Psalms 78:18
in Psalms 78They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.
KJV
And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
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This verse in Psalms 78
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
they continued to sin against Him
on Psalms 78:17-22
They tested God willfully, demanding the food they craved, and asked whether He could prepare a table in the wilderness. Verse 20 puts the question after the rock had already given water and torrents. The wrath that answered was a fire kindled against Jacob.
This site's exposition
demanding the food they craved
Spurgeon said God cannot truly be tempted, yet the people set out to test Him. Clarke read the Hebrew behind craved as food for their souls, as if the manna could never give them strength. Numbers 11:4 records the demand.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"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."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And they tempted God in their heart,....
Nothing is more provoking to God than our quarrelling with our allotment and indulging the desires of the flesh. (2.) By distrusting his power to give them what they desired. This was tempting God indeed.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And they tempted God in their heart. He was not tempted, for he cannot be tempted by any, but they acted in a manner calculated to tempt him, and it always just to charge that upon men which is the obvious tendency of their conduct. Christ cannot die again, and yet many crucify him afresh, because such would be the legitimate result of their behaviour if its effects were not prevented by other forces. The sinners in the wilderness would have had the Lord change his wise proceedings to humour their whims, hence they are said to tempt him. By asking meat for their lust. Would they have God become purveyor for their greediness? Was there nothing for it but that he must give them whatever their diseased appetites might crave? The sin began in their hearts, but it soon reached their tongues. What they at first silently wished for, they soon loudly demanded with menaces, insinuations, and upbraidings.
And they tempted God in their heart. He was not tempted, for he cannot be tempted by any, but they acted in a manner calculated to tempt him, and it always just to charge that upon men which is the obvious tendency of their conduct. Christ cannot die again, and yet many crucify him afresh, because such would be the legitimate result of their behaviour if its effects were not prevented by other forces. The sinners in the wilderness would have had the Lord change his wise proceedings to humour their whims, hence they are said to tempt him.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
By asking meat for their lust - לנפשם lenaphsham, “for their souls,” i.e., for their lives; for they said in their hearts that the light bread, the manna, was not sufficient to sustain their natural force, and preserve their lives. It seems, however, from the expression, that they were wholly carnal; that they had no spirituality of mind; they were earthly, animal, and devilish.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And they tempted God in their heart - Exo 16:2. The heart was the source of the evil. They were not satisfied with what he gave them. They asked for that which would be more agreeable to them, and they did it with a complaining and a murmuring spirit. It is not wrong in itself to ask of God that which will be better than what we now possess, for that is the object of all our prayers; but this may be done from a wrong motive - for mere self-gratification, as was the case here; or it may be with a complaining and dissatisfied spirit, such as was evinced on this occasion. In such a case we cannot expect the prayer to be answered “except as a punishment.” By asking meat for their lust - Food. The word “meat” here does not necessarily denote animal food, as it does with us. They asked another kind of food than manna; and they did it, not because this was “necessary” to sustain life, but in order to gratify their appetites. The original word here, however, is not “lusts,” but “souls;” that is, “they asked food for themselves.”
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְנַסּוּ־ | vaynasu- | and they put to [the] test | H5254 → | 36 times |
| אֵ֥ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| בִּלְבָבָ֑ם | bilvavam | in heart their | H3824 → | 252 times |
| לִֽשְׁאָל־ | lishol- | by requesting | H7592 → | 171 times |
| אֹ֥כֶל | ʾokhel | food | H400 → | 43 times |
| לְנַפְשָֽׁם׃ | lenafsham | for selves their | H5315 → | 754 times |
וַיְנַסּוּ־and they put to [the] test
vaynasu-H5254 →36 times
אֵ֥לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
בִּלְבָבָ֑םin heart their
bilvavamH3824 →252 times
לִֽשְׁאָל־by requesting
lishol-H7592 →171 times
אֹ֥כֶלfood
ʾokhelH400 →43 times
לְנַפְשָֽׁם׃for selves their
lenafshamH5315 →754 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 6:16Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.
it leads to
- Exodus 17:7
He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 4:12
But Jesus answered, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
- Matthew 4:7
Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
- Psalms 95:8–9
do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
- Hebrews 3:8–9
do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
- Exodus 17:7
Through
1 Corinthians 10:9We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.
it leads to
- Numbers 21:5–6
and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
- Hebrews 3:8–11
do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
- Exodus 17:2
So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
- Numbers 21:5–6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 78; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.