Psalm 93 English Standard Version The LORD Reigns 93 The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. 2 Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. 3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. 4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! 5 Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore. We have a picture of the LORD, high and lifted up here. He is dressed in His kingly garments, but at the same time, He is dressed for war. Because the LORD reigns in heaven over all His creation, we can be sure that heaven and earth will remain until the day when He decides that it is finished and destroys this creation to make a new one. From everlasting to everlasting (from eternity past to eternity future), He is God and there is no other God besides Him. Even when the LORD flooded the earth in judgment (and kept Noah and his family safe), the LORD was not in peril, for He is not of this world. Though the author speaks of the LORD living on a tall and mighty mountain, it is the throne room of heaven where He resides from where He sees all and has dominion over everything. The book of Ezekiel tells us that this throne is mobile and goes wherever he wills. His decrees are steadfast and sure (we can trust in them and know that He will not change His mind). They are even more secure than the foundations of the earth, for heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word will never pass away. He is holy, holy holy, and He makes all those who belong to His house (His children by adoption) holy as well. We give Him all glory and honor and praise that are due Him! Psalm 92 English Standard Version How Great Are Your Works A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath. 92 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, 3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. 4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. 5 How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep! 6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: 7 that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; 8 but you, O LORD, are on high forever. 9 For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. 10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. 11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. 12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, 15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. This song was specifically written for the regular worship of the LORD every Sabbath day. It was a day to reflect on who the LORD is and all the wonderful things He had done (all the examples of HIs steadfast, covenant love and salvation). Morning and evening, day after day, we should give thanks to the Most High with the assistance of all kinds of musical instruments. We should raise our voices and clap our hands in joyful celebration. We celebrate a God who is not like man. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He spoke this world into existences out of nothing. He said, "Let there be...." and there was, exactly as He commanded it to be, and it was "very good." The fool who says in his heart that there is no God cannot understand these things that are in the mind and heart of God. We only know these things because we search the Scriptures where God has revealed His heart and mind to us. We do have some understanding though that God is not just Creator but also Judge of the Living and the Dead. One day, He will make everything right, and there will be an eternal reckoning for the wicked. Evildoers will not be allowed to continue to flourish forever. Eventually, their sin will find them out and the LORD will judge them, and vengeance belong to Him. In that coming Day of the LORD, the righteous will be highly exalted, and receive eternal life, but the wicked will be brought low and will experience eternal death. The LORD is our strength--stronger than the strength symbolized by the horns of an ox. He is "mighty to save," meaning that no matter what trouble we find ourselves in, He is able to rescue us. The LORD pours out his Spirit on us like oil being poured out on our heads (the way that the shepherded protected the sheep from the biting insects and tended to their wounds). We were defenseless to do anything to fight our own battles or help ourselves (we are helpless like sheep), but He, our Good Shepherd, fights our battles for us, and He is always victorious in the end. All of our enemies (which are also His enemies) are defeated. Not a single one can stand before Him. The LORD is a mighty warrior taking vengeance against those who make war with Him and His people. The LORD makes his people flourish like the palm trees of a desert oasis and like the cedars of Lebanon (which were used to build the Temple). The people of God are planted firmly in the house of the LORD where they take root and grow strong. The fruit that is consistent with this root is born even when we are old (think of the Fruit of the Spirit). Especially in our day, older saints have just as much of the Spirit as younger saints. We never retire from being in the fruit-bearing business, for the day that we stop bearing fruit is that day that we are dead (Jesus says as much in the gospels (See Matthew 3:10 and 7:19, Luke 3:9 and John 15:2). We never "retire" from being the people of God that live lives of being "salt" and "light." Even so, the LORD is our Rock--the strong foundation on which our lives are built upon. We declare that He is upright and just in all that He does. "Whate're my God ordains is right." Psalm 91 English Standard Version My Refuge and My Fortress 91 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place-- the Most High, who is my refuge-- 10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Before we get too far into this Psalm, let's stop and say that this psalm is Messianic. Its promises are pointing us to Christ and are not meant for us to "name it and claim it." The Father would keep the Son safe so that He would be the spotless Lamb without blemish to be sacrificed on our behalf. Satan used these promises to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, and Jesus would not abuse these promises to bring glory to Himself or to avoid the cross. For this reason, the LORD would ultimately deliver Jesus from death and would allow Him to defeat all His enemies and make them His footstool and give Him the Kingdom and a Name that is above every name. He will be worshiped, because Jesus was obedient, even to the point of death on a cross. Could Jesus have claimed these promises and called on the angels to stop those that were going to execute Him? He says He could have. He also was in complete control as one spoken word from His mouth knocked all of the mob that came to arrest Him on their backsides. However, He chose to obey the Father and die so that you and I might be saved. He gave up His rights so that our salvation might be secured.
