Give ear, O my people, to my law. The inspired bard calls on his countrymen to give heed to his patriotic teaching. We naturally expect God's chosen nation to be first in hearkening to his voice.

I will open my mouth in a parable. Analogies are not only to be imagined, but are intended by God to be traced between the story of Israel and the lives of believers. Israel was ordained to be a type; the tribes and their marchings are living allegories traced by the hand of an all wise providence.

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. Tradition was of the utmost service to the people of God in the olden time, before the more sure word of prophecy had become complete and generally accessible.

We will not hide them from their children. Our negligent silence shall not deprive our own and our father's offspring of the precious truth of God, it would be shameful indeed if we did so. Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord.

For he established a testimony in Jacob. The favoured nation existed for the very purpose of maintaining God's truth in the midst of surrounding idolatry. Theirs were the oracles, they were the conservators and guardians of the truth.

That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born. As far on as our brief life allows us to arrange, we must industriously provide for the godly nurture of youth.

That they might set their hope in God. Faith cometh by hearing. Those who know the name of the Lord will set their hope in him, and that they may be led to do so is the main end of all spiritual teaching. And not forget the works of God.

And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation. There was room for improvement. Fathers stubborn in their own way, and rebellious against God's way, are sorry examples for their children; and it is earnestly desired that better instruction may bring forth a better race.

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. Well equipped and furnished with the best weapons of the times, the leading tribe failed in faith and courage and retreated before the foe.

They kept not the covenant of God. Vows and promises were broken, idols were set up, and the living God was forsaken. They were brought out of Egypt in order to be a people separated unto the Lord, but they fell into the sins of other nations, and did not maintain a pure testimony for the one only…

And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. Had they remembered them they would have been filled with gratitude and inspired with holy awe: but the memory of God's mercies to them was as soon effaced as if written upon water.

Egypt, here called the field of Zoan, was the scene of marvellous things which were done in open day in the sight of Israel. These were extraordinary, upon a vast scale, astounding, indisputable, and such as ought to have rendered it impossible for an Israelite to be disloyal to Jehovah, Israel's…

He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through. A double wonder, for when the waters were divided the bottom of the sea would naturally be in a very unfit state for the passage of so vast a host as that of Israel; it would in fact have been impassable, had not the Lord made the road for his…

In the daytime also he led them with a cloud. HE did it all. He alone. He brought them into the wilderness, and he led them through it; it is not the Lord's manner to begin a work, and then cease from it while it is incomplete. The cloud both led and shadowed the tribes.

He clave the rocks in the wilderness. Moses was the instrument, but the Lord did it all. Twice he made the flint a gushing rill. What can he not do? And gave them drink as out of the great depths,—as though it gushed from earth's innermost reservoirs.

The supply of water was as plenteous in quantity as it was miraculous in origin. Torrents, not driblets came from the rocks. Streams followed the camp; the supply was not for an hour or a day. This was a marvel of goodness.

And they sinned yet more against him. Outdoing their former sins, going into greater deeps of evil: the more they had the more loudly they clamoured for more, and murmured because they had not every luxury that pampered appetites could desire.

And they tempted God in their heart. He was not tempted, for he cannot be tempted by any, but they acted in a manner calculated to tempt him, and it always just to charge that upon men which is the obvious tendency of their conduct.

From this verse we learn that unbelief of God is a slander against him. Yea, they spake against God. But how? The answer is, They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? To question the ability of one who is manifestly Almighty, is to speak against him.

Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. They admit what he had done, and yet, with superabundant folly and insolence, demand further proofs of his omnipotence.

Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth. He was not indifferent to what they said. He dwelt among them in the holy place, and, therefore, they insulted him to his face. He did not hear a report of it, but the language itself came into his ears. So a fire was kindled against Jacob.

Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation. This is the master sin, the crying sin. Like Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, it sins and makes Israel to sin; it is in itself evil and the parent of evils.

Though he had commanded the clouds from above. Such a marvel ought to have rendered unbelief impossible: when clouds become granaries, seeing should be believing, and doubts should dissolve. And opened the doors of heaven.

And had rained down manna upon them to eat. There was so much of it, the skies poured with food, the clouds burst with provender. It was fit food, proper not for looking at but for eating; they could eat it as they gathered it.

Man did eat angel's food. The delicacies of kings were outdone, for the dainties of angels were supplied. Bread of the mighty ones fell on feeble man. Those who are lower than the angels fared as well.

He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven. He is Lord Paramount, above the prince of the power of the air: storms arise and tempests blow at his command.

He rained flesh also upon them as dust. First he rained bread and then flesh, when he might have rained fire and brimstone. The words indicate the speed, and the abundance of the descending quails. And feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea; there was no counting them.

