Psa 78:2-6 | KingComments | STEP | Psalm 78 works out what the last verse of Psalm 77 says: “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” ( ). The history of the people of Israel is used as an illustration to teach by learning from the ways of God with His people in the past. The goal is for the faithful remnant of Israel – the maskilim , the wise or understanding – to learn lessons from it. The journey of the people of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land is a type or example of the return of the ten tribes to Israel in the future, after the great tribulation (cf. ; ; ; ). The history and also the plagues in this psalm are not described chronologically, but thematically, in a spiritual order. Psalms 73-77 asked questions about the incomprehensible way God is going with His people Israel. Psalm 78 answers them. The psalmist-prophet Asaph shows from history both the unfaithfulness of the people and the faithfulness of God as reasons why God has chosen the way He has gone with His people. The history of God’s people reveals their continuing unfaithfulness. God’s response shows His gracious election, through which He still carries out His plans of blessing for them. God loves and protects His people, which includes punishing and disciplining them when they deviate from Him. The purpose of the psalm is to teach us lessons from the past. A mirror is held up to us in the history of God’s earthly people to show us what we are capable of (cf. ). This is to warn us not to fall into the same mistakes ( ). It is also to show us in this history what God is capable of despite our failures. A division of the psalm: Core message: call to wisdom. Call to pass on from generation to generation. Rebellion of man in contrast with the caring hand of God. The failure of Israel and the faithfulness of God. Superficial repentance. The judgment on the nations and on Israel. The answer of God: David as the type of the Lord Jesus, the Son of David. This is the tenth of a total of thirteen psalms that are “a maskil” ( ), the so-called maskil-psalms (Psalms 32; 42, 44; 45; 52; 53; 54; 55; 74; 78; 88; 89; 142). Maskil-psalms involve teaching or instruction for the faithful remnant of Israel in the end time. See further at Psalm 32:1. For “of Asaph” see at Psalm 50:1. Asaph addresses God’s people as “my people” ( ). With this he indicates that he is not outside of them, but part of them. He asks them to “listen” to his “instruction”, for he has important things to tell to them (cf. ; ). It is similar to what Moses did in Deuteronomy 32, where he uses the history of Israel through his song to instruct the people ( ). Moses, like Asaph, begins with the call to hear “the words of my mouth” ( ). Moses says this to heaven and earth, to be witnesses. Asaph says it to God’s people. They shouldn’t just listen, but “incline” their “ears to the words” of his “mouth”. This refers to a mind to listen attentively with a willingness to do what is said. After the first verse has called for attention, the second verse reflects the desire to make it clear to the listener/reader that the literal sense has a higher or deeper meaning. This can only be understood by those who delve into the psalm. There is a desire in Asaph to serve his people with “a parable” ( ; cf. ). The word for “parable” is mashal , which means teaching by comparison. It refers to “dark sayings of old” that are brought into light by him to teach a new generation. These hidden things are a rich treasure, which he will utter for them. The distinctive feature of the mashal , the parable, in Psalm 78 is that the psalmist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, uses the ancient history of Israel as a parable to learn lessons from it. In other cases, a fictional story is usually used as a parable, whereas here it is a story that really took place, the history of redemption in the past. The Lord Jesus fulfills this word of Asaph by using parables. God’s Spirit refers to this verse in Matthew 13 when He says of the Lord Jesus: “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. [This was] to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD“ ( ). In Matthew 13, the Lord places “things hidden” into the light in a new way and does so by using parables or comparisons. In this quotation we also see that Asaph is called a “prophet”. The psalmist-prophet Asaph passes on the history of Israel from God’s perspective. For this he draws on what he has heard from “our fathers” ( ). Again he emphasizes his connection with his people, now by speaking of their common fathers, “our fathers”. He and they have heard it and know it. They are aware of it. Their fathers have told “us”, that is him and his contemporaries. It is an important instruction for parents today to pass on to their children and grandchildren what they have learned from the Word of God in their dealings with God (cf. ). Passing it on makes it great again for the parents. They will continually praise and magnify God for it. It makes all who have heard it responsible not to hide what they have heard “from their children”, that is, all who belong to God’s people ( ). The command is to “tell the generation to come” of God’s deeds. These deeds he calls “the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done”. It is a joy to pass on all the various acts of God to those who come after us. God is worthy to be believed and praised because of all His deeds. They are truly ‘praiseworthy deeds’ or ‘deeds to be praised’. God reveals His power in those deeds. The wonders He has performed also bring His people to praise Him. Everything in which God reveals Himself, has this effect on those who have an eye for it. Speaking to our children and grandchildren about this is not always easy in practical terms. What is especially important is that they see with us that faith is not a rational matter for us, but that it permeates our entire life. Our life of faith must be fresh, just like the manna that was freshly laid out each morning. Lambs cannot live on old grass, but on young, fresh grass shoots.

