Day 296: Psalm 130-133 | 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. 0:24family. Welcome to day 296 here on the
9. 0:27Bible department podcast. I am going to
10. 0:30lead you through Psalms 130, 131, 132,
11. 0:35and 133. We're going to well, I guess
12. 0:38technically tomorrow we're wrapping up
13. 0:41the Psalms of Ascent. Okay? And if you
14. 0:45have not done the reading, then how
15. 0:46about you stop the video, pause the
16. 0:48audio, go get the reading done. Amazing
17. 0:51Psalms that we're looking at today. I
18. 0:53think these are beautifully written
19. 0:56psalms that have the power to redeem,
20. 0:59renew, like change our minds, help us to
21. 1:02repent. The Greek word for repent is
22. 1:05metaninoia. That means change our minds.
23. 1:07And nothing changes the thought
24. 1:11processes that we have or our trains of
25. 1:14thought than reading scripture, engaging
26. 1:16with scripture. So, with no further ado,
27. 1:18let's dive into some context clues, and
28. 1:21then we'll I'll try to give you at least
29. 1:24one nerdy nugget for each of the Psalms
30. 1:27that we have slated for the day, and
31. 1:29then we'll always leave off the episode
32. 1:31with a timeless truth. So, with no
33. 1:33further ado, let's jump into our context
34. 1:36clues. Now, if you've been rocking with
35. 1:38us for the last couple of days, you know
36. 1:41that the context for all of these
37. 1:43psalms, it's essentially the same. Okay?
38. 1:45A group of pilgrims is making their way
39. 1:48from wherever they are based on their
40. 1:50tribal aotments wherever they so happen
41. 1:53to be right north, south, east, or west
42. 1:56of Jerusalem. And they're all making
43. 1:58their way to Jerusalem. And it doesn't
44. 2:00matter where you're coming from, you
45. 2:02have to ascend in elevation in order to
46. 2:06get to Jerusalem. All right? Because
47. 2:08Jerusalem is covered, not covered,
48. 2:10surrounded by valleys and mountains.
49. 2:14Okay? So which obviously had natural
50. 2:17consequences made which made it
51. 2:19difficult to invade and you know like
52. 2:22let's take Switzerland uh Switzerland is
53. 2:25famous for like being what neutral in
54. 2:28terms of in times of conflict but
55. 2:31Switzerland can be neutral because it's
56. 2:33up in the mountains. Okay, it is almost
57. 2:36impossible to invade Switzerland. Okay.
58. 2:39Even during World War II, Hitler knew
59. 2:42like he he you ain't getting you're not
60. 2:44invading Switzerland. It's just not just
61. 2:47the geography makes it impenetrable.
62. 2:50Okay, so Jerusalem, same thing. No
63. 2:53matter where you're coming from, you
64. 2:54have to ascend in order to get to
65. 2:56Jerusalem. All right, let's dive into
66. 2:58some nerdy nuggets. That's the context.
67. 2:59And if there's any additional context
68. 3:01for any of these psalms, like
69. 3:03individually, then I'll kind of give you
70. 3:05those uh mixed in with our nerdy
71. 3:07nuggets. Okay, let's dive into all the
72. 3:09nerdy nuggets today. Psalm 130. This is
73. 3:13a penitential psalm. Penitential psalms
74. 3:16would be like a subgenre under the
75. 3:19bigger category of individual lament.
76. 3:22Okay. But a penitential psalm is a psalm
77. 3:25where you as an individual feel penance.
78. 3:29Okay? You feel remorse for your breaking
79. 3:32of covenant with Yahweh or your sin.
