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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A clear reference to how the wilderness generation fell dead, those whom Joshua knew well, those at his side. Sometimes a thousand fell, other times ten thousand. But his life was to be preserved. God is comforting Moses that his life has been preserved, he has not failed of God's grace. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that Joshua would look at the corpses of the slain amongst his fellows, and reflect that this was the recompense for their wickedness. And that wickedness was essentially their unbelief that they would enter the Kingdom. Moses is being reminded that the generation who died in the desert did so because they were wicked. Their death had been their recompense. And he had been preserved from that. Again he is being shown that he was wrong to complain in Ps. 90 about the consequence of sin.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because you have made Yahweh your refuge and the Most High your dwelling place-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The stress is upon "you"; Joshua would not fall and be slain because of his unbelief, because he had in faith focused upon the things of Yahweh. Not simply in having faith that Israel could easily enter the promised land, but in his subsequent choice to live in the tabernacle, to dwell in God’s presence. Moses too is being comforted that he has indeed taken refuge in Yahweh and would be blessed for it- but with ultimate salvation, not with short term entance into Canaan as he so wished.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to look back to <a href='B:220 5:19'>Job 5:19</a>: "He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee". Psalms 91 is Moses' encouragement to Joshua that the destroying Angel in the wilderness would not harm him, but he would be protected by the Angels who would "keep you in all your ways" (:11). Thus Moses may have seen <a href='B:220 5:19'>Job 5:19</a> to be talking about evil brought by Angels of evil (<a href='B:230 78:49'>Psa 78:49</a>)- i:e. Job's satan Angel who brought the trials, as discussed at length on Job 1. "Your dwelling" would refer to the tabernacle "without the camp" where Joshua lived.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He will put His angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Instead of the Angels bringing plagues of death upon Joshua, as did upon the wilderness generation after the pattern of what they did in Egypt, instead the Angels would guard him. The Psalm describes how Joshua was miraculously preserved from the punishments which befell his generation in the wilderness; thousands fell at his side from the various plagues sent to waste away his peer group. But he was preserved. It is in this context we read that the Angels would be given charge over him, lest he dash his foot against a stone during that wilderness journey (<a href='B:230 91:11-12'>Psa 91:11-12</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yet these words were understood by the Lord Jesus as relevant to Him personally, when He was in the wilderness (<a href='B:470 4:6'>Mat 4:6</a>). The Lord Jesus clearly saw Joshua as a type of Himself. The double application of Psalms 91 to both Joshua and Jesus makes Joshua a potential Messiah. He and the High Priest Joshua at the time of the restoration could have been Messiah figures; but they failed to rise up completely to thIsa. So Joshua is not simply a type of the Lord Jesus. Rather were the potentials possible for him, which he didn’t totally fulfil, reapplied and rescheduled to the Lord Jesus.</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Guard" is the same word used in <a href='B:10 3:24'>Gen 3:24</a>, and thus alludes to the Angels keeping&nbsp; men in the way to the tree of life- not only physically but spiritually preserving them. The figure of dashing the foot against a stone suggests the idea of spiritual stumbling against a "rock of offence" or stumblingstone (s:w. <a href='B:300 13:16'>Jer 13:16</a>, of how the exiles refused this potential help and did stumble). The Angels bore up the Lord Jesus to help Him avoid these. But only because He Himself wished for that strength, and avoided the temptation He faced to abuse it and wrongly use it. But "to guard you in all your ways" is omitted when the 'Satan' of the Lord's own human mind cited this verse to Himself in the wilderness temptations. He was tempted to omit the fact that God's protection was not a blanket promise [as He was tempted to think], but only in the context of the person who is walking in the way to the tree of life. And this is a common failure of believers- to grab hold of a verse promising protection and blessing, and assume it applies in a general sense, without paying attention to the context of the promise. Thus men charge into battle with these words written on their helmets...   </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>they will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :11. God was willing to "bear up" Israel and bring them into the land / kingdom (s:w. <a href='B:50 32:11'>Deu 32:11</a>). But only Joshua and Caleb made use of that. Nothing need have caused them to stumble. And the same is true for us. But we need to want that, whereas Israel in their hearts turned back to Egypt:&nbsp;&nbsp; As noted on :4, this is the language of a parent leading a child in its first seps, ensuring they don't trip over a stone. Moses is being reminded that God had so gently cared for him through the wilderness journey, and he should focus upon that rather than his personal bitterness and ranting against God of Ps. 90.  </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will tread on the lion and cobra, you will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The treading underfoot of the adder must have a connection with Genesis 3; the seed of the woman trampling sin underfoot. This conquest of sin by Jesus was therefore partly due to Angelic strengthening of Him (see on :11,12). Through them "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself", making Christ a sin-offering for us. There are also connections with the restoration prophecies of Isaiah, which speak of these wild animals being subdued. But again, the exiles didn’t want this; just as it seems the full potential of these things was not realized by Joshua.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The prophecy about Christ personally that He would tread upon snakes and wild animals (<a href='B:230 91:13'>Psa 91:13</a>) is quoted as being fulfilled in the disciples, who ‘were’ Christ on their preaching mission (<a href='B:490 10:19'>Luk 10:19</a>; <a href='B:480 16:18'>Mar 16:18</a>). In Old Testament times, God described His whole people as His anointed one, His Christ: “The Lord is a strength unto his people, and he is the saving strength of his anointed” (<a href='B:230 28:8'>Psa 28:8</a> RVmg:). The whole people were His anointed King, His Messiah, the anointed one. And so it is for all those today who are “in Christ”.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The ‘devil’ of the Lord’s own nature tempted Him to apply <a href='B:230 91:11'>Psa 91:11</a> in a wrong context, and jump off the pinnacle of the temple. But if the Lord had gone on, as surely He did, He would have found the words: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet” (<a href='B:230 91:13'>Psa 91:13</a> AV). This promise would have been of wonderful comfort, as throughout the wilderness temptations the Lord “was with the wild beasts” (<a href='B:480 1:13'>Mar 1:13</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because he has set His love on Me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known My name-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This implies that our love of God is expressed in seeking to appreciate His name. To know Him is to love Him, and to want to be like Him; there is something compulsive and magnetic about who He Isa. The knowledge of God elicits quite naturally a merciful spirit (<a href='B:350 6:6'>Hos 6:6</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But it seems that :13-16 speak of potentials which Joshua personally didn’t fully realize. But they did come true of the Lord Jesus. It is therefore not the full picture to just say that "Joshua was a type of Christ". He was, but the connection is also in the fact that what Joshua didn’t realize, the Lord Jesus did. And the fulfilment therefore came about in even more wonderful terms; for the Lord Jesus was "set on high" through exaltation to Heaven and being made prince of the kings of the earth, and being delivered from death through resurrection.</p><p>The word for "To set love upon" is that used about how God set His love upon Israel (Dt. 7:7; 10:15). We see here the mutuality between God and man, and especially Moses. For all Moses' depression and anger with God in Ps. 90, for all his desire to see immediate answers, for all his refusal to accept the just consequences of sin, God recognized that Moses had set his love upon God, just as God had set His love upon him. Moses was the one who supremely "has known My Name", witnessing the declaration of the Name on Sinai. Despite Moses' ranting of Ps. 90, God saw his heart was set in love upon Him. And we should be prepared to see that in other believers. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will call on Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again, this only partially came true for Joshua, and was fulfilled above all in the deliverance and honour of the Lord Jesus. The exiles failed to make use of these potentials, as it seems Joshua didn’t fully either. "Troubles" is the word used of Jacob's time of trouble (<a href='B:10 35:3'>Gen 35:3</a>; <a href='B:300 30:7'>Jer 30:7</a>; <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>). David’s experience of trouble was representative of how the exiles and all God’s people could ultimately follow the path of Jacob to deliverance out of exile and from his strong enemies. But in <a href='B:230 71:20'>Psa 71:20</a> David sees his deliverance from the day of trouble as ultimately being in the resurrection of the body, being 'brought up again from the depths of the earth'.</p><p>This is clearly relevant to Moses, who is honoured more than any man apart from the Lord Jesus, throughout Scripture. Only the Lord Jesus "has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses" (Heb. 3:3). Although Moses' requests of Ps. 90 appeared unanswered, God assures him that He will answer him- in that the essence of his prayer, his desire for salvation, will be eternally answered (:16). Through all our depression and even ranting at God, as Moses in Ps. 90, God sees to the core desire- for eternal salvation. And He will give this to us as He promised Moses. This will eternally answer every impression of unanswered prayer that we ever struggled with.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm A song for the Sabbath day-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm was intended for usage on the Sabbaths. "Jewish tradition says that it was sung in the morning at the time of the drink offering of the first lamb". But much of the language is used in Psalms of David, and so it seems it originated with him.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to Your name, Most High-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is in contrast to the complaint that it was profitless to keep the Sabbath (<a href='B:460 2:15'>Mal 2:15</a>). The Sabbath was understood here as intended for praise.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to proclaim Your grace in the morning and Your faithfulness every night-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Proclaiming" or showing forth praise of God’s ways is what David did in this life (<a href='B:230 71:17-18'>Psa 71:17-18</a>; <a href='B:230 92:2'>Psa 92:2</a>; <a href='B:230 92:15'>Psa 92:15</a> and often). But he imagines himself doing so "forever" (<a href='B:230 75:9'>Psa 75:9</a>). This is an example of how we can live the eternal life now, acting now as we shall eternally do in the Kingdom. It is in this sense that the Lord Jesus in John's gospel offers eternal life right now; even though we shall die and only enter eternity at the resurrection of the body. This Psalm was specifically for the Sabbath (:1), and perhaps David saw the Sabbath as a foretaste of the future Kingdom of God. Those in Israel who despised it and broke it were therefore not interested in living the Kingdom life now. "Grace and... faithfulness", or "mercy and truth", is a phrase often used about the promises to Abraham. These were the basis of the new covenant, and it was these which should be praised on the Sabbath. But we note that David speaks of doing so "every night", as if implying that the spirit of Sabbath praise should be lived out every day.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>with the ten-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Very clearly the style and language of David (see on :1,4).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You, Yahweh, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "me" is clearly David (see on :1), but he wishes all men to share his relationship with God. The idea of the Sabbath (:1) was to rest from human works in order to accept the saving power of God’s work (<a href='B:650 4:3-4'>Heb 4:3-4</a>; <a href='B:650 4:10'>Heb 4:10</a>). Hence on the Sabbath especially, it was appropriate to triumph in God’s work and not our own.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>How great are Your works, Yahweh! Your thoughts are very deep-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again the emphasis is upon praising God’s works on the Sabbath rather than our own; see on :4. God’s works and His thoughts are paralleled here (as in <a href='B:230 40:5'>Psa 40:5</a>; <a href='B:240 16:3'>Pro 16:3</a>). Thoughts are therefore our "way" of life in practice (<a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>). This is because thought and action are understood as essentially the same; hence the sermon on the mount condemns thoughts of sin as if they are the sin itself.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yet David admits that temporarily, he had been like this himself (s:w. <a href='B:230 73:21'>Psa 73:21</a>). The fact is, even those as spiritual as David can at times be totally unspiritual in their perspective, and like him need to take a grip and return to reality. We surely have all known thIsa.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>though the wicked spring up as the grass and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The apparent prosperity of the wicked is a major issue, so much so that this weekly Sabbath liturgy (:1) mentioned it. The same concern is found in Job (<a href='B:220 21:7-21'>Job 21:7-21</a>) and Asaph (<a href='B:230 73:2-15'>Psa 73:2-15</a>). But their flourishing is presented here as being a prelude to their being cut down; they grow up quickly, but so as to be cut down at the last day.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You, Yahweh, are on high forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The problem of the apparent prosperity and high exaltation of the wicked (:7) is resolved by reflecting that it is Yahweh who is ultimately exalted, and He will be so eternally. The "height" of God is a common reflection of David in the Psalms.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For, behold, Your enemies, Yahweh, for, behold, Your enemies shall perish; all the evildoers will be scattered-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David often talks about the perishing [s:w:] of his enemies (<a href='B:230 9:3'>Psa 9:3</a>; <a href='B:230 9:6'>Psa 9:6</a>; <a href='B:230 41:5'>Psa 41:5</a>; <a href='B:230 143:12'>Psa 143:12</a>). But here in <a href='B:230 92:9'>Psa 92:9</a> he speaks of them as God’s enemies. He considers his enemies to be God’s enemies. That may well have been true, seeing that God did indeed become the enemy of Saul, who was clearly the great enemy of David in his earlier life (<a href='B:90 28:16'>1Sa 28:16</a>). But we must sound a caveat; because it can be that those within the body of believers whom we consider our enemies are in fact loved by God. We cannot automatically assume in times of inter-personal strife that our enemies are also God’s enemies. Likewise our enemies' friend is not always our enemy, and our enemies' enemy is not always to be our friend.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I am anointed with fresh oil-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The talk of being anointed is clearly relevant to David as the anointed king under persecution; but this is a generic psalm for the Sabbath, to be used in the liturgy every week (see on :1). We are bidden see David as our representative; and indeed we too are anointed in that we are in Christ, the anointed one (<a href='B:540 1:21'>2Co 1:21</a>). Just as all Israel were to see themselves as somehow "in" David. David is here quoting from Hannah's prayer (<a href='B:90 2:10'>1Sa 2:10</a>). He appropriates her words to himself personally, and now bids all Israel apply them to themselves every Sabbath. Hence "our horn shall be exalted... his horn shall be exalted" (<a href='B:230 89:17'>Psa 89:17</a>; <a href='B:230 89:24'>Psa 89:24</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My eye has also seen my enemies, my ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is, "see my desire on my enemies", as AV. Remember that this is part of a Sabbath liturgy, to be used every week (:1). David assumes that every man will have "enemies" just as he does, and that we also hear of others are rising up against us. Perhaps the Psalm was written at the time of his persecution by Saul or Absalom, who 'rose up against' David. He speaks in the past tense, so certain is he that his desire will be fulfilled. And yet we wonder why every Sabbath, men were to gloat over the fact their enemies amongst God’s people would be destroyed, and to reflect upon their "desire" for that. We would rather imagine that the Sabbath was a time to rest from all such thoughts. Often, “desire” is seen by God as prayer (<a href='B:230 10:17'>Psa 10:17</a>; <a href='B:230 21:2'>Psa 21:2</a>; <a href='B:230 27:4'>Psa 27:4</a>; <a href='B:230 59:10'>Psa 59:10</a>; <a href='B:230 92:11'>Psa 92:11</a>; <a href='B:230 140:8'>Psa 140:8</a>; <a href='B:230 145:19'>Psa 145:19</a>; <a href='B:470 18:32'>Mat 18:32</a>; <a href='B:520 10:1'>Rom 10:1</a>; <a href='B:690 5:15'>1Jn 5:15</a>). God interprets that inner desire as prayer, even if it is not articulated in specific requests.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is in contrast to the temporary flourishing of the wicked (see on :7). The implication therefore is that the righteous will eternally flourish, whereas the wicked only do so for a moment. The righteous are to be upright as the cedar and palm trees, because Yahweh is upright (<a href='B:230 92:12'>Psa 92:12</a>; <a href='B:230 92:15'>Psa 92:15</a>). This is why bearing the name of Christ is in itself an imperative to witness it. The same words are used here as in David’s vision of how Solomon's kingdom would be in <a href='B:230 72:7'>Psa 72:7</a>: "In his days, the righteous shall flourish". In <a href='B:230 92:11-12'>Psa 92:11-12</a>, David thinks that he himself will see the righteous flourishing (s:w. <a href='B:230 72:7'>Psa 72:7</a>). So he may be imagining that he would somehow be resurrected and see this happening in Solomon's reign. His hope will come ultimately true, but through the kingdom of the Lord Jesus and not Solomon.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They are planted in Yahweh’s house, they will flourish in our God’s courts-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again the present tense is used for the future, so certain is David that his prayer will be heard. This liturgy was for the weekly Sabbath celebrations in the temple (:1); but the hope of the righteous is that they will not just come into the courts of the sanctuary once every week, but live and flourish there eternally. Ideally, such regular meetings of God’s people should be foretastes of the eternal experience of the Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They will still bring forth fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Old age" in secular life is a grim acceptance that our fruitfulness and vitality are passed. But in spiritual terms, we live in "newness of life" through the work of the Spirit. We are to be spiritually fruitful till the day we die:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh reigns!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Literally, 'has become king'. Perhaps this Psalm is David’s reflections at the time when he became king, realizing that Yahweh is the true king of Israel.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He is clothed with majesty! Yahweh is armed with strength. The world also is established to stand firm, so that it can’t be moved-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The solid kingship of Yahweh is contrasted later in the Psalm with the swelling of the waters against Him. David felt this to be appropriate to himself, for when he became king he was surrounded by surges of opposition.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Your throne is established from long ago; You are from everlasting-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David is humbly reflecting that his throne is in fact God’s. And that throne has always been, and is certain. Any opposition to him was therefore ultimately going to fail, so long as he retained his perspective- that he was reigning on God’s throne and not his own, as God’s agent, and not as king himself purely in his own right and name.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea of a "throne" is of judgment. God is now enthroned as judge (<a href='B:230 93:2'>Psa 93:2</a>; <a href='B:470 5:34'>Mat 5:34</a> “the heaven is God’s throne”). We are now inescapably in God’s presence (<a href='B:230 139:2'>Psa 139:2</a>); and ‘God’s presence’ is a phrase used about the final judgment in <a href='B:600 1:9'>2Th 1:9</a>; <a href='B:720 1:24'>Jud 1:24</a>; <a href='B:730 14:10'>Rev 14:10</a>. Hence “God is [now] the judge: he putteth down one and setteth up another” (<a href='B:230 75:7'>Psa 75:7</a>) – all of which He will also due at the last day (<a href='B:490 14:10'>Luk 14:10</a>). The essence of judgment is ongoing now; “we make the answer now”. God’s present judgment is often paralleled with His future judgment. Thus “The Lord shall judge the people... God judges [now] the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day... he will whet his sword; he has [right now] bent his bow, and made it ready” (<a href='B:230 7:8'>Psa 7:8</a>; <a href='B:230 7:11-13'>Psa 7:11-13</a>). We are come now “to God the judge of all” (<a href='B:650 12:23'>Heb 12:23</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :1, the floods and waves represent the opposition of peoples to God’s rulership. David, as king on Yahweh's throne, faced huge opposition from the house of Saul to his kingship, as well as many later challenges to it. But he took comfort that all this swelling of peoples was as nothing against the eternal Kingship of God which he represented.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, Yahweh on high is mighty-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :1,3, this refers to the "voice" of the opposition to David’s kingship. He was particularly sensitive to words, as so many of his Psalms indicate. The allusion is to how the waters of the Red Sea were totally under God’s control (<a href='B:20 15:10'>Exo 15:10</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh, You God to whom alone vengeance belongs, You God to whom vengeance belongs-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I suggest this began as a Psalm of David pleading for vengeance against Saul and / or Absalom's group, which under inspiration was then reused by the exiles in their pleas for vengeance against Babylon. The stress that vengeance belongs to God was of course a major theme with David, in that he refused twice to take Saul's life when he easily could have done- because vengeance belongs to God and not man. And likewise it was stressed to the exiles that vengeance upon the Gentiles who had abused them belonged to God, and they were to pray for the time of His vengeance to come:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Shine forth-</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A request for the shining forth again of God’s glory from between the cherubim (s:w. <a href='B:230 80:1'>Psa 80:1</a>); even though the ark seems to have been lost during the captivity.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Rise up-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a repeated Biblical theme that the believer's relationship with the Father too is essentially mutual. David lifts himself up to God (<a href='B:230 25:1'>Psa 25:1</a>; <a href='B:230 28:2'>Psa 28:2</a>; <a href='B:230 86:4'>Psa 86:4</a>), and asks God to lift up Himself in response (<a href='B:230 7:6'>Psa 7:6</a>; <a href='B:230 10:12'>Psa 10:12</a>; <a href='B:230 94:2'>Psa 94:2</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You judge of the earth, repay the proud what they deserve-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is in line with the note on :1, that God and not man is the judge who will repay the proud. And yet Israel had been punished far less than their sins deserved (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>), and this desire for their abusers to receive precisely what they did, to be punished as their sins deserved, seems to reflect a lack of appreciation of that grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This really had the answer "How long will it be before you exiles repent and desire to return to your God as well as to your land?". The truth was that they had gone into exile because they had 'triumphed' in their wickedness (s:w. <a href='B:300 11:15'>Jer 11:15</a>). But it had its basis in David’s wondering whilst persecuted by Saul "how long" before he would become king.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers boast-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The psalmists adopt God’s perspective, that the essence of sin is pride, and the greatest sin of Israel's abusers was their pride and boasting. Whilst this complaint is obviously relevant to the Babylonians, the words are used by David about the proud and arrogant words of those within Israel (<a href='B:230 31:18'>Psa 31:18</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They break Your people in pieces, Yahweh, and afflict Your heritage-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is clearly relevant to the actions of the Babylonians (s:w. <a href='B:310 3:34'>Lam 3:34</a>):But it was true also of David’s enemies within Israel, especially Saul (<a href='B:230 143:3'>Psa 143:3</a>). The truth is that the exiles were broken because they had broken each other in pieces (<a href='B:290 3:15'>Isa 3:15</a> s:w:). Yet that brokenness was intended to bring forth the humility which would enable them to repent and be restored (s:w. <a href='B:290 57:15'>Isa 57:15</a> "contrite"). And it was the suffering servant as representative of Israel who was broken, as their representative (s:w. <a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This went on at the time of the Babylonian invasion, as Jeremiah's Lamentations testify to. But we wonder whether the psalm had its origin with David lamenting similar behaviour from Saul and his men. The reference to "the alien" would be hard to understand in a Babylonian context. But if done by Saul, it would show a conscious disobedience to the spirit of the Law of Moses, which required that aliens be treated with the utmost respect.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They say, Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was the subconscious attitude of Saul and David’s persecutors within Israel. Whilst they may not have said these words, it was a fair summary of the implications of their positions and actions. But it's quite likely that the Babylonians actually said this in so many words. But David’s frequent plea for Yahweh to awake from sleep and hear, as if He were deaf, is not far off the same attitude of those who acted as if God were blind or willfully closing His eyes.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Among the people" may mean that the people being criticized were amongst God’s people; they were warned that He who even disciplines the Gentiles (:10) will even moreso judge His own people. The question "When will you be wise?" suggests a strong desire in David [at this point] that his persecutors repent; although often he simply wishes them dire condemnation.</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He who implanted the ear, won’t He hear? He who formed the eye, won’t He see?-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles needed to be reminded of this, as they had the impression God was seeing or hearing their situation (s:w. <a href='B:290 59:21'>Isa 59:21</a>; <a href='B:330 12:2'>Eze 12:2</a>). It was because of this attitude that they had gone into exile in the first place (s:w. <a href='B:300 5:21'>Jer 5:21</a>; <a href='B:300 7:24'>Jer 7:24</a>). There are huge implications of believing in God as the creator of men in His image. He can hardly be perceived as insensitive to what we see and hear, seeing that He created ears and eyes. The same logic demands that we believe that He can strengthen human faculties just as He wishes (<a href='B:20 4:11'>Exo 4:11</a>). see on :10.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He who disciplines the nations, won’t He punish? He who teaches man knows-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The people being criticized were amongst God’s people; they were warned that He who even disciplines the Gentiles (:10) will even moreso judge His own people; see on :8. It makes no sense to assume that the God who teaches man is ignorant of that knowledge which He teaches; this is an extension of the logic discussed on :9.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Bible persistently emphasizes the colossal significance of the thoughts, the spirit. And this prepares the way for the huge theme of the Spirit in the New Testament, and the opportunity to receive a holy spirit, the very spirit or mind of the Lord Jesus. It was because of the "thoughts of man" that the earth was destroyed by the flood (s:w. <a href='B:10 6:5'>Gen 6:5</a>). "Futile" is the word for "vanity", which is commonly used of idolatry. And this indeed is where modern day idolatry is committed- through having an empty mind, filled with vanity, rather than the things of God’s Spirit.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed is the man whom You discipline, Yah, and teach out of Your law-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The chastening or "discipline" is the word used for David’s experiences after the sin with Bathsheba (s:w. <a href='B:230 6:1'>Psa 6:1</a>; <a href='B:230 38:1'>Psa 38:1</a>; <a href='B:230 39:11'>Psa 39:11</a>). His eyes were opened to God’s law through that. It was the Gentile nations who were disciplined in :10; so David has in view here how from among them, there would come some who responded to God’s judgments by wanting to learn His law.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that You may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that if the exiles repented and accepted God’s discipline (:12), then their days of adversity in Babylon would come to an end, and their abusers would be buried eternally in the pit. The days of adversity or evil could equally refer to the evil which Judah had themselves wrought (s:w. <a href='B:50 31:18'>Deu 31:18</a>), the days [of punishment] for their own evil. And these could be ended if they repented of it.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Yahweh won’t reject His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication could be, in the context of :13,15, that this would be the case if they returned to righteousness and followed it. For God had indeed rejected and forsaken His people because of their sins; the same terms are used about this in <a href='B:290 32:14'>Isa 32:14</a>; <a href='B:300 12:7'>Jer 12:7</a>. The psalmist's understanding that ultimately God would not be left without a people therefore implied to him that His people would ultimately repent.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart shall follow it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :14, the idea could be that there would be a "return" to justice, and again the righteous would follow righteousness. It was this repentance by the exiles which would lead to God no longer rejecting and forsaking His people (:14).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David so often parallels righteousness and justice / truth (<a href='B:230 9:8'>Psa 9:8</a>; <a href='B:230 33:5'>Psa 33:5</a>; <a href='B:230 37:6'>Psa 37:6</a>; <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a>; <a href='B:230 103:6'>Psa 103:6</a>; <a href='B:230 106:3'>Psa 106:3</a>). Indeed, this parallel is so common in God’s word. What it means is that the righteousness of God is a just righteousness. It's not fake, 'I'll turn a blind eye'. It is true, real, valid, and has integrity underpinned in the very essential justice of God Himself. Justice and righteousness may appear abstract ideas, mere theology. But the result is that the person who believes God’s righteousness is imputed to him or her... will feel this, they will know it to be true, they can by grace, in faith, quietly hold their head up before God. And David after Bathsheba is our example. He believed and felt this imputed righteousness. It's not so much a case of 'forgiving ourselves' after God has forgiven us, but rather of being swamped by this very real and legitimate sense that truly, we have been counted righteous. And Paul in Romans holds up David after Bathsheba as the personal example to "every one who is Godly" in their time of spiritual need. See on <a href='B:230 41:12'>Psa 41:12</a>.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had been careful to stress that justice belongs to Yahweh; hence he didn’t take Saul's life when he had the chance. So the answer to this question is "God". And this was likewise to be the answer arrived at by the exiles:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Unless Yahweh had been my help, my soul would have soon been silenced-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is very much the spirit of the exiles in <a href='B:230 124:1-2'>Psa 124:1-2</a>. But they were to follow the path of David, in devotion to God’s word, repentance and thence restoration.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When I said, My foot is slipping! Your grace, Yahweh, held me up-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David recognized that his steps had slid (<a href='B:230 38:16'>Psa 38:16</a>; <a href='B:230 94:18'>Psa 94:18</a>). But at the end of his life, he reflects that the steps of the righteous don't slip (<a href='B:230 37:25'>Psa 37:25</a>; <a href='B:230 37:31'>Psa 37:31</a>). Perhaps David came to minimize his earlier slipping, especially in the matter of Bathsheba, in his old age. Or perhaps he was able to look back and see that despite temporary sliding of steps, ultimately the steps of the righteous don't slide in the overall path of their life:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Your comforts delight my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that David was confused, struggling with the idea of ultimate salvation and blessing being so different from current realities. But despite all that confusion, the simple love of God was his comfort. His confusion was shared by the exiles, and also ultimately by the Lord Jesus. The spirit of Christ in the prophets testified Messiah’s sufferings “unto Christ" (<a href='B:670 1:11'>1Pe 1:11</a> RVmg:), but He still had to figure it all out. And this enabled an element of doubt and confusion, even though in the end He knew “all the things that were coming upon him" (<a href='B:500 18:4'>Joh 18:4</a>). To doubt or feel confused is not to sin. This Messianic Psalm had foretold: “In the multitude of my doubts within me, thy comforts delight my soul" (<a href='B:230 94:19'>Psa 94:19</a> RVmg:). This aspect heightens the agony of His final crisis, when He unexpectedly felt forsaken.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with You, which brings about mischief by statute?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The initial reference would have been to the throne of Saul and perhaps later of Absalom, but was easily reapplied to the throne of Baylon. David had a marked hatred of sin, and often stated his desire to purge Israel of sinners, and his refusal to fellowship with evil (<a href='B:230 94:20'>Psa 94:20</a>; <a href='B:230 97:10'>Psa 97:10</a>; <a href='B:230 101:3-8'>Psa 101:3-8</a>; <a href='B:230 119:63'>Psa 119:63</a>; <a href='B:230 119:78-79'>Psa 119:78-79</a>; <a href='B:230 139:19'>Psa 139:19</a>). And yet he had to revise these attitudes somewhat when he as the king committed murder and adultery.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is how David perceived his persecution by Saul and Absalom. But he was himself not innocent of blood nor was he completely righteous. David’s prayer of repentance and request to be saved from "blood guiltiness" (<a href='B:230 51:14'>Psa 51:14</a>) is literally 'from blood'. He was a man of blood and was guilty of Uriah's innocent blood. David had asked for 'men of blood' to be slain (<a href='B:230 55:23'>Psa 55:23</a> s:w:), those who had taken the blood of the innocent (<a href='B:230 94:21'>Psa 94:21</a>), and for 'men of blood' to be expelled from his presence (<a href='B:230 139:19'>Psa 139:19</a>). And it is not at all clear whether all those Psalms were written before his sin with Bathsheba. God was trying to teach David that he was the type of person whom he condemned. And yet it is unclear if he learned that lesson. Solomon liberally condemns the man who sheds innocent blood (<a href='B:240 6:17'>Pro 6:17</a>; <a href='B:240 28:17'>Pro 28:17</a>), refusing to recognize that his much lauded father had done just this, and was only saved by grace and not by any obedience to wisdom. There is so little grace in the book of Solomon's Proverbs because Solomon had failed to perceive the grace shown to his father.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But Yahweh has been my high tower, my God, the rock of my refuge-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David sees that Yahweh will be a "high tower" or place of refuge at the day of future judgment (<a href='B:230 9:8-9'>Psa 9:8-9</a>, quoted about this in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a>). But David feels God has been like this to him in this life (<a href='B:100 22:3'>2Sa 22:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:2'>Psa 18:2</a>; <a href='B:230 46:7'>Psa 46:7</a>; <a href='B:230 48:3'>Psa 48:3</a>; <a href='B:230 59:9'>Psa 59:9</a>; <a href='B:230 59:16-17'>Psa 59:16-17</a>; <a href='B:230 62:2'>Psa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:22'>Psa 94:22</a>; <a href='B:230 144:2'>Psa 144:2</a>). He therefore sees a seamless experience in his relationship with God in this life, and at the future day of judgment. God saves us right now and is a refuge for us in countless life situations; and this is the guarantee that He will be likewise at the last day.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh, let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The LXX ascribes this to David, and that is confirmed by the quotation of it as from David in <a href='B:650 4:7'>Heb 4:7</a>. I suggest the psalm began as a response to his receipt of grace and forgiveness after the sin with Bathsheba. It is David’s invitation to all on earth, especially God’s people, to come to Yahweh. But it moves on to lament that God’s people hadn't responded, and as Israel didn’t enter the promised rest because of unbelief, so the exiles were being prevented from reentering the same land. This was because they had declined to follow in the path of David’s repentance and restoration, effectively refusing the invitation to come to Yahweh found in the first half of the Psalm.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David’s desire to teach others of God’s ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God’s grace. He didn’t do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God’s mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let’s come before His presence with thanksgiving, let’s extol Him with songs!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "presence" of God likely refers to the shekinah glory seen over the ark. The "songs" in view were the Psalms of David. For this Psalm is written by David (see on :1), inviting all people to share his experience of Yahweh's grace and to join in his ecstasy of praise for His grace. The Psalm was likely used in the liturgy of the sanctuary, and many synagogues still use it to call to the Sabbath on Friday evenings. See on :6.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>So often, the idols aren't in so many words criticized as not existing, but rather, Yahweh is so exalted above them that even if they do exist, they are so relatively powerless that they are show to have no effective existence. It's the same with how the language of demons is used in the New Testament; the Lord's miracles demonstrated that God’s power was so infinitely greater, that effectively demons don't exist.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the mountains are also His-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is taken as meaning that Judah could take comfort from the fact that a God of this power would therefore not totally reject His people for all power, despite their sins (<a href='B:300 31:37'>Jer 31:37</a>):&nbsp; </p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sea is His, and He made it; His hands formed the dry land-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David realized that as God fashioned / formed the earth (<a href='B:230 95:5'>Psa 95:5</a>), so He can fashion human hearts (<a href='B:230 33:15'>Psa 33:15</a>). His word and Spirit work in doing both things, with the same boundless possibility and power.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Oh come, let’s worship and bow down-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :2; clearly the Psalm was used in the liturgy of the tabernacle services. The invitation to "bow down" was asking the people to repent. This was so relevant to the exiles, for their refusal to do so placed them in the same situation as the people exiled from Canaan.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There are huge implications in believing that God is our creator We will therefore humbly bow before Him in worship, in a way that those who deny theistic creation are not motivated to.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>for He is our God. We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep in His care-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the same message to the exiles as they were given in Ezekiel 34. The God whom they considered didn’t care did in fact care passionately; He was their shepherd, wishing to lead and restore them to the land. But they were disobedient sheep.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Today, oh that you would hear His voice!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Hebrew word for ‘hear’ is also translated ‘obey’ (<a href='B:10 22:18'>Gen 22:18</a>; <a href='B:20 19:5'>Exo 19:5</a>; <a href='B:50 30:8'>Deu 30:8</a>; <a href='B:50 30:20'>Deu 30:20</a>; <a href='B:230 95:7'>Psa 95:7</a>). The context is of sheep hearing the shepherd's voice. The exiles were being called to obedience to the prophetic word, so that they might be restored to their land. We can hear God’s word and not obey it. But if we really&nbsp;hear it as we are intended to, we will obey it. If we truly believe God’s word to be His voice personally speaking to us, then we will by the very fact of hearing, obey. The message itself, if heard properly and not just on a surface level, will compel action. We can delight to know God’s laws and pray daily to Him, when at the same time we are forsaking Him and His laws; if we are truly obedient, then we will delight in God’s law (<a href='B:290 58:2'>Isa 58:2</a> cp. 14).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All Scripture is recorded for our learning and comfort (<a href='B:520 15:4'>Rom 15:4</a>). The exhortation of <a href='B:240 3:11'>Pro 3:11</a> “speaks unto you as unto children..." (<a href='B:650 12:5'>Heb 12:5</a>). Hebrews 3 quotes&nbsp; Psalms 95 as relevant to all readers. The warnings there for that "today" were also be a warning for the first century "today", and yet likewise we can still take hold of the past word of God and relate it to the needs of our "today". We can fail to personalize God’s word, in the sense of realizing that it speaks to us personally.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The quotation of this in <a href='B:650 3:7'>Heb 3:7</a> emphasis upon "today" is in the context of appealing for confidence right now in the certain hope of future salvation (<a href='B:650 3:6'>Heb 3:6</a>). We should be able to say with confidence that "today" if the Lord comes or if we die, we shall be saved. This is the meaning of the emphasis upon "today"; Peter has the same idea when writing of our rejoicing in "the present truth" (<a href='B:680 1:12'>2Pe 1:12</a>), the ultimate truth that today at this moment we shall be saved if the Lord returns or we die. In this sense "now is the day of salvation" (<a href='B:540 6:2'>2Co 6:2</a>). At this moment we can seek and find the Lord, "while He may be found" (<a href='B:290 55:6'>Isa 55:6</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The events of the rebellion of Exodus 17 are the basis for this part of Psalms 95. This is largely a Psalm of praise for what God did for Israel in the wilderness, whilst also commenting on the way they tragically put God to the test, and complained about His care for them. Now the words of <a href='B:230 95:7-11'>Psa 95:7-11</a> are directly quoted in <a href='B:650 3:7-11'>Heb 3:7-11</a> concerning the experience of the new Israel. The simple conclusion from this is that we are really intended to see the events of Exodus 17 as directly relevant for us.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles had gone into captivity for hardening their hearts as Pharaoh had done (s:w. <a href='B:300 7:26'>Jer 7:26</a>; <a href='B:300 17:23'>Jer 17:23</a>). And they would stay there until they stopped hardening their hearts, and accepted the work of the Spirit upon their hearts as promised to the exiles in Jeremiah and Ezekiel- if they were repent.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The quotation in <a href='B:650 3:8'>Heb 3:8</a> is in the context of how the Jews had hardened their hearts when Paul preached to them (<a href='B:510 19:9'>Act 19:9</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>when your fathers tempted Me, tested Me and saw My work-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The testing was the worse because they "saw My work". But despite that, didn’t want to believe that God could bring them into the land. The same was the case with the exiles. They had gone into captivity for refusing to 'see My work' (s:w. <a href='B:290 5:12'>Isa 5:12</a>). But even when they did perceive it, they doubted whether God’s work was strong enough to save them. And this can be an abiding temptation for the new Israel; not becoming atheists, recognizing God "is" and has power; but refusing to believe He can save us personally.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The entire period of wilderness wanderings was characterized by Israel putting God to the test; they were not confident of their final salvation, and were ever looking for evidence from Him. He had brought them out of Egypt through the blood of the Passover lamb; and there were daily miracles of provision in the bread and water which pointed forward to the Lord Jesus. This desire for yet further proof is seen in various guises today; from the phlegmatic, wavering believer who wants more 'scientific proof' of God to those in the Pentecostal movement ever seeking visible evidence that the Lord is amongst them. The word of promise regarding salvation is to be believed and that faith and joy held on to (<a href='B:650 3:6'>Heb 3:6</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They continually tested God even though they saw His works daily; the manna, water from the rock, shekinah glory over the tabernacle, the cloud by day and the fire by night. But still they tested Him. This is our warning against ever seeking 'hard proof'. Even if we were to be daily given it, this would not take away the desire to test God. It is total faith in the word of promise which is required (<a href='B:650 3:6'>Heb 3:6</a>), and the confirmation is not in petty experimentation day by day which 'proves' God, but rather has it already been provided in the Lord's death and resurrection.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Forty long years I was grieved with that generation and said-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The parallel was with the 70 year exile of Judah. Those years were "long" to God, because He so wanted to restore His people. He was "grieved" at His heart for them. He takes no pleasure in punishing the wicked. And yet despite their impenitence, at the end of the forty years, God did bring His people into the land. By grace, God saw no iniquity in Israel (<a href='B:40 23:21'>Num 23:21</a>). He fulfilled His promise at Sinai that if they were obedient, He would make them His people; and He did, counting them as obedient. Yet the events of the intervening forty years hardly sound like Israel being obedient; He "suffered their manners" forty years (<a href='B:230 95:10'>Psa 95:10</a>; <a href='B:510 13:18'>Act 13:18</a>). And yet at the end of that period, they were counted as having been sufficiently obedient to be made God’s people (<a href='B:20 19:5'>Exo 19:5</a> cp. <a href='B:50 27:9'>Deu 27:9</a>). This 'displeasure' or 'grief' lasted 40 years (<a href='B:650 3:17'>Heb 3:17</a> s:w:); it was a daily grief that they did not trust Him. To believe in God is to trust Him. In Hebrew, belief is trust. And no amount of petty testing of God will give us that trust.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known My ways-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as the state of human hearts was the reason for the flood (<a href='B:10 6:5'>Gen 6:5</a>), so in essence it was a state of heart which meant Israel couldn't enter the Kingdom. The importance of the spirit / heart, of spiritual mindedness, could not be more strongly emphasized. They saw God’s work, but refused to know His ways. To recognize God’s existence and work is one thing; but to know God in the Hebraic sense of relationship is quite another.</p><h2>&nbsp;Psalms 95 gives us a unique insight into God’s internal thought processes. He "said" within Himself that they problem was in Israel's hearts. They had seen "His way in the [Red] Sea" (<a href='B:230 77:19'>Psa 77:19</a>), He had "made known His ways to Israel" (<a href='B:230 103:17'>Psa 103:17</a>), but their heart was far from Him. But "My ways" refers so often to God’s commandments; Israel were repeatedly asked to "walk in His ways" as they walked through the wilderness (<a href='B:50 10:12'>Deu 10:12</a>; <a href='B:50 11:22'>Deu 11:22</a>; <a href='B:50 26:17'>Deu 26:17</a> etc:). He sought not so much total legalistic obedience to His ways / commandments as to "know" them, to appreciate them, to perceive them in their hearts. The Hebrew word translated "err" is that used for Israel's "wandering" in the wilderness for 40 years (<a href='B:230 107:4'>Psa 107:4</a>). They wandered in their minds, just as humanity does today- from this passing passion to that, toying with that principle or fantasy and then with thIsa... and that mental lack of stability was reflected in how they literally wandered. This aimless wandering through life is the parade characteristic of the unbelieving world. Only a firm hope in Christ and our future salvation can give us this mental and emotional stability which is the work of the Holy Spirit.</h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>:1 </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to Yahweh a new song! Sing to Yahweh, all the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Even in the Old Testament, the idea of living in a spirit of newness of life is to be found. David six times invites us to sing with him “a new song” (<a href='B:230 33:3'>Psa 33:3</a>; <a href='B:230 40:3'>Psa 40:3</a>; <a href='B:230 96:1'>Psa 96:1</a>; <a href='B:230 98:1'>Psa 98:1</a>; <a href='B:230 144:9'>Psa 144:9</a>; <a href='B:230 149:1'>Psa 149:1</a> cp. <a href='B:290 42:10'>Isa 42:10</a>). Invariably these songs are associated with the experience of God’s redemption (cp. <a href='B:730 5:9'>Rev 5:9</a>). Obviously those ‘new songs’ were intended to be repeatedly sung. Our regular experience of forgiveness and redemption should urge us onwards in the spirit of ‘newness of life’. Like Paul we die daily with the Lord, and the power of His resurrection life likewise daily breaks out in us.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to Yahweh! Bless His name! Proclaim His salvation from day to day!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The LXX uses the word evangelion concerning how daily we should “show forth his salvation” (<a href='B:230 96:2'>Psa 96:2</a>). Witness is therefore a daily feature in the life of those who have known salvation; it is not something done solely by attending an ecclesial gathering once per week. This explains why frequently Paul uses the word "Gospel" as meaning 'the preaching of the Gospel'; the Gospel is in itself something which must be preached if we really have it (<a href='B:520 1:1'>Rom 1:1</a>; <a href='B:520 1:9'>Rom 1:9</a>; <a href='B:520 16:25'>Rom 16:25</a>; Php_1:5 (NIV),12; 2:22; 4:15; <a href='B:590 1:5'>1Th 1:5</a>; <a href='B:590 3:2'>1Th 3:2</a>; <a href='B:600 2:14'>2Th 2:14</a>; <a href='B:620 1:8'>2Ti 1:8</a>; <a href='B:620 2:8'>2Ti 2:8</a>). The fact we have been given the Gospel is in itself an imperative to preach it. </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Many of the Psalms reflect David’s realization that confession of sin is the basis for powerful preaching. The LXX often uses the verb euangelizesthai to describe his preaching after the Bathsheba incident (<a href='B:230 96:2'>Psa 96:2</a>). Because God has mercifully forgive His people and His face shines upon them in renewed fellowship, His way is thereby made known upon earth to all nations (<a href='B:230 67:1-2'>Psa 67:1-2</a>). He utters forth the mighty acts of God with the preface: “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord, who can shew forth all his praise?” (<a href='B:230 106:2'>Psa 106:2</a>)- and then proceeds to do just that. He did so with a clear recognition of his own inadequacy. The Psalms of praise are full of this theme. David exhorts all those who have been redeemed to show forth God’s praise (<a href='B:230 107:2'>Psa 107:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:22'>Psa 107:22</a>; <a href='B:230 107:32'>Psa 107:32</a>). He wanted all Israel to be a joyful, witnessing people. And even though it seems God’s people didn’t respond, David went on undeterred. Time and again he fearlessly sets himself up as Israel’s example. He speaks of how he trusts in the Lord’s grace, and then appeals to Israel to do just the same (<a href='B:230 62:7-8'>Psa 62:7-8</a>). The strength of his appeal was in the fact that his sin and experience of grace was the bridge between him and his audience.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It was God’s prophesied will that the Gospel would go world-wide; but it required the freewill strivings of Paul to enable it, and the strivings with God in prayer by the brethren. With these thoughts in mind, bear in mind the parallels between Psalms 96, 98. &nbsp;Sing unto the Lord a new song (96:1) = O sing unto the Lord a new song (98:1); His wonders among all people. For He hath done marvellous [s:w. ‘wonders’] things in the sight of the nations (96:2 RV) = declare His glory among the nations (98:3); righteousness and truth (96:13) = righteousness and truth (98:3); Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof (96:11) = Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof (98:7); for He cometh to judge the earth (96:9) = for He cometh to judge the earth (98:13); The Lord reigns (96:10) = The Lord the king (98:6).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But there are some subtle differences. <a href='B:230 96:2-3'>Psa 96:2-3</a> exhorts us: “Show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen”. But <a href='B:230 98:2'>Psa 98:2</a> puts it another way: “The Lord has made known His salvation. His righteousness has He openly shewed in the sight of the nations”. These latter words are only true in that we make known that salvation, and we declare His glory among the nations. Thus a statement in Psalms 98 that Yahweh has shewed His glory to the nations becomes an imperative for us to go and do that in Psalms 96.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Declare His glory among the nations, His marvellous works among all the peoples-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :7. Perhaps the triple command to 'Sing to the Lord' in the opening verses of Psalms 96 alludes to Israel's three feasts, as does the triple, repetitive verses of <a href='B:230 99:1-9'>Psa 99:1-9</a>; which likewise bid the Gentile world to come to Israel's worship.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! He is to be feared above all gods-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David’s focus of all his praises upon Yahweh as alone "worthy" of praise was what he now wanted his people to follow (<a href='B:230 18:3'>Psa 18:3</a>; <a href='B:230 22:3'>Psa 22:3</a>). The implication of "worthy" could imply a contrast with other gods, as here in <a href='B:230 96:4'>Psa 96:4</a> "He is to be feared / praised above all gods". This would confirm the hints we have that Saul was an idolater (see on :31; <a href='B:230 12:8'>Psa 12:8</a>; <a href='B:230 16:4'>Psa 16:4</a>), and that idolatry was prevalent in Israel at the time.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The gods / idols aren't in so many words criticized as not existing, but rather, Yahweh is so exalted above them as creator of all that even if they do exist, they are so relatively powerless that they are show to have no effective existence. It's the same with how the language of demons is used in the New Testament; the Lord's miracles demonstrated that God’s power was so infinitely greater, that effectively demons don't exist. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Honour and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :7. This is a reference to the Most Holy Place; the reference to His "strength and beauty" going into captivity may refer to the ark (<a href='B:230 78:61'>Psa 78:61</a> s:w:). </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Ascribe to Yahweh, you families of nations, ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The very same Hebrew words used about how David felt he wanted to give glory and strength [honour] to the Lord (<a href='B:230 62:7'>Psa 62:7</a>). "Families of nations" recalls the promises made to Abraham of his seed. He wished for the whole world to share his relationship with God. The radical nature of what is being suggested in Psalms 96 (especially :7,8) and many similar Psalms can easily be overlooked. The Psalmist is urging Gentiles to come and worship with Israel, proceeding into the tabernacle courts and thence into "the beauty of holiness" (:6), i:e. the Most Holy Place ['holiness' being read here as a noun rather than an adjective- it is the same Hebrew word elsewhere translated "sanctuary" and related to the Hebrew word used for "sanctuary" in :6]:&nbsp; The Psalmist is inviting Gentiles to come in to the worship of Israel and proceed where only the High Priest could venture once / year. It was the equivalent of proclaiming an open table policy in the most exclusive of churches. </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The common assumption of expositors is that the Psalmist has in view the Kingdom age, but this seems precluded by his appeal to the Gentiles to come and worship exactly because of the good news that the Lord is coming to judge the earth in righteousness (:13)- which is quoted about the return of Christ to earth in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a>. The holiness boundaries taught by the Law were only teaching mechanisms, which is why they were removed by the open Christ. David for one got to this point well before most other Israelites did, acting as the High Priest (<a href='B:130 16:3'>1Ch 16:3</a>), entering the sanctuary when not a Levite (<a href='B:230 63:2'>Psa 63:2</a>) and experiencing forgiveness and salvation quite outside the Law rather than the Law's penalty of death. </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Most of Psalms 96 is to be found in David’s Psalm at the bringing of the ark to Zion in 1 Chronicles 16, so we can safely assume David to have been the author. His outreach to the Gentiles is typical of the spirit of the Bathsheba Psalms, where he vows to tell the whole world of God’s grace. It's not that the experience of sin and forgiveness makes a person somehow weak and wishy washy acceptant of anyone and anything. The experience of God’s grace at close quarters leads us to realize how radical was His acceptance of us and thereby we should proactively seek to be acceptant of all those who are afar off. And so David perceived that God’s Name (His characteristics, of which grace is uttermost) deserved glory to be given to it- simply for what it was (:8). And that glory is "due" from all, including the Gentiles- and so they should be invited across all holiness boundaries to come with their offerings to God. Thus Yahweh's greatness above all other gods was what led David to appeal to "all you gods" [perhaps put by metonymy for the idol worshipping peoples] to come and worship before Yahweh (<a href='B:230 97:7'>Psa 97:7</a>). </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The appeal was to be global and not just to Israel because David perceived that actually the truth of God is proclaimed by "the whole earth" and "heavens" (<a href='B:230 97:5-6'>Psa 97:5-6</a>). Of course, the call is for the Gentile idolaters to "come" to Yahweh's sanctuary, and not for God’s people to leave Yahweh and go to them. And they were to "bring an offering", to make a commitment to the God they were being invited to come close to (<a href='B:230 96:8'>Psa 96:8</a>). <a href='B:230 98:3-5'>Psa 98:3-5</a> continues this radical appeal to the Gentile world, but it urges them to come and worship (which involved coming to the sanctuary in Israel) exactly because God has been so gracious to sinful Israel. Israel's extreme sin and God’s radical grace and patience with them for not being good witnesses to the Gentiles... was to serve as encouragement for the Gentiles to come to Israel's God and praise Him, confident that their sins too could be forgiven. </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same idea is found in <a href='B:230 99:1-5'>Psa 99:1-5</a> - because of God’s grace to Jacob / Israel, an undefined group are bidden come to Zion, to the very cherubim (in the Most Holy Place) to exalt and praise God at His footstool. This group, in line with the preceding Psalms, are surely the Gentile world. "Let them praise Your great Name" (<a href='B:230 99:3'>Psa 99:3</a>) would surely make most sense if it referred to the Gentiles, seeing that David or the Psalmist was Israelite. We see the same idea in <a href='B:230 97:1'>Psa 97:1</a>; it begins with an appeal to the islands of the Gentiles to 'rejoice' and 'be glad', but the same two Hebrew words are used in <a href='B:230 97:8'>Psa 97:8</a> about how Zion- those in the very temple mount- likewise rejoice and are glad. The very "ends of the earth" who saw God’s salvation of His people are invited to praise Him for it (<a href='B:230 98:3-4'>Psa 98:3-4</a>)- the invitation to join in praise was effectively an invitation to join in worship, and thereby to become part of God’s covenant people. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to His name, bring an offering and come into His courts-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>According to the LXX titles, there were certain Psalms which were written for the dedication of the rebuilt temple, and others written by Haggai and Zechariah. They include: Psalms 96, 138, 147, 148. These all seem to speak as if the time of a glorious temple was to be the time of God’s Kingdom; this was the possibility, and it was the prevailing hope in the minds of the faithful minority. But the Psalms had to remain prophecies of the future day of Zion’s glory, for the temple was not rebuilt by the returned exiles according to the specifications of Ezekiel 40-48. Psalms 96 is very clear: “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name [i:e:] bring an offering, and come into his courts” (:8). But Judah did not bring the right offerings, although the glory of Yahweh’s Name ought to have elicited them (<a href='B:460 1:11-14'>Mal 1:11-14</a>). <a href='B:230 96:13'>Psa 96:13</a> confidently anticipate the coming of Messiah there and then: “then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: for he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness”. These words are quoted about the second coming of Jesus in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a>:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Worship Yahweh in holy array, tremble before Him, all the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As it was God’s intention that Israel were to be a nation of priests to the rest of the world, so the new Israel likewise are to all discharge the priestly functions of teaching their brethren (<a href='B:20 19:6'>Exo 19:6</a> cp. <a href='B:670 2:5'>1Pe 2:5</a>; <a href='B:730 1:6'>Rev 1:6</a>; <a href='B:730 5:9-10'>Rev 5:9-10</a>). Under the new covenant, we should all teach and admonish one another (<a href='B:580 3:16'>Col 3:16</a>). Indeed, God told Israel [unrecorded in the historical records]: “Ye are gods [elohim] and all of you are sons of the Most High” (<a href='B:230 82:6'>Psa 82:6</a> RV). Further, <a href='B:230 96:9'>Psa 96:9</a> makes the paradigm breaking statement that even the Gentiles could come before Yahweh of Israel in holy, priestly array- they too could aspire to the spirit of priesthood (<a href='B:230 96:9'>Psa 96:9</a> RVmg:). Moses spoke of how all Israel should pray that God would establish the work of their hands (<a href='B:230 90:17'>Psa 90:17</a>)- but this was in fact his special request for the blessing of Levi, the priestly tribe (<a href='B:50 33:11'>Deu 33:11</a>). <a href='B:230 135:19-20'>Psa 135:19-20</a> parallels all Israel with the priestly family: “Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of Aaron: bless the Lord, O house of Levi: ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord... praise ye the Lord”. All Israel were to aspire to the spirit of priesthood. Indeed, the Psalms often parallel the house of Aaron (i:e. the priesthood) with the whole nation (<a href='B:230 115:9-10'>Psa 115:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 115:12'>Psa 115:12</a>; <a href='B:230 118:2-3'>Psa 118:2-3</a>). </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Say among the nations, Yahweh reigns! The world is also established, so that it can’t be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David’s desire to teach others of God’s ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God’s grace. He didn’t do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God’s mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, let the sea roar, and its fullness!