For Sermon Central researchers: I have posted a series of 15 sermons on the Psalms. In recent personal studies I have found the psalms to be richer and more thought-provoking than I had fully appreciated. I had too often swept swiftly through psalms without slowing down to inquire as thoroughly as I might have into the depths of meaning and feeling that are expressed by the psalmists. Upon deeper examination and reflection, I find the psalms to be highly relevant to Christians in every age. My most recent foray into the psalms led me to present a series of studies of selected psalms in a class environment.
In my classes I did not examine every psalm, or every verse of the ones I did. Rather, I presented selected psalms that I believe to be representative of the collection in the book of Psalms. The studies were held in a class environment suitable for pauses for questions and discussion, and to pose “thought questions” where the meanings are not readily apparent, as is often the case in poetry. My notes include suggested points for such pauses, and I have not removed them in Sermon Central posts.
I developed the material with the view in mind that the series may be well used as sermons. There is an introductory sermon that describes what psalms are (whether they are in the 150-chapter book or elsewhere) and explains my approach to the series. The psalms I selected were presented in no particular order in the classes; however, I suggest that anyone using this material as a series begin with the introductory sermon and follow it with Psalms 1 and 2 in that order, as the first two psalms function as a pair. Beyond that, the selected psalms may be presented in any order.
To get as much enjoyment as we could from our study, I did some of the reading from the KJV, which I believe is the most beautiful of the English bible translations. For clarity we also used other versions, mainly ESV, which I have used for several years and the one I have come to prefer.
Psalms 27, 37, and 84
One of the aspects in the divine design of the scriptures is the themes that run throughout them.
This is simply the continuity of the scriptures. For example, God has an eternal plan that runs from the beginning to the end of the bible. God’s plan was the same before the creation as it is now. His plan extends beyond the destruction of the heavens and earth we now know, to the abolition of time, which is itself a part of the creation.
Other themes are
• Progressive revelation (God’s plan was not revealed all at once).
Speaking to the Athenian philosophers on Mars hill, Paul said:
Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent
“Ignorance” as used here is not disobedience, or rebellion. In those times Paul refers to, men were ignorant of things that had not yet been revealed. God “overlooked” the offenses of those who had no way of knowing their actions were offending.
• Election
• Redemption and reconciliation
• Laws-statutes-commands to regulate behavior
• And the absolute, unchanging love of God.
That is why a person reading in one part of the bible might flip over to another part, and then another, and find that the passages are intertwined with one of the grand themes of the bible.
Or one’s study might fall into disrepair for a time because of the busyness of life, and the habit of regular bible reading falls by the wayside. But a lover of the word will re-engage the word and begin afresh his acquaintance with divine things. It is amazing how quickly things then start falling back into their familiar places across the spectrum of revealed truth, and the people in whom it was revealed.
As we have been going through this series we have seen no reason to think otherwise.
Tonight we are drawing texts from three psalms in which we see this principle – 27, 37, and 84.
Although these psalms were not written with the express intent that they be interconnected by us today, they collectively express a message relevant today.
For our purposes we will accept the title and treat Psalms 27 and 37 as being the work of David. The authorship of psalm 84 is titled “For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.”
We will talk more about the authorship of Psalm 84 in a few minutes.
I’m reading from the NASB tonight.
NASB is a highly respectable translation – I have some old, seriously worn NASB bibles.
But it’s not the only good one.
There’s a specific reason I’m using the NASB tonight. I’ll explain in a few minutes.
Psalm 27 – read it all
David’s immediate concern is about his enemies.
He had many adversaries and false witnesses.
The psalms mention them many times, and often David associates his foes with “the wicked.”
In this psalm David does not specify which enemy or false witness is meant.
Our most specific interest tonight lies in v13
Psalm 27:13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
The verse concludes with a reference to the “land of the living.”
There is not full agreement on the meaning of that phrase.
It is variously thought to mean:
• Canaan – because God is said to live there (that’s a bit of a stretch for me).
