Psalms 78:65-72

The writer pictured God waking up, though He was always awake and aware of His people’s condition. He simply did not move to deliver them until David’s time. God rejected Joseph (i.e., the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh) and particularly Ephraim, the leader of the northern tribes, in the sense that He chose someone from Judah to lead Israel. He also chose Mt. Zion as the site of His sanctuary. David took it from the Jebusites. God’s provision of David, the shepherd king, was the writer’s climactic evidence of God’s grace to Israel.

"The one king whom the psalmists were interested in was David. For the most part the monarchy comes off very well in the Psalms because of the psalmists’ great respect for David and his line. This reverence climaxes Psalms 78, where God’s choice of David is a drastic change in history, a turn from the Rachel line, represented by Saul from the tribe of Benjamin, to the Leah line, represented by David from the tribe of Judah." [Note: Bullock, p. 115.]

Shepherding should always spring from personal integrity and wisdom (Psalms 78:72). A person of integrity is one who practices what he preaches. What a person is determines what he does. Relationship with God shapes character. Wisdom involves taking what God has revealed into consideration as we live.

"Integrity and skill need each other, for no amount of ability can compensate for a sinful heart, and no amount of devotion to God can overcome lack of ability." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 234.]

In view of all His blessings, God’s people should learn from history and remain faithful to the Lord who has been faithful to them (cf. 2 Timothy 2:13). [Note: See Allen, Lord of . . ., pp. 57-70.]

"If Israel’s record is her shame, God’s persistent goodness emerges as her hope (and ours) for the unfinished story." [Note: Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 286.]