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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Psalm 72:1-20

Salutation

... 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: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

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.

Psalm 72:1-20[i]

[A Psalm] for Solomon.

Give the king Your judgments, O God, Your righteousness to the king’s son.

He shall judge Your people with righteousness, Your poor with judgment: the mountains shall bring peace to the people, the little hills, by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor: they shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endures. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him: for He shall deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and [him] that has no helper.

He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence. Precious shall their blood be in his sight. He shall live. He shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for him continually. Daily shall He be praised: there shall be a handful of corn in the earth [even] on the top of the mountains. The fruit of it shall shake like Lebanon. [They] of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun. [Men] shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed.

Blessed [be] the Lord God, the God of Israel. Who only does wondrous things. Blessed [be] His glorious name forever. Let the whole earth be filled [with] His Glory. Amen. Amen.

The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

[i] David prays, evidently, not long before his death, for his son Solomon. But most of David's requests in this Psalm will only be answered in Christ.

Psalm 71:1-24

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 71:1-24[i]

In You, Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in Your righteousness. Cause me to escape. Incline Your ear to me. Save me. Be my strong dwelling, where I may continually resort. You have given commandment to save me: for You [are] my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man: for You [are] my hope, O Lord God, my trust from my youth. By You have I been upheld from the womb. You are He Who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise [shall be] continually of You.

I am as a wonder to many. But You [are] my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled [with] Your praise, [with] Your honor all the day.

Cast me not off in the time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength fails: for my enemies speak against me. Those who lay wait for my soul take advice together, saying, “God has forsaken him. Persecute and take him: for [there is] no one to deliver [him].”

O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste for my help. Let them be confounded [and] consumed who are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered [with] reproach and dishonor who seek my hurt.

But I will hope continually, and will yet praise You more and more. My mouth shall show forth Your righteousness [and] Your salvation all the day: for I know not the numbers [of it]. I will go in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

O God, You have taught me from my youth. Until now have I declared Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grey, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed Your strength to [this] generation, Your power to everyone [that] is to come. Your righteousness also, O God, [is] very high. Who have done great things. O God, Who [is] like You! [You], Who have showed me great and sore troubles, shall make me alive again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

I will also praise You with the psaltery, Your truth, O my God. To You will I sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You; and my soul, which You have redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day: for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame, that seek my hurt.

[i]

The psalmist writes about the pains and problems of aging. The aged have one principal concern left in life: “until I have showed Your strength to [this] generation,” shows that they need to pass the baton of faith to the next generation.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Psalm 50:1-23

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 50:1-23[i]

A Psalm of Asaph

The mighty God, [even] the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined.

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. Fire shall devour before Him, It shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call the heavens from above, and the earth, so that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together to Me; those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. The heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God [is] judge Himself. Consider.

Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you. I [am] God, your God. I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, continually before Me. I will take no bullock from your house, [or] male goats from your folds: for every beast of the forest [is] Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains. The wild beasts of the field [are] Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world [is] Mine, and the fullness of it. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

Offer God thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the most High. Call on Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, You shall glorify Me.

But to the wicked God says, “What have you to do to declare My statutes, or [that] you should take My covenant in your mouth? Seeing you hate instruction, and cast My words behind you. When you saw a thief, then you consented with him, and have been partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit [and] speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son.” These [things] have you done, I kept silence. You thought that I was altogether [such an one] as yourself. I will reprove you, and set [them] in order before your eyes.

Now Consider, you who forget God, lest I tear [you] in pieces, and [there is] no one to deliver. [He] who offers praise glorifies Me. He who orders [his] conversation [aright] will I show the salvation of God.

[i] Asaph, writing after 586, notes that in the past God’s Glory did shine forth from earthly Zion. That Glory is gone now; but it will come again: and indeed it did in 4 BC. However, it seems to me that, here Asaph sees past the First Advent, past our present evil age, to the Second Advent of Christ and the final judgment.

In the following paragraphs, Asaph sounds like Paul in the first three chapters of Romans. He makes it clear that the bloody animal sacrifices will end: they were only an object lesson anyway. What was that lesson? Because of our sin, God’s love comes with a terrible price, pictured in the bloody sacrifices; but this lesson is more about learning to be thankful to God for all His benefits, being faithful to Him, and trusting Him to answer prayer (Psalm 116:10-19).

It is our faithfulness to our vows, and our praises from thankful hearts that set aside from the wicked. It is not that we have stopped sinning: we haven’t. It is not that we are better than they: we aren’t. We have simply come to understand God’s mercy in forgiveness and in deliverance. What are these vows? Our prayers are our vows, but primarily the things we promise in the Nicaean Creed, and the like. We do believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. We do believe that Jesus will return with power and Glory. We will love all our brothers and sisters in Christ. We will gladly embrace the salvation that Jesus brings with His Second Coming.

Psalm 49:1-20

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 49:1-20[i]

To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.

Hear this, all people. Give ear, all inhabitants of the world: both low and high, rich and poor, together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom. The meditation of my heart [shall be] of understanding. I will incline my ear to a parable. I will open my dark saying on the harp. Why should I fear in the days of evil, [when] the iniquity of my heels shall circle about me? Those who trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the abundance of their riches, none can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him: for the redemption of their soul [is] precious, It ceases forever: so that he should live forever, [and] not see corruption.

