←Psalm 78→BSB

In This Chapter 6 people 13 places 103 terms 1 theme 4 resources

People

Israel 14 Jacob (Patriarch) 5 Joseph 2 Jeshurun (Israel) Zaphenath-paneah (Joseph) David

Places

    Key Terms

    Instruction 8 Be Rebellious 8 Possession 7 Well-Established 5 Covenant 4 Guilt (State) 4 Be Zealous 4 Salvation 3 To Redeem (Deliver) 3 Miracle 3 Deceit (Deception) 3 Proverb 2 Testimony 2 To Sin 2 Transgression 2 Believe In 2 Trust 2 Mighty One 2 Compassionate 2 Forgive 2 Holy 2 Miraculous Sign 2 Precept 2 Love 2 Understanding (Awareness) 2 Rebel (Act) Rebellion (Offense) Rebel (Against Authority) Rebellion Rebelliousness Covenant (NT) Covenant of Salt Sin Sin (Act) Sin (Incur Guilt) Guilty (Responsible) Guilt (Consequence) Guiltiness Trespass (Sin) Sinful Sin (Offense) To Stand Guilty Sin (Guilty) Sin (Wrongdoing) Guilty Considered Guilty Guilty Of Sin Previously Sin Against Save (Help) Salvation (State) Save (Restore) Salvation (Physical) Salvation (Deliverance) Salvation (Rescuer) Save (Rescue) Salvation (Means) Saving (Means) Strong-Willed Compassionate (NT) Forgive (Remove Guilt) Forgive (Grant Pardon) Spare (Release) Hand Over Forgiveness (Remove Guilt) Forgive (Wipe Out) Forgiveness (Pardon) Have Mercy To Cover (Forgive) Cover (Figurative) Forgiving Be Holy Holy (Pure) Holy Thing Most Holy Place Holiness Holy (Devout) Hallow Sanctuary Redeem To Redeem (Liberate) Redemption (Right) To Redeem (Substitute) Let Be Redeemed Redemption (Deliverance) Symbol (Sign) Sign (Miracle) Safety Safety (State) Safety (Trust) Safe Safety (Security) Safety (Confidence) To Cause to Possess Possession Deceit (Act) Deceive Deceit (Betrayal) Laziness Deceit (Covert) To Love Love (Appreciation) Understanding

    Themes

    Wisdom Psalms

    Resources

    Job Book Overview Music Articles Song of Moses Articles Zoan Articles

    I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

    (Matthew 13:34–35)

    A Maskil of Asaph.

    ⓘ This wisdom psalm exhorts the people to learn...

    This wisdom psalm exhorts the people to learn wisdom and faithfully pass it on.
    ⓘ The prologue is an invitation to learn wisdom.

    The prologue is an invitation to learn wisdom.
    1Give ear, O my people, to my instruction;listen to the words of my mouth.
    2I will open my mouth in parables;I will utter things hidden from the beginning,†
    ⓘ This story of what God has done should...

    This story of what God has done should be told from generation to generation (see Deut 6:20–25; Prov 4:1–4).
    3that we have heard and knownand our fathers have relayed to us.4We will not hide them from their childrenbut will declare to the next generationthe praises of the LORD and His mightand the wonders He has performed.
    ⓘ The telling of the story should motivate God’s...

    The telling of the story should motivate God’s people to obey what he commanded (Deut 6:4–9).
    5For He established a testimony in Jacoband appointed a law in Israel,which He commanded our fathersto teach to their children,6that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children
    ⓘ God holds each generation responsible for its own...

    God holds each generation responsible for its own response, which should be to maintain faith and hope (see 9:18; 27:14) and avoid being stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful (see Deut 9:6–7; 10:16; 30:6; 31:27).
    7that they should put their confidence in God,not forgetting His works,but keeping His commandments.8Then they will not be like their fathers,a stubborn and rebellious generation,whose heart was not loyal,whose spirit was not faithful to God.
    ⓘ Ephraim, the second son of Joseph, received a...

    Ephraim, the second son of Joseph, received a special blessing from Jacob (Gen 48:15–20; 49:22–26; Deut 33:13–17). The land that his descendants received included fertile valleys and strategic roads (Judg 8:2). However, the people of Ephraim did not live in obedience to God’s gracious covenant.
    9The archers of Ephraimturned back on the day of battle.10They failed to keep God’s covenantand refused to live by His law.11They forgot what He had done,the wonders He had shown them.
    ⓘ The focus shifts from Ephraim (78:9–11) to Israel...

    The focus shifts from Ephraim (78:9–11) to Israel as a whole as the psalmist reflects on God’s power in Egypt (see 81:4–7) and in the wilderness.
    12He worked wonders before their fathersin the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.13He split the sea and brought them through;He set the waters upright like a wall.14He led them with a cloud by dayand with a light of fire all night.15He split the rocks in the wildernessand gave them drink as abundant as the seas.16He brought streams from the stoneand made water flow down like rivers.
    ⓘ Israel rebelled in the wilderness despite God’s abundant...

