Day 288: Psalms 107-109 | 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. 0:24family. Welcome to day 288 here at the
10. 0:28Bible department podcast. I'm super
11. 0:30excited that you've joined us for
12. 0:32another episode. Today we are looking at
13. 0:34Psalms 107 and 109. And like we can see
14. 0:39the light at the end of the tunnel. If
15. 0:41you've been rocking with us through the
16. 0:42entire book of Psalms or you've been
17. 0:44rocking with us all year long, we are
18. 0:46crossing the threshold from book four of
19. 0:49the Psalms into book five of the Psalms.
20. 0:51That's right. from Psalm 107 to 150. Uh
21. 0:56this is the final stretch of studying
22. 0:59and examining the Psalms. And I'm going
23. 1:03to be sad. Honestly, I when we first
24. 1:05started the Psalms, like on day one, I I
25. 1:08I kind of probably communicated to you
26. 1:10and definitely in my head was like,
27. 1:12"Buckle up. This is the longest book of
28. 1:14the Bible that we are going to study."
29. 1:17And uh we have camped out in the Psalms.
30. 1:19I hope that you've gotten to know God
31. 1:20better, David better, all of the
32. 1:22psalmists, and so I hope that you've
33. 1:25learned something about prayer and
34. 1:26worship. And today is going to be no
35. 1:27different. If you have not read Psalms
36. 1:30107, 108, and 109, stop the video, pause
37. 1:33the audio, go get the reading done. Go
38. 1:37get the reading done, then come back.
39. 1:40We're going to be looking at three
40. 1:41Psalms today. Like always, our format
41. 1:43never changes. We're gonna do uh we're
42. 1:46going to look at context, dive into some
43. 1:48context clues, then I'm going to give
44. 1:50you as many nerdy nuggets as I can, and
45. 1:51we're going to leave off on a timeless
46. 1:53truth. For one of the first times, at
47. 1:55least that I can remember, I could be
48. 1:57wrong, we've got an impregatory psalm
49. 2:00that we are really going to look at
50. 2:01today pretty heav he heavily and uh
51. 2:04impregatory psalms are pretty intense.
52. 2:06All right, pretty pretty intense. So,
53. 2:08we'll save that for the end. You don't
54. 2:10want to miss it. All right, I'm going to
55. 2:12give you context for book five as a
56. 2:14whole, which honestly you can not only
57. 2:16apply to today's episode, but then you
58. 2:18can apply to all the remaining episodes
59. 2:20that we have for the book of Psalms.
60. 2:23Okay, book five was compiled in the
61. 2:25fifth century BC, probably and possibly
62. 2:29most likely by our guy Ezra. All right,
63. 2:33Ezra, who may have then been the one who
64. 2:37brought all five books of the Psalms
65. 2:39into one. Ezra is traditionally known as
66. 2:43the person who would have completed the
67. 2:46editing of the Tanakh as a whole. It's
68. 2:48the Torah, the Nevim, and the Ketuim.
69. 2:50Both through writing the final books,
70. 2:53which would be Ezra, Nehemiah, and
71. 2:55Chronicles, and through the compilation
72. 2:57of the entire writings section. All
73. 3:00right. Putting the psalms into their
74. 3:02form may then have been a part of this
75. 3:05process. He might have also written the
76. 3:08final few psalms. that Psalm 10 sorry
77. 3:12Psalms 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150 to
78. 3:17round off both book five and the
79. 3:22entirety of the Psalms as a whole. Uh
80. 3:25context then for book five's compilation
81. 3:27is the second wave of Jews returning
82. 3:31from exile led by Ezra and Nehemiah. The
83. 3:34compilation of book five and the whole
84. 3:37of the Psalms really is done in the
85. 3:40context of Ezra's rebuilding the nation.