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that all of the planet, the sea representing the peoples, would rejoice at the prospect of the coming of Israel's Lord in judgment (:13). This is not therefore speaking of the Kingdom; but rather of David’s desire that before the Lord's coming, the Gentile peoples would come to such relationship with Him that they rejoiced at the prospect of His coming in judgment, knowing by faith that they would not be condemned.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the field and all that is in it exult! Then all the trees of the woods shall sing for joy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David seems to have foreseen the joy of the natural and spiritual creation of the last days as they sense the approach of the Lord (see on :13):&nbsp; </p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh reigns! Let the earth rejoice! Let the multitude of islands be glad!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This begins with an appeal to the islands of the Gentiles to 'rejoice' and 'be glad', but the same two Hebrew words are used in <a href='B:230 97:8'>Psa 97:8</a> about how Zion- those in the very temple mount- likewise rejoice and are glad. The very "ends of the earth" who saw God’s salvation of His people are invited to praise Him for it (<a href='B:230 98:3-4'>Psa 98:3-4</a>)- the invitation to join in praise was effectively an invitation to join in worship, and thereby to become part of God’s covenant people. The earth / eretz promised to Abraham was to rejoice along with the islands- the Gentiles. The Psalm appears to be an appeal to the exiles to rejoice at the prospect of restoration, which would include blessing upon the Gentile world.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Clouds and darkness are around Him, righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne-</p><h2>The language of theophany, as seen at the Red Sea and Sinai. The restored throne of David would be based upon justice and righteousness, whereas the throne of David had become characterized by injustice and unrighteousness before it was overthrown. There was envisaged a dramatic theophany which would be associated with the fall of Babylon and the restoration of God’s exiled people. The cherubim which Ezekiel had seen departing from Zion would return. But this isn't what happened; Judah in exile didn’t really repent, and those relatively few who did return were clearly motivated by the hope of personal benefit rather than the glory of God. Babylon didn’t dramatically fall as envisaged in the prophets, there was no theophany; so much potential was wasted. But these things are rescheduled and reapplied to the final restoration of God’s people at the last day:&nbsp;</h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries on every side-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :3, this was part of the potential scenario envisaged; but it was precluded by the exiles refusing to repent, and not actually wanting a restoration of the type prophesied. Most of them remained in Babylon when they had the chance to return. The fire going before the exiles is the same phrase used of how the pillar of fire went before Israel in leading them out of Egypt and to the promised land (<a href='B:20 13:21'>Exo 13:21</a>; <a href='B:40 14:14'>Num 14:14</a>). But the exiles preferred to remain in exile.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees, and trembles-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Lightning, fire (:3), clouds and darkness (:2) are all the language of theophany, of the type seen by Ezekiel when the cherubim departed from Zion. This kind of theophany could have been seen again had the exiles truly wanted to participate in God’s potential program. This also continues the allusion to what happened at the Red Sea, although the historical record doesn't much mention the thunder, lightning and theophany which was experienced, according to this and other later descriptions of what happened (e.g. <a href='B:230 77:17-18'>Psa 77:17-18</a>; <a href='B:230 97:4'>Psa 97:4</a>). The clouds pouring out water also recalls the flood; as if the judgment upon Egypt would likewise be seen upon Babylon. But Babylon fell only very slowly, and not in the dramatic, miraculous way envisaged in the prophecies of the fall of Babylon. This was again because the Divine potential wasn't realized because the exiles didn’t repent and most actually chose to remain in Babylon.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Yahweh, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again continues the allusion to the exodus, which could have been repeated in essence at the restoration from Babylon. The mountains of opposing nations, not least Babylon, could have been burnt up; just as the Canaanite opposition to the redeemed Israel was potentially melted (<a href='B:60 2:11'>Jos 2:11</a>). This is why the restoration prophecies of later Isaiah are full of allusion to the exodus and Red Sea deliverance. "The Lord of the whole earth" / land promised to Abraham is a phrase associated with the exodus and possession of Canaan (<a href='B:60 3:11'>Jos 3:11</a>; <a href='B:60 3:13'>Jos 3:13</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The heavens declare His righteousness; all the peoples have seen His glory-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The vision was of all the peoples in the eretz or land promised to Abraham seeing the restored shekinah glory in Zion, associated with the theophany envisaged in :2-4. The appeal was to be global and not just to Israel because David perceived that actually the truth of God is proclaimed by "the whole earth" and "heavens" (<a href='B:230 97:5-6'>Psa 97:5-6</a>). Of course, the call is for the Gentile idolaters to "come" to Yahweh's sanctuary, and not for God’s people to leave Yahweh and go to them. And they were to "bring an offering", to make a commitment to the God they were being invited to come close to (<a href='B:230 96:8'>Psa 96:8</a>). See on <a href='B:230 96:7'>Psa 96:7</a>.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let all them be shamed who serve engraved images, who boast in their idols-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh's greatness above all other gods was what led David to appeal to "all you gods" [perhaps put by metonymy for the idol worshipping peoples] to come and worship before Yahweh (<a href='B:230 97:7'>Psa 97:7</a>). See on <a href='B:230 96:7'>Psa 96:7</a>. But Ezekiel demonstrates that idolatry was rife amongst the exiles. They would be shamed in condemnation.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Worship Him, all you gods!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The gentile idols are not specifically stated to be non-existent. But the huge power of Yahweh was such that they were revealed as having no effective power compared to Him, and were therefore declared non-existent in any functional sense. And this is why the language of demons is used in the New Testament; but the Lord's miracles were of such magnitude that they were declared to thereby have no effective existence in practice.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Zion heard and was glad. The daughters of Judah rejoiced, because of Your judgments, Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The daughter of Zion / Judah is a phrase used of the exiles. They were to rejoice in the prospect of what was possible for them. But instead most of them preferred to remain in Babylon, and persecuted the prophets like Ezekiel who told them this good news. This is the same reference for <a href='B:450 9:9'>Zec 9:9</a>, which exhorts the exiled daughter of Zion to "rejoice" (s:w. "be glad") because her Messianic king was coming to restore her. This was sadly precluded at the time by the exiles' impenitence, and the failure of the potential Messianic figures such as Zerubbabel.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You, Yahweh, are most high above all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The gentile idols are not specifically stated to be non-existent. But the huge power of Yahweh was such that they were revealed as having no effective power compared to Him, and were therefore declared non-existent in any functional sense- see on :7. The exiles were intended to rejoice at the fall of Babylon because her idols would be brought down before Yahweh; but instead the exiles continued to worship those idols.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You who love Yahweh, hate evil. He preserves the souls of His saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may have originated in David’s thoughts about Saul, then reapplied to David’s need for salvation from Absalom and Ahithophel, but, it becomes the intended appeal of the exiles for deliverance from Babylon, then Haman, and indeed from all their captors. "The hand of the wicked / unrighteous" is the term used for the Babylonians in <a href='B:330 7:21'>Eze 7:21</a>.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David is seeing himself and the righteous as Job, and he here continues that connection, seeing that Job is described likewise as "upright in heart" (<a href='B:220 1:8'>Job 1:8</a>; <a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a>). David sees this as characteristic of all God’s people (s:w. <a href='B:230 11:2'>Psa 11:2</a>; <a href='B:230 19:8'>Psa 19:8</a>; <a href='B:230 32:11'>Psa 32:11</a>; <a href='B:230 36:10'>Psa 36:10</a>; <a href='B:230 64:10'>Psa 64:10</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 97:11'>Psa 97:11</a>). He sees the wicked as those who are not upright (<a href='B:230 14:3'>Psa 14:3</a>; <a href='B:230 51:1'>Psa 51:1</a>; <a href='B:230 51:3'>Psa 51:3</a>). But these words which David writes about the wicked are then reinterpreted as applying to all men, God’s people included (<a href='B:520 3:12'>Rom 3:12</a>). Like Job, David had to be taught that actually he was failing to see the seriousness of sin; righteousness and acceptability with God is imputed to men by grace through faith, because actually there are none who are upright in heart, apart from God’s representative son.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the context of the exiles, the idea is that if the exiles were indeed righteous and upright [which required their repentance], then they had the hope of light and gladness sown for them in this prophetic word of restoration.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to Yahweh a new song, for He has done marvellous things! His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Even in the Old Testament, the idea of living in a spirit of newness of life is to be found. David six times invites us to sing with him “a new song” (<a href='B:230 33:3'>Psa 33:3</a>; <a href='B:230 40:3'>Psa 40:3</a>; <a href='B:230 96:1'>Psa 96:1</a>; <a href='B:230 98:1'>Psa 98:1</a>; <a href='B:230 144:9'>Psa 144:9</a>; <a href='B:230 149:1'>Psa 149:1</a> cp. <a href='B:290 42:10'>Isa 42:10</a>). Invariably these songs are associated with the experience of God’s redemption (cp. <a href='B:730 5:9'>Rev 5:9</a>). Obviously those ‘new songs’ were intended to be repeatedly sung. Our regular experience of forgiveness and redemption should urge us onwards in the spirit of ‘newness of life’. Like Paul we die daily with the Lord, and the power of His resurrection life likewise daily breaks out in us.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh has made known His salvation, He has openly shown His righteousness in the sight of the nations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It was God’s prophesied will that the Gospel would go world-wide; but it required the freewill strivings of Paul to enable it, and the strivings with God in prayer by the brethren. With these thoughts in mind, bear in mind the parallels between Psalms 96, 98. &nbsp;Sing unto the Lord a new song (96:1) = O sing unto the Lord a new song (98:1); His wonders among all people. For He hath done marvellous [s:w. ‘wonders’] things in the sight of the nations (96:2 RV) = declare His glory among the nations (98:3); righteousness and truth (96:13) = righteousness and truth (98:3); Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof (96:11) = Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof (98:7); for He cometh to judge the earth (96:9) = for He cometh to judge the earth (98:13); The Lord reigns (96:10) = The Lord the king (98:6).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But there are some subtle differences. <a href='B:230 96:2-3'>Psa 96:2-3</a> exhorts us: “Show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen”. But <a href='B:230 98:2'>Psa 98:2</a> puts it another way: “The Lord has made known His salvation. His righteousness has He openly shewed in the sight of the nations”. These latter words are only true in that we make known that salvation, and we declare His glory among the nations. Thus a statement in Psalms 98 that Yahweh has shewed His glory to the nations becomes an imperative for us to go and do that in Psalms 96.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has remembered His grace and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Salvation" is Yeshua. Clearly the day when all the earth shall perceive the Lord Jesus is in view. In the immediate context of David and later the exiles, the hope was that the extremities of the eretz promised to Abraham, places like Babylon and Assyria where the exiles were, would perceive that God had saved His people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth! Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The very "ends of the earth" who saw God’s salvation of His people are invited to praise Him for it (<a href='B:230 98:3-4'>Psa 98:3-4</a>)- the invitation to join in praise was effectively an invitation to join in worship, and thereby to become part of God’s covenant people. These ends of the eretz were places like Babylon and Assyria, who had previously abused God’s people.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:230 98:3-5'>Psa 98:3-5</a> continues the radical appeal of <a href='B:230 96:7'>Psa 96:7</a> to the Gentile world, but it urges them to come and worship (which involved coming to the sanctuary in Israel) exactly because God has been so gracious to sinful Israel. Israel's extreme sin and God’s radical grace and patience with them for not being good witnesses to the Gentiles... was to serve as encouragement for the Gentiles to come to Israel's God and praise Him, confident that their sins too could be forgiven.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing praises to Yahweh with the harp, with the harp and the voice of melody-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David’s invitation of others to praise God with the harp was effectively asking them to share his personal praise of God- for he was known for his personal praising of the Lord with the harp.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>With trumpets and sound of the ram’s horn make a joyful noise before the King, Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These were the trumpets which summoned Israel to keep the feasts in Zion. The idea is that the Gentiles would joyfully respond to the call to enter covenant relationship with Yahweh, and therefore keep His feasts. But the exiles didn’t repent, and Ezekiel records their involvement with idol worship. As happened at Hezekiah's time, instead of Jerusalem becoming the international centre of Yahweh worship, the people instead returned to the idols of the surrounding nations.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who live therein-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that all of the planet, the sea representing the peoples, would rejoice at the prospect of the coming of Israel's Lord in judgment (:9). This is not therefore speaking of the Kingdom; but rather of David’s desire that before the Lord's coming, the Gentile peoples would come to such relationship with Him that they rejoiced at the prospect of His coming in judgment, knowing by faith that they would not be condemned.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing for joy together-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The rivers and mountains are personified people because they are intended to be understood as representative of peoples and nations. The "rivers" have been used as representative of the Gentile armies which overran God’s people; but they were envisaged as repenting and clapping with joy at the prospect of Yahweh's appearance in judgment; for they would repent.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh reigns! Let the nations tremble-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to be a Psalm rejoicing at the prospect of the restoration of the exiles; the Gentiles were to tremble in repentance, so that they too could join in this program. The ideas are very similar to those in Psalms 97.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sits enthroned between the cherubim: let the earth be moved-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There was envisaged a dramatic theophany which would be associated with the fall of Babylon and the restoration of God’s exiled people. The cherubim which Ezekiel had seen departing from Zion would return. But this isn't what happened; Judah in exile didn’t really repent, and those relatively few who did return were clearly motivated by the hope of personal benefit rather than the glory of God. Babylon didn’t dramatically fall as envisaged in the prophets, there was no theophany; so much potential was wasted. But these things are rescheduled and reapplied to the final restoration of God’s people at the last day:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The commands concerning the tabernacle were given to Moses by the Angel- do phrases like "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" (<a href='B:20 25:8'>Exo 25:8</a>) have primary reference to the Angel speaking the words? In the same way, does <a href='B:230 99:1'>Psa 99:1</a> refer also to the physical presence of an Angel between the cherubim? Similarly "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel (the Angel- so Isaiah 63 describes the wilderness Angel), thou that leadest Joseph like a flock (the Angel lead them through the wilderness); thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth" (<a href='B:230 80:1'>Psa 80:1</a> AV). And again in <a href='B:230 20:1-2'>Psa 20:1-2</a> "The God of Jacob (i:e. the Angel who Jacob recognized had been so much in his life) defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary... ", as if it was in the sanctuary (Holy Place) that the Angel was located.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The four cherubim covered the ark, over which dwelt an Angel; <a href='B:230 99:1'>Psa 99:1</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a> therefore describes the Angel as dwelling between the cherubim: "The Lord reigneth... He sitteth between the cherubims... He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept His testimonies, and the ordinance that He gave them". These latter things were all done by the Angel. Also relevant is <a href='B:230 68:17-18'>Psa 68:17-18</a>: "The chariots of God are... thousands of Angels; the Lord is among them, as in... the Holy place". One Angel, which dwelt in the Holy Place, was therefore central to those thousands of others. See too <a href='B:290 37:16-17'>Isa 37:16-17</a> on thIsa. Similarly, Isaiah saw "the King, the Lord of Hosts (Angels) sitting between the cherubim" (<a href='B:290 6:5'>Isa 6:5</a>). The phrase 'living God' may mean 'the God of the living ones', and would therefore describe this mighty Angel- it is linked with "the Lord of Hosts" (Angels) in <a href='B:300 23:36'>Jer 23:36</a> and the Angel that dwelt in the temple (<a href='B:230 42:2'>Psa 42:2</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is great in Zion, He is high above all the peoples-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because of God’s grace to Jacob / Israel (:4), an undefined group are bidden come to Zion, to the very cherubim (:1; in the Most Holy Place) to exalt and praise God at His footstool. This group, in line with the preceding Psalms, are surely the Gentile world. "Let them praise Your great Name" (<a href='B:230 99:3'>Psa 99:3</a>) would surely make most sense if it referred to the Gentiles, seeing that David or the Psalmist was Israelite. See on <a href='B:230 96:7'>Psa 96:7</a>.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Your great and awesome name: He is Holy!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "them" are the Gentile "peoples" of :2. Perhaps the triple command to 'Sing to the Lord' in the opening verses of Psalms 96 alludes to Israel's three feasts, as does the triple, repetitive verses of <a href='B:230 99:1-9'>Psa 99:1-9</a>; which likewise bid the Gentile world to come to Israel's worship. See on <a href='B:230 96:7'>Psa 96:7</a>.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The King’s strength also loves justice; You establish equity, You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This looks ahead to how things will be at the final judgment: "He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity". This is quoted in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a> concerning the final day of judgment at the Lord's return. But right now, justice and righteousness were to be executed and to be the basis of the restored Kingdom. For the essence of the Kingdom is now.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Exalt Yahweh our God, worship at His footstool. He is Holy!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The ark is called both the throne of God and also His footstool (<a href='B:230 99:5'>Psa 99:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:7-8'>Psa 132:7-8</a>; <a href='B:130 28:2'>1Ch 28:2</a>). Above or sitting upon the cherubim, the pagan mind expected to see Israel's God. But there was (to their eyes) an empty throne. Yahweh had to be believed in by faith. And His supreme manifestation was through the blood of sacrifice. Cassuto gives evidence that the Egyptians and Hittites placed their covenant contracts in a box beneath the throne of their gods; and the tables of the covenant were likewise placed beneath the throne of Yahweh. This similarity begged the comparison yet stronger- Israel's God was not seated there. He had to be believed in by faith. Such a concept of faith in an invisible god was quite foreign to the pagan mind; and yet the whole tabernacle plan was designed to have enough points of contact with the pagan tabernacles in order to elicit this point in very powerful form: the one true God is invisible and must be believed in.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Moses and Aaron were among His priests, Samuel among those who call on His name; they called on Yahweh, and He answered them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm invites the Gentiles to make Israel's God and history their own. For :5 was an invitation to the Gentiles to accept Israel's God. The Gentiles who chose to call upon Yahweh's Name (:3) would therefore be identified with Samuel and the great heroes of Israel's history. This of course was not what a proud and nationalistic Israel wanted to hear.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As God miraculously led Israel out of Egypt and to the promised land, so He was willing to use miracle and power to lead His people out of Babylonian exile and back to the promised land. But they were unwilling.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They kept His testimonies, the statute that He gave them-</p><h2>This was likewise required of the exiles. The "they" could refer to Moses, Aaron and Samuel- but the "them" in the context is the "them" to whom God spoke in the pillar of cloud, who were given God’s law ("the statute that He gave them"). That group didn’t include Samuel, who lived centuries later:&nbsp; The "them" is the group whose sinful works are to be judged by God, albeit in mercy (:8). The "them" is surely Israel- and this is in line with God’s imputation of righteousness to His people, not beholding iniquity in Jacob, because He so loved them (<a href='B:40 23:21'>Num 23:21</a>). This is as big a problem for us to get our heads around as are the NT references to our appearing [Gk. 'being presented as'] faultless before the presence of His glory... without spot in His sight.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You answered them, Yahweh our God; You are a God who forgave them, although You took vengeance for their doings-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was to be true likewise of the exiles. Forgiveness would be possible, but they had to accept that they were being punished for their sins. Ezekiel records how they insisted they had been punished wrongly and unfairly.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm of thanksgiving.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David’s desire to teach others of God’s ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God’s grace. He didn’t do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God’s mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm may also have been used by or for the exiles, envisaging the day when the Gentiles would be invited to repent and join the exiles in forming a multiethnic people of God worshipping at the restored Zion. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Serve Yahweh with gladness, come before His presence with singing-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Coming before Yahweh's presence would be an invitation to Gentiles (:1) to come and keep the feasts in the tabernacle. That Gentiles should be urged to come before His presence was a radical paradigm break with Israel's conception of themselves as God’s unique people. And inviting them to "serve" Him there with singing would imply Gentiles were being asked to be priests, singing like the Levites.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Know that Yahweh, He is God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is an invitation to the Gentiles, perhaps initially in David’s time and then later at the restoration. Yahweh and not their idols was "God". The tragedy was that Israel were serving idols at the time of the restoration as Ezekiel makes clear.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is He who has made us and not we ourselves, and we are HIsa. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is a fair argument against a belief in evolution ex nihilo. We did not make ourselves, we were specifically created; and it is belief in this which leads us to trust in Him, that we are therefore His, His sheep, just as a creator intimately owns that which their own hands have created. But the essential argument is that these are the words of a repentant Israel, urging the Gentiles to join them in covenant relationship with God as equal sheep, "His", in "His pasture", a restored Israel. And it was this which they found so hard to do- to invite the Gentiles to become the sheep of Yahweh's pasture along with them. And the Jews became elitist and xenophobic in exile and at their return to "His pasture". It was the Lord Jesus who arose as the one shepherd over the flocks of both Jews and Gentiles, seeing the exiles refused to realize the potentials at their time.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, and bless His name-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is a hearty invitation to enter into the rebuilt courts of the temple with praise; and to praise a God in the God’s temple meant you had accepted that God. The peoples of the time usually only changed gods because they had been militarily dominated by the people of those other gods. This is why Judah were so abhorrent for changing their gods from Yahweh to the idols of the nations around them; and they stood out amongst the nations for doing so (<a href='B:300 2:11'>Jer 2:11</a>). But here we have a repentant Israel urging the Gentiles to change their gods and accept Yahweh; on the basis of His utter grace and salvation. And they are envisaged as succeeding. But the reality at the time of the restoration was far different; and the temple finally rebuilt had a court for the Gentiles and a sign erected threatening Gentiles with death if they passed into "His gates... into His courts". </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Yahweh is good, His grace endures forever, His faithfulness to all generations- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :4, to appeal to other nations to change their gods was unheard of, unless that other nation had been dominated by force. But this appeal to the Gentiles was not at all on the basis of forceful domination. Rather was the root of the appeal the experience of His grace, which was eternal- it had promise of life eternal. Such grace and such a gift were of course unheard of in any other belief system or god.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm of David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm appears to be David’s expression of faith that he would one day be king. And he promises to reign in a Godly manner. It could also have been his Psalm for his ascendancy to the throne; or perhaps it was first written after Samuel anointed him.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will sing of grace and justice. To You, Yahweh, I will sing praises-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Mercy and truth" ("grace and justice") were to be the basis of David’s throne because that is what upheld God’s throne. And David was to reign on God’s behalf, his throne was to be as God’s throne (<a href='B:290 16:5'>Isa 16:5</a>; <a href='B:230 89:14'>Psa 89:14</a>; <a href='B:230 101:1'>Psa 101:1</a>). Solomon liked to imagine that his throne was likewise upheld by God as His throne, also on the basis of "mercy and truth" ("grace and justice"). But he assumed that would happen automatically, whereas David’s response to this is given in Psalms 101 - he vows that he will personally reign in "grace and justice", whereas Solomon assumes that God will provide the "grace and justice" ("mercy and truth") as it were automatically (<a href='B:240 20:28'>Pro 20:28</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David’s heart was not consistently of integrity, as we see in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah; it was only by grace that David was counted like this (s:w. <a href='B:110 9:4'>1Ki 9:4</a>). It was indeed whilst walking within his own house that he revealed the lustful state of his heart. We query whether David was right to promise to "live a blameless life", especially since he recognizes that "a blameless life" reflects "a blameless heart". How we think in our hearts is how we live. He is clearly over confident of his own self control and righteousness. The question "When will You come to me?" is likely his request that the promise of his kingship be fulfilled soon. David at this stage had a far too simplistic view of spirituality, dividing men into the sinners and the perfect. He speaks of "those whose ways are blameless...  he who walks blamelessly" (Ps. 119:1; 15:2). He considered that he was "blameless": "I was also blameless before Him... I will be careful to live a blameless life... he who walks in a perfect way will serve me" (Ps. 18:23; 101:2,6), whereas in his more honest moments in Ps. 119 he recognizes he had gone astray from God even in his younger life. Yet he confidently asks God to judge him according to his [supposed] integrity (Ps. 7:8; 26:1,11). Paul shows a far greater realism and maturity in Romans 7.  </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will set no vile thing before my eyes; I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "vile thing" in view was likely idolatry; "faithless men", AV "them that turn aside", were those who left Yahweh for idolatry. He probably has in view Saul and his men. But David walked within his house later and looked lustfully with his eyes at Bathsheba (:2). This was his idolatry. "Not cling to me" is a quote from the law's prohibition of idolatry (<a href='B:50 13:17'>Deu 13:17</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We could understand this as AV, referring to men of perverse heart and evil doers, who David says he will put far away from his court and kingdom. He correctly understands that evil action reflects wrong thinking in the heart. But again we pause to consider that David appears over confident in his ability to judge the hearts of men, just as he was over confident in pledging that he would have a "blameless heart" himself (:2). He was to learn that he, a man after God’s own heart, could still commit lust and adultery in his heart and be led thereby into the actual sin. Things were far from as black and white as he imagined in his youth.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbour. I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David took a strong view against slander- having suffered so much of it himself. He vowed to put to death, i:e. to set up the death sentence, for anyone caught privately slandering or backbiting against a neighbour (<a href='B:230 101:5'>Psa 101:5</a> Heb:). That’s how bad are backbiting and slander, however quietly (“privily”, the AV quaintly says) they’re done. And of course the Lord shared this understanding, by teaching that hatred of our brother is in fact the kind of murder which carried the death penalty in Old Testament times.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Chaldee and some LXX versions have "He who speaks with the triple tongue against his neighbour". The triple reference would be to the slanderer himself, the man slandered, and the person to whom the slander is told. All three are damaged by the "triple tongue"; and we see this has timeless relevance and truth.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We wonder at David’s possible arrogance in assuming that he (:2) or any man can walk blamelessly; and that he could judge men that well, that he would only allow the "perfect" into his court and cabinet. Only the Lord Jesus fits thIsa. And yet this is the phrase used in God’s command to Abraham and his seed (<a href='B:10 17:1'>Gen 17:1</a>), and it is maybe to this which David alludes. It was only possible for Abraham to do so by his faith in imputed righteousness, by grace through faith. But it's questionable as to whether David at this point realized that; he had to learn it through reflection upon the wonder of how God had counted him righteous after the sin with Bathsheba.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Speaks falsehood" reflects again David’s deep sense of injustice (see on <a href='B:230 35:7'>Psa 35:7</a>). He uses the word for "false witness", as if they were breaking one of the ten commandments; and he uses it often, heaping condemnation upon any who dare lie / bear false witness about him (<a href='B:230 38:19'>Psa 38:19</a>; <a href='B:230 52:3'>Psa 52:3</a>; <a href='B:230 63:11'>Psa 63:11</a>; <a href='B:230 101:7'>Psa 101:7</a>; <a href='B:230 119:29'>Psa 119:29</a>; <a href='B:230 119:69'>Psa 119:69</a>; <a href='B:230 119:86'>Psa 119:86</a>; <a href='B:230 119:118'>Psa 119:118</a>; <a href='B:230 120:2'>Psa 120:2</a>; <a href='B:230 144:8'>Psa 144:8</a>; <a href='B:230 144:11'>Psa 144:11</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And yet David lied and deceived in order to get Uriah killed so that he could take his wife for himself. Surely reflection upon that sin made him realize that his zeal to condemn dishonesty was at best misplaced; to lament it is one thing, but David was to be taught that he had himself done the very thing he so condemned. David plotted the destruction of Uriah by his false words; and when he repented of this in <a href='B:230 32:2'>Psa 32:2</a>, he says that lack of deceit / guile (s:w:) is only possible through imputed righteousness. David’s intolerance of "deceitful" persons (<a href='B:230 52:2'>Psa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:230 101:7'>Psa 101:7</a>; <a href='B:230 120:3'>Psa 120:3</a>) must be compared with the fact that he himself was only counted as not deceitful by grace; for he was very deceitful regarding Uriah.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to have begun as a prayer by David, lamenting that his promised restoration hasn't come, and that he continues to be in suffering. But it was appropriated by the exiles, who had the same feeling and complaint.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hear my prayer, Yahweh! Let my cry come in to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A number of Psalms appear to have some verses relevant to the exile, and others relevant to earlier historical situations. It would seem that an inspired writer inserted the verses which spoke specifically to the exilic situation. Psalms 102 is an example. <a href='B:230 102:2-12'>Psa 102:2-12</a>; <a href='B:230 102:24-25'>Psa 102:24-25</a> a appear to be the original lament; and the other verses are relevant to the exile. This was all done under the process of Divine inspiration.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t hide Your face from me in the day of my distress, turn Your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David asked God not to hide his face from him, David personally, (<a href='B:230 27:9'>Psa 27:9</a>; <a href='B:230 69:17'>Psa 69:17</a>; <a href='B:230 102:2'>Psa 102:2</a>; <a href='B:230 143:7'>Psa 143:7</a>), but to hide His face from David’s sins (<a href='B:230 51:9'>Psa 51:9</a>). And one wonders whether the way the records of the Lord’s temptations are written implies some similar recognition by the Spirit of the two ‘men’ within the Lord. Recognizing the existence of the new and old men within him, Paul can speak in Romans 7 as if he is two different people; “I myself serve the law of God”, but “my flesh” serves sin:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For my days consume away like smoke, my bones are burned as a torch-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David feels he is about to die, seeing similarities between himself and Job. And these feelings were identified with by the exiles, who perhaps felt that the national life of Israel was at an end.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My heart is blighted like grass and withered, for I forget to eat my bread-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Despite his undoubted physique stamina, David was a broken man, even quite early in his life, prone to fits of introspection; dramatic mood-swings (cp. <a href='B:90 24:14'>1Sa 24:14</a> with <a href='B:90 25:6'>1Sa 25:6</a>; <a href='B:90 25:22'>1Sa 25:22</a>; <a href='B:90 25:34'>1Sa 25:34</a>;), sometimes appearing a real 'softie' but hard as nails at others (consider <a href='B:230 75:10'>Psa 75:10</a> and the whole of Psalms 101); easily getting carried away: be it with excessive emotional enthusiasm for bringing the ark back, in his harsh response to Hanun humbling his servants, his over-hasty and emotional decision to let Amnon go to Absalom's feast when it was obvious what might well transpire, his anger "flaring up" because of incompetency (<a href='B:100 11:20'>2Sa 11:20</a> NIV),&nbsp; or in his ridiculous softness for Absalom. He had a heart cruelly torn so many ways. All these traits are amply reflected in the Psalms: <a href='B:230 6:7'>Psa 6:7</a>; <a href='B:230 31:10'>Psa 31:10</a>; <a href='B:230 42:3'>Psa 42:3</a>; <a href='B:230 42:6'>Psa 42:6</a>; <a href='B:230 38:8'>Psa 38:8</a>; <a href='B:230 55:4'>Psa 55:4</a>; <a href='B:230 56:8'>Psa 56:8</a>; <a href='B:230 69:3'>Psa 69:3</a>; <a href='B:230 69:29'>Psa 69:29</a>; <a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>; <a href='B:230 88:9'>Psa 88:9</a>; <a href='B:230 94:19'>Psa 94:19</a> (what introspection!); 102:4; 116:3; 143:4.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This has connections with David’s Psalms of suffering at the time of Absalom's rebellion, which are often applied to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on the cross. He there also knew the feelings of the exiles.</p>&nbsp;&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I am like a pelican of the wilderness, I have become as an owl of the waste places-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These were ritually unclean birds. The exiles felt unclean, without access to the cleansing rituals of the law because they required a temple and priesthood which had been destroyed. They were thereby driven to seek their cleansing not by law but by grace. LXX heightens the application to the ruined Zion: "like an owl in a ruined house". Often David likens his enemies' plans to catch him as snares, gins etc. set for birds (e.g. <a href='B:230 84:3'>Psa 84:3</a>; <a href='B:230 102:6'>Psa 102:6</a>; Psalms 124; Psalms 7; <a href='B:230 140:5'>Psa 140:5</a>)- all the language of hunting birds. He had probably done plenty of this as a youngster caring for the sheep, and the influence of those formative years remained.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The connection between watching and feeling like a sparrow is in the way that David, Hezekiah, the exiles etc. all 'watched' or waited for God to respond and intervene, and His apparent silence made them feel alone. The Psalm originated in David’s feelings of dejection whilst enduring the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba- which all began with his lustful looking from his housetop. And he now feels alone on that housetop; for one result of sin is psychological isolation. Yet through that loneliness there is enabled even more powerful and intimate connection with God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My enemies reproach me all day, those who are mad at me use my name as a curse-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "they that praised me have sworn against me". The initial application was probably to the rebellion of David’s former friends, when they joined forces with Absalom. The language is again based upon Job, whose book was probably one of the few scriptures available to David. The application to the exiles is very clear.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may be another allusion to Job (see on :8), attempting to describe in words his grief. But it could also be a reference to his fasting which had apparently not brought about any response from God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because of Your indignation and Your wrath; for You have taken me up, and thrown me away-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is, lifted me up and thrown me down. This could refer to David’s sense of having been exalted to the throne, and then apparently cast down at Absalom's rebellion. But the idea also alludes to a lion, lifting up and then throwing down the prey it has caught. The Babylonians were likened to lions, and this indeed is how they treated Judah.</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My days are like a long shadow, I have withered like grass-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>After the initial application to David, there is clearly some reference to Hezekiah, whose days were lengthened by the shadow on the sundial being changed. LXX "have declined like a shadow". The same ideas are in <a href='B:230 109:23'>Psa 109:23</a>. David’s feelings at this time are also appropriate to Hezekiah, whose feelings were responded to by God by making the shadow of the sundial reverse. The same words are used in <a href='B:120 20:10'>2Ki 20:10</a>. But the withering like grass is the language of the restoration prophecy of <a href='B:290 40:7-8'>Isa 40:7-8</a>. Even though the grass of that generation might wither, the prophetic word of restoration would ultimately come true:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You, Yahweh, will remain forever; Your renown endures to all generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Despite the pain and struggle arising from feeling that God isn't coming through for the psalmist as he expects, there is this significant statement beginning "But...". Faith remains strong in God and His eternal purpose and the continual, eventual articulation of His name. This kind of juxtaposition of doubt and ultimate faith is common in Job and the Psalms and should be our pattern to:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her, yes, the set time has come-</p><h2>When “the time to favour Zion” came, at the end of the 70 years, God’s servants Israel were to “take pleasure in her stones, and favour [even] the dust thereof”; and then, “when the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory” (<a href='B:230 102:13-16'>Psa 102:13-16</a>). But the few Jews who returned chose not to live in Jerusalem, preferring to carve out for themselves farmsteads in the countryside (<a href='B:160 11:1'>Neh 11:1</a>), and the strength of those that shifted the rubble in Jerusalem decayed</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>they saw her dust and scattered stones as a nuisance, and didn’t take pleasure in them (<a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a>). And so the Lord could not then appear in glory:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "set time" of 70 years was however elastic; as Daniel and Ezekiel were taught. The period was extended due to Judah's impenitence, and Daniel 9 explains how it was turned into seventy sevens... and the final restoration of a redefined Zion was to be through the work of the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The set time" is a phrase used about the feasts, and there is reason to believe that God delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians at Passover time (see on <a href='B:230 75:2'>Psa 75:2</a>) and would do so again. All these things look forward to the final "time" coming for Zion's final deliverance at the last day.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was only true of a minority, for the majority preferred the opulence of Babylon to the rubble of Jerusalem. And as noted on :13, the few who did return initially preferred not to live in Jerusalem. But the argument of the psalmist is that as the exiles had "pity" on the dust of Jerusalem, so God should "pity" Zion (:13). But the reality was that most of the exiles didn’t "pity" Zion as God did, and thus precluded His potential program for her restoration into the Kingdom of God on earth at that time.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>So the nations will fear the name of Yahweh; all the kings of the earth Your glory-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Psalms 102 has many connections with the events during the time of Hezekiah, when after the salvation of Zion, the surrounding nations in the land promised to Abraham came up to worship there. Here, “the nations” refers specifically to “the kings of the earth / land”. And one wonders how many other times the phrase “the nations</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> of the earth” refers specifically to the powers in the land from the Nile to the Euphrates. But the great prophetic potential at this time was precluded by Hezekiah welcoming those kings to see his glory rather than God’s; and then going after their gods, rather than leading those nations to the God of Israel. Likewise the restoration was intended to lead the nations within the eretz promised to Abraham to see Yahweh's glory, which was intended to shine forth literally and morally from Zion. But this didn’t happen, and the restoration was characterized by apostasy, whilst the Jews who remained in Babylon continued in their idolatry, as Ezekiel records.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Yahweh has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He had not then done so (:13)- the earlier part of the Psalm laments thIsa. But the Psalmist believed in God’s prophecies of doing so, and considered them as good as already fulfilled. Faith is all about adopting God’s perspective, seeing future promises as if they have already been fulfilled, thereby enabling us to live the Kingdom life now in its essence. But LXX reads this in the future tense: "For the Lord shall build up Sion, and shall appear in his glory". This glory of Yahweh appearing in Zion is a theme of the restoration prophecies of later Isaiah. This could have happened, had the exiles rebuilt the temple as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48. But they didn’t, and so the shekinah glory didn’t return to the temple as envisaged in the prophecies.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :16, the prayer had not yet been answered. But faith is about feeling and acting as if our prayers have been answered even when they haven't been (<a href='B:480 11:24'>Mar 11:24</a>). The captives were despised (s:w. <a href='B:160 2:19'>Neh 2:19</a>) as David was for his sin (s:w. <a href='B:230 22:6'>Psa 22:6</a>; <a href='B:230 22:24'>Psa 22:24</a>), and as was the Lord Jesus on the cross (s:w. <a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a>), but God did not despise them and would destroy that opposition. Yet perhaps it had a historical basis in David appreciating that although he had despised God in his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah (s:w. <a href='B:100 12:10'>2Sa 12:10</a>), God by grace had not despised him. Because God did not despise David’s contrite and broken heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>, a passage also alluded to in :31). The exiles had likewise despised God (s:w. <a href='B:330 16:59'>Eze 16:59</a>) but would not be despised by God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise Yah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This connects with Isaiah's restoration prophecies of a new creation, of a multiethnic people of God comprised of repentant Jews as well as those of the nations amongst whom they had been in exile. But this didn’t happen. The people didn’t repent as required. And so the prophetic potential of a new creation of a new people of God was reapplied and rescheduled to the new creation of that people which occurs "in Christ" (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He has looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven, Yahweh saw the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an awesome conception; that God in Heaven 'sees the earth'. That the huge distance between God and man is collapsed. God’s sanctuary was in ruins on earth, but still existed in Heaven.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to hear the groans of the prisoner-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same phrase used of God hearing the groans of Israel in Egypt. The idea was that God would miraculously empower an exodus from Babylon just as He had delivered His people from Egypt. Tragically, most of them preferred to remain in Babylon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To free those who are condemned to death-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "to loosen the sons of the slain". This would mean that the Psalm refers to the second generation of exiles, whose parents had been slain. For the exiles in Babylon / Persia were prosperous, as witnessed by the situation in the book of Esther. They were not "condemned to death"; although perhaps Haman's persecution is here in view.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that men may declare the name of Yahweh in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that the "men" who would return in the new exodus from Babylon (see on :20) would be Gentiles as well as Jews; and this is confirmed in :22. Praise is here defined as declaring the Yahweh Name. Praise is about appreciating the characteristics of Yahweh, which is what His "Name" is all about; and declaring them in praise. It was God who declared His Name to Moses, but here we have Gentiles declaring that same Name, having come in homage to Jerusalem to do so. This was the potential at the restoration, but the prophetic program was rescheduled and reinterpreted.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Gentiles were to gather together to Jerusalem "to serve Yahweh", language appropriate to priestly service. They who had gathered together against Jerusalem in battle were to repent and again gather together there, but as the priesthood in the new people of God who were to be created (see on :18):&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He weakened my strength along the course, He shortened my days-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "He answered him in the way of his strength". God’s strength is contrasted with the Psalmist who feels his days have been "shortened". This may initially refer to David at the time of his disease after the sin with Bathsheba, feeling he was going to die young. But it has clearly been reapplied to Hezekiah's feelings when his days were shortened and then lengthened by God’s grace:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I said, My God, don’t take me away in the midst of my days. Your years are throughout all generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :23, both David and Hezekiah felt their lives were being ended in the middle. The appeal for healing and more life is based upon God’s eternity. The psalmist is asking for God to share something of His eternity with him. And this will be ultimately true when we partake of His immortality at the last day.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Of old, You laid the foundation of the earth, the heavens are the work of Your hands-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language of laying foundations is nearly always used about the laying of the foundations of the new, rebuilt temple at the time of return from exile (<a href='B:150 3:10-12'>Ezr 3:10-12</a>; <a href='B:150 5:16'>Ezr 5:16</a>; <a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a>; <a href='B:440 2:18'>Hag 2:18</a>; <a href='B:450 4:9'>Zec 4:9</a>; <a href='B:450 8:9'>Zec 8:9</a>); and this is the context of this Psalm (see on :13 and :16). The ‘heavens and earth’ refer to Israel (<a href='B:290 1:2'>Isa 1:2</a>) and the temple. Although they had ‘perished’ in the Babylonian invasion and destruction of the first temple, God remained and would, the Psalmist believed, install a new temple system (as outlined in Ezekiel 40-48). However, this never quite happened as God intended due to Judah’s weakness, and so these prophecies were reapplied to how the entire Jewish system based around the temple and Law of Moses would ‘perish’ and God’s new temple system based around the exalted Lord Jesus would come into existence (<a href='B:650 1:10'>Heb 1:10</a> and context).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They perish, but You will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the same way as the Angels are so closely associated with their charges that they are identified with them, so the Angels are described as the things in the natural world which they have created. The quotation of <a href='B:230 102:26'>Psa 102:26</a> in <a href='B:650 1:10'>Heb 1:10</a> can appear to pose major problems for belief in the humanity of Christ and that the world will never be destroyed. "And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations&nbsp; of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands: they shall perish, but Thou remainest, and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail". The context in Hebrews is again Christ's superiority over the Angels; however, the context in Psalms 102 is of Christ on the cross thinking of the eternity of God, how that "of old", "in the beginning" (clearly alluding&nbsp; back to the beginning of the natural creation in Genesis 1), God created the Heavens and earth by His Angel-hands. But "they shall perish. . wax old like a garment. . as a vesture shalt thou change them" (<a href='B:230 102:26'>Psa 102:26</a>). This language is similar to that used elsewhere about the ending of the Angel-oriented Mosaic Law (e. g. <a href='B:650 8:13'>Heb 8:13</a>). Thus the literal Heavens and earth will not perish, but the Angelic system that created them will do. Thus both the natural creation and the Mosaic system are identified exactly with the Angels that created them.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The purpose of the quotation in Hebrews 1 is to demonstrate the Lord's superiority over Angels. One approach is to understand the Hebraic way of stating that 'even X shall happen to prove the greatness of Y'; e.g. heaven could pass away [X] but the Lord's words would not [Y] (<a href='B:470 24:35'>Mat 24:35</a>). This is not to say that X shall literally happen; it is stated as a hyperbole, to demonstrate the greatness of Y. And that may be the case here too. God’s eternity is contrasted with the [relative] passing of the Heavens, which were made by Angels. "They shall perish" may not therefore mean they shall literally perish. See on <a href='B:230 103:20'>Psa 103:20</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The context of Psalms 102 is however pertinent. The "set time [had] come" suggests that the Psalmist is writing maybe in captivity in Babylon as the predicted 70 years of Judah’s captivity there came to a close, and he looks forward to the promised restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem. He enthuses in :16 that "Yahweh has built up Zion"- although He had not then done so (:13). The earlier part of the Psalm laments thIsa. But the Psalmist believed in God’s prophecies of doing so, and considered them as good as already fulfilled. Faith is all about adopting God’s perspective, seeing future promises as if they have already been fulfilled, thereby enabling us to live the Kingdom life now in its essence. See on :25.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Jewish system would be rolled up, as a scroll that is not going to be read any more; the Law would end. But Messiah would remain eternally. It was the Lord Jesus by His sacrifice which changed the Jewish system. The same Greek word (used in the LXX and the quotation in <a href='B:650 1:12'>Heb 1:12</a>) is used of the Lord's 'changing' the customs delivered by Moses (<a href='B:510 6:14'>Act 6:14</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You are the same, Your years will have no end-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 1:10'>Heb 1:10</a> appears to quote words about God (from <a href='B:230 102:25'>Psa 102:25</a>) and apply them to Jesus. To take a Psalm or Bible passage and apply it to someone on earth, even a normal human, was quite common in first century literature (Oscar Cullmann, The Christology Of The New Testament (London: SCM, 1971) p. 234). It's rather like we may quote a well known phrase from Shakespeare or a currently popular movie, and apply it to someone. It doesn't mean that that person is to be equated with Romeo, Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth etc. By quoting the words about them, we're saying there are similarities between the two people or situations; we're not claiming they're identical. And seeing that the Son of God was functioning for His Father, it's not surprising that words about God will be quoted about the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>By David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have often suggested that the Psalms are often paired together. Psalms 103 appears to continue the faith expressed in Psalms 102; that whatever present appearances, God’s purpose to ultimately restore David and his throne / kingdom was going to come true, finally. The exiles doubted it, but the faithful remnant were to rejoice that finally, it would come true- even if not in their lifetimes. Such confident joy presupposes a firm faith and understanding of the resurrection of the body at the final eternal restoration of Zion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise His holy name!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a repeated Biblical theme that the believer's relationship with the Father is essentially mutual. He has blessed us with all things (<a href='B:560 1:3'>Eph 1:3</a>), and we all bless Him with all that is in us (<a href='B:230 103:1'>Psa 103:1</a>; <a href='B:230 103:22'>Psa 103:22</a>; <a href='B:560 1:3'>Eph 1:3</a>).  David is here talking to himself, reminding himself to be grateful for huge grace and restoration of life given him. We too need to consciously speak to ourselves in our self talk, urging ourselves to greater gratitude. Especially in :3 David reminds himself of his sins [regarding Bathsheba, surely] and urges himself to greater gratitude for grace.
 </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all His benefits-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David often takes strength from God’s previous deliverances to cope with whatever he was now facing (<a href='B:230 61:3'>Psa 61:3</a>). This may sound natural, but in fact it isn't; because we are inclined to forget the great things He has done for us, as Israel did in the desert. We all have a tendency to see the glass half empty rather than half full. Hence the need to continually remind ourselves to not forget all His benefits; and they are particularly expressed in the form of His forgiveness and avowed intention to finally save us (:3,4). Hezekiah, to whom Psalms 102 (which seems paired with Psalms 103) partly applies, did forget Yahweh's benefits to him (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:25'>2Ch 32:25</a>). But "benefits" is also the word used for "rewards", which rewards of judgment are promised to Babylon and all who abused the exiles (<a href='B:230 137:8'>Psa 137:8</a>; <a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a>; <a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a>; <a href='B:300 51:6'>Jer 51:6</a>; <a href='B:310 3:64'>Lam 3:64</a>). The downtrodden were to take comfort in judgment to come.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The blessing which should never be forgotten (:2) is supremely our forgiveness. Hezekiah had been healed, but he forgot that great "benefit" (:2; s:w. <a href='B:140 32:25'>2Ch 32:25</a>). In those times when we consider our cup half empty rather than half full, we will be helped to appreciate "all His benefits" if we recall our own forgiveness received. It is those who refuse to accept their own sinfulness who tend to question where God’s promised blessings are. "All your sins" means every aspect of every sin- truly amazing. David was clearly very ill soon after his sin with Bathsheba, as other psalms also imply, not least “There is no soundness in my flesh, because of Your indignation; there is no welfare in my bones, because of my sin” (Ps. 38:4, also Ps. 32:3,4). And yet David in his later psalms seems to bitterly resent the remaining consequences for his sins. In this Psalm 103, he does realize them and thanks God for life itself, as the greatest example of grace at this present time. A perspective we need to remember. </p><p>
We could get the impression here and in other Psalms that David tends to see the removal of the punishment of sin as the proof of its forgiveness (Ps. 85:1-3 "You have been favourable to Your land. You have restored the fortunes of Jacob, You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin"; 147:3). Yet Nathan had warned him that there were going to be ongoing consequences in his case. Yet here David writes as if all has magically been erased. Giving Nathan's words priority, it would therefore seem David is here wishing to feel as if all consequences are now done with. When that wasn't in fact the case.
