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Commentaries on Psalms 78:18

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John Gill - Exposition

John Gill

INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 78 Maschil of Asaph. Or for "Asaph" (f); a doctrinal and "instructive" psalm, as the word "Maschil" signifies; see Psalms 32:1, which was delivered to Asaph to be sung; the Targum is, "the understanding of the Holy Spirit by the hands of Asaph.'' Some think David was the penman of it; but from the latter part of it, in which mention is made of him, and of his government of...

John Gill - Exposition

John Gill

And they tempted God in their heart,.... Which is desperately wicked, and from whence all impiety flows; they entertained hard thoughts of God; they inwardly fretted at their present circumstances, and secretly repined and murmured against God, and wished for things they should not; not being contented with what they had, and thankful for them, as they ought to have been: by asking meat for their...

Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary

Matthew Henry

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,...

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions

Charles H. Spurgeon

And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. He had given them food for their necessities, but now they must have meat for their lusts.

Spurgeon - Verse Expositions

Charles H. Spurgeon

And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Not for their needs, but “for their lust.” It is a dreadful thing when prayer itself is prostituted, and the mercy-seat becomes a place for the expression of sinful desires which ought never to have been in our hearts. It was so, however, with these children of Israel.