:
1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. 9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. 10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; 11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. 12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. 14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. 15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. 16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. 17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. 18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. 19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? 21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; 22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: 23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. 25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full. 26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. 27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: 28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. 29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; 30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. 32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. 33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. 34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God. 35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. 36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. 37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. 38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. 39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. 40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. 43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: 44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. 45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. 47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. 48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. 49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. 50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; 51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: 52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. 55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: 57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. 58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. 59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: 60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; 61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand. 62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance. 63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. 64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation. 65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. 66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach. 67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. 69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever. 70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: 71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. 72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
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[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:1
"Hearken ye," He says, "My people, to My law" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 60] Matthew on Psalms 78:2
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. [Psalms 78:2]
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:2
"I will open," he says, "in parables My mouth, I will declare propositions from the beginning" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 348] Pachomius the Great on Psalms 78:3
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.”

Source: LIFE OF PACHOMIUS (FIRST GREEK) 17
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:3
"How great things we have heard, and have known them, and our fathers have told them to us" [Psalm 78:3]. 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 says, "Will ye to receive proof of Him that is speaking in me, Christ?" [2 Corinthians 13:3] 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 moves 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 sends human messengers, and he says to one, "Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to his servant, Do this, and he does it;" [Luke 7:8] with how much greater and more effectual power does God, to whom as Lord all things together are subject, use both the same angel and man, in order that He may declare whatsoever pleases 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."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:4-5
"They have not been hidden from their sons in another generation" [Psalm 78:4]. This is our generation wherein there has been given to us regeneration. "Telling forth the praises of the Lord and His powers, and His wonderful works which He has 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 has raised up a testimony in Jacob, and has set a law in Jacob" [Psalm 78:5]. This is the beginning whereof has 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 does prevail in the law. "But the end of the law is Christ for righteousness to every one believing;" [Romans 10:4] at whose bestowing "love is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us:" [Romans 5:5] and love made perfect does cast out fear, [1 John 4:18] inasmuch as now without the Law the righteousness of God has been made manifest. But inasmuch as He has a testimony by the Law and the Prophets, [Romans 3:21] therefore, "He has 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 you shall have passed over unto Christ," says the Apostle, "the veil shall be taken away." [2 Corinthians 3:16] For "all the promises of God in Him are yea, Amen." [2 Corinthians 1:20] Whosoever therefore does cleave to Christ, has the whole of the good which even in the letters of the Law he perceives not: but whosoever is an alien from Christ, does neither perceive, nor has. "He has set a law in Israel." After his usual custom he is making a repetition. For "He has raised up a testimony," is the same as, "He has 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, says some one, between "has raised up" and "has 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: [Genesis 25:26] but Israel because of the vision of God. [Genesis 32:28] So "raised up" is one thing, "set" is another. For, "He has raised up a testimony," as far as I can judge, has been said because by it something has been raised up; "For without the Law," says the Apostle, "sin was dead: but I lived sometime without the Law: but at the coming in of the commandment sin revived." [Romans 7:8-9] Behold that which has been raised up by the testimony, which is the Law, so that what was lying hidden might appear, as he says a little afterwards: "But sin, that it might appear sin, through a good thing has wrought in me death." [Romans 7:13] But "He has set a law," has been said, as though it were a yoke upon sinners, whence has been said, "For upon a just man law has not been imposed." [1 Timothy 1:9] It is a testimony then, so far forth as it does prove anything; but a law so far forth as it does 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 offense and a rock of scandal; so the testimony of the Law to them that use not the Law lawfully, [1 Timothy 1:8] 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....

