Psalm 61 - 68

Psalms — Steve Gregg

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Psalm 61 - 68

PsalmsSteve Gregg

In this series of Psalms, Steve Gregg explores themes of trust in God, prayer, and blessings. He emphasizes the importance of being silent before God, and of making vows and fulfilling them. Gregg also discusses the concept of chosen ones, or the elect, who are satisfied by fellowship with God. He concludes with Psalm 68, which speaks of God's victory over enemies and his presence on Mount Zion.

Transcript

Let's turn to Psalm 61. Psalm 61. We have a series of psalms here, a succession of psalms, up through 68, which none of them have been covered in any of the groups of psalms that we've talked about.

Some of them will not require much comment. Some of them are rather short and very self-explanatory. Others might have some portions that require some talk.

But between Psalms 61 and 68, there are no psalms that we've already covered, which is about the largest stretch we've had without interruption of some of the psalms that we've already covered. Psalm 61. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer.

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle forever.

I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. For thou, O God, hast heard my vows.

Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. Thou wilt prolong the king's life and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever.

O prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. Now, this is apparently written by the king, David, when he was king, that is.

And it says in verse 6, thou wilt prolong the king's life, which is a statement of faith, really. Because apparently his throne was somewhat precarious at this time. He seems to not be in Jerusalem at the time he's writing it.

It's possible that at this point he was fleeing from Absalom. The reason I say that's possible is because he mentions that he's calling from the ends of the earth. In verse 2. And the ends of the earth would imply from a very distant place from Jerusalem.

And so he's perhaps had to flee. And his throne is in question. And he's already the king, as is mentioned in verse 6. So it's not in the time when Saul was chasing him, because David was not yet king then.

So we have him saying his heart was overwhelmed. And he asked God to lead him to the rock that is higher than himself. Now, that's an unusual expression, though it might not be too strange to our ears if we've ever sung this psalm.

Or if we've heard the expression before. But in itself, it's a strange expression. Lead me to the rock that's higher than I. In Psalm 18, David had said, the Lord is our rock and our fortress and our high tower.

And a rock was considered to be a place of safety. Especially a mountain of rock. If you could climb to a high location upon rocks, it was easy to defend yourself.

First of all, it would be hard for others to follow you without you being able to drop your weapons upon them or whatever. And therefore, he was looking for a place of safety, a higher place of safety. But the rock that he's seeking was not a natural refuge, I'm sure, but was seeking to be led to God himself.

That he wanted to be led to the presence of God, to be hidden in the secret place of the Almighty. Which was a place higher than he had yet ascended to. Or than he at that time was experiencing.

So he was seeking to be brought into the protection of God, seeking God's aid. Which he could only get from God. The reference to, in verses 6-8, thou wilt prolong the king's life in his years as many generations.

Was as I said, a statement of his faith. His life was perhaps in danger at this time, but he believed in God to prolong his life. And he said, he shall abide before God forever, meaning the king.

O prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him, so or in that way will I sing praise unto thy name forever. That I may daily perform my vows. In these psalms we're going to study in this class today, there are a number of references to performing vows.

About three or four of these psalms will have reference to it. Vows, of course, that you might not remember from when we studied the Pentateuch, was something that the law talked about. If you were feeling particularly good and blessed of the Lord, you might vow to give some kind of a special sacrifice to God.

Just as a thanksgiving offering that you didn't owe. If, on the other hand, you were in trouble and were seeking favors from God, you might make certain vows. If he got you out of this one, you'd give him certain offerings.

These are the kinds of vows that were often made. Vows were voluntary. According to the law, no one had to make any vows to God, but the law said that if you do make a vow to God, you must keep it.

David, apparently, when he lived in Jerusalem, was in the habit of frequently making vows. Now that he's away from Jerusalem, he's not able to keep some of those vows, but he looks forward to being taken back into Jerusalem in honor and all, so that he can continually praise God and daily perform his vows. That is, on a daily basis he made vows to God, which he liked to keep, but he was unable to keep while he was in flight in the ends of the earth.

So, he looks forward with faith, really, in anticipation of coming home and being able to worship in the temple again regularly and offer his sacrifices and his vows. Psalm 62, another short one. Truly my soul waiteth upon God.

From Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense.

I shall not be greatly moved. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? Ye shall be slain, all of you. As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

They only consult to cast him down from His excellency. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

Selah. My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation.

He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory.

The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him.

God is a refuge for us. Selah. Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie.

To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

God hath spoken once. Twice have I heard this, that power belongeth to God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy.

For thou renderest to every man according to his work. Well, there's a prevailing theme of the word refuge coming up again and again and again in this psalm. The reference to God being a defense and a refuge and a rock.

We see it in one of the psalms of David. It resembles the reference to the rock in the previous psalm, only this time there's much more reference to it. The main theme seems to be that because God is his rock, he will not be moved.

In the first instance, he says that, in verse 2, he says, He only is my rock and my salvation, he is my defense, I shall not be greatly moved. In other words, he feels like he might be moved a little bit, but he won't be moved very far from his position. His trials will not be able to do extensive damage to him, to his firm standing.

