The Book Jesus Loved

Psalm 1

Christ The Perfect Man

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The central person of the book of Psalms is Jesus Christ, in whom all humanity is blessed. Christ came to reveal his Father in heaven, and to plant in us the very life of God, so that we can belong to the family of God. So that our cup of joy may be full, so that we become the fountain of love, so that we have eternal peace, and can offer them to the world that needs Him.

This Psalm is designed for the imperfect man to become the perfect man through Him.

The Author

Solomon.

This Psalm reads more like the book of Proverbs than the rest of the Psalms. Solomon’s innate love for contrast – the foolish and the wise, the lazy and the thrifty, the immoral woman and the virtuous housewife – is very much in evidence. Besides, the ‘scorner’ is a character hardly mentioned outside of the book of Proverbs. Solomon’s search for the meaning of life is what makes this Psalm unique.

The Context

After his father’s death, Solomon must have collected the Psalms of David and written an introduction to give them a sense of unity.

The Exposition

Solomon, the philosopher-king, presents life as a walk to perfection. Philosophers love to play with the mind, and Solomon is no exception. He poses a riddle for the reader to discover – What is perfection? St. Paul answers it in the book of Philippians (3: 14): I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ.

Perfection is the life of Jesus Christ – our goal. But some lose sight of the goal and stand by the way; they are eventually trapped by the deceptions of the world and sit, forgetting their journey! So the walking man stands, and the standing man sits, sits in the very den of sin!

Solomon spells out, in no uncertain terms, the two ways every man born of woman, and every woman, and every child has to choose from: the way of Christ and the way of death. Choose what you will. But remember, the chaff will be separated and burnt, and the grains treasured.

Abel, Enoch and Noah chose the way of Christ, even though they had not met him. They were attracted by the spirit of God. Abel learnt from his parents the meaning of sacrifice, but Cain his brother took God casually. Abel grew in the Lord in obedience, Cain grew in disobedience. Abel learnt more about the mystery of God as the spirit taught him; Cain would have none of it. By faith, which is knowledge of God by experience, Abel made a sacrifice that was pleasing and acceptable to God. Cain was alienated from the life of God, and hence his sacrifice was rejected – which is to say Cain was rejected by God. Cain could have learnt from Abel, but he chose to murder him.

Enoch walked with Christ, learned from Christ, grew in Christ, and was translated to heaven. When you respond to the knocking at your door, you find Christ. He is a friend, guide, and teacher. He will take you to the deep mystery of God, because he is God.

Noah built an ark which is a type of Christ. Those who entered the ark were safe, while all others perished in the floods. Abraham, a nomad, built an altar to God wherever he went. The altar was a type of Christ, symbolizing the sacrifice at Calvary. He entertained three guests, who happened to be heavenly hosts. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to teach them the glory of service. Abraham knew it already because he was taught by Christ living in him in cognition.

Moses was drawn to Christ when he saw the burning bush. There he saw the mystery of Christ, and his life was transformed. David is a type of Christ, and his victories, challenges, agony and passion have prophetic import in the life of Christ. Psalms are full of prophesies about Christ, though the lines may speak of King David.

Moses vividly presents the two ways to the children of Israel: I call heaven and earth to record this day … that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live (Deuteronomy 30; 19).

Further, Moses ordered the dramatization of ‘blessing’ and ‘curse’ as he divided the 12 tribes into two groups to stand on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, one to pronounce blessing and the other to pronounce curse:

These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:

And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali (Deuteronomy 27: 12-13).

The division of the two groups is arbitrary, but the message is eternal – obedience to God brings blessedness.

The book of Psalms begins with a blessing and ends with a torrent of praises, echoing the Rapture of Saints at the Second Coming. It is significant because Christ began his public ministry with an 8-fold blessing; Christ ended his public ministry with an 8-fold judgment on the Pharisees and scribes, and aptly the Second Psalm talks of Christ’s final judgment. Without Christ, the book of Psalms would be a melody of many moods.

What is blessedness? The secret of blessedness is self-renunciation as this song reveals:

A love to lose my will in His,

And by that loss be free.

It is an echo of what Christ said, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart (Psalm 40: 8).

The first eight Psalms encapsulates all the major themes of the book of Psalms, just as the first eight chapters of the book of Genesis does it admirably. The word blessed (bless, blessing, blessed) is used 108 times in the book of Psalms, making it the major theme.

St. Augustine believes the first two Psalms form an introduction to the entire book of Psalms. In some ancient manuscripts, the First Psalm is not numbered; in others the First and Second Psalms are put into one.

