Psalms Of Faith And Doubt In Ancient Times
Psalm 78
A maskil of Asaph. (NIV)
The heading of Psalm 78 tells us two things: it is a maskil, and it was written by Asaph. This was the Asaph who led one of David’s choirs, and probably the main choir used in most of their celebrations and services. Some reference in Chronicles and Ezra speak of the “Sons of Asaph,” who served as musicians and also as temple prophets under the supervision of Asaph himself (1 Chronicles 25:1-2; Ezra 3:10). Psalm 78 falls in the middle of a group of psalms all by Asaph (73-83). Most of Asaph’s psalms fall under a general theme of God’s rule over the nations and over his special people, Israel.
The word maskil might have two meanings. It seems to mean a psalm for teaching, and this idea fits every psalm described as a maskil in the Bible. The Hebrew word sakal (from which it is probably derived) means “insight” or “prudence, common sense; intelligence” and is a word used to describe the remarkable woman Abigail in the Old Testament in the very first verse that mentions her by name (1 Samuel 25:3). Another possible meaning of the word could be “skillful,” and it has been suggested that these psalms were noted for their musical difficulty (Theol. Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 2 p. 2263-2264).
This Psalm stands apart from the others in that it is more like the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, meaning books like Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Beginning with a call to listen to parables and the author’s wisdom (Psalm 78:1-3), Asaph tells us the reason we should pay attention (so that our children will know their history, Psalm 78:4-8), and then he quickly summarizes the history of Israel from the Exodus (Psalm 78:9-16), through the forty years in the wilderness (Psalm 78:17-31), and then dramatically working backward through the same events, focusing on the sin of the people in the wilderness (Psalm 78:32-39) and the plagues upon Egypt (Psalm 78:40-51) and reliving the miraculous escape of the exodus once again (Psalm 78:52-54). After this he focuses on recent events for his listeners: The loss of the ark of the covenant at Shiloh (Psalm 78:55-64) and the anointing of David from the tribe of Judah (Psalm 78:65-72).
The purpose of this Psalm is to praise God for his blessings and warn God’s people about their—our—sins. May everything we do cry out to people in the same way.
Lord, hear our prayers of joy.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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