Psalms 78

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Psalm 78 recounts the history of Israel’s rebellion and God’s enduring faithfulness, urging the people to remember divine law and works for future generations. It details Israel’s repeated provocations in the wilderness and in the land, despite God’s miraculous provisions and deliverances. The psalm culminates in God’s rejection of Shiloh and His ultimate choice of Judah and David to shepherd His people.

A Call to Hear God's Law 1–8

¶ Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

The Failure of Ephraim 9–11

¶ The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

God's Marvels in the Wilderness 12–16

Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

Israel’s Rebellion and Temptation 17–33

And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;

Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,

The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

Hypocritical Repentance and Divine Compassion 34–39

When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.

And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Forgetting the Plagues and Deliverance 40–51

¶ How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust.

He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.

He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

God Guides Israel to the Promised Land 52–55

But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

Israel's Renewed Apostasy in the Land 56–58

Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

God Rejects Shiloh and Ephraim 59–66

When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

God Chooses Judah, Zion, and David 67–72

Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalm 78

Verse 1

Maschil of Asaph — Maskil, ‘instructive’, stands in the heading of thirteen psalms (Ps 32:1; 42:1; 88:1; 142:1 among them). What follows is a lesson drawn from Israel’s own history. ‘My law’ is torah, teaching, the word of v.5, ‘appointed a law in Israel’, and of v.10, ‘refused to walk in his law’.

Verse 2

in a parable… dark sayings of old — Mashal, a figure or proverb, and chidah, a riddle (Ps 49:4; Prov 1:6; Ezek 17:2); ‘utter’ is naba, to gush forth. Matthew sets the verse beside Christ’s teaching in parables, ‘fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet’ (Matt 13:35).

Verse 5

a testimony in Jacob… a law in Israel — Edut, ‘testimony’, beside torah, ‘law’: the Law’s own pairing (Deut 4:45, ‘the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments’). The command to hand it on is Deut 6:7: ‘thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children’. ‘Make them known’ is yada, the ‘known’ of v.3.

Verse 8

stubborn and rebellious — Sarar and marah, the pair of Deut 21:18, ‘a stubborn and rebellious son’, here spoken of a whole ‘generation’. ‘Stedfast’ is aman, to be firm, the verb of ‘believed’ in vv.22 and 32; ‘set… aright’ is kun, the verb of v.37, ‘their heart was not right with him’.

Verse 9

turned back in the day of battle — Ephraim, with Manasseh, makes up ‘the house of Joseph’ (Josh 17:17). ‘Turned back’ is haphak, to turn about; it returns in v.44, rivers ‘turned… into blood’, and in v.57, ‘turned aside like a deceitful bow’. The bow in the archers’ hands is the bow of that figure.

Verse 12

the field of Zoan — Zoan was a city of Egypt, ‘built seven years’ after Hebron (Num 13:22), and named in Isa 19:11 with ‘the wise counsellors of Pharaoh’. The psalm repeats it in v.43, ‘his wonders in the field of Zoan’. ‘Marvellous things’ is pele, from the verb of ‘wonderful works’ in v.4.

Verse 15

He clave the rocks — Baqa, to split open. Water came from the rock twice: at Horeb, ‘thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it’ (Ex 17:6), and again in Num 20:11. ‘Great depths’ is tehom, the ‘deep’ of Gen 1:2. Paul says of the rock, ‘that Rock was Christ’ (1 Cor 10:4).

Verse 17

provoking the most High — ‘Provoking’ is marah, to be rebellious, the word of ‘rebellious’ in v.8: the generation proves what it was called. ‘The most High’ is Elyon, the title also in v.35, ‘the high God their redeemer’, and v.56. The sin comes ‘yet more’, straight after the water of vv.15–16.

Verse 18

tempted God — Nasah, to put to the test. The sin is named in Deut 6:16, ‘Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah’, and Christ answers Satan from it (Matt 4:7). ‘Lust’ is nephesh, the soul or appetite: they asked for what they craved (Num 11:4, ‘fell a lusting’).

Verse 20

can he give bread also? — The question grants the miracle, ‘he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out’, and doubts the next. The doubt sits in the twice-repeated ‘can’ (yakol, to be able), answering v.19, ‘Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?’ The unbelief is named in v.22.

Verse 22

believed not… trusted not — Aman, the verb of ‘stedfast’ in v.8, and batach, to lean on. ‘Salvation’ is yeshuah, deliverance, the thing they had seen at the sea (v.13) and the rock (v.15). Hebrews reads the wilderness so: ‘they could not enter in because of unbelief’ (Heb 3:19).

Verse 25

angels’ food — Literally ‘bread of the mighty’ (abbir, a mighty one, the word the KJV renders ‘angels’ here; compare Ps 103:20, ‘angels, that excel in strength’). It is the manna, ‘the corn of heaven’ (v.24), ‘bread from heaven’ (Ex 16:4). Christ answers, ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6:35).

Verse 31

the fattest of them — Mashman, the robust and well fed; ‘chosen men’ is bachur, young men. The stroke fell ‘while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed’ (Num 11:33), at the place named Kibrothhattaavah, ‘because there they buried the people that lusted’ (Num 11:34).

Verse 34

enquired early after God — Shachar, to seek at dawn, with earnestness; it is the verb of Hos 5:15, ‘in their affliction they will seek me early’. ‘Returned’ is shub, which runs through the psalm: vv.34, 38 (‘turned he his anger away’), 39 (‘cometh not again’) and 41 (‘turned back’).

