Psalms 82-85 (Week 28)

1. God Judges Among the Gods

A year in the Psalms Psalm eighty two God stands in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy, deliver the poor and needy, free them from the hand of the wicked. They do not know, nor do they understand. They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are unstable. I said you are gods, and all of you are children of the most high, but you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all nations. Standeth means to be stationed or established. One part of Strong’s definition of the original for judgeth is to govern.

2. Do Not Keep Silent, O God

The clause means that God’s power and right to govern is above that of all other rulers. David was speaking for God and to the rulers among the Israelites. They were accused of rendering unjust decisions and of being swayed by the personal influence of wicked men because of some special advantages offered to them. A year in the Psalms, Psalm eighty three. Do not keep silent, O God, do not hold your peace, and do not be still, O God. For behold, your enemies make a tumult, and those who hate you have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against your people, and consulted together against your sheltered ones. They have said, Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.

For they have consulted together with one consent, they form a confederacy against you. The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Highites, Gibal, Amon, and Amalek, Philstilia and the inhabitants of Tyre, Assyria also have joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Deal with them as with Midian, as with Caesarea, as with Jabun at the brook Kishon, who presided at Andor, who became as refuge on the earth. Make their nobles like Orb and like Zeb. Yes, all their princes like Zebra and Zalmuna, who said, Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for our possession. O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind, as the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, and frighten them with your storm, fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord.

Let them be confounded and dismayed forever. Yes, let them put to shame and perish, that they may know that you, whose name alone is the Lord, are the most high above all the earth. Psalm eighty-three is a typical national lament in a time of great danger, since the enemies of Israel are automatically the enemies of God, the name of God Yahu is at stake. The occasion cannot be identified with certainty because at no period in Israel’s history has such a confederation of nations existed. The psalm may refer to an event unrecorded elsewhere in Israel’s history, or it may list tribal groups which merely gave moral support in a time of crisis. An appeal for action, keep not thy silence, O God. In the Hebrew, this is a strong plea for activity, repeated in a threefold manner.

3. How Lovely Is Your Tabernacle

God’s silence must be broken because these nations are his enemies as well. They are making a loud noise about their conspiracy to blot out the name of Israel. Most of those peoples named were nomadic tribes dwelling south and east of Israel. Philistilia and Tyre were exceptions. They occupied territory west and north respectively. The majority of these were traditional foes of Israel. A year in the Psalm, Psalm eighty four. O how lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They will be praising you. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage as they pass through the valley of Baca. They make it a spring, the rain also covers it with pools, they go from strength to strength. Each one appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. O God, behold our shield and look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a son and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory.

4. Will You Not Revive Us Again

No good thing will be withheld from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trust in you. This is the song of a pilgrim whose goal is almost reached. There is throughout a sense of peace and communion which transcends the ritual and other outward features of worship. While the poem reflects the sentiments of pilgrims of any age, it appears to come from the period of the monarchy at a time when the temple was still standing. Amable means loving or pleasant. There was but one national tabernacle when David wrote his Psalms, while the word here is plural. The thought is that it was always pleasant to be in the house of the Lord. A year in the Psalms, Psalm eighty five. Lord, you have been favorable to your land.

You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin. You have taken away all your wrath, you have turned from the fierceness of your anger. Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause your anger towards us to cease. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your mercy, Lord, and grant us your salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints. But let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and shall make his footsteps our pathway. Though basically a national lament, this psalm has a strong prophetic element as well. The first sections, verses one through three, appears to refer to the return from captivity, but these verses are idealized beyond the known situation of those days. The psalmist uses this ideal picture to show the sharp contrast with the present and the assurance of the future.