• Heaven – the “land” of life in the world to come (less of a stretch, maybe)
• The state of those living now – the people who have not died
I favor the latter.
My comments are based on that understanding, although the result is largely adaptable to either of the other opinions.
Bear with me, because understanding v13 gets fairly tedious.
I’ll explain why.
In the original language, v13 is a fragmentary sentence.
It is also clearly conditional, because it contains the Hebrew word lu^le^', which means “unless.”
“Unless” is a two-sided word.
One must be on one side of “unless” or the other – but cannot be on both sides.
I’m trying not to be too technical, but we need to see the difficulty the translators faced, and why this verse is translated in several different ways.
A conditional statement IN ANY LANGUAGE has an apodosis and a prostasis.
The apodosis is the main clause, and the prostasis is the dependent clause.
The dependent side (the prostasis) is true only if the condition in the apodosis is met.
In v13 the apodosis is missing in the original language.
If you are looking at the NASB, notice that “I would have despaired” is in italics, meaning those words – or their Hebrew equivalent - are not present in the original Hebrew.
So a direct translation from the original would be:
“Unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.”
David places himself squarely on the “I had believed” side of “unless.” He is not on the “I had not believed” side.
But on the other side of “unless” is SOMETHING.
Let me illustrate what this means using a simpler and more familiar sentence.
Jesus stated to some who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices:
…unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
We mentioned this passage last week.
The apodosis in that sentence is not missing, but if it were, as it is in Psalm 27, Jesus’ statement would be:
…unless you repent…
…and then, “you will all likewise perish” would be missing from the text.
That is what we have in Psalm 27:13
A conditional statement that is both conditional and fragmentary is a translator’s challenge to say the least.
But that is what the bible translators face, and on that question the translators do not agree.
I’m far away from trying to pass myself off as a competent translator, but I appreciate the difficulty the translators faced, confronted with a sentence that states a conditional clause, one side of which goes nowhere.
One might say, the apodosis is implied by the prostasis.
But if we say that, we must answer “what does the prostasis imply?”
And on that, English bible translators do not agree, and never have.
Note again that in the NASB the words “I would have despaired” are in italics, indicating they are the translators’ idea of the apodosis that is missing in the original.
It is the translators’ attempt to use “fill words” that represent what they think is the sense intended by the writer, David.
KJV - I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
NKJV - I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
ASV (1901) - I had fainted , unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah In the land of the living.
Some translators have omitted any word corresponding to the word “unless,” making a conditional sentence a simple declarative sentence.
ESV - I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
NIV - I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Christian Standard Bible - I am certain that I will see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living.
With all that said, we need to go somewhere with this, because this is scripture.
Among the various translations, I favor the NASB treatment:
Psa 27:13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
Psalm 27:13 is plainly about the “believing in seeing the goodness of the Lord.”
Failing that condition leads to despair.
“Goodness” is not specified, but we know what it is.
It consists of 10,000 things God has done, does for us now, and will do throughout our lives and beyond.
“God is good—all the time” is a popular or catchphrase or bumper sticker.
Being a grumpy stick-in-the-mud, I’m not fond of bumper stickers but that’s neither here nor there.
And bumper sticker or not, it is true that God is good all the time.
In a moment we will examine the goodness of God as described in Psalm 37.
We talked in the last class about the things that befell David because of his sins with Bathsheba and the cover-up.
2 Samuel 12:10-13 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.”
All that happened to David (Saul, the child who died, Amnon, Absalom, and Joab) is consistent with what he says:
Psalm 27:13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.
Questions or Comments?
Psalm 37
But David did see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
He speaks of it in Psalm 37.
Read entire psalm
First and foremost, this psalm is about the goodness of the Lord, especially so in the presence of experiences and conditions that call his goodness into question.
Recurring themes in Psalm 37:
(1) “Do not fret” (vs 1,7,8) about:
• Evildoers (v1)
• “Him who prospers; him who carries out wicked schemes.”
