Devotional Short Note on Psalm 77: In this Psalm, one can easily get the
impression from the title that it is Asaph that wrote the Psalm. The titles
sometimes gives the impression that someone has written the Psalm when in fact
that person only contributed to the music or a song cited in the Psalm. Psalm
73 and 77 are such cases. Scholars have argued this point already many times
before. Asaph did not write Psalm 73 and Psalm 77 but David did, however David
cited from the songs of Asaph in both Psalms. There are fingerprints of David
in Psalm 77 which we can point out: David also used Jeduthun in Psalm 39:1. The
phrase with the double “my voice” in 77:2a and 77:2b is almost identical to
David’s use of the same phrase in 142:2a. One can also compare David’s format
in 28:1. In 77:3a we have another Davidic recasting phrase identical to David’s
other Psalm 86:7. One should also compare 77:3b with David’s Psalm 28:2. The
content of 77:11 compares to David’s thoughts in 31:23. Asaph was a musician in
David’s court and David, also a musician would have had a close contact with
him. The archives of the palace were the place where the works of people were
collected and these were at David’s disposal for citation or use. In all
probability the song part of Psalm 77:15-21 was cited from Asaph. However, it
is not possible to say what were Asaph’s and what were David’s reformulations
or original creation in this section. David appropriate all content to himself,
that part we are sure of. Since so much in this Psalm finds echoes in the experiences
of David and mentioned in other Psalms of David, we abide by the conclusion of
also Ellen White that David wrote or composed this Psalm (EllenWhite, Manuscipt 4, 1896, cited in SDABC 7A:
1149). David is not eschatological in this
Psalm. He is personal and will use history to prove his point. In 77:2-7 David
is a better analyzer of the mental faculties of our mind than Mary McCarthy’s
1978 book, “The Life of the Mind”. First we need to understand David’s agony
because it is around this agony that he as a faithful person finds solutions.
The agony is described in 77:8-10 asking a number of questions that is puzzling
him. It seems for him God is casting off, not favorable, His mercy is gone, His
promise came to an end, God forgot to be gracious, He is angry. It is not a
statement by him but a series of questions. The agony brought him to an interim
position where he is between certainty and uncertainty and denying God is not
what he is going to do, even though he raised these questions. As a result of
the questions David has an interim conclusion in 77:11 “and I say: This is my weakness,
that the right hand of the Most High could change”. Conditions can sudden take
another course. That course may be shocking, uncomfortable, strange, startling,
scary. But it can happen and this is the cause of his agony. How to cope with this
thought is David’s state of mind revealed to us in 77:2-7. David says that in the day of my trouble
(77:3a) he seek the Lord. That night he lifted his one hand and tears were
flowing from his eye and his soul did not want to calm down or be comforted
(77:3c). He felt that God is holding his eyelids
(77:5a). I am not sure if he has an illness for he says that he is troubled and
cannot speak. Does it mean that he cannot witness as he use to, read God’s word
as he use to with an eye-disease? In 77:2 he is speaking since in his prayer “my
voice unto God and I cry out”. He wanted the Lord to hear him so he lifted up
his voice. What he still can do well, is to
consider (ḥšb) history (77:6). During the night he also sings (77:7a). He used
an Egyptian loanword to express here what he is doing: “I will praise/glorify
with my heart” (77:7b). It is not “meditate”. Meditate is for yoga lovers in
modern times and chanters in pagan religions and the concept was unfortunately
taken over by Jewish Rabbis from Arabic in the Middle Ages and it evolved into
Jewish Kabbalism with very strange exotic practices. It is not what David was saying.
He is not singing a song and then contemplating in silence. What he is doing in
the song he is doing also in 77:b in his heart. “Praising/glorifying/blessing”.
With his spirit he searched for God (77:7c). How will he resolve this agony of the
soul? How will his mind find harmony and equilibrium in his life? David has the
answer: “I will remember (cognitive storage room unpacking) of the deeds of the
Lord. I will remember Your wonders of old [history]. I will praise [Egyptian ḥknw
= ‘praise’ rather than ‘meditate’] upon all Your work and I will glorify
[Egyptian s3ḫw = glorify/praise/bless rather than ‘muse’] on Your doings”
(77:12-13). David is in his song in the next verses to
the end of the Psalm. No yoga stuff, no mumbling exhortations swinging back and
forth or sideways or up and down movements. Plain singing to the Lord and that
in the night. In 77:15-21 is David’s song. He describes God’s actions to people
in 77:15 and 77:16. In 77:15 it is wonders and strength and in 77:16 it is the
redemption of the sons Jacob and Joseph, meaning, the Israelites at the Exodus
from Egypt in 1450 BCE when they arrived at the Red Sea. David says that the Red Sea saw God and
were in pain and the depths trembled (77:17). The personification of the Red
Sea here is very fitting and it was a common thing for pagans like Egyptians to
deify the Nile and the Red Sea and give it personality attributes. Egyptians claim
that people tremble and are in pain when they approach the gods of the Nile and
the Red Sea but David says, no, it is the other way around. The God of heaven
is in control of the Nile and the Red Sea. God can bring rain when necessary and
there can be sounds in the sky, even lightnings can serve God’s purpose
(77:19). The earth can tremble and shake so that even earthquakes can be in God’s
control. He uses them or stop them from happening. God make a way through the Red Sea in
March of 1450 BCE the night Thutmosis III and his men died and was swept away
(77:20). “Your way was in the sea, and Your path in the great waters and Your
footsteps were not known [to Thutmosis III and his men since they followed also
into the sea]”.
God was the Shepherd who led his people
like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. David soul finally quiet down and
he closed his eyes and slept with a smile on his face and joy in his heart confident
that His God can do the same with him.