Day 291: Psalms 116-118 | 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. (soft music) Family, welcome to day 291. We are making our way through the entire Bible, but before we make it through the whole Bible, we gotta make it through Psalms. And today we've got three more Psalms on deck to look at, study, and examine. I hope that you've already done the reading. I had a blast. Doing the reading was really personally edified by Psalms 116, 117, and 118. Loved reading these three Psalms as you probably can realize or as observe, Psalm 117 is the shortest Psalm in the entire book of the Psalms. So you got no excuse, okay? If you haven't done the reading yet, stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done. If you have done the reading, then let's dive in. Like every day, I'm gonna give you context clues. I'm gonna give you some nerdy nuggets, some things that you wouldn't have been able to know about these Psalms had you watched or listened to this episode. And then we're gonna end today's episode

just like we end every episode with a timeless truth. And today's timeless truth is really, really, really cool. So context, I got bad news, okay? None of these Psalms, as you can see in your Bibles, have a title, okay? Psalm 116 has no title up at the top. And Psalm 117 same, and then Psalm 118 same deal. No titles on any of these Psalms. But these are the final three Psalms from the Egyptian Hillel, all right? So we're gonna end the Egyptian Hillel. And so the context of these three Psalms is exactly the same as a whole of the Psalms in this little mini section of the book of Psalms, okay? I'll just kind of read this from our notes from yesterday. As the name implies, the Egyptian Hillel was the Hillel or the praise associated with Passover and celebrates Yahweh saving of Israel from Egypt, hence Egyptian, okay? Psalms 113, Psalms 113, all the way to Psalms 118 are all lack of title, but they all are collectively known as the Egyptian Hillel. So no new context from today, but we've got context on this collection of Psalms as a whole and that context kind of carries over from yesterday. In the event that you were not here yesterday, but you're here today, then I'd probably say, watch yesterday's episode. I probably gave way more context about this mini collection of Psalms that we have

called the Egyptian Hillel. So no titles, no individual context for each Psalm, but these three Psalms fit into a wider mini collection of Psalms known as the Egyptian Hillel. So that's our context for today. Let's get into some nerdy nuggets, okay? Let's now be the Psalm 116 first. 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. And wanna give as many nerdy nuggets as possible.

First, this is a Psalm of individual Thanksgiving, okay? And the Psalmist split into two parts with a hinge verse, okay, two parts with a hinge versus one through 11 are all gonna tell the story of deliverance, okay? And then verse 12, there's this tone. verses 13 through 19 is the offering of a Thanksgiving sacrifice, okay? So verses 1 through 11 kind of give context for this Thanksgiving offering, and then verse 12, turning point, and then verses 13 through 19 we are going to get the actual Thanksgiving sacrifice being shared. So let's kind of back up, okay? Verses 1 through 11 of Psalm 116 says, "I love the Lord, for He heard my voice. He heard my cry for mercy, because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live." Now, I want you to remember these psalms are part of what we know as the Egyptian halal. So let's think about what was happening while the people of Israel were being enslaved. They were crying out to God in the book of Exodus, begins with this amazing verse that God heard the cry of His people, and was inclined to move in salvation with a mighty hand in an outstretched arm, because He heard them. It says, "The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me. I was overcome by distress and sorrow." Next verse, verse 4, "Then I called on the name of the Lord, Lord save me." Again, this action of calling out to God in Him saving, by the way, this idea of calling on the name of the Lord for salvation is going to be an idea that the New Testament writers are going to pick up on, that they are going to emphasize, and that they are obviously going to apply to the person of Jesus, rightfully so. The Lord, verse 5, "Is gracious and righteous, our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unweary when I was brought low, He saved me." Verse 7, "Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you." And this is a, I teach this all the time, this may as well be a timeless truth actually, that we will never be, we will never experience the peace of God until we're at peace with

