Psalms 56, 34, 57, 142, 108, 60

Psalms — Steve Gregg

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Psalms 56, 34, 57, 142, 108, 60

PsalmsSteve Gregg

In his presentation, Steve Gregg discusses six psalms, namely Psalms 56, 34, 57, 142, 108, and 60. He explains that the first four psalms were written during a dangerous situation where David was fleeing from Saul and seeking refuge in Philistine city Gath. Nonetheless, the historical context of these psalms reveal that they all emphasize the importance of putting trust in God despite adversity and enemies. Furthermore, the psalms also express the Lord's protection and deliverance from troubles, and the importance of humility, contrition, and righteousness.

Transcript

We now come to four psalms that are related to each other in that they are written around a common historic situation. Remember, there are 14 psalms out of the whole 150 that give historic information about the time of their writing. Four of them all relate to the same period, and that is the period when David first began to flee from Saul, and he fled into Gath, which was a Philistine city.

After all, if you're fleeing from the king of your country, the best thing for you to do is to leave the country, since he would have no jurisdiction outside the country. And so David fled to Gath, a Philistine city, but the only problem was David had a reputation of a Philistine killer. He had been a warrior for Saul before Saul turned against him, and had led Saul's armies against the Philistines, and it had even been said of him that while Saul had slain his thousands, David had slain his tens of thousands, meaning of the Philistines, so that the Philistine territory wasn't the safest place for a guy like David to be.

He was their public enemy number one, and when he was with them, he was recognized by them in this Philistine city. The story is found in 1 Samuel chapter 21. In fact, I think we should turn there and read the story before we read the Psalms that were written at the time.

And the way he avoided getting into big trouble with the Philistines was that he pretended like he'd gone mad, so that they must have assumed that the reason he was out of his home country and was expelled from his own country was because he had had a fit of insanity or something, and so they figured, ah, he's no danger to us, he's a madman, and so they let him go, and he escaped and came to the cave of Adullam, where there came to him certain people who became his companions. But this was at the very earliest stages of his flight from Saul. In 1 Samuel chapter 20 and 21, we see David fleeing from Saul, and in chapter 21, one of the first things David did was he went by the tabernacle to get some bread and a weapon, if possible, because he had fled from home without bringing any, and the only bread they had was the showbread, from the table of showbread, and David and the few that were with him took that, and he also took Goliath's sword, which had been laid up as one of the treasures in the tabernacle.

He took Goliath's sword with him so that he'd have a weapon in war. But then it said, going to verse 10, And David arose and fled, we're in 1 Samuel 21, And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did not they sing one to another of him, and dance, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And David laid up these words in his heart, and he was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

And that's when Psalm 56 was written, because the title of Psalm 56 says so. And then it says, And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned, or pretended himself mad. Insane, in other words, in their hands.

And he scrabbled on the doors. The literal Hebrew means he made marks on the doors. Apparently he just acted like a little insane person who's reverted back to childhood.

Sort of scratching his minds and words on the doors and things like that. He scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and he let his spittle fall down through his beard. So David was a good imitator.

He faked like a madman, drooling, and letting his drool run out of his mouth all over his beard. And he kind of scratched on the doors, and just acted like a loony. And so he convinced them.

He said, Then Achish said unto his servants, Lo, ye see this man is mad. Wherefore then have ye brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? And so he was driven from them. And it says in the first verse of chapter 22, Then David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adolam.

And when his brethren in all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And also it says in the next verse that quite a few people, numbering about 400 men, joined to him also and made him their captain. And they became his renegade band, running from Saul through the wilderness from cave to cave.

Now, there were four psalms written at this time. Psalm 56 was written when he was first taken by the Philistines to the king. Before he started playing the madman, or about that time.

At the end of the chapter, we have Psalm 34 written. That is when David escaped from the hands of the Philistines on this occasion, having played mad. He wrote Psalm 34 to praise God for that safe deliverance.

And then when he came to the cave of Adolam, described in chapter 22 in verse 1 here, he wrote two psalms when he was there in the cave. One was Psalm 57, and another was Psalm 142. So, around this short period of his life, at the early part of his flight from Saul, he wrote four psalms, and we'd like to read those, simply because knowing the historical setting will help us to appreciate the thoughts that are expressed in his poetry.

If we turn to Psalm 56, which was the first of these to be written, Psalm 56, the title of the psalm says, To the chief musician upon Jehonah Limricokim, Mishtim of David. Then it says, When the Philistines took him in Gath. So, it wasn't spelled out that clearly in 1 Samuel 21, but the Philistines captured him and took him before the king, and he played like a madman, so that he was mistaken for an insane man, and he was released.

But it says, he wrote this at that time, when they took him. Probably he was sitting in a cell, waiting to be brought before the king. Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up, he fighting daily oppressive me.

