Day 272: Psalms 60-62 | 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. (tense music) Hey, Hamley, welcome to day 272. Here on the Bible Department podcast, I'm your host, Dr. Manny Orango. And today we're walking through three Psalms. Psalm 60, Psalm 61 and Psalm 62. If you have not done the reading yet, make sure that you stop the video, pause the audio and go get the reading done. Quick Psalms, I would say these aren't the most popular Psalms, but we get headings for a lot of them. So the context is gonna be pretty easy to figure out. And then like always, I'll give you some nerdy nuggets and then I'll leave the episode with a, I'll leave off, I'll close the episode off with a timeless truth. 'Cause the goal is not just to learn historical facts. It's actually to put the word of God into practice in our everyday life. So if you have read Psalm 60, Psalm 61 and Psalm 62, let's dive into some context. All right, like always, well, with the last couple of days on the Psalms, we've been looking at headings

and we get a pretty detailed heading for Psalm 60. It says this, for the director of music to the tune of "The Lily of the Covenant." Don't know what that tune sounds like, but that's what we're gonna sing this to. A mictam of David for teaching when he fought Aram, Naharaim and Aram Nabah or Nobah, okay? And when Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt, very, very, very, very detailed heading that we get right before Psalm 60. Now, you may be thinking, okay, when did that happen? Well, this entire episode happened in 2 Samuel chapter eight, verses three to six, verses 13 to 14, and then 2 Samuel chapter 10, verses 15 to 19. So like always, when we get something that's referenced in 2 Samuel, or 1 Samuel for that matter, when 1 Samuel is the context for the Psalms, we go to 1 2 Samuel. And so David's no longer on the run, like that's not the portion of Psalms that we're like in, okay? The last couple of days, all of those Psalms were kinda really emphasizing the distress, the fact that he was on the run, being hunted by Saul. But now we are gonna look at some of David's military campaigns, okay? And this is one of those military campaigns. All right, so 2 Samuel chapter eight, we're gonna start reading in verse three, says this,

"Moreover, David defeated Hadad Ezer." By the way, that word, "Ezer, Ezer" is help or helper. We talked about that a couple of days ago that God is our help. I don't actually know what Hadad means, but I know that this name here ends with the word helper. I know that. So Hadad Ezer, son of Rebo king of Zoba, when he went to restore his monument at the Euphrates River. All right, big clue as the context of what's going on is Euphrates River. Now, this is where, this doesn't always happen, but a lot of times I'm giving historical context or linguistic context or cultural context, I'm actually gonna give geographical context, okay? Geographical context. Now, if you don't understand the geography of Israel, this is not gonna make a lot of sense. However, let me break it down for you. The Euphrates River is all the way up north, okay? So David is gonna have to go all the way up north to fight the Arameans. What then happens is that while David has his army up north, the Edomites are gonna attack in the Valley of Salt. So if you go to second Samuel chapter eight verse 13, says this, "And David became famous after he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt." Wait a second.

I thought he was just up at the Euphrates and defeating the Arameans. Well, what happens is that while he's up north, defeating the Arameans, the Edomites figure, hey, no way David and his army are gonna get all the way down here in time. We may as well attack the Southern border at the Valley of Salt, okay? like what's going on. Like, why is this even stressful? Okay, why are these details given? Well, these details are actually really, really important because David, we're going to get a sneak peek into David's theology, okay? Because the, and this is one verse in, in second Samuel, but what we're going to begin to get a glimpse of in Psalm 60 is that at first, the Edomites in the south are actually successful. And David's understanding of cosmology and theology is that God controls everything. So if God is allowing the Edomites to attack them and be successful, then God must have ordained this. Why? And why does God ordain your enemies to defeat you? If you've been rebellious and you need correction, okay? So that is the context for Psalm 60. And what is, how does Psalm 60 start? Here we go, verse one, you have rejected us. See, you see how those words you have rejected us don't make sense. If you don't know that there's a battle up north, they get attacked in the south, and they're, they're losing. And David's got to bring his whole army down south. This is a stressful situation, okay? Psalm 60, you have rejected us God and burst upon us. You have been angry, now restore us. You have shaken the land and tore it open, mend its fractures for it is quaking. You have shown your people desperate times. You have given us wine that makes us stagger. But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow. Save us and help us with your right hand. That those you love may be delivered. God has spoken from a sanctuary in triumph, I will parcel, parcel out, check them and measure off the valley of Sukkot. If we skip all the way down to the end of the psalm, okay, verse 11, give us aid against the enemy. For human help is worthless. With God, we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. Now, that right there is one of the reasons why David is

