Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Tuesday March 10, 2015  

Psalm 78:1-39

While the Psalms are generally attributed to David, the shepherd who became king, we really don’t know the authorship of many of them.  Today’s reading, Psalm 78, at least gives us a clue to its composer.  The superscription reads, “A Maskil of Asaph”, and when we attempt to solve this riddle we find, first, that a maskil is a teaching song; next we discover that Asaph was a musician.  It seems that he began as a cymbal player in the praise band used in Jewish worship in the tabernacle, or tent of meeting.  Later, he was promoted to one of the chief musicians in the First Temple – the Temple of Solomon.

Psalm 78 indeed reads as a vehicle for teaching.  Much of the history of the ancient people of Israel is rehearsed in these verses, familiar stories of the Exodus, the Sinai years of wandering, manna and quails provided for sustenance, and the people’s complaining.

And while the psalm does emphasize the typical angry and vengeful God we so often fine depicted in the Hebrew Scriptures, yet it is overarched by the understanding of a compassionate God, who, in spite of the people’s shortcomings, provides for them in a loving and caring way.

This is the God we worship – the God who, in spite of our turning away, of our wanting to do it our way, is there to care for us, to provide for our needs, to lift us up.  In these Lenten days, may we be reminded of the goodness and compassion of our loving God.

- Reverend Paul Kett