My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:18 Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name. Psalm 74:19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever.
It has been too long since I have spent a few moments in the Psalms for this blog. I have been busy with a new series regarding prayer, and have enjoyed bringing the answered prayers to my mind, to think on the many ways our Lord has delivered a poor ol fella like me.
But I must not abandon the Psalms, for everytime I enter these pages of the Word, I come away refreshed, challenged and comforted in the knowledge of a saint going before me, expressing his deep heart for us to meditate on.
For our passage this morning, consider the context of the psalm, a psalm that speaks of the desecration of the temple/tabernacle and the sense of loss experienced by the author. It is the complete loss of the center of the Jewish faith, the core identifying building for the Israelite and the physical location of all the priestly activity to approach the most Holy God!
Our author is pleading with our God regarding the reproachment of the name of God. It is the loss of the tabernacle that is effecting the saint, yet his greater concern is how this desecration of the temple impacts the honor of the Lord.
Scoffing and reviling of the name of the Lord. This is the burden of the saint, the revulsion each saint experiences as he gets closer to God and yet lives in this old sinful world. And as we become sensitive to this scoffing and reviling, are we to lash out, to defend the name by attacking our assailants, our spiritual enemies?
Consider the psalmist’s next phrase, where he refers to the life of God’s turtledove. The psalmist begs that the wild beast, likened to the ones who destroyed the temple, not have the opportunity to destroy the turtledove.
Now what is this old saint speaking of? To think of a dove is to think of a harmless animal, a defenseless bird that is often used in the context of peace. In verse 19, the psalmist describes this turtledove in the second phrase as “God’s poor”.
Both the dove and the poor are perfect pictures of the helpless, those who cannot defend themselves. They are at the mercy of the enemy, and the saint is begging that God spare them from the enemy, the ones who desecrate and destroy.
Two things to consider.
Is not the God we worship the God who is for the orphan and the widow? He protects those that are the weakest in our society. Are we not also called to do the same? Are we not, in our following of the Messiah, to mimic the nature of God and provide a protection for those most needy in this?
Secondly, if God is the protector of the helpless, and He surely is, then how is it that the most peaceful of all was torn apart on the whipping post, nailed to a cruel tree and left to die a horibble death.
The very character of our Holy and Caring God was denied in the crucifixion, when the Father of the widows and orphans turned His face from His very own Son.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
How can the heart of a Father turn from His Son? He not only turned away, but the Word speaks of the Father crushing Him, the fairest of the fair, the most peaceful of the turtledoves.
The suffering on the cross was beyond understanding. There was abundant suffering in the heavens also, for the heart of the Father was broken, having let the turtledove be crushed by the enemies of the sanctuary.
Such is the mystery of the love we live in, the love we exist in and are enveloped in. He is beyond description, both Father and Son, and the Spirit of grace that speaks far greater things than this.
May we be listening, learning and living the kind of life that pleases our Father and His Son.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 6:1-4 1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. 3 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.
David was in the midst of gaining authority over the nation, having been inaugurated in Hebron/Judah, and eventually being lifted up to the throne of a united Israel. His military prowess was displayed in routing the Jebushites out of the City of David (Jerusalem) and he sho’ nuff put the hurt to the Philistines – twice!
On the way to the throne though, he had suffered for years, having lost his family, loved ones, nation and homeland. Early in his life, even as a teenager, at his initial inauguration under the hand on Samuel, his future looked bright, full of hope and expectation. Little did he know he just acquired a target on his back, and would be on the run for over a decade. Many a man who had went through the injustices he went through may turn bitter, or angry at the trials he went through.
David did not.
David may have slipped into some difficult times, especially when he became a mercenary for the Philistines, even deceiving the king who was protecting him. But David did not remain in his rebellion. He realized that throughout all the trials his God had protected him, even though it appeared at times that he was moments from death. His descriptions of his impending doom are recorded in numerous places in the psalms. Psalm 18 is just one example.
Psalm 18:4-5 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
No – David did not remain hardened to the experience of his early years, but sought to honor the God who rescued him from all his dangers.
There was only one thing for him to do. Bring the ark to Jerusalem.
I understand David was seeking to honor the Lord, yet throughout the history of the nation, the ark had been in a temporary, highly mobile “tent”. I can not find any instructions from the Lord as to a desired final resting spot for the ark of the covenant. It appears that God’s presence amongst His people was the intent. (It always has been.)
David sought the ark for His capital city, and to think of this from a political viewpoint, it makes sense for him to do this. So David takes three thousand men to a the home of Abinadab, a man who had two sons, and was in possession of the ark. It turns our Abinadab had the ark since the Philistines had sent it back to Israel on a cart. You remember that time, when the Philistines were struck with tumors in each of the cities the ark was taken to within their nation.
Eventually, they had had enough and sent it back on a cart, pulled by two young ox. For a little background on this story, refer to Simple Thoughts – 1 Samuel 6.
Given this history, David and his men (or possibly Abinadab and his family) though it best to transport the ark in the same manner the Philistines had. After all, it worked for the Philistines!
Yet the Word gives instruction on the manner of transporting the Ark, along with the penalty for touching the ark.
Exodus 25:13-14 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them.
Numbers 4:15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.
The Ark is to be transported only by a special class of priests, the sons of Kohath, and only by using poles covered in gold. The ark was not to be touched!
It seems that when the judgement fell on Uzzah, as we will see in our next post, the men of Israel decided to carry the ark in the prescribed manner. I assume this severe judgement on Uzzah, drove the men of Israel to “check the instructions” on how to transport the ark!
But for now, in this passage, we see two brothers, Ahio and Uzzah, who had been around the ark for most, if not all their lives. Someone decided to use a method of transport that made sense to them, due to their understanding of a traditional story or by their own experience, to transport the Ark to Jerusalem. The method? Use a cart pulled by oxen, traversing over fairly rugged terrain, up to Jerusalem. Yes it was a method they had heard of, and it seemed to make sense. Both the moving of the ark to Jerusalem, and the way it was moved seemed to make sense to those in this story.
We will see in the following post that actions that seem to make sense and actions that follow God’s instructions are not the same.
This story teaches us of how important it is for us to know His will in our lives, and to act in the way that pleases Him. Uzzah is about to find out that certain actions, whether he knew or not, will instantly deliver judgement!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
22 And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. 24 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” 25 And David did as the LORD commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.
You gotta hand it to the Philistines. They were suckers for punishment!
Didn’t they just come up on the valley of Rephaim to take on this new king of Israel? Did they not just become defeated, quite decisively buy this new king of Israel?
How did David describe the previous victory of the Philistines?
2 Samuel 5:20…The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.
A breaking flood is not the description of a non decisive battle, but of a complete domination over another army.
And yet here they are again!
But the amazing thing about this passage, and that which I want to dwell on, is that though David found great success in his previous battle with the Philistines, he wasn’t about to simply repeat the method he was successful at earlier.
He saw the same scenario developing, the same enemy approaching the same battleground geography, and the same potential outcome if he simply attacked as before. Sure the Philistines may be better prepared for them but David could claim the earlier direction from the Lord as still being relevant, still applicable!
But he didn’t! He went to the Lord for fresh orders.
At this time in his kingdom, he didn’t rely on old orders or human assumptions. And because he sought the wisdom of the Lord in fighting the Lord’s battles, he found success.
Success that included an extended victory, all the way from Geba to Gezer.
As we considered the first battle, it was a quick and decisive strike against the Philistines. A show of superiority force against the power of a neighboring nation.
With this battle, strategy came into play, with a rear attack timed perfectly with the help of the Lord, removing any possible conventional escape plans the enemy may have had. Not only no escape, but David did not simply break through and disperse the Philistines this time. No – he chased them from Geba to Gibeon, a distance of over 12 miles!
David and his men accomplished a decisive and prolonged victory over the Philistines in this battle. This battle set the tone for David’s domination over the Philistines, eventually bringing the 5 major cities (Gaza, Gath, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron) of the Philistines under his control.
David was on the path to becoming a world power, and would bring Israel to her greatest political and military influence over the region. His desire to know and do the commands of the Lord for each situation and challenge he faced brought about this ascendency over the region.
We too are to be listening for the voice of the Lord for His direction, even asking for His leading. And as David was told to go around behind, requiring much additional effort on his part, and to be patient in the waiting for the “the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees”, we too may expect some of the guidance of the Lord to be unexpected and require additional effort.
I suppose that is part of the calling of the believer!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 5:17-25 17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 19 And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” 20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. 21 And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.
For our next few posts, we are going to follow David’s routing of the Philistines. I think it may be beneficial to consider the history this nation has with our new King.
Initially for David, his first encounter with the Philistines were in the defeat of their giant Goliath. A seminal moment in the history of both nations. Something that resides in the collective conscious of both people groups!
Next on our David timeline, the Philistines actually became a haven for this young rebel of Saul, for when his own father in law and current king of Israel sought to kill this young upstart, David fled to the nation of the Philistines. Philistia became a temporary haven for David, having found refuge with King Achish, Saul’s nemesis. Not only did David find refuge under the protection of Achish, David presented himself as a useful soldier for Achish. Of course it was all deception, for David was not cleaning up the southern boundaries of the land of Philistia, ridding the area of the Jewish population, but actually gutting and destroying small Philistia posts.
All of this deception led Achish to position David in his own Philistine army, potentially bringing David and his men against the nation he would rule over! Circumstances, that is God, overruled in this, and David was relieved of having to fight with Achish against his own people.
It was obvious the Philistines knew of the prowess of this new king, for they sought to us him in their own battles. Now that David was on the throne, and the massive victory of Jerusalem was behind him, the Philistines had to make a decision. Attack, or wait to attack.
Obviously waiting was only allowing David to increase in strength. They had to attack now. So the Philistines set us camp in the valley of Rephaim, a valley likely located a few miles northwest of the new capital.
Note also that this location for the Philistines to set up camp was in (or at least near) a valley. That surprises me, for though I am not a military type of guy, I would think any army would naturally look for the high ground. But I am not a military guy.