86. 3:43Okay, so Ezra's job is to help rebuild
87. 3:46the nation of Israel. Uh as this second
88. 3:49wave of Jews comes back from Babylonian
89. 3:52exile, he sought to refocus the people
90. 3:54on two things, Torah and temple. And
91. 3:57we're going to see that focus as we look
92. 3:59at book five of the Psalms. during the
93. 4:01second temple period. This can be seen
94. 4:04in the 15 songs of ascent. Uh this is a
95. 4:08famous section of the book of psalms. Uh
96. 4:10they're known as psalms of ascent or
97. 4:12songs of ascent from psalm 120 all the
98. 4:15way to psalm 134. These are the psalms
99. 4:18specifically designed to be sung by
100. 4:20pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the
101. 4:24festivals. Book five contains 15 psalms
102. 4:27attributed to David. one psalm
103. 4:29attributed to Solomon and the rest of
104. 4:31the psalms are anonymous but with many
105. 4:34of them similar to book four and having
106. 4:37no titles at all which is why I'm
107. 4:39spending a lot of time giving us context
108. 4:41for the entirety of the book here as
109. 4:43mentioned already book five is also po
110. 4:46it's possible that Ezra is responsible
111. 4:50for a lot of these anonymous psalms
112. 4:51especially psalm 146 147 148 149 and 150
113. 4:57all right that is the context. Okay, so
114. 5:00Psalm 107 has no titles. So there's no
115. 5:03straightforward context to the psalm. It
116. 5:05is thought, however, to be a psalm
117. 5:08written to celebrate the return from
118. 5:10exile in Babylon. Okay, this psalm is
119. 5:13written specifically to celebrate the
120. 5:14return from exile. It then establishes
121. 5:17the context for the whole book. Like by
122. 5:20book, I mean book five. Okay, I don't
123. 5:22mean when I say whole book, I don't mean
124. 5:24the psalms. I just mean book five. Okay.
125. 5:27uh the Jewish people had returned from
126. 5:28Babylon to worship Yahweh in his temple
127. 5:31in Jerusalem once more. And we can like
128. 5:34read it with that in mind. Okay. Psalm
129. 5:36107 says this, "Give thanks to the Lord
130. 5:39for he is good and his love endures
131. 5:41forever." Can you imagine being in
132. 5:43Babylonian captivity and you are making
133. 5:45your pilgrimage back to Jerusalem to
134. 5:48worship Yahweh, saying these things? Let
135. 5:51the redeemed of the Lord tell their
136. 5:53story. Not only have we been redeemed,
137. 5:56that's not just like a concept.
138. 5:58Redemption isn't just like, oh, I, you
139. 6:01know, just redeemed, you know, from sin.
140. 6:04No, redeemed from Babylonian captivity.
141. 6:07It this is very very like specific. This
142. 6:10is not general. Okay. And and I've been
143. 6:14the context for the redemption is so
144. 6:17near and so close and so intimately felt
145. 6:21um that it's now become an identity.
146. 6:23Okay. I am the redeemed of the Lord. And
147. 6:26let them tell their story. Tell of what
148. 6:28God's delivered you from. He's delivered
149. 6:30us from Babylonian captivity. He's
150. 6:32delivered us from Babylonian exile.
151. 6:35Those he redeemed from the hand of the
152. 6:38foe. Those he gathered from the lands
153. 6:42from east and west from the north and
154. 6:44south. Some wandered in desert
155. 6:46wastelands finding no way to a city
156. 6:49where they could settle. They were
157. 6:50hungry and thirsty and their lives ebbed
158. 6:52away. Then they cried out to the Lord in
159. 6:55their trouble and he delivered them from
160. 6:57their distress. He led them by a
161. 6:59straight way to a city where they could
162. 7:02settle, aka Jerusalem. Let them give
163. 7:05thanks to the Lord for his unfailing
164. 7:07love and his wonderful deeds for
165. 7:09mankind. For he satisfy the thirsty and
166. 7:12fills the hungry with good things. All
167. 7:14right. Now uh what you need to know uh
168. 7:17about Psalm 107 is Psalm 107 is going to
169. 7:20put the plight of the people of Israel
170. 7:22into four categories. Okay, four scenes
171. 7:25if you will. Okay, so from verse 4 to
172. 7:28verse 9, we're going to see a time of
173. 7:31wandering. Okay, the people are going to
174. 7:33experience a time of wandering. And what
175. 7:35is God going to do? He's going to rescue
176. 7:37them. He's going to redeem them. He's
177. 7:39going to restore them. R He's going to
178. 7:42rescue them. Redeem them. restore them.
