Day 297: Psalm 134-137 | 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) - And we welcome to day 297 here. On the Bible Department podcast, we are diving into a handful of Psalms today. We're gonna be looking at Psalms 134, 135, 136, and 137. We're gonna actually end our songs of a sense. We've been looking at a songs of a sense or songs of a sense for the last couple of days. And so Psalm 134 is the last Psalm of a sense. But it's actually really, really masterful, honestly, when you start looking at how the Psalms get woven together. And the Psalms that follow Psalm 134 are definitely by no means in the position that they are in by accident. And we're gonna dive into all of that. Hey, I wanna take time right at the top of the episode to say if you haven't done the reading for today, how about you stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done for beautiful Psalms to read today, and I promise you, everything that I say on this podcast episode is gonna be way more helpful if you actually have context and you've done the reading, okay? So it was gonna give you some quick context for all of the Psalms that we're gonna look at today.

And then we'll dive into nerdy nuggets and then we'll end the day or end today's episode with a timeless truth, like always, okay? So number one, just wanna give you just the bird's eye view context as you know, Psalm 134 is gonna end this mini collection that we've been looking at for the last couple of days, okay? And you can see that right there in the title, okay? In my Bible, as soon as I open up Psalm 134, it says a song of a sense, okay? In the heading, and I just wrote in the margin, it's the final one, it's the last one. If you look at Psalm 135, that heading that's been there for I think it's 15 Psalms in a row is no longer there, okay? And so it says, actually, we'll get into the content of the Psalm in a little while, but that is the context. The context for every song of a sense is pilgrims coming from all over Israel, ascending the hills that lead to Jerusalem and going to Mount Zion, which is the location or the hill or the mountain where the glory of the Lord dwells, where the temple is located, all right? That is the context. All right, now Psalm 135, there's absolutely no context for Psalm 135, so Psalm 136, okay? Also, one last thing I'll tell you about Psalm 134 is that it's a reverse antiphonal psalm, okay? Reverse antiphonal, now, when we get to our nerdy nuggets, I will tell you exactly what reverse antiphonal means. So Psalm 135 has no context Psalm 136.

This is the clearest and most famous example of an antiphonal psalm, okay? This is where the congregation or a choir is responding to the choir master or whoever's like leading the congregation. Essentially, you know, in church, we would call this a call and response psalm, antiphonal. And then Psalm 137, this is a psalm of exile, okay? Exiles are singing this in Babylon about Jerusalem. So you see, all the songs of a set have been about how the people are so happy to get to Jerusalem. You know, God dwells there. Zion is the place where God has chosen to put his name, to put his presence, to dwell. And then we get to Psalm 137 and people are no, they're not allowed to be in Jerusalem because Jerusalem is burned down. So there's this extreme juxtaposition that we get. And that's not by accident. That's not by coincidence. Psalm 137 is placed here on purpose. Now the songs of a set find themselves in a greater volume of work called the Great Hallel. And Psalm 136 is the last of the Great Hallel. And then Psalm 137 starts. And now all of a sudden we get a rather like dark and a rather, you can feel the tone change immediately. And honestly, Psalm 137 is gonna have some of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible to even deal with or to interpret.

If you've done the reading, verses nine, you would probably really, really aware, like, oh, this is dark, like this is heavy, like this is, I don't know what to do with this. So we'll tackle that by the end of the episode for sure. Okay, all right, that's all the context that we have. And so that's all the context that I can even give you. Okay, so let's dive into some nerdy nuggets, okay? Psalm 134, we're gonna read Psalm 134. This is a reverse antifonal Psalm. Now, in an antifonal Psalm, it is the Levite or the musician or the choir master that says something and then the congregation or the choir responds. But, well, we're gonna have this in reverse, okay? So it's the congregation. It's the people that are going to prompt the Levites and the Levites are gonna respond, okay? So Psalm 134, it starts, okay? The people sing, come, bless Yahweh, all you servants of Yahweh, okay? Who stand by night in the house of Yahweh, lift up your hands to the holy place and bless Yahweh. That's verses one and two, okay? It's not clear or not that it's not clear. You just need to know that that's what the people are saying in order to know that that's what the people are saying. It's not like the Bible is gonna tell you, oh, this is the part where the people say something, okay? The congregation are calling out to the Levites to bless Yahweh day and night in the temple.

