Psalms 78:1-72
1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carryinga bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnishb a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?
21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:
23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
25 Manc did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blowd in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and featherede fowls like as the sand of the sea:
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provokef him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
43 How he had wroughtg his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:
44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.
45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.
47 He destroyedh their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
50 He madei a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmedj their enemies.
54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.
62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath establishedk for ever.
70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
71 From followingl the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
The supreme quantity of this psalm is that throughout all its measures, over against the repeated failure of His people God's persistent patience is set forth in bold relief. The purpose of the psalm, however, is to warn God's people against unfaithfulness by the story of past failure. After announcing his determination the first eight verses declare the purpose of the singer. Things of the past are to be recounted for the sake of the children. Notice very carefully the statement of the latter part of this introduction. It announces the institution in Israel of a method for dealing with the children. The words "testimony" and "law" (verse Psa 78:5) do not here refer to the Mosaic economy, but to a specific arrangement for transmission of that law. This arrangement was to instruct the children. The value of such instruction was that the new generation would be safeguarded in its hope, its memory, its conduct.
The singer then proceeded with the work of "telling... the praises of the Lord." This section recites the disloyalty of the people in spite of the goodness of God, and thus explains the reason of the divine chastisement. The prophetic writings (especially Hosea) show that Ephraim became the leader in the rebellion and disloyalty which cursed the nation, and so, figuratively, and as standing for the rest, Ephraim is here addressed. The description is figurative. The people armed and equipped, were guilty of cowardice. They turned back because they forgot God. Then follows a poetic description of the way in which God delivered them from Egypt and led them in the wilderness. These facts of the guidance of God make their cowardice sinful. This goodness is further traced in His dealing with them step by step.
The fickleness of their obedience is especially set forth. "They believed not... He dew them... they inquired after Him... they lied to Him." Yet God's patience was always manifest. With infinite tenderness He bore with them, and waited for them; forgave them and pitied them. In spite of all, they continued to rebel, and the reason was that they did not remember His hand. The singer then sang anew of the things they had forgotten, of God's signs in Egypt, of His leading them out, and of His bringing them into possession. It would seem almost past belief to us as we read that a people so led could forget. Yet is not this sin of forgetfulness with us perpetually? In some day of danger and perplexity we become so occupied with the immediate peril as utterly to fail to think of past deliverances. Such forgetfulness is of the nature of unbelief in its worst form. It wrongs God, and paralyzes our own prayer.
Even when, in spite of their infidelity, God brought them into possession, they tempted and provoked Him. Then came His seven dealings with them which are described. These dealings are also systematic, and as He refused and chose, it was ever with purposes of blessings in His heart. It is indeed a great song of God's patience, and there is no story more fruitful if men will but learn it. It is questionable whether any of us could escape the charges made here against the people of God; and it is certain that we might all survey our lives, and sing just such a song of God's determined patience and persistence.