Psalms 78:32-39

GOD'S JUDGMENTS AND ISRAEL'S SHALLOW REPENTANCE

"For all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in terror. And when he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly. And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue. For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant. But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: Yea, many a time he turned his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath. And he remembered that they were flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again."

The highlight of this paragraph is the superficial `repentance' of Israel. After each severe punishment, as when God sent the fiery serpents among them, the people cried mightily unto God. In outward appearances, it seems that they really sought God in all earnestness; but Psalms 78:36-37 revealed that they were merely trying to escape punishment, having no regard whatever for God. Alexander Maclaren described that "repentance" thus.

"Such seeking after God is not properly seeking him at all, but only seeking to escape from evil. Such repentance neither went very deep or stayed very long. It was only lip reverence, proved to be false by their lives, and quickly terminated. `Their heart was not steadfast.' The pressure being removed they at once returned to their habitual position, as all such penitents do."[19]

The fact mentioned here of God's turning away his anger and mercifully extending forgiveness to his rebellions children over and over again stresses the fact of Israel's utter unworthiness. Anyone familiar with the full record of Israel's wickedness could never be surprised by their rejection of their Messiah.

"For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant" (Psalms 78:37). "In each of these extensive paragraphs, the author probes till he comes to the root of Israel's weakness, which is always the same, a lack of true faith."[20] This Psalms 78:37 is a concise statement of exactly what was wrong with Israel. Psalms 78:22 above, serves exactly the same purpose.