The beauty of the First Psalm is its architecture built on an edifice of a three-fold interpretation: a man striving for perfection, Jesus Christ as the Perfect Man, and the Redeemed Israel at the time of tribulation, as Arno Gaebelein suggests.

THE TEXT

Blessed is the man that walketh not

in the counsel of the ungodly,

nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful (V 1).

But his delight is in the law of the LORD;

and in his law doth he meditate

day and night (V 2).

The First Psalm describes the blessedness of the righteous man, ‘literally and figuratively, positively and negatively, directly and by contrast, with respect both to his character and his condition here and hereafter’ (Prof. Alexander). The Hebrew plural ‘Blessings’ suggests a shower of blessing.

Observe how tersely the first verse portrays the progression of sin: walking, standing, and sitting, settling down to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Habitual sinning sears the conscience – the God-given faculty to hear His voice.

There is hope for a man who has at least a modicum of reverence for God; but there is absolutely none for the one who scoffs at God. The robber on the right of the cross of Christ had some fear of God, but the one on the left had none. So the one on the right entered Paradise, while the other was condemned to damnation.

The Psalm rings an alarm bell against the grave deception of the Serpent, who pretends to be your best friend, philosopher and guide. But Jesus has demonstrated how to deal with him by using the Word as the sword of the Spirit. The wilderness triumphed over the garden because of him, who gives us the victory.

The next verse portrays the Righteous man, whose joy comes from God. To meditate on the word of God ‘day and night’ demands a biblical mindset that discerns vanity and truth. It needs a God-honouring character that delights in serving God. It needs a hunger and thirst for God and his kingdom of righteousness. It needs a responding heart to God’s love, exemplified in Calvary. Meditation is life transforming, transforming every day little by little, into the image of the Son of God, for which the book of Psalms is written.

And he shall be like a tree planted

by the rivers of water,

that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

his leaf also shall not wither;

and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (V 3)

The ungodly are not so:

but are like the chaff

which the wind driveth away (V 4).

The Psalmist plants a beautiful tree in our minds to illustrate the happiness and prosperity of the Righteous Man. The tree of delightful fruits and lush green leaves takes us back to the Garden of Eden, where stood the Tree of the Knowledge and the Tree of Life. We find the same Tree of Life reappearing in the book of Revelation. This tree signifies Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

The juxtaposition of two beautiful metaphors illustrates the fruitful life and the wasted life. The tree and the chaff make an excellent contrast: not a fruit-bearing tree and a barren tree, not the wheat and the chaff, but totally dissimilar objects to dramatise the chasm that is impossible to cross over in the life hereafter, but still possible in this life.

The tree, planted by the riverside, is a metaphor for spiritual nourishment; in contrast, the chaff is driven by the wind, which is God’s judgment. While the sweetness of the fruit is for others to enjoy, the chaff is unprofitable for itself and others.

The Psalmist demonstrates amply clearly that the effectiveness of a man lies in how closely he obeys the word of God. We read in the book of Genesis (Chapter 39) that the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered in everything that he did. Joseph was faithful to God in the prison as well as in palace. This is in symphony with what Jesus taught his disciples: ‘if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be my disciples’ (St John 15: 7, 8). St John, in his epistle, reiterates it: ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us’ (I John 5:14).

And we have the best illustration of a tree planted by the riverside in the book of Revelation (22: 1-2):

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.

The consequent prosperity of the godly man is emblematically described. As a tree is nourished by constant supplies of water, without which under the burning Eastern sun it would wither and die, so the life of the godly man is maintained by the supplies of grace drawn from constant communion with God through His revelation.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous (V 5).

For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous:

but the way of the ungodly shall perish (V 6).

On the Judgment Day, the wicked will realise to his rude shock the folly of his life, when he is thrown like chaff into the fire, while the godly will be preserved like the grain in a harvest. As a matter of habit, the ungodly renders none his due. He withholds from God reverence; he withholds from society his duties; and he withholds from himself his accountability as a created being and as a member of society. He breaks the moral boundaries as a sinner, and ridicules the things of God.

Solomon the Wise was alarmed at the spurt of moral decay during his reign because of the sudden prosperity of his kingdom. Prosperity always brings its own seed of destruction, which he saw clearly.

As the Sermon on the Mount is a profile of the Son of Man, the First Psalm is a profile of the Perfect Man.

The happiest are not the wealthiest, the happiest are not the healthiest, and the happiest are not the brainiest. In Hebrew the word `blessedness’ is also translated as happiness, which is a gift from above that springs in your heart when you live in right relationship with God. Know the difference between vanishing happiness and lasting happiness.

Application

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do also; because I go unto my Father (St. John 14: 12).

