|
Reflections on The Psalms |
 |
Psalm 78
(NKJV) 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.
God often does not speak plainly, but in parables, dark sayings. One may wonder why, but it becomes apparent when we come to Jesus' use of parables. When the disciples asked him why he spoke to the crowds in parables, he replied, "Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to them, it is not given." I suppose it would be fair to say that you have to want to know. "Don't be silly," I hear someone saying. "Everyone wants to know." Actually, they don't. The truth can sometimes be very painful, even frightening. If we have already run too far down the wrong road, the very idea of retracing our steps can be unbearable. So yes, you have to want to know.
{4} We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come
the praises of the LORD, And His strength
and His wonderful works that He has 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,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
{7} That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;
If God were to come to the witness stand to testify, what would his "testimony" be? We don't have to wonder. It is the Ten Commandments that are the Testimony of God to his people. This is what we teach our children, along with the rest of God's works. This is done so that God may not be carelessly forgotten in this or any other generation.
{8} And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
It is an old and well worn theme in the Bible. Teach your children well, because that is the time of life when the truth comes easiest. It is the time when our minds are open and the truth is not threatening because we have not run far down the wrong road. I am sad beyond words that the courts have decided that our schools will indeed hide these things from our children. The price society will pay for this cannot yet be calculated.
{9} The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.
{10} They did not keep the covenant of God; They refused to walk in His law,
{11} And forgot His works And His wonders
that He had shown them.
In our generation, it isn't that the soldiers and marines who would turn back in the day of battle. It is the citizenry who are afraid and turn back. We who have liberated Europe twice at great cost, are now afraid of casualties. Why? Because we have forgotten what God has done before.
{12} Marvelous things He did 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 stand up like a heap.
14} In the daytime also He led them with the cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.
{15} He split the rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.
{16} He also brought streams out of the rock,
and caused waters to run down like rivers.
{17} But they sinned even more against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.
{18} And they tested God in their heart
By asking for the food of their fancy.
{19} Yes, they spoke against God:
They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
{20} Behold, He struck the rock,
So that the waters gushed out,
And the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread also?
Can He provide meat for His people?"
I suspect that not a few Christian folk think that miracles would strengthen their faith. But one of the lessons of the Exodus is that seeing miracles is not enough. People can see the pillar of fire by night. They can walk dry shod across the bottom of the sea, they can see the rock split and water in abundance gush forth, and they still are not satisfied. In fact, there may be a kind of arrogance that grows out of actually seeing a miracle. "I am special to God. I am better than other men. I saw the miracle." As Paul said, all this is written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
{21} Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious;
So a fire was kindled against
Jacob, And anger also came up against Israel,
{22} Because they did not believe in God,
And did not trust in His salvation.
{23} Yet He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of heaven,
{24} Had rained down manna on them to eat,
And given them of the bread of heaven.
{25} Men ate angels' food;
He sent them food to the full.
{26} He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens;
And by His power He brought in the south wind.
{27} He also rained meat on them like the dust,
Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;
{28} And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
All around their dwellings.
{29} So they ate and were well filled,
For He gave them their own desire.
{30} They were not deprived of their craving;
But while their food was still in their mouths,
{31} The wrath of God came against them,
And slew the stoutest of them,
And struck down the choice men of Israel.
Now there are two ways to take this, literally, or from the perspective of the men who tell the story. Did God, in his wrath, start killing people? Or, is that the way it appeared to the men who experienced what followed. It seems strange that, through a miracle, God would send the quail, and then kill them for eating them. It may be that, having had no meat for some time, they began to gorge themselves and became sick. And, as men are wont to do, they blamed God for what followed.
{32} In spite of this they still sinned,
and did not believe in His wondrous works.
{33} Therefore their days He consumed in futility,
And their years in fear.
{34} When He slew them, then they sought Him;
And they returned and sought earnestly for God.
{35} Then they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
How true to human nature this is. I once concluded that I had found the perfect way to stay in trouble. Just forget God. If the only way he can keep me mindful of him, my duty, his purpose, was to keep me in trouble, so be it.
{36} Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth,
And they lied to Him with their tongue;
{37} For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
How on earth can one flatter God, at least in the sense of offering excessive praise? Perhaps the word is suggestive of insincere praise. One shudders at the thought of lying to God.
{38} But He, being full of compassion,
forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath;
{39} For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A breath that passes away and does not come again.
This may be the most encouraging passage in all the Psalms. He remembers that we are only flesh and takes our weakness, our humanity into consideration.
{40} How often they provoked Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
{41} Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
{42} They did not remember His power:
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
How many times must we be told this? "They did not remember."
{43} When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;
{44} Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.
{45} He sent swarms of flies among them,
which devoured them,
And frogs, which destroyed them.
{46} He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the locust.
{47} He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.
{48} He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery lightning.
{49} He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
By sending angels of destruction among them.
{50} He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave their life over to the plague,
{51} And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
The story of the destruction of Egypt is told again and again in the Bible. It is a part of the process of not forgetting. Even in the New Testament, this history is recounted by Stephen and Paul to call to remembrance what God had done. It may seem a little boring to the modern reader, but it is comparable to an Independence Day speech by an American leader. It is our history, and we must not forget.
{52} But He made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
{53} And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
{54} And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
{55} He also drove out the nations before them,
Allotted them an inheritance by survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
{56} Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
And did not keep His testimonies,
{57} But turned back and acted 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 carved images.
{59} When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,
{60} So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent He had placed among men,
Long before the Temple, the Tabernacle was pitched in Shiloh, a small village just north of Jerusalem. The place was finally destroyed and the Ark carried to the City of David.
{61} And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy's hand.
{62} He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.
{63} The fire consumed their young men,
And their maidens were not given in marriage.
{64} Their priests fell by the sword,
And their widows made no lamentation.
{65} Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
{66} And He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
{67} Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
{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 established forever.
{70} He also chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;
{71} From following the ewes that had young 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 by the skillfulness of his hands.
Because this stops with David, it seems likely to have been a very early
Psalm, long before the divided Kingdom. Perhaps written and performed by David
himself.