“But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 78:38 Mean?
This verse is a summary statement about God's character that sits inside one of the longest historical psalms in the Bible. Psalm 78 recounts Israel's entire history of rebellion — complaining in the wilderness, testing God, worshiping idols, forgetting His miracles. And right in the middle of that litany of failure, the psalmist pauses to say this: "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not."
The word "but" carries enormous weight. Everything before it is Israel's sin. Everything after it is God's response. And the response isn't what the sin deserved. "Full of compassion" — rachum, from the Hebrew root for womb. It's a visceral, maternal compassion, the kind that aches. God looked at a people who had earned destruction and felt something that overrode the verdict.
"Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath." The phrase "many a time" is the detail that should stop you. This wasn't a one-time act of mercy. God repeatedly — habitually — chose restraint. He had the right to unleash the full force of His wrath and chose, again and again, not to. Not because the sin wasn't real. Not because it didn't matter. But because His compassion was fuller than their failure.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does it mean to you that God's mercy isn't a one-time event but a repeated pattern — 'many a time'?
- 2.Is there a sin you keep returning to where you've started to doubt that God's compassion still applies? What does this verse say to that doubt?
- 3.The Hebrew root for 'compassion' here is connected to the word for 'womb.' How does that maternal image change your understanding of how God feels about your failures?
- 4.God 'did not stir up all his wrath.' What does it mean that He has restraint — that He holds back what you actually deserve?
Devotional
The history of Israel is the history of a God who keeps not destroying the people who keep giving Him reason to.
Psalm 78 is brutal in its honesty about Israel's failures. They forgot the miracles. They tested God in the wilderness. They turned to idols. They provoked Him again and again. And if this were a human relationship, you'd understand the person who finally walked away. But God isn't human. And this verse is the proof.
"Many a time turned he his anger away." Many a time. Not once, in a grand gesture of grace. Repeatedly. Habitually. As a pattern. God's restraint wasn't a single dramatic moment — it was a lifestyle. Every time Israel earned the full weight of consequences, God pulled back. Not because they deserved it. Because He is "full of compassion" — and that fullness kept overflowing past what their sin warranted.
If you're carrying guilt about something you've done — again — this verse doesn't minimize it. Your sin is real. It mattered. But the God responding to it has a history of turning His anger away many a time. The pattern of your failure is met by a pattern of His mercy. And His pattern is older, deeper, and more consistent than yours.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For he remembered that they were but flesh,.... Or "children of flesh", as the Targum; poor, frail, weak, mortal…
But he, being full of compassion - literally, “But he, merciful,” That is, he was ready to forgive them. Forgave their…
In these verses,
I. The psalmist observes the late rebukes of Providence that the people of Israel had been under, which…
This verse describes the general attributes of God, in virtue of which (Psa 78:78) He spared Israel in spite of their…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture