untitled

Organizing this is going to be difficult as Bob did not simply teach the book of Psalms. He would teach a full psalm here or there, throughout his entire ministry. Occasionally, he would exegete them word-by-word; but most often, he simply read and explained an existing translation (usually the KJV).

For the lessons themselves and where they possibly came from, I confined myself to lesson series which covered entire psalms and then I put those series in chronological order (of teaching). When that was impossible, as with the 1972 David series, then I simply put the pre-1972 before David and the post-1972 after David.

I have noticed with many of the psalms, essentially we have Syndein’s notes (I have forgotten his actual name); and they tend to be quite sparse.

Having listed all of the psalms which Bob has done, it is clear that he has exegeted more psalms than there are notes for. I may be able to find additional notes which I have done; and I will appeal to others who also have good notes on an electronic medium.

1966 Psalms
1	10/23/1966	Psalm 1:1–6	The big difference
2	10/30/1966	Psalm 2:1–12	Four voices from the Tribulation
3	11/06/1966	Psalm 4:1–8; 2Sam. 15:6, 13, 23, 30	The crisis psalm
4	11/13/1966	Psalm 16:1–4	A message from hell (part 1)
5	11/27/1966	Psalm 16:5–11	A message from hell (part 2)
6	12/04/1966	Psalm 37:1–7	An acrostic psalm (part 1)
7	12/11/1966	Psalm 37:8–11; 84:1–12	An acrostic psalm (part 2); a psalm of true thanksgiving
8	12/25/1966	Psalm 37:13–23	The acrostic psalm
9	01/01/1967	Psalm 37:23–26	The acrostic blessings
10	01/08/1967	Psalm 37:27–28a	Acrostic blessings (part 1)
11	01/15/1967	Psalm 37:28–33	Acrostic blessings (part 2)
12	01/22/1967	Psalm 37:34	Acrostic finales
13	01/29/1967	Psalm 37:35–40	The file is closed
14	02/05/1967	Psalm 27:1	The philosophy of a fugitive
15	02/12/1967	Psalm 27:1	The philosophy of a fugitive (part 2)
16	03/05/1967	Psalm 27:2–4	The status of a fugitive
17	03/12/1967	Psalm 27:5–6	The confidence of a fugitive
18	03/19/1967	Psalm 27:7–10	The prayer of a fugitive
19	03/26/1967	Psalm 27:11–14	The dynamics of waiting
20	04/02/1967	Psalm 46:1–11	Deliverance in the crisis
21	04/09/1967	Psalm 64:1–10
22	04/23/1967	Psalm 25:1–5	The acrostic prayer (part 1)
23	04/30/1967	Psalm 25:6–7	The acrostic prayer (part 2)
24	05/14/1967	Psalm 25:8–9	The acrostic prayer (part 3)
25	05/21/1967	Psalm 25:10–11	File of a prayer warrior
26	05/28/1967	Psalm 25:12–22	Pressure petitions
27	06/04/1967	Psalm 119:1; Jer. 31:5–7	The power of the Word
28	06/11/1967	Psalm 119:1–8	The Aleph file
29	06/18/1967	Psalm 119:9–16	The Beth file
30	06/25/1967	Psalm 119:17–24	The Gimel file
31	07/02/1967	Psalm 119:25–32; 33–40	The Daleth file; soul and the crisis
32	08/13/1967	Psalm 119:41–48	The Waw file; the importance of doctrine which gives the most in suffering
33	08/20/1967	Psalm 119:49–64	The Zayin file; power of the Word
34	08/27/1967	Psalm 119:65–72	Fat as grease
35	09/10/1967	Psalm 119:73–79	The Yodh file
36	09/17/1967	Psalm 119:81–83	Acrostics of suffering
37	09/24/1967	Psalm 119:84–88; Lam. 3	Faithfulness of the Lord; doctrine of one day at a time
38	10/15/1967	Psalm 119:89–92	The Lamedh file; doctrine of the sustaining of the universe
39	10/22/1967	Psalm 119:93–112	The Mem file
40	11/05/1967	Psalm 119:113–128	The Fulcrum and the Lever
41	11/12/1967	Psalm 119:129–136	The Pe and Qoph files
42	11/26/1967	Psalm 119:137–144	The Tsade and Qoph files
43	12/03/1967	Psalm 119:145–152	The Zimah pressure
44	12/10/1967	Psalm 119:153–160	The Resh file
45	12/17/1967	Psalm 119:161–176	Finis
46	01/14/1968	Psalm 91:1–2	Secret place of the Most High
47	01/21/1968	Psalm 91:3–4	The area of deliverance
48	01/28/1968	Psalm 91:5–8	The area of deliverance
49	02/04/1968	Psalm 91:9–12	The divine deliverance principle
50	02/11/1968	Psalm 91:13–16	Nature of deliverance
51	02/18/1968	Psalm 80:1 via. Hosea 4	Restoration prayer of Israel
52	02/25/1968	Psalm 80:1	Restoration prayer of Israel (part 2)
53	03/03/1968	Psalm 80:1	Restoration prayer of Israel (part 3)
54	03/10/1968	Psalm 80:2–3	The highlights of Psalm 80
55	03/24/1968	Psalm 80:4–7 via 1Kings 8:33	Purpose of restoration prayer
56	04/07/1968	Psalm 80:8–19	Daniel’s prayer barrage
57	04/14/1968	Psalm 84:1–4	The blessings of grace
58	04/21/1968	Psalm 84:5–7	The valley of Baca
59	05/05/1968	Psalm 84:8–12	Response of grace (review vs. 7–12)
60	05/26/1968	Psalm 32:1–3	The plan of God
61	06/02/1968	Psalm 32:3–5	The plan of God (part 2)
62	06/09/1968	Psalm 32:6–7	Provision and plan of God
63	06/16/1968	Psalm 32:8	Sink or swim
64	06/23/1968	Psalm 32:9–11	Jughead or egghead
65	06/30/1968	Psalm 103:1–3	A joint venture in praise
66	07/07/1968	Psalm 103:1–5
67	07/14/1968	Psalm 103:6	Lest we forget; communion
68	07/21/1968	Psalm 103:7–8	His occupied ones
69	07/28/1968	Psalm 103:9–14	Divine deposits
70	08/11/1968	Psalm 103:15–17
71	08/25/1968	Psalm 103:18–22
72	09/01/1968	Psalm 138:1–3
73	09/08/1968	Psalm 138:4–8
74	09/15/1968	Psalm 88 via. Job 5:7, 20–27	Introduction to Psalm 88
75	09/22/1968	Psalm 88:1
76	09/29/1968	Psalm 88:1–8
77	10/06/1968	Psalm 88:9–18	END OF SERIES

1972 David (1Samuel 16:1–2Samuel 19:8)
4	11/24/1972	1Sam. 17:8–12; Psalm 4:1–8	Doctrine of the maladjusted giant; meaning of “David”
5	11/24/1972	1Sam. 17:12, 26; Psalm 23:1–6	Sheep described; David’s weapons
9	11/27/1972	1Sam. 17:48–51; Psalm 33:1–22	Ode to Goliath’s head
10	11/28/1972	1Sam. 17:52–58; Psalm 84:1–12	Doctrine of the supergrace life (1–11)
5	11/24/1972	1Sam. 17:12, 26; Psalm 23:1–6	Sheep described; David’s weapons
9	11/27/1972	1Sam. 17:48–51; Psalm 33:1–22	Ode to Goliath’s head
10	11/28/1972	1Sam. 17:52–58; Psalm 84:1–12	Doctrine of the supergrace life (1–11)
12	11/30/1972	1Sam. 18:15–16, 30; Psalm 27:1–14; Deut. 4:29–32	A song of military prosperity
13	12/01/1972	1Sam. 8:8–13, 17–29; Psalm 37:1–8	Supergrace believer vs. reversionist; antagonism of Saul
14	12/03/1972	Psalm 37:9–22	Contrast of supergrace believer and reversionists
15	12/03/1972	1Sam. 14:49; 18:20, 21, 27, 28; 19:11–18; 25:44; 2Sam. 3:12–16; 6:19–23	Saul’s reversionistic daughter, Michal
16	12/04/1972	Psalm 37:23–40	Contrast of supergrace believers and reversionists (continued)
19	12/25/1972	1Sam. 20:5–23; Psalm 120:1–7	Doctrine of arrows
22	12/28/1972	Psalm 52:1–9	Doeg’s reversion and destruction
23	12/29/1972	1Sam. 21:11–15; Psalm 34:1–7	David in Gath; Angel of the Lord
24	12/29/1972	Psalm 34:7–22	Doctrine of refuge, training, respect, and deliverance
25	12/31/1972	Psalm 56:1–13; Psalm 126:3–6	David’s reversion recovery
26	12/31/1972	Psalm 103:1–22	Inner resources of solitude
27	12/31/1972	Psalm 30:1–12	Reversion to supergrace; the turning point
28	01/01/1973	1Sam. 22:1, 2; Psalm 144:1–15	Leadership policy of David; imprecatory prayer
29	01/02/1973	1Sam. 22:1–2a; Psalm 141:1–5	Separation from reversionism
30	01/03/1973	1Sam. 22:2b; Psalm 141:6–10; 2Sam. 23:1–7	Doctrine of occupation with Christ, doctrine of separation
31	01/04/1973	1Sam. 22:3–5; Psalm 57:1–3; 2Sam. 23:8, 9	List of great generals
32	01/05/1973	1Sam. 23:1–5; Psalm 16:1–11	Battle of Keilah
33	01/07/1973	1Sam. 23:6–12	The Ephod in Keilah; sign of God’s authority & blessing
34	01/07/1973	Psalm 36:1–7	Reversionist cf. supergrace character
35	01/08/1973	1Sam. 23:13; Psalm 36:8–12; 62:1–5	Farewell to Keilah
36	01/09/1973	Psalm 62:5–12	Two doctrines of provision
37	01/10/1973	Psalm 101:1–2	David’s lessons from Keilah disaster
38	01/12/1973	Psalm 101:3, 4	Lessons David learned at Keilah. Association with supergrace believer cf. association with reversionist
39	01/14/1973	1Sam. 23:14; Psalm 101:5–8	Doctrine of enemyship
40	01/14/1973	Psalm 70:1–5	Memory center; legitimate imprecatory prayers
41	01/19/1973	1Sam. 23:16–18; Psalm 133:1–3; 2Sam. 1:23	Last meeting of David and Jonathan
42	01/21/1973	1Sam. 23:19–23; Psalm 54:1	Treachery of the Ziphites
43	01/21/1973	Psalm 54:2–70; 1Sam. 23:24–27	Tactics of grace
44	01/22/1973	Psalm 40:1–5	Psalm of deliverance
45	01/23/1973	Psalm 40:6, 7	Doctrine of ears
46	01/24/1973	Psalm 40:8–12	Doctrine of association
47	01/25/1973	Psalm 40:12–17; Phil. 3:13; Heb. 12:15	Association
48	01/29/1973	Psalm 138:1–8	Importance of categorical Bible doctrine
49	01/30/1973	1Sam. 24:1–4; Psalm 55:18–23	Assassination; reversionist victories
52	02/02/1973	1Sam. 24:20–22; Psalm 25:1–22	Prayer of a supergrace leader
60	02/16/1973	1Sam. 25:36–38; Psalm 14:1–3	Nabal the fool
61	02/18/1973	Psalm 14:4–7	Nabal’s psalm
66	02/27/1973	Psalm 7:1–5; 2Peter 2:15–19	Psalm of Saul’s reversionism; Sherman’s march to Atlanta
67	02/28/1973	Psalm 7:6–9a	Principles of justice
68	03/01/1973	Psalm 7:9	Doctrine of the heart; doctrine of emotions
69	03/02/1973	Psalm 7:9–14; 2Cor. 6:11, 12	Doctrine of emotions (continued)
74	03/11/1973	1Sam. 29:6–11; Psalm 13:1–6	Deliverance of Achish from the deceiver; reversion misery and recovery of David
75	03/18/1973	1Sam. 30:1–6; Psalm 22:1	From disaster to occupation with Jesus Christ
76	03/18/1973	Psalm 22:1–19	A psalm of celebrityship
77	03/19/1973	Psalm 22:21–31; 1Sam. 30:6–10	Psalm of celebrityship (continued); supergrace 2 aggressiveness
81	03/26/1973	1Sam. 30:24–31; Psalm 112:1a	Doctrine of association
82	03/27/1973	Psalm 112:1–7	Prosperity and character of the supergrace believer
83	03/28/1973	Psalm 112:8–10	Reversionist frustrated
84	03/29/1973	Psalm 111:1–10	God must vindicate the doctrine in the supergrace soul
110	04/04/1974	Psalm 26:1	Psalm of vindication; doctrines of walking and faith (partial)
111	04/05/1974	Psalm 26:2	Doctrine of emotions
112	04/07/1974	Psalm 26:3, 4	Doctrines of grace and separation
113	04/07/1974	Psalm 26:5–7	Review of the doctrine of separation; doctrine of rebound
114	04/08/1974	Psalm 26:8–12	Refuge is doctrine
115	04/09/1974	Psalm 11:1, 2	Doctrine of occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ
116	04/10/1974	Psalm 11:3–7	Jesus Christ controls history
138	05/09/1974	2Sam. 1:25–27; 1Sam. 23:16–18; Psalm 133	Basis for category 3 love
148	12/26/1974	1 Chron. 11:4; Psalm 18:1–50; 101:1–8	David’s system of knighthood; principles of promotion and policy
151	12/29/1974	1 Chron. 11:6–9; Psalm 30:1–12	Founding of Jerusalem
152	12/30/1974	2Sam. 5:6–8; 23:8; Psalm 115:1–3, 16–18	David’s G3, Adino
157	01/03/1975	Psalm 15:1–5	Qualifications for the knights
160	01/06/1975	Psalm 21:1–6a	Psalm of promotion; doctrine of surpassing grace (point 5)
161	01/07/1975	Psalm 21:6–7	Doctrine of surpassing grace (cont.)
162	01/08/1975	Psalm 21:8–11a	Doctrine of evil (points 1–8)
163	01/09/1975	Psalm 21:11a	Doctrine of evil (continued)
164	01/10/1975	Psalm 21:11b–13	Doctrine of evil (review); doctrine of revolution (revised)
165	01/12/1975	2Sam. 5:22–25; Psalm 20:1–2	Battle of the Mulberry Grove
166	01/12/1975	Psalm 20:3–7	Chariots in the Bible (11 points); doctrine of propitiation; profile of Jesus Christ
167	01/17/1975	Psalm 20:8, 9	Doctrine of covenants to Israel (review of verses 1–7)
188	02/13/1975	Psalm 89:1–4; 1Kings 14:25–28	Invasion of Shishak
189	02/14/1975	Psalm 89:5–9	Doctrine of revolution
190	02/16/1975	Psalm 89:10–14; 2 Chron. 12:1–12	Messianic anthropopathisms
191	02/16/1975	Psalm 89:15–17	Doctrine of happiness
192	02/23/1975	Psalm 89:18	Brass shields of Rehoboam and U.S.A.
193	02/23/1975	Psalm 89:19–24	Heroship based on Bible doctrine in the soul
194	02/24/1975	Psalm 89:25–31	Doctrine of the Mosaic Law (points 1–9)
195	02/25/1975	Psalm 89:32	Doctrine of the covenants to Israel
196	02/26/1975	Psalm 89:31b–37 Hosea 4:1–6	Doctrine of the fifth cycle of discipline
207	07/05/1977	Psalm 60:1–12; 62:8, 9	Integrity of God overcomes the variables
209	07/07/1977	2Sam. 8:16b–9:3 Psalm 68:1–6	Hymn of prosperity; bureaucracy; blessing by association
212	07/10/1977	Psalm 131:1–3; 132:8–11; 1Kings 11:4, 6	Historical and eternal impact of David, the standard
231	01/28/1979	2Sam. 10:19; Psalm 108:1	Results of victory at Helam; Jesus Christ controls history; David thanks the Source
232	01/28/1979	Psalm 108:2–6; 60:5	David’s pre–battle prayer and commemoration of victory; music; client nation and universal military training
233	02/01/1979	Psalm 108:7a	Conspiracy; development of the alphabet; thought under pressure and prosperity; David fair to Shechem
234	02/02/1979	Psalm 108:7b, 8a	Manners toward Teng; R. Burton, thought under pressure; Succoth base; total mobilization of Israel; policy
235	02/04/1979	Psalm 108:8b–13; Jer. 17:5–9	Judah policy maker; history of Moab; depend on Jesus Christ, not on other nations
236	02/04/1979	Psalm 85:8–10	Ingredients of personal and national victory; concentration, games; principle of disaster dynamics
237	02/05/1979	Psalm 85:11–13	Shah of Iran; grace apparatus for perception (GAP) without arrogance = maturity = pivot = preservation and prosperity of a nation
252	12/30/1979	Psalm 33:1, 2	Integrity and loyalty vs. interlocking systems of arrogance and ignorance of Bible doctrine; motivation in talent; musicians
253	12/30/1979	Psalm 33:3–5	Commemoration of deliverance; interlocking systems of arrogance (gates 11–12 political); integrity from Bible doctrine + loyalty = honor; integrity of the client nation
254	12/31/1979	Psalm 33:6–10	Respect (love) for Jesus Christ, our Host and Sustainer of scientific laws; interlocking systems of arrogance vs. authority and freedom
255	12/31/1979	Psalm 33:11, 12; Prov. 8	Army rescue team; ascendency of the divine plan; Bible doctrine for every generation; happiness to the client nation
256	01/01/1980	Psalm 33:13–17	Principles of economic depression; USSR officers; omniscience of God; failure of arrogant might
257	01/02/1980	Psalm 33:18–22	Filling of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament; Ebenezer; pivot: target of national deliverance; blessing by association and historical impact
272	01/20/1980	Psalm 38:1–12	Divine decrees and free will of David; David’s psalm of pre–rebound unbearable suffering
273	01/21/1980	Psalm 38:13–18; 32:1–4	Stanley Marcus; stress on the soul and body in David’s pre–rebound unbearable suffering
274	01/22/1980	Psalm 32:5–7	Causes of inflation; rebound: to end interlocking systems of arrogance, necessity for objectivity; divine deliverance from historical disaster
275	01/23/1980	Psalm 32:8	Von Paulus at Stalingrad; grace apparatus for perception (GAP) between installments of discipline; application of divine guidance
276	01/24/1980	Psalm 32:9, 10a	Learning the easy way (rebound and GAP) cf. the hard way (interlocking systems of arrogance discipline): illustration of a horse, a mule, and a boxer
277	01/25/1980	Psalm 32:10b–11; 51:1–13	U.S. vs. USSR; mental attitude; aristocracy; David’s interlocking system of arrogance toward family problems; dating for fun
377	05/18/1980	2Sam. 15:12b; Psalm 39:1–13	MacArthur, 1/26/1955; public unrest; orientation to death; prayer of humility
378	05/19/1980	2Sam. 15:13; Psalm 41, 55	David re revolution; commanding officer’s job: think and needs the facts; von Witzleben; report from David’s staff
390	05/30/1980	Rom. 8:32; Psalm 43:1–5	Amateur dog trainer; supergrace 2 blessing; David’s thoughts on the G2 of the revolution; judicial imputation rational
391	06/01/1980	Psalm 61, 62	Concept of revolution; authoritarian cf. totalitarian government; Shah: U.S. and terrorists
406	06/15/1980	2Sam. 15:30b,31 Psalm 3:63, 64	David’s faith–rest stages 2 & 3; prayers for the frustration of the plan of Ahithophel; Eliam
411	06/23/1980	Psalm 25:1–4	Guilt and martyr complexes from arrogance of unhappiness; Scientology; David’s prayer for deliverance
412	06/25/1980	Psalm 25:5	U.S. vs. Europe; psychology of unhappiness; doctrine of one day at a time; Bible doctrine and faith–rest for living and the crisis
413	06/26/1980	Psalm 25:6a	Medical viewpoint of happiness; helpless David seeks divine sympathy; divine attributes (essence)
414	06/27/1980	Psalm 25:6b, 7a	Your Erroneous Zones; love: divine, human and anthropopathism; David appeals to the grace and character of God
415	06/29/1980	Psalm 25:7b	4 principles of installment discipline; David appeals to God to let him live to stabilize Israel
416	06/29/1980	Psalm 25:8, 9	Knowledge; humility in historical disaster; review of the interlocking systems of arrogance (1–16): authority, ignorance and unhappiness arrogance
417	06/30/1980	Psalm 25:10–12a	Freedom and society; grace and truth; three codices of the Mosaic Law; guilt complex
418	07/01/1980	Psalm 25:12b, 13a	Big Bang theory and creation; values for the crisis; choices for freedom or slavery; counseling
419	07/02/1980	Psalm 25:13b–15	David’s capacity and two scales of value; Texas 36^th; lever of faith–rest (stage 2) on the fulcrum of Bible doctrine to pry up adversity
420	07/03/1980	Psalm 25:16, 17	Loneliness of high authority; Jesus Christ and history; David reaps what he sowed in the interlocking systems of arrogance; prays for more blessing
421	07/04/1980	Psalm 25:18, 19	End of David’s installments of discipline; leadership needs a broad view; only God can solve national problems
422	07/04/1980	Psalm 25:20–22	David prays for deliverance and clarity of mind; arrogance of unhappiness; integrity + honor
486	09/07/1980	2Sam. 19:8a; Psalm 33:1–4	Psalm for men of integrity; David rebounds and holds military court; true culture
487	09/12/1980	Psalm 33:5	Bill Yeoman; love: divine attribute, anthropopathism, human, and the cross and integrity
488	09/14/1980	Psalm 33:6–8	Authority and order in creation and perpetuation of the human race; guests of Jesus Christ; humility cf. arrogant disorganization; tardiness
489	09/14/1980	Psalm 33:9, 10	Continued faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the Creator; freedom, free enterprise, inequality and authority
490	09/15/1980	Psalm 33:11; Prov. 8:1–36	Faith as the system of perception cf. the faith–rest drill; God’s plan for your life vs. yours
491	09/16/1980		Doctrine of the grace apparatus for perception, revised, 5 stages; faith–perception cf. faith–application (faith–rest drill, stage 2); GNOSIS cf. EPIGNOSIS
492	09/17/1980	Psalm 33:12	Election to privilege, pivot and client nation preservation; evangelism and privacy
493	09/18/1980	Psalm 33:12b–15	Doctrine of election: unique election of Jesus Christ, to the privilege of Israel and the Church re client nation function; issue of the prayers of Jews today
494	09/19/1980	Psalm 33:16	Divine decrees: definition, omniscience and explanation; no government can help you in historical disaster
495	09/21/1980	Psalm 33:17, 18	Rejection of perfect environment and authority; arrogant client nation delivered for the pivot by Jesus Christ, not by the army
496	09/21/1980	Psalm 33:19–22	Economic depression, war, disaster and the faith–rest drill; “Rationation”; dying, broke and alone END OF SERIES

1992 Spiritual Dynamics
232	07/25/1993	Psalm 23:1	David applied grace orientation
233	07/25/1993	Psalm 23:1	Shepherd and sheep analogy, 7 concepts
234	07/27/1993	Psalm 23:1	Antecedent grace re: logistical grace
235	07/28/1993	Psalm 23:2	Living a refreshing spiritual life
236	07/29/1993	Psalm 23:3a	Personal sins, source and solution
237	08/01/1993	Psalm 23:3a	Sin nature’s function and control
238	08/01/1993	Psalm 23:3b	4 categories of capacity righteousness
239	08/03/1993	Psalm 23:3b	Attaining spiritual capacity righteousness
240	08/04/1993	Psalm 23:4a	Dying grace: death–shadowed valley
241	08/05/1993	Psalm 23:4b	Dying in grace vs. dying in misery
242	08/08/1993	Psalm 23:4b	Casting out fear in living and dying
243	08/08/1993	1Peter 1:3–9	Mourning principles, life must go on
244	08/15/1993	Psalm 23:3b	The good and great shepherd metaphors
245	08/15/1993	Psalm 23:4b	The rod, discipline for blessing
246	08/17/1993	Psalm 23:4b	Rod and staff analogy; mourning principles
247	08/18/1993	Psalm 23:5	Host and guest metaphor re: promotion
248	08/19/1993	Psalm 23:5	Hospitality metaphor re: promotion
249	08/22/1993	Psalm 23:5	Marriage compatibility from grace
250	08/22/1993	Psalm 23:6	Military metaphors re: David
251	08/24/1993	Psalm 23:6	Military metaphors; thorn in the flesh
277	10/12/1993	Psalm 23:5–6	Battles are first won in the soul
1093	06/29/1997	Psalm 23:1–6	Wagon tracks of righteousness
1094	07/01/1997	Psalm 23:1–4	Winner in living and dying grace
1095	07/02/1997	Psalm 23:3–6	Living decisions impact dying
2076	02/17/2002	Psalm 100:1–4	A psalm of thanksgiving
2077	02/17/2002	Psalm 100:3	A psalm of thanksgiving
2078	02/19/2002	Psalm 100:4–5	Happiness source: respect for God
2082	02/26/2002	Psalm 100:1–2	God’s love: superabundance of happiness
2083	02/28/2002	Psalm 100:3	Terrorism: Esau against Jacob
2084	03/03/2002	Psalm 100:1–3	Superabundance of happiness
2085	03/03/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Happiness (SIMCHAH) from God’s love
2086	03/05/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	God’s unfailing love provides +H
2087	03/07/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	SIMCHAH: in disaster, dying, eternity
2088	03/10/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Superabundance of +H: potential, heritage, opportunity
2089	03/10/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Superabundance of +H: potential, heritage, opportunity
2090	03/12/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Superabundance of +H: potential, heritage, opportunity
2091	03/14/2002	Zeph. 3:14 15; 17	Super +H source is God’s unfailing love
2092	03/17/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Heart KARDIA: 7 compartments in soul
2101	03/31/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Wisdom, happiness, and honor
2102	04/02/2002	Psalm 100:2	Satan’s sin of arrogance attacks wisdom
2103	04/04/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	+H in disaster through rebound and advance
2104	04/07/2002	Psalm 100:2, 5	Prayer: responsibility of believers
2109	04/21/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Only God delivers or punishes
2110	04/21/2002	Psalm 100:1–5	Super +H destroyed by arrogance

Psalm one is more than just Psalm one, it is an introduction to the book of Psalms. It introduces the two categories of people in this life. The first three verses talk about the believer and the last three verses talk about the unbeliever. Since it is such a very short psalm just one thing is mentioned with regard to the believer and one thing to the unbeliever. What is most important to the believer in time? The principle is Bible doctrine producing inner happiness in the mentality of the soul. And what is the greatest challenge to the unbeliever in time? This is recorded in Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.” So the last three verses talk about the judgment of the unbeliever.

Verse 1-3, the happiness of the believer. The first word is a very unusual word found throughout the Old Testament. In the Hebrew singular it is asher. Asher is the name of a tribe, and it simply means happiness. It is in the singular and it is only used for the tribe. However, whenever this word is used for happiness connected with the believer it always is in the plural, ashere. It only occurs this way in connection with the believer because the believer cannot have one kind of happiness, he either has two or none. The first of these two happinesses is inner happiness or mental happiness. This is what is described in this concept, “Blessed.”

The second happiness is an outer or overt happiness which comes from inner happiness and is based upon it. You cannot as a believer ever possess outer happiness. Unbelievers can have it for a short time and then it is gone. It is very elusive; it comes and it goes. Whatever makes the unbeliever happy yesterday will not make him happy today. He goes on to something else that makes him happy today and it doesn’t make him happy tomorrow. So that happiness is a very elusive thing and the things that make the unbeliever happy at the beginning make him miserable at the end. A smart unbeliever finally develops a philosophy which is the antithesis of hedonism for he discovers that in hedonism—seeking pleasure and happiness through pleasure—there is no future; it makes him happy today but miserable tomorrow.

With the believer, the only happiness that he can possess is a dual happiness and therefore the word “blessed” is not blessed as it appears here. It is in the plural and should be translated “happinesses.” There are two kinds of happiness which belong to the believer, one depends on the other. The first happiness is inner happiness based on Bible doctrine resident in the soul, and the second is the ability with Bible doctrine in the soul to enjoy certain things in life and to possess happiness in spite of the circumstances of life.

“to the man” – the word for man here is man in the sense of noble man. There is one Hebrew word which is adam. This is man generically—homo sapien. But when you want man from the standpoint of noble man there is another word—ish [ishah is woman]. The word used here is man in his noble sense, a reference to the believer, not because the believer is noble but because the believer is born into the family of God and regeneration is considered nobility here.

Then we have the negative approach where three things are developed. When this happiness is described it is often best to describe it negatively and then you can see it from the positive standpoint. There are three life patterns of the believer which guarantee that the believer will always be miserable. The first of these is “walking in the counsel of the ungodly.” You can have this dual happiness if you “walk not” in the counsel of the ungodly. The word counsel means thinking or thought pattern and the word ungodly refers to the unbeliever, the unjustified one, literally.

Here is a picture, then, of the believer who is ignorant of Bible doctrine and therefore he patterns his life on the human viewpoint. Human viewpoint is guaranteed to make the believer miserable and to cancel out the dual happiness, the ashere. Human viewpoint, then, is the first way to be miserable.

The second is legalism: “nor standeth in the way of sinners” – the word sinners here refers to one controlled by the old sin nature. This means someone who as a believer under the control of his old sin nature is producing sin from his area of weakness, he is producing human good from his area of strength, and he is motivated by his lust pattern. So legalism is a combination of approbation lust plus the performance of human good. Human good makes the believer miserable. If good is done in the power of the Spirit, fine; if it is done in the energy of the flesh it only increases the misery of the one who produces it. It often increases his ego--he becomes proud of himself; it stimulates his approbation lust—and this therefore produces legalism. This is what is meant by standing in the way of sinners. The sinner, again, is the one controlled by his old sin nature.

The third thing guaranteed to make the believer miserable and to cancel out happinesses is apostasy—“nor sitteth is the seat of the scornful.” The word for scornful in the Hebrew is lutz. It is a word which means to stammer or to speak in a manner which is unintelligible. This is in the qal active participle, which means this is a continuous thing. The word originally means to mumble, to stammer, but eventually it came to mean to deride, to mock, to ridicule. So the scornful one is the one who not only rejects Bible doctrine but he mocks and ridicules it. It refers, then, to the believer who is apostate.

