Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 29 Mar 2015
1 For the concertmaster upon Ayyelet HaShachar; A
psalm belonging to David.
My God, My God for
what reason did You forsake me?
My groaning words [come] from [being] far away from my salvation.
2
My God, I call out daily – yet you do not answer,
and nightly – yet there is no rest for me.
3 But You are holy, basking in the praises of Israel.
4 In You our fathers trusted. They trusted, and You delivered them.
5
To You they cried out, and they were rescued.
In You they trusted, and they did not experience shame.
6
But I am a worm – hardly even a man,
a human stigma, and a one who is despised by [the] people.
7
All those who see me mock at me,
they burst out with [their] mouth, they shake the head,
8
“Roll yourself to Yahweh! He will deliver him;
He will cause him to escape because He has delighted in him,
9
because You are the one who [made] me burst out from the womb,
causing me to trust upon the breasts of my mother.
10
You are the one I was sent to since birth.
Since [I was in] the womb of my mother You have been my God.
11 Don’t be distant from me, because a crisis is near because there is no helper.
12 Many
young bulls have surrounded me;
mighty bulls of Bashan circled me.
13 They opened their mouth against me [like] a lion ripping and roaring.
14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones separate themselves;
my heart becomes like wax, melted between my intestines.
15
My strength dried up like pottery, and my tongue is caused to be stuck to my
palate,
and You set me up for the dust of death.
16
For dogs have surrounded me – a crowd of hoodlums close in around me.
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17
I will carefully count all my bones.
As for them, they will take a look – they will see with me.
18
They will divvy up my garments for themselves,
and they will roll dice over my clothing.
19 So Yahweh, don’t You be distant. My hind’s [feet] for my aid, Hurry!
20 Please deliver my life from the sword – my one-and-only from the dog paw.
21 Cause to save me from the lion’s mouth. Answer me even before the horns of the wild-oxen.
22 I will carefully
recount Your reputation to my brothers;
I will praise You in the midst of the congregation.
23 “Praise Him, you who
fear Yahweh!
Glorify Him, all you descendants of Jacob,
and stand in awe of Him, all you descendents of Israel,
24 because He neither despised nor detested the lowliness of a lowly man,
and He did not hide His face from him, but when he hollered to Him, He heeded.”
25 It is because of
[Yahweh] that my praise will come about in the great congregation.
I will complete my vows in front of those who respect Him.
26 Lowly ones will eat
and be satisfied; they will praise Yahweh – those who seek Him.
May your heart[s] have eternal life!
27 All the ends of the
earth will remember and turn to Yahweh,
and all the families of the nations will bow down before Your face,
28 because the kingdom belongs to Yahweh; He is ruling among the nations!
29 All the fat-cats of
the earth have eaten then bowed down.
All will kneel before His face, dropping to the dust, and his soul will not
revive .
30 Descendents will serve Him; He will be accounted as the master of that generation.
31 They will go and relate His righteousness to a people being born, that He accomplished [it].
I have discovered a book entitled Christ on the Cross which devotes an entire chapter to each of the 31 verses of Psalm 22. I briefly considered making this a 31-sermon series, but decided to wrap it up with just a second sermon!
Summary of the first half of this Psalm: How to trust God when it is really difficult:
1. IDENTIFY YOURSELF WITH GOD – When you reach that watershed moment, you need to keep identifying yourself with God, “My God, My God...”
2. REMEMBER GOD’S DELIVERANCES – Just as David reminded himself in verses 4-5 of the slaves in Egypt who were delivered from bondage when they cried out to God, let trials strengthen your faith (James 1) when you are feeling overwhelmed by evil, because there is nothing our God can’t do to deliver you.
3. TALK TO GOD – God is personal, and so it is entirely appropriate to talk to Him about the suffering you are experiencing. Jesus experienced everything in this Psalm, so you have something in common with Him that you can talk about!
4. TRUST JESUS – This Psalm is a prophecy about what Jesus would do about a thousand years later (which, from our perspective is now about 2,000 years ago). Jesus experienced suffering, being forsaken, death, and hell, even though He had never broken any of the 10 Commandments. He did it in order to pay for your sin in your place and exchange His perfect obedience with your sinful record so that you could be made right with God.
· Leuphold, in his commentary, noted insightfully that the phrases of this verse are “shorter, like gasps breathed in distress.” The Bulls have got me, the lion is raging, the executioner’s sword is coming down, and the dogs are about to finish me off. HELP!
· This word translated “my strength” in most English Bibles does not mean “strength” anywhere else in the OT. All ten other places it occurs, it refers to deer. It is actually a word from the title of this Psalm, and it is found in Psalm 18:33 where it says God gives David sturdy footing like the feet of a “deer.”
o Because the first half of the sentence is addressed to God, this lithe deer capable of swift travel and capable of effectively avoiding all enemies probably refers to God, the only One strong enough to reach the suffering servant in time to help him.
o Like David, we need to cry out to God to deliver us rather than trusting in our wits, our experience, our money, and our friends to help us when we are desperate.
· In v.1, the psalmist used the same word to complain that his Savior was “far away” – or at least it felt like it, and then the same command not to be distant was first voiced in v.11, and in v.11 the reason given was that there was no other helper (azar) to be found. Now in verse 19, David explicitly identifies Yahweh as the help/aid/assistance (azar) that he needs.
o God is David’s helper. This is not demeaning at all to God; this is covenantal language. This is the relationship role in which God has revealed Himself to David, and this helping role necessarily implies that He must be more powerful than the bulls of Bashan and the rip-roaring lions, and the wild dogs.
o If God were not astonishingly powerful, He wouldn’t be much of a helper, but He was David’s Helper, and He will also be your helper – the Helper of all who call on His name.
· Note the chiasm in the next couple of verses: in the Psalmist’s experience, he was first set upon by bulls, then by lions, then by dogs, each probably representing different classes of people trying to hurt him. Note how he responds to the animals in reverse order, specifically asking God to rescue him from each one, first the pesky dogs, then the roaring lion, then the powerful bulls.
