John Gill Commentary Psalms 78

Give ear, O my people
The Jews were Christ's people, he descending from their fathers according to the flesh; they were his own, to whom he came, though rejected by them; they were his nation and people that delivered him up into the hands of the Romans; see (Romans 9:4Romans 9:5) (John 1:11) (18:35).

Thus it is usual with persons to call those, who are of the same nation with them, their people, (Esther 7:3Esther 7:4) (Jeremiah 9:1Jeremiah 9:2) and especially for kings to call their subjects so; see (1 Chronicles 28:2) (29:14) , and such was Christ; he was King of the Jews, though they would not have him reign over them; and therefore he here speaks as one having royal authority, and requires attention to him, and obedience to his word, which he calls his law:

to my law ;
meaning neither the moral nor the ceremonial law, but the doctrine of the Gospel, or law of faith, called the Messiah's law, (Isaiah 2:3) (42:4) (Romans 3:27) . This is the doctrine which he as man received of his Father, and which he taught and delivered to his disciples, and which concerns himself, his person, office, and grace, and is sometimes called the doctrine of Christ, (2 John 1:9) ,

incline your ears to the words of my mouth ;
the several doctrines of the everlasting Gospel preached by him, which were words of wisdom and of grace, of righteousness and eternal life, of peace, pardon, and everlasting salvation: these ought to be heard and diligently attended to; the matter contained in them requires attention; the office Christ bears demands it of men; all that have ears to hear should hear; all Christ's sheep do hear his voice, understand it, and act according to it:

Hear him was the instruction of Moses, and the direction of Christ's heavenly Father, (Deuteronomy 18:15) (Matthew 17:5) , and great is the danger such incur who hear him not, but neglect and despise his word, (Hebrews 2:2Hebrews 2:3) (12:25) .

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 spoke many parables; as of the sower, and of tares, and of the grain of mustard seed, and many others, and without a parable he spoke not, and so fulfilled what he here said he would do, (Matthew 13:34Matthew 13:35) (Mark 4:33Mark 4:34) .

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, as in (Psalms 78:19Psalms 78:21Psalms 78:23–25Psalms 78:61) , but to the things which were from the foundation of the world, as the phrase is rendered in (Matthew 13:35) , spoken of Christ in his ministry, such as the fall of the angels, the ruin of man by Satan, the murder of Abel, Abraham's sight of his day with joy, and many things that were said by them of old, (Luke 10:18) (John 8:44John 8:56) (Matthew 23:35) (5:21)

or rather this refers to the Gospel, and the sayings and doctrines of it, which were kept secret since the world began, (Matthew 13:3) (Romans 16:25) , yea, which were ordained before the world was, and therefore called the everlasting Gospel, (1 Corinthians 2:7) (Revelation 14:6) and here in the Arabic version, "eternal mysteries"; such as concerning the everlasting love of God to his people, his everlasting choice of them, and everlasting covenant with them: and the sayings or doctrines of the Gospel may he called "dark", because secret, hidden, and mysterious; and were so under the legal dispensation, in comparison of the more clear light under the Gospel dispensation; they having been wrapped up in types and shadows, and in the rites and ceremonies of the law, but now held forth clearly and plainly in the ministry of Christ and his apostles, as in a glass: these Christ says he would "utter" or deliver out as water from a fountain, in great plenty, as he did; he came in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel; and being full of grace and truth, the doctrines of grace and truth, these came by him, and were delivered from him in all their fulness and glory.

Which we have heard and known
The change of number from "I" to "we" have made some think that the disciples of Christ are here introduced speaking; but there is no need to suppose that, since our Lord uses the same form of speech, (John 3:11) ,

and our fathers have told us ;
this may not only regard the Jewish ancestors, from whom our Lord descended according to the flesh, and so refer to the following account of the wonderful things done for the people of Israel; but also the divine Father of Christ, from whom, as his only begotten Son that lay in his bosom, and as Mediator, and the Angel of the great council, he heard and became acquainted with the secrets and mysteries of grace, and with his Father's mind and will; all which he declared and made known to his apostles, and in so doing used them as his friends, (John 1:18) (15:15) and so the apostles of Christ, what they had from him their everlasting Father, and who had used to call them his children, even what they had seen, and heard, and learned, they made known to others, (Acts 4:20) .

We will not hide them from their children
The children of the Jewish fathers, but faithfully publish and declare them, as Christ and his apostles did; or the children of God and Christ, their spiritual seed and offspring:

showing to the generation to come ;
and so in all successive ages, by the ministration of the word, and the Spirit attending it; see (Psalms 22:30Psalms 22:31) (48:13) ,

the praises of the Lord ;
what he has done in predestination, redemption, and effectual calling, which is to the praise of the glory of his grace, (Ephesians 1:6) , and so all other truths of the Gospel, which are to the praise of Father, Son, and Spirit, and engage men to show it forth:

and his strength displayed ;
in Christ, the man of his right hand, made strong for himself, and in the redemption wrought out by him, as well as in the conversion of sinners by his mighty grace, and in the preservation of them by his power:

and his wonderful works that he has done ;
in providence and grace; the miracles wrought by Christ, which were the wonderful works given him to finish, as proofs of his deity and Messiahship, and are testified in the Gospel for the confirmation of it; and especially the wonders of redeeming love, and calling grace, which are peculiarly to be ascribed unto him as the works his hands have wrought, and the wonderful decrees of God he made in eternity concerning these things.

For he established a testimony in Jacob
So the law is called, being a testification of the divine will, (Exodus 25:16Exodus 25:22) and the Scriptures, the writings of the Old Testament, which testify of Christ, his person, office, sufferings, and death, (Isaiah 8:20) (John 5:39) and particularly the Gospel, which is the testimony of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his apostles, (2 Timothy 1:8) which bears witness to the love and grace of God in the salvation of men by Christ; to the dignity of Christ's person, to the fulness of his grace, to each of the offices and relations he bears and stands in to his people; to the virtue of his obedience, sufferings, and death; to redemption, righteousness, peace and pardon by him: this is established in the house of Jacob, as the Targum; in the church, which is the pillar and ground of truth, among the saints and people of God, to whom it is delivered, and by whom it will be kept, and with whom it will remain throughout all ages; for it is the everlasting Gospel:

and appointed a law in Israel ;
the law given on Mount Sinai was peculiar to them, and so were the word and oracles, they were committed to them; and not only the writings of Moses, but the prophets, are called the law, (John 10:34) (Deuteronomy 4:8) (Psalms 147:19Psalms 147:20) (Romans 3:1Romans 3:2) (9:4) , but the Gospel seems to be here meant, (See Gill on Psalms 78:1): this was ordained before the world for our glory, and is put and placed in the hands and hearts of the faithful ministers of it, and is published among, and received by, the true Israel of God:

which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to
their children ;
that is, the testimony and the law, and the things contained in them; the Jewish fathers were frequently commanded to teach their children the law of Moses, (Deuteronomy 4:9Deuteronomy 4:10) (Deuteronomy 6:6Deuteronomy 6:7) (11:19) and it was their practice to instruct them in the knowledge of the Scriptures, (2 Timothy 3:15) , and it becomes Christian parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, by making known to them the principles of the Christian religion, and the truths of the Gospel, (Ephesians 6:4) .