The principle, then, is that the world of human viewpoint—legalism and apostasy—has nothing to offer the believer. They compose the cosmos diabolicus and in cosmos diabolicus the believer is miserable, he cannot have this inner happiness. This is the negative side of the born-again believer. If he is ever going to be happy he must avoid three things. He must avoid the principle of human viewpoint; he must avoid legalism; he must avoid apostasy. All three are tied into doctrine; they are a rejection of doctrine. Human viewpoint is simply overriding doctrine, if there is any in the soul. Legalism is orientation to human works rather than to grace, and therefore avoids doctrine. Apostasy is a rejection of doctrine plus a ridicule of it. The positive approach follows in verse two.

Verse 2 – “But his delight.” The word but is a conjunction of contrast, and this is a contrast between the miserable and the happy believer. The miserable believer always lives by human viewpoint. He is legalistic; he is apostate. But the happy believer is a different type of person. The true basis of separation for the believer is Bible doctrine and therefore verses two, presenting the positive side, is going to anchor this happiness—the word blessed—into the Word of God.

The Hebrew word for love is ahab, but that is not the word which is used here because that is simply love as a mental attitude. But they had another word which is mental attitude plus desire—chephetz. This means love which has a desire, love which produces a desire, a mental attitude love which expresses itself through desire. It is used here for loving doctrine to the point where you desire doctrine. It is generally true that if you love something you desire it. You desire to be with it, you desire to converse with it, you desire to possess it; and this is the concept behind this word delight. It doesn’t mean delight as such in our sense of the word, it actually connotes loving something and desiring it. In this case it is the law, which refers to the Old Testament scripture or to Bible doctrine. It means the man who is going to have happinesses must have a great love, and with that love a desire for Bible doctrine. So his love and desire is in the law of the Lord. The believer’s happiness is therefore related to the Word of God. There can be no happiness for the believer apart from Bible doctrine, therefore it is called the law of the Lord or the law which points to the Lord. The Bible is the mind of Christ, it is doctrine which points to the Lord, doctrine which leads to the principle of occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, if you love doctrine you are going to desire doctrine.

If you desire doctrine you will study it, you will get it, and therefore we have “in his law doth he meditate.” The word for meditate is hagah, which means to memorise. It means to go over something until you have it. Finally it becomes real to you because you go over it and over it in your mind.

In verse two all of the verbs are in the imperfect tense; in the first verse they are all in the perfect. The perfect is completed action; the imperfect is continuous action. So the true form of happiness depends upon a constant love of doctrine and a constant absorption of it. This word hagah also means to use vocabulary to learn things. The vocabulary actually means something, no one can think or meditate without vocabulary. Doctrine has its own vocabulary, its own categories, and this is “done day and night.” Doctrine becomes like breathing. This, again, is the principle that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Next is the illustration. Verse 3 –“And he shall be like a tree.” The principle involved here is that a tree is analogous to a believer with inner happiness. The strength of a tree comes from the inside. The happiness of the believer comes from inside, and when he has inner happiness he can also have overt happiness.

“planted” – qal passive participle, having been planted. It remains firmly in the ground, its roots go deep, and the roots in the ground refer to Bible doctrine producing inner happiness. Apparently the roots draw nourishment. The tree may blow in the storm and wave and bend but if it has roots—Bible doctrine resulting in inner happiness—it can be in a great storm and may bend and lose a branch or two, and if the roots are deep the tree remains firm. When the wind dies down and the storm is over the tree is upright again, minus a few leaves and a branch or two. This, then, is the stability of the Christian life. Actually, God has so designed phase two for the believer so that he will have inner happiness as his stability, but inner happiness depends in Bible doctrine so we have a tree planted by rivers of water.

“by rivers of water” – the word rivers is in the plural. You would think that it would be a tree planted by a river of water but rivers is in the plural because many doctrines are found in the Word of God and the word water here refers to the Word itself, as per Ephesians 5:26, 27 where the water is called the Word. But it is not one river but many rivers because there are many categories of doctrine.

As a result of this doctrine in the soul we have production—“that bringeth forth fruit in its season.” The word bringeth means to give and it is in the piel stem, the intensive stem in the Hebrew. The intensive stem means that this requires a lot of pressure. Often great production comes from great pressure. So under the pressures of life this tree can still produce fruit. In fact there is nothing that can stop it from producing because it is anchored into something which is stabilised, namely the Word of God. In the illustration, then, we have a tree which produces in pressure, out of pressure, in success, in adversity, in catastrophe. Principle: There is no person who is going to take the place of Bible doctrine in time of catastrophe. It is the Word of God, doctrine, that makes the difference.

“in its season” – there is a harvest season, and with the piel stem it would be every time that you are under pressure; that is when you can have the greatest type of production.

“its leaf also shall not wither” – the leaf refers to the faith-rest technique. The leaf is a sign that there is fruit on the tree. The faith-rest technique is a sign that there is doctrine in the soul, that you as a believer under the greatest adversities of life have inner resources. You are dependent upon your inner resources and if your inner resources constitute a thimble of a couple of small points of doctrine it may not be enough to carry you more than five steps before you fall flat on your face. So the leaf on the tree is the principle of the faith-rest technique or actually drawing on inner resources.

“shall not wither [wilt or fade]” means that in time of pressure when you become disoriented to the adversities of life and fall apart, then your leaf has withered and you are acting like any unbeliever would act in similar circumstances and you have no impact for the Lord Jesus Christ.

“and whatsoever he doeth” – the word do here is asah, which means to make something out of something. In this case it means to produce something out of something. We produce divine good out doctrine. That is the principle of asah.

“shall prosper” – this word doesn’t mean prosper at all, it means to break through. The word is tsalach meaning to cut through or to break through and it is a word for human success. To make a breakthrough in something is to succeed, to discover its meaning, to utilise it, to harness it properly. Here it means to breakthrough in the sense of success. It is in the hiphil stem which means that we are caused to make a breakthrough, and it is doctrine which causes the breakthrough. Divine good can be produced by the human race through Bible doctrine. The principle is that you can never have human good and inner happiness.

The whole point of these three verses is simply to introduce a member of the human race, a believer in Jesus Christ. One thing should characterise his life on this earth. This earth is filled with misery and tragedy and adversity. It is filled with success concepts and status symbols of one type or another. But in the midst of all the activities of this life there is one thing that every believer should have constantly, and that is inner happiness—at all times. If your happiness is based upon Bible doctrine you will have happiness at all times. If your happiness is based upon the circumstances of life you will be unstable and miserable, having your moments—very short moments—but in between those short moments lots of concentrated misery. So the first psalm is an introduction, and in this introduction to the whole book of Psalms we are going to have something which characterises the believer with doctrine. He is always ‘happinesses.’ If you are not happy there is something wrong with your life. There is nothing wrong with God’s plan, His plan is perfect; you are simply not oriented to His plan. Your happiness does not depend on circumstances, your happiness depends on the Word of God.

What a wonderful way to introduce the Psalms. And throughout the Psalms we have this subject: how and why the believer is happy; how and why the believer is miserable. The believer is miserable when he is out of fellowship; the believer is miserable under discipline, and there are whole psalms on the discipline of the believer—Psalms 32, 38, 51. The things that make the believer happy; and there are whole psalms on the importance of Bible doctrine.

There are also certain psalms on the subject of the unbeliever and his judgment. The last three verses of this psalm, this introductory passage, are designed to show the cursing or the judgment of the unbeliever. Verse 4 – the illustration of the unbeliever’s judgment; verse 5 takes up one of the greatest judgments for the unbeliever, the baptism of fire; verse 6 takes up the final judgment which concludes it all, the judgment of the great white throne.

Verse 4 – “The ungodly, not so.” No verb here, the ellipsis gives emphasis. The ungodly is literally the unjustified, the person who has rejected Christ as saviour. This is not like a tree. The ungodly is like something that does not have roots but is still in the agricultural picture.

“but like the chaff which the wind driveth away” – the tree has roots; the chaff has no roots, it goes up into the air and the air blows it away, it is separated from the wheat. The separation of the wheat and the chaff is always a picture of the thing that should most concern the unbeliever in this life—his future judgments. For the unbeliever of the Tribulation it is the baptism of fire; for all unbelievers, the great white throne. The chaff is used here to represent the judgment of the unbeliever. The unbeliever, first of all, has no roots. This life has nothing to offer him. A little wind blows and he blows in one direction; another wind blows and he blows in that direction. There is something that makes him happy today but miserable tomorrow. Generally speaking he is miserable with short bursts of happiness. His happiness depends entirely on circumstances. Circumstances are as changing as the weather and as variable as the weather, therefore his feelings, emotions and concepts are just as changing as the circumstances. This is the present curse of the unbeliever and is followed by even greater curses, “for it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.”

The wind here refers to the prevailing wind used at the granary. The little grain shovel threw the wheat and the tares up in the air when the wind was blowing, the wind blew the chaff away, the grain fell back onto the floor.

“which the wind scatters” – this is a specific reference to the baptism of fire or the separation of the wheat and the tares at the second advent of Jesus Christ.

Verse 5 – At the Second Advent we have Jesus Christ coming back to establish His kingdom. His kingdom is called in this psalm “the congregation of the righteous.” The Millennial kingdom starts with believers only. The unbelievers are cast off the earth in the fire where they wait for the last judgment. The baptism of fire is a major judgment in the eschatological pattern of scripture and this is used as an illustration of judgment. In this verse we have the actual baptism of fire mentioned.

“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand” – they have no roots, no basis for standing before God. They have rejected Christ as saviour. Unbelief or rejection of Christ is the unpardonable sin, they have committed the only sin for which Christ could not and did not die, and that is rejection of Himself. John 3:18.

“in the judgment” – this is the judgment of the baptism of fire; “nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” – the Millennium. It illustrates what will happen in eternity but it illustrates it from history. It is eschatological but will some day be historical. So there is a separation of believer and unbeliever. This happened once before in history in the days of Noah—“as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.” Then it will occur one more time at the end of history. At the end of the Millennium there will be a last judgment when all unbelievers will be resurrected and cast into the lake of fire; this is the second death. Three times in the history of the human race there is a separating judgment. One is historical, the other two are anticipated.

Verse 6 – the great white throne. “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.” The way of the righteous refers to a person believing in Christ. It is the first time a member of the human race orients to the grace of God. Our first orientation to grace takes place at the cross.

“but the way of the ungodly shall perish” – the way of the ungodly is negative volition at the point of God-consciousness, negative volition at the point of gospel hearing. This all adds up to rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour or the unpardonable sin, and “shall perish” means to be not destroyed in the sensed of the body destroyed but to be in pain and misery forever. This is the description of the lake of fire. So we have the end of the unbeliever, which is to live forever in the lake of fire in a place of terrible torment.

David is the author of this psalm—Acts 4:25,26. It actually describes four mental attitudes of the Tribulation, a period of concentrated activity: concentrated evangelism, concentrated judgment, concentrated an unrestrained evil. So in the midst of the activities of the Tribulation we have this eschatological psalm which anticipates and describes these activities.

In the first three verses we have the attitude of the nations—generally those nations that adhere to ecumenical religion. In verses 4-6 we have the attitude of God the Father expressed, in verses 7-9 the attitude of the Son, and in verses 10-12 the attitude of the Holy Spirit. The second psalm is one of the most often quoted psalms in the New Testament. It is quoted in Acts 4, 13; Hebrews 1 & 5.

Verses 1-3, the voice of mankind, unregenerate mankind in the Tribulation. Verse 1 – “Why do the heathen rage.” The heathen refers to Gentile nations and specifically to unbelievers in those nations. The Tribulation will be the most concentrated period of evangelism in the history of the human race and while great numbers of individuals will personally believe in Jesus Christ the general attitude of mankind on the earth is rage. The word for rage is the Hebrew word for forming mobs. These mobs in a sense break down the structure of the national entity and defy all authority. The answer to this question is very simple. The heathen rage because Satan, the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air is kicked out of heaven and confined to the earth, as per Revelation 12:9,10. The heathen rage because Satan’s man, the beast, the dictator of the revived Roman empire and the leader of ecumenical religion, has established his organization on the earth. The heathen rage because God has promised to deliver the regenerate Jews of Jerusalem and Satan wants to destroy them, as per Revelation 16, Matthew 24, Isaiah 63, Zechariah 14. The heathen rage because the greatest period of demonism in the history of the human race will occur in the Tribulation.

Not only do the heathen rage but “the people” – referring to various peoples, unbelievers—“imagine a vain thing” – the vain thing which the people imagine is the fact that you can establish perfect environment on the earth by man’s plans, and that man’s plans will actually solve man’s problems. In reality the only solution to man’s problems is found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man’s need of salvation is solved by the cross; man’s needs for this life—in the pressures, the sufferings, the adversities and the tragedies—and the constant changing of the situations is all provided in a very wonderful way by the divine operating assets of phase two. Then there is the problem of death, and this is solved by dying grace. There is the problem of eternity and this, too, is solved by operation phase three in the plan of God. The vain thing is the idea that man can solve man’s problems. The imagination of a vain thing is basically the concept of internationalism—international religion solving man’s problems.

In this connection we also have the rulers of the world expressing themselves through verses 2 & 3. Verse 2 – “The kings of the earth set themselves.” This is a hithpael stem in the Hebrew and it is reflexive, it indicates the volition of the individuals involved. These are rulers and the word means to stand against something, to take opposition to. In this case the rulers of the world oppose the plan of God as delineated in the Tribulation.

“take counsel together, against the Lord” – the niphal stem can also be used as a reflexive stem, and once again this is from their own volition that they do so.

“against the Lord” – Lord here is God the Father; “his anointed” is God the Son. God the Father and God the Son are clearly revealed in the Bible teaching of the Tribulation.

Verse 3 – they declare their plan. “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” The word bands refers to salvation; the word cords refers to the divine institutions. They oppose salvation by faith in Christ; they oppose the principle of regeneration. Not only are they antagonistic to God’s plan which begins at the cross but they are opposed to God’s means of keeping order in the human race. They are opposed to: a) human volition; b) marriage; c) the family; d) nationalism. This is a part of their modus operandi. They are antagonistic to these things and therefore focus their attention on the great international religion which will exist under the beast in the Tribulation. This, very briefly, is an eschatological description of man’s attitudes and opposition to Bible doctrine in the future.

Next is the voice of the Father. In our own day apparently we are at the end of the Church Age and, as it says in the pastoral epistles, at the end of the Church Age there will be a great deal of apostasy, indifference on the one hand to active opposition on the other against Bible doctrine. All of this elicits some sort of a mental attitude from the Father. How does God the Father feel about anyone’s indifference to Bible doctrine?

Verse 4 – “He that sitteth in the heavens” is a reference to God the Father; “shall laugh” – the word laugh has the concept of cackling or laughing vigorously, it means to look at something and to respond to it with great vigour from a sense of humour. In other words, people getting off on the wrong track, thinking that they can outdo God, and in His omnipotence God as a sense of humour. God can laugh at the fact that man thinks that he can come long and by his puny efforts and human ability he can devise a plan that is greater than God’s plan. In this man is encouraged by Satan through pride, pride leads to power lust, and here are those who grab power in the Tribulation and through the activities of power lust they seek to set up a plan, and God laughs at them.

In verse 4 God the Father speaks through laughter; in verse 5 He speaks through wrath; in verse 6 He speaks through His Son. Wrath is judgment, His Son is grace, and here is a beautiful insight into the character of God. So in verse 4 we have a picture of God’s [the Father’s] character. In verse 5 we have a picture of God’s tremendous holiness, or wrath expressed through holiness. And then we have His marvellous love and grace expressed in the final verse.

“the Lord [God the Father] shall have them in derision” – i.e. He will mock them. He mocks and laughs at the human race in the sense that when anyone thinks that he is as smart as God is the creator has to laugh at the creature. Because God has a sense of humour He doesn’t wipe out the whole human race. Because He has a sense of humour He allows the angelic conflict reach its conclusion. God can eliminate the problems of the human race in two ways. He could wipe out the human race and the angelic race, or He could allow man to have free will. Often when man’s free will is negative instead of wiping him out He just simply expresses His sense of humour. Negative volition in this area is man coming up with human plans, plans based on human good. Often these plans are the basis of great sincerity, the basis of desire to help the human race. But there is no plan on the part of any member of the human race, or any combine in the human race, that will ever solve man’s problems. Therefore God can do one of two things. He can allow man to express his freedom in negative volition or He can destroy him. In this verse the sense of humour of God indicates that He allows man to carry his plans to their own conclusion without hindrance, which indicates why the Holy Spirit is removed as a restrainer at the Rapture, as per the teaching of 2 Thessalonians 2. The reason that the Holy Spirit does not restrain negative volition any longer is because the Tribulation is the time when God laughs as well as judges. Laughter allows the free will of man to run its course in the Tribulation.

Verse 5 – after the seven years of the Tribulation has run its course. “Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath” refers to the seven vial judgments which occur at the end of the Tribulation, Revelation chapters 15 & 16.

Verse 6 – God is never unfair to any member of the human race. In the history of the human race there never was one person who didn’t have a chance to be saved, and therefore we have in the verse, God the Father speaks through His Son. This is the love of the Father in contrast to His wrath.

“yet have I set my king” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ; “upon my holy hill of Zion” refers to Israel. When Christ returns He will be seated in Zion. He will be crowned David’s greater son; He will be the King; He will reign forever. Zion refers to the rock escarpment on the western side of Jerusalem and comes to actually refer to Jerusalem itself. In the future Jesus Christ will reign where the beast and the false prophet have reigned on the earth. Then the Lord Jesus Christ will be the ruler instead.

The principle is obvious. Before the second advent of Christ the offer is grace, but those unbelievers who reject the Lord Jesus Christ in the Tribulation have their last chance at the point of the Second Advent. Believers only go into the Millennium. Then fact that there are thousands upon thousands of believers to go into the Millennium is indicative of the fact that the gospel is widespread throughout the Tribulation. In fact the world is evangelised completely four different times in the Tribulation.

The third voice is the voice of the Son Himself, and He speaks in verses 7-9. In verse 7 we have something that Jesus Christ said at the beginning of the incarnation, at the point of the virgin birth. “I will declare the decree” – the decree is the Father’s plan in eternity past. The whole centre of the Father’s plan is that Christ must come into the world; Christ must go to the cross and bear the sins of the world; Christ must ascent and be seated at the right hand of the Father, this makes it possible for believers to represent Him on the earth, and this makes it possible for believers to leave the earth and in one second to be absent from the body and to be face to face with the Lord.

The Lord Jesus Christ had something to say the day He came into the world. He said, “I will declare the decree.” The piel stem indicates that this is an intensive declaration, a declaration with great feeling. In Hebrews 10:5-14 and Psalm 2:7 we actually have the statement of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“the Lord” – this is Jehovah the Father; “hath said unto me” – Jesus Christ at the Second Advent; “Thou, my Son” – i.e. His deity; “this day have I begotten thee” – i.e. His humanity. So here is the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ. In Acts 13:33 where this is quoted we actually have a verb. Here there is no verb. But in Acts we have present linear aktionsart of the verb e)imi, and absolute status quo verb—always His Son, a reference to the deity of Jesus Christ. The word “begotten” has to do with His humanity. This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament: Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5. An Acts 13:33 we have the baby in the manger is the eternal Son of God. In Hebrews 1:5 we have the humanity of Christ is superior to all angelic beings. In Hebrews 5:5 we have the priesthood of Christ is superior to all priesthoods, including the Levitical priesthood.

Verse 8 – we see the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the incarnation dying for the sins of the world, and we have the Father’s reply to this at the cross. “Ask from me,” literally. “[for an inheritance], and I will give you an inheritance.” We are a party of that inheritance. Jesus Christ is the heir of God the Father—Romans 8:16,17—as the God-Man. Every person in the Church Age who is a believer enters into union with Christ and share His heirship. In the Tribulation Jesus Christ does something that is fantastic, He asks God the Father for an inheritance in the Tribulation. Jesus Christ has a heritage in the Old Testament—Gentiles and Jews. He has a heritage in the Church Age. He will have a heritage in the Millennium. But He asks God the Father for a heritage in the Tribulation. Knowing the nature of the Tribulation, the unrestrained evil, the religion and legalism which would be paramount in the Tribulation, He asks for an heritage. Therefore everything is done in the Tribulation in order to win souls for Jesus Christ. The greatest period of evangelism the world will ever know occurs in the Tribulation.

“the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth” indicates the mass evangelism of the Tribulation, the second advent of Christ and the millennial reign of Christ. The Millennial reign is going to take a mass of people who were saved in the Tribulation and make them the beginning of the new civilisation.

Verse 9 – the Father’s reply at the Second Advent. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron.” Judgment on the unbeliever.

“thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” – now we have the Father’s wrath expressed at the end of the Tribulation toward those who reject Christ. Up until then it is sense of humour which allows men freedom of choice, freedom in which to resolve the angelic conflict.

In verses 10-12 we have the voice of the Holy Spirit. The advice of the Holy Spirit to the rulers of the world is very interesting.

Verse 10 – “Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings.” The only thing that can save a national entity is Bible doctrine and there is nothing greater than Bible doctrine in the rulers. “Be wise” is a hiphil imperative, and the hiphil stem is causative. It indicates a positive volition, a desire for doctrine. The greatest thing that ever happens to a nation is when a ruler has a desire for doctrine and has doctrine in his soul. To be wise means to look at life from the doctrinal viewpoint.

“be instructed [permit yourselves to be exhorted], ye judges.” The judges also have an authority responsibility. Theirs is the responsibility of authority over the common law of the land. When judges look at life from the divine viewpoint and from the doctrinal viewpoint this, again, becomes beneficial to the country. So we have the principle of the importance of Bible doctrine in a national entity from the standpoint of those in authority.

In verses 11 and 12 the Holy Spirit has some advice to people in general in the Tribulation.

In verse 11 we have advice to born-again believers: “Serve the Lord with fear” – occupation with Christ. Faith-rest technique perpetuating itself into occupation with Christ. Service as unto the Lord.

“rejoice with trembling” is literally, rejoice with anticipation. So we have two factors for the believers of the Tribulation. Serve and have inner happiness. Some of the believers in the Tribulation will only have inner happiness and great opportunities for service.

Verse 12 – the advice of the Holy Spirit to the unbeliever. “Kiss the Son.” The word kiss in the piel stem [intensive], piel imperative. A kiss is non-meritorious. A kiss involves the lips, the eyes, and the mind. The ability to kiss depends upon having a mind, having eyes, and having lips. All normal members of the human race have mind. So kissing involves mental attitude, positive volition. And everyone has lips, and everyone has eyes. The ability to kiss is non-meritorious. Principle: Kiss the Son is an expression of non-meritorious activity which depends entirely upon the volition of the initiator. It perfectly expresses the concept of faith. To believe is non-meritorious, just like a kiss is non-meritorious. A kiss has a subject; a kiss has an object. The subject in faith—“whosoever,” the unbeliever of the Tribulation; the object is Christ. A kiss expresses desire—positive volition; it means surrender—faith in Christ; it means relationship—God does 36 things for the believer at the point of salvation; it means response—production of the believer in phase two. So the kiss encompasses the whole concept of our relationship with the Lord and become analogous to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“lest he be angry” – the alternative for the unbeliever, the one who rejects Christ.

“and ye perish from the way” – if you do not believe in Christ and He is angry with you; “when his wrath is kindled for a little while.” A kiss connotes recognition. The unbelievers are advised to believe in Christ or to face the alternative which is the wrath of God. Perishing from the way is the baptism of fire which takes the unbeliever of the Tribulation off of the earth and puts him in fire. He has no chance after that for salvation.

The conclusion: “Blessed are they” – inner happiness. This is in the plural. Inner happiness results in outer happiness.

“that put their trust” – this is different from “kiss the Son” which is faith in Christ, eternal salvation. The word trust here is the Hebrew word chasah, the word for phase two, depending on the divine operating assets, depending on the Lord Jesus Christ.

1`` A psalm/'morning prayer' of David when he fled from Absalom.
Jehovah/God, my foes are so many!
Many are those who attack me.

2``Many say of me,
"There is no help/deliverance for him
in Elohiym/Godhead." Selah.

3``But You, O Jehovah/God, are a shield for me . . .
{You are} my glory . . .
and He Who holds my head high.

7``Rise, O Jehovah/God; save me, O my Elohiym/Godhead.
For You slap all my enemies in the face.
You breat the teeth of the wicked.

8``Deliverance/Salvation is Jehovah/God's.
Your blessing be upon Your people. Selah.

2 Samuel 15:6 – background for Psalm 4. The Word of God, in talking about Absalom’s rebellion, calls it stealing. He stole the thinking part of their minds and in this way he was able to set up a revolt against his father. Here is a man who was going to be the king of Israel. He had everything going for him, including the love of his father. And yet because he failed to understand some principles of Bible doctrine he became very bitter in his mind. His attitude toward his father was one of bitterness, and in his bitterness he really destroyed himself rather than his father. He failed to learn the lesson his father practiced through Bible doctrine many years before him. As a result he began to foment rebellion.

In verse 13 – “And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.” In other words, the revolt has taken place. Between verses 6 & 13, the beginning of the revolt and its completion we have the fact that Absalom made a request of his father that he might go down and offer sacrifices. In this manner he completely deceived his father. In reality he was simply going to Hebron to complete the plot, and from Hebron he would start the great revolt. As a result of this David had to flee for his life.

Verse 23 – how not to handle a problem: “And all the country wept with a loud voice.” This goes back to the time when the Jews were at Kadesh-barnea and the spies brought back a report from the land. In their report they said there were giants in the land, that it was too much for them, they could never conquer. And then we read how the people wept all night.

“and all the people passed over” – i.e. the people who followed David when he fled from Jerusalem. There were those who were faithful to David and they went with him. But they have already given up in their minds, they assume that there is no hope, and David only had with him those who were crybabies.

Verse 30 – “And David went up by the ascent of Olivet.” He went over the Mount of Olives. “… and they went up weeping as they went.” The march of the crybabies. David is doing the only smart thing at the moment, he is getting out of town. Apparently, as he went over the hill and he was crying too he was ashamed of himself. Here is a long line of cry-babies going out over the hill toward the wilderness and David looks back at the line and suddenly realises he is crying too. And he stopped his crying immediately, and the very second that he stopped crying he began to think doctrine. The very moment that he thought doctrine Psalm four was written in his mind. Psalm four in a sense is a statement of how one great believer reached out for doctrine and stopped being a crybaby.

Psalm 4 – “To the chief musician on Neginoth, a Psalm of David.” That is verse 1 in the Hebrew. The chief musician is the choir director. They had a professional and permanent choir. These words in Psalm 4 comprise the words of a mental attitude of a man who stopped crying. The words “on Neginoth” mean that the stringed instruments were to accompany this. (In Psalm 5 the Nehiloth is the wind instrument group) The accompaniment is the weeping and the wailing of the stringed instruments. This is the Psalm of David in a crisis and under maximum pressure, accompanied by hysterical people who fall apart.

In the first three verses we have the crisis prayer. In verse 1 is the principle of pressurised building.

Verse 1 – “Hear me when I call, O God.” David is praying in the midst of people who were crying and wailing. There is so much noise that it is very natural for David to cry out, “Hear me.” Often many of the crises of life are accompanied by lots of noise, and noise can be pressure in itself. The prayer requires concentration and it is very difficult to concentrate when everyone else around you is yelling and screaming.

And he calls Him, “O God of my righteousness.” God is the preserver of David’s salvation. The righteousness which is mentioned here is +R, a righteousness which David received at the moment of salvation. That same righteousness belongs to God. God is the preserver of His own character, David has a piece of His character and God is the preserver of David in any situation in life. God is David’s security in the crisis of time just as God is his security for all eternity. Right then and there the tears dried up and that was the end of it immediately. No more tears for David.

“Thou hast enlarged me in distress.” Thou hast enlarged is in the hiphil stem which is causative. The word enlarged means to give happiness—inner happiness, but inner happiness that causes one to grow up; in distress is in pressure. You do not grow up in pressure unless you have inner happiness. This inner happiness comes from Bible doctrine and from no other source. Therefore David grew up and became a great man through pressure because in any type of pressure he had inner happiness. David had …

The pressure of prosperity—1 Samuel 16:19-23. David had gone from being a shepherd with a small flock of sheep to the armour bearer of the king.

The pressure of mental attitude—1 Samuel 17:34-37. The attack of the lion and the bear.

The pressure of criticism—1 Samuel 17:28, when his elder brother began to criticise him and to malign him, to downgrade him. David did not get out of fellowship.

The pressure of bullying—1 Samuel 17:43-47, from Goliath. Many believers do not pass this test and therefore they go no further in the Christian life—the bullying of tabooism, the bullying of pseudo spirituality, the bullying of legalism and religionism.

The pressure of responsibility—1 Samuel 22:1,2. After David slew Goliath he became a very successful person in Israel. Once again he faced the prosperity test. Once again God removed him from the scene of the palace and David found himself in the cave of Adullam. Once David separated himself from Saul and from an apostate palace those who were hungry, persecuted, maligned and had in many ways suffered from the present administration of Saul, came to him. David suddenly found that he was responsible for many of the downtrodden people and he passed the pressure of responsibility.

The pressure of waiting. David learned in a marvellous way to wait on the Lord—1 Samuel 24 & 26 David had the opportunity of slaying the king, Saul, but he refused to do so. He knew that he was to be the king of Israel but he refused to do it in a way that was dishonouring to the Lord.

The pressure of maximum disaster—1 Samuel 30:1-8. When David and his men had returned and found that everyone in the camp has disappeared, that a band of marauders had come along and captured everything. The 600 men began to weep and to wail, and David with them, just as he did on this occasion going over the hill. And then suddenly David stopped crying, and he “strengthened himself in the Lord.” David stopped crying and got with doctrine.

“have mercy upon me” – he is asking God to deal with him on the basis of grace. “Have mercy” in the Hebrew simply means that David is oriented to the grace of God. He uses the qal imperative; he demands mercy from God. Mercy is grace in action. He demands that God treat him in grace and he is on doctrinal grounds when he makes his demand to God. And finally he says, “Hear my prayer.”

Verse 2 – the nature of the crisis. He now refers in this prayer to those who have followed Absalom, those who have turned against him. He addresses, as it were, this part to those men—“O ye sons of men,” those who followed Absalom in the revolt.

“how long my glory into shame?” In other words, everyone who followed Absalom took the glory of David, his kingdom, his crown, his modus operandi as a king, and they have converted it into shame.

