Bulls of Bashan
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Bulls of Bashan
Bulls of Bashan
Some of you have gone through Psalm 22 with me in the context of the crucifixion of Jesus, others of you have not.
Today we are going to look at some theology, but we are going to dissect this as literature, because this writing speaks to anyone who has been abandoned.
Psalm 22 is about abandonment, terror, and death.
IMPORTANT DISTINCTION:
Often, preachers and teachers will say, “if you FEEL abandoned, then...”
What if the biblical author is speaking of an actual time of abandonment, not just a feeling?
At the moment of the crucifixion, in ALL FOUR GOSPELS, the authors make a VERY CLEAR reference to Psalm 22.
There are three climax, Defining Moment, events in the NT that have changed the course of human history.
The death of the Messiah
The resurrection of the Messiah
The arrival of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost)
We will look at the first, the death of the Messiah.
By the time of the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land. The sunlight vanished until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was ripped down the middle. Then Jesus shouted out at the top of his voice, ‘Here’s my spirit, father! You can take care of it now!’ And with that he died.
Pause and reflect on this for just a moment.
5 English sentences that have forever changed the course of history.
Yet, so little detail about what is really going on!
Enter Psalm 22. Christians for nearly 2000 years have made this connection between the crucifixion and Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is not the only place in the Hebrew Bible where there are links, but it important and reveals a lot.
Because, in these 5 English sentences, a life is on the line, there is a fight for the soul of the author of Psalm 22.
To the Director, On the Doe of the Dawn, a melody to David
1 My God! My God!
Why have you left me?
My salvation,
My words of groaning,
Are far away.
Quoted in two gospels, this is the author (Jesus) giving you a hyperlink, a web address of sorts, to this Psalm.
2 My God, I cry out by day, and
You do not answer, and
By night, there is no rest for me.
3 You are Holy,
Dwelling among the praises of Israel.
4 With you, our families have trusted,
They have trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you, they have cried, and they were rescued
In you, they have trusted, and they are not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
A human of shame, and
Despised by people.
Despised by people, NOT by GOD.
7 All who see me will mock me,
They have wide open lips,
They shake their head.
Embarrassment when you are abandoned.
8 (They say)
“Give it to the LORD!
Let Him rescue him,
Let Him deliver him, for
He delights in him.”
Now, I want to pause here for a moment.
This voice of the crowd, this is common advice given to Christians in pain.
“Just give it to the LORD!”
This is one of the temptations of the satan.
Jump, the LORD promised to send his angels to rescue you so not even your feet will be dashed against the stones below!
9 For you pulled me from the belly,
I am trusting,
On my mother’s sheddai (breast).
10 On you I am thrown from the womb,
From my mother’s belly, you are my God.
I like this one simply because of the wordplay of the Psalmist.
sheddai versus Shaddai.
(TEASER Psalm 91 next week on resurrection)
The one who lives in the
hiding place of the Most High,
In the shadow of Shaddai,
they will spend the night.
(Psalm 91:1)
11 Do not be far from me,
For distress is near,
For there is no ezer (help).
This is the word that is carelessly, in my opinion, translated as “helper” or “helpmate” in Genesis 2.
She is far more than just an assistant to “her man.”
INTERESTING that EZER is in PROXIMITY to sheddai...
12 Many bulls have encircled me,
Mighty ones of Bashan,
Have surrounded me.
13 They open their mouths to me,
A lion tears and roars.
Up to this point, we are following along with the author.
But now, we have BULLS, encircling Jesus.
Mighty ones of Bashan, surrounding him.
Do any gospel or NT authors indicate there is livestock at the crucifixion?
Are there any historical accounts of livestock at the crucifixion?
If a lion wanders up to the crucifixion site, would the Roman soldiers remain?
Would that information make it into the story?
No. TWO CHOICES...
This is not about the Messiah
This is about something going on that we cannot see
This instance is written about in the Gospels when Jesus goes to Caesarea Philippi.