But in verse 6, he says again, He only is my rock and my salvation, he is my defense, I shall not be moved. In the first instance, he says, I shall not be greatly moved, but then he's got more confidence. By the time he gets to verse 6, he says, I won't be moved at all.

At the beginning, he had a bit of faith. He did believe that if God could hold on to him, that he would only be shaken a little bit and not shaken a great deal. But now he comes to a place of greater faith later on where he knows he won't be shaken at all.

Now, this is the result of waiting on God. It says in verse 1, Truly my soul waiteth upon God, from him comes my salvation. The word waiteth on God in the Hebrew actually means is silent upon God or is silent before God.

My soul is silent. I've basically ceased to clamor. I've relaxed inwardly.

I'm resting in the Lord, just waiting for him to do what he wants to do. And therefore, I have confidence I won't be greatly moved. But then he kind of gets shaken from his position.

In verses 3 and 4, he talks about the wicked men. How long will you imagine mischief against the man? You should be slain all of you. And he gets a bit upset.

He's not being silent. He's not waiting on God anymore. He's just getting a little bit irritated and agitated about the wicked men.

But then he reminds himself, brings himself up short again in verse 5. My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. So, at first he's waiting on God and he's confident that because God is his fortress, he won't be much moved. Then he begins to kind of get agitated and talking about the wicked men.

And then he kind of has to bring himself back and say, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait. Soul, just wait on God. That's all you got to do.

Just wait on God. Don't get so upset. Just be silent before the Lord.

And I shall not be moved at all. And then, of course, he goes on to exhort others to do the same in verse 8. Trust in him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before him.

God is a refuge for us. So, he's not only my refuge and not only I can wait on him and trust in him, but all you people do the same. David's experience is the pattern for us all.

That in time of trouble, we can make ourselves silent before God, wait before him, trust in him, and he will be a refuge for us as he was for David. Now, in verses 9 and 10, he's basically saying that men don't amount to much. In verses 3 and 4, he was saying, he was getting a bit upset about wicked men.

But now he says, really, men, they don't amount to much. Men of low degree, they're vanity. Vanity means emptiness.

And men of high degree, not much better. They're just a lie. And when it means they're a lie, it means that their exalted position in society is deceptive.

Because it makes people think that they are something great, but in fact, they're really vanity also. It's just as much a deception as anything can be. And so, he says, if you put all these people, the ones of high degree and low degree, which means the rich and the poor, or the ones who are high or low in society, put them all in the scale, on the balances, and they weigh less than nothing, less than emptiness.

They're altogether lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression. Become not vain in robbery.

If riches increase, don't set your heart upon them. In other words, don't trust in your riches. Why? Because power is not in the almighty dollar.

Power is not in man. Man, he's already said, is vanity. Man doesn't amount to much.

All power belongs to God. And that's what he says in verse 11. God has spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God.

Now, why does he say God has spoken once, twice have I heard this? It probably is nothing more than the same kind of device that we find in Proverbs frequently, and other poetic, we find it in Job also, where it would say, six things, no, seven. Kind of a situation. That's probably what's really been said here.

I've heard this once, no, twice. That confirms it. In the mouth of two witnesses shall it be established.

That power belongs to God. Also unto thee, O Lord, besides power, belongs mercy. You're not just powerful, you're not just real naked energy, naked power and strength, but you're merciful, which is fortunate, since he has all power.

It's nice that he also is merciful. And that he renders to every man according to his work. He's just and merciful.

And so his great power, all power really belongs to him. It's not in the hands of men at all. But God's power is exercised through mercy and justice.

And it's good to know when God is so powerful that he could do whatever he wanted to. And no one could stop him. It's good to know that he desires to act through the principles of mercy and justice, rather than, say, through personal vindictiveness or sadism.

If God was sadistic, who could stop him? There are certain kinds of people who are that way. They like to just throw cats out of a car on freeways and pull the wings off of flies and things like that. Just to be nasty.

And I'm not that kind of person. I don't think any of you probably are. But you may have heard of people like that or known people like that.

But God isn't that way. Aren't you glad that that's not the way God is? If he just took pleasure in cruelty, just think of how much damage he could do to us. Since we couldn't resist him in any sense.

He's so great in power. All power belongs unto God. But fortunately, not only is he powerful, but he's also merciful and just.

Which is something that apparently he chooses to be. Now, Psalm 63 is written by David. But again, when he's away from Jerusalem, this would appear to be, though it's not certain, it would appear to be also at a time when he's fleeing from Absalom.

He wrote a lot of psalms about that time, it would seem. Or perhaps he wrote the psalms afterward, just sort of reliving the experience and trying to put into words the prayers that were in his heart at that time. He might not have sat down and written them all the time while he was running up the mountain, hiding from Absalom.

But they were born out of that experience and they may have been written down later or composed even later. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.

To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary or the temple. Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live, I will lift up my hands in thy name.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate upon thee in the night watches, because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee, thy right hand upholdeth me.

But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth or into hell. They shall fall by the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes. That is, those who seek after David's soul will be killed on the hillsides and they'll become food for the animals like the jackals and the hyenas and the foxes and such.