</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with grace and tender mercies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :2,3, the great blessing is of forgiveness and grace. God’s "mercy and truth" (s:w. "grace... mercies") is seen in the fulfilment of His promises to David and Abraham. This day of crowning is not now; it is at the time when our life is redeemed from death / destruction. This hope of the future resurrection of the body is the great "benefit" of :2 which we must never forget, and which gives perspective to all current sufferings. David initially had in view his salvation from the death sentence required for his behaviour with Bathsheba and Uriah, and the crown remaining upon him by grace (the same language as in Ps. 21:4 where he thanks God for placing a gold crown upon him). To "redeem" is literally to be a go'el, a kinsman redeemer, to pay the ransom because we are relatives. Hence David goes on in the psalm to plead the tender fatherhood of God. And that became true through God's connection with us through His Son. Yet without any reference to atonement or sacrifice, God is stated here to be able to do that- simply so.  Job 19:25 is another example. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "desire" of all the truly spiritual is for redemption from death (:4) through resurrection to eternal life, and the receipt of forgiveness (:3). It is these desires of our soul which will definitely be met, if indeed they are our dominant desires. As God doesn’t faint or weary, so somehow those who identify their lives with His will also keep on keeping on- even now (<a href='B:290 40:31'>Isa 40:31</a> cp. 29). This was clearly the promise to the exiles, if they realized the prophetic potential for them explained in Isaiah 40. David felt that his youth was renewed like the eagle's in his repeated experience of God’s grace (<a href='B:230 103:5'>Psa 103:5</a>), that his soul was restored (<a href='B:230 23:5'>Psa 23:5</a>), and that a right spirit could be renewed by God within him (<a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). This is the equivalent of the "newness of life" which is promised to us through acceptance of God’s Spirit.</p><p>It could be argued that David here is asking for, or assuming, a complete return to his earlier life, despite the sin with Bathsheba. He is rejoicing in the idea that all consequence for his sins regarding her had now been removed. But his other Psalms reflect a regret and bitterness that he was suffering those consequences- which was exactly what Nathan had told him at the time. David would therefore be similar to those who latch on to various out of context Bible verses about a prosperous life, and wonder why they have not come true for them. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles and David at times felt they were suffering injustice. But the comfort is that God has historically been just to the oppressed and executed judgment, especially at the Red Sea. This is where faith comes in. If we feel we are suffering intolerable injustice, this is no reason to doubt God; for He has operated extreme justice in the past, and shall do so ultimately.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David so often parallels righteousness and justice / truth (<a href='B:230 9:8'>Psa 9:8</a>; <a href='B:230 33:5'>Psa 33:5</a>; <a href='B:230 37:6'>Psa 37:6</a>; <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a>; <a href='B:230 103:6'>Psa 103:6</a>; <a href='B:230 106:3'>Psa 106:3</a>). Indeed, this parallel is so common in God’s word. What it means is that the righteousness of God is a just righteousness. It's not fake, 'I'll turn a blind eye'. It is true, real, valid, and has integrity underpinned in the very essential justice of God Himself. Justice and righteousness may appear abstract ideas, mere theology. But the result is that the person who believes God’s righteousness is imputed to him or her... will feel this, they will know it to be true, they can by grace, in faith, quietly hold their head up before God. And David after Bathsheba is our example. He believed and felt this imputed righteousness. It's not so much a case of 'forgiving ourselves' after God has forgiven us, but rather of being swamped by this very real and legitimate sense that truly, we have been counted righteous. And Paul in Romans holds up David after Bathsheba as the personal example to "every one who is Godly" in their time of spiritual need. See on <a href='B:230 41:12'>Psa 41:12</a>.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the children of Israel-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could refer to the revelation of God’s law to Israel. The commands which constituted the covenant were given to Moses personally (<a href='B:160 1:7-8'>Neh 1:7-8</a>), insofar as he represented Israel. Thus there is a parallel drawn in <a href='B:230 103:7'>Psa 103:7</a>: "He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel". "After the tenor of these words have I made a covenant with you [Moses] and with Israel" (<a href='B:20 34:27'>Exo 34:27</a>). The revelation of God’s law was therefore cited as an example of His love and grace; it is not to be seen as an onerous burden laid upon Israel.</p><h2>But the reference could also be to God’s revelation of Himself through His saving deeds towards Israel at the Red Sea, or to the declaration of His Name in Exodus 34 (see on :8). Just as is true today, and as is often mentioned in Psalms 119, God is willing to operate directly on the hearts of men in a way over and above His written word. David realized this, and asked to be taught and shown God’s ways (<a href='B:230 25:4'>Psa 25:4</a>; <a href='B:230 143:8'>Psa 143:8</a>). Knowledge in its ultimate, spiritual sense is not attained simply by reading or hearing the text of the Bible; not that I am at all decrying that. But there is a higher, Divine hand at work in making us know Divine knowledge. Moses had prayed the same words in <a href='B:20 33:13'>Exo 33:13</a>: "Show me [make me to know] Your way, that I may know [s:w. "show"] You [and] find grace in Your sight". The gift of knowledge, in the Hebraic sense of relationship, is related to God’s grace. That knowledge which is in view is not the same as technical, theological knowledge. Moses' prayer was answered; the same words are used here in saying that God "made known His ways to Moses":&nbsp;</h2></p><p>Yet this making known of God's ways to Israel as clarified in the next verse as referring to the declaration of His Name / characteristics in Ex. 34:6. This was done immediately after Israel's sin with the golden calf and their condemnation by God. Perhaps that is what ties this verse in to the overall narrative of forgiveness which there is in the Psalm. It is through the experience of sin and forgiveness that we actually come to know / experience God's essential character.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in grace-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an appeal to the essential characteristics of Yahweh as declared to Moses in Exodus 34, and it is perhaps to this that :7 refers. On one hand, God does not become quickly angry (<a href='B:230 103:8'>Psa 103:8</a>), and yet on the other hand He does&nbsp;get angry quickly in the sense that He immediately feels and responds to sin (<a href='B:230 2:12'>Psa 2:12</a>); His anger ‘flares up in His face’. The implication is that we should respond ‘quickly’ to the Gospel; we should not have any element of indifference in our response to the call of God, and yet the foundations of a true spiritual life cannot be laid hastily. </p><p>We note however that David doesn't go on to quote or allude to the rest of Ex. 34:6,7: "Yahweh! A merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children". David's own child died because of his sin with Bathsheba. He may possibly be guilty of assuming that forgiveness meant there were to be no consequences for his sin. When Nathan had made it clear that there were to be. Ex. 34:7 says God will not leave sin unpunished; David in :9 says God will not always accuse, nor forever keep his anger. God says in Ex 34:7 that He will visit the sins of the fathers on the children, whereas in :10 David instead stresses that God doesn't punish us  according to our sin, nor reward us according to our iniquity. What he says is true but I suggest it lacks the necessary context.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will not always accuse; neither will He stay angry forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may be answer to the complaint of the exiles that God through the prophets was always 'accusing' them through the prophetic words. But "accuse" is the word for 'striving', and it was Israel who had chosen to strive with God (s:w. <a href='B:290 45:9'>Isa 45:9</a> and often). From God’s side, His 'accusing' was more of a pleading with His people (s:w. <a href='B:300 2:9'>Jer 2:9</a>; <a href='B:300 2:29'>Jer 2:29</a>), pleading for their loyalty and repentance (s:w. <a href='B:350 2:2'>Hos 2:2</a>). Ps. 103:9 says that the reason "He will not always accuse" is because we are in covenant relationship with Him, and that relationship is based upon grace. I take this to mean in practice that God doesn't always 'take up' with us the issues of our sins. He deals with some sin by overlooking, by not accusing. Just as we also do in a loving relationship. But no relationship is legitimate if the failure and disinterest of one side has to be constantly overlooked. But when He does judge sin, when He does accuse, that judgment [for us who are in covenant relationship with Him] is not proportionate to our sins (Ps. 103:10). A similar idea is in Is. 57:15,16, which seems to be saying that those with whom God lives, i.e. those in covenant relationship with Him, will not be constantly accused of their sins. Their sins are accepted as being an ever present reality, but God will not 'take up the matter' with them regarding these sins- because He lives with them in covenant: "I also live with people who are humble and repentant, so that I can restore their confidence and hope. I gave my people life, and I will not continue to accuse them or be angry with them forever" (GNB).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was exactly the case with the exiles, who were punished far less than their sins deserved (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>). All complaint at unreasonable behaviour from God was therefore utterly inappropriate, and was rooted in a sense that Israel had done absolutely nothing wrong and that any consequence for sin was therefore unreasonable.</p><p>"Dealt with" is a legal term, and we have likewise read of God as 'accuser' in :9. The idea is that we have not always even been accused of sins we have been forgiven of; and those we were charged with we were either punished less than prescribed, or downright let off.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His grace toward those who fear Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same word used for how David’s sins "overwhelmed me" (<a href='B:230 65:3'>Psa 65:3</a>) is used of how overwhelming or "great" is God’s grace (<a href='B:230 103:11'>Psa 103:11</a>; <a href='B:230 117:2'>Psa 117:2</a>). David felt overwhelmed firstly by his sin and then by God’s grace. This explains his fragile emotional and nervous state, as often reflected in the Psalms. But his path is to be that of all God’s true Israel, and his repentance and restoration was intended to be the path for the exiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us- This is a horizontal dimension, having spoken of the infinite vertical distance between God and forgiven human sin (:11). The image suggests being chased, the east chasing the west but never being able to catch up with the west before itself becoming the west. This may hint at a belief that sin could not catch up with David. At the risk of over interpreting, we may just possibly have a hint here that David felt that consequences of his sins should now never catch up with him. For in other psalms he appears to bitterly lament, chafe at and regret that he was suffering for his sins. As Nathan had indeed said he would.</p><p>
As the east and the west can never meet in one point, the distance between them can never be closed; so our sins are removed from us. The teaching here is that they are removed from us. Their distance from God is not in view here- that perhaps is explained in the previous verse, stating that there is a distance as high as that between Heaven and earth between God and our sins. But now we learn that our sins are removed from us so that we never again need to be identified according to them nor by them. This has profound psychological truth on the level of self identity and self perception. It raises doubts about the 12 step programs that insist an addict must always understand themselves e.g. as "I am an alcoholic".
</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was appropriate to Hezekiah (<a href='B:290 38:17'>Isa 38:17</a>), but he like the exiles failed to have an abiding awareness of the magnitude of the wonder of forgiveness. The idea is that God deals with us separate to our sins; He removes those sins "from us", they are totally removed from us personally. This is another window onto what it means to be accounted righteous, to have righteousness imputed by grace through faith. God had removed His people far from Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:12'>Isa 6:12</a>; <a href='B:290 26:15'>Isa 26:15</a>; <a href='B:300 27:10'>Jer 27:10</a>) because they had removed their hearts far from Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>; <a href='B:300 2:5'>Jer 2:5</a>; <a href='B:330 44:10'>Eze 44:10</a>). So now the psalmist is asking God to remove their sins far away, but to come near to them personally.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Like a father has compassion on His children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>That "compassion" is not simply in that a father forgives a repentant child. Fatherly compassion is more than that; it is compassion upon the position of the child regardless of repentance. Simply because he is the father of the child. This statement may be a tacit request by the psalmist for God to all the same restore His people from their exile simply on the basis of His grace and compassion, for most of them had not repented. The word for "compassion" is used of how God would have compassion on His people if they repented whilst in exile (<a href='B:50 30:3'>Deu 30:3</a>). But the psalmist seems to plead for that compassion to be shown simply because they were His children.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He knows how we are made, He remembers that we are dust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is effectively a plea with God to remember that "we are dust" and to show compassion on the basis of the weakness of our humanity (see on :13). But the basis for that compassion was to be Israel's repentance (<a href='B:50 30:13'>Deu 30:13</a> etc:). But here the psalmist seems to plead some kind of idea that our nature makes us inevitable sinners, and so God should show compassion on that basIsa. We aren't inevitable sinners, and whatever we posit about human nature, we say about the Lord Jesus who was perfect and spotless despite fully having that same nature as we do. So the plea appears rather lacking in integrity. And yet it is true; God does remember that we are dust, and He does have compassion for reasons other than that His people have repented (s:w. <a href='B:120 13:23'>2Ki 13:23</a>). His compassion is therefore on the basis of His mercy and grace, rather than a proportionate response to steel willed human repentance and self reformation (s:w. <a href='B:230 116:5'>Psa 116:5</a>). His compassion is actually always there for His children, even when they are in exiled punishment from Him (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:20'>Jer 31:20</a>; <a href='B:300 33:26'>Jer 33:26</a>). Solomon failed to perceive this grace, instead focusing solely upon the aspect of God showing compassion to those who are repentant (s:w. <a href='B:240 28:13'>Pro 28:13</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Here as often the frailty of man is used to plead for God's mercy (Ps. 78:39 "many times He turned His anger away, and didn’t stir up all His wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again"; 89:47 "Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have You created all the children of men!"). "He knows how we are made, He remembers that we are dust" means He remembers our formation; what we are made of. The allusion us to Gen 2:7, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground”. </p><p>
The frailty of our "form" in view is our moral weakness, and the connection therefore between sin and human mortality (:15). Job especially expresses this same connection between frailty and sin  (Job 4:17–21; 15:14–16; 25:1–6). It's not that God retreated from man at the fall and turned away in disgust from his sinfulness. He knows our thoughts afar off, He is accustomed to all our habitual patterns of thought (Ps. 139)- which are typically sinful. God knows the psychology of sin. And according to how David reasons, He does cut us some slack because of it. And yet in the context of David's sin with Bathsheba, it could be argued that he veered too much to the path of justifying the sin on the basis of 'I'm only human'. This is where we are cut hard and deep by the fact the Lord had human nature, with all its psychological tendencies to sin, but never sinned. </p><p>
David has moved on from his own experience of God's mercy and grace to his sins, to see in that experience the truth for every man. Paul reasons likewise in Romans, that David's sin with Bathsheba is in essence the sin of every man. And so David now speaks not of himself but of "we" and "us", as in :10 "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities".
</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As for man, His days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the language used of the exiles in <a href='B:290 40:6-8'>Isa 40:6-8</a>. The idea is that the exiles were indeed like this, as are all men. But Isaiah explains that the prophetic word of restoration was to come true, even if the men of that generation faded into death. This is taught here in different words, assuring them that God’s promised grace would not fail and His throne was indeed eternal and therefore would be reestablished on earth (:17,19).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more- &nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is David alluding to the feelings of Job (<a href='B:220 7:10'>Job 7:10</a>; <a href='B:220 20:9'>Job 20:9</a>), one of the few books of scripture he had access to. But despite this understanding of the mortality of man, David is confident that God’s grace will be manifest eternally to His people (:17). This can only have any sense if he understood there to be a resurrection of the body, to eternal experience of God’s grace.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But Yahweh’s grace is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear Him, His righteousness to children’s children-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :16. We note the parallel of grace and righteousness. Paul in Romans 1-8 explores this; the gift of grace is not of cheap grace, a turning of a blind eye to sin. The gift is of righteousness, counting right the sinner, by God the judge of all. This is by grace, but it has to be believed. This gift of imputed righteousness "is of faith that it might be by grace" (<a href='B:520 4:16'>Rom 4:16</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to those who keep His covenant, to those who remember to obey His precepts-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that those who keep the covenant and obey God's laws still sin, even 'badly', and are saved by God's grace. That grace is not available to those outside the covenant. It's why baptism into the new covenant is required for the remission of sins- it puts us into the status of 'covenant keepers who sin'. And that is totally necessary for salvation. We see here for all time the fact that God doesn't require perfectionism or lack of sin in order to grant salvation and forgiveness on the path there.</p><p>The keeping of the covenant, in the context of what was explained on :17, effectively means to keep on believing in God’s amazing, saving grace towards sinners. "Remember" doesn't here suggest that they are commended for not being forgetful. The Hebrew carries the idea of having the mind full. Our fully conscious desire to obey His ways is going to be an outcome of continuing to believe His covenant, which promises salvation by pure grace (:17) rather than obedience. So the obedience here in view is in response to the covenant of grace, which offers salvation by grace and not works. These works of obedience are therefore done in gratitude for a salvation already received by grace, rather than in order to achieve a worthiness for that salvation.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh has established His throne in the heavens, His kingdom rules over all-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles were looking for the Kingdom to be reestablished, just as David was looking for his throne to be reestablished in Absalom's time, and as he looked to have his own throne at Saul's time. But the comfort was that that throne was already established in Heaven, even if it wasn't visible on earth. And this is our comfort too.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We are to pray for His Kingdom to come, so that His will may be done on earth (<a href='B:470 6:10'>Mat 6:10</a>). The Kingdom and the doing of His will are therefore paralleled. His Kingdom reigns over all in Heaven, for there, all the Angels are obedient to Him (<a href='B:230 103:19-21'>Psa 103:19-21</a>). By praying for the Kingdom to come on earth we are not only praying for the Lord’s second coming, but for the progress of the Gospel world-wide right now. Not only that more men and women will hear it and respond, but that those who have accepted it might work God’s will rather than their own to an ever greater extent. Whether or not we can physically spread the Gospel is in this sense irrelevant; our prayer should be, first and foremost if the pattern of the Lord’s prayer is to be taken exactly, for the triumph of the Gospel world-wide.</p><p>The Davidic covenant had failed, as far as the exiles understood that covenant- to refer to an unbroken Davidic descendant on the throne of David. But they were constantly being reminded in these Psalms rewritten for them that God was still king, and would be so eternally through His Son, also the Son of David, reigning eternally. We see here something similar to the lesson Daniel had to learn- an initial primary potential for fulfilment [in his case, restoration of the Kingdom after 70 years] was removed and it failed, but opened up a far more glorious form of fulfilment.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, you angels of His, who are mighty in strength, who fulfil His word, obeying the voice of His word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I suggested on :1 that this Psalm is paired with Psalms 102; and indirectly, that too concludes at this point in the structure of the Psalm with reference to Angels. See on <a href='B:230 102:26'>Psa 102:26</a>. The relevance of mentioning the power of the Angels is caught in the LXX: "mighty in strength, who perform his bidding,&nbsp;ready&nbsp;to hearken to the voice of his words". The word they were ready and eager to fulfil was the word of restoring Zion. They could bring this about; but Israel on earth had to be willing to return, both to their land and their God. And such vast potential was thereby wasted at the time.</p><p>The Angels obey His word, and that is what we have just been told His covenant people do (:18 "those who remember to obey His precepts"). Possibly this is one of several examples of where God's people are described in parallel with their guardian Angels above. This is seen very clearly in Dan. 8-10. </p><p>
The entire theme of the Psalm to this point has been the wonder of forgiveness, and how this should elicit praise from those who have received it. There may indeed be a change of theme to speak of how all the Angels now praise God as we should- which is the opening context of this Psalm. But to start speaking of the Angels also praising God would then seem rather random. I share the speculation that the implication may be that the current Angels also once experienced something like forgiveness. The "angels that sinned" are dead or at least enchained. The wages of sin shall be death for them finally, or the wage of death has already been paid to them. But the angels who were forgiven now praise God eternally and are now fully obedient to His word.
</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, all you armies of His, you servants of His, who do His will-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Angels are given specific directives by God which they go and execute to the best of their ability and then report back to God- His "Angels... that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word" (<a href='B:230 103:21'>Psa 103:21</a>). They were eager to do this in the context of performing God’s will of saving and restoring Zion. We must note that the Angels as in supernatural beings are never divided into good ones and wicked ones. "All" the Angels are obedient to God’s word. They are immortal (<a href='B:490 20:35-36'>Luk 20:35-36</a>) and therefore don't sin (<a href='B:520 6:23'>Rom 6:23</a>). However the Greek and Hebrew word translated "Angel" is also used of human beings, who of course can sin:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, You are very great. You are clothed with honour and majesty-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This translation misses the fact that the Hebrew here is full of verbs and not adjectives; the reference is to a series of actions, rather than a state. Yahweh is seen as having done something which makes Him very great, creating majesty and honour for Himself through an action. It could be that the psalmist has in view the envisaged restoration of God’s Kingdom on earth at the time of the restoration; which would explain the references in some verses to a time of present oppression at the hands of the Gentiles. The psalmist looks ahead to this day as if it has happened. This didn’t happen then as planned, but has been rescheduled and reapplied to the last day.</p>&nbsp;&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He covers Himself with light as with a garment, He stretches out the heavens like a curtain-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The heavens" at times refer to the temple or sanctuary, which perhaps is why the idea of a curtain is used, recalling the various curtains of the tabernacle. The reference may be to the hope that God would reestablish the sanctuary, and appear clothed as it were in the light of the shekinah glory over the ark. This idea of God as a figure shrouded in light is used by Ezekiel in describing the visions of cherubic glory. That cherubic system, with the form of a Divine "man" above them, was envisaged as returning to Zion. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He lays the beams of His rooms in the waters, He makes the clouds His chariot, He walks on the wings of the wind-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusion to the cherubim (see on :2). The idea may be that the reestablishment and rebuilding of the Kingdom would begin "in the waters" in that the beams, the people, were to be prepared whilst in exile amongst the waters of the Gentiles. "Room" or "chambers" is the word used of the rebuilding of Zion in <a href='B:160 3:31-32'>Neh 3:31-32</a>, and of the envisaged rebuilding of the temple in <a href='B:330 40:49'>Eze 40:49</a>; <a href='B:330 41:7'>Eze 41:7</a>. But the Jews didn’t build as required in Ezekiel 40-48; they precluded the help of the Angel cherubim, upon whom God was eager to ride forth for them.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He makes His Angels winds; His servants flames of fire-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on Psalms 102 and Psalms 103, the reference to the Angels is to encourage Judah that the vast Angel cherubim system alluded to in :2,3 was ready and eager to go forth for God’s people:&nbsp; The allusion is to the statement of God’s greatness at the end of Job, a book of encouragement to the exiles (see on <a href='B:220 1:1'>Job 1:1</a>): "Canst thou send lightnings (Angels) that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are (Septuagint: 'We do Thy pleasure?')" (<a href='B:220 38:35'>Job 38:35</a>). In the Hezekiah context, the reference could be to how the Angel which destroyed the Assyrians did so using fire (see on <a href='B:230 46:9'>Psa 46:9</a>). We note that the Angels are God’s servants; there is never any hint in the Bible that the "Angels" [as in supernatural beings] are divided into groups of wicked and righteous. <a href='B:230 83:14'>Psa 83:14</a>; <a href='B:230 97:3'>Psa 97:3</a> speak of God as "flames of fire" burning up Israel's enemies. He was ready and able, through the Angel cherubim, to overcome all opposition to a restored Kingdom of God in Israel. But despite this, most of the exiles preferred to remain in Babylon. Just as many today likewise turn down the opportunity to be part of God’s Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I suggested on :1 that this is a reference to the envisaged restoration. God was not going to allow the eretz promised to Abraham to be moved, ultimately; even though its people had temporarily been moved into exile. LXX gives the sense: "Who establishes the earth on her sure foundation". The reference is not to God’s creation of the planet, but to His reestablishment of the Kingdom of God in the earth / land of Israel.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You covered it with the deep sea as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:230 104:5-9'>Psa 104:5-9</a> describes “the earth” as being covered with the deep, and “the waters stood above the mountains”- clearly alluding to the flood. Yet these mountains are those which are “a refuge for the wild goats</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> conies” (<a href='B:230 104:18'>Psa 104:18</a> RV). These sound like the mountains of Israel / the Middle East rather than any other part of the world. The idea is that during the exile, the land was as it were covered with the flood; but would reemerge into a wonderful new age. Isaiah likewise speaks of how God would consider the years in exile as "the waters of Noah" (<a href='B:290 54:9'>Isa 54:9</a>), and would never be repeated once the Kingdom was reestablished.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>At Your rebuke they fled, at the voice of Your thunder they hurried away-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same phrase used of the fleeing away of the waters of the Red Sea at the theophany which occurred then; see on <a href='B:230 77:17'>Psa 77:17</a>. The waters are spoken of as living entities because they represented the heathen nations opposing Israel at the time; and this miracle was just as possible for God’s people at the time of Hezekiah and later, the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which You had assigned to them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reference seems to be to the changed topography after the flood, and this is the imagery used about the restoration in <a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a>. The valleys would be lifted up and the mountains brought down [they very opposite of what is described as happening here after the flood], in order to pave the way for the coming of Messiah and God’s glory to Zion. "Assigned" is the word used for the "foundation" of the rebuilt temple (<a href='B:150 3:6'>Ezr 3:6</a>; <a href='B:150 3:10'>Ezr 3:10</a>). This potential wasn't realized at the restoration, and was reapplied to the Lord Jesus:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they don’t turn again to cover the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as the flood waters (see on :6,7) would never return to destroy the earth, so the Babylonian destruction was potentially the final such judgment upon God’s people. But their impenitence and continued sin precluded this from being the case, and so this idea of the waters [representing the nations around Israel] never covering the earth again was rescheduled to the last day. "Boundary" is the usual word used for the border of the promised land. But the rivers and floodwaters of the invading armies were frequently sent by God over this border even after the Babylonian invasion. The truth was that Judah's princes had removed the border in throwing themselves open to the gods and influences of the nations around them (s:w. <a href='B:350 5:10'>Hos 5:10</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sends forth springs into the valleys, they run among the mountains-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The waters of the Gentile nations would be assuaged, but God would send forth His own waters, not to destroy but to create.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They give drink to every animal of the field, the wild donkeys quench their thirst-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Every" may imply 'both clean and unclean', with the unclean wild donkeys being cited as an example. God’s care and saving purpose is thereby declared as being for all.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The birds of the sky nest by them, they sing among the branches-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:470 13:32'>Mat 13:32</a> uses this imagery in describing the Kingdom of God. The picture here is of how God’s waters would create a restored Kingdom of God on earth. This potential wasn't realized by the exiles; and so these things were reinterpreted and are reapplied to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. And therefore the imagery of this verse is used by Him about His Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He waters the mountains from His rooms, the earth is filled with the fruit of Your works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion may be to the temple on earth reflecting that in heaven. The living water is envisaged as flowing out of the rebuilt temple (<a href='B:450 14:8'>Zec 14:8</a>; <a href='B:360 3:18'>Joe 3:18</a>; <a href='B:330 47:5'>Eze 47:5</a>). Sadly the possibility of this was precluded by the exiles refusing to build and operate the temple in accordance with the specifications of Ezekiel 40-48.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that He may bring forth food out of the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God "makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (<a href='B:470 5:45'>Mat 5:45</a>). God consciously makes the sun rise each day- it isn't part of a kind of perpetual motion machine. Hence the force of His promises in the prophets that in the same way as He consciously maintains the solar system, so He will maintain His Israel. Psalms 104 is full of such examples: "He waters the hills... causes the grass to grow... makes darkness (consciously, each night)... the young lions... seek their meat from God... send forth Your Spirit (Angel), they are created" (not just by the reproductive system). There are important implications following from these ideas with regard to our faith in prayer. It seems to me that our belief that the world is going on inevitably by clockwork is one of the things which militates against a sense of God’s active presence through His Spirit. See on <a href='B:470 6:26'>Mat 6:26</a>.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This doesn’t mean we are to drink alcohol until we feel “merry”. This phrase and those surrounding it are not talking about the effect of crops on the bodies of people, but rather the effect of a good harvest on the emotions of those gathering them. Wine, oil and bread are all associated with the sanctuary services (s:w. <a href='B:440 2:12'>Hag 2:12</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which He has planted-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The living water of the Messianically restored Zion mentioned on :13 was intended to water trees of life (<a href='B:330 47:12'>Eze 47:12</a>; <a href='B:730 22:2'>Rev 22:2</a>). This didn’t happen at the restoration as intended, as the Jews didn’t build the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48. But in essence it will come true in Messiah's Kingdom (<a href='B:730 22:2'>Rev 22:2</a>), and does come true in it even now. The promise that the restored exiles could have become the trees of Yahweh's planting (<a href='B:290 60:21'>Isa 60:21</a>; <a href='B:290 61:3'>Isa 61:3</a>) can become true spiritually for all who now accept the message of the Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the fir trees-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :12, <a href='B:470 13:32'>Mat 13:32</a> uses this imagery in describing the Kingdom of God. The picture here is of how God’s waters would create a restored Kingdom of God on earth. This potential wasn't realized by the exiles; and so these things were reinterpreted and are reapplied to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. And therefore the imagery of this verse is used by Him about His Kingdom. The stork was an unclean animal, but the unclean were to be welcomed into the restored Kingdom, for all such divisions between clean and unclean were to be removed.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The high mountains are for the wild goats, the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"High mountains" may be an intensive plural for the ultimately high mountain, of Zion. The term is used of Zion in <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>; <a href='B:290 57:7'>Isa 57:7</a>; <a href='B:330 17:22'>Eze 17:22</a>; and of the restored Zion in <a href='B:330 40:2'>Eze 40:2</a>. This mount Zion was to become a refuge for unclean animals; and we can note the emphasis in this chapter upon the beauty and acceptance of the unclean animals:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He appointed the moon for seasons, the sun knows when to set-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The moon being for seasons recalls the language of the Genesis creation. And the seasons were specifically the feasts. These were intended to feature in the reestablished Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Darkness was always feared in contemporary societies, and the animals which prowled at night were seen as in league with demons. But this common understanding is being deconstructed. God is the maker of darkness, the animals of the night are beckoned forth by Him; for the Old Testament deconstructs any idea of a cosmic 'Satan' being and associated demons.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Even the instinct of the lion to hunt is given by God; they seek their food from Him. This is significant in the context of the exiles because the likes of Assyria and Babylon are likened to lions and wild, mysterious beasts (:20). But they too were ultimately under God’s control, and had sought their prey from God’s people under His direct instigation. There was and is no radical evil in the conception of God’s true people. See on 27.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sun rises, and they steal away and lay down in their dens-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :21, the mysterious wild animals of the night, including the lions, were all under God’s control, and would go their way from God’s people when He causes the sunrise. This clearly looks ahead to the coming of Messiah as the dawn (<a href='B:460 4:2'>Mal 4:2</a>), heralding the end of all Judah's abusers.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Man goes forth to his work, to his labour until the evening-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :24. The allusion may be to the curse of <a href='B:10 3:19'>Gen 3:19</a>, that man was to work until he can do so no more, and then returns to dust (:29). This contrasts with the eternity of God (:24) and His people.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh, how many are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all. The earth is full of Your riches-</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "The earth is full of Thy creation". The contrast is with the weary labour of man upon earth (:23), which he eagerly brings to an end every evening; and the ceaseless, creative labour of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sea was seen by contemporary peoples as mysterious and out of human control, inhabited by monsters which equate to the cosmic 'Satan' being wrongly believed in by many today. But all within the seas are God’s servants, waiting upon Him (:27) and looking to Him for food. The seas are used in the prophets to represent the Gentile nations who had abused Israel. These too were not forms of radical, uncontrolled evil; they were all totally under God’s control.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There the ships go, and leviathan, whom You formed to play there-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Ships" here may refer to whales or other great sea beasts. See on :25. Leviathan appears to be the Canaanite version of the orthodox ‘Satan’ figure, perhaps a reference to the ‘Lotan’ of the Ugaritic myths. In great detail in Job 41, this creature and belief is deconstructed. It is shown to be a created being (:30) – created by the one almighty God of the Old Testament, to be completely under His control to the point that He can even tease them, playing with them as in Job 41, so enormously greater is His power than theirs. These Canaanite ‘Satan’ figures are thereby shown to have no significant existence; and they certainly don’t exist as opposed to God. They are totally under His control. And yet these monster figures clearly have characteristics shared by known animals, such as the hippopotamus, crocodile etc. Those similarities are intended. It’s been well observed: “To say that Leviathan has characteristics of the crocodile and the whale is not to say that it is such a creature, but rather to suggest that evil is rooted in the natural world” (Robert S. Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You: Images of Creation and Evil in the Book of Job (Leicester: I:V:P. / Apollos, 2002) p. 27) – and the point is so laboured in Job that the natural world is of God’s complete creation. ‘Evil’ in a form independent of Him, in radical opposition to Him, simply isn’t there.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It’s significant that dragons in the form of serpents were common in Babylonian theology. Figures on vases show serpent griffins, there was one on Marduk’s temple in Nippur, and also on the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. These would have been familiar to Judah in Babylonian captivity. They may well have seen a similarity between the Babylonian monsters and the Leviathan beast. That God is greater than Leviathan and can do what He wills with him would therefore have had a special meaning to the faithful Jew in exile. In a restoration context, Isaiah comforted Judah that God would destroy “Leviathan the gliding serpent; He will slay the monster of the sea” (<a href='B:290 27:1'>Isa 27:1</a>). The real ‘monster’ faced by Judah in exile wasn’t a supernatural being; it was a concrete kingdom of men on earth, namely Babylon. God taught Job, and through him showcased to the watching world, that all such imaginations of Leviathan, monsters in the raging sea, crooked serpents etc. were vain – in any case, God had created them and used them to do His will with His people, symbolized as they were by Job. His sitting in dust and ashes is very much the picture of Judah sitting by the rivers of Babylon, bemoaning their losses:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :25,26, the creatures of the sea are actually God’s servants, for that is the meaning of the idiom of 'waiting for'. And He feeds them; they do not randomly choose their prey purely in their own strength and of their own volition. See on :21.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You give to them; they gather. You open Your hand; they are satisfied with good-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :27, the apparently mysterious and radically evil beasts of the sea are all under God’s controlled. Whatever they eat, is given to them by God’s open hand. The beasts which had consumed Judah were actually given their food by God; for the prophets continually stress that these invasions came from God’s direction:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You hide Your face: they are troubled; You take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The hiding of God’s face always speaks of His moral displeasure. This statement is specifically in the context of the death of the mighty sea beasts, although as we have seen, they represent the nations dominating Israel. Their time for judgment would come, even if it were simply in the form of their death. We could not wish for any clearer statement that death of any living creature is an undoing of creation, whereby the breath or spirit is given by God, and then when it is withdrawn, they return to dust. This language is elsewhere used specifically of human beings. For in the matter of death, man truly has no preeminence above a beast (<a href='B:250 3:19'>Ecc 3:19</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You send forth Your Spirit: they are created, You renew the face of the ground-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :26, the great sea beasts are shown to be&nbsp; created beings- created by the one almighty God of the Old Testament, to be completely under His control to the point that He can even tease them, playing with them as in Job 41, so enormously greater is His power than theirs. And likewise the nations they represented were created by God. The dust into which they returned was the "ground" from which God could use His Spirit to form a new creation, when all these beasts have passed away for good.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the glory of Yahweh endure forever, let Yahweh rejoice in His works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This forms an inclusio to the opening allusions to the cherubim and the shekinah glory in :2-4. The psalmist wishes for the day to come when again the glory would return to Zion visibly, and "endure forever", never to be taken away again. And this would involve Yahweh eternally rejoicing in the works of the new creation intimated in :30.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the inclusio to the opening allusions to the cherubim and the shekinah glory in :2-4, this time further alluding to the theophany on Sinai when Israel were first declared Yahweh's Kingdom. The psalmist was looking for the dramatic reestablishment of the Kingdom, accompanied by a similar theophany.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have any being-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note again David’s belief in the mortality of man, with no conscious existence after death [until the resurrection of the body]. For his time of "being" was "as long as I live".</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let your meditation be sweet to Him. I will rejoice in Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His rejoicing in what was going to do was to be a reflection of God’s rejoicing in His new creation (:31).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on His name! Make His doings known among the peoples- This is a quotation of Is. 12:8, clearly relevant to the exiles. "Call" is the word for 'declare' and alludes to Yahweh declaring His Name in Ex. 33:19; 34:5,6; cp. Dt. 32:3. What was done in such glory and majesty we are to echo in declaring His characteristics . </p><p>
The language of “Give thanks to Yahweh” and “Praise Yah” is common in the Psalms, and alludes to the function of the Levites “to praise and to give thanks” (1 Chron. 16:4; Ezra 3:11; Neh. 12:24). These Psalms are inviting all God's people, all Israel, to perform the role and function of the Levites. Just as so many Christians have found themselves without a priest or pastor, and have turned to God in deep personal relationship. These Psalms were perhaps composed for the use of the exiles who were without a temple and effective Levites. Possibly they were then later used in the services of the Second Temple. David's psalm when he brought the ark to Zion (1 Chron. 16) is quoted at length in Ps. 105- and the context was that then David was acting as a priest and Levite when he was not one [being from Judah]. This is why the summary of their history doesn't mention David; and in any case, the covenant with David of eternal kingship had been brought to a reapplication now that the Davidic line of kings had ended. Ps. 106 also quotes David's psalm of 1 Chron. 16. But with a telling difference. Ps 106:47,48 concludes the psalm of Ps. 105 and Ps. 106: "Save us, Yahweh, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise! Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting! Let all the people say, Amen. Praise Yah!". This is an appeal to "all the people" to say these words. But David's Psalm of 1 Chron. 16, which is quoted here, was written by David with his intention that it be sung by the Levites: "He appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of Yahweh, and to celebrate and to thank and praise Yahweh... with harps... with cymbals... With them were Heman and Jeduthun... to give thanks to Yahweh, because His grace endures forever" (1 Chron. 16:4,5,41). But Ps. 105 and 106 ask "all the people" to sing these praises; they were now performing the function of the Levites and the temple cult which David had established. </p><p>
Ps. 105 focuses upon the eternal nature of the Abrahamic covenant. Paul explains that this is the basis of the "new covenant" offered for all time. I suggest this Psalm has context within the exile and restoration from Babylon- when the prophets had offered Israel a new covenant. So these Psalms are an appeal to the exiles to recall the promises to Abraham which were the basis of that covenant. The Psalm begins and ends with reference to them (:6-11,42). They generally refused this offer of a new covenant, and sought to remain with the old covenant- although God had already broken that in response to their breaking of it. Ps. 105 presents God's faithfulness to the covenant, and Ps. 106 presents Israel's unfaithfulness in response. The point was that the old covenant was broken, but the offer of the new covenant [based upon the promises to Abraham] remained. This explains why this summary of Israel's history doesn't mention the covenant made on Sinai. Ps. 105 contains David's psalm when he brought the ark to Zion in 1 Chron. 16. But now there was no ark, and perhaps no temple on Zion. The idea surely is that the same joy and certainty expressed by David in the Abrahamic promises can be felt by others- even without any ark or "Zion". It is this realization that we can be spiritual but not religious which has been the struggle for so many over the centuries- and perhaps especially felt by those who have passed through the bubble mentality of 'denominationalism'. 
</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an appeal to the Gentile "peoples" to hear about God’s work and praise Him; and to praise a deity in those days meant to accept that deity. Not because they were forced to by military conquest, but because they had considered God’s work which had now been told to them. <a href='B:130 16:8-22'>1Ch 16:8-22</a> is the Psalm written by David when the ark was brought to Zion, but it reappears within <a href='B:230 105:1-15'>Psa 105:1-15</a>, which is clearly an appeal for the exiles to repent so that God’s salvation history might continue with them. So we see how David’s original Psalms were reworked and reapplied in later contexts, under Divine inspiration. By the time of the exiles in Babylon, it seems the ark had been lost. But such external religious symbolism was unimportant; the essence was that the people of God were to come to Zion, just as the ark had done.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David’s desire to teach others of God’s ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God’s grace. He didn’t do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God’s mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to Him, sing praises to Him! Tell of all His marvellous works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was very much involved in Israel his people. He saw himself as their representative. When he sung Psalms, he invited them to come and sing along with him (<a href='B:230 105:2'>Psa 105:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:22'>Psa 107:22</a>; <a href='B:230 111:1'>Psa 111:1</a>). And yet this can also be read as an appeal to the Gentile peoples of :1 to hear of Yahweh's works, believe them, accept Him as their God, and then in turn tell others of "His marvellous works". See on :45.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Glory in His holy name, let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Bible continually stresses the critical importance of the heart, the mind. Our minds should glory in God’s Name which is His characteristics, as articulated in His "works" (:2) in history. And this leads us to "seek" Him and His face, which I suggest on :4 refers to repentance. The words here translated "seek" usually mean to worship, the outward act of visiting the sanctuary. But now 'seeking' is done in the heart; seeking here is the inward purpose of the heart.
</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Seek Yahweh and His strength, seek His face forever more-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To seek Yahweh's face is an idiom for repentance (<a href='B:350 5:15'>Hos 5:15</a>), and is specifically used by Daniel in the context of the exiles (<a href='B:140 7:14'>2Ch 7:14</a>; <a href='B:340 9:3'>Dan 9:3</a>). This is therefore an appeal for the exiles to repent, so that God may continue to lavish His saving grace upon them, as He had upon their forefathers. Whilst it is true that "you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live" (Ex. 33:20), we are commonly asked to do just this- to see God's face. Finally we are assured that we shall see His face. But we spend this life seeking to do so, seeking what is impossible to attain right now. This explains the sense we often have of feeling that we have not attained spiritually what we would like to, and what we sense is somehow possible for us. To seek God's face is what we are challenged to do when we are in sin- "I will go and return to My place, until they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face" (Hos. 5:15). We are not to just seek a quick flash view of God's face, as Moses did, but rather to seek a situation where we shall eternally see God's face. And that is the wonderful eternal future we have- not simply of eternity, but eternally beholding God's face in unclouded relationship. To see the face repeatedly means 'to be in relationship' throughout the many times the idea occurs in the Bible. Eternal life is all about relationship with God. It's why Moses' request to catch a glimpse of God's literal face was answered by the declaration of His Name, who He essentially is- because relationship with Him involves knowing Him for who He is. And that is what God wants, and it is likewise the desire of every truly spiritual mind.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Remember His marvellous works that He has done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Hebrew idea of 'remembering' is not necessarily related to 'remembering' as opposed to 'forgetting'; rather does it have the flavour of celebrating, and thus being aware of in gratitude and praise. The "judgments" in view are not God's laws but the Divine sentence pronounced and executed upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians (Ex. 6:6; 7:4; 12:12). And yet the allusion is clearly also to the great Deuteronomic theme of 'remembering' all God's acts of grace to us personally and historically to all His people. Whereas human nature so quickly forgets acts of love and Divine grace. By contrast, God is constantly aware of [NEV "forever"]  His covenant with us (:8,42), thinking about His relationship with us all the time- whereas Israel, along with us, tend to forget it during the daily grind. We have all seen relationships like this where one party loves the other far more; that party is always thinking of the other, whilst the other is forgetful of their amazing lover and flirts with others. And this is how it is between God and His people.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>you seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was clearly the "chosen one... My servant" (<a href='B:230 89:3'>Psa 89:3</a>), but these very terms are applied to Israel as a whole (<a href='B:230 105:6'>Psa 105:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:43'>Psa 105:43</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>) and to the "servant" of later Isaiah, who refers to both Israel and their Messiah as their embodiment (<a href='B:290 42:1'>Isa 42:1</a>; <a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). David’s path of sin, repentance and restoration was intended to be that of all God’s people, as he himself recognizes in Psalms 32. But the exiles refused to repent and therefore their restoration was precluded. They were not therefore treated as His "chosen one".</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He is Yahweh, our God; His judgments are in all the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles were to believe the prophetic word, that all the nations in the eretz promised to Abraham were to experience God’s judgments; the judgments of "our God", Yahweh, the God of Israel. And they were to perceive that despite God's apparent silence, He was working behind the scenes in the nations of the eretz to bring about the final re-establishment of His Kingdom. That is the simple point of the visions of Ezekiel and Daniel.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Jeremiah, Zechariah, Hosea and Ezekiel point out to Judah that they had broken the old covenant; their only basis of connection with God was therefore on the basis of the new covenant He was offering, which was based upon the promises to Abraham. That word of promise was unconditional, to all who wanted to believe it. It was therefore eternal, "to a thousand generations". It would therefore be abrogated, unlike the old covenant based on the law of Moses.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>the covenant which He made with Abraham, His oath to Isaac-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "oath to Isaac" must refer to the repetition of the promises to Abraham to Isaac in <a href='B:10 26:3'>Gen 26:3</a>, where the same word for "oath" is used. But the context of that repetition of the covenant oath to Isaac was in commanding him not to seek material prosperity in Egypt, but rather to remain in the famished land of Israel, then experiencing famine. This was relevant to the exiles, many of whom preferred to remain in Babylon, seeing that Malachi, Ezra and others record serious famine in the land of Judah at that time:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "statute" doesn't refer to the law of Moses, but to the covenant with Abraham of :9. The covenant with Abraham was an unconditional offer of eternal inheritance of the land; all that was and is required is that this great salvation be believed. But it became and becomes a "statute" or "law" in the same way as grace reigns or is a ruler over us (<a href='B:520 5:21'>Rom 5:21</a>). If we believe in God’s unconditional covenant of salvation, then this becomes a law of our lives, the guiding principle in all our thinking, worldviews and perceptions. It is in this sense that "the grace of God... teaches us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and Godly lives" (<a href='B:630 2:11-12'>Tit 2:11-12</a>). Grace is grace, but the wonder of it, when believed, is such that it naturally elicits changed behaviour, and in this sense is a "statute" or law.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed on :10, the promise of eternal inheritance of Canaan was unconditional, by grace. It just had to be believed. This verse has been wrongly used by Christian Zionists to argue that the physical land of Israel is the eternal possession of Jews and therefore they have a right to it now. But we must remember that the New Testament labours the point that the promises to Abraham were not fulfilled to God's people; even when Jews lived in the land in Old Testament times, it had not been given to them in the terms of the Abrahamic covenant. Heb. 11:39,40 is clear that even the faithful amongst Israel died in faith without having received the Abrahamic promises- even though they lived in the land. Even the patriarchs had to buy part of the land as a burial plot. The fulfilment of the promises will be in the future, in the eternal Kingdom of God on earth under the Lord Jesus. It is not now.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>when they were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners in it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God rejoices to work with the small and feeble. The "few men" must refer to how Jacob's family only numbered about 70 people when they went into Egypt. The same phrase "few men in number" is exactly that used by Jacob in lamenting how very small his tribe was compared to the aggressive tribes amongst whom they lived in Canaan (<a href='B:10 34:30'>Gen 34:30</a>). And it is the phrase used of how when Israel were to be judged for their sins in exile, they would be left "few men in number" (<a href='B:50 4:27'>Deu 4:27</a>). The exiles are being encouraged to see the similarities between them and Jacob's family in Egypt, the original 'Israel' at its first beginnings.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to refer, in the context, to the journeyings of the patriarchs amongst the peoples of Canaan, Philistia and Egypt. Although they suffered at the hands of those peoples, they were miraculously preserved; and so would God’s people be despite their current exile in Babylon / Persia. Their journeying to the land of the Philistines and Egypt were wrong and from their own weakness. Yet the wonder is that God guided them through those journeys too.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, He reproved kings for their sakes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In this we see God’s absolute grace. For both Abraham and Isaac were rightly reproved by the Abimelech kings for lying about their wives, and yet God reproved those kings. He was openly showing His passionate love and preference for His people; they were rightly reproved by the kings (<a href='B:10 20:16'>Gen 20:16</a>), but those kings were reproved by God for their sins of ignorance. And it was this same grace which was available to the exiles. "Wrong" was indeed done to the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a>; <a href='B:350 5:11'>Hos 5:11</a>), as it was done to the historical Jacob; but the point is being made that it was not ultimately allowed because there was the final restoration of Jacob's fortunes, as there would be ultimately for God’s people- but in God’s own way and time:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This refers to how Abraham and Isaac were not harmed despite lying to Abimelech (see on :14). It definitely doesn't mean that God’s visible public servants are beyond criticism; for Abraham and Isaac most definitely are reproved for their actions in the Biblical record. The point is that they, weak as they were and deserving of "harm", were preserved from ultimate harm by God’s grace. And they are cited as an example to the exiles, who were all "anointed ones" (<a href='B:310 4:21'>Lam 4:21</a>), they had a special purpose before God; just as all in Christ, the anointed one, are likewise "anointed ones"&nbsp; (<a href='B:540 1:21'>2Co 1:21</a>). So this doesn't give pastors or church leaders special privilege of being beyond criticism, as this verse is misused to teach.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He called for a famine on the land, He destroyed the piles of food-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This verse must be understood in its context within this chronological account of God’s grace towards His people at the time of the patriarchs. The Joseph story begins in the next verse, and so we are to understand that God gave a prophetic word about the famine before Joseph was sold into Egypt (:17). This theme is continued in :19; God made a prophetic word about Joseph, but it took time to come to fulfilment. And during that time, he suffered. But although God foresaw the time of famine, He had made plans right from the start of it to also save His people from it- even it involved factoring in their sinfulness within those plans. This was exactly the situation with the exiles; God’s word had sent them into captivity, but that word had also arranged a salvation from it, even though they were suffering whilst that was brought about. God's plan of a famine and for Israel to be in Egypt was made by Him before Joseph was sold into Egypt.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sent a man before them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> Joseph, who was sold for a slave-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :16. In the context of the Psalm, God is comforting Israel that all their sufferings had been experienced by Joseph. The exiles are often spoken of as being in prison in a Gentile world (<a href='B:230 79:11'>Psa 79:11</a>; <a href='B:230 102:20'>Psa 102:20</a>; <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>); just as Joseph was. Prison and death are often associated because a spell in prison was effectively a death sentence, so bad were the conditions. Israel being in prison is therefore a symbol of a living death. The Lord Jesus as the suffering servant experienced all the sufferings of the exiled people of God, as their representative. On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ was the great, supreme prisoner (<a href='B:230 69:33'>Psa 69:33</a> - this is an intensive plural, referring to a singular great prisoner). Like Joseph, He went through all the emotions of the prisoner; the shame, depression, introspection. As Israel were comforted in their living death by the fact that there was an individual in the past who had gone through all they were going through as a group; so the new Israel ought to take comfort together in contemplating the experiences of the Lord Jesus. He bore our communal sorrows, griefs and sins. In this sense He was "sent before" both the exiles and ourselves.</p><p>The amazing thing is that God "sent" Joseph to Egypt, but his brothers "sold" him there. They sold, but God sent: "you sold me here, for God sent me" )Gen. 45:5). He himself makes this point to them. Whatever men do to us, it is of God and in fact part of His wider, saving purpose.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They bruised his feet with shackles; his soul was locked in iron-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This highlights the mental aspects of Joseph's suffering. The verse is badly translated in the AV: "Whose feet (the same word is translated ability, endurance, journey) they hurt (Heb. 'to browbeat or depress') with fetters: (i:e:) his soul (AVmg:) came into iron". His very soul was in iron, trapped, oppressively boxed in as he lay in the darkness. As the Lord Jesus Christ hung in the darkness He too was depressed by the weight of His mental burden, a burden so great it must have pushed His brain to maximum neurological capacity. The spirit of the crucified Christ is also in <a href='B:230 142:7'>Psa 142:7</a>: "Bring my soul out of prison... the righteous shall compass me about" (cp. <a href='B:230 22:22'>Psa 22:22</a>). The Lord Jesus poured out His soul unto death; "He was taken away by distress" (<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>; <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> AVmg:) suggests that it was the mental crisis in the Lord's heart on the cross which resulted in His death. This is why Pilate marvelled that He died so quickly. It is evident from this that the physical process of crucifixion did not kill the Lord, but rather the heart burst (both figurative and literal) which it brought upon Him. Do we not sense that striving in our minds as we fellowship His sufferings? Here is the challenge of the Joseph record and seeing Joseph as a type of Christ; to just begin to capture the mental anguish of the Son of God as He hung there.</p>&nbsp;


