Psalm 138 to 145 – David’s Journey

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Psalm 138 to 145

This group of psalms (138 to 145) has recently got my attention.  They are in the Book Five of Psalms and are with the psalms known as the “Songs of Ascent.”  These were songs that pilgrims sang as they went up to Jerusalem and the Temple.  Outside of Books One and Two, this is the largest grouping of psalms attributed to David the writer.  The original subtitles are in my NIV and many Bibles like my Holman Study Bible add their own titles to give people a sense of the contents of the psalm.

These psalms were probably grouped by whoever did the editing and grouping of the psalms into the form we know today.  I like to think about where and when psalms were written and read them in those possible contexts.  Only Psalm 142 gives you a time frame and that is “in the cave” referring to David’s outlaw days (1 Samuel 22) when he was hiding from King Saul.  Two (139, 140) are “for the director of music” which may indicate that they were written after he went to Jerusalem, three (141, 143, 145) are identified as a “psalm of David”, and Psalms 138 and 144 are just “of David.”

The first verse or two in each of these Psalms gives you a good idea of why they were written.  Most are truly songs of praise or thanksgiving but they seem to have been written at crucial or highlight points in David’s life.   I guess I have started to look at them as a journey through David’s life.  Psalm 138 could have been after Samuel anointed him and they go to Psalm 145 that has the sound of an older mature king who is looking back at his life and wanting his people to look ahead to the life and purpose in God.

Faint/Overwhelmed

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Faint/Overwhelmed

You are not sure how much you can take? If one more thing goes wrong! Can I just stop and think for a moment, please? It has been bleak for so long when will things get better?

The Hebrew word that might describe your condition in all of these is ataph. In the KJV it is translated “overwhelmed” and in the NIV it is rendered “faint.” My Strong’s Concordance states that it means being shrouded or clothed and extends from the idea of darkness. The word ataph is not the only word for “faint” but it caught my eye in Psalm 142:3 and 143:4. Ataph is also used in Psalm 61:2, 77:3, and in 102:Title. I often test the definition back into the passage, so I tried: overwhelmed and shrouded in darkness. Both caught the idea of the verse and I liked overwhelmed better than faint in those verses.

In Psalm 142 and 143 David is having a bad time because in both of these “his spirit was faint” (NIV). Psalm 142 is identified as when David was “in the cave.” I associate that time with 1 Samuel 22 which is right before the saving of Keilah (see Hero to Horror). Several of the psalms in this section (138 to 145) I would place in that period of time before Keilah. Psalms 138 to 145 are all attributed to David. This section of Book Five of the Psalms has been referred to as the “Songs of Ascent.” These would have been sung as people went to the Temple.

David faced many ataph moments in his life but the most telling one on how he handled these overwhelming times is 1 Samuel 30:6b – “David found strength in the Lord his God.”

The Number Sixteen in the Bible

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The Number Sixteen in the Bible

Ses (6) and asar or esreh (10) are the Hebrew words that are used to form sixteen (16). The number sixteen is not used in the New Testament.  There are ,however, sixteen soldiers that guarded Peter in Acts: 12.ay_purpi

The majority of the time that “sixteen” is used it is with kings or leaders. Several kings ruled for sixteen years (Ahaz – 2 Ch. 28:1, 2 Kg. 16:2; Jotham – 2 Ch. 27:1and 8, 2 Kg. 15: 33; Jehoash – 2Kgs.13:10) and one began his reign (Uzziah – 2 Kg. 14:21, 2Ch.26:1) at sixteen years of age. In 1 Chronicles 24 the number of leaders in one family was sixteen and who got the sixteenth duty position (chapters 24, 25).

In Joshua 15 and 19 it is associated with towns and villages in Judah and Issachar. The two most interesting times sixteen is used is in Ex. 26: 25, 36: 30 with the silver bases for the west end of the Tabernacle and the number of days that it took to clean the Temple during Hezekiah’s rule (2 Ch. 29:17).

Normally, I would try to make connections with all of these but to me there was nothing clear. The sixteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is ayin, which means “eye or spring.” (See the references for further study.) It was in this idea that I found a loose connection. God had His “eye” on those kings and leaders, the Tabernacle, and the cleaning of the Temple. The hebrew4christians website is a good study on the “eye” of God.

Faith

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I looked up the word “faith” in my Strong’s Concordance/Vines Bible dictionary and this is

Screen Shot 2015-09-13 at 8.59.35 AMwhat I found.

In the Greek, the most used word for faith is pistis, which deals the concept of truth or the truthfulness of God.

The word “faith” in the King James Bible is used mostly in the New Testament. In the KJV it is used twice in the Old Testament. Once in Deuteronomy 32: 20 where Moses is describing the Children of Israel that came out of Egypt as having no faith. The other use is in Habakkuk 2:4 “the righteous one will live by his faith.” (HCSB)

The number of times the word “faith” is used in the KJV is interesting – 247. It might be trying to tell us something. Faith should be a 24/7 thing in our lives.

The spelling of our English word also carries an interesting message. The letter “I” is in the middle of the word. So “I” better stay in faith.

Moses – You Returned!?

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Moses the most humble man in the world, the friend of God who ate with Him and saw His back, the doer of miracles, and leader of the people of Israel. You would think with all of those credentials Moses must have been willing to be moldable clay in the hand of the Master Potter. Wrong! He had issues and the big one was he had some serious history with Egypt and did not want to go back. He had made a mess of things when he left and did not want to face the court of Pharaoh or the people of Israel. This story starts in Exodus 3 and 4.

This concept of going back somewhere you left is on my mind because for the first time in my career I am returning to a school district that I left thirteen years ago. I had not left a mess like Moses, but I never thought I would be returning either. To say that I am not questioning why would be an understatement. Like Moses, it means leaving a comfort zone and going back to something that has changed while you were gone. His wife Zipporah and his sons had to leave family and friends for an uncertain future.

Father God had given him some glimpses of the road ahead but not the mistreating of the people by the Egyptians, the plagues, or being chased by a determined army. God had given him some pretty convincing signs to do but there was no mention of the people being stubborn and rebelling.

In looking at the big picture (that is all I can do for now) this is what I see happening:

  • Moses was retrained
  • Moses knew he was to go and he went
  • God sent him help, in the form of Aaron
  • Moses had command of supernatural powers to do the job
  • Not everyone was excited by his return or his mission
  • God walked with Moses through his mission