Psalm 78: Hope springs eternal, only to be shat upon by Gawd.

Psalms Part 78 of 150

A contemplation by Asaph.

1 Hear my teaching, my people.

Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

I await your words with great anticipation in the hope they will inspire.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable.

I will utter dark sayings of old,

Already I begin to feel let down.  Uttering more positive words would be good.  Why do we have to have dark sayings?

3 Which we have heard and known,

and our fathers have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their children,

telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,

his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

Then you are only repeating lies that have been told before.  You have no justification for this at all.

5 For he established a testimony in Jacob,

and appointed a teaching in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers,

that they should make them known to their children;

No.  These stories were made up and eventually written down, only to be used to control and bleed the population.

6 that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born;

who should arise and tell their children,

7 that they might set their hope in God,

and not forget the works of God,

but keep his commandments,

All of which are not good commandments or are stolen from other traditions.

8 and might not be as their fathers,

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal,

whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

Maybe they just wanted to be able to lead their lives in a fashion of their own choosing without the immoral and ridiculous constraints imposed upon them by the priesthood.

9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,

turned back in the day of battle.

10 They didn’t keep God’s covenant,

and refused to walk in his law.

Maybe they had woken up to the inherent problems of following a non existent god that was being used to make them commit immoral and inhumane acts?  Maybe.

11 They forgot his doings,

his wondrous works that he had shown them.

They had not been shown anything.  They had only been ‘told’ these things had happened.  They were conned.

12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers,

in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

Wrong.

13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through.

He made the waters stand as a heap.

Wrong.

14 In the daytime he also led them with a cloud,

and all night with a light of fire.

They would have followed anything the priests told them to as long as the cloud was headed in the direction the priests wanted to go.

15 He split rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

Wrong.

16 He brought streams also out of the rock,

and caused waters to run down like rivers.

Wrong.

17 Yet they still went on to sin against him,

to rebel against the Most High in the desert.

Maybe they were getting sick of starving and wandering about all their lives with no end is sight?

18 They tempted God in their heart

by asking food according to their desire.

That has to be better than starving to death because you’re afraid to speak up.

19 Yes, they spoke against God.

They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

No he can’t.

20 Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out,

and streams overflowed.

Wrong.

Can he give bread also?

Will he provide flesh for his people?”

No he can’t.

21 Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry.

A fire was kindled against Jacob,

anger also went up against Israel,

Wrong

22 because they didn’t believe in God,

and didn’t trust in his salvation.

I don’t blame them.  It’s a ridiculous proposition.

23 Yet he commanded the skies above,

and opened the doors of heaven.

24 He rained down manna on them to eat,

and gave them food from the sky.

Wrong.

25 Man ate the bread of angels.

He sent them food to the full.

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the sky.

By his power he guided the south wind.

27 He rained also flesh on them as the dust;

winged birds as the sand of the seas.

Wrong.

28 He let them fall in the midst of their camp,

around their habitations.

29 So they ate, and were well filled.

He gave them their own desire.

All lies.

30 They didn’t turn from their cravings.

Their food was yet in their mouths,

31 when the anger of God went up against them,

killed some of their fattest,

and struck down the young men of Israel.

Why would or should anyone want to follow a god that mistreated them in this manner?

32 For all this they still sinned,

and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.

Smarter than I gave them credit for then.

33 Therefore he consumed their days in vanity,

and their years in terror.

More harsh treatment.

34 When he killed them, then they inquired after him.

They returned and sought God earnestly.

More likely they gave in because the priests were convincing them that the naturally occurring deaths were the work of God.  This is typical of religion.  It scares people into submission.

35 They remembered that God was their rock,

A rock that would bash their heads in if they didn’t behave.

the Most High God, their redeemer.

36 But they flattered him with their mouth,

and lied to him with their tongue.

If it keeps the morons of their backs, it’s a good thing.  Having a defensive strategy when being attacked is a smart move.

37 For their heart was not right with him,

neither were they faithful in his covenant.

38 But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them.

Yes, many times he turned his anger away,

and didn’t stir up all his wrath.

‘All’ his wrath.  So some of it was.  That isn’t quite being merciful then, is it?

39 He remembered that they were but flesh,

a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.

That’s interesting.  It seems to belie their claim to a hereafter.

40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and grieved him in the desert!

41 They turned again and tempted God,

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

How is he merciful and full of loving-kindness if he can be provoked?  This says he is NOT perfect.  Not a god.

42 They didn’t remember his hand,

nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

43 how he set his signs in Egypt,

his wonders in the field of Zoan,

44 he turned their rivers into blood,

and their streams, so that they could not drink.

All lies.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;

and frogs, which destroyed them.

Here comes the mercy he is so famous for…  :)

46 He gave also their increase to the caterpillar,

and their labor to the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail,

their sycamore fig trees with frost.

48 He gave over their livestock also to the hail,

and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He threw on them the fierceness of his anger,

wrath, indignation, and trouble,

and a band of angels of evil.

50 He made a path for his anger.

He didn’t spare their soul from death,

but gave their life over to the pestilence,

51 and struck all the firstborn in Egypt,

How can any being, whether they be human or supposed deity think that attacking innocent children is a righteous act?

the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 But he led out his own people like sheep,

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid,

How could you not be afraid after what he was supposed to have just done?

but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 He brought them to the border of his sanctuary,

to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.

55 He also drove out the nations before them,

Drove out?  Read that part of the bible again.  They weren’t just driven out.  They were murdered en mass.

allotted them for an inheritance by line,

and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,

and didn’t keep his testimonies;

57 but turned back, and dealt treacherously 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 engraved images.

Jealousy?  A god with jealousy?  That is no god.

59 When God heard this, he was angry,

and greatly abhorred Israel;

A god with jealousy and hatred.

60 So that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh,

the tent which he placed among men;

61 and delivered his strength into captivity,

his glory into the adversary’s hand.

A god with jealousy, hatred and vengeance.

62 He also gave his people over to the sword,

and was angry with his inheritance.

A god with jealousy, hatred, vengeance and murder in what may be his heart.  If he has one.  It seems not.

63 Fire devoured their young men.

Their virgins had no wedding song.

64 Their priests fell by the sword,

and their widows couldn’t weep.

Not one bit of this has anything to do with a god.  There are no such things as gods outside of the imaginings of morons.

65 Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep,

like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

He needs sleep?  Just one more failing to add to an ever growing list.

66 He struck his adversaries backward.

He put them to a perpetual reproach.

How can an all powerful god have adversaries?  Why would he need them?

67 Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph,

and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 But chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion which he loved.

Which would only be favouritism.  Not a very godly attribute.

69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,

like the earth which he has established forever.

70 He also chose David his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds;

71 from following the ewes that have their young,

he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people,

and Israel, his inheritance.

He didn’t choose very well then.  Another failing.

72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,

and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

That would be a worry after everything else he has done wrong.

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