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>until the time that His word came true, and Yahweh’s word proved Him true- We could read this "His word" as referring to Joseph's word, which was also God's word.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as the prophetic word for Joseph came true when it appeared at times to have no chance of fulfilment, so the word of restoration would come true for the exiles. See on :16. God has arranged our lives according to a pattern; we have specific times in our lives for various situations. Looking back at the Biblical record of Joseph and Moses, whose life was divided clearly into three periods of 40 years, we see this clearly; but it’s of course harder to discern in our own lives as we are still living through it. But God is in control and has a plan for us, desiring only our eternal good in our latter end. Joseph was in this situation until the determined time came for God to suddenly deliver him thanks to the unexpected word from a king; and so Judah, depressed in Babylon, were being comforted that when the predicted 70 years captivity were ended, they too would be likewise delivered- which came true in the decree of king Cyrus for them to return to their land with his every blessing.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The king sent and freed him; even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The deliverance of Joseph by the edict of a powerful king looked forward to the deliverance of the captives by the decree of Cyrus. Pharaoh's behaviour is recorded in terms appropriate to Cyrus, e.g. describing him as "ruler of peoples". "Freed" is AV "loosed" (s:w. <a href='B:230 146:7'>Psa 146:7</a>). The exiles were prisoners who could have been loosed from Babylon- had they wished. The book of Esther makes clear that the Jews were far from impoverished prisoners. The imagery of being in prison and slavery is therefore in spiritual terms; and most of the exiles refused that great deliverance because they didn’t perceive their condition. And that's exactly why folks today turn down the great offer of freedom made to them in Christ.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :22, this could imply that such a situation was potentially possible at the time of the restoration under Cyrus. The allusion to Joseph continues; he was in a prison "house" under a "lord" (<a href='B:10 39:2'>Gen 39:2</a>; <a href='B:10 40:7'>Gen 40:7</a>), but there was a sudden, radical inversion of everything. He was exalted from that position to be lord of Pharaoh's "house" (<a href='B:10 45:8'>Gen 45:8</a>). This sudden inversion could potentially have happened with the decree of Cyrus.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Discipline" is AV "bind" and maybe continues the theme of :21, of sudden inversion. Instead of being bound by princes, Joseph bound princes. This isn't recorded of Pharaoh and Joseph; but I have suggested in commentary on the Joseph story that there are hints that the worship of Yahweh and the acceptance of His principles was established by Joseph at a high level in Egypt. Perhaps the idea is that potentially, Cyrus could have allowed a Joseph figure at the time of the restoration to teach the entire Persian leadership of Yahweh's wisdom. And thus the Kingdom of God would have spread throughout the entire eretz promised to Abraham. But these things were precluded by Judah's impenitence, no such Joseph figure arising, and Cyrus also failing to live up to his potential. All these things come to their reapplied fulfilment in the Lord Jesus and the things of His Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel also came into Egypt, Jacob lived in the land of Ham-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The force of "also" is that as the exiles had gone into Babylon, so also had Israel gone into Egypt, and been blessed there and delivered from it.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The hope was that a small minority nation like Judah could have become stronger than "Babylon" and arisen from their exile in supernatural strength given by God. But the majority of them preferred to remain there, and initially, as Ezekiel laments, they worshipped the gods of Babylon. This is also hinted at in the book of Esther.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turned their heart to hate His people, to conspire against His servants-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is further evidence that God can work directly upon the hearts of people, including those like the Egyptians who are not His people. The heart of Saul was likewise turned (s:w. <a href='B:90 10:9'>1Sa 10:9</a>). This is effected today by the work of the Holy Spirit directly upon human spirits / hearts.  The same word is used in :29 of how water was turned to blood; and of how Saul was "turned" into another man, and was "given another heart" (1 Sam. 10:6,9). Is. 60:5 uses it of God converting men unto Himself. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The phrase "chosen... servant" is used of David (<a href='B:230 78:70'>Psa 78:70</a>). But it is particularly used of the people of God whilst exiled (<a href='B:290 41:8-9'>Isa 41:8-9</a>; <a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a>; <a href='B:290 44:1'>Isa 44:1</a> etc:), and of Zerubbabel, the potential Messiah at the time of the restoration (<a href='B:440 2:23'>Hag 2:23</a>). Zerubbabel could have been David redivivus, a Messiah figure who was the Davidic ruler, representative of God’s people, who were also the chosen servant. Just as Moses and Aaron had delivered the people from Egypt, so this individual could have delivered the exiles from Babylon and led them to a restored Kingdom of God in the land. But he failed, as did the people; and so these things were reapplied to the ultimate "chosen servant", the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:470 12:18'>Mat 12:18</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mizraim or Egypt was the descendant of Ham (<a href='B:10 10:6'>Gen 10:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:23'>Psa 105:23</a>; <a href='B:230 105:27'>Psa 105:27</a>; <a href='B:230 106:22'>Psa 106:22</a>). There may be an allusion to Khem, one of the main Egyptian gods. For the purpose of all the plagues was to demonstrate that Yahweh was the only God, and the Egyptian gods had no real existence. The "signs" performed by Moses and Aaron (:26) could have been matched by the "signs" performed by the two "men of sign" at the restoration (<a href='B:450 3:8'>Zec 3:8</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against His words-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is possible to see in the ten plagues brought about by God’s word to Moses an echo of the ten times it is recorded that "God said" in Genesis 1. <a href='B:230 105:28-36'>Psa 105:28-36</a> describes the plagues on Egypt as a reversal of creation - starting with darkness (cp. "let there be light") and ending with the slaying of the firstborn to match the creation of man last of all. The words which were not rebelled against would then refer to the words of creation. But the point may simply be that Moses and Aaron (:26) weren't rebellious but performed the miracles and thereby delivered the people from Egypt; whereas as noted on :26, Zerubbabel and other potential Messiahs failed in this.</p><p>We wonder why the ninth plague is mentioned first. Perhaps because it was the plague which convicted the Egyptians of their sin in keeping Israel enslaved. "And they rebelled not against His words" could confirm this. Yet again, we could see this as an example in this Psalm of how God sees His people so positively because they are in covenant with Him; He imputes righteousness, under the new covenant. For it is not totally true that Moses and Aaron, and possibly Israel, "didn't rebel". Moses himself calls them "rebels" and himself at that time rebelled against God's word by hitting the rock rather than speaking to it. See on :40,44 for other examples.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The miracles upon the waters were in a sense repeated upon Babylon when the waters were dried up from around the city so that the Medes could take the city. This admittedly was not by miraculous means; but perhaps the idea is that potentially, there could have been similar miraculous acts to cause Babylon to fall and enable the exodus of the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Potentially, there could have been similar miraculous acts to cause Babylon to fall and enable the exodus of the exiles. The descriptions of the fall of Babylon never came about as was potentially possible. Babylon decayed rather than being struck with the supernatural plagues envisioned in the "fall of Babylon" prophecies; they will come true in the last days, however, for they are alluded to in Revelation 18.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spoke, and swarms of beetles came, and lice in all their borders-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :28, the plagues came about by the word of Yahweh, alluding to His creative words which brought about creation in the first place. The same prophetic word had been spoken about the restoration and recreation of God’s Kingdom in the land.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hail and lightning (AV "flaming fire") are the words used for the destruction of Assyria / Babylon (<a href='B:290 30:30'>Isa 30:30</a>). They are also associated with theophany (<a href='B:230 18:12-13'>Psa 18:12-13</a>). Hail and lightning could have been used to destroy Babylon and thereby fulfil God’s prophetic word of restoration for the exiles (<a href='B:230 148:8'>Psa 148:8</a>). But these great potentials were not realized because the Jews didn’t repent and didn’t for the most part actually want the restoration of the Kingdom. They preferred the good life in Persia.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Not recorded in the Exodus record. The language of vines and figs is more relevant to Babylon (<a href='B:290 36:17'>Isa 36:17</a>) rather than Egypt; but the plagues upon Egypt are being described as being potentially possible upon Babylon, if Judah repented and really wanted restoration. We therefore read of Babylon's latter day plagues (<a href='B:300 50:13'>Jer 50:13</a>; <a href='B:730 18:4'>Rev 18:4</a>; <a href='B:730 18:8'>Rev 18:8</a>). These things have been reapplied to Babylon of the last days seeing they didn’t happen as potentially possible at the restoration.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers without number-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :28,31, the plagues came about by the word of Yahweh, alluding to His creative words which brought about creation in the first place. The same prophetic word had been spoken about the restoration and recreation of God’s Kingdom in the land. The language of creation is used about the destruction of Babylon; because the idea was that the fall of Babylon would presage the new creation of God’s people and land. But this was conditional upon their repentance. Because they didn’t repent and preferred Babylon, Babylon didn’t therefore fall at the time in the dramatic way which the prophecies show was potentially possible.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>ate up every plant in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The prophets envisage the fall of Babylon meaning that her land would be damaged by supernatural visitation. But Babylon fell slowly, the prophetic picture didn’t come about at the time of the restoration, but is reinterpreted to the latter day Babylon; see on :34.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The death of the firstborn was because either the individuals or their parents refused to be obedient to God’s offer of salvation. It was therefore a result of human sin; and part of "sin" is that it hurts others. "The chief of all their strength" (AV) is another way of saying 'the firstborn' (s:w. <a href='B:10 49:3'>Gen 49:3</a>). The idea is that human strength was to be taken away, because Egypt was not trusting in God’s strength. But God did the same to His own "strength", His people (<a href='B:230 78:61'>Psa 78:61</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He brought them forth with silver and gold, there was not one feeble person among His tribes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Amazingly, there was nobody sick amongst the three million or so who left Egypt that night. At our exodus from this world through our Red Sea baptism into Christ, we are made spiritually strong- and must abide in that strength. "There was not one feeble person among His tribes" (<a href='B:230 105:37'>Psa 105:37</a>), but prior to this the Israelites had indeed been "feeble" before their Egyptian captors (s:w. <a href='B:230 107:12'>Psa 107:12</a>). This means that the feeble were made strong; and this was exactly the promise to the exiles, that they who were "feeble" in Babylonian exile would be strengthened so that they could&nbsp; leave Babylon and be restored to the land (s:w. <a href='B:290 35:3'>Isa 35:3</a>). The word for "feeble" is often translated "cast down" and is used of how Judah had been at the time of their exile into Babylon (<a href='B:300 6:21'>Jer 6:21</a>; <a href='B:300 8:12'>Jer 8:12</a>; <a href='B:300 18:15'>Jer 18:15</a>; <a href='B:310 1:14'>Lam 1:14</a>; <a href='B:350 5:5'>Hos 5:5</a> and often). But they would be led out of Babylon in a straight way and without stumbling / being feeble (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>); the "feeble" would be strengthened (<a href='B:450 12:8'>Zec 12:8</a> s:w:). Yet when they returned to the land, they were "feeble" (s:w. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> "decayed"; <a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a> "stumbled"). The potential strengthening wasn't used by them:&nbsp;  It was a psychological strengthening that they were given; their heart had been brought down with labour and therefore they were "feeble" (Ps. 107:12 s.w.); but there was none "feeble" as they crossed the Red Sea. It speaks directly of the same spiritual strengthening given in the birth of the Spirit after having crossed the Red Sea [= water baptism]. 
 </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Glad" is a word nearly always used of rejoicing "before the Lord", of a spiritual nature; it has been used in :3 of God’s people rejoicing in His Name. The word is used of rejoicing along with God’s people in <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>. The fear which fell upon Egypt may simply be a reference to that of <a href='B:20 15:16'>Exo 15:16</a>. But fear falling upon people is the phrase used of what happened in Persia when the Jews were exalted (<a href='B:190 8:17'>Est 8:17</a>; <a href='B:190 9:2-3'>Est 9:2-3</a>), with the result that many became Jews. So the idea may be that many in Egypt accepted the God of Israel after the Hebrews departed; and this was the envisaged outcome in Babylon too. But the potential was marred by the fact that Judah didn’t give glory to God, remained for the most part in Persia / Babylon, and therefore the intended repentance of Babylon didn’t happen.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sensitivity of God is revealed here. The cloud kept the heat of the sun off them in the day time, and the fire kept them warm at night when the temperatures plunged in the desert. This same care was potentially available to the exiles (<a href='B:230 121:6'>Psa 121:6</a>); but most didn’t even want to make the journey, and remained in Babylon. These promises are therefore reapplied to the new Israel (<a href='B:730 7:16'>Rev 7:16</a>), As Yahweh provided a pillar of fire to give light in the night to His people in the wilderness, so Israel were to arrange for a fire to be burning throughout the night in the tabernacle. They were to give light in response to God’s giving light to them:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They asked, and He brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note here how God works. They weren't given the quails until they asked for meat. There is no mention here of how the fattest of them were struck down at this time (<a href='B:230 78:31'>Psa 78:31</a>). The point is made that God made concessions to their weakness and went along with their requests because by all means He wanted His rescue operation to succeed; and so it could have been with the restoration of the exiles from Babylon. But most didn’t even want to start the wonderful journey.  As discussed on :28, the record of the people is very positive [Ps. 106 gives the other side]. They didn't ask for quails and get them; they bitterly complained against God and Moses, falsely accusing them of a plan to slay them in the desert. And in response God gave them quails. This again is an example of righteousness being imputed to God's covenant people.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He opened the rock-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As the rock was "opened", so Babylon, the apparently invincible prison house, would be opened for the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:17'>Isa 14:17</a>; <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>); the graves would be opened and the dry bones of the exiles would come forth to restore the Kingdom (s:w. <a href='B:330 37:13'>Eze 37:13</a>):&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And waters gushed out; they ran as a river in the dry places-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language of <a href='B:290 41:18'>Isa 41:18</a>; <a href='B:290 45:8'>Isa 45:8</a> about what God would do for the returning exiles. In the restored Zion, a fountain would be "opened" (s:w. <a href='B:450 13:1'>Zec 13:1</a>). But all this was precluded&nbsp; by the exiles refusing to rebuild Zion according to the specifications in Ezekiel 40-48.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He remembered His holy word, and Abraham His servant-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The deliverance from Egypt was in fulfilment of the prophetic word to Abraham. And the prophetic word was likewise given to the exiles, that they too would be delivered and restored. The phrase "His holy word" is specifically used of the prophetic word to the exiles in <a href='B:300 23:9'>Jer 23:9</a>:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen with singing-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :6. The allusion is to the songs of Moses and Miriam after the Red Sea deliverance. The song of Moses could have been sung again at the deliverance of the exiles. But it wasn't; and so the prophecy and the promise is recalculated and reapplied to the deliverance of the last days (<a href='B:730 15:3'>Rev 15:3</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labour of the peoples in possession-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The scale of the potential for the exiles was huge. The tiny Jewish minority, one of many minorities within the Babylonian / Persian empires, could have not only had their own capital city restored, but also have received all the lands within the eretz promised to Abraham. Likewise the potentials offered in the Gospel of the Kingdom are enormous; but most prefer to be satisfied with the things of this life, as the exiles were with life in Babylon. As discussed on :28, the record of the people is very positive [Ps. 106 gives the other side]. They were potentially given the lands of the Canaanite nations but they didn't drive them out. Instead they worshipped their gods, married their women and were time and again dominated by them. This again is an example of righteousness being imputed to God's covenant people.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good, for His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The previous Psalms 105 has asked God to restore the exiles, to come through for them, because this is what He has done for His people in the past. But there has been no acceptance of grace, of their sinfulness, or of the consequence for sin. This Psalm presents a different picture of Israel's history; it is of their sinfulness, and God’s radical grace. And the Psalm asks God to continue that grace. There is still not the total confession of sin which we see in Daniel's prayer (Daniel 9) nor in Ezra's (Ezra 9). But there is an acceptance of their sinfulness and God’s grace, and the final appeal for an "Amen" is asking the audience to accept this and to ask for it to continue. "His grace endures forever" is a way of effectively asking for that grace towards sinners to continue to the exiles.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Who can utter the mighty acts of Yahweh, or fully declare all His praise?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The psalmist utters forth the mighty acts of God in this Psalm with the preface enquiring as to who can adequately do thIsa. And then proceeds to do just that. He did so with a clear recognition of his own inadequacy. The Psalms of praise are full of this theme. The mighty acts which will be listed are those of radical forgiveness.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed are those who keep justice. Blessed is the one who does what is right-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David so often parallels righteousness and justice / truth (<a href='B:230 9:8'>Psa 9:8</a>; <a href='B:230 33:5'>Psa 33:5</a>; <a href='B:230 37:6'>Psa 37:6</a>; <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a>; <a href='B:230 103:6'>Psa 103:6</a>; <a href='B:230 106:3'>Psa 106:3</a>). Indeed, this parallel is so common in God’s word. What it means is that the righteousness of God is a just righteousness. It's not fake, 'I'll turn a blind eye'. It is true, real, valid, and has integrity underpinned in the very essential justice of God Himself. Justice and righteousness may appear abstract ideas, mere theology. But the result is that the person who believes God’s righteousness is imputed to him or her... will feel this, they will know it to be true, they can by grace, in faith, quietly hold their head up before God. And David after Bathsheba is our example. He believed and felt this imputed righteousness. It's not so much a case of 'forgiving ourselves' after God has forgiven us, but rather of being swamped by this very real and legitimate sense that truly, we have been counted righteous. And Paul in Romans holds up David after Bathsheba as the personal example to " every one who is Godly" in their time of spiritual need. See on <a href='B:230 41:12'>Psa 41:12</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>At all times-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Consistency is most important in spiritual life rather than occasional flashes of devotion and obedience.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Remember me, Yahweh, with the grace that You show to Your people; visit me with Your salvation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The psalmist, originally David but rewritten by someone else at the time of the exile (perhaps Jeremiah, Ezra or Daniel), confesses that he too on a personal level needs the grace which he is going to celebrate. And he looks personally for salvation from a Divine 'visitation'. Perhaps he perceived that salvation from Babylon in the restored Kingdom could have been eternal; potentially. But the preconditions weren't met. But that may well have been his legitimate hope.</p>&nbsp;