80. 3:35This is good practice. I actually think
81. 3:39many of us should have penitential
82. 3:41psalms on deck. Okay, maybe that's going
83. 3:44to be our timeless truth for the day
84. 3:45because it's not just enough that you
85. 3:49know God forgives me like my sin should
86. 3:52really break my heart. Humility uh leads
87. 3:56you to the place where you lament not
88. 3:58just over the bad things that have
89. 4:00happened to you but the harm you've
90. 4:02caused in the world. I think that's a
91. 4:04mature perspective to begin to realize
92. 4:06and life isn't just about all these bad
93. 4:09things happening to me, but I am
94. 4:12sometimes a bad thing happening to life
95. 4:15and I'm sad over the contribution I've
96. 4:18made to the chaos and sin and havoc in
97. 4:21the world. Okay. So, this psalm, Psalm
98. 4:24130, highlights the mercy of Yahweh. the
99. 4:27mercy of Yahweh where you could see if
100. 4:29you're making a trek if you're making a
101. 4:31pilgrimage from you know wherever the
102. 4:34tribe of Issachar or Nahali or uh
103. 4:38Zebulun live uh and you're trekking it
104. 4:41all the way to Jerusalem you kind of
105. 4:43want to sing and maybe reassure yourself
106. 4:45that your sacrifices are going to be
107. 4:48accepted by God that that when you get
108. 4:50to Jerusalem and you offer sacrifices to
109. 4:54the Lord that he is actually going to be
110. 4:58merciful towards you. So, it makes sense
111. 5:01that they're singing about the mercy of
112. 5:03Yahweh and that there's a penitent heart
113. 5:07posture. We used to do this a lot uh at
114. 5:10a church that I was a part of in Boston.
115. 5:13Bishop Thompson when we did communion
116. 5:16would have us like take a minute like
117. 5:18reflect on like whether or not there's
118. 5:20just like sin in our life. And uh I know
119. 5:23some people don't like that. I've I've
120. 5:25heard people say, you know, they just
121. 5:27don't like that. They'd rather make that
122. 5:29communion moment about God's power to
123. 5:31heal or make just make it about, you
124. 5:33know, what God has done. But Bishop
125. 5:36Thompson used to really make it sober.
126. 5:38Like, man, if if if you have sin in your
127. 5:41life, like this is a moment to really
128. 5:44like ask the Lord to forgive you because
129. 5:48you don't want to take the communion in
130. 5:50a manner that's unworthy of it. And I
131. 5:52would say that in the same way that you
132. 5:54just as a pastor that I'd want to make
133. 5:57sure everyone's heart heart posture is
134. 6:00correct before we take communion. I I
135. 6:03would see this psalm serving the same
136. 6:04purpose. Psalm 130 being a moment as
137. 6:07we're trekking up to Jerusalem. We're
138. 6:09about to offer sacrifices. Let's get our
139. 6:11hearts in order and our heart should be
140. 6:14penitent. And what happens when we're
141. 6:17penitent? Man, God is merciful. Family,
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151. 6:46If you enjoy reading the Bible from an
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153. 6:52that the beauty of scripture is actually
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163. 7:16back to the episode. All right, Psalm
164. 7:18131. Super super short psalm. My heart
165. 7:21is not proud, Lord. My eyes are
166. 7:23notaughty. I do not concern myself with
167. 7:25great matters or things too wonderful
168. 7:27for me. But I have calmed quiet myself.
169. 7:30I'm like a wean child with its mother.
170. 7:32Like a wean child, I am content. Israel,
171. 7:35put your hope in the Lord both now and
172. 7:37forever more. Little bit of context.
173. 7:40Obviously, this short psalm paints a
174. 7:42picture paints the picture of an older
175. 7:44David who faced sin and its
176. 7:47consequences, but had also experienced
177. 7:49the forgiveness and mercy of God. Okay,
178. 7:51so it's perfect that it comes right
179. 7:53after this penitent psalm. Penitence as
180. 7:56a heart posture that I think David is
181. 7:58quite known for, quite famous for this
182. 8:01older David then looks back at his youth
183. 8:03and childhood when he was a humble
184. 8:05shepherd and not concerned with battles
185. 8:07or the affair of running a nation. This
186. 8:09is David longing for the innocence and
187. 8:12simplicity of his younger days, longing
188. 8:14for a childlike spirit. In the wider
189. 8:17pilgrimage uh from wherever you are to
190. 8:20Jerusalem, it sits as a note of
191. 8:24humility. Humility and childlike peace
192. 8:27in the face of Yahweh's salvation,
193. 8:29forgiveness, mercy, and redemption. His
194. 8:31childlike humility is the only correct
195. 8:34response to the mercy of Yahweh. And so
196. 8:37we have the mercy of Yahweh highlighted
197. 8:38in Psalm 131. And then in Psalm, sorry,
198. 8:41in Psalm 130. And then in Psalm 131, we
199. 8:44have what that mercy is supposed to
200. 8:47create and how we're supposed to respond
201. 8:49to God's mercy. And that is with
202. 8:51humility. My heart is not proud. Lord,
203. 8:54my eyes are not hottaughty. I did not
204. 8:57concern myself with great matters or
205. 8:58things too wonderful for me. I've calmed
206. 9:01myself. I'm like a wean child with with
207. 9:04his mother with which with its mother.
