Psalms 78

Psalms 78:1

Augustine of Hippo: “Hearken ye,” He says, “My people, to My law” [Psalms 78:1]. Whom may we suppose to be here speaking, but God? For it was Himself that gave a law to His people, whom when delivered out of Egypt He gathered together, the which gathering together is properly named a Synagogue, which the word Asaph is interpreted to signify. Hath it then been said, “Understanding of Asaph,” in the sense that Asaph himself has understood; or must it be figuratively understood, in the sense that the same Synagogue, that is, the same people, has understood, unto whom is said, “Hearken, My people, unto My law”? Why is it then that He is rebuking the same people by the mouth of the Prophet, saying, “But Israel has not known Me, and My people has not understood”? [Isaiah 1:3] But, in fact, there were even in that people they that understood, having the faith which was afterwards revealed, not pertaining to the letter of the law, but the grace of the Spirit. For they cannot have been without the same faith, who were able to foresee and foretell the revelation thereof that should be in Christ, inasmuch as even those old Sacraments were significants of those that should be. Had the prophets alone this faith, and not the people too? Nay indeed, but even they that faithfully heard the Prophets, were aided by the same grace in order that they might understand what they heard. But without doubt the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven was veiled in the Old Testament, which in the fullness of time should be unveiled in the New. “For,” says the Apostle, “they did drink of the Spiritual Rock following them, but the Rock was Christ.” [1 Corinthians 10:4] In a mystery therefore theirs was the same meat and drink as ours, but in signification the same, not in form; because the same Christ was Himself figured to them in a Rock, manifested to us in the Flesh. “But,” he says, “not in all of them God was well pleased.” [1 Corinthians 10:5] All indeed ate the same spiritual meat and drank the same spiritual drink, that is to say, signifying something spiritual: but not in all of them was God well pleased. When, he says, “not in all:” there were evidently there some in whom was God well pleased; and although all the Sacraments were common, grace, which is the virtue of the Sacraments, was not common to all. Just as in our times, now that the faith has been revealed, which then was veiled, to all men that have been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, [Matthew 28:19] the Laver of regeneration is common; but the very grace whereof these same are the Sacraments, whereby the members of the Body of Christ are to reign together with their Head, is not common to all. For even heretics have the same Baptism, and false brethren too, in the communion of the Catholic name. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: Divine Scripture commands that, when we have been invited to a rich man’s banquet, we should with understanding put forth our hand to the dishes. And so for us too the banquet of Scriptures has been set out as a rich man’s feast. We have come into a meadow; it has very many flowers: here the rose is red, there the lilies gleam white, there are flowers of every kind. Our soul is drawn this way and that, to gather from wherever it may the more beautiful flowers. If we pick the rose, we leave the lily behind; if we take the lily, the violets are still left for us. So too in the seventy-seventh psalm, which is mystical and wrapped up in very many sacred mysteries, whatever letter you look at, they are flowers, flowers of every kind, and we cannot choose them all. But let us choose all that we can: from a few we can also contemplate the remaining excellence of the flowers.

“The understanding of Asaph.” It is headed with this title. The very title summons us to understanding. Asaph was one of the choir-masters, just as also were the sons of Korah, and Idithun, and the rest. Therefore this man too is one of the prophets from among the choir-masters. Since, then, the understanding is straightforward, and in the psalm a history is narrated, we are compelled of necessity to understand everything that is written according to that understanding. It is written: “In the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis: he split the sea and led them out; he set the waters as if in a wineskin, and led them out in a cloud by day, and all night in the illumination of fire,” and so on. We see that a straightforward history is narrated. If, then, we understand it just as it is written, the title “The understanding of Asaph” has been prefixed for no reason. But if we understand it as the title indicates, we are compelled of necessity to have one thing in the letter and to find another in the spirit.

“Attend, my people, to my law; incline your ear to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter propositions from the beginning.” You see that it is well written above, “The understanding of Asaph.” Indeed, the very prophecy begins thus: “Attend, my people, to my law” — not Moses’ law, but “my law.” “Incline your ear to the words of my mouth.” This is what he says in the Gospel: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:2

Augustine of Hippo: “I will open,” he says, “in parables My mouth, I will declare propositions from the beginning” [Psalms 78:2]. From what beginning he means, is very evident in the words following. For it is not from the beginning, what time the Heaven and earth were made, nor what time mankind was created in the first man: but what time the congregation that was led out of Egypt; in order that the sense may belong to Asaph, which is interpreted a congregation. But O that He that has said, “I will open in parables My mouth,” would also vouchsafe to open our understanding unto them! For if, as He has opened His mouth in parables, He would in like sort open the parables themselves: and as He declares “propositions,” He would declare in like sort the expositions thereof, we should not be here toiling: but now so hidden and closed are all things, that even if we are able by His aid to arrive at anything, whereon we may feed to our health, still we must eat the bread in the sweat of our face; and pay the penalty of the ancient sentence [Genesis 3:19] not with the labour of the body only, but also with that of the heart. Let him speak then, and let us hear the parables and propositions. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “I will open my mouth in parables”: to you I will open what is closed to the Jews; to you I will open my mouth in parables. “And without a parable,” it says, “he did not speak to them”; but to his own disciples he unfolded the parables in private. “I will open my mouth in parables”: what I speak to those others outwardly in parables, to you I will open up inwardly. “I will utter propositions from the beginning.” In place of “propositions” the Hebrew has “riddles (enigmas).” Therefore everything that is said is a riddle.

The riddle is not that which is said, but something else which is signified by the riddle. Let someone say to me: You do violence to Scripture; for since the title has “The understanding of Asaph,” you interpret this saying for me from the person of Christ. If we are Christians (and we are Christians, we who have received the baptism of Christ, and not only confess but also profess it) — because we are Christians, we ought to believe the evangelists. It is written in the Gospel according to Matthew: “When,” it says, “our Lord and Savior had spoken in parables, and those men did not understand,” and the rest of what is written in the Gospel. And afterward what did the evangelist add? “All these things,” he says, “were done, that there might be fulfilled that which is written: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter propositions from the beginning.” You see, therefore, that the evangelist Matthew understands this from the person of Christ. For when he had introduced the Lord speaking in parables, and those men did not understand: “This,” he says, “was done, that there might be fulfilled that which is written, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter propositions from the beginning.”

It seems to us that no question has remained, but attend carefully: for it is my concern not to declaim in the manner of a rhetorician, but to grasp the sense of the Scriptures. Indeed, what did the Lord and Savior himself say? “Search the Scriptures, and there you will find how it is written concerning me.” And he said another thing to the Jews: “You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” See what he says. “You err.” Why? “Not knowing the Scriptures.” But since you do not know the Scriptures, therefore you do not know Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. It is said, then, in Matthew: “These things,” it says, “were done, that there might be fulfilled that which is written in Asaph the prophet.” Thus it is found in all the old codices, but ignorant men removed it.

Indeed, many gospels to this day have it thus: “That there might be fulfilled that which is written through Isaiah the prophet: I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter propositions from the beginning.” This is not spoken by Isaiah, but by Asaph. Indeed, that impious Porphyry too puts forward this very thing against us, and says: “Your evangelist Matthew was so unskilled that he said, that which is written in Isaiah the prophet, I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter propositions from the beginning.” Therefore let us say it simply: just as, in the Gospel, it is written — it is written in Matthew and John that our Lord was crucified at the sixth hour, while again it is written in Mark that he was crucified at the third hour. This seems to be a discrepancy, but it is not a discrepancy. It was an error of the copyists: in Mark too “the sixth hour” had been written, but many, in place of the Greek episēmon (the numeral sign), thought it was a gamma. For just as there it was an error of the copyists, so here too it was an error of the copyists, that in place of Asaph they wrote Isaiah. For not knowing (since the early church was gathered from unskilled Gentiles) — therefore, when they read in the Gospel “That there might be fulfilled that which is written in Asaph the prophet,” the one who first was copying the Gospel began to say: Who is this Asaph the prophet? He was not known among the people. And what did he do? So that while he corrected the error, he made an error. Let us say something similar, and in another place in the Gospel according to Matthew — when Judas brought back the thirty pieces of silver, and the priests were unwilling to accept it or to put it into the corban, since it was the price of blood; and from it they bought the potter’s field for the burial of strangers. The price of Christ is our burial; and that field is called Akeldama, which is “the field of blood.” It is the field of blood of the Jews, but it is our burial. For we were strangers and sojourners, we had nowhere to rest. He was crucified and died, and we were buried together with him. “That there might be fulfilled,” it says, “that which is written in Jeremiah the prophet. He brought back,” it says, “the thirty pieces of silver, the price that was written,” and so on. “As it is written,” it says, “in Jeremiah the prophet.” This is written in Matthew. We searched in Jeremiah, we could not find this at all; but we found it in Zechariah. You see, therefore, that here too there was an error, just as there. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:3

