Day 271: Psalms 57-59 | 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 thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) Hey, Emily. Welcome to day 271 here on the Bible department podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Manny Orango. And today we are looking at Psalms 57, 58 and 59. All three of these Psalms are miktams, miktams, that's right. If you have another reading yet, then you're definitely gonna wanna go ahead and do the reading. Easy reading, obviously, poems are pretty easy to read. Psalm 57, 58, 59. You're gonna see similar themes throughout. David is definitely gonna communicate with the language of being hunted like prey. So we're gonna get a lot of animal like language for the people that are trying to devour him or ensnare him or trap him. Super, super poetic, really beautiful, in my opinion. Like always, if you haven't done the reading, then you're not gonna really understand the content of this episode. I'm gonna start out with context clues, then we're gonna move to nerdy nuggets, always gonna leave off with a timeless truth. If you've done the reading,

then with no further ado, let's jump into the episode. All right, we've got context for Psalm 57 and Psalm 59. Actually, Psalm 57, 58 and 59 kind of work as a chiasm. And if you're new to the podcast, you may not know how chiasm's work. It means that the outside of the sandwich kind of begins to become an interpretive clue for what's happening inside, right? So a chiasm, let's say in the New Testament in the book of Mark would be Jairus has a daughter who's sick. He goes to see Jesus to get healing for his daughter. And in the middle of Jairus' conversation with Jesus, a one with the issue of blood pops up. And then after the one with the issue of blood is healed, they go to Jairus' house. So it's like Jairus, one with the issue of blood, Jairus. So Jairus becomes the sandwich or the bread for the sandwich. And then the one with the issue of blood becomes the meat, what's in the middle. And so you've got to interpret what's happening with the girl and with Jairus to understand what's happening with the woman and vice versa. You've got to understand what's happening with the woman to understand what's happening with girl and with Jairus, right? So another word for this would be an intercalation or just a sandwich. But a chiasm means that the gold is in the middle, right?

So Psalm 57 and Psalm 59 are very, very, very similar which help us to understand Psalm 58, which doesn't have a context heading. So Psalm 57 does have a context heading, okay? Psalm 57 tells us right up at the top. It says when David had fled from Saul into the cave, okay? And so the context for Psalm 57 is gonna be 1 Samuel chapter 24. And we're gonna look at first Samuel chapter 24 in just a second. Psalm 59, the context for Psalm 59, we can read the heading right up at the top of the Psalm is gonna be when Saul had sent men to watch David's house in order to kill him, okay? So the context for Psalm 57 is for Samuel chapter 24. And I just wanna make note that this is not chronological order. So Psalm 59's context is for Samuel chapter 19, okay? So first Samuel chapter 24, for the context for Samuel chapter 57. So sorry, Psalm 57. And then first Samuel 19 is the context for Psalm 59. All right, so all three of these Psalms are written in a time of great distress while David is on the run. And so the context really in terms of just distressed and on the run is the same as yesterday if you were here for day 270 of the podcast. Okay, now there's another little, we're gonna get into first Samuel 24, first Samuel 19 in just a moment.

So a little bit more context than normal, but there's another little, it's kind of a nerdy nugget of context. So it's not a context clue, but it's a nerdy nugget of context. So I know emerging context clues with nerdy nuggets here. Let's look at the headings again. Psalm 57 says this, for the director of music to the tune of do not destroy, to the tune of do not destroy. Okay, now let's look at 58, Psalm 58. For the director of music to the tune of do not destroy. And then let's look at Psalm 58. For the director of music to the tune of "Do Not Destroy" of David a Mictan, okay? We're gonna see that repeated for all three of our Psalms that we have assigned to the Bible reading plan today. So the tune of "Do Not Destroy." So what's going on with that, okay? And I know this is super granular, like you can't just read the Psalm itself, you gotta read the heading, okay? So what's up with this tune, "Do Not Destroy." Well, let's kind of help us dive in to what that could mean, okay? Because I've got some clues as to what's going on here. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter nine, okay? Deuteronomy chapter nine, verse 25. This is Moses talking, okay? This is our golden calf incident, and Moses is gonna intercede on the behalf of the people

because God actually says to Moses, "Hey, I'm gonna destroy all these people, and I mean you can start over, okay? Let's read Deuteronomy chapter nine. I lay prostrate before the Lord. This is Moses recounting something that had happened a long time ago. I lay prostrate before the Lord, those 40 days or 40 nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you, verse 26. I prayed to the Lord and said, "Sophan Lord, do not destroy, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand." So Moses prays to the Lord that the Lord would not destroy. Here we go, do not destroy, that's Moses prayer, to the Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you're redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. We're gonna see this phrase again in Isaiah chapter 65, verse eight. This is what the Lord says. "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, don't destroy it, there is still a blessing in it. So I will do it on behalf of my servants. I will not destroy them all, do not destroy." So now let's go to first Samuel chapter 26, okay?

