The chilling photograph “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962,” by Diane Arbus, shows a boy, with the left strap of his shorts awkwardly hanging off his shoulder, tensely holding his long, stringy, thin arms by his side. Clenched in his right hand is a toy replica hand grenade (a Mk 2 “Pineapple”), his left hand is held in a claw-like gesture, and his facial expression is maniacal.

            The boy in the photograph is Colin Wood, son of the 1930’s tennis star Sidney Wood. According to The Washington Post, Colin doesn’t specifically remember Arbus taking the photo, but that he was likely “imitating a face [he’d] seen in war movies, which [he] loved watching at the time.” Later, as a teenager, he was angry at Arbus for “making fun of a skinny kid with a sailor suit”, though he enjoys the photograph now.

            Wood’s own description of the photograph is thought provoking:

She catches me in a moment of exasperation. It’s true, I was exasperated. My parents had divorced and there was a general feeling of loneliness, a sense of being abandoned. I was just exploding. She saw that and it’s like…commiseration. She captured the loneliness of everyone. It’s all people who want to connect but don’t know how to connect. And I think that’s how she felt about herself. She felt damaged and she hoped that by wallowing in that feeling, through photography, she could transcend herself.

Many children feel lonely, abandoned, and exasperated. With almost half of America’s children being bounced back and forth between divorced parents, its no wonder they feel abandoned! With almost a third of America’s school children being bullied, its no wonder they feel scared and lonely! And with almost a quarter of America’s young women being sexually harassed in the workplace, its no wonder they feel exasperated!

            Back in 1962, this photograph of a deranged boy gripping a hand grenade was considered controversial and provocative. Today, this image seems rather harmless compared to the heinous acts of violence that we encounter on a regular basis. Do you remember?— April 20, 1999—13 dead, 24 injured—Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado; March 21, 2005—9 dead, 7 injured—Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota; October 2, 2006—5 dead, 5 injured—Amish school, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania; April 16, 2007—32 dead, 17 injured—Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia; December 14, 2012—27 dead, 1 injured—Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut; June 18, 2015—9 dead—Mother Emmanuel Church, Charleston, South Carolina; June 12, 2016—49 dead, 58 injured—Pulse Nightclub, Orlando, Florida; October 1, 2017—59 dead, 500 injured—Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada. And this is only a fraction of the carnage we have witnessed in the last twenty years.

Have you ever wondered what causes such horrific behavior like this? Some people blame easy access to guns, while others point to mental illness, violent video games, lack of proper security in public places, or prayer being removed from our schools. I suppose all of these are contributing factors, but I also wonder if there is a more fundamental reason for all of this? I wonder if it has anything to do with the absence of a mutual moral compass in modern American society?

            It seems like we used to have a common consensus about what is right and wrong; about what is good and evil. But not anymore! Now everyone determines what is right and good for themselves. Personal values have replaced corporate virtues! Individual expression now supersedes collective conscience! I wonder if these individual acts of violence aren’t caused by our individualistic ethics! After all, if you feel the need to express yourself by tossing a grenade into a group of innocent people in Central Park, who am I to judge your individuality?  

            Do you know what happens to children who are taught that they are the master of the universe? Do you know what happens to children who are taught that they can determine their own virtues, values, and ethics? Do you know what happens to children who are taught that matters of life and death are a personal choice? They eventually believe it! What we teach our children makes all the difference!

Asaph addresses this very issue in Psalm 78. Asaph was a Levite who was commissioned by King David to be one of Israel’s chief songwriters and worship leaders. He composed this psalm to implore parents to teach their children well! Like most psalms, Psalm 78 is explicitly meant for public worship, but unlike most, which are either prayers or praises, this one is specifically dedicated to teaching Israel’s history to future generations. Psalm 78 is the longest of the historical psalms, and it focuses on remembering God’s great deeds in the past and not repeating the failures of their forefathers. Asaph knew that if this history wasn’t passed down to the children of Israel, they would be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

A Preamble to the Past (1-8)
            Asaph begins Psalm 78 with a preamble to the past, a fiery injunction to listen to his words because he is about to impart an important “parable” or teaching. (2) The instructions he is about to present aren’t new; in fact, they’re old. They used to be common knowledge but now they were forgotten. In verse 4, he announces that these teachings will not be hidden from their children any longer, but they must be told to the coming generation. What are these teachings? They are “the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders he has done!”