“will ye love emptiness and seek after lies?” By following Absalom they have accepted nothing instead of something. In other words, Will you put Absalom and his beautiful personality above that which the Lord has ordained? The Absalom revolt was built upon the lies of Absalom, and the basis of starting the revolt was the religious lie of Absalom when he said that he wanted to go and offer sacrifices in Hebron.

Verse 3 – “But know that the Lord hath set apart him who is godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call unto him.” The great tragedy of this verse in David’s analysis is that those who revolted against David and followed Absalom were following a personality, and that is why he says at the end of verse two, “you love emptiness.” When you love a personality and follow him when he is false and contrary to doctrine you love nothing. David is not claiming here that he is a great spiritual giant. The word godly here means belonging to God. God has set aside someone who belongs to Him for a purpose, and that purpose is to rule Israel. When David can no longer fulfil that purpose God will remove him, not Absalom. If Absalom had had everyone in the country on his side he could not have won the revolt, he could not have taken the crown from his father. Absalom failed to learn this lesson of waiting on the Lord. He would have been a greater ruler than Solomon but he could not wait until the right time and as a result he lost out altogether.

Verses 4-8, results that will come out of this crisis. David enumerates these results even before they occur.

Verse 4 – one thing that has happened immediately is the operation of the faith-rest technique. “Stand in awe” means literally, Be angry.

“and sin not” – this same phrase occurs in a little different language in Ephesians 4:26 where we have righteous indignation against heresy, legalism and ignorance of doctrine. Here we have it directed toward Absalom. This is a qal imperfect directed to David himself. This means you have a right to be indignant; you have a right to be angry with Absalom. But you have no right to seek vengeance on Absalom. This was one reason, apart from David’s great love for his son, why David gave his command to not kill Absalom. David was not going to have anything to do with killing his son or taking vengeance out on his son. In other words, “be angry and sin not” means to avoid bitterness, avoid pettiness, avoid spitefulness, avoid implacability, hatred, hostility and vengeance. It means to put the problem in the Lord’s hands, for the Lord says, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. This means the use of the faith-rest technique. Therefore, since he is now relaxed about that he says, “commune with your own heart” – don’t lower yourself to Absalom’s level, commune with doctrine in your own soul. The word commune is a qal imperative and it means to speak in your heart, to think, think doctrine.

Verse 5 – the proper mental attitude. This is offered to his son, Absalom. It is too late now but this is what Absalom should have done. He should have offered sacrifices unto the Lord. The sacrifices of righteousness refer to the last two of the Levitical offerings: the sin offering—Lev. 4; the trespass offering—Lev. 5-6:16. These two offerings are rebound offerings.

“put your trust in the Lord” – once you have rebounded you turn all of your problems over to the Lord, forget it, and move on. Verse 5 is the verse of tragedy, the good advice that was never given, the good advice that Absalom never took; this great tragedy of failing to get doctrine to the right place at the right time.

Verse 6 – confidence when others are falling apart. “Many that say, Who will show us good?” David stops to listen to the crowd. Who will show is us literally, Who can experience good? This is an idiom that says, We’ve had it. It is an expression of their hysteria, of their human viewpoint as they were running out of Jerusalem. And David says as he hears this….

“Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us.” That took nerve, except for the fact that David was oriented to grace. In other words, David speaks for the crowd: Lord we are all human, we have all failed thee. We have never done anything to earn anything from thee. Now look down on us with thy countenance [with thy blessing]. This is a challenge the Lord never ignores. He cannot because of His perfect character. It is impossible for Him to ignore the challenge of grace because grace emphasises who and what He is.

Verse 7 – David expresses his own inner happiness. “Thou hast put gladness in my heart” – gladness is the Hebrew word for inner happiness. Right now David is relaxed; no more crying for him.

“more than in the time that their grain and their wine increased” – this means a time of prosperity. In this moment of the greatest tragedy David has ever known, in this hour of disaster and catastrophe, David actually has greater inner happiness than he ever had in prosperity. That is what Bible doctrine does.

Verse 8 – “I will at once [right now] lay me down in peace.” That is a mental attitude of inner happiness that comes from Bible doctrine. David has lost everything but the clothes he is wearing and yet he has great inner happiness because of doctrine. He hasn’t lost the doctrine, it is right there in his soul. He has started to use this doctrine so he stops his crying and says, “At once I will lay down in peace and sleep.” This is the point at which the Absalom revolt died. It died when a man in a hopeless situation with all of the pressures that one person can have could say “I will lie down and go to sleep.”

“for thou, Lord, only” – he doesn’t even have an army at this point or a weapon. He doesn’t have food, a palace, anything; “makes me to dwell in safety.” Your security and my security is in the Lord. Our security is not only in the person of the Lord but the principle that emanates from His person—the principle of grace. Our security and our blessing is located in the grace of God.

{Note: II Samuel 15:6 is the background for Psalm 4. The Word of God, in talking about Absalom's rebellion, calls it stealing. He stole the thinking part of their minds and in this way he was able to set up a revolt against his father. Here is a man who was going to be the king of Israel. He had everything going for him, including the love of his father. And yet because he failed to understand some principles of Bible doctrine he became very bitter in his mind.}

1``To the chief musician on Neginoth, a Psalm of David.
Hear me {David} when I call, O Elohiym/Godhead of my righteousness
{this righteousness - +R - a righteousness which David received
at the moment of salvation}

You have caused me to be enlarged {have happiness}
when I was in distress {under pressure}.
Have mercy upon me
{an order - claiming a promise from God - deal with me in terms
of grace},
and hear my prayer.

{Note: The words "on Neginoth" mean that the stringed instruments were to accompany this - in Psalm 5 the Nehiloth is the wind instrument group. The accompaniment is the weeping and the wailing of the stringed instruments. This is the Psalm of David in a crisis and under maximum pressure, accompanied by hysterical people who fall apart.}

2`` O you sons of men
{referring to those who followed Absalom in the revolt},
how long will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love emptinesses/meaninglessnesses,
and seek after lies? Selah {means a 'musical rest'}.

{Note: 'My glory into shame' means that everyone who followed Absalom took the glory of David, his kingdom, his crown, his modus operandi as a king, and they have converted it into shame. David continues, 'Will you put Absalom and his beautiful personality above that which God has ordained?' The Absalom revolt was built upon the lies of Absalom, and the basis of starting the revolt was the religious lie of Absalom when he said that he wanted to go and offer sacrifices in Hebron.}

3``But know that the God has set apart him
who is godly for Himself.
God will hear when I call unto Him.

{Note: David is not claiming here that he is a great spiritual giant. The word godly here means belonging to God. God has set aside someone who belongs to Him for a purpose, and David's purpose was to rule Israel. When David can no longer fulfill that purpose God will remove him, not Absalom. If Absalom had had everyone in the country on his side he could not have won the revolt, he could not have taken the crown from his father. Absalom failed to learn this lesson of waiting on God. He would have been a greater ruler than Solomon but he could not wait until the right time and as a result he lost out altogether. }

{Verses 4-8: Results that will come out of this Crisis - David Prophesized before it Happened}
4``Be angry, and sin not.
Commune with your own heart/'right lobe' upon your bed
{don't lower yourself to Absalom's level, commune with doctrine in
your own soul. The word commune is a qal imperative and it means
to speak in your heart, to think, think doctrine. }
and be still. Selah.
{faith-rest it - put it in the Hand of God - have a
relaxed mental attitude}.

{Note: 'Be angry and sin not' . . . this same phrase occurs in a little different language in Ephesians 4:26 where we have righteous indignation against heresy, legalism and ignorance of doctrine. Here David has it directed toward Absalom. But David knew he had no right to seek vengeance on Absalom. This was one reason, apart from David's great love for his son, why David gave his command to not kill Absalom. David was not going to have anything to do with killing his son or taking vengeance out on his son. }

{Note: David is addressing this to his son, Absalom. It is too late now but this is what Absalom should have done. He should have offered sacrifices unto the Lord. The sacrifices of righteousness refer to the last two of the Levitical offerings: the sin offering-Lev. 4; the trespass offering-Lev. 5-6:16. These two offerings are rebound offerings. Once you have rebounded you turn all of your problems over to the Lord, forget it, and move on. Verse 5 is the verse of tragedy, the good advice that was never given, the good advice that Absalom never took; this great tragedy of failing to get doctrine to the right place at the right time.}

6`` There be many that say, Who will show us any good?
{Idiom meaning 'We've had it. It is an expression of their hysteria,
of their human viewpoint as they were running out of Jerusalem.}
Jehovah/God,
lift You up the light of Your countenance/blessing upon us.

{Note: David speaks for the crowd: Lord we are all human, we have all failed You. We have never done anything to earn anything from You. Now look down on us with Your countenance [with Your blessing]. This is a challenge the Lord never ignores. He cannot because of His perfect character. It is impossible for Him to ignore the challenge of grace because grace emphasizes Who and What He is.}

7``You have put 'inner happiness' in my heart/'right lobe',
more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased
{idiom: 'more then in times of prosperity'}.

{Note: In David's moment of the greatest tragedy - the greatest he has ever known - in this hour of disaster and catastrophe, David actually has greater inner happiness than he ever had in prosperity. That is what Bible doctrine resident in your soul does for mature believers.}

8~~ In peace I will at once
both lie down and sleep.
For You alone, O Jehovah/God, do make me to dwell in safety.

{Note: That is a mental attitude of inner happiness that comes from Bible doctrine. David has lost everything but the clothes he is wearing and yet he has great inner happiness because of doctrine. He hasn't lost the doctrine, it is right there in his soul. He has started to use this doctrine so he stops his crying and says, "At once I will lay down in peace and sleep." This is the point at which the Absalom revolt died. It died when a man in a hopeless situation with all of the pressures that one person can have could say "I will lie down and go to sleep."}

{Note: "For You, Jehovah/God, only" - David doesn't even have an army at this point or a weapon. He doesn't have food, a palace, anything; "makes me to dwell in safety." David's security and every person's security is in God. Our security is not only in the person of the God but the principle that emanates from His person-the principle of grace. Our security and our blessing is located in the grace of God.}

{David's Psalm about Saul the Reversionist}
{It was written in the period between I Samuel 26 and the opening
of I Samuel 27}
1~~{Title} A 'dithyramb of madness' {shiggayown} by David
which he composed to the Jehovah/God
concerning the {false} doctrines
of 'Kush the Benjamite' {referring to King Saul}.

O Jehovah/God my Elohiym/Godhead,
in You I {David} have taken refuge.
Cause me to be delivered
from all them that pursue and/or persecute {radaph} me,
also cause me to be rescued/snatch from danger {natsal}.

{Note: The name David means 'lover' not 'lover boy! Haha David will ask God to judge the case between him and Saul. Side Note: God will judge for David, but the judgment is delayed for a year when David goes into reversionism himself after marrying a second wife. With so much activity going on, David neglected doctrine and that causes reversionism - but that is discussed later not here.}

{Note: Shiggayown means to wander around or to go mad in a psychotic condition. RBT says a good meaning for its use here is a 'dithyramb of madness'. A dithyramb is from the Greek. It means an unusually short poem in an inspired wild irregular strain or a statement or writing in an exalted or enthusiastic vein.}

{Note: King Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. Per RBT Saul was a believer who went negative to the Lord and His doctrine. In doing so, he allows doctrines of demons to enter his soul causing a 'black heart' or 'darkness of the soul'. This could be why David used 'Kush' here which literally means an Ethiopian, black, and terror. It probably refers to the black darkness in the soul of Saul in reversionism.}

{David is Tired of Running - He envisions Saul Ripping up his Very Soul}
2~~Lest he {King Saul} tear into little pieces my soul {nephesh}
like a lion attacking with great violence,
and there is no one rescuing/snatching me from danger.

{Soul Fatigue Yet Innocence of David}
3-4~~O Jehovah/God my Elohiym/Godhead,
if I have 'manufactured this'/'caused this persecution'
{'asah - make something out of something else} . . .
if 'I am guilty'
{idiom: literally 'if iniquity clings to my hands'} . . . 4~~
if I have repaid evil to the one {Saul}
being at peace with me . . .
or if, I have plundered him {Saul} without a cause . . .
the one {Saul} who is my enemy
{'but I have not done these things' - equivalent to Greek's 2nd
class condition}, 5~~
{if they are true - but they are not - then}
let 'the one always hating me to the point of vindictiveness/
implacability' pursue/persecute {radaph} my soul and overtake it!
{if they are true - but they are not - then}
let him {Saul} 'trample down' into the ground my life
{like it were nothing},
and cause my honor to dwell in the dust. Selah/'musical rest'.

{Note: Saul in reversionism had 'advisors around him slandering David. They made up lies about David and Saul believed them. So, he continually pursued and persecuted David. If any of these things were true, they might justify Saul persecuting David - but David declares that none are true.}

{Note: This is the end of the 1st strophe (a strophe is a dividing line in poetry).}

{Note: A dithyramb is the name for the poetry that has wild and irregular strains. It has two kinds of meter indicating intoxication, instability, or madness. Here is paints a picture of the mental attitude of Saul.}

{Note: This psalm has two types of poetic meter:
a) Iambic meter (a metrical foot consisting of one short syllable followed by one long syllable or of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable). Iambic meter is used for 'satire' so David is using sanctified sarcasm.

b) Anapestic meter (a metrical foot consisting of three syllables: two short syllables followed by one long syllable or of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable).}

{Courtroom Scene with God as the 'Supreme Court'}
6~~Arise/'Get up on your judgment seat' {quwm}, O Jehovah/God,
in Your righteous indignation {toward the guilty - Saul here}.
Be lifted up against the arrogance of my enemies {Saul}.
'Arouse Yourself in my behalf'
You have ordained 'the principal of justice'.

{Note: David knows that Saul is God's anointed King and refused twice to remove him. But, he also knows that God is the ultimate judge and is appealing to Him to judge who is in the right between him and Saul. David rightly claims that Saul's persecution arises from Saul's wounded pride. The people sang 'Thousands has Saul killed, but ten- thousands has David killed'. In his arrogance, Saul was easy to be convinced by slander to move against David.}

{The Jury is the Nation of Israel}
7~~ When the assembly of the peoples {all the tribes of Israel}
have gather around You {God},
then You, above them {in heaven},
return on Your High Place
{means on the High Court's Judgment Seat - You make the
decision}.

8~~Jehovah/God will 'judge, decide,
punish when needed, and rule' the people
{diyn - fully means - 'try the case, decide, punish, and rule'}.
Administer justice to me, O Jehovah/God,
according to my righteousness
{tsedeq - and here is Super-Grace David's righteousness},
and according to my 'fullness' in me
{Doctrine in His soul here – Super-Grace Status} {tom}.

{Note: Tom means integrity, 'prosperity of soul', and 'completeness and fullness'. Here is means the 'fullness of David's cup'. He is said to be a man after the 'right lobe'/heart of God because of the great amount of doctrine in David's soul - divine viewpoint.}

9~~Please let the evil {the reverse process reversionism}
of the wicked/reversionist be terminated.
But let the righteous
{the Super-Grace believer with doctrine in his soul}
be established.
For the One {God} . . .
testing the right lobes {doctrine/divine viewpoint flowing in your soul}
{libbah: idiom: literally means 'hearts' - but is used for the
mentality because of the thoughts that flow through it like blood}
and the emotions
{kilyah: idiom: literally means the kidneys or reins. Just as we
say 'butterflies in my stomach' when we are nervous, the Jews
used 'stomach' and 'kidneys' when describing the emotions} . . .

is 'Elohiym of righteousness'/'Godhead of righteousness'
{righteousness is one half of the integrity of God - the other half is
His perfect justice}.

{Note: Both David and Saul are believers so the issue David is bringing up is not the imputed righteousness of God - both have that. But what David has done is study God's Word after salvation and has advanced to be a SuperGrace believer with much divine viewpoint in his soul. Saul on the other hand went negative toward God and His Word. So, he 'reverted' back to the human viewpoint of an unbeliever. He is still saved, but in reversionism - no divine viewpoint.}

{Reversionism Verses SuperGrace Status}
10~~My shield {magen} . . . {is} upon Elohiym/Godhead
The One causing to deliver the integrity {yashar}
of my 'right lobe'/heart.

{Note: Magen does means 'shield'. A shield is a type of defense, but is one that you carry with you for protection. The doctrine resident in his soul goes everywhere with David. Operating under divine viewpoint and divine standards is David's protection in life.}

11~~Elohiym/Godhead . . .
{is} the One judging {shaphat} the righteous.
And El/God is indignant every day towards the wicked/reversionist.

{Note: Shaphat means to render a judicial decision based on correct and absolute evidence - He knows all the facts.}

{Note: God scourges with a whip His sons - this is the harsh treatment he gives to reversionists to get them to turn back to him. And, He does chasten all sons. This is for growing believers who are disciplined for advancement or for a small step out of line. Turning your back on God as an unbeliever is the big mistake. After salvation, turning your back on Him and His Word, is as big a mistake for you 'in time' - but once saved always saved. So you risk dying horribly under the sin unto death, but then it is off to heaven for your soul and spirit for eternity.}

12~~If he {the reversionist} does not repent/'change his mind'
{about God and His Word}
He will 'sharpen His sword'
{idiom meaning prepare him for the sin unto death}.
He has bent His bow {warning and intensive discipline},
and prepared it {the arrows - referring to God's discipline in time}.

13~~He has appointed for him {the reversionist}
the instruments of death
{plural - each dying will die differently but none will be pleasant}.
He {God} shapes his arrows . . . the burning ones.

{Note: In this day, arrows were shaped specifically for each bow. Therefore each reversionists discipline will be different but burning is a picture of great pain.}

{Verses 14-16: Next Strophe: the Profile of a Reversionist}
14~~Behold {a word that calls the reader to attention -
concentrate!},
he {a reversionist} is in birth labor {chabal piel stem}
of vanity {perpetuation of emotional revolt and frantic search for
happiness}
{ 'aven - this is the production of reversionism and its sins -
gossip, slandering on and on - after all that pain,
there is nothing good produced},
because he has become pregnant with sin
{through a frantic search for happiness}
{`amal - mental attitude sins, sins of the tongue or overt sins of
vengeance - trying to build your happiness on someone else's
unhappiness},
and has given birth to a life of deceit
{sheqer - reverse process reversionism in view}.

{Note: The analogy of a painful and continuing pregnancy giving birth to nothing . . . is a very good picture of reversionism. You have to be pregnant first! Negative to doctrine. David thinks he is writing about Saul, but he is about to enter reversionism himself (but he will recover) so he actually is writing about himself and all reversionists.}

15~~He {the reversionist} dug a pit,
and explored it
{getting involved with all sorts of things in the frantic search for
happiness},
and is fallen into the pit
which he himself has manufactured.

7:16~~His evil/trouble {`amal - things practiced in reversionism}
shall return upon his own head {self-induced misery},
and 'that which is obtained by violence' {chamac}
shall come down upon his own 'crown of his head' {qodqod}.

{Note: Interesting that David said this would come down on the reversionists 'crown of his head' because of his coming reversionism, his wearing of the crown would be delayed one year! The reversionist reaps what he sows. The SuperGrace believer reaps what God sows!}

17~~I will be caused to praise Jehovah/God
according to His righteousness
{not according to MINE but according to His!}!
And I will sing in celebration
to the Person of Jehovah/God {occupation with Christ}
Most High {'elyown}.

{Note: You cannot sow from your own activities and reap Super-Grace blessing (God's sowing).}

1~~{Title} To the one who excels . . . to David.
I have confidence
{chacah - a grace orientation verb - faith in the sense of having
a strong form of confidence}
in the Jehovah/God.
How can you all say/'make comments'
{David's 'human viewpoint' advisors telling David to run and hide} to my soul {referring to the intellect of the soul here},
"retreat/flee as a bird to your mountain?"

{Note: The psalms often begin 'to the chief musician'. But here, RBT says natsach in the piel stem means to the 'one who excels' meaning David himself. He is not boasting - this is the confidence of David. Instead he is recognizing the fact that he has bible doctrine in his soul. The country is in a mess and David knows he is the man for the job of fixing it all up!}

{Note: Chacah was the Hebrew word used to describe the situation where a rabbit would run into a crack in a rock to get out of the reach of the fox! It means to protect from danger. God is David's rock.}

{Note: At this point in time, David's advisors are now rich men. They don't want to risk losing it to Saul or even dying now that they are rich! They advise David to run and hide when David knows now is the time to stand and fight!}

2~~For, behold, the wicked ones {the Philistines}
prepare/bend their bow,
they sight their arrow upon the string,
to shoot in the darkness
at the True of heart/'right lobe'
{referring to the Jews with doctrine in their right lobes} .

3~~Because the pillars
{Jewish government under the reversionism of Saul}
are in the process of being torn down,
what can the righteous do
{how can mature believers 'stand in the gap'?}?

4~~Jehovah/God {the Son} . . . {is} in the Palace
of His 'Holy Place/Abode.
Jehovah/God {the Father} . . . {is} in the heavens . . .
{is} Royal throne.
His eyes 'see and understand' {chazah}
{what is going on with mankind},
His eyelids keep on testing
{idiom: like when you pinch your eyes together to concentrate},
the 'human race'/'children of men'.

{Contrast Between SuperGrace Believer and Reversionist}
5~~Jehovah/God tests {for reality/purity}
a righteous/vindicated person {tsaddiyq - SuperGrace believer}
{means by the fire of national catastrophe}.
But the wicked/impious/anti-God {rasha`} . . .
even the one who keeps loving 'illegal violence'
{chamac - referring to King Saul here},
His {God's} soul
{nephesh - here referring to the divine essence of God}
'has righteous indignation'/'has hated' {sane'}.

6~~ He {God} will cause to rain
on the wicked/reversionist
'deadly snares' {pach - snares that destroys whatever they catch -
in this snare, you die},
fire {refers to national disaster here},
brimstone {gophriyth - refers to the chemical destruction of Saul
here - poor health},
and a burning wind
{refers to the result to the civilians for losing the battle of Gilboa
(sp) - 95% of the population are killed, raped, enslaved} . . .
the portion of their cup.

{Note: This is where you set a snare for someone but the prey gets out and YOU are killed instead.}

{Principal of Survival of SuperGrace Believer}
7~~Because the Jehovah/God is righteous/'perfect in His essence'.
He {God} loves 'grace vindication {of the righteous}' { ts@daqah}.
A righteous person/'SuperGrace believer'
shall see His face {principal of occupation with Christ}.

{Note: God only vindicates what comes from God - His viewpoint in your soul! Doctrine resident in your soul.}

{Verbal Reversionism - if no Pivot of believers}
1~~Help, Jehovah/God . . .
for the godly man {SuperGrace believer}
ceases to exist.
For the faithful ones disappear from the human race.

2~~They speak falsehood one to another
with flattering lips
and with a double heart {right lobe} they speak.

3~~May the Jehovah/God cut off all their flattering lips,
and the tongue that speaks 'great' things {in Blind Arrogance}.

4~~Who have said,
"With our tongue will we prevail.
Our lips are with us.
Who is lord over us?"

5~~"Because of the devastation of the afflicted . . .
because of the groaning of the needy . . .
now I will arise," said Jehovah/God,
"I will place him in safety from which he longs."

6~~ The words of the Lord are pure words
{in contrast to the sins of the tongue} . . .
as silver refined in a furnace on the earth . . .
refined seven times.

7~~ You, Jehovah/God, will guard them.
You will preserve them from this generation {of evil} forever.

8~~ Those under the influence of evil
strut around on every side . . .
when worthlessness is exalted among the sons of man.

{Note: RBT says this Psalm explains what happened to David between I Samuel Chapters 29 and 30 - (Reversionism, Rebound, Back in Fellowship)}
{Verses 1-2: 1st Strophe - 1st 5 lines - David Reaps what David Sows}

'Until when'/'How long'
{Av A-naaa (sp) - a lamentation in Hebrew poetry}
will You 'forget me'/'not remember me', O Jehovah/God?

'Until when'/'How long'
{Av A-naaa (sp) - a lamentation in Hebrew poetry}
will You be caused to hide your face from me?
{meaning 'caused to be in great displeasure with me'}

{Note: David has been in Philistia under the protection of Achish, kind of Philistia. David has been lying to Achish and killing Philistines while under the protection of Achish. Now the Philistines are going up against King Saul. But the other Philistine city-state rulers did not want David and his men to fight with the Philistines against the Jews and David is sent back as the battle is about to happen.}

2~~'Until when'/'How long' {Av A-naaa (sp)}
shall I 'line up worries' {shiyth `etsah}
in my soul (?) . . .
{Constant worry and anxiety was part of his self-induced misery in
reversionism - he sowed lies and the murder of Arab women and
children - and he reaped worry}

having 'maximum misery' {yagown}
in my 'right lobe'/heart . . .
day by day . . .

'Until when'/'How long' {Av A-naaa (sp)}
will my enemy {Saul} be exalted over me {David}?

{Verses 3-4: Next Strophe - 4 lines of Hebrew Poetry
David Repents and Back under God's Grace}
3~~'Have regard for me'/'Have respect for me'
{nabat - Hiphil imperative - commanding that God have respect for
him! is now back in God's plan and claiming a promise of God to
forgive him}
and 'listen to me'/'answer me' {`anah},
O Jehovah/God my 'Elohiym/Godhead.

Cause to enlighten my eyes
{means 'cause me to understand doctrine'},
lest I sleep the sleep of death
{die the sin unto death in reversionism} . . .

4~~Lest my enemy {Saul} keep on saying,
"I have overcome/'prevailed against' {yakol} him."

"Lest those hostile to me
celebrate/'dance around in a circle'/'party at my expense' {giyl}
when I am tottering/unstable {mowt}."

{Verses 5-6: 3rd Strophe: Grace Deliverance: David Reaps what God Sows}
5~~But in Your grace {checed}
I have trusted
{batach - non-meritorious repentance - also verb for faith rest}
{now on I want to reap what YOU sow Lord}.

My heart/'right lobe'
will celebrate/'dance around in a circle' {giyl}
Your deliverance {yashuw`ah}.

Because He has compensated me
in grace {gamal - reaping what God sows, back in fellowship}.

{Nabal's Foolish Thoughts}
1~~To the Chief Musician
{a Psalm} of David.
Nabal/'the fool' {name does mean 'fool'}
has said in his 'right lobe'/heart
{thought this in his very soul - an atheist},
"There is not Elohiym/Godhead
{negative volition at the point of God consciousness}."

They {Nabal and other wealthy, unbelieving reversionists}
have become 'perverted in their souls' {shachath - Hiphil stem}.
They 'have done(s) a detestable deed'
{ta`ab - is a plural verb - but aliylah' is a singular noun. The
singular noun means it refers to Nabal's debt to David that he
refused to pay. But the verb is plural and this is good Hebrew to
indicate that wealthy reversionists do the same all the time -
they are wealthy and do not need to Renig on debts - but do it for
fun!}.
there are none that manufactures {'asah}
good {towb - divine good - no divine good production}.

{Note: Nabal was the very rich husband of Abigail who, upon Nabal's death because one of David's wives. See Nabal in I Samuel 25:25 where Abigail talks about this 'fool' of a husband. Abigail was a SuperGrace believer married to a stupid unbelievers whose very name means fool. Now here we find out in what area particularly he was a fool - 'there is no God'!}

2~~Jehovah/God out of the heavens
'looked down {for someone to bless}' {shaqaph}
upon the children of men,
to 'make a recognizance'/see {ra'ah}
if there were any
who had been caused to be wise {in SuperGrace status}
{sakal - Hiphil stem - means GAPing to SuperGrace - intake of the
Word},
and constantly kept on seeking after
{darash - verb of positive volition - in salvation and thereafter in
the intake of the Word}
Elohiym/Godhead {God located David and Abigail in view here}.

3~~They have deviated {from God's laws for Establishment}/
'become perverted'/'become reversionistic'.
{cuwr - perfect tense - means from beginning of human history to
the end, wealthy, unbelieving reversionism will be like this}.
They 'have become morally corrupt'
{meaning 'have done detestable deeds'}
{'alach - means filthy , here morally filthy - explains Nabal's
drunken party in I Samuel 25:36 - his party was probably a Phallic
cult event - with sexual degeneracy mixed in}.
There is not one who manufactures {divine} good,
no, not even one {'echad}.

4~~Have all the 'workers of emptiness'/reversionists
{falling backward so human viewpoint is replacing divine viewpoint
again}
do not understand/know {yada'}?
The ones destroying/devouring up my people . . .
as they have eaten bread
{illustration of the easy with which they destroy the followers of
David}.
Furthermore, they do not call upon Jehovah/God.

5^^There is great awe/'respect {for the authority of}
{pachad pachad - doubling is very strong}
for Elohiym/Godhead
in the generation of the righteous/'SuperGrace believers' {tsaddiyq}.

{David Speaks to Nabal}
6~~You {Nabal} have caused shame
{refused to pay his debt for fun of it}
to the plan/contract {David's agreement to protect Nabal's sheep}
with the afflicted
{David - he was under Saul's seek and destroy persecution},
because Jehovah/God is his {David's} security.

{Note: Nabal was an atheist. He knew that David proclaimed himself under the protection of God. So, he reneged on his debt so he can say crap like - 'oh what a great protector David has'. He got his 'reward' for this in I Samuel 25:37-38 directly from God.}

7~~Who shall give from Zion {name of the fortification},
the deliverance of Israel?
{the prophecy was that whoever captures the fortress of the
Zebucites (sp) will be the deliverer of Israel - David is the one who
eventually takes the fort and made it his castle}
When Jehovah/God restores {from}
the adversity of His people,
Jacob {used for Jews who are unbelievers}
shall celebrate/'dance in a circle' {giyl},
and Israel {used for saved Jews}
shall 'be joyful'/'express great inner happiness'/+H {samach}.

“Michtam of David.” The word michtam in the Hebrew is derived from two sources, a verb and a noun. The verb is the niphal stem of katham. The niphal is passive; the verb means to write, and therefore michtam means something being written. There is another form which is slightly different—kethem, which means gold or precious, something of highest value. So between the two words, the word michtam actually means something written about values, something regarding a scale of values. In the book of the Psalms there are six of the psalms which are a michtam. So michtam is a message about values, a message which orients to the important things of life, a message about the perspective of life. Psalm 16, then, is the perspective of life as seen from David. From the psalm itself we understand that David is under some sort of pressure. There are many pressures which David faced in his lifetime but this apparently is something that endangers his life. He is very close to death on this occasion and he is writing the attitude that comes to him in facing death, an attitude which gives us Bible doctrine. David’s perspective in facing death is Bible doctrine resulting in occupation with the person of Christ.

