{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! Welcome back to the Mishkan Katan weekly Bible study, where we are currently taking a look at each of the psalms. As of today, we have made it through 20% of them, since we will be starting with Psalm 30 today. So, grab your bibles and turn to psalm 30, and we’ll get started.
This psalm, written to be sung with instrumental accompaniment, had a variety of purposes. It was a psalm of thanksgiving, a psalm of innovation, of dedication. Originally, according to the sages, it was written to inaugurate the Temple, although it was written by David, before the first Temple, Solomon’s Temple, was even built. It was also recited during Temple expansions of the Temple courts. It is said that this psalm was sung with many musical instruments, which makes me want to call it the Symphony Psalm. Of course, the more instruments used, the more voices needed. So, I am picturing here a huge oratorio-style presentation.
We just finished celebrating Shavuot, which is interesting, because the Mishnah, in Tractate Biccurim 3:4, tells us through recorded oral tradition that this psalm was sung by a choir of Levites while the multitudes of Jews brought their baskets of first-fruits to Jerusalem and on to the Temple courts.
Is psalm 30 quoted anywhere in the Brit Chadasha? No, not directly. The major themes of this psalm are certainly echoed in the New Testament, however.
Let’s dig into the superscription that precedes verse 1.
A Song with Musical Accompaniment for the Inauguration of the Temple; by David.
According to Jewish tradition, this psalm was used at the dedication of both Solomon’s Temple and also at the dedication of the second, the one re-built after the 70 years of Babylonian captivity, during Ezra’s time. The first Temple was stunningly beautiful, opulent and very large. It was the jewel of the Middle East in its day. You may recall that when emissaries from Babylon came to visit King Hezekiah, a couple of generations before the captivity began, he proudly showed them all its treasures, which was a strategic error. The Babylonians simply went home and determined they’d love to have some of that. By contrast, the Ezra Temple, although containing all the necessary components, was much more modest and humble a structure. The oldest Jews in attendance at the dedication of the Second Temple wept copiously, as they remembered the one that had been.
On to Verses 1-3:
(1) I will exalt you, Adonai, because you drew me up;
you didn’t let my enemies rejoice over me.
(2) Adonai my God, I cried out to you,
and you provided healing for me.
(3) Adonai, you lifted me up from Sh’ol;
you kept me alive when I was sinking into a pit.
There are a variety of Jewish opinions as to what the particular healing/deliverance was that David was thanking God for in these verses. Some ascribe these verses to the sin of 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chron. 21, we looked at in previous psalms, the sin of counting the fighting men of Israel, without the Lord God’s permission or order to do so. As a result 70k men were slain by the Angel of the Lord. Father Yahweh restrained his Angel, whom many including myself believe to be a manifestation of the Divine Mysterious Majesty, i.e. the pre-incarnate Son. David, in response offered up sacrifices to consecrate that location, and this location was the site of the future Temple, Aravneh’s threshing floor. And then, David composed this psalm. But, that’s just one opinion. Another opinion is that these verses are referring to some sort of physical illness, and still others view the verses as picturing a physical illness that is caused from a spiritual sickness.
Verses 4 and 5 now:
(4) Sing praise to Adonai, you faithful of his;
and give thanks on recalling his holiness.
(5) For his anger is momentary,
but his favor lasts a lifetime.
Tears may linger for the night,
but with dawn come cries of joy.
Why should we, Yeshua’s beloved ones, give thanks for the attribute of God’s character called holiness? Because a holy God is not capricious. His judgments are fair and true. He can be trusted to adhere to the same standard always. There is security in serving a God like that.
Verse 5 pertains to the times the disciple of Yeshua walks off the path of righteousness and incurs the anger of God through consequences. Yes, God does get angry at our sin. Why? Because sin separates us from Him; it creates distance in our fellowship with Him. God’s holy anger is directed at drawing us back to His side. He wants us to repent and return, because He loves us, and wants us to walk uprightly. His anger toward our sinful missteps is not a constant cloud hanging over our heads, unless we refuse to repent and turn back to Him. His favor, by contrast, is always present, even when we are in “the wilderness”, undergoing refining or discipline. Once we are His, having become part of His family, we have his favor for the rest of our lives. A period of testing and trial can be described as a very dark, tearful night. However, these periods do not last forever, although they can last for several years, depending how hard we are to teach, depending on how long we harden our hearts against what He is trying to teach us. The dawn in these verses reflects the light that comes in when one’s spiritual joy is restored, having emerged victorious from the period of testing.
