Psalm Chapter 17

shalom and welcome to via israel a hebrew phrase which means you shall love israel we hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher dr baruch shares his expository teaching from the bible dr baruch is the senior lecturer at the zehra avraham institute based in israel although all courses are taught in hebrew at the institute dr baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in english to find out more about our work in israel please visit us on the web at loveisreal.org that's one word loveisreal.org now here's baruch with today's lesson king david wanted god to be in his life but not only that king david wanted god to be his life what does that mean that everything that david thought upon everything that he said and of course all of his actions they would all be founded in the purpose of god all reflect the glory of god in other words when david writes this psalm that we're going to study this evening we learn something and that is that david was consumed by a passion for the living god that he would be submissive to him and that god would rule over his life for god's pleasure and not his david realized something when god is pleased with someone's life how do we know that god instills within that person a joy a kingdom joy a joy that comes from the heavens and is imparted to that person that should be your desire and my desire well take out your bible and look with me to the book of psalms and psalm 17 the book of psalms and psalm 17. now we're going to learn many principles about ordering our life and we're going to see how david thought of things so that we can think that same way we need to remember as a person thinks in his heart so is he and that's why we need our hearts to be established by god that we would have a heart that is corrected for the things of god let's begin we find here that this psalm is called verse 1 which means a prayer of david and that word for prayer in hebrew tifila can can have a relevance as filling in it speaks about the inadequacy of human beings it speaks about the fact that if we attempt something in and of ourself we might know what to do we might even know how to accomplish it but nevertheless left to ourself without god's presence in it we will not accomplish it in a way that brings glory to him that fulfills his purpose so a person that prays is a person that recognize that spiritually he is insufficient that he needs god in his life for all pursuits not just kingdom pursuits but for everything he understands in other words his absolute dependence upon god verse 1 a prayer of david and notice the first thing that david says adonai which means hear o lord now this is a term of wanting god's attention and notice what david says immediately thereafter he uses the word sedek which is righteousness if you are interested in righteousness you can be assured of something god is going to get involved in your life if you are not interested in righteousness doing that which is right in god's perspective then god's not going to be actively involved in your life when you call out to him there's not going to be a response now remember this word here it has to do with wanting one to hear and respond and how david can be assured that god's going to respond that he's going to move is because david is saying to god i have a righteous objective and it's god god's character the very essence of god that defines righteousness and i said this before and it's very important that we see the distinction everything that god does is righteous why is it righteous because he does them meaning this god does not live up to a standard god sets the standard very important that we see that that he is the foundation the origin of all things so what god does is righteous it is because god does it that we understand what righteousness is don't think that we can perceive righteousness apart from god david understood this so he says hear o lord and then the word righteousness and then here's a great example of parallelism and we know that hebrew poetry the primary the primary characteristic is parallelism and what's parallel to the word here it's the word listen and then the next word is renati which is parallel to sadiq righteousness now renati is my shout so david is praying but he is crying out in loudness this is a shout that's usually rooted in excitement or enthusiasm and what makes david excited what is he enthusiastic about it is righteousness and here's the key here's the principle when you are excited enthused committed interested in righteousness you can be assured that god is going to pay attention to you he is going to hear your prayers it goes on and we see the third hebrew verb for hearing or listening he says and literally we can translate it it's a verb but we could say give ear to and this is the word for listening hearing that speaks of of the word ear not just that you hear with your ear but something is placed in the ear it's usually the idea of drawing close and whispering something in a personal way and this is what david is saying to god this type of attitude drew david into the presence of god where god would listen to my prayer now when we look here at this psalm we're going to see that there's a characteristic david says my whether it's my prayer and we'll see over and over my my my that is going to be important later on when we get to verse 11. because verse 11 is going to be a difficult verse to understand and by and large when you look at english translations they will not rightly understand what verse 11 is saying so in preparation for getting to verse 11 i want to share with you that this word my appears between verse 1 through the first 10 verses approximately 20 times whether we're speaking about first person possessive as in my prayer or we speak about david speaking of himself i will do this i will see this i will say this so it's about the first person that is a grammatical term first person is i me and david is speaking in the first person about himself personally in this psalm here again that may seem confusing or why the emphasis on that when we get to verse 11 we'll see that i say that now so that you will pay attention to the use of that word my or i in this passage let's move to verse 2. secondly the end of verse 1 where it says without without deceit my lips so the end of verse 1. i want to make sure i don't skip anything bailo safety with the lips there is no what he's saying is there is no deceit now this is also something that is very important that when we go before god we do so without any type of uh untruthfulness any type of something that is hidden our prayers