Day 290: Psalms 113-115 | 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 290. We are
10. 0:27looking at three Psalms today. Psalm
11. 0:30113, 114, and 115.
12. 0:33Uh, if you've done the reading, then you
13. 0:35are going to understand everything that
14. 0:36I'm going to say. If you haven't done
15. 0:37the reading, you're going to be
16. 0:38confused. Everything I say is going to
17. 0:40sound like gibberish. No, I'm just
18. 0:41joking. But for real though, you should
19. 0:43get the reading done. Three solid
20. 0:46Psalms. Now, I will say I will be honest
21. 0:49that studying these three psalms was a
22. 0:52little bit more fun than just reading
23. 0:54them. So, I got some empathy if you if
24. 0:57you like watching the episodes before
25. 0:59you actually do the reading. But I want
26. 1:01to challenge you to do the reading
27. 1:03first. And I'm going to challenge you to
28. 1:05leave some stuff in the comments if you
29. 1:06saw things before I said them. All
30. 1:09right. Psalm 113
31. 1:12to 118. If you haven't done the reading,
32. 1:14go ahead, stop the video, pause the
33. 1:16audio, and we are going to dive into
34. 1:19these psalms. Now, uh let me give
35. 1:21context. Okay. from Psalm 113 all the
36. 1:25way to Psalm 118
37. 1:27is a collection of psalms within this
38. 1:32collection called book five within this
39. 1:34collection of psalms that we know as the
40. 1:36psalms. So we have another psalm
41. 1:38section. If you've been here through the
42. 1:40whole journey through psalms we've had
43. 1:42many many many collections of psalms
44. 1:46within collections within the wider
45. 1:48collection of the entire book of psalms.
46. 1:50So from Psalm 113 to Psalm 118 is
47. 1:55another mini collection. There are no
48. 1:58titles for all. None of these psalms
49. 2:00have titles. Okay? So the context is
50. 2:03just going to come from what we know
51. 2:04from tradition, not from any title that
52. 2:08goes above the psalm itself. Okay?
53. 2:10Psalms 113 and 118 all have no title but
54. 2:14are collectively known as the drum roll
55. 2:16please
56. 2:19Egyptian hell. Okay, Egyptian hal. Now
57. 2:22been rocking with us for a while, you
58. 2:24probably could figure out what the word
59. 2:25hal means. So let's just think about it.
60. 2:28The word hallelujah.
61. 2:31Hallelujah.
62. 2:33Okay, yah, like Jehovah, like yah is the
63. 2:37word for God. So hallelujah.
64. 2:40If hallelujah means praise the Lord,
65. 2:43then halal means praise. That's right.
66. 2:46Hal. So these are Egyptian the Egyptian
67. 2:49hal. Hell's are short collections of
68. 2:51psalms associated with the great pilgrim
69. 2:54festivals. Okay? Or the hagim. I'm
70. 2:57throwing so many Hebrew words at you
71. 2:59today. Hal means praise. uh and these
72. 3:03praise psalms are to be sung as people
73. 3:07make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
74. 3:10Okay. Now, the three Hagim festivals,
75. 3:13there are three times a year where these
76. 3:16psalms would have needed to be sung. The
77. 3:18three hagim festivals were Passover,
78. 3:21Pentecost, Pentecost, and tabernacles in
79. 3:24which Jews were expected, if able, to
80. 3:27travel to Jerusalem to celebrate. Halal
81. 3:29is of course the Hebrew word for praise.
82. 3:31All right. So haggim is a word for
83. 3:34pilgrimage. Halal is a word for praise.
84. 3:37As the name implies, the Egyptian halal
85. 3:39was the hal associated with Passover,
86. 3:43right? And celebrates Yahweh saving
87. 3:46Israel from Egypt. Hence why it's called
88. 3:48the Egyptian hal. Psalms 113 to 114 were
89. 3:54recited and sung before the Passover
90. 3:56meal. and Psalms 115 to 118 are sung
91. 4:01after the Passover meal. Uh Psalm 114 is
92. 4:04specifically about Yahweh in Egypt and
93. 4:07focuses on Yahweh's help to all
94. 4:10generations of those in need. Psalm 114
95. 4:12is actually going to be like the only
96. 4:14one of this entire collection that
97. 4:16specifically addresses uh how Yahweh
98. 4:20delivered the people of Israel out of
99. 4:22Egypt. but they're all about Yahweh's
100. 4:26character as it relates to his
101. 4:28delivering power of the people of Israel
102. 4:30out of Egypt. Okay. So, Psalm 114 is
103. 4:33specifically about Yahweh in Egypt and
104. 4:34focuses on Yahweh's help to all
105. 4:37generations of those in need. The
106. 4:40Egyptian hell then were collectively the
107. 4:43hymn. Okay. Sung by Jesus and the
108. 4:46disciples at the last supper. You can
109. 4:48look at Mark 14 26. The Egyptian hell.