179. 7:44Then from verses 10 to 16, we get a time
180. 7:47of imprisonment. Okay, so verse 10 is
181. 7:50going to start. It says this, "Some set
182. 7:52in darkness, in utter darkness,
183. 7:54prisoners suffering in iron chains." So
184. 7:56from verse 10 all the way to verse 16,
185. 7:58they experience not just a time of
186. 8:00wandering, but also a time of
187. 8:01imprisonment. And what is Yahweh going
188. 8:03to do? He's going to rescue them, redeem
189. 8:05them, restore them. Then starting in
190. 8:07verse 17, we get a time of sickness.
191. 8:10Okay, we can start reading in verse 17.
192. 8:12It says this, "Some became fools through
193. 8:15their rebellious ways and suffered
194. 8:16affliction because of their iniquities.
195. 8:18They loathed all food and drew near the
196. 8:21gates of death. Then they cried out to
197. 8:23the Lord in their trouble and he saved
198. 8:25them from their distress. He sent out
199. 8:27his word and healed them. He rescued
200. 8:30them from the grave." Okay, so verses 17
201. 8:33and verse 22 is going to focus on a time
202. 8:36of sickness. And what is God going to
203. 8:39do? rescue them, redeem them, restore
204. 8:41them. And then lastly, verse 22 to verse
205. 8:4532 is going to be a time of stormy sea.
206. 8:48Okay, verse 22 says this, which we
207. 8:51already know, uh, storms and seas
208. 8:53represent chaos. So, this is a time of
209. 8:55chaos. Uh, verse 22, let them sacrifice
210. 8:59thank offerings and tell of his works
211. 9:01with songs of joy. Some went out,
212. 9:03actually it's verse 23, I would say, is
213. 9:06the start of that. Verse 23-32.
214. 9:08Some went out on on the sea in ships.
215. 9:12There were merchants on the mighty
216. 9:13waters. They saw the works of the Lord,
217. 9:15his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he
218. 9:18spoke and stirred up a tempest and
219. 9:21lifted high the waves. Okay. So, what is
220. 9:24God going to do when his people are
221. 9:26found out uh at sea in the midst of
222. 9:29chaos? He's going to rescue them. He's
223. 9:32going to redeem them. He's going to
224. 9:34restore them. So, we're going to get
225. 9:36that same three-fold sequence. Rescue,
226. 9:39redeem, restore. Rescue, redeem,
227. 9:41restore. Whether it's from wandering,
228. 9:43whether it's from imprisonment, whether
229. 9:45it's from sickness, or whether it's from
230. 9:48the storms at sea, Yahweh is going to
231. 9:51rescue, redeem, and restore because he
232. 9:54is a faithful and powerful God. Okay, so
233. 9:56that's Psalm 107. This is a psalm of
234. 9:59celebration that the exiles have
235. 10:02returned back to Jerusalem. They've
236. 10:04returned back to the land. Okay, th this
237. 10:07psalm is written specifically to
238. 10:10celebrate the return from exile.
