Sermon - AudioPslam 73, 77, & 78 - Audio
Pslam 73, 77, & 78 - Reading
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Psalm 73
Personal testimony of spiritual deliverance [ Psalm 73 ]. Psalm 73 is a high point of the Psalms and a poem with great contemporary relevance. The poem is cast in the form of a retrospective narrative in which the speaker recalls his existential crisis of faith when he envied the prosperous wicked. The opening sequence is as follows: a statement of the safe position at which the speaker landed at the end—a victory speech at the finish line to prevent possible misunderstanding regarding what is to follow (v. 1); a preview of the crisis (vv. 2–3); a portrait of the prosperous wicked as they are in themselves (vv. 4–9) and as viewed by the culture at large (vv. 10–12); the speaker’s self-pity and discontent over having lived a godly life of self-denial while the wicked prospered (vv. 13–15). Right in the middle of the poem we have the reversal: the speaker’s recovery of a right view of God and life when he worshiped God in the temple (vv. 16–17). In the second half of the poem, we revisit the topics that we traversed in the first half, as follows: a second view of the prosperous wicked—the reason the speaker changed his attitude (vv. 18–20); the speaker’s retrospective put-down of his earlier ungodly attitude when he envied the wicked (vv. 21–22); a second view of the godly life—a spiritual inventory of what the speaker possesses in God and now perceives to be better than the temporary earthly prosperity of the wicked (vv. 23–26); a summary of the twofold movement of the psalm, which has contrasted the temporary nature of the wicked’s earthly success (v. 27) and the implicitly unending rewards of the godly (v. 28).
Psalm 77
I will remember the deeds of the Lord [ Psalm 77 ]. The psalm begins as a lament poem, with the conventional cry to God to help at the outset (vv. 1–2), followed by complaint itself (vv. 3–10). The speaker’s anguish is heightened when he contrasts God’s past acts of favor with the present absence of God’s blessing. Then, in a sudden shift, the speaker returns to the theme of God’s past mighty deeds (vv. 11–12) and elaborates those meditations in a full-fledged praise psalm (vv. 13–20) in which the main data and imagery come from the exodus of Israel from Egypt.
Psalm 78
The glorious deeds of the Lord: a historical psalm [ Psalm 78 ]. This long psalm is a rehearsal of Israelite history, viewed through the interpretive lens of Israel’s disloyalty to God. The sequence is as follows: an orienting section in which the speaker summons his audience to listen, as in the mode of OT wisdom teachers (vv. 1–4); a section in which the speaker announces his purpose in rehearsing history—that God’s works will be passed from one generation to the next and that God’s covenant people will not perpetuate the rebelliousness of the exodus generation (vv. 5–8); a litany of national ignominies during the wilderness journey of the exodus (vv. 9–55); still more apostasy after the nation entered the Promised Land (vv. 56–58); God’s anger displayed against the nation (vv. 59–66); God’s choice of Judah and David as his people’s last best hope (vv. 67–72).
Personal testimony of spiritual deliverance [ Psalm 73 ]. Psalm 73 is a high point of the Psalms and a poem with great contemporary relevance. The poem is cast in the form of a retrospective narrative in which the speaker recalls his existential crisis of faith when he envied the prosperous wicked. The opening sequence is as follows: a statement of the safe position at which the speaker landed at the end—a victory speech at the finish line to prevent possible misunderstanding regarding what is to follow (v. 1); a preview of the crisis (vv. 2–3); a portrait of the prosperous wicked as they are in themselves (vv. 4–9) and as viewed by the culture at large (vv. 10–12); the speaker’s self-pity and discontent over having lived a godly life of self-denial while the wicked prospered (vv. 13–15). Right in the middle of the poem we have the reversal: the speaker’s recovery of a right view of God and life when he worshiped God in the temple (vv. 16–17). In the second half of the poem, we revisit the topics that we traversed in the first half, as follows: a second view of the prosperous wicked—the reason the speaker changed his attitude (vv. 18–20); the speaker’s retrospective put-down of his earlier ungodly attitude when he envied the wicked (vv. 21–22); a second view of the godly life—a spiritual inventory of what the speaker possesses in God and now perceives to be better than the temporary earthly prosperity of the wicked (vv. 23–26); a summary of the twofold movement of the psalm, which has contrasted the temporary nature of the wicked’s earthly success (v. 27) and the implicitly unending rewards of the godly (v. 28).
Psalm 77
I will remember the deeds of the Lord [ Psalm 77 ]. The psalm begins as a lament poem, with the conventional cry to God to help at the outset (vv. 1–2), followed by complaint itself (vv. 3–10). The speaker’s anguish is heightened when he contrasts God’s past acts of favor with the present absence of God’s blessing. Then, in a sudden shift, the speaker returns to the theme of God’s past mighty deeds (vv. 11–12) and elaborates those meditations in a full-fledged praise psalm (vv. 13–20) in which the main data and imagery come from the exodus of Israel from Egypt.
Psalm 78
The glorious deeds of the Lord: a historical psalm [ Psalm 78 ]. This long psalm is a rehearsal of Israelite history, viewed through the interpretive lens of Israel’s disloyalty to God. The sequence is as follows: an orienting section in which the speaker summons his audience to listen, as in the mode of OT wisdom teachers (vv. 1–4); a section in which the speaker announces his purpose in rehearsing history—that God’s works will be passed from one generation to the next and that God’s covenant people will not perpetuate the rebelliousness of the exodus generation (vv. 5–8); a litany of national ignominies during the wilderness journey of the exodus (vv. 9–55); still more apostasy after the nation entered the Promised Land (vv. 56–58); God’s anger displayed against the nation (vv. 59–66); God’s choice of Judah and David as his people’s last best hope (vv. 67–72).
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