Day 281: Psalms 87-89 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
2. 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
3. 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
4. 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
5. 0:10can go to the description or the bible
6. 0:13department.com to download a reading
7. 0:15plan and join the journey.
8. 0:18[Music]
9. 0:24Welcome to day 281.
10. 0:27Today we are looking at Psalms 87
11. 0:30through 89. We got a couple of different
12. 0:32Psalms. First of all, if you have not
13. 0:35done the reading, I say this every
14. 0:36single day, but if you have not done the
15. 0:38reading, then how about you stop this
16. 0:40video, pause the audio, go get the
17. 0:43reading for today, done three short
18. 0:46psalms. And so all all we got is three
19. 0:49short psalms. All right? And so make
20. 0:50sure that you do the reading so that you
21. 0:52have context for the content of this
22. 0:54episode. Like every day I'm going to
23. 0:57bring you context clues so that you kind
24. 0:59of get situated or oriented. Book three
25. 1:02of the Psalms has kind of carried very
26. 1:05very very similar context. Okay. The
27. 1:08people coming back from exile. It is a
28. 1:11hard season. Even though their hopes are
29. 1:14high now that they're no longer in
30. 1:16exile, it is still not as glorious of a
31. 1:21return as they would have imagined. Um
32. 1:23so there are lots of psalms of lament uh
33. 1:26lots of psalms where the destruction of
34. 1:29Jerusalem is being lamented and being
35. 1:32expressed. So for context clues today
36. 1:35okay for Psalm 87 and 88 these are both
37. 1:39psalms of the sons of Kora. We've talked
38. 1:42in depth about those characters and the
39. 1:45last of the psalms attributed to this
40. 1:48Levitical choir. Okay, by the way, Hemon
41. 1:53is a son of Kora. Okay, so if you pick
42. 1:55up your Bible and you just like look at
43. 1:57the title that we have from uh Psalm 87,
44. 2:01you're going to see of the sons of Kora.
45. 2:03Nothing weird there. But then at the top
46. 2:05of Psalm 88, we're going to see a psalm
47. 2:08of the sons of Kora for the director of
48. 2:11music according to Mahaloth Leonith
49. 2:14Leonath. Okay, I don't know how to
50. 2:16pronounce that. I just know what it
51. 2:17means and I'll tell you what it means in
52. 2:19a second. a mascul of Hemon the Ezraite.
53. 2:22So you're like, "Wait a second. Is this
54. 2:25Did the sons of Kora write this? Did
55. 2:26Hemon write this?" Hemon is a son of
56. 2:29Kora. So the answer to both those
57. 2:32questions is, drum roll please.
58. 2:35Yes. All right. So Psalm 88 context.
59. 2:40Mahalah Mahalath Leonath. Okay. Mahalath
60. 2:44Leonath or Leonoth. Okay. is the
61. 2:48suffering of affliction. That's what
62. 2:50that means. The suffering of affliction,
63. 2:52which should already cue you up for what
64. 2:55the content of this psalm is about to
65. 2:57be, okay? The suffering of affliction.
66. 2:59Uh some context on Hemon, okay? As a
67. 3:03person, Hemon writes this and he is a
68. 3:07temple singer and a seer. Actually, 1
69. 3:11Chronicles chapter 25 actually refers to
70. 3:14him as the king's sear. Okay. Uh, so
71. 3:19there's two spots that talk about Hemon
72. 3:21and you can look both of them up. 1
73. 3:23Chronicles 6:33
74. 3:26and 1 Chronicles 25:es 1-5.