239. 10:13Celebrate the return from exile. Okay, I
240. 10:15want to hammer that into your mind
241. 10:17because this first psalm of book five is
242. 10:20going to set the tone for the whole
243. 10:22context of the whole book five of the
244. 10:25entirety of book five, which is to
245. 10:28celebrate the return from exile. to
246. 10:30celebrate the return from exile. So from
247. 10:33each of these scenes or from each of
248. 10:35these scenarios, whether it's wandering,
249. 10:37imprisonment, sickness, or the chaos of
250. 10:39the stormy sea, uh Yahweh had redeemed
251. 10:42and rescued his people and then restored
252. 10:44them to a now fruitful land because of
253. 10:47his steadfast love for Israel. All
254. 10:50right, let's dive into Psalm 108. Okay,
255. 10:53Psalm 108 is fascinating because Psalm
256. 10:56108, I'm pretty sure I'm into nerdy
257. 10:58nuggets at this point. I don't know if I
258. 10:59announced that. Anyway, we've moved from
259. 11:01context clues to nerdy nuggets. Okay.
260. 11:04Psalm 108 is a combination of Psalm 57
261. 11:08and Psalm 60. Okay. Uh these are two
262. 11:12Psalms that have kind of been mashed
263. 11:14together. All right? And I'll give you
264. 11:16the specific verses. Psalm 57-11
265. 11:20and Psalm 60 5-12. If you look at Psalm
266. 11:2457:es 7-11 and Psalm 60:es 5-12, you'll
267. 11:29compare it with Psalm 108 and realize
268. 11:32that got it, the author of Psalm 108 has
269. 11:36taken these Psalms of David and has
270. 11:39actually like reconfigured them, these
271. 11:44prior Psalms, these older Psalms into a
272. 11:46new psalm. Okay, both Psalm 57 and Psalm
273. 11:5060 were written during times of distress
274. 11:54when David was being chased by Saul and
275. 11:57after when he had been defeated by
276. 12:00enemies. The context of the combination
277. 12:03is not known. But given the context of
278. 12:05book 5 as a whole, it could be that
279. 12:08these elements of these earlier psalms
280. 12:11aka Psalm 57 and Psalm 60 were combined
281. 12:15in the post- exilic time to create a new
282. 12:18psalm. Uh which means the people are
283. 12:21looking back at David who was in
284. 12:23distress and saying if God delivered
285. 12:25David from distress, he could deliver us
286. 12:28from distress. They are identifying with
287. 12:31David as a character. especially how
288. 12:33Psalm 57 and how Psalm 60 portray David
289. 12:36as a character in Psalm 108 is a fresh
290. 12:41look at those Psalms of David but at
291. 12:45what God is up to in history. Okay, so
292. 12:49that provides massive clues as to how to
293. 12:53interpret Psalm 108.
294. 12:56Both of the psalms that are compiling
295. 12:59Psalm 108 are cries from David to Yahweh
296. 13:03for rescue in times of distress. That
297. 13:06means this psalm, this new psalm, Psalm
298. 13:07108, is we got to see how how does it
299. 13:11take these previous psalms. Okay? And
300. 13:14here's the twist. It takes the positive
301. 13:17elements from both Psalms. Okay?