But let us consider there may have been some advantage for the Philistines in choosing this location. Maybe they could elevate a statue of their idols on a perched area of the slopes, so that they may see the battle, or they may see them during the battle. Or maybe, since there was a stream in the valley, there would be special water to wash their idols of any dust accumulated during the travelling to the battle site. Maybe in their deliberations, their idols somehow informed the Philistine leadership the valley of Rephaim was a strategic location, a location where their idols had some influence.
Somehow, in some way, the valley of Rephaim was chosen and the Philistines brought their idols.
David though inquired of the Lord. His inquiry included two topics. Both of these questions reveal important aspects of David’s trust in the God of the nation.
1 Shall I go up against the Philistines?
Our first question is a simple request for direction. Yes or no. This question has nothing to do with outcome or impact to his kingdom, whether or not this will be a stunning success or a dismal failure. David is just wanting to know the Lord’s will.
2 Will you give them into my hand?
This question addresses the result of the battle if the Lord directs him to fight. Note though, that David makes an assumption of victory based on the Lord’s involvement in the battle. He does not flat out say “Am I going to win?”. He is looking for assurance that the Lord will be with him in the midst of the battle, that the Lord will “get the credit” for the win.
Though the victory is assumed, it seems the import of the question was that God would be with him. Is David repeating the concern Moses had as he led God’s people into the promised land?
Exodus 33:15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
Different circumstances but the same heart of the leader. And David received the answer in the affirmative for his concerns. God will place the Philistines in the hand of David.
It seems the victory was quite decisive, for David expressed the win by describing his army, (the arm of the Lord), as breaking through like a breaking flood.
The Israelite army overwhelmed the Philistines, even as a flood of waters destroys every resistance it comes upon.
I suppose the Philistines idols were distracted that day.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 5:13-16
13 And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David. 14 And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
David was a busy man! He also seems to have a weakness for the feminine wiles. It turns out that he took a minimum of 8 specific wives that the Scriptures speak of.
Michal – 1 Samuel 18:27
Abigail – 1 Samuel 25:42
Ahinoam – 1 Samuel 25:43
Maaca – 2 Samuel 3:3
Haggith – 2 Samuel 3:4
Abital – 2 Samuel 3:4
Eglah – 2 Samuel 3:5
Bathsheba – 2 Samuel 12:24
Beyond those who became his wives, concubines were also collected by the king. As a matter of perspective, this passage may be speaking of wives not mentioned by name, and having become king of the united nation in the capital city, took more wives that are unnamed.
How many wives did David have? Let us be satisfied saying that he had at least 8.
As for concubines, let un not consider them simply as a mistress, a distraction for the man. To be a concubine is to be a wife, albeit of a lower status, a second class wife.
Note a helpful passage in Judges 19 when considering how a concubine was considered in Old Testament times. For brevities sake, I have included only the portions of the verses applicable to our topic. Notice the abundant use of terms that reflect a husband wife relationship
Judges 19:2 And his concubine was unfaithful to him…. Judges 19:3 Then her husband arose and went after her, … And she brought him into her father’s house. … Judges 19:4 And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, made him stay, … Judges 19:5 … the girl’s father said to his son-in-law,
So we may easily say, understanding this wrinkle of what a concubine is, that David surely had plenty more than 8 wives, though some of a lower status. Maybe that early satisfaction in thinking David only had 8 wives was a bit premature!!!
To David’s credit though, it seems he took all his wives from within the nation, and was not of the habit that Solomon developed in marrying foreign women. Yet his multiple wives surely set a standard that justified Solomon’s abuse of his actions.
To consider the children of David, that is a task far beyond this writer’s ability, but I have found a great resource for this purpose. (https://www.bibletales.online/king-davids-family-tree/) This website also provides a very useful family tree graphic that has embedded links providing much information for those interested. I am attaching a graphic below for your immediate reference.
In all of this consideration, we find David acquiring, in his ascent to power, all the seeds of distraction, sources of jealousy and continual internal bickering that came to fruition in later years.
What truth can be culled from this short passage? In short, monogamy is wise, yet there are some that consider polygamy an allowance, even a benefit for the Christian society. Those who think so, may appeal to the Old Testament. I would suggest these passages accommodate (not prescribe) polygamy as a form of family structure.
Exodus 21:10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.
The Word specifies that a first wife was to be protected from any change in her rights, even as a man may take another. The verse implies that this was a condition the Israelites would continue and the Lord would accommodate for the time being.
Deuteronomy 21:15 “If a man has two wives,… and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, Deuteronomy 21:17 … he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has.
Again, the Word calls out the rights of the wife, even the second wife, who may be unloved.
Deuteronomy 17:17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.
Deuteronomy 17:17 is a direct command of Scripture to any future king of Israel. Note that the passage refers to many wives. How many is many? Is three many? I would think so, but I can’t find a specific commandment providing a restriction. Those who want more wives could justify it by stretching the word many in many many many!
In all of this discussion, I want to confess a simple statement.
I am thankful for a simple life, for a loving wife of 44 years, and for the children that the Lord has provided through a monogamous relationship with my best friend.
David was a busy man – way too busy for me!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 5:11-12
11 And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house. 12 And David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
This passage begins the description of a long standing relationship between David and a Phoenician King named Hiram. The Word tells us that the relationship between these two men, describing them as leaders of their nations, each seeking the best for their people and working together for the mutual benefit of all.
1 Kings 5:1 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David.
Even after David’s passing, Hiram continued to work with Solomon, delivering the required materials for his vast construction projects, including the kings house, and finally the Temple of God.
Our verse this morning though speaks of the first instance this relationship between David and Hiram is mentioned, and it appears Hiram initiated the transaction. Let’s remember that David’s kingdom was in it’s infancy, that the nation had only healed recently, that David was newly placed on the throne of a nation that had been in civil war.
David had established himself as a very capable warrior, and had taken the city of the Jebusites by cunning. A wise man would see this young warrior and find it favorable to align his kingdom with David, and this is apparently what Hiram is doing at this time.
As an aside, after the death of David, there seemed to be a need for a treaty between these two nations.
1 Kings 5:12 And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
Now, at first glance this seems innocent, but it also implies no treaty was needed during the time of David. I don’t want to make too much of this other than bringing it to our attention. David and Hiram, as two national leaders, seemed to be content with a relation of coexistence, without a formal treaty being required.
Hiram sent to David not only the materials needed for his kings house, but also the skilled men to construct the house. This is an enormous act of reaching out to this young “upstart” king, and shows the wisdom of Hiram in aligning himself and his people with a nation on track to become a world power.
Hiram saw it coming. And David was realizing it. All the running and living under persecution, all the uncertainty and brushes with death, all the threats and conspiracies against him all behind him, with the future looking as promised.
God had fulfilled His promise to David. The nation was heading into it’s golden age!
For us who are following Jesus today, we are in the state of following a persecuted King, as David was prior to his ascension. Yet we also are in a state, (if we will admit it), of the Great King reigning over all, not only His people in the church, but over all of creation, all the nations, each people group is under the authority of the Messiah.
Our mission is to bring them under a willing compliance to His Lordship, instead of the ignorance and rebellion we all have had towards our Greater David.
Hiram saw the wisdom of seeking favor of Israel’s new Regent. It is the same today. If you are one who has refused to bend the knee to King Jesus, consider who Jesus is.
For Jesus is King, and He rules the nations. Join Him while you have opportunity. Confess your rejection of Him, your sinful attitude and actions against Him. Trust Him, for He is a King like no other.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:12 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Psalm 74:13 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. Psalm 74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. Psalm 74:15 You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. Psalm 74:16 Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. Psalm 74:17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.
Asaph is in the midst of a crisis of faith. He sees the desolation the enemy has performed on the sanctuary, and the apparent lack of concern of the God of Israel. And he is struggling. No matter how he views the conditions he is in, or the thoughts that pass through his mind, he is reminded of the God he worships, and the might of His Savior.
Even in nature, God has revealed His ability to take on the fiercest enemy with ease. For those of ancient Israel, to consider the creatures of the deep is to refer to the most dangerous and hostile region on the earth.
The Old Testament speaks of the sea, and of it’s characteristics to the faithful Israelite.
Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
The New Testament also gives witness to the contents of the sea, with the evil spirits seeming to want to return to the sea through the swine.
Mark 5:13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
Returning to our passage in Psalm 74, we see Asaph considering the topic of the deep. At first glance it may seem like he is going down a completely different road than previously, but as he is looking over all the desolation, he is reminded that God has worked in this condition previously.
At some time in the past, in the Psalmist’s mind, a creature by the name of Leviathan challenged God. Now I don’t know if Leviathan is an actual physical creature of the sea, or is a type of Satan in some way, or if Leviathan may be describing the overlords of Egypt prior to the nations escape. No matter for in a dark and desperate situation God was able to crush the head of His enemy.
As Asaph considered the God he worshipped, he confessed that God was able to crush the enemy, He was able to dominate and restore. Yet before his very eyes, he only sees desolation. God has crushed the head of the enemy before, but during Asaph’s musings here, God is silent, quiet – apparently gone.
Yet God is his King. Though God is silent, Asaph recalls the God he serves. God is able, but at times ability to do a task and the execution of that task are two different things. Asaph is living in that gap between God’s ability and God’s execution of His salvation.
In our next post, Asaph makes his plea, but for this mornings post, let us remember that sometimes God is silent, even in terrible times. It may be a testing time, a period of difficulty each of us have to go through. It is at these times that we need to stir up memories of how God has performed His mighty acts of salvation for us in the past.
Mighty Act of Salvation
For the believer in the church, the mighty act of salvation, when Jesus crushed the head of Leviathan on the cross, is to be the foundation of all our hope. Nothing can (or should) replace that monumental and mighty act of dominance over the serpent!
Above and beyond that foundational basis for our faith, the Lord often grants times in our lives when His hand is openly evident to the believer who has eyes to see. His activity in our lives, in acts of mercy, help, encouragement, miracles and protection are sometimes unnoticed by the believer.
I would strongly encourage those reading to take a few minutes and consider the work of God in your walk with Him. Remember who the King is, my friend. Even in the darkest times, His throne is still able, still present and still of grace.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 5:6-10
10 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off” – thinking, “David cannot come in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” 9 And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.