Verse 1 – he begins with something that appears to be a prayer, and as this verse begins we have David’s orientation to the plan of God. While it is a prayer it is a little more than that in the Hebrew because of the imperative mood. The Hebrew word for preserve is a military word which means to stand guard. Eventually it comes to mean to protect something, and then it means more than that, it means to preserve it that it might have some sort of a future impact. David’s life from the standpoint of David’s activity is meaningless, but from the standpoint of Bible doctrine he has a life that is important. David was a believer, a child of God, and God had a purpose for his life in time. That purpose brought him to the throne of his country. He became the king and the greatest ruler that his nation ever knew until Jesus Christ comes to rule that same nation. As a successful ruler he faced many problems and difficulties. As a far more successful believer he was constantly under Satanic pressure because of his orientation to the principle of grace.

At this point he doesn’t ask God to preserve him, he commands it. This is the imperative mood of the verb to preserve. This is an order from David to God. In facing the pressure of death he demands that God fulfil the promises which he has given to all believers, the promise of protection and preservation, the promise of filling out David’s life, whatever God has left for it. Therefore he orders God to preserve him. He also states a reason why God should, and that is because David is operating under the faith-rest technique. He says, “Preserve me.” David is facing danger, tremendous pressure.

“for in thee do I put my trust” – the word for putting trust here takes David back to his salvation. The Hebrew word for trust is chasah which has the idea of a rabbit taking refuge in the crack of a rock from a wolf. The point that David is making is that he should not be preserved because he is a great believer but because of his relationship to God. Because he is a child of God and because of this relationship He is appealing on the basis of the fact that God has now become his parent. And just as a human parent loves a child and seeks to preserve and protect his child so God as the divine parent, the perfect parent, cannot help but preserve and protect David. In other words, David is saying in this first verse that he is aware of what it means to be born again. He is aware of the fact that at the moment of salvation he received everything that was necessary for blessing. David was aware that he was a member that he was a member of the family of God and everything that he would ever receive was based upon who and what God was as his parent. The word for trust here means faith which entered into a relationship, and the relationship taken from the word to trust means that since the day he was saved David has been in the rock, Christ Jesus. Because of his relationship to the Rock he is protected from the problems, the trials, and the difficulties of life. This means in verses 2 & 3 that David is very definitely oriented to grace.

Verse 2 – the first three words in the KJV, ‘O my soul’, are in italics and not found in the original Hebrew. Actually the phrase says, “Thou hast said,” or better yet, “I have said.” It is in the second person, Thou, because David is speaking about himself. This is analogy. In other words, under great pressure David is simply pulling out of himself to take a good look at the situation. This is equivalent to I have said in pressure.

“Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to thee” – notice that the word extendeth is not found in the original. The Hebrew simply says, “My goodness not upon thee.” Here is the perfect orientation to the grace of God; here is the perfect concept of what grace really is. Thou art my Lord refers to God the Father. In effect David is saying, ‘You are the one who has charge of me, I am in your hands and belong to you, and this is really your battle.’ And then he notes something that is very important in orientation to grace. My goodness is literally, my good and it refers to human good; not upon thee is simply a way of saying, ‘You will not accept my human good.’ It is wonderful to have a Father whose plan is so perfect and whose provision is so perfect that God does not at any point depend upon us for anything. God’s plan does not include any place for our human good, energy of the flesh. David repudiates the principle of human good.

Verse 3 – “to the saints” refers to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. David is actually making a dedication. He has met the pressure. He turned to the Lord and said, ‘It is your job to preserve me.’ He also made it clear that he was a child of God, that God was his Father, and therefore it wasn’t his problem at all, but his Father’s. In other words, he was saying. ‘The battle is the Lord’s.’ Then he says that his human good is not acceptable to God. This is total orientation to grace, and because he is so oriented there is no pressure. The pressure is there but it is now in the Lord’s hands. He followed the pattern of 1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22. Now he makes a dedication. His mind is now clear, having no fear, no anxiety.

While the Lord is handling David’s problems David decides to make a dedication of this Psalm to believers. From this point on there will be various points of doctrine.

“that are in the earth” – David is no longer with us, his body is in a grave somewhere, his soul and spirit are in the presence of the Lord. But as a prophet as well as a king, as a writer of scripture and as one who is controlled by the Holy Spirit when he penned these words, he left us this tremendous heritage.

“and to the excellent” – literally, the glorious ones – “in whom delight.” The glorious ones are elect angels. So this is dedicated to believers and the unseen divine team in the plan, the elect angels. In this way David touches very lightly at this point upon the angelic conflict.

Verse 4 – a warning to us that if we are ever going to be in the place of total relaxation, happiness, peace, stability, inner beauty, in the midst of the pressures and the trials of life, we must at all costs avoid putting anything before the Lord. David warns, then, of idolatry which is one of many systems of putting something else before the Lord. David has rejected idolatry and apostasy and therefore he is in this marvellous position of being totally relaxed in the midst of his own pressures.

“Their sorrows” – referring to the suffering and discipline which comes to the apostate believer; “shall be multiplied” – in other words. Once you become apostate as a believer you cannot lose your salvation but you are under fantastic discipline; sorrow is multiplied.

“that hasten after another” – i.e. another god: idolatry or even another principle, false doctrine. So to believers who rush to put something else before the Lord their sorrows will be constantly multiplied. Notice they are not added or subtracted, they are multiplied. In other words, all you need is to reject Bible doctrine and it multiplies sorrows. The only way it can be stopped is to a) rebound; b) get with doctrine. The whole thing becomes self-induced misery which you perpetuate.

“their drink offerings” – which are offered to idols. This is the actual activity and ritual of idolatry.

“of blood will I not offer” – God will not accept blood offerings to idols. The blood offering refers to the work of Christ on the cross. Idols are in opposition to this. In other words, idolatry is ancient religion and God never accepts religion. God does not accept the ritual of religion even if the ritual has significant things such as blood, representing the blood of Christ to us but losing that representation as it gets lost in the ritual of religion.

“nor take their names [of these idols] to my lips” – God does not sponsor religion. “Their names” refers to the various idols to which in David’s time believers were departing to worship. David’s refusal is in fulfilment of Exodus 23:13.

Verse 5 – we have a word which is found in several of the psalms and which always describes phase two: “cup.” This is a drinking cup, and David is saying in effect the same thing he is saying in Psalm 23, “my cup runneth over.” The cup represents phase two; the surveying lines and the lot refer to phase three.

“The Lord” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is in the emphatic position in the Hebrew and could be translated The Lord and only the Lord. The principle emphasises occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Occupation with Christ is also emphasised by the omission of any verb. “The Lord, the portion of my inheritance.” The inheritance here refers to operation phase three or eternity, and specifically that part of phase three that deals with heirship. Being born into the family of God means that we are the heirs of God.[1]

“and of my cup” – the cup always refers to living in time. David has been drinking of the cup of life, of divine blessing. God has filled up his cup time after time with blessing, and David keeps drinking every day.

“thou maintainest my lot” – the Hebrew word for maintaining here means to hold fast, to hold securely. It is a qal active participle—tamak. It means to hold on in the sense of never letting go. David has a lot in eternity and the Lord hangs on to it for him.

Verse 6 – “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.” The lines here refer to the surveying lines. His lot has been surveyed for him and it is marked down for him. The word places is in the plural because it refers to heaven. Heaven in the Hebrew is never in the singular. Pleasant places and heavens are synonymous terms and David knows he has a wonderful place in phase three, a lot in heaven. The lines have already been surveyed at the moment he accepted Christ as his saviour. The michtam indicates scale of values, and in David’s scale of values eternity was more important than time. When he faces a disaster situation where his life might be taken, immediately he thinks about heaven where God has surveyed a lot for him. Therefore he takes a good look at death and he isn’t frightened at all.

Verse 7 begins the dividends of the divine plan. In this verse we have the first dividend: divine guidance.

“bless” – the Hebrew word berachah means to bless or to worship. Whenever it says that the subject, a human being, is blessing the Lord it actually means worship.

“who hath given me counsel” – the word counsel is the word for guidance. David has doctrine in his soul, therefore he has divine guidance. This is learning the easy way. The second part of this verse is learning the hard way.

“my reins” – this is simply an old English word for the kidneys. Various parts of the human anatomy were used to demonstrate spiritual activities. Reins here is used for volition, free will.

“also instructs me in the night seasons” – literally, in the nights. Nights refers to disaster, anything that makes up divine discipline. We go on negative volition, God comes up with discipline, and we learn the hard way. The word for instruct here means to instruct by means of punishment—jasar. David learned some things through doctrine and he learned some things through discipline, but between the two he learned. This led him to …

Verse 8 – occupation with Christ. “I have set the Lord always before me.” The Lord here refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The word set here means to put something in front of you that is more than enough—something that is perfectly satisfying. So it is a word for occupation with Christ; it means to put something first in your scale of values, and whatever you put first this is totally satisfying to you. The Lord is first in David’s scale of values, everything else is a detail and therefore he can enjoy the details of life because he enjoys the Lord first. The details of life come and go but the Lord never comes and goes; He stays-Hebrews 13:5,6.

“because he is at my right hand” – the words he is are not found in the original and it should read, “because at my right hand.” This is actually the exaltation of the person of Christ. David is occupied with Him and has seen Jesus Christ at the right hand. The word “my” refers to God the Father; “right hand” refers to Christ as David sees Him prophetically. This is the glorification of Christ in the hypostatic union.

“I shall not be moved” – this word means to vacillate, to shake, to totter. It is used for hysteria or for any system of falling apart. It is in the niphal stem which is the passive voice. This means to receive the hysteria but the negative means he does not receive it. Doctrine is already there and doctrine keeps out panic, hysteria, anything that would upset the believer. The principle is: occupation with Christ; Christ is at the right hand of the Father; Christ is in the place of stability; the believer occupied with Christ shares something of that stability. This leads to inner happiness.

Verse 9 – “Therefore my heart,” the thinking part of the mind, “is glad” – this is the word for inner happiness, samach, which is unshakeable happiness. This is inner happiness at a time of disaster in David’s life. Then we have David anticipating phase three happiness: “my glory,” his resurrection body, “rejoiceth” does not mean to rejoice at all, it means to dance in a circle or to leap for joy. It is a manifestation of happiness.

“my flesh” – contrast: human body. All David can do in the human body is rest in hope—faith-rest technique. Hope has to do with phase three. So David anticipates the future and he knows that in the future in his resurrection body he is going to leap for joy. Secondly, in his human body he is characterised by the faith-rest technique whereby he anticipates a glorious future.

Up through verse 9 David has demonstrated how it is possible to have greater inner happiness when disasters overtake the individual. But in verse 10 he changes the subject. This is really a prophetical parenthesis in which David for the moment sees himself in death long before he dies, and he sees himself prophetically involved with the resurrection. This leads him to talk about his greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 10 – “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.” This is David’s testimony. “For” is literally, because. “Hell” is the Hebrew word Sheol. So David sees himself at the point of his physical death. Since he is saved he says his soul winds up in Abraham’s bosom, the place where all of the Old Testament saints resided until they were transferred to the third heaven with the resurrection of Christ. He sees himself in Sheol, and he says, “Thou wilt not leave my soul is Sheol.” He knows that there is a time coming when he will be transferred to the 3rd heaven; he knows he will be in the 3rd heaven for X-number of years, until the resurrection of the Old Testament saints. He knows that at the end of that time he will receive a resurrection body in which he will enjoy eternity.

Now he adds something to this—a Messianic prophecy: “neither wilt thou suffer [permit] they Holy One [Jesus Christ] to see corruption.” Here he looks forward to Jesus Christ Himself being resurrected.

The first half of this verse refers to David; the last half to Jesus Christ. This is one of those passages quoted in the New Testament. Peter quoted it on the day of Pentecost—Acts 2. Paul at Antioch gave a similar type message.

Verse 11 – you must know the plan of God; you must know Bible doctrine before you can do what David did in the first nine verses. “Thou wilt show me” is not what it says. The Hebrew verb is the common word for perception—jadah, which means to know. But this is in the hiphil stem [causative]: “Thou wilt cause me [David] to know. It is also in the hiphil imperfect, which means the action is not completed. So David is saying in this disaster period, ‘I know a lot; I’ll know some more. My learning doctrine never stops; doctrine is my life, I can never get enough of it. He keeps on causing me to know; there never will be a time when I will stop knowing.’

“the path of life” – what God wants David to do in phase two. He will understand it though Bible doctrine. And the results of knowing the plan of God for his life? There is a result in phase two and a result in phase three.

In phase two: “In thy presence is fullness of joy.” Literally, the Hebrew says “Abundance of joy is in they face.” The face of God is animated from His thinking, His plan. In other words, for the believer in phase two knowing Bible doctrine there is not simply joy, inner happiness, but it overflows, it is abundant. Then the result in phase three: “at thy right hand [where the soul of David is located right now] pleasure for evermore.” So he recognises that eternity is pleasures for evermore; time is abundance of joy, and all of this through Bible doctrine.

{Note: This prayer was prayed by David before his military campaign against the Philistines at the city of Keilah. Keilah was a storage city for grain. The Philistines were of Greek origin and were warriors not farmers. So they stole the reserves of their neighbors but leaving them enough to plant again next year! See I Samuel Chapter 23 for the battle at Keilah.}

1~~ A golden psalm {miktam} of David . . .
Guard {shamar - military term} me, O El/God.
For in You I {David} have found refuge.

2~~I {David} have said unto Jehovah/God,
You . . . {are} my Adonay/Lord!
I have no good . . . but You
{idiom: literally 'my good not upon You'}!

3~~But to the saints
who . . . {are} in the land {of Judea},
and to the 'SuperGrace believers'/'great ones' {'addiyr},
in whom is all my delight.

{Note: David's is delighting in the SuperGrace believers who are in his army. They are untested in battle, but David is confident they will perform well.}

4~~Their {the reversionists} sorrows shall be
sorrows upon sorrows . . .
who hasten after another
{referring to those chasing after David unjustly and maybe even
some in idolatry}.
Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer
{this is most likely the human sacrifice in idolatry}.
I will be associated with these reversionists
{idiom: literally: "nor lift up their names to my lips'}.

{Note: Now David's thoughts turn to the reversionists in Judea - in his army and elsewhere (like Saul and his army). They will not see blessings unless they change back to the Lord. They will be disciplined by the Lord until He takes them out under the sin unto death.}

{Cup Gives Capacity to Enjoy Life in Time and Eternity}
5~~Jehovah/God . . . {is} the portion of my {David's} inheritance
{David knows he has a future even if only in heaven}
and of my cup
{full cup - capacity for life - blessings in life are poured by God into
the cup}.
You {God} hold together my lot {Go is in charge of the Plan}.

6~~The {surveyor} lines are fallen unto me {David}
in pleasant places
{idiom meaning there are good boundaries to his property}.
Yes, a beautiful possession for me.

7~~I adore Jehovah/God {occupation with Christ},
Who has given me {'doctrine categorically'} advice/counsel.
My emotions {kilyah - idiom: literally 'kidneys'}
also correct me in the night seasons
{idiom: meaning doctrine was communicated in the daytime at this
time - so it means he applies doctrine to experience every time he
tries to impose human viewpoint (like normal fear before a battle -
so doctrine (the battle is the Lord's) immediately corrects his
human viewpoint}.

{Note: David is about to go into combat against a larger force yet he is so happy he is about to have an ecstatic experience!}

{Verses 8-11 concern David prophesizing about his descendent- Jesus (per Acts 2:25 on)}
8~~I have 'set as more than enough'
{shavah - verb for occupation with Christ}
Jehovah/God always before me.
Because He is at my right hand,
I shall 'not totter'/'never be unstable' {mowt}.

{Note: A custom for thousands of years was to put the senior officer on the right - the junior officer walks on the left. David is recognizing the seniority of the Lord - Jesus Christ (the manifest member of the Godhead) is the Lord of the armies!}

9~~Therefore my 'right lobe'/heart rejoiced
{ samach - verb for +H - perfect happiness},
and my glory
{ kabowd - SuperGrace Status - edification complex of the soul -
as close to the essence of God as any man can get - divine
viewpoint in the norms and standards of the soul}
rejoiced.
My flesh/body shall rest in confidence
{physically David will also be tranquil - Relaxed Mental Attitude}.

{David's Prophetic Vision of His Great-Great-Great Grandson Jesus Christ}
10~~You {God the Father} you will not leave/abandon
My soul {nephesh}
in Sheol/Hades {sh@'owl - called 'hell' sometimes in KJV}.
Nor let Your 'Faithful One'/'Holy One' {Jesus Christ}
to see corruption/the grave/pit {without resurrection}
{shachath - idiom - to put on corruption means to permanently die
- it means to see the grave and not be resurrected. So David saw
in his vision the resurrection of Jesus Christ.}.

{Note: David is resting in the confidence of the Lord. And, God brings him a vision of Jesus Christ and what He says on the cross. That the Father will not abandon Jesus' soul in Sheol. Jesus' soul went to minister to the fallen angels of Genesis 6 that are imprisoned in Sheol/Hades. His spirit went to be with the Father and His body went into the grave.}

{Vision Over - David Going to Sleep on Bivouac before the Battle}
11~~ You {God} will teach me the path of life
{Occupation with Christ Again - learn capacity to enjoy life through
study of His Word - learning to Walk in the 'Way' of the Lord}.
In Your presence is 'fullness of joy'/'perfect joy'
{simchah - sharing the Happiness of God - +H}.
At Your right hand,
pleasures forever more
{blessings in time and eternity future}.

{A Psalm of the Promotion of David
(and All Believers in Spiritual Maturity)}
{Verses 1-7: 1st Strophe - Emphasis on God}
1~~{Title} 1~~ To the chief musician {natsach} . . .
the psalm {mizmowr} of David
O Jehovah/God . . . in Your omnipotence {`oz}
the King {David} will express his happiness
{based on having capacity from doctrine resident in his soul}.
And, in Your victory/deliverance
{y@shuw`ah - can mean salvation,
but here deliverance is better}
how greatly shall he 'overtly rejoice'
{giyl - outer expression of Joy - dancing in a circle}!

{Note: This psalm was written by David after his first victory over the Philistines at Bal-por-a-zeen sp. You are not promoted unless the Lord promotes you. David has been promoted and knows that the Lord is due all the credit/glory. After about 47 years, the Jewish Nation is again united under King David. David is not thinking about the greatness of his part in the victory - but he has the right perspective - the victory is the Lords!}

{Note: The psalms often begin 'to the chief musician'. But, in Chapter 11, RBT says natsach in the piel stem means to the 'one who excels' meaning David himself. He is not boasting - this is the confidence of David. Instead he is recognizing the fact that he has bible doctrine in his soul. The country is in a mess and David knows he is the man for the job of fixing it all up!}

2~~You {God} have given him {David}
the desire {ta'avah} of his 'right lobe'/heart {blessings in time},
and You have not held back {mana`}
the request of his lips {all David's prayer requests were answered}.
Selah/'orchestra plays on, voices rest'.

{Note: the Lord did not preserve the melody of the psalms. We only have the Words. Selah was included in the psalms because it meant the singers rested but the musicians played on. This is a constant reminder that while WE rest (the singers) , God in His grace continues (the instruments play on and on and on).}

3~~For You {God} have proceeded him {David}
with the blessings { B@rakah - plural} of the {divine} good { towb}
{blessings in time - SG2 blessings}.
You {God} have placed on his head a crown of pure/fine gold
{God provided the crown to David - the Glory is the Lord's}.

{Note: This is the word from which Berachah Church took its name. B@rakah means blessings. And this is plural so it is not just one request for a blessing. David desired all sorts of categories of blessings and received them all - spiritual blessings, leadership blessings, wealth, power, wisdom, sexual prosperity, social prosperity - on and on - nothing was withheld by God.}

4~~He has asked for 'prosperity' of You
{chay idiom: literally 'lives' but refers to the categories of
blessings in time},
and You have given it to him {David} . . .
extension/length { 'orek} of days
{referring to long life to enjoy the blessings in time} . . .
{prosperity} forever and ever
{referring to blessings in eternity future also}.

{Note: The tree of life is the capacity to enjoy life. This capacity comes from bible doctrine resident in your soul. Saying that David asked for 'lives' means that David prayed for a number of blessings in time and the time to enjoy the blessings. Then he ends with his desire for blessings in time and blessings in eternity.}

5~~Great . . . {is} His {God's} glory
in your {David's} victory/deliverance.
Honor { howd - referring to David's ability from doctrine
to handle his promotion to King - It is harder to handle a
prosperity test then tests of depravation. David handled both
beautifully}
and majesty { hadar}
have You {God} laid/bestowed upon him {David}.

6~~For You {God} will appoint him {David} . . .
blessings {B@rakah - plural - many many categories of blessings} forever.
You have made him intensively happy {chadah - Piel intensive stem}
with happinesses {simchah}
of Your Face/Countenance/Presence
{paniym - technical for +H - sharing the happiness which belongs to
God}.

7~~For the king {melek - referring to David}
'keeps trusting in/'claims the promises of'
{batach - used in 'bodying slamming someone to the ground -
means to 'slam your cares on the Lord' and therefore came to
mean to 'claim the promises from God}
Jehovah/God,
and because of the grace {checed}
of the Most High {'elyown}
he {David} shall not waiver/totter
{mowt - means perfect stability - refers to David's attitude toward
doctrine. He relies on the Lord and His Word. And, from doctrine
in the soul in produced a stable Way of life}.

{Verses 8-13: 2nd Strophe - Attention Centers on David}
8~~Your {David's} hand/G2/CIA
{yad - refers to David's intelligence gathering branches of his
administration - here like the CIA for the foreign countries}
shall discover { matsa' - used for intelligence gathering services}
all your enemies {foreign foes}.
Your 'right hand'/FBI
{yamiyn - intelligence gathering service within the country}
shall discover {matsa'} the ones hating you
{sane' - refers to domestic enemies - includes Absalom
and another of his sons}.

9~~You {David} shall make them {David's enemies}
as a fiery oven {complete and total annihilation}
in the time of your face/presence {paniym}.
Jehovah/God shall 'destroy them'/'swallow them up' {bala'}
in His anger,
and the fire {of God's righteous judgment}
shall devour them.

{Cleansing of the Human Race}
10~~Their fruit/progeny/offspring {p@riy},
You shall scatter and destroy { 'abad} from the earth {'erets},
and their seed/children from among the children of men.

{Note: Why is God 'destroying these people and all their descendents? To PROTECT the human race's very existence! If evil is allowed to remain, then the entire human race would be destroyed by that evil. So, evil is 'restrained' by God - and He will continue to do so, until the Tribulation. The 'Why' is stated in the next verse.}

11~~For they 'stretched out upon you {natah} evil {ra'}.
They devised {chashab} a conspiracy {m@zimmah}.
They are not able {to carry out the conspiracy}.

12~~For you shall make/appoint them
{David's archers turning on the enemy to show them a shoulder}
the shoulder {sh@kem}
{left shoulder forward, right shoulder back - picture of archers being
ready to shoot - used for military preparedness},
when you {archers} shall prepare/'make ready'
your arrows {loaded and ready}
upon your strings
against the presence/face {paniym} of them
{foreign foes (Philistines) advancing and military is ready for them}.

13~~Be exalted, Jehovah/God,
in Your Omnipotence {`oz}.
We will keep singing
and celebrating
{zamar - idiom - literally to 'strum the strings of an instrument'}
Your powerful {military} victories {g@buwrah}.

We have seen that it took David three days to go from Aphek to Ziklag. Aphek is on the northern border of Philistia. The king of Gather is the leader of the Philistine forces and her is the ruler of all Philistia. There are five Philistine city states and the council has forced Achish, king of Gath, to relinquish the services of David as lifetime bodyguard and also as a part of the invading force. Therefore the Philistines move up towards Jezreel, north and to the east, and leave behind David and his battalion. David’s battalion left and are moving south toward Ziklag at the southern extremity of the land and on the border of the Negev. Remember that David is in the process of recovery from reversionism as he leaves Aphek and goes back toward Ziklag. By the time he gets to Ziklag he has recovered enough to meet the crisis.

1 Samuel 30:1 — “It came to pass indicates a change in the historical narrative. The qal imperfect of hajah indicates a rapid change of events. This means that all of a sudden things are going one way and they go another. The best translation would be, “Then it happened.”

“when David and his men came” — a prepositional phrase plus the qal infinitive construct — “to Ziklag on the third day.” This means that they have made three days of forced marches.

The Amalekites are mentioned. They are very mysterious and ancient people, but they are not nearly as mysterious as many Bible commentators would have us believe, they are simply another group of Arabs. The Arabs are really a group of people who are all related to the Jews in different ways. This Arab group is related to the Jews through Esau, the brother of Jacob. The Amalekites are ready marauders, land pirates. David has been hitting their oasis and killing the women and the children so that they would not get word back to Achish. Now the Amalekites have hit David in retaliation. Amalek was the grandson of Esau, one of the dukes of Edom, according to Genesis 36:12,16. We find that they were also in existence before Esau, according to Genesis 14:7. They are the subject of Balaam’s prophecy of Numbers 24:20. Along with the Philistines Amalek had always been the traditional enemy of Israel, according to Psalm 83:7. When David repented and had begun his reversion recovery prior to entry into supergrace he is about to still reap the wages of reversionism. The principle of this chapter: A reversionist reaps what he sows. David has been sowing in the devastation of Amalek, killing the women and children and wiping out everything. So he is about to reap from that activity. David is on the way to recovery and in supergrace is going to reap what God sows. He will be back in supergrace when his expedition starts out after Amalek and he will operate under Romans 8:28. The wealth of Amalek is going to become the wealth of David very shortly under supergrace.

“the Amalekites had invaded the south [the Negev]” — “Negev” means not only south country but it sometimes means the desert country which would be in front of the mountains.

“and smitten” — the hiphil imperfect of nakah and it means “and had hit [Ziklag].” When David gets there there is not going to be much left.

“and burned it” — qal imperfect of saraph. The Amalekites were seeking revenge for the depredations of David which are recorded in 1 Samuel 27:8,9.

Verse 2 — this is what David does not know. What we have here is retrospective.

“And had taken the women” — the qal imperfect of sharah which means to take captive or to carry away captive. For “the women” instead of using isha we have ha nashim which does not mean right woman or the woman, it means all females. This word is used also for sick women in contrast to isha which are happy women. Once all the females are taken the prisoners of the Amalekites they are all very sick. When the Amalekites hit a place like this and took the women they would march them very rapidly to get them as far away from that spot as possible. After three or days they will stop and celebrate, and then they will rape or torture or abuse the women in any way that they see fit. So this word ha nashim also means that every woman taken is a very unhappy woman. They are captured women and are in deep trouble. The children are not mentioned in this verse though all of the children were taken too. They are mentioned in verses 3 and 6. They are not mentioned in this verse because the great disaster belongs to the women. Amalek was very tender with children and gave them royal treatment. The children are going to have a very easy time.

Literally verse 2 says: “And had taken prisoner the distressed women which were in it [Ziklag]; and they slew not any, either great or small.” “They slew not” is the hiphil perfect of muth which means they were not motivated enough to slay anybody, the women were all beautiful to them. The hiphil stem means that apparently this was one beautiful collection of women. The word “great” here refers to the women, the word “small” refers to the children. There were only women and children in Ziklag when the Amalekites hit them.

Carried them away” — the qal imperfect of nahag means they moved them off very rapidly.

Verse 3 — at this point David does not have a clue as to what has happened to anyone. All they know is that Ziklag is burned and there is nothing left in the ruins.

“So David and his men came to the city” — the qal imperfect of bo indicates that when they were coming to the city they could see that it didn’t look as it usually did. So, “When David and his battalion began to arrive at the city” would be a better translation. This is a very dramatic thing.

“behold, it was burned with fire” — the qal passive participle of saraph to indicate that three days later things were still burning.

“and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters taken captive [were missing]” — shabah in the niphal means they were not there, they did not know what had happened.

Verse 4 — their reaction was immediate. “Then David and the troops with him lifted up” — qal imperfect of nasa. The qal imperfect means this was real, loud screaming — “lifted up their voices” is an idiom for loud vociferation, screaming, panic, upset, disturbed. It is actually an idiom for hysteria, they hit the panic button.

“and wept” is the qal imperfect of bakah, “they kept on weeping.” This is the weeping of shock, frustration, of hysteria and total disaster.

“until they had no more strength to weep” — in other words, they cried and cried just like babies.

Verse 6 — we see the difference between David and his men. This is why David is a leader. In disaster his men continue to weep and wail but David changes his modus operandi. He is just as much involved in loss as they are but David is truly a great leader.

“And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him.” He has additional problems. It is all his fault and they want to execute him on the spot. “David was greatly distressed” is the qal imperfect of jatsar. It means to be distressed because of having a great imagination. He was thinking about what might be happening to his wives. And when you add to it the adverb it means that David’s imagination was working overtime. His men are blaming David but David must blame himself. He is not only suffering loss but because of great imagination his grief is intensified. He is also under pressure because many of his troops want to stone him to death. Therefore the pressure on David is even greater than on his soldiers.

“the people [men] spake of stoning him” — the qal infinitive construct of saqal indicates that it was on their mind for a long time. In other words, they are ready to take it out on someone. That is why David is a leader and they are not.

1. Destroying leadership does not solve the problem. Leadership is responsible but destroying leadership doesn’t solve the problem.

2. The catastrophe is blamed on David who as a leader must assume the responsibility for it in part.

3. David’s real mistake was in not leaving security for the women and children.

4. However, stoning their leader will not solve the problem and if they are to recover anything, if the problem is to be solved, it is going to be solved through the leadership of David. David is now reaping the wages of reversionism, reaping what David sowed. David in reversionism attacked the Amalekites. The Amalekites would never have attacked Ziklag, it is in Philistia and the Amalekites and the Philistines have a treaty agreeing not to attack each other.

5. David is no longer in reversionism and while he has sowed from being in reversionism he is about to sow from being in supergrace. David made a rapid recovery.

“the soul of all the people was grieved” is incorrect. The qal perfect of the verb marah means to be bitter. Their first reaction is grief, their second reaction is great bitterness. David now has the problem of leading a battalion of bad mental attitudes.

