Daily Meditations

Psalm 69:5 The folly of Yeshua Our modern usage of the word “fool” or “folly” usually relates to someone who has made wrong decisions or who is lacking in wisdom, knowledge or common sense! However, in Psalm 14:1 we discovered that the root Hebrew word for fool, in the Bible, is “nabal” and it describes a morally deficient person, one who justifies his actions by saying there is no God. In 1 Samuel 25 we read the story of Nabal whose wife Abigail told David,  “His name means Fool, and folly goes with him.”  Not one of this kind does good, in other words, once you have convinced yourself that God does not exist there is no good in you, even apparent goodness is probably driven by self-interest. As Isaiah 64:6 tells us, all our righteousness is as filthy rags unless it is motivated by faith in God.  Although this Psalm was written by David and it reflects his personal experience, we have determined to view it as an expression of the anguish of Yeshua as He faced the sufferi...

Psalm 69:4 Hated without reason In John 15:18-25 Yeshua explains, in some detail, what it means to be hated without cause. He is talking to the disciples, and he warns them that they must face hatred from the world. The world hated Him, and they will hate those whom He has chosen. It is simply belonging to Him that incites hatred, there is rarely any justifiable cause other than the fact that we bear His name. Yeshua went on to say that those who hate Him hate His disciples and they also hate His Father, even though they may have seen the miracles and signs that have been performed. This hatred is irrational, unjustified and unreasonable but it will be levelled at those who bear the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. It is interesting, is it not, that many who shout loudest for equality and inclusion, for human rights and for the removal of discrimination, get very angry about the name of Jesus and the observance of God’s commands by the human race? “The hairs of my head” s...

Psalm 69:3 Why have you forsaken me? Let’s continue with the thought that these verses allow us to have some understanding of the suffering borne by Yeshua as He faced imminent death. We read that, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed for the cup of suffering to be taken from Him. In anguish He pleaded for relief, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. The horror of what lay ahead flooded His being as our Lord and Master begged for a way out of the dreadful avalanche of pain and suffering that was about to engulf Him. And yet, in the midst of His anguish, He was still able to say,  “Not my will but Yours be done .” Reading the Gospel accounts of that night of terror should leave us in no doubt that those cries for help alone, were enough to drain the body and soul of any man. But there was much worse to come, small wonder that Yeshua was so weak He found it impossible to carry His cross to Golgotha.  At the start of the crucifixion process the soldiers ...

Psalm 69:1-2 Save me, O God This Psalm is the first of a number of prayers written by David, (Psalms 69-71) that longs for deliverance from enemies and for protection, for mercy and for long life and prosperity, culminating in praise and worship to God with all future kings submitting to the rule and reign of the Messiah. (Psalm 72).  In Psalm 69 David appears to be surrounded by many enemies, he hints at conspiracies and threats from a number of sources, but also seems to be under judgement from God for his sin. What is so powerful about this Psalm is that it predicts the sufferings of the Messiah and allows us to understand His mental and spiritual anguish at His rejection and crucifixion. As such it is much quoted by the New Testament writers. It is in this context that we will study Palm 69.   v1-2     It is hard to imagine two worse fates than to be sinking in waters up to one’s neck or to be in some kind of quagmire that has no foothold. This is ...

Psalm 68:35 An awesome God The march from Sinai to Zion is complete and it has been an exhilarating journey. We have seen that it was not just a procession of ex-Hebrew slaves that undertook this journey, no, their God went with them, and He displayed His power and His glory on route. The climax of the procession was the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant on Mount Zion where it was placed in the sacred tent, the sanctuary, amid much celebrating, dancing and music. It was a day of great joy and that joy overflows to the final verse of the Psalm. David reflects on the awesome power of the presence of Almighty God and he can scarcely believe that his God, the God of Israel, is dwelling now amongst His people. His very presence gives them power and strength. This same God comes to dwell with us. We do not need sacred tents or mighty temples or any man-made dwelling. The Lord God of Israel chooses to make our hearts His temple and He comes to dwell with us and in us. This same deity who tra...

Psalm 68:34 Proclaim the power of God Verses like this one, passed me by as a younger man, they didn’t seem to be saying anything very profound. Now I read these words and realise that they are rich with meaning and truth and a whole book could be written about this one! The first thing to note is that this is an order, those who read and believe in the Lord God are being ordered to proclaim Him. The best way to do this is not to walk around the streets shouting His virtues but to ascribe to Him the praise and glory that He is due. This can be done privately and publicly, alone or corporately. Whatever the circumstances, the reality of our faith is best expressed when we proclaim the power of God. There follows, two reasons for our proclamations. The first is that the excellence of the majesty of the Lord God is to be seen over Israel. There was a time when this nation and its history held little fascination for me, the Hebrew Scriptures and the life and times of this ancient people we...