208. 9:07Okay. All right. Psalm 32 got a lot of
209. 9:09nerdy nuggets for us. Okay. This is a
210. 9:11royal psalm probably written for the
211. 9:14temple's dedication. Okay. So this is
212. 9:16when Solomon is going to dedicate the
213. 9:18temple. Okay. For for the temple's
214. 9:21dedication but is remembering an earlier
215. 9:25event that makes that dedication even
216. 9:28possible. Okay. And what is that earlier
217. 9:30event? That earlier event is David
218. 9:34bringing the ark of the covenant into
219. 9:37Jerusalem. David bringing the ark of the
220. 9:39covenant into Jerusalem. So uh Psalm
221. 9:42132:7
222. 9:45uh let us go to his dwelling place. Let
223. 9:47us worship at his foottool saying arise
224. 9:49Lord and come to your resting place you
225. 9:52and the ark of your might. Okay you see
226. 9:54the emphasis on the ark. Okay the ark is
227. 9:57coming to rest. And so at the dedication
228. 9:59of the temple, we're looking back at a
229. 10:01past event going, man, it was David who
230. 10:06cared so much about the presence of the
231. 10:08living God and the ark of the covenant
232. 10:11that he made sure that it was no longer
233. 10:13at OE Edom's house, but that it was
234. 10:15where it needed to be in Zion. Okay. Uh,
235. 10:19may your priests be clothed with
236. 10:20righteousness. May your faithful people
237. 10:22sing for joy. For the sake of your
238. 10:23servant David, do not reject your
239. 10:26anointed one. The Lord swore an oath to
240. 10:30David, a sure oath he will not revoke.
241. 10:32One of your own descendants I will place
242. 10:34on your throne. Of course, we know
243. 10:36that's going to be Jesus. If your sons
244. 10:38keep my covenant and the statutes I
245. 10:40teach them, then their sons will sit on
246. 10:42your throne forever and ever. Right?
247. 10:44That's the house that God is building
248. 10:46for David. For the Lord has chosen Zion.
249. 10:50You're going to see this over and over
250. 10:52and over and over. These psalms are pro-
251. 10:55Zion. Okay? He has desired it for his
252. 10:58dwelling, saying, "This is my resting
253. 11:00place forever and ever. Here I will sit
254. 11:03enthroned, for I have desired it." Okay?
