Category Archives: Psalms

Jesus in the Psalms – Death and Rising

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The life of Jesus in the Psalms was and is an unrolled scroll for all to see. In The Birth, I said I wanted to do the story from just the Psalms. I do intend to focus on Psalms, but this topic is intersecting with other post that are in the works and is just too important. No, I will not get all the references. An example of this is Paul’s Palē or struggles, this topic brought him problems from both the Jews and the Greeks. As I did a word search with “ris or rise and death or dead” something kept showing up that I did not expect, more on that later.

I believe the Holy Spirit used things in the life of David and the other psalmist to announce things that related to Christ. Yes, Moses to Ezra all wrote things that were for Jesus; you need to be careful not to think every line is prophesy. I read a line on tombs and thought it could be included, then I read it in context and knew it was not about Jesus.

In your studies, I suggest you read other translations and use a text analysis tool/reference.

The Psalms

16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (KJV) Paul uses this verse in Acts 13:35. Written by David.

22:16-18 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. (KJV) This is where it describes gambling for the clothes. Written by David.

We know this relates to Roman practices, but forms of sticking people on pieces of wood had existed even before David. Here are two resources; yes, there are detractors about anything Jesus.

31:12
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. (KJV) Verse 13 has those enemies plotting to take his life. Written by David.

88:3-7 This section talks about “the pit and the dead”. Written by Heman, it is a song of the Sons of Korah.

Psalms 16,22,31, and 88 have more in common than the verses that I have cited. The last three cover friends leaving, insults, and people attacking.

89:45-48 Cut short his days and what man can save himself from the grave. Written by Ethan the Ezrahite-Ethan and Heman.

Some Other References

Isaiah 53:12
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Matthew 12 and Luke 11 are where Jesus compares Himself with Jonah.

Christians use the Red Sea, Exodus 14, crossing as an example of baptism, which is when we identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Elijah raised the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17.

Elisha is credited with two people coming back to life: the Shunammite woman’s son in 2 Kings 4, and a dead man in 2 Kings 13, Elisha was dead, it was his bones that held the power.

New Testament

In my post, Jesus Knew and Told the Disciples, I explored the times in the Gospels when Jesus is credited with prophesying His death. An aspect that I did not think about was the Jewish leaders heard about this also. Herod is quoted asking about John and the power he was hearing Jesus had, Matthew 14. Matthew 27:63 is the Jewish leaders talking to Pilate about posting a guard. It just seems that they understood about a Messiah-figure rising from the dead.   

Jesus also raised people from the dead: the widow’s son, Jarius’ daughter, Lazarus, Matthew 27:52 “holy people” came from tombs alive when Jesus died, and Himself.

Jesus Knew and Told the Disciples 

God, Lord God, Lord – Psalm 68

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When you open the Book, Father God will open the Word for you.

This strange study-help started because of verse 20, I saw four different “God” words there and did a text analysis in Bible Hub. Then the large number of God, Lord, and other references in Psalm 68 needed a look. If you have a translation that capitalizes pronouns these are not included but are the work of the translators (God bless those people) making it easier for us to read and comprehend.

The Holy Spirit used the words He wanted where He wanted them. My point is, I counted 78 entries/forms of the Name Elohim (H430); so, study. As I said in God, Lord God, Lord our concordances list the root word. Many other forms of the word may be used, and they carry with them some part of grammar. Bible Hub has these in the column marked Morphology.

Some verses and words that caught my attention: verses 20 and 26 Yahweh. Verses 4 and 18 two forms of Yah.

This is the verse number, the Hebrew “God” word, and a link if it was the first time it was used.

Psalm 68

There are other reference tools, find the one that helps you. An analogy about different translations: Bible translations are like pepper products, find the one for you.

God, Lord God, Lord

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How David and the other writers of the Psalms introduce and address their work started this post. About 130 Psalms have God, Lord God, or Lord at the very beginning (verse 1). I compared this to Jesus addressing our “Father in Heaven” in the Lord’s Prayer; Jesus left no doubt Who He was talking to and where the Father was.

I noticed someone trying to denounce Hebrew because the word for God was also used with demon deities in Aramaic. No, I could not bring myself to listen to the video, but it made me think about the abuse the world heaps on the name of God/Jesus and how we Christians use the name of our Savior. Now, we can add in spellcheck, writing styles, and AI that will influence the casual writer/reader to question how we acknowledge God. The devil has diluted the name of Jesus by causing it to become associated with cursing; and adding an initial H in between Jesus and Christ does not make it or you more powerful. Ask for wisdom on how to challenge yourself and others who do that and stop it. Why should others honor His Name when His own children do not?

The thought that prompted this inquiry was – Did David start his Psalms with a particular name of God for what he was writing about? So, I started by listing all of the Psalms that were addressed to Yahweh and Elohim. I counted 48 addressed to Elohim (H430) and 87 that began with Yahweh (H 3068, 136, 113). About 20 of those use a combination of the two names. My leaf and ink Strong’s only list words by their main root word. Online text analysis and concordances will help you find specific forms of words for God and Lord, some of those are below.

My “overload” alarm went off, and I realized; if I could do my first idea that it would require more than one post. Since David was a writer and a musician, I realized he may have used various names for rhyming or musical benefits. Not being fluent in Hebrew or music, I am rethinking how to explore my question.

Here are my beginning notes. The verses are the ones that had Yahweh and Elohim. The links will take you to Bible Hub. There are other on-line reference works. Yes, I did use my leaf and ink Strong’s in finding all of the verse 1’s.

OTHER VERSES THAT FOUND ME

H410  Strong’s Hebrew: 410. אֵל (el) — God, god, mighty one  God, gods, mighty, Mighty One, God’s, power

H430  Strong’s Hebrew: 430. אֱלֹהִים (elohim) — God, gods, divine beings, judges  God, gods, God’s, judges, goddess, great

H3069  Strong’s Hebrew: 3069. יְהֹוִה (Yhvh) — LORDzzz  God

Yahweh = H3068  Strong’s Hebrew: 3068. יְהֹוָה (Yhvh) — LORD, GOD, LORD’Szzz 1. (the) self-Existent or Eternal 2. Jehovah, Jewish national name of God

H136  Strong’s Hebrew: 136. אֲדֹנָי (Adonay) — Lord, Master  Lord, lords

H113 Strong’s Hebrew: 113. אָדוֹן (adon) — Lord, master, owner  lord, master, master’s, lord’s, masters, lords

Moses’ Psalms – Part 2

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In Part 2, I will look/focus on Moses’ Psalms or Songs outside of the Book of Psalms. I believe that Moses and his Chief Songwriter, the Holy Spirit, crafted these songs to help the people reflect where he and they had been and where they were going. In Part 1 I focused on his songs that were in Psalms.

One way to read the works of Moses (Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and his songs) is to see his personal growth, victories, and failures in his writings and songs. In the first third of his life, he knew his history but was trained in the ways of Egypt. In the second third of his life, he had the influence of a priest of Midian, so who knows what he heard. His final third starts off with a burning bush and a showdown with the Egyptian court that raised him; all of that in less than two years.

Exodus 15 – I have to wonder if lines and verses of this song started coming to him as soon as he got word from Pharoah to leave. Hear the joy in this song but do not miss his personal vindication as he shouts, “He is my God, and I will praise Him”.

The mighty Egyptian army was crushed by the very thing that saved the people, the Red Sea. Moses stresses God’s mighty right hand and His arm, both symbols of strength. He is given a prophetic element in verses 14 and 15 against the people they are going to conquer. This song ends with a vision of the good land to come.

Miriam, his older sister, quickly grabs a small part of the song and turns it into a catchy dance tune.  

Numbers 21:17-18

17 Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, well—sing to it!
18 The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out
with a scepter and with their staffs. (HCSB)

I am giving Moses credit for this song. You will need to give some leeway on this song and the “well”. Either there was an unrecorded water source, or this is the water from Exodus 17:6. If it is Exodus 17, verse 18 has a lot of imagery and imagination in comparison to what we think happened. I have a feeling that it was sung every time they came to a water source.

This is near the end of the years of wandering. Moses had just made the bronze snake and the defeat of Sihon and Og was about to take place, followed by a huge test that was orchestrated by Balaam and the Midianites.    