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was clearly the "chosen one... My servant" (<a href='B:230 89:3'>Psa 89:3</a>), but these very terms are applied to Israel as a whole (<a href='B:230 105:6'>Psa 105:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:43'>Psa 105:43</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>) and to the "servant" of later Isaiah, who refers to both Israel and their Messiah as their embodiment (<a href='B:290 42:1'>Isa 42:1</a>; <a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). David’s path of sin, repentance and restoration was intended to be that of all God’s people, as he himself recognizes in Psalms 32. But the exiles refused to repent and therefore their restoration was precluded. They were not therefore treated as His "chosen one". The Psalmist’s desire for salvation wasn’t merely because he or she wanted to live eternally. There was a desire to see all God’s people glorying in salvation. Salvation is made possible in that God’s people as a whole have been redeemed; there is such a thing as spiritual selfishness, desiring the Kingdom merely for what it means to us. But if we have the perspective of God’s glory, we will desire the coming of salvation because all of us will be glorified. Hence Paul could say that the joy he would have in the Kingdom would be related to his joy that his brethren were also there (<a href='B:590 2:19'>1Th 2:19</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why do I want to be in the Kingdom? What makes this the dominant desire which we will surely receive? David asked to be given “thy salvation</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation” (AV). Paul likewise says that to see the Thessalonians in the Kingdom would be his glory and joy in that day. Both those men had a perspective far bigger than merely themselves. If our sole desire to ‘be there’ is so that I will live for ever, I will have a nice level of existence</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> this, it seems to me, is not only essentially selfish, but our basic dysfunction and tendency to devaluing of ourselves just will not allow us to have the receipt of personal eternity as our dominant desire. We’ll be interested in it, but it won’t consistently be the thing we desire above all else. But if we see the wider picture, then we will pray for the Kingdom to come so that the things of God’s Name may be glorified; because we want to see our dear brethren there in the Kingdom; because we will want to share our Lord’s joy and their joy. These things are more than the primitive desire for self-preservation which we all have, and which we can articulate in terms of wanting to personally be in the Kingdom. Thus if our motives are right for wanting to be in the Kingdom, then this will become our dominant desire; and we will be granted the desires of our heart. Really we will be. God’s word promises thIsa.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David saw his sufferings as being bound up with those of Israel; those who hated him hated Zion, those who blessed him blessed Zion, and God’s salvation of Israel was being expressed through God’s deliverance of him in the daily vicissitudes of life; as God had chosen Zion, so He had David His servant; David’s joy was Zion's joy, and her exaltation would be David’s&nbsp; (<a href='B:230 51:18'>Psa 51:18</a>; <a href='B:230 69:35'>Psa 69:35</a>; <a href='B:230 87:2'>Psa 87:2</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>; <a href='B:230 121:3-4'>Psa 121:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a>; <a href='B:230 128:5'>Psa 128:5</a>; <a href='B:230 146:10'>Psa 146:10</a>; <a href='B:230 149:2'>Psa 149:2</a>). This is how we are to make sense of suffering- by understanding that it plays a role in the salvation of others, and is part of a wider nexus of Divine operation. We suffer so that we may be able to minister the comfort we receive to others (<a href='B:540 1:4'>2Co 1:4</a>). Job likewise came to realize that his sufferings were not so much for his personal maturing, but for the teaching and salvation of the friends.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have sinned with our fathers-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Continuing the thought of :5, the Psalmist felt that he personally was somehow involved in the sin of God’s people (“we&nbsp;have sinned”); Ezra and Daniel prayed and felt likewise at the time of the exile. We aren’t called to smug self righteousness, avoiding guilt by association; but rather the opposite. We are to feel a personal involvement in the failures and successes of God’s people as a whole.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Paul, his joy and crown would be to see his brethren accepted into God’s Kingdom at judgment day. David had the same spirit when he wrote of how he longed to "see the prosperity of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance" (<a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>). His personal vision of God’s Kingdom involved seeing others there; there's no hint of spiritual selfishness in David. And he goes straight on to comment: "We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity... our fathers understood not..." (<a href='B:230 106:6'>Psa 106:6</a>). David felt himself very much at one with the community of God’s children, both in their failures and in their ultimate hope. Life with God simply can't be lived in isolation from the rest of His people. Our salvation in that sense has a collective aspect to it, and if we want 'out' with the community of believers in this life, then we're really voting ourselves out of their future glory.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have committed iniquity-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The word used by David about his sin (<a href='B:230 38:6'>Psa 38:6</a>). David’s repentance and restoration was to be their pattern.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have done wickedly-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is s:w. <a href='B:230 18:21'>Psa 18:21</a>, where earlier David had&nbsp; boasted that "I have not wickedly departed from my God". "Wickedly departed" is the word usually translated "condemn" (e.g. <a href='B:230 37:33'>Psa 37:33</a>). Those who depart from God condemn themselves. This is a major Biblical theme; that the condemned are more self-condemned rather than condemned by God. "We make the answer now". But now later David was to realize that he too had wickedly departed from God, and confession of that was vital for salvation.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Our fathers didn’t understand Your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of Your graces, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Even at the very moment of their salvation they were rebellious. God didn’t save them because they had reached a certain level of righteousness, let alone "understanding", but because of His grace; see on :12. The Red Sea crossing represents our baptism (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>); God has saved us by His grace, not because of our righteousness.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because of the high degree of God manifestation in Moses, he was so severely punished for not sanctifying Yahweh in the eyes of Israel in his sin of smiting the rock. Israel provoking his spirit to sin at this time is spoken of in the context of the way in which they provoked God’s spirit (<a href='B:230 106:7'>Psa 106:7</a>; <a href='B:230 106:29'>Psa 106:29</a>; <a href='B:230 106:33'>Psa 106:33</a>; <a href='B:230 106:43'>Psa 106:43</a>) - such was God’s manifestation in Moses even while he was sinning. And so God is manifest in sinful men like us too. Moses knew this, he knew his closeness to God through manifestation, and yet he yearned to see God physically, he struggled with his distance from God (<a href='B:20 33:18'>Exo 33:18</a>; <a href='B:20 33:20'>Exo 33:20</a>). The spirit of Christ in the Psalms is similar. And for us too.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Salvation for His Name's sake is the same as saying that He saved them by grace (:1). Grace is the quintessence of the Yahweh Name. The "mighty power" that was made known was not so much His physical, material ability to divide waters- but His grace and salvation of the unworthy (:7).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through a desert-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :1, this is being cited in the context of exemplifying God’s saving grace to the unworthy. He saved those who didn’t "understand", who doubted right at the shores of the Red Sea (:7). But all the same He led them through the Red Sea, which was made as dry as the desert they would now be led through further. And God likewise can save even without full faith and "understanding" at the time of our baptism (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>); if subsequently we believe in and cling to His saving program for us.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Saving and redeeming are the words brought together elsewhere only in the context of God’s desire to be the "saviour and redeemer" of the exiles through His offer of restoration (<a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 60:16'>Isa 60:16</a>; <a href='B:290 63:9'>Isa 63:9</a>). The redemption of a misunderstanding and disbelieving people of God from Egypt could have been the pattern for the salvation and redemption of the exiles from Babylon. Deliverance from the hand of haters is an idea commonly used by David about his salvation from Saul (<a href='B:230 18:17'>Psa 18:17</a>; <a href='B:230 18:40'>Psa 18:40</a> and often). This early Psalm of David has been reworked, under Divine inspiration, to be relevant to the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The waters covered their adversaries, there was not one of them left-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The destruction of the Egyptians is cited here as an example of God’s grace to Israel (see on <a href='B:230 106:1'>Psa 106:1</a>), and it is likewise used in <a href='B:230 136:15'>Psa 136:15</a>. One take on the situation is that God foreknew that if He had not killed those Egyptians, they would have killed the Israelites.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they believed His words, they sang His praise-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All these examples from Israel's history are to exemplify God’s absolute saving grace. They only "believed His words" after they had been saved through their Red Sea baptism (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>). And so it can be in the Christian experience. This also explains why the New Testament speaks of us being baptized, by God through the Spirit. Grammatically, baptism is something done to us (<a href='B:530 12:13'>1Co 12:13</a>). This has its basis in how Israel were baptized into Moses by God (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>). This is not to say that we should not first believe and then be baptized. But nearly every honest Christian would surely accept that our understanding and faith was weak at that point, and we were led by God’s Spirit (or "providence", if you prefer) to the waters of baptism. We were saved as were Israel, but it is for us to believe it afterwards. See on :7,22.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They soon forgot His works, they didn’t wait for His word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to describe Israel's rebellions in language relevant to Saul, as if he represented them (<a href='B:90 13:8'>1Sa 13:8</a>). This Psalm likely started as one of David’s, but was rewritten under Divine inspiration as relevant to the exiles. The impression is of haste: "They made haste, they forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel" (LXX). God’s word is not revealed to us all in one go; His will is revealed in response to our patient response to what we currently understand of His will. And Israel ought to have perceived that God by grace had saved them. But they forgot that grace, and panicked when things didn’t appear to work out, and turned away from Him rather than remembering His grace. And that was the lesson for the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>but gave in to their craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God had provided them with manna; but they craved flesh, meat; the same term is used in <a href='B:40 11:4'>Num 11:4</a>. This is the phrase only elsewhere used for Israel's coveting of meat in the wilderness (<a href='B:40 11:4'>Num 11:4</a>), but it is used once more, in <a href='B:240 21:26'>Pro 21:26</a>. This explains that the reason for their lust was because they were lazy (<a href='B:240 21:25'>Pro 21:25</a>). They ought to have instead thought of what they could give, rather than lusting for what they could additionally get. This generous attitude is the antidote to lust.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If we fulfil our fleshly craving, we will become internally and spiritually hungry. Giving in to our cravings isn’t the way to happiness. But the way God gave them their request is cited here as an example of God’s grace to Israel; for that is the theme of this Psalm. The idea is repeated with the same words in <a href='B:290 10:16'>Isa 10:16</a>: "Therefore shall the Lord... send among His fat ones leanness". Again we see the intended parallels between Israel in dispersion and Israel in the wilderness.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, Yahweh’s saint-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Aaron was a "saint" in that he was a chosen one, separated unto God’s purpose. But the rebels were unprepared to accept God’s choice of saviours; and yet His saving purpose still continued with them, despite punishing the rebels (:17). And this was the simple lesson for the exiles, and for us all as we despair of our own weakness.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note that "Korah" isn't mentioned here, although the rebellion was by Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Perhaps this was because the "sons of Korah" survived and were zealous in the temple service. <a href='B:40 16:32'>Num 16:32</a>; <a href='B:40 26:10'>Num 26:10</a> stress that the "earth opened" (s:w:) and swallowed up Korah and his followers. The pointed omission of "Korah" here is perhaps to point out God’s grace in working through Korah's descendants. And again, this was the message the exiles needed to grasp; their fathers had sinned, they were in captivity, but they needed to follow the pattern of the sons of Korah:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A fire was kindled in their company, the flame burned up the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The intention of this Psalm, as explained on :1, is to chronicle God’s grace to a very sinful Israel. The "fire kindled" is the term used of the burning bush which was not consumed (<a href='B:20 3:2'>Exo 3:2</a>), just as mount Sinai was kindled with fire but not consumed (especially stressed in Deuteronomy; <a href='B:50 4:11'>Deu 4:11</a>; <a href='B:50 5:23'>Deu 5:23</a>; Deuteronomy 9; Deuteronomy 15). The idea is that although all Israel had sinned, only some of them were consumed, but the people as a whole were not consumed. The exiles would walk through kindled fire and not be consumed (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>). God’s purposes with His people would stand, even though the "fire was kindled" in the Babylon invasion (<a href='B:300 4:4'>Jer 4:4</a>; <a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a> s:w:), but they would be saved out of condemnation and not be consumed as a nation:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have just read of the fire kindled in God’s wrath against His people. But they kindled that fire themselves (<a href='B:290 9:18'>Isa 9:18</a>; <a href='B:350 7:6'>Hos 7:6</a>), and used it to produce a molten image. Israel were to make no images in worship, because the God they worshipped was real, existing in an actual material form in heaven. They were to make no image of Him because they were to believe He was for real, before their very eyes if they had perceptive eyes of faith. And they were to realize that their own bodies were in His image.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Their glory" refers to God. It was unthinkable that a nation changed their gods; they only did so when conquered by other nations who forced them to do so. This was the awful sin of Israel, in exchanging Yahweh for idols (<a href='B:300 2:11'>Jer 2:11</a>). They of course didn’t see it as "exchange", but rather worshipping Yahweh through worshipping other idols; or worshipping Him as well as idols. This is the kind of temptation we face all the time; but here it is condemned as "exchanging" Yahweh for idols.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is good reason to believe that Romans 1 is a description of Israel in the wilderness; notice the past tenses there. <a href='B:520 1:23'>Rom 1:23</a> charges them with changing "the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like... to four-footed beasts, and creeping things", clearly alluding to <a href='B:230 106:20'>Psa 106:20</a> concerning how Israel in the wilderness "Changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass" by making the golden calf. The effective atheism of Romans 1 is matched by <a href='B:230 106:21'>Psa 106:21</a> "They forgat God their saviour". The long catalogue of Israel's wilderness sins in Psalms 106 is similar to that in Romans 1. "Full of envy" (<a href='B:520 1:29'>Rom 1:29</a>) corresponds to them envying Moses (<a href='B:230 106:16'>Psa 106:16</a>), "whisperers" (<a href='B:520 1:29'>Rom 1:29</a>) to "murmurers" (<a href='B:230 106:25'>Psa 106:25</a>), and "inventors of evil things" (<a href='B:520 1:30'>Rom 1:30</a>) to God being angered with "their inventions" of false gods (<a href='B:230 106:29'>Psa 106:29</a>). Because of this "God gave them up" to continue in their sexual perversion and bitterness with each other even to the extent of murder (<a href='B:520 1:27'>Rom 1:27</a>; <a href='B:520 1:29'>Rom 1:29</a>). A rabble of about 2 million people living in moral anarchy with little law and order, driven on in their lust by the knowledge that God had rejected them is surely a frightening thing to imagine. The emphasis on sexual sin in Romans 1 is paralleled by 1 Corinthians 10 stressing the frequent failure of Israel in the wilderness in this regard. Against such an evil and God forsaking background that young generation rebelled, to become one of the most faithful groups of Israelites in their history. As such they set a glorious example to the youth of today in rebelling against a world that mocks any form of true spirituality.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>“Likeness” in <a href='B:520 1:23'>Rom 1:23</a> is used in the LXX in the frequent warnings not to make an image or likeness of any god, let alone Yahweh (<a href='B:20 20:4'>Exo 20:4</a>; <a href='B:50 4:16-25'>Deu 4:16-25</a>; <a href='B:230 106:20'>Psa 106:20</a>; <a href='B:290 40:18-19'>Isa 40:18-19</a>). The reason for this prohibition becomes clearer in the New Testament; the ultimate likeness of God is in His Son, and we are to create the likeness of His Son not as a mere physical icon, but within the very structure of our human personality and character.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They forgot God their Saviour who had done great things in Egypt-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed on <a href='B:230 71:19'>Psa 71:19</a>, the "great / wondrous things" performed by God were His forgiveness and salvation of a condemned sinner like David. This is described in <a href='B:230 71:19'>Psa 71:19</a> as God doing "great things", the phrase used of the great things worked in visible miracles in Egypt (<a href='B:230 106:21'>Psa 106:21</a>) and at creation (<a href='B:230 136:7'>Psa 136:7</a>). But the forgiveness of people like David is no less a great miracle. Such great things are done because of His mercy / grace (<a href='B:230 136:4'>Psa 136:4</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>wondrous works in the land of Ham-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mizraim or Egypt was the descendant of Ham (<a href='B:10 10:6'>Gen 10:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:23'>Psa 105:23</a>; <a href='B:230 105:27'>Psa 105:27</a>; <a href='B:230 106:22'>Psa 106:22</a>). There may be an allusion to Khem, one of the main Egyptian gods. For the purpose of all the plagues was to demonstrate that Yahweh was the only God, and the Egyptian gods had no real existence.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And awesome things by the Red Sea-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The awesome thing done "by" and not "in" the Red Sea was that there on the shores of the Sea, Israel's faith collapsed. They did not understand nor "believe His words" (:7,12). And yet God saved them by grace. That was the wonderful work and awesome thing done by God which should be praised and remembered by us.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, so that He wouldn’t destroy them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here again is God’s extreme grace. His intention to destroy Israel and make a new nation from Moses was changed; indeed His intended destruction of Aaron and Israel was turned away by Moses more than once (<a href='B:50 9:8'>Deu 9:8</a>; <a href='B:50 9:14'>Deu 9:14</a>; <a href='B:50 9:19-20'>Deu 9:19-20</a>; <a href='B:50 9:25'>Deu 9:25</a>). Such is His radical sensitivity, reflecting a love for His people which is beyond words to describe. The very "chosen" Moses whom the people had argued was not chosen (:16,17) was allowed to save those people who had rejected him. This clearly looks forward to the saving work of the Lord Jesus. Jeremiah likewise had stood before Yahweh "to turn away His wrath" (s:w. <a href='B:300 18:20'>Jer 18:20</a>); but the sin of the exiles was apparently even worse than that of Israel. For the wrath came upon the people and they were sent to Babylon. But in another sense, Jeremiah's intercession was heard; for they were not 'destroyed' completely. They could be restored. Daniel likewise prayed for the turning away of God’s wrath (s:w. <a href='B:340 9:16'>Dan 9:16</a>); and the answer was in the seventy sevens prophecy. Ultimately, God would not destroy His people but restore them, although in His own way and in His own time. Which was not exactly as the exiles had hoped. The exiles had broken the covenant and were therefore to be destroyed (s:w. <a href='B:50 28:20'>Deu 28:20</a>; <a href='B:50 28:24'>Deu 28:24</a>). But God was again open to changing His stated purpose and saving them. It was all grace upon grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn’t believe His word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The word they disbelieved was the word of grace to Moses, that He would not destroy them as He had earlier stated (see on :23). But God had promised that although Israel despised the offer of the land, a "pleasant land" in that it could have been God’s Kingdom on earth, yet even in their exile in the Gentile lands they preferred to His land, He would not "despise" them (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the end, God gives us our dominant desire. Israel in the wilderness didn’t really desire the land, so they didn’t receive it. It was no "pleasant" to them, the 'land of desire' (AVmg:). Israel both despised the land, and they despised their God (<a href='B:40 14:11'>Num 14:11</a>; <a href='B:40 14:23'>Num 14:23</a>; <a href='B:40 14:31'>Num 14:31</a> RV). Our attitude as to whether or not we want to be in the Kingdom is essentially our attitude to God. This has far reaching implications. <a href='B:230 107:30'>Psa 107:30</a> likewise speaks of how the faithful are brought to the haven of their desire (RVmg:). All those who truly love the Lord’s appearing- with all that implies in practical life and belief- will be accepted (<a href='B:620 4:8'>2Ti 4:8</a>). And yet Israel didn’t have the dominant desire to be in the Kingdom, as Joshua and Caleb had. Why didn’t they? It is vital that we understand the reasons for their failure – such an understanding will be a safeguard to help prevent us from making the same mistake (<a href='B:520 15:4'>Rom 15:4</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>but murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to Yahweh’s voice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the face of God’s amazing grace to them in not destroying them (see on :23), Israel muttered and murmured about the immediate problems of their lives. This obscured the wonderful voice of Yahweh assuring them of His saving grace. And so it is to this day.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore He swore to them that He would overthrow them in the wilderness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But He didn’t, because Moses interceded. An almighty God who swears but doesn't carry it out... is a God of amazing grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that He would overthrow their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the gentile lands-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This suggests that Israel's scattering in Gentile lands had been threatened at the time of the murmuring of :25; for the Psalm is chronologically going through Israel's history. This isn't recorded in the records; because by grace God changed from that purpose at the time, because of Moses' intercession. But Israel are now reminded that in fact their scattering amongst the Gentiles, which was then currently ongoing, had been a judgment pronounced right back in the wilderness; and had not been carried out because of the amazing patience of God.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To join oneself is the language of marriage. To eat sacrifice was a sign of fellowship with the god at whose table you were eating. And by doing these things they were effectively breaking their covenant relationship with Yahweh. But despite that, He still worked to save them and to preserve them nationally as His people. His grace is the more amazing, because He disregarded even their breaking of covenant with Him- because He was and is so passionate to save.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It could be argued that this too reflects God’s grace. The threatened judgment was complete destruction of the entire nation (:26), but in reality the judgment was a plague which destroyed a relatively small number of them.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The grace of this was in that the plague was stopped, as it was at the time of the earlier rebellion (<a href='B:40 16:48'>Num 16:48</a>; <a href='B:40 16:50'>Num 16:50</a> cp. <a href='B:40 25:8'>Num 25:8</a>); when it had been in God’s intention to totally destroy the entire people (:26). But as Paul brings out in Romans 1-8, that grace was all the same articulated through justice / judgment being done.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The grace of this was in that righteousness was counted to Phinehas. For none are righteous in their own strength; as Paul explains in Romans, it is credited to us by grace through faith. But how was it eternally credited to him? For descendants aren't counted righteous just because of their ancestors. The implication would therefore be that this imputed righteousness meant that he would therefore not die eternally; but he resurrected to life eternal. And this again is nothing but pure grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They angered Him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In <a href='B:50 9:18'>Deu 9:18</a> Moses says that his prayer of <a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a> was heard- in that he was not going to enter the land, but they would. Hence his urging of them to go ahead and enter the land- to experience what his self-sacrifice had enabled. In this we see the economy of God, and how He works even through sin. On account of Moses’ temporary rashness of speech, he was excluded- and yet by this, his prayer was heard. He was temporarily blotted out of the book, so that they might enter. Moses’ fleeting requests to enter the land must be read as a flagging from the height of devotion he reached, rather like the Lord’s request to escape the cross in Gethsemane. But ultimately he did what he intended- he gave his place in the Kingdom / land so that they might enter [although of course he will be in the future Kingdom]. This is why Moses stresses on the last day of his life that he wouldn’t enter the land for Israel’s sake (<a href='B:50 1:37'>Deu 1:37</a>; <a href='B:50 3:26'>Deu 3:26</a>; <a href='B:50 4:21'>Deu 4:21</a>). He saw that his sin had been worked through, and the essential reason for him not entering was because of the offer he had made. It “went ill with him for their sakes” (AV). So here again, even in sin and failure, was to be found grace in the way God used it. See on <a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a>.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because they were rebellious against His spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Moses was willing to give his physical and eternal life for Israel's salvation (<a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a>). In a sense, his desire was heard. Because of the sin of a moment, caused by the provocation of the people he loved, God decreed that he could not enter the land of promise. For their sakes he was barred from the land; this is the&nbsp; emphasis of the Spirit (<a href='B:50 1:37'>Deu 1:37</a>; <a href='B:50 3:26'>Deu 3:26</a>; <a href='B:50 4:21'>Deu 4:21</a>); and <a href='B:230 106:32-33'>Psa 106:32-33</a> says that Moses was provoked to sin because Israel angered God, and that therefore "it went ill with Moses for their sakes". Truly, God by grace works through sinful man to achieve His glory. Thus Moses says that he must die “Because ye [plural] trespassed against me” (<a href='B:50 32:51'>Deu 32:51</a>). This all helps explain why the Lord Jesus Christ had to die, apart from the fact that He was mortal. He died the death of a sinner for our salvation, He felt all the emotions of the rejected, the full weight of God’s curse; for "cursed is every one that hangs on a tree" in crucifixion (<a href='B:550 3:13'>Gal 3:13</a>). Moses is a superb and accurate type of the Lord Jesus. Therefore Moses in his time of dying must grant us insight into the death of our Lord, the prophet like him (<a href='B:50 18:18'>Deu 18:18</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They didn’t destroy the peoples as Yahweh commanded them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Moses ‘prophesied’ that Ephraim would “push the people [Gentile inhabitants of the land] together to the ends of the earth / land” (<a href='B:50 33:17'>Deu 33:17</a>). And yet <a href='B:350 7:8'>Hos 7:8</a> cp. <a href='B:230 106:34-36'>Psa 106:34-36</a> criticize Ephraim for failing to push the people out of the land. Moses’ prophecies about the tribes sound like predictions; but they were actually commands which those tribes had the freewill to obey or not. Despite the promise of the Kingdom, Israel didn’t use that potential. And now at this point they were in exile amongst the Gentiles, because they had actually liked those peoples and chose their idols.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And the exiles had done just the same, and even at the restoration they likewise "mingled" with the nations through intermarriage (s:w. <a href='B:150 9:2'>Ezr 9:2</a>). Israel simply refused to learn from their history. "Learned their works" refers to their eager learning the ways of idolatry (:36); these are the "works" of :39.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They served their idols, which became a snare to them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In fulfilment of the warning of <a href='B:20 23:33'>Exo 23:33</a>. Idolatry itself leads to further failure- as part of a downward spiral. The figure of a snare suggests they were led to the point of being caught and slain by the snare. The idea of riches being a snare (<a href='B:610 6:9'>1Ti 6:9</a>) connects with copious OT references to idols as Israel's perpetual snare (<a href='B:20 23:33'>Exo 23:33</a>; <a href='B:50 7:16'>Deu 7:16</a>; <a href='B:70 2:3'>Jdg 2:3</a>; <a href='B:70 8:27'>Jdg 8:27</a>; <a href='B:230 106:36'>Psa 106:36</a>; <a href='B:350 5:1'>Hos 5:1</a>). Paul's point is surely that the desire of wealth is the equivalent of OT idolatry.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I noted on :36 that the figure of a snare suggests the idols killed them; and here we have this developed, in that they literally killed their children in the name of idols. Demons refer to idols (:36). Demons or idols have no real existence (<a href='B:530 8:4'>1Co 8:4</a>; <a href='B:530 10:20'>1Co 10:20</a>). Therefore when we read of demons being cast out in the Gospel records, this is the language of the day used for healing various illnesses rather than any evidence that demons actually exist.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But they continued doing so, and it was for shedding innocent blood like this that they went into captivity (s:w. <a href='B:300 2:34'>Jer 2:34</a>; <a href='B:300 19:4'>Jer 19:4</a>). And the impenitent exiles did the same in their persecution and murder of the restoration prophets (<a href='B:290 59:7'>Isa 59:7</a>). Again the point is being made that despite hardening themselves against the voice of history, God still had a willingness to try to work with them towards repentance:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Thus were they defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "works" are the idolatry of :35; the "works" of the Gentiles (:35) had become "their own works" (:39 AV). They had fully adopted the Gentile ways as their very own. They were thus unfaithful to Yahweh who was their husband; they were morally and sexually defiled and therefore liable to be stoned to death, burnt or at least divorced. These were the Mosaic law options for a husband whose wife was unfaithful or a prostitute. But the grace of it all is that like Hosea with Gomer (representing God and Israel), they were not destroyed as a people. God as it were broke His own law by seeking to have them back even after the great divorce:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against His people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the burning anger which arises from the abuse of love; it was their prostitution which made God so furious (:39). But truly "the wrath of God is the love of God", as Emil Brunner observed. The extent of His anger was a reflection of the extent of His love for them which had been so abused. The kindling of Yahweh's anger begins a series of allusions to the book of Judges, here to <a href='B:70 2:14'>Jdg 2:14</a>; <a href='B:70 2:20'>Jdg 2:20</a> etc.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He abhorred His inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a mutuality between God and man. God and His Kingdom are our inheritance (<a href='B:230 78:55'>Psa 78:55</a>); but we are His inheritance. A man's inheritance was the essence of Himself, all He had in the world. And this is how we are to Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Into the hand of..." is the term repeatedly used in the Judges record (<a href='B:70 3:10'>Jdg 3:10</a>; <a href='B:70 3:12'>Jdg 3:12</a>; <a href='B:70 3:31'>Jdg 3:31</a>; <a href='B:70 4:2'>Jdg 4:2</a>; <a href='B:70 6:1'>Jdg 6:1</a>; <a href='B:70 10:7-18'>Jdg 10:7-18</a>; <a href='B:70 13:1'>Jdg 13:1</a>). Even the restored exiles were still "ruled over" by the "nations" (s:w. <a href='B:160 9:37'>Neh 9:37</a>). The restoration wasn't the degree of restoration of the Kingdom of God and His people which the restoration prophecies had presented as potentially possible.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their enemies also oppressed them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Oppressed" is a common word in the record of the Judges (s:w. <a href='B:70 1:34'>Jdg 1:34</a>; <a href='B:70 2:18'>Jdg 2:18</a>; <a href='B:70 4:3'>Jdg 4:3</a>; <a href='B:70 6:9'>Jdg 6:9</a>; <a href='B:70 10:12'>Jdg 10:12</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They were brought into subjection under their hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again continues the allusion to the situation in the book of Judges (<a href='B:70 4:3'>Jdg 4:3</a>; <a href='B:70 4:6-11'>Jdg 4:6-11</a>; <a href='B:70 10:8'>Jdg 10:8</a>). The grace of it all is that time and again they were saved by Yahweh's "saviours", the judges, who looked ahead to Yehoshua, 'Yah's salvation', in the Lord Jesus. But the raising up of these saviours was by grace alone.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Many times He delivered them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The grace of it all was that each time, God said 'this is the last time', and Israel responded later 'Yes, but please, just this once, have mercy on us just once more'. And this went on many times. Each time God showed them special grace.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But they were rebellious in their ways, and were brought low in their iniquity-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Flesh must be humbled- either we do it now, we humble ourselves that we may be exalted in due time; or it will have to be done to us through the terror of rejection. Time and again ‘bringing low’ or ‘humiliation’ is the result of condemnation (<a href='B:50 28:43'>Deu 28:43</a>; <a href='B:140 28:19'>2Ch 28:19</a>; <a href='B:220 40:12'>Job 40:12</a>; <a href='B:230 106:43'>Psa 106:43</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Nevertheless He regarded their distress, when He heard their cry-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :43. Their lack of penitence was overlooked because God was simply so sensitive to the distress of His wayward people. This was the grace of it all.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He remembered for them His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His graces-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel kept their Passovers throughout the wilderness years, one would assume- but they never remembered the day that God brought them out of Egypt (<a href='B:230 78:42'>Psa 78:42</a>)- although notice how although Israel didn’t remember God, yet He remembered them in His grace (<a href='B:230 106:7'>Psa 106:7</a>; <a href='B:230 106:45'>Psa 106:45</a>). We can read of the cross, speak of it, memorialize it as Israel did the exodus through the Passover ritual; and yet totally fail to realize the powerful imperatives which abound in its’ message. God’s covenant is here demonstrated to be unilateral, from Him to man, by grace. The covenant in view is that with Abraham made in Genesis 15, which featured God making unilateral promises whilst Abraham was incapacitated and unable to do anything in response. Neither was there any clause added making it conditional upon his obedience. This is in sharp contrast with the law of Moses, the old covenant. Jeremiah, Zechariah and Ezekiel all make the point to the exiles that they had broken the old covenant, and therefore they could only be saved by reaffirming their part in the new covenant. For it was this covenant which is rightly paralleled here with the multitude of God’s great grace, "graces" being an intensive plural for His great grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The book of Esther reveals the relative popularity and success of the Jews in Babylon / Persia. The descriptions of the exiles as captives groaning in a prison house must therefore be understood in spiritual terms. For the exiles were not under physical abuse. But they failed to realize their awful spiritual environment, and therefore spurned the opportunity for deliverance from it; and that is the reason so many reject the message of God’s Kingdom today. The exiles particularly were shown "pity" by the powers of their day, allowing them to return to Zion and rebuild it (s:w. <a href='B:160 1:11'>Neh 1:11</a> "mercy"). This "pity" or "mercy before them that lead you captive" was specifically predicated upon their repentance (s:w. <a href='B:140 30:9'>2Ch 30:9</a>). But they didn’t repent; and yet they were shown this mercy / pity. That was the grace of it all. This "pity" was the pity of God who would according to that pity / mercy regather them (s:w. <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>; <a href='B:450 1:16'>Zec 1:16</a>). He showed them that pity despite their impenitence; and yet most of them preferred to spurn it by remaining in exile.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Save us, Yahweh, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These last two verses are quoting from David’s Psalm of thanksgiving when the ark was brought to Zion (<a href='B:130 16:35-36'>1Ch 16:35-36</a>). But the inspired Psalmist in <a href='B:230 106:47'>Psa 106:47</a> makes a slight change because he was using this Psalm in the context of the exiles wanting to be restored: "Gather us together and deliver us from the nations" is changed to "Gather us from among the nations". The ark was lost; it was the Jews themselves who were to come to Zion. The exile brought them to realize that the box called "the ark" was mere religion; the essence of it was that the dwelling place of God was no longer a box of acacia wood, but God’s own repentant people.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Book V-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although this begins a new book, this Psalm appears to follow on from Psalms 106, which concludes with the exiled psalmist thanking God in the past tense for having delivered His people from exile. But we must understand that this doesn't mean that this is a Psalm of praise once the exiles had returned; for Psalms 106 is an appeal for God’s grace to be shown in restoring the exiles. What is yet future is spoken of as having happened; it is a statement of faith in the deliverance which the faithful believe will happen. Psalms 107 is similar; it praises God in the past tense for the deliverance and reestablishment of His Kingdom in Judah which the [few] faithful exiles were praying and hoping for, in accordance with the restoration prophecies. And those prophecies are often alluded to in this Psalm.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good, for His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His eternal grace is the theme of <a href='B:230 106:45'>Psa 106:45</a>. Psalms 107 continues the praise of this grace, and on that basis, expresses confidence that the restored Kingdom would indeed come about. People are invited to thank God for it as if it has happened- as an expression of faith in the final fulfilment of the restoration prophecies.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is appealing to the restoration prophecies about the exiles being redeemed from captivity and returning to Zion (<a href='B:290 62:12'>Isa 62:12</a>; <a href='B:290 35:9-10'>Isa 35:9-10</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10-11'>Isa 51:10-11</a>; <a href='B:290 63:4'>Isa 63:4</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as God had historically redeemed His people from "trouble", so He would from the "adversary" of Babylon / Persia (s:w. :6). But the problem was that the exiles were comfortable in their exile, as the book of Esther demonstrates; and didn’t perceive their environment as their "adversary".</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was what had been prayed for in <a href='B:230 106:47'>Psa 106:47</a>, and was according to the restoration prophecies (<a href='B:300 32:37'>Jer 32:37</a>; <a href='B:330 20:34'>Eze 20:34</a> etc:). The tragedy was that the exiles didn’t want to return. The ten tribes assimilated into the lands of their exile, and the peoples of Judah preferred to stay where they were, for the most part. Only a small percentage of the Jewish exiles returned. The regathering from all points of the compass also didn’t really happen; these things have been reinterpreted and reapplied, so that they will come true in essence but not in literal detail. The clear fulfilment is in the gathering of willing Gentile converts from all points of the compass to the spiritual Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way, they found no city to live in-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that as God’s people were preserved through the wilderness journey, so would the exiles be. But most didn’t even start the journey. And so these things have been reapplied and reinterpreted. Therefore the LXX of this phrase is quoted about the Christian believers in <a href='B:650 13:14'>Heb 13:14</a>. We too are on a wilderness journey after our Red Sea baptism, and find no place we can call home in that journey. Our place of rest and settling down isn’t in this life, but in the Kingdom which is to come at Christ’s return. The implication could be that Israel wanted to settle in the wilderness. They didn’t want to return to Egypt (although they did at times), they didn’t really desire the unknown promised land</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> so, they wanted to just settle down there in the wilderness. And so it can be with us. We can be happy with the way to the Kingdom, it can be that the social aspect of the Christian life suites us</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> we are content with it, and yet it can be that for all that, we lack a real sense of direction towards the Kingdom. We are going some place. The Christian life is but a path leading towards an end, and the end destination is the Kingdom:&nbsp;If we believe surely that we will be there, we will live lives which reflect this sense of concrete direction and aim.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Perhaps we can infer from this that Israel in the wilderness initially wanted to return to Egypt, and yet it is also true that they sought for a city to live in whilst in the wilderness. They wanted to just stay there in the wilderness. They didn’t want to return to Egypt, they didn’t really desire the unknown promised land</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>so, they wanted to just settle there in the wilderness. And so it can be with us. We can be happy with the way to the Kingdom, it can be that the social aspect of the Christian life suites us</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> we are content with it, and yet it can be that for all that, we lack a real sense of direction towards the Kingdom. We are going some place. The Christian life is but a path leading towards an end, and the end destination is the Kingdom. If we believe surely that we will be there, we will live lives which reflect this sense of concrete direction and aim.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel in the wilderness were made to suffer hunger so that they would come to realize that man doesn't live by bread alone, but by the words of God which went forth to create manna for them (<a href='B:50 8:3'>Deu 8:3</a>). Their soul "fainted" in that they refused to perceive thIsa. And so it was with the complaints of the exiles. Their experiences were intended to bring them to God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as God had historically redeemed His people from "trouble", so He would from the "adversary" of Babylon / Persia (s:w. :2). But the problem was that the exiles were comfortable in their exile, as the book of Esther demonstrates; and didn’t perceive their environment as their "adversary".</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same word as in :4; the "way" the Israelites were led through the desert after the exodus could have corresponded to how the exiles were led from Babylon back to Zion. But although God gave Israel a straight way, it took them 38 years of wandering. For they didn’t use the potential He gave them. And so it was with the exiles, and with many attempted journeys towards God’s Kingdom. Likewise Ezra prayed for a "straight way" from exile to Zion (s:w. <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a>). But although it was provided, few of the exiles wanted to even begin the way. Their journey from Babylon to Zion was "that they might go to a city to live in", as if Babylon was not in fact a city they could live in. But sadly, many of the exiles preferred it to Zion. "A straight way" is a phrase used more frequently of walking before God in a "right way" (<a href='B:90 12:23'>1Sa 12:23</a> and very often). The "way" back to Zion was not just a physical journey, but a walking in God’s ways. And the Biblical historians of the 'restoration' indicate that this was not the path which the returning exiles walked in. The intention was that the exiles would enter the new covenant and "be caused to walk in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble" (<a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>). But the exiles who returned did stumble (<a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a>). The potential spiritual strength to keep them in the way was not used. Potentially, the cherubim which departed from Zion in Ezekiel's vision would have returned with "straight feet" (<a href='B:330 1:7'>Eze 1:7</a>). The way back was plain and clear, with every blessing along it. But the exiles preferred Babylon. And so these things are reapplied to the new Israel, who are to walk in a straight way towards God’s restored Kingdom (<a href='B:650 12:13'>Heb 12:13</a>). See on :40.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works to the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was the intended picture of the joy of the returned, restored exiles. But they didn’t perceive their sinfulness nor His grace, and so their praise was not at all so ecstatic as envisaged here. "His grace", His unending forgiveness and patient desire to save, was to be perceived as His greatest "work". This ultimately came to full articulation in the death of His Son.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He satisfies the longing soul, He fills the hungry soul with good-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Satisfying... with good" quotes the restoration prophecy of <a href='B:300 31:14'>Jer 31:14</a> (s:w:). This Psalm is an expression of faith in the fulfilment of the restoration prophecies; but it was not yet fulfilled. Those "longing" for grace and true spiritual restoration (:8) would be given it. But finally this 'filling' was to be through the Lord Jesus. And therefore Mary quoted this verse about how she had been filled with good things (<a href='B:490 1:53'>Luk 1:53</a>); but Zacharias quoted the next verse, :10, shortly afterwards (<a href='B:490 1:79'>Luk 1:79</a>). Surely Mary had gotten him thinking in the same paths as she did. Our spirituality can influence others positively, consciously and unconsciously. This is why it’s important to mix in spiritual company.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This alludes to how Joseph in Egypt was bound in iron (<a href='B:230 105:18'>Psa 105:18</a> s:w:), and Israel in Egypt are similarly described. The situation of the exiles in Babylon was not so physically awful. But they were expected to perceive that the opulence of Babylon was in fact "darkness and the shadow of death" (s:w. <a href='B:290 9:2'>Isa 9:2</a>; <a href='B:300 13:16'>Jer 13:16</a>). Because they didn’t perceive that, the good news of exodus and deliverance from that wasn't so attractive to them. And so it is with people today. See on :14.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is one of a number of Biblical verses which suggest that we as it were stand in judgment upon God when we encounter His word. He overcomes every claim that His word is untrue and therefore He is condemned (<a href='B:520 3:4'>Rom 3:4</a>). That we mere humans should judge God the judge of all is an arresting concept; but this is what we are in effect doing when we consider His claims, His promises of saving us which are throughout His word.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "most high God" could suggest that they believed in many gods, but in their desperate moments, recognized Yahweh as the "most high" of them all. And this was why they ultimately rebelled against Yahweh's words, probably a reference specifically to the words of the covenant. Let us remember that Israel carried the tabernacle of their god Remphan through the desert as well as that of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore He brought down their heart with labour, they fell down-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Fell down" is the word translated "feeble": "There was not one feeble person among His tribes" (<a href='B:230 105:37'>Psa 105:37</a>), but prior to this the Israelites had indeed been "feeble" before their Egyptian captors (s:w. <a href='B:230 107:12'>Psa 107:12</a>). This means that the feeble were made strong; and this was exactly the promise to the exiles, that they who were "feeble" in Babylonian exile would be strengthened so that they could&nbsp; leave Babylon and be restored to the land (s:w. <a href='B:290 35:3'>Isa 35:3</a>). The word for "feeble" is often translated "cast down" and is used of how Judah had been at the time of their exile into Babylon (<a href='B:300 6:21'>Jer 6:21</a>; <a href='B:300 8:12'>Jer 8:12</a>; <a href='B:300 18:15'>Jer 18:15</a>; <a href='B:310 1:14'>Lam 1:14</a>; <a href='B:350 5:5'>Hos 5:5</a> and often). But they would be led out of Babylon in a straight way and without stumbling / being feeble (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>); the "feeble" would be strengthened (<a href='B:450 12:8'>Zec 12:8</a> s:w:). Yet when they returned to the land, they were "feeble" (s:w. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> "decayed"; <a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a> "stumbled"). The potential strengthening wasn't used by them:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And there was none to help-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"None to help" is the phrase used in prophecy of the Lord's crucifixion in <a href='B:230 22:11'>Psa 22:11</a> "Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none else to help". The same words are used for how Israel and the exiles were under persecution with none to help apart from God (<a href='B:310 1:7'>Lam 1:7</a>). The paradox was that God saved His people through the Lord Jesus exactly because they had "none to help" (<a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a> s:w:). But He Himself had to go through that experience of having none to help (<a href='B:230 22:11'>Psa 22:11</a>). Their salvation was achieved through His being their total representative.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although the allusion may be to the Red Sea deliverance, the plural "distresses" suggests that this 'crying to Yahweh' occurred many times. And the identical phrase is a key phrase in the Judges record (<a href='B:70 3:9'>Jdg 3:9</a>; <a href='B:70 3:15'>Jdg 3:15</a>; <a href='B:70 6:6-7'>Jdg 6:6-7</a>; <a href='B:70 10:10'>Jdg 10:10</a>). The Judges record has been alluded to in <a href='B:230 106:40-42'>Psa 106:40-42</a> as a parade example of God’s saving grace to Israel. The grace of it all was that each time, God said 'this is the last time', and Israel responded later 'Yes, but please, just this once, have mercy on us just once more'. And this went on many times. Each time God showed them special grace. Time and again they were saved by Yahweh's "saviours", the judges, who looked ahead to Yehoshua, 'Yah's salvation', in the Lord Jesus. But the raising up of these saviours was by grace alone.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bonds in sunder-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The deliverance from Egypt could have been replicated in deliverance from Babylon. But the difference was that the Jews were not being abused in Babylon; rather were they being ensnared by the soft life. And they didn’t want to perceive that they were in a spiritual prison, despite its opulence in secular terms. Most of the exiles spurned this great salvation. And yet it will be fulfilled for God’s new Israel in their redemption from death and the grave. "The land of darkness and the shadow of death" refers so often to the grave (<a href='B:220 10:21'>Job 10:21</a>). Egypt and Babylon were figuratively the land of death; but the prophecies of the deliverance of God’s people from them will come ultimately true in our redemption from death through the resurrection of the body to eternal life in the restored Kingdom of God on earth.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works to the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The salvation of Israel historically was by grace alone; for when they cried to Him in desperation, their faith and repentance was hardly very deep because they immediately returned to their own ways once they were rescued. And yet given this pattern of grace, the psalmist can confidently exhort Judah and the exiles to again pray and throw themselves upon this grace; but they must perceive it as grace, and make it real and permanent. His "wonderful works" were not so much in His material saving of them, but in the amazing grace He showed to them.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He has broken the gates of brass and cut through bars of iron-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to allude to the famed gates and bars of Babylon, and is imagining the fulfilment of <a href='B:290 45:2'>Isa 45:2</a>. But Babylon didn’t fall as potentially envisaged in the prophets; for Judah didn’t repent, and Cyrus who was to break the gates didn’t live up to his potential. Therefore the gates weren't broken or cut; a different scenario played out when the Medes took Babylon.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience and because of their iniquities-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is as close as we get to an admission of sin; a confession of iniquity, disobedience and foolishness, and an acceptance of the consequences ['affliction']. The "afflictions" of David are presented as a pattern for those of the exiles (<a href='B:230 132:1'>Psa 132:1</a>). They too denied their sin initially and struggled to accept its consequences; but David’s path of repentance and restoration was to be theirs. But for the most part they refused to follow thIsa. LXX "He helped them out of the way of their iniquity" hints at the psychological help from the Holy Spirit which was available potentially, just as it is for the new Israel who wish to leave Babylon for Zion.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their soul abhors every kind of food, they draw near to the gates of death-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to be one of a number of allusions to Job (here to <a href='B:220 33:20'>Job 33:20</a>), whose book would have been one of the early scriptures available to David and the psalmist who has used David’s earlier psalm here. Drawing near to the gates of death was how David felt (<a href='B:230 9:13'>Psa 9:13</a>; <a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, He saves them out of their distresses-</p><h2>The cry to Yahweh is made at the point of death (:18). The exiles failed to perceive that they were facing spiritual death in Babylon. For they were popular and prosperous there, and were not at all at knife point as they had been in Egypt. And therefore they failed to cry to Yahweh for deliverance as they should have done.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sends His word and heals them, and delivers them from their graves-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This repeats the promise of the revived dry bones in Ezekiel 37; the exiles were to be as it were resurrected from their graves. This was the potential degree of revival possible for the exiles. It was prefigured in the "word" sent to Hezekiah to heal him of his sickness (<a href='B:120 20:4'>2Ki 20:4</a>; <a href='B:290 38:4'>Isa 38:4</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works to the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles are bidden praise God ahead of time for His grace, as if it had already been experienced. This is the essence of faith, to see things from God’s perspective, believing and feeling at the point of asking that we receive what we have requested (<a href='B:480 11:24'>Mar 11:24</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with singing-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm may well have been used in the temple services, and at this point there was an invitation to the community to join in the singing. The exiles had no temple, priesthood or altar; they are being invited to understand that the essence of sacrifice is not the blood of animals, but the words and thoughts of God’s people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm envisages God’s prophetic word of restoration as coming gloriously true, and the thanksgiving offered was to be as sailors might thank their God after a deliverance from certain death in a storm. The allusion is to the restoration prophecy of <a href='B:290 42:10'>Isa 42:10</a>, which the psalmist praises as if it has been fulfilled. The "great" or "many waters" (AV) refer to the many nations, who for all their apparent power were to be stilled by God in a moment to prepare the way for His restored Kingdom.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>these see Yahweh’s works, and His wonders in the deep-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as God did wonders in "the deep" of the Red Sea, so He in fact had done upon "many waters" (:23 AV). See on :23. "The deep" refers to the literal bottom of the sea. The waves of the surface water were imagined to be caused by monsters of evil who were in the "depths" of the sea. The sea was seen as mysterious and the abode of the forces of evil. These ideas are deconstructed here. God is all powerful; there is no 'Satan' being which is a source of radical evil, outside of God’s control. Even if such things were believed in, Yahweh was able to do His wonders in the very lair of these supposed beings.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He commands, and raises the stormy wind which lifts up its waves-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The storm waves arise not because of any monster of evil, but at God’s command. The Hebrew words for "wind" and "spirit" are the same; and God makes His Angels winds / spirits (<a href='B:230 104:4'>Psa 104:4</a>). The seas represent the nations, from whom the exiles had been saved. Their storm against God’s people had been raised up at God’s command, operationalized through the Angels.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The salvation of Jonah in a similar storm represented that of the exiles, if they were willing to perceive it. But the exiles didn’t want to accept that the opulence of Babylon was in fact a storm amongst the seas of nations which was driving them to cry to Yahweh for deliverance (:27). The deliverance of the disciples from storms was clearly a fulfilment of this kind of language about danger at sea, desperate cries to God, and then sudden calm. But the significance of the connection is that the exiles had precluded the possibility of salvation from the "seas" of the Gentile world at their time; and so these things were reapplied to the Lord Jesus and His people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They reel back and forth and stagger like a drunken man, all their wisdom disappears-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Salvation from the storm of the Gentile seas was not by human wisdom. There was no way out from death in the storm. They were driven to a point where they had to cry to Yahweh (:28). But the exiles were not materially driven to such a point. God in His kindness and mercy to them in exile didn’t allow them to be maltreated. And yet the result was that the desperate cry for deliverance wasn't elicited from the majority.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble and He brings them out of their distress-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :27. This phrase is a refrain throughout the Psalm (:6,13,19,28):&nbsp; God would have brought the exiles out of the spiritual distress of the captivity; but the majority preferred to remain, and the few who did return did so, it seems, motivated by what land and homes they could carve out for themselves. So this redemption from distress was spurned by the exiles, and is reapplied to the great salvation offered now in the Lord Jesus. The day of "distress" was that of their judgment for their sins by the Babylonian invasion (s:w. <a href='B:430 1:15'>Zep 1:15</a>). But God would bring them out of that consequence for sin. That was the psalmist's hope and confidence. But the tragedy was that the exiles didn’t want to know.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may mean that the ideal intention was that the nations where God’s people were exiled would repent and also accept Yahweh. They would then be still and at peace with Him. But this didn’t happen at the time as envisaged. Therefore the image of still seas after storm is used of how things shall finally be at the last day (<a href='B:730 15:2'>Rev 15:2</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they are glad because it is calm, and so He brings them to their desired haven-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on <a href='B:230 106:24'>Psa 106:24</a>. The idea of God stilling a storm and getting terrified sailors immediately to their port clearly had fulfilment in how Christ stilled the storm on the lake of Galilee (<a href='B:500 6:18-21'>Joh 6:18-21</a>). This doesn’t mean that He is God Himself, but rather that Old Testament statements about God were fulfilled in His Son, who manifested the Father to perfection. But the significance of the connection is that the exiles had precluded the possibility of salvation from the "seas" of the Gentile world at their time; and so these things were reapplied to the Lord Jesus and His people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works for the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This phrase is a refrain throughout the Psalm. See notes on :8,15,21,31.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them exalt Him also in the gathering of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the elders-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Note the parallel between elders and the assembly / gathering of the general congregation. All alike were to be awed by God’s grace. Likewise <a href='B:510 15:22'>Act 15:22</a> parallels the elders and the whole congregation: “The apostles and elders with the whole church” agreed a solution. It wasn’t a top down decision imposed upon the congregation. They all participated.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusions to the restoration prophecies. The restored Kingdom of God could have come at the restoration, complete with a Messiah figure. But it was precluded by the failures of the various potential Messiahs like Zerubbabel, and by the impenitence of the exiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>and a fruitful land into a salt waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The envisaged restitution was to be a radical inversion of all things. It was Babylon which was to be turned into a salt waste. The prophecies of her fall speak of supernatural Divine judgment ruining the land surrounding Babylon, akin to the scale and nature of Sodom's destruction. But this didn’t happen. Babylon didn’t fall suddenly, as envisaged; the prophetic scenario was reapplied and recalculated to the fall of the latter day Babylon in Revelation 18, which alludes to all those prophecies of Babylon's fall which didn’t come about as potentially possible at the time.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:330 47:11'>Eze 47:11</a> likewise envisaged some places in the restored Zion as being still "a salt waste". But the exiles didn’t rebuild Zion according to the commandments in Ezekiel 40-48 and so this didn’t come about as it then could have done.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This kind of radical inversion of all things, socially and also in the natural creation, was to be the hallmark of the restored Kingdom of God. But the deserts weren't transformed when the exiles returned, and the restoration prophets record how they suffered terribly with drought, disease, pests, famine and poor harvests. What could have been just didn’t come about- at that time. It has all been reinterpreted with reference to the restoration of the Kingdom of God at the return of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There He makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The picture of the returned exiles arriving hungry but preparing Zion their city, with the waste areas made miraculously fertile (:35), enjoying great harvests and mushrooming livestock (:37,38) just didn’t happen. They returned in weak faith, seeking only their own personal advantage, and therefore they suffered terribly with drought, disease, pests, famine and poor harvests. And most didn’t want to "prepare a city", to rebuild Zion; they were prepared to leave it broken down whilst they built their own houses and farmsteads, as Haggai laments.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The psalmist was rejoicing in faith the restoration prophecies which spoke of these things (<a href='B:290 65:21'>Isa 65:21</a>; <a href='B:300 31:5'>Jer 31:5</a>) would surely come true. But they didn’t come true at the pathetically small 'restoration' which occurred. See on :36. The famine was so severe that the returned exiles had to mortgage their vineyards and fields just to get food to eat (<a href='B:160 5:3-5'>Neh 5:3-5</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language of blessing and 'multiplying greatly' is all that of the promises to Abraham (<a href='B:10 17:2'>Gen 17:2</a>; <a href='B:10 17:8'>Gen 17:8</a>). Those promises are the basis of the new covenant, which was offered to the exiles because they had broken the old covenant. But they refused the offer, and instead kept trying to keep parts of the old covenant. And so the exiles who returned didn’t experience this great multiplication of blessing which was potentially possible. 'Multiplication' is repeatedly a theme of the restoration prophecies (<a href='B:300 30:19'>Jer 30:19</a>; <a href='B:330 36:11'>Eze 36:11</a>; <a href='B:330 36:29'>Eze 36:29</a> etc:).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Bowed down" is the word used of how in repentance over Bathsheba, David was "bowed down greatly" (<a href='B:230 38:6'>Psa 38:6</a>). The word can mean 'to humble'; and this is the required response to sin. David was representative of Israel in their sinfulness; they were intended to follow his path of penitence. If the exiles had done so, then they would have been restored as he was; but they didn’t.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in a trackless waste-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is what could have happened to the leaders of Babylon. As it happened, the princes of Babylon were largely onside with the Medes when they took the city, and only Belshazzar was slain. They could have suffered the condemnation of Israel, wandering in the desert- in contrast to the way that the exiles potentially had been given a "straight" path back to Zion, and could have had a straight path through the wilderness to Canaan when they first left Egypt. See on :7. Condemnation is here pictured as wandering without a "way"; the condemnation of the wicked at the last day will likewise be a reflection of their aimless lives, for all their talk of career paths and milestones of achievement.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yet He lifts the needy out of their affliction, and increases their families like a flock-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>AV "maketh him families". The Israelites were likewise set in families when they left Egypt (<a href='B:230 68:6'>Psa 68:6</a>). The allusion is to how Israel in Egypt were saved through uniting in family units around the Passover lamb. Those without families were set together with families, and were delivered as families. And God was willing to repeat the Exodus deliverance for the captives in Babylon / Persia. But just as people effectively spurn family life today, and dislike the discipline of life in a church family, so they will find the condemnation process to be so unbearably lonely.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The upright will see it, and be glad. All the wicked will shut their mouths-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idiom of shutting the mouth could imply that they accept the rightness of God’s ways and their wrongness. For the intention of the judgment upon Babylon was always ultimately that they should repent, and join with repentant Judah in forming a new multiethnic people of God in the land.</p>