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp. They had no journey to make; they had clamoured for flesh, and it almost flew into their mouths, round about their habitations.

So they did eat, and were well filled. They greedily devoured the birds, even to repletion. The Lord shewed them that he could "provide flesh for his people, "even enough and to spare.

They were not estranged from their lust. Lust grows upon that which it feeds on. If sick of too much flesh, yet men grow not weary of lust, they change the object, and go on lusting still. When one sin is proved to be a bitterness, men do not desist, but pursue another iniquity.

For all this they sinned still. Judgments moved them no more than mercies. They defied the wrath of God. Though death was in the cup of their iniquity, yet they would not put it away, but continued to quaff it as if it were a healthful potion.

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity. Apart from faith life is vanity. To wander up and down in the wilderness was a vain thing indeed, when unbelief had shut them out of the promised land.

When he slew them, then they sought him. Like whipped curs, they licked their Master's feet. They obeyed only so long as they felt the whip about their loins. Hard are the hearts which only death can move.

And they remember that God was their rock. Sharp strokes awoke their sleepy memories. Reflection followed infliction. They were led to see that all their dependence must be placed upon their God; for he alone had been their shelter, their foundation, their fountain of supply, and their unchangeable…

Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth. Bad were they at their best. False on their knees, liars in their prayers. Mouth worship must be very detestable to God when dissociated from the heart: other kings love flattery, but the King of kings abhors it.

For their heart was not right with him. There was no depth in their repentance, it was not heart work. They were fickle as a weathercock, every wind turned them, their mind was not settled upon God. Neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not. Though they were full of flattery, he was full of mercy, and for this cause he had pity on them.

For he remembered that they were but flesh. They were forgetful of God, but he was mindful of them. He knew that they were made of earthy, frail, corruptible material, and therefore he dealt leniently with them.

How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness. Times enough did they rebel: they were as constant in provocation as he was in his patience. In our own case, who can count his errors? In what book could all our perverse rebellions be recorded? The wilderness was a place of manifest dependence,…

Yea, they turned back. Their hearts sighed for Egypt and its fleshpots. They turned to their old ways again and again, after they had been scourged out of them. Full of twists and turns, they never kept the straight path. And tempted God. As far as in them lay they tempted him.

They remembered not his hand. Yet it must have been difficult to forget it. Such displays of divine power as those which smote Egypt with astonishment, it must have needed some more than usual effort to blot it from the tablets of memory.

How he had wrought his signs in Egypt. The plagues were ensigns of Jehovah's presence and proofs of his hatred of idols; these instructive acts of power were wrought in the open view of all, as signals are set up to be observed by those far and near. And his wonders in the field of Zoan.

And had turned their rivers into blood. The waters had been made the means of the destruction of Israel's newborn infants, and now they do as it were betray the crime—they blush for it, they avenge it on the murderers.

He sent diverse sorts of flies among them, which devoured them. Small creatures become great tormentors. When they swarm they can sting a man till they threaten to eat him up.

He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust. Different sorts of devourers ate up every green herb and tree. What one would not eat another did.

He destroyed their vines with hail. No more shall thy butler press the clusters into thy cup, O Pharaoh! The young fruit bearing shoots were broken off, the vintage failed. And their sycomore trees with frost.

He gave up their cattle also to the hail. What hail it must have been to have force enough to batter down bullocks and other great beasts. God usually protects animals from such destruction, but here he withdraws his safeguards and gave them up: may the Lord never give us up.

He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble. His last arrow was the sharpest. He reserved the strong wine of his indignation to the last.

He made a way to his anger, coming to the point with them by slow degrees; assailing their outworks first by destroying their property, and then coming in upon their persons as through an open breach in the walls.

And smote all the firstborn in Egypt. No exceptions were made, the monarch bewailed his heir as did the menial at the mill. They smote the Lord's firstborn, even Israel, and he smites theirs. The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham.

But made his own people to go forth like sheep. The contrast is striking, and ought never to have been forgotten by the people. The wolves were slain in heaps, the sheep were carefully gathered, and triumphantly delivered.

And he led them on safely, so that they feared not. After the first little alarm, natural enough when they found themselves pursued by their old taskmasters, they plucked up courage and ventured forth boldly into the sea, and afterwards into the desert where no man dwelt.

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary. He conducted them to the frontier of the Holy Land, where he intended the tabernacle to become the permanent symbol of his abode among his people.