But the king shall rejoice in God. Every one that sweareth by him shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. Well, the last three verses pronounce, of course, the doom of the wicked, but up to that point it's a very marvelous song.

It talks about the thirst that he has for God, the thirst for God. He describes himself as being in a thirsty land where no water is. This could be an actual description of his geographical case.

As he fled from the city, he had to go through some rather desert-type areas where it was not all that easy to get water. And so he might have been talking about his geography merely, or he might have even been talking about his geography plus his own spiritual situation, like he was going through a desert wilderness experience. He didn't seem to have any refreshment from fellowship with God.

He was thirsty for God, not only thirsty for water. And he says, to see thy power and thy glory. That's what he was really thirsty for.

He was thirsting to see God's power. He was thirsting to see God's glory as he had seen it in the previous days when he was in the temple. Then he says, because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Now, in other words, I'm not going to praise you because I'm sure of my life or anything like that, because I'm not sure of my life. Even if you took my life, however, there's something better than life that you've given me, and that's your lovingkindness. And your lovingkindness is better than life to me.

So even if I lost my life, I know that I should praise you for your lovingkindness, which is something even better that you've given to me. He says, thus will I bless thee while I live. Thus means in this way, by praising God, I will bless him.

We usually think of God as someone who does all the blessing himself. We ask him to bless us and bless mom and bless dad and bless Aunt Jane and bless grandma and grandpa and bless me and bless me and bless me some more. But perhaps we don't think often enough that we are in the position to be blessing God, that we can bless him.

Now, the word bless means to make happy. And to make God happy, we can bless him by praising him. That's what David says, I will praise thee, my lips shall praise thee, and thus, or in that way, will I bless you.

So praising him is a blessing to him. And I'll do this while I live, meaning, suggesting, maybe hinting, if you keep me alive longer, I'll be able to bless you longer. While I live, I'll bless you in this way.

I will lift up my hands in thy name, just an act of surrender and worship, which is referred to also in the New Testament, by the way. Paul said, I will that men would pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without fear and doubting. I believe that that's in 1 Timothy chapter 2. I'll give you a reference to that so that you can have it in your notes.

About lifting up the hands to God, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 8, I will therefore, says Paul, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. So to keep your hands clean by doing good, and to lift them up as an offering to God, offering up the holiness of your works to God, symbolized by the lifting up of your holy hands, is something that Paul said he wants people to do while they pray. He wants them to be able to present clean works to God also, along with their verbal prayers.

I will lift up my hands in thy name, he says. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. In other words, as though I was eating a good meal.

Even though I'm not, my soul will be satisfied, namely with God's presence. And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. Now, in verse 7 he says, because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

The shadow of the wings, of course, is the place of protection. Remember how Jesus said to Jerusalem, how many times I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens under her wing. But you would not.

And to be gathered under God's wing is to be, of course, in the place where he's protected. Just try to get a little baby chick, get to it when it's under its mother's wing. You just see if its mother will let you do that.

It's a very secure place for a little bird. And so David says, I know I'm under your wing. My circumstances appear dangerous, but I can sort of see by faith the invisible, the great wing of God spread over me.

And therefore I can rejoice despite other factors in my circumstances. And he says, verse 8, my soul followeth hard after thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me.

His soul follows hard after God. It seems to indicate God's going somewhere. It's not just a matter of finding God and then settling in to some kind of a complacent traditional routine.

But God is a living person. God has got things he's seeking to do. He's active in the world.

He's going places. His kingdom is moving and expanding. And if we want to be part of what he's doing, we have to follow with him.

Jesus made two interesting invitations to people. One was in Matthew 11, I think it's in verse 28 or so, where Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That is, come unto me, come to me.

But in another place, in Matthew 16 and verse 28, Matthew 16, 28, Jesus said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And in one place he says, come unto me. But in another place he says, come after me or follow me.

So that once we come to Jesus, it's not just a matter of saying, okay, I've come there now. I'm a Christian. I just got to hang in there and be the same as I am now for the rest of my life without backsliding.

But actually, we need to follow Jesus. And when you follow someone, you cover ground. You make progress.

And as we walk with the Lord, we will go through changes and we will progress. And we will see new responsibilities arise and new victories and new blessings. And morning by morning, new mercy.

Because we are moving. We're not just sitting still. We're going forward with God.

My soul follows hard after thee. Thy right hand upholds me. Meaning that even though I'm pursuing, the only reason I don't fall down, even in this pursuit, is that you're holding me up.

So it shows that it's not just a matter of my own feverish effort trying to keep up with God. But God is holding me up as I seek to follow him. And then he pronounces those predictions of doom upon the wicked men in those last three verses.

Now we move along to Psalm 64, which, like so many of these others, is a prayer of David, a psalm of David. And it's a prayer for protection. There may be not very much that's unique in this psalm that would need any comment.

