒地用酒而心歡的人，因此更加活潑有力、宜於辦事。當神把自己的能力之櫃交於擄掠之後，他如同為自己尊榮發熱心的人，不久就伸出大能的膀臂拯救它，激動他的大能為他的百姓行大事。
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他災擊擄掠約櫃的非利士人（詩78:66）。他以痔瘡打擊他們的後部，從背後擊傷他們，如同他們正在逃奔，那時他們自以為得勝有餘。他使他們受辱，他們自己也助成永遠的羞辱——他們用金子作了痔瘡的像，與約櫃一同送回作為賠罪祭（撒上6:5），要永留in perpetuam rei memoriam——作永遠的記念。當注意，遲早神要使仇敵受辱而榮耀自己，即使他們因勝利最為高傲之時。
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他為自己的約櫃安排了新的安頓之所——它被擄數月、被藏多年之後。他確實棄絕了約瑟的帳幕；他永不再把它送回以法蓮支派的示羅（詩78:67）。那地的廢墟成了神公義的活記念。我必使示羅如此（耶7:12）。但他並未從以色列全然取去榮耀；約櫃的遷移不等於它的除滅。示羅失去了它，以色列卻沒有。神在世上必有教會，在人中必有國度，雖然這個或那個地方的燈臺可能被挪去；不，示羅的被棄正是錫安的被選，如同後來猶太人的傾覆成了外邦人的豐富（羅11:12）。當神不揀選以法蓮支派——約書亞所屬的支派，他卻揀選猶大支派（詩78:68）——因耶穌要從那支派而出，他比約書亞更大。基列耶琳——約櫃從非利士人手中救出後所帶到之處——在猶大支派中。在那裏約櫃取得了那支派；但此後它被移到錫安，他所喜愛的錫安山（詩78:68）——居高華美、為全地所喜樂的；就在那裏他建造聖所如同高峰，又像他所建立的地（詩78:69）。大衛誠然只為約櫃支搭了一個帳幕，但那時聖殿已經設計預備，由他兒子建成；(1) 那是極其宏偉之處。它建造得如同君王和世上偉人的宮殿，不，它在輝煌壯麗上勝過一切。所羅門建造了它，然而此處說神建造了它；因為他父親曾教訓他——也許就是針對這事工：若不是耶和華建造房屋，建造的人就枉然勞力（詩127:1），那是為所羅門而寫的詩篇。(2) 那是極其穩固之處，如地一般——雖不像地那樣長久，但在它存留之時卻如地那樣堅固，地是神用他權能的命令托住的；它直到福音的殿建立之時才最終被毀，那福音的殿要存到日月長存（詩89:36-37），陰間的權柄不能勝過。
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他為他們設立好的治理——君主政體，並一位合他心意的君王：他揀選他的僕人大衛——從以色列千千萬萬人中揀選，把權杖交在他手中，基督要從他的腰中而出，他也要作基督的預表（詩78:70）。論到大衛，此處注意：(1) 他起頭的卑微。他的出身誠然偉大，因他出自猶大支派的君長，但他的教養卻貧寒。他受的訓練不是學者，不是軍人，而是牧人。他從羊圈中被召來，如摩西一樣；因為神喜悅謙卑殷勤的人得尊榮，喜悅從灰塵中抬舉貧窮人，使他們與王子同坐；有時他發現那些在孤寂和沉思中度過早年時光的人最適合公眾的事奉。大衛的子孫曾被人以出身卑微譏誚：這不是那木匠嗎？ 大衛被取來——他不是說從帶領公羊之處，而是從跟從那些帶仔的母羊之處——這意味着在牧人一切良善的品性中，他以對羊群中最需要看顧者的溫柔和憐憫最為著名。這心性使他適合治理，又作基督的預表——基督牧養自己的羊群如同牧人時，特別溫柔地引導那帶仔的（賽40:11）。(2) 他被高升的偉大。神高升他牧養自己的百姓雅各（詩78:71）。神高升他作王，特別作雅各和以色列——神自己所寶貴、所親愛的特別之民——的王，這是神所加給他的極大尊榮；但同時，受託治理那些原是神自己產業的人，也是託付在他身上的極大責任。神高升他到寶座上，是叫他牧養他們，不是叫他自飽；是叫他行善，不是叫他使自己的家族興旺。牧養神的羊群——這是交給一切在下作牧者的，無論官長或傳道人。(3) 他治理的福祉。大衛受託如此重任，便蒙了主的憐憫，在履行時被顯為又有技巧又忠心（詩78:72）：於是他牧養他們；他治理他們、教導他們、引導他們、保護他們，[1] 極其誠實；他按心中的純正如此行——所瞄準的不過是神的榮耀和所託付百姓的益處；他宗教的原則就是他治理的準則，他不是以屬肉體的計謀，而是以神的誠實治理。他所作的一切都出於好意，沒有別有用心。[2] 極其明智；他用手中的巧妙如此行。他不但在所設計的事上極其真誠，更在所作的事上極其審慎，並揀選最適當的手段追求他的目標，因為他的神教訓他明智。在這樣治理下的百姓有福了！詩人以這事作為神恩待以色列的結束和冠冕實例，是理所當然的；因為大衛是基督——那大而善的牧者——的預表，他先降卑後高升，論到他預言說他必被智慧和聰明的靈充滿，並必以公義審判責備（賽11:3-4）。他的眾臣民可以完全倚靠他心中的純正和手中的巧妙，並且他的政權與平安必加增無窮。
英文原文
Judgments and Mercies; Wonders Wrought for Israel; Renewed Mercies
⁴⁰ How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
⁴¹ Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
⁴³ How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:
⁴⁴ And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.
⁴⁵ He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.
⁴⁸ He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
⁴⁹ He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
⁵⁰ He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
⁵¹ And smote all the first-born in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
⁵² But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³ And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
⁵⁵ 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.
⁵⁶ Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
⁵⁷ But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
⁵⁹ When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
⁶⁰ So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
⁶¹ And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.
⁶² He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
⁶³ The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵ Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
⁶⁶ And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.
⁶⁷ Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
