Psalm 9
As we begin to visit psalm 9, we are immediately confronted with a word that in English is not well-known. That is the word Muth-labben. It is a transliteration from the Hebrew and means “Death of the Son”. It was thought that the son’s name had been Labben, but I don’t think this is correct. “Ben” means “son” in Hebrew, and the “l” sound, the letter “lamed” preceding a noun means “to/for”. “The” is indicated by the vowel underneath the lamed, which would render this “for the son.” But, whose son? Which son? This has been a matter of much debate. Some have thought it rfers to the death of Naval/Nabal, the inhospitable miser who was the former husband of David’s wife, Abigail. Others believe it refers to the infant who died at only a few days old, the first son of David and Bathsheba. Another alternative is that it refers to the downfall of Esau and Amalek. Some have said it refers to the death of the giant Goliath. So, take your pick. Regardless, this was apparently a well-known tune, in David’s day, a tune used often in the Temple by the Levitical “praise team.”
Structurally, Psalm 9 is one of those that uses a partial acrostic structure: every other verse begins with one of the first 11 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, minus the 4th letter, dalet. For some reason, that one was omitted from the psalm. Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which the alternating lines beginning with successive Hebrew letters continued. In the Septuagint Psalms 9 and 10 constitute one psalm. Like psalm 8 was a psalm of praise to God for His marvelous creation, both psalm 9 and 10 are hymns of praise to God for His attribute of righteousness and for His great goodness to those who love Him.
The key themes of the Psalm 9 are:
Praise and Thanksgiving: (vs. 1-2)
David begins by expressing his joy and praising God for his name and wonders, setting a tone of gratitude for God's goodness and power.
God's Justice and Sovereignty: (vs. 4, 8, 16)
The psalm highlights God's role as a righteous judge, protecting the righteous and punishing the wicked.
Refuge for the Oppressed: (9-10)
David declares that God is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble, emphasizing God's care and protection for those who are suffering.
God's Remembrance and Judgment: (7-8)
David believes that God remembers the cries of the oppressed and will bring justice and judgment against the wicked.
Destiny of the Wicked: (5-6, 15-17)
David foresees the ultimate destruction of the wicked and the nations that oppose God.
Hope for the Needy: (18)
David assures that the needy will not be forgotten and the hope of the poor will not perish.
Call to Remember God's Faithfulness:
The psalm encourages remembering and recounting God's deeds, emphasizing the importance of trusting in God's character and promises.
This psalm has several architectural features that are significant. For example: in the first 8 verses, the throne of Father Yahweh is mentioned 3 times.
In verse 9, He is described as a stronghold, the kind of spiritual stronghold you actually want, not one that is demonic and crippling, but one that is life-giving and full of hope. A tower of strength. This is the first mention of a promise that is often seen in psalms, and that is the theme of God being a strong help for those in times of trouble. We will also see and explore it more deeply in psalms like 18, 32, 37, 46, 77 and 91.
In verses 13 and 14 “gates” are mentioned. We in this modern day don’t understand the concept of city gates, because we don’t have them as architectural features of our cities. In the days of the Bible, cities were surrounded by walls with gates set into those walls. The gates were an important part of the stronghold that guarded the city, for two reasons, at least.
First, they controlled who entered and who exited the city. So, physically, they protected the city in that way. Secondly, it was at the city gates that the Hebrew elders, those wise ones, adjudicated civil matters of law. They did their best to apply the law equally, thereby protecting the people in the application of God’s laws to their lives.
So, these gates, mentioned in verse 14, were places that brought life to the people. By contrast, the gates in verse 13 are “the gates of death”. David praised Father Yahweh for raising him up (a resurrection reference) from those gates.
In verse 14, we find a very rare occurrence in Hebrew, the word “CHahn-NAY-nee", which is translated mercy or grace. Why use a third “nun” to spell this word? {analogy to WHOA}
It is believed by the sages that the extra “nun” used it done to convey that David is asking for an extra-large helping of God’s favor/mercy/grace.
