Psalms 77:10

THE HISTORY OF GOD'S LOVE OF ISRAEL ENCOURAGING

"And I said, This is my infirmity;

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

I will make mention of the deeds of Jehovah;

For I will remember thy wonders of old.

I will meditate also upon all thy work,

And muse on thy doings.

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:

Who is a great God like unto God?

Thou art the God that doest wonders:

Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples.

Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah)"

"This is my infirmity" (Psalms 77:10). Here the psalmist acknowledges that all of those doubts and misgivings are his own infirmity, not God's. He then announces that he will think upon the wonderful things God has done in the past for Israel.

"Thy way is in the sanctuary" (Psalms 77:13). Later versions render this, "Thy way is holy," but that seriously weakens the passage. God's way is always in and through the institution which he has created to establish and nourish faith. It was true of the ancient sanctuary for Israel, and it is true in the Church of God today.

Psalms 77:10 here is the turning point in the psalm. The psalmist's recognition of the fact that the fault was with himself, not with God, and his resolution to think upon the wonders of what God had already done for His people, and his determination to find in the sanctuary the solution for all his doubts, we believe, must surely have resulted, as Barnes suggested. "By all this his mind was comforted, and his soul was made calm. God heard his prayer and gave him peace."[5]

"Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples" (Psalms 77:14). This is a reference to the fact that God had delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery in such a sensational manner that nobody on earth could have been unaware of it.

"Thou hast redeemed thy people ... sons of Jacob and Joseph" (Psalms 77:15). As Dummelow noted, this is a clear reference to, "God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt."[6] This was not the only wonderful thing, however, that God had done. The psalmist went on to mention others.

It appears to us that the mention of "Jacob" and "Joseph" in this context is due to the fact that in the times of this psalm, the kingdom was divided, Jacob standing for the Southern Israel, and Joseph for the Northern Israel. Cheyne also so understood this.[7]