SC Sermon - Psalm 9 (8.10.25)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your presence, O Yahweh, my rock and my redeemer.”

Continuing the series on the Psalms

Cultivating our (Saint Casper’s) theological and liturgical imagination.

Forming a foundation to build on.

As Shay mentioned last week, Psalms are not so much insects to be dissected, but poetic visions meant to be meditated on, considered, and digested, and prayed.

Introduction

As we make our way through the Psalms until Advent it’ll be like skipping a rock across a pond (a very big pond), so we’ll make some big jumps and some smaller ones. Last week the rock jumped from Psalm 3 to Psalm 8.

Shay, summed up theme of Psalm 8 in one word: “Dominion.”

Took us back to creation.

We saw that as David considered the wildly wonderful vocation of dominion given to man by God.

Seed of the woman, crushing the serpent’s head.

We saw that Jesus is a new Adam who exercises perfect, everlasting dominion.

And that in Him, our vocation of dominion, in the image of God, has been restored.

In Jesus, Psalm 8 becomes the prayer of the Church.

PSALM 9

But now we turn to Psalm 9 (yes, all the way from Psalm 8 to Psalm 9…wait till next week, it’ll get even crazier).

This will morning will be heavier on Scripture reading and lighter on commentary as this Psalm is longer, but also is fairly accessible if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. So let’s read through the Psalm and just briefly but carefully observe the text.

PSALM 9:1-2 For the choir director. Almuth-labben. A Psalm of David. I will give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart; I will recount all Your wondrous deeds. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. 

PSALM 9:1-2b

Almuth-Labben = “Death of the son” - In the context of the Psalms (as we saw in Psalm 3) this is likely a reference to the death of Absalom in 2 Samuel 18 (which Matt read just a moment ago). Remember that Absalom was trying to overthrow David and take his throne. David was in serious danger.

But in 2 Samuel we see David trying to make sure Absalom is taken alive, and stricken with sorrow at the news of Absalom’s death.

But here in today’s Psalm David begins with praise. He knows he has been saved. And he knows he must worship the Savior.

How does he know this? Because David is a man who meditates on the Torah of Yahweh day and night. He’s a man who has been formed by the story of Scripture. In his worship, he recounts the wondrous deeds of Yahweh, the Most High.

PSALM 9:3-6

When my enemies turn back, They stumble and perish before You. For You have maintained my justice and my cause; You have sat on the throne judging righteously. You have rebuked the nations, You have made the wicked perish; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins, And You have uprooted the cities; the very memory of them has perished.

PSALM 9:3-6b

The way of the righteous leads to flourishing, but the way of the wicked leads to perishing.

David spells out God’s saving action in this moment. God is the savior, David is the saved.

We see here that God is not an American, and Heaven is not a democratic-republic. There is no separation of powers. The legislator, executive, and judge is bound up in the one God. God’s thrown is a throne of righteous judgment and justice. He is a saving King!

Yahweh rebukes the nations. Remember Psalm 2, the nations rage, but Yahweh has established his King on Zion, a king who will shatter them with a rod of iron. It is interesting here that those who revolt against David, Yahweh’s anointed king, find themselves counted among the raging nations, even if they are blood relatives.

PSALM 9:7-10

But Yahweh abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment, And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will render justice for the peoples with equity.

Yahweh also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of distress; And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek You.

PSALM 9:7-10b

The wicked will perish, they won’t even be remembered. But Yahweh abides forever.

He is active, not passive in his saving deeds. The saving King, the Judge of all the earth is good and will do what is right!

equity = uprightness

But Yahweh is not a cold and distant judge who you may know one day, if you play your cards right. No! He is a refuge for his people. He is a stronghold for those who have kissed the Son, and now face the worlds raging. Remember Psalm 3 when David said that Yahweh was a shield all about him.

There is intimacy with the Most High. This boggles my mind. The creator King of the cosmos created humans to have dominion over his creation. He walked in the garden with Adam, called him by name. The one who spoke the starts and the planets into existence, is ready and willing to have an intimate relationship with his people. In the Exodus, Yahweh revealed his name, a covenant name. He told Moses that his Name was “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” Those who know his name, put their trust in Him! Surely the Apostle John has this in view when he says that he has written his gospel account “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

If you refuse to kiss the Son, if you rage against Yahweh’s anointed King, you will perish in the way of the wicked, the very memory of you will perish…but for those who kiss the Son, for those who take refuge in the Name, for those who seek and find god in the face of Jesus, he will never forget or forsake them!