75. 3:31Okay, so in 1 Chronicles 25:es 1-5, he
76. 3:35is called the king's seer. Okay, so tons
77. 3:38of context. He is literally part of the
78. 3:42foundation of David creating a
79. 3:45revolutionized system of singing and
80. 3:47worship and praise. That's a part of
81. 3:49sanctuary worship. Okay. Psalm 89. This
82. 3:53is written by Ethan. The context for
83. 3:56Ethan as a character, as a person, as a
84. 3:58writer is 1 Chronicles 15
85. 4:03and 19. And this dude is really close to
86. 4:08your boy Hemon. Okay. So, He-Man and
87. 4:10Ethan, I don't know if they're friends,
88. 4:12but they are close. All right. They they
89. 4:14are definitely associates, co-workers,
90. 4:17they're peers. They're they're they're
91. 4:19close. The nature of the relationship, I
92. 4:21obviously don't know, but they are
93. 4:24always typic or typically mentioned
94. 4:26together. And Psalm 89 is going to be
95. 4:29all about the failure of David's line,
96. 4:32okay? Or David's dynasty. the fact that
97. 4:35by the time the people of Judah are
98. 4:38taken into Babylonian captivity, there's
99. 4:40no one on the throne in Jerusalem that
100. 4:43comes from David's line or from his
101. 4:46dynasty. And the reason that this psalm
102. 4:49has so much tension in it is because
103. 4:51God's promise to David is that someone
104. 4:54would always be on his throne. Like
105. 4:57you'll always have an ancestor. You'll
106. 4:59always have a descendant that's on your
107. 5:01throne. Always, right? And always means
108. 5:04always. Always doesn't mean unless I get
109. 5:07mad at you. Always doesn't mean until
110. 5:10the exile. Always means always. It was
111. 5:13an unconditional promise, not a
112. 5:15conditional part of uh it wasn't a
113. 5:18conditional portion of any of the
114. 5:20covenants. There's so many things,
115. 5:21especially in the book of Deuteronomy,
116. 5:23that are conditional. This was
117. 5:25unconditional, this promise made to
118. 5:26David. So Ethan is trying to figure out
119. 5:30how is it that God made an unconditional
120. 5:33promise to David and we have seen that
121. 5:36promise not just unfulfilled but we have
122. 5:39seen that promise like denied
123. 5:42essentially. Okay. So the entire psalm
124. 5:45is reflecting on uh the failure of
125. 5:49David's line, the failure of David's uh
126. 5:52dynasty and the fall of Jerusalem. So,
127. 5:55up until this point, we've seen psalms
128. 5:58that are lamenting or mourning the fall
129. 5:59of Jerusalem. But once you zoom in into
130. 6:02some detail onto the fall of Jerusalem,
131. 6:05you'll begin to see, well, in the
132. 6:09category of the fall of Jerusalem,
133. 6:10there's this one really sad thing, and
134. 6:13that's that no one is no, not one of
135. 6:17David's descendants is sitting on
136. 6:18David's throne. actually no one is
137. 6:20sitting on David's throne uh because the
138. 6:23people have been taken into captivity.
139. 6:25All right. So uh Psalm 87 is we could
140. 6:28refer to it as a Zion psalm like this
141. 6:31psalm is all about celebrating the
142. 6:34presence of God in the place of God and
143. 6:36that place is Jerusalem. Okay. So this
144. 6:38is a Zion psalm. Psalm 87. Uh we can
145. 6:42even just read a little bit of it. He
146. 6:44has founded his city on the holy
147. 6:46mountain. Okay. No need to wonder what
148. 6:49his city is. It's Jerusalem. The Lord
149. 6:52loves the gates of Zion more than all
150. 6:55the other dwellings of Jacob. Glorious
151. 6:57things are said of you, city of God. So,
152. 7:00you know, you get the drift. Okay.
153. 7:03Jerusalem is Zion. By the way, for
154. 7:05anyone who doesn't know that, that's a
155. 7:08nice little nerdy nugget for you to kind
156. 7:10of tuck that away. When the Bible talks
157. 7:13about Zion, okay, it's talking about
158. 7:15Jerusalem, okay? Zion's not just like
159. 7:18heaven or the biblical version of Mount
160. 7:20Olympus. No, like Zion means Jerusalem.
