324 – Psalm 18 one through six
Let's look at the first two verses in the “indirectly Messianic” Psalm 18. If you don't remember what an “indirectly Messianic” Psalm is read last week's post.
Psalm 18:1–2 (NKJV): 1 I will love You, O [YHWH], my strength.
2 [YHWH is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
One Hebrew verb erham translates into the three words making up the phrase “I will love”. It is in the imperfect tense. The imperfect tense combines a past tense action ...
323 – Psalm 18 – Indirectly Messianic?
I’m convinced that Studying the Bible for ourselves is a critical element in our growth as Christians. Like others, I believe making observations of the text, then (and only then) interpreting the passage being studied, followed by correlating the studied passage with other Biblical passages, and finally applying the truth we’ve learned is the best method of study. A final step, or maybe before the application step, in this consistent methodology is to see what commentators have to say about the passage we are studying. We leave commentaries at the end of our ...
322 – Psalm 18 – Introducing the Introduction
2 Samuel 22:1 (NKJV)
22:1 Then David spoke to [Yahweh] the words of this song, on the day when [Yahweh] had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
I’m not sure you caught it, so I’ll point it out. I’ve titled this discussion “Psalm 18 - Introducing the Introduction”. Weird title right? But that’s not what I want you to notice. We are supposed to be studying Psalm 18, and yet the verse I’ve quoted (with the exception of replacing the wrong substitution “the LORD” with the ...
321 – Psalm 17 – Focus
Last time we looked at Psalm 17:13 and the first sentence of verse fourteen. I’ve included verse thirteen for context. I want to look at the remainder of verse fourteen (bolded) and make a few observations.
Psalm 17:13-15 (LEB)
13 Rise up, O Yahweh, confront ⌊him⌋.
Make him bow down.
Rescue with your sword my life from the wicked,
14 from men by your hand, O Yahweh, from men of this world.
Their share is in ⌊this life⌋, and you fill their stomach with your treasure.
T...
320 – Psalm 17 – Yahweh’s Sword?
Psalm 17:13-15 (LEB)
13 Rise up, O Yahweh, confront ⌊him⌋.
Make him bow down.
Rescue with your sword my life from the wicked,
14 from men by your hand, O Yahweh, from men of this world.
Their share is in ⌊this life⌋, and you fill their stomach with your treasure.
They are satisfied with children.
They bequeath their excess to their children.
15 By contrast, I in righteousness shall see your face.
Upon awakening I will be satisfied ...
319 – Psalm 17 – The Battle
If you read all of Psalm seventeen for context, you will notice David contrasts the wicked with himself. In verses ten through twelve, David spends a few minutes talking about the wicked. Actually, verse nine belongs in this section, but we covered it last time.
Psalm 17:10-12 (LEB)
10 They have shut off their calloused heart;
with their mouth they speak arrogantly.
11 Now they surround us at our every step.
They ⌊intend⌋
⌊to pin⌋ me to the ground.
12 ⌊He is like⌋ ...
318 – Psalm 17 – Right Hand
Yahweh’s word is precious and powerful; yet, according to many, Bible illiteracy is at an all-time high. People simply aren’t familiar with the Holy Bible. I find that to be incredibly sad! If people don’t know God’s word how will they know what Psalm 17:7 reveals? Yahweh performs “loyal acts of love” and He does so “wondrously”!
Psalm 17:7 (LEB)
7 Show your acts of loyal love wondrously,
O Savior of those who take refuge
at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.
Let’s ...
317 – Psalm 17 – What’s Your Part?
We’ve been working on determining the Hebrew poetic structure of Psalm seventeen. I had planned to continue the exercise, but then something caught my eye. Let’s take a momentary observational diversion. We’ve already looked at verse three, but it is part of a new observation, so I’ve included it here.
Psalm 17:3-6 (LEB)
3 You have tried my heart;
you have examined me by night;
you have tested me; you found nothing.
I have decided that my mouth will not transgress.
4 As for the works of ...
316 – Psalm 17 – Vindication
We are working out way through Psalm 17. Last time we talked about identifying the Hebrew poetic structure. As a way to review, here’s a paragraph from last week.
Synonymous parallelism is when a subsequent thought communicates the same idea using different words. Antithetical parallelism is when a subsequent thought is the opposite or contrasting thought to the previous one. Synthetic parallelism is when a subsequent thought gives additional information to the previous thought. There are many more types of parallelism but these three are the easiest to recognize ...
315 – Psalm 17 – Introduction
If you haven’t read my previous post What are you thinking I hope you’ll take a few minutes to do that before we look at Psalm 17 together. If you’ve been a believer in Jesus Christ for any length of time it won’t surprise you that what’s in our hearts determines what comes out of our mouths and the things we do, which we talked about last time. Reading Psalm 17, it isn’t hard to notice all three elements (thoughts, words, deeds) in David’s words. Before we dig into our passage I would like to point out that not only does what’s in our hearts determine ...