He cast out the heathen also before them, or "he drove out the nations." Not only were armies routed, but whole peoples displaced. The iniquity of the Canaanites was full; their vices made them rot above ground; therefore, the land ate up its inhabitants, the hornets vexed them, the pestilence…

Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God. Change of condition had not altered their manners. They left their nomadic habits, but not their tendencies to wander from their God.

But turned back. Turned over the old leaf, repeated the same offences, started aside like an ill made bow, were false and faithless to their best promises. And dealt unfaithfully like their fathers, proving themselves legitimate by manifesting the treachery of their sires.

For they provoked him to anger with their high places. This was their first error—will worship, or the worship of God, otherwise than according to his command. Many think lightly of this, but it was no mean sin; and its tendencies to further offence are very powerful.

When God heard this, he was wroth. The mere report of it filled him with indignation; he could not bear it, he was incensed to the uttermost, and most justly so. And greatly abhorred Israel. He cast his idolatrous people from his favour, and left them to themselves, and their own devices.

So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men. His glory would no more reveal itself there, he left Shiloh to become a complete ruin.

And delivered his strength into captivity. The ark was captured by the Philistines in battle, only because the Lord for the punishment of Israel chose to deliver it into their hands, otherwise they could have had no power at all against it.

He gave his people over also unto the sword. They fell in battle because they were no longer aided by the divine strength. Sharp was the sword, but sharper still the cause of its being unsheathed. And was wroth with his inheritance.

The fire consumed their young men. As fire slew Nadab and Abihu literally, so the fire of divine wrath fell on the sons of Eli, who defiled the sanctuary of the Lord, and the like fire, in the form of war, consumed the flower of the people. And their maidens were not given to marriage.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears. Inclining the ears does not denote any ordinary sort of hearing, but such as a disciple renders to the words of his master, with submission and reverence of mind, silent and earnest, that whatever is enunciated for the purpose of instruction may…

Parable. Dark sayings. lvm, an authoritative weighty speech or saying. The Hebrew term very nearly answers to the Greek, kuriai doxai, i.e., authoritative sentences or maxims, or weighty sayings, expressing or implying a comparison, as such sayings frequently do.

Which we have heard and known. We have heard the law and known the facts. Adam Clarke. Fathers. Those are worthy of the name of fathers in the church, in relation to posterity, who transmit to posterity the truth of God contained in Scripture, such as here is set down in this Psalm: and this is the…

We will not hide from their children, etc. Thou must not only praise God thyself, but endeavour to transmit the memorial of his goodness to posterity. Children are their parent's heirs; it were unnatural for a father, before he dies, to bury up his treasure in the earth where his children should…

Five generations appear to be mentioned: 1. Fathers; 2. Their children; 3. The generation to come; 4. And their children; 5. And their children. —Adam Clarke.

Children should earnestly hearken to the instruction of their parents that they themselves may afterwards be able to tell the same to their sons, and so a golden chain be formed, wherewith being bound together, the whole family may seek the skies.

Set their hope in God. Their hope was to be set not in the law which punishes, but in grace freely given which redeems; therefore is it added and not forget the works of God. Johannes De Turrecremata. 1476.

And might not be as their fathers. The warning is taken from an example at home. He does not say, That they might not be as the nations, which know not God: but, That they might not be as their fathers. Domestic examples of vice are much more pernicious than foreign ones.

The children of Ephraim, being armed, etc. "When ye had girded on every man is weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.

Walk in his law. Note, we must walk in the law of God, this is that narrow and sacred way which Christ traces before us. At Athens there was iera odov, the sacred way, by which, as Harpocratio relates, the priests of the mysteries travelled to Elusin.

Zoan. The name of a city in Egypt (Nu 13:22), though it be not set down in the story in Exodus, is twice specified by the writer of this psalm, here, and Ps 78:43, as the scene wherein the wondrous works were wrought on Pharaoh by Moses; either because really the first and principal of the miracles…

He made the waters to stand as an heap. The original word imports, those great heaps which are made use of as dykes or banks to restrain the waters. But the Jews have not only understood these expressions literally, but have likewise taken upon them to add particular circumstances, as if the…

That there was a mystery in this pillar of cloud and fire is clear from Isa 4:5-6, for there never was a literal cloud and fire upon Mount Zion. This fiery pillar did cease when they were entered into Canaan; Isaiah therefore intends a spiritual thing under those expressions.

The rocks. They were typical of Christ, 1Co 10:4; who is frequently compared to one for height, strength, and duration, shade, shelter, and protection; and is called the "Rock of Israel, " the "Rock of offence to both houses of Israel, "the "Rock of salvation, "the "Rock of refuge, "the "Rock of…

He brought streams also out of the rock, etc. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The second murmuring for water at Kadesh seems to have been a more aggravated act of rebellion than the former, and yet the water is given in greater abundance.