In verse 16 we find another less-familiar term, “higgaiyon”. Here it appears in conjunction with the term “selah”, which means to pause and reflect. Higgaiyon’s meaning is uncertain. It may be a musical instruction (such as making murmuring tones on the harp). I am a musician and love how melody, harmony and rhythm can be skillfully used to intensify the meaning of the lyrics of a song. Or, it has been proposed that this term also means to “pause and meditate deeply on what was just said”.
For example, in verse 16, the psalmist is saying, and I paraphrase, “Consider this deeply: the nations acted deviously and deceptively. They dug a pit for, and laid traps for, the righteous. However, they will fall into their own pits and become ensnared in their own traps, according to God’s sovereignty.” In your translation, the word “pit” is probably not capitalized, but there is a double-entendre going on here. In Jewish thought, the Pit (capital P) is a proper name for Gehenna or Hell. The sages tell of a question posed by the gentile multitudes, i.e. “the nations”, that is, “How will Hell be large enough to hold all the people?” God’s answer, again, according to the story, was that as the numbers of people headed there grows, the place itself will expand.” In other words, every sin sinned digs the pit a little deeper. Something to think about indeed!
Many of the same themes in psalm 9 we see amplified and expanded upon in psalm 10. There is no superscription for this psalm, which also lends credence to it being a continuation of psalm 9. For example, psalm 9 speaks of the wicked, but in psalm 10 the wicked are more vividly described. This psalm is directed at no one individual, but is instead a look at everyday interactions with the degenerate person who has thrown off the “yoke” of God’s moral law. According to Ashkenazi tradition, this psalm is often recited during the 10 Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Look at some of the attributes of the wicked taken from psalm 10:
Vs. 2 “Arrogant”
Vs. 3 “boastful”, “lustful”, “greedy”, “hates God”
Vs. 5 “prosperous” The prosperity God brings to the wicked does not satisfy their souls; it brings them no joy. Their greed only increases. As for “getting away with his evil” (in reality, God is just giving the wicked enough rope with which to hang himself) Also, being allowed to get away with wickedness is by no means a sign of God’s favor, quite the opposite, in fact. God sees no point in disciplining a person who is no longer capable of learning from it, profiting from it and making repentance from the evil deeds.
Vs. 6 “delusional”
Vs. 7 “a cursing mouth”, “deceitful”, “oppressive to others” “unjust”
Vs. 8 “murders the innocent”
Vs. 9 “mistreats the poor”
Notice that I skipped verse 4 in this list above, and I did so to tell you a little about how the Hebrew language expresses the concept of anger. Literally, in verse four, what is translated in the CJB as “the wicked in his arrogance” is “the pride of his nose”. Well, in English we would read such a literal translation and think, “what does a nose have to do with anything”? Well, sometimes in Hebrew, the word “nose” is synonymous with “face” because the nose is the most prominent facial feature. Furthermore, an arrogant man will often lift his nose heavenward in his pride. And, when a person is angry, their nostrils often flare, to allow him or her to breathe more heavily through the nose. This leads to the term “a burning nose”, which is commonly used in Hebrew to express that a person is angry.
The psalm ends with the affirmation that God loves the humble person, as this is opposite of the prideful wicked, and that He will advocate for and give justice to the helpless, orphans, the poor and downtrodden.
On to psalm 11. I had not really considered this until reading the introduction to this book I’m using in these teachings, but the sages contend that there is no person in Scripture, in the Hebrew Bible, who was afflicted more than was David. It began with his birth. He was the youngest of the sons of Jesse. When the prophet Samuel came calling, looking for the next king of Israel, no one even thought to call David in from the sheep field! Even Samuel’s eyes were blinded to David’s potential. Then, after David was anointed king of Israel, he did not immediately take the throne. No, he was pursued, persecuted...no one had so many enemies, from the Philistines to King Saul.
Oh, you might say....Job! Yes, but’s Job’s trials were short-lived, compared to David’s, as were King Hezekiah’s. David’s life, though, was “an endless succession of misfortune”, to quote page 34 of the Introduction. Even in his old age, his sons were trying to kill him, in order to take his throne.