Psalm 90 English Standard Version Book Four From Everlasting to Everlasting A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. 90 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! This song is one of a few in the Bible that is attributed to Moses. I can imagine Moses thinking about no matter where they go in the wilderness it feels like they are always at home wherever the Lord is. Then a statement that is deep--The Lord is God not because He is the Creator of heaven and earth, but even before that, He was God, and He will be God even after heaven and earth pass away. That is "from everlasting to everlasting, you are God." Nothing will change that. Many times, we try to say God is something because He does something (we try to find identity in our works and try to push that same mentality on God), but our works flow downstream from our identity. God did all these things because He already was all the things that are His attributes that we see through His actions.
We already mentioned creation, and Moses says that on the other side of the equation, it is God that decides how long a man or woman has to live and returns them to dust at the end of their days. The Lord can judge all the earth and sweep them away in a Flood and make all things new again (I think Moses is definitely talking about the Flood and the salvation given to Noah and his family in the Ark). Even when we live a long time (70 or 80 years, which probably tells us that Moses wrote this song early in the time of his leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt because the Exodus happened when he was 80, and he lived to be 120), that we see our days as toilsome and full of trouble. They are hard because we are under the curse of sin which is part of God's judgment in the here and now. However, the passage of time doesn't affect the LORD. Moses wraps up the song by asking the LORD to teach His people to number their days--that is to remember that they are mortal and need to fear and obey Him before they can no longer make that decision. Moses also found the covenant love of the LORD something to satisfy him and make him rejoice. Moses prays that their time of blessing and rest in the kingdom of God will be just as long (or longer) than the number of years that they have spent in this evil place toiling and being afflicted. It seems he's already looking forward to his heavenly home and the Sabbath rest that is promised for us there (the book of Hebrews speaks of this rest). Moses prays for the LORD's grace and favor to be on the people who are called by His name and that he would prosper the work of their hands, which is really His work that He is doing through them. Psalm 89 English Standard Version I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the LORD A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. 89 I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.” 3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: 4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah 5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, 7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? 8 O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you? 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. 10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. 12 The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. 13 You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. 15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face, 16 who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted. 17 For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel. 19 Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. 20 I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, 21 so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. 22 The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him. 23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. 24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. 26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ 27 And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. 29 I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. 30 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, 31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, 32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, 33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. 34 I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. 35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36 His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. 37 Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah 38 But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed. 39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust. 40 You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins. 41 All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. 42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice. 43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle. 44 You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground. 45 You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah 46 How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man! 48 What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah 49 LORD, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? 