need to be transparent before god so let's read all of this first verse a prayer of david listen o lord righteousness hear my shout give ear to my prayer and his prayer comes before god he says with without or with no lips of deceit now we're ready for verse two from before you my judgment now notice my my judgment goes forth and why this term where it says at the beginning from before you my judgment goes forth meaning this david wants to bring everything before god everything comes out of its origin is david thinking and giving consideration to god what david is revealing to us the reader is that he does nothing without recognizing that god sees all things and therefore we should be people that act behave speak do with the recollection everything goes before god and we need to be mindful of that secondly it says your eyes gaze and this is a word for for perceiving a vision and this word vision it's seen but in a totality meaning this when when god gives a person a vision he sees things correctly he sees things from god's perspective now david is saying god you're looking at this your eyes behold this and he uses this word for having a vision simply referring to the reader that once again nothing is hidden god has a total picture of what's going on so he says your eyes behold and it's word mersharim which is straight things that which is is proper and that's what david is saying to god i know that you see that which is proper why when do we behave in a way that is right the way that is straight according to god's terminology god's definition meaning this we we don't want a crooked pathway we want uprightness and that's what that word may sharim has to do with and when we bring before here's the key when we bring before god that which is upright that which is straight that which has integrity what can we be assured of god's going to get involved god's going to to join in that he's going to be part of that and that's what david wants he wants god to be part of every aspect of his life verse 3. it's the word it's a noun but in the in the verb it's actually a verb but in the noun form it's a word for a test so what david says here and he says this frequently in the psalms he says you have tested my heart that's what god does he doesn't look to the outward things he doesn't evaluate us if we're a good dresser if we put on our makeup in a fine way that we have accessorized our garments in a magnificent way god doesn't pay any attention to that it says here you have tested and that means that you have arrived of the truth of what our heart condition so god he tests the heart but once more david says my heart remember that first person you have tested my heart and then another important word and this is a word it it has to do with god getting involved now this word if you do a good study of it and in our study of isaiah and also ezekiel we've come across it it is very common highly frequent in the scripture and it means that god gets involved it can be the word for visit the word for redeem the word for provide but also the word for a punishment a judgment god doing something has an adverse effect upon the person god's judgment now here's the key this word speaks basically about god getting all involved in a situation i've said in our study i believe of exodus that uh this word is used in modern hebrew imani would say which means if i want to make a deposit at the bank now how much of that money do i want going in all of it all of my deposit i want to find in my account and this word speaks of god getting involved so god he's going to get involved he's going to be highly involved in your life and he checks the heart to see how he's going to respond so this word is a word for a response of god how he's going to respond to a person and it's based upon your heart condition it says that he's going to to test your heart and you have visited and there's the word lila at night now what does that mean why the term night well simply that at night time we we stop we're asleep but god continues to work so god looks at our heart he tests our heart and he brings about changes in our situation throughout the night god can work and do great things why why we're asleep darkness is also related tonight things we don't see how god works in in darkness but he works in the hidden places and the things that we can't see that we can't discern so god works oftentimes in a way that we don't discern his activity but we see the results of his activity verse 3 the second part you have refined me here's another example of me or my or i david is speaking he says to god you have refined me and then it says which means what bow is a negation fine now this word for for testing or trying or refining it's the the same word that uh a jeweler when he wants to make something he'll take a precious metal let's say gold and he'll melt it down he'll heat it up and he will remove that which is impure that which doesn't belong there that which is not gold and in that same way what david is saying is this god he is going to try us and remove that which is displeasing to him that which is not appropriate but david's saying i come before you and you're not going to find any unfit improper objectives david is committed to the things of god in this verse now this psalm is a great example of how we should think and how we should be so he says you have refined me and you will not find meaning anything unfit i have once again first person i have and this is word for for an objective i have set an objective i have made a purpose and what is that purpose that the david is committed to that uh will not pass and this is word for transgress my mouth david has said he has purpose and the idea here is purpose in his heart made a decision that his mouth is not going to speak that which is sinful he is not going to speak that which transgresses the will of god what god sees as appropriate what's proper so david and we go through this he says you don't test my heart you you test my my life my very being anything that's improper they're not going to be there but if it is i want removed i'm not going to speak any deceit notice these things david is telling us about how he wants to serve god the type of man that he wants to be so he says i have have purpose i have made my objective that my mouth does not transgress verse 4 this is word for activity but it's in the the plural activities so he continues and he says for the activities of man is in the word of your your lips so what david is saying here is this our actions should be based upon the words of god he gives us instruction he gives us vision he gives us what we