Day 259: Psalms 21–23 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible Department podcast, powered by ARMA. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebobledapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (gentle music) - Family, welcome to day 259. We've got three Psalms to cover today. Psalm 21, Psalm 22 and Psalm 23. These Psalms are gonna grow in popularity. Like Psalm 21, you may or may not be familiar with Psalm 22. You are definitely familiar with, and Psalm 23, even heathens are familiar with Psalm 23, all right? Like it's like the one Psalm that everybody knows. So our Psalms are gonna grow in popularity today. I'm glad that all three of these Psalms are bundled together. If you have not done the reading for the day, make sure that you stop the video, pause the audio, go do the reading, really, really, really rich and meaningful Psalms that we get to read today. We don't have to read them. We get to read them, and I'm super, super excited that I get the privilege and the honor of kind of, I don't know, unveiling maybe some of the truth, some of the hidden truths that are in these Psalms. So without further ado, like every day, let's dive into some context. I'll give you context clues,

and then we'll dive into some nerdy nuggets, and then we'll always end with a timeless truth. So let's dive into some context clues. First, all three of these Psalms are Psalms of David. So the one thing that all three of these Psalms share in common is that they are all Psalms of David. Okay, Psalm 21 is our first Psalm of the day, but to just kind of give context on Psalm 21, Psalm 20 and Psalm 21. So we ended yesterday with Psalm 20, and our first Psalm for the day is Psalm 21, okay? So Psalm 20 and Psalm 21 are most likely a pair. So I wanna kind of read this to you. This is Psalm chapter 20 verse four, says, "May he grant you your heart's desire "and fulfill all your plans." And then Psalm 21 verse two says this, "You have given him his heart's desire "and have not withheld the request of his lips." So there's all these little, I would say, corresponding matching verses from Psalm 20 and Psalm 21, okay? It's kind of, I wanna think, I want you to think about it as like, these are matching royal Psalms, okay? So there's fulfillment happening in Psalm 21 based on prayers or faith that happened in Psalm 20. Psalm 20 sees a king asking Yahweh for salvation from his enemies. And Psalm 21 then is a Psalm of a king who has seen the salvation by Yahweh from his enemies.

The Psalm begins with the king rejoicing in Yahweh strength and exalting in his salvation. So I guess a modern equivalent to this. I remember one of the things that I love about Hillsong Church, I don't know if they still do this, they used to do this a lot when I was attending like Hillsong campuses on a regular basis is when the MC went up to just kind of transition worship, they would always do prayer requests and praise reports. So they would have a couple of praise reports, they would read like, man, you know, we prayed recently for someone to be healed for cancer and here's a praise report that they were healed or we prayed recently that somebody would get a job and they got that job and it built faith so that we could then go into prayer requests. Something about reading praise reports helps you to have faith for prayer requests, right? They're corresponding. And so these Psalms work the exact same way. You begin to see in Psalm 20, the prayer request and you begin to see in Psalm 21, the praise report of that prayer fulfilled. So Psalm 20, Psalm 21 go together, they're matching prayer. All right, the big theme of Psalm 20 and Psalm 21 is that the King trusts in Yahweh, okay? The King trusts in Yahweh. So that is the driving point of both of those Psalms, okay? Psalm 22, the way that I would naturally say this as our context flew for the day

