{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.}
After a hiatus of over a month, today we returned to our study of the psalms, here on Mishkan Katan. And we find ourselves at Psalm 50. There were 10 writers of the psalms according to the sages, and today, we encounter one whose songwriting we have not encountered before. That writer is named Asaph. In addition to writing Psalm 50, Asaph also wrote several other psalms, namely psalms 73 through 83. This makes him, after King David, the most prolific individual Psalm writer. We glean some information about Asaph from other sources in the Tanakh. For example, first Chronicles 16 verses five and seven, and also first Chronicles 25 tell us that Asaph was the premier Levitical musician of his day. In first Chronicles 25 verse two we learned that he was not only a masterful composer, but that he was also blessed with a spirit of prophecy from God. In second Chronicles 29 verse 30, Asaph is called a seer. This is another word for prophet. And finally, we see that when King Hezekiah red dedicated the temple, he commanded the Levi to select some of the psalms of Asaph for that dedication ceremony. There has been some discussion among the sages that this man might have been one of the sons of Corach. However, there are others who maintain that that would be impossible, citing first Chronicles six verse 22 through 28. In the end, his accurate identity is not that important.
Before we jump into our study of Psalm 50 today, I can’t help but acknowledge the incredible events of late. When I am composing this lesson, we are celebrating Simchat Torah, in real time. The hostages of the 2-year Israel-Hamas war have just been released, on the 2-year anniversary of the onset of that terrible war. The entire nation of Israel is celebrating the joy of the end of the war, the hostages having come home and the joy of the Torah. What a fitting way to end Sukkot, known as The Season of our Joy. I can’t help but take a moment to praise our Creator, our Divine Mysterious Majesty, our Great God and King, for all the miracles we have witnessed over the past two years. Yes, over 900 Israeli soldiers gave their lives to rescue those 20 living hostages and about 30 more who were slaughtered in the war and whose bodies have yet to be recovered. But, a book or even books could be written, and probably will be written, to lay out the many, many miracles Hashem performed for His people and His most beloved land of the Earth.
Psalm 50’s main theme is our Heavenly Father, our Creator, revealing Himself to His chosen people, Israel. How timely, right? Studying this great psalm, as we consider all the great things Hashem has done for his people Israel, over the past two years!
Another key theme in this psalm is reverence for and a yearning for the Word of God, specifically the Torah. But, of course, we, on this side of history have the complete Word of God; so this can apply to both the Tanakh and the Brit Chadasha. Again, how timely that, as we have just celebrated Simchat Torah, we study this psalm, which is not directly quoted in the Brit Chadasha.
Let’s being this morning by reading the first 7 verses, which overall speak of God’s children drawing near to Him, and how important this is.
A psalm of Asaf:
1 The Mighty One, God, Adonai, is speaking,
summoning the world from east to west.
2 Out of Tziyon, the perfection of beauty,
God is shining forth.
3 Our God is coming and not staying silent.
With a fire devouring ahead of him
and a great storm raging around him,
4 he calls to the heavens above and to earth,
in order to judge his people.
5 “Gather to me my faithful,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. (Selah)
7 “Listen, my people, I am speaking:
Isra’el, I am testifying against you,
I, God, your God.
In this psalm, verse one, three names for Hashem are used: El, Elohim, and Yahweh. All are distinctly different. The first one mentioned, in verse 1 is El. Sometimes this name is seen as El Elyon. In the case of the latter, it is almost always translated as “God Almighty”, in the English. The name “el” can mean a generic god, almost always referring to false gods. But, when capitalized, it refers to the one, true God. The Targum, which is an Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, translates this name as meaning “powerful”, in the sense of God’s powerful, compassionate mercy. Then, the name “Elohim” appears directly after “El”. This name connotes Hashem’s role as Supreme Judge. In Joel 4:1-2, the prophet foretells this function of Hashem’s being. Placing El next to Elohim in such a manner combines to describe Hashem as the Judge of all Judges, the Mightiest of the Mighty. And then, next comes the name Yahweh, which out of respect we substitute “Hashem”, which means The name, and which is the most personal, relatable name of God our Father, given in the Tanakh.
When I first read verse two, I thought the psalmist was referring to the constancy of God’s maintenance of creation, how He summons the earth each morning as the sun rises and how He bids it move through its courses throughout the hours of the day and night. However, the sages indicate that this verse is a summons to all people of the earth, calling all mankind to seek Him, to serve Him.