Psalm 2

The King Of Kings

The battle of Armageddon is about to begin. The leaders of the world are determined not to let the Son of God rule over them; they feared his moral authority, his sense of righteousness and justice, which threatened their very existence. Such is the widespread hatred of the moral law that it is as if the whole world is rising in rebellion against God.

Their bloated egos are inflated by Satan, who fills them with grand illusions. But there is laughter in heaven, the laughter of derision, at the wild imagination of the puny creatures. There was awe-inspiring silence for a moment before the laughter was turned into wrath. The rider on the white horse springs into action, and slays the largest army ever assembled on earth, with the sword coming out his tongue.

This is a prophetic picture which will be turned into the building blocks of contemporary reality intelligible to our senses. But how and when is the mystery.

The Author

David.

Davidic authorship is confirmed by Acts 4: 25, though the Psalm carries no superscription.

The Context

King David won a resounding victory over a confederacy of nations gathered to defeat the emergence of a strong king, who captured Jerusalem and made it his capital (2nd Samuel 5: 7-9). The Philistines joined by other warlike nations – Syria and Phoenicia, according to Josephus – encamped in the valley of Rephaim, near Jerusalem. David consulted the Lord (2 Samuel 5: 17-19), went ahead and overthrew them.

But the true basis of the Psalm is Nathan’s prophecy (2nd Samuel 7: 1- 29), which sets forth the dignity and dominion of the King of Israel as God’s son and representative.

The Exposition

As triumphant David sat down to compose the Psalm, the Spirit of God took him to eschatological times and showed him the battle lines drawn against God’s anointed, the Messiah.

‘And he gathered them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon’ (Revelation 16: 16). ‘And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse (Christ) and His army’ (Revelation 19: 19).

The Psalmist contemplates with astonishment the tumult of the nations – toying with the vain idea of revolt!

Why do the nations conspire

and the peoples plot in vain?

Vanity has blinded their eyes, and they are embarking upon an impossible mission.

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

He scoffs at them.

Then he rebukes them in his anger

And terrifies them in his wrath…

That’s the story. The battle is finished. The Psalm is dramatic; the scene changes; different persons speak. Its structure is definitely artistic.

The change of speakers keeps the drama alive. The first strophe or stanza (Vs 1-3) is a statement of the rebels’ design; the second (Vs 4-6) is a statement of the purpose of Yahweh; the third is the declaration of the Messiah himself.

This is the first Psalm quoted in the New Testament (Acts 4: 25-28), and St. Paul at Antioch (Acts 13: 33) quotes the Psalm (V 7) as fulfilled in the Resurrection of Christ (Romans 1:4). The language of this Psalm is repeatedly borrowed in the book of Revelation, the great epic of the conflict and triumph of Christ’s kingdom. The Psalm is read on Easter Day across the globe.

In a few Hebrew manuscripts, the Second Psalm is reckoned as the First, the First being treated as a prologue to the whole book; in a few other manuscripts, the two are united. Origen says this was so in one of two copies he had seen, but in all the Greek copies he was acquainted with, it was divided into two Psalms. Justin Martyr in his Apology cites Psalms 1, 2 as a continuous prophecy.

Though the two Psalms have common phraseology (blessed, meditate, perish), they are clearly distinct in style and character.

THE TEXT

Why do the heathen rage, and the people

imagine a vain thing? (V 1)

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the LORD, and against

his anointed, saying, (V 2)

Let us break their bands asunder, and

cast away their cords from us (V 3).

Why are atheists angry with God? Because He exists – contrary to their belief! They would do anything to keep God out of the conscious realm of the living, because God disturbs their tranquility. Should some of the things that the religious people say turn out to be true, especially that after-life stuff … that’s the nightmare of the atheist, however strongly he denies it.

Satan sold the illusion of ‘being like God’ to Eve, and instantly she bought the dream only to realize that she lost everything she had. Satan never grows tired of selling dreams, because he understands the vanity of man. Tell him a super species will emerge out of the human race, who are mentally strong and need no god. He will buy the illusion as Eve did only to realize the last mistake of the human race.

The human race will be under the spell of Satan who is able to organize the largest ever army to fight the Son of God. The race is deceived by the man of sin, also called the beast for obvious reasons. He is Satan’s plenipotentiary who has magical powers to mislead.

And there is a remnant of the faithful persecuted but praying for the speedy appearance of the Son of God.

‘Why do nations make a noise?’ translates Prof. Alexander, reducing their rebellion to mere noise. ‘Heathen’ (gôyim) means ‘nations’ or ‘people’ who do not belong to the Jewish race; but the two words make a parallelism in the opening lines. ‘The kings’ and ‘the rulers’ make another set of parallelism; ‘the Lord’ and ‘his anointed,’ yet another set.

