PSALM 78 [1]

Children, don’t be like your sinful and rebellious parents

Instruction of children not to be like their fathers (vv.1-8)

1 Listen, O my people, to my instruction;		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 conceal them from their children,	But tell to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, [2]		And His strength and His wondrous works [3] that He has done. [4]

The purpose of God’s testimony and law (vv.5-8)

5 For He established a testimony in Jacob		And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers		That they should teach them to their children,
6 That the generation to come might know,		even the children yet to be born,
That they may arise		and tell them to their children,
7 That they should put their confidence in God (’elohiym)	And not forget the works of God (el), [5]		But keep His commandments,
8 And not be like their fathers, [6]		A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart		And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Forgetting God’s signs in the wilderness: From Zoan to Zion (vv.9-42)

9 The sons/children of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows,		Yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God		And refused to walk in His law;
11 They forgot His deeds		And His wondrous works that He had shown them.
12 He wrought wonders before 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 stand up like a heap.
14 Then He led them with the cloud by day		And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness		And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.
16 He brought forth streams also from the rock		And caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him,		To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 And in their heart they put God to the test		By asking food according to their desire.
19 Then they spoke against God;		They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 “Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out,		And streams were overflowing;
Can He give bread also?		Will He provide meat for His people?”
21 Therefore Yahweh heard and was full of wrath;	And a fire was kindled against Jacob		And anger also mounted against Israel,
22 Because they did not believe[7] in God		And did not trust in His salvation.

God rained down manna and meat (vv.23-31; Numbers 11)

23 Yet He commanded the clouds above		And opened the doors of heaven;
24 He rained down manna upon them to eat		And gave them food from heaven.
25 Man did eat the bread of angels;		He sent them food in abundance.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens		And by His power He directed the south wind.
27 When He rained meat upon them like the dust,		Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, [8]
28 Then He let them fall in the midst of their camp,		Round about their dwellings.
29 So they ate and were well filled,		And their desire He gave to them.
30 Before they had satisfied their desire,		While their food was in their mouths,
31 The anger of God rose against them	And killed some of their stoutest ones,		And subdued the choice men of Israel.

Israel repents of her repentance (vv.32-42)

32 In spite of all this they still sinned	And did not believe in His wondrous works.
33 So He brought their days to an end[9] in futility (heh’bel)	And their years in sudden terror (beh-haw-law’). [10]
34 When He killed them, then they sought Him,	And returned and searched diligently for God;
35 And they remembered that God was their rock,	And the Most High God their Redeemer.
36 But they deceived Him with their mouth	And lied to Him with their tongue. [11]
37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,	Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

38 But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity	and did not destroy them;
And often He restrained His anger	And did not arouse all His wrath.
39 Thus He remembered that they were but flesh,	A wind that passes and does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness	And grieved Him in the desert!
41 Again and again they tempted God,	And pained the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember His power,	The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,

Forgetting God’s seven signs in Egypt (vv.43-57) [12]

43 When He performed His signs in Egypt		And His marvels in the field of Zoan, [13]
44 And turned their rivers to blood,		And their streams, they could not drink.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them,		And frogs which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their crops to the grasshopper		And the product of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hailstones		And their sycamore trees with frost.
48 He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones		And their herds to bolts of lightning.
49 He sent upon them His burning anger,	Fury and indignation and trouble,		A band of destroying angels.
50 He leveled a path for His anger;	He did not spare their soul from death,		But gave over their life to the plague,
51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt,		The first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham.
52 But He led forth His own people like sheep		And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53 He led them safely, so that they did not fear;		But the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 So He brought them to His holy land,		To this hill country which His right hand had gained.
55 He also drove out the nations before them	And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,		And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God		And did not keep His testimonies,
57 But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers;		They turned aside like a treacherous bow.

Because of the father’s rebellion, God abandon’s His tent at Shiloh (vv.58-57)

58 For they provoked Him with their high places	And aroused His jealousy [14] with their graven images.
59 When God heard, He was filled with wrath	And greatly abhorred Israel;
60 So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh,	The tent which He had pitched among men,
61 And gave up His strength to captivity	And His glory into the hand of the adversary.
62 He also delivered His people to the sword,	And was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
63 Fire devoured His young men,	And His virgins had no wedding songs.
64 His priests fell by the sword,	And His widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,	Like a warrior overcome [shouting because of] by wine. [15]
66 He drove His adversaries backward;	He put on them an everlasting reproach.
67 He also rejected the tent of Joseph,	And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

God chooses to dwell in Judah, Mount Zion (vv.68-72)

68 But chose the tribe of Judah,		Mount Zion which He loved.
69 And He built His sanctuary like the heights,		Like the earth which He has founded forever.
70 He also chose David His servant		And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him	To shepherd Jacob His people,		And Israel His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,		And guided them with his skillful hands.

