{Disclaimer: these are my rough teaching notes I use in my Mishkan Katan weekly broadcasts. There will be "typos". Proceed at your own risk, lol.You can find all my Mishkan Katan video teachings on my YouTube channel: genahood2818 . Look on the playlist called Messianic LAMB TV Network.}
Boker Tov, and good morning! To start out this morning, I want to give an update on my recent trip to Texas. One of my very favorite messianic theologians is Andrew Gabriel Roth. Andrew and his wife Jay used to be my neighbors in the town next-door. But about a year and a half ago, they moved to Texas. My husband and I have missed them tremendously. Last week, my husband and older son went on a road trip. I decided I didn’t want to miss out on the travel adventure. So, I booked a trip out to Texas to visit our friends, the Roths.
Andrew has been a guest here at Mishkan Katan in the past. You may remember him from his Star of Bethlehem series, which I’m thinking of redoing here on my show in a month or so. He has a website called onefaithonepeopleministries.com, where he teaches on the Parsha each week, as well as on the week’s haftorah and a selection from the prophets and the Brit Chadasha. At that same website, he also does special events shows on the feasts, and on other theological topics, such as the aforementioned Star of Bethlehem. Andrew is a brilliant linguist as well as being a theologian of tremendous merit. He recently translated the New Testament from Aramaic into English, utilizing the best Aramaic original manuscripts available. In that translation, called The Apostolic Writings, he made copious footnotes. In those footnotes, he referenced various articles which he had written. He is about to publish a companion commentary to The Apostolic Writings. This commentary contains the articles that he referenced in his translation. It should be published by the end of the year. I was able to view a draft copy while I was visiting with them this past weekend. I’m so excited about this companion to the new translation. The articles he publishes in it are really wonderful. I am hoping that by the end of the year, I can have Andrew on Mishkan Katan again, when the Commentary is available to the public.
In addition to this project, Andrew was this past summer a scholar-in-residence, which is by invitation only, at the Lanier Theological Library. While he was there, he worked on a mammoth project he has started, to translate the Tanakh from all the pertinent ancient documents into English. This will be a multi-year project, which will be rolled out book-by-book because of its unique styling. You see, I got to see an advance copy of the first book coming, Genesis, while I was visiting. The format is amazing. It is a three-column format, with Andrew’s English translation on the left, with the text from the actual ancient source document in the middle and with the Masoretic text, that is the block-letter Hebrew with vowel markings, on the right. Now, honestly, this will not be a Bible for every believer. Some will not care one iota about seeing these ancient languages. However, I am beyond excited about it, for a couple of reasons. First, this format will allow me to read the Hebrew as I read the English, very convenient. Second, I can compare the Masoretic text, which was done around 1000 CE, with the ancient manuscripts from which it was derived! These include the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Peshitta, Targum Onkelos, and other respected sources. What a treasure it will be! I am super-excited!
I also want to take a moment and tell you about the Lanier Theological Library, which is “the bomb.com”! As I understand it, Dr. W. Mark Lanier, who is in his 60s, is a very successful trial lawyer. Years ago, he bought a 35-acre private estate, right across the street from Baylor University, in Houston, TX. It was his dream to build on his property a chapel, in the same style of a 500 CE Byzantine stone chapel he had seen in his travels. So, that was his first “step”, shall we say. Then, after that, he proceeded to build a 17000 square-foot, world-class theological library just steps away from the beautiful chapel. The library houses over 120,000 volumes, but in addition, there is one of the largest C.S. Lewis collections in the world, a replica in exact dimensions (using the Temple cubit) of the Ark of the Covenant, rare manuscripts such as a fragment of the Dead Sea scrolls and 1 of 9 facsimiles of the Great Isaiah Scroll existent today, original 1611 King James Bibles (including a “She” Bible) and other wonderful artifacts. If you don’t know what a She Bible is, I will explain that at the end of the broadcast, if I have time.
Then, if that were not all, Dr. Lanier built, in the same beautiful architecture, inspired by the library at the University of Oxford in England, little cottages that are used to house visiting scholars. For instance, Dr. Immanuel Tov, the foremost scholar on the Dead Sea Scrolls in the world, was there in the summer of 2025; he has been a scholar-in-residence a few times. And, in 2025, Andrew got to meet with him.
So, Andrew, and his wife, Jaye, stayed in one of those lovely cottages, while he worked on his current project. His friend from England, Ewan MacLeod, who is the founder of JesusSpokeAramaic, is one of the world’s foremost Aramaic scholars. Ewan is also fluent in Hebrew. He came to meet with Andrew for a couple of weeks this summer, and to consult on the Tanakh project.
Those are the highlights of my trip to Houston. I thought you’d be interested. But, now, let’s get to our usual weekly Bible study, beginning in Psalm 143. If you will turn there, we’ll begin. This is the seventh and final penitential psalm, the six others being 6, 32, 38, 51, 102 and 130.
Vs. 1
Adonai, hear my prayer;
listen to my pleas for mercy.
In your faithfulness, answer me,
and in your righteousness.
Some commentators, such as Radak, believe this psalm was composed by David as he was hiding in the cave from King Saul. Others, such as Sforno, believe David composed these verses on the run from his traitorous son, Absolom. Psalm 3 is one of David’s works reflecting his initial reaction to Absolom’s perfidy, whereas Psalm 143 (if Absolom was the catalyst) speaks to David’s feelings upon learning that Achitophel had conspired with Absolom and sent a small cavalry to chase him, Absolom included in that group. This is recorded in 2 Samuel 17:22.
In verse 1, note that David is here appealing to God on the basis of God’s faithfulness and righteousness, NOT upon David’s own. David recognized he was truly unworthy of God’s intervention on his behalf, and therefore he was humbly begging God to answer according to His mercy, not according to David’s worthiness. That’s the approach I think is meritorious. I’m quite certain that if I appealed to God on the basis of my own “good deeds” and correct heart attitudes, my prayers would not “get past the ceiling”, as the saying goes. Perhaps David was thinking of Psalm 89:28, a psalm he also wrote. That verse says this:
“I will safeguard My kindness to him forever, and My covenant shall remain faithful to him.”
Vs. 2-4
2 Don’t bring your servant to trial,
since in your sight no one alive
would be considered righteous.
3 For an enemy is pursuing me;
he has crushed my life into the ground
and left me to live in darkness,
like those who have been long dead.
4 My spirit faints within me;
my heart is appalled within me.
Here, David is not saying he is not deserving of judgment, but that he is just asking Hashem to set it aside for the moment, because of his state of peril and exhaustion. In Psalm 26:1, for instance, David asked God to judge him. So, this was a situational respite David requested. David was right about one thing, and we need to pay attention to it. Well, David was right about many things, but this one is the most important.
Notice what he says in verse 2. The prophet Isaiah echoed it 64:6, when he said, “All our righteousness is as filthy rags.” Then, in the NT, the apostle Paul followed up with, “There is none righteous, no, not one!”
It is so very, very important that we, as Messianic believers, get this right. If we get this wrong, nothing else about our faith walk matters.
I was having a conversation about this with a dear Messianic friend the other day and was startled to hear a “salvation by works” theology. So many Messianics are misguided on this point, led astray by personal pride.
We do not earn righteous standing before God because of our own good works, which we produce out of our own carnal natures. Here is the biblical truth, plain as I can say it.
It is the grace of God that allows us to have a relationship with Him, our totally “other”, holy God. If it were possible for us to earn it, or attain it, Yeshua would not have needed to come to earth and become the blood sacrifice He became.
Salvation, that is, coming into a right relationship with God, begins with His Spirit drawing us to salvation. Next, in accordance with the free will He gave us, we respond to that invitation. We answer in faith by repenting of our sinful former life and by saying “yes” to Yeshua as God-in-the-flesh, as our one and only Redeemer. At that time, we enter into covenant with God and receive His spirit within us. At that same moment, The Ruach HaKodesh begins to write His law upon our hearts, as prophesied in Jeremiah 31:33. From this point on, we are His children. As His Spirit works within us, we choose to follow Yeshua’s example, in our daily lives. We do this out of love. We don’t do it to earn anything. David got this right too. Look at verse 10 of this psalm.
10 Teach me to do your will,
because you are my God;
Let your good Spirit guide me
on ground that is level.
This sanctification is the work of God’s Spirit. Don’t confuse the operating manual (God’s written word) with the contract, with the brit, the Hebrew word for covenant. The Torah itself never effected salvation to anyone. It is the manual that shows us our need for a Kinsman-Redeemer, a Goel.
Verses 3 and 4 describe how crushed David was by the enemy’s pursuit. These verses also accurately describe how we feel when we are being hotly pursued by the enemy of souls.
My dad has been with the Lord for 29 years, but this memory of him persists to this day. He was a smoker, from the age of 9, which may explain why he died at the relatively young age of 66 after fighting cancer for several years. I remember how he would smoke a cig and then toss the butt to the ground. Next, he would step on the butt and grind it into the ground. Why would he do that? To totally extinguish any life/light in that butt. HaSatan attempts to do the same thing to us!