is that the context for Psalm 22 is Mark 1534 in Matthew 27, 46. Well, it's because Psalm 22 starts out with these words, these iconic words. David says this, my God, my God, why have you? of the context for Psalm 22, but actually it's the opposite, okay? So I'm going to say it in an unnatural way or a counterintuitive way because that's actually more accurate. Psalm 22 is the context for the word spoken by Jesus on the cross. And those words are my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, we're going to get into kind of a context clue and a nerdy nugget because a lot of people begin to preach these words by Jesus, and they begin to create this idea that God the father foresaw Jesus on the cross. But the problem with that is that that's very anti-chinnitarian, okay? No member of the Trinity can turn his back on or forsake another member of the Trinity. That literally is not possible, but people preach it all the time. And so I kind of want to bring some helpful context for what is this Psalm doing? So I'm going to kind of mix in a nerdy nugget with a context clue. And I want to just alert you of the fact that the way that things get titled in the Jewish world is based on the first words of something. So we can see this with a book like Genesis and Exodus, okay? So in Hebrew, okay, not in English, okay, not for Christians, not for Americans, but in Hebrew the book of Genesis is actually called when God began. That's the name of the book, when God began. Why is that the name of the book? Well, that's the name of the book because that's the first line. That's the opening lines, line of the book of Genesis. So when a Hebrew person wants to title something, they just take the first line and make that the title, okay? That's not what we do in English, okay? In English, a title is a title. It's not just the first lines of a song or the first lines of a book. Exodus, same thing. In Hebrew, the book of Exodus, what we call Exodus, is not called Exodus. It's called these are the names. These are the names. Why is that the title of the book of Exodus in Hebrew? Well, it's because that's the first line. The book of Exodus begins in Hebrew with these words. These are the names. And so therefore in Hebrew, you just take the first line and you make it the title. That's what you do, okay? So the first line of Psalm 22 is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And the way that we would abbreviate that would just be to call the Psalm, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" So in English, we would call this Psalm 22. But in Hebrew, you would call

this, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" So when Jesus is on the cross and he cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" What's probably happening is that he is reciting the entirety of the Psalm. Him saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" would be the equivalent of him saying Psalm 22, okay? Instead of us taking Jesus' words, literally, we need to put Jesus' words in context. Now, as we put Jesus' words in context, you begin to realize a couple of things. Let's read through the word, the Psalm. It says, "All who see me mocked me, they hear all insults shaking their heads." Is that a good way to describe the crucifixion of Jesus? Yeah, let's keep going. Verse 11, "Do not be far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help." By the way, this is a personal lament of David. At some point in his life when he's going through deep anguish and suffering, okay? Jesus recognizes that this ain't just about David. This applies to me on the cross or in the crucifixion. Verse 12, "Many bulls surround me, strong bulls of Bishan encircle me, roaring lions that tear their prey, open their mouths wide against me." Sounds like the crucifixion to me. "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted within me." We know that this is the literal, you know, if we were to do an autopsy on the body of Jesus' post-crucifixion, this is exactly what would happen. Like, his heart literally broke under the pressure, okay? His heart actually did turn to wax and melted within him. "My mouth is dried up like a postured. What does he say on the cross? I'm thirsty, and they give him vinegar, okay? My mouth is dried up like a postured. My tongue is stuck to the roots of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of the earth, dogs around me, a pack of villains that circles me. They pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display. People stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them. Guys, this is 100% of Messianic Psalm, but it's also a psalm of lament, personal lament, that David doesn't realize it's going to be a Messianic Psalm, and then how does it end? And this is why I get annoyed when people just preach, you know, God, you know, forsook Jesus on the cross. First of all, that's just not possible based on our Trinitarian theology.

Second of all, here we go. Verse 19, "But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life, from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lion, save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my people. In the assembly, I will praise your name like all psalms of David, they end on a high note. All you descendants of David, honor him, revere him. All descendants of Israel, for he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help. So all these sermons about how God turned his face away from Jesus on the cross, it's like, no, the end of the psalm literally says, he has not hidden his face from him, from the anointed one, from the Messiah, from the afflicted one, from the suffering servant, but has listened to his cry for help. And then how does it end? The psalm ends with these words. They will proclaim his righteousness, declare it to all people yet unborn. He has done it. He has done it. And what does Jesus say on the cross? It is finished, it is completed, it is done.

