Psalm 78:40-55 NKJV
40 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
41 Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember His power:
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43 When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;
44 Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
And frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48 He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery lightning.
49 He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
By sending angels of destruction among them.
50 He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave their life over to the plague,
51 And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But He made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53 And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55 He also drove out the nations before them,
Allotted them an inheritance by survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
In the New Testament there are two lengthy passages illustrating the approach of viewing the Passover and other events associated with the Exodus of the Old Testament as ‘types’ and ‘foreshadowings’ of the salvation brought by Jesus. One is found in I Corinthians 10:1-13.
In this text the Apostle Paul begins by indicating the sacramental meanings of certain components in the Exodus story: “all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.” (vss. 1-4)
The Apostle’s chief interest, however, is by way of warning to the Corinthians; he points to the sins and failures of the Israelites in desert: “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them… Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, …nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, …nor complain, as some of them also complained” (vv. 6-10). God wants it known that the entire story of the Israelites in the desert is a great lesson for Christians to pay much attention to, as he inspired St. Paul to write: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (vs. 11).
The second New Testament text illustrating this understanding is even longer, filling chapters 3 & 4 of Hebrews. One of the longer psalms, Psalm 78 is largely devoted to the same understanding, which provides its proper interpretation. It is a poetic summary of the Books of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and even some of Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel, concentrating on the Israelites’ constant rebellion, but especially during the desert pilgrimage. The story in this psalm is our own. So, we are wise to carefully ponder it.
Let us pray: O Lord, keep us wise in fearing You and continually bring us to repentance and belief in Christ. Amen.