Psalm 111

Before you rush to write a “wait a minute” comment, please let me explain. Book V in Psalms (107-150) was possibly assembled to reflect Moses’ fifth book – Deuteronomy. It has songs of ascent (121 to 134), the longest Psalm (119), and the shortest Psalm (117), some are read during Passover (113 – 118), and many have no author. A footnote in the NIV has Psalms 98 and 111 as being quoted in the Song of Moses and the Lamb in Revelation.

Read this Psalm; you can hear Moses singing this to teach Israel about its God. (See Part 1.) He uses many ideals past and future to strengthen the people’s faith in their God. It is an acrostic psalm, which is another excellent way to teach people.     

Deuteronomy 32

I believe this is Moses’ opus reflecting on the last forty years of his time with Israel and his time in the physical presence of his Rock. You can’t help but hear the regret in this song about him not speaking to the rock.

Before you read Chapter 32 it would do you good to read 31:19-22. Moses wrote this song as a testament against Israel in the future. These are not a “light” read but the song has plenty of God’s thoughts for and about His people.

Revelation 15:3 and 4

3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. (KJV)

Phrases in this song are drawn from Psalm 111:2,3; Deut. 32:4; Jer. 10:7; Psalms 86:9; 98:2. All of the verse below are from the NIV. The footnote is in Revelation 15 in Bible Gateway.

Psalm 111: 2 Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. 3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.

 Deut. 32:4  He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
    and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
    upright and just is he.

Jer. 10:7  Who should not fear you,
    King of the nations?
    This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms,
    there is no one like you.

Psalms 86:9  All the nations you have made
    will come and worship before you, Lord;
    they will bring glory to your name.

Psalms 98:2  The Lord has made his salvation known
    and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

The placement of this song in Chapter 15 is interesting. The people who sing it have conquered the beast and his image. After they have sung the song, the Tabernacle of the Testimony is opened, and the final seven plagues will be released. (This Tabernacle is what Moses saw to make his copy for Israel.)

Following the Trail of NIŠ·BĀ·RĀH

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While studying sacrifice, I found niš·bā·rāh in Psalm 51:17. That form of the word is only used three times according to biblehub.com. (It has a lot of cousins.) In the Strong’s it is H7665.

Hebrew Concordance: niš·bā·rāh — 3 Occurrences (biblehub.com)  

The three places it is used are – Psalm 34:20, Psalm 51:17, and Jeremiah 48:25. As I focused on the verses, I realized that broken bones and spirit told a story for those who would seek God.

Psalm 34:20

David wrote this psalm as a praise and thank you to God for delivering him from a bad situation. That story is in 1 Samuel 21:10-15.

The way I like to read Psalm 34 is the Father is speaking to His children starting at verse 11 and ending at 20. Verse 20 is a prophecy about Jesus that is fulfilled in John 19:36. Not one of Jesus’ bones was broken during His crucifixion.

Psalm 51:17  

David is calling out to God again in this psalm. This time he is in grief because of his sin and a wrong that he committed against God. This story is in 1 Samuel 11 + 12. He realizes that what the Father wants is a broken spirit and a heart that is broken and can only be fixed by fellowship with God again.

Jeremiah 48:25

The entire chapter is a message against Moab. Moab is the nation descendant from Lot and his oldest daughter (Genesis 19:30-38). That makes them famies (family enemies). Through the centuries it has been a curious relationship. In Deuteronomy 2 God is “protecting” Moab but by the end of the wandering they are with Balaam in corrupting Israel. Ruth the grandmother of David and Jesus is from Moab, so Lot’s bloodline is not to be dismissed.

In this verse, Moab’s horn or strength is cut, and his power or his arm is broken. They did help the Babylonians when Jerusalem fell.    

The Trail of NIŠ·BĀ·RĀH

As I pondered these verses, this path in the Way took shape.

Because righteous Jesus was not broken on the cross, we can bring our broken hearts and spirits to Him. He will create a clean heart and renew our spirit so we can fellowship with Him. Now that we walk with Him, He will break the power of our sinful flesh (Moab).