Psalm Chapter 18 Part 1

[Music] 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 zera 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 obviously it is quite easy to respond to the question what is your name but how would you identify yourself people want to know who are you not by name but some type of title something that identifies yourself well i can tell you what we should all strive for and that is to be a servant of the lord and the psalm that we're going to study today and next week psalm 18 is a psalm that is directed to those who are servants of god take out your bible and look there with me the book of psalms and psalm 18. this psalm has a rather long inscription that is that piece of scripture that frequently appears above the first verse as i've said so many times in this study of psalms it is literally the first verse in the hebrew texts so let's begin psalm 18 and verse 1. it begins which is to the chief music director the one who is going to be responsible for leading others to recite this to chant this to use this psalm in worship but notice it says to a servant of the lord by david this psalm is addressed specifically it's written by david but to a servant of the lord and what we should see here is that there are benefits from serving god obviously benefits in the age to come in the kingdom of god but also benefits in this present age and david is going to talk about some of those benefits that he personally experienced now because he was a servant of god david met opposition great opposition let's keep reading in this first verse of the hebrew texts it's by david to a servant of the lord and david wrote this down these words he spoke to the lord it says in writing this song literally which he spoke to the lord the words of this song now i think it's significant that we see that this psalm is also called a song and one of the reasons for that is that it has a degree of worship adoration praise thanksgiving frequently a song is accompanied with joy not all songs but frequently this is a term of praise singing to the lord that's what david's doing it is also songs usually are to be shared meaning that they want the author of them the performer of them wants individuals to hear this there's a message to a song so once more to the chief musician to a servant of the lord by david which he spoke to the lord so it's confessional which he spoke to the lord the words of this song in the day and this is important and the day that the lord delivered or rescued him first and foremost as we get deeper and deeper into this psalm we see that god rescues his people we can have confidence that god if there's no response from him if we do not experience deliverance then it is his will for us to experience that momentary defeat for example the cross the cross for the son of god messiah yeshua it was a momentary defeat he died but nevertheless we know that through that death came victory people asked and we'll see this in a few weeks psalm 22 when it speaks about my lord my lord why have you forsaken or abandoned me that's how for a moment yeshua himself felt as he hung upon that tree but the deliverance did come through what through the resurrection so we might experience a momentary setback a defeat we may not experience god's movement but it's only a matter of time and there is a great day of victory known in conjunction with resurrection as i've said many times there's a connection between resurrection and the kingdom of god finally in this verse we see that god delivered david it says from the hand of all of his enemies and from the hand of shaol king saul it's very important that we understand that david wrote this in light of the many years that he was on the run when he was fleeing from saul now just think for a moment saul was the king and for the vast degree of of time the soldiers the armies of israel was with saul they were under his authority the vast majority were loyal to shoal david was greatly outnumbered yes at times there were individuals with him soldiers and such but but just a few david experienced what it meant to have a great enemy and we could say enemies in the plural pursuing him but this is what i like we see that in the end show was put to death he lost his life david became king and david is recounting that fact to us that god is faithful god is able to deliver and therefore he is worthy of our praise our thanksgiving in the midst of these trials and hardships these times of fear and loneliness well let's move on to the next verse verse 2 in the hebrew texts and he said now most bibles in fact i checked over 20 translations and all of them all of them translated it the same way word says he said and this is david recounting and they translate it i will love you o lord my strength now i would ask you to pay close attention to that word where it's translated i will love you one word in hebrew we have to translate it i will love you four words in english but it's one word in hebrew and what's interesting is not the word for love or like or anything related to that if you do a good study of this word you will find that it's the basic word for being merciful now here's the problem i mean is is david saying to god i will be merciful unto you that doesn't make sense until you understand a little bit about the nature of mercy here again this isn't the first time we we discussed this but the word mercy is in the plural it's an abundant word and we have another noun from that word but in the singular not in the plural in the singular regen it is womb like a woman the baby her baby resides in the womb and the nature of this word womb or mercy has to do with a selflessness the womb functions for what's best for that baby that's its objective to provide the best it is responsive to the baby's needs the baby's situation mercy is when