But it won't hurt us to read it and perhaps see if there's anything worthy of extracting from it besides what we've gotten out of other psalms. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity, who whet their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words. There's been reference previous to this to enemies bending their bows and ready to shoot their arrows at the righteous man. And I mentioned on one of those occasions when we were studying one of them that the arrows could represent slanderous accusations, not literal arrows of an assassin so much as the verbal darts of a slanderer.

And that's what this is obviously about. Suddenly, do they shoot at him? Well, it says to shoot their arrows, even bitter words. That's what their arrows are, words that they may shoot in secret at the perfect.

That is, it's a good man. Suddenly, do they shoot at him and fear not? So they are not afraid to slander him. That's what's really being said.

They encourage themselves in an evil matter. The commune of lame snares, privilege. They say, who shall see them? They search out iniquities.

They accomplish a diligent search. Both the inward thought of every one of them and the heart is deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow.

Suddenly, shall they be wounded? So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves. In other words, the curses that they speak and the slanders they speak will actually be brought upon themselves instead of on the person that they were seeking to hurt with them. All that see them shall flee away and all men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider his doing.

The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory. You can see there's not a whole lot of new information in that or new thoughts that aren't found in other psalms. So we won't spend time making new comments.

Now, Psalm 65 is really a hymn of thanksgiving, a song of thanksgiving. And it starts out talking about how in Zion, which in this case is spelled with an S instead of a Z, but it's still the same place, Mount Zion, Jerusalem, that God is praised there. And it goes on to list some of the reasons that he's praised.

It would seem that perhaps a harvest festival was the occasion of this psalm because there's reference to the crops that God has blessed them with in verses 9 and 10. So we could perhaps see this as a hymn that was written to be sung to thank God at harvest season. It says, Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

There's the vow again. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. That is, all men are looking for a God who's alive and who can hear and answer prayer.

Everyone worships some God or another, maybe their own self. It might be money or some other thing. Some actually worship idols.

But none of those things can hear and answer prayer. And those, when it is known that God is the living God and answers prayer, others, more people will be attracted to him. When prayers are seen to be answered, it will attract people to God because they'll see he is the living God, unlike all the other gods who don't answer prayer.

Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. It's possible that this psalm was written at the first harvest after some famine.

Often, if God's people sinned, they'd experience famine at God's hands. And then, of course, when the famine ended and they got their first harvest of crops, they'd be really thankful. In this case, the reference to iniquities and transgressions being purged away might be a reference to the fact that they had suffered hunger because of their iniquities in the past, but now they've got a blessing.

It says in verse 4, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. He said there's a special blessing in being chosen by God.

God chooses certain people to dwell in his house, to actually have fellowship with him, to be satisfied in the inner man with things such as the fleshly body is not satisfied, things that worldly people aren't satisfied with, but which the chosen ones, the elect, are satisfied with, namely the presence and the fellowship with God. The very thing that David was thirsting for in chapter 63. We now have the same writer, David, saying that he is one of those blessed men that is satisfied in the temple with the goodness of the house of God, having been chosen by God to approach him.

Verse 5, God by terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation, who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are afar off upon the sea, which by his strength set as fast the mountains, being girded with power, which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens. Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.

Thou visitest the earth and waterest it. Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water. Thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.

Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly. Thou settlest the furrows thereof. Thou makest it soft with showers.

Thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness." Or in other words, prosperity. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side.

The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are covered over with corn. They shout for joy.

They also sing. So basically, this is just celebrating the fact that fruitfulness is back. The grass is covering the hills again.

The corn is all filling the fields and all. And God has watered the earth again from, as he says, the river of God, which probably simply means God has provided the water from his own source to keep them alive and to give them fruitful seasons. Well, we'll go on now to Psalm 66.

This is an interesting psalm because it starts out in the first five verses, or first four verses or so, talking about the whole earth singing to God and praising God. Then it gets down to something more national, more about Israel praising God, and then singles down more finely to the individual speaker in verse 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what God has done for my soul.

So he sort of has a broad view of the whole earth praising God at the beginning, and he narrows it down by stages. First he speaks of the whole earth about praising God, then to Israel the nation, and then talks about his own particular testimony. So he's not only the God of the whole earth and the God of Israel, but he's also the God of the individual, which we see in the way this psalm is put together.

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious.

Say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works. That's supposed to be a compliment. Awesome, in other words.

Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. They shall sing to thy name.

Selah. Come and see the works of God. He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.

He turned the sea into dry land. Now this is talking about his deliverance of Israel from Egypt in the days of Moses. He turned the sea into dry land.

They went through the flood on foot. There did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power forever.

His eyes behold the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard, which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved. For thou, O God, hast proved us. Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

Thou broughtest us into the net. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads.

We went through fire and through water. But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. I will go into the house with burnt offerings.

Thy house, meaning the temple, with burnt offerings. I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth have spoken when I was in trouble. I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings.

With the incense of rams I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. Come in here, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.

I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But verily God hath heard me.

He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. So you can see that from the call to all the lands, all nations, to praise God and to make a joyful noise to God, he turns in verse 5 to inviting, maybe inviting them to see what God has done for Israel.

And he recounts how that God took Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea when he parted the Red Sea. And goes on to talk about his general blessings, holding the nation of Israel alive in verse 9 and so forth. He had proved them, tested them, verse 10 says.