(6) Once I was prosperous and used to say,
that nothing could ever shake me —
(7) when you showed me favor, Adonai,
I was firm as a mighty mountain.
But when you hid your face,
I was struck with terror.
I'm sure all of us with some years on us can look back over our lives and find a time when it seemed “sudden calamity” came upon us. Here we were, going along, feeling so confident in ourselves, whether due to the prosperity Adonai had given to us, or reveling in our good health or whatever, and next thing we know, wham! We were terrified because either we had made a stupid mistake, or something had happened out of our control. Terror was our natural reaction, as human beings, right? And, if we felt that God was distant, that seemingly He was hiding his face from us, during this time of crisis, that made the situation even so much worse.
I have felt that way on numerous occasions - - - when I made a huge mistake at work and was afraid my career would be torpedoed by it; when my son was attacked by a vicious dog and we had to rush him to the ER; when I was involved in a pretty serious car accident; when I got a scary test result from the doctor.
Terror should not be our first response to such such sudden calamities. David shows us in verses 8 through 10 what our response should be:
(8) I called to you, Adonai;
to Adonai I pleaded for mercy:
(9) “What advantage is there in my death,
in my going down to the pit?
Can the dust praise you?
Can it proclaim your truth?
(10) Hear me, Adonai, and show me your favor!
Adonai, be my helper!”
In times like these, appealing, calling out to Father Yahweh, in the name of and in the merits of His one unique Son - - that should be our first course of action. Calling out to Him and pleading for mercy and rescue. David readily recognized he could not handle the situation on his own, nor could he heal himself on his own.
It sort of amuses me that David looks at the worst case scenario, his own physical death, and asking rhetorically, “How can I glorify and magnify you if I am no longer alive on this earth?” He had a strong sense that God was not finished with him on this earth yet. He cries out for God to be His Helper. As for us, we have the very Spirit of God in our hearts. We have the divine Helper of all Helpers, with us always, as long as there is breath in our bodies. What a precious, matchless gift!
The psalm ends with a report of God’s response to David’s cry for mercy. Verses 11 and 12:
(11) You turned my mourning into dancing!
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
(12) so that my well-being can praise you and not be silent;
Adonai my God, I will thank you forever!
A moment ago, I got you to thinking back over your life, to remember those incidents where things suddenly fell apart, much like falling through the ice of a frozen pond that you were just moments before confidently striding across. I’ll bet you could in a similar fashion recall incidents where you felt you were dwelling in the blackest of nights, with no end in sight, with no hope of rescue. Your prayers, to use a common expression, did not seem to rise above the ceiling of the room you were in, much less reach to the throne of God. It seemed as though the locusts had eaten all your crops, as described in Joel chapter 2.
But, then the rescue came from on high! He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills came through for you!
I want you to understand that our benevolent Heavenly Father, and I’m referring to those of you listeners who are indeed His spiritual children, never brings people into our sphere by accident. I have seen over and over and over again the Lord God do very mighty things, because He brought people together, and in love they had compassion on each other and helped each other.
Yesterday, for example, a friend of mine got served some disturbing legal papers, from a case that is five years old. She thought it had been long buried and had not even given it a thought in all that time. Suddenly, like a malicious, malevolent beast, it appeared on her doorstep. She called me, frantic with worry. But, God knew what to do. He had allowed us to become friends for this reason, among others. I knew someone who could help. So, I called the helper, who recommended an outstanding person to walk with my friend through this. At first, my friend did not want to call this expert; fear about many issues was rampant in her heart. But, she stepped out in faith and called. The expert said something that confirmed what my friend had read in the Scriptures this very morning. It was such a hallelujah moment! And they are meeting this afternoon, to get the ball rolling so that my friend’s mourning can be turned into dancing. {This phrase in verse 11 is sort of the reverse of Lamentations 5:15, which says “Gone is the joy of our hearts, our dancing has turned into mourning.”}
So, sometimes, oftentimes, He presents His children with opportunities to help each other, to share their gifts with each other. But, it is upon us to make the move to choose to obey and help, or if we are the recipient, to receive help. Both of those require yielding to God’s Holy Spirit.
Look at this promise from Joel 2:25-27
“I will restore to you the years that the locusts ate,
the grasshoppers, shearer-worms and cutter-worms,
my great army that I sent against you.
I had a horrible, horrible time in my life, where it looked as though those locusts - - - they had left me with nothing. It looked like crops would never grow again. But, our God loves to restore! Sometimes He works through others of His children. Mr. Rogers used to say “Look for the helpers!” He was right! Other times, our great God just orchestrates things Himself. It doesn’t matter how He chooses to do it. The promise is that He will do it, if we open ourselves up to His healing. We have to be willing to be healed.