And they sinned yet more against him. He does not say that they sinned only, but that they sinned against God. And they sinned yet more against him, namely, God.

They tempted God. We know that, although "God cannot be tempted with evil, "he may justly be said to be tempted, whensoever men, by being dissatisfied with his dealings, virtually ask that he will alter those dealings, and proceed in a way more congenial with their feelings.

It is particularly to be observed, that the sin of which the children of Israel were on this occasion guilty, was not in wishing for bread and water, but in thinking for one moment, that after the Lord had brought them out of Egypt, he would suffer them, for the lack of any needful thing, to come…

Can he give bread also? They should have said, "Will he serve our lusts?" but that they were ashamed to say. John Trapp. Who will say that a man is thankful to his friend for a past kindness, if he nourishes an ill opinion of him for the future? This was all that ungrateful Israel returned to God,…

Opened the doors of heaven. There is an allusion here to the flood, as in Ps 78:15. A. R. Fausset. Opened the doors of heaven. God, who has the key of the clouds, opened the doors of heaven, that is more than opening the windows, which yet is spoken of as a great blessing, Mal 3:19. Matthew Henry.

Manna. The prophet celebrates this miracle, first, because of the unusual place whence the manna was sent. For he did not produce fruits from the earth wherewith to feed them, but rained down this food from the clouds, and from the depths of the skies.

Man. Rather, as Ex 16:6, every man. Not one of them was left without it. A. R. Fausset. Man did eat angel's food. It is called angel's food, not because the angels do daily feed upon it, but because it was both made and ministered by the ministry of angels, and that phrase sets forth the excellency…

He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. Here, on examining the geographical position of the Israelites, we see exactly how the south east wind would bring the quails.

As dust. The amazing clouds of fine dust or sand, which a violent wind raises in the deserts of the East, constitute the point of comparison. William Keatinge Clay. Feathered fowls. Hebrew, "fowl of wing; "i.e., flying fowls, in distinction from domestic poultry.

Note: The prophet in this Psalm institutes, as it were, a conflict between God and man. God contends with blessings, man with sins. God exerts his power for the benefit of undeserving man, Ps 78:12, Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers: man repays the divine power with infidelity,…

They were not estranged from their lust. This implies, that they were still burning with their lust. If it is objected that this does not agree with the preceding sentence, where it is said, that "they did eat, and were thoroughly filled, "I would answer, that if, as is well known, the minds of men…

The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them. Two things are here worthy of notice. 1. One, Why he gave them abundance and sufficiency of quails, and afterward punished the murmuring and unbelieving.

Their days did he consume in vanity. He says with great significance, In vanity their days were consumed, because they were plainly deprived of their hope, and endured all their sufferings in vain. They did not attain what they had hoped for, but only their children entered the land. Mollerus.

There are some if they come under afflictions, or if they fall in sickness, or a fever, and God shake death over their head; or if they be at some solemn ordinances, they will be at resolving and purposing, and readily bringing vows upon themselves, of personal covenanting with God; but as they are…

Flattery of God. 1. A common sin. 2. A hateful sin. 3. A dangerous sin. B. D. There is no disputing the fact which gives accuracy to the text, that God was moved by a repentance which had not in it even the elements of godly sorrow for sin; which could not even, by a casual observer, much less by…

Their heart was not right with him. God pleases them when he replenishes themselves with food, not their heart with his graces; therefore they repay him with the mouth, and not with the heart. They are altogether mouth and tongue: but God is all heart and breast.

According to B. Kiddushin 30a, this verse is the middle one of the 5896 Nyqymk, sticoi, of the Psalter. According to B. Maccoth 22b, Ps 78:38, and previously De 28:58-59 29:9, were recited when the forty strokes of the lash save one, which, according to 2Co 11:24, Paul received five times, were…

A wind that passeth away. "The secret wheels of hurrying time do give So short a warning, and so fast they drive, That I am dead before I seem to live. And what's a life? a weary pilgrimage, Whose glory in one day doth fill thy stage With childhood, manhood, and decrepid age.

How oft did they provoke, etc. They provoked God at least ten times (Nu 14:22) during the first two years of their journey through the wilderness: (1) at the Red Sea : (2) at the waters of Marah : (3) in the wilderness of Sin : (4) when they kept the manna until the following day : (5) when the…

They turned back. As for that expression, wbwvyw, which we translate, and they turned back; that is, say some, to go back again into Egypt, or as others, returned back to their old wont of rebellion; I say, it hath no such meaning here; it is a Hebraism, and should be rendered, they returned and…

They remembered not his hand, etc. God hates forgetfulness of his blessings. First, because he has commanded that we should not forget them, De 4:9 8:14. Secondly, because forgetfulness is a sign of contempt. Thirdly, it is the peculiarity of singular carelessness.

