Psalm 78:56-59

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 78:40-72

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 78:56

Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God ,.... After the death of Joshua, and in the times of the judges, by worshipping and serving the gods of the nations, and forsaking the Lord their God, who had done such great things for them, Judges 2:11 , and kept not his testimonies ; the laws of God, which testified and declared his mind and will; nor observed his word and ordinances, which testified of his grace, and of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 78:57

But turned back ,.... From God and his worship, apostatized from the true religion, and turned to idols: and dealt unfaithfully, like their fathers ; in the wilderness; see Psalm 78:8 , they were turned aside like a deceitful bow ; that promises well to carry the arrow right, but drops it at the feet of the archer; or carries it another way, so that it misses the mark, The Targum is, "as a bow casting arrows;' to the ground, and not to the mark; see Hosea 7:16 , or being too... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 78:58

For they provoked him to anger with their high places ,.... Which they built to Baal, and other Heathen dieties: and moved him to jealousy with their graven images ; which they worshipped, see Judges 10:6 , which idolatry was spiritual adultery, and so made the Lord jealous of them, who stood in the relation of a husband to them, as a man becomes jealous by the unchaste and lascivious conduct of his wife; and such a course of life the Israelites lived, throughout the reigns of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 78:59

When God heard this ,.... Their building high places, and sacrificing on them, their making and worshipping graven images, and the language which such actions spoke; who also heard what they said to their idols, when they paid their devotion to them, acknowledging them to be their gods; he took notice of and observed all this, for nothing could pass his all seeing eye and hearing ear; and who acted as a righteous Judge, first heard, and then proceeded to give and execute the sentence; by... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 78:57

They were turned aside like a deceitful bow - The eastern bow, which when at rest is in the form of a [curved figure], must be recurved, or turned the contrary way, in order to be what is called bent and strung. If a person who is unskilful or weak attempt to recurve and string one of these bows, if he take not great heed it will spring back and regain its quiescent position, and perhaps break his arm. And sometimes I have known it, when bent, to start aside, and regain its quiescent... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 78:56

Verse 56 56.And they tempted and provoked the Most High God. Here they are upbraided for having, notwithstanding the many tokens of the divine favor by which they were distinguished, persevered in acting perfidiously: yea, even although God from time to time conferred upon them new benefits, to recover them to their allegiance to him, they, notwithstanding, by their rebellion, shook off his yoke. With respect to the word tempt, we have already explained its import. But it is added in general,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 78:58

Verse 58 58.And they provoked him to anger with their high places. We have here adduced the species of defection by which the Israelites afforded incontestable evidence that they refused to be faithful to God, and to yield allegiance to him. They had been sufficiently, and more than sufficiently warned, that the service of God would be perverted and contaminated, unless they were regulated in every part of it by the Divine Word; and now, disregarding his whole law, they recklessly follow their... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 78:59

Verse 59 59God heard it, and was wroth. The prophet again shows that God, when he found that no good resulted from his long-suffering, which the people abused, yea, even treated with mockery, and perverted as an encouragement to greater excess in sinning, at length proceeded to inflict severe punishments upon them. The metaphor, which he borrows from earthly judges, is frequently to be met with in the Scriptures. When God is said to hear, it is not meant that it is necessary for him to make... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 78:1-72

The psalm is, as the title also declares, one of "instruction." It seeks to keep the people faithful to David and his house, and to check their tendency to place themselves under the leadership of the tribe of Ephraim, by recalling the whole course of God's dealings with Israel in the past, from the time of the sojourn in Egypt to the establishment of David's kingdom. It also seeks to keep them faithful to God, by showing how all their past calamities and sufferings had arisen out of... read more

Group of Brands