110. 4:52Let me just give I'm going to knock out
111. 4:54all the context for this entire segment
112. 4:56from 113 all the way to 118. Okay. The
113. 4:59Egyptian hell psalms are themed as as
114. 5:03following. Okay. Psalm 113 is all about
115. 5:06raising the downtrodden. You'll see that
116. 5:08theme as we read today. Exodus, sorry,
117. 5:10Psalm 114 is all about the Exodus, the
118. 5:13event that we know of as the Exodus.
119. 5:16Psalm 115 is a psalm of corporate
120. 5:18praise. Psalm 116 is a psalm of personal
121. 5:21thanksgiving. Psalm 117 is a psalm of
122. 5:24world vision. And Psalm 118 is a psalm
123. 5:28of feastal or festival sorry festival
124. 5:31festival procession. Okay. Totally
125. 5:34connected to the great hagen festivals
126. 5:37which again are Passover, Pentecost and
127. 5:40tabernacles. But of all the three hagim
128. 5:43festivals, these specific uh psalms aka
129. 5:47the Egyptian hell are all connected to
130. 5:50Passover. And that is the context. Not
131. 5:53only is that the context for today,
132. 5:55that'll be the context for tomorrow. Cuz
133. 5:57we'll spend today and tomorrow working
134. 5:59through Psalm 113 all the way to Psalm
135. 6:01118. Obviously, today is 113, 114, and
136. 6:05115. Tomorrow is 116, 117, and 118. So,
137. 6:09we've got two days to dive into, read,
138. 6:12study the psalms that are connected to
139. 6:16or known as the Egyptian hell. Three
140. 6:19today, three tomorrow. Six psalms in
141. 6:22total for the Egyptian hell. It's going
142. 6:24to be fun. Let's dive in, family. The
143. 6:27wait is over. My brand new book,
144. 6:30Crushing Chaos, is out now and available
145. 6:34everywhere books are sold. Literally
146. 6:37today, I walked into a Barnes & Noble
147. 6:40and I signed a bunch of copies at a
148. 6:42physical location. So, you can grab this
149. 6:44book at a physical Barnes & Noble or you
150. 6:47can go to a Books a Million or Amazon or
151. 6:50anywhere books are sold and grab a copy.
152. 6:53If you enjoy reading the Bible from an
153. 6:56ancient perspective, if you understand
154. 6:59that the beauty of scripture is actually
155. 7:01knowing it in context, then you'll love
156. 7:04this book. And if there's any chaos in
157. 7:06your personal life, I think that reading
158. 7:09the Bible from an ancient perspective
159. 7:11can actually help to crush the chaos in
160. 7:14your life. I think this book is going to
161. 7:15be a New York Times bestseller. I really
162. 7:17do. I think we wrote a good one. I think
163. 7:20you should get a copy today. All right,
164. 7:23back to the episode. Let's give you some
165. 7:26nerdy nuggets. All right, Psalm 113.
166. 7:29This psalm begins the Egyptian hell. And
167. 7:32although the subject matter is not
168. 7:33directly about the Exodus story, the
169. 7:36theme of this psalm fits into the
170. 7:39beginning of the Exodus story. Remember,
171. 7:42Exodus tells of how Yahweh looked down
172. 7:45and saw the oppression of his people by
173. 7:48the Egyptians. Okay? The thing that
174. 7:51prompts God to call Moses, the thing
175. 7:53that prompts God to act with a mighty
176. 7:56hand and an outstretched arm is that the
177. 7:58cry of his people reaches him. He sees
178. 8:02their oppression. That is definitely
179. 8:05what this psalm reflects on. Yahweh
180. 8:07looking down and lifting up those who
181. 8:09are downtrodden. Let's like look at
182. 8:11Psalm 113. Obviously, it starts out with
183. 8:13the word hallelujah cuz it's a hell,
184. 8:17okay? And then we get some honestly just
185. 8:21some good praise. You know, I've got the
186. 8:23these highlighted in my Bible. Uh from
187. 8:26the rising of the sun to the place where
188. 8:28it sets, the name of the Lord is to be
189. 8:31praised. Just good like themes of
190. 8:34praise. This is great. Okay. The Lord is
191. 8:37exalted. Okay. So look at this
192. 8:39justosition. The Lord is exalted. Okay.