Mine enemies would daily swallow me up, for they be many that fight against me. O Thou Most High, what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. In God will I praise His word, in God I have put my trust.

I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. This became actually a refrain, like a chorus to be sung, because it's repeated in verses 10 and 11, sort of like a chorus sung at different intervals during the song. That is, in God will I praise His word, in God I have put my trust.

I will not fear what flesh can do unto me, or what man can do unto me. Every day they rest my words, or they twist my meanings of what I say. They take what I say and try to use it against me.

All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. Shall they escape iniquity, or by iniquity? In thine anger cast down thy people, O God.

There is an imprecation right there. In your anger cast down the people because of their iniquity. Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears into thy bottle.

Are they not in thy book? Now, he apparently was very grieved, though his emotions are not explained for us in the story in 1 Samuel. He apparently wept. In fact, in one of the other songs we read, he said, my eye is consumed with weeping because of mine enemies that pursue me, and so forth.

So, David was a very emotional person. The fact that he wrote so much poetry sort of indicates that. He is a man of high and low emotions, but a very emotional character.

And at this time, it was a great heartbreak to him that he was being misjudged, he was being slandered falsely, and he was having to run for his life when he had done no evil. But he said he was aware that God had kept a record of how many tears he had cried. Are they not all written in your book? In other words, it is like God is a bookkeeper.

He keeps track of every detail of our lives. Even the number of tears that we have cried, he has kept track of. In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus told us that he keeps track of every hair of our head, and also of every sparrow that falls to the ground he is aware of.

So, God has a great attention to detail. He even knows the number of tears we have cried, which means that he must have been close by at those times when those tears were shed. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back.

This I know, for God is for me. And you remember Romans 8, verse 31, If God be for us, who can be against us? And so, he says, I am confident now, because I know that God is for me. Then he gives his refrain again.

In God will I praise his word, in the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

This statement, I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me, is quoted in the book of Hebrews as being essentially our confident assertion that we are able to make also. In Hebrews chapter 13, I believe it is. In Hebrews chapter 13, verses 5 and 6, It says, let your conversation be without covetousness, or your lifestyle be without greed.

And be content with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. That's taken from Joshua, the promise there.

So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. This statement, I will not fear what man shall do unto me, because the Lord is my helper, is taken from the psalm here. God, I put my trust in him, therefore, who cares what man will do.

Man cannot do anything without God's permission to me, so I can be confident, and I can praise his word. Then in verse 12, thy vows are upon me, O God, I will render praises unto thee. When it says, thy vows are upon me, it either means that God had made certain vows concerning David, which he had, of course, he had vowed that he would be king.

And he was saying, basically, even though things don't look that way now, yet God has made certain vows that are upon my life. And therefore, they can be expected to be fulfilled. Or else, he could be saying, the opposite, he could be saying, I have taken certain vows, in the name of God, your vows, they're upon me.

That is, I carry the burden of certain vows I've made, that I have to fulfill. And the particular vow would be, then, the vow that he will praise God. He probably is saying, I have made certain vows that I'm going to praise you.

And even though I might sometimes not feel like it, I've got to keep my vows, so I'm going to praise you in this. For thou hast delivered my soul from death. Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? Now, he says, God has already in the past delivered him from death.

On this occasion, it must refer to the fact that Saul had set assassins around the house to keep David from escaping, but he had escaped anyway. And God had delivered him from death, but now he was facing danger again. Perhaps death, or perhaps some other kinds of danger at the hands of the Philistines, who would, of course, be angry at him for having killed so many of their soldiers in his previous career.

So, on the basis of God's former faithfulness, he expects safety this time. Okay, now that was written when he was taken by them. But Psalm 34, which we now turn to, was written after he escaped their hands.

After he pretended to be insane and fooled them, he wrote Psalm 34. There's something ironic about Psalm 34 in that respect, because it says that if a person wants a long life, in verse 13 it says he should keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. Guile means deceit and hypocrisy.

That a person in Psalm 34, verse 13, a person who wishes to live long should avoid hypocrisy and deceit. And yet, at the very occasion that he's writing this, he had escaped death by hypocrisy and deceit, really. He had hypocritically and deceitfully pretended to be insane, but wasn't.

And so, it's kind of interesting that he would extol honesty on an occasion like this, when he had been something less than totally honest. And yet, he realized that even though he resorted to deception on this occasion, that that was not the way that God intended for people to live. He doesn't want them to live by their wits or by their deceptions.

He wants them to live honestly before him. And David himself had had a bit of a lapse of that on this occasion. As the Psalm title tells us, Psalm 34, the title says, A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.

The word Abimelech there is given as the name of the king. However, in 1 Samuel, chapter 21, we're told that the king's name was Achish. Remember, we read that his name was Achish, or Achish.

