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CHAPTER 78
Israel to teach the Lord's law to their children—Disobedient Israel provokes the Lord in the wilderness—Egyptians plagues recounted—The Lord chooses and blesses Judah and David. |
This Psalm presents the very Jewish perspective of who has prevailed and is the rightful heir of the Covenant of Abraham, Prescribing all that is wrong to Ephraim/Joseph as the Kingdom of Israel and all that is preseved to being in chosen Judah over Ephraim An LDS understanding of the preserved covenant through Joseph and his son Ephraim, particularly in respect to these latter days ought to be contrasted to this Jewish held perspective. | |
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1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parablea: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. |
2a I will open my mouth in a parable Herein lies one evidence that the Psalms have be taken from and do reference words of the prophets, even such prophets whose works are not in today's Jewish kept Bible. Matthew in Matthew 13:35 Jesus is given to have referenced such 'the' Prophet who spoke such words as recorded in Psalms 78:2 but nowhere else in the Bible. Whether the scripture record of Christ day had such a separate text of this prophet or whether it was in reference to the Psalm, it speaks of a Prophet's word that is today found only is Psalms. Mark also references this item spoken by Jesus in Mark 4:11. Even some of the words of Isaiah seem to have become missing (see Matthew 13:14-15). This may even be such words of Isaiah speaking of the Book of Mormon as well (see Isaiah 29, 2 Nephi 27 and D&C 35:18). We have already noted that Matthew's and Jesus' quoted text of Isaiah seems to be somewhat different from that preserved or translated today (See Isaiah 42:1-4 and Matthew 12:18-21). It is almost as if those Old Testament verses referenced by Jesus have been so targeted. | |
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4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: |
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7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. |
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"Covenant of the Firstborn" |
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9 The children of
Ephraima, being armed,
and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; 11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. |
9a The children of Ephraim One needs to consider the entire psalm to understand what is being implied here as 'the children of Ephraim'. Ephraim had received the covenant blessing of the firstborn through Joseph under the hand of Jacob. And he did recieve of that blessing the covenant name of 'Israel'. Thus when this psalm speaks of the children of Ephraim, is refers to the entire Kingdom of Israel/Joseph/Ephraim, the 'covenant tribal kingdom'. This becomes clear in the conclusions of the psalm. It is an unfortunate perspective of the Jews in which this psalm had been given and preserved. Its perspective basically concludes that all that is 'wrong' is attributed to Ephraim and that which is right is only of Judah. Ephraim, Joseph, Israel is rejected and Judah is chosen in the stead thereof. Its conclusion negates the blessing of Jacob upon the head of Ephraim. It would conclude that it is not upon Ephraim in the latter day to fulfill the covenant of Abraham, which we know not to be true as the restoration have come by right unto those of Ephraim. It would nefate D&C 27:10 wherein it states that the blessings of the fathers did remain in and were preserved through Joseph. It also supports the Jewish and current worldly perspective that Jesus Is 'Messiah ben Judah' as being "Messiah ben David" and that the Jews by right of the covenant of Abraham were the legal and rightful heirs of the covenant and the 'seed through whom the Messiah did come'. This removes all such covenant blessings from Ephraim, which is not true, even unto the fact that Legally and Rightfully according to the Law of God, Jesus is an Ephraimite, the Son of Joseph of Egypt (See: Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph). | |
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12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. 14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. |
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15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. 17 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. |
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18 And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
19 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? |
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21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: 23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. |
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25 Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. 27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: 28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. |
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29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
30 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 31 The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. |
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32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. 34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. |
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35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. 37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. |
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38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. 40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! |
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41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. 43 How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: 44 And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. |
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45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. 47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. 48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. 49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. |
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50 He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: 52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. |
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53 And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. 55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. |
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56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. 58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. |
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59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; 61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand. |
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62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. 64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation. |
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Here is the bases in which the Jews have concluded that Judah
prevailed over Ephraim. In connection with King David having chosen Judah
over Israel or 'Ephraim' in his day, the Jews do point to the fact that
Ephraim rebelled against God, were therefore taken, scattered and lost, and
that the remaining tribe or Kingdom of Judah was only left because God had
selected and chosen them over Israel to be God's people. Though bases in the
truth of the fate of the Kingdom of Ephraim/Joseph/Israel, the Jewiah
tradition and perspective upheld in the Old Testament by them is that Judah
'prevailed' over Ephraim even to the obtaining of the 'blessings' of God so
once held unto Ephraim. And though this is a favored Jewish perspective, it
is never what the scriptures so state per-say, nor is it the actual position
and intent of God. King David's own preference choice of Judah over Israel
came after David's great sin before the Lord and his being put out as being
of the covenant fathers in the sense of personal righteousness. And though
the Christ was still to come of his linage, his position in the actual
covenant birthright of the first born would be taken from him and his
generation would be jumped over and Christ was heir of Jesse though still
spoken of as the Son of Daivd in terms of blood discent. The further fact is
that Ephraim was never replaced by Judah in terms of the covenant rights of
the first born. David by that right of the Law of Moses was a discentant of
Ephraim, or the Ephrathite family of Mahlon the first husband of Ruth and of
Elimelech and Naomi who's son Obed the surrogate son of Boaz was in truth
the son and heir of the Law of God of the house of Elimelech and Ephraim, not
Judah by the blood of Boaz, who only stood as the vicarious performing
redeeming kinsman. Since Judah, the Jews had always aspired to and usurped
a claim to being the rightful heir of Jacob. When David chose Judah over
Israel, though Israel had the greater 'right' in David by God's Law, and then
after the Kingdom of Ephraim/Israel had been taken captive and scattered
into the nations of the earth; the Jewish held perspective of the Old
Testament became that Judah had prevailed over Ephraim, God had not then
chosen the tribe of Ephraim as the firstborn, but that Judah prevailed having
remained. This is not true and as late as the prophet Jeremiah of the era
of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, the prophet of God is actually so
stating the truth of the matters as he states that Ephraim was the firstborn
and had and would still prevail as the covenant son (Jeremiah 31:9),
NOT Judah as this psalm and 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 might lead one
to suppose from the Jewish perspective though a more careful reading is needed.