going to go down in history as being a man after God's own heart. It's not just his heart of repentance when he sins against God. It's this right here. Give us aid against the enemy for human help is worthless. If you spend time going through kings, the number one thing that kings, the kings of Israel, are going to be chastised for is trusting foreign nations. Don't trust Egypt. Don't trust the Syria. Don't trust any alliances. And so what does David say for human help is worthless? I don't need an alliance. I don't need other kings of foreign nations to come help me. I don't need deliverance from any other suzerain. I don't need to make myself a vassal to any of these stronger nations. No, no, no, no. Human help is worthless with God. We will gain the victory and he will trample down our enemies. So here we go. Context, clue. I mean, literally helps you to interpret everything that's happening. And the Psalm even sheds light on what's going on in 2 Samuel chapter 8. Okay. All right. Let's look at Psalm. We may not have time to, ah, we got to look at the next Psalm. Okay. Psalm 61. Okay. Let's let's look at the context for Psalm 61. Now, for Psalm 61, there are three context options. Okay. Because we don't have a detailed heading, all we've got is this for the director of music with string instruments of David. That's all we got. All right. So there are three options for possible context for Psalm 61. Okay. Let me give you all three options. The first is on the run from Saul. Okay. The second is another one of David's military campaigns, just like Psalm 60. Okay. So Psalm 61 could be from the same context as Psalm 60. And then last is when David is fleeing from his son, Absalom, who has usurped the throne. Okay. So he's either on the run from Saul, on the run from Absalom. Okay. When he's young, when he's old. Okay. He's on the run from Saul, when he's young, he's on the run from his son, Absalom, when he's older, or a military campaign while he's king. All right. There are some clues that reveal that. All right? And let's look at Psalm 61, verse six. Okay, Psalm 61, verse six, it says this, " Decrease the days of the king's life. " specialty days of the king's life. "His years for many generations. "May he be enthroned in God's presence forever. " I'll point your love and faithfulness to protect him."

Now, what king is David talking about? If this Psalm is written while David is young and he's on the run from Saul, then the king that David is praying for here is Saul, okay? He's praying that God would increase the day of Saul's years from many generations. May Saul be enthroned in God's presence forever. I'll point your love and faithfulness to protect Saul. Possible, we know from David's character that that's possible, but unlikely, okay? Possible, but unlikely. What makes more sense is that he's actually praying this prayer for himself. He's saying, "increase the days of my life." 'Cause I'm the king, okay? May I be enthroned in God's presence forever. I'll point your love and faithfulness to protect me. And this probably lends itself towards an interpretation that Psalm 61 is birthed out of a moment in time where David is running from his son, Absalom, okay? So these two verses, verses six and seven, have caused a lot of commentators and a lot of scholars to really believe that this is coming from a later moment in David's life, that although David is a man of insane character and could pray this prayer for Saul, that this is probably not a prayer for Saul, but this is probably a prayer for himself. All right, that is a nerdy nugget and context for Psalm 61. And then we've got Psalm 62, all right?

One of the things that I wanted to highlight in Psalm 62, we're gonna read the heading. Psalm 62 has this heading for the director of music for Jonathan, a psalm of David. Jonathan, all right, just for your notes, okay? This is kind of a nerdy nugget, more than a context clue, really. Jonathan is mentioned in first Chronicles, chapter 16, verses 41 to 42. Jonathan is also mentioned in first Chronicles, chapter 25, verses one to three, okay? So that little nerdy detail, okay? Jonathan is a character that we've heard of before and you can find out who he is contextually by going to first Chronicles, chapter 16, verses 41 to 42, in first Chronicles, chapter 25, verses one to three. That's a contextual nerdy nugget. I've been creating a lot of hybrid context clues and nerdy nuggets kind of together over the last couple of days. I'll take it though, I think it's okay. All right, time is true. Sambley, the wait is over. My brand new book, "Crushing Chaos," is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally, today, I walked into a Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes & 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. Psalm 62, let's actually look at Psalm 62. Says this, "Truly, my soul finds rest in God. "My salvation comes from him. "Truly, he is my rock and my salvation. "He is my fortress. "I will never be shaken." And then we're gonna go all the way down to verse five. "Yes, my soul finds rest in God. "My hope comes from him. "Truly, he is my rock and my salvation. "He is my fortress. "I will not be shaken." We're actually gonna look at those verses in a different translation, okay? I'm gonna pull up logos, Bible study software. Okay, Psalm 62 verses 1 and 2 where the NIV is going to use the word rest

