{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! I hope you are having a good morning and an even better week. Are you ready to jump back into our Psalms study? This morning we will be looking first at Psalm 32.
The overall topic of Psalm 32 is repentance, and this is the first Davidic psalm he devoted to that topic. Indeed this psalm is deemed so important that it has been designated by Jews worldwide to be recited in connection with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar (Leviticus 16:30) and the day on which repentance is at its zenith in Jewish and Messianic practice. The psalm is recited on either the Shabbat preceding Yom Kippur (Ashkenazi tradition) or on the high, holy day itself.
Let’s look at Leviticus 16:30 first, which highlights the centrality and importance of Yom Kippur.
30 For on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean before Adonai from all your sins.
I’m not going to dive off into a teaching about the significance of Yom Kippur today in the life of the believer. That’s another teaching for another day.
Do we find Psalm 32 quoted in the Brit Chadasha? Yes, we find it quoted directly by the apostle Paul, in Romans 4. We’ll see that in just a moment as we look at verse 1 of this psalm. Here we go.
Before we read the first two verses, let’s note the superscription of this psalm. What is a “maskil” (mahs-KEEL)? According to Rashi, the sage, this designation indicates that the psalm was intended to be spoken by an orator called a Tour-geh-MAHN, who would take great care to traslate it and interpret it accurately, so that the meaning would be faithfully transmitted to the hearers of the assembly or nation. That this psalm has such a designation for its delivery shows how important David believed this psalm to be.
Interestingly, another sage, this one named Meiri, holds that the term maskil referred to a musical instrument, one that was especially enlightening to the human mind, that is, it helped the mind focus on the meaning of the words as well as inspiring the heart to repentance.
Let’s read together verses 1 and 2. And, I’m using the CJB this morning, as I have been throughout this study.
How blessed are those whose offense is forgiven,
those whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed those to whom Adonai imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit!
The literal Hebrew for “whose offense is forgiven” is “whose rebellious sin is lifted”.
The Talmud, in tractate Yoma, 36b, gives a distinction between various kinds of transgressions:
This sin, in Hebrew peh-SHAH, is a sin committed with the intention of throwing off God’s sovereignty over one’s life, a highly rebellious sin, that is.
A second type of transgression is the Hebrew “ah-VOHN”. This, too, is an intentional sin, but one that results from the person’s moral weakness in the face of them being overcome by some sort of sinful desire, not with the root being a rebellious spirit.
A third type of sin is described by the word khah-TAHhh, which is unintentional sin, sin that is the result of thoughtlessness or carelessness or even ignorance of the law.
It is worth noting that in the sacrificial system that was instituted from Father Yahweh through Moshe, there was no offering specified for avon or peh-shah, the intentional sins. That does not mean they could not be forgiven. In Exodus 34:7, in fact, Moshe prayed to Father Yahweh about the Hebrew people as follows: “Sovereign of the Universe, when the children of Israel sin against you, please consider their intentional sins as if they were merely unintentional errors.”
The Jews believed that sincere repentance would bring God’s forgiveness for even peh-shah, rebellious sin. Followers of Yeshua believe likewise. However, it is also a Jewish belief as enumerated in the Mishnah, that if you have enough good deeds “banked” they will cover over your chatah sin, your unintentional sin. That, of course, is not what followers of Yeshua believe at all. More about that later.
Verse 2 describes the person who has repented so sincerely that his iniquity, even the grossest sin, is not imputed to his account. He has been thoroughly forgiven and restored to relationship with Father Yahweh. The psalmist notes here the crucial element of there being no deceit present in the repentance and confession. What does this mean? It goes to sincerity of the person confessing and repenting. It is useless to attempt to deceive the One who knows all hearts anyway, but some people try. They may confess with their lips their sin, when their hearts are still desperately wicked, fully intending to hold on to that sin and even repeat it.