we see someone and we behave not necessarily what they deserve but we and there's a relationship between mercy and grace but we're gracious we're merciful we forgive we do what's best for them and what david is saying here if we pay attention to literally what is being re reviewed here is that he says not i will be merciful unto you in our way of undef uh our way of defining mercy but what david is saying here is that he is responsive to god he is saying oh god i am responsive to you i do what is best according to you what you have said what you have commanded what you have revealed to me david is not making decisions in his own interest from his own perspective but he's making decisions based upon what is right in god's eyes that's what's being spoken of here and when we do that when we are responsive our life reflects and is responsive to the instructions the will what god desires then what we can expect well notice how this word this verse concludes where it says o lord his key my strength here's the message for us when an individual doesn't matter who it is once you have entered into a covenantal relationship with god and obviously i'm talking about the new covenant through the gospel you can be assured of something when you are responsive to god according to his instructions his will his revelation when you are behaving in that way setting aside your own understanding your own vantage point doing what is right in his eyes you are going to become a recipient of god's power god's strength he will strengthen you that's what david is saying and it's a strength that causes one to endure persevere and here's something else in life to overcome that's what david's revealing verse three here again i'm going to give the numbers in the hebrew text if you're following english you'll need to take off one digit one less he says oh lord my rock my fortress and then it's a word for a place of deliverance or one who delivers it's a different word it comes from the same hebrew word which means a refugee so it's one who is a refuge one who is a deliverer one who acts to rescue someone else he says my god my rock and it's a different word for rock earlier on in the same verse word begins oh lord my rock it's the word this is the word suri my my rock and he says i will trust in him meaning i will will take cover i will find security in him that's when we act in faithfulness when we trust god and we move into obedience under his authority we find shelter that's what this phrase is referring to he also is my shield and then we have the term karen yeshe karen is a horn and it's a horn of my salvation and the term karen horn can also be a idiom for for strength power authority david is saying you o god are my shield the horn of my salvation and miscavi this is another word for for a safe place but what's unique in some of the english translations get this right it is a word that speaks of elevation god taking one and putting him out of reach of the enemy out of danger lifting him up and that's what david says now an important characteristic of of this verse is the first person singular possessive what is that my where he speaks about my strength my god my rock my refuge my fortress so david is seeing god in a personal way that god is intimately involved in david's life secondly as we press on we see verse 4 now i realize that that in order to help one understands this word they oftentimes say worthy to be praised but it's simply the word to be praise one who is praiseworthy and david is addressing god as one who is praiseworthy and what does he do he says and some bibles do not put this in the right tense it's in the hebrew imperfect which is the future word says i will call unto the lord why because god should always be the one that we turn to and he's turning to him first and foremost not because of of his situation he's turning to god because god is praiseworthy so this ideal although it's not there intrinsically in the text written out but when we say worthy to be praised that's in essence what what is being expressed here so david he says i will call of the lord this one whose praise worthy and why well first for who he is but he says here as well and from my enemies it's in the plural and from my enemies he says i will be saved so it's again a third word that speaks of deliverance being rescued being one who god acts as a a redeemer of that god acts in order to provide safety he's going to focus now in the activity of the enemies he says they have surrounded me what has these uh ropes of death and this word and we'll see it a couple times in this this psalm it can speak of ropes chords but it can also speak about about pain and suffering now if you look closely we see something we see how he talks about the the being surrounded by the chords of death and then now when i looked at the the hebrew commentary for this next word they speak about it in a great number but but some of the english i believe the king james james speaks of floods and it's literally the word for rivers but multiple rivers in the plural so it's as something is streaming in in a multiple way and what is that well we have a very unique word it's the word ya'al what is that this is a expression that refers to some of the most evil individuals those who are wicked those who live in iniquity those who rejoice in the sufferings of others and david is revealing here that these individuals like a flood of water many of them these evil ones are are flooding in and also they are fearful that is they bring fear david is afraid they cause him to be afraid literally first person they scare me then we have that same word where it speaks about the pains or the records of of death now we have a synonym instead of death we have the term shell the place of the dead so these pains these chords of death of she'll it