text:
<h2>A Song. A Psalm of David-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Psalms 108 is very similar to Psalms 60, which is a prayer at the time of the war with Edom. There were some reverses in that campaign, lamented in Psalms 44, 60. But here we have the song of final praise for the victory, although remembering the reverses suffered. See on 2 Sam. 8:1 and Ps. 60. Much of Psalm 60 is repeated in Psalm 108 as a victory song. Likewise in Psalm 44. The war with Edom clearly had a far larger dimension than the simple note in 2 Samuel 8 that David defeated Edom. He did, but after a stunning defeat, and an amazing victory by God's grace alone, for which David gave ample thanks in at least three Psalms, 44,60 and 108. </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My heart is steadfast, God. I will sing and I will make music with my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Literally, 'made steadfast'. David had earlier understood that for the humble and righteous, God can "prepare their heart" (<a href='B:230 10:17'>Psa 10:17</a>). This is evidence enough that God works directly upon the human heart and psychology, which He does today through the work of His Spirit upon the human spirit. For it is men who must prepare their heart in prayer and relationship toward God (s:w. <a href='B:140 12:14'>2Ch 12:14</a>; <a href='B:220 11:13'>Job 11:13</a>; <a href='B:230 7:9'>Psa 7:9</a>). But God can also do this for the humble. Hence David later asks God to create in him a 'prepared' heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). And God heard; for the same phrase is used of how God 'prepared' or (AV) "fixed" / NEV 'made steadfast' his heart (<a href='B:230 57:7'>Psa 57:7</a>; <a href='B:230 108:1'>Psa 108:1</a>; <a href='B:230 112:7'>Psa 112:7</a>). In allusion to this, Solomon was to later reflect that God can direct or 'prepare' (s:w:) the heart of man, even if he is thinking to direct his steps elsewhere (<a href='B:240 16:9'>Pro 16:9</a>). </p>