193. 8:42He's high above all the nations. His
194. 8:45glory above the heavens. Okay, the Lord
195. 8:48is exalted. His glory above. Okay, I
196. 8:52want you to hear those words. Exalted
197. 8:54and above. Obviously, common theme of
198. 8:56height, exaltation. Who is like the Lord
199. 9:00our God, the one who sits enthroned
200. 9:03where? On high, who stoops down. Now,
201. 9:06here's the justosition. Who stoops down?
202. 9:10Like, I want you to imagine someone
203. 9:11who's like Yao Ming's height. like
204. 9:13somebody who's 75 like talking to a
205. 9:16toddler just like has to stoop down to
206. 9:20like talk to a 2-year-old or like a
207. 9:22three-year-old. Okay, he stoops down to
208. 9:25look on the heavens and the earth. So,
209. 9:28he has to stoop down to look at the
210. 9:30heavens, let alone to look at the earth.
211. 9:32Okay, he's not just above the earth.
212. 9:34He's above the heavens. He's exalted.
213. 9:36You can see how the psalm is designed to
214. 9:39make you be in awe of the grandeur of
215. 9:42this God. And here we go. He raises the
216. 9:46poor from the dust and lifts the needy
217. 9:49from the ash heap. He seats them with
218. 9:52princes with the princes of his people.
219. 9:55He settles the childless woman in her
220. 9:58home as a happy mother of children.
221. 10:02That's actually one of the anchor verses
222. 10:03that me and my wife stood on in faith
223. 10:06when doctor said we would never have
224. 10:08children. It says, "He settles the
225. 10:11childless woman in her home as a happy
226. 10:14mother of children." That verse was near
227. 10:17and dear to our hearts as we were
228. 10:19believing God for children and as we
229. 10:21still are believing God for more
230. 10:24children. All right. The contrast here
231. 10:27is there's a God who is highly exalted,
232. 10:30but although he is holy and separated
233. 10:34and exalted, he is not out of touch with
234. 10:36the reality of his people. He stoops
235. 10:40down and what does he do? He lifts up
236. 10:43the poor from the dust. He lifts up the
237. 10:46needy. He raises the poor. So you get
238. 10:49all of this height, elevation,
239. 10:52exaltation, raise up, stoop down, all
240. 10:55this language. It's just very, very
241. 10:57poetic. And uh I can I can it's almost
242. 11:00like my imagination is firing away as I
243. 11:03as I read Psalm 113. Okay. Then Psalm
244. 11:06114, okay, actually gets into uh the
245. 11:10psalm. And actually before we get to
246. 11:12Psalm 114, Psalm 113 asks a question.
247. 11:15Who is like Yahweh our God? who looks
248. 11:18far down on the heavens and the like who
249. 11:20is like what kind of God is concerned
250. 11:23with beings that are so far beneath him.
251. 11:28Well, the answer is no one. The only
252. 11:30being who is like this is Yahweh high
253. 11:33above the heavens yet he looks down to
254. 11:36earth and raises the poor from the dust
255. 11:39to seats of and seats those with princes
256. 11:43who makes barren women rejoicing moms.
257. 11:45This is the God they praise. The God
258. 11:48that they remember as they sing walking
259. 11:51to Jerusalem. Cuz remember, it's a
260. 11:53pilgrimage. You're singing this on your
261. 11:54way to Jerusalem. The God who looked
262. 11:56down on their ancestors in the dust of
263. 11:59Egypt and lifted up to be a royal
264. 12:02priesthood, his chosen people.
