KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES – Lesson Thirty-seven
TEXT: Psalm 78 (Cont’d.) – V.56-59
[We continue to “consider the marvelous works” listed in this psalm, in keeping with I Samuel 12:24 – But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
Be sure to fear the LORD – Proverbs 19:23 – The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.]
V.56-59 – 56But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. 57Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. 58They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. 59When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely.
The text reveals that in Canaan, the Promised Land, their behavior was similar to that of their ancestors in the wilderness and that they were also justly punished. See the summary of this in Judges 2:8-15 (V.10 – After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Their despicable behavior was due to the fact that they did not know the Lord. Contrast Judges 2:7 – The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
Let us thank the GOD OF MIRACLES for urging us to know Him, in accordance with John 17:3 – Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Note 1 John 4:15-16 – 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
V.11-13 – 11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
Idolatry had been expressly forbidden: Exodus 20:4 – “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Leviticus 26:1 – “`Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 7:25 – The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
The sad account of their idolatrous practices is summarized in Psalm 106:34-39 – 34They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, 35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. 36They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. 39They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
V.14 – In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
The LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them – 2 Kings 17:20 – Therefore the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.
He sold them to their enemies all around – Example: Judges 3:8 – The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.
Note Isaiah 50:1 – This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
Whom they were no longer able to resist – Contrast: Deuteronomy 7:24 – He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them.
Deuteronomy 11:25 – No man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.
Joshua 21:44 – The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them.
Joshua 23:9 – “The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you.
V.15 – Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
Just as he had sworn to them – See Deuteronomy 31:16-21.
They were in great distress – Contrast Nehemiah 9:25 – They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.)
Let us therefore ask the GOD OF MIRACLES to help us to heed: Colossians 3:5-6 – 5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming – NIV note: Some early manuscripts coming on those who are disobedient
Hebrews 12:28-29 – 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
1 John 5:21 – Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.