The NRSV is actually going to use the word silence and I actually think it's a beautiful translation says this for God alone My soul waits in silence From him comes my salvation he alone is my rock and my salvation my fortress I shall not be shaken and then verse 5 says this, "For God alone my soul waits in Silence, for my hope is from him he alone is my rock and my salvation my fortress. I shall not be Shaken." Okay rest versus silence. This is a bit of a nerdy nugget, but it's also a timeless truth and it's this That for David true faith is not found in multiplying words it's actually found in silence This this is a kind of an odd thing maybe even for 21st century modern readers Because we don't think of silence as an act of faith But when God speaks silence is actually the response of the mature But to multiply words could actually be the response of the immature I'll give you an example to kind of connect the dots A lot of times, you know, my son will ask me for stuff dad Can we go to the Lego store dad? Can you give me some juice? You know dad can we go to in and out and what's funny is that I'll say yes Be like, yeah, we can do that buddy And then as soon as I say yes, he'll ask again and he'll ask again and he'll ask again Until I actually do what he's asked me to do and for my son Silence As he waits for me to actually act out what I promised He's just not at the maturity level yet where he can ask and then wait in silence until he finds the fulfillment of what he's asked for and Actually, if we want to think about how to gauge our own maturity our own maturity can be gauged by how Silent we are able to be like our soul being quiet That's why the niv translates this as rest like can you calm Down like can your soul get quiet and rest Like when you've asked god for something

Are you also trying to figure out how you can make it happen for yourself? Or when you ask god for something, are you just going to rest And wait and I think for a lot of us we think about silence and we think maybe that that's apathy Or like we've given up given up silence like a surrender in a bad way like you've just surrendered to fate You know, but actually this is not a apathetic or a given up silence This is a faith filled silence It's a faith filled silence that comes from the soul And your soul begins to get quiet and the quietness of your soul Begins to remind you that god said yes That he is faithful And that silence produces hope and that hope becomes a Fortress and that fortress is also a rock So if we look at this verse again for god alone my soul waits in silence Okay, god is able to bring rest and silence to my soul Whereas i'm busy trying to accomplish things that god's already promised me I can actually like quiet my soul And then for my hope is from him That that that's rooted in hope and then this makes god my rock It makes him my fortress It actually creates a faith in me. That's unshakeable That i'm like, yeah, just because god didn't do what I asked him to do Does not mean that i'm going to be anxious in my soul Or that i'm going to be Worried in my soul. I'm going to be quiet and i'm going to be still i'm going to find inner peace Even as I wait for god to do what he's promised that he would do And believing god in faith does not ever look like Being in a rush or being hurried or being worried Believing god by faith actually means that you can slow down that you can calm down and you can rest In the fact that he's already said yes in like my son at some point

Maybe this year maybe next year who knows? When he asked me to go to the lego store or asked me to go to in and out or ask me for juice And I say yes He'll finally get to the place of maturity where my answer is and a stillness and a silence in his soul that allows him to actually wait. And my prayer for you is that you would begin to do the same thing, that God's answer would actually hold just as much weight as his action. And that even when there's a gap between his answer and his action, that your soul wouldn't be worried or anxious, but that your soul would actually find hope in the answer that God's given. And you wouldn't need immediate corresponding action because you actually have your hope in the God of the answer. And that's not just true for David. And that's true for me. It's true for you. It's true for my son who's four. And I think that that will bring peace to your life. And I would actually say that a lot of anxiety happens in the gap between God's answer and God's action. And instead of having anxiety in that moment, you can actually have hope in that moment, which is an anchor for your soul. All right, I'll see you tomorrow for day 273. We're going to be digging into Psalms 63 and 65. If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. If you're on a streak, you're probably realizing that the words that I'm even saying to you right now about your soul and silence and hope and God's word being a fortress and a rock, you're probably realizing that if you're on a streak, the word of God has become a fortress and a rock for you. And so I pray that you would keep your streak going. If you're not on a streak, I'm praying that you would get it together and that you would start to rack up some wins. All right, I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 273. 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 thebobbledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow. [BLANK_AUDIO]