Psalm 76

God is renowned in Judah;
    in Israel his name is great.
His tent is in Salem,
    his dwelling place in Zion.
There he broke the flashing arrows,
    the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.
You are radiant with light,
    more majestic than mountains rich with game.
The valiant lie plundered,
    they sleep their last sleep;
not one of the warriors
    can lift his hands.
At your rebuke, God of Jacob,
    both horse and chariot lie still.
It is you alone who are to be feared.
    Who can stand before you when you are angry?
From heaven you pronounced judgment,
    and the land feared and was quiet—
when you, God, rose up to judge,
    to save all the afflicted of the land.
Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise,
    and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.
Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them;
    let all the neighboring lands
    bring gifts to the One to be feared.
He breaks the spirit of rulers;
    he is feared by the kings of the earth.

• Psalm 76:1-12

Type of Psalm

Psalms of praise: Exactly as stated.  God is being praised.

Psalms of thanksgiving for God’s goodness to Israel:  Giving God thanks as noted.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This psalm seems to have been penned upon occasion of some great victory obtained by the church over some threatening enemy or other, and designed to grace the triumph. The LXX. calls it, “A song upon the Assyrians,” whence many good interpreters conjecture that it was penned when Sennacherib’s army, then besieging Jerusalem, was entirely cut off by a destroying angel in Hezekiah’s time; and several passages in the psalm are very applicable to that work of wonder: but there was a religious triumph upon occasion of another victory, in Jehoshaphat’s time, which might as well be the subject of this psalm (2 Chron. 20:28), and it might be called “a song of Asaph” because always sung by the sons of Asaph. Or it might be penned by Asaph who lived in David’s time, upon occasion of the many triumphs with which God delighted to honour that reign. Upon occasion of this glorious victory, whatever it was, I. The psalmist congratulates the happiness of the church in having God so nigh, ver. 1-3. II. He celebrates the glory of God’s power, which this was an illustrious instance of, ver 4-6. III. He infers hence what reason all have to fear before him, ver. 7-9. And, IV. What reason his people have to trust in him and to pay their vows to him, ver. 10-12. It is a psalm proper for a thanksgiving day, upon the account of public successes, and not improper at other times, because it is never out of season to glorify God for the great things he has done for his church formerly, especially for the victories of the Redeemer over the powers of darkness, which all those Old-Testament victories were types of, at least those that are celebrated in the psalms.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 76:6 “’At Your rebuke.’ A word accomplished all; there was no need for a single blow. ‘O God of Jacob.’ God of Your wrestling people, who again like their elders supplant their enemy; God of the covenant and the promise, You have in this gracious character fought for Your elect nation. ‘Both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep.’ They will neither neigh nor rattle again; still are the trampings of the horses and the crash of the cars; the calvary no more creates its din. The Israelites always had a special fear of horses and scythed chariots; therefore the sudden stillness of the entire force of the enemy in this department is made the theme of special rejoicing. The horses were stretched on the ground and the chariots stood still, as if the whole camp had fallen asleep. Thus can the Lord send a judicial sleep over the enemies of the church, a premonition of the second death, and this He can do when they are in the zenith of power and as they imagine, in the very act of blotting out the remembrance of His people.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

The reference to Salem in verse two is that God’s tent is there.  The tabernacle had been in Shiloh.  But Melchizedek came from Salem (some think Jerusalem, which is also considered on Mount Zion), but it could simply mean that  Salem and God’s Holy place in Zion (Heaven) are nearer to us than we think.

Then God’s rebuke of enemy armies can stop them in their tracks.

Asaph speaks of reverential love and respect for God.  He is basically defining what the fear of God is in these verses, yet the fierce, wrathful God can show mercy to those who turn to Him.  But regardless we must fear the Lord.

Psalm 77

I cried out to God for help;
    I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
    at night I stretched out untiring hands,
    and I would not be comforted.
I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
You kept my eyes from closing;
    I was too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days,
    the years of long ago;
I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
“Will the Lord reject forever?
    Will he never show his favor again?
Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
    Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will consider all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.
With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
The waters saw you, God,
    the waters saw you and writhed;
    the very depths were convulsed.
The clouds poured down water,
    the heavens resounded with thunder;
    your arrows flashed back and forth.
Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
    your lightning lit up the world;
    the earth trembled and quaked.
Your path led through the sea,
    your way through the mighty waters,
    though your footprints were not seen.
You led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

• Psalm 77:1-20

Type of Psalm

Psalms of Affliction: Psalms where the psalmist is crying out in pain or distress, asking God where He is in the psalmist’s time of need.  But no matter how dire the circumstances or how long the lament, there seems to always be a word of praise.  Otherwise, why do we go to God in such times, other than to recognize Him as the only one who can help us?

