Day 168. Psalms 76-78

Psalm 76
The psalms were composed in response to various historical situations—sometimes we can guess at what those situations were—most of the time we cannot. But the psalms—songs of praise and lament-- are not arranged in any chronological order, any more than our church hymnals are. This psalm--#76—may have been composed in response to the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the besieging Assyrian in 701 B.C. In any case the city and its people have been rescued from a "stouthearted" army—now "both rider and horse [lie] stunned" (6). All of this is the work of the LORD, who has risen up "to establish judgment, to save the oppressed of the earth." The faithful congregation in the temple is summoned to "make vows to the LORD . . . and perform them" (10) in response. Those who stand around his altar are bidden to "bring gifts" (11), because the LORD "cuts off the spirit of princes" and inspires fear in the kings of the
earth" (12) in order to rescue his chosen people and their city.
Psalm 77
The voice of this psalm is experiencing a time of severe testing—we are not told what it is—but in this crisis he cries aloud to God (77:1). The darkness around him is mirrored by his soul. His anguish is most deeply felt "in the night," when, deprived of sleep, he does what many of us do during sleepless hours—he remembers. He recalls the mercy God has shown in the past—how the LORD with a "strong arm" has "redeemed [his] people." And he wonders despairingly if LORD's "steadfast love [has] ceased forever" (8). Yet as he waits for the dawn he still looks for deliverance, recalling in the most dramatic terms how God saved his people Israel parting the waters of the Red Sea and leading his "people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron" (20).
Psalm 78
This psalm is composed with an instructional purpose, to teach "the coming generation" (78:4) the history of Israel "so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments" (6-7). It is a psalm about choices—God's merciful choices and the mistakes of his people. It tells the story of the Exodus and the wilderness wandering to show how in response to the faithfulness of God the people were unfaithful in testing God (18), trying to manipulate him into satisfying their wishes and doing what they wanted. They had no "faith" in God (22)—they did not trust him to take care of them. But God remained provident and patient. Though they did not deserve it, he gave them manna to eat, and "mortals ate the bread of angels" (25). They sinned and were punished; then they "remembered that God was their rock" (35), but they "were not true to his covenant" (37)—the agreement they had made to
keep the Law. Yet God "did not destroy them" 38); instead remembered they "were but flesh" (39)--in his mercy he considered their weakness. He rescued them from Egypt, and "guided them in the wilderness like a flock" (52). He "brought them to his holy hill" (54)—to Jerusalem, and taking the Land of Promise from its inhabitants, have it to his people as their possession. Yet once established there, they were "faithless like the ancestors" (57). They moved LORD to "jealousy with their idols" (58). So God used foreign enemies to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel—"the tent of Joseph" (67)--and allowed them to be taken away "to captivity" (61) and oblivion. But he did not reject the whole people. He chose the southern kingdom--"the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves" (68) to be his faithful remnant. He chose Jerusalem and its temple, where this psalm was originally composed and sung, as his dwelling
"forever" (69). And he chose King David "to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel, his inheritance" (71) to be his faithful remnant. And David "tended them" and guided them with skillful hand" (72) giving to the generations the "coming generation" an example of how human beings should respond to all God's great acts of goodness and mercy.