I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
Asaph calls his people to listen. He promises a parable and riddles from long ago. Yet what follows is just the story of Israel, from Egypt to David. Two questions follow. Why call plain history a dark saying? And why did Jesus take this line onto His own lips centuries later?
Parable and dark saying
The two phrases in the verse are not two different things. One writer sets the line beside Psalm 49 and draws them together:
W. T. P. WolstonWhat is a parable? In Scripture it is often "a thing darkly or figuratively expressed." So, "I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre" (Ps. 49:4)... said the sweet psalmist of Israel, and from his language we gather that a "parable" and a "dark saying" were the same thing.
(The writer's point rests on an older translation of Psalm 49:4, which reads "parable" and "dark saying" where the ESV has "proverb" and "riddle.")
The same Hebrew word appears in other places, and they show its range:
G. V. WigramElsewhere translators give this same Hebrew word as dark speeches (Num. 12:8), riddle (Judges 14:12-19), hard questions (1 Kings 10:1), and dark sentences (Dan. 8:23).
Why history counts as a riddle
Israel's story was already written down elsewhere. So how does retelling it become a parable?
Numerical Bible NotesFrom beginning to end it is historic — an appeal to facts which we already have in books devoted to the "wonderful works" of the Lord in relation to Israel... But this history, being what it is, is just what is suited to utter divine secrets to the heart that is attentive. It sets God's ways beside these men and their ways... So, since we are men, and the same God is ours and theirs, the history becomes a parable, a comparison. As we set the two side by side, it brings out what we are and what God is to us. The very history becomes a mirror for us, not merely of ourselves, but of ourselves in the light of God.
Deep, but not for a select few
Calling something a riddle can become an excuse to leave it alone. The same writer answers that dodge:
Numerical Bible Notes"Deep" things are for deep people — those who have the mind for it, or the taste, or the learning, or the time, or all of these! Parables, types, prophecies... become nothing but spiritual knick-knacks... But is the psalmist commending these things to us, or the reverse, when he speaks of them as "deep things" or "parables"? Does he address himself to the many or to the few?... There is a spiritual elite, if you like to call it that, but devotedness and diligence of heart define it.
Whose mouth is opening
Asaph says "my mouth." But who stands behind that mouth?
L M GrantAsaph is God's mouthpiece here, who opens his mouth in a parable, but we look far higher than Asaph for the Source of this parable... They had heard something of these things from their fathers. So Asaph was not telling them something new. He was pressing home what the history of Israel means. We often lose the meaning of things we already know.
Spoken to be passed on
Asaph speaks the riddle so that it reaches the next generation. One writer sees the same order carried on into Christianity:
J. N. DarbyI notice the teaching of children as the order of blessing in it... It is not left out even in Christianity: see Ephesians 6:4.
What the riddle turns out to say
The puzzle is that a people so favoured could fail so completely — and the answer lies outside them:
William KellyIt sets out the total failure of Israel under God's government. Law can only end in the ruin of sinful man, however much patient goodness comes with it. Sovereign grace alone avails... Do what He would in nature or law, Israel brought Him only shame, with misery on themselves. Then He chose Judah, Zion, and David, the pledge and security of ultimate blessing.
Opened again, and wider
The Gospel record shows this word fulfilled in Jesus. One writer marks both the likeness and the advance:
Numerical Bible NotesWith this the parables spoken to the crowd end, and He did not speak to them except in parables. The prophet's word was being fulfilled in Him (Ps. 78:2). He was taking the place of another Asaph, to speak of things hidden even deeper than the things Asaph spoke of. So the psalmist's words are quoted freely, not word for word. His deep things lay in a past history, and he was given its meaning to utter. Christ's deep things lay in a history of things still to come. Sadly, its general lesson reflects that older story of another people.
Summary
- Riddle. "Parable" and "dark saying" mean one thing: a truth put in figures. Elsewhere the same Hebrew word becomes riddle, hard questions, or dark speeches.
- Mirror. Old history becomes a parable because the same God deals with people like us. It shows us ourselves in His light.
- Open. The psalmist speaks the deep things to the whole people, not to a learned few. The one qualification is devotedness and diligence of heart.
- Handed on. Asaph speaks the riddle so it reaches the children. Teaching children is the order of blessing in this psalm, and Christianity keeps it.
- Answered. Sovereign grace answers the puzzle of total failure under law. The same mouth opens again in Christ, telling a history still to come.