{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.}
Good morning, and Boker Tov! Welcome back to Mishkan Katan. I hope your Elul, your 40 days of introspection, of soul-searching, are off to a good start, as we head toward the end of the year. Today, we will resume our study of the psalms of ascent, by looking first at Psalm 123. The commentary say that Psalm 123, a short psalm of only four verses, concerns, the exile experience of millions of Jews, and how through their exile they became a miserable and despised people in the eyes of many, and even in their own eyes, due to the fact that they were estranged from their homeland.The nation had become a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty, so much so that he was compelled to thrust them out of their land. It is sad that he did this as an act of love, so that the faithlessness and unbelief could be purged from their hearts. The sages say that the peace and prosperity enjoyed by the Jews in their homeland, made them feel arrogant, proud, complacent, and even defiant. They became wealthy. They became contained and in their eyes, self-sufficient. They no longer believed that they depended upon God.
The prophet Zephaniah recognized these attitudes in his people. In chapter 3 of his book, Zephaniah roared at the Jews in the name of God. “Then I shall remove from your mist, those who revel in your arrogance, and you shall no longer display pride on My holy mountain. And I shall leave in your midst a poor and destitute nation, and they will find a refuge in the name of HaShem.”
People like this - - their chief goal in life is to achieve a carefree life of ease and tranquility. That is not the mission of the people of God, whose chief aim is to know God and to love and serve Him forever, by seeking His glory in all things, by sharing the good news of His salvation “until all the world may know”. As followers of Yeshua, we must be on our guard to resist pursuing temporal pleasures that do not matter in the light of eternity, and to focus instead on bringing others into God’s kingdom. Those riches and rewards will last forever.
This psalm described a people humbled by adversity, whether by exile or some other causal factor. Recognizing their downtrodden state, they lift their eyes first to human men of power. Those scornful, arrogant pagans, whose examples the Jews had strayed toward, lost no time in refusing to aid such a downtrodden people. So, when looking to pagan humans for restoration proved an ineffective power source or avenue of rescue, they lift their eyes to God alone. Let’s read Psalm 123. CJB
123 To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he has mercy upon us.
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our soul has had more than enough
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
We will now move on to Psalm 124. There are a couple of analogies in this psalm of 8 verses. This psalm of praise to HaShem, the rescuer, likens the heathen nations who are compared to in verses 3-5 to mighty rushing waters. These destructive waters threatened to swallow alive the Jewish nation, a nation inundated by ferocious currents that surged across the national soul.
Then, in verses 6 and 7, God’s people are compared to a bird that God sets free from the hunter’s snare. He broke their snare and allowed them to escape. This is because, as acknowledged in verse 8, He is the Almighty, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. Their help was through the power of His Name. This is why it is important to call on the Lord, using His name correctly. In our day, since the days of Yeshua, we have been told to call on the name of the Lord, pray to Him, our Father, in the Name of His Son, Yeshua. Yeshua told us in John 14:13-14, that when we do this, He answers our prayers to the glory of God the Father. Look at those verses from the ESV: (Yeshua speaking, of course)
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[e]anything in my name, I will do it.
This verse and others similar are why we pray TO Father Yahweh, in the Name and in the finished work of His one, unique Son, the Mashiach, Yeshua. There is no other name, given among men, by which we can receive eternal life. (Acts 4:12)
Let us read Psalm 124.
124 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—
let Israel now say—
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side
when people rose up against us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
4 then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
5 then over us would have gone
the raging waters.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth!
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped!
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Next in the line-up, we see Psalm 125, which has five verses. In our current day, we are witnessing many people of Jewish descent, returning to the land of Israel. This is the beginning of the in gathering of the exiles. However, there are many millions more who have yet to return. The say just say that Psalm 125 is addressed to those Jews, who are distant to return to the homeland at the end of the age, that is at the end of the time of Jacob‘s trouble. When they arrive there, the Jerusalem they find will be largely in shambles, due to the tremendous upheaval and warfare that will take place during those seven years of horror.