God, that what does salvation bring? It brings rest, it brings rest to what? To my soul, it brings rest to my very soul, "For the Lord has been good to you. For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living." I trusted in the Lord when I said, I'm greatly afflicted. In my alarm, I said, "Everyone is a liar." Now we're going to get a hinge. Verse 12, "What shall I return to the Lord for all His goodness to me? What should I return to the Lord? What's my part to play?" Man, this could be a good, timeless truth. We're saying, well, a good formula for Thanksgiving is to recount all the ways that God has saved me, rescued me, delivered me, provided for me, and then to ask a reasonable question. And that reasonable question is this, what shall I return to the Lord? Not give, but return. I love just that that's the word. Like when we tithe or when we are generous at church, we're not giving anything to God. We're returning to Him. When we lift up our hands in church, we're not giving praise, we're returning it. God's the one that gives us the ability to lift up our hands. When we live for Him, we're not giving Him anything. We're returning it to Him because He gives us breath. He animates us, He empowers us. And then 13, "I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord." That's a theme. The name of the Lord, "I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of His people. I will fulfill my vows. I will fulfill my vows. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants.

Truly, I am your servant Lord. I serve you just as my mother did. You have freed me from my chains. I will sacrifice a thank offering. I will fulfill my vows in the presence of His people in the courts of the house of the Lord in your midst, Jerusalem." So we get the actual thanksgiving offering. Now, a couple of things, a couple of nerdy nuggets that you need to know about the thanksgiving offering. It's a shared meal, divided three ways. That thanksgiving offering meant that God got a portion. That was what was offered on the altar. But then it meant that the priests and the one offering to sacrifice would share the meal together. and Yahweh Himself. All take part in this Thanksgiving offering which becomes a Thanksgiving meal. So the story of Psalm 116 is the story of a grateful worshiper coming to Jerusalem, sharing a meal with Yahweh just to say thank you. And man, I love that. This psalm is all about gratitude and what happens when we have gratitude? Gratitude becomes the foundation for generosity. You can't really get long-lasting generosity without gratitude. Gratitude. God, I'm thankful. I'm just so glad for what you've done, for what you've provided. Generosity is preceded by gratitude and it's fueled by gratitude. And then we got Psalm 117. Now, this is a small, like short psalm, but it's short, but it's strong. And there's a interpretive key that's actually going to make its way into the New Testament. So this hymn is the shortest of all the psalms. It shows Yahweh to be the God of all the nations and calls on all the nations to praise Him. It's quoted in Romans chapter 15 verse 11 where Paul uses it alongside other similar Old Testament quotes to show how the purpose of Israel and the Abrahamic covenant was to bless all nations and bring all peoples into relationship with Yahweh. It is Israel's role promised to Abraham that they would be priests of the earth. Here we go. The second word used in verse 2. Okay, the second word used in verse 2. Exstole Him all you peoples. The word that we're talking about here is peoples. Okay, is not a usual word or a common word used when speaking about the nations.

The only other time it occurs are Acts in Genesis 25 verse 16 and Numbers chapter 25 verse 15. In both cases the word is referencing smaller units of people rather than people groups and is more like tribes. Okay, so the right word is not peoples, it's tribes. So this verse is also sometimes translated on nations or tribes instead of peoples. This means that this line right here in Psalm 117 is is quite probably the inspiration for one of the most famous images we have in the book of Revelation. And that's this Revelation 7 verse 9. After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. When Revelation says from all tribes it is because Psalm 117 actually mentions the fact that God is not just the one who is Lord over the nations but he's also Lord over smaller groups of people that we call tribes. That's a nerdy nugget and in the language that we get in Revelation comes straight out of Psalm 117. This is actually a verse that I began to memorize when I was younger. Revelation 7 verse 9. And the reason I memorized it is because when God began to put in my heart a desire to pastor, a desire to plant a church. I had this dream that the church that I want to pastor and in lead should look like heaven. The Bible in Revelation 7 and I told exactly what heaven looks like. It's a great multitude that no one could number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb. And I've always been inspired by the fact that God's ideal image of human flourishing are people from every nation in all tribes and languages standing before him and the throne that his son Jesus sits on. They just think that's beautiful. It's captivating. It's captivating for me and has encouraged me to want to build, grow, plant, multi-ethnic, diverse church that really, really does look like heaven. All right, last Psalm 118. This is another Psalm of individual thanksgiving and this is actually in the format of a festival procession, taking the story of a king entering Jerusalem for a festival. Okay, a king entering Jerusalem for a Psalm following the story of a king entering Jerusalem for a festival. So verses one through four begins with liturgy and the people and priests praising Yahweh. Then verses five to fourteen, we have the personal testimony of a victorious king who was victorious in battle, who won in battle when Yahweh saved him. Then verses 15 and 16, the people respond in thanks. And then verses 17 and 18, the king humbly approaches. And then verses 20 to 25, the king requests permission to enter