Now, why is it that it says Abimelech here? Well, there's two possibilities. One is that Abimelech is not the right reading. If you have a marginal reference, my Bible does.

It says, or Achish. So, the reading could probably be before Achish, which would agree with 1 Samuel 21. Or, Abimelech could be the proper reading, because Abimelech was a sort of a dynasty name, a family name, rather than a personal name.

Just like the word Pharaoh was applied to all the kings of Egypt. Remember when Moses stood before Pharaoh. The name Pharaoh was used as though it was his proper name, and yet there were many, many people called Pharaoh.

Every successive king of Egypt was called Pharaoh. The same is true of the Philippines. Philippines? Philistines! I made that mistake when Rick Stevens was going away to the Philippines.

I said, have a good time in the Philistines. Oh, man. It was a mistake, too.

I didn't do it to be funny. Anyway, the kings of the Philistines were often called Abimelech. We know that because both Abraham and Isaac, at different times in their lives, fled to the land of the Philistines, where they deceived, both of them deceived the kings of their day, and both those kings were called Abimelech.

And here, we could be seeing that Abimelech is a title more like Pharaoh, and it's not a proper name, in which case, this king, Achish, was his proper name, but Abimelech would be more like his title, the name of his office that he held. So, there'd be no contradiction here, even though we have a different name mentioned. Okay, now, this is a familiar psalm.

Like Psalm 37, which we studied the other day, it's full of tremendous promises. I feel like Psalm 37 and Psalm 34 are full of some of the nicest promises for Christians to claim, and it's a highly optimistic, highly exuberant psalm. It's a rejoicing psalm, as you can tell from the very first words and all the way through, because he's so ecstatic that he's been delivered out of the hands of the Philistines, even though it was through his own ploys, he no doubt felt that God had given him grace for it to succeed.

And so he writes, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make a boast in the Lord.

The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.

They looked unto Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him.

The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile.

Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.

But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth Him out of them all. He keepeth all His bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.

The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants, and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate. Well, without making comments about every single verse, by the way, you might have guessed because there are 22 verses, it is also another acrostic where each verse follows another by beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. But he begins by saying that he will continually be praising God.

Now, he said that in Psalm 56, which he had written a short time earlier. He said that he had made a vow that he would praise God, and now he says, now he really feels like praising God, because he has now been released from his prison. I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually, or always be in my mouth.

My soul shall make a boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear of it and be glad. He speaks of humble people being glad to hear about his situation. The humble people were likely to be the ones who joined themselves to him later, and were glad about his victories, though the proud who were seeking position for themselves were sticking with Saul.

Now, the next verse then invites the reader to join in. He has already said, I am going to praise the Lord at all times. Why don't you join me? Oh, magnify the Lord with me.

Let's exalt his name together. Why should I be doing this alone? Let's all do it together now. Let's join in.

I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Or that is, from all the things which I feared. It says, they looked unto him and were lightened.

Their faces were not ashamed. Lightened there, of course, could be understood to be enlightened, but more likely it has to do with their burden was lightened, or that they're, because it indicates that they were looking to him for relief, to God for relief. They must probably mean the humble that are mentioned earlier.

People who are humble and who seek God look to him for relief, and he lightens their burden, and they are not disappointed by looking to him. Their faces were not ashamed. When he describes himself as a poor man, that is an accurate description.

When he fled from Saul, he didn't own much. He didn't have much with him, and he lived as a poor man in caves and dens of the earth, and we're told in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, he wore sheepskins and goatskins, he and his companions, you know, it's whatever they could find to put on during that time, because they couldn't go to town to buy anything, and they didn't have money anyway. So, he was poor.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Referring to the most recent troubles, being escaped from the Philistines there. He mentions the angel of the Lord in camping around him that feared him, so that he recognizes that even while he was in the captivity of the Philistines, he was nonetheless surrounded.

God had his armies stationed around him. There are other references to this fact in the scripture. One of the most interesting, perhaps, was in, I think, 2 Kings chapter 6, where Elisha is being sought for.

Maybe I can turn there real quickly. 2 Kings chapter 6, Elisha was living in Dothan, and there was a certain king that was besieging the city, the capital city of Israel, Samaria, and it was the king of Syria. And every time he had a plot to ambush the king of Israel, Elisha the prophet knew of it, supernaturally, and told the king of Israel and warned him, so he escaped from the king of Syria.

So finally, the king of Syria asked his counselors, which of you is on the king of Israel's side? Who's given him all of our strategies, telling him all our plots? And one of them said, none of us are on his side, but Elisha the prophet tells the king what you whisper in your bedchamber. And so they decide they're going to have to get Elisha out of the way. And so they went to Dothan, which is where Elisha was, and in verse 14 it says, Therefore sent he hither horses and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed the city about.