What a history for the city of Jerusalem. First spoken of in Genesis 14 when referring to Melchizedek, whom I believe was the Lord Himself, all the way to becoming the city of God, the geographical focal residence of God on earth.
Of course, there were times the city contained somewhat less glorious inhabitants.
As the tribes of Israel entered the land, they were instructed to take the land. All the land, with the strongholds throughout the area. Future Jerusalem was a city that had not been taken.
Judah attempted to take Jebus in the early times of the judges.
Judges 1:8 And the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
You have to hand it to the tribe of Judah for the attempt, for the city is considered to be a very easily defendable city, but it turns out the nation could not keep the city under their control.
Judges 1:21 But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
This is amazing since once taken, the city’s own defense would be in the victor’s favor. Yet the nation could not maintain dominance of the city.
Over 400 years had to pass before a king would take control of Jerusalem, a king who saw the importance of the city, not only as a stronghold, but also as a unifying location for a capital city. Hebron, David’s current capital was far to south now that the northern tribes were joined the kingdom, and Jerusalem became the city David had eyes for.
And David took the city.
But I don’t suppose David’s motivation for taking the city of Jerusalem was only strategic, political and covenantal related. There may have been a bit of motivation supplied by the very Jebusites themselves. Referring to David’s army as men who couldn’t fight disabled soldiers is a fairly significant slap in the face to David. That alone is enough for David to teach the Jebusites a lesson, and while the world watched David gain power, taking Jebus became a necessity!
David took the city unconventionally, for if I understand the passage, the defeat of the Jebusite’s came by stealth, ingenuity and out of the box thinking. A water stack was to be used to gain access for a small band of men to enter and attack the inhabitants. A bit reminiscent of the attack on Babylon by the Persians hundreds of years later, as they took the city of Babylon by entering through a river. But I digress.
David took the city, and David kept the city. Jerusalem, the city on a hill, became the city David would rule from, the city the Temple would be built in, and the city that would be the focus of all things spiritual in the nation of Israel.
But it would also become the city Israel would loose to Babylon 400 years after David’s victory.
In the last days of Jerusalem, Jeremiah echoed the sentiment of the Jebusites, turning the insult onto the city itself. Jerusalem was unable to defend itself, though strategically positioned, against the disabled Chaldean (Babylonian) soldier coming against it.
Jeremiah 37:10 For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.’”
Jerusalem, though a easily defendable city, could be taken by the cripple and disabled. What a insult to the mighty city of David, and yet, as we venture through the Old Testament prophets, we see the continual sliding of Jerusalem from David’s pinnacle to Jeremiah’s day.
Never would the city rise to the heights of glory as in the days of David and his son Solomon. Even after the Babylonian captivity, the city never found strength and power in the region.
Jerusalem became a regional capital for a portion of Israel, primarily Judah and Benjamin, with the 10 northern tribes lost to the Assyrian assault many years previously.
And the temple, though rebuilt, did not contain the Ark of the Covenant, and the nation, what was left of it, could never claim the presence of God residing among them.
Jerusalem was a hollowed out city when compared with the former day’s of glory. It never ascended to it’s former glory, until one opportunity – one Person entered it’s gates.
David’s Son, Jesus the Messiah entered the gates of Jerusalem, and proclaimed the kingdom of God to be present. Not just the kingdom of Israel, but the kingdom of God! Jesus, the Greater Son of David entered the “City of Peace”, declared His Kingship and offered Jerusalem a glory greater than David’s.
We know what happened. Although given the greatest opportunity it had ever been granted, Jerusalem chose poorly, and rejected the King. A generation later, it fell to the Romans, and great was the fall of it. A horrendous and tragic end for what was once the “City on a Hill”.
The kingdom of God though continued, growing exponentially, beyond the geograpic limitations of a small city under the control of Gentile nations.
We also have opportunities provided in our lives. Some opportunities, like David in seeing the stronghold of Jerusalem, need unconventional methods to overcome.
Some opportunities, like hearing the voice of God, simply need open ears and a willing heart to accept.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:9 We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. Psalm 74:10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever? Psalm 74:11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
Asaph is continuing in his struggle with the decimation of the sanctuary of God. Note that in his very lamentation of the conditions the nation is in, he speaks of signs, and that there is no prophet among them that can provide a timeline.
That screams of the human experience, of a man who is desperate to know, to be given guidance, to have someone who can provide answers. There is only silence. Deafening silence.
When a believer in in such a condition, I would suggest it is the worst of times and the best of times. (with apologies to Mr Dickens!)
Worst of Times
The worst of times, since the committed believer has cast in his entire life before the Lord, committed to the way of God, and now is in the middle of a decimation, when all appearances are dire and dark, when there is no communication from on high.
Dare I say that this is not the expectation of the typical believer when he signs up for the faith. If he is taught properly, he should understand, that difficult days will come, that to enter the kingdom of God we should expect many tribulations.
Acts 14:22 …. saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
But in the midst of the tribulation, the trial or the struggle, the believer expects the presence of God to be available, to be near, to be with him.
After all, it is a promise of the very One who suffered for us, who died completely alone, under judgement and abandoned by all, so that we never need be alone.
Matthew 28:20 ….And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Yet it appears Asaph is voicing the very thoughts I have had when going through a trial. The very thoughts many through the years have voiced.
A very quick review of the psalms provides a small sampling of the cries of those before us, when the very presence of God seemed so far away, when He seemed so distant and reluctant to enter into the fight.
Psalm 35:17 How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! Psalm 79:5 How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Psalm 89:46 How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
This feels like an abandonment, a loss of connection, an isolation from the source of life. From the Written Word, we find many instances when the prophet, priest or king has experienced this loss. It seems this is not an uncommon experience for the committed to go through.
It certainly appears we have a conflict in the message. Faithful men of God have voiced the experience of abandonment, as Asaph has in this psalm. And yet the Master has promised to never leave us.
What can we say about this? What is going on?
Best of Times
Given the conditions Asaph was facing, to describe them as the best of times may seem ridiculous. I admit it. To be under persecution, under desolation, to only see the bleak and dark times, AND to not sense the person of God in the midst of the trial is rough. Very rough.
As with Asaph, I could admit that all my thoughts during these difficult times swirl around the struggle, around the doubts and possible further disappointing news in the coming days. No news of rescue, or even hearing of future relief. No one is able to provide a schedule when the Lord will provide relief. The coming days stretch out to a hopeless horizon.
So how is this condition of seeming abandonment the best of times? I realize I have not made a good case for this, but let me try steer the discussion to make the point.
You just need to stay with me till the end.
Remember that the psalmist spoke of no signs for the believer? I think this may hold a clue for the believer to enter into the best of times, even though he has seemingly been abandoned by God.
Asaph seemed to be expecting a sign to find relief, even as I do in the midst of a trial. But even as I refer to signs, I realize I am opening up a pandora’s box of thinking.
What is the intent of signs?
The intent of signs may be multiple, but for this poor ol’ fella, signs were primarily provided to a people group that had depended on signs throughout their history. Even the apostle will give us the general truth of the Jewish mindset towards God.
1 Corinthians 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
Some demanded signs. We will address that topic in the next portion, but for now, we need to consider that the intent of signs was to point the watcher to a subject. Specifically, signs were to bring the witness to the God who provided the sign. Whether it be Elijah with the fire from heaven or the Son providing sight to the blind, each sign was provided to direct the witness of the sign to the God who provided the sign.
In summary sign were to direct the focus of those who witnessed the sign to God.
Not to provide eye candy, or a mode of life to maintain relationship with God. Imagine the only time your son loves you is when you flash a $50 in front of his eyes? Not an exact comparison, but somewhat similar to providing signs to maintain a relationship. Somewhat beggarly in my mind.
Are signs required?
John 4:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
It seems during the discussion with the officials request for healing of his son, Jesus declares to the crowd that they need signs. As you may know, I am a citizen of Texas and as a citizen, have learned that to include two or more in a conversation, I use the term y’all.
As far as I understand this passage, if we were to translate Jesus statement in Texan, it might be…..
Unless y’all see signs and wonders y’all will not believe.
It seems there was an element in the crowd that Jesus was calling out to, that had began to require signs from the Lord. Though He healed the officials son, it was remotely, without anyone in the vicinity seeing this miracle, therefore negating the benefit to those demanding it.
Are signs a replacement for faith?
Signs can be wonderful experiences in the believers life, even initiating the faith of the saint. During our walk with the Lord we may experience miracles, mighty works, and amazing coincidences.
As I have testified to many, my family recently experienced a miraculous healing of my little grandson. He was found face down in the pond, not breathing, blue in the face and not responsive. The ambulance came and many thought he was gone.
It was the mercy of God in restoring this little fella, and just a few short days after his recovery, he told his momma that he know who made him.
Amazing grace and mercy! I was on top of the world, telling those I know and those I had never met. It lasted for about a week. Interruptions, distractions and responsibilities brought about a fading of the experience. It is so with all signs.
Don’t get me wrong – I am so thankful for His mercy in restoring little Theodore. He is quite the youngin’
But for the believer, it is the promise of God that stands the test of time. At any time, for any reason, in the midst of any trial, the Word of God is available to strengthen the believer, to focus the believer, to guide the believer, to encourage the believer, even when all feels desperate, dark and hopeless.
When I think of an Old Testament saint who typifies this very truth, I think of David as he was on the brink of mutiny, with his men turning on him, having lost his family and every hope gone. I have spoke on this passage earlier, but 1 Samuel 30:6 is a precious truth in the worst of times
6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
David was delivered by God from death even as future king was on the cusp of the grave at this time. He found encouragement in the valley of death in God alone. The Greater Son of David was not delivered from death. Yet He trusted His Father when all was going wrong. And He was delivered through death! What an amazing life Jesus led.
To mimic Him is such a high calling. To simply trust His Word when all of life is in desolation, even when the enemy has run roughshod through our lives, let us always return to the promise of God. Let us experience the best of times with the knowledge that God is with us even when all is falling apart, when all is collapsing, when all is dire and dark.