This is David who has an opportunity to kill the man who's trying to kill him, Saul. And here's what he says, "But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him. Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives," he said, "the Lord himself will strike him where his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish, but the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. Now get the spear and the water jug that are near his head and the left go." So David took the spear and the water jug near Saul's head and they left. No one saw or knew about it. Nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep. Do not destroy. So what, okay, why did I lead us down this trail of breadcrumbs? Because just the heading on Psalm 57, 58, and 59 are actually telling us that David has the character of Moses and Yahweh. That is what's being said here. The reason that these Psalms have to be sung to the tune of do not destroy is because then you're supposed to Google search in your mind, where else does the Bible say

do not destroy? And then you go look up those stories and you go, oh, Moses said those words to the Lord when the Lord wanted to destroy the people. And then Isaiah says, speaking for God that God is not gonna destroy the people of Israel, although they're rebellious. And then we get the story of David in 1 Samuel 26 where he could kill Saul. But it's intentional not to use the word kill, but use the word destroy because every word in Hebrew is very, very intentional. So the writer uses the word destroy to link David and his character to Moses and to Yahweh. This is brilliant. This is just such an artistic way to write. And so the theme that we have for all three of these Psalms is that David will not destroy that which only God is allowed to destroy. And that is gonna be our Thomas truth for the day because a lot of us, we're battling with unforgiveness and vengeance and jealousy, but we don't realize vengeance. In the moment I try to take vengeance for myself, then actually I'm stepping into God's shoes. I'm stepping into God's position. And I'm acting like God. I'm actually doing something that's very, very idolatous. All right. So let's back up and get even more context, okay?

'Cause that's the theme running through these three Psalms is the very tune that the Psalms has to be played to are telling you something about David's character, that he will not destroy Saul. Even though Saul is actively trying to murder him, Saul is trying to kill David, but David will not destroy Saul because like Moses and like Yahweh, David will refuse to destroy anything that he has not been given a green light to destroy. Wow, that right there, just that alone blows my mind. Okay, now let's actually look at the context. All right, family, 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. The context for Psalm 57 is first image chapter 24. So let's flip the first image chapter 24. What's happening in first image chapter 24? I'll tell you exactly what's happening. Okay, David is hiding. Okay, in a cave and Saul goes into the cave to relieve himself. Okay, this is actually supposed to be pretty funny. Okay, that Saul has to go number two. And it's clear that he's gotta go number two and not number one, because while he's going number two, David is gonna cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And he's only able to do that if he's going number two, not if he's going number one. So pretty comical that the king is going number two and that the Bible is just gonna tell us that he's going number two. That's funny, okay? It says this, "Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Afterwards, David was conscious stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe." He said to the men, "The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master. The Lord's anointed, or lay my hand on him, for he is the anointed of the Lord."

With these words, David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way, okay? So I love this, David feels conscious stricken about cutting a corner off of a man's robe who's actively trying to kill him. Man, this is character. I know I've said this so many times we're talking about David, that David is less moral than Saul, but David has better character than Saul, okay? He will not touch God's anointed. And had David kept this same mindset when dealing with Uriah, aka Beth Shiba, he would have done good in life. But people are complex and people change, okay? So the context of Psalm 57 is that David is in the desert of Engedi, okay? And Saul takes 3,000 men and set out to look for David and his men near the crags of the wild goats. He came to the sheet pens along the way. A cave was there and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. Now I need you to see this, okay? If you're in 1st, 7, and 24, you gotta see this. Verse four, "The men said." So David's men, what do they say? "This is the day the Lord spoke of. "When he said to you, I will give your enemy "into your hands for you to deal with as you wish."

So the men are now reminding David of a word he's received from God. A promise he's received from God. But David does not take his cues from his followers. There's a good leadership lesson right here that every leader is gonna have to get to a place where they go, "I know how to discern the difference "in what the Lord has said and how the people Okay, so the men said, I want you to compare that to verse nine, drop down to verse nine, 'cause we're gonna compare and contrast Samuel. Sorry, Saul to David. Okay, verse nine says these words of chapter 24 of 1 Samuel. He said to Saul, so now David is gonna confront Saul. He's got a corner of his robe. He's got to confront Saul. Why do you listen when men say David has been on harming you? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. I could have killed you very, very easily. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said I will not lay my hand on my Lord because he is the Lord anointed. See my father look at this piece of your robe in my hand. I cut off the corner of your robe, but did not kill you. And obviously cutting off the corner of the robe proves I could have killed you because you were in a vulnerable position, okay? I could have easily killed you.