has another synonym instead of surrounding me afafuni we have the word siva vuni in essence synonyms with the same idea of being wrapped around being surrounded and all of these cords of death being surrounded of david they all move him forward now some of the bibles they translate this next word very interesting very awkwardly don't understand why but it's the word kid muni means to draw forward i'm going for it but here it's not in the hit palette i'm doing it to myself but rather it's being done to me so they are causing me to go forward to where to the snares of death here's what's being emphasized david is under attack there are numerous enemies they have surrounded him and he uses multiple words to speak about being surrounded having the cords the ropes of death show pulling him and taking him forward in the direction of that's the idea there's progress to what the snares of death but what does david do in such a situation many people would give up lose heart but we have here but certainly in my trouble when there's trouble to me he does the same thing he says i will call unto the lord unto my god and he says again i will will cry out so david in the midst of this doesn't get up give up he doesn't lose faith he doesn't focus on he's aware he doesn't deny it but he brings this situation names it before god trusting god believing god is going to respond now remember i said to you a few minutes ago david overcame this saul died he descended into shoal david became king god did in fact act in covenantal faithfulness to david he called out and we find in verse verse 7 the second part verse 6 in english it says he heard my voice from his sanctuary my cry before him came into his ears and again this idea of ears always speaks of intimacy david is saying it is because i have this covenantal relationship with god that i can be assured that god will hear he will hear from his holy sanctuary my plea of of help my my supplication in other words will go before him and come into his ears and notice the next verse verse 8 and hebrews 7 in english there is quite a response it's when we get to this verse that we see god acting in a mighty way and i want to emphasize to us that we have indeed a mighty god one that is capable what does the scripture say with him all things are possible notice the language here we have the earth will shake and make noise david's one man god's moving the earth shaking it and the noise of that can be heard so he says the earth moves and makes noise the foundation of literally the mountains i know some bibles will say hills that would be devote but this is work harim the foundations of the mountains also a different word as synonym for shake and then he says because of his anger they all shake now what i like about this is god is angry in david's behalf david as we're going to see the next part of this psalm is going to several verses focus in on and don't miss this on the integrity of david the spiritual integrity david wants to be in righteousness when was the last time you prayed god i want to walk righteously i want to be in righteousness i want everything that that that that comes forth for me to display your righteous standards that's how we should behave and in the same way that when we call unto god faith we can expect god to respond when we live in righteousness doing that which is right in god's eyes and being a person who execute righteousness in our midst it brings god mightily into our circumstances and that's what we see in verse 8 god is angry at the enemies of david not only does the earth shake and make noise look at the next verse verse 9 in the hebrew text verse 8 in english smoke goes up from from his his nose and sometimes this word nose can mean his anger and also from his mouth fire will consume so here we have smoke going up from his his nose and foul fire from his mouth is going to consume and god look at the next verse or the end of verse 9 excuse me where it says and gekhalim calls burn from him god's anger his indignation is all depicted here as a fire a consuming fire now we know when there's a fire more often than not people die one of the most dangerous things about fire is smoke so we have smoke we have fire itself we have the coals all burning and now look at verse 10 verse 9 in english we have the word vai yet and this is a word when i was doing research i wrote down that the best way that we can understand it is moving something god is moving something and what is god moving he's moving the heavens god's action brings about a heavenly change in behalf of david and then we have via red which means he comes down so the heavens move and he comes down and we find that the and it's a synonym instead of of ashan smoke we have the word rfl which which usually is fog but not necessarily like a morning fog due to weather but a a different type of smoke it's under his feet god look at the next verse god is riding upon the cherub he is flying and then we have a synonym for the word flying and the hebrew scholars say that this means to fly at a great speed and he does so upon the wings of the wind verse verse 12. here god is bringing more change it says that he places darkness in his secret place around him is his his dwelling place or canopy in one sense the waters become dark and the clouds of the skies so all of this is dark and we see an emphasis here if you look in this verse verse 12 in the hebrew verse 11 in english we see the word push it and then we see a covering that also makes things dark a shade and then the darkness of water and then the clouds of the heaven everything's getting dark but with a purpose see when things get dark light is more visible and the next thing we see look at the next verse verse 13 and hebrew verse 12 in english it says me no god from a noga noga is a hebrew word which means an