The defense and security of the Jewish nation have always been a matter of tremendous concern for Jews throughout the centuries. This has been true both when the people lived in the promised land, and also as they have lived in exile. Of course, while in exile, the focus has been on preserving the Jewish way of life, that is, walking according to the dictates of God‘s Word, the Torah. In this psalm, the psalmist emphasizes that the true fortifications of the Jewish nation have not historically been walls, or battlements, or soldiers, earthly kings or even topographical protections like mountains. The Almighty has always been Israel‘s true protector. When the nation of the Jews, the nation of Israel, and even the people of God today are filled with faith in God, God Himself does not fail them. Oh, He may allow hardship and trial, tribulation and even exile; but, He has never failed His people. So it will be at the dawn of the Messianic Era. The people of God will dwell securely, even in their land of “unwalled villages”, as the prophet Ezekiel warns, in 38:11.
Let’s read Psalm 125 together.
125 (0) A song of ascents:
Those who trust in Adonai
are like Mount Tziyon,
which cannot be moved
but remains forever.
שִׁ֗יר הַֽמַּ֫עֲל֥וֹת הַבֹּטְחִ֥ים בַּיהוָ֑ה כְּֽהַר־צִיּ֥וֹן לֹא־יִ֝מּ֗וֹט לְעוֹלָ֥ם יֵשֵֽׁב׃
2 Yerushalayim!
Mountains all around it!
Thus Adonai is around his people
henceforth and forever.
יְֽרוּשָׁלִַ֗ם הָרִים֮ סָבִ֪יב לָ֥הּ וַ֭יהוָה סָבִ֣יב לְעַמּ֑וֹ מֵ֝עַתָּ֗ה וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם׃
3 For the scepter of wickedness
will not rule the inheritance of the righteous,
so that the righteous will not themselves
turn their hands to evil.
כִּ֤י לֹ֪א יָנ֡וּחַ שֵׁ֤בֶט הָרֶ֗שַׁע עַל֮ גּוֹרַ֪ל הַֽצַּדִּ֫יקִ֥ים לְמַ֡עַן לֹא־יִשְׁלְח֖וּ הַצַּדִּיקִ֨ים בְּעַוְלָ֬תָה יְדֵיהֶֽם׃
4 Do good, Adonai, to the good,
to those upright in their hearts.
הֵיטִ֣יבָה יְ֭הוָה לַטּוֹבִ֑ים וְ֝לִֽישָׁרִ֗ים בְּלִבּוֹתָֽם׃
5 But as for those who turn aside
to their own crooked ways,
may Adonai turn them away,
along with those who do evil.
Shalom on Isra’el!
וְהַמַּטִּ֤ים עַֽקַלְקַלּוֹתָ֗ם יוֹלִיכֵ֣ם יְ֭הוָה אֶת־פֹּעֲלֵ֣י הָאָ֑וֶן שָׁ֝ל֗וֹם עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Psalm 126
Since the last exile of the Jews from the promised land began in 70 common era, the prevailing opinion among Jewish sages is that the exile would end when Mashiach comes. It was seen as a sudden, mostly sudden event, which would usher in the final redemption. Things have not exactly worked out that way. What I’m saying is that the exile began to end in the year 1948, when the modern-day nation of Israel became an actual recognize geographical nation, in the very ancestral lands in which began with Abraham. So the exile has been unfolding for the past 78 years, as of the writing of this teaching. The culmination of the return of the Jews to their ancestral land is ongoing and in the future. As I just mentioned, Psalm 126 describes the greatest of all ascents, that of the Jewish nation from the depths of exile. The stages have four told over the centuries that the wonders which will accompany the peoples liberation from exile will exceed their wildest expectations. And indeed, when you look at the nation of Israel today, that is what you are seeing.