It is the walk of faith. May we have strength from God to walk it, finding victory even in the midst of disappointments and discouragements.
How did the ol’ prophet describe this walk of faith?
Habakkuk 3:17-19
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 5:1-5 1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
He is King. He has been accepted by the nation after what seemed like a never ending time of persecution by the very people who now come before him. He who persecuted him has been defeated, and the previous kingdom has been vanquished, even though a puppet king was installed. Those who troubled him have seen the error of their ways, repented and made covenant with the King appointed by God.
I am speaking of David in this instance, but in this short passage, it seems foolish to ignore this picture of Jesus being crowned by God and yet persecuted by the people. Jesus, King of all and owning all authority, yet being chased and persecuted in His church, by the very people He came to serve and save. Though David’s reign is an extended reign, speaking of a test being passed, (for 40 is often associated with testing in the Bible), how much more can we imagine the eternal victory and reign of the Savior, for He passed every test, every temptation, every trial to become the perfect and all righteous King of all.
Back to the text.
The elders came to David and the first thing out of their mouth was this identification of sameness, of being of his bone and flesh.
This seems to be such an obvious point to make that almost seems redundant. Of course David and the Israelites were of the same “bone and flesh”. But let us think about this for a moment.
David was ruling in Hebron, and the tribe of Judah had received him as their king. Eleven other tribes had remained with Saul and his throne, even after his death. Let us remember that David was of the tribe of Judah, and this direct connection could be proven and utilized to justify his reign over Judah. The connection was very direct, personal and in the mind of those in the other tribes, able to be leveraged to prioritize Judah over all of the other tribes.
The northern tribes had to find a connection to being parity before the King and his “favorite” tribe. And hence the claim of same “bone and flesh”. The leaders of the eleven tribes hailed back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, claiming – rightly so – that the King of Israel is over all the tribes, that each and every tribe had an equal right to their king.
Though he be but a human, the King was to rule over all the tribes.
I can’t help but to turn back to the image displayed in this passage regarding our King, the eternal King Jesus. Though He initially came for the people of a nation to submit to Him, in their rejection, He has accepted all others also into His Kingdom.
No longer can some claim a “bone and flesh” ownership to the True King. No longer may this be used to include or exclude others from His Kingdom, for He has partook of the “same things” of all creation, not of one or any other group or tribe, nation or people group.
Hebrews 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
He became human to rescue lost humans, and though a Jew by nationality, this identification was never His end focus. He rightly sought and gained the throne over all, not just one nation out of many.
True subjects of the Kingdom, those who understand Who the King is and His incredible mission to draw those subjects to Him, will worship Him in spirit and truth, not lean on physical associations, such as “bone and flesh”. How limiting and divisive!
John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
David was about to rule over the nation, bring it to the brink of greatness, dominating his enemies and producing a fighting force that was unstoppable.
A great king was on the move! A Greater King is currently on the move! Watch for His hand in your life, and listen to His counsel, for He wants to guide us.
Let us be willing to come before Him.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs. Psalm 74:5 They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees. Psalm 74:6 And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. Psalm 74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. Psalm 74:8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
Asaph is describing the complete desolation of the sanctuary of God. Not only a desolation of the sanctuary, but the apparent overpowering of the God behind the sanctuary. This is the overarching struggle for Asaph, for his faith in the God of Israel is in a God who parts the water, who delivers nations from bondage, who provides offspring to barren women and wins battles by unconventional means.
How could this desolation be happening? Asaph knows God can do something, but there is no response. It is as if God has abandoned His people. As we spoke of in our last post, Asaph called out for God to run to their rescue. God had abandoned them, and He needed to be reminded of His covenant with His people, for how could the foes find victory if God was still present?
Those foes in the sanctuary had no regard for the importance of the structure, what it represented and what they were doing.
Or did they?
Notice the last verse in our reading this morning. In their effort to subdue those of the land of Israel, the foes knew they needed to cripple the faith of the people. The synagogues (or local meeting places) along with the temple/tabernacle needed to be destroyed for victory over the people.
In order to subdue the people, all the meeting places of the people had to be destroyed. This is and has been the adversaries strategy for eons. Subdue the people, by destroying community, by tearing apart the body of Christ.
Even as the enemy took wild stokes of their axe on the structure of the sanctuary, so today we find an onslaught of attacks on the truth of God, the faith of the believer and the desire of the enemy to keep believers separate from each other.
During my weekday commute, I have been listening to the beatitudes in Matthew. Since it is not a time of study, I have been listening to the passage out of paraphrase called the Message. The passage in chapter 5 speaks of another reason for persecution by the enemies of faith.
Matthew 5:10-12
You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. Not only that – count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens – give a cheer, even! – for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
Not only do our foes know that to “defeat God”, they need to defeat the people of God. They hate the truth, for as they vigorously deny it, they are witness to the undeniability of its reality. Every time we join together in true worship, whether it be in massive congregations or small home studies, the sanctuary of God is revealed to the lost, the truth of the gospel is displayed to the foe, and an illogical hatred erupts in the heart and mind of those opposed to God and His people.
The foes destroying the sanctuary of God in our verses were not haphazard in their strategy of desolation. The battle plan has never been altered for time immemorial. Sure – the specific conditions are different, the faces may be unfamiliar, but the intended results are always the destruction of a unified, cohesive body of Christ, a congregation that is focused on the holy, and that seeks to follow the Truth.
As we seek to follow the truth, opposition will come in some form or another. It is the way of the world, that the god of this world does all he can to “swing the axe” within the sanctuary.
May we be strong believers, seeking to honor God, even as we may be entering a time of contradiction, when it appears God is quiet.
May we be faithful, knowing the heart of God even if He is quiet.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:1 A Maskil of Asaph. O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Psalm 74:2 Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt. Psalm 74:3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
Before we dig into this psalm, it may be good to recognize that the background to this psalm is somewhat debatable. Does Asaph refer to the times of the tabernacle being overtaken at Shiloh, as the Philistines took the ark and defeated the Israelites? Asaph does speak of Shiloh in a future Psalm, of God’s abandonment of the tabernacle at Shiloh.
Or might this description of the sanctuary being destroyed be referring to the Babylonian invasion, with the author being of the sons of Asaph.
These questions will not be resolved in this post of course, but the fact that this psalm may refer to one of multiple falls of the sanctuary speaks of the impact of our own selfish behavior in relation to the people of God.
As we ignore (or refuse) to be the church, our enemy will come and seek to destroy, whether it be by outside or inside forces. Worse yet, and for Asaph the focus of this Psalm, is that God Himself pulls away from the sanctuary, allowing the sanctuary to be defiled, destroyed and abandoned, giving our enemy an apparent victory.
The topic of God abandoning His sanctuary, abandoning His people is the struggle Asaph speaks of in this psalm. As with Psalm 73, where Asaph struggled with the ease of the wicked, this psalm also provides us a glimpse into the faith struggle of this great man of God.
Our introductory verses speak of Asaph’s shock, of how God had cast off His people forever. Let us not dull the sharpness of this question. To be cast off is to be spurned, to be forcefully rejected.
David warned his son of this danger!
1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
This question of being cast off flies in the face of the constant claims of God’s promises for the people of God. Asaph will attempt to remind God of who He is and how He has made claims and promises to the people He has led.
The Sheep of His pasture
This phrase speaks of God’s ownership of His people. Some may relate this phrase to God’s ownership of Israel due to His creative acts, that the nation is His due to the original creation, and they were the chosen people for His purposes.
The concept of creation and purchasing is intertwined in Asaph’s plea to God.
The congregation He purchased
קָנָה qânâh – To purchase, sometimes to create. Moses used this term in relating to the nation being redeemed from Egypt.
Exodus 15:13a “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed.
Eve declared she had “gotten” a man with the help of God using the same term.
Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.”
God has created this nation of Israel out of nothing, for what nation has ever begun from a promise to a single barren man? His creation of the nation of Israel truly mimics His creation at the beginning. Out of nothing, God creates all things!
Asaph understands this, and reminds our God of His ownership and purchase of the people He is acting against.
The people He redeemed
גָּאַל gâʼal
Those He redeemed are the people of His inheritance. The redemption spoken of here looks back to the time when they were under bondage, when they had no strength, no freedom, and no hope. After the sanctuary had been destroyed, these redeemed were again experiencing the same condition of bondage and the loss of hope.
Asaph is reminding his God of the redemption He provided and is now effectively lost to His people. How could this happen?
Based on these descriptions of how God has related to the nation, Asaph implores Him to pay attention, to act, to run to their rescue, to come and help. God has obviously been absent, even working actively against the sheep of His pasture. Asaph is asking for His return, His turning back to His people.
The works of God are mysterious, and as the people of God, we understand so little at times. Even as we see through a glass darkly, and at times when the Lord may be teaching very hard lessons, we have the knowledge those of the Old Testament only imagined. Our God, no matter the situations we find ourselves in, know of the Messiah, of His acts of sacrifice, of His showing the love of God to weak, broken and helpless sinners.
We know of His person, for He walked with us, and died for us. He is with us, and we can take comfort in the midst of trials we don’t fully understand. For Asaph, he will continue to struggle with the conditions he is living in, just as we might.
Thankfully, we have the blessing of knowing the One who proved the love of God for us.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. 6 And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night, 8 and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The LORD has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.” 9 But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, 10 when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. 11 How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” 12 And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.
Due to the history of the Beerothites, and the likelihood of these men being mere mercenaries, this action of assassination should not surprise us. These men saw an opportunity, but did not consider David’s history with those killing for his sake and took action. A fatal mistake!
I mentioned the history of the Beerothites in an earlier post, of how this tribe had deceived Joshua and entered into a treaty with the nation of Israel under false pretenses. Now, three centuries later, this tribe provides two mercenaries to perform a treasonous act against their king.
For treason, these two men did not disappoint. Walking into the palace, and stabbing the king in broad daylight is gutsy. To leave the palace with the head of the king is beyond audacious – that is simply foolhardy. Yet they were able to do this act of treason, seemingly without any concern of getting caught. Was it that they were part of the royal guard, or was is that since Abner had been taken out of the picture, they entire security around the king was lax. I will leave that with my reader.