· The King James translated the last word “unicorns,” following older translations like Wycliffe’s, the Vulgate and the Septuagint, but that conjures up the wrong image in the post-modern mind[3].
o Isaiah 34:7 treats these remiym as a synonym to the same kind of parim and abiriym bulls that we saw earlier in this Psalm, so that’s the picture we should have in mind – those strong-as-an-ox “bulls of Bashan.”
· The verb which ends verse 21 in Hebrew literally means “answered” (Qal Perfect), but since it follows an imperative verb, the imperative could be considered to govern this second verb as well, and that’s how the LXX and NIV interpreted it, as did I. The picture I got in my mind when I read the Hebrew “even from the horns of the oxen answer me,” is that he is lying there helpless in front of those raging bulls, desperately praying that God will answer his prayer and save him before he gets trampled or gored by their horns.
· This last prayer is a turnaround point. From verse 22 on, the scene changes dramatically.
· David uses the same verb “cipher” that he did back in v.17 where, in his self-absorbed misery, he resorted to “counting” his bones – by the way, Jesus could have resorted to this kind of miserable self-pity on the cross as well – quite a few of His ribs were probably visible after the scourging ripped much of the skin and muscle off his back.
o But Jesus instead thought of helping other people: “Don’t weep for me; weep for yourselves, you women of Jerusalem!” “Father, forgive them, for they don’t realize what they’re doing,” “Mother, let John take care of you; John, take care of Mom.”
o In the extremity of David’s fear and misery, David, too, is able to think of something radically different than his personal misery once he has called in God’s help. David starts thinking about the future – the verb tenses change to future here in v.22 – what it’s going to be like when God answers his prayer and delivers him.
· This is the essence of apocalyptic literature[4].
o When the Jews were up against the overwhelming forces of national corruption and threats from foreign nations, God gave them a vision of what heaven would be like through the prophet Isaiah.
o When Israel was hopelessly conquered, living in exile in Babylon, God gave them an apocalyptic vision of His final conquest over evil through the prophet Daniel,
o and then, as the early church faced its dark days of persecution under Rome, God gave them the book of Revelation through John.
o It is when we are living our darkest moments that God wants us to shift our focus to the future and look forward to the time when He will wipe out evil and bless His people.
o “When our faith is undermined by our circumstances and we are tempted to despair altogether, sometimes our only remaining hope is to place ourselves within the worshipping community of God’s people. There he is praised even if we are unable to praise him. There the mighty acts of God are proclaimed even when we cannot see them. There God is present though he remains absent from our own experience.”[5]
· David dreams of the day when he will be back in church worshipping God and telling fellow believers about the name of God. Here the Hebrew concept of a “name” is much broader than we think of in English. In Hebrew, a person’s name includes his history and his reputation. This is what David looks forward to telling his spiritual brothers in his congregation.
o I saw an example of this on Wednesday night, when Rich shared in the Bible study about how God answered so many specific prayers that he had prayed. Rich declared among the bretheren that God has a reputation of answering prayers! That’s one way God has made a name for Himself.
o Now, what David looks forward to sharing about God’s reputation is that God is a savior and deliverer.
o Interestingly enough, the writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 2 verse 11 that these are also the words of Jesus Himself. Jesus, while hanging on the cross paying the price for our sin, looked forward to declaring to those that He was saving that God would remove the guilt of their sin because He had suffered for it already and that God would accept them as dearly-loved family members. Despite our former offenses against God, Jesus was “not ashamed” to call us His brothers and to share His inheritance with us!
· So when you are suffering, why not look forward to the future when God erases everything bad and fills you with joy in His presence forever, with eternal pleasures at His right hand? (Ps. 16:11)
· The root of this word “fear/revere” means to “turn off the path,” and KJV renders this same phrase in Psalm 33:8 “stand in awe of Him,” and that seems most appropriate.
o The picture then, is of someone who is minding their own business, walking or driving down the road, but then an important person comes up on the road, say a police car, or maybe it’s an army general with a whole convoy of camouflage-painted vehicles, or maybe it’s the President of the United States with his special motorcade. You have a choice; are you going to hog the lane and make them stay behind you, or are you going to pull over and get out of their way?
o Here, David is saying, “Get out of God’s way; pull off the road & stand at attention!”
· Now, if King David from Bible times were to suddenly come back from the dead and walk through the door of this building with his purple robes and his 100-pound gold crown and Goliath’s giant sword and command you in no uncertain terms to stand at attention and praise and glorify God, don’t you think you’d hop to it?
o “Yes SIR! Hallelu, Hallelu, Halleu, Halleuiah, Praise ye the Lord!” You’d do something like that, wouldn’t you?
o Well, the thing is, King David is standing here before you as the author of the Psalm we’re reading, and he has commanded you right here in verse 23, in no uncertain terms, to step aside from the routines of your life and show your respect for God through speaking or singing words of praise to Him that show honor to Him.
o Galatians tells us that we who believe in Jesus are the “seed of Abraham” (3:7) and the “Israel of God” (6:16), so this is addressed to us too.
o And this is what we do in our worship services: we quiet ourselves and listen to His word; we pray and we sing.
· Now David gives a reason in the next verse for why we should do these things: “Why Stand in awe and praise and glorify the Lord? Because He responds to poor/lowly/humble sufferers like us with salvation!”
· In v.6, David has said, “I am a worm, hardly even a man, a human stigma, and a one who is despised.” Humans may despise you, but God never will.
o He does not look at you and say, “Ew, I don’t want to get my hands dirty with her.”
o (Now if you’re proud, that’s another story; God says He finds proud people revolting, but not messy people who know they are a mess. Ps. 18:27 “For You Yourself will cause to save a lowly people, but haughty eyes You will bring low.”-NAW )
o Even though David feels like he’s just a limp heap on the ground that’s been gored by oxen and ripped up by lions and scavenged by hyenas, he is confident that God will not think he is disgusting.