With psalm 11, the sages do not agree as to what this particular terrible event is - - the event that prompted David to write this psalm. As we will see, it is a chronicle of a treacherous enemy, one who desired to use slander in order to undermine David. These evil men looked at David’s tribulations and incorrectly interpreted those events as signs of God’s disfavor, as well as invitations from God to take David’s place as ruler over Israel.
Let’s read the psalm, which was designated for the conductor/leader/director of music.
(0) For the leader. By David:
(1) In Adonai I find refuge.
So how can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to the mountains!
2 See how the wicked are drawing their bows
and setting their arrows on the string,
to shoot from the shadows at honest men.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
4 Adonai is in his holy temple.
Adonai, his throne is in heaven.
His eyes see and test humankind.
5 Adonai tests the righteous;
but he hates the wicked and the lover of violence.
6 He will rain hot coals down on the wicked,
fire, sulfur and scorching wind
will be what they get to drink.
7 For Adonai is righteous;
he loves righteousness;
the upright will see his face.
Starting in verse 1, there is a time to “flee”, that is, run away from our problems. An example of that was when David fled Jerusalem as Absolom’s, his young gun son’s, mutinous army was approaching the city, with the intent to overthrow the king. However, oftentimes, we run from our problems, when what we need to do is to stand and face them, stare them down, refute them, rebuke them, conquer them, through the power of God who lives within us. It seems that the latter was taking place here. The enemies were counseling David to run away, with the intent of shooting him down as he fled the scene. Does David do that? No. Instead, David’s response was to begin the psalm by affirming that Adonai is his hiding place. And, then, in verses 4 – 7, goes on to affirm God’s sovereignty, specifically in how He tests the righteous.
It is in LOVE that Father Yahweh does this (vs. 7)! The kindness of God, manifested in plagues and punishing rods.
Look at verse 5. Adonai TESTS the righteous. So, if you are being tested, know that you are loved! Sounds very contradictory, doesn’t it? So does David’s response. Our natural response to tribulation is to whine, moan, groan, complain, etc. That’s not what David does! As the sages have pointed out, “It’s not so much what David said in the psalms; it’s WHEN he said it!”
Psalm 12 spoke of a future era in which the wicked would completely overwhelm the poor and those unable to fight for themselves. It foretells of a time when evil will seem to have totally taken over. The last verse speaks of wickedness being so generally tolerated in this evil generation that the wicked parade themselves, strutting down the streets. Do we live in that day? Are we the evil generation described in verse 12? I don’t know for sure, but it certainly seems like it! Think about the “gay pride” parades, for example, where people in varying stages of nakedness gyrate down the parade route, making lewd movements that simulate fornication. Or vile demonstrations where women, screaming for the right to kill their babies, march in the streets wearing costumes which look like the female reproductive organs. Hideous evil!
The sages say that David foresaw this as a time when the House of David would be threatened with extinction. David understood that haSatan would try to stop the coming of Messiah by wiping out the Davidic ancestral line. Perhaps this is why in verse 2, David said, “no one godly is left;
the faithful have vanished from humankind.” Father Yahweh had, through the Davidic covenant, promised that Mashiach would be born via one of David’s descendants. Indeed, this is what occurred, as Mary the mother of Yeshua, was descended from Natan (Nathan), one of David’s lesser-known sons. There actually WAS a time when the Davidic line was nearly extinguished. Do you remember when that was? If you begin counting with Solomon, David’s immediate successor, and count forward to the 8th generation of David’s dynasty, you come to an evil queen named Ataliah. Had it not been for a servant who squirreled away the young boy, Josiah, there would have been no living descendant of David to sit upon the throne. It is because this near-miss happened in the 8th generation that Psalm 12 has been designated “Shir el Yom”, or “Song to the Day” for Shemini Atzeret, which is the 8th day of the Sukkot festival.
