Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Psalm 78

What should I learn from this chapter?

• God owns the Land
• God’s deals with Jews and Gentiles differently and prophetically
• Jacob and Israel are the same person. Jacob represents the worldly man while Israel represents the spiritual man.

God’s Kindness to Rebellious Israel

A Contemplation (Heb. Maschil) of Asaph.

Psalm 78:¹ Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

Psalm 78:² I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old (obscure sayings or riddles),

• Ref: Matthew Chapter 13 {2 of 2}

Psalm 78:³ Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.

Psalm 78:⁴ We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ),
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

Psalm 78:⁵ For He established a testimony in Jacob (the worldly man),
And appointed a law in Israel (the spiritual man,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;

• The testimony is for the physical man
• The law is for the spiritual man

Psalm 78:⁶ That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,

Psalm 78:⁷ That they may set their hope in God (‘ĕlōhîm),
And not forget the works of God (‘ĕlōhîm),
But keep His commandments;

Psalm 78:⁸ And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright (Lit. prepare its heart),
And whose spirit was not faithful to God (‘ēl).

Psalm 78:⁹ The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows (Lit. bow shooters),
Turned back in the day of battle.

• Ephraim received Joseph’s birthright.
• A “bow” (like a bow that is in the shape of an “arc or arch”) is symbolic of a covenant. (Like a rain-bow)”
• Ephraim turned back from the covenant of God.

Psalm 78:¹⁰ They did not keep the covenant of God (‘ĕlōhîm);
They refused to walk in His law,

Psalm 78:¹¹ And forgot His works
And His wonders that He had shown them.

Psalm 78:¹² Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

Psalm 78:¹³ He divided the sea and caused them to pass through;
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

Psalm 78:¹⁴ In the daytime also He led them with the cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.

Psalm 78:¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.

Psalm 78:¹⁶ He also brought streams out of the rock,
And caused waters to run down like rivers.

Psalm 78:¹⁷ But they sinned even more against Him
By rebelling against the Most High (ʿelyôn) in the wilderness.

Psalm 78:¹⁸ And they tested God (‘ēl) in their heart
By asking for the food of their fancy.

• It has always been man’s appetite that has destroyed him. His appetite for sex, money, power, fame, etc. This was the story of Adam and Eve, Jacob and Esau, Samson and Delilah, and so on.
  
  • God rained down pheasants.
    
• Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Psalm 78:¹⁹ Yes, they spoke against God (‘ĕlōhîm):
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

Psalm 78:²⁰ Behold, He struck the rock,
So that the waters gushed out,
And the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread also?
Can He provide meat for His people?”

• See Topic: Jesus as the Rock and Stone

“When you are stuck between a Rock and a Hard Spot … Choose the Rock”

Psalm 78:²¹ Therefore the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) heard this and was furious;
So a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also came up against Israel,

• God was furious with both the worldly and the spiritual side of Jacob’s people.

Psalm 78:²² Because they did not believe in God (‘ĕlōhîm),
And did not trust in His salvation (Jesus)

• Salvation: (Jesus)
  • Hebrew:
    yᵊšûʿâ h3444
    pronounced “Yesh-Shoe-Ah”
  • Greek:
    iēsous g2424
    pronounced “ee-ay-sooce” or “Jesus”

Psalm 78:²³ Yet He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of heaven,

Psalm 78:²⁴ Had rained down manna (bread) on them to eat,
And given them of the bread of heaven (Lit. grain).

• John 6:51
  I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Psalm 78:²⁵ Men ate angels’ food (manna);
He sent them food to the full (satiation).

Psalm 78:²⁶ He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens;
And by His power He brought in the south wind.

• Moses put his staff into the waters of the Red Sea before standing in awe as two towering walls of water rose up before him, leaving a path of dry land between. The waters stood at attention, trembling, waiting for the God of creation to announce their release.
  
  Some million(s) of Hebrews, and their animals fight against a harsh, whistling, Eastern wind blowing stinging water into their faces from the front and the Egyptian army in hot pursuit from their rear.
  
  They rush pulling goats, donkeys, and other animals.
  
  The Egyptian army pursued with vengeance, with rage, and with a hunger for slaughter as the ground shook underneath from the pounding of the horse’s hooves. Unlike the Hebrews, the Egyptians rode in chariots. Then, finally, the dawn of the morning lightens the horizon. Finally, they reach the other side. Not one Hebrew was lost. The walls of water shook in violence before crashing back onto the surface of the earth. The entire Egyptian army was swallowed up, and bloated bodies appeared on the surface of the waters. Not one Egyptian escaped.

Psalm 78:²⁷ He also rained meat on them like the dust,
Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;

Psalm 78:²⁸ And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
All around their dwellings.

Psalm 78:²⁹ So they ate and were well filled,
For He gave them their own desire.

• It was the pursuit of pleasure in this world by man’s appetite which brought about the fall of man.
• When Eve ate of the tree of Good and Evil, she ate to her heart’s desire.

Psalm 78:³⁰ They were not deprived (Lit. separated) of their craving;
But while their food was still in their mouths,

Psalm 78:³¹ The wrath of God (‘ĕlōhîm) came against them,
And slew the stoutest of them,
And struck down the choice men of Israel.

Psalm 78:³² In spite of this they still sinned,
And did not believe in His wondrous works.

Psalm 78:³³ Therefore their days He consumed in futility,
And their years in fear.

Psalm 78:³⁴ When He slew them, then they sought Him;
And they returned and sought earnestly for God (‘ēl).

• At the end of the Seven-Year Tribulation Jesus returns to earth to set up His rule from Jerusalem. He returns to the Jews and the Jews return to Him.
  