Last year, I emerged from a deep depression I had been in for about 15 years. God Himself orchestrated the events that brought me out of it. Shortly before He began to heal me, I wrote this in my almost-daily journal:
“My heart has been broken over _____ for so many years that I’ve forgotten what it was like for it to be whole, as far as this situation is concerned. And, I doubt it will ever be whole again.”
I was so bad off that I did not even realize how bad off I was. Toward the end of that six months healing period, as my mourning was healed more and more, I began to think about dancing, interestingly enough. Now, we may disagree on this. You may be from a faith tradition that rejects dancing. But, I submit to you that we will just have to disagree. I look at the life of David, who danced with joy down the streets of Jerusalem, in sincere joy and praise to His God, (2 Samuel 6:14-22) and I can think of few things more beautiful about his praise of His beloved Father Yahweh. At any rate, I began to think about dancing and how I would love to take dancing lessons again. I had done so as a middle schooler, many years ago, and had loved it. Well, in about four months, I will have studied dance for a year. It has brought me so much joy! Literally, God turned my mourning into dancing.
It is also important that we testify to His miraculous chesed, His beautiful grace.
As the period of God’s “restoring what the locusts had eaten” was nearing an end, I was asked to do a podcast with one of the key players in my healing. Of course, I said I would! How could I pass up this opportunity to share with others the beautiful work my Lord had done in my life? We are here to give Him glory, as much and as often as we possibly can. We should never pass up an opportunity to testify. As verse 12 says God forbid we should be silent!
Another point about verse 12, the word translated in the CJB as well-being is the Hebrew word “kavod”, which means glory or honor. The sages explain that this word is used for the human soul because its highest function is to give glory and honor its Maker, God. Also because the human soul emanates from God’s KeeSAY KaVOD, Throne of Glory.
Testifying is what David is doing in these last two verses of this beautiful psalm. And, David says he will thank God forever. When we contemplate how David was “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22), I truly believe one of the reasons is because David was just so doggone grateful, so very thankful for what God had done for Him. I often get so busy I forget to say “thank you” to Him “from whom all blessings flow.” Don’t be like me! Let’s all commit to living and walking in an attitude of thankfulness, of grateful praise. I mean, we are going to be doing that for eternity and beyond. The Hebrew puts it “Olam VaEd” - - eternity and more. So, we might as well train for that now, no time to lose.
Now, we are moving on to Psalm 31. It is said by the sage Radak that David composed this psalm as he was fleeing from King Saul, as some other psalms were similarly composed. Although specific episodes are not specified, it is clear that David was in mortal danger when he wrote this psalm.
Is this psalm quoted in the Brit Chadasha? And, the answer this time is “yes”. Verse 5 is spoken by Yeshua as He gave up His spirit on the execution stake, the cross. In Acts 7:59, as he was being martyred, Stephen, the first martyr, alluded to this same verse. The apostle Paul quoted verse 24 in 1 Corinthians 16:13.
Comparatively speaking this is a rather long psalm, 25 verses, and so we are not going to parse every verse of this one. I just want to hit some high points. Read with me the first five verses.
(1) In you, Adonai, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your justice, save me!
(2) Turn your ear toward me,
come quickly to my rescue,
be for me a rock of strength,
a fortress to keep me safe.
(3) Since you are my rock and fortress,
lead me and guide me for your name’s sake.
(4) Free me from the net they have hidden to catch me,
because you are my strength.
(5) Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you will redeem me, Adonai, God of truth.
Let’s start in verse 1, where we learn that David is proclaiming that his place of refuge in times of trouble is in Father Yahweh. Your translation may say Adonai (my masters) or Hashem (The Name). Same marvelous God.
The sages say that this could be referring to when Saul threw a javelin across the room at David, who was sitting and playing the harp to soothe Saul’s troubled mind. The javelin missed him by mere inches. After this incident, David fled Saul’s presence. This is recorded in 1 Samuel 18. Later on, the persecution from Saul got so bad, David exiled himself; he left the land of Israel entirely for a period of time. Very courageously, upon word of the prophet Gad, he returned to Eretz Yisrael, trusting only in the power of his God to protect him from the wrath of the king.
Verse two mentions “a fortress”. Actually, this is a poor translation, as the Hebrew here is literally “a house of fortresses”, a visual images surely more powerful than merely one fortress. The sages say that Davi by using this most unusual phrase alludes to his two-fold dilemma in dealing with King Saul. Physically, he was at extreme risk if he did NOT kill the king, who was determined to kill him after all. But, spiritually, he was at risk if he DID kill Saul, who was God’s anointed ruler over the chosen people.