Augustine of Hippo: “How great things we have heard, and have known them, and our fathers have told them to us.” The Lord was speaking higher up. For of what other person could these words be thought to be, “Hearken ye, O My people, to My law”? Why is it then that now on a sudden a man is speaking, for here we have the words of a man, “our fathers have told them to us.” Without doubt God, now about to speak by a man’s ministry, as the Apostle saith, “Will ye to receive proof of Him that is speaking in me, Christ?” in His own person at first willed the words to be uttered, lest a man speaking His words should be despised as a man. For it is thus with the sayings of God which make their way to us through our bodily sense. The Creator moveth the subject creature by an invisible working; not so that the substance is changed into anything corporal and temporal, when by means of corporal and temporal signs, whether belonging to the eyes or to the ears, as far as men are able to receive it, He would make His will to be known. For if an angel is able to use air, mist, cloud, fire, and any other natural substance or corporal species; and man to use face, tongue, hand, pen, letters, or any other significants, for the purpose of intimating the secret things of his own mind: in a word, if, though he is a man, he sendeth human messengers, and he saith to one, “Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to his servant, Do this, and he doeth it;” with how much greater and more effectual power doth God, to whom as Lord all things together are subject, use both the same angel and man, in order that He may declare whatsoever pleaseth Him? …For those things were heard in the Old Testament which are known in the New: heard when they were being prophesied, known when they were being fulfilled. Where a promise is performed, hearing is not deceived. “And our fathers,” Moses and the Prophets, “have told unto us.” — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “How great the things we have heard and known.” These little verses, from “Attend, my people, to my law” up to this verse, “I will utter propositions from the beginning,” are spoken from the person of Christ; the Savior himself speaks. Now the remaining verses, up to the end of the psalm, we must take as from the person of the apostles. When, then, the Lord says, “Incline your ear to the words of my mouth” — O apostles, what you have heard in secret, he says, proclaim upon the rooftops — what do the apostles say? “How great the things we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.” These things, O Lord, which you speak to us, our fathers the patriarchs and the prophets have also spoken to us. “And our fathers have told us.” “They were not hidden from their children unto another generation.” Therefore they spoke, so that we, their children, might know. “And he established a law in Israel. How great the things he commanded our fathers.” He spoke these things carnally, but we understand them spiritually. “That they might make them known to their sons”: this is, to us. Therefore he spoke to them, so that they might pass them on to us. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Pachomius the Great: Instructed by the holy Scriptures and especially by the gospel, Pachomius endured many temptations from the demons. The holy Scriptures did not mention in detail the saints’ struggle, since they used concise language in showing us the way to eternal life. Thus, for example, the law given to our ancestor Abraham was summarized in one saying, “Be well-pleasing before me and be blameless.” But since we are like infants, when our parents break the bread for us, we need to be given as well the true water, as it is written. Therefore, “what we have heard and known and our ancestors have told us should not be hidden from the next generation.” For, as we have been taught, we know that these words of the psalm are about the signs and portents accomplished by God for Moses and those after him. And after the model of the benefit given by them, we have also recognized in the parents of our time their children and imitators, so that to us and “to the rising generation,” until the end of the world, it might be made known that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” — LIFE OF PACHOMIUS (FIRST GREEK) 17

Psalms 78:4

Augustine of Hippo: “They have not been hidden from their sons in another generation.” This is our generation wherein there hath been given to us regeneration. “Telling forth the praises of the Lord and His powers, and His wonderful works which He hath done.” The order of the words is, “and our fathers have told unto us, telling forth the praises of the Lord.” The Lord is praised, in order that He may be loved. For what object can be loved more to our health? “And He hath raised up a testimony in Jacob, and hath set a law in Jacob.” This is the beginning whereof hath been spoken above, “I will declare propositions from the beginning.” So then the beginning is the Old Testament, the end is the New. For fear doth prevail in the law? “But the end of the law is Christ for righteousness to every one believing;” at whose bestowing “love is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which hath been given to us:” and love made perfect doth cast out fear, inasmuch as now without the Law the righteousness of God hath been made manifest. But inasmuch as He hath a testimony by the Law and the Prophets, therefore, “He hath raised up a testimony in Jacob.” For even that Tabernacle which was set up with a work so remarkable and full of such wondrous meanings, is named the Tabernacle of Testimony, wherein was the veil over the Ark of the Law, like the veil over the face of the Minister of the Law; because in that dispensation there were “parables and propositions.” For those things which were being preached and were coining to pass were hidden in veiled meanings, and were not seen in unveiled manifestations. But “when thou shall have passed over unto Christ,” saith the Apostle, “the veil shall be taken away.” For “all the promises of God in Him are yea, Amen.” Whosoever therefore doth cleave to Christ, hath the whole of the good which even in the letters of the Law he perceiveth not: but whosoever is an alien from Christ, doth neither perceive, nor hath. “He hath set a law in Israel.” After his usual custom he is making a repetition. For “He hath raised up a testimony,” is the same as, “He hath set a law,” and “in Jacob,” is the same as “in Israel.” For as these are two names of one man, so law and testimony are two names of one thing. Is there any difference, saith some one, between “hath raised up” and “hath set”? Yea indeed, the same difference as there is between “Jacob” and “Israel:” not because they were two persons, but these same two names were bestowed upon one man for different reasons; Jacob because of supplanting, for that he grasped the foot of his brother at his birth: but Israel because of the vision of God. So “raised up” is one thing, “set” is another. For, “He hath raised up a testimony,” as far as I can judge, hath been said because by it something has been raised up; “For without the Law,” saith the Apostle, “sin was dead: but I lived sometime without the Law: but at the coming in of the commandment sin revived.” Behold that which hath been raised up by the testimony, which is the Law, so that what was lying hidden might appear, as he saith a little afterwards: “But sin, that it might appear sin, through a good thing hath wrought in me death.” But “He hath set a law,” hath been said, as though it were a yoke upon sinners, whence hath been said, “For upon a just man law hath not been imposed.” It is a testimony then, so far forth as it doth prove anything; but a law so far forth as it doth command; though it is one and the same thing. Wherefore just as Christ is a stone, but to believers for the Head of the corner, while to unbelievers a stone of offence and a rock of scandal; so the testimony of the Law to them that use not the Law lawfully, is a testimony whereby sinners are to be convicted as deserving of punishment; but to them that use the same lawfully, is a testimony whereby sinners are shown unto whom they ought to flee in order to be delivered… — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:5

Augustine of Hippo: “How great things,” he says, “He has commanded our fathers, to make the same known to their sons?” [Psalms 78:5]. These words do point out two peoples as it were, the one belonging to the Old Testament, the other to the New: for in that he says, he has implied that they received the commandments, “to make them known to their sons,” but that they did not know or do them: but they received them themselves, to the end “that another generation might know,” what the former knew not. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:6

Augustine of Hippo: “That another generation may know, sons who shall be born and shall rise up, and they may tell to their sons.” These words do point out two peoples as it were, the one belonging to the Old Testament, the other to the New: for in that he saith, he hath implied that they received the commandments, “to make them known to their sons,” but that they did not know or do them: but they received them themselves, to the end “that another generation might know,” what the former knew not. “Sons who shall be born and shall arise.” For they that have been born have not arisen: because they had not their heart above, but rather on the earth. For the arising is with Christ: whence hath been said, “If ye have arisen with Christ, savour ye the things which are above.” “And they may tell them,” he saith, “to their sons, in order that they may put their hope in God.” — On the Psalms: Psalms 78

Jerome: “The sons who shall be born and shall rise up, and shall tell them to their sons.” “In place of your fathers, sons have been born to you.” We are their sons. They told us, and we have told our sons: we are their sons. “That they might place their hope in God.” That they might now no longer believe in idols, but believe in God. “And not forget the works of God.” That they might see the order of creation, and from the creation understand the Creator. “And seek out his commandments.” Let them not despise them like the Jews, but seek them out like Christians. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:7

Augustine of Hippo: “That they may put their hope in God, and may not forget the works of God, and may seek out His commandments” [Psalms 78:7]. “And may not forget the works of God:” that is to say, in magnifying and vaunting their own works, as though they did them themselves; while “God it is that works,” in them that work good things, “both to will and to work according to good will.” [Philippians 2:13] “And may search out His commandments.”…The commandments which He has commanded. How then should they still search out, whereas they have already learned them, save that by putting their hope in God, they do then search out His commandments, in order that by them, with His aid, they may be fulfilled? — Exposition on Psalms 78

Clement of Alexandria: His righteousness cried, “If ye come straight to me, I also will come straight to you but if ye walk crooked, I also will walk crooked saith the Lord of hosts;” meaning by the crooked ways the chastisements of sinners. For the straight and natural way which is indicated by the iota of the name of Jesus is His goodness, which is firm and sure towards those who have believed at hearing: “When I called, ye obeyed not, saith the Lord; but set at nought my counsels, and heeded not my reproofs.” Thus the Lord’s reproof is most beneficial. David also says of them, “A perverse and provoking race; a race which set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful with God: they kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in His law.” Such are the causes of provocation for which the Judge comes to inflict punishment on those that would not choose a life of goodness. Wherefore also afterwards He assailed them more roughly; in order, if possible, to drag them back from their impetuous rush towards death. He therefore tells by David the most manifest cause of the threatening: “They believed not in His wonderful works. When He slew them, they sought after Him, and turned and inquired early after God; and remembered that God was their Helper, and God the Most High their Redeemer.” Thus He knew that they turned for fear, while they despised His love: for, for the most part, that goodness which is always mild is despised; but He who admonishes by the loving fear of righteousness is reverenced. — The Instructor Book 1

