Why did God choose Jerusalem? Read Psalm 79

God did not tell us why He chose Jerusalem.  But He did tell us why He rejected Shiloh, the first location of the tabernacle in Israel.  Psalm 78 tells the story of Shiloh and Jerusalem, so let us tell a Reader’s Digest version and then we will use Psalm 79 for application.

     Listen to a story (v1-4), a story of God’s choosing Israel, giving them His law and telling them to pass it on (v5-8).  The story is a time when Ephraim didn’t trust God to keep His covenant but turned back in the day of battle (v9-11). 

     Ephraim knew God was faithful in the wilderness when He performed great works for Israel (v12-16).  They knew that Israel continually tested God at that time (v17-20) and of God’s anger (v21-25).  On one occasion God gave them the food they craved and then struck them with a terrible plague (v26-31). 

     Furthermore, Ephraim remembered that this punishment did not change Israel’s tendency (v32-33).  Over and over, Israel would return when God punished her, only to turn away again as things got better (v34-39).  They tempted God, limited God and did not remember how God had subdued Egypt and delivered His people (v40-55).  And when Israel entered the Promised Land they kept doing the same things, testing and provoking God (v56-58). 

     So the time came when Ephraim turned away from God.  Ephraim forgot God’s faithfulness as the Nation had done.  Ephraim was the tribe that had the tabernacle, in Shiloh, a city in the hill country of Ephraim.  This happened when Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh to carry into battle (1 Sam. 4).  The Ark was captured, and while it was returned, the Ark never did return to Shiloh.  They had made a mockery of God before the heathen, trusting not in God but in the Ark! Thus God removed His presence from Shiloh (v59-64).

     Instead, after some time, God awoke (figuratively speaking; it seemed to Israel like God was sleeping; v65-66) and instead made Judah the tribe of His choice and Zion the place where He would dwell with Israel, through David (v67-72).

Psalm 79 is about the temple in Jerusalem at a time when the temple was defiled (v1-4).  But note: the Psalmist prayed how long (v5-7).  He did not doubt that God would keep His promise; he knew it was not .if when when.  So they prayed that the Lord would be compassionate (v8-10) so that they might fulfill their God-given mission of being a witness to the nations (v11-13).

This has application to the Church.  God placed local churches so the nations might hear the gospel of Christ.  But remember that Jesus said He would remove the lampstand (Rev. 2:5) if a church was unfaithful to their calling.  The work of God will be done in the age of the Church as well as through Israel.  But He will always honor His Name and will not allow His people to dishonor that Name.  Let us remember His faithfulness.  Let us be faithful to Jesus’ great commission!