For example, as far as business and economics go, Israel has a high GDP, Gross Domestic Product. But, it also has one of the highest birth rates in the world. That successful combination is quite rare. 0.2% of the world’s population has made so many wonderful contributions to the welfare of the world, tikkun olam, “repairing the world “. 35% of its population is under the age of 20. Furthermore, the Jews, returning to the land of Israel over the past nearly 80 years have done amazing things with agriculture. When the return began, much of Israel was either desert, or swamp land. The phrase in verse four of this psalm, “streams in the desert,” reflect the agricultural advances which have transpired over the past 78 years. Truly, the desert in Israel now blooms! In all respects, Israel is a growing, prosperous nation. So, I would argue that the final redemption is unfolding before our very eyes.
The commentator say that David composed this Psalm as a prophecy of events destined to occur long after his death. They say he was prophesying about the exiles that would be carried away to Babylon. Psalm 126 stands in stark contrast to Psalm 137, which describes the descent of the Jews into exile in Babylon. Psalm 137 is recited prior to Birkat HaMazon on the Sabbath and also the festivals. It is a Psalm, which, foretells that Hashem will return the captives to Zion, which He is already doing, and the joy that will accompany their return.
Let’s read Psalm 126 together.
126 (0) A song of ascents:
(1) When Adonai restored Tziyon’s fortunes,
we thought we were dreaming.
2 Our mouths were full of laughter,
and our tongues shouted for joy.
Among the nations it was said,
“Adonai has done great things for them!”
3 Adonai did do great things with us;
and we are overjoyed.
4 Return our people from exile, Adonai,
as streams fill vadis in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping
as he carries his sack of seed
will come home with cries of joy
as he carries his sheaves of grain.
The gospel song, “ bringing in the sheaves” was inspired by verse six of Psalm 126. Some of you may have grown up singing that old gospel song. When I was a child, at first, I thought they were saying bringing in the sheets. I couldn’t understand why bringing in the sheets from the clothesline was such a cause for rejoicing. After I learned to read, I realized that the word sheets was actually the word “sheaves”. Despite being raised in an agricultural community, I did not live on any kind of working farm. My father was a tradesmen, and my mother was an educator. So I did not even know what a sheave was!
We are moving right along today! Psalm 127 is a short psalm, of only five verses. However, there has been much commentary written about it. The Psalm deals with the thoughts of a person. A person‘s chief concerns include growing up, finding a mate, building a home together, earning a living, and raising godly children. In Psalm 127, we find the psalmist giving his advice on how to succeed in these important endeavors.
The first bit of advice involves realizing that all of our efforts are futile if they are not led by the Lord, and blessed with his divine approval and assistance. That is why it says in verse one “if the Lord will not build the house, it’s builders labor on it vainly.” Now, you may notice and looking at the Psalm, that it is dedicated for Solomon, who is THE Solomon that you’re familiar with. Solomon‘s father, King David, had longed to build the temple. He spent his lifetime gathering money, gathering precious supplies for the construction, but yet… God did not allow his dream to be fulfilled. David did not have Hashim‘s divine approval for this project. Solomon, who was design designated to build the temple, built on, if you’ll pardon the pun, his father’s efforts. He took over all the material which his father had amassed, took the plans which his father had drawn up, based on the instructions given to Moses for the Mishkan and the tabernacle. He, with God‘s divine favor, built the temple.
There is some interesting midrash about how, ironically, although Solomon did indeed construct the holy Temple, the stage just say that he sold the seeds of it’s future destruction the very night before its dedication. It is sad that on the night before the temples dedication, King Solomon celebrated his marriage to one of the daughters of the pharaoh of Egypt. It is further said that Solomon merged both of these celebrations in the hopes that the temple would be a sacred site not only for the Jews, but also for Gentiles. Why on earth would Solomon marry an Egyptian princess? Solomon married 1000 wives according to the sages in order to draw those women close to Torah. Of course, some of the stage just say he was merely motivated by his fleshly desires. However, the Rambam said that before marrying each woman, Solomon had them convert to Judaism. Although he thought that they are conversions were sincere, in truth, most of them converted for ulterior motives. And, accordingly, they turned Solomon’s heart away from God.