text:
<h2>Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Or as AV "I myself will awake early". The Psalms continually stress the importance of starting each day with the Lord; David gives the impression his heart was bursting with praise as he awoke, and he instinctively wanted to grab his harp and play and sing praise.</p>


text:
<h2>I will give thanks to You, Yahweh, among the nations, I will sing praises to You among the peoples-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>How did David achieve his aim of praising Yahweh to the surrounding nations, as a means of witness to them of the God of Israel? Surely through his Psalms being distributed as popular music to them.</p>


text:
<h2>For Your grace is great above the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm is praising God for the victorious campaign against Edom. But as noted on :1 and on the related <a href='B:230 60:9'>Psa 60:9</a>, there had at times been reverses in the campaign, because Israel hadn't been obedient to the covenant. And so David recognizes that the overall victory had been by Divine grace. Grace / mercy and truth / faithfulness often refer to the Abrahamic covenant. He recognizes that victory over enemies was because of God’s covenant faithfulness; even though at times they had broken that covenant.</p>


text:
<h2>Be exalted, God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The earth / eretz promised to Abraham was still largely in the hand of non-Israelites who were not in covenant with Yahweh. David’s desire was that through his music ministry (see on :3), all the eretz would lift up Israel's God as exalted. There is surely nobody else recorded in the Old Testament who had such passion to witness to the Gentiles and convert them.</p>


text:
<h2>That Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and answer us-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The parallel is in <a href='B:230 60:5'>Psa 60:5</a>, which has the same words, but concludes "and answer us":&nbsp; "The beloved of Yahweh" was Israel nationally (s:w. <a href='B:50 33:12'>Deu 33:12</a>; <a href='B:300 11:15'>Jer 11:15</a>; <a href='B:300 12:7'>Jer 12:7</a>). But it was also David personally; a Psalm about David’s personal deliverance is extended to all Israel. David saw himself as representative of God’s people. It could be that Solomon is in view also; for his original name was Jedidiah (<a href='B:100 12:25'>2Sa 12:25</a>), 'the beloved of Yahweh', referred to in that way by David in <a href='B:230 45:1'>Psa 45:1</a>. Perhaps Solomon was involved in the battle against the Edomites and David is asking for his son to be preserved.</p>


text:
<h2>God has spoken from His sanctuary: In triumph I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Presumably there was a direct Divine communication from the sanctuary, perhaps through the mouth of Nathan, encouraging Israel to continue in the Edom campaign despite the reverses experienced (see on Psalms 44, 60). The idea of 'division' and 'measuring' is 'possession' and inheritance (as <a href='B:60 18:10'>Jos 18:10</a>). The idea therefore is that Israel is God’s, and He had given it to Israel for inheritance; therefore those seeking to take it from them would be defeated. Perhaps Succoth and Shechem are mentioned because of their connections with Jacob, mentioned together in <a href='B:10 33:17-18'>Gen 33:17-18</a>. As He had been with Jacob, despite allowing him to experience many setbacks and near defeats, so He would be with the later seed of Israel.</p>


text:
<h2>Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet. Judah is my sceptre-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The emphasis is that the land belongs to God, it "is Mine"; therefore those seeking to take it from God’s people. would be defeated. Gilead and Manasseh represent the territory east of the Jordan; and Ephraim and Judah refer to the tribes west of the Jordan. The territories east of the Jordan just as much were God’s as those to the west of it; for the Edomites were seeking to take firstly the Israelite territory east of the Jordan.</p>


text:
<h2>Moab is my wash pot, I will toss my sandal on Edom, I will shout over Philistia-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They were to become subservient to Yahweh. And that could imply that the hope was that they would accept Him as their God. For that was what conquered peoples usually did. David had earlier shouted in triumph over the Philistines when he slew Goliath; and that was to prepare him for this later victory. Circumstances repeat in our lives because they are under God’s control.</p>


text:
<h2>Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who has led me to Edom?- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Strong city" can mean the fortified, strengthened city under siege (<a href='B:120 25:2'>2Ki 25:2</a> s:w:). The reference may be to Sela or Petra, Edom's capital, which claimed to be fortified against any invader (<a href='B:380 1:3'>Oba 1:3</a>).</p>


text:
<h2>Haven’t You rejected us, God? You don’t go forth, God, with our armies-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm is clearly related to Psalms 44, which appears to be a comment upon a temporary set back and defeat during this campaign against Edom. But despite this, the Psalm glorifies how God had come through for His people, despite the temporary reverses. So this comment that God has rejected them would be looking back to how they once felt; for this Psalm is a victory song over Edom after defeating them as it is so similar to Psalms 60 (see on <a href='B:230 60:1'>Psa 60:1</a>).</p>


text:
<h2>Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Perhaps a reference to some attempt to hire mercenaries to help them in the campaign against Edom.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm was apparently initially written about his persecution by Saul, but then expanded and reapplied to his experiences with Shimei and Ahithophel at the time of Absalom's rebellion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God of my praise, don’t remain silent-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The apparent silence of God is the abiding struggle of every true believer. But David juxtaposes this struggle with the statement that he will always praise God. Regardless of our difficulties with the problem of evil and the apparent silence of God, He is still to be the object of our praise. The problem of evil and God’s silence is in fact built in to our human experience to test and develop our love and trust in God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The continued emphasis in David’s psalms upon "without cause" surely reflects a self righteousness (<a href='B:230 35:19'>Psa 35:19</a>; <a href='B:230 69:4'>Psa 69:4</a>; <a href='B:230 109:3'>Psa 109:3</a>; <a href='B:230 119:161'>Psa 119:161</a>). For David’s righteousness was only impressive relative to the wickedness of his enemies; before God, it was filthy rags. It was true that Saul persecuted David "without cause" (s:w. <a href='B:90 19:5'>1Sa 19:5</a>), but the experience of "without cause" persecution can lead us to an inappropriate self-righteousness. This is what happened to Job, who also suffered "without cause" (s:w. <a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a>), and had to be convicted of self-righteousness at the end of the story. And it seems this happened to David. David himself intended to shed blood "without cause" and was only saved from it by grace (s:w. <a href='B:90 25:31'>1Sa 25:31</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Reading through the book of Psalms in one or two sittings reveals that frequent and intense self-examination was a leading characteristic of David:, especially while on the run from Saul and Absalom; as if he began to pick up false guilt from how he was being treated, wondering if it was all in fact justified (<a href='B:230 4:4'>Psa 4:4</a>; <a href='B:230 7:3'>Psa 7:3</a>; <a href='B:230 17:3'>Psa 17:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:20-24'>Psa 18:20-24</a>; <a href='B:230 19:12'>Psa 19:12</a>; <a href='B:230 26:1'>Psa 26:1</a>; <a href='B:230 39:1'>Psa 39:1</a>; <a href='B:230 59:3'>Psa 59:3</a>; <a href='B:230 66:18'>Psa 66:18</a>; <a href='B:230 77:6'>Psa 77:6</a>; <a href='B:230 86:2'>Psa 86:2</a>; <a href='B:230 101:2'>Psa 101:2</a>; <a href='B:230 109:3'>Psa 109:3</a>; <a href='B:230 139:23-24'>Psa 139:23-24</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This clearly applies to David’s love for Saul, refusing to kill him when he could have done, and lamenting over him as man mourns for his mother (<a href='B:230 35:14'>Psa 35:14</a>). And likewise of his senseless love for Absalom. And yet again we could note that David speaks so much hatred for Saul in the Psalms; he is choosing to focus upon his own more positive side, rather than seeing that he too in the wider picture of human character and history had not always been so perfect. We recall his murder of his loyal friend Uriah:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :4. Whilst David’s lament is understandable, he shows himself out of step with the spirit of the Lord Jesus, who taught that we should love and do good to others without expecting "good" in return from them, and indeed accepting they may continue to do evil to us (<a href='B:490 6:33-34'>Luk 6:33-34</a>). But David has the natural expectation that those we do good to ought to be loyal to us in return, and certainly not hate us:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Set a wicked man over him, let an adversary stand at his right hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The plural slanderers and adversaries now become focused upon a singular person. Possibly David is personifying them all as one person. Or if a specific individual is in view, it perhaps was in the first context Shimei as he cursed David as he fled from Absalom. But verse 8 is quoted in the New Testament about Judas. This is not to say that everything about Shimei in this Psalm is true of Judas, indeed the bitter feelings of David as expressed here do not seem appropriate to the saving sorrow which the Lord felt for Judas.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The contrast is with how Yahweh stands at the right hand of the righteous (:31), i:e. as his guide. A satan at the right hand is a similar situation to the description of the court of Heaven which we meet in Zechariah 3. I suggest that all human situations on earth are reflected in the court of Heaven, and vice versa. David wished that an Angel adversarial to Shimei would be actively involved in his life, and that Angel [a righteous one] would be represented by the actions of a "wicked man" on earth leading Shimei [or Judas] to destruction. So perhaps it was a Satan-Angel that stood at Judas' right hand (i. e. to influence him), confirming him in the way he had chosen to go, as God hardened Pharaoh's already hard heart. The question is, who was this individual on earth in the life of Shimei, and perhaps also of Judas? Perhaps it was the High Priest in the case of Judas.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The book of Job is frequently alluded to by David (see on :24); it was likely about the only scripture he had access to apart from the Pentateuch. So it is unsurprising that he should apparently hold the same idea of a Satan-Angel, under God’s control, which we find in Job. That Angel represented and was manifest through adversaries on earth, who may themselves have been evil. Perhaps David thought in terms of a wicked man on earth, controlled by the Satan-Angel in Heaven.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When he is judged, let him come forth guilty, let his prayer be turned into sin-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is clearly wishing for the person in view to be condemned at the last day, and for God to consider this person's prayers as sin. David seems totally lacking in any desire for repentance and salvation for his enemies, but rather wishes their absolute condemnation from God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let his days be few, let another take his office-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although quoted about Judas, the initial application would have been to the likes of Saul, Ahithophel and Shimei. And on :19 I will suggest Joab may also be in view. Their "office" would have respectively been as king, chief adviser and head of Saul's herdsmen, and in Joab's case, head of the army. In the application to Saul, David’s desire to see "another take his office" would have been a request for himself to be made king after Saul, as he had been promised.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A quotation from <a href='B:20 22:24'>Exo 22:24</a>, of God’s especial condemnation of those who abuse the stranger, the poor and weak. David feels he is in that situation whilst persecuted by Saul, often describing himself as a stranger and "poor and needy" (:16):&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>may his children be wandering beggars, let them be sought from their ruins-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the application to Saul, this would have included David’s best friend Jonathan. He seems to have been far too quick in his wishing of the worst condemnation on his enemies. Perhaps he is using standard phrases of condemnation, without thinking of their implication. We can take a warning here; we can all use standard forms of cursing another, the implications of which we need to think through.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the creditor seize all that he has, let strangers plunder the fruit of his labour-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Mosaic law forbad the exercise of such usury (s:w. <a href='B:20 22:25'>Exo 22:25</a>). But what is envisaged is a man in debt to Gentiles ("strangers", paralleled with "the creditor"). As noted on :10, this is perhaps a standard curse which David is appropriating perhaps without undue thought as to the implications (see on :10).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let there be nobody to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is God who 'extends kindness', for the phrase is alone used of Him (<a href='B:230 36:10'>Psa 36:10</a>; <a href='B:300 31:3'>Jer 31:3</a>). David wishes this person to be outside the realm of God’s grace; and we reflect why ever David felt the need to say this about anybody. Perhaps his grief over the deaths of Saul and Absalom was partly because he realized he had cursed them too deeply in prayers like thIsa.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let his posterity be cut off, in the next generation may their name be blotted out-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :10, David is not thinking of the implications of this with regards to Saul. David does all he can to ensure that the name of Saul and Jonathan was not blotted out, showing extraordinary grace to their descendants. Perhaps he did this aware that such prayers as this had been going far too far:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh, don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Blotted out" is the word David used when begging for his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah to be blotted out: "And blot out all of my iniquities" (<a href='B:230 51:9'>Psa 51:9</a>). We note with concern that in this Psalm written apparently after this time concerning the time of Absalom's rebellion, David asks that the sins of his enemies not be blotted out. Again we wonder as to whether David maintained an awareness of the enormity of God’s grace to him.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them be before Yahweh continually, that He may cut off their memory from the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we note that there is not a word of desire for the repentance and salvation of the person, but rather verse after verse expressing a desire for their eternal condemnation:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had seen himself as "poor and needy" and broken hearted, needing grace after his sin with Bathsheba and its consequences (<a href='B:230 40:17'>Psa 40:17</a>; <a href='B:230 70:5'>Psa 70:5</a>; <a href='B:230 86:1'>Psa 86:1</a>; <a href='B:230 109:16'>Psa 109:16</a>; <a href='B:230 109:22'>Psa 109:22</a>), and also during his persecution by Saul. We noted on :9 that David felt himself to be the "poor and needy" who had been abused by Saul. He wished Solomon to likewise have pity on the "poor and needy" amongst the Gentiles, those who had likewise repented (<a href='B:230 72:13'>Psa 72:13</a>). And David was especially desirous to himself see the "poor and needy" blessed and accepted as he had been (<a href='B:230 82:3-4'>Psa 82:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 113:7'>Psa 113:7</a>). It is our personal experience of needing grace which leads us to have a heart for those like us, the poor and needy. Any other motivation will ultimately not abide. Solomon appears to glorify his mother Bathsheba for likewise pitying the poor and needy (<a href='B:240 31:9'>Pro 31:9</a>; <a href='B:240 31:20'>Pro 31:20</a>). But we have to note that David had received grace when he was broken and needy, as a result of his sin with Bathsheba. But he doesn't want to reflect that to this adversary, who had likely been raised up by God (at least in the application to Ahithophel, Shimei and Absalom) as a consequence for his sin. We note too that Nathan had likened Uriah to a "poor man" abused by David (<a href='B:100 12:1'>2Sa 12:1</a>). But David here asks God to eternally condemn those who persecuted the "poor" (see on <a href='B:230 109:9'>Psa 109:9</a>; <a href='B:230 109:16'>Psa 109:16</a>). And it seems Psalms 109 was used by David not only about his persecution at the time of Saul, but also of his sufferings at the time of Absalom's rebellion, after the time of his sin. So it seems David didn’t maintain his sense of humility before Nathan.</p><p>In 2 Sam. 9:3 David enquired "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?". David's mercy to the "house" of his enemy reflects God's promised grace to David's "house" in 2 Sam. 7, just as we likewise should reflect our personal experience of God's grace to others. The same phrase is used by David of Saul when he says that Saul had not remembered to "show mercy / kindness" (Ps. 109:16). But all the same David shows grace to him. So David's response to God showing him grace was to show grace to those who didn't show grace. Our response should be likewise.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and so it was far from him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This points towards Shimei, whose cursing of David at the time of Absalom's rebellion clearly hurt David very deeply. At the time, David forgave him. But he didn’t maintain that intensity of forgiveness, because on his deathbed he asks Solomon to ensure Shimei even as an old man is slain because of it. His statement here that the cursing "came to him" may be a 'future perfect', stating the future as if it has already happened, as a way of stating intention. And David expressed this intention to Solomon to ensure Shimei was cursed with death for his cursing. We too struggle to maintain levels of forgiveness we grant to people, and we perceive how God’s "frank" and permanent forgiveness (<a href='B:490 7:42'>Luk 7:42</a>) is of an altogether higher quality and nature than our forgiveness.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment; it came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :17, David graciously overlooked Shimei's cursing, promising him that he would not die because of it (<a href='B:100 16:10-11'>2Sa 16:10-11</a>; <a href='B:100 19:23'>2Sa 19:23</a>). But he didn’t keep up that level of grace to the end: he later asked Solomon to ensure that Shimei&nbsp; was killed for that incident (<a href='B:110 2:8-9'>1Ki 2:8-9</a>). And one wonders whether it was Shimei’s words which so broke David’s heart that he later wrote these words.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, like the belt that is always around him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whoever the individual is in view, he was known for always wearing the same belt. The only person in David’s life whose belt is noted is Joab (<a href='B:100 20:8'>2Sa 20:8</a>; <a href='B:110 2:5'>1Ki 2:5</a>). See on :8. Perhaps this Psalm began with reference to Saul, but was reapplied to Ahithophel, Absalom, Shimei and then finally to Joab when Joab rose up against David. In the previous verses, David has himself wished cursing upon this person, but now he appears to try to justify it by saying that the person who has cursed him will simply receive his own curses.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, of those who speak evil against my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had himself spoken evil against innocent people (s:w. <a href='B:90 25:17'>1Sa 25:17</a>). But David was so sensitive to words spoken against him that he breathes out the deepest condemnation upon those who had spoken them. Again we get the impression that David is not adequately aware of the huge grace he himself had received. Otherwise there would have been at least some desire for the repentance and salvation of his enemies. This is so markedly lacking in the Psalms of David. See on :21.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But deal with me, Yahweh the Lord, for Your name’s sake; because Your grace is good, deliver me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :20, David appears totally lacking in any grace toward his enemies; but he here and in :26 begs for grace to be shown to him, aware at least subconsciously of his own desperate need for deliverance / salvation by grace. He rightly perceives God’s Name to be essentially "grace". The Name of Yahweh is essentially His characteristics (<a href='B:20 34:5-7'>Exo 34:5-7</a>), and they are epitomized in "grace".</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :16, where David appeals to God’s anger with those who abuse the "poor and needy" to condemn any who had not had pity upon him. He is acting just like Saul whom he condemns here, for he too breathed curses upon any who didn’t feel sorry for him (<a href='B:90 22:8'>1Sa 22:8</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I fade away like an evening shadow, I am shaken off like a locust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David’s feelings at this time are also appropriate to Hezekiah, whose feelings were responded to by God by making the shadow of the sundial reverse. The same words are used in <a href='B:120 20:10'>2Ki 20:10</a>. The locust was an unclean animal, and this is how David felt.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My knees are weak through fasting, my body is thin and lacks fat-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here again is another indication that David has the book of Job in mind, for this is how Job describes himself. See on :6,25.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have also become a reproach to them; when they see me, they shake their head-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again the allusions to Job continue (see on :6,24); this time to <a href='B:220 16:4'>Job 16:4</a>; <a href='B:220 19:5'>Job 19:5</a>; <a href='B:220 20:3'>Job 20:3</a>. The situation here seems more appropriate at this point to the plans of Absalom, Ahithophel, Shimei and Joab. For Saul rarely "saw" David at the time of his persecution of him. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Help me, Yahweh, my God. Save me according to Your grace-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :20, David appears totally lacking in any grace toward his enemies; but he here and in :21 begs for grace to be shown to him, aware at least subconsciously of his own desperate need for deliverance / salvation by grace.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that they may know that this is Your hand; that You, Yahweh, have done it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although David seeks for personal salvation by grace (:26), his motivation for that salvation was still not totally pure. For here he states that he wants that salvation in order to demonstrate that his sufferings were the result of God’s hand rather than his own sins. Even though his sufferings at the hands of the likes of Joab, Ahithophel and Shimei were all the consequence of his own sins. But he so struggled with a sense of wrongful shame, when he ought to have finally accepted that his shame was a consequence of his sins regarding Uriah and Bathsheba.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They may curse, but You bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but Your servant shall rejoice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Frequently the rejected are threatened with both shame and anger / gnashing of teeth; shame and anger are going to be connected in that awful experience. They will "curse [in anger]... and be ashamed". The final shame of the rejected is going to be so great that "they shall be greatly ashamed... their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten" (<a href='B:300 20:11'>Jer 20:11</a>). Seeing they will be long dead and gone, it is us, the accepted, who by God’s grace will recall the terrible shame of the rejected throughout our eternity. "When they arise" would be a reference to resurrection. David clearly expected a future day of resurrection and judgment, when shame, cursing and blessing would all be ultimately and eternally articulated.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonour, may they cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although David has wished condemnation upon his enemies, he likes to imagine that actually their condemnation and shame is a direct result of their own actions in this life. And this is true enough. They had clothed themselves with cursing in this life (:18), as Shimei had; and David sees this as related to their clothing themselves with shame at the last day (:28). And yet David seems remarkably uncritical of himself; for he himself is clothing himself with cursing against his enemies in this Psalm. And what if he were wrong? What if the likes of Joab are to be finally saved…?</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will give great thanks to Yahweh with my mouth, truly I will praise Him among the multitude-</p><h2>This is the same idea as often in the Psalms; David imagines himself surrounded by the "multitude" of the righteous, praising God at the last day (:28 "when they arise"), when the wicked are destroyed and he is finally justified (<a href='B:230 22:22'>Psa 22:22</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:10'>Psa 40:10</a>). We too can look forward to eternal salvation not simply on a personal level; but seeing our eternal place amongst the true people of God.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :6. David rightly perceives that there is a higher hand in human life, someone or something standing at our right hand. And he wishes this to be God’s influence toward condemnation for his enemies, and God’s influence toward salvation in his own case. This is the difference between the evil spirit from the Lord, and the Holy Spirit.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm of David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a tendency amongst some personality types to turn every disagreement over interpretation of Scripture into a right : wrong, truth : error scenario. Matters relating to basic doctrine are capable of being dealt with like thIsa. But to turn the interpretation of every Bible verse into a conflict area is a recipe for ecclesial disaster. So often the debate becomes personal, with a brother sure that he is right and the other wrong, and the other must be shown to be wrong. This leads inevitably to pride, and there is the possibility that the other party is degraded and feels abused by the other. We simply have to accept that much of Scripture is open to various levels of interpretation, which if placed side by side would appear to be contradictory. Consider, for example, how many different applications the NT gives to Psalms 2, 110. Psalms 110 is quoted or alluded to multiple times; to prove the Lord Jesus is greater than David (<a href='B:490 20:41-44'>Luk 20:41-44</a>), in heaven at God’s right hand (<a href='B:480 12:36'>Mar 12:36</a>; <a href='B:480 14:62'>Mar 14:62</a>), waiting until all enemies are put under His feet at His return (<a href='B:530 15:25'>1Co 15:25</a>), yet also applied to His ascension and exaltation (<a href='B:510 2:34-36'>Act 2:34-36</a>); it is used to prove the priesthood of the Lord Jesus, like that of the Levites, involved a call by God (<a href='B:650 5:1-6'>Heb 5:1-6</a>); to prove the eternity of His priesthood (<a href='B:650 6:20'>Heb 6:20</a>); and throughout Hebrews 7 to prove that the priesthood of the Lord Jesus was greater than that of the Levites.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh says to my Lord, Sit at My right hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Biblically and historically, David’s immediate ‘Lord’ was Saul, but it could also have reference to Solomon and even to himself. Psalms 72 is a similar Psalm, imagining Solomon as the promised Messiah with a Messianic Kingdom. So Psalms 110 was originally a revelation to David of the potential possible for Solomon or Saul, who was an anointed ‘Messiah’ figure, expressed as a coronation ode. But Solomon and Saul failed, and so the fulfillment of the prophecy was rescheduled and reapplied to the Lord Jesus. And so the Lord Jesus uses this passages about Himself in <a href='B:490 20:40-44'>Luk 20:40-44</a>: "David therefore calls him Lord, so, how is he his son?". Judaism’s concept of Messiah has always been vague and not commonly agreed, but there was and is the idea that the likes of Abraham, Moses and David are greater than Messiah. The Lord Jesus is pointing out that David considered Messiah to be his “Lord”, just as Messiah was greater than Abraham (<a href='B:500 8:58'>Joh 8:58</a>). The “how” doesn’t imply that David’s Lord is not his son, but rather is a rhetorical question. How is the Messianic son of David, David’s “Lord”, to be his son or descendant? <a href='B:480 12:37'>Mar 12:37</a> says the Lord reinforced the question by asking “From whence&nbsp;is He his son?”. The answer had to be: ‘Through a woman in David’s direct line giving birth to Him’. And the questioners were fully aware that Jesus was in the direct line of David through Mary.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It seems that David became obsessed with the idea of Solomon being the Messiah, building a physical house for God, and being king over the eternal Messianic Kingdom. The words of <a href='B:230 110:1'>Psa 110:1</a> are applied by the NT to Jesus, but there is no reason to think that they were not primarily spoke by David with his eye on Solomon, whom he addresses as his Lord, such was his obsession: “The Lord saith unto my Lord</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>” (RV), and the rest of the Psalm goes on in the language of Psalms 72 to describe David’s hopes for Solomon’s Kingdom. ‘Solomon’ was actually called ‘Jedidiah’ by God through Nathan (<a href='B:100 12:25'>2Sa 12:25</a>). The ‘beloved of God’ was surely prophetic of God’s beloved Son. When God said “This is my beloved Son”, He was surely saying ‘Now this is the Jedidiah, whom I wanted Solomon to typify’. But David calls him Solomon, the man who would bring peace. I suggest that David was so eager to see in Solomon the actual Messiah, that he chose not to use the name which God wanted- which made Solomon a type of a future Son of God / Messiah. And this led to Solomon himself being obsessed with being a Messiah figure and losing sight of the future Messiah.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When he writes in Psalms 110 of how Yahweh said unto my Lord</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>he is quoting the very phrase used by Abigail years before, when they weren’t even married (<a href='B:90 25:30'>1Sa 25:30</a>). He was unconsciously alluding to the words of his wife before they were married, even years later. It is of course true that context plays a vital part in Biblical interpretation. But this can lead us to overlook the fact that many New Testament quotations of the Old Testament- many of those in the early chapters of Matthew, for example- are picking up words and phrases from one context and applying them to another. </p><p>"Said" is better 'pronounced'. Many of the gods were imagined as having a right hand man actually doing their work for them. This is the picture of God's relationship with the Lord Jesus. The scene here in Ps. 110 has so many connections with Psalm 2 which also clearly speaks of the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord’s enemies stood around Him as He applied this Psalm to Himself. And yet being at the footstool of the Lord doesn't have to mean being dominated by Him in judgment. It can refer to the great paradox whereby the Lord's enemies become His loyalest and most humble citizens, at His feet in submission, and thereby also at the Father's right hand of acceptance.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is quoted in <a href='B:530 15:25'>1Co 15:25</a> "For he must reign until He has put all his enemies under his feet". Having things and persons 'under the feet' doesn't necessarily mean they were to be killed or destroyed. It can mean simply submission before the one enthroned. "All things", a phrase often used for all God’s people, are to be placed under the feet of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:230 8:6'>Psa 8:6</a>; <a href='B:560 1:22'>Eph 1:22</a>; <a href='B:650 2:8'>Heb 2:8</a>, which teach that it is the church who shall be under the Lord's feet. <a href='B:730 12:8'>Rev 12:8</a> may teach the same). I noted on <a href='B:470 22:44'>Mat 22:44</a> and <a href='B:510 2:35'>Act 2:35</a> that the making of the Lord's enemies His footstool means that they shall repentantly accept Him, rather than being destroyed by Him. "We were enemies" of God, but are now reconciled in grateful, humble submission (<a href='B:520 5:10'>Rom 5:10</a>). This is the whole message of the preceding :24- that all things shall progressively be subjected under Christ's authority and Kingship, thereby becoming part of His Kingdom. To achieve this on a universal level, He shall have to come to earth and destroy those who refuse to submit. But the end in view is that the earth and all upon it shall be His Kingdom, under the dominion of His Kingship. And that process is to begin in the hearts of believers right now.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is also quoted in <a href='B:510 2:35'>Act 2:35</a>. The context is Peter's appeal for those who crucified the Lord to repent. They were His "enemies"; but once they became a footstool for His feet, then He would return. Therefore Peter appealed for their repentance, apparently understanding being 'a footstool for His feet' as meaning they would put themselves at His feet in obeisance. The Lord's footstool is the place where His worshippers come (<a href='B:230 99:5'>Psa 99:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:7'>Psa 132:7</a>; <a href='B:290 66:1-3'>Isa 66:1-3</a>). The Father was willing to "make" His Son's enemies, those responsible for His death, into His worshippers. But they had to do their part, in repentance and acceptance of the activity of His Holy Spirit. <a href='B:650 10:13'>Heb 10:13</a> adds the detail that the Lord Jesus is eagerly looking for [AV "expecting"] His former enemies to become His footstool- and then He will return. This is why witness to Jewish people is so deeply significant in God’s program. </p><p> Enemies becoming a footstool is perhaps based upon the idea of the victor putting his feet on the necks of subjugated kings as done by Joshua / Jesus in Josh. 10:24. There is an element of humiliation involved; and that is what it is to change from an enemy of the Lord to a willing footstool for His feet. We are the defeated, those who surrendered, the ashamed, who became the footstool as those placed at His feet. Just as Mary is presented as the ideal disciple, at the Lord's feet. Enemies being the footstool of the victor was an image of humiliation, and yet the whole earth is to be God's footstool, and the temple in particular was "a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and for the footstool of our God" (1 Chron. 28:2; Lam. 2:1). Those at the footstool worship God and don't remain humiliated, as in Ps. 99:5 "Exalt Yahweh our God, worship at His footstool". To be put “under the feet of” someone means to be subject to that person, or to be under that person’s control (2 Sam. 22:39; 1 Kings 5:3; Ps. 8:6; 18:38; 47:3; Mal. 4:3; Mt. 22:44; Rom. 16:20; 1 Cor. 15:25,27; Eph. 1:22; Heb. 2:8; Rev. 12:1). The Bible therefore uses 'being the footstool' in a positive way. Although we get there by the process of defeat, surrender and humiliation.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh will send forth the rod of your strength out of Zion- The sceptre / rod of His strength or authority proceeding from Zion is perhaps the Gospel of the Kingdom, of His kingly dominion, which began to be preached from Zion. It goes out in the midst of His enemies but will eventually bring the world beneath it. Through baptism, men willingly change masters and accept Him and not the flesh as their King and Lord. </p><p> Ultimately, all preaching or extension of that rod has to end in victory- those who resist will be crushed until all enemies have either submitted or been destroyed in the final judgment scenes which the Psalm concludes with. There is therefore never any lack of achievement in the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom.</p><p>
Clearly also in view is the final establishment of God's worldwide Kingdom based on Jerusalem, to which so many prophetic passages witness. But the essence of that starts now, with the proclamation of the Gospel of that Kingdom.
</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This perhaps alludes to Hannah's words of <a href='B:90 2:10'>1Sa 2:10</a>, where she expected that Samuel would be both a ruler and a priest, although he was not strictly a Levite: "He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed". This all sets the scene for this new leader being presented as a king and non-Levitical priest (:4).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Rule in the midst of your enemies!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the scenario of <a href='B:230 2:6'>Psa 2:6</a>; <a href='B:230 2:9'>Psa 2:9</a>. Zion, the temple mount, was also to be the place of rulership. This sets up the expectation for a merger between king and priest, which comes to term in the declaration in :4 that this ruler would be after the order of Melchizedek, a king-priest. The language of ruling in the midst of enemies is that used of Solomon (s:w. <a href='B:110 4:24'>1Ki 4:24</a>; <a href='B:230 72:8'>Psa 72:8</a>), which was the characteristic of Messiah (<a href='B:40 24:19'>Num 24:19</a>). The "rod" suggests judgment (<a href='B:290 10:24'>Isa 10:24</a>; <a href='B:290 10:26'>Isa 10:26</a>).</p><p>On one hand, the Kingdom was established in prospect when the Gospel went forth from Zion in Acts 2, fulfilling Lk. 24:47: "Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem". Hence Paul's reflection on his own ministry, that his preaching started in Jerusalem: "So that from Jerusalem and round about even to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ" (Rom. 15:19). But the Lord's rulership is currently in the midst of His enemies. For all men are God's enemies outside of the Lord Jesus: "you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works" (Col. 1:21); "while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:21). And that includes Israel outside of Christ: "As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but as touching their calling, they are beloved for the fathers' sake" (Rom. 11:28; Lk. 19:27). I suggest that this language of enemies being reconciled to God all alludes to Ps. 110:1,2- the enemies becoming the footstool, conquered, surrendering to the Lord Jesus as in Josh. 10:24. This ruling in the midst of enemies finally comes to victory as Ps. 110 goes on to portray- the enemies are finally all destroyed.
Ruling in the midst of His enemies could refer to His rulership being sent forth through the Gospel of the Kingdom, in the midst of an "enemy" world. Or the idea may be that He sets up His power over them, and reigns in their midst. In the hearts of those who had been His enemies. The Hebrew for "midst" is elsewhere translated "heart" and "inward thought". It is the word used in Gen. 19:16 "Sarah laughed within herself"; "the children struggled within her", Gen. 25:22; the "inner parts" of a sacrificed animal, Ex. 29:13,17 and often. Significantly, the term is used within the Psalms almost exclusively of the inner heart: "Their inward part is full of wickedness", Ps. 5:9; "within my heart" (Ps. 36:1; 39:3); "their inward thought", Ps. 49:11; "a right spirit within me" (Ps. 51:10; 55:4); "they curse inwardly", Ps. 62:4; "their inward thought", Ps. 64:6; "your thoughts within me", Ps. 94:19; "my heart is wounded within me", Ps. 109:22. This is the place where God's Spirit works. He "put His Holy Spirit within [s.w.] him" (Is. 63:11), the New Covenant would use the Spirit to write the law "within their inward parts [s.w.]" (Jer. 31:33), "I will put a new spirit within you" (Ez. 11:19), "a new spirit will I put within you" (Ez. 36:26,27). All this is why Peter understands Ps. 110 to be predicting the exaltation of the resurrected Jesus to God's right hand, and specifically about the gift of the Spirit in order to turn the enemies into a willing footstall for the Lord: "This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:32-36). Likewise Paul in Rom. 8:34-36 sees the Lord Jesus at God's right hand as the ultimate encouragement that we will be "more than conquerors through Him that loved us", and that sin in all its forms cannot now hinder our path- ultimately: “It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”. And again, on the basis of Ps. 110, 1 Cor. 15:23-27 sees the Lord as now reigning, progressively subduing His enemies right up until "the end" when He returns: "But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power [the allusion is to Ps. 110's description of His military triumphs]. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet”."   </p><p>
Stephen was given the vision of the exalted Lord Jesus at God's right hand, with all that implies for the ultimate success of His mission. He saw Ps. 110:1 and understood all that was implied. Despite suffering and death in the short term, the Lord's mission would ultimately succeed. Not only has all human opposition been ultimately placed beneath He who is now at God's right hand, but sin in all its forms, including our own sin; ultimately conquered too by the Spirit which was released by He who is at the right hand of God. And so we know "what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead and had him sit at His right hand in heaven, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come. And He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to us to be head over all things in the church" (Eph. 1:19-22). The "subjection" of the church is because the members of that church were also once enemies, but are now willingly subject as His footstool. And yet we are not only His footstool, but "in Him" are also associated with Him there at God's right hand. And finally that is where we shall be, as Rev. 3:21 promises: “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne”.</p><p>
The practical outcome of this is that our thinking is all about what is going on at "the right hand": "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God [as per Ps. 110:1]. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1,2). The Lord Jesus now at the right hand of God is our inspiration, the One we are to continually think of in our battles- just as implied in Ps. 110: "looking to Jesus the author and completer of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has been sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Think on him that endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.</p><p>
In your striving against sin you have yet to resist to the point of shedding your blood", alluding to the Lord both in Gethsemane and on Calvary. He is no captain or general far removed from the experiences of the battlefront. He was there far worse than we are, and gloriously overcame. All apparent defeat, the missionary to Africa who falls sick and dies of fever in a foreign land, the Christian sister in a war zone felled by shrapnel, the old missionary dying alone and forgotten in a dementia unit, never visited by anyone... all this is "the magnificent defeat" and is only a step towards our final victory and the eternal glory of that victory. Contrary to what is often said at funerals, people don't much live on in the memories of others, and those others in turn shall fade and die. But like the Lord, we shall eternally live after resurrection. For precious in Yahweh's sight is the death of all His saints.
</p><p>
The book of Hebrews contains several quotations and many allusions to Ps. 110. This Psalm is referred to in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament passage. It was rightly seen as the epitomy of what it is to be a Christian. The reality of the Lord Jesus at God's right hand, eternally and constantly aware of us, actively mediating His Spirit, His forgiveness, His grace, His blessing upon our practical mission for Him in this world... Hebrews makes a strong connection between the Lord Jesus now having unlimited power at God's right hand (Ps. 110:1) and His being the ultimate priest (Ps. 110:4). He can do anything, and that includes within the scope of priestly mediation. He can totally forgive and save us from our sins; a major theme of Hebrews. All enemies, be they nations, bad individual actors or our own besetting sins and weaknesses, are all being progressively subdued by Him.
</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy attire- The day of the Lord's power is now, in and His "power" is mentioned in the context of the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom worldwide: "All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Therefore [because of His "power"] go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them..." (Mt. 28:18,19). This may be the idea of Jn. 17:2: "As You gave him power over all flesh, so that he should give eternal life to all whom You have given him". Perhaps that is one of John's versions of the great commission. We recognize only the Lord Jesus as this world's rightful ruler, and the rightful ruler of every human heart. It is for us to take that claim, that good news of His Kingly dominion, His Kingdom, to the whole earth. </p><p>
But "Your power" is literally 'your muster', the language of volunteers willingly joining an army. The battle is against the "enemies", to extend the rule of the Lord Jesus worldwide according to the great commission, taking the Gospel from Jerusalem to the whole planet. His people, us, offer themselves as freewill offerings (Ex. 35:29; 36:3. 1 Chron. 29:9,14,17 etc.), as an army of warrior priests. That's us in our mission for Him in this world. The volunteers who eagerly offer themselves, not conscripts. For the greatest and ultimate cause that will never disillusion. To be able to make a freewill offering is the ultimate indicator of our radical freedom before God. Enchained as we may be by life situations, we have the absolute freedom to give ourselves as freewill offerings- or to choose not to. What thrill we give God when we freely decide to do this for Him; not for material gain or acceptance before men or a human community, but deep in our hearts to offer ourselves to Him and the inevitably victorious fight for His cause. Freewill offering to any other cause always runs the risk of the cause failing, losing the war, gaining merely a pyrrhic victory; or realizing we fought for misplaced ideals and leaders with feet of clay. 