He brought them through fire and water, it says. But basically, he brought them through to a wealthy place, as we read in verse 12. So he says, as a result of these blessings that God has done to Israel, I personally will go into the temple and offer certain vows that I've made.

Notice he says concerning his vows in verse 14, which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. That is, he personally experienced trouble and made certain vows to God that if he would get him out of trouble, that he would offer certain things to God. A lot of people do that very thing, of course.

They get into trouble, even people who don't believe in God or are not Christians at all. And they say, God, if you'll just get me out of this one, I'll serve you forever. But most of them don't keep their vows.

Because as soon as trouble's over, usually when the pressure's off, the actual cost of keeping that vow begins to be intimidating. Boy, it takes a lot of commitment to really serve God forever. Therefore, when the pressure's off and there's not so much urgency about it, usually people don't fulfill their vows.

But here David is saying, if it is David, he's saying that he made certain vows when he was in trouble. Now he's not in trouble anymore, but he's going to diligently pay his vows because he can recall how God has been so faithful throughout history to the nation Israel and all, that God is certainly worthy of it and he doesn't want to rob God by not giving God what he promised. And then, of course, he gives his own testimony from verse 16 on.

He points out that God has heard his prayer, has delivered him, has not taken his mercy from him. He mentions that this would not be the case if the psalmist were a sinner or to say if he was regarding iniquity in his heart, meaning if he had some secret sin that he wasn't confessing. In verse 18 he says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

So it is a hindrance to prayer to be having unconfessed sin. It says in James chapter 5, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

That is, a person who is righteous, they've confessed their sins, they're not regarding iniquity in their hearts, they're a righteous person, and their fervent and effectual prayer availeth much. But if they do regard iniquity in their hearts, if they're not righteous in that respect, then the Lord, we're told here, will not hear me. In John chapter 9, when Jesus healed the blind man, and the Pharisees were telling the blind man this Jesus is no good, he did this on the Sabbath day, the blind man wasn't buying it at all.

He knew Jesus was good. And it says in verse 31, when the blind man, this is John 9, 31, the blind man is speaking to the Pharisees, rebuking them, because they didn't believe in Jesus. And he says, Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God and doeth his will him, he heareth.

Now he's suggesting that Jesus couldn't be a sinner because of the way God responded to his prayer for the man and healed him. Not that Jesus really prayed for him, he really just touched him and healed him. But the idea was that God was with Jesus, obviously, and God doesn't come through for sinners like that.

And the man was arguing that Jesus must not be a sinner then, based on the argument from this psalm. If I regard iniquity in my heart, God won't hear me. And since God always heard Jesus, Jesus said that in one case.

He says, Father, I thank you that you hear me and I know that you always hear me. He said that in John 11 when he was at the tomb of Lazarus. And so Jesus obviously didn't have any sin or any iniquity.

Therefore, God always heard him. Now, going on to a very short psalm, 67. This psalm perhaps was written around the idea of the fulfilling of the Abrahamic covenant.

God made a covenant with Abraham and said that I'm going to make you a blessing and I'm going to make you a blessing to all nations through your seed. And so here we see a psalm that talks about all the nations in verse 2. The saving health of God is to be known throughout all the nations. This would be in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham through Abraham's seed.

Now, we know from Galatians that that seed is Christ. And therefore, the saving health that comes to all nations through the people of God is coming actually through Jesus Christ and through the members of his body preaching him. But this is a very short statement of what God intends in bringing the blessing to all nations.

God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. That thy way may be known upon the earth by saving health among the nations.

Let the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee. O, let the nations be glad and sing for joy.

For thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. Selah. Let the people praise thee, O God.

Let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

So, it sort of ends where it begins with the blessing of God on the Jews or on the people of God, but the result being that all the nations of the earth fear him, it says in verse 7. Earlier on, it says that all the nations of the earth will know his way in verse 2, that thy way may be known upon the earth and by saving health among all nations. It says in the book of Revelation that the leaves of the tree of life that grows in the New Jerusalem, on the new earth, it says the leaves are for the healing of the nations, whatever that means. It probably means not so much healing in the sense of physical healing from sickness as a healing of their broken relationship with God.

And that healing comes, of course, through the gospel, the saving health of God comes to all the nations through the preaching of the gospel to every nation. And then there is that recurring chorus in verses 3 and 5. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. But in between those choruses, it says various things about the nations.

Verse 2 says that the nations are going to know God's saving health. In verse 4, it says, O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. Jesus governing the whole world.

And verse 6 says, Then shall the earth yield her increase, which probably means converts more than agricultural increase. The earth will yield its fruit, its increase. When? When all the people praise God.

Now that's an interesting thing because in verse 6 it says, Then shall the earth yield her increase, saying that the time is going to come when the earth will yield its harvest. Jesus, in some of his parables, indicated the harvest is the end of the world when he gathers out the wheat and the tares and gathers the harvest of the earth. In James chapter 5, it says, Be patient therefore, brethren, under the coming of the Lord.