302. 13:20Although David is crying out from
303. 13:21distress, it's like the psalmist here or
304. 13:24the editor here in Psalm 108 is taking
305. 13:27the positive elements and putting them
306. 13:29into Psalm 108. It it does repeat the
307. 13:32distress and cry out to Yahweh. But the
308. 13:34faith and hope within David's psalms
309. 13:37that he would be delivered uh is
310. 13:40emphasized and repeated again in the
311. 13:43light of the return from exile. This
312. 13:45makes sense. They are returning to their
313. 13:48older hymn books and finding the same
314. 13:50faith in answer to prayer that they are
315. 13:53experiencing. The faith of David is
316. 13:56emphasized and the same steadfast love
317. 13:59that redeemed him is there in Jerusalem
318. 14:03after the exile to aid them as they
319. 14:06rebuild the nation. All right, this is
320. 14:09super nerdy. Like super nerdy. I'm
321. 14:11debating if I even want to include it,
322. 14:13but you know, I'll give you an extra
323. 14:15little nerdy nugget. Fascinatingly, uh,
324. 14:17in the original Psalms, the word Yahweh
325. 14:19or the name or title for God, Yahweh is
326. 14:22used. But here in this new version,
327. 14:25Psalm 108, uh, Yahweh has been mostly
328. 14:28replaced by the word Elohim. Why is not
329. 14:32exactly known, okay? Most scholars have
330. 14:34no idea why, which is why I didn't
331. 14:35really want to tell you guys about this
332. 14:37little nerdy detail, but I think it's
333. 14:39fun. It's a fun little nerdy fact. It
334. 14:41could be that David is using the more
335. 14:43personal name for God. Uh since this is
336. 14:46a psalm from one person to God and uh
337. 14:50what we find in Psalm 108 is more of a
338. 14:53corporate psalm, okay, for the people to
339. 14:57say to the Lord. But we have no
340. 15:00conclusive evidence on why Yahweh has
341. 15:02been swapped out for Elohim. But let's
342. 15:05look at Psalm 109. family, the wait is
343. 15:08over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos,
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363. 16:00should get a copy today. All right, back
364. 16:03to the episode. Psalm 109. This
365. 16:07individual lament is a classic example
366. 16:09of an impregatory psalm that is a cry
367. 16:13out to God for vengeance against
368. 16:15enemies. In the Psalms, and particularly
369. 16:18in Psalms like this, we see the darker
370. 16:21side of the Psalms. And I put darker
371. 16:23side in air quotes, darker side of the
372. 16:25Psalms. We must remember that psalms are
373. 16:28predominantly songs and prayers from
374. 16:31humans to God as much. They contain much
375. 16:35that is human. As such, sorry, as such,
376. 16:39the psalms are so human. They're raw.
377. 16:43They're real. They uh expose and even
378. 16:46shed light on our real and raw human
379. 16:48emotions both in a good way and in a bad
380. 16:51way. Psalm 109 is a prime example of the
381. 16:55simple and I would say universal human
382. 16:58desire for revenge. David was human.
383. 17:01David had enemies and he was not afraid
384. 17:03to speak his mind to Yahweh about these
385. 17:07enemies and what he wanted Yahweh to do
386. 17:10to them. This is Psalm 109:es 8-11.
387. 17:14Okay. May his days be few. May another
388. 17:17take his office. May his children be
389. 17:20fatherless. My gosh, that hurts, man.
390. 17:23May his children be fatherless. May his
391. 17:25wife a widow. May his wife be a widow.
392. 17:28May his children wander about and beg.
393. 17:31Seeking food far from the ruins they
394. 17:33inhabit. The Bible is wr written R. This
395. 17:37is rated R. Man, this is sad. Uh, may
396. 17:40his children wander about and beg,
397. 17:42seeking food far from the ruins they
398. 17:44inhabit. May the creditor seize all that
399. 17:47he has. May strangers plunger. Sorry.
400. 17:51May not plunger. They don't have clogged
401. 17:53toilets. Plunder. Not plunger. Plunder.
402. 17:56May the creditor seize all that he has.
403. 17:58May strangers plunder the fruits of his
404. 18:01toil. Says Psalm 109. There are four far
405. 18:05more stronger requests from David in
406. 18:07these types of psalms in in in the
407. 18:10psalms. Uh but it does go to show that
408. 18:13whilst David uh is responsible for much
409. 18:17of how we worship today, he does not
410. 18:20influence the way we intercede for
411. 18:21others in the same way. Okay? David
412. 18:24would fit into our worship sets but
413. 18:27probably not into our prayer sets. Okay?
414. 18:30And this leads us seamlessly into a
415. 18:32timeless truth. And this is something
416. 18:34that I want to highlight. Okay? the
417. 18:37feelings or the emotions that David
418. 18:40reveals through the impregatory psalms
419. 18:42totally timeless. There's a desire in
420. 18:45all of us for revenge. But I want us to
421. 18:48get this in our minds. Revenge is not
422. 18:51justice. Revenge is not justice.