Psalms 78:8

Augustine of Hippo: “That they may not become, like their fathers, a crooked and embittering generation: a generation that hath not guided their heart, and the spirit thereof hath not been trusted with God” (ver. 8). These words do point out two peoples as it were, the one belonging to the Old Testament, the other to the New: for in that he saith, he hath implied that they received the commandments, “to make them known to their sons,” but that they did not know or do them: but they received them themselves, to the end “that another generation might know,” what the former knew not. “Sons who shall be born and shall arise.” For they that have been born have not arisen: because they had not their heart above, but rather on the earth. For the arising is with Christ: whence hath been said, “If ye have arisen with Christ, savour ye the things which are above.” …“And may not forget the works of God:” that is to say, in magnifying and vaunting their own works, as though they did them themselves; while “God it is that worketh,” in them that work good things, “both to will and to work according to good will.” “And may search out His commandments.” …The commandments which He hath commanded. How then should they still search out, whereas they have already learned them, save that by putting their hope in God, they do then search out His commandments, in order that by them, with His aid, they may be fulfilled? And he saith why, by immediately subjoining, “and its spirit hath not been trusted with God,” that is, because it had no faith, which doth obtain what the Law doth enjoin. For when the spirit of man doth work together with the Spirit of God working, then there is fulfilled that which God hath commanded: and this doth not come to pass, except by believing in Him that doth justify an ungodly man. Which faith the generation crooked and embittering had not: and therefore concerning the same hath been said, “The spirit thereof hath not been trusted with God.” For this hath been said much more exactly to point out the grace of God, which doth work not only remission of sins, but also doth make the spirit of man to work together therewith in the work of good deeds, as though he were saying, his spirit hath not believed in God. For to have the spirit trusted with God, is, not to believe that his spirit is able to do righteousness without God, but with God. For this is to believe in God: which is surely more than to believe God. For ofttimes we must believe even a man, though in him we must not believe. To believe in God therefore is this, in believing to cleave unto God who worketh good works, in order to work with Him well. … — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “That they might not become like their fathers.” That they might not murmur, as certain ones murmured in the desert and perished; that they might not murmur thus like the Jews, and perish in the desert. “A generation crooked and provoking.” It is not I who say this: your own prophet says this about you. “A generation crooked and provoking.” “An adulterous and most wicked generation seeks a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.” Why did he say “crooked”? “Because they were turned into a crooked bow.” For a bow is never drawn against the one who shoots it, but against the adversaries. But this generation, though it had been created upright by God, and was held in the hand of God like a bow, so that he might shoot arrows through it, was turned like a crooked bow, blaspheming against their Creator.

“A generation which did not direct its heart.” To this day Israel is crooked. “And its spirit was not directed with God.” Since it did not receive the Son, therefore it did not receive the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Holy Spirit, when it descended in the likeness of a dove, did not descend upon the crowds of the Jews, but upon the one Jesus. If, then, you wish, O Jew, to receive the Spirit, believe in Jesus: since the Holy Spirit rests upon Jesus. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:9

Augustine of Hippo: Lastly, “The sons of Ephrem bending and shooting bows, have been turned back in the day of war” [Psalms 78:9]. Following after the law of righteousness, unto the law of righteousness they have not attained. [Romans 9:31] Why? Because they were not of faith. For they were that generation whereof the spirit has not been trusted with God: but they were, so to speak, of works: because they did not, as they bended and shot their bows (which are outward actions, as of the works of the law), so guide their heart also, wherein the just man does live by faith, which works by love; whereby men cleave to God, who works in man both to will and work according to good will. For what else is bending the bow and shooting, and turning back in the day of war, but heeding and purposing in the day of hearing, and deserting in the day of temptation; flourishing arms, so to speak, beforehand, and at the hour of the action refusing to fight? But whereas he says, “bending and shooting bows,” when it would seem that he ought to have said, bending bows and shooting arrows….Some Greek copies to be sure are said to have “bending and shooting with bows,” so that without doubt we ought to understand arrows. But whereas by the sons of Ephrem he has willed that there be understood the whole of that embittering generation, it is an expression signifying the whole by a part. And perhaps this part was chosen whereby to signify the whole, because from these men especially some good thing was to have been expected….Although set at the left hand by his father as being the younger, Jacob nevertheless blessed with his right hand, and preferred him before his elder brother with a benediction of hidden meaning. [Genesis 48:14] …For there was being figured how they were to be last that were first, and first were to be they that were last, [Matthew 20:16] through the Saviour’s coming, concerning whom has been said, “He that is coming after me was made before me.” [John 1:27] In like manner righteous Abel was preferred before the elder brother; so to Ismael Isaac; so to Esau, though born before him, his twin brother Jacob; so also Phares himself preceded even in birth his twin brother, who had first thrust a hand out of the womb, and had begun to be born: so David was preferred before his elder brother: [1 Samuel 16:12] and as the reason why all these parables and others like them preceded, not only of words but also of deeds, in like manner to the people of the Jews was preferred the Christian people, for redeeming the which as Abel by Cain, [Genesis 4:8] so by the Jews was slain Christ. This thing was prefigured even when Jacob stretching out his hands cross-wise, with his right hand touched Ephrem standing on the left; and set him before Manasse standing on the right, whom he himself touched with the left hand. [Genesis 48:14] — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow.” O how great the mysteries, O how many the flowers! I say not a day, but a whole month cannot suffice for the understanding of this psalm. In individual words there are meanings. We have also a treasure in these earthen vessels. Many interpret this of the body and the Holy Spirit: that is, “we have a treasure in earthen vessels.” That understanding indeed exists too. But this one is much better, since we have a most precious treasure in earthen vessels, that is, in the rustic words of the Scriptures. “The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow, were turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God, and in his law they were unwilling to walk. And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders which he showed them.” We read in the books of Kingdoms that under Rehoboam the son of Solomon, Jeroboam the son of Nabat tore the people away from the rest of the people, and led ten tribes into Samaria. But the tribe of Judah and Benjamin remained under the rule of Rehoboam; and many of the tribe of Levi, who dwelt in Jerusalem as priests and Levites, as is written in Chronicles, returned to the temple of God, that is, in Jerusalem. There were, then, three tribes, that is, in Judea: Judah itself the royal tribe, and Benjamin, and afterward the Levites, where they had come from various tribes to the temple. Those, then, who were in Samaria had a king from the tribe of Ephraim. For just as those who reigned in Judea had a king from the tribe of Judah and from the lineage of David, so also those who reigned in Samaria had a king from the tribe of Ephraim, and their kings were called Ephraim. Let us read Hosea the prophet, and we find his whole prophecy against Ephraim; and it is said there: “Ephraim,” it says, “has become like a foolish dove.” See what he says: “a foolish dove.” It has abandoned the temple, and dwells in the woods. For the dove always dwells in houses. But Ephraim, my dove, has abandoned the temple, has abandoned the house, and dwells in the woods, dwells in the deserts.

This much for now according to the letter; for we ought also to set forth the history. But now, after the letter, we ought as if by certain steps to ascend to greater things. Let us say, then, that the sons of Ephraim are all the heretics. For these too have departed from the house of God, and these too have forsaken David and the kingdom of David, and they dwell in the deserts. And they are indeed called doves, because they too read the Scriptures, but they understand them foolishly. There are many things that might be said. “The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow.” Look at all the heretics: who have forsaken Jerusalem, who have forsaken the temple of God, who dwell in Samaria — where did they make the golden calves? In Bethel and in Dan. And see what he says: they made golden calves in Bethel, in the house of God. In the house of God they became idolaters. And they made that thing in Dan, that is, unto their own judgment and unto their condemnation. They forsook the house of the Lord, and they think of nothing else but gold. Let someone say: Why did they make golden calves? Our treasure is stored up in earthen vessels. For the men of the church are rustic and simple, but all the heretics are Aristotelians and Platonists. Indeed, that you may know that all worldly eloquence is called gold — that is, since their tongue, as if for its splendor, is called gold: “Babylon is a golden cup in the hand of the Lord.” See what he says: “Babylon,” of confusion. Therefore this world is a golden cup. From this golden cup all the nations are given drink.

