| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 1 An Instruction of Asaph. |
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| Give ear, O my people, to my law, Incline your ear to sayings of my mouth. |
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| 2 I open with a simile my mouth, I bring forth hidden things of old, |
In a parable – If our Lord's parables and dark sayings be taken as plain, literal statements, they will lead to all kinds of error. R4644:1
It is the invisible world which is the fact. It is the visible world which is the metaphor. This fact is why the Bible is so inexhaustible in its meanings. R29:5*
"Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand." (Mark 4:11) R3763:3
The misconceptions of our forefathers on the subject of punishment for sins were built upon mistranslations or statements meant to be understood symbolically. HG653:6
I will utter – Our Lord opened his mouth in figures and obscure sayings. R2602:6
Dark sayings – Without his enlightenment through the Apostles, his words would today be dark and not understood. OV151:5; R5455:5, R5088:1
Of old – Expound the hidden truths of ancient prophecy. F233
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| 3 That we have heard and do know, And our fathers have recounted to us. |
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| 4 We do not hide from their sons, To a later generation recounting praises of Jehovah, And His strength, and His wonders that He hath done. |
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| 5 And He raiseth up a testimony in Jacob, And a law hath placed in Israel, That He commanded our fathers, To make them known to their sons. |
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| 6 So that a later generation doth know, Sons who are born, do rise and recount to their sons, |
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| 7 And place in God their confidence, And forget not the doings of God, But keep His commands. |
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| 8 And they are not like their fathers, A generation apostate and rebellious, A generation! it hath not prepared its heart, Nor stedfast with God [is] its spirit. |
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| 9 Sons of Ephraim armed bearers of bow, Have turned in a day of conflict. |
Children of Ephraim – Ephraim was the name of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, as Judah was the name given to the two-tribe kingdom. R3463:3
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| 10 They have not kept the covenant of God, And in His law they have refused to walk, |
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| 11 And they forget His doings, And His wonders that He shewed them. |
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| 12 Before their fathers He hath done wonders, In the land of Egypt the field of Zoan. |
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| 13 He cleft a sea, and causeth them to pass over, Yea, He causeth waters to stand as a heap. |
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| 14 And leadeth them with a cloud by day, And all the night with a light of fire. |
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| 15 He cleaveth rocks in a wilderness, And giveth drink as the great deep. |
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| 16 And bringeth out streams from a rock, And causeth waters to come down as rivers. |
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| 17 And they add still to sin against Him, To provoke the Most High in the dry place. |
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| 18 And they try God in their heart, To ask food for their lust. |
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| 19 And they speak against God they said: 'Is God able to array a table in a wilderness ' |
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| 20 Lo, He hath smitten a rock, And waters flow, yea, streams overflow. 'Also bread [is] He able to give Doth He prepare flesh for His people ' |
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| 21 Therefore hath Jehovah heard, And He sheweth Himself wroth, And fire hath been kindled against Jacob, And anger also hath gone up against Israel, |
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| 22 For they have not believed in God, Nor have they trusted in His salvation. |
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| 23 And He commandeth clouds from above, Yea, doors of the heavens He hath opened. |
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| 24 And He raineth on them manna to eat, Yea, corn of heaven He hath given to them. |
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| 25 Food of the mighty hath each eaten, Venison He sent to them to satiety. |
Angels' food – The manna, a food supplied by the Lord's providence. R4011:6
Representing our spiritual supplies. R3036:6
All life, other than immortal, both of angels and men, must be supplied by food or other conditions. R280:1, R252:3
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| 26 He causeth an east wind to journey in the heavens, And leadeth by His strength a south wind, |
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| 27 And He raineth on them flesh as dust, And as sand of the seas winged fowl, |
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| 28 And causeth [it] to fall in the midst of His camp, Round about His tabernacles. |
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| 29 And they eat, and are greatly satisfied, And their desire He bringeth to them. |
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| 30 They have not been estranged from their desire, Yet [is] their food in their mouth, |
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| 31 And the anger of God hath gone up against them, And He slayeth among their fat ones, And youths of Israel He caused to bend. |
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| 32 With all this they have sinned again, And have not believed in His wonders. |
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| 33 And He consumeth in vanity their days, And their years in trouble.
