I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
To open the mouth in parable is to teach ancient truths in dark sayings whose sense is not immediately plain, disclosing realities hidden from ordinary understanding. The psalm so opened recounts God's law, praises, strength, wonderful works and rich blessings, and makes that history a parable showing how Israel constantly worked against a good God and made a poor return for all His benefits. This was fulfilled when Christ spoke in parables to bring out things kept secret from the foundation of the world, using familiar earthly and natural things to lead hearers from the natural to the spiritual. Those teachings are to be passed from parents to children through future generations, that each generation may know God's works, hope in Him, remember His deeds, keep His commandments, and avoid the stubborn rebellion of earlier generations. The psalm is therefore worthy of earnest, attentive study as admonition, to be studied even in schools, putting God's people far in advance of where they now stand.
Meaning and Historical Setting
To open the mouth in this verse is to teach God's people in parable, uttering ancient truths through dark sayings whose sense is not immediately plain. Such parables disclose truths hidden from ordinary understanding. The psalm thus opened was composed into song for Israel to sing while marching in the wilderness to keep time and step as they journeyed.
Its teaching recounts God's law, praises, strength, and wonderful works and deeds, telling of the rich blessings He bestowed on His people. As a parable of old history it shows that the children of Israel worked constantly against a good God. For all His benefits they made a poor return and a poor response.
Their disobedience brought them into the state that was the sure result of their own course of action. Though they repented under rebuke and chastisement, they fell again under temptation, self-indulgence and self-gratification.
Fulfillment in Christ's Parables
Christ's use of parables fulfilled the prophetic words about opening the mouth in parables and uttering things kept secret from the foundation of the world. His parables were the fulfillment of that ancient utterance, bringing hidden things to light through parabolic speech.
The verse describes teaching through parable that discloses truths hidden from ordinary understanding, and Jesus followed this same pattern. He used familiar earthly and natural things to illustrate divine truths, connecting the experience of His hearers with the truths of Scripture. By this means He led minds from the natural to the spiritual.
Divine and spiritual truth may be expressed through figures and symbols, including parables and comparisons in simple language. Jesus drew such comparisons from nature and everyday experience to make spiritual truth clear and memorable, to impress it upon hearers, to hold attention, and to awaken interest and inquiry. Linking the lesson to familiar scenes of life, experience, and nature helps hearers remember it. Figures could also convey direct rebuke to His enemies without giving them grounds to condemn Him.
His parables teach spiritual truths that require study in order to be understood.
Transmission and Earnest Study
The opening to speak in parable and utter ancient truths carries a charge to hand those teachings from parents to children and on through future generations. In that transmission each generation is to come to know God's works, to hope in Him, to remember His deeds, and to keep His commandments rather than repeat rebellion. The inherited telling recounts God's law, praises, strength, and wonderful works so that children learn them and avoid the stubbornness of earlier generations.
The verse opens a psalm worthy of earnest, attentive consideration and study as a source of understanding about eternal realities. Such understanding puts God's people far in advance of where they now stand. The account of rich blessings bestowed on God's people and their poor response to all His benefits is written as admonition and should be studied in schools, including by students.
It presses the solemn work of being fishers of men, arousing to the duty of explaining the truths of the Word to those who do not know them. It calls for beginning earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for those perishing in their sins, with the assurance that those who sow the seeds of truth will reap a rich harvest whose unselfish good no human mind can estimate. It calls for honoring God rather than branching out to consult lawyers and lean on the arm of the law, for coming into harmony with the church instead of giving a divided testimony, and for uniting medical workers and gospel ministers on the true principles of health reform lest point after point of present truth be given up.
To open the mouth in parable is to teach ancient truths in dark sayings whose sense is not immediately plain, disclosing realities hidden from ordinary understanding.
The psalm so opened recounts God's law, praises, strength, wonderful works and rich blessings, and makes that history a parable showing how Israel constantly worked against a good God and made a poor return for all His benefits.
This was fulfilled when Christ spoke in parables to bring out things kept secret from the foundation of the world, using familiar earthly and natural things to lead hearers from the natural to the spiritual.
Those teachings are to be passed from parents to children through future generations, that each generation may know God's works, hope in Him, remember His deeds, keep His commandments, and avoid the stubborn rebellion of earlier generations.
The psalm is therefore worthy of earnest, attentive study as admonition, to be studied even in schools, putting God's people far in advance of where they now stand.
Meaning and Historical Setting
To open the mouth in this verse is to teach God's people in parable, uttering ancient truths through dark sayings whose sense is not immediately plain. Such parables disclose truths hidden from ordinary understanding. The psalm thus opened was composed into song for Israel to sing while marching in the wilderness to keep time and step as they journeyed.
Its teaching recounts God's law, praises, strength, and wonderful works and deeds, telling of the rich blessings He bestowed on His people. As a parable of old history it shows that the children of Israel worked constantly against a good God. For all His benefits they made a poor return and a poor response.
Their disobedience brought them into the state that was the sure result of their own course of action. Though they repented under rebuke and chastisement, they fell again under temptation, self-indulgence and self-gratification.
Fulfillment in Christ's Parables
Christ's use of parables fulfilled the prophetic words about opening the mouth in parables and uttering things kept secret from the foundation of the world. His parables were the fulfillment of that ancient utterance, bringing hidden things to light through parabolic speech.
The verse describes teaching through parable that discloses truths hidden from ordinary understanding, and Jesus followed this same pattern. He used familiar earthly and natural things to illustrate divine truths, connecting the experience of His hearers with the truths of Scripture. By this means He led minds from the natural to the spiritual.
Divine and spiritual truth may be expressed through figures and symbols, including parables and comparisons in simple language. Jesus drew such comparisons from nature and everyday experience to make spiritual truth clear and memorable, to impress it upon hearers, to hold attention, and to awaken interest and inquiry. Linking the lesson to familiar scenes of life, experience, and nature helps hearers remember it. Figures could also convey direct rebuke to His enemies without giving them grounds to condemn Him.
His parables teach spiritual truths that require study in order to be understood.
Transmission and Earnest Study
The opening to speak in parable and utter ancient truths carries a charge to hand those teachings from parents to children and on through future generations. In that transmission each generation is to come to know God's works, to hope in Him, to remember His deeds, and to keep His commandments rather than repeat rebellion. The inherited telling recounts God's law, praises, strength, and wonderful works so that children learn them and avoid the stubbornness of earlier generations.
The verse opens a psalm worthy of earnest, attentive consideration and study as a source of understanding about eternal realities. Such understanding puts God's people far in advance of where they now stand. The account of rich blessings bestowed on God's people and their poor response to all His benefits is written as admonition and should be studied in schools, including by students.
It presses the solemn work of being fishers of men, arousing to the duty of explaining the truths of the Word to those who do not know them. It calls for beginning earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for those perishing in their sins, with the assurance that those who sow the seeds of truth will reap a rich harvest whose unselfish good no human mind can estimate. It calls for honoring God rather than branching out to consult lawyers and lean on the arm of the law, for coming into harmony with the church instead of giving a divided testimony, and for uniting medical workers and gospel ministers on the true principles of health reform lest point after point of present truth be given up.