Knowing God!

Psalm 76

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

The background of this psalm is probably God’s judgment of the Assyrian army as recorded in Isaiah 37–38 and 2 Kings 18–19. The emphasis in this psalm is on the God who accomplished the victory and not on the miracle itself. God’s mighty works reveal the greatness of His character and His power (75:1). Sennacherib’s officers boasted of their king and his conquests, but their dead idols were no match for the true and living God (115:1–18). Asaph shares four basic truths about our relationship with Jehovah God. God wants us to:

Know God (vv. 1–3)

1 In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel. 2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. 3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

When the northern kingdom of Israel was taken by the Assyrians in 722 bc, many godly people moved into Judah where a descendant of David was on the throne and true priests ministered in God’s appointed temple (2 Chron. 11:13–17; 15:9). Asaph named both Israel and Judah, for though the kingdoms had been divided politically, there was still only one covenant people in the sight of the Lord. God’s name was great in Judah and Jerusalem (47:1–2; 48:1, 10; 77:13), but it needed to be magnified among the neighboring nations, for that was Israel’s calling (v. 11; Gen. 12:1–3; Isa. 49:6). “You who are far away, hear what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge My might” (Isa. 33:13, nasb).

Jehovah had chosen Judah to be the ruling tribe (Isa. 49:10) and Jerusalem to be the site of His holy sanctuary (Ezra 7:19; Zech. 3:2). When the Assyrian army camped near Jerusalem and threatened to attack, the angel of the Lord visited the camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. All their abandoned implements of war were but silent monuments to the power of the God of Israel.

“Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22), and if we are to know the true and living God, we must read the Bible, a Jewish book, and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came through the Jewish nation and died for the sins of the world. The true and living God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3).

Trust God (vv. 4–6)

4 Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey. 5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands. 6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.

When you read in 2 Kings and Isaiah the account of Assyria’s invasion of Judah, you see how difficult Hezekiah’s situation was and how much faith he needed to trust God for victory. But the God of glory, more resplendent than the brightest light and more majestic than the mountains, wiped out the Assyrian soldiers as they slept. Instead of Assyria plundering Jerusalem, Jerusalem plundered Assyria, and the Assyrian lion was defeated by the Lion of Judah (Isa. 14:24–27; Nah. 2:11–13). The God of Jacob (v. 6; see 75:9) not only put an end to those soldiers and their chariot horses, but He took the weapons (v. 3) and put the fear of the Lord into their leaders (v. 12).

Why? Because King Hezekiah, the prophet Isaiah, and the elders of Judah in Jerusalem all listened to God’s Word and put their faith in the Lord. “For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake” (Isa. 37:35, nasb). “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17, nasb).

Fear God (vv. 7–9)

7 But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? 8 From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still, 9 when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

The fear of the Lord is a major theme in this psalm (vv. 7, 8, 11, 12). It means, of course, the reverential awe, the respect and veneration that belong to God alone. God’s people love Him and rejoice in Him, but they also “[w]orship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling” (2:11, nasb). “No one can know the true grace of God,” wrote A. W. Tozer, “who has not first known the fear of God” (The Root of the Righteous, p. 38). The Lord had been longsuffering toward Sennacherib’s officers as they blasphemed His name and threatened His people, but then He revealed His wrath, and the siege was over that never really started. The question asked in verse 7 is also asked in 130:3 and Revelation 6:17, and it is answered in Ezra 9:15. We rejoice that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), but we must remember that “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29).

From His throne in heaven, the Lord announced the verdict and the trial was over (v. 8). There could be no appeal because God’s court is the very highest and His judgment leaves the defendants speechless (Rom. 3:19). “The earth feared, and was still” (v. 8, nasb). According to verses 9 and 10, God’s judgments accomplish at least three purposes: they bring glory to God as they reveal His justice and holiness; they punish the wicked for their evil deeds; and they bring salvation to those who trust the Lord. (See 72:4.)

Obey God (vv. 10–12)

10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt. 11 Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared, 12 who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

Compared to the wrath of God, the wrath of man is nothing. The more men rage against Him, the more God is glorified! The longer Pharaoh refused to submit to God, the more Egypt was destroyed and the more God was glorified (Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:14–18). Scholars have wrestled with the translation of the second line of verse 10, and some translations append a note stating that “the meaning is uncertain” or “the Hebrew is obscure.” The idea expressed seems to be that the Lord isn’t agitated about man’s wrath but wears it like a sword (or a garment) and will use it against His enemies at the right time.

Instead of resisting the Lord—a losing battle—we should be grateful to Him for rescuing us (v. 9) and saving us from our sins. Asaph spoke to the Jewish believers and told them to keep the promises they made to the Lord when Jerusalem was in danger.

How easy it is to make vows and not keep them! (Eccl. 5:1–6). Making vows was not obligatory, but once a vow was made, the maker had a sacred duty to fulfill it expeditiously (Deut. 23:21–23). Generally this involved a public service of thanksgiving in the sanctuary and was accompanied by a peace offering (Lev. 3:1–17; 7:11–27; 1 Sam. 11:15; Ps. 56:12), which was shared with other worshipers (Ps. 22:25). Although keeping a vow was a sacred duty, retraction was possible but required paying a penalty (Lev. 27:1–13).

The Lord’s great victory should also have witnessed to the neighboring nations and motivated them to go to Jerusalem with gifts to worship Him. (See 2 Chron. 32:23.) The psalm begins at Jerusalem and its environs (vv. 1–6), then moves to the entire land of Israel (vv. 7–9), and now it reaches the whole earth (v. 12). There will be a day when the rulers of the earth will bow to Jesus Christ and worship Him as King of Kings (Isa. 2:1–4; 11:1ff; Rev. 19:11–16).

While we do not normally end on a word of judgment, we may stress that such a concluding word calls for the loud affirmation of faith in the God who is known in judgment and grace. They are not mutually exclusive. The message of this psalm is the word of sovereign grace: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). AND, the converse is true also, if God is set against one…there is no rescue for them!