PSALM 9:11-12

Sing praises to Yahweh, who abides in Zion; Declare among the peoples His acts. For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

PSALM 9:11-12b

David is the king and head of his people. Even in his distress he is flourishing in faith. And his cause, his aim for his people is that they would likewise flourish. In the opening verses David is worshipping his Savior, now he is calling on his people to do the same. This is the mark of a good king. If the king sings, the people should sing. If the king recounts with wondrous deeds of his Savior, the the people also declare the saving deeds of Yahweh.

This word “requires” should be rendered “avenges.” David has experienced the rage and the hate from the world that comes with faithfulness to Yahweh. Of course, David only tasted what his greater Son and Lord would eat in full. Jesus, the great Son of David whom all this is pointing to, experienced the raging of the nations in its fullest form. And Jesus said that faithfulness to him, would mean that thew world would hate us as well. We are not greater than our Master, if they hated Him, they will hate us. But God is the righteous King to judges the nations with justice. He will avenge the blood of his people. Sing praises to Yahweh, testify to the peoples of his Saving Kingship, and your blood could be spilled (just ask the prophets), but don’t despair. Yahweh will remember you, He will not forget you in your affliction!

PSALM 9:13-15

Be gracious to me, O Yahweh; See my affliction from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, That I may recount all Your praises, That in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made; In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.

PSALM 9:13-15b Again, Exodus 34 - “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” Asking for Yahweh for his grace is an appeal to his character. When you recognize your dependency, your immediate request should be for God’s grace. He is eager to give it!

This second part of the Psalm highlights poetic repetition and parallelism - too common features in Hebrew poetry. David just said above that Yahweh does not forget the cry of the afflicted. So he immediately appeals to the grace of God and makes his own cry to Yahweh in his affliction.

We see two gates, the gates of death, and the gates of daughter Zion, which is Jerusalem, the dwelling place of Yahweh, or we could say, the gates of life.

And again, he is saved to worship. Do your saving work so that I can recount your praises and rejoice in your salvation! It’s been said that God is most glorified in us, we we are most satisfied in him. The more he saves the more we savor. Worship is nothing less than wonder expressed.

God must lift us up from the gates of death, because on our own we will sink down into the pit of our own making. Sin is suicidal, it is a snare that we set for ourselves. This is the way of the wicked.

PSALM 9:16-18

Yahweh has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. Higgaion Selah. The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God.

For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.

PSALM 9:16-18b

Again here we get repetition and restatements. Let’s remember the setting of Absalom’s revolt. Yes, David does not at all take pleasure in the death of his son, but he knows that God has shown Himself faithful to the promises he made to David. He knows that Absalom chose the way of the wicked, and raged against God’s anointed. It’s hard not to picture Absalom’s bizarre death in the tree as we hear David say that the wicked is ensnared by the work of his own hand.

This word “return” in the LSB is really just the word for turn. I don’t care for the translation “return”, I feel like it may be doing more than the word “turn.” But you get the idea here, Sheol is the realm of the dead. The way of the wicked leads to perishing. The nations will rage. Are you starting to get the sense that David, and the Holy Spirit who inspired him, want you to know that this world is broken and destine for death, but the gracious God has given you access to the way of life and flourishing? Kiss the Son! Take refuge in him and you will be blessed. The wicked perish, but Yahweh abides forever and ever. Even in the face of affliction his people can have real lasting hope!

PSALM 9:19-20

Arise, O Yahweh, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before You. Put them in fear, O Yahweh; Let the nations know that they are but men. Selah

PSALM 9:19-20b

There are two ways. The way of the wicked or the way of the righteous. The way of death or the way of life - perish or flourish. Another way of saying this is the way of man or the way of God. Last week we were taken back to Eden to marvel at God’s design for humanity. But humanity is broken. We need a savior. We need a new head, he need Saving King, we need God himself to enter into our situation and redeem us. We need for Yahweh to not let man prevail, we need him to triumph. The raging nations don’t hate God, they want to be God. Remember the lie of the serpent in the garden. Remember the tower of Babel. Arise O Yahweh, remind the nations that they are but man,

Let me close with this quotation from an early German reformer and scholar of the Psalms

WOLFGANG

David speaks here as king and head of the people of God and transfers the cause of the people onto himself, in whose name he also waged war. Thus our cause is in fact that of Christ, our David and King, on account of which we are attacked by the children of this age in various ways. - Wolfgane Musculus

Remember this, and never ever forget it. You and I can only read the Psalms from the perspective of the Psalmist because Jesus has called us and redeemed us. If it wasn’t for his saving work on our behalf, we would be counted among the raging nations doomed to perish. All praise King Jesus, our saving King, may we never cease to revel in his wondrous deeds! To him, to the lamb, be all honor, and power, and praise forever and ever. Amen.