And when the servant of the man of God, which was the servant of Elisha, was risen early and gone forth, behold, a host encamped about the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master, what shall we do? And Elisha answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see.

And the Lord opened his eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Now you can see that there was something happening in the invisible world that Elisha could see, being a prophet, but which his servant could not see. His servant could only see the enemies encamped around him, but as his spiritual eyes were opened, he was permitted to see that there were angelic armies surrounding him, horses and chariots of fire surrounding the man of God.

And so that, we are told by David, is the unseen reality in all of our lives, that the angels of God are encamped around us. It says in Hebrews 1.14 that they are sent forth to minister to us, to serve us. And God has his angels about us, according to Psalm 34.7, to deliver us.

Verse 8, again, is an invitation to the listener, as was verse 3. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. How do you taste? By trusting.

You trust in him, you'll get that blessing. You'll get that happiness, that joy that comes from trusting him. You can taste of it yourself.

Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. If you fear the Lord, it says there will be no want, which means no lack, to you. You'll have all you need.

He illustrates that by mentioning that even the strong young lions, who above all creatures of the earth ought to be able to feed themselves, young lions who are strong and swift and can catch prey, he says even they sometimes go hungry. And yet, we who are weaker than they will not lack any good thing if we're seeking the Lord. He says in verse 10, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want or not lack any good thing.

Now notice, he says you have to seek the Lord. You have to seek the Lord. It doesn't say those who seek for good things, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack the good things.

God will give them unto you even as the statement that Jesus made about seeking first the kingdom of God and these other things be added to you. If you're seeking God and you lack anything, then what you lack isn't a good thing. At least it's not good for you.

There may be things that you wish you had. And you say, well, I've been seeking God and he's never given me this thing. I still lack it.

Well, then it's not a good thing, because you won't lack any good thing or anything that's good for you if you're seeking the Lord. He'll see to that. Then he says, come, you children, hearken unto me.

Now, what children he was talking to, it's hard to know. He didn't have his children with him if he had any at all. And running through the woods, he didn't exactly have neighborhood children to talk to.

So perhaps he was writing this later down, writing his thoughts down about this occasion for later to be read to his children. Come, you children, hearken to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desires life and loves many days that he may see good? This statement, this thing that's about to be quoted or to be written here, all the way down to verse 16, is quoted in 1 Peter 3, verses 10 through 12.

Peter quotes it to show that if we do good, we're not likely to be persecuted so much. Then he's, in that passage, saying that it's okay to be persecuted for righteousness' sake, but for the most part, if we're really being righteous, there's not going to be that many people wanting to hurt us. There will be some, of course, but he indicated that a lot of times when you're being persecuted, it's because you haven't been being good.

You haven't been following this injunction. He said, if you want long life, then keep your tongue from evil and keep your lips from lies and depart from doing evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it. In other words, seek to have peace in all relationships.

There will be some who will not accept terms of peace with you, but they will be few and you're going to live longer if you live peaceably and in welfare toward other people, wishing well for them and not doing evil to them or lying to them or about them. He says that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. In verse 15, his ears are open to their cry, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

So, again, there's reference as in Psalm 37 to God cutting off the wicked from the earth. The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them from all their troubles. The Lord is nigh to them or near to them that are of a broken heart.

He said in Psalm 51 that a broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Those are the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. So, a man with a broken heart as David had at this time, God's near to such people at times when their hearts are hurting and aching and when they're humbled.

He saves such as are of a contrite or a humble spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous as David was just beginning to learn. He had many afflictions to come after writing this.

Most of his afflictions were yet future, but he had already learned that many afflictions are going to come to the righteous man. But the Lord will deliver him out of them all. Now, concerning the righteous man, it says in verse 20, he keeps all his bones.

Not one of them is broken. It may mean that God keeps all of the righteous man's bones from being broken. In any case, this is a messianic statement.

This is something that was fulfilled on the cross. When Jesus was on the cross in John 19.36, in the place where it mentions that the soldiers were going to break the legs of all three of the men on the cross to hasten their death. They found that Jesus had died already because he had given up the ghost after six hours hanging there.

And therefore, there was no need to break his legs. And it says this was fulfilled. This happened to fulfill the scripture that said he keeps all his bones.

Not one of them is broken. And that's quoted in John 19.36. Then he says, evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

Or interestingly, it could be rendered guilty. None of those who trust in him should be guilty. One or the other.

If it says none of them should be desolate, it means that God won't leave you. He won't abandon you just to be totally on your own without him and without any aid if you trust him. If it means guilty, then it's another reference to justification by faith.

Those who trust him shall not be guilty. Those who believe, those who have faith will not be guilty. They'll be counted righteous.