· These verbs are perfect tense, spoken with a conviction that the suffering will end and he will be able to look back on it in past tense when he praises God.
o This reminds me of what He had written in Psalm 18:6 “During my distress, I would call Yahweh, yes to my God I would holler. From His temple He would hear my voice, and my hollering would get to His attention, into His ears.” (NAW)
o Is that testimony your own? Is there a salvation story you can tell of when you cried out to God to save you and He did it?
· Such neder vows included
o Jacob’s vow to worship God at Bethel with his family upon his safe return from visiting his uncle,
o the Nazarite vow of Num. 6,
o and Hannah’s vow that if God gave her a child, she would give him away to temple service (1 Sam. 1).
o There were any extra promise made to God, and they often included an animal sacrifice, part of which could be shared as a meal in the temple with poor people and with temple staff, so that may be what the “eating” is about in v.26.
o (Lev. 7:16 “But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice; but on the next day the remainder of it also may be eaten”)
o In a similar manner, after Christ’s offering of Himself as a sacrifice, in the holy ordinance of communion, He invited all who respect Him to partake of food that symbolizes the sacrifice He made and our fellowship with him in it![10]
· Verse 22 mentioned the qohel “church congregation,” but here in v.25 the word “great” is added to it. I suspect it may mean the larger assemblies that gathered from all over the region on the Sabbath – or the largest assemblies that gathered from all over the nation on the annual feast weeks, as opposed to the smaller congregations of locals that gathered every morning and evening for the daily sacrifice. David wanted lots of people to hear about God’s deliverance!
· But he admits that he would have no praise for God except that God had given him salvation and the ability to praise God. “My praise comes from You,” he says. I can’t conjure up praise from myself.
o If you don’t feel like praising God this morning, that’s o.k., just ask God to enable you to praise Him.
o As commentator Gerald Wilson put it, “[E]ven when Yahweh is most distant and entirely absent from our experience, the ability to praise him is a testimony to his enduring presence with those who fear him. The very ability to praise comes from God himself.”
· David also looks forward to being around people who “fear/respect” God after he has been oppressed and afflicted by people who hate God’s ways.
o How refreshing it is to be around people who really love Jesus! I hope we can all be the kind of church community that everybody looks forward to enjoying every week!
o This also applies to Jesus Himself: He vowed from before the foundations of the earth to save a people for Himself (Ephesians 1:4ff), and made good on that vow. Although that meant God had to pour out His wrath against our sin upon Him, God did not stay angry at him, but raised Him up and seated Him at his right hand, no longer despised and rejected! And Jesus Himself looks forward to the consummation of his vow when he returns to take those who fear Him home to his heavenly wedding feast. That will be more glorious than even the best of Sundays on this earth!
o I like what Matthew Henry wrote about this: “Therefore Christ is said to praise God in the church, not only because he is the Master of the assemblies in which God is praised, and the Mediator of all the praises that are offered up to God, but because he is the matter of the church's praise.”
§ It is the lowly one who is humble enough to pray for God to save him.
§ In v.24 God doesn’t despise the “meek/poor/afflicted/depressed,” but “heeds their cry for help”
o when their hearts are having a meltdown like in v.14,
o and when they are famished and parched with thirst like in v.15.
o That cry for help was their feeble way of seeking God, and God responds to that.
§ Now the tables are turned. God has “prepared a table before [them] in the presence of [their] enemies,” and their hearts are blessed with “eternal life”! This kind of reversal is typical of God’s salvation.
§ There is a sense in which God has been in control all along, but there is also a future fulfillment, to which this Psalm also points, and that is the consummation of the Messiah’s work of saving the world, pictured in the last book of the Bible, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 11:15, NKJV)
§ Jesus’ triumphant glory in the book of Revelation is clearly the ultimate fulfillment of verses 27-28, and it is a comfort for David to anticipate this promise even in the midst of the problems of this present life.
§ The Hebrew here is literally, “His soul will not revive.” It sounds to me like another reversal, as part of God’s salvation, in which the rich and powerful who did not fear God are put to death instead of the lowly sufferer who was trusting God for salvation and who looked like he was going to lie down in the dust of death back in v.15.
o It reminds me of Psalm 72:9, “Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust.”
o Also Philippians 2, “...He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...” (Philippians 2:8-10, NKJV)
§ Most commentators, however, see this as a merism form of poetry in which the whole of mankind is represented by the poor in v.26 as well as the wealthy in v.29 being fed at the same gracious feast.
§ The “He/Him” in v.30 is in parallel with the word for “master/Lord.” This “master” would fit with verse 28 as the one who owns the “kingdom” and “is ruling,” and before whom the “rich” are “bowing down” in v.29.
§ Now, “descendents/seed/posterity” has been mentioned earlier in v.23 as “those who fear the Lord” and who are to “praise and glorify” Him. This fits with the “service” to the Lord, mentioned here in v.30.
§ The picture that comes to my mind is of the disciples who called Jesus their “Master” and “Lord” and who served Him for a special generation in which the church was born, which the Apostles called “a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17), “a people for God’s name” (Acts 15:14), and “the people of God” (1 Peter 2:10). It was this emerging people-movement of Christians to whom the Apostles proclaimed and declared the righteousness of Christ.
§ For instance, Paul wrote in Romans 3:21-26, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith... to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (NKJV).
§ Most scholars interpret verses 30-31 instead to mean that the good news of God’s salvation will be told from generation to generation. There are other passages which clearly teach this, such as Psalm 78, but I think you have to edit the Hebrew too much to get that out of this verse[16], but then again, the Hebrew wording here is a bit obscure and there are a lot of Biblical scholars on the side of the modern English versions, so I don’t want to be too contentious.
