Biblical Reflections

Psalm 69   Psalm 69 is an individual lament in which a faithful person is suffering for the wrongs that he is done, but that the wicked are taking advantage of the suffering and making it worse.  But if this is from David, he represents the whole nation.  The New Testament cites several verses from this Psalm and applies them to the life of Christ.   1-4 – The singer describes great danger from tr...

Psalm 68 is a hymn of celebration for God’s continued care and protection for Israel.  The celebration includes recognizing the defeat of Israel’s enemies is also to benefit the gentile nations, who are constantly at war.  Many scholars believe that David composed this psalm for when the ark was returned to tabernacle in Jerusalem.     1-3 – There is gladness among the faithful when God arises to...

Psalm 67 is a thanksgiving hymn for a fruitful harvest.  God blesses his people Israel so the rest of the world may come to know the true God.    1-3 – May God bless us, the people sing, so that all the nations may know him.   4-5 – May the all the nations be glad in the rule of the true God, who rules justly.    6-7 – God will bless us, his people, so that all the nations of the world will fear h...

Psalm 66 is a hymn of thanksgiving for God’s answer to a personal request.  Yet, it is written to highlight that God’s answers to one person are in context of his answering the prayers of the nation and of all the earth.   1-4 – Let all the earth worship the God of Israel based upon his awesome deeds.   5-7 – The singer describes the miracles of the Exodus as evidence of God’s awesome deeds, which...

Psalm 65 is a hymn of thanksgiving for a fruitful harvest.  The fruitful harvest is the result of God’s covenant promises.     1-4 – The singer begins with praise for God in Zion.  Blessed are those who are part of the covenant people; they are called to worship God.    5-8 – God is praised for his awesome deeds of creation.  The hope of all the ends of the earth are in this awesome creator.   9-1...

Psalm 64 shares the theme with Psalm 63 of confidence in God’s victory over the wicked who pursue David.  Yet, Psalm 64 is an individual lament or request for God’s help against deadly enemies and with confident expectation that God will fight for him.  Psalm 64 presents God’s purpose for his victory as instruction for the faithful and as a way of bringing joy to the godly.   1-6 – David asks that...

Psalm 63 is a lament offered with confident expectation.  The idea is to develop confidence in God during times of trouble.  David probably wrote this Psalm as he was fleeing from Absalom.     1-2 – David is apparently inflight and unable to worship at the sanctuary, so he remembers past worship at the sanctuary.  His soul thirsts and his flesh faints for God.   3-4 – David is confident of future...

Psalm 62 is a call for confidence in God as his people are faced with the wicked who use power and wealth to oppress them.  The temptation in this case is to lose hope and to despair or seek security in power and wealth rather than in God.   1-2 – The singer begins by stating that on God alone and in silence will his salvation come.   3-4 – Next the singer addresses the wicked who attack him with...

Psalm 61 is a lament.  In many ways it is both an individual lament and a community lament, yet it also prays for the well-being of the Davidic King.  The idea here is that the well-being of the people is tied to the well-being of the king, the descendant of David.   1-3 – In poetic form, the congregation imagines themselves at the end of earth as they call upon God who is their refuge and their s...

Psalm 60 is a lament for the whole community at a time when Israel’s existence on the land is threatened by gentile nations.  Stated differently, this Psalm informs us how to pray when your soldiers must fight in order to survive as a nation.  We are not sure which of the events in 2 Samuel 8 are the background for this Psalm.    1-5 – The nation has lost its initials battles with the enemy and no...

Psalm 59 is another individual lament as the faithful person seeks protection from enemies who threaten his life.  The background for this Psalm is 1 Samuel 19:11 where King Saul sends men to watch and to wait for David at his house.  David escapes through a window.  The point of the Psalm is that David claims this pursuit is not his fault.  David uses the words: God – Elohim, O LORD – YHWH, and L...

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Psalm 58 is a community lament, wherein God’s faithful people sing about injustice by their own rulers.     1-2 – The Psalm begins by directly addressing the wicked rulers over them, who allow injustice, wrongs, and violence to the people.  Calling the wicked rulers gods is not to say that the wicked rulers are somehow the Nephilim, but rather to mock them because they act like they are gods.  Alt...

Psalm 57 is a lament as David is once again being pursued by King Saul, who wants to kill David.  Each of the two stanzas mention God’s steadfast love and faithfulness .   1-5 – David begins with a confident request for mercy.  David uses the titles of deity to include the Most High - El Elyon and God - Elohim .  David displays cheerful confidence amid danger because he knows that God fulfills his...

Psalm 56 is part individual lament and part a Psalm of anticipated thanksgiving.  A prayer of gratitude that God has heard the cry for help and will act.  The events behind this Psalm are the same as Psalm 34, and they are discussed in 1 Samuel 21:10-15, when the Philistines seized David in the City of Gath.   1-4 – David reviews his difficult circumstances and sets his mind to trust in God for he...

Psalm 55 is an individual lament only this time the danger comes from the betrayal of a close friend.  This likely based upon the betrayal of David by his closest friend and counselor, Ahithophel in 2 Samuel 15:12, 16:15-23.   1-3 – Here is a plea for mercy.  Danger comes from an enemy that bears a grudge against David in anger.   4-8 – David describes his desperation with words like anguish, terr...

Psalm 54 is an individual lament asking for God’s help against those who threaten the lives of the faithful.  This Psalm is based upon 1 Samuel 23:19 when the Ziphites, Hebrews, inform King Saul that David is hiding among them.     1-3 – David calls to God to save him from ruthless men who seek his life.  Although the Ziphites are covenant people of Israel, they do not set God before themselves.  ...

Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14.  They were likely alternate versions of the same Psalm before they were included in the Psalter.  The theme is to mourn that mankind does not seek after God, and they thus treat God’s people cruelly.  Psalm 14 uses the word LORD for Deity, whereas Psalm 53 uses the word God for Deity.  Psalm 53 describes in greater detail the terror that will befall the wi...

Psalm 52 is a Psalm that gives the faithful confidence that God will deliver them when they are confronted with ruthless enemies.  This Psalm is based upon the murder of the priests of Nob, who had helped David, when he was being pursued by King Saul.  The chief evil doer is a man named Doeg.  Who reports the priests of Nob to King Saul, and at King Saul’s command Doeg slaughters all but one of hi...

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Psalm 51 is one of the seven penitential Psalms, and it is probably the best known of the penitential psalms because it is David’s confession and repentance when he is confronted by the Prophet Nathan after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, Uriah the Hittite.  David appeals to God’s grace as the grounds for forgiveness.  Note that sacrifices in and of themselves...

Psalm 50 is a hymn an oracle, where the worshippers sing God’s instruction for how they should live holy lives.  Yes, the sacrificial system was given to the people as part of their covenant worship, yet sacrifice does not buy any favor or reward from God.  God wants faithfulness, thanksgiving, and obedience.  Of note there are seven different names of God in this Psalm.  This seems to be intentio...

Psalm 49 is a wisdom psalm.  It explains why the pious often deal with trouble, while in contrast, the unfaithful seem to get along so well in life.  The short answer is that God will distinguish between the faithful and the unfaithful after their death.      1-4 – Here is a call to pay attention to attain wisdom and understanding, which is often used in Wisdom Literature to mean spiritual percept...

Official episode 1 from our sister podcast, The Bible in 3D, Slaves of God Season.