But setting the contrast – the heaven vs the earth – the Psalmist is demonstrating the futility of the human enterprise. The Hebrew original (Vs 1 & 2) gives a dramatic and vivid picture of the commotion which is lost in the translation (Cambridge commentary).

They are following the beast like a heard, not knowing where they are going, or whom they were defying. And they say, ‘Let us break their bands asunder..’ Bands fasten the yoke upon the neck: cords are synonymous with bands: the imagery is that of an ox yoked for ploughing, desirous of breaking free.

In the blazing brilliance of His presence, all opposition shall wither into nothingness. The stone cut out without hands will dash against the images of clay and silver and gold and break them all (Daniel 2: 34).

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:

the LORD shall have them in derision (V 4).

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,

And vex them in his sore displeasure (V 5)

The Psalmist lifts the veil, and invites us to behold the heavenly scene (Rev 5: 13; 6: 16). The Supreme Ruler of the Universe is enthroned in majesty, with legions of archangels and angels standing in awe awaiting His command. With sovereign contempt, He looks at the puny creatures plotting against him. There is much sublimity in this description. But he will not always look on in silence. If they persist in their folly He will speak, and His word is power (Isaiah 11: 14).

Panic-stricken and paralysed, they will know who He is. The Massoretic Text reads ‘Adonai,’ not ‘Jehovah,’ to signify God as the sovereign ruler, rather than the covenant God of Israel.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion (V 6).

I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me,

Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee (V 7).

God speaks: Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. God said, Let there be light, and there was light. He commands, and the entire universe obeys. Then who are these rebels to stand up to His might?

Zion symbolises Jerusalem, the city that David took from the Jebusites (2nd Samuel 5: 5-9; 1st Chronicles 11: 4-8). He moved the Ark of the Covenant to Zion, and built an altar to the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24: 15-25). Later, Solomon built the temple on the hill of Moria, which is part of Mount Zion.

We have another change of speaker (‘I will declare the decree..). The Anointed One is introducing himself, declaring the great purpose and the promise made to him by Yahweh to set him on the hill of Zion.

The ‘decree’ is the solemn purpose of Yahweh that His son will rule the kingdom – according to the promise made before he became incarnate. It illustrates the covenant faithfulness of Jehovah, and the pre-existence of the son.

Thou art my Son: Yahweh has declared him to be his Son; but in some version, it is rendered as, ‘Thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased’ (St. Luke 3: 22; St. Matt 3: 17). This was also the reading of the Ebionite Gospel.

The Son of God is begotten from eternity. He is begotten for our salvation by the Holy Spirit in St. Mary; again he was begotten, in the sense of his resurrection from the dead (Acts 13: 32). ‘This day’ is eternity, not a calendar date.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee

the heathen for thine inheritance,

and the uttermost parts of the earth

for thy possession (V 8).

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;

thou shalt dash them in pieces

like a potter’s vessel (V 9).

The Father is too glad to hand over the reins to the Son, just for the asking. This is what Jesus told his disciples: Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom (St. Luke 12: 32).

‘The rod of iron’ indicates the severity of the chastisement that awaits rebels, and the ‘potter’s vessel’ shows irreparable destruction. The confederacy will be shattered into fragments which cannot be reunited.

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings:

be instructed, ye judges of the earth (V 10).

Serve the LORD with fear, and

rejoice with trembling (V 11).

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,

and ye perish from the way,

when his wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all they that

put their trust in him (V 12).

The Psalmist advises the rebellious kings and judges to be wise; kiss and make peace before He is angry; serve Him and rejoice in Him. In verse 10, ‘kings’ and ‘princes’ make a parallelism of the Hebrew poetry. ‘Fear and trembling’ is almost synonymous with ‘reverence and awe’ that the person of God commands. The ‘fear’ is not that pagan fear of the forces of nature that made them deities to worship.

Kissing was the ancient mode of doing homage or allegiance to a king. If they do not acknowledge his claims, and receive him as the Messiah, His wrath will be kindled, and they will perish from the way: Life being a journey, they will be cut down before they reached the end. The Messiah would quell the rebellion, and punish those that rise up against him (Matthew 25: 41, 46; Luke 19: 27).

The book of Revelation presents beyond the shadow of a doubt what is in store for the rebels: (Rev 2: 27; 12: 5; 19: 15). Their corpses were strewn all across to be dined by the birds, and Satan and the beast were cast into the lake of fire – a metaphoric expression for spiritual torment.

