History in the Psalms
Psalm 78
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
41 They tested God again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;
43when he displayed his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost.
48 He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
50 He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
51He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52Then he led out his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54And he brought them to his holy hill, to the mountain that his right hand had won.
55He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70 He chose his servant David, and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from tending the nursing ewes he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel, his inheritance.
72 With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skillful hand.
Psalm 105
16 When he summoned famine against the land, and broke every staff of bread,
17 he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters, his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD kept testing him.
20 The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free.
21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to instruct his officials at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
24 And the LORD made his people very fruitful, and made them stronger than their foes,
25 whose hearts he then turned to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them, and miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they rebelled against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood, and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain, and lightning that flashed through their land.
33 He struck their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came, and young locusts without number;
35 they devoured all the vegetation in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the first issue of all their strength.
37 Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold, and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.
40 They asked, and he brought quails, and gave them food from heaven in abundance.
41He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.
43 So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.
44He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,
45 that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the LORD!
Psalm 106
7 Our ancestors, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wonderful works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.[1]
8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake, so that he might make known his mighty power.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry; he led them through the deep as through a desert.
10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe, and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
11 The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.
12 Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.
13 But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.
14 But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert;
15 he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.
16 They were jealous of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the faction of Abiram.
18 Fire also broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
19They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast image.
20 They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore he said he would destroy them-- had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise.
25 They grumbled in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD.
26 Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 and would disperse their descendants among the nations, scattering them over the lands.
28 Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
29 they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and interceded, and the plague was stopped.
31 And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.
32 They angered the LORD at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account;
33 for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke words that were rash.
34 They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them,
35 but they mingled with the nations and learned to do as they did.
Psalm 136
10 who struck Egypt through their firstborn, for his steadfast love endures forever;
11 and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever;
12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever;
13 who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;
14 and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever;
15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;
16 who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever;
17 who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;
18 and killed famous kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;
19Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever;
20 and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever;
21and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever;
22 a heritage to his servant Israel, for his steadfast love endures forever.
23 It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever;
24 and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever;
25 who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.
26 O give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Historical references in captions to the Psalms
Psalm 3 A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom
Psalm 18 A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
Psalm 34 Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech,[2] so that he drove him out, and he went away
Psalm 51 A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba
Psalm 52 A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, "David has come to the house of Ahimelech.” 1 Sam 21:1-8; 22:6-19
Psalm 54 A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, "David is in hiding among us.”1 Sam 23:19
Psalm 57 Of David. A Miktam, when he fled from Saul, in the cave 1 Samuel 24
Psalm 59 Of David. A Miktam, when Saul ordered his house to be watched in order to kill him 1 Sam 19:11-17.
Psalm 63 A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah 1 Sam 23:14-15 or 24:1
Ralph W. Klein
November 2013
The Old Testament and the Ancient Near East
1
[1] 10 As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, 'Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."Exod 14:10-12.
[2] A mistake for Achish. 10 David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath.
11 The servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands'?" 12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence. He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?"1 Sam 21:10-15