50 Remember, O LORD, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations, 51 with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed. 52 Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen. The "steadfast love" of the LORD is something so rich and deep that it can't be translated with just one word in English, so we will see words like "mercy," "lovingkindness," "goodness," and "favor" (and other forms of these words). It can also have a negative connotation in some places and will be translated as "pity," "reproach," or "wicked thing," in those few contexts, but most of the time it is translated as one of the first list of words that I gave. It is one of David's favorite themes in the book of Psalms for God is love and to know the loving things He has done is to know more about who He is. It is His steadfast love that leads us to repentance and is at the center of the story of salvation. We see parts of that story through the history of Israel, but it comes in focus clearly at the cross where we see God's lovingkindness and HIs justice and wrath meet and Jesus becomes the object of God's wrath so that we might be the objects of God's grace and mercy. John 15:13 English Standard Version 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Romans 5:7-8 English Standard Version 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Now back to the text of the psalm we are studying today. This love is a covenant love, so of course the psalmist starts off reminding those singing this song of the covenants that the LORD made to David and to Abraham--promises of Messiah, to dwell with His people, to increase the descendants of Abraham to an uncountable multitude, to bless them so that they would become the envy of the world, to bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them, that they would become a blessing to the other nations of the world, that He would give a Land to Abraham's descendants which they did not really work for, but that they would obtain by faith (yes, there were some battles they fought, but ultimately the battle belonged to the LORD and He was the One who secured their victory by destroying their enemies and making them run in fear). We then go back even further to the very beginning of time. The LORD is the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them, including all the angelic hosts of heaven, the earth, the skies, the seas, and all that is in them. The psalmist calls on all creatures of our God and King to praise Him and worship Him with gladness. Then there is a recounting of some of mighty acts of the LORD, both in establishing and tearing down of nations. Don't miss the statement that is kind of in the middle of verse two though, "You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you." The phase "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm" takes the people back to the time of the Exodus and the Ten Plagues, as this is the phrase the LORD uses Himself to describe how He saved His people, and it is part of the story they retell year after year at Passover. Yet, there is more to the LORD than just that He is a mighty warrior to be feared because He crushes His enemies. He also saves His people and gives them blessings. We switch to that theme of salvation as we focus in on David. Surprising to some, but not to me, is that the story of salvation here starts with a statement of God's sovereignty and the doctrine of Election. God is the one who decides who to give help to, and He chose David to be a prince over His people and showed His selection and approval by having the prophet Samuel anoint David with oil--a symbol of God's Spirit being poured out on a person for a specific time and purpose (in the New Testament Church, things have been different since the Spirit fell on various groups of believers in Acts 2, 8, 10, 11 and 19. When the Spirit came upon these various people groups for the first time it was done with power and signs and wonders that confirmed to all who were present that these people received the same Promise (the Holy Spirit) and salvation as everyone else and they were baptized with the same baptism as the others and they were part of the same Body of Christ, the Church, as the other believers. The LORD promised David that He would save Him and defeat his military enemies for Him, but the LORD also promised David that someone would always be a King that was from his descendants. Saul has just lost his right for anyone from his family to be king, and David likely feared that there would be a blood feud between the house of Saul and the house of David for the throne (or that someone else might rise up and be powerful enough to take the throne by force). The LORD not only said that there would always be one of David's sons on the throne, but there would be one called The Son of David, who, once His throne was established, would reign forever and ever and His kingdom and dominion would be without end in both time and space. We look forward to the days of King Jesus ruling from the throne of David in Jerusalem. It is promised that the kingdom of the Jews will stretch from the River (that is the Euphrates River) to the Sea (that is the Mediterranean Sea). The Anti-Semitic chant "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free" is a lie from the Father of Lies, Satan, the perverts and twists this promise that the LORD made to His people by eternal covenant. That Land belongs to the descendants of Abraham and is to be ruled over by the descendants of David from now to eternity future no matter what any President of the United States or the United Nations resolution might say. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords has spoken. Now we will look at the Mosaic Covenant--a conditional covenant unlike the rest. It is a promise of blessings if God's people would obey His commandments and a promise of loving punishment and correction (up to and including being taken out of the Land and subjugated by the pagan nations around them) if they willfully disobeyed His commandments. Being His people who were called by His name came with certain expectations. They were ambassadors of a King and a Kingdom, so they had a code of conduct established for them that defined their culture and helped them best represent their King and His Kingdom to the other nations of the world. The closer they followed the rules, the easier it would be for them to share the gospel with other people and have them understand it. People would clearly see the contrast between the Kingdom of Light (God's Kingdom) and the Kingdom of Darkness (the kingdom of this world, the flesh and the devil). God punishes punishment for their iniquity, but what we see this side of the cross is that God is describing