excessively bright and powerful light so what's happening here is that god is is darkening everything and then in a moment there is an abundant powerful light that shines from a bright light before him and clouds they pass away and then we have hail and coals of fire also the lord he will make thunder in the heavens and the most high he will give his voice now everything that's happening and think of this it's very similar to what we might see in a theater right before the the main event the play the performance the star comes out what happens they they dim the lights in the theater and then suddenly there is that spotlight on the center of attention he's going to begin to do something she's going to start her performance and we're seeing that same type of imagery here things get dark but in a moment there is light excessively powerful light and then there's thundering and we see that the clouds move away and all of a sudden to show his strength there is hail and coals of fire thundering in the heavens for the lord makes that thunder and the lord and here it is the synonym for hashem is the word elion the most high as in the most high god gives his voice again it says and hail and coals of fire 6 15. he sends his arrows and he scatters them and lightning and then we have the word rav an abundant lightning and they they scare them the lightning scares them and appears what appears channels of water and it is revealed the foundations of the world from the lord's rebuke and notice what it says for he rebukes the lord rebukes you and and the blowing of the wind of of uh [Music] your your nose so god the image here is that it's your rebuke oh lord that brings it about and the blowing of wind from your your nostrils from your nose all of this is taking place he will send from up on high and he will take me he will draw me and this is the same word that's why it's so important to see the biblical language and to take your time as you go through because this word is the same word when it speaks about moses being drawn up he was in that basket in the nile river and he was taken up from the water and this phrase to be taken up remember if we go back to our our verse where we read in verse 17 in hebrew verse 16 in english he will take me well the synonym here remember parallelism parallelism is he will draw me up but it's the same word that the name moses comes from he will draw me up from many waters verse 18. he will save me from my strong enemy and from the ones who hate me because they are stronger than me and again the verse that comes into my mind is this that the one in us is stronger than the one in this world we do not have reason to be afraid doesn't matter who the enemy is doesn't matter how many are with him our god is greater and we have a source of deliverance and what is that that new covenant relationship but i mentioned a little while ago that david what was he passionate about well i got ahead of myself i talked about righteousness how important righteousness is and we're going to see this as we begin to conclude the first half of this psalm notice that righteousness is going to play a role look now to to verse 19 in the hebrew 18 in english it's once more this word for moving forward going forth it says and they will propel me in the day of my trouble that's what the enemy does but the lord he will be for mishan li now the word mishaan is a place that you can lean upon so so god is a source of support from us that's what it's saying the enemy they are pushing me forward to the day of my trouble and what does david do he says but god you have become for me a place of leaning what the scripture is teaching us is that god is always available for us to lean upon him he is a great source of of support and what will he do verse 20 and he will bring me forth to a wide place now in hebrew the word rahav wide broad we have the idea of affliction and stress being pressed together anxiety this affliction pressure but the opposite of that that is the hebrew word narrow so even though the words nero tsar we find that it conveys pressure grief stress anxiety and the word rehab broad expresses just the opposite cover relief safety deliverance so the text is telling us that god brings us forth to or in this case david it's personal about him it's his son david says god you bring me forth to a broad place a place of comfort a place of deliverance and by the way this word for bringing out is connected to the thought of redemption and then the next part of verse 20 verse 19 in english ye khal saini this is the same word i've mentioned it in our other studies where we can get a word for a corkscrew now we know when we put a corkscrew in a bottle and we pull out that cork there's a release there's pressure there that cork is holding it in that pressure but when we take it out oftentimes the beverage bubbles up or it sprays forth all of that that pressure and this is what david is saying that he is a god is a source of release for him and why does god release him deliver him it says for he has delighted in me now of all the verses that we have studied thus far i would take a highlighter take a pen and i would would underscore underline highlight those three words in the hebrew text where it says in english ki hafetz be for he delights in me now this word hafetz a weaker word is the word razon where it's sown is want but is one but a more intense now just think of this david is saying god you delight in me can you say that prayerfully god i have confidence i have assured that you delight in me probably you can't so the question we have to to answer for ourselves because i can't either what will bring about a change in me that will cause god to delight in me that's what we're going to focus in on as we begin to wrap up look if you would to verse 21 verse 20 in english now we