Day 266: Psalms 42-44 | 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 thebaldapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) Family, welcome to day 266. We are in Psalms, chapter 42, chapters 43 and 44 today. We got three Psalms that we are gonna trek through today. I love all three of these Psalms and gonna give you context clues, gonna give you some nerdy nuggets. And of course, gonna leave off with the timeless truth from these three Psalms. Hey, if you haven't done the reading today, make sure that you actually do the reading. You can stop this video, you can pause the audio and you can read these three quick Psalms. I think that they are gonna bless your life. This podcast is not designed to be a substitute for your daily Bob reading, but to be a supplement for your daily Bible reading. So with no further ado, let's dive in. We got three Psalms to cover and like every day, gonna start out with some context clues, okay? First things first, not only do we have three new Psalms today, but we are crossing over from book one of the book Psalms to book two, okay? This is the second book of the Psalms.

It's the second of five. Remember, the Psalms are split up into five books. We've talked about this previously on the podcast, but I just wanna remind you that from Psalm 42 to Psalm 72 is gonna be book two of the Psalms, okay? Psalm 42 to Psalm 72. These Psalms are thought to have been compiled around 970 to 931 BC during the reign of Solomon, possibly by King Solomon himself, okay? These contain more Psalms of David, either written directly by or in his style as well as Psalms by Solomon, Asaph and some Levitical groups. And the three Psalms that we're gonna look at today are some Psalms by a particular Levitical group, namely the sons of Cora, okay? So the three Psalms that we've got today are all written by the sons of Cora. I wanna give you a little bit more context before we dive into that name, Cora, because if you've been rocking with us all year, then you probably remember Cora from Cora's Rebellion, okay? All the way back in the book of Numbers, we had a rebellion by a man named Cora. These are his descendants, which is very, very fascinating. We'll get into that in just a second, but I wanna give you a little bit more context, okay? First thing I'll say is that the context for these three Psalms are gonna be Second Kings chapter 14 verse 14, okay? Second Kings chapter 14 verse 14

actually tells us about an exile, okay? Not to be confused with like the Babylonian exile, but a much smaller exile, okay? Second Kings chapter 14 verse 14 is kinda recounts the story of a resurgent Israel, okay? Israel's up in the north under King Jehoash, who defeated King Amaziah of Judah at Beth Shemesh, that king of Israel up in the north, King Jehoash, then plunder Jerusalem and took hostages. He also took silver, gold, and holy vessels from the temple back with him to Samaria. And so a lot of scholars would actually conclude that the three Psalms that we're gonna look at today are Psalms written by the sons of Cora, who are actually no longer worshiping or singing or leading worship in the temple in Jerusalem, but they've been taken hostage back up to Samaria, okay? They've been taken hostage, not back up, just up to Samaria to the kingdom of Israel, okay? Northern kingdom of Israel, so the kingdom of Judah are divided at this point in history, and so a lot of scholars don't think that these Psalms come out of the Babylonian exile, but that these Psalms come out of that exile up to Samaria under King Jehoash. And once you kinda know that, a lot of the content of these three Psalms make a whole lot of sense, okay? All right, let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. I think that's all the context that we need. I'll dip a little bit back into context

as I give you this nerdy nugget, but we are moving officially into the nerdy nugget segment of this episode, okay? that King Jehoash Kind of puts these Levitical groups through okay now If you look closely you'll realize that Psalm 42 Has a title, but Psalm 43 does not have a title and that is because they are part one and part two of the same Psalm so the title for Psalm 42 applies to Psalm 43 and this is a title for Psalm 42 is For the director of music a masculine of the sons of chora. Okay, so that title is going to Carry for Psalm 42 and for Psalm 43 and I'm assuming you've already read it when you read Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 The subject matter never changes actually there are things that are repeated Okay, so this end the end of Psalm 42 is why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed with in me put your hope in God for I will yet praise him my Savior and my God Okay, so that's how Psalm 42 ends listen to Psalm how Psalm 43 ends why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me put your hope in God for I will yet praise him my Savior and my God So Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 have the same chorus or bridge if you'd rather and so these two Psalms are connected They are actually one song split into two Psalms Okay, one song probably a singular song that was sung together that have been split into two Psalms or into two poems In their written form, but as they were sung they were most likely sung together Okay, that is why Psalm 43 has no title and then once we get to Psalm 44 We get the same exact title that we have for Psalm 42 and the context for all three Psalms You could tell this when you just read the contents of these three Psalms is second Kings chapter 14 All right, one little nerdy nugget that I that I really want to share here is that These Psalms are from the sons of Kora. Now. This is super super fascinating as Kora is not a good name. Okay, this is not like there's some names that are like good names to have right? And then there's names that are just like ooh associated with Rebellion like like I would never name my daughter Jezebel right like I'm not naming my daughter Delilah, okay, now they can't help the fact that Kora is their great great great great great great great ancestor Okay, so if you remember this Kora was the leading Levite that attempted to replace Aaron as high priest Shortly after the first generation army of Israel refused to fight in Canaan at Kadesh