Either way, either could be rendered properly there. Alright, so we see what David had to say after he escaped. Now we turn to Psalm 57, which according to the testimony of its title, was written at the time when David fled to the cave of Adullam, which was right after this time.

He fled there directly from the land of the Philistines. And that is where his family came and visited him. At least his mother and father, I guess, did.

And also the 400 men. The title says when he fled from Saul in the cave. He writes, Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me.

He was feeling sad again. Even though he had escaped and felt pretty good in Psalm 34, pretty soon the reality dawned on him he was still in danger. And he still couldn't just walk back into town and see his loved ones, even his wife.

He had to leave behind him. By the way, we learn from reading the further story of David, that while David was in flight, Saul took David's wife and gave her to be another man's wife. So that would even be turning the knife in the wound.

Saul had given David the wife originally. Michael was Saul's daughter and was given to David's wife because of David's victory over the Philistines. But when David fled, Saul took her back and gave her to someone else.

However, after Saul's death, when David came to power, he took her back again from the second husband. Anyway, Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me. For my soul trusteth in thee.

Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. Now how hard it must have been at that time to keep saying, I'm trusting you God, I'm trusting you God. When day after day after day, his problems didn't end.

And apparently for years he kept fleeing and yet he kept trusting. It's one thing when we're facing a crisis to trust God long enough, maybe for a few days, maybe a week, maybe a month, until it's over. But when, let's say, God delivers you out of one crisis and then there's just another one right there, or one that just continues, a continuing crisis for years, it really taxes a man's faith.

Yet we can see that by putting his trust in the Lord, it was not foolish of him, because the Lord ultimately did come to his aid. The Lord ultimately did put him on the throne. And that shows that his trust was well founded.

That God was worthy of his trust. Though at the time that David was saying this, it was just blind faith. Saying, I guess, God, I just got to trust your word.

He says, My soul trusteth in thee, yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up, Selah.

God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Talks about their teeth and their tongue being like weapons.

They gnash on them with their teeth and they speak slanderous words. They're like weapons coming against him. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.

Let thy glory be above all the earth. This verse is repeated at the end of the psalm. Here at verse 5 and also at verse 11.

It's a refrain that repeats itself. And by the way, it is also the fifth verse of Psalm 108, which has affinities with this psalm, because the last five verses of this psalm are the same as the first five verses of Psalm 108. Just the same.

And they're familiar verses to us because we sing it. In fact, we sing this to about three different tunes. There's about three different arrangements of these five verses or parts of them that we sing frequently.

Anyway, verse 5. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. It says, They have prepared a net for my steps.

My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before me into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Typical psalmist remark.

We're finding that principle again and again. Reference to how his enemies come after him and they slip and fall. The trap they set for him ends up there stuck in it.

It says, My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. It doesn't mean it was broken and now it's fixed. It means that he's established it.

It's something that is determined. He's determined. He's fixed his attitude permanently to be of this way.

What is it that it's fixed to do? It's permanently set on the idea of singing and giving praise. This is what he said also in that other psalm where he said, I've got your vows upon me. I will praise you.

In the previous psalm, 56, verse 12. Thy vows are upon me, O God. I will render praises to thee.

And in Psalm 34, he said, I will praise the Lord continually. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Here he says, my heart is fixed.

That is, my determination is this, that I will sing and give praise. Even though he didn't feel like it, obviously. He was just hanging on by the skin of his teeth to his faith.

But he had fixed his heart that he was going to praise God in it anyway. He says, Awake up, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp.

I myself will awake early. Now, this verse differs from Psalm 108, verse 2 only in that it has the expression, my glory. Awake up, my glory.

But Psalm 108, verse 2 just says, Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people.

I will sing praises unto thee among the nations, which means among the Gentiles. This is a messianic statement, of course. It's very much like several other statements in the Psalms that speak of how the psalmist, and sometimes referring to Jesus, will sing praises among the church or among the Gentiles, really.

David himself was probably thinking in terms of how he was now a refugee from the land of Israel. He was among the heathen more often than among the Jews. But even there, among the nations, among the heathen, the Gentiles, he would still sing praises.

Even though he was not in his own land. Remember Psalm 137 where it says, Our captors wanted us to sing songs of Zion, but we were in Babylon. And how could we sing the Lord's songs when we were in a foreign land? The embittered Jews in their Babylonian captivity didn't have David's resiliency.

In the Babylonian captivity, they were bitter. And they said, We can't sing the Lord's songs in this foreign land. But David said, I'm among the nations.

I'm among the Gentiles. I'm in a foreign land, but I'm going to sing and give praise anyway. And so David had a real buoyancy that most of the Jews lacked, including the Jews who went into the exile in Babylon.

He says, I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people, which would normally mean the Jews, but also I will sing praises unto thee among the Gentiles, the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds. Which simply means that the clouds and the heavens are that which is unreachable to man, something that is transcendent to man.