Verse 37

not right with him — Kun, to be set firm, the verb of v.8, where the fathers ‘set not their heart aright’; ‘stedfast’ is again aman (vv.8, 22). The fault is the heart, though their mouths had flattered him (v.36). Peter says the same to Simon: ‘thy heart is not right in the sight of God’ (Acts 8:21).

Verse 38

full of compassion — Rachum, the adjective of Ex 34:6, ‘merciful and gracious’, and of Ps 103:8. ‘Forgave’ is kaphar, to cover, the verb of making atonement; ‘iniquity’ is avon, guilt. The verse says how often: ‘many a time turned he his anger away’.

Verse 39

a wind that passeth away — ‘Wind’ is ruach, the word rendered ‘spirit’ in v.8, ‘whose spirit was not stedfast’. ‘Flesh’ is basar. The ground of the mercy is stated elsewhere: ‘he remembereth that we are dust’ (Ps 103:14).

Verse 40

grieve him — Atsab, to pain or hurt, the verb of Isa 63:10, ‘vexed his holy Spirit’; Paul warns, ‘grieve not the holy Spirit of God’ (Eph 4:30). ‘How oft’ is counted in Num 14:22, ‘tempted me now these ten times’. ‘Desert’ is yeshimon, a waste, beside ‘wilderness’.

Verse 41

limited the Holy One of Israel — Tavah, which is tagged nowhere else in the KJV; they set bounds on what he could do (vv.19–20). ‘The Holy One of Israel’ is Isaiah’s title for the LORD, 25 times in that book (31 in the KJV), and in the Psalms only at 71:22; 78:41; 89:18. Stephen recalls the turn: ‘in their hearts turned back again into Egypt’ (Acts 7:39).

Verse 49

evil angels — Malak, messenger, with ra, evil: messengers of calamity. The verse stacks the words of anger, ‘fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble’, and its sending ends in the firstborn (v.51). Compare the LORD who ‘will not suffer the destroyer to come in’ to houses marked by blood (Ex 12:23).

Verse 51

the chief of their strength — Reshith onim, the first of their vigour: the firstborn. Ps 105:36 says it in the same words, ‘the chief of all their strength’. Ham was the father of Mizraim, the Hebrew name of Egypt (Gen 10:6), so ‘the tabernacles of Ham’ are Egypt’s dwellings (Ps 105:23, ‘the land of Ham’).

Verse 52

like sheep… like a flock — Nasa, to pull up the tent-pegs and set out, and nahag, to lead; nahag is the ‘leadest’ of Ps 80:1, ‘thou that leadest Joseph like a flock’. The shepherd’s work the LORD does here is done by David at the close of the psalm (vv.70–72).

Verse 54

this mountain, which his right hand had purchased — The words go back to the Song of Moses: ‘the mountain of thine inheritance’ and ‘the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established’ (Ex 15:17), and ‘the people… which thou hast purchased’ (Ex 15:16). ‘Purchased’ is qanah, to get or acquire.

Verse 56

tempted and provoked the most high God — The words of vv.17–18 return: nasah (tempted), marah (provoked), Elyon (the most High). ‘Testimonies’ echoes the ‘testimony’ of v.5. The years that follow are the Judges’: ‘the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim’ (Judg 2:11).

Verse 57

a deceitful bow — Remiyyah, slack or false: a bow that fails the archer. Hosea uses it of Ephraim, ‘like a deceitful bow’ (Hos 7:16). ‘Turned aside’ is haphak, the verb of v.9, where Ephraim’s archers ‘turned back’; ‘dealt unfaithfully’ is bagad, to act treacherously.

Verse 60

the tabernacle of Shiloh — At Shiloh Israel ‘set up the tabernacle of the congregation’ (Josh 18:1); from there the ark was fetched (1 Sam 4:4) and taken in battle (1 Sam 4:11). ‘Placed’ is shakan, to dwell, root of mishkan, ‘tabernacle’. The LORD later says, ‘my place which was in Shiloh’ (Jer 7:12), and of the temple, ‘like Shiloh’ (Jer 26:6).

Verse 65

awaked as one out of sleep — Yaqats, to awake. The LORD’s ‘strength’ had been delivered ‘into captivity’ (v.61); the psalms elsewhere cry, ‘Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?’ (Ps 44:23). Then ‘he smote his enemies in the hinder parts’ (v.66); compare the Philistines struck ‘with emerods’ (1 Sam 5:6).

Verse 67

the tabernacle of Joseph — ‘Tabernacle’ is ohel, tent, the word that closes v.60, ‘the tent which he placed among men’; Joseph stands for Ephraim and Manasseh (Josh 17:17). ‘Refused’ (maas) is answered by v.68, ‘But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved’, and by v.70, ‘He chose David’.

Verse 70

He chose David also his servant — Bachar, the verb ‘chose not’ in v.67 and ‘chose’ in v.68. ‘Servant’ is the title the LORD gives David: ‘my servant David’; and ‘I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep’ (2 Sam 7:8). Verse 71 adds the picture, ‘following the ewes great with young’.

Verse 72

the integrity of his heart — Tom, completeness, the word of 1 Kings 9:4, ‘as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart’. ‘Fed’ is raah, to shepherd, the verb of Ps 23:1, ‘my shepherd’. ‘Skilfulness’ (tevunah, understanding) is printed only here in the KJV; the ‘heart’ and the ‘hands’ give the whole shepherd.