These two game changers, having committed a capital offence head off to the upcoming king, a man they seemingly know little of. Surely they didn’t hear the story of that fellow who presented to David the news of Saul’s death. If that man had killed Saul, as David understood, it could be reasoned it was in war, and bad things happen in war. But that reasoning did not wash with David, for that fellow was put to death for raising his hand against the Lord’s anointed!
These fellows had no excuse. No war, the king was at a weak time, and the army that should protect is the killing machine?
Verse 11 is the key verse, where David lays into these fools.
How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?”
Suffice to say – they died. And David sought to honor Ish-bosheth with entombing him in Abner’s tomb.
Saul had no tomb? What is David doing in laying to rest Ish-bosheth in Abner’s tomb. It is not that Hebron was King Saul’s capital city – that was Gibeah.
If my reader has any possible reasoning for David to provide this specific honor to Ish-bosheth, please let me know in the comments.
Otherwise, this treacherous act of two mercenaries has set the stage for David to rule all of Israel. We will begin to shift in the story of David from watching a man on the run, one who was treated like an enemy by the powers that reigned, to one who ascended to the throne, reigning as God had promised.
Throughout the early years of David, we have seen many instances where David’s life reflected the persecuted life of his Greater Son.
So many similarities to Jesus as He walked among us.
Now as we enter a time where David is enthroned, we will find a man besot with sin, struggling with his own demons, and yet being led by the Father, receiving promises from God and establishing Israel on a path of tremendous world influence, spreading the glory of God throughout the region.
Jesus is also on the throne, ruling over the Kingdom of heaven. His ascension centuries back has become the King of all nations.
Revelation 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
Jesus’ rule continues throughout eternity, and His righteous reign will lead each of us to greater victories as we follow the One who is our Master.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 73:27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. Psalm 73:28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
Let’s remember the rollercoaster ride Asaph has spiritually taken. Early in the Psalm, he was paying attention to those in Israel who were finding success financially, who were enjoying a comfortable life, who had acquired image and power in the community. It seemed that these folk, that Asaph called “wicked” were doing just fine!
As a matter of fact, not only were they doing fine, it appeared God was allowing unrighteousness to gain a foothold, for those whom Asaph called “wicked” were snubbing their nose at God, ignoring the covenant they belonged to, without any negative impact.
Everything seemed so backwards for Asaph, and for all appearances, so real, so factual, so true, and so easy. No need for morning prayers, or torah reading. Observance of temple rituals could be ignored, and the required sacrifices were put on hold.
The life of the wicked that Asaph observed was the life to choose.
He wanted it, and was entering into the sin of envy, which was bringing him to the doorstep of idolatry. He freely admitted his conflict, and was experiencing an inner battle that was relentless, with the ultimate victor seeming to be the lifestyle of the wicked, with all the trappings of ease, comfort and possessions.
That is until he entered the sanctuary of God and he finally understood the reality instead of a image he perceived of both the wicked and his own life.
In our short passage this morning, Asaph is concluding his findings, and provides a stark difference of the future of both the wicked and the righteous. Earlier he had mentioned how his efforts had all been in vain, useless efforts for success in life.
Psalm 73:13 – All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
He sees things completely different now.
Any efforts Asaph performed in being near to God are no longer considered a burden, a vanity or a problem. He sees that the lifestyle and focus of the wicked is taking them farther and farther away from God. The term Asaph uses regarding the actions of the wicked is an adjective describing a removing, a departure, a going away from. The lifestyle and choices of the wicked are not neutral, and God has not provided any allowance for a wicked lifestyle. The judgement of the wicked’s lifestyle is that it takes the worker away from God.
God is still the center of all, and those chasing the life of the wicked are running far from God. They are becoming remote, and as they are moving away from God, the source of all life, it is obvious the end result is perishing.
No life! God will put an end to the unfaithful!
For Asaph, and for all who have any sense, it is good to be near God. He doesn’t speak of his end, or of his destiny as he did regarding the wicked, but of his current condition of seeking God, of his present blessing. For Asaph, his condition is “good”. The term speaks of wealth, prosperity, favor, goodness and of a better condition. All that Asaph was being lured away from God by the appearances of the wicked were supplied by the very nearness of God.
As we make the Lord our God our refuge from the temptations and lurings of the world and the wicked, we will find a life of reality, the best of life and enjoy satisfying blessings in God alone.
May we be full of the goodness of God in our lives such that we also tell of all the works of God with those we rub shoulders with, even boasting of the goodness of God when compared with the frail, unstable and fearful lifestyle of the wicked.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
4 Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
Saul’s kingdom was falling, and his son Ish-bosheth would soon be dethroned, even executed. The end was near for the family of Saul, and the northern tribes knew that the recent death of Abner, their only real hope, indicated King David was in the ascendency. Not only was the political situation fragile for the northern tribes, with a king who was frozen in fear, those of the lineage of Saul understood the downfall meant their necks were on the line, and any direct descendent of Saul, a potential king in the line of Saul, would surely be a threat to the incoming power found in the throne of David.
Even a five year old boy presented a potential threat to an incoming power, and this nurse, upon hearing of the death of both Saul and Jonathon, this little boys father, had the foresight to understand the danger Jonathon’s boy was in. Her flight though, fueled by good intentions, was unwarranted, for the King coming was already under a covenant with this boy’s father, a covenant that would provide for Jonathon’s child, protect him and show the type of king David was.
Yet through the concern and fear of the nurse, young Mephibosheth would live his life as a cripple, restricted in his ability to serve in any army, to serve as a strong leader, and become a picture of the regal line of Saul in the future. He was somewhat helpless, due to an accident outside of his control, and we shall see in future passages of the covenant keeping character of the new and coming King of Israel.
David would not only show mercy to Mephibosheth in sparing his life, but also provide him his grandfathers lands, and treat him as a son of the king, inviting him to continually eat at the kings table.
2 Samuel 9:13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.
What type of King brings a potential enemy to his table?
What type of King invites a potential threat to live in the very capital city of the nation, the center of political power?
What type of King provides for a cripple, one who is unable to serve, even one who would be considered a burden to take care of?
2 Samuel 9:7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.”
What type of King would return a lost inheritance to a former enemy? David returned to Mephibosheth the lands of his grandfather, a sizable estate, and a house that he had no right to other than through a covenant David made with his father.
David sought to follow the Lord in his kingdom, and in this quick character review of Mephibosheth, a crippled heir of Saul, we see a coming King who was not typical, was not as expected, and who sought to reign in truth and under covenant.
What a King!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 73:23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. Psalm 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Asaph has been through a struggle. From temptation through inner trials and finally to a final triumph through a realization of the glories of God and his own sinfulness. He has finally settled in a good place. A place of rest, of peace before the Lord, and a deeper understanding his place before God.
Four areas of blessing are realized by this man of faith.
Security
While Asaph was in his struggle, watching the rich get richer, the wealthy dodge judgement, the prosperous avoiding discomfort and pain, Asaph was struggling to keep his heart pure. At times, I imagine his heart was not quite hitting the mark, slightly less pure than the desired goal! A bit impure, a bit jealous of the lost, a bit envious. And we know the seriousness of envy. It is the precursor to full blown idolatry.
Yes – Asaph was dancing with dangerous partners when he envied the ways of the rich. Even in his wanderings, Asaph confesses that the Lord was his security, his faithful God, his only hope through the dark, the hand that was ever present in his life.
Guidance
Asaph may have been breaching this topic in our previous verse when he speaks of God holding his right hand. He comes out and clearly states the guiding ability and performance of God in his life, specifically speaking of God’s counsel.
Counsel is another word for advice, and the Scriptures give abundant testimony to the wisdom of receiving counsel.
In Asaph’s specific case, I lean to understanding his referencing the inner counsel that he eventually became attuned to as he entered the sanctuary of God. To my fellow believers, we know that in the still quietness, if we are willing to hear, the Lord will provide guidance in alignment with his revealed Word.
As an aside to this topic, it is wise for the believer to consider the importance of counsel from other believers. I have for too long sought only the inner counsel, without allowing for believers to give guidance. Proverbs addresses this truth numerous times.
Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 15:22 Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. Proverbs 24:6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
One note of clarity. The word speaks of a multitude of counsellors. Having one counsellor may be the equivalent of having an echo chamber. Not wise at all. Be wise and get bunches of counsel!
Sufficiency
What is it for something to be sufficient? Does it imply that for something or someone to be sufficient is the availability of everything you could imagine? Is it a way to denote that all things are good, or is it that nothing bad, or evil will enter my experience?
For something, or in Asaph’s case, for someone to be sufficient, simply means that God is enough. It is not referring to the limitless abilities of God to perform, provide or produce for His saint. For God to be sufficient for Asaph means that God is enough.
We humans are a temporal, time and space based creature. We are limited in every possible manner. We can’t even understand what it means to be limitlessness, to be eternal, to possess all powerful or all knowledge. We are limited creatures and have limited needs, though they may seem great to us as we live in our bubble.
God is bigger than our bubble!
Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Though Paul speaks of God as being able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, for Asaph, his personal faith findings are that God is enough.
Paul spoke of the abilities of God, and they are truly limitless, but for sufficiency’s to be considered speaks the language of satisfaction, not abilities. Satisfaction of the saint’s deepest needs fulfilled in Christ. As for the wants of the believer, they may be ignored since they are but distractions, but that for which the saint was made for, satisfaction is found in God Himself. He satisfies the saint in areas he may not even understand!
There is a difference, and may I suggest that realizing the sufficiency, the “enoughness” of God in our hearts is a tremendous blessing for the believer to enter into.
Strength
My heart is ticking away. It has been ticking away for over 67 years. 2,817,995,627 beats, give or take. Close to three billion beats. That is crazy, and thankfully that ol’ ticker has never missed or skipped a beat!
That particular physical truth astounds me, and except for this past couple minutes, I have been blissfully ignorant of this exceptional display of the keeping power of God over my physical life.