Okay, now we gotta kinda go to first chronicles, chapter nine, verse 33, okay? 'Cause first chronicles, chapter nine, verse 33 is gonna add some context so that we actually know what's going on in Psalm 134, okay? So first chronicles nine, 33, I'm gonna pull it up, says this, those who were musicians, head of the Levite families, okay? These are the people who the congregation would have been saying this to, okay? Stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night, okay? They were responsible for the work day and night. So the people are telling them who stand by night in the house of Yahweh, lift up your hands to the holy place and bless Yahweh, okay? We know from first chronicles, chapter nine, verse 33 that the Levitical choirs were on duty 24 hours a day. So worship was going up to Yahweh constantly day and night. The people then encouraged the Levites who were leading their worship calling them to their duty of blessing Yahweh. The Levites then sing back, okay, this is verse three. The Levites sing back, may Yahweh bless you from? Come on, drum roll please, Zion, of course it's Zion. He who made the heaven and earth. The Levites are then fulfilling their role as the priestly tribe. They are the intermediaries between Yahweh and Israel.

The people call them to bless Yahweh and they call back Yahweh's blessing to Israel. This is a reverse antifonal interaction. The final line then of the songs of ascent, emphasize once more the theme that runs throughout this entire pilgrimage to the temple, that Yahweh reigns in Zion, his chosen place, and from there, the creator of all things blesses his loyal worshipers, okay? That's Psalm 134, let's move right into Psalm 135. Now this Psalm or this hymn is almost like a greatest hits of scripture as almost every part of it either quotes or is quoted elsewhere in the Bible. Here's just some examples I'm gonna run through this, okay? Verse one is a rearrangement of Psalm 113, verse one. Verse three is actually Psalm 52, verse nine, and Psalm 147, verse one. Verse four is Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six. Verses five through seven is actually, exit is chapter 18, verse 11, Psalm 115, verse three in Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 13. Verses eight through 12 echo Psalm 136, verse 10 and verses 18 to 22. Verse 11 echo numbers chapter 21, verse 21 in Deuteronomy chapter three, verse 11. Verses 13 and 14 are our exit is chapter three, verse 15 in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 36. Verses 15 to 18 is Psalm 115, verses four to six, and verse eight, and then verses 19 to 21 of Psalm 135 is actually Psalm 115, verses nine through 11.

So as you look at Psalm 135, it's literally just a gumbo, a collection of different scripture. Jeremiah, Psalms, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and placed here in Psalm 135, okay? So if any of these verses in Psalm 135, look or sound familiar, it's probably because you've read them in some other place in the Torah, all right? That's our nerdy nugget for Psalm 135. Let's move into our nerdy nugget for Psalm 136. This is the most famous of the antiphonal Psalms, okay? Now, if you look at Psalm 136, gonna say, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good." Okay, that's what the leader or the Levite or the musician would say. And then the congregation or the choir is gonna say, "His steadfast love endures forever." And then the leader is gonna say, "Give thanks to the God of gods, "His steadfast love endures forever. "Give thanks to the Lord of lords, "His steadfast love endures forever." To Him who alone does great wonders. And then all the people are gonna say, "His steadfast love endures forever." Okay, over and over and over and over again. This is the most clear example of call and response, call and response, call and response. And so the people have one thing that they are gonna say, over and over and over and over again,