Psalm 68:33 Time and space travel! There is no one like the God of Jeshurun (that is Israel), who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in His majesty.”  So says Moses in Deuteronomy 33:26. In an age when there were no aircraft or space rockets, when flight by men was unimaginable, it was not unreasonable to imagine God being able to traverse the heavens in power and glory. It was quite clear to Moses and his contemporaries that this God did not need human transport nor was he limited to the earth. He could go where He liked and when He liked, he was not bound by any natural laws.  David has similar thoughts in his mind here in this verse, as he pictures the Lord God being able to travel across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens that even preceded creation. In other words, God is not only greater than space but also time.  Psalm 29 taught us a lot about the voice of God and it’s powerful effect;  “ But, who has a voice so powerful that when He ...

Psalm 68:32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth Oh, if only the nations of the earth would sing praise to the Lord! The previous verse, linked to Isaiah 19, suggests that Egypt and Assyria will do so one day. Other Scriptures speak of the reign of Yeshua, as Messiah upon the earth, when the tide of evil will be turned back, and all nations will ascend the Mountain of Zion and worship the Lord.  This verse of Psalm 68 is almost a plea for the kingdoms of the world to wake up and acknowledge the Lord their God. Hindu, Buddhist and the countries ruled by Islam need to turn away from their idolatry and worship the one, true God. Kingdoms run by dictators and despots need to stop trusting in men and turn to the God of justice and truth. The super-powers need to abandon their territorial supremacy and surrender their arrogance and dominance to the Super Power. Countries that are constantly developing weapons of mass destruction and increasing their armies and navies and nuclear capabi...

Psalm 68:31 Egypt and Assyria Let’s start our pondering of this verse by understanding who it is talking about! Obviously, we know where Egypt is. The land of Cush is a little less well-known! Cush was a descendant of Noah’s son Ham, and he was the father of Nimrod, who is described as a mighty warrior and hunter before the Lord. Genesis 10:6-20. The land of Cush embraced countries like Ethiopia, (sometimes known as Abyssinia) the Sudan and maybe Libya, in other words, a large chunk of modern N Africa. There have been numerous attempts to drag up historical events that suggest these countries have submitted themselves to God, but there has not really been a time when a wholesale allegiance to Him has been practiced in these lands. Most commentators believe that this will be fulfilled in the future and during the reign of Christ.  Isaiah 19 and 20 talks in more detail about this time and the prophecy there is so staggering, I must include part of it here! Isaiah 19:18   In that...

Psalm 68:30 The beast among the reeds What a verse! What does it mean? How does this fit into the preceding and subsequent messages of this Psalm?  Firstly, let’s literally translate what is being written by David, bearing in mind that this is a prayer to the Lord. After taking us up to the heady heights of Zion and calling upon God to show His strength and summon His power, the Psalm now obviously identifies the enemies who need to be overcome. David uses animal imagery here and he invites us to imagine a bull or terrible wild beast. This ferocious and fearsome animal is in the thickets or reeds. (The Hebrew literally suggests a company of spearmen, their weapons obviously looking like reeds or canes.) The wild bulls are the aggressive military forces and their leaders accompanied by their calves or their people. This army of brutal and terrifying strength will be humbled and bring talents of silver to the Lord.  “Scatter the nations who delight in war,”  says David. The...

Psalm 68:29 Kings will bring You gifts It’s hard for us to imagine the true import of what is described in this Psalm. All of the foreign nations and cultures of David’s day had their gods, their idols and their pagan religions. With their belief structures went the “high places”, the temples, the rituals and the worship. El, Molech, Baal, Mot, Asherah – all of these so-called deities, and their subordinates, were written into the cultures of the people. If a foreign dignitary or royal family member visited, it was their duty to pay their respects to the god(s) of the host nation. Gifts were brought, the more powerful the visitor, the more expensive and extravagant their offerings. David had no shadow of a doubt that Yahweh was the supreme deity, that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob exceeded all of the lesser beings who were merely spirits acting under the authority of Lucifer. Now that Jerusalem was established as the capital city of Israel and Mount Zion was designated as the Hol...