How much more am I unaware of the strength God provides in the midst of trials and blessings, sickness and weakness, struggles and victories. One day, I will find out my incredible ignorance of God’s strength being provided to my insignificant life, the continual faithful infusion of His mighty hand, and His power provided despite my pride and arrogance.
To think I am the source and strength of all my blessings! Poppycock! (Of course, I blame Him for any and all my failures, but even in this, it shows my darkness of mind!)
He is my strength, especially in my weakness, in my realization that I have no real ability, no real strength, no real wisdom, knowledge or discernment. I could go on with what I am not, but to what profit?
He is our strength.
For Asaph, as he fought his way through this Psalm, and provides for us the wisdom he accrued through it, he can honestly say his head is screwed on straight now.
He is in a good place, seeing God for who God is, and Asaph for who Asaph is.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 4:1-12 1 When Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. 2 Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon a man of Benjamin from Beeroth (for Beeroth also is counted part of Benjamin; 3 the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there to this day).
David’s kingdom was shaken by the murder of Abner, with David taking charge, openly declaring a curse on Joab, openly mourning over Abner’s death, and personally fasting over the circumstances that caused this injustice. In all his actions, the Word speaks of the people of Hebron, nay, all the people and all Israel recognizing the actions of the king, and being pleased.
2 Samuel 3:36 And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. 2 Samuel 3:37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner.
As a study in contrasts, the writer of 2 Samuel provides Ish-bosheth’s mighty acts of leading his people. Doh – not so mighty, for Ish-bosheth crawled up into a fetal position (metaphorically speaking of course!) and waited.
Now I don’t suppose I would venture a guess as to what he was waiting for, but in times of numbing fear, it is fair to say that nothing else enters the mind. Fear is a controlling, all powerful emotion that consumes the one living in it.
Ish-bosheth waited. And his people were dismayed, even terrified at the outcomes of his leadership, at the condition of their nation. Meanwhile, these same subjects of Ish-bosheth were looking south. That David sure was a leader!
Ish-bosheth’s days were numbered, for David will surely come into his decapitated, weak nation, take it militarily and rid the united nation of Israel of any future threat of the lineage of king Saul. Ish-bosheth would have to die!
Enter Rachab and Baanah, two brothers that had a past. During the conquest of Canaan, under the leadership of Joshua, those of Beeroth, along with three other Hivite towns deceived Joshua with a ruse, entered into a treaty with Israel that caused dissension in the ranks of the Israeli army, and was a blot on Joshua’s leadership. Read about this deception and the result of it in Joshua 9
They were a people that were to be conquered, not assimilated into the covenant nation!
Joshua made sure that this deception would be noted in the annals of Israel’s history, for he pronounced a curse on them, stating they would be restricted to areas of service to the nation of Israel only.
Joshua 9:23 Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants, cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”
Over three centuries later, the Beerothites were still a presence in the nation, with these two men serving as men leading raiding bands for Saul, and Saul’s son.
The term for “raiding bands” has a wide definition, ranging from a formal division of an army, to describing a marauding band of robbers, effectively mercenaries, guns for hire, men who had no allegiance but to the mighty buck!
Yes Ish-bosheth’s days were numbered, but not from the armies of David, but of his own, from treachery within his own ranks.
Ish-bosheth was a man used by Abner, who trusted Abner, obeyed Abner and was abandoned by Abner. Is it any wonder that the Word constantly instructs us to trust the Lord and not man?
Trust Him today for whatever challenges you may be facing. He is good to those of a pure heart and a humble spirit.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 73:16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, Psalm 73:17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Psalm 73:18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. Psalm 73:19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Psalm 73:20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. Psalm 73:21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, Psalm 73:22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
Asaph, prior to our passage this morning, and after the last fifteen verses describing the perceived benefits of living as the wicked live, is in the middle of a inner battle I believe all believers must go through.
Psalm 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. Psalm 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
He speaks of being stricken and rebuked, over and over again, every morning. He knows once he speaks his heart, damage will fall on the faithful, but the evidence is so obvious. There just seems to be so much “proof” provided that it creates an inner conflict for the believer.
Psalm 73:16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
Asaph was being worn down, confessing that the situation he was considering was a wearisome task. The inner battle was wearing on him, and it seemed he was in a position of eventual defeat.
That is until. Until he entered the sanctuary of God. The solution for Asaph actually was available throughout his struggles. His perspective on life had been infected by the perceived and temporary ease of the wicked one’s life, without considering the actual and long term impact of the person of God.
Asaph as he entered the sanctuary of God, became aware of two truths.
Ruination of the wicked
Asaph understood no longer the perceived ease of the wicked, but the eventual, long term ruination of the wicked. Not only the ruination, but the very footing they consider to be stable, is a slippery place. One mistake, one happening, one uncontrollable incident, and everything they count on falls apart! There seemed to be a perceived future, but that was all smoke and mirrors, for Asaph say there was no actual future for the wicked. The ruination was certain, for he states that God Himself set them in slippery places, and God Himself makes them fall to ruin.
Sinfulness of the Saint
Being away from the Lord, for the saint is a very dangerous situation. After entering the sanctuary of God, Asaph faces his own heart as he looks to the Lord. He admits to his own sinfulness before God, how brutish he had become!
As he uses the term brutish, I think of violence, as in brutality, but the term speaks of foolishness, even stupidity. The term is used in Psalms two additional times.
Psalm 49:10 For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others. Psalm 92:6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:
He further defines him life before God as a beast, and this term usually refers to cattle or livestock. The Hebrew word for beast carries with it the idea of a mute animal, a silent beast. Might he be possibly referring to the wicked’s lifestyle as impacting his freedom of speech before the Lord and His people? He has mentioned earlier his reluctance to speak of his finding’s and this is to his credit!
But he was restricted in his communication to the people of God. Thankfully he restrained from speaking of his logical findings, but this also may have brought a hesitation of speaking of the goodness of God before the people.
He was silent, conflicted and strickened. What a sad, (and for myself, a familiar) place to be!
Asaph needed to enter the sanctuary of God. When he did, all the perceived benefits of the wicked disappeared!
For modern believers in the Messiah, what does it mean to enter the sanctuary of God? Many may consider that constant attendance to a church building is the equivalent for the saint today. This may be so, but I am hesitant to state this is a perfect application, for there are many church buildings that have been constructed in order to provide a sense of security, a sense of power and influence that may distract from the very person of God. Never mind the variable of the teaching disbursed from the pulpit. Many – not all thankfully – in today’s modern church have a teaching that is suspect, with a dependance on the Word being weak, and sometimes completely absent, or worse yet hostile to the Word.
With all of that said, to enter the sanctuary of God for the believer today is to draw near to the throne of God.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
For the New Testament believer, the sanctuary of God is present and available at all times and in every location, for the sanctuary of God is the Lord Jesus, His holy Spirit and the Father Himself. As we approach the throne of God in our formal and informal prayers, our thoughts are lifted away from the untoward methods and mealy, meager goals of the wicked, and to higher, loftier and eternal matters that can only be recognized as we dwell on the many glories of our God.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 3:31-39 31 Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. 32 They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. 33 And the king lamented for Abner, saying, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? 34 Your hands were not bound; your feet were not fettered; as one falls before the wicked you have fallen.” And all the people wept again over him. 35 Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!” 36 And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. 37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner. 38 And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? 39 And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The LORD repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!”
Joab was a loose cannon, and because of Joab’s tendency to allow his desires to overtake any wisdom he may have entertained, this act of murder left a big mess on the doorstep of King David.
Remember, David had at this point only been crowned king of Judah, and was reigning in Hebron. Abner, at least to many of David’s people was considered of the enemy camp. Many may not have known of the back office type of discussions being had between Abner and David in seeking to return the kingdom to one king!
So when Joab killed Abner, it may have been perceived by many of David’s citizens that he gave the order.
For many kings in ancient times, this may have been an appropriate order to give, effectively taking an enemies key military leader out of contention, weakening the opponents and their king. Dominance by force would be much easier by taking advantage of this action!
David would not pursue this action. As a matter of fact, he has indicated multiple times and in multiple ways that his kingdom was not involved in this death.
1. A declaration
Initially David provided a declaration of the kingdoms innocence in this murder.
2 Samuel 3:28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD for the blood of Abner the son of Ner.
2. A Cursing
Secondly, he openly placed a curse on his own general! A public curse on Joab was pronounced, and not only on Joab, but on the family of Joab’s father, Zeruiah.
2 Samuel 3:29 May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!”
3. Mourning imposed on Joab
David requires the murderer to mourn over Abner. David calls on all the people to mourn over Abner, but the one to note is Joab, for he is the one who is known to be the murderer, and now is ordered to take part in the mourning ceremony for the man he hated enough to murder.
4. Lamenting for Abner
David participates in the mourning for his enemies general, and leads the time of mourning with a lament for a man struck down by his own general.
He speaks of the injustice acted upon Abner, the shameful death he experienced, all of this reflecting on his own general Joab. David goes so far as to say Abner’s death was as one who fall before the wicked. Of course, the association of the wicked with Joab is obvious.
The tension in the air must have been thick enough to cut with a knife!
5. Personal fasting
In all of this public expressions of distaste for this action, David was acting upon this murder in a personal way. His fasting was only found out when the people came to provide food for him. Up until then, David’s decision to fast had been a personal matter, a decision he had made quietly and before the Lord.
This is a great indication that David was no mere politician, putting on a show for those watching. This death of Abner was a personal blow to David, and in the mind of David represented the wrong way of establishing a righteous throne.
Of course this very personal decision, once exposed, only caused a greater admiration of the people for their future king.
6. Personal communication to his servants
Even after his interactions with the “people and all Israel”, in that they understood David as guiltless in this murder, David makes two further statements to his servants, emphasizing his godly approach in reigning over the Lord’s people.
One positive statement regarding his enemies general, a man that had hunted him under King Saul’s authority. David declared Abner “a prince and a great man”!
Was Abner a saint? No, not by a long shot, but David sought to honor the man in truth and found characteristics in Abner’s life that were positive and relatable to the people.
One negative statement regarding his own general, and his family. These men, the sons of Zeruiah (Joab and his brother Abishai) were more severe than David.
