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[Recopied from notes taken in 1975. This psalm was covered again in the David series in 1979. I've inserted the HCSB translation and have changed it as per Bob's teaching, most of the time. If I am uncertain of my notes, then I insert a question mark.]

Passages covered: Psalm 108:1–13 Psalm 57:1–11 1Sam. 24:1–7 Psalm 60:1–12 2Sam. 19:8–13

I don’t know if this study is still available on MP3's anymore.

Bob begins the David Series in 1972, and covers these same passages later on in the series.

This psalm cannot be understood fully appart from its Isagogics. You must know two other psalms. Psalm 57:1–11 = Psalm 108:1–5 and Psalm 60:1–12 = Psalm 108:6–13

Psalm 108:1 Elohim, My heart [frontal lobe] is stabilized (receives stabilization) [this means that David has an edification complex]; I will sing [an overflow from the soul]; I will sing praises with the whole of my being.

I will sing continually and accompany myself on a stringed instrument; how much more from my abundance. I think this is v. 1?

Waking up is very pleasant for Bob; it is a part of being a pastor. The rest of the day fouls him up, however.

Psalm 108:2 Wake up, harp and lyre [or, psaltery and harp]! I will cause to awaken the dawn.

Psalm 108:3 I am caused to praise You, O LORD, among the people; and I will sing praises to You among the nations.

David was fleeing for his life at this time and not yet the king of Israel. David was the greatest grace exploiter. He has a life of great contrasts.

Psalm 108:4 For Your mercy [= grace] is great above the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

Psalm 108:5 God, be exalted above the heavens; let Your glory be over the whole earth.

Psalm 108:6 Cause to deliver with Your right hand and answer me [Thieme inserts prepare for war?] so that those You love [= Your beloved ones; this refers to every believer] may be rescued.

Joshua and Hoshea are the same word; a different morphology. Calling up the right hand to deliver them.

Psalm 108:7 God has spoken in His sanctuary [or, holiness]: "I will triumph! I will divide up [distribute] Shechem. I will apportion [measure] the Valley of Succoth.

Psalm 108:8 Gilead [is] Mine, Manasseh [is] Mine, and Ephraim [protects] My head Judah is My scepter [policy-maker].

A nation which is conquered washes your clothes. Over Edom I will cast My shoe is an idiom for conquering an area.

Psalm 108:9 Moab is My washbasin; on Edom I throw My sandal. Over Philistia I shout in triumph [= My victory cry]."

Edom

1. The Edomites came from Esau.

2. David annihilated them. 1Kings 11:15–16

3. Hadad escaped to Egypt and was offered asylum. 1Kings 11:14–23 He was Solomon's bitter enemy?

4. In 875 b.c., Edom, Moab and Ammon combined to fight Judah and were miraculously defeated in the Valley of Berachah. 2Chron. 20:22

5. They are sneaky. When Nebuchadnezzar took Judah, Moab joined in on the plunder. Psam 107 137:7 Jer. 49:17 Ezek. 25:13–14 Amos 1:11 Obad. 8

6. Nebuchadnezzar gave them a portion of Judah.

7. The Nabbatians took over Edom because the Edomites were living in Judah.

8. There were 4 centuries of prosperity in Judah until the Maccabeans conquered them. I am confused on this point.

9. Therefore, Greek and Roman historians call this section Edomia.

10. 20,000 Edomites let into Jerusalem right before 70 a.d. and they plundered and raped the people of Jerusalem and then disappeared from history.

11. Edom was condemned by God. 2Chron. 25:14–15, 20

The Philistines

1. The Philistines were a part of the sea peoples.

2. In 1186 b.c., they were dispossessed and moved to Egypt during Ramses III and they almost took over Egypt. Amos 9:7 Jer. 47:4 Deut. 2:23 Gen. 10:14

3. The Philistines originally came from Crete. They settled on the coast of Judah in 5 major cities. Joel 3:4

4. Their country is called the coasts of Palestine. Gen. 21:32 26:1 Philistines composed of Gaza?

5. Ekron was where the Philistines traded and then plundered goods. Soric is where Samson and Delilah kicked up their heels.

6. Followed Mycenaean Greek government ruled by a tyrant. Good farms and economic power.

7. They learned how to smelt and smite iron from the Hitites, who they conquered. 1Sam. 13:19–22

8. Traditional enemies of the Jews since Judges 3:3, 31

a. The tribe of Dan had to move to the far northeast because of them. Judges 18:2

b. Jews ruled by the Philistines for 40 years. Judges 13:1

c. They were partially delivered by Samson in 1050 b.c.