Psalm 68:28 Summon Your power, God My NIV version of the Bible starts this verse,  “Summon Your power, God” . It is suggested that this is to be best understood as a request that the Lord God  “commands His strength to act”.  This request comes at the climax of the procession from Sinai to Jerusalem. It comes after the ascent to the summit of Zion. It comes once the Ark of the Covenant has been safely housed in the Sanctuary, the sacred tent erected for the purpose. The music ceases, the crowds are hushed in expectancy as they await the presence of the Lord to fill the Holiest Place on earth. This is no pagan ritual, this is the moment when God Himself comes to dwell amongst His people, in a tent, on a lowly hill.  It reminds me of another moment when God came, into a stable not so far away, in Bethlehem. If we want any reminder that, with the Lord our God, riches and worldly splendour have no meaning or relevance, then these events tell us just that! In fact, shortl...

Psalm 68:27 A place for everyone Yesterday we followed the liturgical procession that ascended Mount Zion and surrounded the Holy Place. This next verse informs us that every tribe of Israel was represented in this parade. At the front came “little Benjamin!” Sounds a bit patronizing except that Benjamin was a small tribe, occupying a smaller area of land compared to the other clans. In fact, Benjamin later became enveloped by the much larger tribe of Judah, and together they became Judah or Judea or the southern tribes or, as we know them today – the Jews. I suspect that Benjamin was at the head of the procession simply because the first King of Israel, Saul, came from this tribe. Judah was a powerful member of the family of Israel, this clan would later dominate the future of Israel not least because David and the royal family came from Judah, but also because Messiah would be born a Jew too.  As you can see from a map, the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali represent all other trib...

Psalm 68:26 Praise God in the great congregation We have to have low points in our lives to help us to appreciate the high ones! In following David’s experiences through the Psalms, we have delved into the pit of absolute despair, when death seemed to be loitering just outside the door. Here, in Psalm 68, we might say that David has reached the pinnacle of his earthly experiences, as he dances before the Lord on Mount Zion and watches the Ark of the Covenant being placed inside the sacred tent that had been erected for the purpose. Thank God that this man, who was not afraid to express his feelings, was able to create words and music to convey the highs and lows of his spiritual and earthly journeys.  Here we are exhorted to praise God with the righteous who assemble at the sanctuary. Let us join with all those godly ones who ascend Zion with joy in their hearts and songs on their lips. No, we don’t have to go to Jerusalem to do this, we can sing and praise wherever the righteous g...

Psalm 68:24-25 The procession of my God and King This verse brings to mind the liturgical processions that we sometimes see in cathedrals and high places where a choir walks steadily forward followed by clerics and priests in their colourful robes. I suspect that David is describing something similar here. The Levite choirs and musicians would certainly be involved and thus there was singing accompanied by harps and lyres and possibly shofars. Behind the musicians came young women playing timbrels or tambourines so this was not a quiet affair! It would have been a joyful spectacle and the crowds would have, no doubt, joined in. They almost certainly sang some of the very psalms we have studied, including this one. The singing and music were followed by the more dignified procession of the priests in their robes led by the man who was High Priest at the time.  David is describing here the moment when the Ark of the Covenant was first brought up to Zion and in 2 Samuel 6 we read that...

Psalm 68:22-23 Wading in blood! These verses are as bloodthirsty as any in the Psalms. In verse 15 we discovered that the Mountains of Bashan represent the highlands of Israel to the north and east of the land, territory that is modern-day Syria. The “depths of the sea” can only be speaking of the Mediterranean Sea to the east, so that all areas of the land are embraced here. As the Israelites established their dominance of the land of Canaan, innumerable peoples were driven out and conquered, and the enemies of God were extinguished. So much so that the feet of the soldiers waded in blood and their dogs lapped it up! Some find this view of the Lord God to be unpalatable, especially as a similar pattern has unfolded in the land in modern times, with the driving back of the indigenous Palestinians. Listen, God is God, He created the world and its people. He gave life to every soul that was born on this planet and that gives Him the right to distinguish between those who love and acknowl...

Psalm 68:21 Hairy crowns crushed! We are all familiar with the pronouncement by God, to the serpent, in the garden of Eden,  “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  Genesis 3:15. Quite clearly, while Satan would be able to inflict a minor injury on the offspring of the woman (in other words -  Yeshua), he would suffer far more severely as a consequence. His power, his headship, his authority and his life would be taken, and he would be destroyed by the woman’s child.  Balaam, the prophet who was in it for the money, foretold the coming of,  “a star out of Jacob; a sceptre that will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.”  Numbers 24:17. Balaam too was speaking of judgement and destruction and the devastation of God’s enemies.  David uses the same picture here, of heads being crushed, to de...

