Psalm 78:40 ¶
How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in
the desert! 41 Yea, they turned back and
tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remembered not his hand, nor the
day when he delivered them from the enemy. 43
How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of
Zoan: 44 And had turned their rivers
into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. 45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them,
which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46 He gave also their increase unto the
caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. 47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their
sycomore trees with frost. 48 He gave up
their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. 49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his
anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among
them. 50 He made a way to his anger;
he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the
pestilence; 51 And smote all the
firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of
Ham: 52 But made his own people to go
forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53 And he led them on safely, so that they
feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 54 And he brought them to the border of his
sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had
purchased. 55 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. 56 Yet
they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
57 But turned back, and dealt
unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with
their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. 59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and
greatly abhorred Israel: 60 So that he
forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
61 And delivered his strength into
captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand. 62 He gave his people over also unto the sword;
and was wroth with his inheritance. 63
The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to
marriage. 64 Their priests fell by the
sword; and their widows made no lamentation. 65
Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man
that shouteth by reason of wine. 66 And
he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of
Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 68
But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. 69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,
like the earth which he hath established for ever. 70 He chose David also his servant, and took him
from the sheepfolds: 71 From following
the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel
his inheritance. 72 So he fed them
according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of
his hands.
The religious history of Israel continues
with the Psalmist recounting Israel’s faithlessness in remembering the great
deliverance that God performed for them against Egypt. Notice in verse 49 the mention
of evil angels, spirit beings, disembodied minds, intent on malice. These
are messengers of destruction, one way God has of interacting with our reality.
Here, the judgment that God visited on Israel
many times is told again. A mention in verse 68 how the tribe of Judah, from
whence would come the Messiah, is chosen and it is in this territory that of
Judah that God chose His temple to be built, on Mount Zion, which is an area
that includes Mount Moriah where Abraham was almost called to sacrifice Isaac
and where the temple was built, although at different times in history scholars
say it has designated the fortress of the Jebusites only and then the larger
area including Mount Moriah as evidenced by Isaiah below.
Genesis 22:2 And he said,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of.
2Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the
LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his
father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the
Jebusite.
Isaiah 8:18
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and
for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
Isaiah 24:23
Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of
hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients
gloriously.
David’s anointing is also mentioned here
although a great deal of this is covered in Exodus.
Shall we not remember when God has delivered
us? Shall we not follow Him in gratitude and acknowledgment of who He is? Shall
we not be ashamed at our apostasy and our turning back to the ways of the world
when we should be ever faithful and thankful for His mercy? I know many of us
can relate a time of great deliverance and how after the heat was off we turned
away again to our own way, the way of the wicked, and came close to perishing
were it not for God’s mercy. We are all, us Christians, in type on an
individual basis like the children of Israel and studying what they did and
didn’t do and how God treated them gives us a lesson in our own lives.
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