see that several times this concept that i've mentioned twice this concept of righteousness appears david is speaking and he says because i have kept the ways of the lord read that again david understands that god delights in him because david has done something david has kept the ways of the lord and he says and not and it's a verb for wicked now we would have to say i have not behave wickedly and then we have a preposition the preposition min now the noon sophie falls out and it's attached to the next word and that's why you only have one letter the letter men but it means from and here again there's a principle that's being taught here see when i behave wickedly when anyone does that which is displeasing to god it's because we moved and here's the key from god out of his ways so wickedness is always an outcome of us moving away from god the question we should ask what's the outcome when i move towards god i walk with god well that's what he's going to tell us now look with me to verse 21 verse 20 in the english it says here and here's this term righteousness that i've spoken of and the lord he will and this is word for payback recompense it involves a payment in return of something and david is confident he says here the lord will recompense me according to my righteousness see righteousness should be important to us behaving in a way that fulfills the expectations and and don't miss this the commandments of god and then he says as the purity of my hands and he's saying here as my pure hand is so also he will return unto me so we see in this passage this verse the relationship between righteousness and purity when you are committed to the righteous judgments of god his standards his judgments then it is going to produce a purity in behavior very important biblical truth verse 23 verse 22 in english because all of your excuse me all of his judgments is before me david is speaking he says god all of your judgments and in this case judgments has to do with with decisions david is saying what you have decided as right your judgments are before me i make them my own i put them before me and your or simply his statutes david is speaking to god and he says and his statutes i do not or i will not remove from me now what's the takeaway for us well if we want to keep the ways of the lord if we don't want to do evil then what do we do we have to keep the judgments of god before us and his statutes do not he says i will not take away from me and therefore when he does this what can he say well he can say here in this passage verse 24 and i will literally i have been to me to meme is innocent blameless it's a word of perfection because one have trusted relied dependent upon god you depend upon god and there's going to be a great outcome so david says verse 24 i have been innocent here's the key with him david is saying i have been blameless with him and then he talks about how and i have kept myself from iniquity when you're with him relying depending upon him then you are going to be what does he say you are going to keep yourself from iniquity first 25 the lord he has returned me he has returned to me as and here's the key my righteousness now i've been talking a lot about it but finally we arrive at the texts david he is living righteously david is behaving trusting depending upon god so that he can do god's statutes god's ways his judgments so that he manifests righteousness and therefore this benefit of deliverance is coming to him why because the lord is returning to me according to my righteousness and then he says as the purity of my hand and realize that hand is related to hand is related to deeds whatever my hand finds it'll be done so he's talking here end of our study for this this section he says according to the purity of my hands he says which are before his eyes so david there's nothing concealed david is praying this with confidence because he knows that he has walked in the ways of god that he has not behaved wickedly that he has put god's judgments god's decisions god's ways his statutes before him so he would not turn aside from what god has said is right and in doing that david knows this brings about god's desire for me and that desire for david is going to produce deliverance and god's activity in david's life is going to be don't miss this according to david's righteousness and that's why it's so important that you and i strive for righteousness and here's the last thing i'm going to say before we conclude and that's this the grace of god just doesn't cause god to impute his righteousness to us that is a great benefit that gives us assurance i've spoken about that in the recent days and other teachings my iniquity was placed upon messiah his righteousness was imputed given to me that is a declarative righteousness that allows us to enter into the kingdom of god but there's not just this declarative righteousness through god's grace but god's grace works in our life to produce righteous behavior and that's what david is talking about here and if we're not committed to righteous behavior doing that which is just proper in the eyes of god then grace isn't working in our life and if grace isn't working in our life then perhaps the reason for that is we have not received the biblical grace true biblical grace declares us to be righteous by the mercy of god through the blood of messiah but that same grace has a different and additional purpose and that is to produce the righteousness of god through our behaviors well we'll continue the second half of psalm 18 next week as we study this wonderful psalm of giving thanks for our god who indeed is our deliverer 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

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Length: 50min 22sec (3022 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 20 2020