ought to do so once more the the activities of man is in the words of your lips i will keep and this is word for guard i will keep that which is precious why he says i'm going to guard myself that's literally what it says ani marti for i i will guard why from the the pathways of the wicked so david is saying this it is only when i base my activity upon what comes from the mouth of god meaning scripture that is how i keep myself from what the pathway the courses the direction the journeys of who this is a word for someone who is wicked who burst forward into where he ought not be now the idea here is this you have an animal for example in a pen and he stays in that pen and there he is provided for he's taken care of but here's the problem when he bursts forther he's going where he wants to go and what happens he finds himself in danger he's moving away from the source of his provision what he needs for life and that's why david is saying here we ought to base our decisions upon your words what comes forth from your lips oh god and this is how we guard ourselves we keep ourselves from finding ourselves on the pathways on the courses of the wicked one verse five support my steps in your and this would be in your cycles in your course so david is saying here and it's a very important word that he uses here this is word for support giving aid to assistance to and he's saying here god i want to walk in your place i want to go in your circles and the only way i can do that is if you support my steps in doing it david realizes he can't be in the will of god unless god supports him in that that god helps him and that what it speaks is this we are totally and i want to emphasize this we are totally dependent upon god so he says support support my steps and your your courses then he says in order that my steps and it's a different world word and it's parallelism so we have one word for steps and we have another word for steps or paces that that it says here that they will not uh fall or move or collapse so it's speaking here this is what the text is telling us when god supports our steps and places us in where he wants us to be in the right course of direction then we can have assurance that our our steps our walking is not going to to be moved away from where we should be we're not going to collapse in other words verse 6 i have called unto you for you have answered me oh god now some of the commentators point out that this is a verse of assurance what david is saying is this everything that we've studied up until this verse if we apply it to our life if we make that the reality of our life then we can be assured look now to verse six we can be assured that when we call out to you oh lord that you are going to answer that you'll hear us as david says i called out to you because you have or you will answer me o god place your ear unto me and listen to my speech my word now what david is saying here is this what we've studied thus far before this verse it positions us where we can have assurance if we do these things that god's going to hear our prayers and that he is going to be actively involved in our life but here's the key he will only be active in all of our life when we want to shut certain things out when we hold things back what we need to realize is this when we say god i get this myself you you don't deal with this god this is my domain when we have our own personal domain apart from god god removes himself he withdraws now you say well wait a second the bible says and it's true god will never leave me nor forsake me that's true you enter into a covenant relationship he will not but here's what i'm saying when you hold things back from god the measure that you use will be measured back to you when you hold things back even though god is still in a covenant relationship he will withdraw his provision he will not be active in your life he hasn't left you for or forsake you but your relationship with him is is grieving him and therefore there will be distance from god's activity god's anointing god's moving in your life and what's the purpose of this not because he's left your or deserted you in order to get you to repent because here's the truth those things that i want to hold back from god are things that i know that he wouldn't be pleased with that are not part of his plan for me if god is good and he is then we should want god's blessings god's presence god's anointing over every aspect of our life look now to verse 7. verse 7 is a word of of distinction it is a word of of also separation now distinction and separation you can speak of that which is unique which has a distinct purpose and also releases us separates us from those things that we ought not be connected to and what is it that separates us what is that makes us distinct well notice what he says your grace and here's what's important this word for grace is in the plural because it's an abundant grace it is a multi-purpose grace it is a grace that puts us where god wants us to be in order to accomplish the things that he wants us to do now this grace also is the foundation for a covenantal relationship with him and then he says are those who trust in what your grace o god and what does those who trust in the grace of god what can they expect mushi now moshiah is the word for savior it comes from the same word yeshua which means salvation so the savior makes salvation he provides salvation yeshua same word and of course the name for messiah is yeshua yeshua means one who saves in a different form it's moshiah and it provides salvation yeshua so we read your grace this abundant grace makes a distinction it brings a savior for those who trust and will cause those who trust in his grace and notice what's parallel to his grace it's his right hand it says your right hand speaking to god so the savior and the gracious gift of god all relates to messiah who is the right hand of god and what does he do he lifts us up now let me be correct here and it is true that even though the savior is mentioned what is parallel to your right hand is the grace of god this grace that that makes a distinction and brings salvation into the life of those who trust him verse 8 he says keep me and this is this another example of me or my or i keep me as the apple this just means the the pupil of your eye socket and how do we do that we want god to keep us now the image you hear is very important we know there's an expression for that which is very fast a blink of an eye a twink of an eye and and the pupil is very sensitive you can just put a finger close to it and my eye begins to water even though nothing has touched it