Chapter Seventy-Seven

The psalm was written to find in facts from the past life of the Hebrew people an explanation of certain events of the present time (Ps 77:67-72) and guidance for the future (Ps 77:4-8). Among such facts the writer dwells on the faithlessness of the tribe of Ephraim, its ingratitude before the Lord (Ps 77:9-12). It concludes by pointing out that in this neglect of the commandments of the Lord and the unworthiness of Ephraim lies the reason why the Lord rejected him and chose Judah, Mount Zion, and King David to rule the people (Ps 77:67-71). The last words indicate the apologetic purpose of the psalm — to justify the necessity and usefulness of the choice of Mount Zion for the capital, the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant there, and the choice of David as king not from the tribe of Ephraim, but from the tribe of Judah. The populous, wealthy, and proud tribe of Ephraim enjoyed enormous influence over the entire Hebrew people before David. The removal of the Ark of the Covenant from it under David, as well as the choice of a king from another tribe, caused discontent among the Ephraimites and was probably a source of some internal strife. To prevent and eliminate the latter, the writer wrote this psalm. From this one should conclude that he was a contemporary of David, the same Asaph who enjoyed great authority among the people as a “seer” and who was one of the leaders of David’s choirs.

Listen, all people, to my word, in which I will communicate what was learned from the fathers for our instruction and for passing to descendants, so as not to forget God and not to resemble the stubborn and rebellious fathers (1–8). The sons of Ephraim did not keep God’s Covenant, they forgot His many wonders at the time of the exodus and after the exodus from Egypt (9–16). They continued to provoke the Lord in the wilderness, demanding the food they desired. The Lord fed them wondrously and they perished from satiation (17–31). Nevertheless they continued to sin. When the Lord sent calamities upon them and they cried to Him, He saved them (32–40). After deliverance they again dishonored the Lord and did not remember the great mercies He had shown them from the time of their liberation from Egypt and after their settlement in Palestine (41–55). And in this land they dishonored Him with their high places, which is why He rejected the dwelling in Shiloh and delivered the Ark of the Covenant into captivity (56–66). Then the Lord rejected the tribe of Ephraim, and chose Judah, Mount Zion, and King David, who was pure in heart and gentle (67–72).

Psalm 77:1. Listen, my people, to my law, incline your ear to the words of my mouth. “Listen, my people,” “incline your ear” means listen attentively, since what the author is communicating is of great importance. Such it is indeed in the content of the psalm, which, apart from the importance of its moral and religious instruction, was directed toward calming society and all the people, for whom the dispute over the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and the choice of David as king was bearing very heavily.

Psalm 77:2. I will open my mouth in a parable and will utter dark sayings of old. “Parable” means a brief saying; “dark saying” also means a brief, obscure speech due to its figurative nature not readily understood. But the author did not keep his promise: the subsequent content of the psalm, although consisting of a brief recounting of facts, presents nothing mysterious.

Psalm 77:5. He established a statute in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, “He established a statute in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel” means God issued laws for all the Hebrew people not for the purpose of their constant change, but for immutable and accurate observance.

Psalm 77:8. And not to be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, an unruly generation and unfaithful in spirit to God. The facts from the past history of the Hebrew people that the writer subsequently presents have instructive significance: they communicate the evil from the life of the ancestors which descendants should avoid.

Psalm 77:9. The sons of Ephraim, armed and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle: Psalm 77:10. They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law; Psalm 77:11. They forgot His deeds and the wonders which He had shown them. Such instructive facts are the behavior of the Ephraimites, who renounced God despite all the numerous wonders He had performed. This renunciation, however, as is evident from the facts of the same Ephraim’s return to God in moments of calamity, was not theoretical, conscious rejection of the truths of God-revealed law, but a lack of living and active faith; it was practical unbelief.

Psalm 77:12. He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan: “The field of Zoan” is the chief city of Lower Egypt, where Moses performed his many wonders before Pharaoh.

Psalm 77:18. They tested God in their heart, demanding food for their desire, Despite the miraculous liberation from Egypt, the Ephraimites “tested God in their heart” in the wilderness — they displayed deep unbelief in the Lord when they doubted His power to feed them.

Psalm 77:24. And He rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven. Psalm 77:25. Man ate the bread of the angels; He sent them food to the full. Manna is called “the grain of heaven” because it was sent from heaven. “Man ate the bread of the angels,” that is, manna. It is called the bread of the angels not because the angels, bodiless spirits, needed it, but because it “was given by the angels” (the Blessed Theodoret), as the immediate executors of God’s will. The name “angelic,” therefore, indicates the supernatural origin of the manna.

Psalm 77:27. And He rained meat on them like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the sea: “Like dust He rained meat on them, and feathered birds like the sand of the sea” — the abundance of quail sent by God to the Hebrews in the wilderness.

Psalm 77:34. When He killed them, they sought Him and turned, and in the early morning they fled to God, As soon as calamities struck the Hebrews, they “in the early morning,” immediately turned to God. Their devotion to the Lord was unstable and inconstant.

Psalm 77:36. And they flattered Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue; “They flattered Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue” does not mean that the prayer of the Hebrews before the Lord in moments of danger and calamity was consciously hypocritical, since the Lord, as all-knowing, would know this and would not accept it as an insult, but means that the moments of repentance were brief, they were short-lived flashes, after which, when the danger passed, the period of willfulness and forgetfulness of God returned.

Psalm 77:49. He sent upon them the fire of His wrath, and indignation, and wrath, and trouble, a host of evil angels; “A host of evil angels” means not by nature evil, but executors of God’s terrible will over sinful people.

Psalm 77:60. He rejected the dwelling in Shiloh, the tent in which He dwelt among men; Psalm 77:61. And He gave His strength into captivity and His glory into the hand of the enemy, “He rejected the dwelling in Shiloh... and gave His strength into captivity,” that is, the Ark of the Covenant, which for the Hebrews served as a sign of the presence of the Lord among them and with which they went out to war. Here is meant the fact of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines in Ashdod (1 Sam 4:21).

Psalm 77:63. His young men were consumed by fire, and his maidens were not praised in marriage songs; “His maidens were not praised in marriage songs” means in this unfortunate war with the Philistines so many young men perished that there was no one for the maidens to marry.

Psalm 77:64. His priests fell by the sword, and his widows could not weep. “His priests fell by the sword” means the death of Hophni and Phinehas.

Psalm 77:67. And he rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, Psalm 77:68. But he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. Such behavior of the tribe of Ephraim was the reason for its rejection by the Lord, who chose Mount Zion for His dwelling and the tribe of Judah.

Psalm 77:69. And He built His sanctuary like the high heavens, and like the earth which He has established forever, “He built His sanctuary like the high heavens.” The tent built by David on Zion surpassed in its beauty, dimensions, and riches the tent in Shiloh, which is why the writer calls it comparatively with the former as heavenly. The dwelling of the Lord on Zion is eternal, therefore no tribe should dream of the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to another place at any time.

Psalm 77:70. And he chose David, His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds Psalm 77:71. From following the nursing ewes He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. Psalm 77:72. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands. In the person of David are noted the simplicity of his former life (“took him from the sheepfolds”), moral purity (“integrity of his heart”) and wisdom (“guided them with his skillful hands”). These qualities are opposite to what Ephraim displayed in its behavior — pride, disobedience to the Lord, and concern for its external dominance and rule over all the people, which is why David was chosen and preferred to him, one who understood how to serve the people and understood wherein their true benefit lay.