Both Jewish and Christian theologians have interpreted verse one as a blueprint for the construction of a faithful and godly household. In other words, if God himself does not establish the foundations of a home and build a healthy marriage, the union will not succeed and all the effort you would spend on it will be for nothing. Therefore, it behooves those who love the Lord to put him at the center of their marriages and homes. Divine assistance is essential furthermore in the training of children, because if God does not lead the parents and molding the child and his character, all efforts to raise up, godly children are then in vain.
Again, consider the example of Solomon. His mother, BETH, Sheba, his father, David, and all the Royal educators went to great lengths to rear him properly. Yet, after his father died, and he ascended the throne, he went astray by marrying the daughter of a pagan king. The Talmud tells us in section Berachot 8a that as long as Solomon’s chief teacher, a man named Shimi Ben Geira, was living, Solomon didn’t dare marry the daughter pharaoh.
Verse one goes on to say that, no matter how vigilant a watchman is, it is not the watchmen who guard the city. Rather, it is Hashem Himself.
I laughed to myself when I read verse two, because I thought about how I usually rise up early and stay up late at night. But that is not what this verse is referring to. The say just say that David is referring in this verse to his two sons who were billed against him and tried to illegally take the throne away from him. The son who “rose up early“, was Absolom, who we read about in second Samuel chapters 15 through 18 the other son, the one who revealed at the very end of David’s life, we learned about in first Kings chapter 2. That son was Adonijah, or in the Hebrew, Adoniyahu. Both sons met with an early death, or as this first, puts it, they “ate the bread of sorrows.”
Commentators such as Rashi, Alsich, Radak and others see this verse as a commentary on anxiety. It speaks of how the pressures of life drive us to overtax ourselves to work long hours without adequate rest, and to be so upset by anxiety that its our lives of all peace, pleasure, even love, to the point that we are unable to sleep! Hirsch says that God is in charge of providing what we need, so very true. And that this truth should enable us to sleep peacefully.
Being someone who loves to play around with words… This fact should not surprise you… I thought I would share with you a riddle that is contained in the Talmud, surrounding the word “beloved” in this verse. Consider this. Here’s how it goes, in English.
“Let the beloved, descendant of the beloved, come and build the beloved, for the Beloved, in the portion of the beloved, that the beloved may be forgiven therein.”
And now here’s the explanation:
“Let the beloved”…… that refers to Solomon, who is called “the beloved of God” in second Samuel 12:25.
“Descendant of the beloved” … this refers to Abraham, whomGod called “my beloved” in Jeremiah 11:15.
“Come and build the beloved” … this refers to the temple. The reference is Psalm 84:2.
“For the beloved” … this refers to God, whom Isaiah calls my beloved in chapter 5, verse 1.
“In the portion of the beloved” … this refers to the Beit HaMikdash, which was built in the land allotment of Benjamin, who was called in Deuteronomy 33:12 “the beloved of HaShem”.
“That the beloved” refers to Israel, because we read in Jeremiah 12:7 that Israel is called “my soul’s beloved”
“May be forgiven therein.” And we find this riddle in Menachot 53a,b.
Verse 3 …. Ahhhh, children! In the previous verse we were told that our human efforts do not guarantee our success. Although we have our God-given responsibility to do our best, it is God who brings the fruit of our labors. Nowhere is this more evident, says the Talmud, than in the conception of and the rearing of children. Amen, amen. He, alone, holds the key to the womb, first of all. Secondly, there is the fearsome task of raising little humans, after they are brought miraculously from the womb. Godly obstetricians will tell you that every birth is a miracle. But, in my view, the greater miracle is instilling in our children’s hearts the beauty of God, their Father. Again, this is a work of the Holy Spirit, and we the birth parents are His tools. We participate with Him in the beauty of Creation, as we seek to train our children properly.
Selfish, evil people view biological children, as either a burden, a curse, or otherwise unwelcome. Some goes so far as to kill their biological offspring while the baby is still in the mother’s womb. Not only is this outright murder, it is also throwing the beautiful reward of Hashem back in his face. Such heinous sin! The sin of selfishness.