And so God's mercy and his truth are so lofty, man cannot even conceive of all their facets. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth.

He repeats himself here. All right. Now, this was written when he was in the cave.

And so was Psalm 142, which we can read. It's interesting. These Psalms sort of bear testimony to the validity of their titles, not because they appear to be about those events, because you can't tell by reading them that they're about those events.

They could be about almost any other thing. And that's what more or less tells us the titles are genuine. No one would have put those titles in there just from reading the psalm.

No one would have made them up, in other words. You wouldn't read that psalm and say, oh, this is obviously when David was in the cave, because you can't tell from the psalm. And the fact that the psalms have those titles and have had them from ancient times indicates that those psalms probably were just there because they're true, not because anyone deduced that that's when it was written from the content.

Psalm 142, the title says, A Masculine of David. In my margin under Masculine, it says that Psalm 32 has a similar opening, A Masculine of David. A certain kind of song, apparently.

A prayer when he was in the cave, the cave of Adullam. This is a shorter one, seven verses only. I cried unto the Lord with my voice.

With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me.

Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord.

I said, thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.

The righteous shall come past me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. So, he starts out crying again. Crying unto the Lord.

And for good cause, he was in great trouble, as he says. I poured out my complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble.

And that's one thing good about David, that when he had complaints, he went to God with them instead of just grumbling to others about them. If Christians would do that more, it would cause fewer problems in relationships in the body of Christ. People would take their complaints to the Lord, or at least to concerned parties who had something to do with the problem.

Instead of gossiping, it would help a great deal in most relationships in the body of Christ. Now, he says, I looked on my right hand. In other words, the place where there should be people close by, because the right hand is the position of closeness.

Jesus being at the right hand of God. We saw in one of the Psalms, one of the imprecatory Psalms, let Satan be at his right hand. That was Psalm 109, verse 6. And later on it says, God is at my right hand.

The place of the right hand is the place of closeness. Well, I looked at my right hand to see where my close friends were. They weren't there.

My friend said, this must be before his friends joined him there in the cave. He was in the cave waiting. So there was no one who would even acknowledge him.

No man would know me, he said. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul.

I forget who it was, was telling me how this verse had struck him once and had moved him to get into the pastoral ministry. He thought it was such a sorrowful line. No man cared for my soul.

He just thought, how many people are there about whom no one cares for their soul? They need someone to shepherd them, someone to care for them. And while that may be not exactly what David's saying here, he's basically saying no one even cared about me. No one wanted to follow me.

No one wanted to side with me. But he said because no one was there at his right hand, he called to the Lord, which worked out for the good anyway. He called out to God in verse 5 and said, I don't have anyone else but you.

You are my portion in the land of the living. That is, in this life, apparently I'm not going to have anything else but you, but I guess that's enough. Attend to my cry.

I'm brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they're stronger than I am. And then he has a confidence at the end, which says that he would, it says the righteous shall compass me about and he'll be surrounded by righteous people.

This he may have come to realize while he was there in the cave and the 400 people who didn't like Saul came out to follow David. He may have begun to realize that even though he didn't have anyone near him at first, now there were certain righteous people who were coming to surround him and to be part of his group. And he says, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

This was a statement of sheer faith. He was not in a position of experiencing the bounty of God at this time, nor was it in the foreseeable future. But he did believe to see the goodness of the Lord, as it says in Psalm 37, verse 13.

I had fainted if I had not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. So here also, he expected to see the bounty of God upon him. Now, I'd like for us to look at Psalm 108, even though it was not necessarily written at the same time.

We don't know when it was written, but because it has such a parallel there, it's obviously related in thought and subject matter. Because the first five verses of Psalm 108 are almost exactly like, with only a very small difference, the last five verses of Psalm 57, which we studied a few moments ago. And so it's obvious if out of a psalm of 13 verses, five of them are transcribed directly from another psalm, that the two psalms must have a close affinity in thought.

And since we've studied those thoughts and feelings that David was going through when he was in flight from Saul in that early time, before he began to amass followers with him, it will probably add to our total picture by reading this psalm. Psalm 108, we'll recognize the verses immediately. O God, my heart is fixed.

I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself will awake early.

Saying, essentially, that he's going to rise up early to praise God. And he's not going to do it quietly, he's going to take his musical instruments too. Wake up, you, musical instruments, you know.

It's early, I know, but we're going to get started already. Pulls him out of the dark corners of the house and says, wake up. It's time to praise God early in the morning.

I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great above the heavens.

Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. We've studied these verses in Psalm 57. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth.

The request that God's glory be above all the earth may be related to the promises of God found in three places in the scripture that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord is going to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. If I could locate one of those passages. I believe Numbers has one of them, possibly in Numbers 14.

