No doubt we have all heard some version of the saying that “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Commonly quoted and variously attributed, the aphorism probably originated with philosopher George Santayana, whose original wording was “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

 

Surely we could agree that those who are wise will seek to learn from the past, avoid former pitfalls, and live toward a better future.

 

That’s the theory, at least, though human nature is a stubborn thing and people often blow off the past and repeat the same destructive behaviors or strategies that have caused misery countless times over.

 

The author of our text for the day was convinced of this. Psalm 78 is a lengthy review of sordid moments from Israel’s history. It belongs to the larger category of wisdom teachings and is one of several “historical psalms” that seek to encourage present and future generations to learn from the nation’s previous blunders. [DD] [DD]

 

The text has strong theological and political overtones – and in Israel the two were rarely separate. The psalm’s primary purpose is to challenge hearers to learn positive lessons from multiple reminders of Israel’s up and down relationship with God.

 

Thus, the psalmist – who presents himself as a teacher – recounts stories of God’s deliverance and provision, Israel’s stubborn rebellion, and God’s response with both judgment and grace. As a secondary function, the psalm concludes with an affirmation of the Davidic dynasty as God’s choice to rule over the Hebrews, though that is beyond our present concern [DD] [DD]

 

One who reads through the entire psalm cannot help but join the psalmist in frustration over Israel’s historical pattern of divine deliverance followed by human rebellion and the suffering of punishment, giving rise to repentance and a new deliverance – but inevitably repeated again.

 

The psalmist recalled how God gave the people covenant rules to live by, worked miracles on their behalf, delivered them from Egypt, provided food and water in the wilderness, showed grace and patience beyond measure – and was perpetually thanked with forgetfulness, complaints, sinfulness, and rebellion.

 

In keeping with the covenant rules set out in the law, God was compelled to judge the people for their shortcomings, though the judgment was always tempered with grace and hope that the people would yet learn their lessons.

 

The song is, without question, a royal downer. Despite God’s best efforts, nothing goes right and the only hope that remains is in David’s descendants. This constant theme of human stubbornness leaves the impression that God is singing the blues over Israel. [DD]

 

 

 

 

The psalm begins in the fashion of typical wisdom writings, with the teacher calling for people to listen and learn from his words, which he describes as a “parable” or “dark sayings from of old” (vv. 1-2). [DD]

 

The word translated as “parable” (mashal) is typically used for proverbial statements that are usually much shorter than Psalm 78, but both are stories told with an intent to teach.

 

The parable, however, is a paradox. The word behind “dark sayings” commonly means “riddle.” Wisdom teachers of the ancient Near East often used riddles as teaching methods, and the Hebrews were no different. In this case, the writer doesn’t claim to ask a question with a trick answer. The riddle he tells is an unsolved question, a puzzle for pondering: how is it that Israel could persistently respond to God’s grace and goodness with rebellion rather than repentance, with sin instead of obedience?

 

The call to learn from the past for the sake of the present and the hope of the future is a common theme in the Old Testament. The psalmist emphasizes the deep roots of the story he is about to tell in a variety of ways. His riddles are “of old,” (v. 2), things “that our ancestors have told us” (v. 3).

 

The teacher declares his determination to keep the traditions alive, even when they are painful. Echoing Moses’ command from Deut. 6:4-9, he insisted “We will not hide them from their children,” but “We will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (v. 4). [DD]

 

 

 

 

So what deeds does he relate? The psalmist begins with the covenant Israel had willingly entered with God – a covenant with clear expectations for both parties. Note how he includes both the southern (Jacob) and northern (Israel) tribes in v. 5: “He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel.”

 

“Decree” and “law” were among many synonymous terms used to describe God’s commandments or teachings designed to guide Israel’s behavior and make them a distinctive people.

 

God’s teachings were not for the Exodus generation alone, however, but for future generations as well. For the people to remain faithful to their special relationship with God, they must not only live by it, but pass it on to their children, who would teach it to the next generation, not yet born (v. 6).

The psalmist understood that Israel was always just one generation from paganism: if the current generation did not both practice and preach the law that bound them in covenant with God, there would be little hope for Israel’s future.

 

If they faithfully passed on their faith, however, future Hebrews would understand that they were to “set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments” (v. 7). This describes the ideal scenario: faith propagating faith from generation to generation.

The lectionary text stops at v. 7, but the psalmist’s introductory thought is not complete if we do not continue through v. 8. There we learn the sad truth that many in Israel had not lived up to their calling. They had not remembered their responsibilities to God, but had chosen to follow other paths and worship other gods. Thus, the writer speaks of ancestral Hebrews as “a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God” (v. 8).

 

The psalmist apparently has in mind the very first generation of Israel, the very people who had been delivered from Egypt and who solemnly entered a binding covenant with God at Sinai. The remainder of the psalm recounts in graphic detail the many ways in which that generation ignored or forgot God’s many displays of grace and provision, choosing to complain about what they didn’t have rather than appreciating what God had provided.

 

 

 

 

While the psalm provides several examples of past misbehavior, the lectionary text focuses on the wilderness period, when the people had complained about hunger and thirst, and God provided them with water from a rock, with “the bread of angels” (manna), and with countless quail (vv. 17-31).

 

The psalmist writes as if he cannot believe it. “In spite of all this they still sinned; they did not believe in his wonders” (v. 32). As a result, God punished them and many died, a likely reference to plagues described in Numbers 11.

 

The plagues led to periods of repentance, the psalmist said, in which the people “sought God earnestly,” remembering “that God was their Rock, the Most High their redeemer” (vv. 34-35).

 

But their repentance was shallow and self-serving: the people “flattered him with their mouths” and “lied to him with their tongues,” according to the teacher (v. 36). “Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to this covenant” (v. 37).

 

Don’t we know what this is like? How many of us have turned to God in true earnestness when facing hardships or trials, only to turn away and resume our selfish ways when things got better?

 

We wonder how God could remain patient and compassionate toward people who are so inconsistent, but the psalmist believed it was so: “Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; often he restrained his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again” (vv. 38-39). 
This text may seem foreign to Christian readers who are far removed from Israel’s stubborn days in the wilderness. Believers in Christ do not relate to God based on the same covenant under which Israel lived. Still, do we not share similar characteristics of a fickle faithfulness that goes hot and cold?

 

Israel could not have survived apart from God’s grace, and neither can we. Our relationship with God is based entirely on the grace God has shown through Christ, and the way we have responded to it. Our generation is likewise responsible for teaching our children the ways of God in order that they, too, may find their hope in God.

 

The teacher who composed Psalm 78 was convinced that Israel’s people were poor students of history, failing to learn from the past for the sake of the future. We’ve heard the same lessons, and more beside. Will we respond any better?