Ps 78.17 (God's wonders; man's absurdities)

But / they continued / to sin against him
defying the Most High / even in the arid land. 

A question here is who are “they”? Are they the children of Ephraim or are they their fathers? If the children, it appears that their ‘continued’ sinning is a continuation of their ‘fleeing on the day of battle’. On the other hand, if it is their fathers, when did they first start? In context, it would appear that we are speaking of the fathers, as “they” and “them” have been the fathers from the splitting of the sea to the splitting of the rocks. These are the ‘wonders’ performed before them (that, are therefore ‘performed’ before the sons). I think that what we see here is a type of ‘assumed history’; the listeners to this psalm would have already known of the transgressions committed previously. I’m not sure how much this matters except to say that in these lines we find that there is no ‘primal rebellion’ in the face of God’s plenitude but, rather, an ongoing one, one that ‘continuously’ in an almost ‘always-already’ manner, operates in defiance to God. This is not unimportant thematically. We have already noted in our previous reflection that the psalmist has been creating a ‘build-up’ to this moment. He has been focusing his attention on the events of salvation history in a very selective manner so as to highlight this moment. God has not only been encompassing his family with his protection but he has been lavishly bestowing on them an abundant blessing and yet, precisely at the moment that the psalm reaches a type of zenith in blessing, the “continuance of sin” erupts, shattering the carefully constructed portrait. This is not without precedent: the “sons of Ephraim” should have represented the sons who faithfully entered into the story of their fathers; they were ‘well-equipped’ and brave; they represented the zenith of familial blessing and power—and, at the moment when all of the blessings given to them were to be actually enacted, they “turned back…and refused to obey his instruction.” (vs. 9-10). In the context of this psalm, these failures are the ‘absurdity of sin’. Absurd in the sense that they make no sense. Nothing leading up to the defiance and rebellion accounts for it. It simply ‘appears’ (much like the serpent…). More importantly—not only does nothing prepare for it, but everything points in precisely the opposite direction: faithfulness, trust and joyful devotion. Adam-like, these sons and fathers find themselves in a prepared-for blessing and, directly in its midst, they rebel against the one providing it. Perhaps the real tragedy of this is the fact that because it seemingly has no precursor or source, it cannot be effectively countered (until the end, with the appearance of David; an external deliverer). In the face of God’s wonders, man creates terrors and absurdities.