“The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow.” Whomever of the heretics you see, they all have superstitions. “They were turned back in the day of battle.” They do not know him who said, “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you,” but they are prepared for words. They have words; but let them hear that which is written: “Scatter the nations that desire wars.” Let someone say that it is our own opinion. Let us look at what follows. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:10

Augustine of Hippo: But what that is which he saith, “they have been turned back in the day of war,” the following words do teach, wherein he hath most clearly explained this: “they have not kept,” he saith, “the testament of God, and in His law they would not walk.” Behold what is, “they have been turned back in the day of war:” they have not kept the testament of God. When they were bending and shooting bows, they did also utter the words of most forward promise, saying, “Whatsoever things the Lord our God hath spoken we will do, and we will hear.” “They have been turned back in the day of war:” because the promise of obedience not hearing but temptation doth prove. But he whose spirit hath been trusted with God, keepeth hold on God, who is faithful, and “doth not suffer him to be tempted above that which he is able; but will make with the temptation a way of escape also,” that he may be able to endure, and may not be turned back in the day of war. …Therefore these men have been thus branded: “a generation,” he saith, “which hath not directed their heart.” It hath not been said, works, but heart. For when the heart is directed, the works are right; but when the heart is not directed, the works are not right, even though they seem to be right. And how the crooked generation hath not directed the heart, hath sufficiently been shown, when he saith, “and the spirit thereof hath not been trusted with God.” For God is right: and therefore by cleaving to the right, as to an immutable rule, the heart of a man can be made right, which in itself was crooked. … — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “They did not keep the covenant of God, and in his law they were unwilling to walk, and they forgot his benefits.” They rose up against him who regenerated them in baptism. “And his wonders which he showed them: before their fathers the wonders which he did.” See the sense of the Scriptures, how from the sons of Ephraim it comes to past histories; so that it shows that what is written, “I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter propositions from the beginning,” was said parabolically. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:11

Augustine of Hippo: “And they forgat His benefits, and the wonderful works of Him which He showed to them; before their fathers the wonderful things which He did” [Psalms 78:11]. What this is, is not a question to be negligently passed over. Concerning those very fathers he was speaking a little before, that they had been a generation crooked and embittering….What fathers, inasmuch as these are the very fathers, whom he would not have posterity to be like? If we shall take them to be those out of whom the others had derived their being, for example, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, by this time they had long since fallen asleep, when God showed wonderful things in Egypt. For there follows, “in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Thanis” [Psalms 78:12]: where it is said that God showed to them wonderful things before their fathers. Were they perchance present in spirit? For of the same the Lord says in the Gospel, “for all do live to Him.” [Luke 20:38] Or do we more suitably understand thereby the fathers Moses and Aaron, and the other elders who are related in the same Scripture also to have received the Spirit, of which also Moses received, in order that they might aid him in ruling and bearing the same people? [Numbers 11:17] For why should they not have been called fathers? It is not in the same manner as God is the One Father, who does regenerate with His Spirit those whom He does make sons for an everlasting inheritance; but it is for the sake of honour, because of their age and kindly carefulness: just as Paul the elder says, “Not to confound you I am writing these things, but as my dearly beloved sons I am admonishing you:” [1 Corinthians 4:14] though he knew of a truth that it had been said by the Lord, “Call ye no man your father on earth, for One is your Father, even God.” [Matthew 23:9] And this was not said in order that this term of human honour should be erased from our usual way of speaking: but lest the grace of God whereby we are regenerated unto eternal life, should be ascribed either to the power or even sanctity of any man. Therefore when he said, “I have begotten you;” he first said, “in Christ,” and “through the Gospel;” lest that might be thought to be of him, which is of God….Accordingly, the land of Egypt must be understood for a figure of this world. “The plain of Thanis” is the smooth surface of lowly commandment. For lowly commandment is the interpretation of Thanis. In this world therefore let us receive the commandment of humility, in order that in another world we may merit to receive the exaltation which He has promised, who for our sake here became lowly. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:12

Jerome: “Before their fathers the wonders which he did in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis: he split the sea and led them through; he set the waters as if in a wineskin, and led them down in a cloud by day.” Let someone say: You do violence to Scripture: for it is said simply of the people of Israel, when they were led out of the land of Egypt, and therefore it is said according to the history; and we read that the ten tribes forsook God, and became idolaters, and that they followed the golden calves. Let us look at the time in which Asaph the prophet lived. Certainly at that time when David lived. But under David the ten tribes had not yet been separated. David reigned forty years; again Solomon another forty years; after eighty years, later under Rehoboam, the ten tribes were torn away. You see, therefore, that what is said is not said of the ten tribes, but it is prophesied concerning the heretics. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Jerome: “Before their fathers the wonders which he did.” The heretics, then, having forgotten their father, the wonders which he did in the land of Egypt, in the darkness of this world, how he freed them — they were reborn in the church, and afterward, once they were born, the church displeases them. “In the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis”: where idolatry was, where the king of Egypt was, where the horsemen of Egypt were, where Jannes and Mambres the adversaries of Moses were, where idolatry was. We were all in Egypt, and we have been freed by the Lord. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:13

Augustine of Hippo: For He that “did burst asunder the sea and made them go through, did confine the waters as it were in bottles” [Psalms 78:13], in order that the water might stand up first as if it were shut in, is able by His grace to restrain the flowing and ebbing tides of carnal desires, when we renounce this world, so that all sins having been thoroughly washed away, as if they were enemies, the people of the faithful may be made to pass through by means of the Sacrament of Baptism. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “He split the sea and led them through.” The Lord walked upon the sea, and calmed the waves of the sea, and led us through. “He split the sea and led them through.” To this day, O faithful monk, when you are led out of Egypt, the sea is split, and thus you are led out. “He set the waters as if in a wineskin.” In the Hebrew it does not have “wineskin,” but “heap.” — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:14

Augustine of Hippo: He that “led them home in the cloud of the day, and in the whole of the night in the illumination of fire” [Psalms 78:14], is able also spiritually to direct goings if faith cries to Him, “Direct my goings after Your word.” Of Whom in another place is said, “For Himself shall make your courses right, and shall prolong your goings in peace” through Jesus Christ our Lord, whose Sacrament in this world, as it were in the day, is manifest in the flesh, as if in a cloud; but in the Judgment it will be manifest like as in a terror by night; for then there will be a great tribulation of the world like as it were fire, and it shall shine for the just and shall burn for the unjust. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “And he led them down in a cloud by day.” “Behold, the Lord comes into Egypt upon a light cloud.” By the light cloud we ought to understand either, properly, the body of the Savior, because it was light and weighed down by no sin; or certainly by the light cloud we ought to understand holy Mary, weighed down by no human seed. Behold, the Lord comes into the Egypt of this world upon a light cloud, the Virgin.

“And he led them down in a cloud by day.” Beautifully he said “by day”: for that cloud was not in darkness, but always in light. “And all night in the illumination of fire.” “And the darkness is not hidden from you: as the light is to you, so also is the night to you.” “And all night in the illumination of fire.” “Our Lord is a consuming fire.” A consuming fire. He did not say what it consumes: he left the understanding to us. Those who have built upon the foundation of Christ wood, hay, stubble — to them the Lord is a consuming fire. Fire has a twofold nature: it both gives light and burns. If we are sinners, it burns; if we are righteous, it gives us light. — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:15

Augustine of Hippo: “He that burst asunder the rock in the desert, and gave them water as in a great deep” [Psalms 78:15]; “and brought out water from the rock, and brought down waters like rivers” [Psalms 78:16], is surely able upon thirsty faith to pour the gift of the Holy Spirit (the which gift the performance of that thing did spiritually signify), to pour, I say, from the Spiritual Rock that followed, which is Christ: who stood and cried, “If any is thirsty, let him come to Me:” [John 7:37] and, “he that shall have drunk of the water which I shall give, rivers of living water shall flow out of his bosom.” [John 4:14] For this He spoke, as is read in the Gospel, [John 7:39] to the Spirit, which they were to receive that believed in Him, unto whom like the rod drew near the wood of the Passion, in order that there might flow forth grace for believers. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: “He split the rock in the desert.” The rock has been split for us in the wilderness. The rock was struck, and the waters flowed: that rock which says, “Whoever thirsts, let him come and drink”; from whose belly rivers flowed. “And he gave them water to drink as if from a great abyss.” In the desert, where there was no water, an abundance of waters was made for us.

There are many things that might be said, and the psalm is boundless, and we are shut out by time. But let us pray the Lord that for us too he may split the sea, that for us too the rock may pour out waters, lest our corpses too perish and lie with the people in the desert. For you know that the corpses of our fathers lie in the desert to this day. Believe me: as often as I see synagogues, I always have in my mind that which is said by the apostle, that we ought not to exult over the olive tree whose branches were broken, but to fear; since if the natural branches were cut off, how much more should we, who are grafted in from the wild olive, fear lest we become like our fathers, “a generation crooked and provoking, a generation which did not direct its heart, and whose spirit was not held faithful with God.” Since they do not have the Spirit of God, therefore they are dead, and their corpses lie in the desert. I understand their synagogues to be nothing else but tombs in the desert. Read the old books. But let us pray the Lord that these tombs too may rise again. For if the children of Abraham have been made from stones, the children of Adam, who are dead, can rise again, if Jesus wills it. For although they are dead and lie in tombs, even if they are four days dead, even if they stink, Jesus can say to them: “Lazarus, come forth.” — Homily 11, on Psalms 77

Psalms 78:17

Augustine of Hippo: And yet, “they,” like a generation crooked and embittering, “added yet to sin against Him:” that is, not to believe. For this is the sin, whereof the Spirit doth convict the world, as the Lord saith, “Of sin indeed because they have not believed on Me.” “And they exasperated the Most High in drought,” which other copies have, “in a place without water,” which is a more exact translation from the Greek, and doth signify no other thing than drought. Was it in that drought of the desert, or rather in their own? For although they had drank of the rock, they had not their bellies but their minds dry, freshening with no fruitfulness of righteousness. In that drought they ought the more faithfully to have been suppliant unto God, in order that He who had given fulness unto their jaws, might give also equity to their manners. For unto him the faithful soul doth cry, “Let mine eyes see equity.” — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:18

