SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/24/2012 7:54:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Protecting the Future
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
78:1-8
Message
of the verses: In Today’s SD we will
begin a rather long psalm; Psalm 78 has 72 verses in it so it will probably
take a few days to complete it. We will
first take a look at three introductions from different commentators and then
begin to look at the psalm.
This first one comes from a
commentary on Psalms entitled “Basic Bible Commentary” and this is a series of
books on the different books of the Bible.
“God in History
(Psalm 78)
This psalm provides a digest of some
early events in Israel’s long and turbulent history. The narrative is preceded by a prologue (verses
1-4) uttered by a teacher of history.
The announced intention of speaking in parables and dark sayings (NRSV) or hidden things (NIV) (riddles)
was to make that history known to the then-present generation of
listeners. Verses 3-4 identify the
source of historical information as the oral tradition.
“The story begins with God’s
institution of the covenant and commandments (verse 5). Instructions were provided (verses (6-7) so
that all generations might be kept informed and would not forget the reverse to
reverse the law. The people were also counseled
not be rebellious and unfaithful as the preceding generation was.
“The story moves on, describing an
incident with the Ephraimites not recorded elsewhere in the Bible. Perhaps the teacher is using it to show what
happens when the covant is ignored. In
verses 12-16 the miracle of the Exodus is related. The wilderness experiences are examined in
some detail in verses 17-31. Historical
incidents to which they refer are found in passages throughout Exodus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. The years in the wilderness
were fraught with almost constant bickering and even rebellion. God’s patience was tested not simply because
of their discontent; they had witnessed miracles, manna from heaven, and water
from rocks on Mount Horeb, for example.
It was their insistence on more miracles and good works that tried God
so severely and caused the uncommon loss of patience. The result was the slaying of the strongest
men of Israel (verse 31).
“What follows in verses 32-39 is an
account of human behavior which is far from unusual. Punished by having lost their best men (verse
31), the wandering Israelites pretended to repent, praising God as their
refuge. But all the while they continued
their sinful, lying ways, and defied the provisions of the covenant. Having regained patience, God forgave their
sins and extended compassion, remembering that they were only human (verse 39).
“At verse 40 the wilderness history
is resumed with descriptions of the periods of slavery in Egypt prior to the
exodus. Emphasis is on the plagues
recorded in Exodus 7-12. These plagues
are crucial to the history of Israel as evidence of God’s saving acts. By the hands of Moses and Aaron, God made the
rivers run with blood (Exodus 7:14-20), made frogs, flies, and locusts swarm
over the land (Exodus 8:6; 8:24; and 10:14), and caused hail to destroy
vegetation all over Egypt (Exodus 9:25.
The sycamores (NRSV) of verse
47 are figs, as the NIV makes clear.
Smiting the firstborn Egyptians (verse 51), the descendants of Ham, the
third son of Noah, is God’s final act before the departure from Egypt. The incident is recorded in Exodus
12:29-13:29, and follows the institution of the feast of the Passover.
“In verses 52-55 there is a brief
digest of the history of the entire period, from flight from Egypt to the
crossing of the Jordan under Joshua (Joshua 3:17) and to the settlement of the
tribes of Israel in Canaan.
“The remainder of the psalm is not
so much a history of specific episodes as it is a tale of continued rebellion
by Israel, of more treachery and deceit, provoking God to anger as it did in
the Wilderness. The consequence is
rejection of Israel (verses 61-62). But
all is not lost. God awakes and saves
Israel by routing its enemies. An
account of the establishment of the monarchy under David is given in the final
stanza.
“The primary objective of this psalm
is not necessarily Israel’s history. It
is the recounting of numerous instances of God’s direct involvement in that
history. Evidences of God’s action make that
history rich indeed.” (Written by the one who writes these SD’s on December
24, 2018)
“The psalm concludes with the coronation of
David, but the mention of the temple in verse 69 indicates that David’s reign
had ended. ‘Ephraim’ in verse 9 probably
refers, not to the tribe, but to the Northern Kingdom (Israel) that had split
from Judah and Benjamin when Rehoboam became king (1Kings 12). The leaders of Israel abandoned the faith of
their fathers and established a religion of their own making, while the people
of Judah sought to be faithful to the Lord.
In this psalm, Asaph warned the people of Judah not to imitate their
faithless ancestors or their idolatrous neighbors and disobey the Scriptures
and teach them to their children. Judah
had the temple on Mt. Zion, the covenants, the priesthood, and the Davidic
dynasty, and all this could be lost in one generation (see Judges 2). Since Israel is a covenant nation, she has
the responsibility of obeying and honoring the Lord, and this psalm presents
three responsibilities God expected His people to fulfill.” (Dr. Warren Wiersbe)
Protecting
the Future (vv. 1-8): “1 A Maskil of
Asaph: 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 the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous 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
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 And not forget the works of
God, But keep His commandments, 8 And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious
generation, A
generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not
faithful to God.”
The first verse sounds to me a bit
like verses in Proverbs, when Solomon was teaching his son things that were
important for him to learn. We read in
the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy and other places that the fathers
were to teach their children the things of the Lord, for if they did not pass
the truth of God’s Word to their children then the next generation would not
know the truth. Paul writes to Timothy
these words, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many
witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
We read these words of Jesus from
Mathew 13:35: “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.’” Asaph writes these words
in verse two of Psalm 78. Asaph goes on
to say that these words have been known by their fathers, for they have told
them to their sons. Then he says that
these words must be taught to the children.
Just think if the nation of Israel
and not taken the time to write down all of God’s Word so that it could be
passed on to the next generation. This
was a painstaking job for these scribes, for they would count all the letters
that they would write and if they came up one short of how many they were
copying then they would through it away and begin again. This took a great deal of work and
dedication.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Asaph helped his
readers understand an enigma in their history.
He explained why God rejected the tribe of Ephraim and chose the tribe
of Judah, and David to be king, and why He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh
and had a temple built on Mt. Zion.”
This was very important for his readers to understand so they would obey
the Lord. Asaph will tell about the
rebellious generation that came out of Egypt and all died in the desert. He will tell of the generation who lived in
Canaan and turned to idols, and about the division of the ten tribes as they
set up their own blasphemous religion.
Asaph did this so this generation would understand what God wanted them
to know and follow the Law of the Lord and therefore be blessed.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: There are
two things that I can learn from this section and from this Psalm 78 that are
important for me to know. I know that I
can praise the Lord that through the Holy Spirit of God He has kept the Word of
God intact so that I can read, study, meditate on it and know that what I am
reading is God’s truth. History is
important and I can learn from the history of the nation of Israel and not
follow their mistakes. “11 Now these
things happened to them as
an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have
come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not
fall.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Continue to study the Word of God in order to learn what the Lord has
for me each and every day. Continue to
trust the Lord to teach me contentment through the trials that I face, trusting
that God has a definite plan for my life.
4/24/2012
9:01:42 AM
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