Let me check this out. Yes, Numbers 14, 21. A promise that God made.

And it's as sure to be fulfilled as the fact that he lives is sure. That's what he says. But as truly as I live, all the earth should be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Numbers 14, 21. As truly as I live, he said, all the earth is going to be filled with the glory of the Lord. There are two other places that make such a statement.

Is that Habakkuk or Habakkuk? One of the minor prophets, which we've looked at before in chapter two. I wonder how quickly we can find Habakkuk. There we go.

Habakkuk 2.14 says, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea. In other words, completely.

Just like the waters cover the whole face of the ocean. So shall the earth be fully covered with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Now, that's an important promise.

I'm going to talk a little about that. But in Isaiah 11.9, we have another statement very closely related to it. Isaiah 11.9. Speaking about the kingdom that Jesus would establish when he come.

Says, they shall not destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. So, in Numbers 14.21. And in Isaiah 11.9. And in Habakkuk 2.14. All three of these places make reference to the fact that the knowledge of God.

Or the knowledge of the glory of God. Is going to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Now, how is that brought about? That is brought about by evangelization.

That's how the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Is going to be spread throughout the whole earth until it covers the whole earth. Jesus said, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all nations.

For a witness to all people. And then shall the end come. In 2 Corinthians.

Chapter 4 and verse 6. A verse that we considered briefly in another connection last night. 2 Corinthians 4.6 says. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.

Has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Now remember, those verses said the knowledge of the glory of God. Or the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

Shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Here it says that God has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The very thing that's going to cover the whole earth.

Has begun in our hearts. Has shined in our hearts. The knowledge of the glory of God.

And where has this knowledge of the glory of God come from? In the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4.6. God has shined in our hearts to give us this knowledge of his glory. Through our looking at Jesus Christ.

And as he said only a few verses earlier. In chapter 3 and verse 18. 2 Corinthians 3.18. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.

Are changed into the same image from glory to glory. Even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So in the face of Jesus Christ we find the knowledge of the glory of God.

As we gaze upon that face. As we gaze upon Jesus Christ. We are changed from glory to glory.

Into that same image. So that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth. As his glory and the knowledge of his glory is spread by us.

By giving people the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And also as his glory is seen upon us. As we are changed from glory to glory.

Into that same image. Well all those thoughts I believe. Are behind this casual apparently casual statement.

Of David in Psalm 108. Where it says be exalted to God above the heavens. And thy glory above all the earth.

Or over all the earth. Like the waters cover the sea. So the glory of the Lord or the knowledge of his glory will be over the whole earth.

And he prays that here and as you saw. He said it twice in Psalm 57. It was sort of a refrain.

That came up twice in that Psalm. Now for the rest of this Psalm. There are actually.

It borrows the rest of the Psalm from another Psalm. So this Psalm is just pieces of two different Psalms. The first five verses as we notice were from Psalm 57.

The remainder of it is taken from Psalm 60. Which we haven't studied. Verses 5 through 12.

So there's nothing original about this Psalm. It's sort of two pieces. It's a patchwork of two Psalms put together.

So the part that's not from Psalm 57. Is from Psalm 60. And it reads.

That thy beloved may be delivered. Save with thy right hand and answer me. God has spoken in his holiness.

I will rejoice. I will divide Shechem and meet out the valley of Sukkah. Gilead is mine.

Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the strength of mine hand. Judah is my lawgiver.

Moab is my wash pot. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe. Over Philistia will I triumph.

Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, who has cast us off? And wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? Give us help from our trouble. For vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly.

For he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Recognize that line. Now, this statement has, this latter part of the psalm has a lot of names of places.

Some of which might not be very familiar to you. But the first group of places. Shechem, Sukkah, Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah.

All those in verses 7 and 8. All have to do with Israel. They all have to do with Israel. Sukkah, Manasseh.

Manasseh was one of the half tribes of Israel. Ephraim was the other half tribe. Those were the two halves of Joseph's tribe.

Ephraim, by the way, was the most powerful tribe in the north part of Israel. And Judah was the most powerful in the south. And they're both mentioned here.

It says, Ephraim also is the strength of mine head. And Judah is my lawgiver. Judah, of course, was the tribe from which David himself came.

And all the kings came. So, Judah was the tribe which gave the lawgivers or the rulers to Israel. But then, the other places that are listed in verse 9 are all enemies of Israel.

Moab, Edom, and Philistia. That is the Philistines. Now, Moab, he says, is my wash pot.

In other words, it's worthless. Whereas, Ephraim is my strength of my head and Judah is my lawgiver. By contrast, Moab is like my wash pot.

It's not something of little value that you have in your house. But it's not for honorable purposes. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe.

I'll empty out the rocks out of my shoes. When I want to empty my shoes, I'll shake them out over Edom. Because that's all I care about, Edom.