To be severe is to be stubborn, obstinate, stiff necked. As an application for our own lives, it is instructive that stubbornness is not the way of the one born of the spirit, for we are to be a teachable people, a people that are compliant to the Lord’s direction.
To be faithful is not the equivalent of stubbornness.
This last statement of David to his servants reveals a key indication to those in service to David that the king was not going to follow the accepted ways of the neighboring kings. He will seek to make judgements on actions, not personality or celebrity. He will condemn unrighteous acts. Yes, it is true that if he were to condemn this murder per the Law, Joab would be dead. (See Life of David – 31.07, for a discussion on David’s decision regarding Joab)
Nevertheless, David was departing from the accepted methods of gaining power, and seeking to establish a kingdom that was not only different, but that followed after the God who had called them into existence.
A fantastic effort and attitude on David’s part, and one that typifies the unexpected reactions from one who follows God.
May we be of the same spirit, finding even towards our enemies a gracious attitude that will draw them into the kingdom, unite the kingdom and serve the kingdom.
It is the way of the kingdom!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 73:4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. Psalm 73:5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Psalm 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Psalm 73:7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. Psalm 73:8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. Psalm 73:9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Psalm 73:10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. Psalm 73:11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Psalm 73:12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. Psalm 73:13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. Psalm 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. Psalm 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
In our last post, we considered verses 4-9, where Asaph describes the conflict going on in his heart regarding the wicked one’s experience in life and his behavior. They enjoy a full and powerful life, even while abusing their neighbor and rejecting any authority God has in their lives. This is confusing for this man of God, but he is not willing to abandon his argument quite yet.
His thinking is quite logical, for he make an observation, and then comes to a conclusion, by stating “therefore” We will continue with his thinking this morning and find out where his logical pathway leads him, but before we go any further, let us read the passage once more.
No God No Justice No Followers
Psalm 73:10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. Psalm 73:11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Asaph is coming to a dangerous tipping point in his logical argument. He sees the wicked’s life of ease with no apparent discipline being applied by God, and comes to a conclusion.
If this is the way the world works, why fight it? If God is allowing the wicked to flourish without any repurcussion, as all the evidence proves, the conclusion must be that God has taken His hand away from the personal lives of the people of His nation. Maybe God has revised His requirements? Maybe God has lowered His expectations, or realized He has demanded too much. Maybe God simply doesn’t care anymore.
Wow. This logical progression of Asaph takes us down a very dark and slippery slope, and I suspect this thinking has been the cause of many a followers downfall. Even as Asaph describes this thinking process, he comes to the conclusion that this situation actually provides, or might I say encourages the faithful to “turn back to them” and find “no fault in them”.
The faithful are turning back to the wicked, and find no fault in them. Is not Asaph describing those who have previously sought God turning away from Him. The faithful are seeing the abundance and freedom of the wicked, taking the bait, and by so joining the wicked, agreeing with the methods and attitudes of the wicked.
The result is a denial of God by those who seek the life of the wicked. Asaph has provided us the spiralling downfall of the faithful as they observe the wicked and make unholy choices.
Conclusion
Psalm 73:12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. Psalm 73:13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. Psalm 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. Psalm 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
Asaph makes his summary statements in these verses and repeats his foundational observation. The wicked have it easy, implying the righteous do not. The wicked have riches, implying the righteous do not.
In the midst of the righteous mans life of “struggle and poverty”, Asaph wonders if it is worth clinging to the old truth. The call of God demands a clean heart and innocent hands. What is the benefit? Why go through all this trial and trouble?
My friend, if I have followed Asaph’s thoughts and conclusions in my thinking once, I have followed his thinking a dozen times. Many times the believer observes the evidence provided, sees the logic of this train of thought, but has no real defense against it. After all, it is the way of the world.
Notice though, that Asaph provides the faithful man’s inner turmoil. All this evidence is tempting, yet he is strickened and rebuked every morning. He just can’t take that last step of joining the wicked, for his heart is telling him he is missing something, and if he succumbs to his logical conclusions, he will only add to the weakening of God’s people as he abandons the God of Israel. He knows the end result, even as he is hinting at it in this verse.
As turmoil and indecision enters our hearts over life changing decisions, we may need to consider the inner struggle as a blessing, a cleansing, even an renewing of our thinking. As we enter this struggle, it will be a battle to prove our devotion to the God of our salvation. Riches, ease and comfort can not be our gods, if we are to be called by His name.
Thankfully Asaph provides us good news in the next passage, a resolution to his thinking, a missed piece of evidence that changes all the perceived truth he has accumulated. Asaph’s struggle came to an end, and it came to an end decisively!
It is a solution for the faithful to consider as they may wander towards the lifestyle of the wicked.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 3:26-30 26 When Joab came out from David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. 27 And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. 28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. 29 May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!” 30 So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.
Joab shows himself to be the treacherous man that we spoke on in our earlier post. The treachery is multifaceted and for a moment, I would like to consider Joab’s act in relation to his king.
First off, though the text does not reveal David’s acceptance of Joab’s claim that Abner was a spy, there was no order from Joab’s king to perform this act of murder. As a matter of fact, David decried this treachery and the passage describes David as not knowing of Joab’s plans to bring Abner back to Hebron.
Secondly, why bring Abner back to Hebron? Hebron was a city of refuge per Joshua 20:7, a city that protected those who accidentally killed a man from the “avenger of death”, any man who may seek to kill in revenge. It is not clear why Joab would request Abner’s return instead of simply pursuing him, other than deceiving Abner into thinking David called him back. Let’s remember the situation Abner was in. Abner had previously killed Joab’s brother, in a defensive battle, and it could be argued that Abner could flee to a city of refuge. Of course as a man of war, this was not strictly required or expected, but the tidbit about Joab taking Abner to the gate offers an interesting twist to the story.
Joab, in taking Abner to the gate, could claim his righteousness of killing Abner outside of the city of refuge. Never mind that he lured Abner back in deception, and with cunning forethought, planned the murder of Abner, executing the murder in similar manner as his brothers death.
2 Samuel 2:23 …. Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. …
Yes Joab was not guilty of executing Abner in the city of refuge, but that seems be of little consequence in David’s mind. This act of Joab brings to mind the condition Jesus found Himself in in relation to the Jewish leadership in His day.
In the midst of one of Jesus most scathing rebukes to the Jewish leadership of His day, He pronounced the famous “swallowing a camel” hyperbole, describing how the Jews worried about a specific minor command in the midst of forgetting the major emphasis of the Word.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Matthew 23:24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
Is not Joab an early Pharisee in this manner!? Are we all not a little bit like Joab, that in the middle of sin, we find some act we can boast about that calms a raging conscience! How diabolical we can be!
Our passage continues with David’s response to such an act. Let’s remember that David is establishing his kingdom, seeking to bring in the tribes to the north, and for this murder to be seen as sanctioned, or at least approved by the king may provide a perception of his kingdom as being vengeful, even brutal.
So what should David do? Exodus gives some direction in relation to premeditated murder, a sin Abner was obviously guilty of.
Exodus 21:14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
David declares a curse on Joab and all his father’s house. Where is the judgement? Why did not David simply put Joab to death? It was early in his kingdom, so in providing this expansive curse on Joab and his family may have been an act of mercy somewhat. It may also have been an admission of weakness on David’s part since condemning Joab at this point might have turned Joab’s entire army against the king. I will let my readers come to a conclusion on this matter!
The curse on Joab and his family falls into five categories
One who has a discharge
David is laying a curse of uncleanness on Joab and his family, which would require the one with the discharge to be ostracized from the community of Israel. Many associate this discharge with the modern disease of gonorrhoea. See Leviticus 15:2 and 15:31
One who is leprous
David repeats a judgement of uncleanness on Joab’s family, this time calling out leprosy as the judgement. This would also require removal from the community of Israel. See Leviticus 13:45
One who holds a spindle
This particular curse may involve a disability requiring a crutch. One other possibility may be the one cursed would work a spindle, implying a man so poor he can only perform menial labor such as spinning on a spindle. Worse yet, one or more of Joab’s family may be inclined to be unwarriorlike, or so opposed to the military life, that they seek a “domestic” life instead. Consider Proverbs 31:19
One who falls by the sword
A “deep cut” for a man of war is to have a family member killed in the line of action. Warriors mourn those who have fallen in war, yet there may also be other emotions associated the death of a family member in war
One who lacks bread
Poverty. At this point in Joab’s life, he is riding the gravy train, with more and more potential wealth and influence on the way. To have a family member experience poverty implies much misfortune or poor decision making, or simply a non-disciplined life. All are painful conditions for Joab to associate with in his family.
David does in the future seek to have Joab pay accordingly for this treachery, but for now, David’s principle intent is to separate his kingdom from this act.
The curse is laid on Joab and David instead of killing Joab as per Exodus, allows Joab to continue through as lead general for over 3 decades under his reign.
But judgement would come upon Joab, even by the son of David. It may be deferred, but it wasn’t dismissed.
Likewise, we can all agree that judgement is deserved by all, but we often think that since judgement hasn’t fallen yet, we need not worry. King David had his son execute Joab, even as David lies on his death bed.
1 Kings 2:5 “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet. 1 Kings 2:6 ESV – Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
David made sure the judgement required was the judgement exercised. Joab was to die!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 73:4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. Psalm 73:5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Psalm 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Psalm 73:7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. Psalm 73:8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. Psalm 73:9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Psalm 73:10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. Psalm 73:11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Psalm 73:12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. Psalm 73:13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. Psalm 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. Psalm 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
As we finished our last post on the first three verses of this psalm we found that Asaph confessed his heart, speaking of his envy of the wicked.
Psalm 73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Quite the confession for a man of God to openly declare. Remember, envy is directly linked to covetousness and is equal with idolatry.
Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
In this passage, Asaph describes the arrogant, and it is impressive. His perception of the arrogant leaves us with a life of leisure, fatness, image and status. He must surely have spent time witnessing the life of the arrogant, seen their success, and may have joined in their methods of gaining comfort.
He details his analysis of the wicked, of their experiences and finally describes his despair, for while he focuses on the wicked, he expresses he may have chosen the wrong side.