so the question is this how do we become that which is very sensitive to god being he's sensitive over us well he tells us this is the beauty of hebrew poetry notice what it says betzel can affect in the corner of or in the shadow of your wings now wangs is the word corner and it all relates to the titsu we know that the word for that fringe garment that talit that prayer shaw is called a four corner garment the word for corner here is kanaf arba khan vote four corners on each quarter there's that titsen so when it talks about the shadow of your wings it's speaking about a reference to the commandments so it's when i am living under the shadow that is the influence of the commandments of god what does god do he hides me that is he it's parallel to the word he keeps me he guards me he preserves me how does he do that well he does so because i'm precious to him he is sensitive about me because i'm like the pupil of his eye because i am what i am located in the influence under the shadow of his wings i have taken serious his instruction verse 9. from because of let's translate it this way because of wicked ones this one does what because of wicked one this wicked one in other words he oppresses me or or or the word can be really strips me bare it's a word for for plundering as well so because of wicked ones this one oppresses me my enemies against my soul they they surround me so now david is under attack that's what he's saying here in in verse 9. verse 10 continues on david is under attack it's the word for fat and it says that that their fat ones do what clothes me it's another word for being oppressed and it says their mouth speaks pride and in this case it's it's pride but it speaks about how they are exalting themselves up for the demise for the attack for the destruction of david so david is under attack and notice where we're going in this song verse 11. now remember i said verse 11 and what i would do if i were you is that i would seriously study many translations of verse 11. now some ignore word there's a word and many of the more literal translations will translate our steps let me share with you how most english translates this word verse 11. our steps now they surround us so what it means in one sense is that we are are walking and the enemy they surround us but here's the problem us who's the us remember i emphasize over and over that it's me my eye where's the us here well it's interesting because if you look at the word for surrounding word says it says that it's actually written not new but knee which changes from us to me and then if we look carefully and see this is what i did as i go through the biblical language in this case hebrew i translate it and i pay attention because there are different manuscripts now there is an original i mean david wrote this but the problem is we have different manuscripts of this psalm and oftentimes you'll find that there's two primary texts meaning this some will write this word the first word that's translated r steps they will write it differently they'll use the same letters but the vowel pointing will be different and instead of the vav being final it will be a eud now you may not understand that from a hebrew point of view but that's okay and what happens is this let's say that that we have 400 manuscripts of this verse and we have 397 stating one thing and three stating something different now when i say stating something different i'm talking about a letter being different and the problem is this if you know the hebrew alphabet you make the ud which is like a a part of a seven the top and just goes down a little bit like a square a quarter but if you draw that down it becomes a valve so it's very common that you have manuscripts where some have the vav that letter vav and some have the ud now because of that if you have numerous ones one way and just a couple you can probably arrive at the conclusion that the 397 is right and the three is a a mistake but what happens when you have we'll give this same example 400 manuscripts and 204 have it one way and 196 has it the other way here again we're just talking about one letter if it is long or short one part of it did the scribe go down or did he stop it's a human issue it's not attacking the authority of the text but it's attacking the the perfected man we're not perfect we make errors so looking at this and maybe it was that it was a little bit longer and someone said oh i don't think it's a a you'd i think it's a vav and then therefore it was copied over and over in one school one area this way and another where this way so what do you do when you have 400 manuscripts 196 one way 204 another way it's almost 50 50. well what do you do you check the septuagint that is the greek translation and you see if it offers any clarity and it does it goes with one of them and not with the other so in that case we can see that the phrase our steps is really not our steps but it's a another way if you you punctuate and there was not punctuations you had to simply understand it and sometimes the punctuations can make a big deal in the meaning now when we look at the septuagint verse 11 it says they cast me away notice the me not us me so you have numerous manuscripts primary texts that are put together use it this way and it goes along with the septuagint it says they cast me away now and they surround me that's what the septuagint has and that's what numerous hebrew manuscripts have not what for example is in most english translations their eyes they place so they're looking upon me and knows what it says then tote the arts their eyes in this case they what does it say their place they place their eyes upon the ground what does that mean they want to bring me to subjection here's the the verse david is saying he's got an enemy and this enemy what are they doing they're casting him out meaning this they're taking them out they surround him and their intention it's an idiom when it says they they cast their eyes to the ground what it means is they want to it's a hebrew idiom which speaks of bringing david to defeat to destruction verse verse 12 but notice what what god says here david speaks and he says his likeness who's that god third person plural his likeness is like a a lion and he rises up he desires a like a prayer a pray meaning this as a line rises up when he sees dinner some pray he desires it like a young lion the dwells in the hidden place is what ready to pounce so the image is this these enemies of david have surrounded him they are about david's defeat but david says you know how i liken god he is like a lion think of the lion of judah he is