Bird's-eye view
Psalm 78 is a historical psalm, a didactic poem that recounts the history of Israel from the Exodus to the reign of David. But it is no mere history lesson. It is a covenantal sermon in song, designed to teach the coming generations the hard-won lessons of their fathers' failures. The opening section, our text, serves as the great preamble to this lesson. It establishes the absolute necessity of multi-generational faithfulness. Asaph, the psalmist, is not just sharing interesting historical tidbits; he is fulfilling a divine command to pass down the testimony of God's mighty acts and His holy law. The central point is this: God established a system of covenantal education where one generation is responsible for teaching the next, so that they might set their hope in God and not repeat the stubborn, rebellious apostasy of their ancestors. This is the biblical blueprint for cultural and spiritual transmission. It is a call for fathers to become historians, for children to become students, and for every generation to see itself as one link in a long covenantal chain, stretching back to the promises of God and forward to a thousand generations.
The psalm is therefore intensely practical. It diagnoses the root of Israel’s recurring sin as a failure to remember, a generational amnesia. The cure is a deliberate, father-led, story-shaped education in the mighty acts of God. The goal is not simply information transfer, but heart transformation, leading to a confidence in God that manifests itself in obedience to His commandments. This passage is the charter for every Christian family, every Christian school, and every Christian church, reminding us that our primary educational task is to tell the old, old story so that the next generation might know, and trust, and obey.
Outline
- 1. The Call to Covenantal Instruction (Ps 78:1-8)
- a. A Summons to Hear the Law (Ps 78:1)
- b. The Nature of the Teaching: Parables and Dark Sayings (Ps 78:2)
- c. The Source of the Teaching: Received Tradition (Ps 78:3)
- d. The Duty of Transmission: Unconcealed Praises (Ps 78:4)
- e. The Divine Mandate for Education (Ps 78:5)
- f. The Multi-Generational Goal (Ps 78:6)
- g. The Ultimate Purpose: Hope and Obedience (Ps 78:7)
- h. The Negative Example: A Rebellious Generation (Ps 78:8)
Context In The Psalter
Psalm 78 is the second longest psalm in the Psalter and the first of twelve psalms attributed to Asaph, a chief musician appointed by David. It is situated in Book III of the Psalms (Psalms 73-89), a section largely characterized by corporate lament and a grappling with the apparent failure of God's covenant promises, particularly in the face of national disaster like the Assyrian invasion. Psalm 78 provides the historical backdrop for these laments. It functions as a covenant lawsuit, rehearsing Israel's long history of rebellion and God's equally long history of faithfulness and judgment. By reminding the people of their persistent sinfulness, the psalm explains why the nation is suffering. It is not because God has been unfaithful to His covenant, but because Israel has been. This historical recital serves as both a confession of sin and a foundation for future hope. If God was faithful to preserve a remnant through all the rebellions of the past, He can be trusted to be faithful again.
Key Issues
- Covenant Succession
- The Role of Fathers in Education
- Generational Faithfulness and Sin
- The Importance of History
- Catechesis and Storytelling
- The Relationship Between Knowledge and Obedience
- The Meaning of "Dark Sayings"
The Great Chain of Narration
We live in an age that has contempt for the past. We are chronological snobs, assuming that the latest thing is necessarily the truest thing. The modern educational project is built on the idea of helping children escape the benighted ignorance of their parents. But the Bible operates on a completely different principle. The biblical principle is one of covenantal succession. Wisdom is not something we invent; it is something we inherit. Asaph begins this psalm by establishing this foundational truth. God has set up the world in such a way that faith is passed down from one generation to the next through the faithful recounting of His mighty deeds. This is not a game of telephone, where the message gets distorted with each telling. This is a sacred trust, a divine command. The fathers are commanded to teach, and the children are commanded to learn, and what they are to learn is the story of God's interaction with His people. This story, this grand narrative, is the curriculum. It is filled with "dark sayings," not because it is obscure, but because the meaning is deep and requires faith to unravel. It is a parable, a story with a heavenly meaning. The entire history of Israel is a parable that points to Christ. Our task as Christian parents and educators is to take up this Asaphic task and tell the story, faithfully and without concealment, so that our children might learn not to be like their rebellious fathers, but rather to set their hope in God.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1 Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
The psalm begins with the voice of a teacher, a prophet, a covenantal representative. Asaph is not offering his personal opinions or some helpful life hacks. He is speaking on behalf of God, delivering God's instruction, His Torah. The call to "give ear" and "incline your ears" is the classic summons to hear the word of the Lord. This is a formal, serious business. He is calling the entire covenant community, "O my people," to attention. What follows is not optional; it is the very word of life. This is the posture required for all true learning: humility and a readiness to hear. Before we can teach the next generation, we must first be a people who listen to God.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will pour forth dark sayings of old,
Asaph describes the nature of his teaching. It is a parable and it contains dark sayings of old. This verse is famously quoted by Matthew to explain Jesus’ own teaching method (Matt. 13:35). A parable is a story that lays one thing alongside another to reveal a deeper truth. The history of Israel is the earthly story; the heavenly meaning is God's character, His plan of redemption, and man's rebellion. The "dark sayings" are not dark in the sense of being evil or incomprehensible. They are riddles, profound truths that are not obvious on the surface. They are "of old," meaning they are ancient, rooted in the foundational events of their history. The point is that history is not just one thing after another; it is a story pregnant with meaning, a meaning that must be drawn out and explained by a wise teacher.