For he sees wise men die, Likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought [is], [that] their houses [shall continue] forever, [and] their dwelling places to all generations. They call lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man in honor abides not. He is like the beasts [that] perish. This their way [is] their folly. Yet their posterity approve their sayings. Consider.

Like sheep they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for He shall receive me. Consider.

Be not afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased: for when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him: though while he lived he blessed his soul. Men will praise you, when you do well for yourself.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see light. Man in honor, understands not. He is like the beasts [that] perish.

[i] Long before Scrooge was ever written, the sons of Korah made the point in Psalms. The person ensnared in his own wealth is neither fit nor ready to receive the Christ Child. “The iniquity at [His] heels,” refers to the prophecy that the Christ Child came to wound the head of Satan. The path to eternal life without corruption, lies in forsaking the wealth of this world, so that one may receive the wealth of the next world. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The Christ Child came in poverty: so that we could receive His riches, the riches of His Glory.

Psalm 48:1-14

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 48:1-14[i]

A Song [and] Psalm for the sons of Korah.

Great [is] the Lord, Greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, [in] the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, [is] mount Zion, [on] the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

For, lo, the kings were assembled, They passed by together. They saw it, So they marveled. They were troubled, [and] hasted away. Fear took hold on them there, pain, as of a woman in travail. You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Consider.

We have thought of Your lovingkindness, O God, in the heart of Your temple. According to Your name, O God, [so is] Your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness.

Let mount Zion rejoice, Let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Your judgments. Walk about Zion, Go round about her. Count her towers. Mark well her bulwarks, Consider her palaces; so that you may tell the generation following: for this God [is] our God forever and ever. He will be our guide to death.

[i] The sons of Korah were some kind of choral or liturgical group that continued composing Psalms in times of great trouble, possibly even in 586 at the time of the temple's destruction. They sing with great hope, looking from earthy to heavenly Zion, from the earthly to the heavenly temple. The east wind may be a reference to the Holy Ghost in His work of overthrowing the evil kingdoms of this world (the ships of Tarshish). The details of earthly Zion are to be remembered, for heavenly Zion will be great; even from destruction she shall be resurrected, even in death.

We have come to know that the heavenly temple which Jesus raises is His own body, The Church. Go round about her: count her towers, bulwarks, and palaces. “Death is overthrown. Christ our God is risen.”

Psalm 47:1-9

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 47:1-9[i]

To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.

Oh clap your hands, all people. Shout to God with the voice of triumph: for the Lord most high [is] terrifying. [He is] a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the Excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Consider.

God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, Sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises: for God [is] the King of all the earth, Sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the heathen. God sits on the throne of His holiness.

The princes of the people are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth [belong] to God, He is greatly exalted.

[i] The sons of Korah may be a chanting or choral group established after 586 BC. There are many indications among their Psalms of the Temple’s destruction. Had they written one hundred years earlier, they may well have said, He has subdued…. He has chosen, rather than “He shall.” In this Psalm, God is seen as bigger than Zion, bigger than Jerusalem; He is “most high”, “over all the earth”, reigning “over the heathen”, seated on the throne of His holiness. These things indicate that the sons of Korah have taken ownership of the Babylonian Captivity by faith and have come to understand that something far greater lies ahead.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Psalm 28:1-9

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 28:1-9[i]

[A Psalm] of David.

To You will I cry, O Lord my rock. Be not silent to me. Lest, You are silent to me, and I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands to Your holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief [is] in their hearts.

Give them according to their deeds, according to the wickedness of their endeavors. Give them after the work of their hands. Render to them their desert. Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them, and not build them up.

Blessed [be] the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord [is] my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in Him, I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song will I praise Him.

The Lord [is] their strength, He [is] the saving strength of His Christ. Save Your people, Bless Your inheritance. Feed them also, Lift them up forever.

[i] David spills out his prayer in a torrent. There was considerable temptation to group it in one paragraph: because one thought rushes onward to the next.

The “Oracle” is the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy place in the tabernacles and temples of the Israelites. It is the place where the Ark of the Covenant, the Throne of God, is kept, it is God’s special residence, the place where the Glory of God sits, from which He speaks, and where He hears and judges petitions: it was active among the Israelites for eight hundred sixty years, it is very likely the place where Samuel slept.

David is painfully aware that it is this presence of The Living God that separates him from wicked men and not his own behavior.

The entire security of David and his kingdom rests on this visible Flaming-Smoking Presence of God: nothing else. Israel is a tiny country, which could have been easily overrun by truly powerful empires, like Egypt to the south; or Syria, Assyria, and Babylonia from the north. Israel exists as a nation for eight hundred sixty years, for one, and only one reason; the Glory of God, Who calls Himself God and Jehovah, dwells among them, speaks to them, and listens to them from the Oracle. There was, at that time, one place on earth, where the Ubiquity allowed Himself to be seen and heard by men. Of course, the infinite, omnipresent God cannot live in a small manmade room: but the living picture was always there to remind the Israelites that God rules the Universe, God is the only reason that they exist, the only reason we exist. The fact that God speaks and listens, is central to this Psalm and all the Psalms. He hears our prayers and answers.