§ Either way, whether it is David or the Apostles, or parents and children passing along the good news, today we can apply that to ourselves. Will you tell the story of your salvation, that God’s righteousness has made you who believe in Jesus right with God, and how God has delivered you from various sins and from various problems and supplied your needs. Will you tell your children and grandchildren that? Declare it to the world!
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PSALM 22 |
NAW |
KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX (21) |
Brenton |
|
כ וְאַתָּה יְהוָה אַל תִּרְחָק אֱיָלוּתִי לְעֶזְרָתִי חוּשָׁה. |
19 So Yahweh, don’t You be distant.[17] My hind’s [feet][18] for my aid, Hurry[19]! |
19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength,
haste thee to help m |
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength,
hasten to help M |
19 But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O [you] my help, come quickly to my aid! |
19 But You, O LORD, be not far off; O [You] my help, hasten to my assistance. |
19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength,
come quickly to help m |
20) σὺ δέ, κύριε, μὴ μακρύνῃς τὴν βοήθειάν μου, εἰς τὴν ἀντίλημψίν μου πρόσχες[20]. |
19 But thou, O Lord, remove not my help afar off: be ready for mine aid. |
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כא הַצִּילָה מֵחֶרֶב נַפְשִׁי מִיַּד כֶּלֶב יְחִידָתִי. |
20 Please deliver my life from the sword – my one-and-only from the dog paw[21]. |
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. |
20 Deliver Me X from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. |
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious [life] from the power of the dog! |
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog. |
20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious [life] from the power of
the dog |
21) ῥῦσαι ἀπὸ ῥομφαίας τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς κυνὸς τὴν μονογενῆ μου· |
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my only-begotten one from the power of the dog. |
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כב הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי מִפִּי אַרְיֵה וּמִקַּרְנֵי רֵמִים עֲנִיתָנִי. |
21 Cause to save me from the lion’s mouth. Answer me even before the horns of the wild-oxen[22]. |
21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. |
21 Save Me from the lion's mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me. |
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! |
21 Save me from the lion's mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me. |
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. |
22) σῶσόν με ἐκ στόματος λέοντος καὶ ἀπὸ κεράτων μονοκερώτων τὴν ταπείνωσίν[23] μου. |
21 Save me from the lion's mouth; and [regard] my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns. |
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כג אֲסַפְּרָה שִׁמְךָ לְאֶחָי בְּתוֹךְ קָהָל אֲהַלְלֶךָּ. |
22 I will carefully recount[24] Your reputation[25] to my brothers. I will praise You in the midst of the congregation[26]. |
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. |
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. |
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: |
22 I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. |
22 I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. |
23) διηγήσομαι τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε |
22 I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I sing praise to thee. |
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כד יִרְאֵי יְהוָה הַלְלוּהוּ כָּל זֶרַע יַעֲקֹב כַּבְּדוּהוּ וְגוּרוּ מִמֶּנּוּ כָּל זֶרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל. |
23 “Praise Him, you who fear Yahweh; Glorify Him, all you descendants of Jacob, and stand in awe[27] of Him, all you descendents of Israel, |
23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear X him, all ye the seed of Israel. |
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear X Him, all you offspring of Israel! |
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! |
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. |
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere X him, all you descendants of Israel! |
24) Οἱ
φοβούμενοι
κύριον,
αἰνέσατε
αὐτόν, ἅπαν τὸ
σπέρμα Ιακωβ,
δοξάσατε
αὐτόν, φοβηθήτωσαν
αὐτ |
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye seed of Jacob, glorify him: let all the seed of Israel fear X him. |
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כה כִּי לֹא בָזָה וְלֹא שִׁקַּץ עֱנוּת עָנִי וְלֹא הִסְתִּיר פָּנָיו מִמֶּנּוּ וּבְשַׁוְּעוֹ אֵלָיו שָׁמֵעַ. |
24 because He neither despised[28] nor considered detestable[29] the lowliness[30] of a lowly man, and He did not hide His face from him, but when he hollered[31] to Him He heeded.” |
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. |
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. |
24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. |
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him [for help], He heard. |
24 For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering
of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to
X X h |
25) ὅτι οὐκ ἐξουδένωσεν οὐδὲ προσώχθισεν τῇ δεήσει τοῦ πτωχοῦ οὐδὲ ἀπέστρεψεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ[32] καὶ ἐν τῷ κεκραγέναι με πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰσήκουσέν μου. |
24 For he has not despised nor been angry at the supplication[33] of the poor; nor turned away his face from me; but when I cried to him, he heard me. |
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כו מֵאִתְּךָ תְהִלָּתִי בְּקָהָל רָב נְדָרַי אֲשַׁלֵּם נֶגֶד יְרֵאָיו. |
25 It is because of [Yahweh] that my praise will come about in the great[34] congregation. I will complete my vows[35] before those who respect Him. |
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. |
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. |
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. |
25 From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. |
25 From you comes [the theme of] my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear [you] will I fulfill my vows. |
26) παρὰ σοῦ ὁ ἔπαινός μου ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ μεγάλῃ[36], τὰς εὐχάς μου ἀποδώσω ἐνώπιον τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτόν. |
25 My praise is of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. |
|
כז יֹאכְלוּ עֲנָוִים וְיִשְׂבָּעוּ יְהַלְלוּ יְהוָה דֹּרְשָׁיו יְחִי לְבַבְכֶם לָעַד. |
26 Lowly ones will eat and be satisfied[37]; they will praise Yahweh – those who seek Him. May your heart[s] have eternal life! |
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. |
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! |
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! |
26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! |
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him— may your hearts live forever! |