"His steadfast love endures forever." Now, let's get real nerdy. In English, it's a little clunky to sing this, okay? It takes a little bit, essentially it takes far too long to say or sing the refrain response for his steadfast love endures forever. In the original Hebrew, the refrain only had six syllables, okay? Instead of the nine syllables in English, okay? But in order to create an accurate translation, we have to have those nine syllables, okay? So the word in Hebrew for steadfast love, okay? That refrain is his steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever. The Hebrew for steadfast love is Hasid, okay? Hasid, which is a key word in the Old Testament. It is not love in the traditional sense of like emotions or feelings or Hollywood love, but would be more accurately covenant love. Hasid could be translated as covenant love. It is the love of Yahweh for Israel based on the covenant that he has made with them. It is connected then with his righteousness in his covenant dealings and his faithfulness towards the covenant which he has made with his people. Perhaps it could also be summed up by the simple word loyalty or covenant loyalty. It is the loyalty that Yahweh shows towards Israel as her king based on the covenant. The loyalty of Yahweh is his love,

his righteousness, his faithfulness. And this Psalms refrain echoes the call throughout scripture that Yahweh's loyalty, love, righteousness and faithfulness to Israel has no end. I love how this is written out in my notes. Hasid means that Yahweh cannot become unloyal. It is impossible for him to betray Israel, to let them down or to be unfaithful to them. The irony, of course, is that the same covenant that Yahweh is bound to in covenant love and loyalty, that same covenant calls for Israel to be loyal in return to love Yahweh, their God with all their soul, all their might, all their strength. And Yahweh is being asked to give to God what he has already given to them. Hasid, okay? So Psalm 36 really, really, really focuses on that. Hasid of God, the covenant love, covenant loyalty, righteousness and faithfulness, that Yahweh is shown to his people, which means when we are loyal in return, that's not legalism because legalism is if God were demanding something that he does not first initiate. But as long as we're the responders, then that's not legalism because to respond to God's loyalty with loyalty is not legalism, that's actually grace, all right? So now, let's get into our last Psalm of the day, Psalm 137.

- 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 & 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 to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times best seller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. This is another pretty famous song that's given a picture of Egg's Ozz in Babylon, weeping over Jerusalem that had been destroyed. In fact, this song is perhaps placed here as it acts as such an extreme contrast to the songs of a sense, okay? Which we have spent the last couple of days reading and studying and diving into, okay? The songs of a sense gloried in Zion and in Yahweh's temple, okay?

But here we have the stark reality of what was in between the times celebrated in the songs of a sin. They looked back to David establishing the tabernacle and Zion and throwing Yahweh once again and then Solomon building that temple. They are probably put together in the second temple period when the rebuilt temple had been restored to the center of Jerusalem into the Jewish people. We see then the joy of the pilgrimage, both before and after. Contrasted here in Psalm 137 by the pain and misery of those who are in exile that lay in between those times, okay? So we got like a sandwich essentially. The Jews went through this time when Zion was no more, when the temple was destroyed, when all that was left were the memories of Zion in exile which led the people to tears and led to the mockery of the ones who had destroyed Zion. When they forced the Jews, this would be the Babylonian captivity while the Jews are in their custody or captivity, would force the Jews to sing the songs of Zion that we find in the songs of a sin, okay? So those songs of a sin that really kind of celebrate how awesome the temple is, how awesome Jerusalem is, how awesome Zion is, since they had destroyed Zion, they made the Jewish people sing these songs in mockery, okay? They forced the Jews to sing the songs of Zion. This probably meant the Psalms

that we have been going through over the last couple of days, songs of joy and celebration in the temple in Jerusalem now turned into mockery by their enemies. And they're in Babylon as they weep, as they pray, they begin to pray a terrible prayer of vengeance against those who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, against the Edomites who betrayed their brother nation inside of the Babylon and against the Babylonians themselves, that what had happened to Zion would happen to Babylon. It ends with the most disturbing line in all of scripture, blessed shall he be who takes your little ones, your babies, your infants, your toddlers and dashes them against the rock. Like kills your children. This is brutal. This is raw. This shows the level of anger, hurt, pain and suffering that these exiles felt as news came to Babylon of what had happened to their home. Pain made even worse, by the way, the Babylonians used it to mock them. This is a desire for revenge. There's no other way to cut it or slice it. This is a desire for revenge, that Babylon would also feel the pain that they had inflicted upon others. It is lines like these that really showed the humanity of the Psalms. This is the inspired word of God, absolutely yes. Like that's not even in question.