Psalms of praise: Exactly as stated.  God is being praised.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This psalm, according to the method of many other psalms, begins with sorrowful complaints but ends with comfortable encouragements. The complaints seem to be of personal grievances, but the encouragements relate to the public concerns of the church, so that it is not certain whether it was penned upon a personal or a public account. If they were private troubles that he was groaning under, it teaches us that what God has wrought for his church in general may be improved for the comfort of particular believers; if it was some public calamity that he is here lamenting, his speaking of it so feelingly, as if it had been some particular trouble of his own, shows how much we should lay to heart the interests of the church of God and make them ours. One of the rabbin says, This psalm is spoken in the dialect of the captives; and therefore some think it was penned in the captivity in Babylon. I. The psalmist complains here of the deep impressions which his troubles made upon his spirits, and the temptation he was in to despair of relief, ver. 1-10. II. He encourages himself to hope that it would be well at last, by the remembrance of God’s former appearances for the help of his people, of which he gives several instances, ver. 11-20. In singing this psalm we must take shame to ourselves for all our sinful distrusts of God, and of his providence and promise, and give to him the glory of his power and goodness by a thankful commemoration of what he has done for us formerly and a cheerful dependence on him for the future.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 77:1 ”When [a friend] told Jesus of the illness [of Lazarus] he said, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ He doesn’t base his appeal on the imperfect love of the one in need, but on the perfect love of the Savior. He doesn’t say, ‘The one who loves you is sick.’ He says, ‘The one you love is sick.’ The power of the prayer, in other words, does not depend on the one who makes the prayer, but on the one who hears the prayer.
“We can and must repeat the phrase in manifold ways. ‘The one you love is tired, sad, hungry, lonely, fearful, depressed.’ The words of the prayer vary, but the response never changes. The Savior hears the prayer. He silences heaven, so he won’t miss a word. He hears the prayer.”

• Max Lucado, The Great House of God

My Thoughts

Cry out to God.

Asaph gets to the end of his tether.  He sees no sign of God.  He even contradicts himself.  Can the ever faithful God not show faithfulness?

It nearly makes Asaph forget of God’s great deeds in the past, but no, he will focus on them so that if our hearts are turned toward God, he can perform great miracles for us again.

Who is greater than God?  No one.

God took thunder and earthquakes, and God led His people to the promised land along with Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 78

My people, hear my teaching;
    listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable;
    I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
things we have heard and known,
    things our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their descendants;
    we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob
    and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach their children,
so the next generation would know them,
    even the children yet to be born,
    and they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God
    and would not forget his deeds
    but would keep his commands.
They would not be like their ancestors—
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
    whose spirits were not faithful to him.
The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
    turned back on the day of battle;
they did not keep God’s covenant
    and refused to live by his law.

• Psalm 78:1-10

For the complete psalm, click this LINK.

Type of Psalm

Historical psalms:  These psalms tell a story, historical in nature, usually of how God had done something.  Note that in Exodus, the song of Miriam and Moses was written after the Israelites had crossed over the Red Sea and the Egyptian army was trapped and destroyed by the returning waters.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This psalm is historical; it is a narrative of the great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, the great sins wherewith they had provoked him, and the many tokens of his displeasure they had been under for their sins. The psalmist began, in the foregoing psalm, to relate God’s wonders of old, for his own encouragement in a difficult time; there he broke off abruptly, but here resumes the subject, for the edification of the church, and enlarges much upon it, showing not only how good God had been to them, which was an earnest of further finishing mercy, but how basely they had conducted themselves towards God, which justified him in correcting them as he did at this time, and forbade all complaints. Here is, I. The preface to this church history, commanding the attention of the present age to it and recommending it to the study of the generations to come, ver. 1-8. II. The history itself from Moses to David; it is put into a psalm or song that it might be the better remembered and transmitted to posterity, and that the singing of it might affect them with the things here related, more than they would be with a bare narrative of them. The general scope of this psalm we have (ver. 9-11) where notice is taken of the present rebukes they were under (ver. 9), the sin which brought them under those rebukes (ver. 10), and the mercies of God to them formerly, which aggravated that sin, ver. 11. As to the particulars, we are here told, 1. What wonderful works God had wrought for them in bringing them out of Egypt (ver. 12-16), providing for them in the wilderness (ver. 23-29), plaguing and ruining their enemies (ver. 43-55), and at length putting them in possession of the land of promise, ver. 54, 55. 2. How ungrateful they were to God for his favours to them and how many and great provocations they were guilty of. How they murmured against God and distrusted him (ver. 17-20), and did but counterfeit repentance and submission when he punished them (ver. 34-37), thus grieving and tempting him, ver. 40-42. How they affronted God with their idolatries after they came to Canaan, ver. 56-58. 3. How God had justly punished them for their sins (ver. 21, 22) in the wilderness, making their sin their punishment (ver. 29-33), and now, of late, when the ark was taken by the Philistines, ver. 59-64. 4. How graciously God had spared them and returned in mercy to them, notwithstanding their provocations. He had forgiven them formerly (ver. 38-39), and now, of late, had removed the judgments they had brought upon themselves, and brought them under a happy establishment both in church and state, ver. 65-72. As the general scope of this psalm may be of use to us in the singing of it, to put us upon recollecting what God has done for us and for his church formerly, and what we have done against him, so the particulars also may be of use to us, for warning against those sins of unbelief and ingratitude which Israel of old was notoriously guilty of, and the record of which was preserved for our learning. ‘These things happened unto them for ensamples, 1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 4:11.’

