#809 Maschil of Asaph

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

2 I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

3 things that we have heard and known,

that our fathers have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their children,

but tell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and the wonders that he has done.

5 He established a testimony in Jacob

and appointed a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

6 that the next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

7 so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget the works of God,

but keep his commandments;

8 and that they should not be like their fathers,

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation whose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,

turned back on the day of battle.

10 They did not keep God's covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

11 They forgot his works

and the wonders that he had shown them.

12 In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders

in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it,

and made the waters stand like a heap.

14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with a fiery light.

15 He split rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

16 He made streams come out of the rock

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17 Yet they sinned still more against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18 They tested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

19 They spoke against God, saying,

“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

or provide meat for his people?”

21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;

a fire was kindled against Jacob;

his anger rose against Israel,

22 because they did not believe in God

and did not trust his saving power.

23 Yet he commanded the skies above

and opened the doors of heaven,

24 and he rained down on them manna to eat

and gave them the grain of heaven.

25 Man ate of the bread of the angels;

he sent them food in abundance.

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,

and by his power he led out the south wind;

27 he rained meat on them like dust,

winged birds like the sand of the seas;

28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp,

all around their dwellings.

29 And they ate and were well filled,

for he gave them what they craved.

30 But before they had satisfied their craving,

while the food was still in their mouths,

31 the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed the strongest of them

and laid low the young men of Israel.

32 In spite of all this, they still sinned;

despite his wonders, they did not believe.

33 So he made their days vanish like a breath,

and their years in terror.

34 When he killed them, they sought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.

35 They remembered that God was their rock,

the Most High God their redeemer.

36 But they flattered him with their mouths;

they lied to him with their tongues.

37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him;

they were not faithful to his covenant.

38 Yet he, being compassionate,

atoned for their iniquity

and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often

and did not stir up all his wrath.

39 He remembered that they were but flesh,

a wind that passes and comes not again.

40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness

and grieved him in the desert!

41 They tested God again and again

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember his power

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

43 when he performed his signs in Egypt

and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.

44 He turned their rivers to blood,

so that they could not drink of their streams.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,

and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave their crops to the destroying locust

and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail

and their sycamores with frost.

48 He gave over their cattle to the hail

and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49 He let loose on them his burning anger,

wrath, indignation, and distress,

a company of destroying angels.

50 He made a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death,

but gave their lives over to the plague.

51 He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,

the first-fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 Then he led out his people like sheep

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,

but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 And he brought them to his holy land,

to the mountain which his right hand had won.

55 He drove out nations before them;

he apportioned them for a possession

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God

and did not keep his testimonies,

57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;

they twisted like a deceitful bow.

58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places;

they moved him to jealousy with their idols.

59 When God heard, he was full of wrath,

and he utterly rejected Israel.

60 He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,

the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

61 and delivered his power to captivity,

his glory to the hand of the foe.

62 He gave his people over to the sword

and vented his wrath on his heritage.

63 Fire devoured their young men,

and their young women had no marriage song.

64 Their priests fell by the sword,

and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

like a strong man shouting because of wine.

66 And he put his adversaries to rout;

he put them to everlasting shame.

67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he loves.

69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

70 He chose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him

to shepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his inheritance.

72 With upright heart he shepherded them

and guided them with his skillful hand. Psalm 78 ESV

A Psalm, Maschil (of instruction) by Asaph.

Give ear - Don't just come for the music, listen for the inspired Word of God. Many today claim to hear from God, but have no regard for His actual words, and hold their own much too highly. Where ever your words disagree with Scripture then they are your own, but if you want a word from God then read your Bible. If you want to say what God says then preach from His word, diligently studying, praying, and protecting the Author's intent. 

I will open my mouth in a parable - Christ used parables often to teach great truths, but what follows as a parable here is an account of Israel's history. This should make the hearer aware that these things were recorded for our instruction, not to be discarded for the modern day, but to be understood and taught at every age. 