It's done, okay? So the Psalm 22 ends the exact same way that Jesus is going to end his time of crucifixion, it's time of suffering, it is done, it's finished, it's completed, the penalty of sin has been paid for, the price of sin has been paid for. The atoning work of Jesus on the cross is done. And this sin issue has been dealt with, what does Hebrew say, once and for all, okay? So if you want to understand everything that's happening in Jesus' words spoken in Mark 15, and in Matthew 27, while he's on the cross, then you got to actually read the entirety of Psalm 22. And why do most of us not read the entirety of Psalm 22? Well, because we're not used to the fact that Hebrews take the first line of a song or a psalm or a book and use that for a title. So if I were to hold up a title of a book and just say the title of that book, one of the books that I'm about to start reading is Three Ring Circus. I'm really, really excited about it. It's about Jack, Kobe, and Phil Knight, anyway. Phil Jackson, sorry, you know, I'm about to start reading this book, Three Ring Circus. If I was to say, Three Ring Circus, you wouldn't think to yourself that the title is a statement that I'm making. You would think to yourself, there's something in that book

that the person who just said that wants us to read. And the contents of the book is the message, not the title. And so often we take Jesus' words and we turn those words, instead of it being a title, it becomes the content of the message itself. And it's not actually the entirety of the psalm is the content of the message. All right, let's get down to our next nerdy nugget, okay? And we're transitioning out of context clues officially now into nerdy nuggets. Let's go to Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. Makes me lie down in green pastors. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk to the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. Why? For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they bring me comfort. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the prince of my enemies. You'll know it in my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely your goodness and love

will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Okay, this something really, really cool is happening with Psalm 23. It's probably the most famous of all the Psalms that David writes. And the really, really cool thing is that David is using a real experience from his life and then attributing that to Yahweh. So what do we know? What's the context? What do we know about David? He was a shepherd. That's what we know about David. That my man has first-hand experience with leading sheep, loving sheep, guiding sheep, feeding sheep, protecting sheep, defending sheep, okay? That David knows exactly how to shepherd a flock. And now David begins to look at his life and looks at the Lord and speaks. Okay, so two things. Number one, David now is gonna become the archetype for leadership, that what it means to be a good leader is that you are a good shepherd and a king, that you're a shepherd, king. This is also gonna be the archetype for Jesus. Jesus is a shepherd, king. But David then says, "Man, God is a shepherd, king." Not only am I a shepherd and a king, but Yahweh is a shepherd, okay?

So this metaphor of Yahweh being a shepherd comes from the personal life of David. David is a shepherd and he's like, "Man, as I'm guiding the flock, "there's something about what I'm doing "that's making me realize something about who God is." And this is really, really powerful that this isn't something that starts with God and then David copies. It's actually something that starts with David and then in David being a shepherd, he learned something about God. And this is the two-fold nature of leadership. I would say the heads and tails, the flip side of the same coin of leadership, that in order to be a great leader, you've gotta be gentle and soft and nurturing like a shepherd. But you also have to be tough and dominant and aggressive and decisive like a king. And obviously God models this perfectly. Yahweh models this perfectly. Jesus is both the lion and the lamb. And if I could just be honest and vulnerable for most of my career being a ministry leader or a church leader, and I use that word career lightly, you guys know what I mean. For most of my vocational life, it's been very easy for me to be a lion.

It's been really easy for me to be a king, to be an authoritarian, decisive, aggressive leader. What's taken a lot of time is you need me to learn how to be a shepherd. Whoo, guess what? The more I act like a shepherd, the more I begin to see the ways that God is shepherding me. So it's not just that when I see God shepherding me, I then act that way towards others. It's actually counterintuitive. When I act that way towards others, I begin to see God acting that way towards me. Sambley, the weight is over. My brand new book, "Crushing Chaos" is out now and available everywhere books are sold literally today. I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy if you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective. If you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller.