“But David encouraged himself” — chazaq is in the hithpael stem. The qal stem of this verb means to be strong; the niphal stem is passive and means to be strengthened; the piel stem means to harden; the hiphil stem means to take hold of something or to seize it. But the hithpael stem means to take courage in, to strengthen one’s self in, to show one’s self courageous in something. This is the hithpael imperfect here, to show one’s self courageous. in something. “David showed himself courageous.” David uses doctrine in a fantastic way. He is occupied with the person of Christ.

David regains his poise and his right lobe begins to take over. When it says that David encouraged himself it means that he had in his frame of reference Bible doctrine, and he begins to use that doctrine. It is doctrine of a certain type: occupation with Christ, the doctrine of Psalm 22. Then in his memory centre he began to recall doctrine and this doctrine is going to take him all the way to the cross. Then in his vocabulary he began to recall doctrine, and then his categories — Christology, soteriology. Then his norms and standards begin to develop in the field of doctrine. Then he put doctrine on his launching pad and then we have the hithpael imperfect of chazaq, and with it we actually have Psalm 22.

Two things are going on simultaneously at this moment. Saul in those three days is at Jezreel, and at that very time when David is strengthening himself in the Lord Saul was going to the witch of Endor for help. Both Saul and David are in a jamb. David has recovered from reversionism and therefore is occupied with Christ. Saul is still deep in reversionism and in his panic seeks help from the witch at Endor. This is why Saul dies in 1 Samuel 31 and David becomes king in 2 Samuel 5.

Literally then, “Moreover David was terribly distressed; because the troops had spoken of stoning him, because the souls of all of his troops were bitter, each man for his own sons and for his own daughters. But David strengthened himself in Jehovah his Elohim.”

David’s power to meet the crisis came from occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. David has returned to the status of celebrityship of Christ and how David used this celebrityship is only brought out by one psalm, the same psalm that David thought at this time and wrote after the deliverance was completed. Before David takes one step he began to think in terms of who and what Jesus Christ is. And one of the greatest psalms is related to what David was suffering, so that Psalm 22 not only tells us what Christ suffered on the cross but it tells us what David suffered in Ziklag. So in the burning ruins of Ziklag we have the psalm of the celebrityship of Jesus Christ.

The title of Psalm 22 is “to the chief musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.” “Aijeleth” in the Hebrew is a feminine singular noun in the construct and it means a doe or a female deer. “Shachar” means the dawn. So literally, “Concerning the doe of the dawn.” The doe of the dawn is a title of the Lord Jesus Christ in His helplessness on the cross. Also, David had the gift of prophecy and from this we get the story of the doe of the dawn. At dawn the doe is helpless. Dawn is when the deer hunt always begins. And so it is with David, he is in a place of total helplessness. So the doe of the dawn is the emblem of the one who is being unmercifully persecuted, some one who is under maximum pressure. It is David in the ruins of Ziklag; it is also the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross.

Psalm 22 starts with all of the terrible things that happened on the cross when our sins were poured out upon Christ and judged, but it also ends up with resurrection, ascension, second advent and Millennial reign. In other words, Christ went all the way from the cross, which was the greatest pressure period of all time, all of the way to reigning forever. So God turned all of the terrible things that happened to Christ into perfect and eternal happiness for Jesus Christ. And God did the same thing for David. From the burning ruins of Ziklag God turned David into the wealthiest man of his day. So their is an exact parallel between the disaster in which David finds himself as he begins screaming, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” and the Lord Jesus Christ uttering these same words on the cross.

“A Psalm of David” — David is the human author, he writes a messianic psalm about his own experience of great disaster converted to great blessing. David in Ziklag was under cursing. He was paying the wages of reversionism. But David recovers the great wealth of the Amalekites and ends up being the wealthiest man in the world, and making all the rulers of Judah wealthy as well as everyone in his battalion. So that is cursing turned to blessing. Jesus Christ was cursed on the cross — “Cursed is the man that hangeth on the cross,” says Galatians 3:13 — but the cursing is changed into the blessing of the Millennium. The key of this psalm is actually found in Acts 2:30, and David is a part of 1 Peter 1:10-12 as well.

In the first 21 verses of this psalm we have the death of Christ. Comparable and the analogy is found in David’s disaster in Ziklag. Then we have the glorification of Christ in verses 22-26. Finally, the reign of Christ verses 27-31. This is the psalm of cursing turned to blessing.

Verse one begins, “Eli, eli” which is “My God, my God.” This is the vocative of El the great word for God as judge, God as the strong one. El means the strong one. These words are describing the pressure of reversionism. They describe the great grief of David in 1 Samuel 30.

The next word is “lamah” — “me”; and then finally the qal perfect of azab which means to desert or forsake, azabtani. Literally, “My God, my God, me, why have you forsaken.” The “me” comes first. When David first hit the ruins of Ziklag this is what he said. This is the agony of David who is paying the last installment of his reversionism. His wives have gone, the families of all the others has gone. He has only the burning ruins as a testimony as to what he once possessed. It is all taken from him, there is nothing left.

This very same phrase would be uttered by David’s greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the Greek. And when He uttered these words the first “My God” was addressed to the Father, the second was to the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is uttering this because the sins of the world were poured out upon Christ and the Father judged them. Since Christ was made sin for us, and since Christ was paying the penalty of sin, since Christ was being judged [spiritual death], the Father had forsaken Him because the Father was perfect and could have nothing to do with sin, except to judge it; and the Holy Spirit can have nothing to do with sin, except to judge it. Therefore what David first uttered in Ziklag was never uttered again except once more in history on the cross. It is David prophetically recognising this. In the perpetuation of his own rule he recognises that what he said in Ziklag when God took David at the lowest point of his whole life and converted it into blessing, just as God did the same thing in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cursing of Christ on the cross is converted into blessing for Christ and for all believers, just as the cursing of David in Ziklag is converted into blessing for David and for the entire battalion of 600 men.

When David found himself in the ruins of Ziklag everything was gone, the city was burning. In his great grief he cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” — i.e. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” This gives the tremendous pressure under which David was labouring and shows something of the total disaster of this moment. The next time this would be uttered the pressure would be the greatest in all of the human race, for David’s greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would utter these words as he was bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. When God the Father was judging our sins in God the Son, God the Son would scream out these same words. To understand this scream on the lips of David all we have to do is to understand the passage and the context with which we are dealing, and also to understand the principle that the believer in reversionism reaps what he sows — self-induced misery, divine discipline. The believer in supergrace reaps what God sows. Cursing is always turned to blessing in supergrace status. But to understand this same scream on the lips of Jesus Christ on the cross we have to go back to a few principles of doctrine.

1. God said in Genesis 2:17 to the first Adam, “The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” or literally, “The day you eat, dying you will die.” This is judgement. Spiritual death is separation from God, but that is only the result of the judgement. Spiritual death is judgement from God, the greatest judgement God ever gave outside of the second death. The reason the lake of fire is called the second death is because next to the spiritual death it is the greatest of all divine judgements. The two greatest judgements to come from the judgement of God — spiritual death, Genesis 2:17; the second death, Revelation 20:12-15. One judgement comes at the beginning of the beginning of the Bible, one comes at the end of the Bible. Together they form the divine attitude toward the first sin and all sins thereafter. However, it should be noted that the first sin came from man’s volition. Thereafter all sin comes from the volition plus the old sin nature. This is the only difference between our sins and Adam’s sin. The moment that Adam partook of the forbidden fruit he was spiritually dead. He was under the greatest curse that could ever occur in the human race. The only thing that can be worse than that as far as mechanics is to spend eternity in the lake of fire which is the second death. So first we notice that in order to understand the scream of Jesus Christ you have to go back to the moment that the judgement was pronounced. While man was still innocent, and while man did not understand all of the ramifications of that judgement, he understood that it was judgement. Only Jesus Christ can understand all of its ramifications.

2. In Genesis 3:6 Adam died spiritually. In Genesis 5:5 it was 930 years later before he died physically. The moment that man sinned he died — spiritual death. But he lived nearly a millennium. Physical death can be said to be the result of spiritual death, but remember that physical death is not the wages of sin. The wages of sin is spiritual death. The wages of sin is judgement pronounced by God upon sinful man and results in man being separated from God. So the first principle that we need to understand in the scream of Jesus Christ is the fact that the wages of sin is spiritual death. — Genesis 2:17 — and the fact that man paid the wages of sin at the time of his fall — Genesis 3:6.

3. We therefore need to understand from Isaiah 53:9 as a third principle that when Jesus Christ went to the cross he died twice, but He only died once for our sins. When Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross our sins were poured out upon Him and he was judged by God the Father. That took three hours, and that is what is means when it says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That is strictly a spiritual death. Jesus Christ did not die physically for our sins. He was judged for all of our sins and then He said, Tetelestai. That is in the perfect tense and it is translated “It is finished.”

Actually, this is exactly how the Psalm ends. It begins, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The Psalm ends up, “It is finished.” These are the two things that David said when he saw the disaster and began in the rubble of Ziklag to say “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then after that disaster all of chapter 30 of 1 Samuel occurs, and at the end of the chapter David is a wealthy man, a successful man, and he says, “It is finished.” David’s greater son said both of these things, just three hours apart. At the beginning of His spiritual death Jesus Christ cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” When it was all over He said, “It is finished.” The perfect tense: “It has been finished in the past with the result that it keeps on being finished forever.” Then physical death occurred: “Father into thy hands I dismiss my spirit.” But it is the spiritual death of Jesus Christ, Christ dying for our sins, that is connected with our eternal salvation. The first death of Christ on the cross was a spiritual death — 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21. This explains Romans 5:8. The second death on the cross was a physical death — Luke 23:46; Matthew 27:50. Because Christ was judged for our sins on the cross sin is no longer an issue in salvation. Christ is the issue of salvation — John 3:36. Sin is never an issue in salvation, sin is only an issue in spiritual death.

At the last judgement the sins of the individual unbeliever will not even be mentioned. The only thing that will be mentioned is his good works which were rejected at the cross — Revelation 20:12-15. So the issue of the gospel today” What think ye of Jesus Christ? The issue of salvation is human good versus divine good. Consequently, the Father and the Spirit in the judgement of Jesus Christ on the cross forsook Him, deserted Him, because He was bearing our sins. But after the bearing of our sins when He said “It is finished” — John 19:30 — the work of salvation had been completed. Salvation was completed while Jesus Christ was still alive and still breathing. he was able to say, “Finished.” Then, having completed the mission of the incarnation, Jesus Christ dismissed His spirit — Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30.

The moment that Jesus Christ dismissed His spirit He was dead physically. His spirit went into the presence of the Father. His body went into the grave. Then His soul went into Hades [Abraham’s bosom or Paradise]. In resurrection His soul left Hades and rejoined the body at the grave, the human spirit in the presence of the Father rejoined His body in the grave, and He came up out of the grave three days later — His physical and literal resurrection.

Psalm 22:2 — the terrible suffering of David becomes the suffering of David’s greater son. This is prophecy by empathy. David suffered these things to a lesser degree, the Lord Jesus suffers these things to the maximum. The Lord Jesus is speaking from the cross, David is speaking from Ziklag.

“O my God” is addressed to God the Father from David in Ziklag, from Jesus Christ on the cross.

“I cry” — qal perfect. Qara here means to scream, to call out. David screamed and so did Jesus Christ. How do we know it is screaming? In verse 1 all David said was, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me? far from my deliverance, the words of my roaring [screaming].” So we know that this is screaming when qara is used in this context. The word “roaring” is shaagti which means screaming.

“I scream in the daytime [daylight], but thou hearest not.” The words “thou hearest not” is incorrect. The qal imperfect of anah means “you do not answer.” When David was in Ziklag he screamed out at first, “You do not answer me.” When Jesus Christ was on the cross He did not receive an answer for three hours. For three hours he was judged for our sins.

“in the night season” — apparently David in he ruins screamed until darkness. He did not call for the ephod until it was dark. But this also refers to that supernatural darkness that occurred on the cross. Between twelve noon and three o’clock in the afternoon a darkness covered Golgotha, the same darkness that will cover the entire world just before the second advent. Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44. The fact that He was being judged was not observed because of this darkness. He could be heard. The Father loved the Son and the Father had to judge our sins in the Son, and so terrible was this that while the screams were heard Jesus Christ was not observed while He was bearing our sins.

The question arises: What kept Him on the cross? How did Jesus Christ who knew how terrible it was going to be — who had gone from nine until twelve the excruciating physical torture of the cross and from twelve to three He bore our sins — stay on that cross when He could leave it at any time? Why did He stay under the load of our sins, even though He was forsaken by the Father, He was deserted by the Holy Spirit, while He was being judged for our sins? The answer is very simple. Jesus Christ in His humanity was a supergrace person. He had taken in doctrine and had all of the supergrace capacities. It was doctrine in the human soul of Jesus Christ that kept Him on that cross. Only Bible doctrine can sustain in the most disastrous things in life. David in Ziklag, probably more than anyone in the world, could understand and comprehend just exactly what the Lord would endure prophetically. He, of course, did not have anything like the intensity of what our Lord endured.

The reason for David being under such adversity and the reason for our Lord being under such adversity at the cross is given in verse 3.

Verse 3 — “But you are holy.” Qadosh [holy] is God’s righteousness and justice combined. Because God is righteousness and justice, and because David was in reversionism, David had to reap what David sowed. That included all of David’s self-induced misery plus discipline. All divine discipline comes from the holiness of God. Because God is quodosh David recognised that he was reaping what he sowed there is the ruins of Ziklag. So David recognises the holiness of God, and all of this is David’s fault, his responsibility.

“You who inhabit the praises of Israel” — the word “inhabit” is the qal active participle of jashab [linear aktionsart]: “you who keep on being the recipient of the praises of Israel.” He recognises the principle that he is nothing and that God is right in doing this to him. Also, Jesus Christ to a greater degree recognised the judgement of the cross and its importance.

Verse 4 — David is recognising past history in Israel. “Our fathers” refers to previous generations of Jews. The word for “trusted” is the qal perfect of batach, recognising the past historical fact of the faith-rest technique and the deliverance. But the very presence of the faith-rest technique indicates a normal believer living and therefore the faith-rest life as a part of the supergrace life.

“thou didst deliver them” — the piel imperfect of palat means that they were rescued out of the most awful disasters. Past generations of Jews had reaped what God sowed. God sowed palat or deliverance and they reaped. David is about to claim the same thing for himself in Ziklag. The Lord Jesus Christ recognised the same thing on the cross. he recognised the whole realm of deliverance in all of Jewish history. But He recognised that it was always based on supergrace, it was based on doctrine. Those who were delivered always reaped what God sowed and therefore they reaped deliverance. Jesus Christ on the cross cannot reap what God sows because God is sowing judgement of Jesus Christ on the cross, and He can’t leave the cross, He cannot be delivered until it is finished. The principle is that Jesus Christ could not be delivered from the cross. God was sowing Him that we might reap salvation. In salvation we reap what God sows. We reap eternal salvation because Jesus Christ went to the cross and took our place.

Verse 5 — “They cried” is zaaq in the qal perfect, it brings together every cry for help in Jewish history where there was deliverance. In other words, the cry indicates helplessness. It indicates reaping what God sows. God sows deliverance.

“they trusted” — qal perfect of batach again; “and were not put to shame,” literally: bush.

Verse 6 — “I am a worm.” Tolah means a totally helpless person. David is totally helpless, he can do nothing about this situation. He has completely and totally failed. God is going to sow deliverance, but God only uses worms, that which is totally and completely helpless. This worm has even greater meaning because when Jesus said “I am tolah,” this is the worm which was collected and put in vats and crushed with a stone. The blood of this worm was used to make the crimson dye of the ancient world. It was one of the most valuable of all the dyes and used for a king’s robe. So when Jesus Christ on the cross said, “I am a worm,” He was saying in effect that He would be crushed under the load of our sins, He would be judged for it. And because of that, we who are totally undeserving, we who did no sowing, are going to reap eternal life and we are going to wear the robe of the king forever and ever because Christ was the worm crushed on the cross by our sins.

“no man” means no longer human. No one ever suffered physically the way the Lord did in the first three hours on the cross.

“a reproach of men” — David first was a reproach of his men. The soldiers all thought of stoning David. David in Ziklag is down in the dust, the fire is still burning, and David himself recognises that he is under reproach from his own battalion, just as Jesus Christ on the cross was under reproach from the religious leaders such as the scribes the Pharisees, the chief priests; they ridiculed our Lord on the cross. Other prophesies regarding the fact that Christ no longer appeared human on the cross are in Isaiah 52:14; 53:3. The mocking of the religious leaders is mentioned in Matthew 27:39-44; Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35-38.

“and despised by the people” — the qal passive participle of bazah which means maximum hatred. The qal participle is linear aktionsart. This was the attitude of David’s troops toward David, this was the attitude of the religious leaders toward Christ on the cross.

Verse 7 — David is recalling something of the ridicule he has received since he has been a fugitive. “All they who see me laugh me to scorn.” This was when David was a fugitive. He would be moving through a town with his troops and people would come out and laugh at him.

“they shoot out the lip, they shake the head” — each part of the world at different times has its own dirty signs. These belong to another people three thousand years ago. The shooting out of the lip and a certain way in which the head was shaken gives the same thing as the finger signs and the thumb on the nose sign that is used today.

The same thing was true of our Lord on the cross. The most horrible things were said about Him and the most eloquent type of ridicule was used. Here is our celebrity, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only did he have all the terrible intense pain of bearing our sins but Jesus Christ took more ridicule on the cross than any one person has ever taken. Our celebrity endured almost every degradation that it is possible to heap upon a human being in addition to bearing the sins of the world. “All they who see me laugh” — hiphil imperfect of laag, the ridicule laugh. The hiphil indicates they were motivated — cause or motivation. At the cross it was Satanic motivation. In David’s day it was reversionistic motivation. The words “shoot out the lip” is the hiphil imperfect of patar and it is a very vulgar thing whereby they take their fingers, pull them into the corner of their mouth and make some kind of obscene gesture.

Verse 8 — Here are the remarks made about David in his day, and these remarks are made about our Lord at the cross. This is the dual fulfillment concept. “He trusted on the Lord” — the qal imperative of galal doesn’t mean to trust at all, it means to roll on someone else. It means to roll your problems on someone else — “He rolled his problems on the Lord.”

“that he would deliver him” — the piel imperfect of palat, and the imperfect is what is called the jussive use of the imperfect, and this means “let him deliver him.” So, “He rolled his problems on the Lord, let the Lord deliver him then” is the concept. This was said of our Lord at the cross; this was said about David in his fugitive life up to Ziklag. The word “deliver” is natsal in the hiphil imperfect and it means “rescue.” The imperfect is jussive again, “let him deliver him seeing he keeps on having perfect delight in him.” The qal perfect of chapetz. The ridicule of the cross is portrayed.

Verses 9-11, David at this point in the disaster begins to see some things that he had not used before in a long time. God had a plan for David’s life, David was still alive, and this begins to dawn on him as he is prostrate in the ruins of Ziklag. This also becomes reality to Jesus Christ on the cross.

Verse 9 — “But thou art he who took me out of the womb.” David realises he was born for a purpose.

“thou didst make me hope when I was on my mother’s breasts” — the hope there is something which means to trust. It is in the hiphil stem of batach, it means “you motivated me to trust on my mother’s breast.” From the David was weaned he was out on his own. He never had any family life. David was totally rejected by his family just as Jesus Christ was totally rejected on the cross. Yet David can see something. Even though he was totally rejected by his family he knew that he was still alive and that God had a purpose for his life, and the last hope he ever had from mother was mother’s milk from the breast. But that doesn’t stop him at all.

Verse 10 — “I was cast upon thee from the womb.” David did not have a family life. After he was weaned he was probably home three or four times in all of his life. And when Samuel came to the home to anoint David, David was not called in; David was never called in. The other seven sons were lined up for Samuel to see and Samuel wanted to anoint the first three because they all looked so good to him. And God told him, “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looks on the right lobe.” It was because of Samuel that David was called in at all. David never had a family life. (Notice in verse 9: “Thou art he [God the Father] that took me out of the womb” — qal active participle of guach. The first time around this refers to David. The second time around it refers to the virgin birth. It refers to David’s life. David wound up in the sheepcote. Another term is the sheepfolds. But it is where the sheep eat and stand around and never move out, where there is plenty of sheep excrement.)

“thou my God from my mother’s womb” — David’s testimony leads to a testimony of the virgin birth. David can see why he was born. God has a purpose for his life. David’s experience leads to the prophecy of the virgin birth. Verse 10 is our Lord’s testimony. Notice that David makes it very clear — “out of the womb” and not “from the womb.” This is entirely different, a hophal [passive of the hiphil] perfect of shalak: “I was caused to be dependent upon you [Father] from the womb.” Jesus Christ was dependent upon the Father from the moment of the virgin birth. From the moment of the virgin birth Jesus Christ was totally dependent upon the Father to take Him from that point all the way to the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ, eternal God, became true humanity — virgin birth. David had a mother who rejected him. The Lord Jesus had a mother without human procreation. The mother, Mary, was a sinner. Joseph was a sinner with an old sin nature. If they had copulated and Jesus had been born He could never go to the cross, and He would have been a sinner immediately. Therefore copulation could not be the means of bringing Jesus Christ into the world.

The principle of verses 9 & 10: David realises in the ruins of Ziklag that he is still alive, that God has a purpose for his life. Jesus Christ realised on the cross that God the Father’s purpose was being fulfilled.

In the case of David in verse 11 and in the case of Jesus Christ, his greater son, on the cross we have: “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; there is none to help.” This is the joint testimony of David and his greater son, Jesus Christ.

“Be not far from me” is the qal imperfect of rachatz which means “Don’t stay away from me.” “There is none to help” is the qal active participle of azab, “there is no one helping.” David recognises that he is helpless, therefore he says “Don’t go away from me; for trouble near; no one helping me.” Jesus Christ said the same thing on the cross. This is a transitional verse, the verse where David begins to sow what God reaps. God reaps for David in grace, deliverance. David has previously sowed what David reaped: misery, trouble, difficulty. David reaps the tragedy of Ziklag and now he is going to reap what God sows: deliverance.

Verse 12 — the sufferings of the cross. “Many bulls have compassed me” — the qal perfect of sabab, “have surrounded me.” These are wild bulls famous for their horns. He has been gored. Bulls of Bashan means evil power. He means that the horns which keep pressing into His body, as it were, refer to all the sins — “beset me round about,” i.e. surrounded in a hostile sense. The emphasis here has to be on the bulls, on their horns. All of the sins of the world are goring Jesus Christ. He is being judged. “Beset me round” is the piel perfect of kathar which means they are waiting their turn.

Verse 13 — the word “gaped” is patsah means to tear apart with the mouth — “like a roaring lion.” In other words, the sins of the world poured out upon Christ are tearing Him to pieces.

Verse 14 — “I am poured out like water” is the niphal perfect of shaphak means dehydrated, loss of strength is the concept. The pouring out like water means to be dehydrated and it means loss of vitality. Jesus Christ is under such terrible pressure from bearing sin that He has a loss of vitality. So bad is it that “all of my bones are out of joint” — the hithpael perfect of paraq means separated. The bones are pulling apart.

“my heart [right lobe] is in the midst of my bowels” — the word ‘bowels” here refers to his nervous system telegraphing pain. He has the extreme pain of the soul matching the extreme pain of the body as he bears our sins.

Verse 15 — “My strength is dried up like a broken vessel.” “Dried up” is the qal perfect of jabesh, He is running out of strength.

“my tongue” — extreme dehydration now — “cleaveth to my mouth,” His tongue is swollen. The word “cleaveth” is the hophal participle of dabaq and it means to swell up so badly that He can’t even move it in His mouth.

“thou hast laid me in the dust of death” — Jesus is physically dying while He is bearing our sins in spiritual death. He isn’t dead but He knows that he is very weak. The qal imperfect of shapath.

Verse 16 — “For dogs” refers to Rome, the Gentiles; “have surrounded me” — the qal perfect of sabab; “the assembly of the wicked” are the religious Jews; “have encompassed me” — the hiphil perfect of naqaph is “they have encircled me,” hiphil stem; “they [Romans soldiers] have pierced my hands and my feet.”

Verse 17 — “I may tell” is literally, “I can number all my bones.” Jesus Christ is naked on the cross, “they look and stare upon me” — in other words the bones are separating and they are also moving out of His skin so that he can see them. “They look” — nabat, “they keep glancing at me”; “they keep on seeing me.”

Verse 18 — The Romans gambled for His clothes. All of this is David occupied with Jesus Christ in the dust of Ziklag. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

Verse 21 — the hiphil imperative of yasha which indicates a complete change of attitude. Doctrine is taking hold at this point. The hiphil stem means deliver and the imperative mood is a command.

“the lion’s mouth” means almost certain death. David had been headed toward death under reversionism; he is going to be delivered. Not only that but this is also, of course, a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. On the cross the Lord Jesus Christ says “Deliver me from the lion’s mouth.” That is, He will be delivered from His physical death, not from His spiritual death. The spiritual death of Jesus Christ is the Son of God bearing our sins in His own body on the tree and this is the way in which salvation was accomplished. But now He is referring to His physical death and His deliverance from physical death will come through resurrection. He will not be delivered from death but out from death. There is a technical difference. From death means that He would not die physically. That He will. But He is going to be delivered out from death, He is going to die and then be resurrected. This is His demand for resurrection.

“for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn” — literally, “the horns of the water buffalo.” The picture here is the fact that David in his disaster, Jesus Christ on the cross, was like being impaled on the horns of the water buffalo. David is at one of the low points of his life. The agony, the terrible agony, of losing those whom he loves, and all of his battalion losing loved ones. At this point he does not know whether they are alive or dead. In a larger sense this portrays the Lord Jesus Christ bearing our sins on the cross. As He comes to the close of this great salvation He now says “Thou hast heard” — the qal perfect of anah which means “You have answered.” “You have answered from the horns of the water buffalo.” This is Christ on the cross. First of all He demands deliverance and then He recognises that the deliverance has come. This is a reference to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.

Verse 22 — “I will declare” is the qal imperfect of saphar which means to write. Later on David would write the whole story of how all things work together for good. All things work together for good when you start to reap what you have sown, when you start to reap the terrible disasters and tragedies and adversities that come from sowing in reversionism. But God turns cursing into blessing even as David is in the process of recovery and reentry into supergrace. The reason he says he is going to write this down is because he knows he will be delivered from this situation.

“I will write thy name [your person]” — this is the name of God the Father; “unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.” This applies first of all to David who even in the ruins of Ziklag recognises that God is going to answer his prayer and deliver him. Why? Because David realises once again this principle: As a reversionistic believer you reap what you sow, and when he came back to Ziklag and found it in ruins that is reaping what he had sowed in reversionism. But he is now in the recovery process and in recovery he recognises that you reap what God sows. Therefore when he demands deliverance he recognises that God is going to deliver. That is why he says, “I know that you will answer me” — “You have answered me in the midst of my disaster.” This is how God turns cursing into blessing, and this is how all things work together for good.

The word “name” here stands for person or personality and refers to God the Father. Notice that God the Father is the one who is going to be praised. At the end of verse 22 we have halel in the piel imperfect and this is the ordinary verb for praise. The piel stem is intensive. Because of David’s recovery and because he can now call upon and utilise Bible doctrine in his soul he says, “I am going to write about you God [the Father].” It is God who turned the cursing into blessing and it is God who did the sowing at this point. And it is undeserving David who is going to do the reaping.

“unto my brethren” — David is speaking about the fact that he will praise God to the Jews. The word “brethren” here does not refer to brothers as such but to members of the same race, and here it refers to Israel. This is true also of Jesus Christ. Christ in resurrection is revealed in the Word to Israel.

“in the midst of the congregation” means in the assembly where communication takes place; “I will praise thee.”

Verse 23 — the Father’s command to Israel. “Ye who fear the Lord, praise him”. This is David calling upon his own battalion at a later time. “Ye that fear” is an adjective, the masculine plural construct of jare which actually means respect. “Those of you who have respect for the Lord, join me in this praise,” the piel imperative of halel. In other words, David is going all the way to supergrace. In supergrace he is going to have occupation with the person of Christ. He is going to have supergrace capacities and then he is going to have supergrace blessing. The supergrace blessing is going to come from Amalek and this means cursing turned to blessing.

This also, therefore, describes the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross respecting the Father’s plan and praising Him through the resurrection.

“the seed of Jacob” refers to the fact that Israel was hopeless, helpless and useless, and that is where grace found them and where grace finds us all. Jacob means chiseller; seed of Jacob means that every generation in the line of Jacob are born hopeless and helpless and useless, and therefore candidates for grace.

“glorify him” — “glorify: is the piel imperative of the verb which means to honour Him or become His honour. That is exactly what happens when a believer reaches supergrace. God can give materialistic blessings even and this is winning the angelic conflict.

“fear him” — the qal imperative of jare the verb, and it refers to respect again or occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 24 — “For he hath not despised” is the piel perfect of shaqatz, a very strong word for hatred. But here it has the negative and it means that God has not ignored David’s disaster. The Father did not ignore the Son on the cross. Again we have the dual principle here. This is David’s experience and prophetically David records it because it is the experience of Jesus Christ on the cross and in resurrection.

“the affliction of then afflicted” — David in Ziklag; the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

“neither hath he hidden his face from him; but when he cried he heard him” — this time we have the word to hear, the qal active participle of shama which doesn’t really mean to hear, it means to concentrate. He concentrated on him.

Verse 25 — “My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation” is David meaning that when they are together in a congregation he is going to make s special testimony to this fact.

“I will pay my vows” — the special testimony. “I will pay” is the piel imperfect of shalem which doesn’t mean to pay a debt, it means to tell how he got his prosperity, how prosperity came to him. His prosperity is based upon reaping what God sows. This is not a testimony for anyone but only those who respect [jare] Him.

Verse 26 — “The meek [supergrace believers; grace-oriented] shall eat and be satisfied.” Eating in here has to do with taking in Bible doctrine, the function of GAP. This is the eating of spiritual food. They “shall be satisfied” because spiritual food is the secret to everything in life. This is the supergrace life.

“they that seek” is the qal active participle of darash. It indicates consistent positive volition toward doctrine. Not once in a while, not to get out of a jamb. The qal active participle is linear aktionsart. Consistently loving Bible doctrine.

“your heart shall live forever” — literally, “shall be refreshed forever.” This has to do with refreshing which comes from Bible doctrine.