161. 7:24All right. Psalm 88 is a psalm of
162. 7:26lament, psalm of suffering. No, no. Uh,
163. 7:30no shock there. Okay. We've seen a lot
164. 7:33of lament psalms, but I really actually
165. 7:36want to take the most time as we move
166. 7:38into our nerdy nuggets to talk through
167. 7:41Psalm 89. Okay, this is a reflection on
168. 7:45the Davidic covenant which can be found
169. 7:47in 2 Samuel chapter 7. So if you need
170. 7:50context for what's happening in Psalm
171. 7:5389, you can just look at 2 Samuel
172. 7:56chapter 7. Okay? And the psalm makes it
173. 7:58clear that Yahweh is unlike any other
174. 8:03treaty maker or normal king. Okay? So we
175. 8:06can go to Psalm 89 together. And the
176. 8:10very very first thing that Ethan the
177. 8:12Ezraite is going to lay out is, "I will
178. 8:15sing of the Lord's great love forever.
179. 8:17With my mouth, I will make your
180. 8:19faithfulness known through all
181. 8:20generations. I will declare that your
182. 8:22love stands firm forever. That you
183. 8:25established your faithfulness in heaven
184. 8:27itself." You said, "I have made a
185. 8:30covenant with my chosen one. I have
186. 8:32sworn to David, my servant. I will
187. 8:34establish your line forever and make
188. 8:37your throne firm through all
189. 8:39generations. Okay. And now the heavens
190. 8:42praise your wonders Lord your
191. 8:44faithfulness too. This kind of many
192. 8:46times the faithfulness of God has been
193. 8:48kind of talked about. Okay. That word
194. 8:50and it says this verse 7 in the counsel
195. 8:53of the holy ones God is greatly feared.
196. 8:55Okay, this is language straight from
197. 8:57Psalm 82, which we talked about two days
198. 8:59ago and we talked about it yesterday. Uh
199. 9:01cuz I didn't feel like we did a good
200. 9:02enough job talking about it two days
201. 9:03ago. In the counsel of the holy ones, he
202. 9:07is more awesome than all who surround
203. 9:08him, who is like you, Lord God Almighty.
204. 9:11You Lord Almighty, and your faithfulness
205. 9:13surrounds you. You rule over the surging
206. 9:15sea. All right, this is mythological
207. 9:18language. We've seen so much of this
208. 9:20mythological language in Genesis when we
209. 9:22study Genesis, but we're seeing this
210. 9:25over and over and over in the Psalms
211. 9:27that the Psalms are not here to give a
212. 9:29scientific report on the creation, but
213. 9:32more of a mythological report on the
214. 9:35creation. Okay? A poetic a poetic
215. 9:39understanding of what scientifically
216. 9:42happened in Genesis chapter 1. Uh, it
217. 9:44says, "The heavens are yours. You
218. 9:46crushed Rahab like one of the slain.
219. 9:49With your strong arm, you scattered your
220. 9:51enemies." Okay, I really wanted to hone
221. 9:52in on this. Rahab is a chaos dragon.
222. 9:55Okay, Rahab is a chaos monster. And so,
223. 9:59if you're wondering like, okay, what's
224. 10:01Rahab? Who is Rahab? Okay, Rahab is just
225. 10:04another name for chaos dragon like
226. 10:06Leviathan. Okay, so we're going to get
227. 10:09super super mythological language that
228. 10:12is all communicating the truth that God
229. 10:16conquers chaos with order. Okay, so from
230. 10:20the outset, Ethan the Ezraite wants to
231. 10:22make it really clear. Okay, Yahweh is
232. 10:25not making a treaty with David the same
233. 10:28way that a normal king would make a
234. 10:33susar vassel treaty with another king.