27)
φάγονται
πένητες καὶ
ἐμπλησθήσονται,
καὶ αἰνέσουσιν
κύριον οἱ
ἐκζητοῦντες
αὐτόν·
ζήσονται αἱ
καρδίαι |
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: |
|
כח יִזְכְּרוּ וְיָשֻׁבוּ אֶל יְהוָה כָּל אַפְסֵי אָרֶץ וְיִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְפָנֶיךָ כָּל מִשְׁפְּחוֹת גּוֹיִם. |
27 All the ends of the earth[39] will remember and turn to Yahweh, and all the families[40] of the nations will bow down[41] before Your face, |
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. |
27 All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. |
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. |
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. |
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, |
28) μνησθήσονται καὶ ἐπιστραφήσονται πρὸς κύριον πάντα τὰ πέρατα[42] τῆς γῆς καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιόν σου πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, |
27 All the ends of the earth shall
remember and turn to the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before |
|
כט כִּי לַיהוָה הַמְּלוּכָה וּמֹשֵׁל בַּגּוֹיִם. |
28 because the kingdom belongs to Yahweh. He is ruling among the nations[44]. |
28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations. |
28 For the kingdom is the LORD's, And He rules over the nations. |
28 For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. |
28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S And He rules over the nations. |
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. |
29) ὅτι τοῦ κυρίου ἡ βασιλεία, καὶ αὐτὸς δεσπόζει τῶν ἐθνῶν. |
28 For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he is the governor of the nations. |
|
ל אָכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ כָּל דִּשְׁנֵי אֶרֶץ לְפָנָיו יִכְרְעוּ כָּל יוֹרְדֵי עָפָר וְנַפְשׁוֹ לֹא חִיָּה. |
29 All the fat-cats of the earth have eaten then bowed down. All will kneel before His face, dropping to the dust[45], and his soul will not revive[46]. |
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat
and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and no |
29 All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and
worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he |
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one |
29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and
worship, All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he |
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— |
30) ἔφαγον
καὶ
προσεκύνησαν
πάντες οἱ πίονες[47]
τῆς γῆς,
ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ
|
29 All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and
worshipped: all that go down to the earth shall |
|
לא זֶרַע יַעַבְדֶנּוּ יְסֻפַּר לַאדֹנָי לַדּוֹר. |
30 Descendents will serve Him; He will be accounted as the master of that generation[51]. |
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. |
30 A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, |
30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the [coming] generation; |
30 Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. |
30 Posterity will serve him; X [future]
generation |
31) |
30 |
|
לב יָבֹאוּ וְיַגִּידוּ צִדְקָתוֹ לְעַם נוֹלָד כִּי עָשָׂה[53]. |
31 They will go and relate His righteousness to a people being born, that He did [it]. |
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that [shall] be born, that he hath done this. |
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who [will] be born, That He has done this. |
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people [yet un]born, that he has done [it]. |
31 They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who [will] be born, that He has performed it. |
31 They will X X proclaim his righteousness to a people [yet un]born— for he has done [it]. |
32) καὶ ἀναγγελοῦσιν[54] τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ λαῷ τῷ τεχθη[σ]ομένῳ, ὅτι ἐποίησεν [ὁ κύριος[55]]. |
31 And they shall report his righteousness to the people that [shall] be born, whom [the Lord] has made. |
[1] cf. other times the Psalmist urges God to hurry up with deliverance: 38:22, 40:13, and 70:1&5.
[2] This Hebrew word is literally “hand,” which can be figuratively interpreted “control/power,” but I see no necessity to figuratize it.
[3] Leuphold & Delitzsch connect this with “antelope,” but such a slender, shy creature doesn’t seem to be in view here.
[4] I am indebted to Gerald Wilson’s commentary for this application.
[5] Gerald Wilson, p.428.
[6] cf. Deut 18:22 for the converse. This is the same word I translated “be a guest” in Psalm 5:4 and 15:1, but here it is followed by the Hebrew word mimmenu “from Him,” so it requires a different translation.
[7] David uses a word here used only in the Levitical law concerning the really nasty unclean things. All other references: Leviticus 11:11,13,43; 20:25; Deuteronomy 7:26
[8] cf. Psalm 18:35, 132:1
[9] Apart from the four times it is mentioned in the Psalms - 22:25; 35:18; and 40:9-10, it is only mentioned one other place in the O.T., and that is in Ezra 10:1, although Hebrews 12:23 may be speaking of a similar concept.
[10] Thanks to Delitzsch for that last thought.
[11] cf. Psalm 17:15.
[12] cf. Ps. 2:8 “Ask of me and I will give nations of your inheritance and your possession the ends of the earth.” (NAW)
[13] cf. Gen. 12:3
[14] cf. Psalm 5:7
[15] The problem I have with that is that they seem to have to add a relative pronoun “who” and an additional verb “can/could” to interpret it that even the “fat cats” of this world are mortal and must depend upon God for eternal life (which is true in the bigger picture of the Bible, and Psalm 89:48 could be marshaled in support of this position: “What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?” (NKJV, see Gen. 19:19-20 for the converse of this in God sustaining the life of Lot).
[16] For instance, there is nothing in the Hebrew words to indicate that it is a future generation. In order to get the word “coming,” the ESV, NAS, and NIV had to insert a copy of the first word of the next verse into this verse and then transmogrify it into a participle. Furthermore the Hebrew participle means “being born” not “unborn.”
[17] In v.1, the psalmist used the same word to complain that his Savior was “far away” – or at least it felt like it, and then the same command not to be distant was first voiced in v.11, and in v.11 the reason given was that there was no other helper (azar) to be found. Now in verse 19, David explicitly identifies Yahweh as the help/aid/assistance (azar) that he needs. God is David’s helper. This is not demeaning at all to God; this is covenantal language. This is the relationship role in which God has revealed Himself to David, and this helping role necessarily implies that He must be more powerful than the bulls of Bashan and the rip-roaring lions, and the wild dogs. If God were not astonishingly powerful, He wouldn’t be much of a helper, but He was David’s Helper, and He will also be your helper – the Helper of all who call on His name.
