{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! This psalm continues David’s tirade against his murderous enemies. He also continues to speak of his complete trust in God to deliver him from these rich and powerful men. It is a psalm of endurance. The sage Rashi calls this psalm a hymn of the nation of Israel in exile, a seemingly endless exile. Most of us today do not remember when there was no modern nation of Israel. The nation last May celebrated its 77th birthday. So, Jewish or not, those of us born in the 50s and onward….we have little sense of the national exile of the Jews. By and large, Jews around the world realize that persecution against Jews is becoming more intense, especially since Oct. 7th, 2023. Still, many of them do not see the nation of Israel as a safe haven for them. They believe they are just as safe in their current country of residence. After I wrote these words a few days ago, the Bondi Beach, Australia incident happened. How many more of these have to occur before Jews around the world wake up and decide to return to their ancestral homeland? I believe that if I were ethnically Jewish and if I could immigrate, I would. But, that is hard to say definitively. I am certain that, as we continue on through these “last days”, the numbers of Jews who do return to the national homeland will greatly increase.
As we begin to look at this psalm, we notice it has 12 verses. In the superscription, we see reference to the Yedushun instrument, as was the case also in psalm 39. This instrument in the Temple orchestra has been lost to time, as have the others. However, this instrument is indicated when the subject matter of the music is persecution or oppression. That is certainly the case in Psalm 62.
Let’s look at the first two verses.
1
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
If you have ever tried to keep a young child quiet, you know the struggle. Perhaps it was in a worship service. I can remember, pre-“screens” and before we had “nurseries”, that all the younglings were in the worship service. If a baby started crying, one of the family members simply took it outside and calmed it. Today, the prevailing opinion is - - the parents need a break from their kids. So, let’s put them in a nursery room with a volunteer (who then has to miss the worship service) where the child will sometimes cry incessantly for his or her parent, etc. So, the parents need a break? That’s what grandparents and other extended family are for. Ok, off that soapbox. I think it’s ridiculous.
Anyway, the point is that it is very difficult for us “children” to wait in silence before our Heavenly Father. Do you do this? Come into His presence and silently wait? I confess I don’t. Here is David, who is in desperate need of rescue from his enemies, and what does he do? He does not go storming the gates of heaven, demanding rescue, demanding to know how God is going to bring it about, etc. No, he comes into God’s presence and waits in silence. This is an appropriately reverent way to approach the King. Think about your own children. IF, and it’s a big “if”, in my case, one of them came into your presence and without saying anything just sat down with you, what would be your natural response? I’d be scared and fearing the worst, lol. Regardless, I’d immediately ask, “What is it, Son?” “What’s up?” And, then, likely, my child would tell me. But, that’s not usually how it goes, is it? Either in our physical relationships here on Earth, or with our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
The word “alone” appears twice in these two verses, and it appears all throughout this psalm. “Alone” is a highly exclusionary word. David is cutting himself off from any other forms of rescue. “Alone” excludes all other power, except for Hashem’s power. This is pure conviction on the part of David, unadulterated faith in none other than El Elyon, Almighty God.
The fortress imagery is foreign to most of us, as we have not experienced life in a fortress. We live in our towns, suburbs, communities, etc., where we generally roam freely, without fear of attack from marauding forces. Such an attack is always a remote possibility; again, I refer to terrorism like what happened in Bondi, Australia a couple nights ago. However, it is a possibility SO remote that we would be mentally ill if we all walked around in abject fear. In our current day, we have no need to live in a fortress. I’ve been thinking that the closest thing we have to a fortress today might be out virus-protection programs on our technology. Unlike the physical attack, attacks on our devices and our personal information are always likely. This is why we pay monthly fees for anti-virus protection. However, they do it, these tools serve as fortresses around our most vulnerable information.
The seatbelt in the car is another such “fortress”. Those of us who are wise immediately buckle that belt into place before we leave the parking spot. Neither of these modern-day examples are fool-proof. On the other hand, Hashem IS fool-proof protection. That’s not to say we will never experience hardship or even downright evil which He in His wisdom allows from time to time. But, we can be sure that our faith is not misplaced.
Notice at the end of verse 2, the psalmist says, “I shall not falter greatly.”
Do you falter? I most assuredly falter. Often, I marvel that the Lord God saw fit to redeem me, one of the LEAST deserving. We all have our minor failures of faith, of the practice of our faith. I have them every, single day.
