Psalm 78: Tribal Propaganda

Cultures have always used oral storytelling to pass information from generation to generation. Psalm 78 seems to be a remnant of that tradition, albeit stored in written form.

At first glance, it is the story of how God was good to the previous generations, but the previous generations were filled with ungrateful sinners. It’s a story of God’s anger and wrath, a selective retelling from the Exodus story. The purpose, as stated in 78:5-8, is to ensure that the children observe God’s commandments, and do not follow the path of the wayward.

The psalm puts the literal fear of God into the young listener. It is the only other time in the Bible (besides for Deuteronomy 21:20) that the concept of the “Rebellious Son”, who is stoned by all the people in his city, is mentioned. (78:8) The story of the “Rebellious Son” itself is a story used to frighten children into behaving. (“This is what happens to you if you don’t listen to your mother.”) The psalm then refers to young people being murdered in even more places (78:31. 78:51, 78:63).

It is truly written for children.

But when reading the specific examples, it becomes clear that Psalm 78 is less intended to keep the next generation on the straight and narrow, than to convey that David is the true king and leader of Israel, not the priests, who sinned to God many times; and that the home of the Temple is in the land of Judah in Jerusalem, not where the Tabernacle sat in Shiloh, in the land of Ephraim.

David is described as having an innocent heart, something the scores of youth (both Israelite and Egyptian) lacked.

This is how propaganda works.

By retelling a version of the biblical Exodus, a story known well to each and every child, the storyteller is able to prime his readers to trust everything he then says. A child would leave with the understanding that the priests were evil and that David was pure, and it was the will of God that David was king, and that the Temple was in Judah.

The children would preemptively reject any indications of impropriety from King David, because he was chosen by God, and had a pure heart. The other implication of the story was that if they did anything against David or supported the priesthood in any way, they would be killed by God, just like he killed everyone else who was ungrateful for all the goodness they received.