likened to a lion that that desires prey meaning to eat and and a young lion the dwells in the hidden places and then he says rise up oh lord and do what it's a word kadma which is to go before it means it can be a word of confrontation so he says look at verse 12 or verse 13 rise up oh lord contend before him and do what make him to submit and my and it goes back to that first person my soul will escape from the wicked one and then it says by your sword by what god and the word here for sword it's a normal word for sword but it can have the idea of the word of the lord messiah when he comes back he's going to have a sword of his mouth he's just going to speak and that's what david is saying god if you just speak this out it's like a sword separating me from the the plans of the enemy look at verse 14. now we just have two more verses to do but let me tell you in the same way that i had to spend serious time on verse 11 going through different texts different reference books to understand this the same thing is said in in verse 14. verse 15 is an easy verse to understand 14 is not verse 14 you have to pay close attention to what he's saying now it begins with the word memphine now some would point out the word mate has to do with human beings men so we'll go with that understanding of it so from men your hand o lord your hand speaks about the hand of god that that separates us from evil men those who are enemies and by the way the septuagint has this understanding of these men it renders it just with that the word enemy so from enemies these men who are our enemies or david's enemies it says your hand o lord then it has that same word from men from the world now what david is saying here is this verse 14 speaks about david having a a resurrection hope david leaving being separated from this world here's the key there are individuals and their their glory is in their children the next generation they want their children to carry on their their heritage their their uh the word mauritian their their heritage i guess is the best word they want to live in that next generation not david david is thinking about the kingdom now we should prepare the next generation for the kingdom but we don't take that which is precious and we invested in simply the next generation the next generation the next generation no we are kingdom minded so david says from men from the world he's not interested in the things of this world speaking of men from the world he says their portion is in life this life that's what they're interested in and your treasured things those things that are treasured by god what did they do they fill you fill their belly that's what they do god gives treasures things and they just put it in their belly also we find as we keep reading they are are satisfied with children and they leave their abundance to their babes there and it's simply a word for sending them for children meaning this they invest in their children and we know biblically we should teach our children diligently the things of god but that's not what this verse is saying it's speaking about how they want their heritage their name their objectives what their life is about to carry on in the next generation well what does david do verse 15 our last verse is in contrast to that he says i and and some bibles recognizing this contrast puts but me or but i in righteousness it goes back to where we were in verse 1. david he's saying i in righteousness i will gaze unto your face what is david saying i i'm not interested in just carrying on my heritage from one generation to another that my name will never die out now lots of times people do that they name buildings out of after themselves their their place they make their their tomb a memorial they want people to visit it they set up so people come and say wow look at such a tomb this man must have been a great one if he can have a tomb that big this is not david's objective this is not what a disciple of messiah thinks about david says i in righteousness and the idea here is in righteousness by means of righteousness i will gaze remember that word for vision i will see completely your presence your face this face of god also relates to blessing and he says i will be satisfied and notice this next word behakits the word is end it's a word for waking someone up and the rabbinical commentators and i believe most christian commentators see this as also a reference to the resurrection so david is saying here it is because i have a righteous objective that i am going to behold the blessings of god be in his presence see his face where i will be satisfied when i come to an end david is not loathing or or in misery about death david understands that his end comes with a new beginning a resurrection and notice what he says here what's that your picture your image it's in parallelism to your presence so david is telling us he's interested in righteousness in the objectives of god not in the things of this world because this world's coming to an end david's thinks about resurrection what is that the life to come because there he knows something he is going to behold fully completely the face of god that he is going to see the very image the reflection of god and being in the presence of god knowing god seeing god this is david's motivation and if that's your motivation then you're going to be committed to righteousness that's how this psalm began in verse 1 and that's how it's ending in verse 15. when you are committed to the righteousness of god you are going to be brought into his presence you are going to experience his blessings and you are going to know the satisfaction of beholding the living god that was david's expectation and that should be our expectation as well and when that expectation is our hope we will not be disappointed well let's close until next week when we begin psalm 18 until then may god richly bless you shalom from israel well we hope you will benefit from today's message and share it with others please plan to join us each week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of love israel.org again to find out more about us please visit our website love israel.org there you will find articles in numerous other lectures by baruch these teachings are in video form may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week may the lord bless you in our messiah yeshua that is jesus as you walk with him shalom from israel

Channel: LoveIsrael.org

Views: 1,213

Rating: 4.8888888 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: sCcxScb4AkE

Length: 52min 30sec (3150 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020