‏ Psalms 78:2-6

Introduction

Psalm 78 works out what the last verse of Psalm 77 says: “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psa 77:20). The history of the people of Israel is used as an illustration to teach by learning from the ways of God with His people in the past. The goal is for the faithful remnant of Israel – the maskilim, the wise or understanding – to learn lessons from it. The journey of the people of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land is a type or example of the return of the ten tribes to Israel in the future, after the great tribulation (cf. Isa 11:16 ; Isa 51:9-11; Jer 16:14 ; 15; Eze 20:34-36; Mt 24:31). The history and also the plagues in this psalm are not described chronologically, but thematically, in a spiritual order.

Psalms 73-77 asked questions about the incomprehensible way God is going with His people Israel. Psalm 78 answers them. The psalmist-prophet Asaph shows from history both the unfaithfulness of the people and the faithfulness of God as reasons why God has chosen the way He has gone with His people. The history of God’s people reveals their continuing unfaithfulness. God’s response shows His gracious election, through which He still carries out His plans of blessing for them. God loves and protects His people, which includes punishing and disciplining them when they deviate from Him.

The purpose of the psalm is to teach us lessons from the past. A mirror is held up to us in the history of God’s earthly people to show us what we are capable of (cf. Jam 1:22-24). This is to warn us not to fall into the same mistakes (1Cor 10:6 ; 11). It is also to show us in this history what God is capable of despite our failures.

A division of the psalm:

Psa 78:1-4 Core message: call to wisdom.

Psa 78:5-8 Call to pass on from generation to generation.

Psa 78:9-16 Rebellion of man in contrast with the caring hand of God.

Psa 78:17-31 The failure of Israel and the faithfulness of God.

Psa 78:32-37 Superficial repentance.

Psa 78:38-64 The judgment on the nations and on Israel.

Psa 78:65-72 The answer of God: David as the type of the Lord Jesus, the Son of David.

Passing On What God Has Done

This is the tenth of a total of thirteen psalms that are “a maskil” (Psa 78:1a), the so-called maskil-psalms (Psalms 32; 42, 44; 45; 52; 53; 54; 55; 74; 78; 88; 89; 142). Maskil-psalms involve teaching or instruction for the faithful remnant of Israel in the end time. See further at Psalm 32:1.

For “of Asaph” see at Psalm 50:1.

Asaph addresses God’s people as “my people” (Psa 78:1b). With this he indicates that he is not outside of them, but part of them. He asks them to “listen” to his “instruction”, for he has important things to tell to them (cf. Deu 4:1; Isa 1:2). It is similar to what Moses did in Deuteronomy 32, where he uses the history of Israel through his song to instruct the people (Deu 32:5-18). Moses, like Asaph, begins with the call to hear “the words of my mouth” (Deu 32:1-2). Moses says this to heaven and earth, to be witnesses. Asaph says it to God’s people.

They shouldn’t just listen, but “incline” their “ears to the words” of his “mouth”. This refers to a mind to listen attentively with a willingness to do what is said.

After the first verse has called for attention, the second verse reflects the desire to make it clear to the listener/reader that the literal sense has a higher or deeper meaning. This can only be understood by those who delve into the psalm. There is a desire in Asaph to serve his people with “a parable” (Psa 78:2; cf. Pro 1:6). The word for “parable” is mashal, which means teaching by comparison. It refers to “dark sayings of old” that are brought into light by him to teach a new generation. These hidden things are a rich treasure, which he will utter for them.

The distinctive feature of the mashal, the parable, in Psalm 78 is that the psalmist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, uses the ancient history of Israel as a parable to learn lessons from it. In other cases, a fictional story is usually used as a parable, whereas here it is a story that really took place, the history of redemption in the past.

The Lord Jesus fulfills this word of Asaph by using parables. God’s Spirit refers to this verse in Matthew 13 when He says of the Lord Jesus: “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. [This was] to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD“ (Mt 13:34-35). In Matthew 13, the Lord places “things hidden” into the light in a new way and does so by using parables or comparisons. In this quotation we also see that Asaph is called a “prophet”.