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:5-8
"How great things," he says, "He has commanded our fathers, to make the same known to their sons?" [Psalm 78:5]. "That another generation may know, sons who shall be born and shall rise up, and they may tell to their sons" [Psalm 78:6]. "That they may put their hope in God, and may not forget the works of God, and may seek out His commandments" [Psalm 78:7]. "That they may not become, like their fathers, a crooked and embittering generation: a generation that has not guided their heart, and the spirit thereof has not been trusted with God" [Psalm 78:8]. 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 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. "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 has been said, "If you have arisen with Christ, savour ye the things which are above." [Colossians 3:1] "And they may tell them," he says, "to their sons, in order that they may put their hope in God."..."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? And he says why, by immediately subjoining, "and its spirit has not been trusted with God," that is, because it had no faith, which does obtain what the Law does enjoin. For when the spirit of man does work together with the Spirit of God working, then there is fulfilled that which God has commanded: and this does not come to pass, except by believing in Him that does justify an ungodly man. [Romans 4:5] Which faith the generation crooked and embittering had not: and therefore concerning the same has been said, "The spirit thereof has not been trusted with God." For this has been said much more exactly to point out the grace of God, which does work not only remission of sins, but also does make the spirit of man to work together therewith in the work of good deeds, as though he were saying, his spirit has 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 works good works, in order to work with Him well....

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Psalms 78:7-8
But God’s righteousness cried out, “If you will come to me righteous, I will deal with you justly. If you walk treacherously, I will do so also, says the Lord of hosts.” He is suggesting that he will punish the treacherous ways of hardened sinners. The righteousness that is his by nature is indicated by the iota of the name Jesus. His goodness to those who believe out of obedience is immoveable and unwavering. “Since I called and you did not obey,” the Lord says, “you have disregarded my advice and have not heeded my reprimand.” The Lord’s reprimand is very beneficial. The Lord also says, through David, that these people are “an unjust and rebellious generation, a generation that does not set its heart straight and whose spirit does not trust in God. They did not keep God’s covenant and did not want to walk according to his law.” These are the reasons for his frustration and why he will come as a judge to pass judgment on those who do not want to choose to live a good life. On account of this he treats them quite severely in the hope of thwarting their march toward death. At any rate, through David he states very clearly his reason for his threat: “They did not believe in his wondrous deeds. When he killed them, they sought him and returned and came straight to God. They remembered that God was their helper and the most high God their redeemer.” In this way, he knew that they repented because of fear after they scorned his love for humankind. As a rule, people who have little regard for what is good behave kindly and remember to love humankind out of fear of justice.

Source: CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1:9
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:9
Lastly, "The sons of Ephrem bending and shooting bows, have been turned back in the day of war" [Psalm 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]

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:10
But what that is which he says, "they have been turned back in the day of war," the following words do teach, wherein he has most clearly explained this: "they have not kept," he says, "the testament of God, and in His law they would not walk" [Psalm 78:10]. 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 has spoken we will do, and we will hear." [Exodus 19:8] "They have been turned back in the day of war:" because the promise of obedience not hearing but temptation does prove. But he whose spirit has been trusted with God, keeps hold on God, who is faithful, and "does not suffer him to be tempted above that which he is able; but will make with the temptation a way of escape also," [1 Corinthians 10:13] 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 says, "which has not directed their heart." It has 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 has not directed the heart, has sufficiently been shown, when he says, "and the spirit thereof has 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....