His second coming will be the complete vindication of His Sonship. It will demonstrate that He whom the nations rejected is the Son of God, who walked on the earth, who died, rose from the dead, ascended upon high and is manifested in power and glory (Arno Gablein).

Then every mouth will be stopped and every knee must bow. This perfect and beautiful Psalm closes with an exhortation for all times: Blessed are they that put their trust in him.

Psalm 3

Yet You, My Son!

A heart-broken king mourns: ‘Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!’ It is as if the whole kingdom is turned against him, and pointing fingers at him!

Can you see in your mind’s eye the shattered, dispirited, distraught king, who was once the hero of the nation? His friends have betrayed him, his counselors have defected, and the Army top brass have joined the new king. People believed that God has rejected him as He rejected his predecessor, and the new king will be anointed soon. Men who are somebody in the kingdom are eager to shift their loyalties to the new king

The Author

David.

The Context

The rebellion of Absalom.

The Exposition

The words of Prophet Nathan reverberated in his ears: The sword shall not depart from your house.

The blood of Uriah the Hittite was upon his him: the man who was more loyal than the king, the man who refused the comfort of his home and slept outside the king’s palace saying when God’s Ark is in the battlefield he will have none of the comforts. You will not find a man of greater loyalty in the whole of Israel than this Hittite: yet he was treacherously murdered, and the irony of it all is he himself was carrying the letter plotting for his execution. At least a dozen others might have been killed, because it was impossible to execute the plot without a manslaughter of that kind.

O David, David, David – a man after God’s own heart! He is a fallen saint, confessed and cleansed thoroughly. His sins are forgiven, but the blood of Uriah haunts him. His palace has become a house of rebellion, and his kingdom, a kingdom of rebellion. Things couldn’t have been worse for King David when his son Absalom rebelled.

David’s daughter Tamar was extremely beautiful, and her half-brother Amnan was stricken by her, violates her and finally rejects her. Absalom, Tamar’s brother, waits for two full years and kills him to avenge his sister’s humiliation. Subsequently, Absalom flees from the presence of David, and was finally brought back to Jerusalem. But the king refuses to see his face, and he remains an estranged son. Absalom was the fairest of the fair in all Israel, and steals the heart of the people by his exemplary gestures and kindness, cultivated by design.

Then one day, David hears the trumpet declaring Absalom the king. To avoid bloodshed in the city, David flees Jerusalem, with his most trusted men. On Mount Olives, David weeps exactly on the same spot where Christ would weep over the city of Jerusalem. Then David and his men cross over River Jordan to the wilderness, the scene of Christ’s temptation a millennia later!

Shakespeare has immortalised treachery by those famous lines: ‘Et tu, Brute, then fall Caesar!’ Caesar loved Brutus like his own son, yet Brutus stabs him. But David could parody the famous lines to, Et you Absalom, then rise David! Caesar fell, David rose, because of Him who loves David.

God made David king to be the guardian of His people and the protector of His law. Instead, he became a law-breaker, coveting his neighbour’s wife, murdering her husband, and committing adultery with her!

This is the first of the Lament Psalms (asking God to help), and the first to use the musical notation Selah. Going by superscription, Psalms 3-41 are ascribed to David, and 13 Psalms give us the historical context. Psalms 3 and 4 make a pair: Psalm 3 is a morning prayer while Psalm 4, an evening prayer.

THE TEXT

Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!

many are they that rise up against me.

David is a quintessential man of prayer, who never embarked on any venture without consulting his Father in heaven. He is a man of war, whose legendary courage and stunning strategies – like that of Alexander the Great – contributed to victories with very little casualties. He is a singer and composer par excellence, who perfected his talents while shepherding the flocks in the Judean hills and valleys.

David is a genius at innovation, who learnt about the vulnerable spots of wild animals which came to feast on his lambs and which he drove away with a mortal fear. He understood the opening game of a combat and the split seconds that mattered in the battle. He gained enormous spiritual insight at Samuel’s school of prophets, and his spiritual wisdom is the vital élan of the book of Psalms.

Yet his family life is a tragedy. He messed it up thoroughly. Now he wants God to extricate him from the mess. David’s style even in his prayer is forthright. The opening remark says it all. Learn from David how to handle a crisis: his eyes are focused only on God – not on his troubles. Therefore, he enjoys a sound sleep at night, and wakes up afresh in morning in the lap of God. His robust faith and incurable optimism engage him in a conversation with God.

Many there be which say of my soul,

There is no help for him in God (Selah).

As David and his men descend the Mount, come Shimei of the house of Saul to curse David, to tell him the kingdom is now passed on to Absalom. He casts stones on David and his men and repeats his curse, to recompense the blood of the house of Saul. Shimei openly says, ‘He is now down, and he shall never be able to rise’. Unfortunately, many in Israel thought so, that deeply hurt David.