9. The Philistines carried off the Ark of God. 1Sam. 4:4

10. During the divided monarchy, the Assyrians and the Egypt in the 8^th and 7^th centuries b.c. whpped them.

11. Alexander the Great finally whupped them.

Psalm 108:11 Have You not rejected us, God [or, O Elohim, you have definitely not rejected us]? God, You do not march out with our armies [Therefore, will you not go out with our armies?].

Psalm 108:12 Give us aid against the foe, for human help is worthless [= for worthless is the deliverance of man].

Psalm 108:13 With God we will perform valiantly [= through God, we will manufacture battle courage]; He will trample our foes [- for He will tread down our enemies].

The microphone is problematic. So there is a long silent prayer. “If ever a psalm needed the board, this one does, and the mikes are giving me too much trouble to do that. We’re shot down.”

Psalm 57 inscription For the choir director [= the chief musician]: "Do Not Destroy." [= Altaschith] A Davidic Miktam. When he fled before Saul into the cave.

In vv. 1–3, David is in the cave of Adullum. In vv. 4–6, he is in the cave of Engedi. This psalm records the victory of the caves.

First we will go to 1Sam. 21:8 David will go into his own dunghill. The king’s business was to kill David and David had to leave in haste. David is telling the truth but he’s lying. Cosmic wisdom is a mixture of truth and lies. “I’m half here and half there. All I need is a briefcase. I am improving; at least I didn’t pull it out myself.” I have no idea what that all means?

David requests a sword and the only weapon in town is Goliath’s sword, a memory of a victory of grace. The sword did not help Goliath; it helped David. It was behind the Ephod.

David splits from Nob, being afraid of saul. Gath is the hometown of Goliath. David enters Gath wearing Goliath’s sword. The servants of Achish murmur about David. He suddenly realizes that he has blown it and he was very afraid.

The Philistines were Greeks with the customs of Greeks. You do not kill insante people. Gods tease and punish people by making them as nutty as a fruitcake. If you kill them, gods will come after you. Mycenaean Greeks were like this. Plato and Aristotle were not and they did not go in for this kind of stuff.

In any case, David begins being weird, scrabbling on the doors and drooling on his beard.

V. 14: “Don’t you see this man is mad? Why did you bring him to me? Have I need of more mad men?”

In 1Sam. 22, David splits. A bunch of men with needs and those who are discontented gather under David.

Psalm 57:1 Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me, for I take refuge in You [= for my soul trusts in you.]. I will seek refuge in the shadow of Your wings until danger passes [or, Yea, in the shadow of Your wings will I trust you, until these destructions pass over].

David has blown it; although he is not under the sin unto death, he now demands grace.

Verbs of Faith

1. Amen means that you are using something for a prop; you are leaning upon God. It is a verb used for salvation by faith in God Gen. 16:9?

2. Batach is slamming y9our troubles on the Lord; this is faith rest. Psalm 37:3 91:2

3. Chasah is hiding in the cleft ofa rock; taking refuge in God. Psalm 57:1 2Sam. 22:31

4. Jachal is being in extreme pain and trust the Lord in this. Lam. 3:21, 24

5. Qawah is a little strand of thread weaved into a large rope and it cannot be broken because of the rope. 1Sam. 40:31 Lam. 3:25 it is the strongest word for faith.

David has been fleeing like a rabbit and is in a desert. Whenever a buzzard cruises by, all motion stops. Rattlesnakes are munching on their victims will stop and scurry away. Yea, in the shadow of Your wings will I trust you, until these destructions pass over.

Psalm 57:2 I will call to God [= El] the Most High, unto God, who fulfills His purpose for me [or, that He Who accomplishes on my behalf].

Psalm 57:3 He reaches down from heaven and saves me [or, He shall Sennacherib from heaven that He may save me from the reproach of him who pants after me; this is Saul], challenging the one who tramples me. Selah [this means strike up the band] God sends His faithful love and truth [God will send forth His grace in action and His doctrine].

Michtam is taken from Kethem, which means fine gold. That’s a gold psalm. This is from the title.