⁶⁸ But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
⁶⁹ And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
⁷⁰ He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
⁷¹ From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
⁷² So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
The matter and scope of this paragraph are the same with the former, showing what great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, how provoking they had been, what judgments he had brought upon them for their sins, and yet how, in judgment, he remembered mercy at last. Let not those that receive mercy from God be thereby emboldened to sin, for the mercies they receive will aggravate their sin and hasten the punishment of it; yet let not those that are under divine rebukes for sin be discouraged from repentance, for their punishments are means of repentance, and shall not prevent the mercy God has yet in store for them. Observe,
I. The sins of Israel in the wilderness again reflected on, because written for our admonition (Ps 78:40,41): How often did they provoke him in the wilderness! Note once, nor twice, but many a time; and the repetition of the provocation was a great aggravation of it, as well as the place, Ps 78:17. God kept an account how often they provoked him, though they did not. Nu 14:22, They have tempted me these ten times. By provoking him they did not so much anger him as grieve him, for he looked upon them as his children (Israel is my son, my first-born), and the undutiful disrespectful behaviour of children does more grieve than anger the tender parents; they lay it to heart, and take it unkindly, Isa 1:2. They grieved him because they put him under a necessity of afflicting them, which he did not willingly. After they had humbled themselves before him they turned back and tempted God, as before, and limited the Holy One of Israel, prescribing to him what proofs he should give of his power and presence with them and what methods he should take in leading them and providing for them. They limited him to their way and their time, as if he did not observe that they quarrelled with him. It is presumption for us to limit the Holy One of Israel; for, being the Holy One, he will do what is most for his own glory; and, being the Holy One of Israel, he will do what is most for their good; and we both impeach his wisdom and betray our own pride and folly if we go about to prescribe to him. That which occasioned their limiting God for the future was their forgetting his former favours (Ps 78:42): They remembered not his hand, how strong it is and how it had been stretched out for them, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy, Pharaoh, that great enemy who sought their ruin. There are some days made remarkable by signal deliverances, which ought never to be forgotten; for the remembrance of them would encourage us in our greatest straits.
II. The mercies of God to Israel, which they were unmindful of when they tempted God and limited him; and this catalogue of the works of wonder which God wrought for them begins higher, and is carried down further, than that before, Ps 78:12, etc.
1. This begins with their deliverance out of Egypt, and the plagues with which God compelled the Egyptians to let them go: these were the signs God wrought in Egypt (Ps 78:43), the wonders he wrought in the field of Zoan, that is, in the country of Zoan, as we say, in Agro N., meaning in such a country.