Another interpretation of this statement is that, when we go on the offensive spiritually, to accomplish a task the Lord has given us to do, we will go forth in full confidence that God is with us. We might be tempted to shrink back in fear, but that is only a minor little stumble. We can have the confidence that, if God has called us to it, then He will see us through it.
With the next verse, David begins to directly address his enemies. The sage Sforno believed that David was here talking about the nearby nation of Ammon, who had dealt treacherously with him and toward Israel. David went on to attack the capital city, Rabbah, and was victorious.
3
How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
David is speaking here of “murder by words”. Words can be used as destructive weapons, to be sure, and have at times caused actual death. In David’s case, his treacherous enemies tried to depose him from his throne through slander and then, when they did not work, through outright physical assault with the intent to remove him by murdering him. All the while, these evil people pretended to flatter and bless him, although on the inside they were cursing him. Rashi’s commentary says this:
“These murderers are so extraordinarily vicious because they are terrified lest some man challenge them by rising to a position of authority which would enable him to administer the punishment they so justly deserve. Therefore, they devise rash acts of terror to destroy any potential opposition.”
A leaning wall or a tottering fence are perpetually on the brink of destruction. It is only a matter of time before gravity is successful in bringing either of them to the ground.
Another commentator, Ohel Ya’akov, notes that as a person becomes more successful and visible in life, he or she grows more vulnerable to the 1000 little cuts of enemies. A wily hypocrite sets the victim up first by complimenting and praising him. Then, later, when prestige is increased, the perpetrator/enemy slanders him, which makes the victim’s fall even more disgraceful.
In this psalm, David uses the bookend approach. He begins by asserting his complete trust in God as his only salvation. Then, as we just saw in verses 3 and 4, he acknowledges the tactics of his enemies, and then for the final bookend, David again repeats his faithful assertions about God’s power, might, protection and deliverance, as he addresses the nation of Israel. Verses 5 through 8 now.
5
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Basically, when faced with any circumstance of life, we have the choice of whether to lean into Hashem or lean into “princes”, that is, human allies. Elsewhere, in Psalm 146:3, the psalmist says this: “Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.” (NASB 1977)
Now, obviously, we have to interact with other people, making transactions, deals, alliances. Obviously, we can’t exist entirely on our own. But, our faith must not be in their assistance. Overarching all of that, our first and supreme trust must be in God. David here is saying to all Israel, “follow my example”, with his reference to “O people”.
What we often do, though, rather than trusting Him and pouring our heart out before Him is to run and hide from Him, trying everything we can possibly do to “handle it” ourselves. Isn’t that crazy? But, that’s what we often do!
Using another child analogy. It’s like when the child drops the glass jar of jam onto the kitchen tile floor. It shatters. It splatters. Instead of calling “mommy!”, he or she is ashamed, afraid, and accordingly goes about trying to gather up the shards, gets cut, which adds droplets of blood to the jam on the floor. Then, attempts are made at wiping everything up, which smears the blood and jam further. Often, the best white dishcloth is used for this purpose, ruining it. I could go on and on, with this somewhat humorous example, although if you have experienced something like this, it was not very funny, was it?
Our Father longs for us to pour our hearts out to Him, acknowledging our dependence on Him alone, so that He alone can be our refuge.
A key component of this pouring out is submitting our will to His, allowing our rogue wills to be brought into perfect alignment with His. Someone once famously said that prayer is not about trying to change God’s mind; it is, rather, to align our will to His. When we realize that He ONLY has our best interests in mind, then, regardless of how dark our circumstances look to our human, limited eyes, we will know we can trust His will to be perfect.
Let’s finish up the psalm now with verses 9-12.
9
Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
10
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
11
Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12
and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.
The psalmist is making the point in verse 9 that it does not matter if a human ally is rich or poor; they are all limited in their ability to give help. Verse 10 refers to the follow of trusting in one’s own riches, and especially those riches that have been gotten through sinful actions. Extortion, property that a person unlawfully withholds from someone who owes a debt, bribery, robbery - - this type of wealth is not a source for trust, but neither is wealth that is gained through honest means. None of it will give hope or rescue.
The psalmist ends with one last affirmation of God’s almighty power and steadfast love and the assertion that, as a general principle, a man will see reward for his good work in this earthly age, as well as punishment for his transgressions. But, if it is not seen during his earthly life, the righteous Judge will do the final rendering and accounting at the judgment seat in the world to come. Even those of us who claim Yeshua as our Mashiach, and follow Him, know that that the Brit Chadasha teaches we will all stand before His judgment seat, to give an account of the deeds we did while in our earth suits, our bodies. He is our Peace, who took the judgment for our sins. However, our eternal rewards will be weighed and affected by how we walked, as He walked.
