PSALM
78 - “Learn From the Past”
(Psalm
of Asaph)
[This is
the second longest psalm in the book, after Psalm 119.]
Psalm 78
is a Wisdom Psalm, intended to teach the people of Israel the
importance of following God's law, as well as understanding His
saving mercy.
Vs. 1 –
This teaching psalm begins with Asaph calling for the attention of
his fellow Israelites. The discourse is reminiscent of Moses
speaking to his people in Deuteronomy 32:1.
Vs. 2 –
This verse is quoted in Matthew 13:35 as being a word of prophecy
about Jesus speaking in parables. He did so that only those with
“ears that could hear” and understand His teachings about the
Kingdom of Heaven.
Vs. 4 –
The purpose of the psalm was to pass these things along to the next
generation:
- The praises of the LORD
- His power and greatness
- His wonderful works
Vs. 5-7
– Five generations appear to be mentioned. God established the
teaching of His Word for the purpose of being passed down to all
generations of both the Jews and Gentiles. The Lord chose Israel to
reveal Himself to the world. Or as Jesus said: “Salvation is from
the Jews” (John 4:22).
“Those who forget God’s works are sure to fail in their own.” (Charles Spurgeon)
Vs. 8 –
A stubborn and rebellious generation stopped trusting in God. They
had a heart problem.
VERSES
9-72: SONS OF EPHRAIM
Ephraim
was a son of Joseph (along with Manasseh). In this psalm “Ephraim”
is representative of all Israelites who have fallen away.
Vs. 9-12
– They refused to fight for Israel; did not keep God's covenant and
did not live by His law; forgot all that God had done for them and
their ancestors.
Vs.
12-16 – To remind the Israelites WHAT God had done and WHO He was,
four miracles are given as evidence:
- The plagues in Egypt
- The passage through the Red Sea
- The cloud of fire
- The water from the rock.
Vs. 17 –
Notice the change from “he” to “they”?
“They” continued to sin against God.
Vs.
18-20 – “Can God...?” The ungrateful and
untrusting Israelites didn't trust God's ability to provide food for
them in the wilderness. They tested Him with their questioning and
their lack of faith. They did not believe that The One who put the
stars in the sky could provide a banquet in the wilderness.
💛NUGGET:
Entitlement. When we have ungrateful hearts that focus on what we
don't have, we are blinded to God's blessings and all
that we do have.
Vs.
21-22 – God's anger against a stubborn, rebellious and sinful
people caused his judgment to come down upon them in a deadly fire.
(Numbers 11:1-3).
Vs.
23-25 – Manna – the “bread of angels”.
“Tis called ‘angels’ food,’ not because the angels do daily feed upon it, but because it was both made and ministered by the ministry of angels, and that phrase sets forth the excellency of it.” (Ness)
Vs.
32-39 – In spite of God's provisions and miracles, the people of
Israel continued to sin. They refused to belief that their God was
big enough to deliver them and fell into cycles of unfaithfulness
followed by punishment ➡ repentance ➡ forgiveness ➡ insincere
worship ➡ sin ➡ punishment. Yet through it all, God was
compassionate with them and did not destroy His remnant.
Vs.
41-55 – God's miracles and redemption for His people as they journeyed from
Egypt to Canaan are reviewed, once again. By now, it's plain to see that these
stubborn people willfully
chose to forget God's good works.
Ungrateful usurpers of unprecedented Glory.
Vs.
56-64 – Only a generation after entering the Promised Land, the
Israelites forgot. They forgot God's Law. They forgot God's
testimonies. They forgot God. They began to worship idols instead.
So, God left them. He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh and gave up
His Ark of the Covenant to the Philistines (1 Samuel 4). His Glory
departed from Ephraim and He surrendered Israel to the swords of their
enemies.
Vs. 65 –
Don't you love how the roles are reversed here? Asaph tells us that
God woke up, while in reality... it's always men that need to be
awakened and revived.
💛NUGGET:
KJV translates verse 66 as “He smote his enemies in the hinder
parts.” Though they deserved a good spanking, God gave them
something worse: Hemorrhoids. For reals. (1 Samuel 5:6-10)
Vs.
67-72 – God traded Ephraim for Judah and Shiloh for Mount Zion. And
He chose a shepherd boy for His king. Neither of these were
impulsive choices on God's part. Remember when Jacob was blessing
his sons before he died? To his son Judah he said: “The scepter
will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his
feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the
nations is his.” (Genesis 49:10). God had already chosen Judah over Ephraim before the Israelites even left Egypt!
