Daily Lesson for Sunday 3rd of March 2024

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 (Psalms 78:2), which means that the people should deeply ponder the psalm’s message and search for the meaning for themselves. Psalms 78:1-72:2 is a prophetic description of Jesus’ method of teaching in parables (Matthew 13:34-35).

The psalm also reflects on the time of the Exodus (Psalms 78:9-54), the settlement in Canaan (Psalms 78:55-64), and the time of David (Psalms 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 (Psalms 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 (Psalms 78:18,41,56), rebelled against Him, and failed to keep His law, His covenant, and His testimonies (Psalms 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 (Psalms 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, Psalms 78:1-72 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 (Psalms 78:9,62-64) elucidate the psalm’s lesson that human efforts apart from faithfulness to God are doomed to end in failure.

Print/PDF/Email