This seems like a good place to mention that psalm 62:12 is directly quoted in the Brit Chadasha, in Matthew 16:27 and in Romans 2:6: These verses directly echo Psalm 62:12, stating God will reward each person according to their deeds, tying into the Messiah's coming judgment.
Now, on to Psalm 63.
I doubt that many of us have suffered from prolonged, extreme thirst. I have heard that certain cancer treatments and/or other medical interventions can cause extreme physical thirst. Prolonged lack of liquid nourishment, more than 3 days, can lead to physical death. In fact, even more than food, the agony of acute thirst is the most urgent and intense of human needs. After all, one can fast for weeks and still live. By contrast, on a regular basis, when we experience thirst, we go drink something right away. On the surface, this psalms seems to be talking about physical thirst. The psalm’s superscription tells us that David was seeking refuge from pursuers when he found himself in a parched wasteland, the Judean desert. I have traveled through this area, and it is as dry and dusty as can be. At the time I was in the luxury of a car. I could not imagine being on foot, out in that arid climate. Yet, this was David’s situation. Saul and his army were pursuing him, with no life-giving water to quench his physical thirst.
David had a peculiar genius for being able to compose hymns of praise in situations of the highest danger and adversity.
David took this situation as an opportunity to write a psalm about a more important kind of thirst, spiritual thirst. Like physical thirst, spiritual thirst is debilitating, if not quenched. It shows an extreme need for the waters of life, only available from Hashem. The person who is spiritually thirsty longs to gaze on the face of God in prayer and to discover in God’s word, God’s ways. Amos 8:11 speaks of times when people will be thirsty for the word of God. That verse says:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.” (NASB)
Simultaneously, in our day, we see this thirst, where people are so hungry for the gospel of Yeshua, which transforms lives, as well as those who completely reject that same message. The latter group is thirsty, but goes to the imitations sent by the imposter, by haSatan, to get its thirst quenched. Yeshua shared this message with the Samaritan woman at the watering well, a woman who had tried unsuccessfully to quench her soul’s thirst. He said, in John 4, starting with verse 13 - -
13 Yeshua answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!”
Let’s begin reading this great psalm. Verse 1.
(1) O God, you are my God;
I will seek you eagerly.
My heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you
in a land parched and exhausted,
where no water can be found.
The word translated “longs” here is the Hebrew word “baMAHHHHH”, a word that in all of scripture is unsurpassed in expressing intense desire, a longing of unsurpassed intensity. It is a spirit word that correlates to and conveys the urgency of physical thirst to the point of dying. Even the very land itself was “exhausted” due to lack of water. This wilderness is not only hot and dry. To the east it is bordered by the Dead Sea, which has the highest salt concentration of any water body on earth. Therefore, the very air in that desert area is saturated with salt, which blows off the water. These conditions increase a person’s thirst immensely.
(2) I used to contemplate you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and glory;
The Hebrew word for “contemplate” here, or “behold” in some translations, (Khah-ZAH) goes beyond the mere “seeing” (rah-AH) that occurs in the second phrase of the verse. Khah-ZAH is a verb that describes the spiritual vision experienced by prophets and other holy men. Seeing with the eyes of the heart attuned to Hashem.
The next four verses now:
3) for your grace is better than life.
My lips will worship you.
(4) Yes, I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
(5) I am as satisfied as with rich food;
my mouth praises you with joy on my lips
(6) when I remember you on my bed
and meditate on you in the night watches.
In verse 3, the word translated “grace” here is the Hebrew word “chesed”, which is usually translated “lovingkindness”. The commentators say that this verse is saying that, no matter how good things are in this present world, the joys of the world to come, where Hashem’s lovingkindness will be all over the righteous in that day, will be better. Hashem’s lovingkindness far exceeds any similar kindnesses bestowed man upon man in this life.
Years ago my son was dating a young lady who gave me an interesting Christmas gift. It was a word board with lots of plastic letters. I mulled over what to write on that board and finally decided on this verse, Psalm 63:5. As someone who has struggled with food addictions throughout my life, this verse spoke to me deeply. The satisfaction I find in God is greater than the satisfaction gained from eating delicious food. And, then the latter half of the verse speaks of the higher calling of our lips, that is to praise Hashem joyfully with them. These words of praise should be as sweet and pleasant to my lips as are fat and abundant delicacies. The sages taught that if a person went to sleep with his mind on the things of God, in whose presence he would then sleep, he would arise from his bed the next morning with energy and vigor.