Give them what I don't want out of them. That gets into my shoe and makes my feet hurt. And over Philistia will I triumph.

In other words, he's saying that there's a great difference in God's estimation between Israel and her neighbors. That the cities and the territories of Israel are spoken well of, highly by God. But the other territories, they're of very little value.

But when it says, who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? David wrote this at a time when he was leading a campaign with his armies against Edom. Now, the Edomites had as one of their major cities Petra. Which was a city carved out of a mountain of rock in a narrow valley.

And it was considered invincible. And it was very difficult to get in there because it was so easily defended. And the people of Edom, who lived in Petra, were pretty arrogant.

Because they figured they were undefeatable. Sometime after this time, they were defeated. The prophet Obadiah predicted that they would be.

And that's what the book of Obadiah is all about. The fall of Edom, of the city of Petra. At any rate, David must have been leading a campaign at this time against Edom.

And he says, who will lead me into that strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? Will thou not, God, who cast us off? He says, will not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts or with our armies? So, it's clearly a battle song. He's going out, he's calling God to go with him. And part of the song is that God has favored Judah and Ephraim.

But he has not favored these cities around. And now, Edom. Will God give him the victory? Him and the armies' victory over Edom, over this strong city? Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man.

That is, just having armies of human beings is not going to be enough. We need God's help. Through our God, we shall do valiantly.

For it is He that shall tread down our enemies. So, the victory, if it is to be had at all, will be had because of God being with them. And because of them being on God's side.

Now, you can see that Psalm 108 gives us a transition. Whereas the first part was written by David when he was in the cave of the Dolom, flaying from Saul. The latter part was written after he had already come to the throne.

And when he was leading one of his many campaigns against the outlying enemies. And so, you can sort of see a transition there in David's life just in that one psalm. Pieces of two psalms.

The other psalm that's taken from, by the way, we might as well quickly look at. Since it would save us time from just covering it as a separate piece later. Psalm 60 is the one which has so much of the verses borrowed from it in Psalm 108.

Oh, interestingly, there's a title on this psalm. If I had looked earlier, I wouldn't have had to just guess. But it agrees with what I guessed.

This was written about a campaign, one of David's campaigns against Edom. The title of this psalm says, To the chief musician of Ponshushunaduth, whatever that means, Mishtem of David, to teach. When he strove with Erem Nahairim, and with Erem Zobah, when Joab returned and smote Edom in the valley of Saul 12,000.

Joab was David's general. And therefore, it was one of David's battles in his campaigns against Edom that he wrote this during. And you can see, from about verse 6, it follows, or I guess, actually from verse 5, it follows what we already read in Psalm 108.

So the first four verses here are the only unique part of it. O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased. O turn thyself to us again.

Thou hast made the earth to tremble, thou hast broken it, healed the breaches thereof, for it shaketh. Thou hast showed thy people hard things, thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.

Selah. So, the first three verses, basically, are pretty negative. Saying, God, you've given us a few hard knocks here.

We've suffered quite a bit. You haven't really given us victories lately. It seems like you've cast us off.

You've scattered us. You must have been displeased with us, he says. What's the matter? However, he gets optimistic in verse 4. He says, you have given us a banner, or you've given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.

That means that God has given his name to them. And they can carry his banner before them, which suggests that he will go with them to give them victory. And that is what the remainder of the psalm seems to focus on.

Apparently, it's written at a time where victories were few, and where there had been some defeats. But where they were looking forward, this time, to a victory over the Edomites. And we'll read those verses again, which are part of Psalm 108 also.

That thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and hear me. God hath spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice.

I will divide Shechem and meet out the valley of Sukkoth. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the strength of mine head.

Judah is my lawgiver. Moab is my washpot. Over Edom will I cast out my shoe.

Philistia, triumph thou because of me. Interesting, because it read in the other one, I will triumph over Philistia. But here it says, Philistia, triumph thou because of me.

Strange. In other words, when Philistia won their battles too, it was only because God allowed it. There were times when God did allow the Philistines to conquer the Jews.

For instance, when they took the Ark of the Covenant. God permitted it as a judgment against the Jews. But he's pointing out that on those occasions, they didn't triumph because God was absent.

But because God permitted it and wanted them to. Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, which hast cast us off? And thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly, for it is he that shall tread down our enemy.

So, you can see those familiar verses. So, we started out with four psalms written by David at a particular time. But by comparing duplicate portions, we got into a couple of other psalms as well.

Psalm 108 and Psalm 60. And thereby probably saved ourselves some time going over the same material again on another occasion. Okay, even though I believe we're probably a bit early.

In fact, we are quite early. I think we'll just go ahead and stop here and take a little longer break than normal. I don't think you'll mind that.