Behold the husband and waitest for the precious fruit of the earth and have long patience for it until he receives the early and the latter rain. This is a reference to God waiting patiently for the harvest of the earth, namely the souls that he's waiting for to come to him. Maybe I can give you the, quickly here, give you the verse.

Oh, that's actually James 5, 7. It says that God is patiently waiting for the fruit of the earth. Well, when is that fruit going to come? Psalm 67 says, Then shall the earth yield her fruit. Well, when is then? Verse 5 tells us, When all the people are praising God.

Let all the people praise thee. That is, the harvest of souls is going to be a direct result of united praise. When all the people begin to praise God, now that probably means all of his people.

When all of his people praise him together, that will bring on the final harvest, the great revival that he's waiting for, the precious fruit of the earth will be brought forward at that time. Now, when all the people are praising God together, that's the time that Jesus spoke of, apparently, when Jesus said in his prayer in John 17, Father, I pray that they might be one so that the world may know that you have sent me. And it was that oneness, that unity of praising God together with one voice that the people of God must do and that God is waiting for because then there will be a harvest.

Then the world will know that God sent Jesus. Then will be the increase of the earth yielded to God. Well, I don't have much more I want to say about that psalm particularly, only that it's obviously a focus on the ultimate destiny of the nations being affected by the covenant that God made with Israel through Abraham.

When we get to Psalm 68, which is the last one I really want to cover in today's class, this psalm, it is believed, was written and sung at the time when David brought the ark to Jerusalem. We've seen other psalms that seem to be written around that occasion. It was a time of great rejoicing and great singing and singers and dancers and David himself dancing before the ark as it was in procession.

And the language he uses at the beginning, let God arise and His enemies be scattered, is actually what was said whenever the ark was moved in the days of Moses. And so David, in writing this psalm for the occasion, adopts the old saying, and by the way, the saying was recorded in Numbers 10, verse 35. We're told that whenever the ark went forward that the people would blow the trumpet and shout, let God arise and His enemies be scattered.

That's Numbers 10, 35. So, now that the ark is moving to its final location, David sees this as its last move. It moved from Sinai, where it was made, through the wilderness for 40 years.

Then it was brought over the Jordan with Joshua into Canaan, where it rested in various places. It was at Shiloh for a long time, then the Philistines captured it, and it was taken into five different Philistine cities where it caused plagues to break out everywhere it went. Finally, the Philistines sent it back to the Jews, and it was kept in the house of Obed-Edom for apparently many decades, for a long time anyway.

So it had been around. It had traveled quite a bit, but its last point on its trip was going to be Jerusalem. It was coming to Jerusalem now, and there it would stay.

As far as we know, we don't know if it ever left there. When Jerusalem was later destroyed in 70 AD, I mean, not 70 AD, but in about 500 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar came in, the Babylonians did, we don't really know what happened to the ark then. It's not specifically said that they took the ark.

Tradition of the Jews say that Jeremiah took the ark down to Egypt and escaped with it, but that's just tradition. It's not in the Bible. So we don't know if the ark ever left Jerusalem.

It might have burned down with the city, for all we know. That's why it's still the lost ark, and probably will always be. At any rate, this is the last leg of the ark's journey, which started at Mount Sinai and has continued at this point for hundreds of years, because it's been through the period of the judges, which was 300 years long, and through the time of Samuel and Saul, and now it's in David's lifetime.

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away, that is the enemies.

As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God.

Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to His name. Extol Him that rideth on the heavens by His name YAH.

YAH is simply a short form of the name Jehovah. And in fact, Hallelujah has J-A-H, YAH, at the end. It's pronounced YAH.

Jehovah is really how you'd pronounce it if it was in its full form. Just an abbreviated form. Probably shortened here for the sake of fitting musically into the music that he had.

Instead of making it three syllables. So extol Him that rideth upon the heavens. Picturing God, you know, using the chariots as His clouds.

Sometimes the Psalms would poetically speak of it. Riding through the skies, extol Him by His name YAH, or Jehovah, and rejoice before Him. David was doing just that.

He was going before the ark and dancing and rejoicing so much so that he embarrassed his wife. Michael later reproached him for it. Thought he was not being very dignified for a king.

Then he describes God in verse 5 as a father of the fatherless. And a judge of the widows is God in His holy mountain habitation. God setteth the solitary in families.

He bringeth out those which are bound with chains. But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Now what it's saying here is that God is good to those who are afflicted.

The fatherless and the widows are always the ones who never get a fair deal. But God is a judge on their behalf. He judges.

He's a father to the fatherless. And He's a judge of the widows. That is, He judges, He passes judgment in their favor.

And in the next verse it says, He sets the solitary in families, meaning lonely people. People who are lonely. People who are solitary in this world.

He finds families for them. That certainly is true in the Christian church. Because the church is a big family.

And people who are all alone in the world find it to be so. God sets them. Though they were solitary individuals, He sets them into a family.

And so they don't have to be as lonely. He brings those who are bound in chains and brings them out. And so He, in other words, God champions the cause of those who are hurting.

