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43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham :

43. "Signs and wonders": observe, not merely wonders.

53. "Feared not," i.e., were delivered out of all their fears.

54. "Sanctuary" means here the

52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58 For they provoked him to anger with their their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel :

60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men ;

"Holy Land," which was a mountainous region. The land was given them, but it was "purchased" by God's special interposition.

60. The times of the Judges. The tabernacle was long at Shiloh. 1

61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

63 The fire consumed their young men ; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

65. None but one under God's guidance would have ventured to employ such a figure as this. As strange as it is graphic.

67-69. Not in the favoured tribe of Ephraim, but in that of Judah, God built the temple. The platform on which the temple stood, which modern research has dis

Psalm 79.

A Psalm of Asaph.

I O GOD, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to

67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim :

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds :

71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

covered, bears out in its stones of prodigious size the description in ver. 69.

72. This refers to David, and is a high testimony to the honesty and skill with which he "fed," i.e., sought the welfare of Israel (ver. 71). He ruled for them.

be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; was Jerusalem; and there none to bury them.

4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn

and derision to them that are round about us.

5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.

8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought

very low.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy

name's sake.

WRITER: Asaph.

Not the Asaph of the time of David.

OCCASION: Unknown.
CHARACTER: Practical.
PRINCIPAL USE: For time of
national trouble.

1-4, 7. The description of the state of things is as dreadful as it could possibly be. Note the expressions, and consider what they must have meant in reality.

5. “Jealousy burn like fire." Never go out. This jealousy of God's is what rationalists deny, but wise men reverently believe, because they find it plainly enough in the Bible.

6, 7. Israel was in reality worse than the heathen, for they had the

IO Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

II Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

12 And render unto our

into

neighbours sevenfold their bosom their reproach, proached thee, O Lord. wherewith they have re

13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

knowledge of God; but then, to touch Israel was to dishonour God. The two verses must go together. "For."

8-10. The same view continued. Sin acknowledged. Pardon and deliverance besought for his name's sake," for the "glory of his name."

66

II. Very beautiful. Man's extremity, God's opportunity. Compare Peter in prison (Acts xii. 5-7).

12. "Reproached thee." There was a malignity of feeling against Israel on the part of the heathen world, that came of the serpent. See Gen. iii. 15.

13. Praise, the end of all and every redemption, whether temporal or spiritual, whether of the individual or of the nation.

Psalm 80.

A Psalm of Asaph.

8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted I GIVE ear, O Shepherd of it. Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy prayer of thy people?

5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great

measure.

6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours and our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

WRITER: Asaph.

Not the Asaph of the time of David.

9 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

IO The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.

II She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.

12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted,

Three times repeated (vers. 3, 7, 19), "Against the prayer," i.e., in spite of.

5, 6. These and vers. 12, 13, 16, show that Israel was suffering severely from their enemies. Vers. 5 and 6, very emphatic. The lowest

OCCASION: Unknown.
CHARACTER: Practical.
PRINCIPAL USE: For time of ebb.
trouble.

1-4. There is a hopeful and hearty appeal to God in the psalm. “Ö Shepherd of Israel." The true cause of trouble hit on in "Turn us again."

8-16. A poetical illustration. Israel God's vine: as Isa. v. I, "Strong for thyself": for the glory of God. "Rebuke of thy countenance" the true cause of trouble This so healthy a sign.

again.

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