Psalms 78
78
Psalm 78
God’s Guidance of His People in Spite of Their Unfaithfulness.
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.
1Listen, O my people, to my teaching;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth [and be willing to learn].
2I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples];
I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]— [Matt 13:34, 35]
3Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4We will not hide them from their children,
But [we will] tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
And [tell of] His great might and power and the wonderful works that He has done.
5¶For He established a testimony (a specific precept) in Jacob
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they should teach to their children [the great facts of God’s transactions with Israel],
6That the generation to come might know them, that the children still to be born
May arise and recount them to their children,
7That they should place their confidence in God
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,
8And not be like their fathers—
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart to know and follow God,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9¶The sons of Ephraim were armed as archers and carrying bows,
Yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10They did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to walk according to His law;
11And they forgot His [incredible] works
And His miraculous wonders that He had shown them.
12He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided].
13He divided the [Red] Sea and allowed them to pass through it,
And He made the waters stand up like [water behind] a dam. [Ex 14:22]
14In the daytime He led them with a cloud
And all the night with a light of fire. [Ex 13:21; 14:24]
15He split rocks in the wilderness
And gave them abundant [water to] drink like the ocean depths.
16He brought streams also from the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh]
And caused waters to run down like rivers. [Ex 17:6; Num 20:11]
17¶Yet they still continued to sin against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18And in their hearts they put God to the test
By asking for food according to their [selfish] appetite.
19Then they spoke against God;
They said, “Can God prepare [food for] a table in the wilderness?
20“Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out
And the streams overflowed;
Can He give bread also?
Or will He provide meat for His people?”
21¶Therefore, when the Lord heard, He was full of wrath;
A fire was kindled against Jacob,
And His anger mounted up against Israel,
22Because they did not believe in God [they did not rely on Him, they did not adhere to Him],
And they did not trust in His salvation (His power to save).
23Yet He commanded the clouds from above
And opened the doors of heaven;
24And He rained down manna upon them to eat
And gave them the grain of heaven. [Ex 16:14; John 6:31]
25Man ate the bread of angels;
God sent them provision in abundance.
26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
And by His [unlimited] power He guided the south wind.
27He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas. [Num 11:31]
28And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
Around their tents.
29So they ate and were well filled,
He gave them what they craved.
30Before they had satisfied their desire,
And while their food was in their mouths, [Num 11:33]
31The wrath of God rose against them
And killed some of the strongest of them,
And subdued the choice young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this they still sinned,
For they did not believe in His wonderful and extraordinary works.
33Therefore He consumed their days like a breath [in emptiness and futility]
And their years in sudden terror.
34¶When He killed [some of] them, then those remaining sought Him,
And they returned [to Him] and searched diligently for God [for a time].
35And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
36Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths
And lied to Him with their tongues.
37For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful to His covenant. [Acts 8:21]
38 # 78:38 The ancient Sopherim, the Jewish scholars whose responsibility it was to do counts of all the letters, words, and verses of the OT, said that this verse marks the halfway point in Psalms. But He, the source of compassion and lovingkindness, forgave their wickedness and did not destroy them;
Many times He restrained His anger
And did not stir up all His wrath.
39For He [graciously] remembered that they were mere [human] flesh,
A wind that goes and does not return.
40¶How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And grieved Him in the desert!
41Again and again they tempted God,
And distressed the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember [the miracles worked by] His [powerful] hand,
Nor the day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43How He worked His miracles in Egypt
And His wonders in the field of Zoan [where Pharaoh resided],
44And turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.
45He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them,
And frogs which destroyed them.
46He also gave their crops to the grasshopper,
And the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with [great] hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones,
And their flocks and herds to thunderbolts. [Ex 9:18-21]
49He sent upon them His burning anger, [Ex 12:23]
His fury and indignation and distress,
A band of angels of destruction [among them].
50He leveled a path for His anger [to give it free run];
He did not spare their souls from death,
But turned over their lives to the plague.
51He killed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first and best of their strength in the tents [of the land of the sons] of Ham.
52But God led His own people forward like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness like [a good shepherd with] a flock.
53He led them safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea engulfed their enemies. [Ex 14:27, 28]
54¶So He brought them to His holy land,
To this mountain [Zion] which His right hand had acquired.