255. 11:06So again, we could, you know, come to
256. 11:10the conclusion that it's David that's
257. 11:13just making political maneuvers by
258. 11:15putting the temple in Jerusalem. Or we
259. 11:17can go ah I think maybe the Lord wanted
260. 11:21the temple to be in Jerusalem and David
261. 11:23is simply following the instruction of
262. 11:26the Lord. Okay. So you can see how the
263. 11:30moment where David brings the ark of the
264. 11:32covenant to Jerusalem and establishes
265. 11:35the tabernacle, rebuilds the tabernacle,
266. 11:38that is going to be a massive moment
267. 11:40that is going to then influence how we
268. 11:43approach the temple thereafter. Okay. So
269. 11:46people are making a pilgrimage to
270. 11:48Jerusalem. They are singing a song of
271. 11:50ascent, but they're thinking back about
272. 11:53another leader who made the same trek
273. 11:56from Eled Edom's house all the way to
274. 11:58Jerusalem to make sure the ark of the
275. 12:00covenant was in the right place. And
276. 12:02where's the right place? Zion is the
277. 12:04right place. All right, last one we got
278. 12:07for the day. uh when we do all this,
279. 12:09when we have a penitent heart, when we
280. 12:11come to the Lord with childlikeness and
281. 12:14in a childlike spirit, with humility,
282. 12:18and then uh when we look back at
283. 12:21previous generations that have
284. 12:23prioritized the power and the presence
285. 12:25of God in the house of the Lord, what
286. 12:29happens? Well, we experience unity. We
287. 12:32experience supernatural unity. Uh so we
288. 12:36get to Psalm 133. How good and pleasant
289. 12:38it is when God's people live together in
290. 12:41unity. Why does unity have to be focused
291. 12:43on? Well, because people who are not of
292. 12:46the tribe of Judah are having to come to
293. 12:48Judah's territory in order to worship
294. 12:50Yahweh. That that's why unity is going
295. 12:52to have to be emphasized. And here's a
296. 12:54question. Does Israel maintain this
297. 12:56unity? No. No. No, they don't. After
298. 13:01they maintain unity for three kings,
299. 13:03Saul, David, and Solomon, once Solomon
300. 13:07is done, we going to get a a divided
301. 13:10monarchy, not a united monarchy. And
302. 13:12then that unity is like two metaphors.
303. 13:14First metaphor, it is like oil poured on
304. 13:16the head, running down the beard,
305. 13:18running down Aaron's beard, down the
306. 13:20collar of his robe. Okay. Why is it like
307. 13:23oil? Well, oil was designed to take a
308. 13:27normal person and turn them into a
309. 13:29priest. It was to anoint Aaron for the
310. 13:32task of being a priest. And so God is
311. 13:34saying, "Well, when my people dwell
312. 13:36together in unity, guess what? They're
313. 13:38able to be priests." So division
314. 13:41actually is the thing that kills our
315. 13:43ability to be priests in the world. And
316. 13:46what's a priest's job? To reconcile
317. 13:48people to God, to represent people to
318. 13:51the Lord and reconcile the two parties.
319. 13:54I could get into a timeless truth, but
320. 13:55I'll save it for a moment. And then
321. 13:58second, what's the other thing? It is
322. 14:00the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount
323. 14:02Zion, for there the Lord bestows his
324. 14:04blessing, even life forever more. Okay,
325. 14:06here we go. It's like dew. So, not only
326. 14:08is it oil, but it's like dew. Now,
327. 14:10here's something you need to know.
328. 14:11Geographically, Mount Zion is not really
329. 14:14a mountain. It's like it's a it's a big
330. 14:16hill. Not really a mountain. It's a
331. 14:19hill. And it's called a mountain because
332. 14:22God's dwelling there, okay? But it's
333. 14:24it's a big hill. Mount Hermon is
334. 14:26actually the highest point in all of
335. 14:28Israel. And so what the passage is
336. 14:31saying is that from the tallest to the
337. 14:32least, okay, God's due when when when
338. 14:36there's unity, God blesses everyone from
339. 14:40the least to the greatest, every single
340. 14:42person. So these two things begin to
341. 14:44happen when we decide to choose unity.
342. 14:47But unity has to be a choice. And this
343. 14:50leads effortlessly and seamlessly into
344. 14:53our timeless truth. Uh, I don't know if
345. 14:55you're kind of aware of just the state
346. 14:58of our nation, the United States of
347. 15:00America, but yeah, there's like a spirit
348. 15:02of division. You could feel it in the
349. 15:04air. Like it's hard to talk about
350. 15:06certain topics. And I would say that if
351. 15:09there was ever a time where believers
352. 15:11should be fighting for unity, it's right
353. 15:14now. That's not compromise. It's just
354. 15:16unity. All right. This this great quote.