Our passage naturally breaks down into four portions, with each set of verses developing the foundation for the next. Notice the repetition of the word “therefore” in verse 6 and 10. To have the term “therefore” introduced in the passage is to indicate that the given data is the basis, or the reason for the following thoughts.
Lets consider.
No Need of God
Psalm 73:4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. Psalm 73:5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Asaph begins his description of the wicked with the comfort they experience. No pangs until death, no hunger, no trouble, no suffering. They are a cut above the rest. While others have trials, they do not.
No challenges, trials, problems or concerns. They have a cushy life! So then why bother with God? Any claim of God’s authority being observed in their life is smothered by the apparent success they have in their sin. Although I may be jumping the gun regarding our proceeding through this passage, I can’t help but think of this concept in the Proverbs.
Proverbs 1:32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;
Comfort, ease, complacency all lead to a path of rejection of God. If it were not so, many in the developed nations should be flocking to praise God for the blessings they experience. But alas this is not so. Comfort puts us to sleep in relation to the God who provides. Ironically, comfort kills.
I was chatting with my daughter a few days back and she mentioned a friend that complained about the most insignificant issues in life. She off handedly told him he needs bigger problems.
My friends, we need to realize the bigger problems we have. The luxuries and comforts we have can become the first step to spiritual lethargy, luring us into a refusal to consider God in all His call in our lives.
No God – No Justice
Psalm 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Psalm 73:7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. Psalm 73:8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. Psalm 73:9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.
Asasph saw that the wicked were excelling in life and this must have confused him, for as a believer in the God of Israel, he knew the justice and righteousness of God. Why were these wicked not experiencing a commensurate justice in their lives These wicked had no trials in life, and that just seemed unfair!
Asaph speaks of the wicked being full of pride, and always involved in violence. Even in this sinful life, they experienced fatness, and they partied hard, enjoying the excesses their lives produced.
They had no mercy or love toward their fellow Israelite, but spoke hostile words, continuing in their sin by coercing and forcing their will on others. It didn’t stop with their fellow Israelites, their national brothers. This attitude naturally continued against God, for any hatred or abuse toward God’s people is a result of the hatred resident in the heart of the wicked towards God.
1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
Asaph is confused throughout this psalm due to the apparent success of these wicked men, even in their continued brash behavior towards both man and God.
Many times I have experienced this confusion, this disconnect of how the world works and the lack of immediate justice that the wicked seem to live in. It is a great temptation to use the evidence we see as a reason to abandon the God we love.
In our next post, we will see that Asaph has not come to the end of his slipping. For now, let us consider the insidious temptation that Asaph is experiencing here, and if we find any evidence of his train of thought in our own thinking, understand the end result.
Envy of the wicked is a pathway of abandoning the God we serve.
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
2 Samuel 3:20-25
20 When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. 21 And Abner said to David, “I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. 22 Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23 When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.” 24 Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? 25 You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”
Three powerful men converge on a day that ends with a reckoning for Abner.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s consider these three men on that monumental day.
David
David received King Ish-Bosheth’s head general, General Abner in peace. He not only received him in peace, but he also made a feast for Abner and his men.
Now remember, this is the same general that hunted David while under King Saul’s leadership. He is the same general that set up Ish-Bosheth as a king over the northern tribes, in direct rebellion against the will of God for a united kingdom under God. Abner is the same general that led an army against Joab, David’s general only a short while back.
Would it not be best – humanly speaking – for David to take Abner, imprison him and make a showing of how David would rule so that al the nation might fear? It would be my first instinct, but let’s recall two points to consider.
First, in our previous study, remember that Abner has previously communicated with David in this effort of unifying the nation, that he was seeking to restore the kingdom under one king and that king was to be David! In our last study, Abner was working with the northern tribes elders to consolidate them under David, and as we may suspect, word of this activity may have gotten back to David.
Secondly, David was not the type of king I relate to commonly. He made decisions that seemed to be counterproductive. Such is the case here as he had the perfect opportunity to treat Abner according to his “sins”, to pass judgement upon him and to exact a vengeance on Abner for all the pain David may have experienced.
But David was not the kind of leader that I am accustomed to. Surely David had his spies in the nation and I assume David realized that it was to Abner’s advantage to allow him to lead a delegation for peace with the northern tribes. This effort on the part of his former enemy Abner, though selfish and somewhat exposing him as a trustless leader in relation to Ish-bosheths, would prove to be fruitful towards David total reign over Israel.
So David received Abner, made a feast for Abner, heard Abner’s plan of reconciling the nation to the true king, and then sent Abner away “in peace”
Abner
If you have been following this series, you know that I have a certain attitude with this fellow Abner. A man of convenience, one who looks for advantage over faithfulness, and soldier of fortune that will jump ship when necessary. I realize this may be harsh, but to understand that upon Saul’s death, Abner elevated Ish-bosheth onto the throne of Saul, attempting to thwart the known plan of God to unite Israel under David. I suppose that may have looked like allegiance to his former employer, and that may be true, but shortly after, he turned on his master, abandoning Ish-bosheth in favor of David. Fickle, advantageous and unlikable.
In this encounter with David, Abner spoke of his efforts to join all Israel under David. He was working his diplomatic skills, positioning himself as a king maker, a nation healer and potentially a leader within the new kingdom.
Joab
We haven’t spent as much time on Joab as Abner, but for a bit of history on David’s general, he was David’s nephew, and was David’s general throughout most of his reign. He won some amazing victories over the Philistines, Ammonites and Edomites. A skilled warrior and an asset to David’s war machine.
But with this skill set of military leadership came a treachery that seemed to define this man. Lets remember earlier on when Abner fled from the battlefield of Gibeah, and as he fled, he turned on Joab’s brother Asahel, killing him. Joab broke pursuit, but he didn’t forget the death of his brother.
We shall see in the next post that Joab took matters into his own hands in relation to executing justice upon Abner. For now, and relating to this text, let us consider Joab’s possible mindset.
He sees that Abner has been with David, that Abner is an accomplished warrior, and that David’s kingdom will suddenly expand greatly due to Abner’s influence. David must certainly be considering a place for Abner in his administration. A perfect place might be as general of the united armed forces of Israel.
On top of that concern of a possible demotion, or even job loss, Joab still has the matter of his brother’s death to contend with. This additional threat of Abner sliding into Joab’s position may have set in stone the decision to take care of the problem immediately.
Joab was certainly a man of action, a man of military might, but also, as with most men of power, self willed, even to the point of being treacherous. As we venture into David’s reign, we shall encounter Joab many times.
These three men played important parts in the life of the nation. Each had their weaknesses and strengths, and with some honest introspection, we may possess some of these very qualities within ourselves.
Thankfully, the Lord Jesus is the One who can save us from ourselves, transforming even the worst of men, (even I), into saints before the Lord, as we stare intently at His glory!
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
May we all look to Him, gaze upon Him and in the gazing become a bit like Him!
What a promise! What a Savior!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.
My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
We are entering Book three of the Psalms, and as discussed in out previous post, Psalms for Psome – Ps 72.06, this section of Psalms has a theme that is similar to the book of Leviticus, and emphasizes the correct approach to our God, holiness in the believers life and actions and proper heart felt worship of the Lord.
We also will be missing the pen of David in this portion, with his input decreasing. New authors we may have never encountered in the Psalms will appear, even Moses in the 90th Psalm. For this Psalm, we meet again the author of Psalm 50, and we will be reading his writings from Psalm 73 through to Psalm 83.
He served as a chief musician and prophet during the reign of David, and produced some of the most difficult passages in the Psalms to understand. His influence was not quelled by his passing, for there was a group of musicians and poets that came behind him, calling themselves the sons of Asaph, continuing in worship even through the days of Ezra.
With this short introduction to our author, lets consider Psalm 73, a psalm that speaks of the importance of focus for the believer!
Psalm 73:1 A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. Psalm 73:2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. Psalm 73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Asaph begins his message with a claim of the goodness of God, but he wants to be understood clearly. He may have simply stated “God is good to Israel”, but that was not clear enough for Asaph. He needed to define who Israel was that God was good to.
To those who are pure of heart.
We have previously discussed the concept of the remnant in this blog, and I simply want to remind my gentle reader that within the nation of Israel, within the population of the nation of Israel, there existed those who loved and followed after God. Those who had the faith of Abraham, and not simply some biological tie to the man of faith by claiming the blood of Abraham was coursing through their veins.
The only blood that mattered in God’s eyes was the blood of His Son. Bloodlines of the patriarchs of old, were only important in order to identify the Son, to provide a way of defining through which family of man the promised Messiah would come.
It has always been about faith, and any claim to superiority through some blood line has always been an affront to God, even in the days of the Messiah.
John 8:37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.
The very bloodline that was a claim to superiority before God was the same bloodline that crucified the God they claimed favored them.
Asaph is making clear that those who are of faith in God will experience the goodness of God. Yet even as I say that, those whose hearts are pure have times of weakness, times when focus is blurred, distracted and our minds wander into dangerous thinking. Such was Asaph’s experience in this Psalm.
To think that a man of God such as Asaph came so close to stumbling in his walk with God is so sad, and yet in his stumbling, he recounts for us his mistake, his error in his thinking, his error in focus.
And he get’s to the problem immediately in verse 3.
Envious of the arrogant
As a quick reminder, envy and jealousy are not synonyms, though they are related. To be jealous is related to the fear of loosing something one already has, be it a possession or a person. Envy is associated with what others possess, and is the act of desiring to have what they have. Envy is linked to covetousness, and is associated with idolatry.
Asaph is in trouble here!
One question I do have for my reader.
Is Asaph envious of the things the arrogant have, or might he be admitting to being envious of the ability to be arrogant. For those who can freely exhibit an arrogance tend to not hesitate to acquire, to obtain and to seek all they can.
Is he simply wanting things, or is he wanting the ability to get things?
What thinkest thou? Leave me a comment below if you have an opinion.
For our time this morning, Asaph provides us a warning, and the warning is for the believer to maintain correct focus, to look to the goodness of God, not the abundance of garbage the arrogant obtain!
Considering the Bible 