Psalms 78:1-20

Lessons from Israel's Past

1

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 My people, hear my instruction; listen to what I say.^[a]

2 I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past^[b]-

3 things we have heard and known and that our fathers have passed down to us.

4 We must not hide them from their children, but must tell a future generation the praises of the Lord, His might, and the wonderful works He has performed.^[c]

5 He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children

6 so that a future generation- children yet to be born-might know. They were to rise and tell their children

7 so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God's works, but keep His commandments.^[d]

8 Then they would not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.^[e]

9 The Ephraimite archers turned back on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law.^[f]

11 They forgot what He had done, the wonderful works He had shown them.

12 He worked wonders in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, the region of Zoan.^[g]

13 He split the sea and brought them across; the water stood firm like a wall.^[h]

14 He led them with a cloud by day and with a fiery light throughout the night.^[i]

15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.^[j]

16 He brought streams out of the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

17 But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.^[k]

18 They deliberately^[l] tested God, demanding the food they craved.^[m]

19 They spoke against God, saying, "Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?

20 Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out; torrents overflowed. But can He also provide bread or furnish meat for His people?"

Psalms 78:1-20 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Pr 5:7; 7:24; Isa 55:3
• [b]. Mt 13:35
• [c]. Ps 44:1; Ex 13:14; Jos 4:21-22
• [d]. Ps 103:2; 106:13; Pr 3:1
• [e]. Ps 78:37; 2 Ch 12:14
• [f]. 1 Kg 11:11; 2 Kg 17:15; Jr 32:23
• [g]. Ps 78:43; Ex 6-15
• [h]. Ex 14:21; 15:8
• [i]. Ex 13:21; Nm 14:14
• [j]. Ex 17:6; Nm 20:8-13; Isa 48:21
• [k]. Isa 63:10
• [l]. Lit in their heart
• [m]. Ex 17:2,7; Nm 14:22; 1 Co 10:5-10
• [n]. Ex 16:3-36; Nm 11:4-34