    Israel rebelled in the wilderness despite God’s abundant provision.
    17But they continued to sin against Him,rebelling in the desert against the Most High.18They willfully tested Godby demanding the food they craved.19They spoke against God, saying,“Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?20When He struck the rock, water gushed outand torrents raged.But can He also give breador supply His people with meat?”
    21Therefore the LORD heardand was filled with wrath;so a fire was kindled against Jacob,and His anger flared against Israel,22because they did not believe Godor rely on His salvation.
    ⓘ Abundance comes through the doors of heaven (Gen...
    23Yet He commanded the clouds aboveand opened the doors of the heavens.24He rained down manna for them to eat;He gave them grain from heaven.†25Man ate the bread of angels;He sent them food in abundance.
    ⓘ God powerfully satisfied the people’s desires, but they...

    God powerfully satisfied the people’s desires, but they did not respond with gratitude or faith. Therefore, God exercised his justice.
    26He stirred the east wind from the heavensand drove the south wind by His might.27He rained meat on them like dust,and winged birds like the sand of the sea.28He felled them in the midst of their camp,all around their dwellings.29So they ate and were well filled,for He gave them what they craved.
    30Yet before they had filled their desire,with the food still in their mouths,31God’s anger flared against them,and He put to death their strongestand subdued the young men of Israel.
    ⓘ Israel’s rebellion resulted in God’s judgment, but even...

    Israel’s rebellion resulted in God’s judgment, but even their short-lived and insincere repentance motivated God to exercise forbearance.
    32In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.33So He ended their days in futility,†and their years in sudden terror.
    ⓘ Israel’s continued existence, in spite of the people’s...

    Israel’s continued existence, in spite of the people’s rebellion and unbelief (78:7–8), was due to God’s compassion.
    34When He slew them, they would seek Him;they repented and searched for God.
    ⓘ The Israelites remembered the right doctrine (9:9; 91:1),...

    The Israelites remembered the right doctrine (9:9; 91:1), but they did not allow God to change their hearts (Lev 26:41).
    35And they remembered that God was their Rock,that God Most High† was their Redeemer.
    36But they deceived Him with their mouths,and lied to Him with their tongues.37Their hearts were disloyal to Him,and they were unfaithful to His covenant.
    38And yet He was compassionate;He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.He often restrained His angerand did not unleash His full wrath.39He remembered that they were but flesh,a passing breeze that does not return.
    ⓘ The Israelites rebelled even though the Lord had...

    The Israelites rebelled even though the Lord had rescued them from powerful plagues.
    40How often they disobeyed Him in the wildernessand grieved Him in the desert!41Again and again they tested Godand provoked the Holy One of Israel.42They did not remember His power —†the day He redeemed them from the adversary,43when He performed His signs in Egyptand His wonders in the fields of Zoan.
    44He turned their rivers to blood,and from their streams they could not drink.45He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,and frogs that devastated them.46He gave their crops to the grasshopper,the fruit of their labor to the locust.47He killed their vines with hailstonesand their sycamore-figs with sleet.†48He abandoned their cattle to the hailand their livestock to bolts of lightning.
    49He unleashed His fury against them,wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.50He cleared a path for His anger;He did not spare them from deathbut delivered their lives to the plague.51He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,the virility in the tents of Ham.
    52He led out His people like sheepand guided them like a flock in the wilderness.53He led them safely, so they did not fear,but the sea engulfed their enemies.54He brought them to His holy land,to the mountain His right hand had acquired.55He drove out nations before themand apportioned their inheritance;He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
    ⓘ Israel’s rebellion desecrated the Promised Land. The people...

    Israel’s rebellion desecrated the Promised Land. The people built shrines to false gods and worshiped idols (78:58) during the period of the judges (e.g., Judg 2:11; 3:7, 17–18).
    56But they tested and disobeyed God Most High,for they did not keep His decrees.57They turned back and were faithless like their fathers,twisted like a faulty bow.58They enraged Him with their high placesand provoked His jealousy with their idols.
    59On hearing it, God was furiousand rejected Israel completely.60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,the tent He had pitched among men.61He delivered His strength to captivity,and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.62He surrendered His people to the swordbecause He was enraged by His heritage.63Fire consumed His young men,and their maidens were left without wedding songs.64His priests fell by the sword,but their widows could not lament.
    65Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.66He beat back His foes;He put them to everlasting shame.67He rejected the tent of Josephand refused the tribe of Ephraim.
    ⓘ In the choice of Mount Zion instead of...

    In the choice of Mount Zion instead of Shiloh as God’s sanctuary on earth, God moved from the north to the south (see Ps 69).
    68But He chose the tribe of Judah,Mount Zion, which He loved.69He built His sanctuary like the heights,like the earth He has established forever.
    ⓘ The God who had turned against his own...

    The God who had turned against his own people (78:62) chose David, a shepherd (Gen 46:34; 1 Sam 16:10–11), to become their shepherd (Ps 78:52; cp. 23:1).
    70He chose David His servantand took him from the sheepfolds;71from tending the ewes He brought himto be shepherd of His people Jacob,of Israel His inheritance.72So David shepherded them with integrity of heartand guided them with skillful hands.