355. 15:18It's actually my favorite phrase when we
356. 15:20think about unity in church. In
357. 15:22essentials, unity, in non-essentials,
358. 15:24liberty, in all things, love. Okay? In
359. 15:28essentials, unity, in non-essentials,
360. 15:30liberty, and in all things, love. And
361. 15:33so, I I just want you to use that as a
362. 15:35filter. I've decided, man, I'm not going
363. 15:38to divide with other Christians over
364. 15:39things that are non-essentials. And
365. 15:41here's what's unfortunately started to
366. 15:43happen. Our list of non-essentials just
367. 15:45keeps growing and growing and growing
368. 15:47and growing. And our list of essentials
369. 15:49keep shrinking and shrinking and
370. 15:51shrinking and shrinking. Uh, actually
371. 15:53the other way around. It's the other way
372. 15:55around. Our list of essentials keep
373. 15:56growing and growing and growing and
374. 15:57growing. And the list of non-essentials
375. 15:59keep shrinking and shrinking and
376. 16:00shrinking in all things love. I think
377. 16:03right now we're living in a day and age
378. 16:04where people think that as long as they
379. 16:06can put you in a category of people that
380. 16:09are the enemy, then it's okay to hate
381. 16:11someone. And um, we got to remember like
382. 16:15our job as believers is love. We're not
383. 16:17always going to agree on what society
384. 16:20should be doing or how people should be
385. 16:22voting. We're not always going to agree
386. 16:24on everything that has to do with
387. 16:25socioeconomics. But man, I think that
388. 16:28we've got enough that unites us. And
389. 16:30every four years in our country, it's
390. 16:32like you just watch the rift get bigger
391. 16:34and bigger and bigger and bigger,
392. 16:36especially amongst believers. And um my
393. 16:39prayer is that the same God that wanted
394. 16:42Israel to be united in the same Jesus
395. 16:45that prayed that his disciples would be
396. 16:48known for unity, man, my my our timeless
397. 16:50truth that I hope that we take away is
398. 16:52that when we are united, not when we're
399. 16:55all in perfect agreement, but when we're
400. 16:57all united, when we choose like man,
401. 16:59we're and there is no unity without
402. 17:02diversity. Unity without diversity is
403. 17:04just uniformity. But when we decide
404. 17:07we're going to be united, we're going to
405. 17:09focus on the essentials and we're going
406. 17:11to let the non-essentials actually be
407. 17:12non-essentials. And whenever there's
408. 17:15anything that we don't agree on, we're
409. 17:16going to love each other. I think that
410. 17:18we position ourselves as the church to
411. 17:21actually be priests to unite a world to
412. 17:25a God who desperately wants to be united
413. 17:28to to a broken, hurting world. But how
414. 17:30can we unite people to God if we can't
415. 17:32even unite with ourselves? Unity breeds
416. 17:36unity. So if you kind of wanted, I don't
417. 17:39know, some extra motivation to maybe not
418. 17:41bring up politics at Thanksgiving this
419. 17:43year, like maybe just maybe it's not
420. 17:46worth arguing over. And maybe, just
421. 17:48maybe, the person who disagrees with you
422. 17:50is a smart, sane person who loves Jesus.
423. 17:53It's possible that there are people who
424. 17:56see things from a different perspective.
425. 17:58And unity is a choice. And it's a hard
426. 18:00choice for me. I'm an opinionated person
427. 18:03and I it's hard for all of us. But man,
428. 18:05I I think that our rhetoric has to be
429. 18:08that which causes there to be unity in
430. 18:11the body of Christ, not division. And I
431. 18:13think we all have to check ourselves. Am
432. 18:15I saying things that are divisive or am
433. 18:17I saying things with a spirit that could
434. 18:20actually create unity so that we can
435. 18:22ultimately unite lost, dying, hurting,
436. 18:25broken people to a God who desperately
437. 18:29wants to reconcile with them? That's our
438. 18:31Thomas Truth for the day. Tomorrow we
439. 18:34got day 297. We're going to be looking
440. 18:36at Psalms 134, 135, 136, and 137. I
441. 18:41can't wait to see you right here
442. 18:43tomorrow, same time, same place. I love
443. 18:46you. I'm proud of you. Peace.
444. 18:49Thanks so much for joining us on the
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