235. 10:36Okay, there's nothing normal about
236. 10:38Yahweh. So even if we're tempted to
237. 10:40doubt the foreverness of this covenant
238. 10:44or God's ability to fulfill the terms or
239. 10:48the promises of the covenant, Ezra, the
240. 10:50Ezraite, Ethan the Ezraite wants to make
241. 10:52it clear before we start doubting God,
242. 10:56let's make it really clear like who
243. 11:00we're talking about here, which is, you
244. 11:02know, smart. So the fact that Yahweh is
245. 11:07unlike any other king, ruler, power that
246. 11:12would make a covenant means that the
247. 11:14Davidic covenant is special. It's in its
248. 11:17own category. So we can't really look at
249. 11:20or judge the Davidic covenant like it's
250. 11:24some other covenant because it's not. It
251. 11:26wasn't made by Baal or Marduk or any of
252. 11:31these other gods. It wasn't just made
253. 11:33between two human kings. So before we
254. 11:37doubt it, we should probably know that
255. 11:40the character of the one who ratified it
256. 11:43is beyond anything that our minds can
257. 11:46comprehend. Okay. Second, there are
258. 11:49other books written in the same time
259. 11:52period. And this I love this part. While
260. 11:55Psalm 89 is giving a valid point of view
261. 12:00and is kind of like ends off with, man,
262. 12:03like don't REALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO. You
263. 12:06know what I mean? Like like this psalm
264. 12:09kind of ends without a resolve. While
265. 12:12this psalm is being written, 2 Kings 25
266. 12:1627-30
267. 12:18is also being written. in 2 Kings
268. 12:21chapter 25 27-30 is telling the story of
269. 12:26the last legitimate king of Judah and
270. 12:29that story is not one of despair but
271. 12:32that story is one of hope so this psalm
272. 12:37Psalm 89 gives no answer just a lot of
273. 12:41questions but no definitive answer but
274. 12:44there's another work that was compiled
275. 12:45during the same time and that's you know
276. 12:48the book of the former prophets Joshua
277. 12:49Judges Samuel and Kings. A great part of
278. 12:52the story of those books is the
279. 12:54foundation, establishment, and the fall
280. 12:55of the house of David. Okay. So, what
281. 12:58Psalms is doing in poetry form, the the
282. 13:01former prophets are doing with narrative
283. 13:04and and in what we would call narrative
284. 13:07history, but really it's it's prophetic
285. 13:09literature. They too tell the story of
286. 13:11the failure of the kings of Judah, the
287. 13:13sons the sons of David. But the story
288. 13:16does not end in despair but a strange
289. 13:18glimpse of hope like a glimmer of hope.
290. 13:22It says this okay in 2 Kings chapter 25
291. 13:2527 to30. And in the 37th year of the
292. 13:28exile of Jehoa Chin, king of Judah, in
293. 13:32the 12th month, on the 27th day of the
294. 13:36month, evil Moradosh, king of Babylon,
295. 13:40in the year that he began to reign,
296. 13:42graciously freed Jehoa Chin, king of
297. 13:46Judah, from prison. And he spoke kindly
298. 13:48to him and gave him a seat above the
299. 13:52seats of the kings who were with him in
300. 13:54Babylon. So Jehoa Chin put off his
301. 13:57prison garments and every day of his
302. 13:59life he dined regularly at the king's
303. 14:02table the king of Babylon that is. And
304. 14:05for his allowance a regular allowance
305. 14:07was given him by the king of Babylon
306. 14:10according to his daily needs as long as
307. 14:13he lived. Now they may that might not
308. 14:16sound like this big huge win but it is
309. 14:19100% a glimpse of hope. This book uh 2
310. 14:24Kings ends with the son of David, the
311. 14:27last legitimate king of Judah being
312. 14:29released from bondage and given honor,
313. 14:33being restored. It was not over for the
314. 14:36house of David. That is why second Kings
315. 14:39ends this way to communicate that Yahweh
316. 14:42had not yet finished with them. His
317. 14:43promise to David still held true. And it
318. 14:48was a son of David that inspired this
319. 14:51whole era of the Psalms compilation book
320. 14:54three. Book three is written and
321. 14:57compiled in the context of the people's
322. 14:59return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding
323. 15:01of Yahweh's house. And who was it who
324. 15:04led the people home? Who led the
325. 15:06rebuilding of the temple and was to bear
326. 15:09his name? That's right. Zerubbable, the
327. 15:12grandson of Jehoyachin, the final true
328. 15:15king of Judah, a son of David, led them
329. 15:17home from exile and rebuilt the temple.