In verse 5, Asaph reminds the Israelites that God had already commanded them to pass his “testimony” and “law” on to their children so that the next generation would learn. In verse 6, he even highlights the dignity of “the children yet unborn” so that they would “set their hope in God and remember his works and keep his commands. Ponder the implications of this verse for a moment!

In verse 8, Asaph contrasts what the Israelites should have done with what they actually did. Instead of keeping God’s law and passing it on to their children, they were “a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.” Asaph is trying to put a stop to the generational cycles of spiritual and moral failure that would eventually lead to corruption, violence, and civil war that would ultimately lead to Israel dividing into a Northern and Southern Kingdom.

What an important message for us today? When a society ceases to share a common moral and spiritual vision, it’s only a matter of time before it fractures and eventually degenerates into violence and division. As we saw back in the Book of Judges, when “everyone does what is right in their own eyes,” a culture crumbles into anarchy and civil war. When we consider Israel’s history and even our own American history, we know this to be true. And it appears that we are heading down this destructive road again! Have you heard the famous quote by philosopher George Santayana: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”

            So, what should we to do about this? Asaph gives us the answer right here in Psalm 78: Teach your children well!

• Let’s learn from the mistakes of our forefathers instead of repeating them.
• Let’s teach our children the moral and ethical imperatives found in God’s Word, which provides the foundation for determining what is right and wrong!
• Let’s teach our children the great biblical narratives that reveal the character and works of God, which provides a model for what is good!
• Let’s teach our children the gospel of Jesus Christ, whereby God proved his love by sending his own son to die for our sins on the cross! This provides freedom from guilt and shame and establishes a model for forgiveness and reconciliation.
• Let’s teach our children the stories of God’s faithfulness to us, which personalizes God’s grace and mercy!
• Let’s teach our children about the hope of future redemption when all sin, evil, corruption, political discord, economic inequity, social injustice, and all forms of violence—will be washed away! O how our children need this kind of hope today!

            Therefore, if you are a parent, teach your children well! If you are a grandparent, teach your grandchildren well! If you are and aunt or uncle, teach your nieces and nephews well! Let’s heed Asaph’s words! Let’s follow in his footsteps! Let’s recount the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders he has done!  

A Double History Lesson (9-39) (40-72)
            After Asaph finishes his preamble to the past, he goes on in Psalm 78 to present the same history lesson twice. In verses 9-39 and then again in verses 40-72, he retells the Exodus story when God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and how the Israelites then turned their backs on God. I don’t have enough time to give a detailed explanation or comparison between these two stories, but if you take the time to read them on your own, you will certainly see many themes and phrases repeated. Both accounts highlight the miracles God performed in the Exodus: parting the Red Sea, guiding his people by cloud in the day and by pillar of fire at night, providing water from the rock, manna from the sky, and meat from the earth. But despite God’s miraculous provision, they refused to trust in him. But as Asaph asserts in verse 36-37: “They flattered him with their mouths, but they lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.”

It would be a fair question to ask why Asaph would tell this story and then immediately recapitulate it again? I have any hunch about this. Parents, do you ever find yourself echoing the same directions to your children over and over again? Teachers, do you ever find yourself reiterating the same lessons to your students? Wives, do ever find yourself repeating the same instructions to your…well, I better not? Why do we have to repeat ourselves? Because our hearers don’t fully get it the first time!

            The people of Israel certainly didn’t get it! And that’s why Asaph repeated the Exodus story here! And this is why God repeats himself so many times throughout Scripture. If we would just get it the first time, he would never have to repeat himself. But how many times has God showed us his wonders, and we didn’t believe? How many times has he provided for us, and we still complained? How many times has he guided us through the wilderness, and we have not been content? How many times has he been merciful to us, and we have not learned from our mistakes? How many times has God been compassionate toward us, and we have taken his grace for granted?

            So, yeah, God repeats himself. He repeats himself so that we will eventually get it! He repeats himself so that we’ll be able to teach our children well!

In 1968, singer/songwriter Graham Nash wrote the song “Teach Your Children.” Nash, who is also a photographer and collector of photographs, has stated that the immediate inspiration for the song came from the famous photograph by Diane Arbus, “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park.” The image prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of messages given to children about war and other issues.

            Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young released the song on their 1970 album “Déjà Vu.” For almost fifty years now, this song has reminded us of our responsibility to teach our children well:

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good-bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
.The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh And know they love you.

            Friends, let’s heed Asaph’s words! Let’s learn from the mistakes of the past! Let’s tell them the glorious deeds of the Lord! Let’s teach our children well!