I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. David realizes at some point, not only am I a shepherd and the Lord is my shepherd, which leads us perfectly in our timeless truth, that there is two sides of the leadership coin. Now there's some people who they're naturally very shepherty, naturally very gentle, very patient, very kind. That's their natural disposition. They lead people gently. They know how to shepherd people's souls. And for those people, they've got to learn how to also beat Kingley. You got to also be someone who knows how to make decisions, move the organization forward, so on and so forth. Everyone who can maybe relate to me, maybe you're naturally bold, naturally fast-paced, naturally decisive. Man, what's my process of sanctification has involved, me learning how to be a shepherd, me learning how to walk with people patiently, slowly leading them through the difficulties of life. And what's the big, the big, big, big point is that sheep are scared of all kinds of things. They can't feed themselves, they can't protect themselves. Okay, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. Why?

'Cause I have the shepherd. That's it. Why am I not scared? Why am I fed? Why am I protected? 'Cause I have the shepherd. The non-negotiable element here is the shepherd that as long as I have God, I have everything that, Man, this is why the New Testament can say, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness." And what? All these things will be added unto you. Because if I get the shepherd, I get provision. If I get the shepherd, I get protection. If I get the shepherd, I get comfort. If I get the shepherd, I get correction. If I get the shepherd, I get everything. But without a shepherd, sheep, wander, they die, they get eaten as prey, they get lost, sheep cannot exist without shepherds. And so two things as our timeless truths for the day. Number one, God wants to be your shepherd. Number two, God shepherds you through earthly shepherds. So this idea that you don't need a pastor, it's crazy. That's a crazy idea. You 100% need a pastor. You 100% need a pastor. And when we get to the books like Ezekiel, you'll begin to see that God, Yahweh, is upset because the shepherds of Israel have failed in their job.

You'll also see when Jesus commissions Peter. He'll say, "A, I'm the good shepherd, and now B, feed my sheep." So I'm a shepherd, but I'm only a shepherd in the authority that God is a shepherd, and now he's allowed me to be a shepherd. So I can't say that I obey the shepherd I can't see, but I disobey the shepherd I do see. You need a shepherd in your life. You need a pastor, you need God. And typically God shows up to shepherd you through a pastor, and that's timeless. That was true in David's life. David is the shepherd for the flock of Israel. That's true in Jesus' life. Jesus is the shepherd and then entrust those sheep to Peter and the other disciples. And that's true today. God is ultimately our shepherd. And how do we access God as our shepherd? Well, we access God as our shepherd by shepherding other people and allowing shepherds to shepherd us. And shepherds are caring, they're loving. They are protective and it's funny. I'm in the season of planting a church. And for the, almost for the first time, there's this like protective nature that I have around sheep. I'm just kind of like, "Whoa, well, like the other day."

Somebody was like, "Oh, I listen to such and such podcasts." I was like, "Ah, I don't know if that grass is good. "I don't know if I trust you eating that grass. "Wait, poison, don't eat that grass." You know, for the first time in my life, I'm just like overly caring and protective over like, "No, no, no, God's giving me these sheep "and they're mine to protect. "And God's gonna hold me accountable "for what I do with these sheep." So, timeless truth, if you're a shepherd, the more you act out as a shepherd, the more you begin to understand God's heart towards you. And second, if you're a sheep, you can't say that you trust your shepherd who's God if you don't trust the shepherd that God's placed in your life. That's timelessly true forever. All right, tomorrow we've got day 260. We got a couple of Psalms that we're gonna actually go through. We got Psalm 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. We got six Psalms. All right, that's a timeless truth for the day. Tomorrow we're gonna dive in a day 260. Can you believe it? We're already at day 260. That means like 105 days, I think, 105 days left before the end of the year, 105 days left before you can say, you studied the entire Bible in a calendar year.

Isn't that awesome? I'll see you right here. Tomorrow for day 260, we're gonna dive in a Psalms 24, 25 and 26. It's gonna be fantastic. I'll see you right here tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebobledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) you