Zoan, or San, seems to have been one of the principal capitals, or royal abodes, of the Pharaohs (Isa 19:11,13 Isa 30:4): and accordingly the field of Zoan, or the fine alluvial plain around the city, is described as the scene of the marvellous works which God wrought in the time of Moses.

Caterpillar. (>lyox), chasil, is rendered broucos by the LXX, in 2Ch 6:28, and by Aquila here, and also by the Vulgate in Chronicles and in Isa 33:4, and is rendered by Jerome here, bruchas, "the chaffer, "which everyone knows to be a great devourer of the leaves of trees.

He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. The grape vine for the rich, and the sycomore fig for the poor, were cut off by the just judgment of God upon the nation. W. Wilson.

By sending evil angels. Evils come uncalled, but not unsent. Are they nor here called angels? they are sent; the word angel means a messenger. Not things only without life, but not living creatures neither, brute, nor men, nor Satan's self can hurt unless God bid.

He made a way to his anger. Literally—"weighed a way:" implying that God, in punishing the Egyptians so severely, did nothing but what was just and equitable, when weighed in the balance of right. Pr 4:26. A. R. Fausset. He made a way to his anger.

The chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham. The sun of the last day of the sojourn of Israel in Egypt had set. It was the fourth day after the interview with Moses. Pharaoh, his princes, and the priests of his idols would doubtless take courage from this unwonted delay.

But made his own people to go forth like sheep. It is not said that they went forth like sheep; but that he made them go forth like sheep. It is not a description of the character of the people, but a commendation of the providence and goodness of God, by which, after the manner of a good shepherd,…

They feared not. First, they had no cause for fear, in their departure from Egypt. Though they saw the Egyptians slain, yet against them not even a dog moved its tongue. 2. They were all in sound health. 3. They were enriched with the spoils of the Egyptians. 4. They went forth a great multitude.

He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, or holiness; that is, to the holy land; so called in diverse respects, but especially because of his sanctuary, the place of his residence; to which he makes all the land to be but as bounds and limits, because of the eminency of that place, the…

They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. The eastern bow, which when at rest is in the form of a (1), must be recurved, or turned the contrary way, in order to be what is called bent and strung.

High places. Or, altars, chapels, and such like places, to celebrate divine service in, out of the only place which was by him consecrated, and was alone acceptable unto him; or peradventure also dedicated to idols; and were so called, because that they chose out the choicest hills and hillocks for…

When God heard this. The psalmist represents the noise of the ill deeds of the people ascending to the ears of the Eternal. Armand de Mestral, in "Commentaire sur le Livre de Psaumes." 1856. 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.

It is a heathenish delusion and false confidence to suppose that God is bound to any place or spot, as the Trojans thought because they had the temple of Pallas in their city it could not be taken, and in the present day the manner of the Papists is to bind Christ to Rome and the chair of Peter,…

And delivered his strength into captivity, etc. He calls the ark the strength of God, not because the virtue of God was shut up therein, or was so bound to it that he could not, unless through it, be powerful and strong: but because his presence, whose symbol the ark was, had always revealed its…

The fire consumed their young men. Fire here may be regarded as an image of destructive war, as in Nu 21:28. "For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, "etc. Albert Barnes. Verse 63 (first clause).

Their widows made no lamentation. This implies the extent of the destruction, and is full of meaning to one who has been in an Oriental city, during a plague or other devastating calamity.

Then the Lord awaked. Know how to understand this and similar passages in Scripture, as to the Lord's sleeping and forgetting his people, Ps 13:1 44:33 77:9.

He smote his enemies in the hinder parts. This has reference to the Philistines being smitten with haemorrhoids, or piles, whilst the ark was retained a captive by them, 1Sa 5:6,12 ...The Greek version, as quoted by Suidas, is, he smote his enemies on the back parts of the seat; signifying, he…

The moving of the ark is not the removing of it; Shiloh has lost it, but Israel has not. God will have a church in the world, and a kingdom among men, though this or that place may have its candlestick removed; nay, the rejection of Shiloh is the election of Sion. Matthew Henry. Refused. Chose not.

He took him from the sheepfolds. The art of feeding cattle, and the art of ruling men are sisters, saith Basil. John Trapp.

From following the ewes great with young. A good and steady lamber is of great value to a grazier, but I would advise all graziers to attend to this operation themselves, as few servants will be found to pay that attention which is necessary, or which a master himself would do, and the slightest…