55He also drove out the nations before the sons of Israel
And allotted their land as an inheritance, measured out and partitioned;
And He had the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents [the tents of those who had been dispossessed].
56Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies (laws).
57They turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were twisted like a warped bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].
58For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [devoted to idol worship]
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images [by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His].
59When God heard this, He was filled with [righteous] wrath;
And utterly rejected Israel, [greatly hating her ways],
60So that He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
The tent in which He had dwelled among men,
61And gave up His strength and power (the ark of the covenant) into captivity,
And His glory into the hand of the enemy (the Philistines). [1 Sam 4:21]
62He also handed His people over to the sword,
And was infuriated with His inheritance (Israel). [1 Sam 4:10]
63The fire [of war] devoured His young men,
And His [bereaved] virgins had no wedding songs.
64His priests [Hophni and Phinehas] fell by the sword,
And His widows could not weep. [1 Sam 4:11, 19, 20]
65¶Then the Lord awakened as from sleep,
Like a [mighty] warrior who awakens from the sleep of wine [fully conscious of his power].
66He drove His enemies backward;
He subjected them to lasting shame and dishonor.
67Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim [in which the tabernacle stood].
68But He chose the tribe of Judah [as Israel’s leader],
Mount Zion, which He loved [to replace Shiloh as His capital].
69And He built His sanctuary [exalted] like the heights [of the heavens],
Like the earth which He has established forever.
70He also chose David His servant
And took him from the sheepfolds; [1 Sam 16:11, 12]
71 # 78:71 The first impression one might receive from this passage is that God elevated David from the lowliest position in Israel to the highest. But the ancient rabbis said that God tested David’s skills and wisdom as a shepherd. For example, it is said that David held back the bigger sheep from the pasture and brought out the smaller ones first to graze on the tender grass. The rabbis represented God as saying, “He who knows how to shepherd the sheep, each one in proportion to its strength, shall come and shepherd My people.” From #78:71 Lit following.tending the ewes with nursing young He brought him
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance. [2 Sam 7:7, 8]
72So David shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart;
And guided them with his skillful hands.
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Psalms 78
78
Psalm 78
A maskil#Title: Probably a literary or musical term of Asaph.
1My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
3things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
4We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
6so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8They would not be like their ancestors—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
9The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned back on the day of battle;
10they did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his law.
11They forgot what he had done,
the wonders he had shown them.
12He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and led them through;
he made the water stand up like a wall.
14He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night.
15He split the rocks in the wilderness
and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
16he brought streams out of a rocky crag
and made water flow down like rivers.
17But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
18They willfully put God to the test
by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God;
they said, “Can God really
spread a table in the wilderness?
20True, he struck the rock,
and water gushed out,
streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
Can he supply meat for his people?”
21When the Lord heard them, he was furious;
his fire broke out against Jacob,
and his wrath rose against Israel,
22for they did not believe in God
or trust in his deliverance.
23Yet he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;
24he rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.
25Human beings ate the bread of angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
26He let loose the east wind from the heavens
and by his power made the south wind blow.
27He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like sand on the seashore.
28He made them come down inside their camp,
all around their tents.
29They ate till they were gorged—
he had given them what they craved.
30But before they turned from what they craved,
even while the food was still in their mouths,
31God’s anger rose against them;
he put to death the sturdiest among them,
cutting down the young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
33So he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
34Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
they eagerly turned to him again.
35They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
36But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
37their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
39He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.
40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the wasteland!
41Again and again they put God to the test;
they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember his power—
the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
43the day he displayed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44He turned their river into blood;
they could not drink from their streams.
45He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
46He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
their produce to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48He gave over their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility—
a band of destroying angels.
50He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death
but gave them over to the plague.
51He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
52But he brought his people out like a flock;
he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
53He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55He drove out nations before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
56But they put God to the test
and rebelled against the Most High;
they did not keep his statutes.
57Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.
58They angered him with their high places;
they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
59When God heard them, he was furious;
he rejected Israel completely.
60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent he had set up among humans.
61He sent the ark of his might into captivity,
his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
62He gave his people over to the sword;
he was furious with his inheritance.
63Fire consumed their young men,
and their young women had no wedding songs;
64their priests were put to the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
66He beat back his enemies;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.
70He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
71from tending the sheep he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
72And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skillful hands he led them.
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