Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds

Dr. Ryan Swale is pastor of Immanuel URC in Jordan, Ontario, and a graduate of Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary who wrote his dissertation on "The Imprecatory Pastor: A Practical Theology of the Imprecatory Psalms."

Psalm 78 is one of the longest psalms in the Psalter, although it is mostly known for its opening section (vv. 1-8) on teaching children the glorious deeds of the Lord. However, if the psalm’s length keeps us from studying it beyond using it as a mere prooftext for catechesis, we miss out on hearing just what those glorious deeds of the Lord are.

The psalm really is an overview of redemptive-history from the Exodus to the rise of David and his kingdom. However, what comes out consistently in Asaph’s overview is a dual-emphasis on the persistent rebellion of God’s people and God’s persevering grace. Ash says, “The message of Psalm 78 is that God is astonishingly gracious in the face of human sin….”^[i]

There is a back-and-forth pattern throughout of their rebellion and God’s grace, their rebellion and God’s grace, at the heart of which is a glorious statement about God compassionately atoning for their sins. Verse 38 says, “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.”

According to the Babylonian Talmud, not only is this verse at the center of the psalm, but is the numerical center of the Psalter.[ii] Perhaps Psalm 78’s teaching about God, in his compassion, atoning for his people’s iniquity, then is central to the message of the Psalter as it looks forward to Israel’s coming Messiah.

Indeed, it seems that the very movement of the psalm suggests this. For, as Asaph begins by tracing God’s grace in the exodus (vv. 12-14), and water from the rock (vv. 15-16), and bread from heaven (vv. 23-29), all against the backdrop of his people’s sin, he then moves to their entrance into the land (vv. 52-55) after which they rebel against him again (vv. 56-59). Here, Asaph describes their idolatry in the period of the judges and beyond, culminating in the events of 1 Samuel 2-4 with Hophni and Phinehas where God forsakes his dwelling places at Shiloh.

However, even when God in the ark is taken into captivity (1 Samuel 5), he graciously delivers his people yet again (vv. 65-66). And in the flow of the psalm, this then leads to the final section where God raises up a king in David who will shepherd his people, as God dwells among them in grace (vv. 67-72).

All of this prompts the question, though: why is Asaph telling this story now? Well, Psalm 78 is part of Book III of the Psalter, set in the context of the exile, when God’s people have justly merited his discipline and are wondering if he will be gracious again. Thus, the psalm ending on God raising up a king after his own heart after forsaking his dwelling place because of his peoples’ sin signals the hope that he might do so yet again.  Canonically, the movement of Psalm 78 looks forward to God providing another king like David in the face of his peoples’ sin.

Interestingly, this tracks with the way Matthew reads Psalm 78. For in the center of his famous chapter on the parables of the kingdom (Matthew 13), Matthew pauses to ask why Jesus is teaching in parables (Matthew 13:34-35), and then quotes Psalm 78. He says it was to fulfill the words of Asaph who opened his mouth in a parable (Psalm 78:2). At the center of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom, Matthew tells us it fulfills Asaph’s teaching about God’s kingdom. As James Hamilton says, “The history that Asaph told typifies the kingdom Jesus brings.”^[iii] The same pattern of this psalm – of God’s people forgetting his grace, and him yet pursuing them to establish his kingdom – is going to be fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of David’s Son. Jesus thus completes the story of Psalm 78, bringing his people back from exile, making his dwelling among them, and atoning for their iniquity.

In fact, many of the very themes from the psalm are applied by the New Testament to Jesus. First Corinthians 10 says he is the rock who was stricken that, by his death, we might have life. John 6 says he is the bread from heaven, sent by God to save us. He is the Davidic king prefigured in v. 72, the one who leads us on a greater exodus. And he is the one in whom God’s compassionate heart of v. 38 is climactically revealed as he atones for our iniquity. Ash says the question of Psalm 78 is “can human sin defeat the grace of God?” and “the answer is that it cannot and will not – but only because of Christ….”[iv] That’s the gospel of Psalm 78, at the center of the Psalter.

Asaph rehearses the history of God’s people to make the basic point of their sin and God’s relentless grace. Looking back at the beginning of the psalm, then, this is message he wants us to teach our children. The “glorious deeds of the Lord” refers to his grace that is greater than all his peoples’ sin. That’s the message he wants taught to the coming generation that they might set their hope in God.

Yes, Psalm 78 calls us to instruct and catechize our children. But at the heart of that instruction is the message of his grace. At the heart of what Asaph wants us to pass on to our children is a message about God, who is compassionate, atoning for our iniquity through the king we don’t deserve. As we teach and catechize our children, may we not miss this basic point. But may we ground everything we teach them in Asaph’s gospel-framework for redemptive history. Then, and only then, will they set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments (v. 7).

[i] Ash, The Psalms, vol. 3, 349.

[ii] See Ibid., 352.

[iii] Hamilton, Psalms, vol. 2, 61. Slightly modified.

[iv] Ash, The Psalms, vol, 3, 349.