The psalm has a superscription. It was to have been given to the Conductor/Director, as was the previous psalm, and then there is a reference to “the Sheminis”. Did you notice that this word is very similar to Shemini in the title of the 8th day, Shemini Atzeret? That is because the number 8, in Hebrew is “shemini”. Therefore, “the Sheminis” refers to an 8-stringed instrument.
(0) For the leader. On sh’minit [low-pitched musical instruments?]. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Help, Adonai! For no one godly is left;
the faithful have vanished from humankind.
3 (2) They all tell lies to each other,
flattering with their lips, but speaking from divided hearts.
4 (3) May Adonai cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks so proudly,
5 (4) those who say, “By our tongues, we will prevail;
our lips are with us. Who can master us?”
6 (5) “Because the poor are oppressed,
because the needy are groaning,
I will now rise up,” says Adonai,
“and grant security to those whom they scorn.”
7 (6) The words of Adonai are pure words,
silver in a melting-pot set in the earth,
refined and purified seven times over.
8 (7) You, Adonai, protect us;
guard us forever from this generation —
9 (8) the wicked strut about everywhere
when vileness is held in general esteem.
If you have lived long enough, you have encountered people with “double hearts”, as referenced in verse 3 of this psalm. At times, we might have even behaved as one of these. But, I'm talking about and these verses are describing people who practice this sort of duplicity and live this dichotomy “on the regular” as the expression goes. They say one thing, and don’t even seem to know when they are lying. They speak one “truth” and then in another context speak another. They live one way in public and another way in private. It’s not schizophrenia, a mental illness of multiple personalities. It’s a spiritual illness. They are the original “silver-tongued devils, using their words to deceive.” With glib words and smooth talk, they cover up their insincerity.
I think we see a lot of this in our modern-day, especially in some of the news media outlets. Right now, in current times, there is a lot of brouhaha over the tariffs that the president has imposed on foreign countries, and the resulting effect it has had in the past few days on the US stock market, causing it to drop 7%. You would think, from listening to the more liberal news outlets that the sky was literally falling. However, in 2022, the US stock market dropped 19%, and we never heard a peep from the liberal, mainstream media about that. Double-standards are pretty much the “norm” in our country today, whether you are talking about accurately reporting a news story, or using an issue as a political weapon by turning the story deceptively. Do you see what is meant in describing such people as those who believe “by our tongues we will prevail; our lips are with us. Who can master us?” And, you know what? These wield tremendous influence in our culture. Another place this type of duplicity is seen is in the American judicial double-standards, where the law is not applied equally to all parties. If the accused is of a different worldview than the judge, the judge then loses the ability to be impartial and to apply the law equally.
By contrast, David describes the words of the LORD God, our Father Yahweh, in verse 7. In Hebrew, when you see the word heart applied to Father Yahweh, it is never spelled with two bets. It is always spelled lamed-bet. However, most often, when you see the word heart applied to mankind, it is often spelled with two bets, indicated the double heart. God’s heart is singular and holy and pure, as are his promises. Look at verse 7. “The words (in other translations “sayings” or “reliable promises”) of Yahweh are pure. The sage Rashi says that unlike double-minded, double-minded men, Yahweh has the power to do His own will, to fulfill His promises, which are compared to silver refined, which means silver that has no impurities, no dross at all, no flaws. The use of the number seven in this context does not literally mean exactly seven times. In Scripture, the number seven connotes perfection or completion. It’s often used to mean something that has been doubled, tripled or redoubled many times over. Do you recall how many times Peter asked Yeshua how many times he should forgive a fellow brother? Peter suggested seven times, and we non-Hebrew speakers thought he meant literally seven. Nope. He was seeking a specific numerical answer from the Master, but he was using “seven” in this redoubling context. Yeshua answered him with a tremendously redoubled answer when He replied, “Seventy times seven.” In other words, don’t keep count. Clear the ledger.
