A Maskil of Asaph
1-4 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in a parable [משל, mashal]; I will utter riddles [חידה, chidah] from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of Adonai, and His might, and the wonders that He has done.
5-8 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed [His] Torah in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; 8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9-16 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, (c) turned back on the day of battle. 10 They (b) did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to His Torah. 11 They (a) forgot His deeds and the wonders that He had shown them.
עלילה (alilah) = “wantonness” (-)
OR
“deeds” (+)
12 In the sight of their fathers He performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. 13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. 14 In the daytime He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. 15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. 16 He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17-20 Yet they sinned still more against Him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. 18 They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. 19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can He also give bread or provide meat for His people?”
21-33 Therefore, when Adonai heard, He was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; His anger rose against Israel, 22because they did not believe in God and did not trust His salvation. 23 Yet He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, 24 and He rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man ate of the bread of the angels [אבירים, abirim]; He sent them food in abundance. 26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by His power He led out the south wind. 27 He rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas. 28He let them fall in the midst of His camp, all around their dwellings. 29 And they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. 30 But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, 31 the anger of God rose against them, and He killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel. 32 In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite His wonders, they did not believe. 33 So He made their days vanish like a breath [הבל, hevel], and their years in terror.
34-39 When He killed them, they sought Him, and repented and sought God earnestly. 35 They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High God their Redeemer. 36 But they flattered Him with their mouths; they lied to Him with their tongues. 37 Their heart was not steadfast toward Him; they were not faithful to His covenant. 38 Yet He is merciful, He forgives iniquity and does not destroy – He restrains His anger often and does not stir up His full wrath. 39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind/spirit that passes and comes not again.
40-53 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! 41 They tested God again and again and wounded the Holy One of Israel.
תוה (tavah)
42 They did not remember His power or the day when He redeemed them from the foe, 43 when He performed His signs in Egypt and His marvels in the fields of Zoan. 44 He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams. 45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. 46 He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust. 47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost. 48 He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts. 49 He let loose on them His burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels. 50 He made a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague. 51 He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham. 52 Then He led out His people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54-64 And he brought them to His holy [land], to the mountain which His right hand had won. 55 He drove out nations before them; He apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. 56 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep His testimonies, 57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a crooked bow. 58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places; they moved Him to jealousy with their idols. 59 When God heard, He was full of wrath, and He utterly rejected Israel. 60 He forsook His dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where He dwelt among mankind, 61 and delivered His power to captivity, His glory to the hand of the foe. 62 He gave His people over to the sword and vented His wrath on His heritage. 63 Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song. 64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
65-72 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. 66 And He put His adversaries to rout; He put them to everlasting shame. 67 He rejected the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, 68 but He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loves. 69 He built His sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which He has founded forever. 70 He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds. 71 From following the nursing ewes He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, Israel His inheritance. 72 With upright heart He shepherded them and guided them with His skillful hand.
REFERENCES:
Verse 1
Deuteronomy 32:1-2 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.”
Verse 2
Matthew 13:35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”
Numbers 12:8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles [חידה, chidah], and he beholds the form of Adonai. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
Psalm 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb [משל, mashal]; I will solve my riddle [חידה, chidah] to the music of the lyre.
Verse 8
“All of our nation’s mistakes can be attributed to our forgetting or past.” (R’ S.R. Hisrsch)
Verse 11
Deuteronomy 22:14,17 “…and accuses her of misconduct [עלילה, alilah] …” [+v.17]
Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds [עלילה, alilah] …
Psalm 99:8 Adonai our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings [עלילה, alilah].
1Chronicles 16:8 Oh give thanks to Adonai; call upon His name; make known His deeds [עלילה, alilah] among the peoples!
Psalm 9:11 Sing praises to Adonai, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples His deeds [עלילה,alilah]!
Psalm 77:12 I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds [עלילה, alilah].
Verse 15
1Corinthians 10:4 And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Messiah.
Verse 24
John 6:31-35 “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Yeshua then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.”
Verse 25
Genesis 49:24 Yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One[אביר, avir] of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel).
Verse 38
Psalm 65:3 When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions.
Verse 41
Ezekiel 9:4 And Adonai said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and mark [תוה, tavah (v.)] a mark [תו, tuv (n.)] on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”
1Samuel 21:13 So [David] changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and marked [תוה, tavah] on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.
Verse 48
Exodus 9:24 There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
“There is a rhythm to history: when redemption is followed by disobedience, this incurs wrath, but wrath does not have the last word.” (Alec Motyer, Psalms by the Day, pg. 223)
“Is He the riddle, or are we? Which of us is the greater mystery? He is inscrutable, granted. But we’re even harder to figure out. What does it take to get us to learn our lesson? Can we never be satisfied? Will He forever put up with our persistent backsliding? Our stubborn ingratitude is our mystery. Forgiveness is His.” (The Koren Tehillim, pg. 387)
