... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King,
the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things,
Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us
from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
A Song [or]
Psalm of David.
O God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise, with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I will awake early. I will praise You, Lord, among the people. I will
sing praises to You among the nations: for Your mercy [is] great above the heavens. Your truth [reaches] the clouds. Be
exalted, O God, above the heavens: and Your Glory above all the earth: so that Your
beloved may be delivered. Save [with] Your right hand. Answer me.
God has spoken in His holiness, “I will
rejoice. I will divide Shechem, and measure
out the valley of Succoth. Gilead [is] Mine. Manasseh [is]
Mine. Ephraim also [is] the strength of My head. Judah [is]
My lawgiver. Moab [is] My washbasin. Over Edom I
will cast out My shoe. Over Philistia I will
triumph.”
Who will bring me to the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? [Will]
not [You], O God, [Who] have cast us off? Will not You, O God, go forth with our hosts? Give us help from trouble: for vain [is] the help of man. Through God, we shall do valiantly: for He
shall tread down our enemies.[2]
[1]
The major difference between Psalm 60 and Psalm 108 is that Psalm 60 prays
about the main defeat before the last Battle of Salt, while Psalm 108 sings
praise after the last Battle of Salt.
This battle is not known in detail, but may be associated with the
Battle of Rabbah, where Uriah the Hittite was slain (2 Samuel 11). It may be that Joab was attacked from the
rear by an Edomite uprising occasioned by David’s sin: however, this is not
possible to establish.
In any case, God was displeased with Israel, and punished
them. Since Israel’s wars are not
ordinary wars, but wars of Yahweh against demonism, it was a rare occurrence
for Yahweh not to go out with the army (Joshua 7:4, 11, 18-26, Achan’s sin; 1
Samuel 4, sins of Eli’s sons), and always brought about by sin. Since David did not go out in 2 Samuel 11,
and terrible consequences followed we make a connection because we are unaware
of any other. David also sinned in
ordering a census (2 Samuel 24), but the deaths on that occasion were due to
pestilence.
This appears to be some sort of Israelite battle hymn derived
from the promises of God.
Again, this is an attack against a fortified (strong) city, a
city with a wall, and armed defenses, located near the Valley of Salt.
We have a humanly common way of getting ourselves into
calamity. “You [Lord] did not lead us
into calamity” from the Lord’s Prayer.
No, we got into trouble (temptation) all by ourselves. The usual reason is that we prayed after we
acted, rather than before, or we did something else foolish in opposition to
the Law of God. Had we acted prayerfully
in accordance with the Law of God, we would not be in trouble. Our obedience to God’s Law is the gracious
gift of God in Christ Jesus, but how frequently we forget who we are, and we
neglect prayer. In this case, David ends
up praying after defeat; but God is gracious, so David has to repeat his
prayer, giving thanks for victory.
[2] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in
Psalms, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.
These meditations are not controlled by
Creative Commons or other licenses, such as: copyright, CC, BY, SA, NC, or
ND. They are designed and intended for
your free participation. They were
freely received, and are freely given.
No other permission is required for their use.
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