Now we go to the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. Very shortly David will be ruler and so this goes on in the prophecy and portrays the two greatest kings who ever lived. David is past history, he is the greatest king who has ever lived. So great was his rule that for the next forty years afterwards in the reign of his son all of the things that happened in his reign overflowed and there was almost a century of great blessing to one nation. Jesus Christ will be the greatest all time ruler, He is going to reign forever. They are both related. David is the beginning of the line and Jesus Christ is the end of the line. That is why Jesus Christ is called David’s greater son. David was the first in the Davidic dynasty; Jesus Christ who is going to be born in the line of David will be the last in this dynasty, and Jesus Christ will rule forever.

Verse 27 — “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord.” This is definitely Millennial. The ends of the earth refer to the universal worship of the Lord after the Armageddon campaign. The word “remember” indicates doctrine in the soul, the same concept as communion. The qal imperfect of zakar indicates the concept of a perpetual communion in the Millennium. It also helps us to understand the communion table in the Church Age which is expressing love for the Lord Jesus Christ from doctrine in the soul. Communion is only meaningful as you have doctrine, the capacity to love Jesus Christ. The ends of the world refers to the entire world at the second advent of Jesus Christ.

“and turn to the Lord” — the qal imperfect of shub and this really describes the great evangelism of the Millennium. It means convert rather than turn to here.

“all the kindreds of the nations” — there are still nations. The word “kindreds” means families.

“shall worship before thee” — the word for “worship” here is shachah in the hithpael stem, it means they will do it as individuals because they have doctrine. The hithpael stem is reflexive meaning it is an individual thing.

Verse 28 — “The kingdom is the Lord’s” is a reference to the fact that David is going to have a son who will reign forever, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

“he is the governor among nations” — the word “governor” is the qal active participle of mashal. The qal active participle indicates reigning forever.

Verse 29 — “All the fat” (‘they that are’ is not in the original). The word “fat” is not always fat, it means wealthy. It should be, “All the wealthy ones of the earth shall eat and worship.” It has to do not with eating food but taking in Bible doctrine. “Worship” is the result, the hithpael imperfect of shachah. Between their salvation and this great worship there is the intake of doctrine. The wealthy ones are believers in supergrace and they have been blessed then, as now, as in any dispensation. A supergrace believer is blessed with wealth or success or whatever materialistic things the individual desires.

“shall eat” — the qal perfect of akal means they have eaten. They have the supergrace capacity, the cup.

“they that go down to the dust” — this now brings us back to David. He has seen this vision of Jesus Christ reigning forever, now he comes back to himself.

“shall bow before him” — David recognises that he must now reap what God has sown; “and none can keep alive his own soul” — Or literally, “and his [David’s] own soul he [David] has not kept alive.” He cannot keep alive his own soul, this is something that God has done for him.

Verse 30 — “A seed shall serve him.” David is going to serve the Lord all the days of his life. A seed here refers to the born again believer. This goes back to Genesis 3:15. The seed of the woman is the Lord Jesus Christ as saviour. All who believe in Christ are called here the seed. Notice that God has done the sowing in this case, not David.

“it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation” — or, “it shall be written about the Lord to a generation.” David is describing what he himself is going to do. He is going to write about the Lord’s deliverance. “It shall be accounted is the pual perfect of saphar again and it means to be written.

Verse 31 — “They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness.” “They” refers to supergrace believers in all generations; “shall come” is the qal imperfect of bo and it indicates they will assemble themselves to declare His righteousness. The word “declare” is the hiphil perfect of nagadh which means to relate. This is motivation based upon grace and grace blessings.

“his righteouesness” because God does the sowing and we do the reaping; “unto a people that shall be born” — these are future generations.

The last phrase is what Jesus Christ said as he finished bearing our sins: “that he hath done this” is literally, “that it is finished.” This is the qal perfect of asah, “it has been finished.” This is equivalent to tetelestai.

1 Samuel 30:6 — David was greatly distressed, the qal imperfect of jatsar plus the adverb. Jatsar means to be distressed because of great imagination. David has a strong imagination, he can see harm coming to his wives, he can see disaster coming in all forms. In addition to that he has another reason for all the pressure and that is his troops are talking about stoning him.

“was grieved” — the qal perfect of marah which means to be bitter; “encouraged himself” is the hithpael imperfect of chazaq and it means to take courage in, to strengthen one’s self, to show one’s self strong or courageous.

1. Here is where David’s reversion recovery begins to pay dividends. Here is where David begins to reap what God sows. God must vindicate doctrine in the soul of any believer and right now David has doctrine in his soul. 2. David has recovered a great deal of the doctrine in his soul which he lost through reversionism. He now uses this doctrine in occupation with Jehovah Elohim or Jesus Christ. Therefore the 22nd Psalm.

3. At this point Saul in total disaster seeks the witch of Endor, David is occupied with the person of Christ. The difference between Saul and David: Saul continued his reversionism and in his moment of pressure he goes to a demon-possessed woman. David, on the other hand, goes back to occupation with the person of Christ.

4. Here is why Saul dies in the next chapter and David goes on to be the greatest king in Israel until Jesus Christ returns to the earth.

Verse 7 — when David finishes his meditation, his occupation with Christ which is essentially the 22nd Psalm, he goes into action. Note: First there is occupation with Christ, then there is action.

“David said” is the qal imperfect. He had to call a number of times, the men are all sitting around in the darkness.

“bring me thither” — the hiphil imperative of nagash. This is the first order that has been given since the crisis hit. Hiphil stem: causative active voice. Imperative mood.

“ephod” — ephodh, the garment of the high priest. It is a vest made of gold, blue, scarlet, and white linen: Exodus 28:40. In the ephod and attached with golden chains is the breast plate of the high priest which has on each shoulder what is known as Urim and Thummim [Lights and Perfections]. It was the system of determining the will of God through lights. The breast plate also has twelve stones each representing a tribe of Israel. At this time David calls for the ephod in order to seek the will of God. This was a legitimate way of determining the will of God before the canon of scripture was completed. Abiathar obeys the command. Problem solving always involves recognition of authority and obedience to authority. Illustration: Bible doctrine is authority.

Verse 8 — “David inquired” is the qal imperfect of shaal and it means to ask.; “shall I pursue” — qal imperfect of radaph.

“this troop” — the raiding detachment, gedudh; “shall I overtake them?” — the hiphil imperfect of nasag.

“thou shalt surely overtake” is nasag twice, the hiphil infinitive and the hiphil imperfect. This doubling of the verb is literally, “for in closing in you will overtake.” It is an idiom for “you will rescue everyone.”

“and without fail recover all” — “and in rescuing you will rescue,” literally.

Verse 9 — “So David went” — the qal imperfect of yalak. He moved out. Here is David beginning to sow what God reaps. The first stage of this blessing is God’s Word in the form of a divine promise.

“and came to the brook Besor” — the began a tremendous forced march. 400 men crossed Besor; 200 were left behind. David dumps all of his baggage and leaves it with 200 stragglers. “Those that were left behind” is the qal active participle of jathar and it means stragglers. The qal active participle is sometimes used as a noun.

1. David’s battalion is out of shape. To stay in condition you have to be consistent.

4. David’s battalion is not going to reap what they sow or none of them would ever have made it. They are going to reap what God sows.

5. Ordinarily when you have that many stragglers you turn back. What keeps David going? Bible doctrine, a promise from God. He has doctrine in his soul and he knows that God must vindicate the doctrine in David’s soul.

6. At this point David is through reaping what David sowed, he will now reap what God sows.

7. David is still doing a little reaping of what David sowed. David as a commander failed to keep his troops in shape. But grace is the overruling factor at this point and grace will find a way for those who persist.

8. If the battalion had depended upon the 200 stragglers no one would have been rescued, but it depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

9. The dropouts of the brook Besor will be used to smoke out reversionism in David’s battalion. Romans 8:28 applies.

Verse 10 — “David pursued” is the qal imperfect of radaph. He kept on pursuing because he has doctrine in his soul. Doctrine in his soul tells him to keep doing what God commanded. He has with that doctrine a direct promise from God. All he has to do is to faith-rest that promise, keep on believing it, and keep closing in on the enemy. No matter how dark the situation may be it is always darkest before the dawn and therefore doctrine pushes David. This is the principle of concentration. All supergrace believers have concentration.

“who were so faint” is the piel perfect of pagar. This means they were too exhausted to cross the brook.

{David's Messianic Psalm about His Greater Son - Jesus Christ}

{Note: This psalm is dual in nature. David has just seen the consequences of his reversionism in the ruins of Ziklag (see I Samuel 30:1-6). As he goes through the pain and anguish of seeing the destruction, he proclaims words that Jesus Christ will also say on the cross. See also Acts 2:30}

{Verses 1:21: The Death of Christ}
{Prophesy of Matthew 27:46 Jesus on the Cross}
1~~To the chief musician,
concerning the 'Doe of the Dawn' {ayyeleth ha-shahar}
{a title for the Lord Jesus Christ in His Helplessness on the Cross
A deer hunt begins at the dawn and is a picture of helplessness}
A psalm of David.

My God, My God {'El 'El}, why have You forsaken Me?
Far from deliverance are the words of My screaming.

{Note: 'El is used for God as the Judge - God as the Strong One. RBT says this is separation of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit from Jesus while He was bearing our sins on the cross. So, this is prophecy by empathy. It is also David's suffering in Ziklag when the Amalekites have burned his town and taken his wives and the other women and children.}

{Separation of Jesus on the Cross from the Godhead While He is Bearing our Sins in His Body}
2~~ O My 'Elohiym/Godhead,
I scream/'cry out' by daylight {first three hours on the cross}
You do not answer Me.
And by the 'night-season'/'supernatural darkness'
{noon to 3 PM was total darkness while Christ was on the cross}
You are silent.

3~~You are Holy {integrity of God - His righteousness and justice},
and the {worthy} recipient of their praises.

{Back to David Recalling His Ancestor's Faith was Rewarded by God}
4~~Our fathers trusted {in You - batach - faith rest technique}.
They trusted, and You delivered/rescued {palat} them.

{Note: Jesus Christ also knows that God the Father will 'deliver' Him after the imputation and judgement of sins on the cross are complete. Once Jesus says 'It is Finished', His spiritual relationship with God the Father is restored - we know this because now Jesus returns to the relationship word of 'Father' into Your hands I dismiss My Spirit'.}

5~~ They 'shouted out'/cried unto you {prayed},
and were delivered {malat}.
They trusted in you,
and were not 'put to shame'/disappointed {buwsh}.

6~~ But I {David/Jesus in prophesy}
am a worm {tolah used for 'a totally helpless person'},
and no longer human.

{Note: Tolah is Hebrew for a caucus elictus worm - this worm was placed in a vat and the worm's blood was used to make crimson robes for kings. Jesus - the King of Kings, Lord of Lords was being crushed under the weight of the sins of the world.}

{Ridicule of Downtrodden David and Jesus Christ on the Cross}
22:7-8~~ All they who see Me, mock/'laugh in scorn at' Me.
They gesture insults
{idiom: literally 'thrust out their lips' - we would say 'thumb their
nose at me'}.
They wag their heads
{a Jewish insult - like 'giving the finger' today} saying, 8~~
"He 'rolled his problems'/trusted on Jehovah/God,
let Him deliver/rescue Him
since He keeps on having perfect delight in Him."

{Verses 9-11: God had a Plan for David's Life}
9~~But You {God} {are}
He Who took me out of the womb
{means he was born with a purpose for his life}.
You motivated/caused me to trust/'have confidence'
when I was upon my mother's breasts.

{Note: David was from a big family. Almost as soon as he was weaned, he was off to the fields to tend to the flocks. That was the end of his family life! }

{Jesus' Testimony}
10~~I {Jesus} was caused to be dependent
upon You {God} from the womb.
You are my El/God from My mother's womb.

{David and Jesus Again}
11~~'Be not far from me'/'do not stay far from me' {rachaq}.
For trouble . . . {is} near.
No one . . . helping me.

{Note: David was alone at this point in his life. Jesus had to go to the cross alone. No one could help him carry the sins of the world.}

{Jesus' Suffering on the Cross}
12~~ Many 'wild bulls with horns' {par} have surrounded Me
{horns goring into His body - represents the sins He is bearing
entering His Body}.
Strong bulls of Bashan {refers to evil powers}
have surrounded Me.

{Note: This verse gives the picture of Jesus being surrounded by strong and evil forces/bulls who gored Him many times. Each time a sin was imputed to Him on the cross, it was like another goring of a bull.}

13~~They {all the sins of the word}
tear Me to pieces {patsah}
with their mouths,
as a ravening and a roaring lion.

14~~ I {Jesus} am poured out {shaphak} like water
{dehydrated on the cross with loss of physical strength},
and all My bones are pulling apart
{separation of the joints as He is hanging on the cross}.
My heart/'right lobe' is like wax.
It is melted in the middle of My bowels/emotions
{nervous system telegraphing pain}.

{Note: This is a picture of Jesus on the cross becoming physically weak. He is dehydrated and His 'mentality' is mixing in with His emotions from all the physical pain of crucifixion and the imputation of sins.}

15~~My {Jesus} strength is dried up like a broken vessel/pot
{like a shattered vessel all in it is pouring out}.
And My tongue is swollen and sticks to My jaws.
You have laid Me in the 'dust of death'
{idiom meaning Jesus realizes He is dying and very near death}.

16~~For dogs
{derogatory term for gentiles - Roman soldiers here}
have surrounded Me.
The assembly of the wicked {religious Jews}
have encircled Me.
They have pierced My hands and My feet
{Jesus being nailed to the cross}.

17~~I {Jesus} can number all My bones.
They keep glancing at Me and keep on seeing Me.

{Note: Jesus' is naked on the cross. His bones are moving out poking on His skin as He hangs on the cross.}

18~~They {Roman Soldiers}
part/divide My garments among them,
and gambled for My clothes.

{Note: Jesus was well dressed. His clothing was expensive and the Roman soldiers gambled over who would get what.}

19^~'Be not far from me'/'do not stay far from me' {rachaq}
O Jehovah/God . . . my strength,
hurry to my aid.

20``Save/Deliver My {Jesus'} soul
from the sword {chereb}.
Your 'uniquely born Son' {yachiyd}
from the clutches/power of the dog
{Jesus from the Roman soldiers}.

21~~Deliver me {David/Jesus} from the lion's mouth.
For You have answered me
from the horns of the water-buffalo/unicorn {r@'em}.

{Note: The horns of the water buffalo represents painful and certain death - Jesus will not be delivered from physical death, but OUT from physical death forever again in His resurrection body.}

{Verses 22-26: Glorification of Christ}
22~~I will 'record in writing' {caphar}
concerning Your Person {God the Father}
unto my brethren {fellow Jews}.
In the middle of the assembly
I will praise You.

23~~Those of you {SuperGrace types}
who have respect/fear {yare'} of Jehovah/God,
praise Him.
All you the seed of Jacob {every one born in the line of Jacob}
'become His honor/glorify'.
And respect Him {occupation with Christ},
all you the seed of Israel.

{Note: The name Jacob means chiseler. That indicates the condition of every human when they come to the decision about salvation - hopeless and useless.}

{Dual Principal again - David and Jesus}
24~~For He has not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted
{God did not ignore the disaster of David or Jesus on the Cross}.
Neither has He hid His face from him.
But when he cried unto Him,
He 'heard and concentrated' {shama'} on him.

25~~My praise shall be of You in the great assembly.
I will pay my vows before them who respect Him
{idiom meaning David will explain how prosperity returned to him by
the grace of God}.

26~~The meek/humbled
{`anav - technical for SuperGrace Believers}
shall eat {spiritual food - the bread of the Word}
and be satisfied {soul saturated with divine viewpoint}.
They shall praise Jehovah/God,
they who constantly seek after {positive volition} Him
{refers to the mature believer constantly seeking more intake of the
Word}.
Let your 'right lobe'/heart refresh itself forever.

{Verses 27-31: Reign of Jesus Christ - Greater Son of David - Forever and Ever}
27~~All the ends of the world
shall remember {recall doctrine resident in the soul}
and convert/turn the Jehovah/God
{great evangelism of the millennium}.
And all the families of the nations shall themselves
{an individual thing}
worship before You.

{Note: David began the Davidic Dynasty. Jesus Christ is the last of the Dynasty and will rule forever and ever.}

28~~For the kingdom is Jehovah's/God's {Millennial Reign of Christ}.
And He is the ruler among the nations.

22:29~~All the prosperous ones {idiom: literally 'all the fat ones'}
upon earth have eaten
{eaten spiritual food and are reaping prosperity in SuperGrace}
and keep on worshiping.
All they that go down to the dust
{including David - David now realizes he must reap what God has
sown}
shall bow before Him {Jesus Christ}.
And no one can keep alive his own soul {nephesh}.

30~~A seed shall serve Him.
It shall be written {caphar}
about Adonay/'the Lord' to a generation.

{Note: The seed of the woman shall be the enemy of Satan and will bite his heal. That seed is Jesus Christ.}

31~~They shall come {Super Grace believers in all generations},
and shall be motivated to relate His righteousness {ts@daqah}
unto a people that shall be born,
that 'it has been manufactured'/
'it has been done'/'it has been finished'
{`asah - to make something from something}.

{Note: This phrase is roughly equivalent to the last thing Jesus Christ uttered on the cross before He dismissed His spirit to God the Father - in the Greek 'telelestai in the perfect tense - 'It is finished in the past with results that continue forever and ever' - John 19:30.}

God's grace policy in promoting David is stated in several places. In 1Sam.16:7, the prophet was mandated by the Lord to go and contact Jesse and anoint one of his son's. When he arrived, he was very impressed with all six sons. He thought it must be the eldest son, Eliad, a man of great strength and beauty. As he approached to anoint him, God told him not to look at his outward appearance. He went down the line until God had rejected all six. Samuel asked Jesse if these were all his sons and Jesse told him about David, the youngest, tending the sheep. When Jesse saw David God told him he was the one.

In the next chapter, the Israel was preparing for battle with the Philistines. Jesse told David to go down to Israel's Army camp and give rations to his brothers, who were junior officers and 10 special cheeses for battalion commander. When he arrived he heard Goliath, a 10 foot giant, standing in front of the Philistine camp shouting insults and challenging any Jewish soldier to a duel. When David heard this he asked who this uncircumcised Philistine was that he should come out and challenge the Army of the living God. His oldest brother heard him and became angry and asked him why he had come down and with whom had he left the sheep. He told David that he was arrogant [projection] and evil in his heart and accused him of only coming to the camp to watch the battle. When they took him into Saul's tent, Saul asked him what experience he had. David told him about how he was in charge of the sheep and had killed a lion who had taken one of the flock. He also told him of how he had killed a bear in defending his flock. So Saul had him put on his own armor, but David took it off. So he went out with his sling down into a valley and picked out 5 perfect stones. Goliath started laughing at David and heaping insults. David told him that he came bragging but that he came in the name of the Lord, who would fight for him today. David knocked Goliath out with a shot between the eyes. He then went over and cut the giant's head off. This was the introduction to Israel's new King.

David wrote this during his Absalom's revolution. He was out in the desert while his son was in his palace. He maintained a RMA and Grace orientation during this lowest point in his life. He sat down and wrote this short song expressing the PSD's on his soul and is analogous to Rom.8:28

A song of David. Because the LORD [Jesus Christ] is the One shepherding me, I cannot lack anything.

He causes me to lie down in pastures of choice grass, He leads me to waters of refreshment.

He restores my soul [through rebound]. He guides me in ruts made by wagon wheels of [spiritual capacity] righteousness because of His person.

In addition to this, when I walk through a death shadowed valley, I do not fear any manner of death because You—with me! Your rod and your staff comfort me.

You deploy a table before me in plain sight of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup— overflowing!

No doubt about it, only prosperity and grace will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.

Ps.23:1 A song of David. Because the LORD [Jesus Christ] is the one shepherding1 me, I cannot lack anything.2

1 John 10:11 I am the honorable shepherd, the honorable shepherd lays down His life as a substitute for His sheep.

2 The expression of the divine initiative of AG through logistical grace support. This applies to the winner and the loser alike, although the loser never utilizes his grace provisions.

1. Sheep have no sense of direction. Our Shepherd has provided the word of God and the FHS to provide our spiritual direction.

2. A sheep cannot clean itself apart from the shepherd. We have rebound from the Shepherd to purify us from all wrongdoing.

3. A sheep relies on the shepherd for medical care. The LJC has provided means for failure recovery.

5. A sheep depends on the shepherd for food and water. JC provides our spiritual food and water [2 PO's]

6. Sheep are calmed by the shepherd's music. This is analogous to PSD extrapolation.

7. The wool the sheep produce belongs to the shepherd. All divine-good production is possible only because of God's grace provision.

John 10:11 I am the honorable shepherd, the honorable shepherd lays down His life as a substitute for His sheep.

Heb.13:20 Now the God of peace who brought back up from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ, 13:21 equip you with every good thing to do His [post salvation] will, working in you what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Ps.23:1…the LORD [Jesus Christ] is the One shepherding me, […through the death shadowed valley]

1Pet.5:4 Then when the Chief Shepherd appears [at the rapture], you will receive the unfading wreath of glory.

Ps.23:2 He causes me to lie down in pastures of choice grass,3 He leads me to waters of refreshment.4

David was one of the few OT believers who had a special relationship with the Holy Spirit called enduement, which could be lost due to sin. This was demonstrated when Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David and the Spirit of the Lord [the deity of God the Holy Spirit] came powerfully on him from that day forward [1Sam.16:13]. In Psalm 51, after Operation Bathsheba, he prayed, "do not take your Holy Spirit from me." Other OT believers with the gift of enduement included Moses and the 70 elders [Num.11:17], Joshua [Num.27:18], the tailors who made the priest's garments [Ex.28:3], Bezalel and Oholiab--who built the tabernacle and all its sacred furniture [Ex.31:3, 35:30-35], Gideon [Judges 6:34], Jeptha, Samson [Jds.13:25, 14:6 & 19], and Daniel [Dan.4:8, 5:11-14, 6:3].

Ps.23:3 He restores my soul [through rebound]. He guides1 me in wagon tracks made by wheels2 of [spiritual capacity] righteousness because of His person.

2 Problem solving devices pioneered by the humanity of Christ in the hypostatic union. We follow in the ruts He made.

1. Personal sin is what happens when the believer used his volition to succumb to temptation from the area of weakness. Human good, dead works, and evil are the result of the SN controlling the soul.

2. There are 2 differences between human good and evil. First, sin is a precise statement of Biblical hamartiology; second, human good, dead works and evil result from SN control of the soul

3. Evil is the accumulation of personal sins from the area of weakness, while human good and dead works are the direct result of personal sin [SN controlling the soul] and failure to rebound.

4. The longer the believer is out of fellowship, the greater the production of human good, dead works, and evil; therefore, evil is the result of perpetuating carnality in your life.

6. The area of strength [of SN] only becomes operational when the believer is out of fellowship and the soul is under control of the SN.

7. The same volition responsible for committing all categories of sin can also function in the non-meritorious manner of rebound.

Heb.9:12 And not by through the blood of goats or young bulls,3 but by means of His own blood, one for all, He has entered the Holy of Holies4 having secured eternal redemption. 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a red heifer sprinkling those who had been defiled sanctified them for the cleansing of the flesh, 9:14 how much more will the blood5 of Christ, who through the agency of the eternal Spirit6 offered Himself without blemish to God, to purify our conscience from dead works7 to serve the living God. 8

1. Direct DI: The initiative belongs to God. God provides for the winner and loser alike.

2. Indirect DI: God provides the spiritual skills for us to attain spiritual capacity righteousness, which glorifies God in time and is a major factor in resolving the PAC. But we must use consistent positive volition [in a non-meritorious response] under equal opportunity to fulfill the conditions of the escrow in time by executing the PPG.

1. God's righteousness imputed at salvation. The basis for logistical grace in time and the capacity for eternal life and eternal blessings.

2. The positional righteousness of Christ from being placed into union with Christ. This is our security factor and support in life.

3. The only indirect category of capacity righteousness because it is the only category that involves volition. It is aquired through the function of the spiritual skills and is the basis for spiritual maturity and the capacity for the escrow blessings in the eternal state.

2Pet.3:13 But on the basis of His promise1 we are looking forward with confidence2 to the new heavens and the new earth, in which righteousness lives. 3

3 [dikaiosune] providing +R for the believer in a RB--ultimate Sanctification in the eternal state, the basis for +C for all eternal blessings

Ps.23:4 In addition to this, when I walk through a death shadowed valley, I cannot fear any manner of death4 because You—with me!5 Your rod6 and your staff7 comfort me.

4 Capacity for dying grace results from spiritual capacity righteousness in living

6 The protection of deserved suffering from divine discipline administered from His perfect justice

7 The object used by shepherds to rescue sheep from harmful situations, analogous to divine deliverance

In 1Chron.29:15 a person's life is compared to a shadow, in that it has no permanence and disappears rapidly. In Job.17:7, the word "death shadowed" is used to describe the failing condition of a person in their last illness; but here the word has a different connotation. A shadow is defined as a dark figure or an image cast on the surface by a body intercepting light. So for a shadow there must be a body and light. In our connotation, the dark side of the body is dying, while the interceptive light is our spiritual skills. For the SS are the means of attaining spiritual capacity righteousness.

Job 12:22 He reveals deep doctrines from darkness [dying] and brings the death shadow into light [he had enough doctrine to deal with death magnificently].

Job 24:17 For the morning [brightness] is the same to him as the death shadow, for he is familiar with the terrors of the death shadow [total fright of dying].

Job 34:22 There is no darkness nor death shadow where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves [they have no comfort from their reality of death].

Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you Job? Or have you seen the death shadowed gates?

Ps. 107:10 There were those who sat in darkness,
and in the death shadow, prisoners in stress and chains,
107:11 because they had rebelled against the doctrines of God,
and rejected with disdain the instruction of the Most High.
107:12 Therefore He humbled their hearts with labor,
they stumbled and there was no one to help.
107:13 They cried out to the LORD in their jeopardy,
he delivered them out from their distresses.
107:14 He brought them out from darkness and death shadows,
and He broke their chains apart.
107:15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His grace,
and for His wonderful dealings with the human race!

Job 5:19 In the 7 [representing the whole realm] adversities in dying. 5:20 In famine [economic disaster] He will preserve you from death. In battle, from the stroke of the sword 5:21 You will be hidden from the lash of the tongue [social disaster]. You will not be afraid of violent death when it comes. 5:22 You will have a relaxed mental attitude [sense of humor] about death and famine; even from wild animals of the earth you have nothing to fear. 5:23 You will be secure from the stones of the field [ammunition of the ancient world] and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you

Ps.23:5 You have deployed a table1 in front of me [for my benefit] in plain sight of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil, 2 my cup3—overflowing!

David, as a believer, is a guest of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Host. It was customary for distinguished guests to be met at the door and anointed with a fragrant substance. This represents God's grace promotion. The feast table is analogous to the spiritual skills with emphasis on the problem solving devices; and the overflowing cup relates prosperity in the form of conveyed escrow blessings.

David, as the guest, is the recipient of grace blessing. He will not lose the table, the anointing or the overflowing cup. This is the divine initiative of grace: David the soldier will not lose the battle; David the king will not lose his throne; David the mature believer will not lose his escrow blessings for time; Likewise, the mature believer will not lose escrow blessings.

Ps.23:6 1No doubt about it, prosperity and grace will pursue me all the days of my life, 2and I will live in the House of the LORD forever.

The utilization of the divine initiative of grace [grace orientation] to become a winner-believer through the use of the 3 spiritual skills to attain the high ground of spiritual maturity. It is the only action that brings victory compatible with the objective. Defensive action only aviods defeat. Offensive action increases the effectiveness of the force adopting it. The DIG provides the momentum for spiritual offensive action fulfilling the principle of objective and mass. Mass is the military nomenclature for the concentration or combat power at the point of maximum effectiveness. Combat power for the SL includes the 2 power options. The spiritual power derived from DIG guarantees the greatest victories in human history, and those victories belong to the dispensation of the church. Economy of force is the means by which mass is employed in a main effort to achieve the objective. When the time and place of the main effort is determined, the combat power must be concentrated rather than dispersed or distracted from the objective. For us, economy of force is the consistent function of the spiritual skills. The decisive application of full combat power requires the unity of command. In our spiritual life, it relates to the use of volition and the spiritual values in conformity to God's plan. Unity of command is the coordination of all the soul's faculties under the filling of the spirit and the function of metabolized doctrine in the SOC; therefore, it is achieved through consistent function of the spiritual skills.

{Jesus Christ is the Creator of Earth and All Creatures}
1~~A Psalm of David.
The earth belongs to the Jehovah/God,
and the fullness thereof {everything in it} . . .
the world, and they that dwell therein.

{Restoration of the Earth in Genesis 1}
2~~For He has founded it upon the seas,
and established it upon water beneath the earth.

3~~Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah/God?
Or who shall stand in His Holy Place {His Command Post}?

4~~He who has clean hands {rebound},
and a pure heart/'right lobe'
{divine viewpoint in soul from bible doctrine}
Who has not lifted up his soul {nephesh}
unto vanity/meaninglessness
{emotion controls the intellect in emotional revolt of the soul
(ERS)},
nor sworn deceitfully {ERS expressing itself in lies}.

5~~He shall receive the blessing from Jehovah/God,
and righteousness from the Elohiym/Godhead of his salvation.

{The 'How' of Verse 5 - Positive Volition}
6~~This is the generation of them Who seek Him
{positive toward doctrine},
Who seek Your face
{positive volition and daily function of GAP,
Occupation with Christ},
O Jacob {referring to the Jewish Race}. Selah {musical rest}.

7-8~~ Lift up your heads O you gates {Wake up! Concentrate},
And be lifted up, O everlasting doors.
That the King of Glory may come in. 8~~
Who is the King of glory?
Jehovah/God {Jesus Christ - see Rev 3},
powerful and a might warrior,
Jehovah/God,
a mighty warrior in battle.

9~~ Lift up your heads O you gates {Wake up! Concentrate},
And be lifted up, O everlasting doors.
That the King of Glory may come in.

10~~ Who is this King of glory?
Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts
{Commander and Chief of the Jewish Army - Jesus Christ},
He is the King of glory. Selah {musical rest}.

This is an acrostic Psalm. Each verse in the Psalm begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It represents an ancient filing system, and in this particular psalm David kept a file on prayer requests. So we have a number of prayer requests filed alphabetically, with several exceptions. One letter, qoph, is left out. Qoph is the back of the head, the subconscious. There is no place in prayer for subconscious activity. Instead of qoph we have two verses beginning with resh, the “r” is the Hebrew language. Resh is the right lobe—prayer is in the right lobe. Then there is one extra verse at the end where it goes back to pe, which is the mouth. Since the mechanics of prayer involve the mouth we have pe in the proper order in the last verse, as well as in its proper place.