The psalmist-prophet Asaph passes on the history of Israel from God’s perspective. For this he draws on what he has heard from “our fathers” (Psa 78:3). Again he emphasizes his connection with his people, now by speaking of their common fathers, “our fathers”. He and they have heard it and know it. They are aware of it. Their fathers have told “us”, that is him and his contemporaries.

It is an important instruction for parents today to pass on to their children and grandchildren what they have learned from the Word of God in their dealings with God (cf. Exo 12:26-27 ; Exo 13:14-16). Passing it on makes it great again for the parents. They will continually praise and magnify God for it.

It makes all who have heard it responsible not to hide what they have heard “from their children”, that is, all who belong to God’s people (Psa 78:4). The command is to “tell the generation to come” of God’s deeds. These deeds he calls “the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done”.

It is a joy to pass on all the various acts of God to those who come after us. God is worthy to be believed and praised because of all His deeds. They are truly ‘praiseworthy deeds’ or ‘deeds to be praised’. God reveals His power in those deeds. The wonders He has performed also bring His people to praise Him. Everything in which God reveals Himself, has this effect on those who have an eye for it.

Speaking to our children and grandchildren about this is not always easy in practical terms. What is especially important is that they see with us that faith is not a rational matter for us, but that it permeates our entire life. Our life of faith must be fresh, just like the manna that was freshly laid out each morning. Lambs cannot live on old grass, but on young, fresh grass shoots.

Passing On What God Has Said

God has revealed Himself in His power and in His wonders. He has also revealed Himself in “a testimony” and “a law” which He has given to His people (Psa 78:5). ‘Testimony’ is more directed to the people, to whom God’s law comes, for whom God’s law is intended. By ‘law’ it is more about God, Who has given the law, the authority of the law as coming from Him.

Everything God’s people do has its origin in God’s Word. Not experience determines our lives, but what God has “established” and “appointed”. The testimony is “established in Jacob”. This refers to the practice of the people, how the people can be a testimony of God to the nations around them. The law is “appointed … in Israel”. That refers to the position of the people, what the people mean to God, what He has made of them. It follows that they must live in accordance with it in order to be a joy to Him.

These two aspects were commanded by God to “our fathers that they should teach them to their children” (cf. Deu 6:7 ; Deu 4:9). The children are to learn how to testify of God and live to the glory of God and then pass this on to their children (Psa 78:6). This is only possible by teaching them God’s Word.

Passing on God’s Word to the next generation is also an important task for us. Timothy, as a spiritual child of Paul, not only receives confirmation that what he has heard from Paul is the truth, but he is also to pass on that truth unchanged himself (2Tim 2:2). This is the ordinary way of passing on the truth.

Paul does not give Timothy any particular authority to preach. That authority is given by the Lord Himself (Mt 28:19). Nor does Paul ordain him in any special way. The Bible has no such thing as an official right to preach, something that should only be done by people with theological training. Passing on the truth of God’s Word is the responsibility of every believer. This is especially true for parents toward their children and for grandparents toward their grandchildren.

Parents, by their example and teaching, must teach their children to “put their confidence in God” (Psa 78:7; cf. Pro 22:19). What the children hear from parents sometimes sticks with them, sometimes it doesn’t; what they see from parents they will remember; what they experience with their parents in the exercise of faith they will understand and take to heart.

Those who put their hope in anything or anyone other than God are asking for misery. We avoid this when we do “not forget the works of God”. God’s works testify that hoping in Him never disappoints. Directly related to this is to “keep His commandments”. Hope or trust in God is justified only for those who listen to Him with the desire to do what He says.

By keeping God and His works and His commandments in mind, the children will be kept from becoming like their fathers (Psa 78:8). Asaph holds up to the children how God judges their fathers: it is “a stubborn and rebellious generation”. The reason is that this generation “did not prepare its heart” and their “spirit was not faithful to God”.

The warning is taken from a clear example. He does not say: ‘That they should not be like the nations, who know not of God’, but: that they should “not be like their fathers”. Malignant domestic examples are far more pernicious than those of strangers. Let us learn from these verses that it is not advisable to follow in the footsteps of the fathers in all things.

If there is no trust in God in heart and spirit, rebellion and disobedience is the result. If the heart is set on God, then idolatry will be put away (1Sam 7:3), including insubordination (1Sam 15:23). The “heart” is the governing body of all life (Pro 4:23). The “spirit” is meant to have fellowship with God. However, the spirit can become preoccupied with many things other than God, become unfaithful, and become defiled (2Cor 7:1). Therefore, God’s people must be on guard with their spirit, which the prophet Malachi says twice and therefore emphatically (Mal 2:15-16).