Read Psalm 78. What three key historical epochs are highlighted in this psalm? What recurring lessons does Asaph draw from each period?
The reviews of Israel’s past highlight God’s faithfulness and Israel’s unfaithfulness. They also should teach coming generations not to repeat their ancestors’ mistakes but to trust God and to remain faithful to His covenant. The psalmist uses history as a parable (Ps. 78:2), which means that the people should deeply ponder the psalm’s message and search for the meaning for themselves. Psalm 78:2 is a prophetic description of Jesus’ method of teaching in parables (Matt. 13:34, 35).
The psalm also reflects on the time of the Exodus (Ps. 78:9−54), the settlement in Canaan (Ps. 78:55−64), and the time of David (Ps. 78:65−72). It demonstrates the Lord’s glorious deeds and the consequences of the people’s breaking of their covenant with God. Israel’s history recounts many forms of the people’s disloyalty to God, especially their idolatry (Ps. 78:58).
The psalmist, however, stresses the root of the Israelites’ unfaithfulness: they forgot what God had done for them, did not trust God, put God to the test (Ps. 78:18, 41, 56), rebelled against Him, and failed to keep His law, His covenant, and His testimonies (Ps. 78:10, 37, 56). By stressing these specific forms of disloyalty, the psalmist implies that the rejection of Israel in history has resulted from one core sin, namely, the people’s failure to trust the Lord (Ps. 78:7, 8).
When reading the psalm, one is overwhelmed with the people’s constant stubbornness and spiritual blindness in contrast to the Lord’s boundless patience and grace. How was each new generation so slow to learn?
Before we get overly judgmental of past generations, we should consider ourselves. Aren’t we, also, forgetful of God’s past wonders and neglectful of His covenantal requirements? The psalm does not encourage people to rely on their own deeds. Instead, Psalm 78 shows the futility of human will unless it is grounded in constant awareness of God’s faithfulness and an acceptance of His grace. The unsuccessful battles of God’s people (Ps. 78:9, 62–64) elucidate the psalm’s lesson that human efforts apart from faithfulness to God are doomed to end in failure.
What lessons have you learned, or should have learned, from your past mistakes?
Additional Reading: Selected Quotes from Ellen G. White
The Word of God is to be the man of our counsel, and is to guide our experience. The lessons of Old Testament history, if faithfully studied, will teach us how this can be. Christ, enshrouded in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, was the guide and the light of the children of Israel in their wilderness wandering. Here was an unerring Guide.
In all their experiences, God was trying to teach them obedience to their heavenly Guide, and faith in His power to deliver them. Their deliverance from affliction in Egypt, and their passage through the Red Sea, revealed to them His power to save. When they rebelled against Him, and went contrary to His will, God punished them. When they persisted in their rebellion, and were determined to have their own way, God gave them that for which they asked, and in this way showed them that, that which He withheld from them, He withheld for their own good. Every judgment that came as a result of their murmurings was a lesson to that vast multitude, that sorrow and suffering are always the result of transgression of the laws of God.—This Day With God, p. 254.
Says the psalmist: “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.” Psalm 78:18-21. Murmuring and tumults had been frequent during the journey from the Red Sea to Sinai, but in pity for their ignorance and blindness God had not then visited the sin with judgments. But since that time He had revealed Himself to them at Horeb. They had received great light, as they had been witnesses to the majesty, the power, and the mercy of God; and their unbelief and discontent incurred the greater guilt. Furthermore, they had covenanted to accept Jehovah as their king and to obey His authority. Their murmuring was now rebellion, and as such it must receive prompt and signal punishment, if Israel was to be preserved from anarchy and ruin. “The fire of Jehovah burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” The most guilty of the complainers were slain by lightning from the cloud.—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 379.
The repeated murmurings of the Israelites, and the visitations of God’s wrath because of their transgressions, are recorded in sacred history for the benefit of God’s people who should afterward live upon the earth, but more especially to prove a warning to those who should live near the close of time. Also their acts of devotion, their energy and liberality in bringing their free-will offerings to Moses are recorded for the benefit of the people of God. Their example in preparing material for the tabernacle so cheerfully is an example for all who truly love the worship of God.—The Story of Redemption, p. 152.