But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me;

my glory, and the lifter up of mine head (V 3).

I cried unto the LORD with my voice,

and he heard me out of his holy hill (V 4) (Selah).

I laid me down and slept; I awaked;

for the LORD sustained me (V 5).

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,

that have set themselves against me round about (V 6).

Like Prophet Jonah who knew the power of kneeling, David knew the power of touching the heart of God through prayer. And God heard him.

The Psalmist expresses his confidence that the Lord indeed heard him from ‘his holy hill,’ where a temple is yet to be built. Jonah, too, speaks in the same language: God answered him from the temple (Jonah 2: 7). To the best of our knowledge, there is no temple in the belly of a fish. But Jonah by faith ascended to the sanctuary of God and got His assurance that his prayer is heard.

The use of the past perfect tense here is prophetic, in which David prophesied his victory over Absalom and spoke of it as so certain of fulfilment that it was appropriate to use the past tense in speaking of it.

‘Smitten upon the cheek bone ... thou hast broken the teeth.’ Many scholars have observed that, ‘The enemies alike of David and of God are represented here as wild beasts, whose weapons are their jaws and teeth. Let God break these, and they are harmless.’

Observe closely the Psalmist’s statement of faith in the person of God: God my shield (protector), my glory (One who shines on him), and the lifter up of mine head (One who lifts up his head). With such a God, no enemy can defeat him. Crying with my voice signifies praying from the depth of his person. David then did the right thing: he put his trust in God, prayed and slept. Waking up afresh, he declared he is not afraid of a ten thousand people campaigning against him, because salvation comes from the Lord. God, and not his enemies, is in command of the situation.

Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people (Selah)(V 8).

When Jonah cried to God from the fish’s belly, his triumphant cry was, ‘Salvation is of Jehovah!’ (Jonah 2: 9). The Psalmist now rises above his selfish interests, and prays for God’s blessing upon all his people.

God alone can give you safety – physical and spiritual. Safety from Satan and hell is salvation. The One who gives you physical safety is the One who gives you eternal safety. David found both because his God forgives sin and clothes him with righteousness.

Many ancient rabbis believed that the Psalm was composed when David, with naked feet, and with his head covered, ascended the Mount of Olives, as he fled from Jerusalem, (2nd Samuel 15: 30). In all probability, he may have composed it in his mind, and penned down in leisure.

When Absalom died, David poured forth his heart in a language that he had never been used before, and has never been equalled since (2nd Samuel 18: 33).

Psalm 4

Thou Has Put Gladness In My Heart

It’s amazing that you are so very special to God! You have been baptized in His name – in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – and you are baptized into the body of Jesus Christ. And God keeps a watch over His own. Therefore, David who is anointed by the Spirit warns those who plot against the king, ‘Fear and tremble: Touch not His anointed!’

The Author

David.

The Context

Absalom is in deep conspiracy to rob King David of his crown and scepter; his evil companions and the discontented of the land follow him.

The Exposition

But know that the Lord hath set apart

him that is godly for himself:

When Saul, the persecutor of the church, was blowing hot and cold, Jesus appeared to him in a vision and asked, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ The believers are members of the body of Christ, and they belong to him. They live in Christ, and he in them; they are hid in the secret place of God (Psalm 91).

St. Chrysostem, the Golden-tongued preacher, once remarked that if he were to preach one sermon to the whole world, and just once, he would choose Psalm 4, verse 1 (Thou has enlarged me or freed me).

The Fourth Psalm and the Third Psalm make a pair: the former is an evening prayer while the latter, a morning prayer.

THE TEXT

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness …!

You have freed me when I was hemmed in and

enlarged me when I was in distress;

have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

This rendering of the Amplified Bible offers the best translation of the opening line. David’s prayer is based on relationship. Jehovah revealed himself to Moses thus, ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ – which is to say, ‘Your fathers found me trustworthy; so I am!’ The never changing and ever faithful God is willing to listen to your prayers, and answer them. He is not only the God of Righteousness, but the One who inspires righteousness.

David is forthright in his prayers. ‘Hear and answer me’ (KJV): Grant me what I ask for. He addresses God as ‘God of my righteousness’ which only means ‘my righteous God’. It is a common mode of expression in Hebrew to call ‘my holy hill’ the ‘hill of my holiness’.

The Psalmist calls God ‘his’ God, the God in whom he trusted and would deliver him from troubles. His appeal to a righteous God implies his conviction that his cause is just. Nevertheless he is not presenting himself as a righteous man, but as someone who is wronged.