Cesarea Philippi is at the base of Mt. Hermon, in what is southern Libya today.
You can go there. It is where the Grotto of Pan is located.
It is known in the ancient near east as the “Gates of Hell”
Archaeology of Mt. Hermon reveals it was the traditional location that several hundred fallen “watchers”, Sons of God, descended onto the earth, and from there took whatever women they wanted, produced giants on the earth (Goliath), and taught humans how to oppress and kill each other in better and more efficient ways (warfare).
BULLS are the symbol of the god Baal.
A Golden Bull is what the Israelites made at the base of Mt. Sinai
Two bulls were setup by the northern Kingdom of Israel and Israel worshipped those idol bulls. One primary reason that Israel went into exile.
Notice the shift in language:
Bulls
Mighty ones
THERE is a behind the scenes horror event happening that is unseen to everyone at the cross.
The Psalmist is linking unseen EVIL to seen EVIL.
Remember when Jesus said
FATHER forgive them, they DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
Yeah, that.
THIS IS THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF THE CONFLICT...
14 Like water, I am being poured out,
And all my bones have become dislocated,
My heart is like bee’s wax,
Melting within me.
15 Like a clay pot,
My strength dries, and
My tongue sticks to my mouth, and
I am sent to death’s dust.
From dust to dust…have you picked up on the Genesis references.
Water…being poured out
Dust to dust
Lion (sin crouching CAIN)
16 For dogs have encircled me,
A company of evil ones,
Have surrounded me.
Like a lion* (disheveled, dug out),
Are my hands and feet.
Are dogs evil?
No, the company that have surrounded him are EVIL ONES.
Note, pierced hands and feet.
17 I am counting all my bones,
They are staring at me,
They see me.
QUESTION: Who?
The ones there at the cross?
The ones we cannot see?
18 They will divide my garments,
Among themselves, and
On my clothes, the dice are falling.
VIVID...
19 But you, LORD, you shall not be far away,
My strength, rush quickly to my ezer (help).
BUT YOU...
There is that EZER word again...
IMPORTANT…LORD is contrasted with EZER.
By the time of the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land. The sunlight vanished until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was ripped down the middle.
All of what we have read falls into this moment...
Back to Psalm 22...
20 Deliver my soul/throat from the sword,
My very self, from the dog’s hand.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth!
CLIMAX Moment in the Psalm!!!!
Then Jesus shouted out at the top of his voice, ‘Here’s my spirit, father! You can take care of it now!’ And with that he died.
Jesus gives up his soul, his entire self, cries to be saved, trusts God with his spirit.
And dies...
Psalm 22...
21 You answered me,
From the horns of the wild ox.
Does not say YAHWEH prevented this from happening.
He got his answer.
WHEN THE CURTAIN TEARS...
The answer came from the horn of the wild ox
(could be the altar, could be in the moment he is being run through by the horn.)
HE ASKED for an ANSWER in Verse 2.
Great DEAL o fTRUST in God the FATHER for this.
WHY…the SATAN reminded him earlier in Luke...
He gave his life here
So we can be near
Now, after hearing all of this, is it possible that the death of the Messiah was for more than just your sin?
We hear sermons and songs about how Jesus was on the cross bearing all our sins, as if he is living through every wrong we have ever done.
It was worse than that. I don’t believe Jesus was on that cross remembering all our sins. We are told there is no more memory of our sin. It is as if it never happened.
This is the greatest story of INJUSTICE becomes the greatest story of JUSTICE that has ever been told.
Jesus was forsaken, abandoned on the cross, but only for a moment.
What comes on the other side is far greater.
The key we can take from this is that Jesus faced the test.
He stood in the face of the test, took courage, and resisted the temptation to give in.
He faced the fear and terror of the moment.
He knew the only way through was to trust.
Next week… PSALM 91
Very interesting because that is the Psalm that the satan used to tempt Jesus.
And we will continue our look at the spiritual battle that is unfolding.