the temple and the people respond and he enters. And then verses 26 to 29 is the king approaches the altar and sacrifices. So this Psalm is truly timeless. And so now that you know how the Psalm works and what the function is, I'll move into our timeless truth. Because Psalm 118 is the poetic backbone of Jesus' triumphal entry. Isn't that great? That this is a king entering Jerusalem on a feast in order to have a processional into the city as a victorious king. And Jesus, this is exactly what happens on Palm Sunday when Jesus, the day that starts Holy Week. So this is six days, or I guess five days before Jesus is going to die for the sins of the world. What's the Thomas truth? Our Thomas truth is found in the way that this Egyptian halal ends. It is a picture of a grateful people redeemed and saved and approaching their God. It is also the story of a thankful victorious king approaching the thank Yahweh and sacrificed to Yahweh. Those two images are then combined in Israel's present. When the pilgrims sing this ancient king's personal thanksgiving, when traveling as a people to the festivals to worship, they repeat his journey to the courts of Yahweh to sacrifice. Now, what's this a massive type in shadow for? Well, Psalm 118 is also future focused as the gospels take this Psalm, its language, its imagery, and when they write of Jesus' triumphant ascent to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, it is the king approaching the temple to sacrifice. Yet, it is far more than that as the fulfillment of this Psalm is that the king who is the temple will sacrifice himself to save Israel and the nations. And that's not just true for the moment where the Psalm is being collected or where the Psalm is being written. That's true for you and I as well. We will never out sacrifice God. We will never out give God. It will never happen. The church that I grew up at used to always say, "You can't be God giving." Well, not only is that true, even if he never blessed you with anything ever again, that's because what he's done on the cross should actually spur you towards gratitude, which should then spur you towards generosity. And so the Psalmist is simply saying that because Jesus did like this king, figure here in Psalm 118, enter into Jerusalem, then enter to the temple, then get to the gates, then go all the way to the altar and sacrifice from a place of victory. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice, not from a place of loss, but from a place of victory. And because Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice from a place of victory and because he was king, now you and I get to respond to that sacrifice with all kinds of sacrifices. But we are indeed only ever responding. We are not initiating. We're not the first to be generous. We are only generous towards God because he is for generous towards us. And so this

thanksgiving, this Psalm that's supposed to accompany the offering of thanksgiving sacrifice is actually supposed to inspire us as sacrificial givers. Givers of our time, givers of our treasure, and givers of our talents. I've been teaching our church here in Houston, Texas, that we should all be sacrificing of our time, talent, and treasure. Your time is serving and leading Your talent is serving not just with your hands, but with your skills. Things that you may get paid for outside of church. You actually offer to the Lord for no pay because that's your talent. And then your tithe, like we sow financially into what God is up to in the earth. But we don't sow but grudgingly, we sow from a place of joy because we're excited that we get to respond to God's generosity towards us by being generous towards his bride. And that's not just true for the characters in this psalm or for the people that are taking part in this Egyptian hallelujah or the Passover. That's true for you. That's true for me. And that is a timeless truth. All right, I'll see you tomorrow for day 292. Day 292 is unique in that we're only covering one psalm. That's right, psalm 119. It's the only day on the plan that dedicated to one chapter of the Bible. So this is a very long chapter of the Bible. But nonetheless, it's one singular chapter.

And so tomorrow, the only thing we're studying is psalm 119. I can't wait. It's one of my favorite chapters of the entire Bible. And we get to dive into it tomorrow right here on the Bible department. I love you guys. I'm so proud of you, especially if you're on the street. I 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 thebobledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow. (upbeat music) (keyboard clicking) [BLANK_AUDIO]