The sages go on to say that in the end of days, the Almighty will summon the pagan nations of the world to the battle of Gog and Magog, where he will exercise great judgment upon them (Elohim) and great chesed, kindness, mercy, upon His chosen nation of Israel, (manifested in the name El). So once again, mankind will see El and Elohim operating as one, and at the same time.
In verse two, the city of Jerusalem, Tzion, is singled out for its beauty, out of all the cities of the earth. Isn’t that amazing? And, not only was this so for thousands of years, it remains so today! The Jewish sages say that when the foundation of the Earth was laid, it was laid upon a Foundation Stone, the rock on which the ark of the covenant was later placed. There is a lot of controversy surrounding what stone may be the actual Foundation Stone, which can be found on the Temple Mount today. But, that stone aside, it is clear that Jerusalem, that is Tzion, is the wellspring and consummation of beauty in the earth.
Verse 3 reminds us that Hashem does not always act as we would like for Him to. He has His own ways, which are perfect, far higher and greater than ours. His ways are inscrutable, past our understanding. He chooses to conceal Himself at times. We pray for Him to act, but we often pray that He will act in accordance with our will, rather than praying He will act to fulfill His own will in the earth. We ask him to not be silent, but often in our carnal ways, we want him to say what we want to hear. Is this not so? Perhaps, because of our human tendency to re-make Hashem in our image, the Mashiach taught us to pray in this manner “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.”
Verse 3 speaks of the fearsome appearance of the Divine Mysterious Majesty. In so many of those - - in Daniel 7, in Revelation 1, in Ezekiel, to Moses at the Burning Bush, and elsewhere - - fire is present. Here it is a gobbling fire, a consuming fire. The sages postulate that it is a fire that is wrathful and consumes the wicked, in this instance, although that does not appear to be the case in all of the fiery manifestations of Hashem throughout Scripture.
You’ve either met people or heard of them who, when they enter a room, their presence electrifies the very air. They may not even be famous people. But, there is something about them that changes the atmosphere when you are around them. In a similar manner, but on a much larger scale, turbulence accompanies Him. I am reminded of how often in Scripture when God appears, there are earthquakes, the mountains shake or the seas heave and so forth. His very presence causes the earth to react in somewhat violent ways. In one commentary, this comparison was given. With earthly rulers, in order for the regent to be held in awe by his people, he had to keep his distance from them. The closer they got to him, the more they would conclude that he, too, was a mere mortal. By contrast, the more one gets to know Hashem, the Almighty God, the greater the awe, the greater the reverence, the greater the turbulence in His presence.
In the remaining verses, 4-7, Hashem is gathering to Himself all people groups, His chosen, Israel, and the other 70 nations of the earth listed in Genesis, at the Tower of Babel incident. There are some relevant prophecies here, Ezekiel 38:21 and Zechariah 14:13. Both speak of there being such a storm of confusion when this judgment descends that the men of the pagan nations will turn upon each other and begin to slaughter their own brothers!
In verse 5, the small group remaining are God’s devout ones, those who belong to Israel. When written, it was determined that this referred to the people of the nation of Israel, those within its community who followed Hashem. That does not pertain merely to those who are named Israel merely by nationality, because there were evil doers among the Hebrew people and later the Jews also. These are those who drew near to Hashem, who sought Him out and to the best of their ability followed Him. In the days after the finished work of Messiah Yeshua, this refers to all those who worship Hashem in Spirit and in truth, through the divine work of His only begotten Son, Yeshua. The Bride of Messiah has been grafted in to Israel, so that all the promises of Hashem to Israel now apply to those of us who follow Yeshua His Son, as well. The phrase “by sacrifice” here refers to the voluntary offerings made by the people of God at the Tabernacle or Temple, those animals who became agencies of the people “drawing near” to Hashem. Through Mashiach and His one, eternal offering of Himself, we who belong to Him are at any time able to draw near to Hashem, because we come to Him through the merits of His holy Son, the one perfect “sacrifice”.
For those that reject the idea that wicked people hide among the Jewish people, you don’t have to look any further than Zechariah 13:8-9 and Zephaniah 3:11-12. Hashem will remove the wicked people from the chosen nation and obliterate them, leaving a remnant. The verses in Zechariah predict that as many as 2/3 of those within its will not survive, but that only 1/3 will “pass through the fire” and “be refined as silver is refined”. Of course, fire refines silver, which hearkens back to the divine fire mentioned a few moments ago.