Verse 1 –Aleph is an ox and it stands for prosperity under and agricultural economy. In this passage we have spiritual prosperity and therefore we have to begin with God. “Unto thee” is actually “toward thee.” It is a directional preposition followed by a pronoun. “O Lord” – God the Father. All prayer is directed to God the Father—John 16:23; 15:16. And notice he doesn’t lift up his voice, he lifts up his soul—“do I lift up my soul.” The real “you” is the soul. The soul has mentality, and therefore we must have some knowledge of the doctrine of prayer. Prayer also involves thinking and is actually formed in the mentality of the soul. Prayer involves volition of the soul. You have to make decisions to pray and you have to make decisions with regard to effective prayer—the use of rebound, etc. Conscience is the norm and standard for the soul, and in this case conscience demands “Pray without ceasing.” Prayer is a part of the believer’s prosperity. It is always related to the human soul in a non-meritorious way.

Verse 2 – the beth file. Beth is a house and the house always speaks of the plan of God. In connection with prayer the house speaks of phase two. We are in the house of God from the time we are saved until the time that we depart from this life. “O my God, I trust in thee.” The word trust is first in the Hebrew and this is the word batach. The word God this time is Elohim which is plural. In verse 1 the vocative was Jehovah and translated by the word Lord, singular. The point of the use of Elohim here is that in the plan of God Jesus Christ performs phase one, the Holy Spirit executes phase two, the first person executes phase three; and so this is a recognition and an orientation with the plan of God, and is in keeping with the letter beth. Prayer is a part of the plan of God.

The word trust here is used for putting problems in the Lord’s hands. The point here is very simple. You put your problems in the Lord’s hands by means of prayer. Prayer is the actual vehicle by which you turn your problems over to the Lord. Batach actually means to dump your problems in the Lord’s lap. This is the basic principle of the faith-rest technique and this shows the relationship between faith-rest and prayer. In this file there are two petitions. The first one: “Let me not be ashamed.” The qal imperfect of bosh really means to be confused, sometimes perplexed. So David’s first petition is, ‘Don’t let me be confused.’ This is in the beth file. The house is the plan of God, and what David is saying is that he doesn’t want to be confused about the plan of God—don’t ever let me ever go sour on doctrine! Don’t ever let me exclude doctrine. Confusion is failure to understand doctrine and to orient to the grace of God.

The second petition has to do with other people: “Let not mine enemies triumph over me.” If you live a normal Christian life you will have some enemies, depending upon your growth, your impact for Christ, your understanding of doctrine. If you live your life out of fellowship you’ll have a lot of enemies. You have enemies because of your old sin nature—because you are jealous, because you pry, because you are vindictive, petty, etc. The word triumph is alats and it connotes gloating, a malignant satisfaction from hurting someone else. “Don’t let my enemies gloat.” David desires the triumph of grace in spite of his own failures. David recognises that the plan of God is greater than the greatest failure that has ever existed.

Verse 3 – the gimel file. Gimel is the camel, and it speaks of travel and therefore it comes to mean knowledge. In this file it is knowledge of doctrine. When we are talking about prayer we are talking about understanding Bible doctrine. Effective prayer is based on knowing the Word of God, orienting to the plan of God, and understanding the grace of God.

“Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed.” This is literally, “Also, they that trust in thee shall not be confused.” You cannot live [faith-rest] putting your problems in the Lord’s hands, watching the Lord solve your problems, watching the Lord work, without realising that there is no place for confusion in the Christian life. The word trust is not the word used previously, is qavah, which means to take a thread and another thread, and so on, and weave the threads into a great rope so that it cannot be broken. David recognises that he is in the plan of God. This word trust is translated in Isaiah “they that wait upon the Lord.”

“be ashamed” – is “shall not be confused,” bosh in the qal stem. The faith-rest technique plus doctrine orients to the plan of God and therefore there is no confusion.

“let them be confused which transgress without a cause.” Literally, “they shall be confused.” The word transgress is not transgress at all, it means to be faithless—the translation should be, “they shall be confused who are faithless emptily.” Faithless means failure to learn Bible doctrine, failure to use the techniques. Emptily means that they are empty of doctrine, empty of divine resources, empty of that which could sustain and help them.

Translation: “Also, they that trust in thee shall not be confused; they shall be confused who are faithless emptily.”

The believer who is empty of doctrine is faithless, therefore a confused believer, therefore an unstable believer, therefore a miserable believer, therefore out of phase with the plan of God.

Verse 4 – daleth, the door. This represents the believer entering the plan of God by Bible doctrine. In the previous verse believers minus Bible doctrine are confused, mixed up, empty. But in this verse we have the antithesis. When the believer learns doctrine all of that is changed. How do you orient to phase two? Daleth tells us.

“Show me” is literally, “Thou hast made known.” This is the hiphil from yada, the general word for learning or knowing doctrine; “to me thy ways” – phase two, doctrine pertaining to phase two. Therefore there is no excuse for confusion.

“teach me” – piel imperative of lamad. The intensity of the piel stem has to do with concentration, and concentration means the more you know the more you want to know, you more you learn the more you want to learn. Doctrine is built upon doctrine. So we have the principle that learning some doctrine in the past is not sufficient, we must continue to learn doctrine.

“thy paths” – phase two. The believers enters this door by doctrine and once he has he must keep on going.

Verse 5 – we have two files. One line for the he file and one for the waw. The he is a window. As you take in doctrine and take in doctrine your outlook changes. You have a window now, a perspective—Bible doctrine in the soul looking out at life. Therefore, with this new perspective you can take a look at life and say, ‘I can do the Lord’s will.’

“Lead me in thy truth” – Lead me is a hiphil imperative and it means “Cause me to be guided through they truth.” In other words, there is only one way of divine guidance and that is Bible doctrine. Notice that David does not pray for guidance until he prays for more doctrine. The basis for living the Christian life is not experience, the basis for living the Christian life is Bible doctrine in the soul. The more doctrine you have in your soul the more you can learn, but at the same time the more you can know the will of God and do the will of God for doctrine is also the nourisher of the soul. To know God’s will you must know doctrine. If you are ignorant of doctrine you can never know the will of God.

“teach me” is simply a repetition recognising that you must constantly learn doctrine to know the will of God. The believer can only be guided by God as he learns Bible doctrine; “God of my salvation” indicates that he is already in phase one and has a right to ask this.

Now the waw file—a peg or a hook on which you hang something. So he is the perspective, looking out the window of life through Bible doctrine and the waw file is the nail or the hook on which we anchor this life—Bible doctrine.

“on thee do I wait all the day” – the word wait is again the word qavah and it means to trust. This is the strongest word for the faith-rest technique in the Hebrew language. It means to be oriented to the grace of God, recognising your own weakness and helplessness and that only God Himself can provide.

1. The believer who is oriented to the grace of God and knows Bible doctrine regards every day alike. He is the strong believer of Romans 14:5,6. He lives every day as unto the Lord.

2. Every day is a gracious gift from the Lord to be redeemed for the Lord—Ephesians 5:16-18. The word redeem means to purchase, to buy, to utilise capital. And so God graciously gives us one day at a time and He intends us to spend that day for Him.

3. The only time we possess to glorify God on this earth is the number of days that we have in phase two—James 4:13-15.

4. God provides the capital to make each day count for Him under the concept of more grace—James 4:6. He does not give you a day without providing some money to spend. He has provided the capital to spend that day for Him.

5. Therefore every day is a special day in phase two—special in the sense that you are in full time Christian service, you are an ambassador for Christ, and one day at a time He intends for you to live for Him using the divine operating assets which He has provided, including prayer.

6. Each day the believer is to avoid mental attitude sins which produce self-induced misery and disorients to the grace of God—Proverbs 27:1.

7. Only in the days of time can God demonstrate His matchless grace to you through suffering—Psalm 107:1-3 cf. Revelation 21:4.

Verse 6 – the zayin file. Zayin is a weapon; it speaks of God’s protection. God’s essence, God’s character is the weapon of our protection. The believer’s

protection, then, depends on who and what God is and never on who and what we are. God is perfect; His protection is perfect.

“Remember” – this word zakar is going to occur in the next few verses. This is the imperative mood, so David is demanding that God remember. It is a qal imperative and it means to call to mind, to recollect something that is pleasant and wonderful. He says, “Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies,” but in effect he is saying, “I know what you are like and therefore I make demands upon you.” In the midst of all the confusion and failure of David’s life he had lots of doctrine which he called upon.

1. Zayin means weapon, which means protection. The believer’s protection is related to the essence of God.

2. The word remember is a qal imperative, it means to call to mind. This is David being reminded that God’s grace depends on God’s perfect character. David is asking God to remember, not so he can get something from Him, but so that if God remembers then God is operating on His character toward David.

3. “Thy tender mercies” refers to tender compassion. Tender compassion comes from grace. This is a response of love. This is a plural noun, it means “They tender compassions.”

4. David can appeal to the grace and compassion of God because God’s righteousness has already been satisfied at the cross.

5. No prayer appeal to God’s grace and God’s love is valid unless God’s righteousness has been satisfied. (Doctrine of propitiation); “loving kindness” – the basis of God’s love. It means a mental attitude toward you that is beneficent to the maximum. God cannot extend His love to any member of the human race until His righteousness. He has to be consistent and only by the cross can He be consistent.

7. There are two prerequisites for prayer. a) Salvation, by which a believer appropriates divine propitiation. b) Rebound, by which the believer prays from the sphere of temporal fellowship. Rebound in reality is an extension of propitiation.

“for they are of old” – eternity past. God always did have this love, His tender mercies and loving-kindness.

Verse 7 – the kheth file, the fence. This is the principle of protection. This emphasises the grace of God in keeping the believer on the earth, rather than the

believer remaining here because of his merit. Under this file David now says, “Remember not.” This is a qal imperfect of the same verb, zakar. Don’t remember my character. I am not coming on the basis of anything I have ever done.

“the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions” – a transgression is a link-up between mentality and volition in the soul.

“according to thy mercy remember thou me” – he goes back to the character of God; remembrance on the basis of the character of God.

“for the sake of thy good,” literally. The whole essence of God is absolute good or divine good. David is recognising the principle of grace.

Zayin is the sword which emphasises the essence of God, and kheth is the fence which God builds around us and keeps us in this life when we fail, when we succeed. Therefore we have a sword and a fence, and the one who provides the sword (active protection) provides the fence (passive protection). So all protection is based on who and what God is, and who and what God is, is why we are still here. This is the only approach in prayer.

Verse 8 -- the teth file speaks of relationship. Relationship speaks of the plan of God. The plan excludes and kind of human good or merit, and that is why it is called operation grace.

“Good” – refers to divine good, in fact the person of God or the essence of God; “and upright is the Lord.”

“therefore” – this brings us to a principle of communication: “will he teach” – the word for teach is yarah. This word doesn’t mean to teach by simply standing up and communicating, it means to teach and to train by discipline. This is learning the hard way. Yarah is in the hiphil stem—self-induced misery. It is the imperfect tense, which means it hasn’t been completed. It may take a long time.

“sinners” – chasha doesn’t mean a sinner in the sense that we usually use the word. It means one inclined toward the sin nature, one who is inclined to live in the energy of the flesh.

“in the way” – in operation phase two with its assets, its categories, and its techniques.

Verse 9 – the yodh file refers to the hand. We are in the hand of God which holds, guides, protects and delivers. It emphasises the grace of God. The believer is in the hand of God and always will be.

“The meek” – meekness is a mental attitude, not self-effacement. It is orientation to the grace of God. It is all systems go in the soul because it is fed from doctrine. (1 Peter 5: “but he gives grace to the humble” – the humble is the person who recognises that he is hopeless, helpless, useless, that he has nothing that will gain the approbation of God. He is the person who knows the plan of God, whose human spirit is loaded up with doctrine so that his soul is operating on ‘all systems go’)

“will he guide in judgement” – judgment means, again, yarah; and the meek will he teach” – the word for teach here is lamad. It is a word for teaching, but it means to teach by going over and over something again and again, to teach by drill, by repetition.

Verse 10 – the kaph file, the palm of the hand. The principle behind it is that every believer is in the plan of God. We are all in God’s hands and this is emphasised by John 10:28 where Jesus says, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

“All the paths of the Lord” refers to the plan of God. There is no place in the plan of God for human good. “Paths” is in the plural because phase two has many paths that are legitimate.

“mercy” – God has an attitude toward us, called here mercy but the Hebrew word means grace or grace in action. God’s paths are all mercy, God is free to love you. There is nothing that can happen in the believer’s life that is too great for the plan of God.

“and truth” – truth is a Hebrew word for Bible doctrine, Bible doctrine designed categorically to go on the shelves of the human spirit so that it can go from the human spirit to the human soul, and so that the believer’s life can have impact for Him.

“unto such as keep his covenants” – unto such refers to the believer. The word for keep here is a qal active participle which denotes linear aktionsart. The verb is natsar and it means to preserve, to keep on preserving. There are two words for Bible doctrine as presented in the Old Testament: a) covenant; b) testimonies. The word covenant has to do with God’s promises to the believer; testimony has to do with the very nature of God. These are preserved. To preserve means to take something out of its original environment and keep it—to take Bible doctrine out of (in this case) the Old Testament and to transfer that Bible doctrine into the human spirit where it becomes +doctrine transferred to the soul. That is the preservation of doctrine in the believer’s life.

The kaph file is saying, your prayer life and every other facet of modus operandi must be related to doctrine.

Verse 11 – the lamedh file refers to an ox goad. The ox is the believer. Every believer is in full-time Christian service. The sharp point of the ox goad for the believer to keep him going is rebound. The sharp point was jabbed into Christ at the cross and therefore the sharp point does not stick in us. So if we knock off the point we have an appeal to grace. Christ was judged for our sins, so all the believer does is confess his sins.

“For thy name’s sake [Jesus Christ], O Lord, pardon me” -- because all of our sins were poured out upon Him. It doesn’t say “pardon me,” it says “you have forgiven me.” The Hebrew verb is salach. It means to be forgiven. It is in the qal stem, this is a straight down the middle forgiveness. It is in the perfect tense which means all the sins were forgiven at the cross. It means that when the believer names a sin he commits in time that sin was already forgiven. It was judged, the penalty was paid, it is forgiven already. The ox goad is in Christ so that under the angelic conflict the only motivation for Christian service would be grace. God never bullies you into doing something, into a course of action.

Verses 12 – the mem file. Mem signified water, and it refers to the water of the Word—Ephesians 5:26. So we have, then, the Word of God as the anchor, the basis for the prayer requests which are coming up in the next section of the Psalm.

“What man” refers to the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it refers to a specific type of believer, a believer who is occupied with the person of Christ.

“he that fearest” – the word used for fear here is not a verb but an adjective which means awe, and from it we get the principle of occupation with Christ. Throughout the scriptures the word “fear” is generally used for occupation with Christ rather than for actual fright. Occasionally it is used for fright or fear but the context always indicates which is which. The use of an adjective here instead of a verb places great emphasis on the principle of occupation with Christ through Bible doctrine. The thirsty believer is the believer who has +V toward Bible doctrine. He desires it more and more and more and as he learns doctrine he comes to appreciate the Lord, as he comes to appreciate the Lord he comes to love the Lord, as he comes to love the Lord he is occupied with Christ, and therefore he does not fall into the usual problems—eyes on people, eyes on things, eyes on self—and therefore he avoids three great pitfalls in his self-consciousness. Eyes on people: disillusion; eyes on self: self-pity; eyes on things: materialistic lust. So he avoids these three great enemies and he stays in a bracket where he is oriented to the grace of God, he has a genuine love for the Lord Jesus Christ based on his understanding of doctrine, and he also develops the true capacity for love.

The rest of this verse indicates the importance of the Word of God and learning the Word of God.

“him shall he teach” – yarah in the hiphil stem, causative and active voice. He causes to teach. This causation from the hiphil stem indicates the whole mechanics of learning the Word of God. First of all the Word of God is available to us in written form. In order to get this into the individual there is a ministry. The Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit. Doctrine then goes into the proper receptacle which is the human spirit. From there it is piped into the various facets of the soul resulting in the believer having the true perspective. He is oriented to the plan of God, oriented to the grace of God, and he is producing divine good. His inner life is working in a manner which is glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. The real individual is then operating on the correct basis. This word yarah originally meant to shoot a lot of arrows, to keep throwing something at someone until they can’t forget it. It is in the imperfect tense here which means the action is not completed, it goes on and on and on.

“in the way he shall choose” refers to operation phase two, the way that He chooses, elects. The verb is bachar, and it means that God elects this way. This is God’s plan and God therefore planned it in eternity past. The planning is now in operation, so we have the qal stem in the imperfect tense to indicate that while it was planned in eternity past the operation is being unfolded in time. Bible doctrine in the soul gives the believer both occupation with Christ and the basis to make decisions compatible with the will of God.

Notice that in this verse at least three characteristics of the essence of the soul are mentioned. First, the adjective to fear—the self-consciousness of the soul. “Shall he teach”—mentality of the soul. “He shall choose” – volition of the soul.

Verse 13 – the letter nun. In the Hebrew this letter was originally drawn like a fish, and it represents a fish. A fish has food, shelter and clothing. His shelter is the water, and there is always the water. He finds food in the water and apparently he never has any trouble with clothing. So a fish is provided for. A fish has everything a fish needs, so we open this nun drawer and we find out something about needs. Therefore we have reference to the soul because what we really need is not in the body, it is in the soul.

“His soul” – this is the real you, the inner part of man; “shall dwell at ease” should be translated, his soul shall dwell in good. The Hebrew word for good here is tob. It refers to divine good. When doctrine is in the human spirit it is piped into self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is parlayed into occupation with Christ. It is piped into mentality—divine viewpoint of life; volition—decisions are made compatible with the will of God; emotion—appreciation for God; conscience—divine norms and standards are established. The Holy Spirit controls the life most of the time. The fish file means that when your soul dwells in divine good there will never be a difficulty, adversity, pressure, a need that will not be perfectly met in the plan of God. The plan of God is on the outside but the plan of God comes into the inside through Bible doctrine in the human spirit. The believer’s needs on the inside will be met perfectly through doctrine so that God’s purpose for his life will be fulfilled and he will dwell in good.

The rest of this verse tells about the Jew in David’s day. David is getting ready to anticipate something that would come later on, some discipline to the children of Israel. This discipline would not come in his day but he recognises “his seed shall inherit the earth [land].” David is now telling them something, i.e. if you want your progeny to have prosperity then doctrine is the answer. If you have your soul crammed with doctrine then you will perpetuate something in your country. The progeny inherit the land, promised under the Palestinian covenant.

Verse 14 – the samekh file. A samekh is a fulcrum. When you have a fulcrum and a lever you lift the weight. This is a principle. Samekh is going to deal with problems, pressures. This is the believer’s sufferings, disaster, frustrations, difficulties, whatever they happen to be. The fulcrum is Bible doctrine; the lever which reaches down and gets the weight off the believer is God’s plan, God’s strength, God’s ability—God’s person: omnipotence; God’s plan: phase two provision, divine operating assets for phase two. If the believer is going to have the weights lifted he must have a lever. Bible doctrine is the fulcrum. God’s plan, God’s power, God’s grace is the lever.

“The secret of the Lord” – God doesn’t have any secrets from the believer. They may be secrets if the believer does not know the Word, but everything he needs to know from God is found in the Word of God. The literal translation here is, The intimacy of the Lord. Intimacy with the Lord depends on knowing Bible doctrine, otherwise it is pseudo love and it doesn’t count. Every believer is designed to be intimate with the Lord.

“he will show them his covenant” – literally, he will cause them to know his covenant. The covenant refers to categorical doctrine. This doctrine is the fulcrum by which the believer handles problems in time. The verb to know here is the verb yada in the hiphil stem. He causes us to know doctrine, and when we have doctrine then God has a lever to lift our problems, our sufferings, our adversities. You cannot lift a heavy load with a lever flat on the ground, there must be a fulcrum. The lever is strong, that’s God plan, God’s power. It is the person of God plus the work of God, but it is the fulcrum that gives leverage for the lever.

Verse 15 – the ayin file. “Mine eyes ever toward the Lord”—occupation with Christ. Bible doctrine leads to occupation with Christ. Occupation with Christ then utilises the principle of leverage and the fulcrum of samekh.

“for he shall pluck” is incorrect. It is he shall lift up; “my feet out of the net” – the fulcrum and leverage lifts the believer up. The net refers to suffering, misery, tragedy, trial, etc. This doesn’t always mean the suffering is removed, but it means that when the suffering is not removed there is the ability to bear the pressure (1 Corinthians 10:13) and have inner happiness and occupation with Christ.

“Turn [thee] unto me” – David is saying, Look in my direction. This is an idiom for ‘help me.’ But he wants to clarify his help, he wants his help to be on certain principles. This is a qal imperative, he demands it. And when he demands it, it means he is occupied with Christ, he has Bible doctrine, the leverage, and he says therefore, Lift!

“have mercy” – the Hebrew word is chanan and it means be gracious. It is a qal imperative. David is not out of line when he demands God’s grace to operate. What makes him do it? The fulcrum, Bible doctrine. He knows enough doctrine to be oriented to the grace of God.

“for I am desolate and afflicted” – that is not what he said at all. He said, “I am lonely and under pressure.” There is only one answer to David’s kind of loneliness—doctrine. The answer has already been given—the intimacy with the Lord.

“The troubles of my heart are enlarged” – his pressure was so great. He was not cracking up but he was getting more and more pressure.

“bring me out of my distress” – ‘bring me out’ means deliver. He wants deliverance in the sense of inner peace and happiness, and so on.

Verse 18 the resh file gives us the solution to the tsadhe file. (qoph has been skipped) Qoph is the subconscious and resh is the thinking part of the mind. But this is a prayer, these are petitions under pressure, and since David is praying under pressure these prayers are in his mind, there’s no place for the subconscious. Verses 18 & 19 are both the resh file because qoph was omitted.

Verse 18 – “forgive my sins.” That isn’t what he said. He didn’t say forgive my sins, he said lift them up. “Look upon my affliction (mental pressure), my pain (physical suffering). The word forgive is lift up. What does he mean by lift up my sins? He is saying that God is gracious and can even take his sins and the divine discipline that comes from them and convert it into blessing.

Verse 19 –this is another type of pressure now. If blessing is going to come out of his cursing then what should he do about these enemies? How can he handle the problem? These people are on the outside and they hate him, they are full of mental attitude sins direct toward David. There is a solution and it is in the soul of David.

Verse 20 – the shin file. Shin is teeth, with which you eat. Their primary purpose is to assimilate food.

Oh, keep my soul” – the word keep means to guard, preserve, protect. Protecting and guarding the soul is Bible doctrine from the human spirit into the essence of the soul. Protect the soul with divine provision—doctrine.

“and deliver me” – deliverance on the inside, inner happiness, occupation with Christ. The systems of the soul are all operating.

“let me not be ashamed” – the word ashamed means confused. How is the believer confused? No doctrine running through the soul. So the answer to enemies and pressure on the outside is an inner life with the Lord.

Verse 21 – the tau file, a signature. This is God’s signature—God’s character. “Let integrity and uprightness” – integrity: the essence box; uprightness: God’s perfect character and planning—omniscience plus His righteousness. In other words, he is saying God’s person plus God’s power on the other end of the lever lifts all the problems away.

“preserve me; for I wait on thee” – wait is the strongest word for faith under the faith-rest technique.

Verse 22 is not a part of the true acrostic because we go back to the pe file, the mouth. He utters one final prayer about the Jews because he knows what is going to happen.

“Redeem Israel” means deliver Israel, “O God out of all his troubles.” He knows that Israel is headed for trouble and that in the next generation doctrine will decrease. He knows that when doctrine departs trouble begins for the entire national entity.

{David's Victory Psalm}
1~~{A Psalm of} David.
Unto You, O Jehovah/God,
I {David} lift up my soul.

{Note: RBT says that David wrote this Psalm after his encounter with Saul at the caves of Engedi. In I Samuel 24:22, David 'ascended' or was lifted up to a higher place. Now he is lifting up his soul to the Lord. In this section of the Word, the story was recorded that David could have easily killed Saul - who was chasing after David in an attempt to kill him. But, David would not kill the anointed king of the Lord so he spared Saul's life. Saul, in an emotional reaction, repented the evil he had done David and stopped the chase - temporarily.}

2~~O my Elohiym/Godhead,
I 'have just trusted {batach} in You'
{means to put the matter in the hands of God for divine justice}.
Do not let me blush about it ever again {buwsh}
{David was wrong in cutting off the hem of the robe of Saul
and admits his mistake to God - Principal: when you fail/sin,
confess it to God and forget about it - no room for 'feeling
ashamed' about past sins - confess and forget.}.
Let not my enemies {Saul and others} exult/rejoice over me
{here David was wrong in cutting the clothes of the King and he
prays that this will give his reversionistic enemies something to
gloat over - 'oh David sinned' type thing. Small people full of
sins love to gloat over the sins of mature believers}.

3~~Also/Yes, let those who have confidence in You
{other mature believers}
not be confused {about David's incorrect actions}.
Let them be ashamed
who act treacherously {bagad}
and emptily
{reyqam - acting without 'divine viewpoint'/doctrine in their soul}.

{Note: Many mature believers look up to David for his leadership. David is praying that they do not think his mistakes are something to emulate! Then, the reversionistic people who are two-faced (Ziphites recently in I Samuel 23 and 24) and betray for their own profit, let them understand and be ashamed of their own actions - these who are 'empty of doctrine' in their souls.}

4~~Cause me to keep on learning {yada`}
Show me Your Ways, O Jehovah/God.
'Teach me over and over'
{lamad - the type of learning like close order drill in the military}
Your 'Ways of life'/Paths.

{Importance of the Inculcation of Doctrine}
5~~Cause me to be consistent in moving down the path of {darak}
Your Doctrine/Truth
{means to beat down a certain section of grass so much a path is
created to 'beat down a path in the righteous Ways of the Lord'},
'teach me over and over'
{lamad - again the type of learning by going over and over and
over again}.
For You are the Elohiym/Godhead of my deliverance.
On You, I {David} have perfect confidence {qavah} all the day.

6~~Remember/'Recall Your love for me' {zakar},
O Jehovah/God, Your 'tender compassions' {racham - plural}
and Your 'grace functions' {checed - plural}
for they are of old
{never was a time when God was not love, compassion or grace -
God does not change (immutability) - all God is, He always was,
always will be}.

{Note: Zakar does mean to remember, but it is an insult to God to imply that He ever forgets anything. Zakar also has the connotation of recalling to mind your affection or love for someone dear to you. That is what the word really means - David is asking God to recall His love, acts of compassion, and all His grace functions.}

7~~Remember {zakar}
not the sins of my immaturity
{spiritual status not physical age - refers to the stupid mistakes
David made in Nob on and on},
nor my transgressions/sins.
According to Your grace,
remember me . . .
according to Your 'perfect essence/character'/goodness {tuwb},
O Jehovah/God.

8~~'Perfect essence/character'/good
{towb - perfect in all areas of His Essence}
and upright/correct/just/righteous {yashar} . . . {is} Jehovah/God
{God does not diminish His perfect Character by loving 'imperfect
creatures'. Why not? Because of the work of His Son on the cross
- Justification - God is justified in loving us}.
Therefore, He will teach "believers' failing"/reversionists {chatta'}
the Way {the righteous way of God}.

9~~ In justice, He guides the humble/'SuperGrace believer' {`anav}.
Consequently, He teaches the humble/'SuperGrace believer' {`anav}
His Way.

{Note: The 'meek' or humble is the grace orientation principal. Once a believer taking in doctrine understands how great God is and, in comparison, how little he is, then true humility sets in. He is on the road/Way to spiritual maturity - understanding the righteous ways of the Lord.}

10~~All the paths of Jehovah/God
are grace/mercy
{checed - here refers to the perfect character and perfect plan of
God}
and Doctrine/Truth
{'emeth - God's 'character'/divine viewpoint in writing}
unto those who guard His covenant
{the covenant here is God's ability to be propitiated by the work of
Christ on the cross and is therefore free to love and bless us}
and His testimonies
{`edah - refers to categorical teaching in the Word concerning Who
and What God is}.

11~~For Your 'name's sake'/reputation {referring to God the Son},
O Jehovah/God {refers to God the Father here},
You have forgiven/pardoned {calach}
my sins -for they are numberous.

12~~What man is he who respects {the authority of} Jehovah/God?
Him shall He {God} 'teach over and over'
{meaning the one who respects the Lord and therefore is positive
to His Word: yarah - in certain stems means to 'shoot arrows over
and over - here is to shoot doctrine upon doctrine until you are
inculcated with divine viewpoint}
in the way that he shall choose
{God will give the doctrine so you know divine viewpoint, but your
volition still comes in play - you must choose to apply divine
viewpoint to experience or fall back on your own human
viewpoint}.

13~~His soul {of the SuperGrace believer}
shall 'pass the night living in enjoyment' {luwn towb}
{this means to have the blessings of God while in this life}.
And his seed/descendents shall inherit the earth
{principal of 'grace by association' - Solomon became the richest
man in the world - from inheritance from his SuperGrace father
David}.

14~~The intimacy {cowd} of Jehovah/God
is with them who respect Him.
And He will cause them to know His contract/covenant
{the New Covenant/Contract of Grace}.

15~~My eyes are ever toward Jehovah/God
for he shall pluck my feet out of the net
{David was delivered again and again from the traps of Saul}.

16~~Turn toward me
{the blessings for which You have designed for me}.
Be gracious upon me
for I am lonely and under pressure.

{Note: All leaders know loneliness. And, David is under great pressure from Saul.}

17~~The troubles on my 'right lobe'/heart have become extensive.
O bring me through of my pressures.

{Note: David knows he will fail. But he does not want his failures to affect all the people for whom he is responsible as their leader.}

19~~'Keep track of'/'make a reconnaissance of my enemies
for they are many {numerous and strong}
and they hate me with cruel hatred
{reversionists filled with mental attitude sins}.

20~~You have 'guarded my soul in the past
and keep on guarding my soul',
and rescue me.
Let me not be ashamed {poise in his leadership functions}
for I have used You as my refuge.

21~~Let my integrity and uprightness 'defend me'/'be my guard'
for I have great confidence in You.

