Psalm 78 (B)

Psalm 78¹Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
²I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³things that we have heard and known,
    that our ancestors have told us.
⁴We will not hide them from their children;
    we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done. (NRSV)

Click on the link for the Psalm above for the text or listen to Psalm 78:

Reflection:

Psalm 78 is the second longest Psalm (Psalm 119 is quite a bit longer) and it is labeled a history lesson, so naturally no one really wants to read it. To be honest, I don’t remember much about history class in school. What I do remember is learning dates of “important” battles along with who was president at the time. I remember visiting Gettysburg as a kid and thinking it was just a huge cemetery where men killed each other for dumb reasons. I do remember liking the ghost tours, because the tour guide would tell stories about individual people and some of them women. These stories usually had a moral about why the person was still haunting, sometimes because of the terrible thing they did or someone did to them. But these always felt like someone else’s story. The history I always loved best was hearing about my grandparents and great grandparents and how their lives still influence mine.

Psalm 78 is the history of the people of God. They tell this story to future generations not to glorify battle or justify decisions they made, but to recount the past including their flaws and failures so that future generations can learn from the mistakes and lead change. Psalm 78 tells of human failure and unfaithfulness and God’s compassion and love. The story of God’s wonders is told in a way that invites future generations to be willing participants; to experience relationship with God not with hard hearts and stiff necks, but with open hearts and a willingness to turn back to God. Perhaps this next generation will be faithful to God and compassionate to neighbors.

May we all be guided by ancient wisdom: love.

Prayer:

The Lord’s Prayer is about the amount of time you need for hand scrubbing 😉

Breath Prayer: I am including breath prayers because this is the practice that I engage in most often. Sometimes, I simply manage my breathing as I would when I was singing as a warmup and strengthening exercise. This practice helps me to feel centered, strong, and connected with myself and the divine. Sometimes, I add words or intentions for the inhalation and exhalation.

Nicole Cardoza’s Guided Meditation For Anxiety
Try this short meditation, created by Yoga Foster and Reclamation Ventures founder Nicole Cardoza, the next time you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious. Read in Yoga Journal.

Mr. Roger’s “Taking a breath” This one is short, but Mr. Roger’s voice is calming for me (and many Pittsburghers) and even his virtual presence can summon childhood memories of calmness and safety.

Let us pray:

One way to think about breath prayer is that whatever is exhaled other people will inhale. So, sometimes we might inhale and exhale the same idea with the hope that what we receive from God, we can share with others. For example, you may imagine receiving God’s steadfast love while praying that others are receiving God’s steadfast love.

Another way to think about breath prayer is to pick something you would like to receive for your inhalation and something you would like to release for your exhalation. The idea is to keep it simple, so I encourage you to simply find one word for each inhale and one word for each exhale. That simple prayer could be something like this: God fill me with your Holy spirit. I receive your instruction and release my ignorance.

Or you may want to use a short phrase: Guide me with the ancient wisdom.

Ok, everyone take a deep breath. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Repeat as needed.

Sources and notes:

“Psalm 78 is the voice of a teacher. It is largely composed of narrative, a telling of the story of the LORD’s way with Israel. In this respect it is similar to Psalms 105; 106; and 136. Because of this common dominant feature, this group of psalms is often classified as “historical psalms”.” Mays p. 254

“The speech is an eloquent testimony to the crucial importance of tradition in biblical religion. Its basic assumption is that remembering and telling are essential to the existence of the people of God. The speaker views the people of God as a family whose identity and ethos are maintained across generations because parents tell children the story of how they came to be the people of the LORD.” Mays p. 256

“This teaching does recite the mighty works of God (vv. 12-16, 43-55), but each recital leads up to a specific castoff Israel’s failure, and the instruction turns on these cases as negative examples of what the audience should not be like. The speaker’s torah, just like the canonical form of Israel’s foundation story, includes the response of the people. The way o fGod and the way of the ancestors (Hebrew “fathers”) are women together. the people of god are instructed, not only by what God has done and said, but also by what the fathers and mothers in faith have done and said. The biblical torah of the fist five books and the four Gospels is composed in that way. The speaker uses examples of failure by the ancestors. There is irony here; those who passed on the tradition also failed it. Every generation will have to reckon with the face that the story tells of failure as well as faithfulness.” Mays p. 257