[1] Psalm 78 is the second longest Psalm after 119. It occurs in the middle of the Psalms of Asaph 73-83

[2] “Conversion to Christ does not isolate the convert from his or her community. It begins the conversion of that community. … [D]iscipling is a long process—it takes generations. Christian proclamation is for the children and grandchildren of the people who hear it.” (Andrew F. Walls)

[3] Wonder(s) (פֶּלֶא [pele˒]) occurs 84x in the OT, 37 of which are in the Psalms. It occurs 4x in Psalm 78.

[4] This Hebrew verb (˓āśâ) occurs 2x in Psalm 78 (vv.4,12) and throughout the narrative of creation in Genesis 1-2 (12x), “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done (˓āśâ), and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done (˓āśâ).” God’s redemption is a “new work” or a kind of “new creation.” Interestingly the word “rest” is not found in this Psalm. The reason may be that our fathers did not enter into God’s rest (see Psalm 95; Hebrews 3-4).

[5] “God” (el) occurs seven times in this Psalm and “God” (’elohiym) occurs 8x.

[6] There is an irony here. This is a Psalm telling children not to be like their fathers/parents. Parents should be good examples and children should follow in their footsteps. But here it is just the opposite.

[7] “‘Believe’ is usually not a good translation in modern English. The basic ideas usually associated with the verb אמן are “constancy/stability/relying on/giving credence to/trust.” Of course, they may involve the modern “believe,” but the fundamental idea is “to trust/have confidence in/depend on”; i.e., to have faith in someone or something. Yahweh’s wrath flared up because the Israelites did not trust him enough to depend on his saving work” (Tate, M.E., Vol. 20: Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100 p.291).

[8] This is a good example of hyperbole. “Hyperbole, as a rhetorical figure of speech, is a kind of literary exaggeration. It is very common in day to day speech, especially in certain nations and individuals. Hebrew poetry tends more to hyperbole than to sobriety, underestimation. It is particularly frequent in comparisons; it is found also in descriptions and of course in the expression of feelings” (Schokel, A Manual of Hebrew Poetics p.168).

[9] The Hebrew verb for “brought to an end” (kālâ) is the same verb used of God’s completion of creation, “By the seventh day God completed (kālâ) His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:2).

[10] Adele Berlin calls the similarity of sound between the Hebrew words for “futility” and “terror” a sound pair (Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism p.110).

[11] According to the Masoretic tradition, v.36 is the middle verse of the Psalter (2,524 total verses). The Jewish Talmud places the middle verse of the Psalter at 78:38 because it counts 2,527 verses in the Psalter (Hossfeld, 285).

[12] Some commentators find it strange that the Psalm cycles back to Egypt. But the form of this Psalm teaches us that history is cyclical and our generation is a continuation of the history of our fathers (1 Corinthians 10:1-14; Hebrews 3-4).

Hebrews 3-4 also notes the continuity of the church with wilderness wandering using it as a type to exhort believers to enter into God’s rest. The book of Revelation does something similar with its seven references to time

11:2 - forty-two months

11:3 – one thousand two hundred and sixty days

11:9 - three and a half days

11:11 - three and a half days

12:6 - one thousand two hundred and sixty days

12:14 – a time and times and half a time

13:5 - forty-two months

The forty-two months of Revelation 11:2; 13:5 is likely rooted in forty-two encampments recorded of Israel’s journey from Rameses to the plains of Moab (Numbers 33:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49).

The history of God’s people in the past is “cyclical” and becomes our history. If we don’t remember and learn from the failures of the past we are doomed to repeat them (1 Cor.10:1-6).

[13] Psalm 78 compresses the ten plagues into six: blood (v.44//Ex.7:20); flies (v.45a//Ex.8:24); frogs (v.45b//Ex.8:6); grasshopper/locusts (v.46//Ex.10:14); hail (v.47a//Ex.9:23-25); firstborn (v.51//Ex.12:29) and adds a “seventh” sign: the Red Sea (v.53b//Ex.14:27-28).

Psalm 105 condenses the ten plagues into eight omitting the fifth and sixth plague.

[14] God’s jealousy is mentioned 2x in the Psalter. Here and in Psalm 79:5.

[15] The Hebrew verb רון (“overcome”) occurs only here in the Old Testament. The phrase “overcome with wine” could picture a drunken warrior controlled by his emotions and passions, or it could refer to a warrior who awakes from a drunken stupor (The NET Bible).