Messiah put it like this in Matthew 7:22-24 (TAW) - -
“Many will say to me in that day, “My Master, my Master! Have we not prophesied in your name? 23. And then I will profess to them that from everlasting, I have not known you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity! 24. Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine and does them, will be likened to a wise man who built his house upon a rock.
Sobering words, for sure.
Verses 8 through 15 put the giving of the various Temple offerings into eternal perspective. It was never about giving Hashem something we “own”, because we never “owned” it, truly, in the first place. Let’s read.
8 I am not rebuking you for your sacrifices;
your burnt offerings are always before me.
9 I have no need for a bull from your farm
or for male goats from your pens;
10 for all forest creatures are mine already,
as are the animals on a thousand hills;
11 I know all the birds in the mountains;
whatever moves in the fields is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is mine, and everything in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer thanksgiving as your sacrifice to God,
pay your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me when you are in trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
He is not rebuking His people for making burnt offerings, but He is saying the they are not His primary, constant concern. After all, as it says in verse 10, all the animals and creatures belong to Him already. One translations says it like this: “the Behemoth of a thousand mountains.” In the Bible, animals are classified often by how they move. The Hebrew word “behemot” refers to a large quadruped that moves the way cattle and horses move. This is where we get our English word “behemoth”, from that Hebrew word. In verse 12, He is not hungry, and if He was He would not come to us for His food, because everything in the world belongs to Him. What He is interested in, truly, is contained in verses 14 and 15 - - that our heart attitudes be right. That we draw near to Him in spirit and in truth, with thanksgiving to Him for all His gifts, “with confession (as Rashi’s translation says) as your sacrifice”, and that we honor Him with our lives. If we jump to the last verse of the psalm, we see this reiterated.
Verse 23 - -
“Whoever offers thanksgiving/confession
as his sacrifice honors me;
and to him who goes the right way
I will show the salvation of God.”
From the Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu Rabbah, 28 - - “My sons, My beloved ones, am I lacking anything that I need to make demands of you? All that I ask is that you should love each other, honor each other and respect each other.”
The Hebrew phrase Korban Todah means “thanksgiving offering”. There is a branch of Messianic thought that says that all the Temple offerings will still be active and being performed in the next Temple, the one at the end of the age. However, the Sages say that in the post-Messianic era, while the other offerings will be discontinued, the thanksgiving offering will still be brought. This is recorded in Tanchuma Emor 14. This teaching aligns with Christian thought to a great degree. The Korban Todah reflects the deep appreciation of the ways of HaShem; it indicates a true humility of spirit.
But, looking back to Sinai, even in the clean animals specified in the Torah for offerings Hashem demonstrates His lovingkindness. Of the 10 species categories of clean animals, only 3, the most common 3, are required. And, these are the most readily available - - the goat /sheep, the oxen and the dove family.
Now, in verses 16-22 Hashem is addressing the workers of iniquity. Let’s read verses 16-20.
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right do you have to proclaim my laws
or take my covenant on your lips,
17 when you so hate to receive instruction
and fling my words behind you?
18 When you see a thief, you join up with him,
you throw in your lot with adulterers,
19 you give your mouth free rein for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit;
20 you sit and speak against your kinsman,
you slander your own mother’s son.
These are those who:
**Speak His decrees and bear on their lips His covenant (in other words, those who “give lip service” to Hashem, but not “heart service”)
**hate discipline
**throw His words away from themselves, behind themselves
**who don’t hold thieves to account
**who hang out with adulterers
**who speak deceitfully
**who spread contempt about those outside the family of faith and then come to speak evil of their brothers as well
Hashem says in verse 21 that His silence has been taken as agreement by these evildoers. They either think that Hashem is on their side, or that He does not care. Regardless, they are dead wrong. His silence does not imply agreement or approval. Hashem is warning these people to consider their ways before it is too late. He is urging them to change their ways and turn their hearts toward Him while the opportunity still exists. Once His judgment falls, it will be too late.
Verses 21-22:
21 When you do such things, should I stay silent?
You may have thought I was just like you;
but I will rebuke and indict you to your face.
22 Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to save you.