David asks God to set him free from his troubles because ‘You have done it before, and I know You can do it again’. David’s logic is not flawed, and his parallelism, interesting. ‘Freed’ and ‘enlarged’ (set at large) are near synonyms; ‘hemmed in’ and ‘in distress’ express the same idea of a man being encircled by troubles and a man in deep trouble.

Indeed remarkable is the Psalmist’s confidence in the Lord.

O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn

my glory into shame? how long will

ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah (V 2).

Now the Psalmist turns from God to men: to those who were persecuting him, as if they were present with him. The reference is doubtless to Absalom and his followers, whom he calls ‘sons of men’, who are capable of thinking and feeling.

The NIV translation `How long will you love delusions and seek false gods’ explains the thought better. Delusions are thoughts of grandeur far removed from reality. In delusion, people fail to recognise the hand of God and replace God with themselves. The people want to crown the charismatic Absalom – someone like a Hollywood star – as their king. It’s a lie (‘leasing’ in KJV) that Absalom is going to replace King David; it’s self-deception. Now come ‘Selah’, the most familiar word in the book of Psalms. It is a musical notation, which could mean pause, pay attention, or think calmly (on what’s going to be said).

The perceptions of truth and falsehood depend on where you are placed. The God to whom David appealed is holy, true, and just; but the enemies of David are conceited, ambitious and wicked. The God to whom David looked upon is righteous altogether; but David’s enemies are depraved and wicked altogether. God is his just Protector; they are his tormentors.

David’s enemies are endeavoring to usurp his throne, and to reduce him to beggary. How long will they attempt at an impracticable thing, as if they are in love with vanity? God has chosen him, anointed him, and has determined that he should be king. Therefore, their efforts at turning his glory into shame will be ultimately unsuccessful.

But know that the Lord hath set apart

him that is godly for himself:

the Lord will hear when I call unto him (V 3).

Stand in awe, and sin not:

commune with your own heart

upon your bed, and be still. Selah (V 4).

David says he belongs to the Chosen group, whom God will keep as the apple of the eye and listen to when they pray. He is appointed to accomplish God’s purposes, and he advises them to keep off from harming God’s anointed.

The Aramaic renders it as, ‘Tremble before him, and sin not.’ The Latin Vulgate, ‘be angry’, and the Septuagint ‘Be ye angry, and sin not’ – St. Paul uses it in Ephesians 4: 26. They were to fear God and stay away from their misadventure.

In the solitude of the night, ask your heart whether what you are embarking upon is the right thing to do. In a gang, people tend to be more aggressive, because the mob does not think. Muse upon your bed, and be still. Perhaps, your evil design will be apparent, and you can still turn back. This is the import of the Psalmist’s message.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,

and put your trust in the Lord (V 5).

There be many that say,

Who will shew us any good?

Lord, lift thou up the light

of thy countenance upon us (V 6).

David exhorts the rebels – assuming they turn back from the misadventure – to offer righteous sacrifices, prompted by right motives and in accordance with the law. Some commentators think David composed the Psalm after being driven out of Jerusalem, when Zion, the ark, and the tabernacle, were in their hands. David would then have fought and won back the kingdom rather than sit in the wilderness and compose Psalms. It seems most likely that this Psalm was composed in recollection, giving touches of stark reality. The Psalmist’s advice, in any case, would have fallen on deaf ears.

God’s indignation of false sacrifices is put in very harsh language: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat if fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats (Isaiah 1: 11).

And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood (Isaiah 1: 15).

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, David writes: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise (Psalm 51: 17).

David’s enemies are engaged in an unholy cause. He exhorts them to pause, to reflect, to repent and to turn to God, before bring a sacrifice for their sins that their guilt might be blotted out. ‘Put your trust in the Lord’, and confide in Him.

‘Who will show us any good?’ The original reads, ‘Who will show us good?’ ‘Where shall we find happiness? That’s the age-old question. To some god is money, to some god is pleasure, to some god is fame, to some god is lifestyle, to some god is food, and to some god is power and ambition. And each turns to his own god for happiness. To the Psalmist, friendship of God is his happiness.

The phrase ‘to lift up the light of the countenance’ means friendship with God. It is a common expression in the Scriptures.

The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you have to bless the Israelites. Say to them, ‘The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace’ (Numbers 6: 22-26).

While the world is busy seeking happiness in other things, the child of God feels that true happiness is to be found only in the service and friendship of God.

Thou hast put gladness in my heart,

more than in the time that their corn

and their wine increased (V 7)

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:

for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety (V 8).