I’m reminded of dealing with young children as a principal. Often a couple of them would get at odds with each other. In the final stages of untangling the knot of broken friendships in my office, in my role as mediator, I would ask them to apologize to one another. Almost always, under duress, they would do so, merely to get me to release them and leave them be. However, they would merely be apologizing/repenting with their lips. Their deceitful hearts were still burning with resentment, and you could almost see them plotting silently how they were going to continue the fracas after they had left my presence, like Proverbs 26:11 describes a dog returning to eat its own vomit. In some cases, I would allow them to leave separately, because I could not trust them to avoid conflict on the way back to their classrooms!
I’m reminded of the verse in Romans 10:9. The apostle Paul “got it”. Listen:
“that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him form the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
I slipped into the King Jimmy translation there, because I was pulling that one from my childhood memory bank.
Confession, which is verbal (either silently or out loud), and belief, which makes it “real”. After all, if you truly believe, you will repent. You will turn from the sin and walk away in the opposite direction.
I mentioned that these verses are quoted in Romans 4:6-8. Let’s read those now.
6 In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:
7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered over;
8 Blessed is the man whose sin Adonai
will not reckon against his account.”
Verses 3-5 now.
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away
because of my groaning all day long;
4 day and night your hand was heavy on me;
the sap in me dried up as in a summer drought. (Selah)
5 When I acknowledged my sin to you,
when I stopped concealing my guilt,
and said, “I will confess my offenses to Adonai”;
then you, you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Selah)
Unlike many Christian denominations, my interpretation of Scripture demands that the life-changing decision of deciding to follow Yeshua be made by a person of age to understand the gravity of the decision being made. This is a controversial statement, I realize. When I made my decision, I was nine years old. Brain development experts will tell you that until a child is between 7 and 9, they do not have the physical/mental capability for formal thinking operations. No, I did not fully understand the import of my decision at that time. It was not until I was a teenager and began to see the dichotomy between the world and the walk of faith that my commitment began to expand and be strengthened. I mention this because some faith traditions baptize babies and declare them members of the family of God. This is not scripturally sound doctrine. Other children jump on the Jesus bandwagon in early elementary school, not understanding what they are even doing. They just raise their hand in children’s church, or walk the aisle in “big church” because they sense it is expected of them, that doing so is “the thing to do”. Peer pressure, parental pressure, family culture, etc. Just having an awareness of right vs wrong is not sufficient to lead a person to realize they need a Savior, in most cases. Am I saying that it is impossible for a young child to receive Yeshua? No, I’m not being exclusionary to that point. I’m saying it is highly unlikely that they understand what they are doing.
Now, why did I get into all that? Because, if you have been a follower of Yeshua for any period of time, you have felt the weight of verses 3-5 of Psalm 32. You have received the Spirit of God, the Ruach HaKodesh, into your very spirit, and He will almost immediately begin to convict you of sin in your life.
Sometimes, that conviction brings a response of denial, stubbornness...we hold onto that sin as tenaciously as Gollum held onto the “one ring to end them all”, his “precious”. That’s one of the greatest aspects of the Hobbit story. Gollum, it is said, had once been a normal hobbit. But, his slavish devotion, worship even, of the enchanted ring had turned him into a sniveling, slobbering, slimey cave dweller, who rejected human contact out of suspicion, distrust, paranoia - - that some other being would see and take his “precious” from him.
Just as Gollum would not willingly give up his ring, we refuse to confess and repent...for a time at least. My pastor has said that there is no more miserable person than the believer who is harboring sin in his or her heart. And, I agree with that statement. After all, the unregenerate person does not care! If he or she even believes in sin, it’s believed that no accountability will be had for it. So, they are not miserable.
Thank God, His Spirit continues to be heavy on our hearts, relentlessly, until we make things right with God and usually with our fellow man as well. That means that we stop hiding our sin from ourselves and from God. We confess, we acknowledge it. (Hebrew: Khah-TAH-tee) We AGREE with God’s standard of righteousness, and line up our hearts with his, confessing that we have violated that standard. We have missed the mark. The sages note that the statement “My sin I make known to you” (most literal translation from the Hebrew) is an ongoing present tense. This indicates that David walked in a state of continual confession, or in other words, confessing his sins readily, soon after he committed them or recognized he had committed them.
