They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
Psalm 78 belongs to Israel's wilderness journey and was sung as the people marched to keep time together. It means that Israel broke God's covenant by refusing to live according to His law. That refusal came despite His patient care and loving efforts to guide and heal them. It came in return for the rich blessings He bestowed upon His people, making it a poor return for all His benefits.
The poor return lay in forgetting God, keeping not His covenant and refusing to walk in His law. Israel worked constantly against a good God, and through disobedience brought itself into the state that was the sure result of its own course of action. Under rebuke and chastisement the people repented, but under temptation they fell again through self-indulgence and self-gratification. This forgetting of God is why Israel was scattered, and the same forgetting is found in the churches today.
The psalm is to be read attentively as a lesson for faithful conduct and unity. Its record was written for admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. It should be made an object of study in schools as timely nourishment, meat in due season, to the youth.
Psalm 78 belongs to Israel's wilderness journey and was sung as the people marched to keep time together. It means that Israel broke God's covenant by refusing to live according to His law. That refusal came despite His patient care and loving efforts to guide and heal them. It came in return for the rich blessings He bestowed upon His people, making it a poor return for all His benefits.
The poor return lay in forgetting God, keeping not His covenant and refusing to walk in His law. Israel worked constantly against a good God, and through disobedience brought itself into the state that was the sure result of its own course of action. Under rebuke and chastisement the people repented, but under temptation they fell again through self-indulgence and self-gratification. This forgetting of God is why Israel was scattered, and the same forgetting is found in the churches today.
The psalm is to be read attentively as a lesson for faithful conduct and unity. Its record was written for admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. It should be made an object of study in schools as timely nourishment, meat in due season, to the youth.