Since the Psalmist sought happiness in God, He gave much more happiness than what the world can receive. This happiness is a matter of the heart. The world will be happy when there is prosperity, as the farmer will be happy when the production of his corn and wine is multiplied. The Chaldee version adds ‘oil’ to corn and wine, in the portrayal of prosperity.

But the Psalmist is far happier than they, because of Him who dwells in his heart. ‘They slumber sweetly whom faith rocks to sleep,’ said Spurgeon.

Psalm 5

Lead Me, O Lord, In Thy Righteousness

To worship is to experience God and be transformed. It begins with prayer and meditation, followed by adoration and ecstasy. God loves to spend time with His children, and He created them to love Him.

The Author

David.

The style and the substance, and the superscription agree on Davidic authorship. The use of the word `temple’ for tabernacle is common in David’s time as is found in other Psalms and elsewhere. So critics who oppose Davidic authorship are on slippery ground.

The Context

David is aware of the conspiracy building around Absalom, who is surrounded by evil geniuses advocating a coup. He looks to God in prayer, and you can hear the voice of his prayer rising to heaven.

The Exposition

It’s beautiful: the breakthrough of faith in the storm of life. The storm throws out of gear everything that you possessed and held dear, even your godliness and faith. You are caught off-guard; and you need time to regain composure. Finally, faith triumphs.

The Psalm is prophetic. When David is hemmed in by his enemies who have no regard for God, it is a prophetic signal that Israel, too, would be surrounded by her enemies during the tribulation. David’s darkest hour foreshadows Israel’s darkest hour at the end-times, called eschatological times. He needs guidance, he wants God to take his hand and lead him, as a father would lead his child. Like David waiting for God, the church at the end-times would wait for the Bridegroom, who is Jesus Christ, to take her to eternal bliss.

Remember, Adam and Eve hid themselves when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden? (Genesis 3: 8). But in the Book of Revelation, we read: Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God (Rev 21: 3). The Psalm peeps into the future and assures you of the blessed times to come.

THE TEXT

Give ear to my words, O Lord,

consider my meditation (V 1)

Hearken unto the voice of my cry,

my King, and my God:

for unto thee will I pray (V 2).

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning,

O Lord; in the morning will I direct

my prayer unto thee, and will look up (V 3).

In the Third Psalm, God is his shield, who protects him from all dangers; in the Fourth Psalm God is his righteousness, who sets things right; and in the Fifth Psalm, God is his guide, who brings him out of his troubles.

David begins his day with prayer and meditation. To him, God is real, and he talks to Him as a man would to another, but in awe and reverence. He cries aloud to God, who is also his King whom he obeys. He understands the honour that is due to a king, and the loyalty and allegiance due to Him.

The `voice’ is the identity of the speaker, coming from the depth of his heart. It is repeated in right earnestness, along with the word `prayer,’ showing an intensity reminiscent of Gethsemane. Observe how personal is the Psalmist’s prayer: my words, my meditation, my cry, my king, my God, my voice, my prayer. Prayer is the breathing of the spiritual life; and where there is no prayer, the spiritual life withers.

For thou art not a God that hath

pleasure in wickedness:

neither shall evil dwell with thee (V 4).

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight:

thou hatest all workers of iniquity (V 5).

Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing:

the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man (V 6)

David now defines his problem: these deceitful and blood-thirsty men wanted to eliminate him. There is no way God can have compassion on them because they are the very anti-thesis of His holy character.

The Psalmist makes a profound theological statement: For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. The thrice holy God will not prosper the plotting of his enemies. ‘Neither shall evil dwell with thee’ is repeating the same idea is a different form, which is characteristic of the Hebrew poetic style. The wicked are totally excluded from God’s favour, and are marked for His judgment.

Sin is folly and willful sinning, double folly. So the Psalmist is justified in calling his wicked enemies ‘fools’. To be sure, they are like fattened calf ready for slaughter when God’s judgment falls on them. They will be destroyed for the lie (leasing) they speak and the deceit they practise.

The ‘bloody and deceitful man’ is an abomination to the Lord. Who is this man but Absalom who killed his brother deceitfully and fled from his father’s presence once, and is now conspiring to overthrow his father’s kingdom!

But as for me, I will come into thy house

in the multitude of thy mercy:

and in thy fear will I worship

toward thy holy temple (V 7).

Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness

because of mine enemies;

make thy way straight before my face (V 8).

As godless men plot against him, he seeks God’s presence, and His infinite mercy. In reverence and awe, he will worship towards the temple, because even kings are not admitted into the sanctuary, but the Priests and the Levites. People worshipped in the court of the temple, facing the sanctuary.

Is there anyone who can teach righteousness better than God? David wants to be doubly sure that he proceeds in the right direction: facing many enemies,