Whether they're orphans or widows or lonely or bound in prison. O God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness, for some reason He sticks a sea lion here, even though the sentence isn't complete. The earth shook.

The heavens also dropped at the presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance when it was weary.

Thy congregation hath dwelt therein. Thou, O God, hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor. Now what it's saying here, when it says that God sent a plentiful rain by which He confirmed the inheritance.

His inheritance was Israel. Israel the people and Israel the land. And He sent plentiful rain to them when they needed it for crops.

And it might even be a reference to Him raining manna out of heaven when they were hungry. But the point is that He confirmed His relationship to them. He confirmed that they were His inheritance by providing for them out of heaven.

Whether it's raining the needed rain to grow crops or a reference to raining manna during the wilderness wanderings, it doesn't matter. In either case, God's providing their needs and confirming that Israel is His inheritance. He said, Thy congregation hath dwelt therein.

That is in the land. Thou, O God, hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor. The Lord gave the word and great was the company of those that published it.

Published it, of course, means proclaimed it. And what it's referring to here must mean that God gave the Jews His word at Sinai through Moses. And this great company of Jews became the proclaimers of His word throughout the world.

They were the only people in the world who knew His word because God didn't give His law to any other nation. And so then, the nation Israel, the great company, became the ones who proclaimed the word of God. Not very faithfully, we must say, but nonetheless, He had a great number of people.

There were supposedly about three million. I say supposedly because no one knows the exact number, but it's calculated from the number of men over 20 that are given in the book of Numbers. So, there were perhaps about three million people.

Great was the company that published or proclaimed the word that God gave them. Kings of armies did flee apace, and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. Though ye have lined among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

That's not clear exactly what the images all portray, but basically, it seems to be saying that though Israel was a discarded thing like a pot, something, just a pottery vessel that was not considered of great value, yet it will mount up like wings. The people of God mount up like wings or like eagles, really, or like a dove with gilded wings or silver-coated wings. At any rate, the point is that their former state when God found them, when they were slaves in Egypt, was that of just relatively worthless.

No one saw any value in them, but when he caused them to mount up, they were like a beautiful gold-plated dove or something like that. I mean, we can't really figure what a dove covered with silver or feathers covered with gold would signify except that it's a glorious thing. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as the snow in Salmon.

It must be Israel, the land of Israel. Salmon is the name of a mountain, which was apparently a snowy mountain because he says that when God scattered the kings in it, the land was white as snow. Now, it doesn't say why it was white.

Maybe it was white because it was covered with manna, but it just indicates that it was white. And the hill of God is as the hill of Bashan, and high hill as the hill of Bashan. Now, the hill of God is referenced to Zion.

Remember, David had recently captured Zion, had recently captured Jerusalem to be his capital. And now he's talking about God's special choice of Jerusalem to be his city. Since this is where the ark has been moved to, David is focusing on the surprising fact that God chose this city to be his.

Even though it's not really such a high hill, he describes it as a hill that's very high. Not high in the sense that it's physically high, but high in the sense that it is exalted by God to have His sanctuary atop it. And then he sort of imagines the other hills, even the high mountains, leaping, trying to be as tall as Mount Zion.

Sort of jumping up to try to be as exalted as Mount Zion, but of course, in vain. Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in. Yea, the Lord will dwell in it forever.

The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels. Or another rendering would be even many thousands. Of course, that's the line that we get that song from, although it's slightly different in the sense of singing.

But the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, or many thousands in the margin. The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in His holy place. That is, the chariots of God are encamped around Mount Zion.

Whether he means the actual chariots of Israel, the armies of Israel, or whether he means the angels' chariots is not entirely clear. But basically, he's saying that God dwells in Mount Sinai the same as He dwelt at Mount Sinai. Well, no one ever questioned whether God dwelt at Mount Sinai.

The cloud was there, the thunder, the earthquake, the booming voice came out of the mountain. It was evident that God was there when He gave the law to Moses at Mount Sinai. Those phenomena are not as readily seen in Mount Zion, but David assures us, nonetheless, God is there just as much in Mount Zion where the temple is, or not where the temple was yet, where the tabernacle was for the ark.

Verse 18, David says to God, Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Now, this language is rather unusual, but it's apparently saying that God has conquered His enemies. Those which had been captors are now captives themselves.

He has led captivity into captivity. In other words, the state of being captive, symbolized by those who were their captors before, are now the captives themselves. It's a strange wording.

And He says, You've received gifts for men, which probably means the spoils of the battle. He's conquered His enemies, led them captive, and taken spoils which He gives to His people. Now, this is quoted in Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 8. Paul quotes it in Ephesians 4, 8. And there, he kind of relates it to Christ's ascension.

Now, on this occasion, David is figuratively speaking of God getting great victories, bringing the ark up onto Mount Zion, which had been a Jebusite fortress. And it was conquered now, and God was taking His possession of that mountain. And yet, Paul quotes this about Jesus making His ascension not to Mount Zion, but into Heaven.

And now that He led captivity captive, that is, the enemies, Satan and the demons, all those who had kept people in captivity before, those captors are now captives themselves. They've been bound, according to the Scripture, by God and by Jesus at His resurrection. So, when He ascended on high, He led a host of captives, some translations say.

