The Treasury of DavidPsalms 78

HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER

Verse 1. The duty of attending to God's word. Modes of neglecting the duty; ways of fulfilment; reasons for obedience; evils of inattention. Verse 2. (first clause). Preach on the "Parable of the Prodigal Nation, "as given in the whole Psalm. C. A. Davies, of Chesterfield. Verses 2-3. 1. Truths are none the worse for being old: sayings of old. "Old wood, "says Lord Bacon, "is best to burn; old books are best to read; and old friends are best to trust." 2. Truths are none the worse for being concealed under metaphors: I will open, etc., in a parable; dark sayings. 3. Truths are none the worse for being often repeated. (a) They are more tested. (b) They are better testified. G. R. Verse 3. The connection between what we have "heard, "and what we have personally "known" in religion. Verse 4. A good resolution, and a blessed result. C. D. Verse 4. 1. What is to be made known? The praises of the Lord; his strength and his wonderful works. 2. To whom are they to be made known? To the generations to come. 3. By whom? Parents —one generation to another. 4. How made known? (a) By hiding nothing. (b) By declaring everything God has done. G. R. Verse 5. Scriptural tradition, or the heirloom of the gospel. Verses 5-8. Family religion. 1. The fathers' knowledge the children's heritage —Ps 78:5-6. 2. The fathers' fall the children's preservation —Ps 78:7-8. Verses 5-8. 1. Truth once started can never be arrested —Ps 78:5-6. 2. Truth received binds the soul to God —Ps 78:7. 3. Truth rejected lights up beacons for others —Ps 78:8. Verses 7-8. On the deceitfulness of the heart, in disregarding providential dispensations in general. John Jamieson's "Sermons on the Heart, "I. 430. Verse 8. Stubbornness not steadfastness, or the difference between a natural vice and a gracious quality. Verse 8. The false heart (middle clause), with its left hand, "Stubbornness in the wrong" (first clause), and its right hand, "Fickleness in the right" (last clause). C. D. Verse 9. Who were they? What had they? What did they? When did they do it? Verses 9, 67. The backsliding of prominent believers. 1. The Lord's soldiers: who they were; belonging to God's chosen people; were distinguished by grace. Ge 48:17-20. Strong by God's blessing. De 33:17. Honourable place among their brethren. Favoured with the tabernacle at Shiloh —Ps 78:60. 2. Their equipment: armour defensive and offensive; like that of others who triumphed. 3. Their behaviour in battle: to turn back was traitorous, cowardly, dangerous, disastrous, dishonourable. 4. Their punishment —Ps 78:57. Deprived of their special honour. Re 3:11. C. D. Verses 10-11. The gradations of sin: neglecting, rejecting, forgetting God. C. D. Verses 12-16. God revealed in his deeds. The wonder working God —Ps 78:12-16. The avenging God —Ps 78:12. The interposing God —Ps 78:13. The guiding God —Ps 78:14. The Father God —Ps 78:14-16. C. D. Verses 12-17. Obstinacy of unbelief. It makes head against God's majesty —Ps 78:17; his gracious providence —Ps 78:14-16; his interposing care —Ps 78:13; his avenging justice —Ps 78:12; his distinguishing grace —Ps 78:12-16. C. D. Verses 12-17. Prodigies cannot convert the soul. Lu 16:31. C. D. Verses 15-16. Divine supplies seasonable, plentiful, of the best, marvellous. Verse 16. Streams from the Rock Christ Jesus. I. Their source. 2. Their variety. 3. Their abundance.—B. Davies, of Greenwich. Verses 12-17. Obstinacy of unbelief. It makes head against God's majesty —Ps 78:17; his gracious providence —Ps 78:14-16; his interposing care —Ps 78:13; his avenging justice —Ps 78:12; his distinguishing grace —Ps 78:12-16. C. D. Verses 12-17. Prodigies cannot convert the soul. Lu 16:31. C. D. Verse 17. Sin in its progress feeds upon divine mercies to aid its advance, as also every other surrounding circumstance. Verses 17-21. 1. They tempted God's patience; Ps 78:17. 2. They tempted God's wisdom; Ps 78:18. 3. They tempted God's power; Ps 78:19-20. 4. They tempted God's wrath; Ps 78:21.—E. G. Gange, of Bristol. Verses 18-21. The progress of evil. 1. They are drawn away by their lust: Ps 78:18. 2. Lust having conceived bringeth forth sin: Ps 78:19-20. 3. Sin being finished bringeth forth death: Ps 78:21. "Their carcases fell." C. D. Verses 21-22. Evil consequences of unbelief. 