the beatings and torture that Jesus would take to pay for our sins. " Then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. " God tells us that we need to do to be sure that He will fulfill the Davidic covenant is look up at the sky and see that the moon is there. The moon's not going anywhere and as surely as the moon is there night after night, so is God's eternal covenant with David--giving light and hope in the darkest of times that we may go through. While the next verse partially speaks of what happened with David and many of the other kings, it ultimately speaks of Jesus when the Father did not prevent His enemies from having their way with Him. It is only by His stripes that we are healed (see Isaiah 53). If the Father had protected His son from suffering in the same way that many "helicopter parents" try to keep their children for experiencing anything bad (and the Father could have been the perfect "Helicopter Parent" if He wanted to be), then none of us would have ever been saved. In fact, this is one of the ways in which the devil tried to tempt Jesus--we even hear the mocking scoffers at the cross repeating this temptation, "If/Since you are the Son of God, come down off the cross." "He says He can save others, but He cannot even save Himself." The selfish sinners could not understand a love that was so others-focused that it would allow an innocent man to die so that the guilty might be declared just and be able to be a part of the family of God by Adoption. The next line seems to be a cry for the Resurrection. How long will God let is appear that evil has won? How long with the Gave have apparent victory? The answer to that question is "Three days and three nights." Just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man would be in the belly of the earth for three days and three nights, but He would rise again on the third day. The psalm asks the LORD to remember the covenants He made with his people, because it appears to us sometimes that He has forgotten (take the current situation in Israel where it seems they are constantly being attacked from the north, south, and now even the east with rockets, ICBMs and guided and unguided missiles and drones). All the Jewish people have to cling onto at this time is the history of how the LORD saved them in the past and His promise that He will continue to save them in the present and the future. God is not finished with the people of Israel yet (and never will be, for they are part of His eternal plan). Even when we don't see the LORD fulfilling His covenant promises, He is. This is reason to bless the LORD and praise His holy Name forever! Psalm 88 English Standard Version I Cry Out Day and Night Before You A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. 88 O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, 5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. 6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; 9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you. 10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah 11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? 15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. 16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. 18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness. We cry out to the LORD in our deepest, darkest times. Our greatest times of need. We want God to save us, but we also want to know that God hears us and sees us in our time of desperation. The sons of Korah wrote this psalm feeling like their lives were full of trouble and they were either close to physical death (for Sheol means "The Grave") or they are saying that they felt dead inside (how people in the throes of depression say they feel). I'm going with the second option here as they also describe it as being in dark pit and having no strength, and a feeling of drowning and being beaten by waves. While there could be something physical attached to this, this sounds like depression to me. If you have ever gone through it (and I have) you will recognize the descriptions.
Like Job, the Sons of Korah are asking the LORD why He is causing these bad things to happen to them. Their friends have abandoned them, and they were forced to celebrate and praise the recognition and accomplishments of others while there appeared to be nothing to celebrate in their own lives. They describe feeling like they are shut in (like in prison) where they can see everything going on outside, but they cannot participate in any of it, and no good thing comes to them. They cry out for God to do a miracle and break them out of this prison that seems inescapable. They wonder, "Does God work wonders for the dead?," but, surely, they are not dead yet if they are writing the words to this song. Yes! God does work wonders for those who are spiritually dead and makes them spiritually alive! We call that the miracle of Regeneration! He also helps those who are depressed and feel dead on the inside too. Then a theological question arises. If it is the chief purpose of man to worship the LORD, can those who are dead engage in worship? If not, would it not be better for God to bring the God-fearing righteous people back to life so that they could continue to worship Him? (He's actually going to do this in the end times, as that's one of the main reasons for the Resurrection of the Righteous). However, since the Resurrection of Jesus, to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD, and we don't have to wait for the resurrection of the righteous to start worshiping the LORD forever and ever. In fact, we can start with that right now. The Sons of Korah say they pray to the LORD early in the morning (probably insinuating that they start praying before sunrise), and yet, they feel like God does not hear their prayers and doesn't answer them. It feels like God has turned away from them and has chosen not to see or hear them. HIs blessing is no longer on them (which is described as Him turning His face towards someone. For