But in a very different way than the prophets, which we've obviously spent a lot of time studying on this podcast. In the prophets, Yahweh spoke. And the prophets brought his message with their own skill, their own poetry, their own knowledge of the Torah and shaped it into the prophecies that we know and we love. The prophets have human fingerprints all over them. However, their source was always the words of Yahweh to Israel. The Psalms, however, are the reverse. These are human prayers. These are hymns sung by men and women. Yes, inspired by the Holy Spirit, but not the same way that prophets are giving humans, other humans oracles from God. These are the words of Israel to Yahweh. Yes, at times the Spirit uses these words. And we have so many prophecies that emerge from the worship and poetry of the Psalmist. But at their heart, they are humans crying out to Yahweh. We have seen that these are cries of joy, praise, thanksgiving, but also prayers of lament, of suffering, of crying out for salvation, of looking at the heavens and asking why. In here too, we have cries of anger. These are cries of vengeance against enemies that have done unthinkable thing to the Israelite people, to the Jewish people. This is who human suffering, human anger, and Yahweh heard it and understood. And so we too can hear it and understand, not condone or repeat the prayer for our own lives or try to apply it to how we see our own enemies. But we can understand a show empathy because that is what the Psalms do. They show us a mirror to our own souls.

They pierce our emotions. They raise us high, but also take us to the depths. And this psalm takes us down into the depths of the human experience. And Yahweh honors our human pain and emotions by including these strange prayers in his scriptures. It's not a mistake that Psalm 137 ends up in our Bibles. It's by design. And so what is our Thomas truth for the day? That God is deeply acquainted with your pain. He's deeply acquainted with my pain and he fully understands it. He's not a God that's unfamiliar with pain himself. He knows pain. He's well acquainted with sorrow and pain. There is nothing you could ever say that would cause God to cringe or to be shocked by what you say. He may correct what you say, but he'll never cringe at what you say. These psalms are asking the Lord to bless those who take the babies of the Babylonians and dash them against rocks and kill them. If the psalmist can ask that children would be healed in order to enact revenge, you could say anything to the Lord. That doesn't mean that God condones it. That doesn't mean that God doesn't correct it, but you can be honest with all of your emotions and all your feelings. I hope that by reading some of this extreme content, you begin to go, all right, if this is the bar for how honest I can be, I must be able to say anything to this God. And I'll just say this. I'll say it as plain as I can. You know, we listen and we don't judge. That was not started as a social media trend. That was started right here in God's heart. It's Psalm 137. God heard that God, God, we pray that you would bless those who take babies and dash them against the rocks. And God went, good thing we listen and we don't judge. Come on, you can let it out. Come on, be honest. Come on, you can tell me how you really feel. I can handle it. And God does his work of not enacting this level of revenge, but changing our hearts once we are honest with him. And that's not just true for Psalm 137. That's true for me. That's true for you. That's true period. What happens when we hide our real emotions, say, actually get worse. But when we're actually able to reveal our feelings, God can actually heal the stuff that you reveal. But whatever you hide, well, the only thing that happens to hit any emotions is that they grow worse in the dark. They don't heal. They just grow. And so you have a decision to make. What's the wildest thought that instead of keeping it in your head, you can begin to tell the Lord about the intrusive or maybe even toxic thoughts that you have. I promise, he's not going to judge you. And nothing that you can say is going to be worse than what the psalmist in Psalm 137 verse nine has said to the Lord, God knows your pain, knows your suffering,

and he wants to meet you in the middle of your darkest moment in your most honest and vulnerable prayers. All right, that's not just true for David. That's not just true for the psalmist. That's true for me and you. That's timelessly true. All right, tomorrow we got day 298. We're going to be looking at Psalms 138 to 141. It's going to be a good day here at the Bible Department podcast. I love you. I'm proud of you, especially if you're on a streak. I'll see you right here. Same time, same place tomorrow as we look at day 298. Love you so much. 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 the Bible Department.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.