(1.) Several of the plagues of Egypt are here specified, which speak aloud the power of God and his favour to Israel, as well as terror to his and their enemies. As, [1.] The turning of the waters into blood; they had made themselves drunk with the bloods of God's people, even the infants, and now God gave them blood to drink, for they were worthy, Ps 78:44. [2.] The flies and frogs which infested them, mixtures of insects in swarms, in shoals, which devoured them, which destroyed them, Ps 78:45. For God can make the weakest and most despicable animals instruments of his wrath when he pleases; what they want in strength may be made up in number. [3.] The plague of locusts, which devoured their increase, and that which they had laboured for, Ps 78:46. They are called God's great army, Joe 2:25. [4.] The hail, which destroyed their trees, especially their vines, the weakest of trees (Ps 78:47), and their cattle, especially their flocks of sheep, the weakest of their cattle, which were killed with hot thunder-bolts (Ps 78:48), and the frost, or congealed rain (as the word signifies), was so violent that it destroyed even the sycamore-trees. [5.] The death of the first-born was the last and sorest of the plagues of Egypt, and that which perfected the deliverance of Israel; it was first in intention (Ex 4:23), but last in execution; for, if gentler methods would have done the work, this would have been prevented: but it is here largely described, Ps 78:49-51. First, The anger of God was the cause of it. Wrath had now come upon the Egyptians to the uttermost; Pharaoh's heart having been often hardened after less judgments had softened it, God now stirred up all his wrath; for he cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, anger in the highest degree, wrath and indignation the cause, and trouble (tribulation and anguish, Ro 2:8,9) the effect. This from on high he cast upon them and did not spare, and they could not flee out of his hands, Job 27:22. He made a way, or (as the word is) he weighed a path, to his anger. He did not cast it upon them uncertainly, but by weight. His anger was weighed with the greatest exactness in the balances of justice; for, in his greatest displeasure, he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures: the path of his anger is always weighed. Secondly, The angels of God were the instruments employed in this execution: He sent evil angels among them, not evil in their own nature, but in respect to the errand upon which they were sent; they were destroying angels, or angels of punishment, which passed through all the land of Egypt, with orders, according to the weighed paths of God's anger, not to kill all, but the first-born only. Good angels become evil angels to sinners. Those that make the holy God their enemy must never expect the holy angels to be their friends. Thirdly, The execution itself was very severe: He spared not their soul from death, but suffered death to ride in triumph among them and gave their life over to the pestilence, which cut the thread of life off immediately; for he smote all the first-born in Egypt (Ps 78:51), the chief of their strength, the hopes of their respective families; children are the parents' strength, and the first-born the chief of their strength. Thus, because Israel was precious in God's sight, he gave men for them and people for their life, Isa 43:4.
(2.) By these plagues on the Egyptians God made a way for his own people to go forth like sheep, distinguishing between them and the Egyptians, as the shepherd divides between the sheep and the goats, having set his own mark on these sheep by the blood of the lamb sprinkled on their door-posts. He made them go forth like sheep, not knowing whither they went, and guided them in the wilderness, as a shepherd guides his flock, with all possible care and tenderness, Ps 78:52. He led them on safely, though in dangerous paths, so that they feared not, that is, they needed not to fear; they were indeed frightened at the Red Sea (Ex 14:10), but that was said to them, and done for them, which effectually silenced their fears. But the sea overwhelmed their enemies that ventured to pursue them into it, Ps 78:63. It was a lane to them, but a grave to their persecutors.
2. It is carried down as far as their settlement in Canaan (Ps 78:54): He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to that land in the midst of which he set up his sanctuary, which was, as it were, the centre and metropolis, the crown and glory, of it. That is a happy land which is the border of God's sanctuary. It was the happiness of that land that there God was known, and there were his sanctuary and dwelling-place, Ps 76:1,2. The whole land in general, and Zion in particular, was the mountain which his right hand had purchased, which by his own power he had set apart for himself. See Ps 44:3. He made them to ride on the high places of the earth, Isa 58:14, De 32:13. They found the Canaanites in the full and quiet possession of that land, but God cast out the heathen before them, not only took away their title to it, as the Lord of the whole earth, but himself executed the judgment given against them, and, as Lord of hosts, turned them out of it, and made his people Israel tread upon their high places, dividing each tribe an inheritance by line, and making them to dwell in the houses of those whom they had destroyed. God could have turned the uninhabited uncultivated wilderness (which perhaps was nearly of the same extent as Canaan) into fruitful soil, and have planted them there; but the land he designed for them was to be a type of heaven, and therefore must be the glory of all lands; it must likewise be fought for, for the kingdom of heaven suffers violence.
