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Psalms 78:64

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 64. Their priests fell by the sword. Hophni and Phineas were slain; they were among the chief in sin, and, therefore, they perished with the rest. Priesthood is no shelter for transgressors; the jewelled breastplate cannot turn aside the arrows of judgment. And their widows made no lamentation. Their private griefs were swallowed up in the...

Psalms 78:65

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep,.... He seemed to be asleep, while he suffered the ark to be taken, and the Israelites to be slain; and he may be said to awake when he exerted his power in smiting the Philistines, and causing their idol to fall before his ark; see Psalms 7:6, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine; who...

Psalms 78:65-69

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

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...

Psalms 78:65

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 65. The Lord awaked as one out of sleep. Justly inactive, he had suffered the enemy to triumph, his ark to be captured, and his people to be slain; but now he arouses himself, his heart is full of pity for his chosen, and anger against the insulting foe. Woe to thee, O Philistia, now thou shalt feel the weight of his right hand! Waking and...

Psalms 78:66

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts,.... Not the Israelites, as Kimchi interprets it, but the Philistines, who in another battle were put to flight, and turned their backs, and so were smitten in their hinder parts; or rather this has reference to the Philistines being smitten with haemorrhoids, or piles in their posteriors, while the ark...

Psalms 78:66

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 66. He smote his enemies in the hinder parts. The emerods rendered them ridiculous, and their numerous defeats made them yet more so. They fled but were overtaken and wounded in the back to their eternal disgrace. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Orientals are not very refined, and we can well believe that the haemorrhoids were the...

Psalms 78:67

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph,.... That is, the tabernacle of Moses, which had been for a long time at Shiloh, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph; when the ark was brought back by the Philistines, it was not returned to Shiloh, but carried to Kirjathjearim, where it remained twenty years, and after that was had to...

Psalms 78:67

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 67. Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph. God had honoured Ephraim, for to that tribe belonged Joshua the great conqueror, and Gideon the great judge, and within its borders was Shiloh the place of the ark and the sanctuary; but now the Lord would change all this and set up other rulers. He would no longer leave matters to the...

Psalms 78:68

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

But chose the tribe of Judah,.... Both to be the seat of kingly power and government, and of religious worship; the latter is chiefly designed. Jerusalem was, at least part of it, in the tribe of Judah: here David, who was of that tribe, dwelt, and Solomon his son, and all the kings of Judah afterwards; here the temple was built, into which the...

Psalms 78:68

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 68. But chose the tribe of Judah. To give the nation another trial this tribe was elected to supremacy. This was according to Jacob's dying prophecy. Our Lord sprang out of Judah, and he it is whom his brethren shall praise. The Mount Zion which he loved. The tabernacle and ark were removed to Zion during the reign of David; no honour was...

Psalms 78:69

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,.... The temple at Jerusalem, called a sanctuary, or holy place, because separated and dedicated to holy use and service; where the holy God had his residence, and was worshipped, and was a figure of the holy place not made with hands: this is said to be built by the Lord, because the materials provided...

Psalms 78:69

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 69. And he built his sanctuary like high palaces. The tabernacle was placed on high, literally and spiritually it was a mountain of beauty. True religion was exalted in the land. For sanctity it was a temple, for majesty it was a palace. Like the earth which he hath established for ever. Stability was well as stateliness were seen in the...

Psalms 78:70

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

He chose David also his servant,.... To be king of Israel, the youngest of his father's family, when he rejected all the rest; see 1 Samuel 16:6, an eminent type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called by his name, Psalms 89:3 and the signification of his name "Beloved" agrees with him, who is beloved of God, as his Son, and as man and Mediator;...

Psalms 78:70-72

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon

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...

Psalms 78:70

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 70. He chose David also his servant. It was an election of a sovereignly gracious kind, and it operated practically by making the chosen man a willing servant of the Lord. He was not chosen because he was a servant, but in order that he might be so. David always esteemed it to be a high honour that he was both elect of God, and a servant of...

Psalms 78:71

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

From following the ewes great with young,.... Or, "from after" them (a); it was usual with the shepherd to put them before him, and to follow them, and gently drive them, which is expressive of his care and tenderness of them; see Genesis 33:13, the same is observed of David's antitype, the great and good Shepherd of the sheep, Isaiah 40:11. David...

Psalms 78:71

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 71. From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. Exercising the care and art of those who watch for the young lambs, David followed the ewes in their wanderings; the tenderness and patience thus acquired would tend to the development of characteristics most becoming in a king....

Psalms 78:72

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart,.... Or, "reigned over them", as the Targum; that is, over the people of Israel, and which he did in such manner as showed uprightness of heart, and that he was, as his character is, a man after God's own heart: it appeared, by his administration of government, that he sought not his own...

Psalms 78:72

Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 72. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart. David was upright before God, and never swerved in heart from the obedient worship of Jehovah. Whatever faults he had, he was unfeignedly sincere in his allegiance to Israel's superior king; he shepherded for God with honest heart. And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. He...