Evildoers often seem to have the upper hand with regard to the affairs of this world.
They do evil and that is their choice. It is a bad choice, but it is theirs to make.
For – exactly like evildoers - we and they are - by design - creatures of choice.
Righteousness must be chosen, not imposed forcefully.
Often those who choose evil prosper – at least regarding the matters of this world.
But ultimately, although it sometimes appears otherwise, evil will not triumph.
Do not fret! says the Lord, about the evil others seem to get away with.
(2) David speaks of inheriting “the land” (vs 9, 11, 22, 29)
V9 …but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
V11 …the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
V22 …those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
V29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.
What does David mean by inheriting the land as a future expectation?
By his time the promised land had been inherited, populated, and he was ruling over it.
When we studied the Sermon on the Mount in a series last year we came to the verse where Jesus said,
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
It might be useful to re-visit what Jesus said, and see if it ties in with what David had said 1000 years before.
This will be repetitive to those who were here for that study – please bear with me for a couple of minutes.
A meaning that seems plausible to me is rooted in typology – a method the bible uses to enrich our understanding of divine things.
Typology is an extensive system in the bible of conveying thought, in which some person or thing that symbolizes or exemplifies in a reduced way the greater or ideal characteristics of something.
For example, the bible calls Adam a type of Christ (Romans 5:14 in context).
• Both were the first of what they were.
• In both cases their actions had universal results affecting every person who would ever live.
Adam was not another Christ – Adam was a type of the Christ.
Back to Psalm 37, the literal land of Canaan had already been inherited long before David’s day. But still, the verses about inheriting the land appear to be prophetic. My belief is that in this beatitude, “blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,” the earth is a type.
In the original language, “earth,” the inheritance of the meek, is ge (pronounced ghay).
It appears 226 times in the New Testament. This beatitude is one of them.
To get an idea of the ways ge is used in the NT, turn to Acts 7
We will read a few selected verses and see the ways “earth” in this beatitude is used in that one chapter. It appears 10 times in Stephen’s defense in Acts 7.
Acts 7:3 Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.
V4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living
V6 God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land
V29 Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian
V33 take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground
V36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt
V40 this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt
V49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool.
6 of the 10 times, the word ge is translated “land.”
2 times “country.”
1 time “ground”
1 time “earth”
In the Old Testament, Canaan was land promised to Abraham – from Dan to Beersheba and from the Great Sea (now called the Mediterranean) to the Jordan River. That’s what Stephen was referring to in Acts 7.
In the New Testament, Canaan is well known as a type of heaven.
I strongly believe that in the nearer term, Canaan points to another type – the state of being “in Christ.” In the NT, the Christian’s condition always revolves around the status “in Christ.”
That condition – our condition - I believe is a type of heaven itself. Being “in Christ” right now, our citizenship is in heaven right now.
Philippians 3:20 ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…
The earthly figure of Israel represents a eternal kingdom of which we are now citizens.
CANAAN
IN CHRIST
HEAVEN
Because of these parallels, it is not unusual for us to think of heaven as a “land.” Our songs reflect it:
• To Canaan’s land I’m on my way
• On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye to Canaan’s fair and happy land, where my possessions lie
• I have heard of a land on a faraway strand…
• Beyond this land of parting, losing and leaving…lies the summerland of bliss
Probably the most familiar verse in Psalm 37:
Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.
The goodness of God is a constant, unchanging truth.
The “land” is a type of the glorious home of the soul, so grand and wonderful our minds struggle to obtain some grasp of the joys that await the faithful.
As Peter described it:
…an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:4-5
Comments?
Psalm 84
In spite of the title, the authorship of Psalm 84 is not settled. Some attribute it to David because it sounds like David’s psalms sound. It does to me as well, but for what my opinion is worth, sounding like David’s psalms is not enough to overcome the title.