III. The sins of Israel after they were settled in Canaan, Ps 78:56-58. The children were like their fathers, and brought their old corruptions into their new habitations. Though God had done so much for them, yet they tempted and provoked the most high God still. He gave them his testimonies, but they did not keep them; they began very promisingly, but they turned back, gave God good words, but dealt unfaithfully, and were like a deceitful bow, which seemed likely to send the arrow to the mark, but, when it is drawn, breaks, and drops the arrow at the archer's foot, or perhaps makes it recoil in his face. There was no hold of them, nor any confidence to be put in their promises or professions. They seemed sometimes devoted to God, but they presently turned aside, and provoked him to anger with their high places and their graven images. Idolatry was the sin that did most easily beset them, and which, though they often professed their repentance for, they as often relapsed into. It was spiritual adultery either to worship idols or to worship God by images, as if he had been an idol, and therefore by it they are said to move him to jealousy, De 32:16,21.
IV. The judgments God brought upon them for these sins. Their place in Canaan would no more secure them in a sinful way than their descent from Israel. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you, Am 3:2. Idolatry is winked at among the Gentiles, but not in Israel, 1. God was displeased with them (Ps 78:59): When God heard this, when he heard the cry of their iniquity, which came up before him, he was wroth, he took it very heinously, as well he might, and he greatly abhorred Israel, whom he had greatly loved and delighted in. Those that had been the people of his choice became the generation of his wrath. Presumptuous sins, idolatries especially, render even Israelites odious to God's holiness and obnoxious to his justice. 2. He deserted his tabernacle among them, and removed the defence which was upon that glory, Ps 78:60. God never leaves us till we leave him, never withdraws till we have driven him from us. His name is Jealous, and he is a jealous God; and therefore no marvel if a people whom he had betrothed to himself be loathed and rejected, and he refuse to cohabit with them any longer, when they have embraced the bosom of a stranger. The tabernacle at Shiloh was the tent God had placed among men, in which God would in very deed dwell with men upon the earth; but, when his people treacherously forsook it, he justly forsook it, and then all its glory departed. Israel has small joy of the tabernacle without the presence of God in it. 3. He gave up all into the hands of the enemy. Those whom God forsakes become an easy prey to the destroyer. The Philistines are sworn enemies to the Israel of God, and no less so to the God of Israel, and yet God will make use of them to be a scourge to his people. (1.) God permits them to take the ark prisoner, and carry it off as a trophy of their victory, to show that he had not only forsaken the tabernacle, but even the ark itself, which shall now be no longer a token of his presence (Ps 78:61): He delivered his strength into captivity, as if it had been weakened and overcome, and his glory fell under the disgrace of being abandoned into the enemy's hand. We have the story 1Sa 4:11. When the ark has become as a stranger among Israelites, no marvel if it soon be made a prisoner among Philistines. (2.) He suffers the armies of Israel to be routed by the Philistines (Ps 78:62,63): He gave his people over unto the sword, to the sword of his own justice and of the enemy's rage, for he was wroth with his inheritance; and that wrath of his was the fire which consumed their young men, in the prime of their time, by the sword or sickness, and made such a devastation of them that their maidens were not praised, that is, were not given in marriage (which is honourable in all), because there were no young men for them to be given to, and because the distresses and calamities of Israel were so many and great that the joys of marriage-solemnities were judged unseasonable, and it was said, Blessed is the womb that beareth not. General destructions produce a scarcity of men. Isa 13:12, I will make a man more precious than fine gold, so that seven women shall take hold of one man, Isa 4:1, Isa 3:25. Yet this was not the worst: (3.) Even their priests, who attended the ark, fell by the sword, Hophni and Phinehas. Justly they fell, for they made themselves vile, and were sinners before the Lord exceedingly; and their priesthood was so far from being their protection that it aggravated their sin and hastened their fall. Justly did they fall by the sword, because they exposed themselves in the field of battle, without call or warrant. We throw ourselves out of God's protection when we go out of our place and out of the way of our duty. When the priests fell their widows made no lamentation, Ps 78:64. All the ceremonies of mourning were lost and buried in substantial grief; the widow of Phinehas, instead of lamenting her husband's death, died herself, when she had called her son Ichabod, 1Sa 4:19, etc.