Augustine of Hippo: “And they tempted God in their hearts, in order that they might seek morsels for their souls.” It is one thing to ask in believing, another thing in tempting. Lastly there followeth, “And they slandered God, and said, Shall God be able to prepare a table in the desert?” “For He smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and torrents gushed forth: will He be able to give bread also, or to prepare a table for His people?” Not believing therefore, they sought morsels for their souls. Not so the Apostle James doth enjoin a morsel to be asked for the mind, but doth admonish that it be sought by believers, not by such as tempt and slander God. “But if any one of you,” he saith, “doth lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who doth give to all men abundantly, and doth not upbraid, and it shall be given to him: but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” This faith had not that generation which “had not directed their heart, and the spirit thereof had not been trusted with God.” — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:19

John Chrysostom: And that which in the wilderness seemed to the Jews marvellous, (they said at least, “Can He give bread also? or prepare a table in the wilderness?”) this He shows forth in His works. With this view also He leads them into the wilderness, that the miracle might be very far beyond suspicion, and that no one might think that any village lying near contributed ought to the meal. For this reason He mentions the hour also, not the place only. — Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 49

Psalms 78:21

Augustine of Hippo: “Wherefore the Lord heard, and He delayed, and fire was lighted in Jacob, and wrath went up into Israel.” He hath explained what he hath called fire. He hath called anger fire: although in strict propriety fire did also burn up many men. What is therefore this that he saith, “The Lord heard, and He delayed”? Did He delay to conduct them into the land of promise, whither they were being led: which might have been done in the space of a few days, but on account of sins they must needs be wasted in the desert, where also they were wasted during forty years? And if this be so, He did then delay the people, not those very persons who tempted and slandered God: for they all perished in the desert, and their children journeyed into the land of promise. Or did He delay punishment, in order that He might first satisfy unbelieving concupiscence, lest He might be supposed to be angry, because they were asking of Him what He was not able to do? “He heard,” then, “and He delayed to avenge:” and after He had done what they supposed He was not able to do, then “anger went up upon Israel.” — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:22

Augustine of Hippo: Lastly, when both these things have been briefly touched, afterwards he is evidently following out the order of the narrative. “Because they believed not in God, nor hoped in His saving health.” For when he had told why fire was lighted in Jacob, and anger went up upon Israel, that is to say, “because they believed not in God, nor hoped in His saving health:” immediately subjoining the evident blessings for which they were ungrateful, he saith, “and He commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of Heaven.” “And He rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them bread of Heaven.” “Bread of angels man did eat: dainties He sent them in abundance.” “He brought over the South Wind from Heaven, and in His virtue He led in the South West Wind.” “And He rained upon them fleshes like dust, and winged fowls like the sand of the sea.” “And they fell in the midst of their camp, around their tabernacles.” “And they ate and were filled exceedingly; and their desire He brought to them: they were not deprived of their desire.” Behold why He had delayed. But what He had delayed let us hear. “Yet the morsel was in their mouths, and the anger of God came down upon them.” Behold what He had delayed. For before “He delayed:” and afterwards, “fire was lighted in Jacob and anger went up upon Israel.” He had delayed therefore in order that He might first do what they had believed that He could not do, and then might bring upon them what they deserved to suffer. For if they placed their hope in God, not only would their desires of the flesh but also those of the spirit have been fulfilled. For he that …“opened the doors of Heaven, and rained upon them manna to eat,” that He might fill the unbelieving, is not without power to give to believers Himself the true Bread from Heaven, which the manna did signify: which is indeed the food of Angels, whom being incorruptible the Word of God doth incorruptibly feed: the which in order that man might eat, He became flesh, and dwelled in us. For Himself the Bread by means of the Evangelical clouds is being rained over the whole world, and, the hearts of preachers like heavenly doors, being opened, is being preached not to a murmuring and tempting synagogue, but to a Church believing and putting hope in Him. He is able also to feed the feeble faith of such as tempt not, but believe, with the signs of words uttered by the flesh and speeding through the air, as though it were fowls: not however with such as come from the north, where cold and mist do prevail, that is to say, eloquence which is pleasing to this world, but by bringing over the South Wind from Heaven; whither, except to the earth? In order that they who are feeble in faith, by hearing things earthly may be nourished up to receive things heavenly. … — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:24

Augustine of Hippo: Let us turn back to the one who performed these miracles. He is himself the bread that came down from heaven; but bread that nourishes and never diminishes; bread that can be eaten but cannot be eaten up. This bread was also signified by manna, of which it was said, “He gave them the bread of heaven; people ate the bread of angels. Who can the bread of heaven be, but Christ? But for people to eat the bread of angels, the Lord of angels became a human being. Because if he had not become this, we would not have his flesh; if we did not have his flesh, we would not eat the bread of the altar. — SERMON 130:2

Augustine of Hippo: This is where you are going; the same one is the way by which you are going. You do not go through one thing to something else; you do not come through something else to Christ. You come through Christ to Christ. How through Christ to Christ? Through Christ the man to Christ the God, through the Word made flesh to the Word which in the beginning was God with God, from that which people ate to that which every day the angels eat. For so it was written, “He gave them the bread of heaven; people ate the bread of the angels.” Who is the bread of angels? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” How did people eat the bread of angels? “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” — TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF John 13:4.2

Psalms 78:31

Augustine of Hippo: But as to unbelievers, being a crooked and embittering generation, as it were, while the morsel was yet in their mouths, “the anger of God went up upon them, and it slew among the most of them”: that is, the most of them, or as some copies have it, “the fat ones of them,” which however in the Greek copies which we had, we did not find. But if this be the truer reading, what else must be understood by “the fat ones of them,” than men mighty in pride, concerning whom is said, “their iniquity shall come forth as if out of fat”? “And the elect of Israel He fettered.” Even there there were elect, with whose faith the generation crooked and embittering was not mixed. But they were fettered, so that they might in no sort profit them for whom they desired that they might provide from a fatherly affection. For what is conferred by human mercy, on those with whom God is angry? Or rather hath He willed it to be understood, how that even the elect were fettered at the same time with them, in order that they who were diverse both in mind and in life, might endure sufferings with them for an example not only of righteousness, but also of patience? For we have learned that holy men were even led captive with sinners for no other reason; since in the Greek copies we read not ἐνεπόδισεν, which is “fettered;” but συνεπόδισεν, which is rather “fettered together with.” — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:32

Augustine of Hippo: But the generation crooked and embittering, “in all these things sinned yet more, and they believed not in His wonderful works.” “And in their days failed in vanity.” Though they might, if they had believed have had days in truth without failing, with Him to whom hath been said, “Thy years shall not fail.” Therefore, “their days failed in vanity, and their years with haste.” For the whole life of mortal men is hastening, and that which seemeth to be longer is but a vapour of somewhat longer duration. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:33

Augustine of Hippo: “And in their days failed in vanity.” Though they might, if they had believed, have had days in truth without failing, with Him to whom has been said, “Your years shall not fail.” Therefore, “their days failed in vanity, and their years with haste.” For the whole life of mortal men is hastening, and that which seems to be longer is but a vapour of somewhat longer duration. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:34

Augustine of Hippo: Nevertheless, “when he slew them they sought Him:” not for the sake of eternal life, but fearing to end the vapour too soon. There sought Him then, not indeed those whom He had slain, but they that were afraid of being slain according to the example of them. But the Scripture has so spoken of them as if they sought God who were slain; because they were one people, and it is spoken as if of one body: “and they returned, and at dawn they came to God” [Psalms 78:34]. “And they remembered that God is their Helper, and the High God is their Redeemer” [Psalms 78:35]. But all this is for the sake of acquiring temporal good things, and for avoiding temporal evil things. For they that did seek God for the sake of temporal blessings, sought not God indeed, but things. Thus with those God is worshipped with slavish fear, not free love. Thus then God is not worshipped, for that thing is worshipped which is loved. Whence because God is found to be greater and better than all things, He must be loved more than all things, in order that He may be worshipped. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:36

Augustine of Hippo: Lastly, here let us see the words following: “And they loved Him,” he says, “in their mouth, and in their tongue they lied unto Him” [Psalms 78:36]. “But their heart was not right with Him, and they were not counted faithful in His Testament” [Psalms 78:37]. One thing on their tongue, another thing in their heart He found, unto whom the secret things of men are naked, and without any impediment He saw what they loved rather. Therefore the heart is right with God, when it does seek God for the sake of God. For one thing he desired of the Lord, the same he will require, that he may dwell always in the House of the Lord, and may meditate on the pleasantness of Him. Unto Whom says the heart of the faithful, I will be filled, not with the flesh-pots of the Egyptians, nor with melons and gourds, and garlick and onions, which a generation crooked and embittering did prefer even to bread celestial, [Exodus 16:3] nor with visible manna, and those same winged fowls; but, “I will be filled, when Your glory shall be made manifest.” For this is the inheritance of the New Testament, wherein they were not counted faithful; whereof however the faith even at that time, when it was veiled, was in the elect, and now, when it has already been revealed, it is not in many that are called. “For many have been called, but few are elect.” [Matthew 20:16] Of such sort therefore was the generation crooked and embittering, even when they were seeming to seek God, loving in mouth, and in tongue lying; but in heart not right with God, while they loved rather those things, for the sake of which they required the help of God. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Clement of Rome: Let us cleave, therefore, to those who cultivate peace with godliness, and not to those who hypocritically profess to desire it. For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” [Isaiah 29:13] And again: “They bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart.” [Psalms 62:4] And again it saith, “They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His covenant.” [Psalms 78:36-37] “Let the deceitful lips become silent,” [and “let the Lord destroy all the lying lips, ] and the boastful tongue of those who have said, Let us magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, and for the sighing of the needy, will I now arise, saith the Lord: I will place him in safety; I will deal confidently with him.” [Psalms 12:3-5] — Clement’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 15