Him to turn His face away from someone is a sign they are under His wrath and condemnation and not His blessings). The author has been in peril many times since his youth and been terrified and helpless. This sounds like someone not at all sure that the LORD will save them now or in eternity. They feel surrounded by the wrath of God on every side--it's swept over them like the waves of the sea sweep over a drowning man. They feel like they are being destroyed--like they are fighting to take their final breaths. Is it worth fighting anymore? Even the author's wife and best friend have shunned him, and all his friends have abandoned him. While this was written by the Sons of Korah, this sounds like the depression that David experiences when he was being chased by Saul. People were constantly trying to turn him over to King Saul, his wife was Saul's daughter and abandoned him, and his best friend was Saul's son, Jonathan. David was stuck with a bunch of individuals that were described as being "worthless" in a moral sense (maybe they could fight, but they did not fear God, and it was trying on David's soul to lead them and have to be around them day in and day out). He had some of the priests join him, and perhaps the Sons of Korah heard David singing this song to God as a cry for help and they wrote it down. I'm not sure, but language is similar to psalms we know were written by David at that time, though many others go through times of loss and depression that might cause them to pen something similar. Whoever wrote the psalm and whatever was behind it, the LORD does hear and answer our prayers and is familiar with abandonment, suffering, and grief. I think it's even fair to say that Jesus experienced all this pain and helplessness from the cross when He quotes Psalm 22, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?." We have a Great High Priest who can sympathize with our every weakness. ORDPsalm 87 English Standard Version Glorious Things of You Are Spoken A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song. 87 On the holy mount stands the city he founded; 2 the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. 3 Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah 4 Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush-- “This one was born there,” they say. 5 And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her. 6 The LORD records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah 7 Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” The Sons of Korah have penned another psalm, this time focusing on the city of Jerusalem (also called Zion because of the mountain fortress that was there by that name) and the special relationship that God has with it. It is called The City of the Great King, not because it is The City of David, but because the LORD is their King, and this is His city which bears His Name and is a symbol of His covenant. It will not be until the cross that we understand just how important this city is to the LORD and His plan that's existed before the beginning of time to redeem a people unto Himself by offering the Son of God as substitutionary atonement for our sins. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:14)
There were other "great" cities among the pagan peoples--probably all those listed were larger in size and population than Jerusalem. Many claim the cities or countries of Rahab and Babylon; Philistia and Tyre, or Cush as their place of origin, but the author tells us that we will find people everywhere who will one day say, "I am from Jerusalem" meaning "I am Jewish." We think of the Jewish people as such a small minority of people, but the LORD promised Abraham descendants that would be like the sand and the stars and the dust (things that were uncountable). It seems that the author implies that anyone who is recorded as part of the kingdom of God and is identified as a citizen of His Kingdom has a right to say, "I am of Jerusalem, the City of God." While we may not have been physically born there, we were spiritually born there as that is where Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected so that we might be born again. So, I say with the Sons of Korah, "I am of Jerusalem. I was born [again] there." Finally, they draw a comparison to living (moving) water that comes from the source of a spring. This was the best source of water that anyone could find. You were at the source, so you weren't downstream from any contamination, and the water was moving, not stagnant. This is the kind of water the symbolized life and if you could find this kind of water source and claim it as your own, you were a rich person in this desert, arid area. Many owned wells/cisterns that collected rainwater, but they had to be covered to make sure that nothing fell into the water supply to contaminate it. Maybe now you understand better this conversation that Jesus has with the woman at the well in John 4 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” (John 4:13-15). We also see the River of Life flowing from the throne of God in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22:1-2, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Jesus is that River of Life, and the source of that spring of eternal life is rooted in His penal substitutionary atonement, which took place in Jerusalem. This should cause us to sing and dance for joy when we think about it (if you've ever seen Jewish people worship the LORD, you know it involves singing and dancing). The Sons of Korah are encouraging us to praise the LORD for this special place that the LORD has a special relationship with, though I'm not even sure they fully understood it on that side of the cross they were on. One day, it will also be the place to where the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returns to take His Throne, and He will reign forever and ever! O what a day that will be! |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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