Notice the word “selah” at the end of verses four and five. This word, if you will recall, means “stop and ponder this; this is important. Meditate on this; learn from this.”
Back to Romans 4 for a moment. Paul quotes the opening verses of this psalm in the context of getting God’s forgiveness of sins. He points out that righteousness is not “earned”, but that rather, by the grace of God it is given as a free gift from our Heavenly Father to those who repent and receive that free gift. Go back and read the opening verses, 1-8 of Romans 4, and you will see that connection.
Are you seeing the similarities here between confession and repentance in both the old and new testaments, both the Tanakh, and the Brit Chadasha? Same God, same faith-based relationship system.
Let’s read down to the next Selah, which is at the end of verse 7.
6 This is what everyone faithful should pray
at a time when you can be found.
Then, when the floodwaters are raging,
they will not reach to him.
7 You are a hiding-place for me,
you will keep me from distress;
you will surround me
with songs of deliverance. (Selah)
With verse 6 David shifts into enumerating the blessings of having confessed, repented and been forgiven. First, he emphasizes that it is best to confess and repent “early” rather than later. In Isaiah 55:6, we are commanded to call on God, to seek Him, while He can be found. There is, sadly, a point where God gives people over to their persistent sinfulness, a condition that warps the mind, making it very difficult for that person to turn to God. Paul calls this “a reprobate mind” in Romans 1, verses 24 and there is also a reference to a debased mind in verse 28.
When I read the rest of verse 6 and 7, it makes me sadly think of a news story from this past Sunday. In real time, this was Father’s Day. A man jumped off a bridge at the very busy Atlanta interstate highway nexus known as Spaghetti Junction. Of course, he was killed. Special occasions like Father’s Day can heighten people’s sense of loss or inadequacy or failure. Our mistakes can appear gigantic on days like that. This poor soul became overwhelmed, obviously. The floodwaters spoken of here in verse 6 were raging, and they swamped his mind and spirit. He saw no better solution than to take his life. Floodwaters can be not only destructive, but powerfully deadly.
When we align our spirits with that of our King, we find peace and a renewed sense of belonging. It is inherent in his forgiveness of us, if we can accept it.
Note that this is not a prayer to never experience any afflictions. Afflictions are not only inevitable, they are also powerful tools to bring us back into the arms of our Father God. Instead, David is declaring here that those afflictions will not overwhelm us completely if we hide ourselves in the shadow of God’s wings, allowing Him to envelop us in glad songs of deliverance.
Let’s head toward the end of this psalm up now, by reading verse 8.
8 “I will instruct and teach you
in this way that you are to go;
I will give you counsel;
my eyes will be watching you.”
I grew up in an age before cell phones. It was exceedingly frustrating to my parents that I would be going somewhere, driving one of the family cars, and I would forget to call one of them when I arrived at my destination. Therefore, of necessity, my father developed a sophisticated network of community “spies”, who reported to them when they would see me out on the road. I can’t tell you the numer of times I’d come home in the evening and my dad would ask, “What were you doing over at Harold’s house this afternoon?” I had not told him I was going over there, or that I WAS over there. But, he found out, via his spies...or you might say, his “private eyes”. Even when he was not with me, at many times I was unaware, his “eyes” were on me.
One translation of the last phrase of verse 8 is: “I will signal you with my eye.” I’m sure every single one of your listeners has received an eye signal before. Children are often given “the hairy eyeball” by parents, who see their little offspring careening toward misbehavior, especially when this occurs in public and the parents want to avoid a scene. Later in life, you may receive eye signals that are part of dating and mating behavior. Those are more fun, to be sure! The Lord signals us with His eyes, as well, as a form of guidance. His Spirit within us does not leave us alone to grope along, aimlessly.
