A short reminder: The
Book of Psalms places the psalms in order of theme, the first of which was the
first forty-one being of man’s struggles.
The second deals with man’s plea for deliverance from his oppressions,
which are in Psalms 42-89. Today we will
pick back up in this section with Psalm 73.
Many of the psalms we will look at today were written by Asaph. I wrote a little bit about this wonderful man
back in post CCIX, but he is worth a look back as a refresher. In Psalm 73 Asaph had a problem, one that many
of us struggle with on occasion: He was
jealous. Bad people seemed to have
everything that was good: - money, things,
happiness. They seemed to be healthy and
sleep peacefully. These things seemed to
elude good people. But Asaph did not
slip away from his faith in God. But he
admits he ALMOST did. He spends much of
this psalm venting frustrations about how the wicked seem to do so very well,
and the righteous seem to struggle so much.
But this venting eventually turns into praising God as Asaph realizes
the foolishness and short-sightedness of the wicked.
Psalm 74 states as a sub-title that Asaph wrote this
psalm. I must question that somewhat, as
the psalm speaks of Nebuchadnezzar destroying the Temple, which was generations
beyond the life of Asaph. But the
authorship is unimportant next to the message, in which the writer pleads with
God to not allow the destruction of His Temple which was the place God chose to
dwell. {Sometimes we get confused when
God allows such things as this. We are
not to beat ourselves up when we get confused and find ourselves questioning
God. As you can see, David and many
other Psalmists did the same thing.}
Psalm 75 takes us back into praising God for His
faithfulness to those who are faithful to Him.
Abruptly we go from Psalms of Asaph to an unknown author of Psalm
77. This psalm tells of something
happening that was very bad. The writer
is frustrated that God has not intervened.
So frustrated is he that he cannot sleep (vs 4). There are parallel passages to those found in
the Book of Habakkuk, which we will look at later. Habakkuk wrote that they must have faith;
that God will intervene in His chosen time.
Psalm 78 is a rather lengthy psalm, as it goes through much
History of Israel. Some scholars suggest
that Isaiah wrote this Psalm. This makes
perfect sense to me. This story of
History covers from the giving of the law to the time of King David. It mentions many things we are familiar with,
such as Moses striking the rock for water, the cloud and pillar of fire, manna,
the plagues on Egypt, and more. But the
theme of the whole psalm is that Israel was disobedient to God. God always was faithful to Israel, but Israel
was hardly ever faithful to God. {So many
times in the Bible do we see God’s prophets pleading with the people to return
to God and His statutes, trying desperately to convince them that it is the
only way they can be delivered into the abundant life God had intended for
them. We need this today, here in this
society.}
The subjects of the psalms, going from one to the other in
the order they are placed, skips around not only in subject, but in dates of
the event to which they refer. Psalm 78
goes through an entire story of History.
Then Psalm 79 speaks of the Babylonian invasion and captivity. Then Psalm 80 speaks about when Israel became
divided and Rehoboam and Jeroboam were made kings of the two nations. Psalm 79 mentions an appeal to God to
intervene so as to protect His name.
Psalm 80 is one of the few times we hear an earnest prayer that Israel
and Judah be reunited.
Psalm 81 shifts subjects and events as it rallies the people
to play instruments of music in celebration of harvest. 82, appeals to God to act now, as the
heathens and pagans are growing in strength and confidence. Psalm 83 lists some if the enemies of Israel,
which the psalmist insists that any enemy of Israel is an enemy of God. Then the writer goes on to appeal to God that
He again rescues Israel from its oppressors.
Although Psalm 84 states that it was written by the sons of
Korah, it certainly has the ring of David.
It is a short but refreshing read at this place in the book of Psalms.
I see Psalm 85 as a prayer when one of the groups of exiles
had returned to Jerusalem from Persia.
The psalmist prays in hopes that the Jews who will re-inhabit Jerusalem
will not make the same mistakes as did their ancestors.
86 is a psalm of David, pleading for God to deliver him from
those trying to kill him. 87 is a psalm
about Jerusalem, the old and the new Jerusalem after the return of the
exiles.
Psalm 88 is interesting.
Somewhat sad if you reflect on it as you read. We think it may have been written by
Heman. (Heman was a grandson of Samuel
and (with Asaph and Ethan) was appointed as a musical leader by King David.} But this psalm is written by a person who has
been afflicted with an illness for a very long time. He is suffering and is desperate for God to
hear his prayers. The writer seems to
think that he is being punished by God.
Puts you in mind of Job as you read verse 8 and others.
I’ll close this post with Psalm 89. This psalm was written by Ethan, the third
leader of musicians appointed by King David.
Although this psalm is fifty-two verses long, the subject is
simple. David was anointed king of
Israel. With that came the Davidic
covenant which promised that a descendant of David would always be king of
Israel. But now that was not possible
because all of Israel had been taken away to Assyria and Babylon. Therefore there was no descendant of David
that was Israel’s king. To the writer
this was a problem that must be figured out and dealt with. Early Christians sang this psalm to the
accompanying of musical instruments because Jesus was placed as the permanent
King of Israel. And Jesus’s lineage is
in keeping with God’s covenant.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
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