Psalm 102:18

Psalm 102:18

Let this be written

The passing on of religious knowledge amongst the Jews has been a complex and time-consuming task, spanning many centuries. The Oral traditions were just that, laws and rules and opinions that were handed down from generation to generation, these were called the Mishnah. The discussions amongst the Rabbis that accompanied these traditions were not written down until around 200AD and they form the basis of what many Jews would regard as their New Testament – the Talmud! The origin of all of this was in the verbal teaching of Torah which started with boys at a very young age and continued throughout their lives as they went on to memorise other Scriptures. A man could not carry dozens of scrolls around with him, but he could memorize God’s laws and the teachings of the Tanakh. (Old Testament) Psalm 78 begins with a command that the people should listen to the words of the teacher and then tell what they had learned to the next generation.

Here in our Psalm, is a request that the generational memories of God’s works for His people should be written down, there should be a record for their descendants. The writer here is now so convinced that deliverance will come that he pleads for this to be recorded so that the generations to come will praise the Lord.  In fact, he goes further in v22, and states that all peoples and kingdoms will one day assemble to worship in Zion, which is an even greater reason for the history of God’s dealings with His people to be recorded! Thank God that they did write it all down, in fact some of the Scriptures were written in Babylon. Hallelujah!

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