3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have recounted to us.
Here is the principle of transmission. Asaph is not inventing this curriculum. He is not a curriculum innovator. He is a tradition-keeper, in the best sense of that word. The truths he is about to share are part of a received heritage. They were "heard and known" because their "fathers have recounted" them. This is the ordinary, ordained method of covenantal education. It is oral, it is relational, it is historical. The faith is not something you stumble upon by yourself; it is delivered to you by your ancestors. This places a heavy responsibility on fathers to be faithful storytellers, to be the living memory of the people of God.
4 We will not conceal them from their children, But recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, And His strength and His wondrous deeds that He has done.
The psalmist now states his resolve, and the resolve of his faithful generation. Having received this great treasure, they will not hoard it or hide it. To conceal this story would be a profound act of spiritual theft, robbing the next generation of its birthright. The duty is to recount, to tell the story again. And what is the subject matter of this story? It is a theology, a doxology. They are to tell of three things: the praises of Yahweh (His glorious character), His strength (His sovereign power), and His wondrous deeds (His saving acts in history). This is the core curriculum: who God is and what God has done. Christian education is, at its heart, the joyful telling of the mighty acts of our triune God.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob And set a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children,
This educational project is not a good idea that some clever parents came up with. It is a divine institution, a direct command from God. God Himself established a testimony and set a law. The testimony refers to the record of His saving acts, while the law refers to His revealed will and commandments. These two things, grace and law, story and commandment, are not to be separated. And God explicitly "commanded our fathers" that this testimony and law should be taught to their children. This is the foundational text for family-based, covenantal discipleship. The primary responsibility for the education of children rests squarely on the shoulders of the fathers.
6 That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and recount them to their children,
Here we see the long-term vision of this project. The goal is perpetual, multi-generational faithfulness. It is not just about the next generation, but "the generation to come." It even includes "the children yet to be born." God’s educational plan is a relay race. One generation receives the baton of truth and runs its leg of the race with all its might, and then faithfully passes that baton to the next. The goal is that the children who learn the story will themselves "arise and recount them to their children." Faithfulness in one generation is the seedbed for faithfulness in the next. This is God's plan for extending His covenant promises through history.
7 That they should set their confidence in God And not forget the deeds of God, But observe His commandments,
This verse gives us the ultimate purpose, the intended outcome of this whole educational enterprise. It is threefold. First, that they should set their confidence in God. The goal is not just head-knowledge, but heart-trust. The stories of God's faithfulness are meant to produce faith. Second, that they should not forget the deeds of God. This is the opposite of setting confidence in Him. Forgetting is the great enemy, the root of apostasy. A people who forget what God has done will not trust Him in the present. Third, that they should observe His commandments. True confidence in God and a faithful memory of His deeds will inevitably result in obedience. Trust and obey, for there's no other way. This is the biblical sequence: story leads to trust, which leads to obedience.
8 And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Finally, Asaph provides the negative motivation. The children are to be taught this history so that they might learn from the catastrophic failures of their ancestors. The history to be recounted is not a whitewashed, sanitized history. It is a history that includes the sin. Their fathers are described in four ways: they were stubborn (stiff-necked), rebellious (defiant), they did not prepare their heart (their inner disposition was not right), and their spirit was not faithful (they were covenant-breakers). This is a blunt and honest assessment. Paradoxically, the fathers are to teach their children the story of their own failures so that the children might learn not to be like them. This requires immense humility from the fathers, but it is absolutely essential. We teach our children about the Exodus, but we also teach them about the golden calf. We teach them about the conquest, but we also teach them about the cycles of apostasy in Judges. We teach them so that they might surpass us.
Application
This psalm is a direct charge to the modern church, and particularly to Christian parents. We are drowning in a culture of forgetfulness, a culture that actively seeks to sever every tie with the past. Our first and most basic duty is to resist this. We must become a people of memory. Fathers, God has commanded you to be the historians and theologians for your household. You are to teach your children the praises of the Lord, His strength, and His wondrous deeds. This means you must know them yourselves. You cannot give what you do not have. This requires you to be a man of the Book, a man who knows the story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation.
This is not a call to a dry, academic exercise. It is a call to vibrant storytelling. We are to tell the story of creation, the fall, the flood, and the call of Abraham. We are to tell the story of the Exodus, the lawgiving at Sinai, and the conquest of the land. We are to tell the story of David, the prophets, the exile, and the return. And we are to show how all these stories are parables, dark sayings whose ultimate meaning is found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the true Israel, the faithful Son who never rebelled. He is the one whose heart was always prepared and whose spirit was always faithful to God.
And we must tell our children this story so that they might set their confidence not in themselves, not in the spirit of the age, but in God alone. We teach them the law so they see their need for a Savior. We teach them the gospel so they see how that need is met. And we teach them the whole story of our fathers' failures so they can learn, by God's grace, to be a more faithful generation than we have been. This is the great task. Let us take up the calling of Asaph, and recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh.