Psalms - All others (1-50)

The following material is adopted from James’s Montgomery Boice’s 3 volume commentary on Psalms. Additional material from MacArthur Bible Studies, Psalms: Hymns for God’s People. Introductory material from Psalms of Grace, Philip Webb, editor. Additional material taken from sources listed at the end

Psalms: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 40, 41, 45, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 60, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 77, 79, 80, 81, 83, 85, 86, 87, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 100, 102, 105, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 124, 125, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150.

Psalm 5

In trials, one area to contemplate is the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. David understands that God does not delight in wicked ones and those who are wicked speak falsehood, and have bloodshed and deceit. But those who are righteous are worshippers by God’s lovingkindness and grace, The wicked and righteous not only have far different character but far different consequences. God causes the wicked to be judged and his plans to backfire. God leads the righteous and protects them as a large shield.

Outline

— If we were to outline this psalm we see:

— The psalmist standing face to face with God (1, 3, 5)

— He glances sideways to the wicked (2, 5)

— Contrasts to God and the wicked (2) and the righteous (4)

A morning Psalm

— Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night. Devotion should be both the morning…and the evening star”

An Appeal for God to Listen

— Have you ever stopped in your prayers by doubting that you are approaching God rightly?

— Almost everyone has doubts like this

— Notice what this psalm teaches us

— The Spirit in which we should pray

— The types of prayers that should be uttered

— The Relationship that we must have with God

The Spirit in which we should pray

— The urgency expressed: “give ear,” “consider,” and “listen”

— The persistence seen in the repeated phrase “in the morning”

— It carries the idea of every morning

— It reminds us of the poor widow who was so persistent and the judge gave her justice (Luke 18:7)

— And an expectant spirit

— verse 3 ends: “I … wait in expectation”

The types of prayers that should be uttered

— Some prayers are prayers of “words”

— Others are prayers of “sighing” when we can’t find the words

— Others are prayers of crying out

— Still others we cannot find the words

— God hears all kinds of prayers

— We have the NT teaching that, although we often “do not know what we ought to pray…the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom 8:26)

The Relationship that we must have with God

— David calls God his “Lord” twice (vv. 1,3) and “my King and my God” once (v. 2)

God Does not Listen to the Wicked

— The second stanza (vv 4-6) is a reflection on the wicked

— In Psalm 1 it was the “way of the wicked” compared to “the way of the righteous”

— In Psalm 2 it was the rebellion of the wicked against God by the kings and rulers of the earth

— Psalm 3 the psalmist has been attacked and is asking for protection (v. 7)

— In Psalm 4 the wicked have slandered the psalmist

— Here in Psalm 5, David refers to wicked people as those whose prayers the Lord will not hear and in whom he has no pleasure

— As David reviews the types of evildoers, we sense he is growing in his awareness and the words grow in intensity

— If you are drawing close to God, you will become increasingly sensitive to sin

“Tis mercy All”

— David doesn’t think of himself better than sinners (vv. 7-8)

— instead of pleading his own righteousness as grounds for coming to God, he pleads God’s mercy

God’s Rejection of the Wicked

— Verse 10 contains the second petition of the psalm (after v. ) and is the Psalter’s first imprecatory prayer

— Praying for judgment of the wicked

— David asks God to condemn sin rather than justifying sinful behavior and to see to it that the stratagems of the wicked fail and that they are banished

The Joy and Blessings of the Righteous

— David encourages all the righteous to “take refuge” in God

— and “be glad”

— to “sing for joy”

The last words say

Psalm 5:12 “For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.”

When Martin Luther was making his way to Augsburg to appear before Cardinal Cajetan, who had summoned him to answer for his heretical opinions, one of the Cardinal’s servants taunted him asking, “Where will you find shelter if your patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert you”

“Under the shelter of heaven,” Luther answered

That was the psalmist’s shelter. It should be ours as well

Psalm 6

This psalm speaks of the posture of patience in trial. One may feel that God is discipling him even though he did nothing wrong. One may cry many tears because of the pressure from the adversary. But in these moments, one must wait on Yahweh and pray for God to return, rescue, and save. And one must know with full confidence that in the end Yahweh will listen and that those who opposed will depart in defeat. The One who embodies this longsuffering best is the Lord Jesus Christ who waited patiently, suffering innocently, but in the end will say the words “Depart from me all you who do iniquity” in triumph to those who had opposed him.

A Psalm of Repentance

— Psalm 6 is the first of the penitential psalms

— The others are 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143

— Some commentators would not call this a psalm of repentance but rather “a prayer in sickness”

— It is worth noting that the psalm contains no explicit confession of sin and no explicit repentance

A Sense of God’s Disapproval or Wrath

— He asks God not to “rebuke” him in “anger” or “discipline” him in “wrath”

— You may have done something wrong and you know God is disrupting your life because of sin

— On the other hand, you may be overwhelmed by what is going on around you

A Loss of Sense of God’s Presence

— What if God is not present

— Suppose He has turned away from us or withdrawn himself?

— The NIV uses the word turn in verse 4

Loss of Sleep

— Nights like this are often filled with deep soul groanings and tears

— Martin Luther and Charles Haddon Spurgeon were inclined to depression

A Sense of Spiritual and Bodily Fatigue

— David is describing utter weariness and fatigue

we are too tired to get out of bed

too depressed to go to church

too sluggish to pray

too weary to clean the house

The Psalmist’s Hope

— David calls on God (5 times) and uses the word Jehovah, which is Redeemer or Deliverer

— In times of victory call upon God. Praise Him

— In times of temptation call upon God. Seek deliverance

— In the dark of the soul, call upon God. Request light

The Psalmist’s Prayer

— It is never wrong to ask for mercy on the basis of our weakness

— We are told in Scripture, “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Ps 103:14)

God’s Answer to the Psalmist

— God answered David’s prayer which explains why the second half of the psalm is so different

— In verse 4 he had asked the Lord to “turn back” to him

— Now, using the same verb, he tells his enemies to “turn back,” that is, to leave him

— He is on the right track already

Psalm 7

This psalm that contemplates yet another aspect of trials: the righteousness of God. The psalm begins with a plea for deliverance based on God’s righteousness. If David had sinned in any way, he happily embraces God’s discipline. This is because God is a righteous God who rises in anger against the wicked, is surrounded by worshipful people, and puts the evil of the wicked to an end. In light of this, though the beginning of the psalm talks about God’s righteousness to the righteous, it ends with how if the wicked does not repent, God will being his evil on his head. That is the righteousness of God for which God’s people give thanks.

Cry Justice!

— David is so overcome with his enemies harsh injustice that he cries out for divine vindication

— The problem alluded to in the title describes it as a lament sung “to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite”

—David’s predecessor, King Saul, was a Benjamite

— Saul killed by the Philistines and the source of his opposition was from Saul’s tribe, the tribe of Benjamin

— When David fled because of Absalom’s rebellion, a man named Shimei of Benjamin cursed him (2 Sam 16:7-8)

— When David returned after Absalom’s death another Benjamite named Sheba led a revolt against him (2 Sam 20:1-2)

— David was slandered

— Protesting openly only fans the flame

— Responding in kind brings us down to the level of the accuser

— The only thing to do is bring it to God

Is Anyone Ever Innocent?

— In vv 3-5 and 8 David says that he is innocent

— David is expressing himself as perhaps we would not

— There is no one righteous, not even one (Rom 3:10)

— We are [at best] unworthy servants (Luke 17:10)

— David is not saying that he is perfect, only that he is innocent of the crime

— David does not take vengeance into his own hands

— Do we flee to God or take matters into our own hands?

Justice or Mercy?

— David is appealing to God for justice for himself (6-9)

“Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity”

— We have been taught to believe that only fools ask for justice from God and what we need from God is not justice but his mercy

Confidence in God

— The second half of Psalm 7 (vv. 10-17) is an expression of David’s deep confidence in God

— The psalm is a great testimony

— Yet here is the striking thing: we don’t know if David obtained the earthly justice from God that he was seeking

Craigie says, “We do not know from the psalm whether the falsely accused was finally vindicated or his name was cleared; we only know that he came into such a knowledge of God that he could accept his lot...”

Psalm 8

How majestic is Yahweh in all the earth. His splendor is obvious and magnificent that even the smallest child understands His glory which shames any who oppose or reject God. At the same time, that majesty should humble all those who serve God. In comparison with the vastness of who God is and all His works, what is man? God should not even remember or consider man, much less grant him dominion over creation. But Yahweh has done these things showing that He is majestic in power, majestic in granting authority, and majestic in mercy. How majestic is His name in all the earth

Jehovah, Our Adonai

— The most dominant theme is that we see man and his place in the created order

— But the psalm does not begin with man but the surpassing majesty of God and this places men and women in a cosmic framework

— We will never understand man until we recognize their special responsibility to their Creator

— We are to praise God beginning with the two great names for God

— Jehovah (Yahweh)

— Adonai (Lord)

Later in Israel’s history, the Jewish people considered the name Jehovah to be so sacred that they would not pronounce it. When the Masoretes came in time to provide the vowel pointing to the consonantal Hebrew text, they wrote the vowels for Adonai whenever the name Jehovah occurred, as reminder of what should be said.

— Jesus quotes this psalm on Palm Sunday when he the blind and lame who come to him in the temple

— The priests and teachers are indignant that people are crying “Hosanna to the Son of David”

— Jesus replied by referring to Psalm 8: Have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise?” ( Matt 21:16 )

— For by identifying the praise of the children with Psalm 8, Jesus not only validated their words

— He was indeed the “son of David”

—But of God, since the psalm says that God has ordained praise for himself from children’s lips

Looking Up or Looking Down

— The bulk of the psalm is about man and how insignificant he is God’s vast creation

— Despite our insignificance God cares for us and loves us

— He has given us a significance and honor above everything else he has created

— First He has crowned us with “glory and honor” (v. 5)

— Second, God has made us “ruler” over the world and his creatures

— Thomas Aquinas, the great Roman Catholic theologian, placed man in what has been called a “mediating position” in the universe

— Angels have spirits and no body

— Man is a spirit body being

— Animals have bodies and no spirits

— Man is described as “a little lower than the heavenly beings” as not a little higher than the beasts

— It is our special privilege to look up toward the angels and beyond to God rather than downward to the beasts

— Sadly, our world has turned their back on God and no longer looks up but downward to the beasts

— King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whose story is told in Daniel, is an example of someone turning their back on God (Dan 4:30-32)

— Evolution teaches that we are only slightly better than the beasts

— Indeed, we are worse than beasts and do things that animals would never do

But We See Jesus

— God sent Jesus to save us from our willful ignorance

— The author of Hebrews uses Psalm 8 in Hebrews 2

— He applies it to Jesus (Heb 2:7-8) which is a parallel to Philippians (Phil 2:8-11)

— Jesus fulfills Psalm 2 because we could not

Psalm 9

This psalm is actually connected with the next as together they form an acrostic, or poem where each line comprises a letter of the alphabet. Within that, this psalm emphasizes the believer’s confidence in God who has been faithful. He has maintained His people’s justice and cause and h ave destroyed the enemy. All of this is revolves around God’s unassailable character where He reigns in justice not only presently but in the future. In remembering God’s character, His people are to sing and to have confidence that He will continue to deal with the wicked as He always has.

A Technical Problem

— The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate have Psalms 9-10 together

— As a result the numbering of the psalms is different between Roman Catholic and Protestant bibles

— The numbering is the same up to psalm 8

— The numbers re-align at psalm 148

— The best argument for these being one psalm is acrostic pattern

— Psalm 9 contains verses beginning with the alphabet’s first eleven letters, but omitting daleth (D)

— Psalm 10 uses the second half of the alphabet

Praise for Past Deliverance

— David praises God verbally with words and in song

— We need to stop and apply David’s example to ourselves

— We do not praise God with our lips very much at all

— Outside of songs that we sing in church for 20 minutes

— It is more often true that Christians complain how god has been treating them, carry on excessively about their personal needs or desires, or gossip

David Praises God for three things

— Victory over Enemies (vv. 3-6)

— God turns them back

— They perish in their retreat

— Even their names are blotted out

— We need to say here that we cannot imagine an identical situation involving ourselves

— We are not kings or queens defending our land

— We are instructed rather to pray for our enemies, and to do good to those who use us wrongly (Matt 5:44; Luke 6:27-36)

— There is one area we can echo David’s words wholeheartedly

— That is that our King Jesus would have victory over Satan

— Jesus has defeated him but he remains active and is our great spiritual enemy

The Working out of justice and Right Judgment on Earth ( vv. 7-8)

— David was responsible that justice was done in civil matters

— We too should be concerned with justice (Mic 6:8)

Refuge from the Wicked (vv. 9-10)

— God was refuge to David in time of trouble

— We should be able to echo those same words

— God has said that I will never leave you; never will I forsake you (Heb 13:5; cf. Deut. 31:6)

Prayer for Future Deliverance (13-20)

— The second part of the psalm is for future deliverance

— There is a prayer in two parts

— Prayer fro mercy (v. 13)

— Prayer for God to arise in judgment of the nations (vv. 19-20)

— Because of God’s past deliverance, he expects present and future deliverance from God

Man’s Chief End (v. 14)

— Man’s chief end is not to enjoy this life or even to escape the punishment due us for our many sins

— but to praise God

— “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” (Westminister Shorter Catechism, question and answer 1)

Psalm 10

While the previous psalm was positive about God and His justice in this world, this poem looks at the other side of the situation when, at times, the saints struggle to see God’s justice in the world. They feel God stands far off. They see the wicked prosper, lie in wait to catch the afflicted, and speak boastfully in his heart against God. In these times, the righteous still trust that God has seen all that has happened, will rise up to defeat the wicked, and give help to the humble. While God may not take action now, they know He is king forever and ever.

Practical Atheism

— According to Gallup, 81% of Americans claim to be religious, which places them 2nd to Italians (83%)

— 95% believe in God

— A large majority believe in the Ten Commandments

— Nearly every home has a bible

— 67% believe in hell, 84% believe in Heaven

— However, only 1 in 5 says that religion is the most influential fact in his or her life

— Most want religious instruction for their children but it ranks low compared to other traits they want to see developed

— Only 1 in 8 would consider sacrificing everything for religious beliefs or God

— Gallup records “a glaring lack of knowledge of the Ten Commandments” even by those who say they believe in them

— This is practical atheism and it is extremely widespread

Two Kinds of Atheism

— There are two kinds of atheism in the psalms (14, 53 for instance)

— Outright atheism

— The fool says in his heart, there is no God

— The other kind is practical atheism’

— He knows that there is a God

— But “in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (v. 4)

There is not, in my judgment, a psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings and the fate of the ungodly with so much propriety, fullness and light, as this psalm.

— Martin Luther

The Practice of Atheism

— There are five chief characteristics of the practice of atheism

Arrogance ( vv. 2-4)

— He is boasting ( “He boasts of the cravings of his heart”)

— And pride ( “In his pride the wicked doe snot seek him,” that is God)

— he shows contempt for both God and man (vv. 3-4)

— As for this man’s words

“He says to himself, “Nothing will shake me;

I’ll always be happy and never have trouble”

“He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten;

he covers his face and never sees” (vv. 6, 11)

Prosperity ( v. 5)

— Instead of suffering for his hatred of God, the atheist prospers

— “There may be a God but he has nothing to do with my practical life”

— “If you want to get ahead you have to do it yourself. God is not going to help you”

Security (v. 6)

— The apparent atheist has security which his prosperity seems to guarantee

— David quotes him as saying, “Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.”

Vile Speech (v. 7)

— Vile or destructive speech

— “His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;

trouble and evil are under his tongue” ( Rom 3:14)

Violence ( vv. 8-11)

— The violent person is portrayed as:

— an assassin or murderer ( v. 8 )

— a lion ( v. 9 )

— a hunter ( v. 9 )

A Problem for the Righteous

— The problems that these practical atheists create for their victims is obvious

— Not a problem for a strong person like David

— But the problem for David was God’s apparent toleration of the wicked

It is easy to say that God exists, to affirm that morality matters, to believe in divine and human justice, but the words carry a hollow echo when the empirical reality of human living indicates precisely the opposite. The reality appears to be that the atheists have the upper hand, that reality really does not matter and that justice is dormant. At the moment that this reality is perceived, in all its starkness, the temptation is at its strongest to jettison faith, morality and belief in justice. What good is belief and moral life which appear to be so out of place in the harsh realities of an evil world? Indeed, would there not be a certain wisdom in the oppressed joining ranks with the oppressors?

The Response of Godly People

— This wordly wisdom has been bought into by many but it is not the response of those who know God, as David did

— David first asks God to act:

Psalm 10:12 “Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted.”

— It is never wrong to ask God to intervene

— Second, God does see and his retributive actions are often delayed

Psalm 10:14 “You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.”

— Third, David sees an eventual judgment of the wicked

Psalm 10:16 “The Lord is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land.”

— David’s concern in the psalms is judgment in this life

— For the final balancing of accounts we must await the final judgment

— People scoff at it (cf. 2 Pet 3:3-7, 10 )

— We do not always see the wicked receiving their judgment in this life

— Like David and like Habakkuk, we are to live by faith ( Hab 3:17-18 )

Psalm 11

This psalm is a theology of God’s sovereignty in crisis. David paints a moment of great urgency. People want to flee, the wicked are prepared to strike, and even the entire foundation of society is crumbling. However, in the midst of this chaotic moment, David reminds God’s people that Yahweh is in His holy temple and Yahweh’s throne is in heaven. He is sovereign and he is still righteous, testing the righteous and condemning the wicked. His purpose will triumph, and the upright will behold his face. So what should the saint do at these times? As David says in the first verse, “In Yahweh, I take refuge.”

What Can the Righteous Do?

— We do not know the particular crisis in David’s life

— But the crisis is the image of hidden enemies and friends who offer advice to flee to the mountains

We would say, “Your enemies are lying in wait for you. You won’t even see the blow coming. The best thing you can do is get out of their reach for the time being.”

— The most intriguing part of the opening stanza (vv. 1-3) is the classic question which the righteous ask time and time again

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (v. 3)

— We should remain righteous and not flee to the mountains

Where Should We Look?

— To whom should the righteous look? To the LORD

— In Psalm 8 we learned to look up to the Lord and not down to the beasts

— They look “in his holy temple” and “on his heavenly throne” ( v. 4 )

— When we see temple we think of the temple in the OT but it had not been built in David’s time

— The context of Psalm 11 makes it clear that David is thinking of the temple of God in heaven from the Almighty looks down upon “the sons of men” to “examine them” ( v. 5 )

Where Will We Be?

— What can the righteous do?

— David has looked at God

— Now he looks ahead to the future

— The last phrase is anticipation of seeing God face to face

— Strangely, many commentators seem reluctant to admit that David anticipated seeing God in heaven face to face

— They say that OT saints had an incomplete view of the afterlife (supposedly)

— David has just spoken about the future judgment of the wicked

Psalm 11:6 “Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.”

— What is called for now is a parallel statement of what the same all-seeing God will do for those who are righteous

— They will see God!

— For those in Christ this is certain

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

Psalm 12

The saints must know that God’s timing is always perfect. There are times when the situation seems dire. The holy man ceases, the wicked speak worthless and boastful words, and the righteous plead with God to counter the ungodly and their speech. God sees the right moment and hears the prayers of His own, and so He arises to give the salvation that the saints have prayed for. Thus, in contrast with the wicked, God’s words are pure and the saints should trust in Him even when depravity peaks in the world around them.

False Words or Faithful Words

— This psalm is about the use and abuse of speech

— The psalmist begins by describing the use of words by wicked people in order to deceive and oppress others

The Words of the Wicked

— The psalm begins with the psalmist feeling isolated

— This psalm is attributed to David, and there were surely many times in his life when David felt like this

They Lie

— The Hebrew word for lie does not mean exactly what the English word means

— This words includes the idea of “emptiness,” thus including also the additional ideas of insincerity and irresponsibility

— The best expression is “empty (or vain) talk and vanity”

— This is the essence of most cocktail-party conversations

They Flatter

— Flattery goes beyond mere emptiness because it contains the additional element of a corrupt or evil motive

— There have been periods of history when flattering speech has been developed to a high degree, as in diplomatic or courtly language

— King Solomon must have endured a great deal of it in his court because the Book of Proverbs warns often of flattery

— (e.g., Prov 26:28; 28:23; 29:5)

— Daniel says that flattery is a tool that the wicked world ruler will user in the last days ( Dan 11:32 )

They Deceive

— The Hebrew text literally says “They speak with a heart and a heart”

— This is idiomatic

— We would say, “talking out of both sides of our mouths”

— In our current times, the abortion debate is heavy with deceiving language

— God’s image bearer is now a fetus

— People who want to kill a baby call it “Reproductive Rights”

— People have the right to reproduce

— The have it whether they are married or unmarried, young or old

— The issue in abortion is whether they also have the right to kill the ones thus reproduced

They Boast

— This is an inward expression of the deadly sin of pride

— Those who boast make three claims

— “We will triumph with our tongues” — “We own our lips”

— “Who is our master?”

The Words of the Lord

— Now the psalmist turns to the words of God

— v. 5 and v. 6 speak to the struggle over the authority of the Bible in our day

— One view is that the bible is the Word of God without flaw

— The second view is that the Bible is the words of men

— Helpful but not inerrant

— The third view is that it a mixture of God and men

— This view holds that scholars must sort out which is which

The infidels of the ages have beat upon this rock. But the Word of God stands firm, and in the end, like Voltaire, unbelievers are broken by the rock rather than breaking it

Standing on the Rock

— We find something at the end of this psalm that is characteristic of many psalms

— At the end nothing has changed

— The wicked are still “freely strut[ting] about”

— But God has answered and the psalmist realizes that, regardless of what others do, he has the word of the reliable God as his rock

— He is able to stand on this firm foundation

Psalm 13

How long o Yahweh is a familiar cry of saints who feel at times that God has forgotten or hidden Himself, who feel alone or crushed. They pray desperately that God will answer lest they die. But the true antidote to these times of loneliness is to remain steadfast in one’s trust in God. While we pray the enemy not rejoice over us even for a moment, we know we will rejoice in God’s salvation.

How Long? How Long?

— This psalm reveals increasing intensity and even apparent desperation

— In Psalm 12 David felt abandoned by godly or faithful men

— Here he feels vagabonded even by God !

— Many people feel that no one caries for them and since no person cares, God must not care either

— Not much Christian literature about abandonment

— Not even covered in Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Abandonment and Dejection

— The psalm starts with an intense feeling of abandonment

Psalm 13:1 “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?”

A Prolonged Struggle

— The most important thing to note is the words “How long?

— It is repeated four times in the first two verses

— We may not understand but we know that God has reasons for being silent

— We must be patient

Lack of Apparent Blessing

— A second cause of depression is a prolonged period in which the blessings of God seem to have been removed

— If God’s face is not shining on us, it is saying that his blessings have been removed

Dark Thoughts and Uncontrollable Emotions

— The third time that David brings up “How long?” he refers to a combination of dark thoughts and uncontrollable emotions

— When our emotions take over it is hard to get back on course

—Disquieting emotions can be causes by physical illness

— Charles Haddon Spurgeon suffered from gout, marked by painful inflammation of his joints and an excess of uric acid in his blood

— In this same category can be placed all forms of physical tiredness, mental fatigue, and strain

Turning the Corner

— How did David get out of his depression?

— The turning point was prayer ( v. 3 )

Psalm 13:3 “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,”

— For the true child of God there is always some awareness of this truth

When all things seem against,

To drive us to despair,

We know one gate is open

One ear will hear our prayer

Psalm 14

This psalm declares the breadth and depth of human depravity. No one is good, and all act corruptly and abominably. Yahweh Himself looks down to see if there are any good and His omniscient conclusion is that all have turned aside and are worthless. Man is depraved. One aspect of man’s wickedness is that he fails to see how God will defend the righteous; his plans against the godly will ultimately fail. In the midst of terrible human depravity, God will be the refuge of His own. Hence, the psalmist prays that the fullness of this salvation would come soon, and all God’s people join in that request.

Ship of Fools

—When something is repeated more than once its important

— That is the case with Psalm 14.

— This psalm is repeated almost entirely in the Book of Psalms itself

— Psalm 53 is nearly an exact duplicate (only v. 5 and v 6 are different)

— Romans 3:10-12 contains this psalm

—Anything God says twice demands our attention

— How much more when it is repeated three times!

The Fool Speaks about God

—The psalm is about atheism

— The first verse is what the fool says about God

— The English translation inserts “there is” to make it more readable

— The Hebrew literally reads “No God”

— Not only does he not believe in God, but he also acts on his conviction

— Why is he called a “Fool”

— Paul’s commentary on Romans answers the question

— He is a fool because he knows there is a God and yet chooses to deny it

— How do we know God?

— Paul answers that question: because of God’s revelation in nature (Rom 1:20)

— Nothing in nature reveals God’s saving qualities, i.e.: love, mercy, and compassion

— What is revealed is God’s “eternal power and divine nature”

— What God has revealed leaves man without excuse (Rom 3:19-20)

— Why would any sane person reject God?

— Paul argues that people “suppress the truth” (Rom 1:18)

— Men hate God and love their sin

Hebrew, like English, has quite a few words describing those who are unwise. They correspond to words like simple, silly, simpleton, fool, and madman. The word used in this verse is nabel, which embraces the idea of a foolish but also an aggressively perverse personality. Folly expresses itself in evil acts. There was a man in the Bible who was called Nabal. he was the husband of Abigail, who later became the wife of King David. Nabal was churlish and perverse, so much so that he almost got himself killed by David, though he was saved by his wife’s intercession on his behalf. Abigail herself said of him, “He is just like his name — his name is Fool, and folly goes with him.” (1 Sam 25:25). Nabal perished suddenly and miserably.

It is always this way. H.C. Leupold rightly says, “Atheism bears its proper fruit in rotten conduct”

God Speaks about the Fool

—Having permitted the fool to speak about God, now it is God’s turn to speak about the foo

Psalm 14:2–3 “The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.”

— David describes God literally “bending over to look down upon” such folly

— Notice that in the first verse all men in their unregenerate state are addressed

— “the sons of men” that is all men, not just atheists or fools

— And it is more than acknowledging God

— It is every single aspect of man

— It involves their spiritual understanding, their seeks after God, and their morality

The Way of the Fool

—The third stanza is the way of the fool which we now seen to be the way of the entire human race apart from God’s special, saving intervention

— We never seem to learn

— We will not learn that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut 8:3; cf. Matt 4-4; Luke 4:4)

— And we are prayerless

— We “do not call on the Lord”

— We are all occasionally also “overwhelmed with dread” (v. 5)

— This is an inner psychological dread

— To support this see Psalm 53:5 which is an exact repetition of this psalm

— After the words “There they were” Psalm 53 inserts “where there was nothing to dread”

— In other words, the fear described is an inner fear, occasioned by no visible cause

Calm Hope of Deliverance

—The psalmist does not shudder

— He knows that “God is present in the company of the righteous” and that “the Lord is their refuge” ( vv. 5-6 )

— It is not possible for us to get to that quiet position of trust and confidence by ourselves

— How do we do that?

— The Sunday school answer! Jesus!

— Paul tells us that Jesus, “who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30)

Psalm 15

A sanctified life in this life can sojourn with God. Integrity, righteousness, and truth should be found in how he walks, acts, and thinks. Purity should be found in his speech, and commitment in his words. The true worshipper must be sanctified in what he appreciates and what he despises. This is true character and one who truly dwells with God; he will never be shaken.

The Question of the Psalm

—David asks “who may dwell in your sanctuary?”

— In other words, what is the character of the person God approves?

— This is a question about godly living not rustication

— If we ask "How can a man or women be right with God ?” there is only one answer

— But if we ask “What is the character of the women or man God approves?” the answer clearly involves the moral law

— David gives an answer in verse 2-5 that is representative but not complete

— One way to know this is to compare this list with the lists provided to almost identical questions in Psalm 24:3-4 and Isaiah 33:14-17

The Person God Approves

—What type of character does God approve of?

— There are six characteristics, one for each couplet of the psalm

His Character

Psalm 15:2a “He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

— The first part expresses it negatively

— “He whose is blameless” or without blame (NIV)

— The second half expresses it positively

— He “does what is righteous”

— The second part of the parallel almost always adds something to the original thought

— The upright person not only has a passively upright character, as it were

— But he or she is actively doing righteousness

— Justification can never be separated from regeneration, and regeneration that produces genuine faith always also expresses itself in right action (James 2:14-17)

His Speech

—The second couple deals with the approved person’s speech

— The first line tells us what he does, the second line what he does not

Psalm 15:2b-3a “And speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue”

— He or she tells the truth

— This person is telling it like it is

— He is not saying what others want to hear

— You might call this person trustworthy

— Second, a person like this does not slander other

— He does not gossip

His Conduct

—Similar to the previous couplet but moves beyond words to action

Psalm 15:3b-4a “Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a reprobate is despised”

—There is a much in common between speaking truth and not slandering another and doing a neighbor no wrong and casting no slur on him

— The difference seems to be that the idea moves beyond mere words to actions

His Values

—The fourth couplet also deals with our responses to other people

— Here the idea is not so much how we treat them but we regard them

— It has to do with values

Psalm 15:4b “But who honors those who fear the Lord; He swears to his own hurt and does not change;”

Q: Who do you look up?

Q: Whose actions and character do you find offensive?

His Integrity

—The fifth couplet contains an incomplete parallelism in which two additional parts need to be supplied mentally

Psalm 15:4c “ He swears to his own hurt and does not change;” or “who keeps his oath even when it hurts” (NIV)

— If we were given a fuller form, it would read something like this:

who keeps his oath [at all times]

[and is faithful] even when it hurts

— There is never a problem keeping your word when it is to your advantage

— But what about when the circumstances change?

— Do you honor your promise then? Or do you find some way to get out of it

— The psalmist says that God approves people who keep their oaths even when it hurts for them to do so

His Use of Money

—The final characteristic of the person who is after God’s heart is that he or she has a right approach to money

Psalm 15:5 “He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.”

— This verses is not about receiving interest from money

— Rather, with whom the interest is taken from

— In other words, greed eclipsing justice

The reason fro the first half of verse 5 is not simple denunciation of lending money for interest is that the OT prohibited this only in the case of Jews taking interest from other Jews (Deut 23:19-20), and this is usually explained as a prohibition against a wealthy person taking advantage of one who is needy (Exod 22:25; Lev 25:35-37). Also, the Lord’s parables about the talents suggests that God did not prohibit borrowing money for legitimate business matters. The best OT illustration of the abuse of verse 5 is talking about is in Nehemiah 5, where the wealthy were taking advantage of the poor among the exiles when all should have been helping one another. The poor complained to Nehemiah, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards . Although we are the same flesh and blood as our countryman and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery… We are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others” (Neh 5:4-5). The problem was that those who had money were putting their personal gain before the well-being of their neighbors. They were putting money before people

— Taking bribes is another example of putting money before people

—This is a crime against justice

— It corrupts the both the criminal and civil courts

Psalm 17

Like the previous psalm, this too deals with resurrection. The resurrection not only ministers to the saint in giving joy (Ps 16), but also in trial when deadly enemies surround him (Ps 17). The reason the psalmist pleads with God for justice, desires still to please God, and is confident that God will deal with the enemy is because the psalmist knows he will behold God after he dies. There is ultimate victory. And so, unlike the wicked whose portion is this life, the psalmist looks to that which is beyond this life.

The Prayer of a Righteous Man

— This is a model prayer

— It is urgent, perceptive and moving

— It models prayer by the way the psalmist uses arguments to make his appeal to God

— This is something preachers in an earlier day used to urge on members of their congregations

— Not because God needs to be persuaded to help his children

— But because arguments force us to carefully think through what we are asking and to sharpen our requests

The Psalmist’s Innocence

— This is a request for protection and deliverance

— It contains urgent appeals to God to listen

— “hear,” “listen,” and “give ear” (v. 1)

— “give ear to me and hear my prayer” (v. 6)

— “show me the wonder of your great love” (v. 7)

— “keep me as the apple of your eye” (v. 8)

— “hide me in the shadow of your wings” (v.8)

— “rescue me from the wicked by your sword” (v. 13)

— But most striking is that David protests his innocence and argues that on the basis of that God should hear and answer

— This is the first argument (vv. 1-5)

— We, who live in a more introspective and self-conscious age, are easily troubled by David’s boldness

— We have been taught to pray, “Forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4)

— And to say, even in our triumphs, “We are [at best] unworthy servants” (Luke 17:10)

— It is important to distinguish that David is not claiming perfect innocence

— Only innocence of what wrongs he has been charged

— He wants “vindication” (v. 2)

Still, I do not want to dismiss this matter quite that easily. In Psalm 17 we are seeing how David uses arguments in prayer, and one of these arguments, an important argument, is that life of the praying person is above reproach. In other words, this is the positive side of the warning found in Isaiah 59:1-2.

Isaiah 59:1–2 “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (emphasis added)

Open and unconfessed sin is a great prayer barrier. An upright life is a strong basis for appeals.

— One of the most important exercises of prayer is self-examination to determine whether we are approaching God rightly

— It is along these lines that Paul says we are to “examine ourselves” before participating in the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:28)

— Are we being disobedient?

— This is what Isaiah 59 is talking about when it says that God will not hear us when we cherish sin in our hearts

— Are you defying God’s moral law? Are you neglecting the Lord’s day? Having you been stealing? Committing sexual sins? Coveting something that is not yours?

— Remember how Jesus asked, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)

— Are we being selfish?

— Our prayers often go beyond what is fitting and right

— Pray for others needs before your own

— Are we neglecting some important duty?

— Sins of neglect are real sins

— Provide for you family especially your immediate family so that your prayers are not hindered (1 Tim 5:8)

— Is there a wrong we should first make right?

— If you have wronged another person make it right (Matt 5:23-24)

— Are our priorities in order?

— David speaks of his priorities in vv. 3-5

— He is determined not to sin in words or walk in the way of violent men

The Love of God

— David appeals to the covenant-keeping love of God (v. 7)

— It is more powerful in Hebrew than in English

— The word translated “love” is actually hesed, which refers to a covenant

— It is the covenant-keeping love revealed to Moses, David, and other OT believers

— Verses 6-9 echo two of the “Songs of Moses” from the Pentateuch (Exodus 15, Deut 32)

— The connection is more evident in Hebrew than in English

— “working wonders” (Exod 15:11)

— “your right hand” (Exod 15:12)

— “your unfailing love” (Exod 15:13)

— This is where the phrase “apple of your eye” and “in the shadow of your wings” come from (cf. Deut 32:10-11)

The Danger involved

— David speaks about this danger in vv. 10-12

— They have no mercy and they are surrounding him

— They have tracked him down and they are intent on his destruction

The Final Appeal

— David ends with a final appeal

— There are different kinds of parallelism in Hebrew poetry and this one is called chiasm

— From the Greek letter chi, which written looks like an X

— It follows the form A,B; B, A

— The form is a noun (subject), verb; verb, noun (object)

— Psalm 15:3 is an example of chiasm

“who does his neighbor no wrong

and casts no slur on his fellowman...”

— As he closes, in verses 13-15, he reverses the order by describing his enemies a second time and then repeating his claim of innocence

— It is great to be able to pray this way — not to be sinless, or course, but to be so close to the Lord that we can approach him with an upright heart and then, having prayed, go back to the affairs of this world still knowing that we are right before him

Psalm 18

David richly contemplates the significance of God’s work of salvation. God’s salvation is dramatic as God majestically swoops in David’s dire need. He rides the cherub, with darkness, and raining down hailstones and coals of fire. Later on in the Psalm, David notes that God does not only rescue him from danger, but even allows him to conquer his enemies. They fall under this feet, and even the world serves him. At the center of the psalm and the salvation it describes is David’s godly relationship with the Lord. David has kept the ways of Yahweh and Yahweh strengthens him. A right relationship with God is vital. In the end, David knows that God’s work of salvation does not stop with him. Rather, it is to David and his seed forever, to the Messiah and through that to all of the Messiah’s people.

My God is My Rock: Part 1

— The longest psalm to this point

—This is a thanksgiving psalm

— It follows psalm 17 which is a lament and this is a pattern that we will see again

— This is also a “kingship” psalm and David looks beyond the earthly kingdom to God’s promised Messiah

— Paul quotes 18:49 as the first of four prophecies to show that Christ came for the Gentiles as well as the Jews ( Rom 15:9)

The Psalm has six parts:

— Praise to God (vv 1-3)

— The Psalmist Deliverance (vv. 4-19)

— The Reason God Delivered David ( vv. 20-24)

— An important Principle (vv. 25-29)

— The Story of David’s Deliverance told again (vv. 30-45)

— Praise to David’s Rock (vv 46-50)

The Historical Setting

— The title of the psalm is unusually long and points us to 2 Samuel which is the historical setting

— The psalm is duplicated in 2 Samuel 22.

— First, there is the dramatic deliverance from King Saul

— Saul dies by his own hand after a disastrous battle with the Philistines

— David becomes king at the beginning of 2 Samuel

— Second, David is delivered during his years of fighting Israel’s enemies

— 2nd Samuel 8 lists David’s victories over the

— Philistines

— Moabites

— Arameans of Damascus

— Edomites

— Third, David is delivered from his son Absalom

— This psalm is placed in 2 Samuel 22 after this moving recital of the events of David’s life

Section One: Praise God (1-3)

— One kind of metaphor relates to David’s military victories

— God is his “strength,” “shield,” and “horn of salvation”

— Other is related to when David fled to God who is his “rock,” “fortress,” “deliverer,” and “stronghold”

— The Rock metaphor is most dominant

— The great classics professor at Auckland University E.M. Blaiklock wrote that

— The rock is a source of protection in the hot, sandy lands of the bible where life struggles against the merciless elements

— When the spring rains come a light carpet of green is doomed to be scorched a few weeks later

— But set a rock in the sand and it becomes an oasis (the leeward side)

— Similarly, a man traveling through the desert during the hottest hours can find shade in the rock’s shadow

— This idea is presented in Isaiah 32:2

Isaiah 32:2 “Each will be like a refuge from the wind And a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.”

— Jesus used the image of a house built on a rock to contrast the life built on sand versus a life built on a rock (Matt 7:25)

Section Two: The Psalmist’s Deliverance (4-19)

— In this section David tells what God did for him

— What is most impressive about this section is the magnificent way the psalmist describes God rising from his throne in heaven in response to the servant’s cry,

— Parting the clouds

— Descending to fight the king’s battles (vv. 4-6)

— Accompanying earthquakes, thunder, storms and lightning (vv. 7ff.)

— Verses 7-11 use language associated with the descent of God to Mount Sinai to give the law through Moses

— The author of Hebrews describes Sinai as “a mountain… burning with fire… darkness, gloom and storm,”

— So terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear” (Heb 12:18-21)

— Verses 12-14 refer to God’s intervention in the battles against the Canaanites

— This is the time when God sent giant hailstones against the Jews’ enemies (Joshua 10)

— Verses 14-15 undoubtedly refer the parting of the Red Sea at the time of the exodus from Egypt

Section Three: Why God Delivered David (20-24)

— God delivered David because of the upright manner in which he lived

— Since these words were written near the end of David’s life, these words immediately raise a question of how David could say this in life of his sin with Bathsheba and against her husband Uriah

— How could he claim to have been “blameless” and to have “kept [himself] from sin” in view of this sad episode?

It is a good question, but the answer is probably to be seen in the following verses, which we will consider more fully in the next chapter. In those verses David broadens what he says about himself in verses 20-24 to express the principle that God honors righteousness and judges sin even in this life. This is not a promise that the righteous will always prosper. Some suffer the experience of Job. It does not even mean that there is anyone who does right all the time. But as a general principle, when we live for God and try to go in his way, he cares for us and blesses us. When we go our own way, we bring misery and destruction on ourselves. This is all David is saying

Their Rock and Our Rock

— One of the great sermons of the American evangelist D. L. Moody was on God being our Rock

— It was not based on Psalm 18 but Deut 32:31 which the KJV renders:

“For their rock is not our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges”

— What caught Moody’s imagination was the second part of the verse: “even our enemies themselves being judges”

— Moody argued that in times of trouble the objects trusted by unbelievers fail them

— They concede that they do not find the help in their gods that Christians find in ours

— Atheists, pantheists, etc. find nothing to hold onto

— “Their rock is not our Rock” and they confess it

How different it is for Christians! We do not live perfect lives, and we stumble many times, sometimes dreadfully. But when we come to the end of life and look back on it, as David has done in this psalm, we confess that whatever our failings may have been, our God has not failed us. We confess as a true saying, ‘if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he annot disown himself. (2 Tim 2:13)

My God is My Rock: Part 2

— The psalm has six parts

— But what is interesting about this structure is that the second half, parts 4-6, repeat the first half, though in reverse order

— Part 4 repeats part 3, broadening the principle

— Part 5 repeats part 2, this time telling the story of David’s deliverance from his rather than God’s perspective

— Part 6 repeats part 1 begins and ends with praise

— In the second half of the psalm we pick up messianic overtones

— v. 49 is quoted by Paul in Romans referring to Jesus Christ

Section Four: An Important Principle (vv. 25-29)

— In order to understand this section, we need to backup to the section where David explained the reason for his deliverance by God

— He said that Lord rewarded him for his righteousness (v. 20) and because he “kept the ways of the Lord” (v. 21)

— We raised the question of how this is possible in light of his great sin with Bathsheba

— But as we said his claims about himself must be understood in conjunction with a general principle which now unfolds in section four (vv. 25-29)

— The principle is that, as Leupold puts it:

God very appropriately deals with every man as that man deals with him. god lets man, as it were, choose the pattern after which he will be dealt with…If a man keeps faith with God, he will find that God “keeps faith” with him (v. 25). If a man’s conduct is blameless — and it should be noted that this is a typically biblical mode of speaking also in the New Testament (Luke 1:6) — he will never find a thing that he can blame God fro. The same holds true with regard to a “pure” man (v. 26) or, as we might say, a sincere man. God is bound to meet him with an approach that is in turn entirely pure

— The principle applies for the opposite characteristics as well

—Translators have had difficulty rendering the second half of verse 26 (“to the crooked you show yourself shrewd”)

— It is easy to say that when a man exhibits a good characteristic toward God, God shows the same good characteristic to him

— But if a man shows an evil characteristic, can God really show an evil characteristic back? Hardly!

— The translators of the NIV used the word shrewd in place of the original word (twisted)

— The idea seems to be that if a person “insists in going devious ways in his dealings with God, God outwits him, as that man deserves.

Section Five: The Story Retold (vv. 30-45)

— This is a repetition of vv 4-19

— Spurgeon said, “Second thoughts upon God’s mercy should be and often are the best”

— In the second telling of God’s deliverance David describes in common terms what God’s intervention meant to him personally

— It meant in short, that God provided for his every need

— The terms are physical

— His feet (v. 33)

— His hands (v. 34)

— His arms (v. 34 )

— His ankles (v. 36)

— Verses 37-42 describe the extent of his victories: complete and total

— Verses 43-45 make it clear that his victories were due to God’s intervention and provision

— We may not need strength for battle but whatever we need God will provide

— is it wisdom?

— God is the source of wisdom and we are told to pray for it (James 1:5)

— Is it peace in the midst of trouble?

— God is the source of peace

— Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you” (John 14:27)

— Is it love? Joy? Patience?

— The Bible says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23)

— Paul wrote, “And my god will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” ( Phil 4:19)

Section Six: Praise to My Rock (46-50)

— We return to the beginning: Praise God!

— The theme that God is the Rock reappears

— “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!”

— Verse 49 is used by Paul in Romans 15 to show that Jesus brought salvation to the Gentiles as well as the Jews

— It is one of four verses that Paul uses

— The others are Deut 32:43, Psalm 117:1 and Isaiah 11:10

Psalm 22

This psalm provides a panoramic view of the Messiah’s suffering. We can see His agony on the cross in depth as He bears God’s wrath, mocked by those around Him, and is physical torn apart. The way David describes it, the Messiah will surely die; God lays Him down in the dust of death. But then the Messiah declares that He will declare the name of Yahweh to His brothers. He will be delivered from death in resurrection. And He will reign forever as all the ends of the earth come to worship Him. These people, who live although they could not keep their soul alive, will declare that Christ has done it. Indeed, as our Lord will later say, it is finished.

The Psalm of the Cross (Part 1) (1-19)

— Some psalms were written out of illness

— But psalm 22 is not a description of an illness

— It is a description of an execution, particularly a crucifixion

— Crucifixion was not practiced in the time of David or for many long centuries afterwards

The Hours of Darkness

— David, being a prophet, foresaw and spoke in this psalm of Jesus sufferings

— This is also a psalm upon which Jesus seems to have meditated as he hung on the cross

— As Jesus was being led through the street of city to the cross what was Jesus thinking?

— He seems to be thinking of other people

— When he saw a women weeping he said, “Do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28-31)

— He prophesied of the terrible days to come

— When the soldiers drove the nails through his hands and feet he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)

— His words to the dying thief: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” ( Luke 23:43)

— He entrusted his mother to John saying “Dear women, here is your son,” and to John, “Here is your mother” (John 19:26-27)

— In none of these did Jesus seem to be thinking of himself but of others

— All of this changed at noon when the skies drew dark as if the door between the Father and Jesus was shut

— First, Jesus cries out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” which means, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34)

— This was a quotation from Psalm 22

— Second, John tells us that Jesus, “knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled…said, ‘I am thirsty’ (John 19:28)9

—This could possibly refer to Psalm 69:21

Psalm 69:21 “They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

— Third, just before he died, Jesus said “It is finished” (John 19:30)

— This quotation is the last verse of Psalm 22.

— As Jesus was dying on the cross he was deliberately reviewing these passages in his mind to be sure that he had fulfilled them completely

The Suffering Savior

—There is an alternating pattern in the psalm

— The first, third and fifth sections describe Jesus’ suffering

— The second, fourth and sixth are prayers to God

Christ’s Cry of Dereliction (vv. 1-2)

— The suffering One cries out to God, believing he has been forsaken

— He receives no answer

— Jesus was indeed forsaken by God while he bore the sin of the people on the cross

— This is the very essence of the atonement

— Jesus bearing our hell in order that we might share his heaven

Memory of the Past, Part One (vv. 3-5)

— God has always shown himself faithful to those who trusted him

— “Will he not therefore also be faithful to me and deliver me, even though I am forsaken now,” the psalmist seems to be asking

The Mockery of the Crucifixion ( vv. 6-8)

— This third section moves to the scorn of the people

Psalm 22:8 “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.””

— These words, as well as the gestures were produced precisely at the crucifixion

— “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matt 27:39-43)

Memory of the Past, Part Two (vv. 9-11)

— The prior stanza was a memory of God’s faithfulness to and deliverance of the fathers

— Here it is a memory of God’s faithfulness to himself

Psalm 22:10 “Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb.”

The Physical Suffering (vv. 12-18)

— The most striking section of the psalm is the description of the crucifixion

— C. I. Scofield describes it well

Psalm 22 is a graphic picture of death by crucifixion. The bones (the hands, arms, shoulders, and pelvis) out of join (v. 14); the profuse perspiration caused by intense suffering (v. 14); the action of the heart affected (v. 14); strength exhausted , and extreme thirst (v. 15 ); the hands and feet pierced (see v. 16 … ); partial nudity with the hurt of modesty (v. 17), are all associated with that mode of death. The accompanying circumstances are precisely those fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ. The desolate cry of v.1 (Mt. 27:46); the periods of light and darkness of v. 2 (Mt. 27:45); the contemptuous and humiliating treatment of vv. 6-8, 12-13 (Mt. 27:39-44); the casting of lots of v.18 (Mt. 27:35), were all literally fulfilled. When it is remembered that crucifixion was a Roman, not a Jewish, form of execution, the proof of inspiration is irresistible.

— Not only the physical aspects of the crucifixion are described but also aspects of those abusing Christ

— They are “strong bulls of Bashan,” “roaring lions,” and “dogs”

— This suggests why people do these things

— Sin is murderous and sinners have hatred in them (cf. John 8:44)

— A special word should be said about verse 16

Psalm 22:16 “For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.”

— It is well known that the Masoretic (or vowel-pointed) text of the Middle Ages doe not actually read “pierced”

— As it stands, the word in the text should be rendered “as a lion” which makes no sense

— The Septuagint (Greek) translation of the Old Testament was produced a century or two before the Christian era and therefore an unbiased witness render the word “pierced”

— Second, the other major versions also translate it this way

— This suggests that the Masoretic text was deliberately pointed in the way it was by later Jewish scholars to avoid what otherwise would be a nearly inescapable prophecy of Jesus’ crucifixion

The Turning Point (vv. 19-21)

— At the end of verse 21 the suffering Savior find his communion with God restored

— “You have heard me!”

— The NIV does not capture this well and instead says “save me” when it literally means “you have heard”

— This is a cry of triumph not despair

Died He for Me?

— Now the psalmist begins to celebrate the great victor on the cross

Q: What that atonement for you?

— Charles Wesley asks:

And can it be that I should gain

An interest in the Savior’s blood

Died he for me, who caused his pain

For me, who him to death pursued?

— Wesley knew that Christ indeed died for him

‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me

— The question is, has it found out you?

— It is a wonderful thing to know that Jesus died for sinners

— Yet a person can still perish because he or she has not trusted in Jesus personally

— Have you? Will you?

The Psalm of the Cross: Part 2

Jesus and His Brothers

— Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22, referring the verse to Jesus

— The author of Hebrews shows that Jesus is superior

— He is superior to the angels

— He is superior because he is not merely a servant, as an angel is

— He is superior because he has been appointed ruler of an everlasting kingdom and all things are subjected to him

— And he has become the Savior of his people by become like them and making them members of his own family

—This is the point (Heb 2:12) that Hebrews quotes this psalm

Psalm 22:22 “I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.”

— The quotation tells us how to interpret the psalm

— It tells us that Jesus is the speaker, not just in this verse but throughout

— And it tells us that the “brothers” (and sisters) of the psalm’s second half are those for whom he died and rose again

An Expanding Congregation

— Verse 21 says “you have heard (or answered)”

— This is a turning point and it must be associated with the passing of the period of darkness

— Jesus has not yet died, that comes at the end (verse 31) where Jesus said “it is finished”

Psalm 22:31 “They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.”

— Before Jesus died he was already assured that the Father had heard him and that his atonement was accepted

— Untold generations of people would be saved and would become his brothers and sisters because of what he had suffered

— The second half of the psalm is a soaring anticipation of the growing and triumphant church

My Brothers (vv. 22-24)

— These are Jewish people

— “you descendants of Jacob” and “you descendants of Israel” make this clear

— The principle is clear: “first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Rom 1:16)

The great assembly (vv 25-29)

— There is an expansion from the Jew to the Gentile

— The parallel phrases in verse 27, “the ends of the earth” and ‘the families of the nations,” make this progression clear

—The great banquet in which the invited guest did not come is an example of the message going to the Gentiles (Matt 22:1-4; Luke 14:15-24)

— The story of the workers in the vineyard also has the salvation of the Gentiles in mind (Matt 20:1-16)

— They are the ones hired last, paid equally, and therefore resented by by those who labored throughout the day as the Jews had

Future generations (v. 30)

— There is a reference to “future generations” and to “a people yet unborn”

— The point is the gospel breaks all boundaries and has a universal value

— The poor (v. 26)

— The rich (v. 29)

— He is thinking of untold generations of people down to the very end of time

“You shall be my Witnesses”

— The final section describes the attitudes of those who enter into his salvation

— It is for those who humble themselves and trust Jesus

— Those who fear the Lord (vv. 23, 25)

— seek the Lord (v. 26)

— bow down before him (vv. 27, 29)

— Those who believe will also be witnesses

— “They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn”

— That is our task

— To trust and tell others - until Jesus comes again

Psalm 24

In context, Psalms has described the Messiah as the suffering king (Ps 22) and the shepherd king (Ps 23). And in Ps 24, David describes the Messiah as the sovereign king. He not only will suffer for and shepherd His own, He will be welcomed as the ruler over His own. That is because Yahweh owns the world and its fulness. This is also why God summons true worshipers. God’s people must be spiritually prepared to welcome their King. As Ps 24 says, the saints must not lift up their soul to worthlessness so that they will lift up a blessing even as the gates lift up their heads to join in welcoming the Savior. One day, God’s people will welcome Him in such a worthy way and in the meantime, we anticipate that day by worshipping the King in spirit and truth.

Letting the King Come In

— This may have been written to the occasion of David bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6)

— However, that is not nearly as significant as when Christ entered the city on Palm Sunday

— Interestingly, the ancient rabbinical sources tell us that, in the Jewish liturgy, Psalm 24 was always used to worship on the first day of the week

— The first day of the week is Sunday

— We may assume that the temple priests were reciting this psalm on the very time the Lord mounted a donkey and ascended the rocky approach to Jerusalem

—Outside the wall the people exclaimed:

Matthew 21:9 “The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;

Hosanna in the highest!”

— Inside the priests were intoning:

Psalm 24:9–10 “Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory?

The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.”

A Clearly Messianic Psalm

— Some of the psalms are ambiguous but this is not

— This psalm speaks of opening the gates of Jerusalem to “the LORD”, to “the King of glory”

— It describes the entrance of God into his holy city of Jerusalem, though in terms of an earthly king after a military victory

Part One: The Earth is God’s

— The opening is not strange so long as we understand it as a warning not to think of God in exclusive nationalistic terms

— Even the disciples after the resurrection asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

— Their understanding of the kingdom was restricted ethnically to only Israel

— Jesus had to tell them that his kingdom would extend to the whole earth (Acts 1:8)

— The opening verses of Psalm 24 are an Old Testament expression of this truth

Part Two: Who May Come to God?

— Who may come to a holy God

— The answer to this question is in verses 3-6

— The one who may approach God will have clean hands and heart and does not lift up his soul to an idol (v. 4)

— A “pure heart” refers to inward holiness (cf. Matt 5:8)

— “Clean hands” is one who is holy in deed (that is outward and inward)

— Has a right relationship with God; he worships God, not idols

— What will such a person find when he comes to God?

— He or she will find “blessing from the LORD”; second, “vindication from God his Savior” (Psalm 24:5)

— This is the OT expression of justification by faith

Part Three: The Coming of the King

—The final section describes the entrance of the king into Jerusalem

— In verses 1-2 the earth is prepared for his coming

— In verses 3-6 the people of the earth are prepared

— In verses 7-10 the king comes

— The King came on Palm Sunday and the people let him into the city and the temple

— But with their hearts they didn’t really let him

— The way for you to respond is to let the King come in. Will you do i t?

Psalm 25

This psalm describes the heart of one who hopes in Yahweh. Such a person trusts in God. He desires God to lead him in His truth and knows God is good for He does lead the humble in justice. Such a person asks Yahweh to remember mercy but not his sins which are many. He asks for total forgiveness for sin. Such a person fears Yahweh, his eyes are continually on Yahweh, and Yahweh will deliver him. Such a person hopes not only for himself but hopes for God’s redemption for Israel and by extension all God’s people.

A Bible Acrostic

— Each of the verses begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet

— The first verse begins with aleph

— The second verse begins with beth, and so on

— The other psalms that do this are 9-10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119 and 145

Q: Why is the acrostic method used?

— There are several explanations, but one is as a learning device

— As soon as we look at the psalm we discover that the theme that ties it together is “learning”

— Each of these verses has to do with guidance

— So we could rightly say that the psalm is a school-book lesson on how to live so as to please God and to be blessed by him

Trusting to the End

— The word shame provides a context for what David is saying

— It occurs three times in the opening verses

— once in verse 2 and twice in verse 3

— To understand what David is talking about we have to realize that the Bible sues the words shame and ashamed differently than we do

— In fact the primary biblical use is not even in most dictionaries

— The unique biblical idea s that of being let down or disappointed or of having trusted in something that in the end proves unworthy of our trust

— There are a few places where this meaning is unmistakable

Romans 5:5 "hope maketh not ashamed” (KJV)

— This means the Christian hope will never be illusory

— The NIV recognized this meaning and rendered it “hope does not disappoint us”

Isaiah 49:23 “Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.”

Isaiah 28:16 He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”

But why should there even be a thought of his being abandoned by God, particularly if he is writing as a mature believer, as I have suggested he is? There are two reasons, and this is where the psalm comes around to where we can easily understand it. First, David is surrounded by enemies. He mentions them explicitly in verses 2 and 19 (“Do not… let my enemies triumph over me,” and “See how my enemies have increased”); he refers to them indirectly elsewhere by mentioning the threat they pose (“only he [God] will release my feet from the snare,” v. 15). Second, David is conscious of his sins, particularly the sins of his youth, which he asks God to forget (v. 7). He speaks of these “iniquity” in verse 11 and as being many (“all my sins”) in verse 18.

It is easy to identify with these two problems, especially as we grow older and come to know ourselves better than we did when we were young. When we were younger we considered ourselves equal to almost anything. We did not fear anyone, and we were not aware of the sins we committed or of which we now know ourselves to be capable.

Now we know that we do have formidable enemies. The world is our enemy. It is opposed to every good and godly thing. The devil is our enemy. The Bible tells us that he is “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44) and that he “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Then, as if that were not enough, we have an enemy within, even our own sinful natures together with the memory of the sins we have committed. What if our enemies should prove to be too strong for us? What if they should succeed in drawing us down to their level or causing us to abandon our former trust in God? Or what if God, remembering our past sins, should in the end be unwilling to save and help us?

Haven’t you ever felt like that? If that should be the case, then in the end we woudl be put to shame. We would be abandoned.

In God’s School

— David knows that God will not let that happen

— But it is not something that merely works itself out automatically

— Verses 4 and 5 show what is needed is to know the truth and know the ways to walk if were are to be pleasing to God

— Psalm 1 and Psalm 25 complement each other

— Psalm 1 gives us the two roads

— Psalm 25 tells us that walking on the right road is not an easy road

— it is lined with enemies who would love nothing more than to put us to shame

— the and traveler is also plagued with internal doubts

— How does he arrive at this settled confidence that God will instruct him and lean him unerringly on this road?

— Here are the things David has learned about God

God is faithful (v. 3)

God is characterized by truth (vv. 4-5)

God is his Savior (v. 5)

God is merciful and loving and has been “from of old” (v. 6)

God is good and upright (v. 8)

Again, God is loving and faithful in all his ways (v. 10)

God is forgiving (v. 11)

God is open with his people and freely confides in them (v. 14)

God is gracious (v. 16)

God is powerful to rescue his people; therefore he is one in whom they can take refuge (vv. 15, 20)

How to Receive God’s Blessing

— What must we do in order to receive God’s Blessing?

— David provides the answer

Humility (v. 9)

— verse 8 says that god will instruct sinners in his ways because he is good and upright

— But first we must know that we are sinners

Psalm 25:9 “He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.”

— There is no promise in the Bible that God will teach an arrogant mind, on the contrary God opposes the proud (Jame 4:6; cf. Prov 3:34)

Obedience (v. 10)

— The reason why do many of us don’t lean much is because we are not ready to obey him

Psalm 25:10 “All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.”

— We must be committed to obedience before God unfolds his loving and faithful ways to us

Reverence (vv. 12, 14)

— Reverence is necessary if we would know him

Psalm 25:12 “Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.”

Psalm 25:14 “The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant.”

Expectation (v. 15)

— He is telling us that if we want to be taught by God, we must get into the habit of looking to him regularly

Psalm 25:15 “My eyes are continually toward the Lord, For He will pluck my feet out of the net.”

Psalm 26

This psalm begins and ends with David declaring that he has and will walk in integrity. It describes what such a walk looks like. True integrity is ultimately before God who knows the heart. True integrity is found in who we associate with, in how we worship, and how we love Yahweh. Such integrity, given by God’s grace, is why the believer can ultimately rely upon the Lord for justice and that He will not take him away with the wicked. Those who walk in integrity are firm on level ground and bless Yahweh.

Standing on Level Ground

— One “Level Ground” is from verse 12 in the NIV

— And verse 1 of the KJV says “therefore I shall not slide”

— Putting these two together teaches that the one who trusts God will have a level foundation

The Way of the Righteous

— It is not his own reputation but God’s reputation that he covets

— He has been trying to obey God

— What he is asking is that God will show by the quality and steadiness of his life that a moral life is always best

— For the sake of God’s own honor and for the good of those who may be looking on

— We need people who not only talk the walk but walk the walk

If that is that the case, then you need to become more serious about the Bible’s teaching and begin to walk in God’s ways more closely. If you are a true Christian, you know that the problem does not lie in God or the teachings of the Bible but in our own lack of faith, devotion, and obedience. And you should pray for God’s testing, trying, and examination, with the goal of a godly life, as David expressed it in another of his great psalms (Psalm 139:23-24)

— What are the ways of the “blameless” or righteous life?

Separation from Wicked People (vv. 4-5)

— This reminds us of Psalm 1 where he describes the happy person “who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers” (v. 1)

Psalm 26:4–5 “I do not sit with deceitful men, Nor will I go with pretenders. I hate the assembly of evildoers, And I will not sit with the wicked.”

— We are constantly surrounded, not merely by sinners but by people who actually delight in doing evil

— If we are often in the company of the unrighteous, we will be dragged down by them

C.S. Lewis writes:

Many people have a very strong desire to meet celebrated or “important people,” including those whom they disapprove…But I am inclined to think a Christian would be wise to avoid, where he decently can, any meeting with people who are bullies, lascivious, cruel, dishonest, spiteful and so forth. Not because we are “too good” for them. In a sense because we are not good enough. We are not good enough to cope with all the temptations, nor clever enough to cope with all the problems, which an evening spent in such society produces.

Audible Testimony to God’s Nature and Deeds (vv. 6-7)

— These are verses expressing praise at the temple

— Praise is pleasing to God and we should audibly praise God

Love for God’s House (v. 8)

— We should love God’s house and God’s people

— We see David choosing the company of God’s people rather than the company of sinners

Final Separation

— if we have any doubts about the possible self-righteousness of the psalmist, they should be dispelled by the prayer’s closing stanza

Psalm 26:9 “Do not take my soul away along with sinners, Nor my life with men of bloodshed,”

— David has separated himself from those who are wicked in this life

— Now he wants God to separate him from them also in judgment

This is how Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it:

If you have prayed this prayer, if your character be rightly described in the psalm before us, be not afraid that you ever shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two things that David had — the outward walking in integrity and the inward trusting in the Lord? Do you endeavor to make your outward conduct and conversation conformable to the example of Christ? Would you scorn to be dishonest toward men or to be undevout toward God? At the same time, are you resting upon Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope? if so, then rest assured, with the wicked you shall never be gathered… but [your] feet shall stand in the congregation of the righteous in the day when the wicked are cast away forever

Psalm 28

This psalm is a cry for God to take action. Sometimes in life it feels as if God treats His own no different than the wicked. So the psalmist pleads that he would not become like those who go down into the pit and that God would not drag him away with the wicked who harbor evil in their hearts and whom God will tear down. Instead, the psalmist blesses Yahweh because he asked God to hear his supplication and he does. In truth, God does not treat the psalmist as the wicked. He is his strength and shield. He is the shepherd of His people

Hope in God Alone

— Psalm 27 ended with the admonition to “wait for the LORD”

— This is something we have to do better

— The Lord does not respond to our prayers according to our timetable

— Jesus told the story of the judge who cared nothing for the law, or other people, but because of the widow’s constant appears he gave her justice (Luke 18:1-8)

— Jesus was not teaching that the Father is an unjust judge or is indifferent to the cries of his people

— On the contrary, his attitude is the exact opposite of the magistrate

— For this reason alone we should be bold and persistent in praying

An Appeal to Be Heard

— David asks God to no longer “remain silent”

— It must be because has been silent for a while

— David is appealing to him to break silence and speak to him at last

— If God remains silent, “I will become like those who go down to the pit” (V. 1)

— His plea is for justice upon the wicked (vv. 3-5)

— If God refuses to answer his prayers, how will David differ from the dying godless who have no relationship with God?

— If we really believed that we were perishing apart from hearing the voice of God, as David apparently did, wouldn’t we study the Bible more?

— And wouldn’t we pray more?

The Psalm’s Petition

— The central stanza caries David’s actual petition (vv. 3-5)

— This is an example of the many places in the psalms in which David (or another writer) asks God to judge the wicked

— This is something that many people object to

— Didn’t Jesus tell us to not judge others and to forgive them ? (Matt 7:1-5; Luke 23:34)

David is not self-righteous in these statements

— We are not to judge others when we have a log (sin) in our eyes (Matt 7:1-5)

— David has already approached God acknowledging his own sinfulness

— But more to the point, he begins her (vv. 3-5) not with an appeal to judge the wicked but with the request that God keep him from being dragged along into their evil plans

— He knows that he is capable of doing the same thing

David is never able to speak merely as a private citizen, but speaks instead as God’s appointed king, Israel’s judge

— A private citizen can forgive a person who has done him or her wrong

— But that is not a valid option for a judge, which is what David was

Evil should not prosper

— We should pray that evil plans be frustrated

— And all who do persist in evil should be stopped and in the end judged

It is important for the sake of all who are watching that right be vindicated

— David asked God to vindicate the right way

— He wants to prove that the way of the ungodly does not succeed

— They will see that “crime does not pay”

Where Are the Nine?

— David knows that the fate of the evildoers is sure

— He immediately praises God for what he has done and will do (vv. 6-7)

— We must be persistent in our prayers and be equally careful to thank God afterwards ( Luke 17:17-18)

A Final Broadening Stanza

— David personal psalm now broadens to include all the Lord’s people (vv. 8-9)

— This should be a pattern for us

— We should thank God (vv. 6-7)

— We should expand our prayers to request that other receive the same benefits

Psalm 29

This psalm marvels at the glory of God in a thunderstorm. We ascribe glory and strength to Yahweh as we behold His power as He thunders from heaven. His might in the storm is so powerful it shatters mighty trees, encompasses regions, regulates creation in both destroying forests and causing births. God’s sovereignty is the storm is the same sovereignty He had in the global Flood. And the psalmist reminds believers that such strength is what God daily gives to His people. While storms can cause fear, they are an encouragement for the believer because they testify that God is in control, and what is on display is the kind of power that daily empowers every believer.

An Extraordinary Poem

— This psalm is unlike any other psalm to this point

— It consists entirely of praise to God

— This psalm is pure poetry

— If you do not have a poetic spirit, you will not appreciate this psalm

Glory in the Highest

— The psalm opens with a two-verse introduction in which heavenly beings are called upon to praise God

— David feels that he needs help to praise God properly

— To praise God adequately the entire created order must join in, and even then sufficient praise will be lacking

— David’s appeal to the angels also indicates something significant about worship

— First, we must ascribe him glory, acknowledge his supreme worth with our minds, and worship

— Second, we must worship or bow down to him which means subordination of our wills and minds to his

The Passing of the Storm

— The second stanza of the psalm (vv 3-9) contains the description of the storm

— In verses 5-7 the storm strikes, moving down from Lebanon

— These verses describe the damage down to the great cedars of Lebanon, where were an important symbol for strength in the ancient Mediterranean world

— The storm is fierce and it seems to make even the mountains tremble

— In looking back over this description of the storm, we notice that its chief feature is “the voice of the Lord,” a phrase that occurs seven times

— Although David is describing the majesty of God as revealed in the storm, what he is chiefly concerned with is the power of God’s voice — and not just thunder!

— We think about God in creation when God said, “Let there be ...” and it was so

— The power of the voice of God is also revealed when he calls in grace to draw sinners to himself

Peace on Earth

— The earth may have been shaken but God is not shaken

— The last stanza speaks explicitly of the voice of God in judgment

— Psalm 29:10 is the only place in the OT where this particular Hebrew word for flood occurs except in the classic flood narrative (Gen 6-9)

Psalm 29:10 “The Lord sat as King at the flood; Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.”

— The English word should be “deluge” or “the flood”

— Every Jew would know the flood story

— The verse probably means: “The Lord sat enthroned over the Genesis flood, continues to be enthroned, and will be enthroned forever”

— The only people that will be ready for the coming judgment are God’s people to whom the Lord “give strength” and “blesses…with peace” (v. 11)

This is the very pattern of Psalm 29, as Franz Delitzsch noted more than a hundred years ago. It begins with the angels singing praise to God in heaven: Gloria in excelsis. And end with the blessing et in terra pax, that is, “peace” to those on whom his favor rests

Psalm 33

This psalm declares praise to God who reigns by His Word. God’s Word is what created. He spoke and it was. God’s Word is also what rules creation. The nations may think they have counsel and plans, but God’s Word nullifies them and overcomes. That is why a king is not saved by an army or strength. Rather, only in Yahweh is deliverance and salvation. So all the saints should fear Him, patiently wait on Him, be glad in Him, and trust Him. They should remember and be in awe of His Word which is ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 1:1) who creates and rules over all (Col 1:15-16).

A Call to Worship

— This is a praise psalm for everyone despite the Psalter being considered “Israel’s Hymnbook”

— This is one of the few psalms without a title

— The lat time that occurred was at Psalm 10.

— Psalm 9 may have originally come under the heading of Psalm 9 and the two belonged together

— They are actually printed together as on psalm in eight Hebrew manuscripts as well as in the Septuagint (Greek) and the Vulgate (Latin) version of the OT

— As a result, numbering of the psalms is different in Roman Catholic Bibles, which are based on the Vulgate

— The first three verses call for worship

— The last three verses (vv. 20-22) are a conclusion in which the worshipers declare their intention of waiting trustingly on God

— In between is the body (vv. 4-19), in which the Lord is praised for his word and works

— This is the first time that musical instruments are mentioned as being employed in worship

— Nehemiah even had the equivalent of an orchestra (Neh 12:27)

— v. 3 calls for a “new song”

— Every praise should song should emerge from a fresh awareness of God’s grace (cf Pss 96:1; 98:1; 149:1)

God’s Words and Works

— The body of the psalm (vv. 4-19) expresses the psalmist’s praise to God

—The opening verses tell us that God is praised for his word and his

Psalm 33:4 “For the word of the Lord is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness.”

— v. 5 the “righteousness” and “justice” God loves are not the practice of these virtues by human beings

— Though God does love the pursuit of these virtues by men and women

— Rather they are the righteousness and justice that God demonstrates in his dealings with mankind

There are six qualities of God in these verses — rightness and truth (which describe his word) and faithfulness, righteousness, justice and unfailing love (which describe his actions). However, each of these is seen in all of God’s words and works. God’s words and God’s work always go together

How different it is with us. We say one thing and do another, so that we are inconsistent at best and hypocritical or blatantly dishonest at our worst. God is utterly consistent, always upright, and consistently good. Thus he is always to be praised for everything he says and for everything he does. There are no areas of his speech or actions for which he can be faulted.

Creation and Providence

— This section contains two subjects that are closely related

— Creation

— Providence

— Both are examples of the way the word and works of God go together

— Creation (vv. 6-9)

— Genesis tells us that God created the heavens and the earth by speaking

— The psalmist says that “by the word of the LORD” and by “the breath of his mouth” the heavens were created

— This is fiat creation, creation by the naked word of God, and is entirely different from and infinitely superior to anything we can do

— No wonder the writer says:

Psalm 33:8 “Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”

— Providence (vv. 10-11)

— This is the ordering of all things by the secret counsel of God

— This echos Proverbs 19:21 “Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand.”

— From a NT perspective we can’t help but remember that God’s purpose for us is to make us like his Son (Rom 8:28-30)

The Nation Whose God is the Lord

— The next section describes God’s special care for his people (vv. 12-19)

— There are three blessings for his people

— God’s watchfulness over us

— The Lord “sees all mankind” (v. 13)

— He “watches all who live on earth” (v. 14)

— “he who forms the heart of all, who considers everything thing they do” (v. 15)

— God is keeping an eye on us so he can intervene in a timely way to counsel, help and redirect us and thus keep us from wandering off the right path and doing wrong

— God’s protection

— The second blessing is that God protects his people

—There are probably many deliverances that are unknown to us because God has prevented them

Q: What about temptations?

— The Bible tells us that that there are temptations that God turns aside before they can reach us (1 Cor 10:13)

— If he did not, we would certainly fall into them

— God’s preserving care

— This leads to the third blessing

Psalm 33:19 “To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine.”

— God preserves us with food, health, and other necessities for our physical survival

Hope in the Lord

— If God is powerful and good it would be foolish not to trust him

— Therefore, we should “wait in hope for the Lord” and “trust in his holy name” (vv. 20-21)

— No one who trusts in the Lord is ever disappointed

Psalm 34

Psalm 34 is a rich meditation on the goodness of God and how one should live in light of that. Yahweh delivers people from their dread; He saves the poor man; and the angel of Yahweh even encamps around those who fear Him. His goodness abounds to His people and so they should taste and see that He is good. Those who want to see such goodness should guard their lips, depart from evil, and seek peace. Yahweh’s eyes are on the righteous and those who are brokenhearted. While evil slays the wicked, Yahweh will deliver His slaves.

A Poor Man’s Rich Legacy

— This psalm is tied to the incident when David “pretended to be insane before Abimelech” (1 Sam 21:10-15)

— David was fleeing King Saul and went to Achish, the home of Goliath

— Just before going to Gath he received Goliath’s sword which must have been an offense to the Philistines

— David seems to have been in danger because the story says that he was much afraid of King Achish and he pretended to be a madman

— This psalm is quoted twice in the NT

— Peter quotes it as a promise of God’s blessing those who live a godly life (1 Pet 3:10-12)

— John quotes it has having been fulfilled at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion: “he protects all my bones” not one of them will be broken (John 19:36)

An Invitation to Praise

— The introduction is an invitation for all the upright to praise God

— Corporate worship is one of the natural instincts of the new life of Christ in God’s people

— David says extol the Lord “at all times” (v. 1)

— It is easy to praise God when times are good

— It must therefore mean even in times like those of 1 Sam 21

— David was prepared to praise God even when he was in fear for his life

This Poor Man

— The second part (vv. 4-7) contains David’s own testimony

— David was at the lowest point of his life up to this point

— He had to part from this friend Jonathan who confirmed that Saul wanted him dead

— David was alone

— He was with out food and came to the priests at Nob for food

— And when David escaped from King Achis and hid in the caves of Adullam, he was still utterly alone

— No wonder David described himself as “this poor man” (v. 6)

— This is a psalm for all who are alone or destitute — for you, if you have nothing at all or are not even sure what you will live long

— It is for people who find themselves at the absolute low point in life

— Or find themselves between a rock, which in this case was King Saul, and a hard place, which was King Achist

— it is for you when everything seems against you

— First, there is trouble

— David speaks of his many “fears” (v. 4)

— And “all his troubles” (v. 6)

— Second, there is prayer

— “I sought the Lord” (v. 4)

— and I “called upon him” (v. 6)

— Third, there is deliverance, the answer to his prayers

— “The LORD… answered me; he delivered me” (v. 4)

— “The LORD heard [me]; he saved [me] out of all [my] troubles” (v. 6)

— Fourth, his life became radiant with the joy of being in the care of God

Psalm 34:5 “They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed.”

— David’s circumstances did not immediately change

— He was still a fugitive and was in danger

— The promise of prayer does not mean that God will change everything difficult in your life

— But he will preserve you for as long as he has work for you to do

— God did deliver David from Achis and he did preserve his life

Try it and See

— “Taste and see that the LORD is good”

— I found him to be good, David says

—He delivered him from all his fears and enemies

— He wants us to experience his provisions as well

The Fear of the Lord

— This section beginning in verse 11 has many biblical parallels with the Book of Proverbs (chaps 1-11)

— Its theme is the them of Proverbs, namely “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov 9:10)

— Part 1 provides instruction (vv. 11-14)

— Part 2 is a summary (vv. 15-22)

Q: What is the fear of the Lord?

— David is saying the fear of the Lord is doing right, that is, it involves obedience

— Being a Christian does not mean a trouble-free existence

— P. C. Craigie writes, “The fear of the Lord is indeed the foundation of life, the key to joy in life and long and happy days. But it is not a guarantee that life will always be easy…It may mend the broken heart, but it does not prevent the heart from being broken; it may restore the spiritually crushed, but it does not crush the forces that may create oppression”

Psalm 35

There are times when God judges the wicked in this life. The trap they set out backfires upon them. Knowing this to be true, David prays that God would intervene against malicious witnesses who have risen against him without cause. He is an innocent sufferer. He prays that God would not let these foes triumph. The result of this is not merely vindication for David but that all the saints declare that Yahweh should be magnified. Indeed when God’s people see such innocent suffering fulfilled in Christ, that is the only result for it magnifies God’s power in salvation.

No One Like You!

— This is another imprecatory psalm in which the writer asks God to pour out judgment on his enemies

— We find these prayers for God’s judgment on the psalmist’s enemies in four psalms especially, Psalms 7, 35, 69, and 109, though imprecations like these are also found elsewhere

— They seem to grow in vehemence as your read through the Psalter

— Psalm 7 is the mildest

— Psalm 109 is the worst

A Balanced Appraisal

— How are Christians to think about these imprecations?

— Many commentators says that there is a difference between the OT and NT

— They say that the new attitude of forgiveness was introduced by Jesus

— Jesus did tell us to forgive our enemies and that there is nothing like that in the OT

— This not a satisfying answer

— First, the author is David and he was not known for exacting vengeance on his enemies, but rather forgiving them

— Saul is the best example of this attitude

— Probably the best OT parallel to Jesus’s attitude toward his enemies at the time of his arrest and crucifixion

— Second, in the imprecatory psalms David claims to be innocent of that for which he is being attacked

— He was not always innocent, and when he was not he confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness

— Third, although the tone of the OT and NT is different, the rejoicing of the righteous at the fall of the wicked is nevertheless not entirely absent

— The chief example is the joy of the righteous at the fall of Babylon in Revelation 18 and 19

— The text says, “Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you” (Rev 18:20)

— The hosts of heaven rejoice as the smoke from her goes up for ever and ever (Rev 19:3)

— And Jesus also pronounced a terrible catalogue of woes upon the teachers of the law and the Pharisees recorded in Matthew 23.

— I suggest that we need a balanced view of the subject

— In my judgment the chief thing to note is that, in Psalms 7, 35, 69 and 109, David is not writing as a private citizen but as the king and judge of Israel

— The judgment he calls for is a righteous judgment upon those who, by opposing him, oppose God and godliness

— A policeman, judge, governor or president must deal with people differently than I might deal with them

A Three-Part Psalm

— The psalm is divided into three parts

— vv. 1-10

— vv. 11-18

— vv. 19-28

— In the introductory stanza (vv. 1-3) David introduces two images for what he wants God to do on his behalf

— The first is an image of a court of law

— He wants God to be his advocate

Psalm 35:1 “Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; Fight against those who fight against me.”

— The word contend refers to an attorney’s plea for his client

— The second image is a battlefield

Psalm 35:2–3 “Take hold of buckler and shield And rise up for my help.

Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me; Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.””

Part One: A Battle

— In his description of the battle his enemies have been scheming to take his life

— They “seek my life” (v. 4)

— They have hidden a net for him or dug a pit (v. 7)

— David is asking that the violent meet a violent end, poetic justice

— The unusual thing is that David calls on “the angel of the LORD” to pursue these enemies (v. 5)

Q: Who is the Angel of the LORD?

— He first appeared to Hagar, when she was about to perish in the desert after having run away from Sarah, Abraham’s wife

— Hagar called the angel of the Lord “the God who sees me” (Gen 16:13) thereby identifying him as more than an angel

— He also appeared to Abraham to stop him form sacrificing his son on Mount Moriah (Gen 22:11)

— He probably appeared to him earlier to announce the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, though the precise phrase “angel of the LORD” is not used (Gen 18)

— There are three heavenly beings in that story; two are called “angels,” but the third is repeatedly referred to as “the LORD” (Gen 18:1, 10, 13, 17, 20, 22, 26, 33)

— Later he appeared to Joshua before the battle of Jericho and is referred to as “commander of the army of the LORD” rather than angel (Josh 5:14-15)

— He is probably also the one who is with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the blazing furnace (Daniel 3)

— In my judgment this figure is the preincarnate manifestation of the second person of the Trinity which is why he is regularly called “the LORD”

— It is also why he does not appear in the NT as “the angel”

— Instead, Paul on the road to Damasus

— Stephen at his death

— John on the Island of Patmos

— All saw the Lord Jesus Christ and not an angel of the LORD

Part Two: A Lawsuit

— In the second part (vv. 11-18) the image is a lawsuit

— David’s enemies are slandering him

— Even if there is no actual lawsuit — the slander was no doubt real, and David is pleading to the Lord to be his advocate

— David had gone out of his way to be kind to these people

— When they were sick, David interceded fro them with “sackcloth” and “fasting” as a mourner (vv. 13-14)

— He did good to these people (v. 12)

— But they returned “evil for good” (v. 12)

— They accused him of things he knew nothing about (v. 11)

— When he got into trouble they gathered around gleefully to mock his sad misfortune (vv 15-16)

Part Three: Deliverance

— In the last section (vv. 19-28) the images of a military threat and a lawsuit come together

— This may have been part of a complex plot to unseat him

— With some success apparently!

— Earlier his enemies were gloating (vv. 15-16)

— Now, the word gloat appears three times (vv. 19, 24, 26)

— David’s enemies are gleefully saying we have seen it with our own eyes

Psalm 35:21 “They opened their mouth wide against me; They said, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!””

— These are false accusations

— David appeals to God’s omniscience, saying, “O Lord, you have seen this” (v. 22)

Our Great Adversary

Q: How should we apply this psalm? Is it right to ask God to judge our enemies, as David did?

— David was not acting as a private citizen but as a king

— We must be careful about asking God to judge those who have offended us personally

— Nothing wrong with asking for justice on behalf of others who have been wronged

— We must be careful to pray for ourselves because we are seldom entirely innocent of wrong ourselves

— We must therefore always pray with a humble and contrite heart, asking God to reveal whatever fault may lie in us and so lead us in the way of righteousness (cf. Deut 32:35)

Psalm 36

Psalm 36 is a declaration of the richness of God’s greatness. It does so by contrast. Unlike God, man is twisted, filled with wickedness, and lowly. But Yahweh’s righteous and kind character is expansive, high as heaven, stronger than mountains, deeper than the ocean depths. He totally satisfies the godly and is our light. For God is great and man is small and so only by being small can one fully enjoy the greatness of God.

An Oracle

— In this psalm first the wicked are described (vv. 1-3), then the righteous (vv. 5-9) and then the contrast (vv. 10-12)

— The order is reversed from Psalm 1

— The psalm is introduced as an oracle which is almost always joined with Jehovah

—” An oracle of the Lord”

— But here the word Jehovah is replaced with “wickedness” or “transgression”

— Does this mean “an oracle of wickedness?”

— This is what it literally means which lead the translators of the KJV to render the verse “The transgression of the wicked saith with my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes”

— The NIV and NASB and others translate this as “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked”

— “transgression” is used as an objective rather than subjective genitive

The Way of the Wicked

— The insight of this psalm is not trivial, on the contrary, it is profound

— Paul had this psalm in mind when he composed the opening chapters of Romans

— Psalm 36:1-4 mirror what Paul’s outline of the fundamental problem of mankind and his opposition to God

— “There is no fear of God before his eyes” (Rom 3:18)

— they “suppress the truth about God because of their wickedness” (Rom 1:18)

— Their inevitable decline: “God gave them over” (Rom 1:24, 26, 28)

— The wicked’s true end: “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom 1:32)

— David’s great insight is that wickedness begins with the rejection of God

— David sees five steps in the decline of the wicked:

1) Having displaced God, the wicked person becomes the center of his or her own universe and is therefore self-deceived

— Nothing is more deceptive than to think that YOU are the center of the universe

— Some people know that there is a God but are still deceived

— Jonathan Edwards writes about these people

1. Some flatter themselves with a secret hope that there is no such thing as another world. 2. Some flatter themselves that death is a great way off…3. Some flatter themselves that they lead moral and orderly lives and therefore think that they shall not be damned. 4. Some make the advantages which they live an occasion of self-flattery…5. Some flatter themselves with their own intentions…6. There are some who flatter themselves that they do, and have done, a great deal for their salvation…7. Some hope by their strivings to obtain salvation of themselves…8. Some sinners flatter themselves that they are already converted

2) Having lost the necessary reference point for determining what is good or evil, the wicked person is unable to “detect or hate” sin

— It is one thing to recognize sin and not be able to reject it

— It is another to not even recognize sin and not be repulsed by it

— That is the problem with sinning “just a bit”

— In Romans Paul says that the downward path of sin brings us to the point where we eventually call the wrong right and right wrong (cf. Rom 1:32)

— In Isaiah the Lord pronounced six woes against the unresponsive people of Israel — the fourth woe is similar to Paul’s conclusion

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

3) Since he or she is unable to detect or hate sin, the wicked person is also unable to speak truth, be wise, or be good

— Sins of the mind eventually show up in one’s speech and conduct

— This is the exact opposite of the man in Proverbs, who does good because he has the fear of the Lord before his eyes (Prov 9:10)

4) Without any restraining influence from what is good, the wicked person becomes so abandoned to evil that he or she plots it by night as well as b y day and becomes thoroughly committed to an evil course

— At this point the wicked person is not merely drifting into evil ways

— He is inventing ways to do evil

— What a contrast to the man of God who spends his wakeful night meditating on God and his commandments (Psalm 1:2; 63:6)

5) In the end, the end the wicked person cannot reject what is wrong, even when it is apparent to everyone that it is wrong

— This is the closest point of comparison that Paul reaches at the end of chapter one in Romans

— Paul called this a depraved mind (Rom 1:28)

— This person approves evil and votes for the people whose platform is evil

— Our word for a person whose thinking is twisted like this is crazy

Progression into increasing abandonment to evil is marked by the verbs used in Psalm 36 to describe the wicked person’s actions. First, he “flatters” himself. Second, he “cease[s]” to do good. Third, he “plots” evil. Fourth, he “commits’ himself to a wicked course. J. J. Stewart Perowne traces this flow similarly, concluding that the wicked person’s “very conscience is hardened, so that he does evil without repugnance or misgiving.”

The Lovingkindness of God

— The psalmist turns to contemplating the attributes of God and the blessedness of those who find refuge in him (vv. 5-9)

— He lists four attributes and four blessings

Lovingkindness

— This is the word hesed, usually translated “unfailing love”

— This begins the list of attributes (v. 5) and closes it (v. 7)

— It also appears in the closing prayer (v. 10)

— Alexander Maclaren in a sermon on this psalm observed

All his goodness is forbearance, and his love is mercy, because of the weakness, the lowliness, and the ill desert of us on whom the love falls… The first and last, the Alpha and Omega of God, beginning and crowning and summing up all his being and his work, is his mercy, his lovingkindness.

Faithfulness

— The second attribute is faithfulness

— This has to do with God’s verbal revelation, for only a God who has spoken promises to mankind can be thought of as faithful

Righteousness

— By it David teaches that God is upright in all his ways

— As Abraham knew well, “The Judge of all the earth [does] do right” (Gen 18:25)

Justice

— He is not thinking of the final judgment

— He is thinking of God’s justice in human affairs

— Even the wicked experience a measure of these attributes (love, faithfulness, righteousness, justice)

— These things are for both the “high and “low” among men (v. 7)

— It is so broad that it includes “both man and beast” (v. 6)

— The scope of such grace only renders the rebellion of the wicked even more odious

The Blessings of the Righteous

— Now David lists four ways in which the righteous are blessed

Satisfaction

— David does not use the word “satisfaction” but that is what he means when he says righteous are feasting on the “abundance’ of God’s house (v. 8)

—Some commentators see this as the actual temple

— Others as heaven in line with Jesus saying “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2)

— In my judgment, the “house’ that David speaks of is the world in which we live and in which God’s blessings are ppoured out

Joy

— The word David uses here is delights

— The interesting thing about David’s word is that it is the plural of the word Eden

— He undoubtedly looks backward to the joys of our first parents before the fall

Life

— It is hard to doubt that John was thinking of Psalm 36:9 when we composed the prelude to his gospel

John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

Light

— “In your light we see light” (v. 9)

— Where is the light of God that we might find it and walk in it?

— A glimmer of it is found in nature

— It is what the heathen have but reject

— A steady beam is seen in the OT, pointing onward to him who is himself the light

— Yet the fullest revelation awaits the day when we shall see God in all his glory and be like Jesus, whom we will encounter face to face (2 Cor 3:7-8)

— MacArthur notes the significance of these two attributes (Life & Light)

It is likely that this phraseology bears both literal and figurative significance, i.e., God is the source of physical life and also spiritual life. The Lord is the sustainer of all light and life

Under His Wings

— David concludes the psalm with a prayers for others who know God and are upright (v. 10)

— And he prays for himself that he is not prideful or harmed by evildoers (v. 11)

What is the application of the psalm ?

— We have seen the application in v. 7

— What distinguishes the righteous from the wicked are not the good deeds of the godly

— Rather they, in distinction from the wicked, have taken refuge under the shadow of God’s wings

— That mercy is found in Jesus Christ who said:

Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!” 65

Psalm 40

David contemplates ultimate deliverance. When God achieves such salvation, He will lift people out of the miry clay, and put a new song in their mouths as He has made all things new. Such rescue can only be brought about by One who is truly obedient, and His tidings will truly be good news or the gospel. The only one who can fulfil this is Christ and for this reason, Isaiah uses these words to speak of Messiah (cf. Isa 42:10; 49:8; 52:7). At present, David continues to depend on His deliverer in the middle of his own trials, looking forward and anticipating the time when his sin and enemies be dealt with by the Savior.

Up from the Pit

— David reigned powerfully and well for forty years

— He was approved by God and was called “a man after his own heart” (1 Sam 13:14)

— Yet in Psalm 40 he describes himself as having been mired in a pit from which he was unable to escape

— This psalm is almost an exact replica of Psalm 70 (vv. 13-17)

— There are some diverse ideas if this psalm was originally two psalms

A Joyful Testimony

— The prophet Jeremiah was thrown into an empty but filled with mud and he sank into the “mud and mire” (Jer 38:1-13)

— What is your slimy pit?

The pit of sin

— Some people are caught in the mud and mire of sin

— Perhaps one sin has lead to another like David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11)

— Romans 1 describes the downward spiral of sin on people

— When you get caught in this spiral there is no point to which you will not go

— You need help

— Where is your help to come from if not God?

The pit of defeat

— This is the pit of personal defeat, whether work, school or your personal life

— God does have things he wants you to succeed at

— He will enable to you to succeed even if they are different than what you are doing now

— The place to begin is by laying your problem before the Lord, which is where David began

The pit of bad habits

— Some people are stuck in terribly destructive bad habits

— Addictive drugs, self-pity, and laziness

— These habits need to be broken and new ones take their place

— Where will you learn these new habits?

— From God who wants you to develop into the fullness of the character of Jesus Christ

The pit of bad circumstances

— The last example of a slimy pit is the pit of circumstance like severe trials

— Paul mentions these in 1 and 2 Corinthians

— There was no sin or defeats or even bad habits

— He was persecuted because of his stand for Jesus Christ (2 Cor 11:24-28; cf. 1 Cor 4:9-13; 2 Cor 6:4-10)

— Paul prayed to God who didn’t change the circumstances but gave him help

2 Corinthians 4:8–9 “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”

— God heard David and did six things (vv. 1-3)

God turned to him

Noticed his plight

God heard his cry

God lifted him out of the pit

God set his feet on a rock, giving him a firm place to stand

God placed a new song of praise in his mouth

Reflection on God’s Past Goodness

— David talks about h is personal experience of God’s goodness (vv. 4-10)

A recommendation of his own trust in God to other people (vv. 4-5)

— This section begins with words that are reminiscent of Psalm 1

— Why is the person who trusts in God a blessed person?

— The answer is in the next verse - because God has done great things for his people

Psalm 40:5 “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.”

— It is possible that someone could invite you to the best banquet in all the world

— Unless you taste it (“taste and see that the Lord is good” [Psalm 34:8]) you will never know how good it is

— It is the same with God’s goodness, trust him and see how good he is

A statement about the proper relationship of the trusting person to God (vv. 6-8)

— What is the right relationship of a person to God?

— It is a fully surrendered heart

— David lays out an important principle

— Obedience takes precedence over sacrifice (cf. 1 Sam 15:22; Isa 1:10-17; Jer 7:21-26; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-9)

— The words are well known because they are applied to Jesus by the writer of Hebrews (Heb 10:5-10)

— 40:6 is an interesting verse

— Some translations render this “but my ears you have” pierced, dug, opened

— Opened is a better rendition

— How many Christians have plugged ears!

— Or they may hear with their ears but not their hearts (cf. Matt 13:15; Mark 7:6, 21) which have become calloused

A faithful testimony (vv. 9-10)

— Do you wonder why the speech of some people is so vile?

— It is because their hearts are vile

Matthew 12:34 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”

A Prayer for Future Deliverance

— The final section is a prayer of future deliverance (vv. 11-17)

— While he has been delivered from trouble he continues to have trouble

— He needs further help

— As he writes about it, he knows that he is at least partly to blame since his “sins” have been part of the problem (v. 12)

— We live in a sinful, evil world

— Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble”

— But he added, “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33)

Psalm 41

“Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” (Matt 5:7) is the theme of this psalm. David begins by saying that based upon God’s commands, that those who consider the poor will be blessed. he then illustrates this in his own life. Though he even sinned and was worthy of punishment, he prayed to Yahweh to heal his soul, be gracious, raise him up, and uphold him forever. He prayed that he would be given strength as a king to overcome his enemies. The psalmist knows that God delights in him. Indeed, those who show mercy receive it, and the God who ordains all of this is blessed forever.

A Weak Man’s Strong Tribute

— This is the end of Book 1 (Pss 1-41)

— It is hard to know why the 5 books of the Psalter are divided this way

— There is a connection between Psalm 40 and 41

— 40 ended with the confession that the psalmist was “poor and needy” (v. 17)

— Psalm 41 picks up at this point with a promise of blessing for the one who has regard for needy people

— The theme of the psalm is “mercy” (v. 4, 10)

— A summary of the psalm is found in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7)

Blessed are the Merciful

— The psalm begins with the word blessed

— There are two ways the blessing can be taken

— It can be understood as an encouragement to show compassion on the weak

— Or as an objective statement that the psalmist did so and was blessed by God

— No doubt it is both

There are 7 things that God will do for the one who shows mercy

The Lord will “deliver him in times of trouble”

“protect him”

“preserve his life”

“bless him in the land”

“not surrender him to the desire of his foes”

“sustain him on his sickbed”

“restore him to health”

A Plea for Mercy

— This section begins and ends with “mercy”

— It begins, “I said, O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you”

— It ends, “But you, O LORD, have mercy on me; raise me up, that I may repay them.”

His enemies were hoping for his death (v. 5)

— David did have enemies

— At the beginning of his reign they were in the house of Saul

— Later, even his own son Absalom turned against him

His supposed friends paid proper courtesy to him while saying quite contrary things to others (v. 6)

— They said one thing to his face and something else once they left his presence

Instead of sympathizing with David in his illness, some attributed the illness to God’s judgment on him for some moral failure (vv. 7-8)

—The phrase “vile disease” literally means “a thing of Belial,” which suggests a moral evil

— In slandering David with this vague phrase they had nothing specific to point to

The worse thing of all was that David has been betrayed by his close friend (v. 9)

— This may have happened more than once in David’s life

— David was betrayed by his trusted counselor Ahithophel (2 Sam 16:15-17:23)

— Part of v. 9 was used by Jesus to explain the betrayal of Judas, saying that it was to fulfill Scripture (John 13:18)

The Psalmist’s Confidence

— vv 11-12 express the psalmist’s confidence in God even in the midst of sickness and the taunts and ill will of his enemies

— David know that the Lord will deliver him; he has lived by that standard

— David’s statement is even stronger than that because he uses the present tense

— “you are pleased with me”

— “my enemy does not triumph over me”

— “you uphold me and set me in your presence forever”

Amen and Amen

— Verse 13, the last verse of Book 1 of the Psalter is the final outbreak of praise

— Significantly, it is how each of the five books ends

Psalm 45

The underlying setting of this psalms is a royal wedding. However, the powerful themes in this moment causes the psalmist to turn heavenward. He extols the royal majesty of God and states that His throne is forever and ever. Though this is spoken at a wedding in the days of Korah, its heavenly focus looks forward to the end times and the fulfilment of the Davidic line, the Messiah. Indeed, this psalm is quoted in Hebrews (cf. Heb 1:8-9) to that very end and Scripture looks forward to the marriage supper of the lamb (cf. Rev 19:7-10). In preparation for that time, God’s people should heed the counsel the psalmist gave to the bride and groom in his day. May they leave their past life behind and be devoted solely to the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Messianic Wedding Song

— This psalm is unique and unlike any other psalm

— It was prepared for a royal wedding and it is at the same time messianic (cf. Heb 1:8-9)

Ancient Wedding Customs

— In ancient times the first step leading to a wedding was the betrothal

— Betrothal meant more than what an engagement means to us

— It was a legal procedure enacted before witnesses and involved taking an oath

— They could be called husband and wife, even though there had been no physical union

— It required something like a divorce to dissolve the union

— This was the case with Joseph and Mary at the time Jesus was conceived

— On the day of the wedding the groom and his attendants would go fetch the bride (first procession)

— This was followed by a second procession of the entire wedding party back to the groom’s home

— Back at the groom’s home their would be a great celebration that would last one to two weeks depending on status and wealth of the of the groom’s family

— Jesus’ parable about the five wise and five foolish virgins has as its setting such a returning procession and feast (they are awaiting the groom)

We have to keep these movements in mind as we study Psalm 45. In verses 2-9 we see the king coming for his bride. In verses 10-12 we find advice being given to the bride as she waits eagerly for her bridegroom. In verses 13-15 the bride is led out to the king, the procession makes its way to his home, and the wedding party enters the palace. The final verses are the poet’s personal blessing upon the marriage and its union

God’s Poet Laureate

— This psalm starts with a unique introduction (v. 1)

— The psalmist says how this “assignment” has stirred his emotions

— His is “a noble theme”

— He has been moved to pour all his skill into the effort

—His tongue is a brush that he uses to paint vivid word pictures

In Praise of King Jesus

— The psalm begins with praise of the divine King and bridegroom, who is Jesus (vv. 2-9)

1. The King’s character

— The king is called “the most excellent of men” (v. 2)

— In the ancient world the characteristics of a monarch would be physical attractiveness and gracious words

— Nothing new here. These are the exact characteristics of today’s politicians

— But it would be a mistake to limit this to outward attributes which are very low on God’s scale

— The psalmist mentions “truth, humility and righteousness” (v. 4) which Jesus excelled in

— There is no good quality, no grace that is not found to the highest possible degree in Christ

2. The King’s words

— When Jesus spoke he spoke with authority and charm

— “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (Jn 7:46, cf. Jn 6:68)

— His word had power to still the storms,

— send demons from those possessed

— restrain enemies

— draw men and women who were trapped in sin to faith

— They still do today

3. The King’s military victories

— Jesus’ victories were on behalf of “truth, humility and righteousness” (v. 4)

— Our victories must come in the same not, not by force or coercion

— Whenever the church has succumbed to the use of force as a way of asserting Christian values, as it did in the Middle Ages, it has lost the spiritual battle and become like the world, adopting the very evil it opposes

4. The King’s wedding

— The final verses turn to the wedding (vv. 8-9)

— Verse 6 calls for special comment

Psalm 45:6 “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.”