Psalms 78:38

Augustine of Hippo: “But He is Himself merciful, and will become propitious to their sins, and He will not destroy them. And He will abound to turn away His anger, and He will not kindle all his anger.” By these words many men promise to themselves impunity for their iniquity from the Divine Mercy, even if they shall have persevered in being such, as that generation is described, “crooked and embittering; which hath not directed their heart, and the spirit thereof hath not been trusted with God:” with whom it is not profitable to agree. For if, to speak in their words, God will perchance not destroy no not even bad men, without doubt He will not destroy good men. Why then do we not rather choose that wherein there is no doubt? For they that lie to Him in their tongue, though their heart doth hold some other thing, do think indeed, and will, even God to be a liar, when He doth menace upon such men eternal punishment. But whilst they do not deceive Him with their lying, He doth not deceive them with speaking the truth. These words therefore of divine sayings, concerning which the crooked generation doth cajole itself, let it not make crooked like its own heart: for even when it is made crooked, they continue right. For at first they may be understood according to that which is written in the Gospel, “that ye may be like your Father who is in the Heavens, who maketh His sun to rise upon good men and evil men, and raineth upon just men and unjust men.” For who could not see, how great is the long-suffering of mercy with which He is sparing evil men? But before the Judgment, He spared then that nation in such sort, that He kindled not all His anger, utterly to root it up and bring it to an end: which thing in His words and in the intercession for their sins of His servant Moses doth evidently appear, where God saith, “Let Me blot them out, and make thee into a great nation:” he intercedeth, being more ready to be blotted out for them than that they should be; knowing that he is doing this before One Merciful, who inasmuch as by no means He would blot out him, would even spare them for his sake. For let us see how greatly He spared, and doth still spare… — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:39

Augustine of Hippo: “And He remembered that they are flesh, a spirit going and not returning” [Psalms 78:39]. Therefore calling them and pitying them through His grace, He called them back Himself, because of themselves they could not return. For how does flesh return, “a spirit walking and not turning back,” while a weight of evil deserts does weigh it down unto the lowest and far places of evil, save through the election of grace?…For thus also is solved this no unimportant question, how it is written in the Proverbs, when the Scripture was speaking of the way of iniquity, “all they that walk in her shall not return.” [Proverbs 2:19] For it has been so spoken as if all ungodly men were to be despaired of: but the Scripture did only commend grace; for of himself man is able to walk in that way, but is not able of himself to return, except when called back by grace. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:40

Augustine of Hippo: I say then of these crooked and embittering persons, “How often they exasperated Him in the desert, and provoked Him to wrath in the waterless place!” [Psalms 78:40]. “And they turned themselves and tempted God, and exasperated the Holy One of Israel” [Psalms 78:41]. He is repeating that same unbelief of theirs, of which He had made mention above. But the reason of the repetition is, in order that there may be mentioned also the plagues which He inflicted on the Egyptians for their sakes: all which things they certainly ought to have remembered, and not to be ungrateful. Lastly, there follows what? “They remembered not His hands, in the day when He redeemed them from the hand of the troubler” [Psalms 78:42]. And he begins to speak of what things He did to the Egyptians: “He set in Egypt His signs, and His prodigies in the plain of Thanis” [Psalms 78:43]: “and He turned their rivers into blood, and their showers lest they should drink” [Psalms 78:44], or rather, “the flowings of waters,” as some do better understand by what is written in Greek, τὰ ὀμβρήματα, which in Latin we call scaturigines, waters bubbling from beneath. “He sent upon them the dog-fly, and it ate them up; and the frog, and it destroyed them” [Psalms 78:45]. “And He gave their fruit to the mildew, and their labours to the locust” [Psalms 78:46]. “And He slew with hail their vineyards, and their mulberry trees with frost” [Psalms 78:47]. “And He gave over to the hail their beasts of burden, and their possessions to the fire” [Psalms 78:48]. “He sent upon them the anger of His indignation, indignation and anger and tribulation, a visitation through evil angels” [Psalms 78:49]. He made a way to the course of His anger, and their beasts of burden He shut up in death [Psalms 78:50]. “And He smote every first-born thing in the land of Egypt, the first-fruits of their labours in the tabernacles of Cham” [Psalms 78:51]. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:45

Hippolytus of Rome: “He destroyed their vine with hail, and their sycamines with frost.”

Now, just as, in consequence of an irregular mode of living, a deadly bilious humour may be formed in the inwards, which the physician by his art may bring on to be a sick-vomiting, without being himself chargeable with producing the sick humour in the man’s body; for excess in diet was what produced it, while the physician’s science only made it show itself; so, although it may be said that the painful retribution that falls upon those who are by choice wicked comes from God, it would be only in accordance with right reason, to think that ills of that kind find both their beginnings and their causes in ourselves. For to one who lives without sin there is no darkness, no worm, no hell (Gehenna), no fire, nor any other of these words or things of terror; just as the plagues of Egypt were not for the Hebrews,-those fine lice annoying with invisible bites, the dog-fly fastening on the body with its painful sting, the hurricanes from heaven falling upon them with hailstones, the husbandman’s labours devoured by the locusts, the darkened sky, and the rest. It is God’s counsel, indeed, to tend the true vine, and to destroy the Egyptian, while sparing those who are to “eat the grape of gall, and drink the deadly venom of asps.” And the sycamine of Egypt is utterly destroyed; not, however, that one which Zaccheus climbed that he might be able to see my Lord. And the fruits of Egypt are wasted, that is, the works of the flesh, but not the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, and peace. — Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LXXVII. Or LXXVIII.

Psalms 78:48

Hippolytus of Rome: “He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their substance to the fire.”

Symmachus renders it: “Who gave up their cattle to the plague, and their possessions to birds.” For, having met an overwhelming overthrow, they became a prey for carnivorous birds, But, according to the Seventy, the sense is not that the hail destroyed their cattle, and the fire the rest of their substance, but that hail, falling in an extraordinary manner along with fire, destroyed utterly their vines and sycamines first of all, which were entirely unable to stand out against the first attack; then the cattle which grazed on the plains; and then every herb and tree, which the fire accompanying the hail consumed; and the affair was altogether portentous, as fire ran with the water, and was commingled with it. “For fire ran in the hail,” he says; and it was thus hail, and fire burning in the hail. David also calls the cattle and the fruit of the trees “substance,” or “riches.” And it should be observed that, though the hail is recorded to have destroyed every herb and every tree, yet there were left some which the locust, as it came upon them after the fiery hail, consumed; of which it is said, that it eats up every herb, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail left behind it. Now, in a spiritual sense, there are some sheep belonging to Christ, and others belonging to the Egyptians. Those, however, which once belonged to others may become His, as the sheep of Laban became Jacob’s; and contrariwise. Whichever of the sheep, moreover, Jacob rejected, he made over to Esau. Beware, then, lest, being found in the flock of Jesus, you be set apart when gifts are sent to Esau, and be given over to Esau as reprobate and unworthy of the spiritual Jacob. The single-minded are the sheep of Christ, and these God saves according to the word: “O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.” They who in their folly attach themselves to godless doctrine, are the sheep of the Egyptians, and these, too, are destroyed by the hail. And whatsoever the Egyptians possess is given over to the fire, but Abraham’s substance is given to Isaac. — Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LXXVII. Or LXXVIII.

Psalms 78:49

Hippolytus of Rome: “He discharged upon them the wrath of His anger;-anger, and wrath, and tribulation, a visitation by evil angels.”

Under anger, wrath, and tribulation, he intended bitter punishments; for God is without passion. And by anger you will understand the lesser penalties, and by wrath the greater, and by tribulation the greatest. The angels also are called evil, not because they are so in their nature, or by their own will, but because they have this office, and are appointed to produce pains and sufferings,-being so called, therefore, with reference to the disposition of those who endure such things; just as the day of judgment is called the evil day, as being laden with miseries and pains for sinners. To the same effect is the word of Isaiah, “I, the Lord, make peace, and create evil; " meaning by that, I maintain peace, and permit war. — Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LXXVII. Or LXXVIII.