But really, the more literal translation is He led captivity captive, and He gave gifts to men, as Paul quotes it. And Paul then describes the gifts, the booty that God has achieved, are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And Paul lists some of them in that chapter, as prophets and apostles, and events as pastors and teachers.

Sort of a strange connection here, because the Ark of the Covenant, making its ascension up to Mount Zion, is seen by Paul as a type of Christ ascending into Heaven. And, of course, for the Ark to ever ascend onto the top of Mount Zion, which had been held by a very strong Canaanite tribe before, meant that strong enemies had been defeated. The very ascent of the Ark to Mount Zion was a token of God's great victory over these fierce and stubborn enemies.

And the ascension of Christ into Heaven also is a token of Christ's victory over the fierce and stubborn enemies of His kingdom, Satan, and his demons. And in winning this victory, Christ acquired for the church certain gifts that He gave, which are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, says in Ephesians 4. Now, David begins to bless God for the various good things that God has given us, benefits. He says, Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.

He sort of pictures us as a beast of burden, like a donkey or something, with a big burden being loaded on top. But it's all the blessings of God are packed on us until they're almost more than we can carry, almost more than we can bear. God's goodness is a great load that He puts upon us.

He that is our God is the God of salvation. And unto God, the Lord, belong the issues from death. But God shall wound the head of His enemies and the hairy scalp of such and one as goeth on still in His trespasses.

The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan. I will bring My people again from the depths of the sea that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. So the promise of God is that the enemies will be under our feet so that our feet are actually dipped in their blood and our dogs are licking up their blood.

Not a very pleasant picture, but it's a picture of war. It's a picture of conquering foes and having the total victory over them. They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King in the sanctuary.

The singers went before. The players on instruments followed after. Among them were the damsels or the girls playing with the tambourines.

Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin. Benjamin was the smallest tribe of Israel, always was.

Interestingly, he was the youngest child, the smallest child of Jacob. He was the youngest of the twelve sons and his tribe was almost always the smallest. Little Benjamin, there he is with their ruler.

Their ruler, of course, was David, but probably referring to one of the princes or one of the nobles of that tribe. The princes of Judah and their council, another tribe. The princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.

These are four different tribes of the twelve tribes of Israel. He sees them there as he's marching along. They're lining the streets, watching the ark go by.

There's the little tribe of Benjamin there with their princes doing their homage toward the ark. And there's the princes of Judah, and there's the princes of Zebulun, and there's the princes of Naphtali. In other words, they've all come out to celebrate the victory of God.

Thy God hath commanded thy strength. Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.

This actually happened. David and Solomon had kings from other nations bringing them gifts because of the temple, especially Solomon because Solomon was building the temple. King Hiram of Tyre brought him lots of gifts.

Cedars and so forth and other gifts that were used for building the temple. So because of the temple, many gifts were brought by other kings. In other words, nations besides Israel did homage to the true God in Zion.

Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver. That is, he's saying, God, bring everyone into subjection to you. Many kings are going to bring gifts to you because of your temple in Jerusalem.

But I want to see everyone bringing pieces of silver, which means, of course, tribute money. It's what people who were conquered by a king would have to pay tribute to him. So he's saying, essentially, I want to see all these people coming to you with their tribute money in their hands to indicate, of course, that they are in subjection.

Scatter thou the people that delight in war. Now, even though he's talking very warlike, he indicates that he doesn't exactly delight in war. He sees war maybe as a necessary means to an end, but the people he fights against are the ones who just love to fight.

They just love war. They like killing. And he says, scatter those ones.

Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth.

O sing praises unto the Lord. Selah. Now, the reference to Egypt and Ethiopia is not necessarily to be taken as a prophecy about them, but basically just part of the whole fabric of what's being said from verse 29 through 31 that heathen nations will have to do homage also to God, that this will not be something confined to the little people of Israel and little Benjamin and the others, but it is something that all the nations around them will also have to bow to God.

And he gives sort of some examples, Egypt and Ethiopia among them. Actually, Egypt and Ethiopia both eventually did bow to the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. Not both nations as a whole, but people from those groups, from Ethiopia and from Egypt, became Christians.

And therefore, we could see that this has actually been fulfilled, though maybe not in the sense that David meant it here. Verse 32, sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth. Sing praises to the Lord.

Selah. To him that rideth upon the heavens of heaven, or heavens of heavens, which were of old, lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God.

His excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. In other words, his strength is transcendent above all men. O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places.

Or awesome. The God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power to his people. Blessed be God.

Well, even though it's early, I think I'd like to quit at this point because we come to a psalm that we've already covered. Psalm 69 was an impregnatory psalm. And when we pick up at Psalm 70 and 71, we actually have material that's covered at least all of chapter 70 was found in Psalm 40.

It's just a repeat. And the first three verses of 71 were found in Psalm 31, so we've actually covered some of the material. We've covered all of 69, some of 70 and 71, all of 72, so that the next full psalm that's going to be new to us is Psalm 73, and we'll just wait until next time to get into that.