I did not kill you. I need you to know that I could have though. Here's the contrast, David is saying to Saul, why are you listening to your men? Get this, I'm not listening to mine. My men are telling me to kill you, but I don't listen to my followers. I listen to the Lord. And instead of listening to the Lord, you've decided to listen to your people, your followers. Why? David is literally contrasting himself with Saul. Hey, he's saying, Saul, can you do what I'm doing? I'm not listening to my men. I'm listening to the Lord. I'm taking my cues from the Lord, not from my followers. I love this, okay? And then he says these words, verse 12, may the Lord judge between you and me, okay? So this whole theme, do not destroy, okay? Do not destroy. We saw this theme in first Samuel chapter 26, but we're also seeing it here in first Samuel chapter 24, that now there's multiple times where David could kill Saul and he refuses to kill the person who's trying to kill him. Okay, what's this context for Psalm 59? It's first Samuel chapter 19. So we got to flip all the way five chapters in the past. Again, I hope you get this by now. The Psalms are not gonna give us these moments

in chronological order, okay? 19, okay? And it says this in the heading, okay? When Saul had sent men to watch David's house in order to kill him, okay? So this is gonna spark David being on the run. We'll actually back up to verses. We'll start reading in verse nine, chapter 19, verse nine, but an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the liar, Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape. Okay, so David is obviously in Saul's palace and Saul tries to pin him to the wall with his spear, meaning throw the spear through him to kill him. And so now verse 11 is where we pick up, which is what Psalm 59 is based on, okay? It says Saul sent men to David's house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But me call, that's his wife, that's also Saul's daughter. David's wife, Saul's daughter. Warned him, if you don't run for your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed. So me call it David down through a window and he fled and escaped. Then me call took an idol and lay it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goat's hair at the head.

When Saul sent the men to capture David, me call said he is ill, then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him. But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed and at the head was some goat's hair. Saul said to me, call, why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped? Me call told him, he said to me, let me get away, why should I kill you? So David fled, he made us escaped. He went to Samuel at Rama and told him all that Saul had done. Then he and Samuel went to Neoth and stayed there and now David is officially gonna be on the run, okay? So these Psalms, Psalm 57, 58 and 59, all center around, Saul's schizophrenic, They're the couple of timeless truths that we can learn, okay? I spent 20 minutes given context, but honestly, the context brings these Psalms to life, okay? Without the context, the Psalms are beautiful in and of themselves, but to know what David is talking about helps you to appreciate the actual Psalms in a whole different way. There's a couple of lessons timeless truths I think we could take out of this. Number one, even a bad leader can create good character or let me say this, can reveal good character in you. Bad leadership reveals more about me than it does about them. Bad leadership. Now, I've had good leaders, I've had bad leaders, I've had toxic leaders, I've had healthy leaders. Now, I've been on staff three different times in my life. I'm now leading a church, planting a church, and not every leader I've ever had has been a healthy, positive, good leader. I've had some toxic leaders, and I will say, I'm so thankful for the good leaders, but I'm also thankful for the toxic leaders because they've revealed something about me, to me. And so, I think sometimes we think the only people we can learn from are good, healthy, perfect, great, awesome leaders. But the reality is that David, we are not impressed by David because he had a fantastic leader. We're impressed by David because Saul's wicked,

and it juxtaposes David's character so much more. Number two is God who elevates. It is God who judges, and ultimately, it is God who replaces people, not us. All we need to know that, that is God who gives platforms. It's God who elevates people in his church. God does that stuff. And if there's one big idea that I want to drive home as we land the plane here, it's Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 35. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 35. And Paul is going to quote this in the New Testament in Romans chapter 12 verse 19. And here's the simple idea, vengeance is mine says the Lord. David could have easily sought vengeance on Saul for all of Saul's evil plotting and death threats and attacks. But David declares, you know what, how I respond to you says more about me than it says about you. And so, I am not going to match your energy. I'm not going to respond in kind. I am going to treat you based on my covenant loyalty to Yahweh, not based on how your actions towards me deserve to be treated. Okay. And David could have made every excuse in the world to kill Saul because in David's mind, he could have just come to the conclusion, well, God already anointed me to be king. But here's what David understands. He actually says this, I think in 1 Samuel 23, if the Lord is going to kill him, then let the Lord do it. I won't be the one to do it. And I think sometimes we assume, well, since it's God's will, I may as well be the one to act out God's will. And actually, the saying can be said about Judas in the New Testament. Somebody's got to portray Jesus, but it doesn't have to be Judas. Judas could have decided it ain't going to be me. Somebody's got to portray Jesus and it ain't got to be me. And you can see how David goes, Saul's got to die, but I'm going to be the one to do it. And I think that, you know, I've said to a lot of wives, hey, if your husband who you're submitted to tells you to do something stupid, how about you just make sure that he has a problem with God. But the moment I step out from another covering now, I have a problem with God too, or rather God has a problem with me. And in every situation where I've had a bad leader, I'm going to tell you right now, God's protected me. I've obeyed. I've submitted. I've done what that person has asked me to do. And God's protected me. And God's covered me. And I love that these are mictams and that that word ketsumu means to cover because not only do I think David is is praying these with a covering over his lips. I think that these Psalms are testament to the fact that God can cover you better than you can protect yourself. And God begins to say vengeance is mine says the Lord. And so you can let go of whatever the grudges or the bitterness or the unforgiveness and let God enact vengeance. Because guess what? He can keep

All right, tomorrow, we've got day 272. We're gonna be looking at Psalms 60 to 62 right here. Same time, same place, same channel. I love you guys. If you're on a streak of pride to you, if you're not, let's go. Come on, it's the Psalms, let's dive in. Love you guys, see you 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 thebobbledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) you