One of Satan’s strongest campaigns against David was through his son, Absolom. The chief reason I believe this psalm was composed during the Absolom mutiny is this. Saul’s behavior was not completely unexpected. David was anointed and designated as Israel’s next king well before Saul died. Had Saul not reacted to such an unexpected development, we would have thought his weird. Saul’s entire ruling house was being ended. It was not just him God rejected; it was his descendants as well. This should not have been “appalling” to David.
But, Absolom….this one had to cut very deep into David’s soul. I’ve always maintained that there is no one who can hurt your heart like your own child.
In light of these harrowing circumstances, David begins to choose a righteous response. This is recorded, beginning in verse 5 and 6. What did David choose to do?
5 I remember the days of old,
reflecting on all your deeds,
thinking about the work of your hands.
6 I spread out my hands to you,
I long for you like a thirsty land. (Selah)
The Hebrew word for “remember” is “zachar”, the same letters for the word “man” in Hebrew. It is so important that we remember! A often-quoted saying is “those that fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it”. Perhaps David remembered God’s mighty miracles to his forefathers, the patriarchs and prophets? They, too, were in great peril, yet God extricated them from even their most desperate predicaments. Or, perhaps he recalled the miraculous dealings that he, himself, had had with God.
The slaying of Goliath
Being chosen from all the older sons of Jesse, to be the king of Israel.
Great battles he was allowed to supernaturally win.
Actually seeing the Angel of the Lord, suspended between heaven and earth, with a sword drawn and hanging over the city of Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 21:16).
Being supernaturally delivered from the Philistine king, before whom he acted as a lunatic.
Those are just a few of the miracles David received.
Then, next, he figuratively spread out his hands before God, like a helpless pauper beseeching his benefactor. This is a gesture of prayer. He uses an analogy of parched ground longing for water, to express his longing for God. All of us have been very thirsty, at some time in our lives, but few of us have endured a drought so crippling that it threatened our lives. This is the type of drought David is referencing. A hopeless, helpless level of dryness. Arid, parched land, that is riddled with cracks on its surface is infertile and resembles a very weary man. A man who is waiting for miraculous help is deeply disappointed when that help does not materialize. The strain of waiting drains hope from the heart and saps the spirit.
The last six verses picture David making his specific pleas for deliverance.
In verse 7 we see a common OT idiom to express God not listening to a person’s prayer. That idiom pictures God hiding his face from the supplicant. So many things are communicated through the eyes and the facial expressions, as well as through the actual voice and words. When those avenues are missing, it is much more difficult to communicate accurately. If you are a parent, you have surely said to your child during a disciplinary situation, “Look at me!” There’s a reason for that. Making eye contact is a way to not only gather or receive information accurately it is also a way of showing respect or attentiveness. Many of us know the pain of “unanswered prayer”. Not hearing a definitive answer from God can cause us to feel as though the flames of Hell are licking at our heels. He always answers. However, often His answer is “wait on Me”.
Verse 8 is a very beautiful verse. It speaks of hearing, as opposed to seeing. The sages say that David is not as concerned with physical, visible manifestations of God’s love. He more strongly desires that his soul hears and feels it in the heart. This is a good verse to pray every morning.
Let’s now read Psalm 143 together.
143 (0) A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai, hear my prayer;
listen to my pleas for mercy.
In your faithfulness, answer me,
and in your righteousness.
2 Don’t bring your servant to trial,
since in your sight no one alive
would be considered righteous.
3 For an enemy is pursuing me;
he has crushed my life into the ground
and left me to live in darkness,
like those who have been long dead.
4 My spirit faints within me;
my heart is appalled within me.
5 I remember the days of old,
reflecting on all your deeds,
thinking about the work of your hands.
6 I spread out my hands to you,
I long for you like a thirsty land. (Selah)
7 Answer me quickly, Adonai,
because my spirit is fainting.
Don’t hide your face from me,
or I’ll be like those who drop down into a pit.
8 Make me hear of your love in the morning,
because I rely on you.
Make me know the way I should walk,
because I entrust myself to you.
9 Adonai, rescue me from my enemies;
I have hidden myself with you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
because you are my God;
Let your good Spirit guide me
on ground that is level.
11 For your name’s sake, Adonai, preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of distress.
12 In your grace, cut off my enemies;
destroy all those harassing me;
because I am your servant.
The sages believed that Psalm 144, a psalm of Thanksgiving and praise, was composed near the beginning of David’s reign. Ibn Ezra and Radak believed that the psalm celebrated David’s early victories over his enemies, and the Midrash Shocher Tov records that it was specifically David’s victory over the giant, Goliath, which was referenced. Regardless of which spurred the composition of this psalm, such celebratory works are typical of kingdoms of that era, when so called “martial literature” was composed to commemorate military successes, to praise the bravery and skill of the nation’s heroes.
