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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
When he slew them,.... Some of them, the spies particularly; or when he threatened to slay them, or was about to do it: then they sought him; that is, those who either survived the slain, or were threatened with destruction; these sought the Lord by prayer and supplication, that he would not destroy them; the Targum is, "they repented and sought him;'' see Numbers 14:37, and they returned; from...
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,...
Charles H. Spurgeon
When he slew them, then they sought him : and they returned and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. Some men are like dull animals that will not go without the whip. Many of us cannot be kept right without constant affliction; if our...
Charles H. Spurgeon
And believed not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. Perhaps some of them fought him even while they were dying; and the remnant that survived trembled, and “returned and enquired early after God.”