Psalm 68:20 Escape from death! Sin brings death! The ultimate consequence of all sin is death. The wages of sin is death. People pursue sinful practices hoping for a pay-out, they will get one – death. All have sinned, so all will die. What a miserable state we human beings are in for, so far as I am aware, no one has cheated death, no one has been able to buy or create life, everyone ends up with a gravestone. And death hurtles towards us all at a pace that quickens as we grow older, and there is no way to avoid that terminal appointment. That is why there is such a note of joy and anticipation in this verse,  “Our God,  (as opposed to all the others)  is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”  David is anticipating a form of existence beyond this life, death was not the end, he hoped for life even though resurrection had not yet been invented! This conviction about a future existence is described by him in Psalm 16:9-11.  “ Therefor...

Psalm 68:19 He daily bears our burdens It’s time to sing another song of praise, to open our mouths and acclaim the God who is our Father and who loves and sustains us. He is the only true God and He is our Saviour. In ancient times that salvation was primarily in the context of deliverance from Egypt and from Israel’s physical enemies. So, what forms of salvation from burdens do we praise God for today? Firstly, we too have been delivered from slavery, the slavery to sin. That dark, brooding taskmaster that commanded our rebellion and disobedience against God, and that sent its cancerous tentacles into every part of our being. We were helpless and hopeless until Christ came and set us free. The burden was lifted at Calvary and there is no need to be weighed down by it any longer. Hallelujah! Secondly, our Heavenly Father has equipped us to be free from the burdensome oppression of our spiritual enemies. In Christ Jesus, by the power of His Holy Spirit, we can fight back and be victori...

Psalm 68:18 When You ascended Lord The Psalm now describes the arrival in Jerusalem, of the great procession that left Sinai and has now entered the Promised Land. The Lord God goes before His people, and He ascends the Mountain of Zion. I’m sure that, in David’s mind, he was describing the moment when the procession bearing the Ark of the Covenant, made its way up to the Tabernacle / Temple site on the mountain, and the Lord claimed His place of supremacy over Israel. The Temple would become symbolic of the heavenly throne room of God where He reigns over and amongst His people.  When victorious kings marched triumphantly into their royal cities, they would bring captives with them. The captives were those who had fought against the king but were now submissive and willing to bring gifts and acknowledge his conquest. In the same way, those who rebelled against the Lord and who once were His enemies are now willing subjects and have joined Israel in honouring Him as their Sovereign...

Psalm 68:17 The chariots of Gods In 2 Kings 6 we read of Elisha and his servant, trapped in a city called Dothan, 11 miles north of Samaria. The King of Aram is intent on capturing Elisha because the prophet always outwits and outthinks him and his schemes against Israel. The Arameans have surrounded Dothan with soldiers and horses and chariots and Elisha’s servant is petrified when he sees the overwhelming forces that are against them. Elisha speaks those famous words that have encouraged many in times of trouble, “ Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  With that the prophet prays that his servant’s eyes will be opened and when they are, the servant sees the hills full of horses and chariots of fire. David knows, as should we, that he is never alone and never outnumbered. As the procession of Israelites moves away from Sinai and heads north towards Canaan, the horses and chariots of the Lord God go with them. Jesus saw them in the Garden o...

Psalm 68:15-16 Mount Bashan So, here we go, up to the Golan Heights and beyond. Up to the north-eastern corner of Israel and into territory that is part of Syria today. A place of rugged mountains indeed and an area that has, throughout history, been at enmity with Israel. Many pagan gods and practices emanated from these northern strongholds and so the Mountain of Bashan symbolises idol worship and sacrifices to Baal and Molech and other Canaanite gods. I suspect that the kings of these lands, and their pagan priests, cared little for Israel’s God. In their pride they pursued their pointless practices and worshipped their pointless deities. However, these false religions were the brainchild of an evil mastermind who, it seems, was envious of the mountain where God chose to reign. In David’s mind the vast, towering peaks of the north were nothing compared to the gentle hills of Zion and Moriah where the Lord God reigned supreme. The vast mountain range of Hermon envied the power that r...

Psalm 68:14 Mount Zalmon Most commentators on this verse, place Mount Zalmon near Shechem, which is a city situated on an east -west pass between Mount Gerazim and Mount Ebal. It is in central Israel and as a mountain is not very large, rising to around 1,400 feet. I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that it is highly unlikely to have ever been covered by snow! Having visited the area and seen the snow-capped heights of Hermon in the north with its ski resorts and its chair lifts, I’m struggling to understand how it might have snowed on Zalmon! Hermon rises to nearly 9,200 feet and it is a vast mountain range, Zalmon is no more than a hill by comparison and central Israel is not known for its freezing temperatures and snow drifts!  There is another possibility. The point here is that when God scatters His enemies, the fall-out is like snow and He can do it in the north, and even on Mt Zalmon where snow never falls! The corpses and the abandoned weapons cover the ground so f...