The English phrase “fruit of the womb” obviously refers to biological children, although in Judaism, it is also said to refer to the disciples of a particular teacher. Devoted disciples are the Torah scholar’s reward for his years of toil and dedicated study.
The sages say that Solomon was born to David when David was 58 years old, and that Solomon ascended to the throne when he was only 12, after David died at the age of 70. The sages go on to say that verse four reflects that David wished he had begotten Solomon earlier in his life. There’s a whole midrash about how David was originally supposed to marry BathSheba. But because of an interaction betweenDavid and Uriah early on in their lives, BathSheba ended up marrying Uriah first.
It is, of course, advisable and preferable to bear our children when one is in one’s 20s. However, my husband, and I did not do that, and neither have our sons. I find that interesting, as far as our sons are concerned. Both of them Married or will marry in his late 20s. Hopefully, they will father children in their early 30s. My husband and I would love to live to both see them and help raise them. At any rate, it’s a strange phenomenon, when as the mother of young babies, your knees popping crack when you get out of the bed in the early hours to go tend to them. The juxtaposition of those two phenomena was not lost on me years ago, lol.
It takes tremendous energy and patience for a father to raise godly sons. Most of the time that energy is concentrated in one’s young adulthood. Rabbi Hirsch made the observation that younger parents generally have greater energy and patience, all of which facilitate successful child rearing, and foster a powerful bond between the generations. People who father children earlier are also around longer, usually, until their offspring are fully mature and independent. My husband and I are grateful that God has granted us years necessary to see our sons grow into successful young adults. It certainly was not guaranteed, as we married so late in life. So we thank him every day for this tremendous blessing!
The sons David sired in his younger years, grew up for the most part to be his trusted ministers of state, according to first Chronicles 18:17 and second Samuel 8:18. Indeed, all of David’s sons were righteous, except for Absolom and Adonijah, both of whom became arrogant because of their exceptional handsomeness.
Additionally, here in verse four and verse five we see children compared to arrows. Why is that? The reason is because when you shoot an arrow, particularly if you are a strong archer, the arrow flies powerfully long after leaving the archer’s hand. Moreover, it follows the straight path set out for it by the archer. In a similar way, so do children of the godly remain true to the direction in which they were guided by their Godly parents. In this way, the powerful godly influence of such parents endure long after the children have left the home and gone out to begin their own homes with their spouses. May it be so, O Lord!
Psalm 126, which has six verses, is a continuation of the previous psalm, with similar themes. Although we were taught in psalm 127 the truth that it is God who gives success in our endeavors, Psalm 128 helps us to remember that our physical labor cannot be underestimated as we partner with God to both repair the world and bring him all the glory in the doing of it. This psalm emphasizes that the pursuits of a person’s life are to marry a godly spouse and to produce and raise godly children, but only if the husband and wife let God lead them in these pursuits.
Let’s begin by reading this short psalm together.
128 (0) A song of ascents:
(1) How happy is everyone who fears Adonai,
who lives by his ways.
2 You will eat what your hands have produced;
you will be happy and prosperous.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
in the inner parts of your house.
Your children around the table will be
like shoots from an olive tree.
4 This is the kind of blessing that will fall
on him who fears Adonai.
5 May Adonai bless you from Tziyon!
May you see Yerushalayim prosper
all the days of your life,
6 and may you live to see your children’s children!
Shalom on Isra’el.
Verse 2 is a repudiation of social structures that promote and reward indolence, slothfulness and idleness. Two famous sayings that illustrate this truth are: “If a man does not work, neither should he eat.” This saying was popularized among the first settlers to America, and it was crafted from verse 2, here. And the second saying is: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” Or course, some people live to the age they are no longer able to work, and care should be made to provide for them. Others become so injured that they cannot work. For everyone else, though, there should be a vigorous work standard.