There was not enough room on the word board for verse 6, although it is a continuation of verse 5. The sages say that these two verses together mean that nighttime, when lying on the bed, the mind is free from other concerns of the day and can then concentrate its thoughts on the various attributes of Hashem. The word translated “bed” here in verse 6 is actually the word “couches” in the Hebrew. It is believed by the sage Radak that David used the plural of “couch” because while he was fleeing from Saul he laid his head in a different place every night. The phrase “night watches” corresponds to the dictum from the Talmud that the night is divided into three equal portions, each portion called a “watch”.
Psalm 62 began with a pair of “bookends” and Psalm 63 ends with a pair of bookends. Let’s read the remaining verses of this psalm and let you see if you can identify them.
(7) For you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
(8) my heart clings to you;
your right hand supports me.
(9) But those who seek to destroy my life —
may they go to the lowest parts of the earth.
(10) May they be given over to the power of the sword;
may they become prey for jackals.
(11) But the king will rejoice in God.
Everyone who swears by him will exult,
for the mouths of liars will be silenced.
Did you see it? Bookend 1 is verses 7 and 8. Verses 9 and 10 are in between the bookends, and verse 11 is the final bookend. This got me to thinking that bookends are a dying breed. Today’s children use few physical books, to begin with. Most of their reading is electronic. We have fewer bookshelves than we ever have had since the advent of the printing press. I ought to do an experiment and ask several young people if they know what a bookend even is. Well, my audience here is usually the more seasoned of believers. I am assuming you all know what bookends are.
At any rate, David always ends his psalms on a high note of affirmation about His God.
Before we move on to Psalm 64, is Psalm 63 quoted in the Brit Chadasha? No, it is not directly quoted or explicitly cited.
Psalm 64, although written by David 500 years before the prophet Daniel, eerily is echoed in Daniel’s behavior. Like David his ancestor, Daniel was a man of selfless dedication to his calling as in the service of El Elyon. He was a man of deep prayer, whose faith did not waver. The commentators make many comparisons from Psalm 64 to Daniel and to the 6th chapter of his book. We will look at those as we study this psalm to end our session today. Could David have foreseen the events of Daniel’s life, writing Psalm 64 as a prophecy? We don’t know, but we can be sure Daniel was familiar with this psalm and was likely inspired by it.
In Daniel 6, the Persians have taken over the Babylonian Empire, the one who brought Daniel and the other Jews to Babylon in the first place. The newly installed king, Darius the Mede, set up the governing structure of the new empire, by installing 120 satraps to rule over the people. Daniel, who had proved his mettle already, was one of three men who were over those 120 satraps. By Daniel 6, the great man of God was already well into his senior years, some say around 82. And, you know, some of these 120 satraps did not have the respect for Daniel he deserved. They were jealous of his high position, and looked to find a way to destroy him. They looked hard to find something in Daniel’s life or character to discredit him. But, they could not find anything to use against him, as Daniel was a very upright man. They could not look to his family in finding fault, because he had no offspring, being a eunuch. So, they came up with what they thought to be this ingenious plot. Let’s look at Daniel 6:5-9 CJB
(5) Then these men said, “We’re not going to find any cause for complaint against this Dani’el unless we can find something against him in regard to the law of his god.” (6) So these chiefs and viceroys descended on the king and said to him, “King Daryavesh, live forever! (7) All the chiefs of the kingdom, along with the prefects, viceroys, advisers and governors, have met and agreed that the king should issue a decree putting in force the following law: ‘Whoever makes a request of any god or man during the next thirty days, except of you, your majesty, is to be thrown into the lion pit.’ (8) Now, your majesty, issue this decree over your signature, so that it cannot be revoked, as required by the law of the Medes and Persians, which is itself irrevocable.” (9) So King Daryavesh signed the document, and the decree became law.
Well, obviously, this “make a request” included praying to Daniel’s El Elyon, which he did faithfully three times a day. He had done this very publicly for decades, usually in the synagogue there in Babylon. But, in Daniel 6, we find him doing so in front of his open window, facing Jerusalem.