[18] This word does not occur anywhere else in the OT to mean “strength.” All ten other places it occurs, it refers to deer. It is actually the word from the title translated “Dear/Doe/Hind” and is also the word from Psalm 18:33 where it says God gives him sturdy footing like the feet of a “deer.” Because the first half of the sentence is addressed to God, this lithe deer capable of swift travel and capable of effectively avoiding all enemies probably refers to God, the only One strong enough to reach the suffering servant in time to help him. Like David, we need to cry out to God to deliver us rather than trusting in our wits, our experience, our money, and our friends to help us when we are desperate. Note the chiasm in the next couple of verses: in the Psalmist’s experience, he was first set upon by bulls, then by lions, then by dogs, each probably representing different classes of people trying to hurt him. Note how he responds to the animals in reverse order, specifically asking God to rescue him from each one, first the pesky dogs, then the roaring lion, then the powerful bulls.
[19] cf. other times the Psalmist urges God to hurry up with deliverance: 38:22, 40:13, and 70:1&5. Leuphold noted insightfully that the phrases of this verse are “shorter, like gasps breathed in distress.” The Bulls have got me, the lion is raging, the executioner’s sword is coming down, and the dogs are about to finish me off. HELP!
[20] According to Fields, Aquilla, Symmachus, and Eusebius translated this word with the synonym speuson “hurry.”
[21] This Hebrew word is literally “hand,” which can be figuratively interpreted “control/power,” but I see no necessity to figuratize it.
[22] The King James translated it “unicorns,” following older translations like Wycliffe’s, the Vulgate and the Septuagint, but that conjures up the wrong image in the post-modern mind. Leuphold and Delitzsch connect the word with “antelope,” but such a slender, shy creature doesn’t seem to be in view here. Isaiah 34:7 treats these remiym as a synonym to the same kind of parim and abiriym bulls that we saw earlier in this Psalm, so that’s the picture we should have in mind – those strong-as-an-ox “bulls of Bashan.” The verb which ends verse 21 in Hebrew literally means “answered” (Qal Perfect), but since it follows an imperative verb, the imperative could be considered to govern this second verb as well, and that’s how the LXX and NIV interpreted it, as did I. The picture I got in my mind when I read the Hebrew “even from the horns of the oxen answer me,” is that he is lying there helpless in front of those raging bulls, desperately praying that God will answer his prayer and save him before he gets trampled or gored by their horns. This last prayer is a turnaround point. From verse 22 on, the scene changes dramatically.
[23] Compare with Symmachus: kakwsin “evildoers toward me,” and the more literal Aquilla: eishkousaV “You heeded me”
[24] David uses the same verb he did back in v.17 where, in his self-absorbed misery, he resorted to counting his bones – by the way, Jesus could have resorted to this kind of miserable self-pity on the cross as well – quite a few of His ribs were probably visible after the scourging ripped much of the skin and muscle off his back. But Jesus instead thought of helping other people: “Don’t weep for me; weep for yourselves, you women of Jerusalem!” “Father, forgive them, for they don’t realize what they’re doing,” “Mother, let John take care of you; John, take care of Mom.” In the extremity of David’s fear and misery, David too is able to think of something radically different than his personal misery once he has called in God’s help. David starts thinking about the future – the verb tenses change to future here in v.22 – what it’s going to be like when God answers his prayer and delivers him. This is the essence of apocalyptic literature. When the Jews were up against the overwhelming forces of national corruption and threats from foreign nations, God gave them a vision of what heaven would be like through the prophet Isaiah. When Israel was hopelessly conquered, living in exile in Babylon, God gave them an apocalyptic vision of His final conquest over evil through the prophet Daniel, and then, as the early church faced its dark days of persecution under Rome, God gave them the book of Revelation through John. It is when we are living our darkest moments that God wants us to shift our focus to the future and look forward to the time when He will wipe out evil and bless His people. I am indebted to Gerald Wilson’s commentary for this application.
[25] David dreams of the day when he will be back in church worshipping God and telling fellow believers about the name of God. Here the Hebrew concept of a “name” is much broader than we think of in English. In Hebrew, a person’s name includes his history and his reputation. This is what David looks forward to telling his spiritual brothers in his congregation. I saw an example of this on Wednesday night, when Rich shared in the Bible study about how God answered so many specific prayers that he had prayed. Rich declared among the bretheren that God has a reputation of answering prayers! That’s one way God has made a name for Himself. Now, what David looks forward to sharing about God’s reputation is that God is a savior and deliverer. Interestingly enough, the writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 2 verse 11 that these are also the words of Jesus Himself. Jesus, while hanging on the cross paying the price for our sin, looked forward to declaring to those that He was saving that God would remove the guilt of their sin because He had suffered for it already and that God would accept them as dearly-loved family members. Despite our former offenses against God, Jesus was “not ashamed” to call us His brothers and to share His inheritance with us! So when you are suffering, why not look forward to the future when God erases everything bad and fills you with joy in His presence forever, with eternal pleasures at His right hand? (Psalm 16:11)
[26] “When our faith is undermined by our circumstances and we are tempted to despair altogether, sometimes our only remaining hope is to place ourselves within the worshipping community of God’s people. There he is praised even if we are unable to praise him. There the mighty acts of God are proclaimed even when we cannot see them. There God is present though he remains absent from our own experience.” ~Gerald Wilson, p.428
[27] cf. Deut 18:22 for the converse. This is the same word I translated “be a guest” in Psalm 5:4 and 15:1, but here it is followed by the Hebrew word mimmenu “from Him,” so it requires a different translation. The root of this word seems to be to “turn off the path,” and KJV renders this same phrase in Psalm 33:8 “stand in awe of Him,” and that seems most appropriate. The picture then, is of someone who is minding their own business, walking or driving down the road, but then an important person comes up on the road, say a police car, or maybe it’s an army general with a whole convoy of camouflage-painted vehicles, or maybe it’s the President of the United States with his special motorcade. You have a choice; are you going to hog the lane and make them stay behind you, or are you going to pull over and get out of their way? Here, David is saying, “Get out of God’s way; pull to the side of the road and stand at attention!” Now, if King David from Bible times were to suddenly come back from the dead and walk through the door of this building with his purple robes and his 100-pound gold crown and Goliath’s giant sword and command you in no uncertain terms to stand at attention and praise and glorify God, don’t you think you’d hop to it? “Yes SIR! Hallelu, Hallelu, Halleu, Halleuiah, Praise ye the Lord!” You’d do something like that, wouldn’t you? Well, the thing is, King David is standing here before you as the author of the Psalm we’re reading, and he has commanded you right here in verse 23, in no uncertain terms, to step aside from the routines of your life and show your respect for God through speaking or singing words of praise to Him that show honor to Him. Galatians tells us that we who believe in Jesus are the “seed of Abraham” (3:7) and the “Israel of God” (6:16), so this is addressed to us too. And this is what we do in our worship services: we quiet ourselves and listen to His word; we pray and we sing. Now David gives a reason in the next verse for why we should do these things: “Why Stand in awe and praise and glorify the Lord? Because He responds to poor/lowly/humble sufferers like us with salvation!”
