Psalm 78:8-18

8 Then they will not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation. Their hearts were not loyal. Their spirits were not faithful to God.

9 The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows [and arrows], turned [and ran] on the day of battle.

10 They had not been faithful to God's promise. They refused to follow his teachings.

11 They forgot what he had done-- the miracles that he had shown them.

12 In front of their ancestors he performed miracles in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

13 He divided the sea and led them through it. He made the waters stand up like a wall.

14 He guided them by a cloud during the day and by a fiery light throughout the night.

15 He split rocks in the desert. He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water.

16 He made streams come out of a rock. He made the water flow like rivers.

17 They continued to sin against him, to rebel in the desert against the Most High.

18 They deliberately tested God by demanding the food they craved.

Psalm 78:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

Maschil of Asaph. Or for "Asaph" {f}; a doctrinal and "instructive" psalm, as the word "Maschil" signifies; see Psalm 32:1, which was delivered to Asaph to be sung; the Targum is, "the understanding of the Holy Spirit by the hands of Asaph." Some think David was the penman of it; but from the latter part of it, in which mention is made of him, and of his government of the people of Israel, it looks as if it was wrote by another, and after his death, though not long after, since the account is carried on no further than his times; and therefore it is probable enough it was written by Asaph, the chief singer, that lived in that age: whoever was the penman of it, it is certain he was a prophet, and so was Asaph, who is called a seer, the same with a prophet, and who is said to prophesy, 2 Chronicles 29:30 and also that he represented Christ; for that the Messiah is the person that is introduced speaking in this psalm is clear from Matthew 13:34 and the whole may be considered as a discourse of his to the Jews of his time; giving them an history of the Israelites from their first coming out of Egypt to the times of David, and in it an account of the various benefits bestowed upon them, of their great ingratitude, and of the divine resentment; the design of which is to admonish and caution them against committing the like sins, lest they should be rejected of God, as their fathers were, and perish: some Jewish writers, as Arama observes, interpret this psalm of the children of Ephraim going out of Egypt before the time appointed.