Saul takes 3000 of his best men to seek after David. Here, seek means to seek out and kill. Saul is tired and he wants to take a nap. So he stops at David’s cave. He doesn’t look around much, although David is hidden further back in the cave. Human viewpoint would say, “Now it is time to kill Saul.” given that Saul is resting alone in David’s cave.

Children of God-types are out of it; they memorize a lot of verses and quote them devoid of any meaning or context.

Now David’s men are the spiritual experts who will help David to run his life. Thieme is apparently an expert on nail cleaing—I suppose from his vantage point?

1Sam. 24:1–4 When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, "David is in the wilderness near En-gedi." So Saul took 3,000 of Israel's choice men and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. David and his men were staying in the back of the cave, so they said to him, "Look, this is the day the LORD told you about: 'I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.'" Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul's robe.

David’s soldiers say, “The Lord said He’d deliver [continue to deliver] your enemies. David, by cutting Saul’s skirt was a rude, insulting thing to do to Saul. In v. 5, David repents of this. He cut off Saul’s rank. David realizes that he is being petty.

1Sam. 24:5–7 Afterwards, David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, "I swear before the LORD: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the LORD's anointed. I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD's anointed." With these words David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way.

Psalm 57:4 I am in the midst of lions [actually, my soul is among lions]; I lie down with those who devour men [= breathing fire; these are his men who are judging Saul]. Their teeth are spears and arrows; their tongues are sharp swords. These men want to kill Saul.

Psalm 57:5 God, be exalted above the heavens; let Your glory be above the whole earth.

Psalm 57:6 They prepared a net for my steps; I was downcast [or, my soul was bowed down; David was humbled]. They dug a pit ahead of me [in front of me; before my face], but [into the midst of which] they fell into it! Selah

They will fall into the Philistine trap. David is restraining his men and leaving all of this up to God. 1Sam. 26:9: But David said to Abishai, "Don't destroy him [notice that this matches the psalm at hand], for who can lift a hand against the LORD's anointed and be blameless?"

Abishai wants to kill Saul. David says, “Altasheth” to Abishai. Saul is the Lord’s anointed. This is a grace man who is gracing out Saul. God has anointed David and God will promite him at the proper time. People are always trying to get Thieme to knock Billy Graham. It is none of Bob’s business. God does not need our help to promote or to demote others.

Psalm 57:7 My heart is confident [or, stabilized], God, my heart is confident. I will sing; I will sing praises.

This is David now back in control of things. A British Grenadier said, “Every damn fool who owned a horse rode over me today” after 9 hours in battle at Waterloo. He did not see the glory in the emidst of the battle. In retrospect, you might. David, in retrospect, did. He adds something about glory. I will sing; I will sing praises.

Psalm 57:8 Wake up, my soul [or, glory]! Wake up, harp and lyre [or, psaltry and harp]! I will wake up the dawn [or, I myself will cause to awaken the dawn].

Psalm 57:9 I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.

Psalm 57:10 For Your faithful love [mercy] is as high as the heavens [goes all the way to the heavens]; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds [these are the angels].

Psalm 57:11 God, be exalted above the heavens; let Your glory be over the whole earth.

It is a long title. Even if you memorize 1000 verses, you will not get upon the lily of testimony (or witness). Matt. 7:27–34 This has to do with the grace provision in the practical things. This is a war psalm and we have “a testimony of grace provision.”

Psalm 60 inscription For the choir director: according to "The Lily of Testimony." [a testimony of grace provision] A Miktam of David [a psalm of great value] for teaching [teaching was gotten the hard way; not through academic means]. When he fought with Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah [when he made war with Syrians of Mesopotamia and Zobah; when Joab returned and annihilated in the valley of Salt], and Joab returned and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, killing 12,000. God,

The Dead Sea is 5 miles long 560 ft. chunk of salt near there. 2Sam. 8:11. There are other battles spoken of in 2Kings 14:7 and 2Chron. 25:11. 1Chron. 18:12 is the same battle mentioned here. Abishai killed 18,000. Two Jewish corps handled by Abishai and Joab. Abishai his first and then Joab went afterwards. There were 18,000 casualties in all; 18,000 casualties in all are attributed to Abishai and 12,000 of them to Joab. 2Sam. 6:13. David gets credit for killing 18,000 because he is king, as this is correct military form. A very decisive battle which wiped out the Edomites as a nation.

2Sam. 10:6–7 When the Ammonites realized they had become repulsive to David, they hired 20,000 foot soldiers from the Arameans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, 1,000 men from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 men from Tob. David heard about it and sent Joab and all the fighting men.