</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>People offering themselves willingly is the language of soldiers eager for battle in <a href='B:70 5:2'>Jdg 5:2</a>; <a href='B:70 5:9'>Jdg 5:9</a>. But these willing soldiers are "in holy attire", they are priests. This again sets up the expectation that the leader as well as his followers are soldier-priests, priests who also have another function- as soldiers, in this case. See on :2,4.</p><p>We could render “In the splendid garments of holiness”, alluding to the splendid garments of the high priest; in that we do the work of the High Priest, the Lord Jesus. As if we His soldiers are dressed not merely as priests but as the High Priest. But "Holy attire" translates a word which with one letter change gives "on the holy mountains" (as in Ps. 87:1), i.e. the great mountain of Zion, where the army musters and begins the march. Dew on the mountains of Zion is an appropriate figure, reinforced by Ps. 133:3 speaking of dew coming down on the mountains of Zion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth- The image of having the dew of youth may refer to how His people serve "in newness of life", with an ever fresh vigour even in this life. They appear suddenly as pristine as the dew, in spiritual terms. All God's people were to have been as dew to the world around them: "And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD" (Mic. 5:7). The image of dew may be of fast, immediate, sudden appearance. Hence 2 Sam. 17:12 speaks of an ambush as coming like dew appearing on the ground. Here again, dew is used in a military context.</p><p>
In the figure, the morning is the mother of the dew. We could render "[as the dew] from the womb before the morning I have begotten you [a son]" as in Ps. 2:7. 
</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David imagines Solomon as being reborn as he is enthroned as the Messianic king. The dew of youth would refer to the waters of birth which come from the womb, also seen in a figurative sense at the dawn of this new Messianic morning.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh has sworn, and will not change His mind: You are a priest forever- The idea of :3, that the Lord's people are priest-warriors, leads on to :4 describing their king as being Himself a king-warrior-priest, after the order of Melchizedek. </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There was no 'change of the Divine mind' in the fact that Solomon didn’t live up to his Messianic potential, as discussed throughout Psalms 72. The oath that would not be changed was made ultimately to the Lord Jesus. Here in Psalms 110, the coronation ode declares the king to be not only king, but also an eternal priest.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is quoted in <a href='B:650 5:6'>Heb 5:6</a> "As also He said elsewhere: You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek". This spoken word of inauguration and appointment was likewise uttered in the "day" when the Lord was "begotten" in resurrection (<a href='B:650 5:5'>Heb 5:5</a>). There is no evidence here for any personally pre-existent Christ. The Hebrew writer alludes to and subverts the defiant language of the Maccabees in repeatedly describing Christ as "priest for ever" (<a href='B:650 5:6'>Heb 5:6</a>; <a href='B:650 6:20'>Heb 6:20</a>; <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a>; <a href='B:650 7:17'>Heb 7:17</a>; <a href='B:650 7:21'>Heb 7:21</a>)- when this was the term applied to Simon Maccabaeus in 1Ma_14:41. See on <a href='B:490 20:25'>Luk 20:25</a>. The nature of the priesthood was to be eternal; so although there were similarities with the Aaronic priests, the priesthood of Messiah was not identical with it. It was after the order of Melchizedek.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sin brings death, so the eternal priest appointed by the word of God’s oath in <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a> had to be not only eternal but also sinless. There could therefore be no other candidate for this priest than the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the order of Melchizedek-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea of a king-priest is applied to the Messiah who could have appeared at the time of the restoration. He would be both a "prince" and the one who would "approach" and "draw near" to God- all priestly language (Jer. 30:21). Zech. 6:12,13 is clear that "the Branch" would sit as a priest upon a throne- but Zerubbabel and other such possibilities didn't live up to the potential. Ps. 110 could have come true in him at the restoration; Yahweh's kingdom could have been re-established and His Messianic king-priest could have reigned in the midst of his enemies from a restored Jerusalem. But the Jews didn't restore Jerusalem nor rebuild the temple as commanded in Ez. 40-48, and the potential king-priests failed to live up their potentials. And so through these failures, the prophecy came to a far more glorious fulfilment in the Lord Jesus.</p><p>The Lord Jesus is a King-priest after the order of Melchizedek (<a href='B:650 6:13-18'>Heb 6:13-18</a>; <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a>); and through being in Him, we share this position. Through what He achieved for us on the cross, we have been made now king-priests, with the future hope of reigning on earth (<a href='B:730 1:6'>Rev 1:6</a>; <a href='B:730 5:10'>Rev 5:10</a>):&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hebrews 7 interprets this statement at great length; I have discussed it in more detail on Hebrews 7, but here is a reduced version:</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:1'>Heb 7:1</a> For this Melchizedek, king of Jerusalem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him- There is no hint that Abraham and Melchizedek were personally acquainted before this meeting, although they both were servants of the true God. We might wonder why God didn’t connect them earlier. In His wisdom He doesn't always force believers to regularly fellowship with each other, indeed He made Abraham travel all around Canaan rather than telling him to settle near Melchizedek and form some kind of ecclesia or community of believers. And clearly the implication is that Abraham maintained a legitimate relationship with God without needing to use a human priest, even one as good and exalted as Melchizedek. For more on Melchizedek, see on 5:10.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:2'>Heb 7:2</a> To whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all. He was first, by interpretation, King of righteousness, and then also, King of Jerusalem, which is, King of peace- "King of righteousness" connects with Paul's appeal for the Hebrews to accept the word or Gospel of imputed righteousness in Christ; see on <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a>, remembering that here in chapter 7 Paul is picking up from <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a> after the parenthesis of chapter 6. The connection between righteousness and peace is a feature of Messiah- in Him, they kiss each other (<a href='B:230 85:10'>Psa 85:10</a>), and are the mainstay of the Messianic Kingdom on earth (<a href='B:230 72:3'>Psa 72:3</a>; <a href='B:290 32:17'>Isa 32:17</a>; <a href='B:520 14:17'>Rom 14:17</a>). Righteousness is emphasized before peace- "then also... king of peace". "The work of righteousness shall be peace" (<a href='B:290 32:17'>Isa 32:17</a>). But in Paul's theology, it is the righteousness of King Jesus which is imputed to us and thereby creates peace with God. This is the much laboured message of Romans 1-8. So we can understand his enthusiastic perception that Melchizedek, a type of Messiah, was king of righteousness "and then also... king of peace".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a> He was without recorded father or mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but presented as being like the Son of God, abiding a priest continually- Without doubt God frames the Biblical record in order to highlight certain facts. Thus there is a marked lack of information concerning the father and mother of Melchizedek in GenesIsa. God is providing us with an interpretation of how He worded the account in Genesis, making the point that Melchizedek typified Christ. But although we are not to read <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a> at face value, there is no explicit indication to this effect. The objection that the New Testament does not warn us against reading the ‘casting out of demons’ language literally is therefore not valid. <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a> is one of many examples of where it is imperative to understand the way in which God is using language if we are to correctly understand His word, but there is no explicit warning about this in <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a>!</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Jesus has a Father (God) and a mother (Mary) and a genealogy (see Matthew 1, Luke 3 and cp. <a href='B:500 7:27'>Joh 7:27</a>). ‘Melchizedek’ therefore cannot refer to Him personally. Besides, Melchizedek was “made like unto the Son of God” (<a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a>); he was not Jesus himself, but had certain similarities with Him which are being used by the writer for teaching purposes. “After the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another priest”, Jesus (<a href='B:650 7:15'>Heb 7:15</a>), who was ordained a priest “after the order of Melchizedek” (<a href='B:650 5:5-6'>Heb 5:5-6</a>). The language of Hebrews about Melchizedek just cannot be taken literally. If Melchizedek literally had no father or mother, then the only person he could have been was God Himself; He is the only person with no beginning (<a href='B:610 6:16'>1Ti 6:16</a>; <a href='B:230 90:2'>Psa 90:2</a>). But this is vetoed by <a href='B:650 7:4'>Heb 7:4</a>: “Consider how great this man was”, and also by the fact that he was seen by men (which God cannot be) and offered sacrifices to God. If he is called a man, then he must have had literal parents. His being “without father, without mother, without descent” must therefore refer to the fact that his pedigree and parents are not recorded. Queen Esther’s parents are not recorded, and so her background is described in a similar way. Mordecai “brought up... Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother... whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter” (<a href='B:190 2:7'>Est 2:7</a>). The author of Hebrews was clearly writing as a Jew to Jews, and as such he uses the Rabbinic way of reasoning and writing at times. There was a Rabbinic principle that "what is not in the text, is not" (See James Dunn, Christology In The Making (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1980) p. 276 note 59)- and it seems that this is the principle of exposition being used to arrive at the statement that Melchizedek was "without father". Seeing no father is mentioned in the Genesis text, therefore he was "without father"- but this doesn't mean he actually didn’t have a father. It's not recorded, and therefore, according to that Rabbinic principle, he effectively didn’t have one.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The book of Genesis usually goes to great lengths to introduce the family backgrounds of all the characters which it presents to us. But Melchizedek appears on the scene unannounced, with no record of his parents, and vanishes from the account with equal abruptness. Yet there can be no doubt that he was worthy of very great respect; even great Abraham paid tithes to him, and was blessed by him, clearly showing Melchizedek’s superiority over Abraham (<a href='B:650 7:2'>Heb 7:2</a>; <a href='B:650 7:7'>Heb 7:7</a>). The writer is not just doing mental gymnastics with Scripture. There was a very real problem in the first century which the Melchizedek argument could solve. The Jews were reasoning: ‘You Christians tell us that this Jesus can now be our high priest, offering our prayers and works to God. But a priest has to have a known genealogy, proving he is from the tribe of Levi. And anyway, you yourselves admit Jesus was from the tribe of Judah (<a href='B:650 7:14'>Heb 7:14</a>). Sorry, to us Abraham is our supreme leader and example (<a href='B:500 8:33'>Joh 8:33</a>; <a href='B:500 8:39'>Joh 8:39</a>), and we won’t respect this Jesus’. To which the reply is: ‘But remember Melchizedek. The Genesis record is framed to show that such a great priest did not have any genealogy; and Messiah is to be both a king and a priest, whose priesthood is after the pattern of Melchizedek (<a href='B:650 5:6'>Heb 5:6</a> cp. <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a>). Abraham was inferior to Melchizedek, so you should switch your emphasis from Abraham to Jesus, and stop trying to make the question of genealogies so important (see <a href='B:610 1:4'>1Ti 1:4</a>). If you meditate on how much Melchizedek is a type of Jesus (i:e. the details of his life pointed forward to him), then you would have a greater understanding of the work of Christ’:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:4'>Heb 7:4</a> Now consider how great this man was, to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the spoils- Melchizedek was a man, not a pre-existent God. The argument is that tithes are given to someone greater. Hence Jacob offers to give tithes to his father’s God if He will preserve him (<a href='B:10 28:22'>Gen 28:22</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:5'>Heb 7:5</a> And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the priest's office-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Paul doesn't call them Aaronites because he wants to make the point that the tribal head, Levi, was not the ancestor of Melchizedek; and as one of the patriarchs, he as it were paid tithes in Abraham to Melchizedek.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Have the commandment according to the law to take tithes from the people, that is, of their brothers; even though they are also descendants of Abraham- Levi's sons could take tithes of their brothers, but this did not make them 'greater' than their brothers. They were 'brothers' on the same level as those who tithed to them. But payment of tithes to an unrelated person was a more impressive evidence of the greatness of that person over the tithe payers.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:6'>Heb 7:6</a> Melchizedek was not descended from Levi by genealogy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> There is no evidence that he was even from within the Abraham family; he was effectively a Gentile, the king-priest of Jerusalem. But the fact he was not a Levite is emphasized because this was a reason some were giving for not accepting the priesthood of the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But he took tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had received the promises- The blessing was given from Melchizedek to Abraham in response to tithes. Yet Abraham is the one who was to be a blessing in the land, according to "the promises" received. But actually, the blesser had himself first to be blessed. This definitely places Melchizedek on the level of manifesting God to Abraham.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:7'>Heb 7:7</a> But without any dispute the less is blessed of the better- To suggest anyone was "better" than Abraham was radical for Hebrews, who considered Abraham the father of their race. And to rub the point in by saying that he was "less" was to suggest that the entire metanarrative of descent from Abraham being so important was being overwritten- and had in fact been overwritten by any sensitive to the brief details given about Melchizedek. That the ministry of the Lord Jesus was "better" than that of the Mosaic law is stressed in Hebrews (1:4; 7:19,22; 8:6; 9:23; 12:24).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:8'>Heb 7:8</a> And here mortal men receive tithes; but there one received them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives- The argument here might appear somewhat forced, but it was all legitimate within the style of Rabbinic midrash. Melchizedek "lives" in that there is no record of his death; we noted on :3 the Rabbinic principle that "what is not in the text, is not". And Paul goes on to reason that the priesthood of Melchizedek continues still, in that Messiah was to have this priesthood eternally. "That he lives" can also be understood as meaning that Melchizedek had a lifelong priesthood, that was not replaced by others because he had reached a certain age. McKnight observes that the Greek verb zē? here is not in the present, but the imperfect of the indicative, and he translates "that he lives" as " lived, a priest all his life, in contradistinction from those who ceased to be priests at a certain age".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:9'>Heb 7:9</a> And, so to say, when Abraham paid the tithe, Levi, whose descendants receive the tithe, also paid a tithe- Abraham is seen as representing his descendant Levi. The Levitical priests did indeed pay a tithe of their tithes- to God. But Paul argues here that Levi, in Abraham, paid a tithe to Melchizedek, thus making him a manifestation of God.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:10'>Heb 7:10</a> For Levi was yet in the loins of his ancestor Abraham when Melchizedek met Abraham- This kind of argument may appear forced, but it was quite legitimate within the milieu of Jewish midrash.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:11'>Heb 7:11</a> Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron?- The argument is that the whole mention of Messiah having a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek would have been unnecessary if the Levitical priesthood and legal system could bring "perfection". Paul forces through the logic of his position by reasoning that the "need" for the Melchizedek priesthood meant that this new priest must actually not be "after the order of Aaron" and therefore must not be a descendant of Aaron. I have previously noted that this kind of apparently forced argumentation would have been acceptable to those used to this kind of reasoning in the rabbinical interpretations of the Old Testament. But it is all the same logically forced, although from our Christian perspective it all makes good sense. I suggested on expounding Paul's obsession with the Jerusalem Poor Fund in 2 Corinthians that he had an obsessive streak within him, whereby he marshaled all possible evidence to support his positions and at points his logic and reasoning bears the hallmark of the obsessive. It could well be that we have a case of that here.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:12'>Heb 7:12</a> For the priesthood being changed requires also a change of the law- This verse is a stubborn problem for those who consider that the Mosaic law has not been changed nor abrogated. The reasoning here is logically sound, but it depends upon the assumption that the Melchizedek priest has in fact come; and only in that case could it be reasoned that the priesthood had been changed from the Aaronic to that of Melchizedek, this requiring a change of the law. The argument only had [and has] force for those who accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. It is therefore highly relevant to the Hebrew Christian audience but would lack logical power with Hebrew non-Christians.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The whole Law of Moses is described as an everlasting covenant (<a href='B:290 24:5'>Isa 24:5</a>; <a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a>), but it has now been done away (<a href='B:650 8:13'>Heb 8:13</a>). The feasts of Passover and Atonement were to be “an everlasting statute unto you” (<a href='B:30 16:34'>Lev 16:34</a>; <a href='B:20 12:14'>Exo 12:14</a>); but now the Mosaic feasts have been done away in Christ (<a href='B:580 2:14-17'>Col 2:14-17</a>; <a href='B:530 5:7'>1Co 5:7</a>). The Levitical priesthood was “the covenant of an everlasting priesthood” (<a href='B:20 40:15'>Exo 40:15</a>; <a href='B:40 25:13'>Num 25:13</a>), but “the priesthood being changed (by Christ’s work), there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (<a href='B:650 7:12'>Heb 7:12</a>). There was an “everlasting covenant” between God and Israel to display the shewbread in the Holy Place (<a href='B:30 24:8'>Lev 24:8</a>). This “everlasting covenant” evidently ended when the Mosaic Law was dismantled. But the same phrase “everlasting covenant” is used in <a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a> concerning how Christ will reign on David’s throne for literal eternity in the Kingdom. In what sense, then, is God using the word olahm, which is translated “eternal”, “perpetual”, “everlasting” in the Old Testament? James Strong defines olahm as literally meaning “the finishing point, time out of mind, i:e. practically eternity”. It was God’s purpose that the Law of Moses and the associated Sabbath law were to continue for many centuries. To the early Israelite, this meant a finishing point so far ahead that he couldn’t grapple with it; therefore he was told that the Law would last for ever in the sense of “practically eternity”. For all of us, the specter of ultimate infinity is impossible to intellectually grapple with. We may glibly talk about God’s eternity and timelessness, about the wonder of eternal life. But when we pause to really come to terms with these things, we lack the intellectual tools and linguistic paradigms to cope with it. Therefore there is no Hebrew or Greek word used in the Bible text to speak of absolute infinity. We know that death has been conquered for those in Christ, therefore we have the hope of immortal life in his Kingdom. But God speaks about eternity very much from a human viewpoint.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:13'>Heb 7:13</a> For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar- The "He" refers to the Melchizedek priest who was to be Messiah. "Has ever" makes the point that a new priesthood is now in view. The Lord Jesus serves at the altar; this is the altar at which the Levitical priests have no right to eat / fellowship, but we Christians do (<a href='B:650 13:10'>Heb 13:10</a>), suggesting that we in Christ are likewise there, serving at and eating at the heavenly altar which features so strongly in Revelation, as part of the Heavenly sanctuary which the tabernacle was a dim reflection of. The Lord Jesus is actively 'serving' there; He is not passive in Heaven, just waiting to return to earth.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:14'>Heb 7:14</a> For it is evident that our Lord originated from the tribe of Judah. Regarding this tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood- The Lord being descended from Judah was "evident" or obvious- presumably from the genealogies which connected Mary to the tribe of Judah. But again as noted on <a href='B:650 7:11'>Heb 7:11</a>, Paul's enthusiasm seems to be carrying him away, for it was far from obvious that Jesus of Nazareth was from Judah. However he may have meant instead that Messiah had to come from Judah; this much was indeed "evident" from the Old Testament and undisputed.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:15'>Heb 7:15</a> And what we say is even more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest- The abundantly obvious argument was that the Melchizedek priest had to be eternal (see <a href='B:650 7:16-17'>Heb 7:16-17</a>); and the only candidate was Jesus, whom Christians believed had been resurrected and given eternal life. He was the only person who had then been immortalized. But this argument again was logically powerful only to a Hebrew Christian, and not to a Hebrew non-Christian. The 'arising' of this 'other priest' may be a hint at His resurrection to immortality.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:16'>Heb 7:16</a> Who has been appointed, not on the basis of a law about physical descent, but according to the power of an endless life- The Levitical priests became priests by reason of their age and descent, whereas the Melchizedek Messiah priest had to be "appointed". The basis of the Lord's appointment was His immortality- because the priest had to have an eternal ministry, so it was necessary that he was immortal. And the only immortalized human was Jesus of Nazareth.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:17'>Heb 7:17</a> For it is witnessed: You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek- "For ever" is being interpreted as meaning that the priest would be immortal, making the resurrected, immortalized Jesus the only possible candidate. The 'witnessing' by God in <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a> is understood as the priest being "appointed" (<a href='B:650 7:16'>Heb 7:16</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:18'>Heb 7:18</a> On the other hand, there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness- This new priesthood required a new law; a changed priesthood meant a changed law (<a href='B:650 7:12'>Heb 7:12</a>). And this required an "annulling" of that law, and that was because it was weak and unprofitable. Such language appears to deprecate the law, although Paul elsewhere says that the law was "holy, just and good" (<a href='B:520 7:12'>Rom 7:12</a>); it was weak and not profitable because it was unable to bring salvation or perfection to those under it. The strong language used here about the law of Moses must be given its full weight by those who argue that it should still be kept today.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a> (For the law made nothing perfect)<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Likewise <a href='B:650 7:11'>Heb 7:11</a> has argued that the Levitical priesthood had to be changed because it could not bring "perfection". The law convicted men of sin and offered some mechanism of patching up the broken relationship caused by it. But it did not enable moral perfection. By being in Christ, we can be counted as Him, the only perfect human. Faith in Christ could therefore make perfect in that the Lord Jesus was 'made perfect' by His sufferings, particularly on the cross (<a href='B:650 5:7-9'>Heb 5:7-9</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw near to God- By being counted as in Christ, having His perfection as ours due to our status in Him, we have the sure hope of future salvation. The elpis or hope in view is a solid expectation regarding the future, not a mere hoping for the best. And it is by having this hope that we find strength against materialism and "draw near to God". The Hebrew readership would have understood this as meaning 'drawing near in priestly service' (cp. <a href='B:20 19:22'>Exo 19:22</a>). The Hope we have compels us to God’s service:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:20'>Heb 7:20</a> And the Melchizedek priesthood was not without the taking of an oath- The oath taken was by God (<a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a>), vowing by Himself to honour the eternally powerful priesthood of Messiah. Such Divine underwriting was not given to the Levitical priesthood.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:21'>Heb 7:21</a> The Levitical priests were made priests without an oath, but he with an oath: The Lord swore and will not change His mind; you are a priest for ever- The eternal nature of the Lord's Melchizedek priesthood is at the basis of the certainty of our hope for future salvation (<a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a>). God Almighty guarantees that the Lord Jesus will be our eternal priest. Our standing before Him is therefore eternal; we have such a priest who is not simply a mediator between God and men, a conduit allowing us to offer to Him and approach Him, but a priest who on His own agenda eternally secures our salvation:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:22'>Heb 7:22</a> By this also has Jesus become the surety of a better covenant- The sure hope of <a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a> is underpinned by the way the Lord is the surety or guarantor of the better covenant. The Greek for "surety" occurs only here in the NT and LXX. The idea is of a guarantor who promises his self sacrifice in the case that the party to the covenant is unfaithful. It literally means 'the pledge of a limb'. The "surety" could offer his own limbs, or himself into bondage as a slave, if the person being guaranteed somehow failed. The Lord's death confirmed God’s promises as being for real. But did God’s side of the covenant need such a surety? Perhaps we are better to think of the Lord's being a surety as being a guarantee for our faithfulness to the covenant. But we have not been faithful to it; and so He died, gave His all, His limbs, and became the preeminent servant of Yahweh on the cross. This was to the end that the new covenant between God and us might still stand, despite our infraction of it.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:23'>Heb 7:23</a> And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing- The eternal priesthood required for the Messianic Melchizedek priest could not be attained by mortal priests.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:24'>Heb 7:24</a> But he, because he abides for ever, has his priesthood unchangeable- The eternal priesthood of the Melchizedek priest meant that His priesthood can never be changed. He has obtained eternal redemption for us, and that can never be liable to any renegotiation. Our hope for eternity is therefore sure (<a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a>) because the One who obtained it is immortal, and His work for us is in this sense eternal.</p>