265. 12:05Beautiful. Psalm 114. Okay, this hymn is
266. 12:09actually the only psalm in the Egyptian
267. 12:11hell that directly focuses on the
268. 12:15Passover and the Exodus story. In
269. 12:17particular, it retells the crossing of
270. 12:19the Red Sea and the miraculous provision
271. 12:21of water in the desert. On the face, it
272. 12:24seems a poetic retelling of the crossing
273. 12:27and the time in the desert, but the
274. 12:30repetition of waters hints at a deeper
275. 12:32meaning. And you already know if you've
276. 12:33been on this podcast for a long time,
277. 12:36you already know what the deeper meaning
278. 12:37is. To bring order from chaos. That's
279. 12:40what this psalm is about. This is an
280. 12:43order from chaos psalm. A song of how
281. 12:46Yahweh is a God of order who brings
282. 12:50order and life out of the chaos for his
283. 12:54people. Uh it says this in verses 3 and
284. 12:574, the sea looked and fled. The Jordan
285. 13:01turned back. The mountains skipped like
286. 13:04rams. The hills like lambs. So the sea
287. 13:08and the Jordan, both uh bodies of water,
288. 13:11are running away in fear, right? Chaos
289. 13:15is scared of Yahweh. But the mountains,
290. 13:18oh, the mountains are full of joy. Why?
291. 13:20Cuz the mountains represent order and
292. 13:23the seas represent chaos. So here we
293. 13:26have two opposite reactions. The sea
294. 13:28look, the sea looks and the sea flees.
295. 13:31The Jordan turns back, but the mountains
296. 13:33skip like rams. The hills like lambs.
297. 13:36The first is fear. The sea and the
298. 13:38Jordan are afraid. The second is joy.
299. 13:40The mountains and the hills dance. And
300. 13:42they do this in the presence of Yahweh.
301. 13:45The sea is a universal symbol of chaos
302. 13:48in the ancient world. And here it flees
303. 13:50from the presence of Yahweh. And in its
304. 13:53place there are dancing hills. Why?
305. 13:56Because chaos flees and is replaced by
306. 13:59order. You know, whenever order replaces
307. 14:03chaos, there is joy. That's why the
308. 14:06mountains and the hills are dancing.
309. 14:09That's why there is an abundance of joy.
310. 14:12The desert too is a place of chaos.
311. 14:14Okay? I write all about this in my book,
312. 14:17Crushing Chaos. Uh yet here there is a
313. 14:20different kind of water. Okay? Water
314. 14:22from the rock. Here in dryness, the
315. 14:25presence of Yahweh brings forth water,
316. 14:28life in the desert, water from the rock,
317. 14:30order from chaos. It's not uh the sea,
318. 14:34the literal sea that threatens the
319. 14:37people of Israel with chaos. It is a sea
320. 14:39of sand that threatens the people with
321. 14:41chaos. And God actually brings an
322. 14:44abundant supply of water so they don't
323. 14:46die in the wilderness. Again, this is
324. 14:49their God. The God who brings order and
325. 14:52life to the chaos and death of their
326. 14:54world. The God who makes the mountains
327. 14:57dance. And lastly, we got Psalm 115.
328. 15:00Going to try to give you as many nerdy
329. 15:01nuggets as I can. Okay, Psalm 115 is a
330. 15:04mocking psalm. It's actually a funny
331. 15:06psalm, man. It's all about the
332. 15:09ridiculousness of idolatry. These idols
333. 15:12that the pagans make, they have mouths,
334. 15:15but they don't speak. They have eyes,
335. 15:17but they don't see. They have ears, but
336. 15:19they don't hear. Noses, but they don't
337. 15:21smell. They have hands, but they don't
338. 15:23feel, feet, but they don't walk. And
339. 15:26they do not make a sound in their
340. 15:28throat. And here's the punch line. Those
341. 15:31who make them become like them. So do
342. 15:35all who trust in them. This is the
343. 15:38problem with idolatry, that those who
344. 15:41worship them will become like them.
345. 15:43Well, so what is Yahweh saying? He's
346. 15:44saying, "Hey, if you want to become mute
347. 15:47and deaf and unable to smell and unable
348. 15:51to feel and paralyzed and no sound in
349. 15:55your throat, keep worshiping that
350. 15:58because here's our Thomas truth for the
351. 16:00day. You will become what you behold.