One of the more interesting commentary on the first two verses of this Psalm is that the psalmist does not praise high ranking Jews, here. Instead, he makes a more broad and sweeping statement to include all who fear God. The mid Rush, and balmy bar bar 8:10, says that this refers to even gentiles who convert to worshiping the god of Israel. That would include us who follow Yoshihama Shea. He pointed out that at times a can feel insignificant or “ less than”, compared to people who have Jewish ancestors. But, the promise in verse two is that when such a person eats the labor of his own hands then the matter of Jewish ancestors is irrelevant. Eating the labor of your own hands would refer to conversion, then. The sages go on to say that if two non-Jewish converts Mary, they still have the opportunity to begin their own family and produce Jewish descendants. In that case, their descendants would be considered “born Jewish“. I thought that was interesting commentary. I never would have deduced that from reading the text, otherwise. Now, of course, this is not to discount the sovereignty of God or the doctrine of predestination. I hope you don’t interpret my remarks as such. There’s absolutely no doubt that God chooses those he has pre-ordained to salvation.
Moving on… In verse 3, godly wives are compared to fruitful grapevines, those noble plants that produce wine, which gladdens the hearts of God and mankind. See Judges 9:13, the parable of Jotham. But, God must love wine, because He decreed that every sacrifice on the holy altar would be accompanied by it, except for the Sukkot offerings of the water-pouring ceremony. Oil, wine and salt accompanied the offerings upon the holy altar.
At any rate, fruitfulness in both agriculture and humanity brought nourishment and great joy.
The sage Radak explains that a modest wife is compared to a grapevine because in ancient Israel, the shoots of young grapevines were often planted in the floor of one’s home. Later, as that vine got longer and longer, it was allowed to trail out of the house where it receives sun and rain and bore fruit. Like this scenario, Radak observed that the ideal wife is also rooted in her home, the source of her vitality. The fruit she bears that is her children go out into the world to provide prosperity and blessing, for both the family and for others.
Likewise, the resulting children are compared in verse five to olive tree shoots. Why is this? Most trees will accept branches from a different type of tree to be grafted onto them. The result is that the grafted branch will flourish and produce fruits. However, The olive tree will accept only branches of its own kind, no foreign branches. This connotes that the godly man can be confident that the children of his home are only his own offspring. No one else’s. Just as the olive tree will reject any implant from a strange tree, the godly, faithful wife will spurn any strange man. Hallelujah.
Versus 4, 5 and 6 list the blessings from God upon a godly man who lives his life this way. He walks in God’s ways. He earns an honest living and enjoys it. He chooses a godly wife. He begets children with her.
Before Mashiach came, the Jews believed that all blessings upon mankind flowed from God to mankind through the holy temple, in Jerusalem, because that is where God’s Holy Spirit dwell. Rashi said that the spot was the gateway to heaven. In this day and age, Yeshua HaMasiach is a source of all spiritual blessings. Blessings flow from God, the Father, through the Son to us, the living stones, the little Mishkanot, the tiny temples housing His Holy Spirit. Still, however, Jerusalem is considered the Navel of the Earth. It is indeed the city of God. Anyone who criticizes Jerusalem to the point he cannot see the good in it demonstrates that he is totally unaware of its uniqueness and its place in both history and the future. It is where Yeshua will once again return to, where He will rule and reign over the Earth for 1000 years, after the Time of Jacob’s trouble. Some of us will be privileged to return “ home” to the holy city within our lifetimes. But even if that is not possible, we can risk in the knowledge that if we know if Yeshua is our Messiah, we have been redeemed from spiritual exile. We, the redeemed, can gaze upon the goodness of Jerusalem, all the days of our lives. No matter where we are.
Verse six, which ends the blessing, is a blessing for long life, which will enable the godly parent to enjoy the company of grandchildren. Peace upon Israel… That praise refers to the in gathering of the exiles who are currently still scattered to the four corners of the Earth, geographically, but also ideologically. I was reading an article just yesterday which spoke about the ideological fragmentation of the Jewish people. Be assured that when Mashiach returns, he will gather them together in always along with all of the redeemed, because when he returns, the Jewish people will “look on Him whom they have pierced” and will recognize him as their rightful Messiah. And He will unite them so that there will be peace upon Israel.
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