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:11-12
"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" [Psalm 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" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:13-16
For He that "did burst asunder the sea and made them go through, did confine the waters as it were in bottles" [Psalm 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. He that "led them home in the cloud of the day, and in the whole of the night in the illumination of fire" [Psalm 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. "He that burst asunder the rock in the desert, and gave them water as in a great deep" [Psalm 78:15]; "and brought out water from the rock, and brought down waters like rivers" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:17
And yet, "they," like a generation crooked and embittering, "added yet to sin against Him" [Psalm 78:17]: that is, not to believe. For this is the sin, whereof the Spirit does convict the world, as the Lord says, "Of sin indeed because they have not believed on Me." [John 16:9] "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 does 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 fullness unto their jaws, might give also equity to their manners. For unto him the faithful soul does cry, "Let my eyes see equity."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:18-20
"And they tempted God in their hearts, in order that they might seek morsels for their souls" [Psalm 78:18]. It is one thing to ask in believing, another thing in tempting. Lastly there follows, "And they slandered God, and said, Shall God be able to prepare a table in the desert?" [Psalm 78:19]. "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?" [Psalm 78:20]. Not believing therefore, they sought morsels for their souls. Not so the Apostle James does enjoin a morsel to be asked for the mind, but does admonish that it be sought by believers, not by such as tempt and slander God. "But if any one of you," he says, "does lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who does give to all men abundantly, and does not upbraid, and it shall be given to him: but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." [James 1:5-6] This faith had not that generation which "had not directed their heart, and the spirit thereof had not been trusted with God."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:21
"Wherefore the Lord heard, and He delayed, and fire was lighted in Jacob, and wrath went up into Israel" [Psalm 78:21]. He has explained what he has called fire. He has called anger fire: although in strict propriety fire did also burn up many men. What is therefore this that he says, "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."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:22-30
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" [Psalm 78:22]. 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 says, "and He commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of Heaven" [Psalm 78:23]. "And He rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them bread of Heaven" [Psalm 78:24]. "Bread of angels man did eat: dainties He sent them in abundance" [Psalm 78:25]. He brought over the South Wind from Heaven, and in His virtue He led in the South West Wind [Psalm 78:26]. "And He rained upon them fleshes like dust, and winged fowls like the sand of the sea" [Psalm 78:27]. "And they fell in the midst of their camp, around their tabernacles" [Psalm 78:28]. "And they ate and were filled exceedingly; and their desire He brought to them: they were not deprived of their desire" [Psalm 78:29]. 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" [Psalm 78:30]. 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 does incorruptibly feed: the which in order that man might eat, He became flesh, and dwelled in us. [John 1:44] 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....

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:24-25
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.

Source: SERMON 130:2
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:24-25
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.”

Source: TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13:4.2
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:31
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" [Psalm 78:31]: 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 has 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 ἐ νεπόδισεν, which is "fettered;" but συνεπόδισεν, which is rather "fettered together with."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:32-33
But the generation crooked and embittering, "in all these things sinned yet more, and they believed not in His wonderful works" [Psalm 78:32]. "And in their days failed in vanity" [Psalm 78:33]. 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:34-35
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" [Psalm 78:34]. "And they remembered that God is their Helper, and the High God is their Redeemer" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 99] Clement of Rome on Psalms 78:36-37
Let us cleave, therefore, to those who cultivate peace with godliness, and not to those who hypocritically profess to desire it. For [the Scripture] says in a certain place, "This people honours 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." [Psalm 62:4] And again it says, "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." [Psalm 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, says the Lord: I will place him in safety; I will deal confidently with him." [Psalm 12:3-5]

Source: Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 15
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:36-37
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" [Psalm 78:36]. "But their heart was not right with Him, and they were not counted faithful in His Testament" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:38
"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" [Psalm 78:38]. 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 has not directed their heart, and the spirit thereof has 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 does hold some other thing, do think indeed, and will, even God to be a liar, when He does menace upon such men eternal punishment. But while they do not deceive Him with their lying, He does not deceive them with speaking the truth. These words therefore of divine sayings, concerning which the crooked generation does 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 you may be like your Father who is in the Heavens, who makes His sun to rise upon good men and evil men, and rains upon just men and unjust men." [Matthew 5:45] 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 does evidently appear, where God says, "Let Me blot them out, and make you into a great nation:" [Exodus 32:10] he intercedes, 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 does still spare....

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:39
"And He remembered that they are flesh, a spirit going and not returning" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:40-51
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!" [Psalm 78:40]. "And they turned themselves and tempted God, and exasperated the Holy One of Israel" [Psalm 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" [Psalm 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" [Psalm 78:43]: "and He turned their rivers into blood, and their showers lest they should drink" [Psalm 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" [Psalm 78:45]. "And He gave their fruit to the mildew, and their labours to the locust" [Psalm 78:46]. "And He slew with hail their vineyards, and their mulberry trees with frost" [Psalm 78:47]. "And He gave over to the hail their beasts of burden, and their possessions to the fire" [Psalm 78:48]. "He sent upon them the anger of His indignation, indignation and anger and tribulation, a visitation through evil angels" [Psalm 78:49]. He made a way to the course of His anger, and their beasts of burden He shut up in death [Psalm 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" [Psalm 78:51].

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Psalms 78:45
"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.

Source: Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LXXVII. Or LXXVIII.
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 78:47-66
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.

Source: ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 19:49
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 78:47-66
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.

