“But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 78:57 Mean?
"But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow." The psalmist describes Israel's spiritual trajectory with a devastating simile: a deceitful bow. A deceitful bow (qeshet remiyyah) is a weapon that looks functional but doesn't shoot straight — it sends the arrow in the wrong direction despite the archer's aim. The bow looks good. It bends properly. But when the moment of truth comes, the arrow goes somewhere it wasn't aimed.
The comparison captures the nature of Israel's unfaithfulness: they didn't stop being a bow. They didn't refuse to be drawn. They just didn't send the arrow where it was supposed to go. Their religion continued — the forms, the rituals, the outward compliance. But the direction was off. They hit the wrong target every time.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where is the gap between what you're aiming at and where your 'arrows' actually land?
- 2.How does the deceitful bow metaphor describe a specific kind of faithfulness failure — maintaining form while missing the target?
- 3.What would it take to replace the 'deceitful bow' rather than just drawing it again?
- 4.Where is your religious practice aiming at God but hitting something else entirely?
Devotional
A deceitful bow. It looks right. It draws properly. You aim at the target, release the string — and the arrow flies sideways. The weapon itself is unreliable. Not broken. Deceitful. It promises to hit the target and hits something else entirely.
Israel was a deceitful bow. They had the form of faithfulness. The temple was open. The sacrifices were offered. The festivals were observed. From the outside, everything looked properly drawn and aimed. But when it mattered — when the arrow needed to hit the target — it went off course. The aim was God. The arrow hit Baal.
The simile is painful because a deceitful bow isn't obviously broken. A broken bow you'd replace. A deceitful bow you keep using — because it looks fine. It's only in the moment of release that you discover the deception. Every time you draw it, you think this time it'll fly true. And every time, it doesn't.
This describes a specific kind of unfaithfulness: the kind that maintains appearances. The person who shows up to church and worships other things. The leader who teaches faithfulness and lives deception. The community that performs all the right rituals and misses the right target. The bow is drawn. The string is taut. The arrow is notched. And when it flies, it goes everywhere except where it was aimed.
The solution to a deceitful bow isn't more arrows. It's a new bow. Israel needed a new heart, not more rituals. The form was fine. The mechanism was corrupted. And no amount of drawing a corrupted bow will produce a true shot.
What target are you actually hitting — versus the one you're aiming at?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places,.... Which they built to Baal, and other Heathen dieties:
and…
But turned back ... - See the notes at Psa 78:41. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow - literally, a bow of…
The matter and scope of this paragraph are the same with the former, showing what great mercies God had bestowed upon…
unfaithfully Or, as R.V., treacherously. Cp. Hos 5:7; Hos 6:7. like a deceitful bow Which misses the mark and…
Cross References
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