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| 34 If He slew them, then they sought Him, And turned back, and sought God earnestly, |
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| 35 And they remember that God [is] their rock, And God Most High their redeemer. |
God their redeemer – Gaal, the one who sets free by payment. E438
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| 36 And they deceive Him with their mouth, And with their tongue do lie to Him, |
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| 37 And their heart hath not been right with Him, And they have not been stedfast in His covenant. |
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| 38 And He the Merciful One, Pardoneth iniquity, and destroyeth not, And hath often turned back His anger, And waketh not up all His fury. |
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| 39 And He remembereth that they [are] flesh, A wind going on and it returneth not. |
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| 40 How often do they provoke Him in the wilderness, Grieve Him in the desolate place |
Provoke – Though God is love, the children of Israel aroused his indignation repeatedly. R5125:1
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| 41 Yea, they turn back, and try God, And the Holy One of Israel have limited. |
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| 42 They have not remembered His hand The day He ransomed them from the adversary. |
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| 43 When He set His signs in Egypt, And His wonders in the field of Zoan, |
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| 44 And He turneth to blood their streams, And their floods they drink not. |
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| 45 He sendeth among them the beetle, and it consumeth them, And the frog, and it destroyeth them, |
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| 46 And giveth to the caterpillar their increase, And their labour to the locust. |
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| 47 He destroyeth with hail their vine, And their sycamores with frost, |
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| 48 And delivereth up to the hail their beasts, And their cattle to the burning flames. |
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| 49 He sendeth on them the fury of His anger, Wrath, and indignation, and distress A discharge of evil messengers. |
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| 50 He pondereth a path for His anger, He kept not back their soul from death, Yea, their life to the pestilence He delivered up. |
Soul from death – Not the body, but the being, called in the Scriptures, soul, dies. R277:1
The soul can be destroyed by its Creator. R1882:1; HG334:5
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| 51 And He smiteth every first-born in Egypt, The first-fruit of the strong in tents of Ham. |
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| 52 And causeth His people to journey as a flock, And guideth them as a drove in a wilderness, |
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| 53 And He leadeth them confidently, And they have not been afraid, And their enemies hath the sea covered. |
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| 54 And He bringeth them in unto the border of His sanctuary, This mountain His right hand had got, |
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| 55 And casteth out nations from before them, And causeth them to fall in the line of inheritance, And causeth the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents, |
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| 56 And they tempt and provoke God Most High, And His testimonies have not kept. |
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| 57 And they turn back, And deal treacherously like their fathers, They have been turned like a deceitful bow, |
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| 58 And make Him angry with their high places, And with their graven images make Him zealous, |
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| 59 God hath heard, and sheweth Himself wroth. And kicketh exceedingly against Israel. |
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| 60 And He leaveth the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent He had placed among men, |
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| 61 And He giveth His strength to captivity, And His beauty into the hand of an adversary, |
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| 62 And delivereth up to the sword His people, And with His inheritance shewed Himself angry. |
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| 63 His young men hath fire consumed, And His virgins have not been praised. |
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| 64 His priests by the sword have fallen, And their widows weep not. |
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| 65 And the Lord waketh as a sleeper, As a mighty one crying aloud from wine. |
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| 66 And He smiteth His adversaries backward, A reproach age-during He hath put on them, |
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| 67 And He kicketh against the tent of Joseph, And on the tribe of Ephraim hath not fixed. |
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| 68 And He chooseth the tribe of Judah, With mount Zion that He loved, |
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| 69 And buildeth His sanctuary as a high place, Like the earth, He founded it to the age. |
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| 70 And He fixeth on David His servant, And taketh him from the folds of a flock, |
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| 71 From behind suckling ones He hath brought him in, To rule over Jacob His people, And over Israel His inheritance. |
His inheritance – The people over whom he ruled, under Jehovah. A248
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| 72 And he ruleth them according to the integrity of his heart, And by the skilfulness of his hands leadeth them! |
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