Why did Daniel endanger his own life by continuing this pious practice. The Scriptures did not require him to do so. There was and is a rabbinical rule interpreting the Scriptures that says there are 3 situations where a person must die to avoid committing the transgression. Those are: idolatry, immorality and murder. So, for example, Shadrach, Meshach and Abedneggo decades earlier had been compelled by the Torah to resist bowing down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. But, in this case, being prohibited from praying was not one of those “big 3” cardinal sins.
Alsich, one of the sages, believed that this is why Daniel was found praying in the privacy of his home, albeit in front of an open window. He was trying to maintain his prayer life, but at the same time not run afoul of the edict of the king. At any rate, these evildoers discovered him doing so and that’s how they knew about it and weaponized his pious behavior against him. It is interesting to note that the house in which Daniel was discovered praying became sort of a national landmark in Babylon. For years afterwards, according to the Talmud, Torah scholars would travel there to pray at Daniel’s former home. Well, you know how the story ends. Daniel was thrown into a deep pit full of lions, miraculously survived the fall, and the next morning came out with no broken bones, and without even one drop of feline saliva on his person. Now then, let’s read Psalm 64.
Hear my voice, God, as I plead:
preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Who was “the enemy” here? In David’s day, it was King Saul and his counselors. In Daniel’s day, it was some of the 120 satraps.
(2) Hide me from the secret intrigues of the wicked
and the open insurrection of evildoers.
Secret intrigues? We’ve already examined what those were in Daniel 6.
(3) They sharpen their tongues like a sword;
they aim their arrows, poisoned words,
(4) in order to shoot from cover at the innocent,
shooting suddenly and fearing nothing.
When wicked people slander at close range, it is like a sword being thrust into the psyche. When they slander from a distance, their words resemble poisoned arrows shot from a bow.
(5) They support each other’s evil plans;
they talk of hiding snares
and ask, “Who would see them?”
(6) They search for ways to commit crimes,
bringing their diligent search to completion
when each of them has thought it through
in the depth of his heart.
The “snare” being spoken of in verse 5 prophesies the evil plan the satraps devised to bring down Daniel.
Verse 6 - - When wicked people notice even the slightest flaw in the life of a righteous person, they magnify it and distort it, to make it seem a very evil matter. If you watch the news, you see this all the time in politics. Sometimes this is justified, but most of the time it is being used as a weapon to gain political clout and to diminish the political opponent.
(7) Suddenly God shoots them down with an arrow,
leaving them with wounds;
(8) their own tongues make them stumble.
All who see them shake their heads.
So, you see, smh is not a new phenomenon. You did not know that smh was in the Bible, did you? I’m being silly. This is what happened to the accusers, the 120 satraps. Before they hardly even knew what was happening, they were “hoisted upon their own petard”. They perished in a trap of their own making. The sages say that the satraps said Daniel survived because the lions were not hungry, although we don’t read that in the book of Daniel. And that that king decided to test the satraps’ absurd theory. Whether that is actually true or not, at any rate, something made the king throw the satraps alive, along with their wives and at least one of their children into the pit of lions. The result is found in Daniel 6:24.
(24) Then the king gave an order, and they brought those men who had accused Dani’el, and they threw them into the lion pit — them, their children and their wives — and before they even reached the bottom of the pit, the lions had them in their control and broke all their bones to pieces.
In the last two verses of Psalm 64, we see the result of God’s mighty miracle in the lion’s den. It was not merely that Daniel was unharmed; it was also part of the miracle that, immediately afterwards, at least 366 people were immediately destroyed by those same lions who had left Daniel untouched.
(9) Everyone is awestruck —
they acknowledge that it is God at work,
they understand what he has done.
(10) The righteous will rejoice in Adonai;
they will take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will exult.
Vs. 26-28 of Daniel 6 tell of the decree Darius wrote, a decree which established the supremacy of Daniel’s El Elyon and which established the safety and prosperity of the Jews in Babylon for generations. So much so that when the opportunity to return to Judea/Jerusalem was presented to the Jews of Babylon by Cyrus the Persian, Darius’ successor, many of them were so comfortable in Babylon they chose to stay. For hundreds of years, then, Babylon was a “hub” for Judaism, the second-largest concentration of Jewry in the world, second only to Judea.
The last verse of this psalm is similar to the last verse of Psalm 32:6, which says,
11 Be glad in Adonai; rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
The sages say the difference is that the last verse of psalm 64 is an exhortation for the righteous to find joy in their faith, whereas the last verse of psalm 32 is a promise from Hashem that He will help those who seek this divine joy to find it in their lives.
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