[28] This is the same verb found in v.6 “I am a worm, hardly even a man, a human stigma, and a one who is despised.” Humans may despise you, but God never will. He does not look at you and say, “Ew, I don’t want to get my hands dirty with so-and-so.” (Now if you’re proud, that’s another story; God says He finds proud people revolting, but not messy people who know they are a mess. Ps. 18:27 “For You Yourself will cause to save a lowly people, but haughty eyes You will bring low.”-NAW ) Even though David feels like he’s just a limp heap on the ground that’s been gored by oxen and ripped up by lions and scavenged by hyenas, he is confident that God will not think he is disgusting. These verbs are perfect tense, spoken with a conviction that the suffering will end and he will be able to look back on it in past tense when he praises God.
[29] David uses a word here used only in the Levitical law concerning the really nasty unclean things. All other references: Leviticus 11:11,13,43; 20:25; Deuteronomy 7:26
[30] cf. Psalm 18:35, 132:1
[31] Psalm 18:6 “During my distress, I would call Yahweh, yes to my God I would holler. From His temple He would hear my voice, and my hollering would get to His attention, into His ears.” (NAW) Is that testimony your own? Is there a salvation story you can tell of when you cried out to God to save you and He did it?
[32] The LXX, Vulgate, and Wycliffe all render in first person instead of 3rd person. Aquilla and Eusebius kept the 3rd person, so the Masoretic reading goes back at least to the 2nd century AD. The difference is merely in the length of the stem on a letter in those three places, but for it to happen three times seems more than coincidence. The meaning is not significantly changed, however, for we would apply the psalm more broadly to Jesus and to ourselves anyway, even if David were only speaking of himself.
[33] The Hebrew word could be from the root aniy “low” or from the root anah “answer;” the LXX went with the latter, followed by the Vulgate and Wycliffe, but the standard English versions all go with the former. Aquilla reads thn praothta tou penhtoV “the humility of the needy”
[34] Verse 22 mentioned the qohel “church congregation,” but here in v.25 the word “great” is added to it. Apart from the four times it is mentioned in the Psalms - 22:25; 35:18; and 40:9-10, it is only mentioned one other place in the O.T., and that is in Ezra 10:1, although Hebrews 12:23 may be speaking of a similar concept. I suspect it may mean the larger assemblies that gathered from all over the region on the Sabbath – or the largest assemblies that gathered from all over the nation on the annual feast weeks, as opposed to the smaller congregations of locals that gathered every morning and evening for the daily sacrifice. David wanted lots of people to hear about God’s deliverance! But he admits that he would have no praise for God except that God had given him salvation and the ability to praise God. “My praise comes from You,” he says. I can’t conjure up praise from myself. If you don’t feel like praising God this morning, that’s o.k., just ask God to enable you to praise Him. As commentator Gerald Wilson put it, “[E]ven when Yahweh is most distant and entirely absent from our experience, the ability to praise him is a testimony to his enduring presence with those who fear him. The very ability to praise comes from God himself.” David also looks forward to being around people who “fear/respect” God after he has been oppressed and afflicted by people who hate God’s ways. How refreshing it is to be around people who really love Jesus! I hope we can all be the kind of church community that everybody looks forward to enjoying every week! This also applies to Jesus Himself: He vowed from before the foundations of the earth to save a people for Himself (Ephesians 1:4ff), and made good on that vow. Although that meant God had to pour out His wrath against our sin upon Him, God did not stay angry at him, but raised Him up and seated Him at his right hand, no longer despised and rejected! And Jesus Himself looks forward to the consummation of his vow when he returns to take those who fear Him home to his heavenly wedding feast. That will be more glorious than even the best of Sundays on this earth! I like what Matthew Henry wrote about this: “Therefore Christ is said to praise God in the church, not only because he is the Master of the assemblies in which God is praised, and the Mediator of all the praises that are offered up to God, but because he is the matter of the church's praise.”
[35] Such neder vows included Jacob’s vow to worship God at Bethel with his family upon his safe return from visiting his uncle, the Nazarite vow of Num. 6, Jepthah’s vow to offer God the first thing that came out of his house (Judges 11), and Hannah’s vow to give Samuel away to temple service (1 Sam. 1). There were any extra promise made to God, and they often included an animal sacrifice, part of which could be shared as a meal in the temple with poor people and with temple staff, so that may be what the “eating” is about in v.26. (Lev. 7:16 “But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice; but on the next day the remainder of it also may be eaten”) In a similar manner, after Christ’s offering of Himself as a sacrifice, in the holy ordinance of communion, He invited all who respect Him to partake of food that symbolizes the sacrifice He made and our fellowship with him in it! Thanks to Delitzsch for that last thought.
