Friday, August 17, 2012

Asaph, the author of Psalm 77

As we saw in the previous post, the author of Psalm 77 was in a dark place. In verses  7-9 he expresses his deep despair.

"Will the Lord reject forever?
And will He never be favorable again?
Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
Has His promise come to an end forever?
Has God forgotten to be gracious
Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion?
Then I said, 'It is my grief
That the right hand of the Most High had changed.'"

What was the writer of Psalm 77 going through that caused such despair? The author of Psalm 77 is believed to be a man named Asaph. He was the director of music as King David's Tent of Meeting and at Solomon's temple. He probably wrote much of the music that accompanied David's Psalms. He held that position at least until the dedication of Solomon's temple, probably for about 40 years. He lived during the reigns of David, Solomon and Solomon's son Rehoboam.

I remember feeling just like Asaph expressed above after 9/11. It seemed that life in our country would never be secure or happy again. We have lived an incredibly blessed life here and enjoyed the American dream. I thought, "is all that over?" "Will my family love a secure life, or is all hope now gone?

Without understanding Asaph's life and times, we can't fully comprehend Psalm 77. Serving under David, he knew of the great promise that God gave David that his descendant would reign over the throne in Jerusalem forever. He had to have been very close to David. He lived through seeing David fall in to sin with Bathsheba. He experienced David's grief and observed the grace of God on David's life. He grieved over David's death, and rejoiced with all of Israel as David's son Solomon built the glorious temple. Like many, he probably assumed that Solomon was the messiah and that the Millennial Kingdom was beginning. He rejoiced over the wisdom and glory of Solomon's reign, only to be devastated when Solomon turned his back on God and pursued power, wealth, women and human wisdom, as well as worship of other gods.  There is good reason to believe that Asaph's brother, Zechariah (not the prophet) was assassinated by Solomon's agents for not keeping silent about Solomon's wickedness. Asaph saw Israel torn in two and then the temple stripped by an invasion of Egyptians.  No wonder he was depressed! Asaph's times were much more dire and dangerous than even the beginning of our War on Terror.

It is amazing to see though, that, in his deep despair, Asaph knew God! He knew God's character--his mercy, lovingkindness, compassion. Because he knew God, he could not understand God's seeming silence. He assumed that, since he could not see God working in his situation, that something must be wrong!  He expected God's presence to be with him and did not understand why it seemed that God was no where to be found! How did Asaph know that he could pour out his heart like that to God? Remember this man worshipped with David. He had witnessed David's heart-wrenching repentance as expressed in Psalm 51. Because Asaph knew God, the mood of the psalm changes dramatically in verse 11 when Asaph made a decision to REMEMBER God.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you ,Sister for the background info on Asaph.I have found it to be most helpful in being able to make my presentation on Psalm 77 for our Sunday School Weekly Devotional Readings,(Psalm 77:11-15)
    Our Pastor,Arthur Harris encourages us to let our class know about the writer of the Book ,so that they can see the larger picture and take in the historical background as well as the Spiritual aspect of the Scripture.
    Appreciatively yours,
    Deaconess Jo A. Jackson

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  2. Thank you. Just what I needed to know and summed up so perfectly!

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  3. Thank you for bring Psalm 73 and 77 together. It helped me understand Asaph feelings. Why do the wick prosper....His depression and why.

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