Psalm 78
Hos. 7:16.) Instead of destroying the altars and idols, the Jewish people mingled with the people of the land and learned their evil ways, and God had to discipline His people by turning them over to their enemies (v. 59). The book of Judges records how seven different nations invaded the nation of Israel and how God raised up judges to deliver Israel when the people repented and turned to Him for help. During the days of Eli the high priest, the Lord severely punished the people and even allowed His ark to be taken captive by the Philistines (1 Sam. 1—7). This meant the end of the tabernacle at Shiloh. It was at Nob in Benjamin for a time (1 Sam. 21:22; 2 Sam. 6:1–2) and also at Gibeon in Benjamin (1 Kings 3:4). When David brought the ark to Mount Zion (v. 68; 2 Sam. 6), he erected a tent there for the ark, and there the ark remained until it was moved into the temple during the reign of Solomon (1 Kings 8:3–9).
futility of the Egyptian gods and goddesses (Ex. 12:12; Num. 33:4), but the memory soon faded. (Asaph will again mention the Egyptian experience in vv. 40–53.) God led the nation both day and night and miraculously provided water for all the people. In verses 15–16, he combined the water miracles of Exodus 17:1–7 and Numbers 20:1–13. But the people would not trust the Lord but tempted Him by asking for food, "a table in the wilderness" (vv. 17–31). He sent manna, the "bread of heaven," as well as fowl to eat (Ex. 16; Num. 11), but He judged them for their insolence and fleshly appetite. Sometimes God's greatest judgment is to give us what we want. (See vv. 21, 31, 49–50, 58–59, 62.) "He brought their days to an end in futility" (v. 33 nasb; 90:7–12) at Kadesh Barnea when they refused to enter the land (Num. 13—14). They wandered for the next thirty-eight years until the people twenty years and older all died (Num. 14:28–38). From time to time, God's discipline did bring them to their knees in temporary repentance, but their confessions were insincere flattery (v. 36), and they soon rebelled again. In His mercy, God forgave them and held back His wrath, but they were a generation that grieved His heart.
It has well been said that a change in circumstances does not overcome a flaw in character, and the history of the Jewish nation illustrates the truth of that statement. Whether living in Egypt, journeying in the wilderness, or dwelling in their own land, the people of Israel were prone to want their own way and rebel against the Lord. When chastened, they feigned repentance, experienced God's help, and were forgiven, but before long, they were back in trouble again. But is any people or individual free from this malady? At least the Jewish writers who gave us the Bible were honest to record their sins as well as their achievements! The church today can learn from both (1 Cor. 10).
The forgotten lessons of Egypt (vv. 40–53). The people did not remember the demonstrations of God's power in sending the plagues to Egypt (Ex. 7—12; Num. 14:32–35) and in opening the Red Sea to set the nation free (Ex. 12—15). Asaph listed six of the ten plagues but did not mention the gnats (Ex. 8:16–19), the killing of the livestock (Ex. 9:1–7), the boils (Ex. 9:8–12), and the three days of darkness before the death of the firstborn (Ex. 10:21–29). After this great display of divine power, the people should have been able to trust the Lord in any situation, knowing that He was in control, but they grieved Him, provoked Him, and tempted Him to display His anger against them! Human nature has not changed. Spurgeon said that we are too prone to engrave our trials in the marble and write our blessings in the sand. They opposed the Holy One of Israel (v. 41; 71:22; 89:18), and He disciplined them time after time.
Appreciating the Present (vv. 65–72) The statement in verse 65 is metaphorical, for the Lord neither gets drunk nor goes to sleep. During the time of Samuel and Saul, with the help of young David, Israel beat back her enemies, but it was when David ascended the throne that the nation achieved its greatest victories and experienced the greatest expansion of its boundaries. This is one reason why God rejected the tribe of Ephraim and chose the tribe of Judah, and why He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh in Ephraim and chose Mount Zion for the site of the temple. Jacob had prophesied that the king would come from Judah (Gen. 49:10), and King Saul was from Benjamin. When the Lord directed David to capture Mount Zion and make Jerusalem his capital city, it was an act of His love (47:4; 87:2). If Asaph wrote this psalm after the division of the kingdom, then he was reminding the people of Judah that they were privileged indeed to have Jerusalem, Mount Zion, and a king from the line of David, from which line the Messiah would come! (See Luke 1:30–33, 66–79; Matt. 2:6.) If they appreciated these privileges, they would not follow the bad example of the northern kingdom and sin against the Lord by turning to idols.
The sins in Canaan (vv. 54–64). After caring for the nation in the wilderness for thirty-eight years, the Lord brought them again to Kadesh Barnea (Deut. 1:1–2). There Moses reviewed their history and taught them God's law as he prepared the new generation to enter the land and conquer the enemy. Often in his farewell speech (which we call Deuteronony—"second law"), Moses exhorted them to remember and not forget what the Lord had said to them and done for them. They were a new generation, making a new beginning with a new leader (Joshua) and a new opportunity to trust God. Under Joshua's able leadership, they conquered the land and claimed their inheritance, and for two generations obeyed the Lord. But the third generation repeated the sins of their ancestors and forgot what the Lord had said and done (vv. 56–57; Josh. 2:7–10). (The "faulty bow" image shows up again in
Kings were called "shepherds" (Jer. 23:1–6; Ezek. 34) because God's chosen people were the sheep of His pasture (v. 52; 77:20; 100:3), and no one was better