Day #167

Sermon - Audio
Pslam 134 & 146-150 - Audio
Pslam 134 & 146-150 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

134

You servants who stand by night in the house of the Lord [ Psalm 134 ]. The function of this last song of ascents is to state concluding sentiments about the worship experience itself and to round out the fifteen songs of ascent on a note a closure. The first two verses may have been spoken as a liturgical recitation by departing worshipers to the priests as they left the temple, with a priest responding with the blessing stated in verse 3. The three lyric sentiments unfold as follows: a call for the “servants of the Lord” to bless God (v. 1); a command to lift up hands and bless God in the holy place (v. 2); a benediction conferring God’s blessing on worshipers (v. 3). -ESVLB-

1-2 = Call to the Temple Helpers to Bless the Lord. The psalm opens by calling a group described as the servants of the LORD to bless the LORD. The title “servants of the LORD” could refer to Israelites in general (as it seems to in 135:1); but since they are said to stand by night in the house of the LORD, it seems better to take these words as addressed to Levitical personnel, whether priests (1 Kings 8:10–11) or attendants from the non-priestly Levitical families (1 Chron. 9:33). The worshiping congregation calls on them to lift up their hands to the holy place and bless the LORD (cf. Ps. 28:2).

3 = These are formulae from elsewhere in this collection: see 128:5; 121:2; 124:8. Their juxtaposition emphasizes that a universal God is centered at Zion. The collection’s conclusion emphasizes Zion, a major theme of the Songs of Ascents, and also shows close connections with the conclusion of the following psalm (135:21). Perhaps an editor placed together psalms that shared certain similarities, or phrases moved from one psalm to an adjacent one, making the Psalter into a more coherent book.

146

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being [ Psalm 146 ]. The customary units of the praise psalm appear in the following order: call to praise (vv. 1–2); a foil to the praise of God in the form of dispraise of trusting in human rulers (vv. 3–4); catalog of God’s praiseworthy acts in creation and in behalf of the weak of the earth (vv. 5–10); repetition of the refrain that started the poem (last line). -ESVLB-

This Psalm praises God for an entire list of things that He does.

The history of the faith revealed in the Bible shows that these are not absolutes—He has not vindicated all who are oppressed, or fed all who are hungry, or given sight to all who are blind. But it is His intent to do all these things, and He will; the Bible affirms that all the promises of God will be fulfilled, if not in this life, surely in the life to come. Everything will be put right. But the fact is that God has done these things again and again, and His greatest fulfillment has been in the work of Christ (2 Co 1:20).

3-4 = Any man, even a king or prince, can not be relied upon because their life will eventually come to an end. See 1 Peter 1:24-25.

5-6 = Because of verses 3-4, people who put their trust in the LORD will be blessed. Our hearts will be fulfilled only when we surrender it to Him.

7-9 = Once again we see God's heart for the poor, oppressed, lowly, and broken.

Q. Do you have anguish over the same things God does? Why or Why Not?

10 = Because the LORD will reign forever, our response is Psalm 145:21 - "My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever."

Q. What does it look like to constantly be praising the LORD in every area of your life?

147

Great is our Lord [ Psalm 147 ]. Like many praise psalms, this one begins and ends with the formula “praise the Lord” (vv. 1, 20). Within this envelope, the poem alternates between commands to praise God (vv. 1, 7, 12) and catalogs of God’s praiseworthy acts (vv. 2–6, 8–11, 13–20). All three units of praise alternate between God’s acts in the human community and in nature. Whereas the first two units are generalized, extending to believers in all places and times, the focus of the third unit is specifically on OT Israel, as the call to praise already signals (v. 12) and as the concluding reference to God’s revelation highlights (vv. 19–20). As we near the end of the Psalter, it becomes obvious that the book is structured as moving toward a final crescendo of praise. -ESVLB-

1 = Singing and Praising our LORD is a good thing, not just something we do (a motion). It is actually fitting, because the overflow of our love for Him should result in praise. Our joy results in magnifying Him!

2 = This verse is most likely discussing the rebuilding of Jerusalem with the returned exiles in view from Neh 1.