  • Hosea 5:15
    I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
    
  • Zechariah 12:10
    Mourning for the Pierced One
    “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
    
  • Isaiah 33:14
    The (Gentile) sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings (Helll)?”

Psalm 78:³⁵ Then they remembered that God (‘ĕlōhîm) was their Rock,
And the Most High God (‘ēl ʿelyôn ‘ēl) their Redeemer (gā’al – their Kinsman-Redeemer).

• See Topic: Kinsman Redeemer Qualifications.
• See Topic: Kinsman Redeemer Duties
• See Verses on the Kinsman Redeemer
• See Topic: Jesus as a Kinsman Redeemer

Psalm 78:³⁶ Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth,
And they lied to Him with their tongue;

– – – –

• Humor:
  
  A little boy was asked by his Sunday school teacher “What is a lie?”
  The boy answered, “It is an abomination to God.”
  At this, the teacher smiled.
  Then he finished, “and an everlasting help in the time of need.”
  
  But there is nothing humorous about not trusting God.

– – – –

Psalm 78:³⁷ For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

Psalm 78:³⁸ But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath;

Psalm 78:³⁹ For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A breath that passes away and does not come again.

Psalm 78:⁴⁰ How often they provoked (rebelled against Him) Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!

Psalm 78:⁴¹ Yes, again and again they tempted God (‘ēl),
And limited the Holy One (qāḏôš) of Israel.

• Can man limit God? Yes!
• Matthew 13:58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
• Hebrews 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Psalm 78:⁴² They did not remember His power (Lit. hand):
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

Psalm 78:⁴³ When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;

Psalm 78:⁴⁴ Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.

Psalm 78:⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
And frogs, which destroyed them.

Psalm 78:⁴⁶ He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the locust.

Psalm 78:⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.

Psalm 78:⁴⁸ He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery lightning (lightning bolts).

Psalm 78:⁴⁹ He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,

Psalm 78:⁴⁹ By sending angels of destruction among them.

Psalm 78:⁵⁰ He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave their life (Or their beasts) over to the plague,

Psalm 78:⁵¹ And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham (the nations of the descendants of Ham, one of Noah’s sons whose descendants are in Africa).

Psalm 78:⁵² But He made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

Psalm 78:⁵³ And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

• In scripture, the sea can be symbolic of a sea of people.
• In this case, the Red Sea became a “Sea of the bloated bodies of Egypt’s nobles, priests, and army”.

Psalm 78:⁵⁴ And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right hand had acquired.

• Mount Moriah and/or Mount Zion

Psalm 78:⁵⁵ He also drove out the (other) nations before them,
Allotted them an inheritance by survey (surveyed measurement, lit. measuring cord),
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

• God gave them His promised land.

Psalm 78:⁵⁶ Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God (ʿelyôn ‘ĕlōhîm),
And did not keep His testimonies,

Psalm 78:⁵⁷ But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were turned aside like a deceitful bow (deceitful covenant).

Psalm 78:⁵⁸ For they provoked Him to anger with their (idols set up on) high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.

Psalm 78:⁵⁹ When God (‘ĕlōhîm) heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel (the spiritual side of the Jews which are not spiritual),

Psalm 78:⁶⁰ So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh (Peace),
The tent He had placed among men,

Psalm 78:⁶¹ And delivered His strength (called God’s firstborn; the Jews) into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.

Psalm 78:⁶² He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.

• During the Millennium when Jesus rules on earth, the Jews will then receive their inheritance.

Psalm 78:⁶³ The fire consumed their young men,
And their maidens were not given in marriage.

Psalm 78:⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword,
And their widows made no lamentation.

Psalm 78:⁶⁵ Then the Lord (‘ăḏōnāy) awoke as from sleep,
Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.

Psalm 78:⁶⁶ And He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.

Psalm 78:⁶⁷ Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,⁶⁸ But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which He loved.

• Jacob is the founder of the Jewish nation of twelve tribes. He has two wives; Leah and Rachel.
• Symbolically, Leah represents the Gentiles. Judah is her fourth son.
• Symbolically, Rachel represents the Jews. Joseph is her first son.
• Jacob gives Joseph (hence Ephraim his son) the birthright over the twelve Jewish tribes.
• But God acts independently and moves the birthright from Joseph to Judah, from the son of the symbolic Jewish wife, Rachel, to the son of the symbolic Gentile wife, Leah.
  
• Joseph was the first son of Jacob and Rachel.
• Rachel represents the Jews while Leah represents the Gentiles. Jacob gave Joseph the “birthright” of the family (the Jews).

• Prophetically:
• Joseph, representing the Jewish nation, is compared to Jesus: when the Jewish leaders reject Jesus, the birthright is prophetically transferred to Judah, representing the son of Leah, symbolic of the Gentiles (graphed in).

• The Messianic Kingdom comes through Judah when Jesus sits on the throne in the Millennium of His thousand-year reign, ruling over the entire world of Jews and Gentiles with His symbolic two wives: His “Old Testament Jewish wife of God, and His New Testament “Bride of Christ”.

For The Entire Explanation See: Topic: Jacob’s Two Wives

Psalm 78:⁶⁹ And He built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.

Psalm 78:⁷⁰ He also chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;

Psalm 78:⁷¹ From following the ewes that had young He brought him,
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.

• Jacob and Israel are the same person. Jacob wrestled with God until he prevailed and God changed his name to Israel.
• Jacob is his worldly name while Israel is his spiritual name for him and the nation.

Psalm 78:⁷² So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

• John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

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Questions:

1. What is the word “bow” used for in this chapter?
2. What is the difference between Jacob and Israel?
3. What Parable and Dark Saying is prophesied?