We have already mentioned the final verse of this psalm, but it ends with God’s compassion. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And speaking of repentance, we find ourselves at the doorstep of possibly the greatest psalm of repentance in the entire Tanakh, Psalm 51. David is called “a man after God’s own heart”. He could not have been known by that moniker had he not been also a man of repentance, a man with a heart tender to the voice of God calling him to return. In the Midrash Shocher Tov 4:4, the rabbis teach “whoever wishes to repent should scrutinize the deeds of David.” And, in the Moed Katan 16b, we find David described like this: “the man who made the yoke of repentance sublime.”
Yet, even the most earnest among us have our blind spots, and David had a huge one toward his actions with Bathsheba. He could not see his culpability in the death of her husband, nor in David’s own adulterous actions with her. Therefore, in His kindness, Hashem sent the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin and to show him the path of return, teshuvah, repentance. And, after he did repent, David wrote this psalm, whose theme is pentinence and purity.
It has been customary to recite this psalm on the Sabbath that the Torah portion of the Red Heifer is read, shortly before Passover. The ashes of the Red Heifer were used to purify, if you recall what you have learned about that very special offering, one which pictures so beautifully the future work of our Messiah, who has now come and whose blood purifies us, His children.
We are going to begin with this psalm today, but I am in no way certain, as I prepare this lesson, that we will finish it. I don’t like to stop in the middle of a psalm, but for the sake of time that may be what I will do.
Allright, let’s get started. You are probably already looking at this psalm in your copy of the Scriptures. That being the case, I will not read every verse aloud this time.
As already mentioned, the foreword identifies the author of the psalm as David. Verse two records the occasion of the psalm, the setting, if you will. Nathan the prophet, not to be confused with Nathan, David’s son, and the ancestor of Joseph of Bethlehem. Probably, David named that son after the prophet, Nathan, whom he obviously greatly respected. Not all prophets were inspired by Hashem to write Scripture, were they? Nathan was such a one.
The sages, particularly Dorash Moshe emphasize that Nathan did not go to confront David until after Bathsheba bore to him her first son. The references for this are 2 Samuel 11:27 and 12:2. This was at least 9 months after David’s initial transgression. Why did it take David so long to repent? The sages postulate that it was because he had come up with a number of “righteous” rationalizations, to excuse his sin.
Let’s refresh our minds on this story, although most of my listeners/viewers will know it. Turn with me to 2 Samuel 11 and let’s begin reading in verse one. I’m reading from the Complete Jewish Bible version.
Yet this was a very serious sin, actually two sins, because not only did he commit adultery with Bathsheba; he killed her husband beforehand. This is not found in Scripture, but in the commentary to 2 Samuel 12:2 Alshich explains that it was a mercy Hashem waited this long to confront David or to punish him for his sin. Such a severe sin, committed by the agent of Hashem on earth, could only be atoned for by the forfeiture of another life. In waiting until the child was born, who became ill shortly after birth and died soon after, his life took the place of his father’s.
Then, this is another strange story from the Midrash….again, not scripture, just commentary. The story is told that when David slew Goliath, he encountered Uriah the Hittite, who helped him find the place in Goliath’s armor where David could decapitate him. At that time, Uriah was not a Jewish convert. Uriah said he’d help David if he gave him, Uriah, a Jewish woman as his wife. David agreed. Hashem was angry with David for promising a daughter of Israel to a pagan, and therefore put Uriah and Bathsheba together, even though it had been pre-ordained from the six days of creation that Bathsheba should be David’s wife. Then, David usurped the plans of Hashem again when he prematurely took her as his wife, before the proper time.
As I said, it is commentary, part of the Oral Law.
Ok, verse 1, the first part. In the Hebrew it is “KhaNAYnee, Elohim, k’ khasDEHkhah, which literally means “show grace to me, Elohim, like your lovingkindness”. Here, David chose to appeal to Hashem not as the divine dispenser of mercy, but instead he called Him by the name that connotes the Enforcer of Strict Justice. I find that odd, don’t you? I mean, if it were me, I’d appeal to God’s merciful side, because I would know I could not ever, ever measure up to his standards of holiness.
In verse 1, the word “transgressions” is used, the plural, which indicates David is asking forgiveness for the two sins, the murder and also the adultery.