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 78:4 “Sometimes it’s hard to know how to talk with our kids about God, especially when they aren’t receptive. Open your heart to God’s words and wisdom …
“Pray for each of your children right now.  Think about how you might tell each one about God, not by preaching, but by simply recounting to them real-life stories of his miraculous provision.”

• Ken Petersen, General Editor, PrayerPoints, Praying God’s Promises at your point of need, The Challenge of being a parent

My Thoughts

Asaph follows up Psalm 77 where he mentions that he will not forget the great wonders of God with this psalm, a history of the wonders of God.

He pleads at first that God wanted us to teach our children, but Israel as a whole failed in doing so.

He focuses on Ephraim.  Ephraim was a son of Joseph, with an Egyptian mother.  It is quite possible that Ephraim and Manasseh were the leaders of the Hebrews clans in worshipping false gods, having an Egyptian mother, from the royal family.

Asaph points out that Ephraim turned away from God.  Things got bad.  Ephraim turned back to God and then while the food was still in his mouth (the mouths of the tribe) he turned from God again.  This scenario is repeated.

Asaph takes history out of order here.  To explain the “Wash, rinse, repeat” cycle or really the “sinning, suffering, repenting, God rescuing, praising, forgetting” cycle that is common throughout the book of Judges, Asaph does not go to the book of Judges, but rather to what we put in our stomachs – driving the point home with the common place.  The people whine.  Sure, God can produce water.  That’s child’s play, although none of them could do it.  They wanted bread.  They wanted meat.  Then manna came and the quail.  They gorged themselves until they were sick, and while they had full bellies and food in their mouths, they sinned against God, forgetting what had just happened.

These details might not be in the book of Exodus, but they might have been taken by word of mouth, campfire stories.

But then, Asaph cranks the clock back and starts with the plagues of Egypt all the way until the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea – all of this before the water from a rock, manna, and quail.  The people saw the Egyptian army sink into the mud and washed away by the Sea.  Yet, the people went right back to their false gods.  They were disloyal and faithless.  Shiloh was abandoned (where the tabernacle was).  The Ark was captured by enemies.

And Ephraim had several occasions to help a judge here or there but they failed.  Gideon being a prime example.

And then Ephraim was not chosen to be king.  David, a shepherd boy was made king and David shepherded the entire nation, including Ephraim.

Asaph was a Levite, and David’s “prophet” in that Asaph proclaimed God’s Word in song.  Asaph served David and Solomon.  Thus, this calling out of Ephraim was symbolic.  Ephraim was still part of the kingdom, and people who thought Jerusalem was too far to worship began to worship false gods.  In a way, Asaph was being prophetic, in that Samaria was a city in Ephraim.  When the nation of Israel divided, the new capitol of the other tribes was in Ephraim.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Psalm 76

“1. Does God prevent wars today? Why or why not? Does God care about those who suffer from invading armies?
“2. How well do you ‘know’ God as angry Judge: (a) All too well? (b) Casually? (c) Never met on that basis? What does it mean to ‘fear God’?
“3. What VOWS have you taken? What vow do you want to make to the Lord today? Should it be private or should the group know and hold you to it?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 77

“1. Are you feeling close to God, or do you long for ‘the good old days’? Could these days someday seem like the ‘good old days’? How do you keep your relationship with God fresh?
“2. How would you try to comfort someone feeling like Asaph does? Would you point to the past, present or future?
“3. Ritual has always been used in Jewish and Christian worship to ‘remember’ God’s acts. What specific events do you recall in a given Sunday service? In church holidays?
“4. What does this poet’s experience suggest is the interplay between physical, emotional and spiritual forces in managing stress?
“5. What event in your past do you call to mind in times of trouble? How often do you think of past things? Do you tend to live in the past?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 78

“1. Does this psalm leave you hanging? How did the New Testament writers pick up where Asaph left off (see Mt 2:6; Jn 10; Rev 7:17)?
“2. How do you feel about God’s involvement in the staging of your own continuing story: (a) God has written every chapter? (b) God is seen between the lines only? (c) God is the audience? (d) God is the director? (e) God is hogging center stage?
“3. Would you like your part or God’s part in that script to be re­ written? What ending or punch line would you prefer? Does the group play a part in it?
“4. What lesson would you like to pass along to the ‘next generation’? What historical example would you use to make your point? Optional: Try writing another stanza to Psalm 78 for all children to read and heed.
“5. Since all people as a group create the environment in which children grow up, should parents be solely responsible for their nurturing? How can you take a more active role in helping the children in your neighborhood? In your church?
“6. Why doesn’t God perform the same miraculous deeds as in Bible times? Is God sleeping? What deeds could you point to as evidence to the young that God is ‘awake’?
“7. When does your patience run out? When do you feel like ‘abandoning your people’? How do you resolve the problem of your people going ‘the wrong way·: (a) Let the people go? (b) Increase the consequences? (c) Withdraw your blessing? (d) Keep forgiving? (e) Begin again? (f) No good resolution yet?
“8. What story of God’s past dealings with you can you ‘remember in times of temptation, forgetfulness and doubt you still face?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions for each of these psalms.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.