PSALM 78:65-72 - THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROVIDES A SHEPHERD

PSALM 78:65-72

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

PROVIDES A SHEPHERD

Psalm 78:65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

Susie: We know that God does not sleep, but it must have seemed to the Israelites that He was sleeping when He did not protect them in battle as He had before.

Psalm 121:4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Susie: It was as if God awoke in a rage. A warrior storming into battle.

Psalm 78:66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

Susie: God took down the enemies of Israel once again.

Susan: He struck them in the hinder parts. What exactly does that mean? Their backsides.

Susie: Susan’s question caused us to look up the account of how God struck down the Philistines while they possessed the Ark of the Covenant. It is found in 1 Samuel chapter 5. Not only did their idol of Dagon fall on its face twice, the second time literally losing its head; but many were struck dead. Those that were not struck dead suffered a painful and embarrassing affliction:

And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.

Susan: I get that something happened to their hind-ends, but exactly what are emerods?

Susie: According to definitions we looked up, they were probably some type of hemorrhoid tumors that were painful and bled. GROSS!

Susan: They would be in no shape for battle and would be embarrassed to an exponential degree!

Psalm 78:67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

Susie: God’s attack on the Philistines caused them to send the Ark back to Israel.  That is an interesting story in itself. You can read it in 1 Samuel 6, but the short version is the Philistines put the ark on a brand-new cart, yoked together two cows who had never pulled a cart before and had just given birth, and pointed the cart toward a city of the Levites. Cows do not instinctually pull a cart, and mother cows do not willingly leave their babies behind. But these two cows made a beeline for the Israelite city, proof that God had caused the woes of the Philistines and was in complete control of the return of the Ark of the Covenant.  

Susie: God completely orchestrated the return of the Ark even though the Israelites had been foolish to let it be captured. However, He moved the seat of worship away from Shiloh in the land belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. When the Ark of the Covenant was recovered, David eventually had it moved to Jerusalem. God abandoned Saul’s kingship and chose David from the tribe of Judah instead. Judah means “Praise.” From then on, the seat of worship for the Israelites, the place of praise, would be in Jerusalem in the land of Judah.

Psalm 78:69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

Susie: It would not be until the reign of Solomon that the temple would be built but God had made His choice long before then. David erected a tent to house the ark on Mount Zion. The Ark of the Covenant symbolized God’s presence among His people.

Susan: God built His temple, laid out the plans for it and enabled Solomon to carry them out. It remained until the Babylonian conquest at which point God allowed its destruction. In the same way, God builds His temple in us, to house His Holy Spirit. Believers are the temple of God, built from the inside out, to bring glory to His name.

Psalm 78:70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: 71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

Susie: David was still a “shepherd boy,” a teenager and the youngest of his father Jesse’s sons when the Lord had Samuel anoint him as Israel’s future king. It was many years before that prophesy was fulfilled but God protected and preserved the shepherd who would guide His flock, the people of Israel.

Susan: God was preparing David for his destiny long before David knew anything about his eventual role in Israel. God taught David to be a caregiver, nurturing the ewes and their lambs. He made David bold and fearless to fight off the bear and the lion who would attack the sheep. Those experiences served Him well as he stood up to Goliath and lovingly led his people as king.

Psalm 78:72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Susie: This psalm was probably written during David’s reign and so the psalmist ends his summary of Israel’s history with God providing a king, a “man after His own heart,” to guide His people.

Acts 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

Susie: David was not perfect, for we read of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s own mighty men. However, he repented, and we can read his contrite confessions and prayers in Psalms 51 and 32.

Asaph gave an honest accounting of Israel’s history with God, summarizing God’s faithfulness despite Israel’s repeated rebellion. He ends it with the hope of a king who had a heart for the Lord and would be a shepherd to the nation.

QUESTIONS

1.   Have you ever felt like God was sleeping rather than keeping watch over you? Use a concordance or www.biblegateway.com to look up scriptures that will assure you of God’s omnipresence (being everywhere at all times) and His sovereign care for you. List the references and write out the verse most comforting to you.

2.   Why did God abandon Shiloh as the seat of worship?

3.   In 1 Samuel 16:7, we read that “. . .the Lord looketh on the heart.” Are you comfortable with what the Lord is seeing in your heart today? If not, journal your prayer of repentance and asking the Lord to change you from the inside out.