V. God's return, in mercy, to them, and his gracious appearances for them after this. We read not of their repentance and return to God, but God was grieved for the miseries of Israel (Jdg 10:16) and concerned for his own honour, fearing the wrath of the enemy, lest they should behave themselves strangely, De 32:27. And therefore then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep (Ps 78:65), and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine, not only like one that is raised out of sleep and recovers himself from the slumber which by drinking he was overcome with, who then regards that which before he seemed wholly to neglect, but like one that is refreshed with sleep, and whose heart is made glad by the sober and moderate use of wine, and is therefore the more lively and vigorous, and fit for business. When God had delivered the ark of his strength into captivity, as one jealous of his honour, he soon put forth the arm of his strength to rescue it, stirred up his strength to do great things for his people.
1. He plagued the Philistines who held the ark in captivity, Ps 78:66. He smote them with emerods in the hinder parts, wounded them behind, as if they were fleeing from him, even when they thought themselves more than conquerors. He put them to reproach, and they themselves helped to make it a perpetual reproach by the golden images of their emerods, which they returned with the ark for a trespass-offering (1Sa 6:5), to remain in perpetuam rei memoriam—as a perpetual memorial. Note, Sooner or later God will glorify himself by putting disgrace upon his enemies, even when they are most elevated with their successes.
2. He provided a new settlement for his ark after it had been some months in captivity and some years in obscurity. He did indeed refuse the tabernacle of Joseph; he never sent it back to Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim, Ps 78:67. The ruins of that place were standing monuments of divine justice. God, see what I did to Shiloh, Jer 7:12. But he did not wholly take away the glory from Israel; the moving of the ark is not the removing of it. Shiloh has lost it, but Israel has not. God will have a church in the world, and a kingdom among men, though this or that place may have its candlestick removed; nay, the rejection of Shiloh is the election of Zion, as, long after, the fall of the Jews was the riches of the Gentiles, Ro 11:12. When God chose not the tribe of Ephraim, of which tribe Joshua was, he chose the tribe of Judah (Ps 78:68), because of that tribe Jesus was to be, who is greater than Joshua. Kirjath-jearim, the place to which the ark was brought after its rescue out of the hands of the Philistines, was in the tribe of Judah. There it took possession of that tribe; but thence it was removed to Zion, the Mount Zion which he loved (Ps 78:68), which was beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth; there it was that he built his sanctuary like high palaces and like the earth, Ps 78:69. David indeed erected only a tent for the ark, but a temple was then designed and prepared for, and finished by his son; and that was, (1.) A very stately place. It was built like the palaces of princes, and the great men of the earth, nay, it excelled them all in splendour and magnificence. Solomon built it, and yet here it is said God built it, for his father had taught him, perhaps with reference to this undertaking, that except the Lord build the house those labour in vain that build it, Ps 127:1, which is a psalm for Solomon. (2.) A very stable place, like the earth, though not to continue as long as the earth, yet while it was to continue it was as firm as the earth, which God upholds by the word of his power, and it was not finally destroyed till the gospel temple was erected, which is to continue as long as the sun and moon endure (Ps 89:36,37) and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.
