Psalms 78:40-55

ISRAEL'S REBELLION IN THE WILDERNESS SO QUICKLY AFTER GOD'S MIGHTY DEEDS IN EGYPT

How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert! And they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary; How he set his signs in Egypt, And his wonders in the field of Zoan, And turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink. He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs which destroyed them. He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, And their increase unto the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, And their sycamore trees with frost. He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, and indignation, and trouble, A band of angels of evil. He made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence, And smote all their first-born in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. But he led forth his own people like a sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And he led them safely, so that they feared not; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had gotten. He drove out the nations also before them, And allotted them for an inheritance by line."

"The day when he redeemed them from the adversary" (Psalms 78:42). The "adversary" here was Egypt, and this paragraph recalls six or seven of the plagues by which God overthrew the "false deities" of pagan Egypt. The whole point of this paragraph is that, against such a background of miraculous wonders performed during their deliverance from Egypt; nevertheless, Israel stubbornly ignored God and provoked him by their constant rebellions. Kidner pointed out that two of the principal manuscripts mention the murrain of cattle (as in Exodus 9:3); and if this should be followed, there are seven of the ten plagues mentioned here, only lice, boils, and darkness being left unmentioned.[21]

A large portion of our Commentary on Exodus is devoted to the discussion of practically all of the things mentioned in this paragraph; and the reader is referred to that study.

"The caterpillar ... the locust" (Psalms 78:46) ... "the thunderbolts" (Psalms 78:47). These phenomena accompanied the plagues and were essentially a part of them. For example, one cannot imagine the kind of hailstorm mentioned among the plagues as not being accompanied by a fierce electrical storm. Locusts and caterpillars were also continual hindrances of agriculture in Egypt.

"He cast upon them ... a band of angels of evil" (Psalms 78:49). The marginal reading here informs us that the Hebrew text of the Old Testament reads, "A sending of angels of evil." Evidently, what is meant is simply that all of the visitations upon Egypt which God accomplished during the exodus were executed by the instrumentality of angels, as in the case of the judgment against Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12. The angels who thus did God's will were not "evil." They are called "angels of evil," because they brought evil upon Egypt.

"In the tents of Ham" (Psalms 78:51). "This is a reference to Egypt (See Genesis 10:6)."[22]

"He brought them to the border of his sanctuary ... to this mountain" (Psalms 78:54). This is a reference to Sinai, where the Law was given to Israel, and where all of the instructions for the building of God's sanctuary were given. Dummelow, however, stated that this means, "The border of the land of Canaan."[23] Of course, "the wilderness" was indeed the border of Canaan.