Verse 2 goes on to use the word “iniquity”, which creates a residue of sin even deeper than transgression, even an intentional transgression. A transgression is an obvious offense that is clear-cut. But, iniquity is more subtle, more covert, and therefore leaves a deeper stain, as a stubborn stain in fabric, which can be removed only by thorough washing. Yesterday, for example, I was about to re-wear a shirt that had not been laundered. I noticed near the hem of the back of the shirt that there was some sort of crumbly-like stain. I was able to take a rag and, more or less, brush it off the surface of the fabric. Such a blemish is a picture of UNintentional sin (a form of transgression). Had it been a deeper, more stubborn stain, I would have had to pre-treat it and launder it, perhaps more than once, in order to remove the deep-seated stain. This is the difference between transgression and iniquity.
In verse 3 we see that David did not attempt to hide his sin. This admission of guilt is in itself a virtue, although not a virtue sufficient to obtain forgiveness. Only God can absolve of sin, of course, and none of us is worthy of it. The verb tense David used here was the ongoing present tense, which indicates that he would never forget what he did, as long as he lived. He reiterated that when he said that his sin looms before him incessantly.
The sages have a difference of opinion about repeated confession of sin. Some believe that repeated confession of sin is like “a dog who returns to its vomit” to ingest it again, that once a sin is confessed, we should leave it there, in Christian terms that it is “under the blood”. Others say that we repeated confession of our sins is desirable, and they use these words of David as “proof” of that position. However, there are some of us who so vigorously beat ourselves up over past sins that we begin to refuse to accept the Lord’s forgiveness. And, our constant self-berating of our souls renders us no good to the advancement of His kingdom. It instead causes us to believe we are unable to accomplish any good thing, nor are we entitled to receive any good thing from His hand. When we refuse to forgive ourselves, it warps our minds and souls, sometimes causing us to refuse to accept His forgiveness as well.
One example of how paralyzing and sidelining this attitude can be is found in Leviticus 9, where Aaron has to be convinced by Moses to accept the role of high priest. His egregious sin of allowing the golden calf incident to proceed, a horrible event that led to the deaths of thousands of people, was forever etched into Aaron’s mind. His key role in that must have haunted him the rest of his life, much as David was saying here in verse 3. Likewise, Aaron’s sin was “ever before him.” Therefore, Moses had to calm Aaron’s fears and persuade him that it was indeed Hashem’s calling that he be the high priest.
I believe the Bible teaches that we should confess all of our sins, return to Him and accept God’s forgiveness for them. As Yeshua said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, in John 8 - - “go and sin no more”. She was forgiven for her sins, but she was to not continue to sin in that manner any longer. As I taught last week, some of you may not know that that story, that passage at the end of John 7 and the first part of John 8 does not appear in the earliest manuscripts of the book of John, and for that reason, most scholars believe it to have been an insertion by believers who lived hundreds of years after Yeshua lived. But, I digress and must get back on track here.
As we looked at 2 Samuel 12:13, which records this story, we find David saying the same thing he said here in verse 4 of psalm 51. In 2 Samuel he said, “I have sinned to Hashem.” Here, it reads, “against you, and you only, have I sinned.” Common sense tells us that David also sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba, other soldiers affected by Uriah’s death and also the baby boy child Bathsheba bore, because, after all, his young life was cut short by the sins of his father. However, in some cases, the offense ran so deep that it could not be repaired in this life. Uriah, after all, was dead, as were some of the soldiers in his unit, affected by David’s decision to move Uriah to the front lines. David was unable to ask forgiveness of them. But, in the final analysis, no matter our sins, they all affect others to some degree and they all are offenses against Hashem, first and foremost. David referenced his sinning “in the eyes of God”, perhaps because this devastatingly horrible set of sins was set into motion by the lust of his (David’s) eyes.
The next verse, verse 5, teaches a very important truth about the nature of man. Many Jews believe that man is born “good”, that is that the soul is pure as the baby emerges from the womb, but most Christians believe that the legacy of our ancestors Adam and Eve is that the soul is born sin-sick, with a “sin nature”, so to speak and those who take the latter position cite this verse as proof of it.
We will end our study today by looking at verse 6, which teaches an extremely important truth, that we be honest with ourselves about our sins, our guilt before a holy God. It may say in your translation, “inner person” or “inmost heart” or “in the concealments” or something similar to these. There is a Hebrew word here “ShooKOTE”, which the sages say means “kidneys”, as the kidneys are concealed and covered with protecting fat. The ancient Hebrews considered the kidneys to be the seat of human intellect. References for this are Job 38:36 and Psalm 7:10 and Psalm 16:7
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