The authentic Jewish attitude toward such exploits is expressed in this psalm. The Jewish warrior was viewed as merely a tool in the hands of Almighty God, and to Him and Him alone belonged all the praise and glory. David disdained fame and glory for himself, for this reason. David also did not glorify battle. While he recognized it as a necessary evil, indispensable to defeating hostile powers, he found it deplorable.
Therefore, Jewish battle literature stands out in stark contrast to that of pagan nations. This psalm is not a song about human effort or might. It is a praise song about the God who brings victory to His servants.
This psalm borrows heavily from Psalm 18, especially that psalm’s first 10 verses. It, Psalm 144, was customarily recited at the beginning of the Ma’ariv service, as the first prayer of the new week.
Let’s read this psalm together.
Notice especially verse 12, which is a beautiful verse to pray over your sons and daughters, as well as Psalm 145:4, which we will read before we end our study today. Years ago, I was involved in the youth program for my congregation. The young ladies met separately during the mid-week, from the young men, and the ladies’ group was called “Pillars”, a concept taken from this verse.
144 (0) By David:
(1) Blessed be Adonai, my rock,
who trains my hands for war
and my fingers for battle.
2 He shows me grace; and he is my fortress,
my stronghold, in whom I find shelter,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues my people under me.
3 Adonai, what are mere mortals,
that you notice them at all;
humans, that you think about them?
4 Man is like a puff of wind,
his days like a fleeting shadow.
5 Adonai, lower the heavens, and come down;
touch the mountains, make them pour out smoke.
6 Shoot out lightning, and scatter them;
send out your arrows, and rout them.
7 Reach out your hands from on high;
rescue me; save me out of deep water,
out of the power of strangers,
8 whose mouths speak worthless words
and whose right hands swear false oaths.
9 God, I will sing a new song to you;
sing praises to you with a ten-stringed harp.
10 You give kings their victories;
you save your servant David from the cruel sword.
11 Rescue me, save me from the power of strangers,
whose mouths speak worthless words
and whose right hands swear false oaths.
12 Our sons in their youth will be
like full-grown saplings,
our daughters will be like sculptured pillars
fit for the corner of a palace.
13 Our barns are full with crops of every kind;
the sheep in our fields number thousands, tens of thousands.
14 our oxen are well-fed,
our city walls have no breach,
our people are not taken captive,
and there are no cries of protest in our cities’ open places.
15 How happy the people who live in such conditions!
How happy the people whose God is Adonai!
Moving on here, Psalm 145 concludes the section of Davidic psalms that began with Psalm 138. It acts as a gateway to the concluding praise psalms that close the Psalter, Psalms 146-150, which we will get to next week. Psalm 145 is the only one of the 150 psalms that is actually called a song of praise, on in Hebrew, a tehillah. (Tehillim, which you have heard me say often, is the plural of the word “tehillah”.) Psalm 145 is one of the most important psalms in the entire collection for this reason. In Berachot 4B, the Talmud claims that the person who recites this Psalm three times a day is surely destined to have a place in the world to come, or that is, in heaven. Of course, most of my viewers agree with me that no matter how many times we recite any portion of Holy Scripture, that does not secure for us eternal salvation. Only faith in Yeshua HaMashiach can do that. However, another reason this is commonly held among those who do not yet know Yeshua in spirit and truth is that the phrase translated into English as “forever and ever”, literally, “l’olam va’ed”, “to eternity and more” is found three times in this psalm, in verses 1 and 2, and then at the end in verse 21.
Psalm 145 plays a very important part in Jewish liturgy. It is recited twice in the morning service and as I mentioned earlier, once as the prelude to the Ma’ariv, the afternoon service. The Psalm is closely linked to Psalm 84, verse five, which says, “Praiseworthy are those who dwell in Your house, continually they will praise You, Selah.”
This psalm is believed to encompass all the other psalms together. Why? Because in the original Hebrew, the psalm contains 150 words, the exact number of psalms in the Tanakh’s collection.
Each verse of this psalm has as its initial letter the letters of the Hebrew aleph-beit, in order. (The English word, alphabet is composed of the two names for the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are “aleph” and “beit”.) There is, however, one of the Hebrew letters missing, in this arrangement. It is the letter “nun”. In Berachot 4b, the Talmud explains that David omitted this letter because it is the first letter in the verb nifal, which is the verb for “fall”, and also the first letter in the verse Amos 5:2. (I find this an implausible explanation, because David lived over 200 years before the birth of Amos.) Regardless, Amos 5:2 says “She has fallen and will not rise again, the maiden of Israel.” Verse 14 of this psalm speaks to God supporting His children who fall (ha nof-leem). If you think that word sounds like “Nephilim”, you would be correct, the latter term coming from the same Hebrew verb.
