Psalm 77

Psa 77:1

SUPERSCRIPTION: "OF ASAPH. A PSALM." Related to Hezekiah and Sennacherib.

MESSIANIC: Vv 1-9 are to be read with ref to the bitter spiritual struggle of our Lord in Gethsemane. Again it was a Passover, and nighttime, and it seemed -- as with Hezekiah, and as with Israel at the Red Sea (Exo 14:10-12) -- that God's purpose with His people and His King had come to naught. For Jesus, it seemed that his life and ministry had been a total failure (see esp Isa 49:4).

I CRIED OUT TO GOD: Hezekiah had no other solution for all the troubles that beset him.

(NT) The "strong crying" (and the words really mean this) in Gethsemane (Heb 5:7). Then v 10 (and its ensuing conviction) came about when there appeared "an angel from heaven strengthening him" (Luk 22:43).

Psa 77:2

MY SOUL REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED: As also Jacob at the loss of Joseph (Gen 37:35) and Rachel (Jer 31:15); cp v 15 here. So also Hezekiah found no comfort (Isa 38:10-18) until the prophet returned with his amazing message.

Psa 77:3

See Lesson, Selah.

Psa 77:5

FORMER DAYS, THE YEARS OF LONG AGO: Quoting Deu 32:7. That ch is a prophecy of (a) Israel apostate, (b) Israel forsaken, and finally (c) Israel restored.

Psa 77:6

MY SONGS IN THE NIGHT: Another allusion to Passover, the only feast celebrated at nighttime! Link with v 5b, thus: "I call to remembrance the years of ancient times: they are my song in the night."

Psa 77:8

Vv 8,9: "Unfailing love"... "promise"... "merciful": With hardly an exception, these words ref to God's covenants of promise. (Among other passages, consider Gen 32:10; Psa 98:3; 89:14; Mic 7:20; Luk 1:54,55,72.) In Hezekiah's time those promises had apparently come to naught: Assyrian invasion had almost destroyed the people as a nation; and with the king himself sick to the point of death, how was the great Promise to David (2Sa 7) to be maintained?

Psa 77:9

See Lesson, Selah.

Psa 77:13

YOUR WAYS, O GOD, ARE HOLY: "Thy way is (made known) in the sanctuary" (AV). Psa 73:17 again! All was darkness and uncertainty, until Hezekiah went into the house of the Lord, and forthwith his problem was solved (Isa 37:14-35).

'Your way may be seen by those who (both literally, and in spirit) enter your sanctuary.' God leaves no footprints for worldly men to follow, but those who enter into His holy place may discern His hidden steps (cp v 19c).

WHAT GOD IS SO GREAT AS OUR GOD?: Here is the right and proper answer to the scorn and blasphemy of Rabshakeh and his royal master (Isa 36:14,15,18-20; 37:10-14).

Psa 77:15

THE DESCENDANTS... OF JOSEPH: The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Psa 80:1,2n; 81:4,5).

See Lesson, Selah.

Psa 77:16

THE WATERS... WRITHED: The waters were in travail. The crossing of the Red Sea brought to birth a new nation (1Co 10:2)!

Psa 77:18

The remembrance of God at Sinai prepares the way for another great Theophany, in the devastation of Sennacherib's host: Isa 37:36.

THUNDER: "Galgal": lit, rolling, or wheels. The primary ref is to the piling up of cumulus clouds, and thence to the rumbling of thunder, as of chariot wheels -- ie the chariot of the cherubim (Eze 1; cp Psa 18:7-15; 68:16,17) when the Lord of glory goes into violent action.

THE EARTH TREMBLED AND QUAKED: Earthquakes accompany awesome manifestations of God: Exo 19:18; Jdg 5:4; Psa 77:18; 114:4; Isa 2:10-22; Jer 4:24; Eze 38:20; Joe 3:16; Amo 9:1,5; Zec 14:4; Rev 6:12; 11:19; 16:18.

Psa 77:19

"Thy way was through the sea, thy path through the great waters, yet thy footprints were unseen" (AV). It is surely true: those who walk on or through the sea leave no footprints!

There were no tracks when the Glory of the Lord crossed through the waters of the Red Sea, leading His people. After the waters returned, not even the locality of the crossing would be known except by tradition. It would take an eye of special discernment, an eye of faith, to "see" the work of Yahweh -- and this has always been true!

Job 9:11; 23:8,9 express a similar idea. Likewise, Pro 30:18-20 -- although the subjects are drastically different!)

With this may be compared also Hab 3:15 -- a chapter with several close resemblances to Psalm 77.

On a different plane also, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his PATHS beyond tracing out! 'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?' [Isa 40:13] 'Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?' [Job 41:11]. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever" (Rom 11:33-36).

And, finally, is this Jesus walking on the sea (Mat 14:22-36; Mar 6:45-56; Joh 6:15-21)?

Psa 77:20

This last v suggests that Psa 77 is a kind of intro to Psa 78. See esp Psa 78:70-72; also cp Psa 23:1,2; 95:7; 100:3; Isa 63:11; Mic 5:5.