Kora's judgment for this attempted religious coup Was that he was allowed to perform the duties of a priest in front of Yahweh This is not gonna go well. Okay, uh remember here's a Thomas truth just because you changed God's Answer does not mean you've changed God's mind. Okay, so God's like, okay, let's go You want to have Aaron's job? Go ahead. I'm gonna let you do Aaron's job Okay, he was of course not qualified to do so and when he and the Levites with him offered Incense they were struck down by the holiness of Yahweh, and they died Alright, so just because you change God's answer Don't mean you change God's mind You may want to stop praying that God would give you that boyfriend that you've been asking for who he's already said no to Because by the time he says yes, it's not gonna be a yes That's gonna lead to blessing you change God's answer, but you're not gonna change God's mind. Okay, so the existence of this Levitical group of musicians that are that are they're ancestors Cora is a whole testament of God's grace these Psalm writers and this Levitical group that exists centuries later Show that even though Cora rebuilt his family did not all join in his rebellion at least one of his sons or grandsons must have survived for this Levitical line to continue and so this group bearing the name of the most Infamous member of their tribe wrote these Psalms They wrote Psalms 42 43 and 44 that make it into Holy Scripture Proving that they were in no way like their great great great great great great ancestor. Okay, so that's just a nerdy nugget Okay, you may remember Cora's rebellion from way back in the Torah You may not but I think it's really cool that he's really cool that can redeem their family name. I think that's dope. I think God is a God of redemption and second chances. Okay, next nerdy nugget. Big picture nerdy nugget, okay? An interesting nugget to mention is that in the first book of the Psalms, okay? That Psalm one to 41, in those first 41 Psalms, a personal name for God is gonna get used a lot.

And that's Yahweh, instead of his title, which is Elohim. To give you real numbers, Yahweh is gonna get used in the first book of the Psalms, 278 times, and Elohim is gonna get used 15 times. Remember, Yahweh is the personal covenant name of God. It's a name, it'd be like me calling my wife Tia. A title would be Elohim. A title for my wife would be Pastor Tia, or wife, okay? But a personal name is gonna be Yahweh. Now, this is contrasted in book two. We are now in book two, and there is a massive switch. We are gonna see Elohim is gonna get used far more than Yahweh. Remember, I told you in book one, Yahweh is used 278 times, Elohim is used 15 times. Well, in book two, Elohim is used 188 times, and Yahweh is gonna get used 27 times. This is probably due to a far less amount of personal individually focused Psalms in this book. As such, the relational name of God is used far less. So there's a shift in book two from individual personal Psalms to corporate or congregational Psalms, which is gonna mean that Elohim is gonna get used a lot more than Yahweh. All right, that's a nerdy nugget, okay? One last nerdy nugget, and then we'll get into it some timeless truth. Pambly, 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. We are gonna see a lament. Okay, remember, second Kings, chapter 14 is gonna give us context, that these Psalms are happening in the midst of a really difficult time in Judas history. So these sons of Chora are not like going through a happy, good, joyous time right now. Okay, they are going through suffering and they are in the middle of an exile. And they miss the temple. Kinda imagine you've been a worship leader at church for years, and then all of a sudden, you just, you miss your home church.

I actually can remember this during COVID. I missed corporate worship so much. And actually, I didn't even realize how much I missed corporate worship until we started worshiping together again. And I remember that first worship service, we were all gathered together again, like at our home church in the sanctuary that I've had so many moments with God in, I just bought like a baby, I cried. And I don't always cry in worship. But I realized I haven't worshiped in church together with other believers for like nine months a year. Like it had been a long time. And I was just emotional about it. So think about it, these sons of Chora are used to leading the people of God in praise and in worship, in song at the temple. And they've been exiled up to Samaria and they miss God. You can hear it right here when Psalm 42 opens, okay? These are kind of famous words, but now that we put them in context, I think they'll hit different. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God, okay? As the deer is panting for streams of water, I'm desperate for God. I wanna go back to the temple. I wanna go back to his sanctuary. I'm desperate to sing with God's people again.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Place the holy and sanctified place where they've met with God, which is the temple My tears have been my food day and night while people say to me all day long. Where is your God? well My God's everywhere, but man he's in that temple and the conclusion would have been since you're here in exile Your God must not care that much about you. He must not be that powerful if We the people of Israel up in the north have taken you hostage and remember Israel the northern king of Israel at this point in history are Polytheists at best I mean they have included all Contipating gods in their worship of Yahweh Where's your God these things I remember as I pour out my soul how I used to go down to the house of God Okay, I remember how I used to go to his house under the protection of the mighty one with shouts of joy and praise Among the festive throng okay, I didn't go by myself I went with a festive throng of people down to the house of God and I miss that sometimes I think we can take for granted how Powerful I dare say magical and mysterious corporate worship really is it's a powerful thing But when you're in the rhythm of doing it every single week It's kind of like you kind of forget you start to take it for granted But then when it gets taken away like the pandemic or when we went through COVID-19 You realize man, this has an effect on my soul. So what is the psalmist says? Why my soul are you downcast why so disturbed within me put your hope in God for I will yet praise him my Savior and my God My soul is downcast within me therefore I will remember you From the land of the Jordan the heights of her mom her moan from Mount Mazzar deep calls it deep in the roar of your waterfalls All your ways and breakers have swept over me. Okay, so he's admitting my soul is downcast When we take away corporate worship our soul gets downcast and the psalmist is admitting My soul is not full of joy, but what's the solution here when my soul is downcast? What will I do? I will remember God. I'll remember Yahweh for the land from the land of the Jordan Okay, I'll remember the place where I've met with God and I remember what he did and the same God that met with me there I the psalmist is gonna decide is the same God that's gonna meet with us right here as we're hostages in the northern kingdom of