Psalms 78:50

Augustine of Hippo: But as far as regards the present passage of this Psalm, if we dare not ascribe those things which were marvellously formed out of creatures, to evil angels; we have a thing which without doubt we can ascribe to them; the dyings of the beasts, the dyings of the first-born, and this especially whence all these things proceeded, namely, the hardening of heart, so that they would not let go the people of God. [Exodus 4:21] For when God is said to make this most iniquitous and malignant obstinacy, He makes it not by suggesting and inspiring, but by forsaking, so that they work in the sons of unbelief that which God does duly and justly permit. [Ephesians 2:2] …Moreover, those evil manners which we said were signified by these corporal plagues, on account of that which was said before, “I will open in parables my mouth,” are most appropriately believed by means of evil angels to have been wrought in those that are made subject to them by Divine justice. For neither when that comes to pass of which the apostle speaks, “God gave them over into the lusts of their heart, that they should do things which are not convenient,” can it be but that those evil angels dwell and rejoice therein, as in the matter of their own work: unto whom most justly is human haughtiness made subject, in all save those whom grace does deliver. “And for these things who is sufficient?” [2 Corinthians 2:16] Whence when he had said, “He sent unto them the anger of His indignation, indignation and anger and tribulation, an infliction through evil angels;” for this which he has added, “a way He has made for the path of His anger” [Psalms 78:50], whose eye, I pray, is sufficient to penetrate, so that it may understand and take in the sense lying hidden in so great a profundity? For the path of the anger of God was that whereby He punished the ungodliness of the Egyptians with hidden justice: but for that same path He made a way, so that drawing them forth as it were from secret places by means of evil angels unto manifest offenses, He most evidently inflicted punishment upon those that were most evidently ungodly. From this power of evil angels nothing does deliver man but the grace of God, whereof the Apostle speaks, “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love:” [Colossians 1:13] of which things that people did bear the figure, when they were delivered from the power of the Egyptians, and translated into the kingdom of the land of promise flowing with milk and honey, which does signify the sweetness of grace. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:52

Augustine of Hippo: The Psalm proceedeth then after the commemoration of the plagues of the Egyptians and saith, “And He took away like sheep His people, and He led them through like a flock in the desert.” This cometh to pass to so much the greater good, as it is a more inward thing, wherein being delivered from the power of darkness, we are in mind translated into the Kingdom of God, and with respect to spiritual pastures we are made to become sheep of God, walking in this world as it were in a desert, inasmuch as to no one is our faith observable: whence saith the Apostle, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” But we are being led home in hope, “For by hope we are saved.” Nor ought we to fear. For, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” And our enemies the sea hath covered, He hath effaced them in baptism by the remission of sins. — On the Psalms: Psalms 78

Basil of Caesarea: The Spirit speaks with the authority of the Lord: “The Spirit said to [Peter], ‘Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation; for I have sent them.’ " Are these the words of an abject inferior? “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Does a slave give commands like this? Isaiah says, “The Lord God and his Spirit have sent me,” and “the Spirit came down from the Lord and led them.” Do not try again to convince me that this “leading” by the Spirit is some lowly service. Scripture testifies that it is the work of God: “He led forth his people like sheep,” it says, and “You who lead Joseph like a flock,” and “He led them in safety so that they were not afraid.” Therefore, when you hear that “the Comforter will bring to remembrance all that I have said to you and will guide you into all truth,” do not quibble over the meaning. — ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 19:49

Psalms 78:53

Augustine of Hippo: “And He led them down in hope, and they feared not, and their enemies the sea covered” [Psalms 78:53]. But we are being led home in hope, “For by hope we are saved.” [Romans 8:24] Nor ought we to fear. For, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” [Romans 8:31] And our enemies the sea has covered, He has effaced them in baptism by the remission of sins. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:54

Augustine of Hippo: In the next place there followeth, “And He led them into the mountain of His sanctification.” How much better into Holy Church! “The mountain which His right hand hath gotten.” How much higher is the Church which Christ hath gotten, concerning whom has been said, “And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” — On the Psalms: Psalms 78

Psalms 78:55

Augustine of Hippo: “And He cast forth from the face of them the nations.” And from the face of His faithful. For nations in a manner are the evil spirits of Gentile errors. “And by lot He divided unto them the land in the cord of distribution.” And in us “all things one and the same Spirit doth work, dividing severally to every one as He willeth.” — On the Psalms: Psalms 78

Augustine of Hippo: “And He made to dwell in their tabernacles the tribes of Israel.” In the tabernacles, he saith, of the Gentiles He made the tribes of Israel to dwell, which I think can better be explained spiritually, inasmuch as unto celestial glory, whence sinning angels have been cast forth and cast down, by Christ’s grace we are being uplifted. — On the Psalms: Psalms 78

Psalms 78:56

Augustine of Hippo: For that generation crooked and embittering, inasmuch as for these corporal blessings they put not off the coat of oldness, “Did tempt” yet, “and provoked the high God, and His testimonies they kept not: and they turned them away, and they kept not the covenant, like their fathers.” For under a sort of covenant and decree they said, “All things which our Lord God hath spoken we will do, and we will hear.” It is a remarkable thing indeed which he saith, “like their fathers:” while throughout the whole text of the Psalm he was seeming to speak of the same men as it were, yet now it appeareth that the words did concern those who were already in the land of promise, and that the fathers spoken of were of those who did provoke in the desert. “They were turned,” he saith, “into a crooked,” or, as some copies have it, “into a perverse bow.” But what this is doth better appear in that which followeth, where he saith, “And unto wrath they provoked Him with their hills.” It doth signify that they leaped into idolatry. The bow then was perverted, not for the name of the Lord, but against the name of the Lord: who said to the same people, “Thou shalt have none other Gods but Me.” But by the bow He doth signify the mind’s intention. This same idea, lastly, more clearly working out, “And in their graven idols,” he saith, “they provoked Him to indignation.” — On the Psalms: Psalms 78

Psalms 78:59

Augustine of Hippo: “God heard, and He despised:” that is, He gave heed and took vengeance. “And unto nothing He brought Israel exceedingly” [Psalms 78:60]. For when God despised, what were they who by God’s help were what they were? But doubtless he is commemorating the doing of that thing, when they were conquered by the Philistines in the time of Heli the priest, and the Ark of the Lord was taken, and with great slaughter they were laid low. This it is that he speaks of. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:60

Augustine of Hippo: “And He rejected the tabernacle of Selom, His tabernacle, where He dwelled among men” [Psalms 78:61]. He has elegantly explained why He rejected His tabernacle, when he says, “where He dwelled among men.” When therefore they were not worthy for Him to dwell among, why should He not reject the tabernacle, which indeed not for Himself He had established, but for their sakes, whom now He judged unworthy for Him to dwell among. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:61

Augustine of Hippo: “And He gave over unto captivity their strength, and their beauty unto the hands of the enemy.” The very Ark whereby they thought themselves invincible, and whereon they plumed themselves, he calleth their “virtue” and “beauty.” Lastly, also afterward, when they were living ill, and boasting of the temple of the Lord, He doth terrify them by a Prophet, saying, “See ye what I have done to Selom, where was My tabernacle.” — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:62

Augustine of Hippo: “And He ended with the sword His people, and His inheritance He despised” [Psalms 78:62]. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:63

Augustine of Hippo: “Their young men the fire devoured:” that is, wrath. “And their virgins mourned not” [Psalms 78:63]. For not even for this was there leisure, in fear of the foe. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:64

Augustine of Hippo: “Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows were not lamented” [Psalms 78:64]. For there fell by the sword the sons of Heli, of one of whom the wife being widowed, and presently dying in child-birth, [1 Samuel 4:19] because of the same confusion could not be mourned with the distinction of a funeral. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:65

Augustine of Hippo: “And the Lord was awakened as one sleeping” [Psalms 78:65]. For He seems to sleep, when He gives His people into the hands of those whom He hates, when there is said to them, “Where is your God?” “He was awakened, then, like one sleeping, like a mighty man drunken with wine.” No one would dare to say this of God, save His Spirit. For he has spoken, as it seems to ungodly men reviling; as if like a drunken man He sleeps long, when He succours not so speedily as men think. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Jerome: [Daniel 9:14] “‘And the Lord hath kept watch over the evil and hath brought it upon us…’” Whenever we are rebuked because of our sins, God is keeping watch over us and visiting us with chastenment. But whenever we are left alone by God and we do not suffer judgment but are unworthy of the Lord’s rebuke, then He is said to slumber. And so we read in the Psalms as well: “The Lord has risen up as one who was slumbering or as a man out of a drunken sleep” (Psalms 78:65). For our wickedness and iniquity inflames God with wine, and whenever it is rebuked in our case, God is said to be keeping careful watch and to be rising up out of His drunken sleep, in order that we who are drunken with sin may be made to pay careful heed unto righteousness. — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER NINE

Theodoret of Cyrus: The blessed David fell into several errors, which God, who wisely orders all things, has caused to be recorded for the good of them that were to come after. But it was not on their account that Absalom, parricide, murderer, impious and altogether vile, started his wild war against his father. The reason of his beginning that most unrighteous struggle was because he coveted the sovereignty. The divine David, however, when these events were coming to pass, began to remember the wrong that he had done. I too am conscious within myself of the guilt of many errors, but I have kept undefiled the dogmatic teaching of the apostles. And they who have trampled on all laws human and divine and condemned me in my absence have not sentenced me for what I have done wrong, for my secret deeds are not made manifest to them; but they have contrived false witness and false charges against me, or rather in their open attack on the doctrines of the apostles have proscribed me for my obedience to them. “So the Lord awoke as one out of sleep; he put his enemies to rout and put them to everlasting disgrace.” Counterfeit and spurious doctrines he has scattered to the winds, and he has provided for the free preaching of those which he has handed down to us in the holy Gospels. To me this suffices for complete delight. I do not even long for a city in which I have passed all my time in hard work; all I long for is to see the establishment of the truth of the Gospels. And now the Lord has satisfied this longing. I am therefore very glad and happy, and I sing praises to our generous Lord, and I invite your honor to rejoice with me, and, with our praises, to put up the earnest prayer that the people who say now one thing and now another and change about to suit the hour, like the chameleons who assume the color of the leaves, may be strengthened by the loving-kindness of the Lord, established on the rocks and, of his mercy, made to pay the highest honor to the truth. — LETTER 137