330. 15:20Zerubbable's temple. Okay, so that's a
331. 15:24ton of nerdy nuggets. I I gave you I
332. 15:25gave you at least, you know, when I go
333. 15:28to McDonald's, I get at least six
334. 15:29nuggets. You know what I'm saying? So, I
335. 15:31gave you at least six nerdy nuggets
336. 15:32right there. He has a lot to chew on.
337. 15:34Let's move into our timeless truth for
338. 15:37the day. Family, the wait is over. My
339. 15:40brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out
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345. 15:57& Noble or you can go to a Books a
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348. 16:06reading the Bible from an ancient
349. 16:08perspective, if you understand that the
350. 16:11beauty of scripture is actually knowing
351. 16:12it in context, then you'll love this
352. 16:15book. And if there's any chaos in your
353. 16:18personal life, I think that reading the
354. 16:20Bible from an ancient perspective can
355. 16:23actually help to crush the chaos in your
356. 16:25life. I think this book is going to BE A
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358. 16:29I think we wrote a good one. I think you
359. 16:31should get a copy today. All right, back
360. 16:34to the episode. Our timeless truth is
361. 16:37that in a little town called Bethlehem,
362. 16:40a virgin by the name of Mary is going to
363. 16:43give birth to the final son of David,
364. 16:48the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
365. 16:51the anointed one, the Messiah who's
366. 16:54going to be born of the line of David.
367. 16:57And when it looked like there was no
368. 17:00hope, God had a way of fulfilling his
369. 17:03promise, that was not in any way, shape,
370. 17:06or form on the radar of any person,
371. 17:10including Ethan the Ezraite, who writes
372. 17:13Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is written by Ethan
373. 17:18the Ezraite. And here's the deal. Ethan
374. 17:20the Ezraite, although he knows the right
375. 17:22questions to ask, has no idea that the
376. 17:25answer to his question is that there's
377. 17:27going to be a boy, a baby boy by the
378. 17:30name of Jesus that's going to be born
379. 17:33that's actually going to fulfill the
380. 17:35unconditional promises made by Yahweh to
381. 17:38David. So, here's my Thomas truth. I'll
382. 17:40read it to you. Just because things look
383. 17:43hopeless to our natural human eye means
384. 17:46nothing.
385. 17:47Nobody could have predicted that Jesus
386. 17:50would be the son of David. Nobody. And
387. 17:53just because your natural human eye
388. 17:54can't see it. And just because it is not
389. 17:58able to be predicted by any human does
390. 18:01not mean that God isn't faithful. It
391. 18:04does not mean that God doesn't have a
392. 18:06plan. And it doesn't mean that God will
393. 18:09ever ever ever allow any of his promises
394. 18:13to return to him void. Tomorrow we got
395. 18:16day 282 and we're going to be looking at
396. 18:18Psalms 90-92.
397. 18:21And guess what guys, we are officially
398. 18:24done with book three. Tomorrow we start
399. 18:27book four. Book four of the Psalms.
400. 18:29We'll start at Psalm 90 and we'll go all
401. 18:32the way to Psalm 106. So, we did a good
402. 18:35job. We we closed out book three.
403. 18:37Tomorrow we start book four. I love you
404. 18:39so much. I'm proud of you. I'm so glad
405. 18:42that you're on this journey with me
406. 18:44studying the entire Bible uh in a
407. 18:47calendar year. I love you so much. I'll
408. 18:49see you right here tomorrow, same time,
409. 18:51same place. And we're going to start
410. 18:53book four as we jump into Psalm 90 91
411. 18:56and 92 for day 282. Love you guys. So
412. 18:59proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for
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