This is one of the psalms ascribed to Asaph. See Introduction to Psalms 73. If, as is likely, it was composed at a later period than the time of David, the word “Asaph” must be taken as a general term denoting the successor in the family off Asaph, who presided over the music the sanctuary. On the word “Maschil” in the title, see the notes at the title to Psalms 32:1-11.
The time when the psalm was composed cannot now be ascertained with any certainty. It was evidently written, however, after the revolt of the ten tribes, and the establishment of the sovereignty in the tribe of Judah; that is, after the time of David and Solomon. This is apparent from Psalms 78:9, Psalms 78:67, where “Ephraim,” the chief of the ten tribes, is referred to in distinction from “Judah.”
The design of the psalm is, evidently, to vindicate the fact that Ephraim had been rejected, and that Judah had been chosen to be the head of the nation. The reason of this was found in the conduct of Ephraim, or the ten tribes, in revolting from God, and in forgetting the divine mercy and compassion shown to the Hebrew people in former days. See Psalms 78:9-11, Psalms 78:67-68.
The argument in the psalm is the following:
I. A call on all the people, addressed to them by the king or the ruler, to attend to the instructions of former times - the lessons which it was of importance to transmit to future generations, Psalms 78:1-4.
II. God had established a general law which he had designed for all the people, or which he intended should be the law of the nation as such - that all the people might set their hope in God, or be worshippers of Him as the only true God, and that they might all be one people, Psalms 78:5-8.
III. Ephraim - the most powerful of the ten tribes, and their head and representative - had been guilty of disregarding that law, and had refused to come to the common defense of the nation, Psalms 78:9-11.
IV. The wickedness of this rebellion is shown by the great favors which, in its former history, God had shown to the nation as such, including these very tribes, Psalms 78:12-66.
V. The reason is stated, founded on their apostasy, why God had rejected Ephraim, and why he had chosen Judah, and made Zion the capital of the nation, instead of selecting a place within the limits of the tribe of Ephraim for that purpose, Psalms 78:67-68.
VI. The fact is declared that David had been chosen to rule over the people; that he had been taken from humble life, and made the ruler of the nation, and that the line of the sovereignty had been settled in him, Psalms 78:69-72.