— There have been many attempts (and translations) to side step what is being said

— Hebrews 1:8-9 applies this to the incarnation of Jesus

Comfort for the King’s Bride

— While the bride awaits the bridegroom in joyful expectancy, she also has some anxiety

— She will leave her family and home forever

— The writer turns to the bride in a fatherly manner to reassure her that the future is bright

1. Forget the past

— As Christians we are called to do the same thing

Psalm 45:10 “Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house;”

— Abraham was told to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household (Gen 12:1)

— Jesus said we are to deny ourselves and follow him (Luke 9:23, 14:26)

2. Honor (obey) your lord

— Honor here literally mans to “bow down” (v. 11)

— This is a holy relationship in which the sublime love of the bridegroom for the bride and the humble reverence of the bride for the groom are both beautifully maintained (cf. Eph 5:22-33)

— This interruption doesn’t fly today!

3. Looking ahead

— Look to what the future holds for the bride of this great king

— Know that you made the right choice

— Honor will be given to her (v. 12)

— Joy and gladness (vv. 13-15)

— The climax is handled with modesty as the he himself seems to stop at the door, since:

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” ( 1 Cor 2:9)

“Yes, I Am Coming Soon”

— The psalmist now speaks of the blessings of anticipated children from this union (vv. 16-17)

— Are we doing as the psalmist did? Do we praise him who purchased us to himself to be his bride?

— Are we working to see that the nations come to honor him as well?

Psalm 48

This psalm is all about the greatness of Yahweh as seen in the greatness of the city of Jerusalem. The city itself is beautiful and as the psalmist recounts, defended throughout history. So the psalmist exhorts the saints to walk about Jerusalem for its existence is a testimony of God’s greatness, a greatness that will not only lead one on life but even over death.

City of Our God

— This song is called a “Song of Zion” because of its reference to Jerusalem as the “city of God”

— Many of the psalms praise Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God (cf. 46, 76, 84, 87, 122)

— But this psalm stands out

— The people are invited to walk around the city, count its towers, and meditate on the strength of its great ramparts

Psalm 48:12–13 “Walk about Zion and go around her; Count her towers; Consider her ramparts; Go through her palaces, That you may tell it to the next generation.”

— The city is to be a joy for the entire world (v. 2)

— And God is to be prised everywhere (v. 10)

In Praise of God

— The psalm begins and ends with a call for praise (vv. 1, 14)

— Psalm 8 does the same thing but is far more obvious (vv. 1, 9)

— That psalm repeats the phrase “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth”

— This psalm begins with a praise of God:

Psalm 48:1 “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain.”

— And it ends with a call to praise

Psalm 48:14 “For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death.”

— This may appear on the surface to be a call for praise of Mount Zion in the holy city, but on a deeper level, is it the praise of God

In Praise of Zion

— After the opening couplet of praise of God, the psalmist praises God’s city

1. Praise of Jerusalem

— When you approach Jerusalem you go up hill which is why the psalmist speaks of going “up” to Jerusalem

— The real beauty of the city was the beauty of the Lord, who has chosen to reside there

“God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress (v. 3)

2. Remembrance of a great deliverance

— How has God shown himself to be a fortress?

— The answer is, “by the recent deliverance of the city from our enemies”

— The specific reference to deliverance is uncertain, but whatever deliverance this might be, it seems to link Psalms 46, 47 and 48 together

(1) Possibly deliverance from the armies of ammon, Moab and Mount Seir in the days of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron 20)

(2) The deliverance from the armies of Sennacherib in the days of Hezekiah (2 Ki 18-19)

The most striking feature of the account of this deliverance is the use of four tense verbs in verse 5. In fact, the verb consists almost of these verbs. The effect is not vivid in the English translations as it is in Hebrew, particularly since the New International Version gives us only two sentences. But in Hebrew the words are similar to the well-known report of Julius Caesar about his victories in Gaul: Veni, vidi, vici (“I came, I saw, I conquered”). Only here the kinds did not conquer; they fled from the city in terror. The verbs literally say, “They saw [Jerusalem is implied]; they were dumbfounded; they were overwhelmed; they fled in panic.” The fast pace of the language captures the confusion and fearful flight that must have overtaken the enemy when God moved against them.

— Two images capture this panic (vv. 6-7)

— Like a women in labor

— The scattering of mighty ships by a fierce Mediterranean east wind (cf. Rev 18:17-20; Ezek. 27:26, 29-36)

Corporate testimony

— The people all join in corporate worship at what the Lord has done (v. 8)

— Now we had seen the power of God for ourselves which our father and mothers told us about

— This section ends with the testimony that God made the city of Jerusalem secure

— Remember that it is God who makes you secure too

— The psalm invites you to consider it since the section ends with the word selah

— This indicates a pause

Rejoicing in Zion

— The people are invited to walk around the city, counter the towers and consider the ramparts and citadels (vv. 12-13)

— The great Puritan theologian John Owen thought that heavenly Zion, the church, had 5 great bulwarks (ramparts)

1. “The designation and constitution of Jesus Christ to be King of the church, King of Zion”

— Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 11:15)

— If we belong to the Lord and his kingdom nothing will ever diminish our security

— Christ is the first great rampart of the church

2. “The promises of God, which are innumerable”

— God has promised to meet all our needs and give us all good things

3. “The watchful providence of God over the church”

— If we care about something, we will keep a watchful eye on it

— God’s watchful eye is on us

— He is able to care for, protect and preserve us

— Christ prayed for our protection on the cross

John 17:11” Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.”

4. “God’s special presence in his church”

— The ancient devout Jew was conscious of the presence of God in the city of Jerusalem (in the temple)

— We can’t say that about our cities or even our churches today

— But we have the assurance that his holy spirit is in us (Jn 14:16-17)

“The last bulwark into which all others may be reduced…the covenant of God”

— The greatest bulwarks is the promise that God established with us

— The writer of Hebrews tells us that the new Zion is superior to the old

Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;”

A Closing Couplet

— The last verse assures us that God of Zion is our personal God as well

— He will keep us as he keeps his church and his city

Psalm 49

In this psalm, the writer asks who he should be afraid of the wicked. Though they seem rich and strong and believe that their name will endure, they cannot redeem their life from death and Sheol. Indeed such as a redemption price is costly. But God will redeem His own. And so the psalmist urges the godly not to fear.

You Can’t Take It with You

— Usually, the NT is a commentary on a the OT

— But sometimes, it works the other way around

— This is a commentary on Jesus’s story about the rich fool (Lk. 12:13-21)

The Path of Wisdom

— This is a psalm about the emptiness of riches

— Trust in riches is a persistent and universal problem

— It tells the listener not only to be aware that death is the great leveler but also not to fear wealthy people

The Foolishness of Trusting Riches

— The foolishness of trusting wealth comes from the obvious truth that it cannot save a person from death (vv. 5-9)

— No man can save another from death by money (v. 7)

— The reason the psalmist speaks at this point of redeeming the life of another, which is impossible, is because later he will speak of God redeeming us

— The point is that only God can redeem us (v. 15)

The Inescapability of Death

— Even more foolish is to think that we will escape death (vv. 10-12)

Two men met in a streetcar one day and began to talk about a millionaire whose death had been announced in that morning’s paper. “How much did he leave?” one asked the other.

“Everything he had!” replied his companion

Years ago, when burial customs were a bit different from what they are now, people used to make the same point when they said, “Shrouds have no pockets.”

The Great Contrast

— The contrast betwen those who trust in riches and those who trust in God (vv. 13-15)

Those who trust riches

— Verse 13 adds a new and very important element, “their followers”

— It is to say that not all of the followers are rich

— They aspire to be rich, they are foolish

— You don’t have to be wealthy to perish, you can make money your goal and forget spiritual things

— Death is their shepherd in this psalm (v. 14)

Those who trust God

— One of the most remarkable things about this psalms and this section is the promise of eternal life (v. 15)

— Those who trust in riches will be buried and soon forgotten

— Those who trust in God will be redeemed by him and be taken to him to enjoy fellowship forever with him

An Appeal to Be Wise

— Do not be in awe of the rich to trust our soul’s eternal destiny to wealth (vv. 16-20)

— You can’t take it with you (v. 17)

A preacher was called to speak to a dying old miser who wanted him to pray for his soul but was unwilling to take his hand as he did so. They talked about the afterlife, and when the preacher asked him pointedly what he was actually trusting at that moment, the miser confessed that (even as he was breathing his last) under the bedclothes his hands were clutching the keys to his storage cabinet of treasure. He feared that his money would be taken from him when he died. It was why he would not take the preacher’s hand

Don’t be so foolish. Relax your grip on perishing treasures, and place your hand in the hand of Jesus, who died to save you from your sin.

Psalm 50

This psalm is an insightful rebuke for both righteous and unrighteous. The LORD reminds the righteous of true worship. It is not just about offering animals. God is not hungry. It is about thanksgiving, commitment, and recognizing God’s providence. But for the wicked, God reminds them that their superficial religion means nothing for they truly love evil in every regard. In His patience, God is silent and they assumed He was just like them. But that is not true and the LORD will judge if they do not repent. All should take heed of God’s rebuke for genuine and righteous worship.

The Mighty God, the Lord

— Psalm 50 is a judgment psalm

— The Bible is progressive revelation and this psalm is an example of that normal pattern (Ps 49 was the other way around)

— The theme of judgment spoken of in this psalm is clarified in the NT

1 Peter 4:17 “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

Summons of Judgment

— The opening verses are similar to God giving the law on Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16-19)

— This is a summons to God’s courtroom (v. 7)

— There are references to the eighth, seventh, and ninth commandments (vv. 18-19)

The names of God

— The first verse contains three names for God

— El - speaking of God as mighty

— Elohim - the object of religious fear

— Yahweh (Jehovah) - as the self-existent and covenant God

The universal scope of the impending judgment

— It extends to the whole “earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets” (v. 1)

— It includes “the heavens above, and the earth” (v. 4)

The sudden focus on God’s own people

— The summons is for God’s own people (vv. 4-5)

— It is not the heathen but God’s people that are in view (cf. 1 Pet 4:17)

The First Indictment: Formalism

— Rituals, whether NT or OT are for our benefit, not God’s

— They are rightful only when they invoke a spirit of thankfulness in the worshiper (vv. 14-15, 22)

— God does not need anything from us (vv. 9-13)

— Formalism without a right heart makes the sacrifices, which are otherwise good in themselves, detestable (cf. Isa 1:11-14; Jer 7:21-23; Micah 6:6-8)

The Second Indictment: Hypocrisy

— With verse 16 there is an unmistakable movement to a second class of people

Psalm 50:16 “But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth?”

— These are the alleged people of God; the hypocrite

— They recite God’s law (v. 16)

— But they actually hate God’s instruction and ignore the Bible’s precepts

You shall not steal (v. 18)

— The first commandment mentioned is the eighth

— We steal in small and large ways

— Stealing our employer’s time

— Robbing God of his worship

— We use the Lord’s day for our own pleasure rather than spiritual service and refreshment

You shall not commit adultery (v. 18)

— The second reference is to the seventh commandment

— This is broad and includes the outward sin of fornication

— The inner sin of impure thoughts or lust (Matt 5:28)

At this point there is a strong temptation for us to dismiss the force of the commandment. We live in an exceedingly lustful age, and we tend to excuse this sin on the grounds that if even thinking about adultery is adultery, then all are guilty and therefore it cannot be so bad. But notice that this is not what the psalm does. In the previous example, the psalmist condemned these hardened hypocrites not necessarily because they stole things from others, though they probably did, but because they joined the company of thieves. So also in this case. These alleged people of God are condemned not necessarily because they have been guilty of adultery themselves, though they may have been, but because they threw in their lot with adulterers. That is, they liked to hang around them. They liked their approach to life and their stories. My point is that the Bible does the very opposite of what we do. It does not lessen the force of the commandment; it heightens it. It condemns us for pretending to worship and enjoy God when what we actually enjoy is sin

You shall not bear false witness (vv. 19-20)

— The third and last commandment is the ninth (Ex 20:16, Dt. 5:20)

— It deals with truth

— The last verse seems to highlight the sad character of lying, namely, that it becomes a habit

— it becomes a habit that cannot be broken

— It becomes indiscriminate and against our “own mother’s son”

— We should be truthful with our loved ones but no one is spared

The Judge’s Final Charge

— The psalm ends with a charge to God’s real people and alleged people

— We are to remember that judgment is coming

— We are challenged to remember God by a repentance leading to thanksgiving

Additional Resources

Boice, J. M. (n.d.). Psalms. Vol 1: Psalms 1-41. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994)

MacArthur, J. (2023). Psalms. Hymns for God’s People. Harper Christian Resources.

C. H. Spurgeon. The Treasury of David, Vol 1 a, Psalms 1-26 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968)

C. H. Spurgeon. The Treasury of David, Vol 1 b, Psalms 25-57 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968)

C.H. Spurgeon. “The Saints Horror at the Sinner’s Hell” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 9 (Pasadena, Tex.: Pilgrim Publications, 1969)

C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1958)

Craigie, P. C., & Tate, M. E. (2004). Psalms 1–50 (2nd ed., Vol. 19, Word Biblical Commentary). Thomas Nelson

H. C. Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1969)

The New Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967)

Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, vol. 1, trans Francis Bolton (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.)

J.J. Stewart Perowne, Commentary on the Psalms, 2 vols in 1 (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1989), Original edition 1878-1879

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, vol 3, The Psalms, Isaiah 1-48 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959)

H. A. Ironside, Studies on the Book One of the Psalms (Neptune, N.J.: Loizeaux, 1952)

Webb, P. (Ed.). (2022). Psalms of grace. The Master's Seminary Press.

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of the Holy Scripture, vol. 3, The Psalms, Isaiah 1-48 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959)