Ephraim's Bow, the Wilderness, and the Choosing of David

The psalm opens with a command to listen. Asaph, the writer, calls his people to incline their ears to his law, to a parable, to dark sayings from old. These are not secrets hidden for the sake of mystery; they are things the fathers have told, things that must be passed to the children yet unborn. The purpose is clear: that the coming generation might set their hope in God, not forget his works, and keep his commandments.

The first example of failure comes from Ephraim. Armed with bows, ready for battle, they turned back. They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law. They forgot his doings and the wonders he had shown them. This is not a distant memory; it is a pattern that the psalm will trace from Egypt to the wilderness to the land.

The Lord did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He split the sea and made the waters stand like a heap. He led them by a cloud in the day and by fire at night. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly, streams running down like rivers. Yet they went on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

They tempted God in their hearts by asking for food according to their desire. They spoke against him, saying, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? He struck the rock and water gushed out, but can he give bread? Can he provide flesh for his people?” The Lord heard and was angry. Fire was kindled against Jacob because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation.

Even so, the Lord commanded the skies and opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna for them to eat, the bread of the mighty. He sent meat like dust, winged birds like the sand of the sea, falling around their camp. They ate and were filled, and he gave them their own desire. But while the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them and slew the strongest among them.

Despite all this, they continued to sin and did not believe in his wondrous works. So the Lord consumed their days in vanity and their years in terror. When he slew them, they would seek him and remember that God was their rock and their redeemer. But their hearts were not right; they flattered him with their mouths and lied with their tongues.

Yet the Lord, being merciful, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Many times he turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not return. How often they rebelled in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert, turning again to tempt and provoke the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember his hand on the day he redeemed them from the adversary. He set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan: rivers turned to blood, swarms of flies, frogs, caterpillars, locusts, hail, and pestilence. He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

But he led his own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely so they feared not, while the sea overwhelmed their enemies. He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to the mountain his right hand had gained. He drove out nations before them and allotted their land as an inheritance.

Yet again they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God. They did not keep his testimonies but turned back and dealt treacherously like their fathers, like a deceitful bow. They provoked him with their high places and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard, he was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel. He forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent he had placed among men. He delivered his strength into captivity and gave his people over to the sword.

Fire devoured their young men, their virgins had no marriage song, their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man shouting because of wine. He struck his adversaries backward and put them to perpetual reproach. He refused the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved. He built his sanctuary like the heights, established forever.

Then the psalm ends with a different kind of choosing. The Lord chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes with young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. So David shepherded them with the integrity of his heart and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.