Have you ever spotted a trap and thereby avoided falling into it? I’ll use a contemporary illustration, at the risk of getting political. But, please don’t take this illustration as that. In the current time, what I call “real time” there is tremendous mayhem going on in Los Angeles, CA. The state’s governor is blaming the president’s administration for causing the fracas. From the president’s perspective, he is merely enforcing current federal law. The governor is taunting the president to “just get it over with; go ahead and arrest me.” It has been posited by many that this taunt is a trap for the president, because the political party of the California governor would like nothing more than for the governor to be made a political “martyr” in this scenario. Thus far, the president has not had the CA governor arrested.
Our spiritual enemies can lay for us all kinds of traps, what some translations call “hidden nets”. We desperately need to lean in to our Father’s wisdom, to ask fervently for His guidance and direction. We need his leading, in order to be able to avoid them. Sometimes, He just shows up and shows out all on this own. Again, our benevolent Father at times gives His children each other to help in this regard. If you have successfully traversed a mine field, then you are able to return to your point of origin and help other fellow travelers navigate through the mine field successfully. Be willing to do that, and if you are on the receiving end of such help, have the humility and courage to accept the hand that is being extended to you.
I want to pause for a moment at verse 5, where we have this Messianic prophecy “into your hand do I commit my spirit”. We were each created both material and immaterial. I find there is a good deal of confusion as to the terms body, soul and spirit, biblically speaking. The Bible is clear that we are “body, soul and spirit.” (1 Thess. 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12)
Body is pretty easy.
Our body is our housing, our “space suit”, our earth suit. It allows us to relate to earthly things, to function in a physical world, our environment, to carry out God’s mandate to Adam to “replenish the earth”, to carry out Yeshua’s mandate in Matthew 28 to “go into all the word and preach the gospel to every creature”.
Soul - - the soul has three parts: mind (the thinker), will (the chooser), emotions/affections (the feeler). That’s what’s commonly known as our personality. In this way, we are created in the image of God. God has a will, a mind, emotions/affections too.
Through our souls, we relate to other human beings on an intangible level that goes beyond the physical.
Spirit - - in our spirit we are created in the image of God, who is spirit. Our spirit is the core of our being. Through our spirits, we relate to God. Our conscience (the capacity to discern right from wrong) and intuition (the capacity to perceive spiritual truth) and communion (the capacity to have a personal relationship with God) reside in our spirit.
When we are born, our spirits are dead in trespasses and sins. Our spirits remain dead until we made alive in Yeshua. The Ruach Hakodesh, God’s Spirit, invades our spirit and “quickens” us, makes us come alive spiritually. He indwells us. Our made-alive spirit is where salvation, assurance of salvation, sanctification and surrender take place. Our redeemed and sanctified spirit then begins to work to transform the components of our soul, and to harness our bodies, to rein them in (if you’ll pardon these horse puns), so that they can be used as the vehicle for our mind and body to effectively glorify God.
Allright. Let’s move on.
Verse 7 says, “I will rejoice and be glad in your grace.” Antother Jewish translation puts it like this: “I will exult and be glad at your kindness”. Kindness is that word “chesed” again. Such a wonderful word! But, I want to focus on the word “exult” for a moment. The sages say that to exult is to give vocal expression to inner joy. I just love that.
Note that that same verse says that it was a kindness of the LORD that he was aware of David’s affliction, as He was allowing such for David’s own spiritual growth and development.
A few more hops, skips and jumps here and then we will read this psalm together and be done for today.
Verses 11 through 14 kick out all the props beneath David, those things we tend to rely on before relying on Adonai for our refuge and deliverance. They are: vs. 11 - - our own physical strength. We rely on this more than we even realize. It is not until our bodies begin to fail that we become utterly conscious of how frail we actually are. Vs. 12 - - one would expect to be reviled and scorned by adversaries, enemies, but by neighbors? The Torah commands us to do good to our neighbors, our brothers, but here we see them scorning David in his day of extreme trouble. Another prop gone. Vs. 12b - - “those who know me” - - that is, friends and family. Whew! That one cuts deep, doesn’t it? And, what is the result in verse 14? David says that he is surrounded by terror on all sides.
In verse 15, David affirms that He has trusted in God. After all, he has no one else on his side, it appears, but he does not list that as his reason or motivation. He does this, he says, because Yahweh is his God. And, then, in verse 16, he makes this statement:
“In your control are my times.” Or, as the CJB puts it, “My times are in your hand.”