423. 18:56Vengeance is not justice. And sometimes
424. 19:00that desire that we have for justice can
425. 19:02get twisted and all of a sudden we want
426. 19:04revenge. We want vengeance. And I
427. 19:07actually can appreciate that the
428. 19:09impregatory psalms are here because the
429. 19:11impregatory psalms are distinctly old
430. 19:14testament. Uh and I want to like tell
431. 19:17you that prayers like this are not
432. 19:20timeless. They are bound in time. Kind
433. 19:23of like polygamy. Like this is bound in
434. 19:25time. The New Testament is distinctly
435. 19:29different in its theology than the Old
436. 19:32Testament. And that's okay. That's good
437. 19:34for us to acknowledge. Although God is
438. 19:36the same yesterday, today, and forever,
439. 19:38what God allows and what God forbids or
440. 19:43permits is not the same yesterday, and
441. 19:45forever. So there are things that are
442. 19:47true about humans that are always true.
443. 19:50A desire for revenge, timelessly true.
444. 19:52Things about God that are always true.
445. 19:54But how we engage with others and engage
446. 19:57with God changes from the Old Testament
447. 19:59to the New Testament. And the New
448. 20:01Testament, aka the cross of Christ, has
449. 20:04permanently changed, okay, has
450. 20:06permanently changed how we deal with our
451. 20:09desires for vengeance and revenge. We do
452. 20:13not, we can acknowledge our feelings or
453. 20:16our desires for revenge, but we do not
454. 20:18act on those desires or pray into those
455. 20:22desires in the same way. And that's
456. 20:25okay. I think it's good to acknowledge
457. 20:28that things have changed, that there are
458. 20:31certain things that are timeless, but
459. 20:33when there's things that aren't
460. 20:34timeless, it's good that we acknowledge,
461. 20:36hey, that's a timeless or universal
462. 20:38feeling, but that's not a timeless or
463. 20:41universal application or way to act on
464. 20:45the feelings that we have. All right?
465. 20:48Because of the cross of Christ, we have
466. 20:51a new ethic. We believe that the that
467. 20:55the vengeance that we want or the
468. 20:58revenge that we want is actually
469. 21:01vengeance that we would want from a
470. 21:04person that Jesus died for and deeply
471. 21:06deeply deeply cares about. I'll say it
472. 21:08this way. Uh perhaps all that we can say
473. 21:12is that the victory of Christ on the
474. 21:14cross means that such prayers for
475. 21:16vengeance have been made moot by the
476. 21:19love of God shown in the sacrifice of
477. 21:21his son Jesus. If he has done that for
478. 21:24us as sinners, how can we cry out for
479. 21:27vengeance? Would it be like Jesus's
480. 21:30parable of the servant who is forgiven a
481. 21:33debt but then takes money for someone
482. 21:36who owes him? Exactly. It would be
483. 21:38hypocritical. And the thing that changes
484. 21:41our standard of forgiveness is God's new
485. 21:46standard of forgiveness uh poured out on
486. 21:49us in the form of the cross of Christ.
487. 21:52So Jesus's cross changes everything. So
488. 21:54what's timeless our feelings, what's not
489. 21:57timeless, how we act on those feelings,
490. 22:00that's changed. And I don't want us to
491. 22:02be whiplashed. I actually want us to
492. 22:04lean into that change that the cross of
493. 22:07Christ has changed everything. All
494. 22:09right, family. Tomorrow we've got Psalm
495. 22:12289. We're going to be looking at Psalms
496. 22:14110 and to 112. Okay, day 289. Psalms
497. 22:19110 to 112. I'm super super excited. I
498. 22:22hope today's episode blessed you, added
499. 22:24value to you. I'm so excited that we're
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