Furthermore, the Lord’s eyes are watching us at ALL times. They are watching us to see if we are walking in the path He has taught us to go. And, how does He teach us? His main tool of instruction is His Torah, which as I was mentioning on LAMB earlier this week, on another program, means “teaching” or “instruction”. God’s Word, the complete Torah, both old and new testaments, teach us the way we are to walk in God’s ways. His word makes us wise, enlightens us as to His character and plans, and shows us the proper life path to travel. What a precious gift!
I’ve had limited experiences, riding horses. When I was a pre-teen, I wanted a horse so bad! Yet, despite our 12 acres on the homeplace, there was really no place for a stable or pasture for a horse. Furthermore, my parents simply did not want to be bothered with one. Accordingly, I never received one. I do remember one memorable ride, though, at the home of distant cousins. I was on the back of this steed, and it began to trot. Having had no instruction on how to flex and move with a galloping horse, I froze, screamed and promptly fell of the animal. I was pretty banged up, and very aggravated that my lack of knowledge/training had led to this.
I’ve heard stories about horses who, when you gave them the command to go home, would obediently turn their noses toward home and proceed there, with very little guidance from the rider. Those are the exception, though. Horses, mules, oxen - - these animals are harnessed with bits, bridles, or in the case of oxen yokes, for a reason. Most of them have no understanding of their role in the cosmic order. They simply want to do exactly what they want to do WHEN they want to do it. Sound familiar? If you want a beh-heh-MOTE (the Hebrew word for a large quadraped) or behemoth, in English, to follow you, you must lead him by the bridle and bit. You must likewise restrain him from approaching, coming near you. Verse 9:
9 Don’t be like a horse or mule
that has no understanding,
that has to be curbed with bit and bridle,
or else it won’t come near you.
The sage Rashi points out that a beh-heh-MOTE cannot distinguish between a benevolent person who is operating for its own good and a malevolent person who is trying to harm it. I’m quoting from the Tehillim volume 1 of the ArtScroll Tanakh series, page 390 now.
“When one inserts a bit into their mouths to make them work they clamp their jaws shut and eagerly chew it. But when one combs and grooms them to cleanse and beautify them, they react angrily and must be muzzled to prevent them from biting.”
One of my first cousins-once-removed, Len, and his wife, Atha, own several dozen head of cattle. I want to read to you what his wife, Atha, posted on Facebook the day I was preparing this lesson.
Doing major cow work. If you think to yourself “oh those cows are so pretty with their sweet faces and looks….” You might want to witness what they turn into when coming into the alleyway, the squeeze chute and the head gate! Suddenly the bovine demons rise up. One ole gal really told Len off when he tagged her ear. Not just once either - she meant what she bellowed and just to make sure he heard it she did it three more times looking directly at him. Yeah, sweet my backside. That gal was ready to rumble.
My response to her post was “thank goodness for squeeze chutes and head gates, I’d say!”
The sage Rambam, in the Mishnah’s tractate Sanhedrin 111 comments that the difference between man and beast is that the beast can only be motivated to the will of the human by external methods. Man, however, can be motivated by an internal sense of right and wrong, and that those internal rebukes of the spirit are often far more effective than external ones. Still....
There are times when we act so obstinately toward the corrective hand of our loving heavenly Father, He has to use the equivalent of “squeeze chutes and head gates” for our own good. At the time, we rarely comprehend the “goodness” of His methods, and we may think we are in the worst sort of agony. But, we’re not. There is a worse agony and it is described in the first part of verse 10.
Many are the torments of the wicked,
but grace surrounds those who trust in Adonai.
11 Be glad in Adonai; rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Though it may seem that in this world the wicked prosper, it is an illusion. They live unfulfilled lives and go on to an eternity of torment, of perpetual agony. By contrast, even the Lord’s corrective methods toward those He loves are bathed in chesed, the Hebrew word for loving kindness.