I have some girl friends who did not marry for the first time until their 40s, not by their own choice. I know women who did not bear children until their late 30s, not by their own choice. I know a young woman whose husband died when they were in their 20s. Certainly not her choice of “times”. I could go on and on with examples. How comforting to know that for all of Father Yahweh’s children, “our times are in His hand.” Even today....we don’t know what the next day will bring, but we know who holds us in His hands today, tomorrow and forever. What comfort to be able to trust in that! So, so many in this sin-sick world are filled with anxiety about “tomorrow”. Those who know the one, true God, have no need to fear! As you have probably heard it said, the command to “fear not” appears 366 times in Scripture, one such command for each and every day of the Western calendar year.
Verse 21 speaks of an abode, or in some translations, a shelter. The actual Hebrew word there is sukkah, “booth”, as in Feast of Booths, Sukkot. Remember that this psalm has for centuries been recited or sung in connection with houses of worship and praise - - Temples, synagogues. Here, though, the humble “booth” is used. Why, because God can protect and shelter, hide, conceal and make safe even in the humblest of structures. The power is not in the structure; the power originates from the one concealing and protecting.
There is a midrash about David who, when he was on one of his flights from Saul, he remarked to the Lord he saw no value in spiders. Perhaps some of you have felt the same! The other night, I discovered one in a drawer of my bathroom vanity. Despite mine and my husband’s efforts to help it leave this world, we were unsuccessful. Now, every time I open my vanity drawers, I am cautious to look for the little varmaint. However, back to the midrash. God told David “By your life, the day will come when you yourself will need the services of a cobweb!” Well, the day did come. While David and his men were hiding in a cave, the Lord God summoned a spider to quickly weave a web over the opening of the hidey hole. Saul, passing by, saw the cobweb and (incorrectly) reasoned that David and his men could not possibly be hiding in there, or he would have broken the fragile web upon entering. In this way, God can use even the most humble of his creations to carry out His will. And, it is His presence that is our shelter.
Now, let’s read Psalm 31 together.
(1) In you, Adonai, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your justice, save me!
3 (2) Turn your ear toward me,
come quickly to my rescue,
be for me a rock of strength,
a fortress to keep me safe.
4 (3) Since you are my rock and fortress,
lead me and guide me for your name’s sake.
5 (4) Free me from the net they have hidden to catch me,
because you are my strength.
6 (5) Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you will redeem me, Adonai, God of truth.
7 (6) I hate those who serve worthless idols;
as for me, I trust in Adonai.
8 (7) I will rejoice and be glad in your grace,
for you see my affliction,
you know how distressed I am.
9 (8) You did not hand me over to the enemy;
you set my feet where I can move freely.
10 (9) Show me favor, Adonai, for I am in trouble.
My eyes grow dim with anger,
my soul and body as well.
11 (10) For my life is worn out with sorrow
and my years with sighing;
my strength gives out under my guilt,
and my bones are wasting away.
12 (11) I am scorned by all my adversaries,
and even more by my neighbors;
even to acquaintances
I am an object of fear —
when they see me in the street,
they turn away from me.
13 (12) Like a dead man, I have passed from their minds;
I have become like a broken pot.
14 (13) All I hear is whispering,
terror is all around me;
they plot together against me,
scheming to take my life.
15 (14) But I, I trust in you, Adonai;
I say, “You are my God.”
16 (15) My times are in your hand;
rescue me from my enemies’ power,
from those who persecute me.
17 (16) Make your face shine on your servant;
in your grace, save me.
18 (17) Adonai, don’t let me be put to shame,
for I have called on you;
let the wicked be put to shame,
let them be silenced in Sh’ol.
19 (18) May lying lips be struck dumb,
that speak insolently against the righteous
with such pride and contempt.
20 (19) But oh, how great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you do for those who take refuge in you,
before people’s very eyes!
21 (20) In the shelter of your presence
you hide them from human plots,
you conceal them in your shelter,
safe from contentious tongues.
22 (21) Blessed be Adonai!
For he has shown me his amazing grace
when I was in a city under siege.
23 (22) As for me, in my alarm I said,
“I have been cut off from your sight!”
Nevertheless, you heard my pleas
when I cried out to you.
24 (23) Love Adonai, you faithful of his.
Adonai preserves the loyal,
but the proud he repays in full.
25 (24) Be strong, and fill your hearts with courage,
all of you who hope in Adonai.
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