- That such was his meaning is clear from the quotation, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." Mt 13:34-35. I will utter dark sayings of old; --enigmas of antiquity, riddles of yore. The mind of the poet prophet was so full of ancient lore that he poured it forth in a copious stream of song, while beneath the gushing flood lay pearls and gems of spiritual truth, capable of enriching those who could dive into the depths and bring them up. The letter of this song is precious, but the inner sense is beyond all price. Whereas the first verse called for attention, the second justifies the demand by hinting that the outer sense conceals an inner and hidden meaning, which only the thoughtful will be able to perceive. - C. H. Spurgeon

But tell to the coming generation - I did not leave my children fatherless. I worked and provided for their physical needs, but was derelict in my Spiritual duties. What is of so much value to us here that it can even begin to compare to things of eternal consequence? I thank God my mom taught me from a young age, and that God's Spirit has convicted me to teach my own children the same. 

…5 Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them. 6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22: 5-6

- Blessed be God we have now the less mutable testimony of written revelation, but this by no means lessens our obligation to instruct our children in divine truth by word of mouth: rather, with such a gracious help, we ought to teach them far more fully the things of God. Dr. Doddridge owed much to the Dutch tiles and his mother's explanations of the Bible narratives. The more of parental teaching the better; ministers and Sabbath school teachers were never meant to be substitutes for mother's tears and father's prayers. - C. H. Spurgeon

- Around the fireside fathers should repeat not only the Bible records, but the deeds of the martyrs and reformers, and moreover the dealings of the Lord with themselves both in providence and grace. We dare not follow the vain and vicious traditions of the apostate church of Rome, neither would we compare the fallible record of the best human memories with the infallible written word, yet would we fain see oral tradition practised by every Christian in his family, and children taught cheerfully by word of mouth by their own mothers and fathers, as well as by the printed pages of what they too often regard as dull, dry task books. What happy hours and pleasant evenings have children had at their parents knees as they have listened to some "sweet story of old." Reader, if you have children, mind you do not fail in this duty.  - C. H. Spurgeon

…6 These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.… Deuteronomy 6: 6-8

He made streams come out of the rock - Out of a dry ground, from a place where there is no life, nor the reservoirs below, but such is he or she who has been truly born again. That river of life fills to overflowing. They should see here that it is never far from those that are with God, for He is also with them. We should never avoid such places, for they are rich with His mercies, the Word to which the depths cannot be ascertained, God's love as seen on Calvary, which should be ever present in our minds. His church, to which we may hear His preachers and carry each other's burdens. Prayer, which should be without ceasing, and praise that should always form readily on our lips.

- And they sinned yet more against him. Outdoing their former sins, going into greater deeps of evil: the more they had the more loudly they clamoured for more, and murmured because they had not every luxury that pampered appetites could desire. It was bad enough to mistrust their God for necessaries, but to revolt against him in a greedy rage for superfluities was far worse. - C. H. Spurgeon

This chapter goes on to show the many great wonders that the children of Jacob witnessed, being freed from Egypt, fed from heaven and watered from rocks. When he fed them they found still reason to complain for meat, and though He provided even this, it was not by the traditions of feasts or the tables they had seen or been accustomed to in Egypt. There was something of much greater value in His words, necessary to their salvation, but they longed for those things that could not save. They were being set apart unto the oracles of God, yet they longed for fading comforts. In verse 22 they are called out for their unbelief. 

They did not believe in God or trust in His saving power - This is a hard concept for the church now, for they teach only that God is love, and a gospel that is good with only knowing that He exists. The Bible says that we must believe that "He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Many will add to the gospel a message of works, that of course this person was saved, for they are good, at least in our eyes. Many will claim God with their lips while their actions reveal the true nature of their beliefs. When we complain, murmur about our present situation, we are not trusting in the God that knows this, and we are not seeking His will in it, but rather our own. Their god had to do their bidding, and therefore could not be the true God of the universe. When men actually believe in God, then they know of holiness, justice, fear, and love. We see our sin and realize that it is all we have to offer, and no table or feast will suffice as a substitute. In fact, we realize that the wages of sin is all that we were ever owed, and every bit of bread above that, is more than we ever deserved. When we truly realize our condition then we know the need of a Mediator, when we find out Who that is, the whining of our past becomes wretched and bitter in our mouths. When we see Him, we know God.