We’ve been told by David what we should NOT be like in our daily walk. In verse 11, in addition to walking in an attitude of prayer (verse 6), we should be glad in Yahweh and rejoice that we are His, that we are positionally declared righteous in His Son. His righteousness has made us, His Bride, upright in heart, and because of that beautiful truth, we are to cry out in joy! I will add that the verb form of the verb “cry out” is a causal form. In other words, there is a double entendre here: not only are WE to cry out in joy, but additionally, our lives are to cause others to cry out in joy as well. As we rejoice over the bounteous goodness of our God, we should share our joy with all God brings into our sphere of influence so that they too can have their lives changed by the goodness of the one, true God.
With the brief time we have left, we are going to look at Psalm 33. This psalm is a hymn of praise to our Creator God, who since creation has “held it all together”. He is a god of order. The sage Malbim states that there are two ways in which God controls the world. One is by the laws of nature, which are pre-ordained and also immutable, unchanging. The second way is through his personal supervision and intervention. The Deists believe that God essentially set the universe like a clock. He got it up and running and then went off and left it to run on its own, according to natural laws. This belief is, of course, not what the Bible teaches. It contains some truth, but is mostly misleading by its incompleteness.
If you only believe God governs and creates order through His pre-set natural laws, then you can’t help but see the world as operating capriciously, arbitrarily, cruelly and without mercy at times. We have to look beneath that functioning “cloak” if you will, to see the active hand of the Almighty.
Is this psalm quoted in the NT? Not exactly, although there is affirmation of verse 6 in the book of John and in the book of Hebrews. Let’s examine verse 6, again the CJB.
By the word of Adonai the heavens were made,
and their whole host by a breath from his mouth.
Wow, that breath is powerful. He will, in the form of His Son, the Messiah, the Redeemer, slay His enemies similarly at the end of this age, by the breath of His mouth. We read that in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 NASB 95
Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
But, I’m jumping ahead of myself. Let’s also consider John 1:1-3, in terms of the making of the heavens in verse 6 of this psalm.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And finally, Hebrews 11 verse 3, CJB
3 By trusting, we understand that the universe was created through a spoken word of God, so that what is seen did not come into being out of existing phenomena.
Wow, what an amazing God! The symmetry and coordination of the forces in God’s universe have been likened to a symphony of well-tuned, well-played musical instruments, and a choir of beautiful voices, all led by a talented conductor. Think about that as we read this psalm in closing today.
I also want you to think about the national victories God gives His chosen people, and notice how they come about, in the later verses of this psalm. I was thinking about and praying over the Israel-Iran war as I read them yesterday.
Rejoice in Adonai, you righteous!
Praise is well-suited to the upright.
2 Give thanks to Adonai with the lyre,
sing praises to him with a ten-stringed harp.
3 Sing to him a new song,
make music at your best among shouts of joy.
4 For the word of Adonai is true,
and all his work is trustworthy.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the grace of Adonai.
6 By the word of Adonai the heavens were made,
and their whole host by a breath from his mouth.
7 He collects the sea waters together in a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear Adonai!
Let all living in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and there it was;
he commanded, and there it stood.
10 Adonai brings to nothing the plans of nations,
he foils the plans of the peoples.
11 But the counsel of Adonai stands forever,
his heart’s plans are for all generations.
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is Adonai,
the people he chose as his heritage!
13 Adonai looks out from heaven;
he sees every human being;
14 from the place where he lives
he watches everyone living on earth,
15 he who fashioned the hearts of them all
and understands all they do.
16 A king is not saved by the size of his army,
a strong man not delivered by his great strength.
17 To rely on a horse for safety is vain,
nor does its great power assure escape.
18 But Adonai’s eyes watch over those who fear him,
over those who wait for his grace
19 to rescue them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 We are waiting for Adonai;
he is our help and shield.
21 For in him our hearts rejoice,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 May your mercy, Adonai, be over us,
because we put our hope in you.
Shalom, shalom, l’hitraot!
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