The last psalm we will explore today is psalm 13. Have you ever lived in “exile”? Perhaps you have been a missionary and lived in a foreign country, a foreign culture. I would not say I’ve lived in exile, but I have lived in another culture in America, a culture that was very different from the one in which I was reared from childhood. Born and raised in the Deep South, I lived for a few years in the Midwest, where I was teased frequently about my speech, where grits were practically unknown as well as sweet tea. The Hebrew word for exile is “galut”. It does not describe an invasion of a foreign power that allows the Jewish people to remain in their land. No, it has the connotation of being ripped out of their homeland and cast far away. Famous Jewish sages Rashi and Radak say that this psalm is prophetic on David’s part and that it is dedicated to these future exiles of the Jewish people. The Hebrew nation was in exile more than once. Can you name the four times? Well, they went down to Egypt for over 200 years before the Exodus. Then, later on, the 10 northern tribes exiled themselves from the Levites and the two more Southern tribes, which came to be called then “Judah”. It was not long after that the 10 northern tribes “Israel” were hauled off by Assyria to become scattered all over the vast Assyrian Empire. About 250 years later, Judah followed suit, due to its ever-increasing apostasy, being judged by God who allowed them to be exiled to the Babylonian Empire. Then, the worst exile of all happened in 70 CE. The last Temple was destroyed by the Romans, and the Judeans, the “Jews” were scattered all over the Middle East. Today, although most of the world’s Jews live in Israel, there is still a sizeable percentage that is still in exile. Let’s read psalm 13 now.
13 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) How long, Adonai?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
3 (2) How long must I keep asking myself what to do,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long must my enemy dominate me?
4 (3) Look, and answer me, Adonai my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.
5 (4) Then my enemy would say, “I was able to beat him”;
and my adversaries would rejoice at my downfall.
6 (5) But I trust in your grace,
my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety.
(6) I will sing to Adonai, because he gives me
even more than I need.
You can’t see it in this translation, but in the Hebrew, David asks “how long” (odd ahNAH) four times, one for each of the four future exiles. Can you hear his despair? It is clear David felt forgotten by God, even though we don’t know if there was a specific incident that precipitated his writing this psalm. Have you ever forgotten by God? So forgotten that you just wanted to die? (vs. 4). Apparently, David did. His melancholy was that deep.
“Look at me!”, David implores God.
“Answer me!”, David beseeches God.
“Enlighten my eyes!” David begs in anguish. The sages say that this last plea is an impassioned request for tremendous spiritual enlightenment. We see similar language in Psalm 19:9 “the law of the LORD is flawless, enlightening the eyes” and in Psalm 35:10 “by Your light we shall see light.”
Do you see any rescue answers from God to David between verses 4 and 5? I don’t. It’s not like the heavens opened up, choirs of angels sang, brilliant light shone all around and deliverance fell like the soft petals of a cherry tree during a hard, spring rain. No, that did not happen. Even though he cried out for answers and for God to at least turn His face toward him, we don’t see David getting any of that, do we?
Yet....something DID happen! There was a change in David’s attitude! God DID enlighten David’s eyes! Look at David’s beautiful affirmation in verses five and six. So much humility here, as well. There are four of these, which parallels the four “how longs” at the beginning of the psalm. Here it is in Hebrew:
וַאֲנִ֤י ׀ בְּחַסְדְּךָ֣ בָטַחְתִּי֮ יָ֤גֵ֥ל לִבִּ֗י בִּֽישׁוּעָ֫תֶ֥ךָ
אָשִׁ֥ירָה לַיהוָ֑ה כִּ֖י גָמַ֣ל עָלָֽי׃
6 (5) But I trust in your grace,
my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety.
(6) I will sing to Adonai, because he gives me
even more than I need.
I trust.
In what? In God’s “chesed”, His lovingkindness. In the CJB “grace”
I rejoice.
Why? Because our God saves! We don’t rejoice in our ability to save ourselves; that’s futile. We rejoice because our God graciously provides salvation for us.
I will sing.
Again...Why? Because I know that my God is a kind God, even when it does not feel like it to me.
Because I know that my God supplies everything I need, not all my wants, but my true needs.
No comments:
Post a Comment