The latter part of verse 14 may make you think of Handel’s “Messiah”, that glorious choral work that has a bass aria taken from Isaiah 40:4, which says, (CJB) “Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill lowered, the bumpy places made level and the crags become a plain.” He straightens the “hunched”, indeed.
Verses 15-16 speak to the truth that God designed each species with specific nutritional needs, which He supplies in His own wisdom and timing. The Talmud has an amusing story on this point, which I’ll share with you.
A certain sage had to appear before him a very poor man. In making conversation, the sage asked the man what he usually ate. The man replied that he customarily would dine on sumptuous stuffed fowl, paired with expensive wine. Needless to say, the sage was surprised to hear this! He followed up with a question. “Aren't you concerned that your high-dollar tastes will prove to be a burden to the community which gives you food?” The beggar, replied by quoting verse 15 of this Psalm. He pointed out that the food is given by the Almighty in its proper time, not in their proper time. The fact that the singular is used here teaches that Hashem sustains each individual according to his own needs.
If you look at verse 18, there is another curiosity there. You’ll the end of the verse that in some translations says, “to all who call upon Him in truth”. The curiosity is that in every verse of this psalm, in the middle of the verse, there is the letter vav, which is the straightest of all the Hebrew letters, and which always functions as a connecting letter. But…in this verse, verse 18, there is no vav. However, the rabbis postulate that David did not use a vav in this verse because the word “truth”, “emet” in Hebrew, occurs in this verse in its entirety. How’s that for some skillful craftsmanship!
It is customary, after this psalm is recited three times in the daily course of synagogue services, to follow the psalm with Psalm 115:18, which serves as an exclamation mark. We’ll add it on after we read Psalm 145 together.
Allright, let’s read.
145 (0) Praise. By David:
(1) I will praise you to the heights, my God, the king;
I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is Adonai and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is beyond all searching out.
4 Each generation will praise your works to the next
and proclaim your mighty acts.
5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor
of your majesty and on the story of your wonders.
6 People will speak of your awesome power,
and I will tell of your great deeds.
7 They will gush forth the fame of your abounding goodness,
and they will sing of your righteousness.
8 Adonai is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in grace.
9 Adonai is good to all;
his compassion rests on all his creatures.
10 All your creatures will thank you, Adonai,
and your faithful servants will bless you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingship,
and they will tell about your might;
12 to let everyone know of your mighty acts
and the glorious majesty of your kingship.
13 Your kingship is an everlasting kingship,
your reign continues through all generations.
14 Adonai supports all who fall
and lifts up all who are bent over.
15 The eyes of all are looking to you;
you give them their food at the right time.
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 Adonai is righteous in all his ways,
full of grace in all he does.
18 Adonai is close to all who call on him,
to all who sincerely call on him.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
20 Adonai protects all who love him,
but all the wicked he destroys.
21 My mouth will proclaim the praise of Adonai;
all people will bless his holy name forever and ever.
And now, Psalm 115:18 - - -
18 But we will bless Adonai
from now on and forever.
We will end our psalms study for today at this point. It’s just a convenient stopping place. And, sure enough, I have few minutes to explain a She Bible. There are only about a dozen of these treasures left in known existence. Lanier Theological Library has one, as does my alma mater, Bob Jones University. It was on a visit to BJU this past summer that I got to see and touch my first She Bible. I was on a tour of the campus we had graduated from several years earlier, with three of my college dorm mates. The campus president, who incidentally is married to one of those college roommates of mine, took us to the rare book room of the campus library. There, we were able to see and touch a She Bible.
So, what is it, this curious artifact? The name refers to a printing error. The 1611 first edition King James Bible was printed in two separate batches. Each batch was separately type-set by hand. The Gutenberg printing press had only been invented a few decades earlier, if you recall. At any rate, one of those batches made a type-setting error in the book of Ruth, chapter 3, verse 15. Turn there with me.
In the CJB, that verse says, “He went into the city”, referring to Boaz. In the misprinted batch, the verse reads, “She went into the city”, an obvious error. It is because of this that these Bibles are a curiosity, worth tens of thousands of dollars. About 11 years ago, another one was discovered in the cupboard in the back of a church in Lancashire, England. No one realized what a treasure it was! Other She Bibles are currently housed at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and at Salisbury, Exeter and Durham cathedrals.