“If Israel’s record is her shame, God’s persistent goodness emerges as her hope (and ours) for the unfinished story.” (Kidner)
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PSALM
79 – “Where Is Their God?”
(Lament
Psalm of Asaph)
This
psalm was likely written by a descendant of David's Asaph, as it was
believed to have followed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple
by the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.
Psalm 79
is a Community Lament in which Judah acknowledges their sin and begs
for God’s mercy.
VERSES
1-4: DESTUCTION OF JERUSALEM & THE TEMPLE
These
verses detail the horrible curses God warned about if His covenant
was disobeyed. (Deuteronomy 28:15–68)
VERSES
5-7: GOD'S ANGER
Vs. 5 –
“How Long...?”
Vs.
6 – While his people's blood was poured out
like water (vs. 3), the people asked God to pour
out His
wrath on their enemies.
[Verses
6 and 7 are very similar to Jeremiah 10:25 and may have been
influenced by Jeremiah.]
VERSES
8-10: RESCUE US FOR YOUR GLORY
Vs. 9 –
The psalmist asks God to provide atonement for Israel's sins, as the
temple and altar were destroyed and they were unable to provide
sacrifices for themselves.
Vs. 10 –
The Gentiles taunt a defeated Israel with the question:
“Where is their God?”.
Vs. 13 –
A vow to give thanks as the sheep of His pasture. The psalm begins
with a city in ruins and ends in a pasture. Surely the Good Shepherd
can't be far away...
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PSALM
80 - Revival
(Lament
of Asaph)
Most
scholars place this psalm sometime before Israel's Northern Kingdom
fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. At that time, Israel was still
one nation consisting of 12 tribes within two kingdoms.
Psalm 80
is a Community Lament Psalm petitioning God for deliverance and is
attributed to a descendant of Asaph. (If written by the Asaph of
David’s day, it would have been written in the spirit of prophecy.)
VERSES
1-3: PRAYER FOR RESTORATION
Vs. 1-2
– Just as the previous psalm ended with the sheep, this one
continues with the same metaphor, addressing God as the Shepherd of
Israel. “Joseph” was a name often used for the northern tribes of
Israel which included Ephraim and Manasseh (sons of Joseph).
Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh are all descendants of Rachel (Jacob's
wife) and also marched together from encampment in the wilderness
(Numbers 10:22-24).
Vs. 3 –
“Restore us, God”: He will do for us what we cannot do
for ourselves.
VERSES
4-7: HOW LONG?
Vs. 4 –
The people wonder how long God will be angry with them. God was so
mad, in fact, that even their prayers angered Him. (The Hebrew word
here is “smoked”.) They were arrogant enough to pray for God's
deliverance even while stubbornly allowing sin in their lives. They
needed revival to bring them to genuine repentance and restoration.
Vs. 5 –
God was serving up bowls of tears for their breakfast, with a side of
tear juice to drink.
“The psalmist points to an angry God, a weeping nation, and mocking foes, a trilogy of woe.” (Maclaren)
VERSES
8:13: ISRAEL AS A VINE
Vs. 8-13
– Israel is compared to a vine transplanted from Egypt to Canaan
that grew and grew, spreading out all over the land God promised to
them. But then, God tore down the protective hedges and the vine
became plucked and trampled. The vine and fruit (Israel) were
destroyed by the Boars and creatures (foreign nations) until the
entire vineyard was bare.
VERSES
14-19: REVIVE THE VINE
Vs. 17 –
“Son of Man”: Perhaps Asaph wrote these words with the
present king of Israel (Hezekiah) in mind. But ultimately, the Man
of God’s right hand can only be Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:1).
Therefore, it is reasonable to understand this as an early messianic
reference.
Vs. 19 –
The prayer for revival, “Restore us, O God; make your face shine
upon us, that we may be saved” is a repetition of verses 3 and
7. There is, however, a building crescendo in the way the psalmist
addresses God:
Verse 3:
“O God”
Verse 7
: “O God Almighty”
Verse
19: “O Lord God Almighty”
💛NUGGET:
“Revive us” means, “give us life”. The ultimate fulfillment
of our prayers for revival will be when Jesus comes in power and
glory to reign.
Like the
psalmist, we may or may not see revival in our day. But we should
never stop praying towards that end. When it's hard to tell the
saints from the sinners... we need a revival, y'all.
💛💛💛
PSALM
81 - “God Gave Them Over”
(Lament
Psalm of Asaph)
This
song was sung on a feast day of Israel, most likely during the Feast
of Trumpets or the Feast of Tabernacles.