The title gives the authorship to the sons of Korah. There was a Korah who was Levi’s grandson. His sons are named in Exodus 6:24. Korah’s sons were not destroyed along with the company of rebels who opposed the authority of Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 26:11). Those sons probably were alive when the tabernacle was built in the wilderness. Maybe it was new when the psalm was written, suggesting that they marveled at the beauty of the newly built dwelling place for God’s presence.
If those sons of Korah authored Psalm 84, it is easily one of the earliest Psalms, which seems out of sync with the content. So I am not certain that Psalm 84 was authored by the sons of Korah, Levi’s grandson.
Read vs 1-4
Note v3 - The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.
Altars here do not seem to be the bronze altar that went with the tabernacle – at least not exclusively that altar.
There were many altars. We will notice only a few of them:
Noah – When Noah’s family left the ark, Noah built an altar and made sacrifices. Gen 8:20
Abram – wherever he moved, he built an altar Gen 12:7-8; 13:18; 22:9
Isaac Genesis 26:25
Jacob Genesis 33:20; 35:1-3, 7
Samuel built an altar at his hometown of Ramah - 1 Samuel 7:17
Moses Exodus 17:15; 24:4
Joshua Joshua 8:30-31
Joshua 8:30-32 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel.
(Those instructions are recorded in Deuteronomy 27:1-7)
Gideon Judges 6:26-27
David built an altar on the newly purchased threshing floor of Araunah, where the Lord’s plague against Israel for David’s census was stopped - 2 Samuel 24:21, 25
Birds nested in those altars.
It is not just the king of Israel, or the people of Israel, who enjoy the comfort and providing of the assurances in Psalm 37.
Little did these altar-builders know that the altars they built had any other purpose than their sacrifices – a nesting place for some of God’s smallest creatures.
Even the humblest creatures - far removed from the lofty priestly business of sacrifices - enjoy the Lord’s care and providing.
As Jesus said, God feeds the birds – you can watch it every day – the psalmist sees the altars as nesting places.
(Use if time permits) Practically every creature I can think of has a defense capability – or strength; strength, speed, color, horns, a foul odor, the ability to fly – except the sheep.
Why does the Lord apply the analogy of sheep to his people?
Sheep must be protected.
And the perfect Lamb of God, who took himself out of the Lord’s protection.
V5 - How blessed is the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion!
(A beatitude)
Men are like sheep. We don’t have good defense mechanisms apart from the strength God supplies.
Let’s look at another verse:
Psalm 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
No good thing does he withhold.
Synopsis:
What theme am I drawing out of these psalms?
While the world around us seems to be falling apart, we might despair if we do not believe we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; i.e., in this life. (Psa 27:13)
There is a lot happening in the world to cause a Christian to feel the world is coming apart at the seams, and the goodness of the Lord is overpowered by evil.
Year after year, the world seems to get more self-indulgent, corrupt, and licentious.
We don’t live in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Seattle, where streets and sidewalks are littered with filth, debris, hypodermic needles, vermin, and crime. For our purpose tonight, we will set aside the political arguments of who is to blame for causing these conditions. But the conditions may be taken as a metaphor for moral decay that seems rampant not just in this country but in Europe ... and throughout the world. We live not only in a country – but in a world - filled with wickedness.
It seems that in this generation, the moral retrogression has advanced with breathtaking speed.
But although the context is different, I believe the same statement can be made about David’s day…
…and Solomon’s
…and in both of the divided kingdoms, both of which fell on account of it,
…and in Jesus’ day.
…and in many if not all time periods since the scriptures were completed.
So do not fret!... (Psalm 37)
…because of evildoers or those who profit while the righteous suffer apparent injustices.
God supplies every need, including those of the humble and lowly, even down to those of the sparrow and the swallow. (Psalm 84:3)
The message tonight from these psalms – believe you will – and do – see the goodness of the Lord. The Lord’s goodness is manifested today – so do not fret, for God cares about all of this, and supplies everything needed, even to the smallest and humblest creatures.