[36] Aquilla & Symmachus read polloi “many”
[37] cf. Psalm 17:15. It is the lowly one who is humble enough to pray for God to save him. v.24 God doesn’t despise the “meek/poor/afflicted/depressed” person, but “heeds their cry for help” when their hearts are having a meltdown like in v.14, and when they are famished and parched with thirst like in v.15. That cry for help was their feeble way of seeking God, and God responds to that. Now the tables are turned. God has “prepared a table before [them] in the presence of [their] enemies,” and their hearts are blessed with “eternal life”! This kind of reversal is typical of God’s salvation.
[38] cf. Symmachus: dianekwV “continually”
[39] cf. Psalm 2:8 “Ask of me and I will give nations of your inheritance and your possession the ends of the earth.” (NAW)
[40] cf. Gen. 12:3
[41] cf. Psalm 5:7
[42] cf. Aquilla & Symmachus: suggeneiai “relatives”
[43] The LXX is “your,” albeit the Syriac, Vulgate, and Aquilla opt for “his” to match the “LORD” more clearly.
[44] There is a sense in which God has been in control all along, but there is also a future fulfillment, to which this Psalm also points, and that is the consummation of the Messiah’s work of saving the world, pictured in the last book of the Bible, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15, NKJV) Jesus’ triumphant glory in the book of Revelation is clearly the ultimate fulfillment of verse 28.
[45] This sounds to me like Psalm 72:9, “Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust.” Also like Philippians 2, “...He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...” (Philippians 2:8-10, NKJV) Most commentators, however, see this as a merism form of poetry in which the whole of mankind is represented by the poor in v.26 as well as the wealthy in v.29 being fed at the same gracious feast.
[46] The Hebrew here is literally, “His soul will not revive.” It sounds to me like another reversal as part of God’s salvation, in which the rich and powerful who did not fear God are put to death instead of the lowly sufferer who was trusting God for salvation and who looked like he was going to lie down in the dust of death back in v.15. The majority of commentators, on the other hand, see the rich as being part of those who receive God’s merciful feast. The problem I have with that is that they seem to have to add a relative pronoun “who” and an additional verb “can/could” to interpret it that even the “fat cats” of this world are mortal and must depend upon God for eternal life (which is true in the bigger picture of the Bible, and Psalm 89:48 could be marshaled in support of this position: “What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?” (NKJV, see Gen. 19:19-20 for the converse of this in God sustaining the life of Lot).
[47] cf. Aquilla & Symmachus: liparoi “fat/greasy ones”
[48] Aquilla gave a better translation: kamyousi “bend over” but Symmachus missed it with oklasousi “break”
[49] cf. Aquilla & Symmachus: koun “dust”
[50] Although the LXX, Syriac, and Aquilla read as though the Hebrew was לו ונפשי, Theodotion and Symmachus’ versions agree with the Masoretic text.
[51] The “He/Him” in v.30 is in parallel with the word for “master/Lord.” This “master” would fit with verse 28 as the one who owns the “kingdom” and “is ruling,” and before whom the “rich” are “bowing down” in v.29. Now, “descendents/seed/posterity” has been mentioned earlier in v.23 as “those who fear the Lord” and who are to “praise and glorify” Him. This fits with the “service” to the Lord, mentioned here in v.30. The picture that comes to my mind is of the disciples who called Jesus their “Master” and “Lord” and who served Him for a special generation in which the church was born, which the Apostles called “a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17), “a people for God’s name” (Acts 15:14), and “the people of God” (1 Peter 2:10). It was this emerging people-movement of Christians to whom the Apostles proclaimed and declared the righteousness of Christ. For instance, Paul in Romans 3:21-26, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith... to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (NKJV). Most scholars interpret these verses instead to mean that the good news of God’s salvation will be told from generation to generation. There are other passages which clearly teach this, such as Psalm 78, but I think you have to edit the Hebrew too much to get that out of this verse*, but then again, the Hebrew wording here is a bit obscure and there are a lot of Biblical scholars on the side of the modern English versions, so I don’t want to be too contentious. Either way, whether it is David or the Apostles, or parents and children passing along the good news, today we can apply that to ourselves. Will you tell the story of your salvation, that God’s righteousness has made you who believe in Jesus right with God, and how God has delivered you from various sins and from various problems and supplied your needs. Will you tell your children and grandchildren that? Declare it to the world! For instance, there is nothing in the Hebrew words to indicate that it is a future generation. In order to get the word “coming,” the ESV, NAS, and NIV had to insert a copy of the first word of the next verse into this verse and then transmogrify it into a participle. Furthermore the Hebrew participle means “being born” not “unborn.”
[52] Symmachus: latreusei “serve” (as a priest does)
[53] Boice attempts to relate this word to Jesus’ final word on the cross from John 19:30. Since Jesus did not quote the Septuagint with His, “My God, My God” citation, it could stand to reason that if He went on to quote the last verse of this Psalm, He would also use a phrase more like the Masoretic text than the Septuagint, and indeed, Jesus’ tetelestai is not like the Septuagint epoiesen ho kurios (“the Lord did/made”). But, as poetically perfect as it would be, I am skeptical of Boice’s claim because it is not the right Hebrew verb (which would be better expressed by gamar or cala/calah/calal or shalam or tamam instead of ‘asah), but even more tellingly, it is not the right Hebrew verb stem (The verb here is in the active Qal stem, which could mean “It did,” but “It is done” would require a passive stem like Niphal or Pual).
[54] Symmachus interpreted this Hebrew spr verb as “write it up in a book,” which is just as plausible an interpretation as “declare.”
[55] Although the LXX and Syriac add an explicit subject where it is not explicitly stated in the Hebrew text, the translations of Aquilla, Theodotion, and Symmachus which agree with the more terse Masoretic text indicate that the words “the Lord” were probably not original, although they are clearly the understood subject in the Hebrew, so no damage done.