to open wide (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
mouth
פִּ֑יPi
H6310
the mouth (as the means of blowing) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
parable
בְמָשָׁ֣לve.ma.Shal
H4912
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
utter
אַבִּ֥יעָה'a.Bi.'ah
H5042
to gush forth · verb, hiphil infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
sayings
חִ֝יד֗וֹתchi.Dot
H2420
a puzzle · noun, common feminine plural absolute
old
קֶֽדֶםKe.dem
H6924
the front · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 13:34-35 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
Matthew 13:11-13 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mark 4:34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
Psalms 49:4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
Proverbs 1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 78:1-8
These verses, which contain the preface to this history, show that the psalm answers the title; it is indeed Maschil - a psalm to give instruction; if we receive not the instruction it gives, it is our own fault. Here,
I. The psalmist demands attention to what he wrote (Psa 78:1): Give ear, O my people! to my law. Some make these the psalmist's words. David, as a king, or Asaph, in his name, as his secretary of state, or scribe to the sweet singer of Israel, here calls upon the people, as his people committed to his charge, to give ear to his law. He calls his instructions his law or edict; such was their commanding force in themselves. Every good truth, received in the light and love of it,…
I will open my mouth,.... Speak freely, boldly, and without reserve, Ephesians 6:19, so Christ opened his mouth, Matthew 5:2,
in a parable; not that what follows in this psalm was such, but what were delivered by our Lord in the days of his flesh, who spake many parables; as of the sower, and of tares, and of the grain of mustard seed, and many others, and without a parable he spake not, and so fulfilled what he here said he would do, Matthew 13:34.
I will utter dark sayings of old; sayings that relate to things of old; meaning not to the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and what follows in the psalm, delivered, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, in figurative and topical terms…
Psalm 78:1-6
1. Hearken, O my people! to my law: [307] incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old time: 3. What we have heard and known, and our fathers have related to us. 4. We will not conceal from their children in the generation to come, recounting the praises of Jehovah, and his power, and the wonderful works which he has done. 5. He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel: for he commanded our fathers to make them known to their children: 6. That the generation to come might know them, and that the children to be born should arise and declare them to their children.
1. Give ear, O my…
The Church Fathers
"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.
"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…
Dictionary and topics
Parable — (Gr. parabole), a placing beside; a comparison; equivalent to the Heb. mashal, a similitude. In the Old Testament this is used to denote (1) a proverb (1 Sam. 10:12; 24:13; 2 Chr. 7:20), (2) a…
Commandments · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prophecies Respecting Christ · His preaching by parables — His preaching by parables
Quotations And Allusions · with — with
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The poet begins very similarly to the poet of Ps 49. He comes forward among the people as a preacher, and demands for his tra a willing, attentive hearing. תּורה is the word for every human doctrine or instruction, especially for the prophetic discourse which sets forth and propagates the substance of the divine teaching. Asaph is a prophet, hence Psa 78:2 is quoted in Mat 13:34. as ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου.
(Note: The reading διὰ Ἠσαΐ́ου τοῦ προφήτου is, although erroneous, nevertheless ancient; since even the Clementine Homilies introduce this passage as the language of Isaiah.)
He here recounts to the people their history מנּי־קדם, from that Egyptaeo-Sinaitic age of yore to which…
The psalmist recites Israel’s story (78:5-72) in a parable in order to teach wisdom and insight. • Jesus quoted this verse to explain why he taught in parables (Matt 13:35).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 78:2
I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
I will open my mouth in a parable. Analogies are not only to be imagined, but are intended by God to be traced between the story of Israel and the lives of believers. Israel was ordained to be a type; the tribes and their marchings are living allegories traced by the hand of an all wise providence. Unspiritual persons may sneer about fancies and mysticisms, but Paul spake well when he said "which things are an allegory, "and Asaph in the present case spake to the point when he called his narrative "a parable." That such was his meaning is clear from the quotation, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parable…
