Seder 106: Psalm 119:97-104---In Praise of God's Instruction

 This section of Psalm 119 is a hymn of praise to God's word.  The psalmist makes no petitions here.  

The psalmist's love of God's instruction reflects his love of God himself.  His focused meditation on that word, following the way of wisdom described in Psalm 1:2,  is a form of worship.  

The psalmist praises God as the greatest source of wisdom, greater than any human source.  He is not boasting, and it is not his intention to ignore his teachers or the elders.  It's just that God's Word is greater than any other teaching, and God greater than any other teacher.  

His study of God's instruction leads him to love God's instruction and seek to follow the way of wisdom.  God's Word enables him to discern the right way and to shun the way of evil.

Seder 87: Psalm 73---Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

 Psalm 73, the first of the psalms of Asaph, is a wisdom psalm.  Wisdom psalms---Psalm 1, for example---often express the general principle that the wise (those who fear the God of Israel) tend to prosper, while the foolish (those who do not fear the God of Israel) do not tend to prosper.

This principle is not a mathematical law, however.  Asaph admits that he was tempted to envy the often comfortable situation of the arrogant (vv 2-3).   They seemed to him to waltz through life cocky and carefree, exploiting others with impunity (vv 4-15).   

His descriptions include some unusual expressions.  "Their eyes swell out through fatness" (v 7) may mean something like "their eyes shine because of their prosperity." Verse 10 ("Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them") may be saying that people are attracted by the power and influence of the rich and hope to benefit from a connection with them. 

Asaph confesses his jealousy at the apparent prosperity of the wicked.  What good had it done him to follow the way of wisdom (v 13)?  He struggled with these thoughts and worried about the harm he might do to the community by expressing them (vv 13-14).  

He finally found peace when he entered God's sanctuary.  Seeing God's glory, greatness, and majesty put things in perspective.  His faith in the fact that God would carry out justice on his own schedule was renewed.  He resolved to find refuge in God and declare his greatness and mighty works.

Seder 45: Psalm 14---The Ubiquity of Folly

 "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God, " begins Psalm 14.  This kind of fool is not what we now call an atheist. one who does not believe in the existence of God.  Instead, this is what we might call a "practical atheist", a person who knows that God exists but does not believe that God will hold him accountable for his deeds    \

In biblical wisdom literature, the wise are those who fear God and heed his teaching.  Wisdom literature contrasts the wise with fools, those who do not fear God or heed his teaching.  This kind of folly is synonymous with wickedness, as we see in the remainder of Ps 14:1:  "They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good."  

The psalmist laments the fact that there is so much of this folly extant, even among God's people. "They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one" (v 3).   He affirms that God does indeed see and care about human behavior, which means that fools are in for some unpleasant surprises when their day of reckoning comes.  

The psalm closes with a prayer for the restoration of Israel (v 7).  

Paul quotes Ps 14:1-3 along with a number of other passages (Pss 5: 9; 140: 3; 10: 7; Isa 59: 7-8; Ps 36: 1) to make the point that all people have sinned (Rom 3:9-18).  Interestingly, there are some manuscripts of the Septuagint in which verses 13-18 of Romans 3 are inserted between Ps 14:3 and Ps 14:4, clearly a Christian interpolation.  

Seder 42: Psalm 128----Blessing Goes Out Across Time and Space

 Psalm 128 begins with a beatitude:  "Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!  You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you" (vv 1-2).  

The fear of the Lord leads to wisdom which leads to obedience to God, which leads to blessing of one's family and neighbors.  

Psalm 128 is also a psalm of ascent, associated with pilgrimage to the festivals in Jerusalem.  Those who attend the festivals receive blessing and then spread it to their neighbors when they return home (v 5).  

A benediction at the close of the psalm says, "May you see your children's children!  Peace be upon Israel!" (v 6)  The patriarch Jacob at the end of his life experienced this kind of blessing, a period of peace and prosperity as he was united with his family in Goshen.