3. He set a good government over them, a monarchy, and a monarch after his own heart: He chose David his servant out of all the thousands of Israel, and put the sceptre into his hand, out of whose loins Christ was to come, and who was to be a type of him, Ps 78:70. Concerning David observe here, (1.) The meanness of his beginning. His extraction indeed was great, for he descended from the prince of the tribe of Judah, but his education was poor. He was bred not a scholar, not a soldier, but a shepherd. He was taken from the sheep-folds, as Moses was; for God delights to put honour upon the humble and diligent, to raise the poor out of the dust and to set them among princes; and sometimes he finds those most fit for public action that have spent the beginning of their time in solitude and contemplation. The Son of David was upbraided with the obscurity of his original: Is not this the carpenter? David was taken, he does not say from leading the rams, but from following the ewes, especially those great with young, which intimated that of all the good properties of a shepherd he was most remarkable for his tenderness and compassion to those of his flock that most needed his care. This temper of mind fitted him for government, and made him a type of Christ, who, when he feeds his flock like a shepherd, does with a particular care gently lead those that are with young, Isa 40:11. (2.) The greatness of his advancement. God preferred him to feed Jacob his people, Ps 78:71. It was a great honour that God put upon him, in advancing him to be a king, especially to be king over Jacob and Israel, God's peculiar people, near and dear to him; but withal it was a great trust reposed in him when he was charged with the government of those that were God's own inheritance. God advanced him to the throne that he might feed them, not that he might feed himself, that he might do good, not that he might make his family great. It is the charge given to all the under-shepherds, both magistrates and ministers, that they feed the flock of God. (3.) The happiness of his management. David, having so great a trust put into his hands, obtained mercy of the Lord to be found both skilful and faithful in the discharge of it (Ps 78:72): So he fed them; he ruled them and taught them, guided and protected them, [1.] Very honestly; he did it according to the integrity of his heart, aiming at nothing but the glory of God and the good of the people committed to his charge; the principles of his religion were the maxims of his government, which he administered, not with carnal policy, but with godly sincerity, by the grace of God. In every thing he did he meant well and had no by-end in view. [2.] Very discreetly; he did it by the skilfulness of his hands. He was not only very sincere in what he designed, but very prudent in what he did, and chose out the most proper means in pursuit of his end, for his God did instruct him to discretion. Happy the people that are under such a government! With good reason does the psalmist make this the finishing crowning instance of God's favour to Israel, for David was a type of Christ the great and good Shepherd, who was humbled first and then exalted, and of whom it was foretold that he should be filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding and should judge and reprove with equity, Isa 11:3,4. On the integrity of his heart and the skilfulness of his hands all his subjects may entirely rely, and of the increase of his government and people there shall be no end.
本篇是一篇歷史詩，記述了神向以色列所施的大恩、他們用以惹動祂怒氣的大罪，以及他們因罪而屢受祂不悅的種種記號。詩人在前一篇中，為了在艱難時刻激勵自己，開始述說神古時的奇事；在那裡他戛然而止，此處卻重拾主題，為造就教會而詳加鋪陳——不僅說明神向他們何等恩待，作為將來成全之恩的憑據，更說明他們對神的行事何等卑劣，這就為神此時管教他們提供了正當理由，也禁止了一切怨言。本篇內容為：一、這段教會歷史的序言——要求當今世代留心，並將其推薦給後世研讀（詩 78:1-8）。二、從摩西到大衛的歷史本身；它被編成詩篇或歌謠，為的是更易記憶並傳於後世，且藉著歌唱使人心深受其中所記之事的感動，遠勝於單純的敘述。本篇的大意在詩 78:9-11 可以看見，那裡提到了他們當下所受的責罰（詩 78:9）、使他們招致責罰的罪（詩 78:10），以及神從前向他們所施的憐憫——這憐憫更顯出那罪的嚴重（詩 78:11）。至於其中的細節，我們在此看到：1. 神為他們行了何等奇妙的作為——領他們出埃及（詩 78:12-16）、在曠野供應他們（詩 78:23-29）、擊打並毀滅他們的仇敵（詩 78:43-55），最終使他們得著應許之地為業（詩 78:54-55）。2. 他們對神的恩惠何等忘恩，又犯下了多少重大得罪神的事——他們向神發怨言並不信任祂（詩 78:17-20），受罰時只是虛假地裝出悔改順服（詩 78:34-37），因而使祂憂愁並試探祂（詩 78:40-42）；到了迦南之後，又以偶像崇拜冒犯神（詩 78:56-58）。3. 神如何按公義因他們的罪刑罰他們（詩 78:21-22）——在曠野使他們的罪成為他們的刑罰（詩 78:29-33），以及近日約櫃被非利士人擄去之時（詩 78:59-64）。4. 神如何滿有恩典地寬容他們，並在怒中仍以憐憫轉回——祂從前赦免了他們（詩 78:38-39），如今又撤去他們自招的審判，使他們在教會與國家中都得著安穩的建立（詩 78:65-72）。本篇的大意既有助於我們在歌唱時回顧神從前為我們和祂教會所行的事，以及我們得罪祂的事；其中的細節同樣於我們有益，可作為警戒，防備以色列古時明顯犯下的不信與忘恩之罪，而這些事的記錄正是為教訓我們而保存的。「這些事都是他們的鑑戒」（林前 10:11；來 4:11）。