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65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach. 67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Josepha, and chose not the tribe of Ephraimb: 68 But chose the tribe of Judaha, the mount Zion which he loved. |
67a he refused the tabernacle of
Joseph When Jereboam became the King of Israel and turned them
from the worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem unto the worship of the golden
calfs in Israel, from the Jewish perspective it was seen as God having
rejected the 'tabernacle' of Joseph in Shiloh, though David had removed it
previously and Solomon had already built in the stead the temple in
Jerusalem. It was all a 'growing argument' against Ephraim being the son of
the covenant and instaed of Judah. And though 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 did not
exactly state that Ephraim or Joseph no longer held the birthright, Judah
understood that it was through David that it came and that David had chosen
Judah over Israel/Ephraim, though Ephraim/Israel held the greater 'right' of
the Law of God in David as David was heir of Elimelech and Mahlon the
covenant Ephrathite linage. Thus 'blood genealogy' did 'prevail' over the
hiership of Ephraim and the Law of God to the extent that when
Joseph/Ephraim/Israel was first taken captive and scattered, Judah raised up
and claimed that God had chosen Judah in the stead of Israel/Joseph/Ephraim
as here is this Psalm or song so sung and so states.
67b chose not the tribe of Ephraim This is a conclusion that this Psalm makes which is not upheld in the scriptures of the prophets nor exactly in the historical chronicle. Even after David chosing Judah over Israel, even after David removed the tabernacle from Ephraim, even after Jereboam's leading the Kingdom of Joseph/Ephraim/Israel from the worship of Jehovah is Jerusalem, and even after that kingdom and tribe of Ephraim and his companions had first been taken in captivity and scattered into the nations of the earth, did the Prophet Jeremiah still state that it was Ephraim, NOT Judah who was still counted as the 'firstborn' of the covenant of God (Jeremiah 31:9). And though 1 Chronicles 5:2 so states that 'Judah had prevailed' (but only in terms of the kept genealogy), it was rightly pointed out that the 'birthright' of the covenant was still held in Joseph, in his son Ephraim and was that of the tribe of Ephraim and his companions. Thus one needs to take care as to the usurption of the Jews, as promoted by this psalm, that Ephraim was rejected and Judah chosen in his place. This is not the case. The Latter-day restoration of the Gospel clearly shows forth that the covenant rights remained in Joseph (D&C 27:10) and the fulfilling of the covenant of Abraham was still in and through Ephraim to the nations of the earth; even down to and including the ancestry of the Messiah to have been rightly in Ephraim though through David (See: Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph). 68a But chose the tribe of Judah This is a conclusion held by the very Jewish perspective of the Old Testament and as stated in the previous items, it is not upheld by the scriptural text of the prophets. It is better said that King David after his great sin and loss of his position in the covenant linage, King David chose Judah over Israel though Israel still had the greater right in David according to the Law of God (See: Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph). And after Jereboam lead the kingdom of Israel/Ephraim away from God and that kingdom was the first to be taken in captivity and scatterd, the Jews have presumed, being the only 'tribe' or 'kingdom' left, that they alone were chosen and had prevailed over Ephraim. This seems the theme of this Psalm which has this very Jewish perspective personified. |
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69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: 71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritancea. 72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. |
71a Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance Though through out this psalm the major emphasis has been to malign Ephraim/Joseph as Israel permote Judah being chosen in the stead thereof; here at least a single truth seems to have remained. That is, though all of Jacob's seed, all the sons and tribes of Jacob were King David's people, it was only through 'Israel', who is Ephraim/Joseph in the covenant sense, that the 'inheritance' of King David did rightfull come (See: Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph"). | |