Jacob hadn't always experienced such peace.  At an audience with Pharaoh he declared, "Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life" (Gen 47:9).  After deceiving his brother and father, he had gone through a period where he had experienced what it is like to be a victim of deception.

Another beatitude may apply to his experience:  "Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law" (Ps 94:12).  In Jacob's life God's discipline accomplished its purpose.  Jacob learned to trust in God more than in his wits.  He grew from a deceiver into an overcomer.  And he was ultimately blessed.  

Not every season in life is one of peace and prosperity.  But God ultimately does bring those who walk with him into blessing.  As we read in Ps 126:6, "He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing the sheaves with him."

Seder 41: Psalm 32---The Wisdom of Confession

 Psalm 32 is one of seven "penitential psalms"---the list consists of Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143.  It gives assurance that when one "in whose spirit there is no deceit" comes to God in sincere repentance, that person's sins will be forgiven (vv 1-2).  To emphasize this, verses 1-2 use three different words for "sin" and three different words for "forgiveness".  

The psalmist (traditionally David) backs up the statements of verses 1-2 with a testimony of his own experience.  Responding to God's persistent prompting, he had confessed his sins and was forgiven (vv 3-5).  

Psalm 32 is also a wisdom psalm that says the wise thing to do is to follow the example of David.  The wise thing to do is to rely upon God, who will provide protection to his people and promises to guide them in the ways of wisdom (vv 6-8). 

Verse 9 counsels us not to resist God's instruction like a stubborn animal.  That is the way of the wicked, which will not succeed (v 10).

There is much for the wise to be thankful for--God's forgiveness, protection, and instruction---and so they will be glad in the Lord and shout for joy (v 11).  

Seder 32: Psalm 34---Try God's Way: It Works!

 Psalm 34 is an acrostic wisdom psalm traditionally associated with a specific incident in David's life:  At one point when he was fleeing for his life from Saul, David briefly took refuge in Goliath's home town of Gath (1 Sam 21:10-15).  His visit was short because he was quickly recognized.  With his cover blown, David feigned madness in order to escape.  (Commentators often point out an irony here:  David could control his madness, while Saul was controlled by his madness.) 

An imaginative story links Psalm 34 to this incident.  According to this story, David had at one point thanked God for all the wonderful things he had created, especially wisdom.  "But," David asked God, "Why did you create madness?  That seems like such an insane thing to do.  Madness serves no constructive purpose."  God replied, "A day will come when you will have use for madness."  David later remembered what God had said when he was in a tight spot in Gath.  He did indeed have use for madness.  Afterwards he prayed, as in Ps 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times"---both in times of sanity and in times of madness. 

In any case, David speaks as one who has put his trust in God and experienced divine deliverance.  "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" he declares in v. 8.  "Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"  He notes that "the young lions"---representing the wealthy (LXX) or those who do not follow God---are never satisfied, while "those who seek the Lord lack no good thing" (v 10).  

David acknowledges that the righteous endure their share of suffering:  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" (v 19).  But he goes on to affirm that God is watching over his people:  "But the Lord delivers him out of them all," verse 19 concludes.  God protects us "in detail": "He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken (v 20).  

Psalm 34 is referenced in two New Testament books.  Verse 20 is referred to in John 19:33-36 in connection with the fact that the Roman soldiers did not break Jesus' bones on the cross.  "The Lord redeems the life of his servants," Ps 34:22 states, and God indeed raised Jesus from the dead.  

The apostle Peter seems to have had Psalm 34 in mind, along with Isa 53 and other scriptures, when he wrote 1 Peter.  In that epistle, Peter encourages Christians who are suffering.  Some suffering is to be expected, he says, because we are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:18-25).  But it is also the case that, for those who have taken David up on his offer to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:3), God watches over those who follow him.  Peter quotes Ps 34:12-16 in 1 Peter 3:10-12 as he urges Christians to turn away from evil and do what is good, heeding David's wise instruction.