Psalms 78:66

Augustine of Hippo: “And He smote His enemies in the hinder parts” [Psalms 78:66]: those, to wit, who were rejoicing that they were able to take His Ark: for they were smitten in their back-parts. [1 Samuel 5:6] Which seems to me to be a sign of that punishment, wherewith a man will be tortured, if he shall have looked back upon things behind; which, as says the Apostle, he ought to value as dung. [Philippians 3:8] For they that do so receive the Testament of God, as that they put not off from them the old vanity, are like the hostile nations, who did place the captured Ark of the Testament beside their own idols. And yet those old things even though these be unwilling do fall: for “all flesh is hay, and the glory of man as the flower of hay. The hay has dried up, and the flower has fallen off:” [Isaiah 40:6-7] but the Ark of the Lord “abides for everlasting,” to wit, the secret testament of the kingdom of Heaven, where is the eternal Word of God. But they that have loved things behind, because of these very things most justly shall be tormented. For “everlasting reproach He has given to them.” [Psalms 78:67]. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:68

Augustine of Hippo: “And He rejected,” he saith, “the tabernacle of Joseph, and the tribe of Ephraim He chose not” (ver. 68). “And He chose the tribe of Judah” (ver. 69). He hath not said, He rejected the tabernacle of Reuben, who was the first-born son of Jacob; nor them that follow, and precede Judah in order of birth; so that they being rejected and not chosen, the tribe of Judah was chosen. For it might have been said that they were deservedly rejected; because even in the blessing of Jacob wherewith he blessed his sons, he mentioneth their sins, and deeply abhorreth them; though among them the tribe of Levi merited to be the priestly tribe, whence also Moses was. Nor hath he said, He rejected the tabernacle of Benjamin, or the tribe of Benjamin He chose not, out of which a king already had begun to be; for thence there had been chosen Saul; whence because of the very proximity of the time, when he had been rejected and refused, and David chosen, this might conveniently have been said; but yet was not said: but he hath named those especially who seemed to excel for more surpassing merits. For Joseph fed in Egypt his father and his brethren, and having been impiously sold, because of his piety, chastity, wisdom, he was most justly exalted; and Ephraim by the blessing of his grandfather Jacob was preferred before his elder brother: and yet God “rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and the tribe of Ephraim He chose not.” In which place by these names of renowned merit, what else do we understand but that whole people with old cupidity requiring of the Lord earthly rewards, rejected and refused, but the tribe of Judah chosen not for the sake of the merits of that same Judah? For far greater are the merits of Joseph, but by the tribe of Judah, inasmuch as thence arose Christ according to the flesh, the Scripture doth testify of the new people of Christ preferred before that old people, the Lord opening in parables His mouth. Moreover, thence also in that which followeth, “the Mount Sion which He chose,” we do better understand the Church of Christ, not worshipping God for the sake of the carnal blessings of the present time, but from afar looking for future and eternal rewards with the eyes of faith: for Sion too is interpreted a “looking out.” — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:70

Augustine of Hippo: Lastly there follows, “and He built like as of unicorns His sanctification” [Psalms 78:70]: or, as some interpreters have made thereof a new word, “His sanctifying.” The unicorns are rightly understood to be those, whose firm hope is uplifted unto that one thing, concerning which another Psalm says, “One thing I have sought of the Lord, this I will require.” But the sanctifying of God, according to the Apostle Peter, is understood to be a holy people and a royal priesthood. [1 Peter 2:9] But that which follows, “in the land which He founded for everlasting:” which the Greek copies have εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, whether it be called by us “for everlasting,” or “for an age,” is at the pleasure of the Latin translators; forasmuch as it does signify either: and therefore the latter is found in some Latin copies, the former in others. Some also have it in the plural, that is, “for ages:” which in the Greek copies which we have had we have not found. But which of the faithful would doubt, that the Church, even though, some going, others coming, she does pass out of this life in mortal manner, is yet founded for everlasting? — Exposition on Psalms 78

Philoxenus of Mabbug: David sheweth in a psalm that he was chosen from a station which taught simplicity, for he was chosen from following the sheep, even as he himself confesseth and calleth to mind his election in one of his psalms, saying, “He chose David His servant, and took him from following a flock of sheep, and from after the ewes that gave suck.” — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 – On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity

Psalms 78:71

Augustine of Hippo: “And He chose David His servant” [Psalms 78:71]. The tribe, I say, of Judah, for the sake of David: but David for the sake of Christ: the tribe then of Judah for the sake of Christ. At whose passing by blind men cried out, “Have pity on us, Son of David:” [Matthew 20:30] and immediately by His pity they received light, because true was the thing which they cried out. This then the Apostle does not cursorily speak of, but does heedfully notice, writing to Timothy, “Be thou mindful, that Christ Jesus has risen from the dead, of the seed of David,” etc. [2 Timothy 2:8] Therefore the Saviour Himself, made according to the flesh of the seed of David, is figured in this passage under the name of David, the Lord opening in parables His mouth. And let it not move us, that when he had said, “and He chose David,” under which name he signified Christ, he has added, “His servant,” not His Son. Yea even hence we may perceive, that not the substance of the Only-Begotten coeternal with the Father, but the “form of a servant” was taken of the seed of David. — Exposition on Psalms 78

Psalms 78:72

Augustine of Hippo: “And He took him from the flocks of sheep, from behind the teeming sheep He received him: to feed Jacob His servant, and Israel His inheritance” [Psalms 78:72]. This David indeed, of whose seed the flesh of Christ is, from the pastoral care of cattle was translated to the kingdom of men: but our David, Jesus Himself, from men to men, from Jews to Gentiles, was yet according to the parable from sheep to sheep taken away and translated. For there are not now in that land “Churches of Judæa in Christ,” which belonged to them of the circumcision after the recent Passion and Resurrection of our Lord, of whom says the Apostle, “But I was unknown by face to the Churches of Judæa, which are in Christ,” etc. [Galatians 1:22-23] Already from hence those Churches of the circumcised people have passed away: and thus in Judæa, which now does exist on the earth, there is not now Christ. He has been removed thence, now He does feed flocks of Gentiles. Truly from behind teeming sheep He has been taken thence. For those former Churches were of such sort, as that of them it is said in the Song of Songs, “Your teeth— are like a flock of shorn ewes going up from the washing, all of which do bear twins, and a barren one is not among them.” [Song of Songs 4:2] For they then laid aside like as it were fleeces the burdens of the world, [Acts 2:45] when before the feet of the Apostles they laid the prices of their sold goods, [Acts 4:34-35] going up from that Laver, concerning which the apostle Peter does admonish them, when they were troubled because they had shed the blood of Christ, and he says, “Repent ye, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you.” [Acts 2:38] But twins they begot, the works, to wit, of the two commandments of twin love, love of God, and love of one’s neighbour: whence a barren one there was not among them. From behind these teeming sheep our David having been taken, does now feed other flocks among the Gentiles, and those too “Jacob” and “Israel.” For thus has been said, “to feed Jacob His servant, and Israel His inheritance.”…Unless perchance any one be willing to make such a distinction as this; viz. that in this time Jacob serves; but he will be the eternal inheritance of God, at that time when he shall see God face to face, whence he has received the name Israel. [Genesis 32:28] — Exposition on Psalms 78

Philoxenus of Mabbug: And teaching that his kingdom also was governed by simplicity David saith, “He pastured them in the integrity of his heart,” and it is manifest that integrity is simplicity. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 – On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity

Psalms 78:73

Augustine of Hippo: “And He fed them,” he saith, “in the innocence of His heart” (ver. 73). What can be more innocent than He, who not only had not any sin whereby to be conquered, but even not any to conquer? “And in the understanding of His hands He led them home:” or, as some copies have it, “in the understandings of His hands.” Any other man might suppose that it would have been better had it been said thus, “in innocence of hands and understanding of heart;” but He who knew better than others what He spake, preferred to join with the heart innocence, and with the hands understanding. It is for this reason, as far as I judge; because many men think themselves innocent, who do not evil things because they fear lest they should suffer if they shall have done them; but they have the will to do them, if they could with impunity. Such men may seem to have innocence of hands, but yet not that of heart. And what, I pray, or of what sort is that innocence, if of heart it is not, where man was made after the image of God? But in this which he saith, “in understanding (or intelligence) of His hands He led them home,” he seemeth to me to have spoken of that intelligence which He doth Himself make in believers: and so “of His hands:” for making doth belong to the hands, but in the sense wherein the hands of God may be understood; for even Christ was a Man in such sort, that He was also God. … — Exposition on Psalms 78