Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1931

Psalm 78.

This instructive psalm tells of the way of God with Israel of old, (answering to the 77th Psalm, verses 5, 10-12, etc.), from the time of their slavery in Egypt, to David’s being made their king. At the same time, the ways of Israel are faithfully told. The story is told that the children should not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation that prepared not their heart, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

O, the patience, forbearance and amazing love of God! A believing Israel, unlike the Israel of old, and today; but a generation to come, will tell His praise when their hearts are turned to receive the Messiah they crucified 1900 years ago.

Ephraim (verse 9 and verse 67) had the firstborn’s place (Genesis 48:14-20¹⁴And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, ¹⁶The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. ¹⁷And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. ¹⁸And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. ¹⁹And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. ²⁰And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. (Genesis 48:14‑20)), but his tribe, except for Joshua (Numbers 13:8⁸Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. (Numbers 13:8)), and that Shiloh, where the tabernacle was until Samuel’s day (Joshua 18:1¹And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them. (Joshua 18:1); 1 Samuel 4), was in their territory, was not zealous for God. Proud and envious their history shows them to have been; they allowed the Canaanites to live among them (Judges 1:29²⁹Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. (Judges 1:29)), and refused to take part in the war to free the country of the oppressing Ammonites,—for which they were punished ( Judges 11 and 12:1-6). Afterward they took the chief place in the division of the country following Solomon’s death, turning quickly to idolatry. (See Hosea 4:17¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. (Hosea 4:17) and 14:8, also Isaiah 11:13,¹³The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. (Isaiah 11:13) for Ephraim will yet be blessed).

Zoan (verse 12) was a town in lower Egypt. Verses 12 to 31 recite Israel’s history as told in Exodus chapters 1 to 17, and in Numbers 11. For all that they saw of God’s gracious provision for them, and of his unsparing judgment of sin, they sinned still, and believed not in His marvelous works. (In connection with verses 32 to 41, see Deuteronomy 1:34, 35, 41-46; 2:14, 15; 4:3³⁴And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, ³⁵Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, (Deuteronomy 1:34‑35)
⁴¹Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. ⁴²And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. ⁴³So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. ⁴⁴And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. ⁴⁵And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. ⁴⁶So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there. (Deuteronomy 1:41‑46)
¹⁴And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them. ¹⁵For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed. (Deuteronomy 2:14‑15)
³Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. (Deuteronomy 4:3); Exodus 32; Leviticus 10:1-7¹And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. ²And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. ³Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. ⁴And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. ⁵So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. ⁶And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled. ⁷And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. (Leviticus 10:1‑7); Numbers, chapters, 14, 16, 20, 21 and 25). But “they remembered not His hand, the day when He delivered them from the oppressor;” God’s mighty works for the children of Israel in the land of Egypt (verses 42-51); how He had brought them safely through the wilderness to the promised land; had driven out the nations who lived there, worshiping idols and most wicked in their lives, and that He had given the tribes of Israel to dwell in that land as their inheritance (verses 52-55).

Verses 56 to 58 declare what Israel did after Joshua was dead. (See Judges 2:11-19¹¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: ¹²And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. ¹⁴And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. ¹⁶Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. ¹⁷And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so. ¹⁸And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. ¹⁹And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. (Judges 2:11‑19)). Verses 60 to 64 set before us the story told in 1 Samuel 2:27²⁷And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? (1 Samuel 2:27) to 36. In what follows to the end of the psalm, Saul, first king of Israel, is left out as the people’s choice and rejected by God (1 Samuel 16:1¹And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. (1 Samuel 16:1)). It is David and Jerusalem that are brought in, for the purpose is to present the Son of David, David’s Lord, whose reign will begin with smiting His adversaries, and putting them to everlasting reproach.

Like all other Psalms, this one was written for the fast approaching time when God will turn from the gospel hardened Gentiles to Israel, many of whom then will be ready to hear Him.

To the Christian it speaks of Him whose abundant love, grace, and mercy have gone out in fullest measure, Gentiles who were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:11, 12¹¹Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; ¹²That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (Ephesians 2:11‑12)).

ML 03/15/1931

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