1. The sin itself: they doubted the ultimate certainty, completeness, and reality of God's salvation from Egypt. 2. The aggravation of it: the object of it was God; they who entertained it were God's people: The aids to faith were overlooked: "though." 3. What it led them to; inward sin —Ps 78:18; outward sin —Ps 78:19, etc. 4. What it brought upon them; Ps 78:21. Fiery serpents, etc. C. D. Verse 25. Different kinds of food. Beast's food, Lu 15:16. Sinners' food, Ho 4:8. Formalists' food, Ho 12:1. Saints' food, Jer 15:16 Joh 6:53-57. Angels' food. Christ's food, Joh 4:34. C. D. Verse 29-31. Dangerous prayers. When lust dictates, wrath may answer. Let grace dictate, and mercy will answer. C. D. Verses 34-37. The hypocrite's feet, Ps 78:34. The hypocrite's memory, Ps 78:35. The hypocrite's tongue, Ps 78:36. The hypocrite's heart, Ps 78:37. Or, the hypocrite's cloak and the hypocrite's heart. C. D. Verse 38. (last clause) and Ps 78:50 (first clause). God's anger as exercised against his people and against his foes. C. D. Verses 39, 35. God's memory of his people and their memory of God. Verse 42. The day of days. 1. The enemy encountered on that day. 2. The conflict endured. 3. The deliverance accomplished. 4. The joy experienced. B. D. Verse 45. The power of little things when commissioned to plague us. Verse 47. (last clause). Sometimes it will not shoot. Sometimes it will. And when it does, it misses the mark. Verse 52. 1. God has a people in the world. 2. He brings them away from others. 3. He brings them into fellowship with himself. 4. He brings them into fellowship with each other. 5. He guides them to their rest. Verse 55. Divine supplanting. He supplants the fallen angels in heaven. One nation of earth by another (see all history). The thoughts and affections of the heart in regeneration, etc. —Isa 55:13. C. D. Verses 56-57. On the deceitfulness of the heart, with respect to the performance of duty. J. Jamieson. I. 326. On the deceitfulness of the heart, with respect to the omission of duty. J. Jamieson. I. 353. Verses 59-72. 1. A gloomy sunset, Ps 78:59-60. 2. A baleful might, Ps 78:60-64. 3. A blessed sunrise, Ps 78:65-72. C. D. Verses 9, 67. The backsliding of prominent believers. 1. The Lord's soldiers: who they were; belonging to God's chosen people; were distinguished by grace. Ge 48:17-20. Strong by God's blessing. De 33:17. Honourable place among their brethren. Favoured with the tabernacle at Shiloh —Ps 78:60. 2. Their equipment: armour defensive and offensive; like that of others who triumphed. 3. Their behaviour in battle: to turn back was traitorous, cowardly, dangerous, disastrous, dishonourable. 4. Their punishment —Ps 78:57. Deprived of their special honour. Re 3:11. C. D. Verses 70-72. Spiritual promotions. Verses 72. In spite of his transgressions, which he always bitterly repented of and which were therefore blotted out of the Book of God, he remains to all princes and rulers of the earth as the noblest pattern. In perfect inward truth he knew and felt himself to be "King by the grace of God." The crown and sceptre he bore merely in trust from the King of all kings; and to his latest breath he endeavoured with all his earnestness to be found as a genuine theocratic king, who in everything must conduct his earthly government according to the ordinances and directions of God. Therefore the Lord made all that he took in hand prosper, and nothing was clearer to the people than that the Lord was truly with the king. Frederick William Krummacher, in "David, the King of Israel." 1867. WORKS UPON THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH PSALM Valuable information upon THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT will be found in the following works: — "Observations upon the Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians: in which is shewn the peculiarity of those Judgments, and their correspondence with the Rites and Idolatry of that People... By JACOB BRYANT. 1794." "Israel in Egypt; or the Books of Genesis and Exodus illustrated by existing Monuments. By WILLIAM OSBURN. 1856."

UPON ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS

"The wanderings of the Children of Israel." By the late Rev. GEORGE WAGNER, 1862. "The Church in the Wilderness." By WILLIAM SEATON. In two vols. 1821.