VERSES
1-5: LIFT UP A SONG!
“Franz
Delitzsch, one of the great German commentators, points out that the
summons in verse 1 is to the whole congregation;
the summons in verse 2 is to the Levites, who
were the appointed temple singers and musicians; and the summons in
verse 3 is to the priests who had the specific
task of blowing the trumpets.” (Boice)
VERSES
6-16: NO REASON TO SING
In
direct contrast to the joyful singing, God shares a message of
mournful lament about what might have been if His chosen had not
blocked His blessing.
Vs. 6-7
– God speaks of how He delivered Israel from slavery and the
“burden from their shoulders” (Exodus 1:11).
“The story of Israel is only our own history in another shape. God has heard us, delivered us, liberated us, and too often our unbelief makes the wretched return of mistrust, murmuring, and rebellion.” (Spurgeon)
Vs. 9 –
Idolatry is no less Israel's sin than ours. Instead of making God
our focus, we are guilty for worshiping the gods of wealth, fame,
pleasure and power.
Vs. 10 –
“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it”: He wants to
supply our every need.
Vs. 11 – God chose Israel to be “His” people and they repaid Him with disobedience. Right from the get-go they began quarreling with Moses because they were thirsty and could find no water in the desert (Exodus 17:7). But their real quarrel was always with God because of their stubborn hearts.
Vs. 12 –
As a result of their disobedience God “gave them over to the
stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices”. One
of the worst ways God can punish us is to leave us alone with our own
foolishness. John Trapp wrote that it was as if God had “left
them as a ship without a rudder; as a horse without reins, to go
whither they would, and do what they would.”
💛NUGGET:
Sin deceives us into thinking that we can get what we want, left to
our own devices.
Vs.
13-16 – God's lament over Israel, “Oh, that My people would
listen to Me” is echoed centuries later in Jesus' lament for
Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37).
“I would have satisfied you...”
This
psalm ends on a sad note of looking back at wasted years and
unfulfilled potential. We may have our own wasted years of
disobedience that we grieve... but the message of this psalm is that
we can look forward with hope. We serve a God who is full of grace
and mercy. He is ready to forgive and satisfy us with honey from the
rock.
💛💛💛
PSALM
82 – “Judging the Judges”
(Psalm
of Asaph)
[Asaph
delivers a brief word from God on unjust rulers and judges (companion
of Psalm 58).]
VERSE
1: DIVINE ASSEMBLY
God, as
the Chief Justice of the Highest Supreme Court, is standing in
the midst of the gods or “mighty ones”. The word for “gods”
used here is Elohim, plural for the generic word for
“god” in Hebrew. These are likely mere mortals in roles of
leadership, comparable to our political leaders of today. The
assembly would likely be filled with the High Priests and priests, a
system God established with Moses and Aaron. Initially, the system
of priests functioned well for the people of Israel. But by the time
Jesus arrived on the scene, the priesthood was being sold to the
highest bidder. Corruption seeped through their ranks like a bad
stink. Does that smell familiar?
VERSES
2-5: ACCUSATIONS
Vs.2 –
“How long will you judge unjustly?” Can
you imagine God's frustration? He had given these people the most
complete set of laws and ordinance possible – a judgment for every
situation including wearing linen and wool mingled together – and
they STILL could
not judge righteously or defend the weak and oppressed.
Vs. 5 –
“Foundations of the earth are shaken”: We can bear
personal witness to the fact that when leaders rule unjustly, God's
moral order is blown to smithereens.
VERSES
6-7: VERDICT
Vs. 6 –
“You are gods... children of the Most High”: After Jesus
angered the Jewish religious leaders by declaring Himself as the “Son
of God”, He further confounded them by quoting this verse. Jesus
used their own scriptures to remind them that God had referred to
human beings as "gods" (John 10:34-38).
💛NUGGET:
All of us were created by God for noble life.
Vs.
8 – “For You shall inherit all nations”:
Considered to be a Messianic prophecy.
“Does not this last verse contain a prophecy of our Lord, the calling of the Gentiles, and the prevalence of Christianity over the earth? Thus several of the fathers have understood the passage. It is only by the universal spread of Christianity over the world, that the reign of righteousness and justice is to be established: and of whom can it be said that he shall inherit all nations, but of Jesus Christ?” (Clarke)
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READING FOR TOMORROW: Chapters 83-87
LINK TO READING PLAN:
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