Here, there are 2 Syrian nations against David. David hits them first. David moves across the Jordan into Ammon. Syrian armies mentioned in v. 8

2Sam. 10:8 The Ammonites marched out and lined up in battle formation at the entrance to the city gate while the Aramæans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were in the field by themselves.

Joab is chief of staff. Ammonites are in front of him, Syrians are behind him. He puts a small group as a holding force against the Syrians. A smaller force he lets his brother take some men against the sons of Ammon. Armies are split with space between them. These two general accustomed to working together.

2Sam. 10:9–11 When Joab saw that there was a battle line in front of him and another behind him, he chose some men out of all the elite troops of Israel and lined up in battle formation to engage the Aramæans. He placed the rest of the forces under the command of his brother Abishai who lined up in battle formation to engage the Ammonites. "If the Aramæans are too strong for me," Joab said, "then you will be my help. However, if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I'll come to help you.

1Sam. 10:12 Be strong! We must prove ourselves strong for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD's will be done."

In v. 13, the Syrians flee then the army of Ammon retreats. This is all fought outside of Israel.

1Sam. 10:13 Joab and his troops advanced to fight against the Arameans, and they fled before him. When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai and entered the city. So Joab withdrew from the attack against the Ammonites and went to Jerusalem.

David’s Wars

1. David decidedly defeats the Philistines right after becoming king. He thus secured his western front. 2Sam. 8:1 1Chron. 18:11

2. On the eastern front, there were the Moabites. This did not fight as far as Edom because they were friends. A crewcut general of David’s army beat two long-haired strong men of Moab. 2Sam. 8:2 1Chron. 18:2

3. Then Ammon with the Syrians as their allies. 2Sam. 10:1–6 1Chron. 19:1–5

4. The Ammonites and the Syrians again. The battle of Keltam (?) Up in the north, which is a famous Syrian city. 2Sam. 10:16–19 1Chron. 19:16–19

5. Edomite mean when they invade. 2Sam. 8:3–10 1Chron. 18:3–11

Psalm 60 Conflict

1. Although David is winning victories in the north, Edom invades Judah from the south.

2. There are only a few skeleton garrisons down there, men in training. Psalm 60:1–4 Edomites wipe them out.

3. Rabarh victory released troops in order to fight the Edomites. 1Chron. 18:12

4. There is a decisive victory for Judah in the Valley of Salt. Psalm 60:5–12

5. Corps of Abishai kill 6000; Joab’s army kills 12,000; for a total of 18,000. 1Chron. 18:12 Psalm 60 inscription 2Sam. 8:13

Psalm 60:1 O God, You have rejected us; You have broken out against us; You have been angry [originally, this meant to snort through the nose]. Restore us [or, turn towards us again; or, restore Yourself to us and refresh us]!

These are civilians. God is in the vocative of being in a jam. For people who are in a jam, it hurts and they cannot think of anything else. God has not rejected Jews because David is winning battles one after another. It is the civilians who have rejected doctrine.

Psalm 60:2 You have shaken the land [or, You have made the land to tremble] and split it open. Heal its fissures, for it shudders.

Psalm 60:3 You have made Your people suffer hardship [or, You have caused Your people to see trouble]; You have given us a wine to drink that made us stagger [or, You have made us gulp the wine of staggering].

Wine ws intended for happiness. People sought happiness apart from doctrine. They just get a hangover.

Psalm 60:4 You have given a signal flag to those who fear You, so that they can flee before the archers [Thieme has, that is may be displayed because of the truth]. Selah

Some in the land were successfully defending against the Edomites. They had a rallying standard and God raised it up and God was in it.

Vv. 5–12 were studied the other morning in Psalm 108. In v. 8, they will occupy Edom. Also in v. 9 is the battle in progress (it was completed in Psalm 108).

Psalm 60:5 Save with Your right hand, and answer me, so that those You love may be rescued.

Psalm 60:6 God has spoken in His sanctuary: "I will triumph! I will divide up Shechem. I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.

Psalm 60:7 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine, and Ephraim is My helmet; Judah is My scepter.

Psalm 60:8 Moab is My washbasin; on Edom I throw My sandal. Over Philistia I shout in triumph."

Psalm 60:10 Is it not You, God, who have rejected us? God, You do not march out with our armies.