But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue;
Psalm 78 retells Israel's history as a lesson. By verse 36 it reaches a moment that looks like revival: God's blows had fallen, and the people had turned back and remembered that He was their rock. Verse 36 is God's own verdict on that turning — and it exposes the gap between what a mouth says and what a heart means.
Verse 36 describes a turning that came under hard blows. One commentator notes that this severity was the only thing that would reach them:
True, "He consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror;" yet it was the only thing that would in any way call them back to Himself: for "when He slew them, then they sought Him, and returned, and sought diligently after the Mighty One." The memory of former deliverances worked with them: "they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Mighty One, the Most High, their Redeemer."
The same writer names what was missing:
Something now was surely accomplished. Their need had been most real, and the remembrance of God was also real. The days of the Judges come to mind, when "the children of Israel cried to Jehovah, and Jehovah raised them up a deliverer." Yet how constantly fresh captivity followed deliverance! Sadly, it was clear that when they turned to God it was only halfhearted. The greatness of their need had forced them, not a love that answered the love shown to them. They had flattered Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue, and their heart was not firm with Him, and they were not steadfast in His covenant.
Their professed sorrow aimed only at relief, not at the lesson behind the rod:
"They lied to Him with their tongues." With these ancient people there was only the wish to escape trouble. They did not intend to hear the rod, or to learn the lesson that God's chastening love would teach them. They professed sorrow and piety, but it was hypocrisy. May the good Lord deliver us from such an awful condition. But we need to search our hearts. God is not less holy than He ever was, though the fullness of His grace has now revealed itself. For lying to God, Ananias and his wife were struck with instant death. "Our God is a consuming fire."
The same writer presses this on his own readers:
Happy are we if this state of things does not describe the meetings we are familiar with. But surely the test is this: "How much does all the preaching and teaching of the Word we have listened to affect our practical living? Do we go out from hearing the Word to do it? Or are we like those hypocrites of old who showed love with their mouths, but whose hearts went after their covetousness?" These are solemn questions. Only searching and probing reveals the true condition of things.
Flattery was not the end of the story. One writer draws out why God kept forgiving, and where that points:
What hope, then, is there in man? Judgment brings him only to a forced and temporary improvement, and mercies move him only to forget God altogether. Yet He went on still in open mercy, or in chastening that was mercy in disguise. "He was compassionate, and forgave their perversity, and did not destroy them; and often turned away His anger, and did not stir up all His wrath." And why? "He remembered that they were flesh: breath that goes and does not return." ... The Lord's argument from this condition is that a man "must be born again."
One writer sets the verse inside the psalm's pattern:
God therefore chastened them. There was direct open government over their ways. For all this they sinned still. At the moment of chastisement they turned to Him.
- Rod. God's severity was the one thing that would call a forgetful people back to Himself.
- Words. The returning was real as far as the mouth went — the flattery lay in speech offered to get relief.
- Motive. Their turning was driven by the greatness of their need, not by love answering the love shown to them.
- Refusal. They wanted the trouble gone but would not hear the rod, so professed sorrow was hypocrisy.
- Remedy. Judgment forces only a short-lived change. God's compassion meets frail flesh, and the real answer is to be born again.
For their heart was not firm toward him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
Psalm 78 retells Israel's history as a long test of the heart. Verse 37 gives the verdict on a moment that looked like revival. Under God's chastening the people sought God and said the right words. This verse explains why that turning collapsed. It raises the question every reader faces: what makes repentance real?
One writer traces Israel's failures back to a single root cause:
A thorough rottenness of heart is found in all their ways. They did not keep the covenant of God. They saw His works and soon forgot them. They were fed miraculously every day, yet they kept testing God through unbelief. Verse 22 uncovers the root of all this evil: "They did not believe in God." And again (verse 37): their heart was not right with Him. The nation that provoked God like this had never been born again. No heart is right with Him unless it is born of Him and established by faith in His saving grace.
(Older translations render the line "their heart was not right with him.") Israel's problem was unbelief, not weak effort.
Another writer weighs what drove Israel to turn to God at all:
It was clear that when they turned to God it was only half-hearted: the greatness of their need had forced them to it, and it was not a love answering the love He had shown them.
Trouble can drive a person to God without ever drawing the heart to Him.
The verse says they were not steadfast. But one writer notes that they were steadfast — at something else:
That accusation is terrible for this reason: while they did not continue in His covenant, the form of the verbs used shows that they did continue in their deceit and outward flattery. Let us always remember that these things "are written for our instruction."
Constancy is not a virtue in itself. Everything depends on what a person is constant in.
Another writer names what these people wanted from God, and what they refused:
With these ancient people there was only the wish to escape trouble. They did not intend to listen to the rod, or to learn the lesson that God's chastening love would teach them. They professed sorrow and piety, but it was hypocrisy. May the good Lord save us from such an awful condition. But we need to search our hearts. God is not less holy than He ever was, though He has now revealed the fullness of His grace. God struck Ananias and his wife with instant death for lying to Him.
The verse is a dead end for Israel, but not for God. The next verses show Him forgiving them and remembering they were only flesh — a breath that passes. One writer draws out what that means:
Nothing pictures frailty and passing away more perfectly than breath, the sign and companion of the life within a man. Flesh teaches the same lesson in all its wasting and renewal. It is the lowest part of man, and yet it is the part he seems wholly sunk into. So it speaks of ruin — and for a creature like man, that must mean moral ruin. The Lord's argument from this condition is that a man "must be born again."
This is where the psalm is heading. After every method of dealing with Israel has failed, God falls back on something in Himself:
Sovereign grace is God's only resource if He is going to bless man. All His dealings, however gracious, fail to reach their goal. If He acted on the results of His dealings, He gives them up... But when everything was at its worst, He wakes up in His love for His people, because of their misery and His love for them. Then He carries out the purpose of His own grace in His own way. He "chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves... He chose David his servant."
- Heart. The failure was never in the words but underneath them. The tongue only reported what the heart already was.
- Motive. A heart pressed by trouble may seek God without loving Him. Need forced this repentance, not love for the God who had loved them.
- Steadfast. They kept nothing of the covenant and everything of the pretence. The test is not whether you are constant, but in what.
- Flesh. God's own verdict is that they were breath that passes. No one can repair a heart like this, so a man must be born again.
- Grace. When every dealing had failed, God's love woke at their misery. He chose Zion and David. His grace, not their improvement, is the resource.