Source: LETTER 137
[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Psalms 78:48
"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.

Source: Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LXXVII. Or LXXVIII.
[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Psalms 78:49
"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.

Source: Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LXXVII. Or LXXVIII.
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:50
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" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:51-53
The Psalm proceeds then after the commemoration of the plagues of the Egyptians [Psalm 78:51] and says, "And He took away like sheep His people, and He led them through like a flock in the desert" [Psalm 78:52]. "And He led them down in hope, and they feared not, and their enemies the sea covered" [Psalm 78:53]. This comes 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 says the Apostle, "Your life is hidden with Christ in God." [Colossians 3:3] 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:54-55
In the next place there follows, "And He led them into the mountain of His sanctification" [Psalm 78:54]. How much better into Holy Church! "The mountain which His right hand has gotten." How much higher is the Church which Christ has gotten, concerning whom has been said, "And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" [Isaiah 53:1] [Psalm 78:55]. "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 does work, dividing severally to every one as He wills." [1 Corinthians 12:11]

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:56-59
"And He made to dwell in their tabernacles the tribes of Israel." In the tabernacles, he says, 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. 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 [Psalm 78:56]: and they turned them away, and they kept not the covenant, like their fathers" [Psalm 78:57]. For under a sort of covenant and decree they said, "All things which our Lord God has spoken we will do, and we will hear." [Exodus 19:8] It is a remarkable thing indeed which he says, "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 appears 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 says, "into a crooked," or, as some copies have it, "into a perverse bow" [Psalm 78:58]. But what this is does better appear in that which follows, where he says, "And unto wrath they provoked Him with their hills" [Psalm 78:59]. It does 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, "You shall have none other Gods but Me." [Exodus 20:3] But by the bow He does signify the mind's intention. This same idea, lastly, more clearly working out, "And in their graven idols," he says, "they provoked Him to indignation."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:60-65
"God heard, and He despised:" that is, He gave heed and took vengeance. "And unto nothing He brought Israel exceedingly" [Psalm 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. "And He rejected the tabernacle of Selom, His tabernacle, where He dwelled among men" [Psalm 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. "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 calls their "virtue" and "beauty." Lastly, also afterward, when they were living ill, and boasting of the temple of the Lord, He does terrify them by a Prophet, saying, "See ye what I have done to Selom, where was My tabernacle." [Jeremiah 7:12] "And He ended with the sword His people, and His inheritance He despised" [Psalm 78:62]. "Their young men the fire devoured:" that is, wrath. "And their virgins mourned not" [Psalm 78:63]. For not even for this was there leisure, in fear of the foe. "Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows were not lamented" [Psalm 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. "And the Lord was awakened as one sleeping" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 78:65
[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" (Psalm 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.

Source: St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER NINE
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:66-67
"And He smote His enemies in the hinder parts" [Psalm 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." [Psalm 78:67].

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:68-69
"And He rejected," he says, "the tabernacle of Joseph, and the tribe of Ephraim He chose not" [Psalm 78:68]. "And He chose the tribe of Judah" [Psalm 78:69]. He has not said, He rejected the tabernacle of Reuben, who was the first-born son of Jacob; [Genesis 49:3] 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 mentions their sins, [Genesis 49:5] and deeply abhors them; though among them the tribe of Levi merited to be the priestly tribe, whence also Moses was. [Exodus 2:1] Nor has 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; [1 Samuel 9:1] whence because of the very proximity of the time, when he had been rejected and refused, and David chosen, [1 Samuel 16:1] this might conveniently have been said; but yet was not said: but he has 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; [Genesis 41:40] 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 does 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 follows, "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."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:70
Lastly there follows, "and He built like as of unicorns His sanctification" [Psalm 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?

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:71
"And He chose David His servant" [Psalm 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.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:72
"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" [Psalm 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]

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 78:73
"And He fed them," he says, "in the innocence of His heart" [Psalm 78:73]. 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 spoke, 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? [Genesis 1:27] But in this which he says, "in understanding (or intelligence) of His hands He led them home," he seems to me to have spoken of that intelligence which He does Himself make in believers: and so "of His hands:" for making does 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....

Source: Exposition on Psalm 78