352. 16:04You will always become whatever you
353. 16:06worship." And beholding something is to
354. 16:09worship it. Beholding something is to
355. 16:12exalt it, adore it in your eye. So you
356. 16:16will always you're not what you eat. You
357. 16:19know, fitness instructors and
358. 16:20nutritionists are always like, you are
359. 16:22what you eat. And you know, the
360. 16:23spiritual part of me is like, yeah,
361. 16:24okay, that's cool. But really, you are
362. 16:27what you worship. You are what you
363. 16:29worship. And why is this so deep for the
364. 16:32psalmist? Well, it's because God made us
365. 16:36humans in his image, which means he
366. 16:39speaks, which means he feels, which
367. 16:42means he can touch, and he made us to do
368. 16:44the same. And if we follow a leader
369. 16:48other than the one who created us, we
370. 16:51will lose our ability to do the things
371. 16:53that God can do. Because if we squander
372. 16:57the image of God in us and refuse to
373. 17:01reflect his glory and reflect his image
374. 17:03in the earth and be proper idols and
375. 17:06images of the most high God, Yahweh,
376. 17:09then he will not allow us to keep all of
377. 17:14our skills and all of our the imprint of
378. 17:16God on our life if we're going to use it
379. 17:19for other idols. Well, it's like great.
380. 17:21You want to image those idols, I'll make
381. 17:23you in their image. They're mute.
382. 17:25They're deaf. They're dumb. They're
383. 17:27blind. They can't see. They can't feel.
384. 17:29And that's what will happen. Unless you
385. 17:32worship your creator, the creation will
386. 17:35atrophy. And me as a created thing can
387. 17:37only flourish when I worship the one
388. 17:40that's created me. If I use any of my
389. 17:42creative parts to serve the agenda of
390. 17:46any other idol, I lose the power of my
391. 17:50creativity and my creative parts. Only
392. 17:52makes sense. So Psalm 113
393. 17:56is going to be a is going to be a psalm
394. 18:00whereby God is positioned as the one
395. 18:04who's exalted, but who stoops low and
396. 18:07who raises the poor and the needy. Psalm
397. 18:09114 is going to be a psalm all about the
398. 18:14Exodus, the actual events of the Exodus.
399. 18:16And then last, Psalm 115 is a mocking
400. 18:19psalm really making it very, very clear
401. 18:23that those who practice idolatry will
402. 18:27never flourish. And that's our timeless
403. 18:29truth. It's Psalm 115:8.
404. 18:32Those who make them will be like them,
405. 18:35and so will all who trust in them. That
406. 18:39idolatry
407. 18:41always leads to Yahweh saying, "Okay,
408. 18:44great. I'll let your idols provide for
409. 18:47you since they're so awesome. You will
410. 18:49become what you behold." So, can I ask a
411. 18:52question? What are you beholding? What
412. 18:54are your eyes captivated with? Cuz
413. 18:56you'll become that. It's the danger of
414. 18:59pornography, right? You will eventually
415. 19:02become what you behold. It's the danger
416. 19:05of jealousy and envy. You will become
417. 19:07what you behold.
418. 19:09So really, if you want to focus on who
419. 19:13you're becoming, then you should really
420. 19:15get a grasp on what you're beholding.
421. 19:17And if you behold Yahweh, you'll become
422. 19:20like him. You won't become him, but
423. 19:22you'll become like him. It's why worship
424. 19:24is so important, because you will always
425. 19:27become what you behold. And my prayer
426. 19:29for you is that you would behold the
427. 19:32glorious one, the King of Kings, the
428. 19:34Lord of Lords, the pre-existing
429. 19:36imminent, the pre-existing infinite
430. 19:39imminent one who loves you so dearly,
431. 19:41the Holy One of Israel. His name is
432. 19:42Yahweh. All right. Tomorrow we've got
433. 19:45day 291. We're going to be looking at
434. 19:47the second half of the Egyptian hell.
435. 19:50Psalms 116, 117, and 118. So cool that
436. 19:54we get to look at this mini collection
437. 19:56over the course of two days together. I
438. 19:59hope that today's episode was a
439. 20:00blessing. Hope it was helpful. Hope it
440. 20:02added value. I'll see you right here
441. 20:04tomorrow for day 291.
442. 20:07Love you. Proud of you. Peace.
443. 20:10Thanks so much for joining us on the
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