Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
The psalm containing this verse was composed as a song for Israel to keep time while marching through the wilderness. It recounts the rich blessings God bestowed on His people and their poor return for all those benefits. The verse describes the children of Israel as constantly working against a good God by testing and provoking Him and by failing to keep His testimonies.
Through disobedience they brought themselves into the condition that was the sure result of their own course of action. In the time of the judges this unfaithfulness led God to forsake the tabernacle at Shiloh and to give the people over to the sword. Under rebuke, chastisement, and punishment they repented and sought God, but not wholeheartedly, for their hearts were not right with Him and they were not steadfast in His covenant, and they fell again under temptation through self-indulgence and self-gratification. Yet God repeatedly forgave them and restrained His anger because He had compassion and remembered that they were frail and mortal.
The psalm is to be read attentively and earnestly considered as a corrective reminder, showing that a solemn work is before God's people, calling them to faithfulness to God and harmony in His work, and showing they should be far in advance of where they now stand in understanding eternal realities. It calls for fishers of men who will arouse to the duty of explaining the truths of the Word to those who do not know them and begin earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for those perishing in sin. Those who sow the seeds of truth will reap a rich harvest, and the amount of good done by unselfish effort no human mind can estimate.
The psalm containing this verse was composed as a song for Israel to keep time while marching through the wilderness. It recounts the rich blessings God bestowed on His people and their poor return for all those benefits. The verse describes the children of Israel as constantly working against a good God by testing and provoking Him and by failing to keep His testimonies.
Through disobedience they brought themselves into the condition that was the sure result of their own course of action. In the time of the judges this unfaithfulness led God to forsake the tabernacle at Shiloh and to give the people over to the sword. Under rebuke, chastisement, and punishment they repented and sought God, but not wholeheartedly, for their hearts were not right with Him and they were not steadfast in His covenant, and they fell again under temptation through self-indulgence and self-gratification. Yet God repeatedly forgave them and restrained His anger because He had compassion and remembered that they were frail and mortal.
The psalm is to be read attentively and earnestly considered as a corrective reminder, showing that a solemn work is before God's people, calling them to faithfulness to God and harmony in His work, and showing they should be far in advance of where they now stand in understanding eternal realities. It calls for fishers of men who will arouse to the duty of explaining the truths of the Word to those who do not know them and begin earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for those perishing in sin. Those who sow the seeds of truth will reap a rich harvest, and the amount of good done by unselfish effort no human mind can estimate.