3-6 = Attributes of God given here: Healer, Compassionate, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Sovereign, Just

8-9 = I'm reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 6: "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

10-11 = Love this principle since I'm not the quickest person :) - Those who survive are not necessarily the swiftest or most powerful, but those who fear the LORD (see esp. Prov. 21:31). Fear of the LORD, i.e., respect for God that leads to following His ways, is a major principle in wisdom teachings. -JSB-

13-20 = This is a description of God and His covenantal relationship with His people.

20 = Don't take this out of proper context. It's clear that God has chosen the nation of Israel as His people. However, we see throughout the Psalms and the rest of the Scripture that God's desire is to display His glory to the rest of the nations, so that, all will acknowledge Him, praise Him, thereby bringing glory to Him. They do not know His rules as of yet, but they will eventually.

148

Praise him, sun and moon: a nature poem [ Psalm 148 ]. This is the fifth nature poem in the Psalter. As in the other nature poems, the poet handles the material in such a way as to deflect the ultimate praise to God. The poem is a chain of doxologies (commands to praise God) and also a catalog of apostrophes (direct addresses to phenomena that are absent but treated as if they were present and could hear and respond). The poem’s arrangement is highly artistic. There are three general movements, as creatures are successively commanded to praise God “from the heavens” (vv. 1–5), “from the earth,” meaning nonhuman earthly creatures (vv. 7–10), and “all peoples” (vv. 11–13). Even though the third movement focuses on people rather than what we ordinarily think of as nature, in the biblical view people are part of nature. Twice the string of doxologies and apostrophes is interrupted as the poet states a reason for commanding creatures to praise God, beginning with the connective word for (vv. 5, 13). In the first of these two units, the poet offers God’s creation of the whole world as the reason for creatures to praise God (vv. 5–6). In the second motivatory section (vv. 13–14), addressed specifically to people, the proposed reason for praising God is his redemption of his people, as signaled by the word pattern of “raised up a horn,” “his people,” “all his saints,” “the people of Israel who are near to him.” -ESVLB-

Here we see that praise is not just found in singing, but that God's praise is happening all around us. Romans 1:20 says, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." & Psalm 19:1-5 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy."

Here are some things/areas where praise does, and must happen from:

2 - Heavens, Angels, etc.

3 - Sun, Moon, and Stars

4 - Heavens (universe) & Waters

7 - Sea Creatures

8 - "elements" - Fire, Hail, Snow, Wind, Rain

9 - Mountains, Hills, Trees

10 - Animals

11 - Authority

12 - Everyone!

13 - The key word here is, "alone"

14 - He raises the horn, meaning, the power, of His people of Israel. He has raised up victory for His people.

149

Let the godly exult [ Psalm 149 ]. The conventional motifs of the praise psalm unfold as follows: formal call to praise, including the command itself, the audience to whom the command is directed, and the modes of praise (vocal and instrumental music and dancing;vv. 1–3); the reason for the command, namely, the praiseworthy acts of God (v. 4); a return to the commands to praise (vv. 5–6); in an unexpected development, a call to wield weapons against the enemies of God (vv. 6–9). -ESVLB-

Psalm 148 recalls the benefits that the whole world will one day receive through God's work on behalf of the faithful in Israel, Psalm 149 end by calling to mind the expectation that the faithful will one day be God's agents of judgment through the world (1 Cor 6:2-3, Jude 14-15, Rev 19:14) - ESVSB-

3 - Dancing! Some people would not be too excited about this.

6-9 - I'm assuming you're asking WHAT?! Here's my explanation: In the hands of OT warriors, the sword was a literal weapon; in the hands of Christians, it is the Word of God (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12). The praise of God, combined with the proclamation of the Word, make up the believers’ dual weapon in carrying out the Lord’s decree of judgment against evil authorities (Ps 149:7–9). This is another reason why one can't read the Bible in a completely literal sense.

150

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord [ Psalm 150 ]. Psalm 150 is to the Psalter what the climax of sound is at the end of an animated symphony performance. Its unique feature is that it consists entirely of the conventional call to praise. The variations on the theme are as follows: the command to praise (opening and closing lines); who must praise God, and where (v. 1); what God should be praised for (v. 2); the modes of praise, all of them musical instruments (vv. 3–5); a restatement of who should praise God (v. 6). -ESVLB-

1-6 = This seems to me like the most instrumental Psalm of them all. A huge party is happening and I want to be a part of it!

6 - Thinking of the song, "Let everything that, everything that, everything that has breath praise the LORD!"