Israel, all right, let's move into our timeless truth for the day I actually want to share two psalms a couple passages with you They're both from Psalm chapter 44. I'm gonna give you verse two and three first and then I'll give you verses six and seven psalm chapter 44 And all three of these psalms just carry the same tone Okay, Psalms of corporate lament that we're not in the temple that we're not at the house of God Okay So Psalm 44 verses two to three says this with your hand you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors You crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish. Here's the part that I love It was not by their sword that they won the land now. Did they use swords? Yes But the psalmist is saying let's not get this twisted We used our swords, but it was not our swords that brought us victory and that caused to win the land nor did their arm Bring them victory. It was your right hand Lord It was your arm Lord and the light of your face for you loved them man that right there That is the heart of humility a humble person will always say it was not my intelligence It wasn't my networking. It wasn't my charisma. It wasn't any of that. It was God. It was the Lord We're in the middle of planting a church right now. And do I think I'm intelligent? Yeah, I think I'm pretty smart Do I think I'm charismatic? Yeah? I think I'm charismatic. Do I think I'm a good leader a trustworthy leader? Yep, I do But is that the thing that's gonna make our church grow? No, here's what the psalmist says It was not by their sword that they won the land I don't think it's gonna be by our sword that we win the land of Houston I don't think it's gonna be by our sword or our strategy or our ads or our marketing that we take the land No, no, no, no, no. It is by the right hand of God by the arm of the Lord Psalm 44 verses 6 and 7 says the same thing. I put no trust in my bow Do I know how to hunt? Yeah, I do but I do I know how to an archer's bow It could be to hunt game or it could be to fight enemies I put no trust in my bow. My sword does not bring me victory But you give us victory over our enemies you put our adversaries to shed I also think the same about prayer.

Most times what we realize is that a lack of prayer has nothing to do with time management, but everything to do with pride management. And this right here, this is the heart of humility that says I had a sword, but it wasn't my sword that brought me victory. I had a bow, but it wasn't my bow that brought a win, that brought the defeat of my enemies. No, no, no, no, no. Let's not get arrogant, let's not get crazy. It was the Lord. In the heart of humility says it wasn't our money, it wasn't our credit score, it wasn't our good looks, it wasn't our intelligence, it wasn't all these books we got back here. No, it was the Lord. Does that mean we don't, that we've chosen to not be intelligent, or we've chosen to purposely have a bad credit score? No, it just means that even though we bring our swords and our bows to the table, even though we participate with God by using our sword, by using our bow, we're just not gonna give the credit of the victory to the instruments in our own hands. We're gonna give all credit, all glory, all honor to the Lord God almighty. And that's not just true during Solomon's reign, or during the time of the sons of Korah, or when these psalms were penned to parchment, that is true timelessly.

That's true today. And my prayer for you today is that you would walk through today with a heart of humility, that you would say to the Lord, and you would say to others, it was not my sword, it was not my bow, it was not my fill in the blank, that led me to victory, it was always God, he was always the X factor. All right, tomorrow we got day 267. We're gonna be looking at Psalms 45 to 47. We're gonna continue our trek through book two of the wider collection known as the Psalms. I hope you're on a streak. If you are, I'm so, so, so proud of you. If you're not on a streak, let me encourage you. Let's stack up some days, all right? Let's get on a streak. Once you get a streak rolling, come on, you'll get momentum. I'm proud of you, I love you. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 267. Love you guys, 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 thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow. (upbeat music)

[MUSIC PLAYING]