“The final point of the speaker’s instruction, however, is not about wrath. Judgment is the word, but it is not the last word. The last word is the triumph of grace. The people fail, but the failure of the people is not the failure of God. God prevails against faithlessness.” Mays p. 258

“With its seventy-two verses, Psalm 78 is the second-longest plasma in the Psalter, after Psalm 119. Because of its length, many readers avoid it. Their aversion is intensified by its categorization as a “historical psalm” (along with Pss 105, 106, 135, 136) that retells Israel’s story in order to teach future generations. Clearly, many readers prefer prayer to a history lesson. The problem with this “historical” label for Psalm 78 is that it “flattens” events and encourages us too read them “statistically” like a photograph rather than “dynamically” like a film; the psalmist, however, “practices the memory, not to recount the past, but to prompt the kind of remembrance that leads to change.” Not only is the unfaithfulness of ancestors exposed but so are God’s actions on Israel’s behalf during the exodus, wilderness wanderings, settlement, and establishment of Davidic monarchy anchored in Zion. The psalmist terms these actions “wonders” (v. 4, from the root “do wondrously”; cp. exodus. 3:20; 15:11). Consequently, reciting this history invites “participating in the ongoing legacy of God’s wonders, which instills a distinct communal identity.” W p. 269

WBC Allen, Leslie C. 1983. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150. Vol. 21. Waco, TX: Word Books, Publisher.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1974. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. 8th ed. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press.

Brueggemann, Walter. 2007. Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade.

Brueggemann Brueggemann, Walter. 2014. From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. Edited by Brent A. Strawn. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Chittister Chittister, Joan. (2011). Songs of the heart: reflections on the psalms. John Garratt Publishing.

WBC Craigie, Peter C. 1983. Psalms 1-50–Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 19. Waco, TX: Word Books.

Creach Creach, Jerome Frederick Davis. 1998. Psalms: Interpretation Bible Studies. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

DAFLER, J. (2021). PSOBRIETY: A journey of recovery through the psalms. Louisville, KY: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX.

W de Claisse-Walford, Nancy L. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 4-5. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 22. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2020.

W Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 2-3. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 21. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2016.

NIB Keck, Leander E. 2015. The New Interpreters Bible Commentary. Vol. 3. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Lewis, C. S. (2017). Reflections on the Psalms. Harper One, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.

Mays Mays, James Luther. 1994. Psalms. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.

McCann McCann, J. C. (1993). A theological introduction to the book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

McCann, J. C., & Howell, J. C. 2001. Preaching the Psalms. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Merrill, N. C. (2020). Psalms for praying an invitation to wholeness (10th Anniversary Edition ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Miller Miller, Patrick D. 1986. Interpreting the Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.

Schlimm Schlimm, Matthew Richard. 2018. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know.Nashville, TN: Abington Press.

Spong Spong, M. (Ed.). (2020). The words of her mouth: Psalms for the struggle. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press.

WBC Tate, Marvin E. 1990. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100. Edited by David Allan. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. Vol. 20. Waco, TX: Word.

OTL Weiser, Artur. 1998. Old Testament Library: Psalms. Translated by Herbert Hartwell. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Manchester University Press.

I began writing Psalm reflections during Lent of 2020 shortly after we decided to close the church building, work from home, and worship via zoom. Many churches use the revised common lectionary that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, Third Church decided to worship with the texts from Year D, which is still not circulated as are years A, B, and C. Year D was created with the goal of including scriptures that were left out or not used as frequently as others. Reflections exploring the Psalms in year D. While we were using Year D, most other lectionary followers were using Year A. Now that we are rejoining those who use the lectionary, we are on Year B. This we hope will keep all of us planning and preparing worship on the same page.

I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings to make text selections when I’m following the Revised Common Lectionary.