22~~'Deliver to freedom'/Redeem Israel
{refers to impending civil war with King David},
O Elohiym/Godhead,
out of all his catastrophes/disasters
{military provides freedom in any nation}.

{A SuperGrace Vindication Psalm}
1~~{a Psalm} of David.
Vindicate {shaphat} me, O Jehovah/God
for I have walked 'in SuperGrace'/'without blame'/'in integrity' {tom}.
Likewise, I have trusted in Jehovah/God
without vacillation/ faltering {ma`ad}.

{Note: From I Samuel Chapter 31, the battle of Mount Gilboa has just finished. David knows he is a mature believer that God is going to use. David is in the south and David is ready to serve the Lord and therefore serve his country.}

2~~Examine me {other way of saying test me - I want MORE Grace},
O Jehovah/God, and test/prove me.
Test/prove my emotions {kilyah - idiom: literally means kidneys}
and my 'right lobe'/heart {leb}.

{Note: David is saying he is ready for full capacity to enjoy life! Please give me even more grace! He has doctrine in his soul and 'his cup runnith over'. This is for our benefit - God always knew this!}

3~~For your 'grace in action'/lovingkindness {checed} . . . {is}
before my eyes
{meaning your grace is my constant perspective} . . .
because I myself have walked in Your Doctrine/Truth {'emeth}!

{Note: Doctrine in your soul is the only way you can respond to God's love for you! You are not rewarded because you have doctrine. You are only rewarded WHEN you have the capacity to enjoy what God wants to give to you as His grace gift - you never earn it or deserve it! It is a grace operation all the way!}

4~~I do not sit/consort/'have social life'/
'dwell in prosperity' {yashab}
with scoundrels/'men of evil'/reversionistic believers
{shav' math - idiom: literally 'empty of content in their speech'
people},
and I do not go with phony hypocrites {`alam}.

5~~I have detested/hated the company/assembly
of those who plot and execute evil,
furthermore, I will not sit/consort/'have social life'/
'dwell in prosperity' {yashab}
with the wicked ones {rasha`}.

6~~I will wash my hands in purity/innocence {niqqayown}.
and, O Jehovah/God
I will surround {with rebound offerings} Your altar.

7~~That I might proclaim
with a voice of praise/thanksgiving.
That I might recount
all of your 'extraordinary grace provisions' { pala'}

8~~Oh Jehovah/God, I love the refuge of Your House . . .
even the place of the habitation of Your glory.

9-10~~Do not take away my soul { nephesh} along with sinners,
nor . . . {snuff out}my life {chay}
with 'men of bloods' {murderers} 10~~ . . .
in whose hands is rape {zimmah},
and their right hand has been filled of bribes.

11~~But as for me, I will walk 'in my SuperGrace status'/
'without blame'/'in integrity' {tom}.
Preserve me and be gracious to me!

12~~My foot stands in a level place.
In the public convocations,
I will celebrate {Who and What} Jehovah/God {is}.

This psalm was written while David was fleeing from the wrath and jealousy of king Saul. It describes his mental attitude in flight; it describes his mental attitude which finally developed after many failures and disasters in his life. The psalm is divided into three principles. a) the viewpoint of a fugitive, verses 1-6; b) the prayer of a fugitive, verses 7-12; c) the conclusion of a fugitive, verses 13,14.

David had some great failures and some great successes but he finally came to the point where he realised something of great importance. He went back to the day when Samuel anointed him, and he understood in that day when he was a shepherd boy called in from the sheep (1 Samuel 16:13) that when Samuel anointed him to be king this was God’s promise that some day he would rule the nation Israel. But in the meantime the picture was very dark and some of the darkest moments that David ever knew were those short years before he finally became king of Israel. During that time of great pressure in his life he came to realise and understand something of the importance of Bible doctrine, something of the importance of occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one day after many failures and after discovering that he was still alive, even though he had committed some terrible sins, he stopped and said to himself, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”

The background for this passage begins in 1 Samuel 18. This is what happened to David after he killed Goliath. Verse 5—“David behaved himself wisely” tells us that he had an understanding of Bible doctrine. Verse 7 – it becomes obvious that king Saul is no longer the hero of Israel but a new man has taken his place. Verse 8 – Saul was “very wrath,” angry. Mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery and this was the principle which destroyed Saul as a believer. Saul was a believer minus doctrine.

“and what can he have more but the kingdom?” Immediately he recognises that David is a threat. In verse 9, “Saul eyed David from that day forward” is simply an idiom for envy. From that time on Saul was jealous of David and he is going to suffer that which will result in the sin unto death. 1 Chronicles 10:13,14. He failed to learn doctrine as a believer and was disobedient to the Word of God. David’s problem at first was that he forgets the grace of God, and when he suddenly reorients to the grace of God, the he says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”

1 Samuel 19:18—David becomes a fugitive. In chapter 21 we see something of David’s failure and its repercussions. Nob was the place where the Tabernacle was set, the place where the high priest and the priests served in the tribe of Levi. At this point David himself is on the panic button and is no longer faith-resting the situation. In verse 2 David tells one little lie that is going to cause the death of many. The king had not sent him out on any secret mission. But the priest knows David and believes the lie. In verse 9 there is something to remind David of God’s grace. The last time he saw this weapon it was in the sheath of a giant and the last time he had any contact with it in his own hands was when he pulled it out of the sheath and cut off the head of the giant. The sword in his hand was a memorial to the principle that “the battle is the Lord’s.” David takes this sword; it was under the ephod where it was used as a memorial. He says, “There is none like that; give it to me.” Instead of thinking that the Lord is his fortress, his protection, the Bible doctrine in his soul has been phased out and he is operating on panic, fear—mental attitude sins. Because these two men, Saul and David, have mental attitude sins the Philistines come into the land and they kill right and left. All of the priests but one are going to be slaughtered. Because David told a lie Doeg the Edomite went back to Saul and reported. Saul came to the village of Nob and slaughtered the priests and their families. One priest escaped to become the future high priest.

Mental attitudes sin produce self-induced misery, but this always overflows into the life of someone else.

Verse 10 – mental attitude sins lead to other mental attitude sins, he “fled that day for fear.” Verse 12 –“And David laid up these words in his heart [he realises he is in a jamb], and was very much afraid…” Just in time he remembers and old Greek custom—the Philistines are Greeks. It was bad luck to kill a man who was insane. No one would touch a mad man. When a great hero slobbers in his own beard he is advertising that he is mad—verses 13,14.

At this particular point David rebounded. He had been out of fellowship and operating under his old sin nature and he is now going to recover his fellowship with the Lord by simply confessing his sins. And then he remembered something at this point which he carried with him for the rest of his life. He woke up and said to himself, “I am here for one reason. I have failed the Lord horribly and miserably and I should be punished, but I am still alive and God has a purpose for my life. My life is not my life, my life is the Lord’s, for “the Lord is my life and my salvation.” Once David had confessed his sins all of these doctrines that he had once learned came flooding back into his soul, and that is when he wrote Psalm 27. This psalm was written on the basis of one principle, found in 1 Samuel 16:13. David understood that anointing, that when the oil was poured on him it was God’s promise. So David begins from this point of recovery: “The Lord is my light and may salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is my life’s strength; of whom shall I be afraid?” Everything depends on who and what the Lord is, not who and what David is.

Psalm 130:3-6 gives us the philosophy of a fugitive when he is oriented to the grace of God:

3 “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark [observe and give what is deserved] iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”

4 “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared [occupation with Christ].”

5 “I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.” David is waiting for the day when the Lord would appoint him king, when the true meaning of that anointing would be fulfilled. The word for hope is not hope at all, it is the Hebrew word is yachal and it means to trust or use faith under pressure conditions. David is not going to be delivered from suffering, he is going to be delivered in suffering. That is the 27th Psalm. What does a person think under pressure? How can a person have happiness and peace under pressure? 1 Corinthians 10:13.

6 “My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”

In other words, it is night and it is going to stay night for a while, but I know the Lord has a purpose in this and I am going to extract from this pressure every ounce of inner happiness and blessing. Then David sat down and wrote Psalm 27.

When David gets back in focus again he says, “The Lord”—tetragrammaton in the Hebrew, Jehovah. This word is used for three different persons. Sometimes it is used for the Father; sometimes it refers to Christ; sometimes, as in Isaiah, it refers to the Holy Spirit—“in my light.” In this passage it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ because light is revealed and Christ is the revealed member of the Godhead—1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:12; John 1:18; 6:46. When it comes to a revealed member of the Godhead that person is Jesus Christ. If he had been living today he would say, “Christ is my life,” but he lived in his day and Christ was not called Christ, He was called Jehovah. And when he says “my light” he was saying first of all that Jesus Christ is God because the word light is used in that sense—1 John 1:5. It refers to the essence or character of God.

As a total failure to orient to the grace of God, where does David start? He says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” He goes back to the principle of salvation because salvation is the beginning of God’s grace.

“the Lord is the strength of my life”—the word strength is not strength at all. It is the Hebrew word maoz which is a fortress. David suddenly realises something. When Bible doctrine is carried around in the soul you carry your own fort with you. David is going to be a fugitive for a few more years but no longer is he going to be a frightened, panic-stricken person. From now on he carries around in his soul the doctrine which is his fortress. “My life” is phase two in the plan of God; David is still in time and God still has a plan for his life. But that plan only advances and is only fulfilled by Bible doctrine. He is now carrying around in his soul a fortress, Bible doctrine, instead of fear. Therefore he says, “of whom shall I be afraid?” The word for afraid is pachad and refers to overt fear. He no longer has overt fear, he is going to be the greatest warrior of his day. The word pachad means to shake, to tremble; it is an overt sign of fear. This is the place where David came to a sudden halt and started back uphill.

Verse 2 – “When the wicked.” The word for wicked is not a noun at all but a hiphil participle. It means to cause to do evil. In this sense it is a reference to a person under the control of the old sin nature. First of all it refers to an unbeliever by the name of Nabal. Secondly it refers to a believer by the name of king Saul. Both of these were guilty of mental attitude sins toward David. Nabal was envious of David; Saul envied David. Mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery. Nabal, an unbeliever, was miserable; Saul, a believer, was miserable. So both had a similar type life because of this principle. The wicked, then, in the hiphil participle: those who cause evil: “When the ones causing to do evil,” literally.

The second word that describes them is a qal active participle, translated as a noun—“mine enemies,” those who are constantly hostile to me. The basis for hostility is a mental attitude sin. With Nabal it was jealousy, with Saul it was jealousy; it could be any one of many mental attitude sins. Many believers through their mental attitude sinning carry around their own unhappiness as long as they live. They may change their environment many times in order to improve their situation and in order to have relief from suffering, but there is no way in which any member of the human race, believer or unbeliever, can ever get away from the principle of self-induced misery when they have mental attitude sins. The qal active participle in the Hebrew has linear aktionsart, and here it refers to those who are constantly hostile. The word wicked really refers to Nabal. So the word in the hiphil participle refers to Nabal, the qal active participle describes enemies and includes Saul and all who went along with him as far as envying David.

David is now recognising the situation. He is now a fugitive. He is envied by a very wealthy man, Nabal. As a fugitive he is envied by the king of the land, Saul. They are seeking to hurt him in every way possible. With Nabal it is understandable because he is an unbeliever, but with Saul there is no excuse because Saul’s envy leads to every hostile action. Saul’s envy and jealousy causes him to prejudge David without a right to do so. The word enemies is in the plural to cover more than one who is envious of David. When a person orients to grace there are many believers who are going to despise him. David was a man who generally lived on the basis of Bible doctrine and therefore he was the object of envy because God blesses through grace such a believer. And there are always other believers who are most anxious to set down, to discredit, to hurt, to destroy, to neutralise anyone who is oriented to the grace of God. Legalism cannot stand grace. It is the legalist who goes in for setting down the grace man.

“and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh” – they, the enemies. The two categories, Nabal the unbeliever and Saul the believer, represent the enemies of David in his fugitive years.

“they stumbled and fell” – the word stumble is what happened to Nabal. He was jealous of David. He took steps to cheat David even though his wife, Abigail, tried to forestall it. David had been faithful in protecting the sheep of Nabal but Nabal despised David. David was a fugitive and Nabal took advantage of that. He took advantage of David’s character, his faithfulness in protecting Nabal and his sheep. So when David came to collect his wages Nabal refused to pay. David went to kill Nabal but before he could get there Abigail intervened. What she said to David was Bible doctrine all the way—divine viewpoint. She mentioned that some day David would be king because this was an unconditional promise from God by the anointing of David. David’s mental attitude sin was anger and he was going in for retaliation and revenge tactics but it was Abigail who cools him down. When David came to his senses and put the situation in the Lord’s hands Nabal got drunk, fell down the stairs, stumbled, and broke his neck. Principle: Put it in the Lord’s hands; stay out of the way. The words they stumbled is a qal perfect, which means it is a completed action: God closed the case—exit Nabal. The second case, now, is a believer by the name of Saul. David learned the lesson from the case of Nabal. When later on David had the opportunity to kill Saul he would not touch the Lord’s anointed, and in 1 Samuel 31 the Lord took over the situation where the same word “fell” or “stumble” is used. So we learn the principle of staying out of the Lord’s way. When we do the enemies stumble, fall.

Verse 3 – “Though an host should camp against me.” Not only did David have personal enemies but he had an organised army after him, the entire army of king Saul. The word host means a well organised military organization, in this case the army of Israel which was constantly out on patrol seeking David.

“my heart” – here is the key. This refers to the thinking part of the mind, the area in which the believer carries his happiness or his misery. David has learned as a fugitive that the secret to life as a believer is Bible doctrine producing with inner happiness, producing occupation with Christ. Proverbs 23:7—what goes on in the soul determines what a person really is. Whether the believer is happy or miserable for the rest of his life is determined in large measure by his attitude toward Bible doctrine; “shall not fear”—remember that at one point David had feared Saul, he had feared Achish.

“though war should rise against me”—this is the status of David as a fugitive, the whole army of Israel is opposing him; “in this I will be confident” – the Hebrew says in spite of this, not in this. In spite of the fact that the entire army of Israel is out seeking David he says, “I will be confident.” The Hebrew word for confidence is the qal active participle of the verb batach, the faith-rest word. The qal participle indicates linear aktionsart. David is saying now that he has come to a half, that Bible doctrine has reasserted itself in his mind and that all of the disasters of life can be thrown at him but there is no problem too great for the plan and power of God.

Verse 4 – what kind of scale of values does a fugitive have? Here is a man without the details of life, who has nothing but problems.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord”—what did David desire from the Lord?—“that will I seek after.” The word for seeking is a piel imperfect of the verb baqash. The piel is the intensive stem; the imperfect tense means the action is not completed, it is going on and on. Baqash means a drive which comes from the soul, a drive which comes from the volition of the soul. When you have something first in your scale of values your volition gives this maximum consideration. If you love Bible doctrine you will be in Bible class. Baqash means that Bible doctrine is first and anything that has to be set aside you set it aside. “One thing” means this is first on the scale of values, and because David said this he became the greatest king who ever lived.

Then we have a purpose clause: “that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” There are seven different words for dwelling in the Hebrew:

a) Gur, which means to dwell as a guest. David doesn’t care to be a guest in the house of the Lord, he wants to be a permanent resident.

b) Dun, which means to dwell in a depressed state. David doesn’t use this word; he is not depressed.

c) Dur, which means to simply dwell restlessly. But David is now a relaxed person.

e) Lun, which means to come to spend the night as a temporary shelter. Like a lot of believers when they get in trouble and come to Bible doctrine to get relief. As soon as the relief is afforded they move on rapidly.

g) Jashab, the word which David used here, means to dwell permanently always in a state of blessing.

The house of the Lord did not exist in David’s day; the house of the Lord refers to Bible doctrine. The temple was not yet constructed. The tabernacle

communicated Bible doctrine but he didn’t use the word for tabernacle, he used the word for a permanent house. This is a permanent house—Bible doctrine. In other words, David is saying that he has discovered the secret as far as serving the Lord is concerned, as well as orientation to the plan of God; he carries around in his soul Bible doctrine. He carried around inner happiness wherever he went as a fugitive. He was under all kinds of pressures but he was living in the house of the Lord, he had Bible doctrine in his soul. He desired Bible doctrine and this is the payoff of doctrine: “I am dwelling in the house of the Lord, I am dwelling in a place pf perfect happiness.” Bible doctrine in the soul not only leads to inner happiness, it leads to occupation with Christ. As a fugitive David discovered that he could be under maximum pressures without them bothering him, he carried around his own happiness. His mind isn’t the house of the Lord but the Bible doctrine he takes into his mind is the house of the Lord.

“that I may perceive the grace of the Lord,” literally – inner happiness is merely the result of doctrine in the soul, but the reason he takes it in is because he is in love with Jesus Christ. The only way anyone can love Jesus Christ is through Bible doctrine. It says in the KJV “to behold the beauty of the Lord.” The word for beauty is grace. Occupation with Christ is the great thrust; inner happiness is only a by-product.

“and to enquire in his temple” means to keep on learning Bible doctrine. Really there is no place to stop. Once you start learning Bible doctrine you have to keep on learning Bible doctrine. You don’t want to stop; you can never learn enough.

Verse 5 – the confidence of the fugitive. “For in time of trouble.” David is under pressure, disaster, catastrophe.

“he shall hide me in his pavilion” – this is grace. There are three words in this verse which express David’s method of handling the pressures of life: pavilion, tabernacle, and rock. These three words represent the solution to the pressures of life.

The word pavilion is a Hebrew word which means a booth, some kind of a temporary shelter made out of a few logs or branches. It was often used of the booths for the festivals, especially the feast of the tabernacles. It was a temporary booth and it is described also in Leviticus 23:34,42. The pavilion or the booth represents the first activity in time of pressure, the concept of the promises of God, the first object of the faith-rest technique when one gets under pressure. The pavilion is a temporary shelter, something to take up the slack until one is completely oriented to the plan of God.

Secondly, we have the word tabernacle. The tabernacle was one of the great collections of Bible doctrine presented categorically in the Old Testament. Remember that in Old Testament times the believers had shadow type doctrine since Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh historically. In the Old Testament all of the shadows were declared in various ways and they presented Jesus Christ just as clearly as we have it retrospectively. The tabernacle was one of these shadows and it presented many of the great doctrines of the Bible categorically which pertained to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the tabernacle, then, becomes the principle of the application of doctrine to experience in time of trouble.

Thirdly, we have the rock. This is a reference to what Jesus Christ did for the believer at the moment of salvation and our cognisance of it.

When we put these three words together we have inner happiness and occupation with Christ in time of pressure. The pavilion: the promises of God; the tabernacle: doctrine presented categorically; the rock: reminding us of the principle of eternal security.

Translation: “For in time of trouble he [God] shall hide me in his pavilion [promises]: in the shelter of his tabernacle [the shelter of Bible doctrine] shall he hide me; he has [piel imperfect used as a perfect to indicate the fact it happened in the past, but it still stands] set me upon a rock.”

Verse 6 – the anticipation of the fugitive. “And now”—after that great moment when his family was restored, when he had recovered everything, David had a further thought which is recorded here. He has seen the grace of God. He reflects on the fact that he has failed the Lord but the Lord has never failed him; he realises the faithfulness of the Lord.

“shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies”—he mentions his head because in 1 Samuel 16:13 he had been anointed king of Israel. That anointing by the prophet Samuel was God’s promise that some day he would be king, and now for the first time he realised that God keeps his word. He suddenly realises that it is true. He is now a fugitive but he anticipates being the king. This was actually fulfilled in 1 Samuel 31 where God in His grace provides a complete deliverance.

“therefore I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy”—the word sacrifices: three of the sacrifices pertained to the cross; tow of the sacrifices pertained to rebound. Altogether we have five Levitical sacrifices. The word sacrifices in the plural here: David says he will offer with joy. Joy is inner happiness based on Bible doctrine.

“I will sing” – qal imperfect, keep on singing. This is an expression of his inner happiness; “I will sing praises” – it actually says he will play a musical instrument: “I will play the stringed instrument unto the Lord.” So we gather from this that he is going to express his inner happiness based on Bible doctrine through music. This gives us a principle: Singing and music is not worship unless there is Bible doctrine in the soul and occupation with Christ. It is the mental attitude of occupation with Christ based on Bible doctrine that makes the singing count.

At this point David is victorious. He recognises by faith, even though there are some very difficult paths ahead, that God is faithful, that God will keep His word, and that he is going to be king.

5. When David has the details of life he can enjoy them and not lose his perspective.

8. David was occupied with Christ as a fugitive from Paul’s wrath and jealousy, but he was just as occupied with Christ when he became the king.

Verse 7 – the prayer of the fugitive. There are three verbs found in this verse. Each one is in the imperative mood and each one is a qal imperative which

demonstrates a simple confidence in the Lord on the part of David. The first of these three verbs is translated in the KJV “Hear.” This is a demand to be heard because David is oriented to the grace of God. He is not begging to be heard or pleading to be heard, he is demands a hearing from God. You do not demand anything from God unless you are oriented to grace through doctrine. People do not demand from God. He is sovereign; He is perfect, and the only person on the face of the earth who could demand that God hear is a person who knows the Word, and therefore is oriented to the grace of God and understands and loves the person with whom he is dealing. Here is a man who shortly before was frightened, running away, and now he comes to God and says, “You listen.” This is based on the faith-rest technique. It is based on the understanding of the essence of God. It is based on the understanding of the cross and what happened there. David realises that God is free to love him and treat him in grace, that prayer is grace, and therefore he demands a hearing.

The second phrase is also a qal imperative. It is translated in the KJV “have mercy,” but the Hebrew says, “be gracious.” This is a command to God to be gracious. David doesn’t beg for the grace of God, he demands the grace of God. The word “boldly” in Hebrews 4:16 refers to confidence—“Let us come to the throne of grace with confidence.” All prayers are received in heaven at a place called the throne of grace, but a believer who does not understand grace can never approach the throne of grace with confidence. The legalist begs and pleads, but when a believer understands grace he knows that his prayers are being received at the throne of grace. And when a believer is oriented to the grace of God through knowledge of Bible doctrine then he has the confidence that is displayed by three qal imperatives in this verse: hear: a command; be gracious: a command; answer me: a command. These are all orders, and you don’t address God that way unless you know what you are doing. To know what you are doing you need to know a lot of doctrine pertaining to prayer and other factors surrounding it—about God, prayer, the faith-rest technique. David knew all of these things and therefore he demands. So the second demand is “be gracious,” and the reason David demands grace is because the righteousness of God has been satisfied at the cross with the result that David can come with confidence to the throne of grace.

David’s confidence is based on two factors. God’s righteousness is satisfied by the cross—Romans 3:22-25; 1 John 2:1,2; also by rebound—1 John 1:9.

“answer me” – again the imperative mood, expressing David’s understanding of doctrine, his orientation to the grace of God, his confidence. He is on praying ground and he knows this.

Verse 8 – David’s approach and David’s confidence is based primarily on a principle: the faith-rest technique. David claimed a promise found in Deuteronomy 4:29-32. The first line of verse 8 is not correctly translated, the words are out of place. It actually begins, “To thee, saith my heart, Seek ye my face.” Seek ye my face is quoted from Deuteronomy; it is a promise.

“my heart” – the mentality of David’s soul. In other words, David is talking to himself. He is thinking this. Seek ye is a piel imperative, it means to seek for help, to come to God when you are in a hopeless situation. Seeking the face of the Lord is an idiom for seeking help from the Lord. The word seek in the Hebrew is baqash which generally means to seek for something under the principle of +V. But in the piel stem it becomes intensive and it means to seek for help when you are in a hopeless and helpless situation, and that is David as a fugitive. Prayer becomes total dependence upon God and not one bit of dependence upon self.

“They face, Lord, will I seek” – he stands on Deuteronomy 4:29. He is seeking the Lord’s face, which is an idiom for “I am coming to you with this problem.” He is standing on a promise and using the faith-rest technique.

Verses 9,10 – orientation to the plan of God; orientation to the grace of God. There are four petitions and a statement. In verse 10 is the principle behind it. His father and his mother have forsaken him, they are no help to him. David is in such a hopeless situation that not even his parents love him.

Verse 9 – “Hide not” is in the hiphil stem and is the first petition in the verse. It means Do not cover your face, an idiom which asks God to deal with David on the basis of grace. The hihil is causative active voice, and it means that David is recognising the essence of God. His is addressing himself to God and emphasising God’s character, therefore he is on grace ground. Who and what God is; that is the answer to prayer. Hiding the face would put the emphasis on David, but putting the negative in places the responsibility entirely upon God.

“put not they servant away in anger” – again, put not is in the hiphil stem. Put not in the qal means to stretch out or extend, but in the hiphil it means repulse: Do not repulse: “Do not repulse your servant in anger.” He recognises it is impossible for God to deal with him in anger for this reason: God’s anger comes from His righteousness and justice, but these have been satisfied at the cross. There is a direct relationship between propitiation and prayer. With righteousness and justice satisfied at the cross, and with rebound taking up any sins, he can say “Do not repulse.” He is reminding God that the only way He can deal with David now is in love.

David also refers to past faithfulness; there is a precedent for these two petitions and they are given in the next phrase. “Thou hast been my help” – in time past God was faithful to David. God’s faithfulness has been manifested many times—with the lion, with the bear, with Goliath, with Saul. God’s faithfulness to David was based on His character. The precedent of grace was established when God promised the seed of the woman to the first sinners in the garden. From that point on grace has been involved in the affairs of the human race.

The third petition: “leave me not.” This changes to the qal stem. It means do not abandon me. This is in the imperfect, which means the action isn’t completed and that means He never will abandon David. In other words, eternal security is brought into the picture.

The fourth petition: “neither forsake me,” which means to leave behind. It means that David recognises he is still in the plan of God, that God still has something for him to do in phase two, and even though he has failed in the first part of his fugitive experience he has no rebounded, is now saying, “I have positive volition toward thy plan; bring it on.”

Verse 10 – Father and mother: parents. This is one of the strongest of human ties. Under divine institution #3 the parents sustain the children. Yet, the strongest of human ties cannot sustain the believer, only the Lord and only Bible doctrine. David’s parents had forsaken him; they were utterly of no use to him.

“then the Lord will take me up” – take up is a qal stem again, it’s imperfect tense means that he will always do this. It means that He will take one in and will provide for them. So David now recognises that his provision, his life, does not depend on who and what he is. It depends upon the Lord’s provision, and even though he has no human help there is One who will never forsake him. David has forsaken God; God will never forsake him. Because David understands this the prayer of the fugitive is going to turn David into the greatest king the world has ever known, until the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 11 – the prayer for guidance. The first verb is “Teach me,” and this is a command in the hiphil stem to be taught. The verb is jarah. In the qal stem this word means to throw, to shoot an arrow, to lay a foundation. But in the hiphil stem it means to teach or to instruct. From the qal stem of jarah we learn the principle behind this verb: laying a foundation on which a stabilised superstructure can be built. In the hiphil which is the causative stem we have the concept of instruction, causing to learn, causing to have a foundation in the soul. This is in the imperative mood. At this particular point David is under so much pressure that he wants to learn those principles of doctrine which are connected with divine guidance. He realises that God has a plan for his life, just as He has a plan for our lives. He is now making demands in prayer and they are based on confidence. His demands are not blasphemous because they are on the grounds of Bible doctrine.

“thy way” – this is first of all doctrine for phase two, but it is actually Bible doctrine which is pertinent to the matter of divine guidance. This is brought out by the next verb, “lead me,” which means to guide. It is in the qal imperative which says he wants to know God’s will. There is a syntactical problem here. We have a hiphil imperative followed by a qal imperative, and when you have a hiphil coming first the hiphil causes the qal. The qal is “guide me,” but the only way he could be guided is to know something. So we have the issue: you must know Bible doctrine before you can be guided by God in phase two.

“in a plain path” – the Hebrew says “in an even path” or “a stabilised way.” The only stabilised way is God’s will. The only stability the believer will know in this life he will know only after he learns Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is the basis of orientation to the plan of God and the basis of divine guidance.[1] So David says, “Instruct me in thy way [orientation to His plan], O Lord, and guide me in a stabilised way, because of my enemies.”

David has two kinds of enemies. He has angelic enemies—Satan and fallen angels would like to neutralise David. He is a very important person in the plan of God in his generation and therefore Satan gives David his personal attention. There are fallen angels constantly pressurising David. In addition to that there is Saul, the king of the land, who is also very much against David. Saul is also a believer, but he is minus doctrine whereas David is plus doctrine. Saul is loaded up with mental attitude sins.

Verse 12 – “Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen against me [like Doeg the Edomite], and such as brethe out violence [king Saul].”

Verse 13 – begins to describe the deliverance. “I had fainted” is not found in the original and the verse actually begins with the word “Unless,” which in the Hebrew really means “Would that.” This doesn’t mean I wish this was true; he is saying it is true. An even better translation would be, “I know.”

“that I had believed to see the goodness [divine good] of the Lord in the land of the living.” The land of the living is phase two. David is simply recalling God’s past faithfulness. He recalls that in the past he has used the faith-rest technique. “I had believed” is in the hiphil stem and the perfect tense—he had been caused to believe. What caused David to believe? Bible doctrine in the soul which stimulated faith-rest. The hiphil stem is used to show that doctrine caused him to do so. The perfect tense indicates that this was a completed action from God, that God had actually delivered him, blessed him, cared for him, solved his problems in the past. He says that he has actually seen the goodness [divine good] from God. The principle behind this is that there is no problem too great for the plan of God. The land of the living means that he is still alive and this is the grace of God.

Verse 14 – “Wait on the Lord.” David wrote this when he was still under great pressure; He is going to wait on the Lord. The word wait is a piel infinitive. The piel stem is intensive; it means whatever you are doing you are doing more of it than ever before. This is your life. It is an infinitive which indicates God’s purpose. The word for wait is qawah which means to be helpless, to be a little thread that can be very easily broken. But you take this little thread and weave it into a great rope which cannot be broken. The rope is Bible doctrine which orients the believer to phase two. Once the hopeless, weak, helpless life is woven into Bible doctrine then you have strength. This is the strongest word for faith-rest in the Hebrew language. It means to ultilise the faith-rest technique and Bible doctrine in pressure, and that is exactly what David does. In this terrible situation of maximum pressure he suddenly realise that his life belongs to the Lord. He has Bible doctrine; he claims it; he uses it, and there is a result.

“be of good courage” – this means to be strong. One moment before he was weak and helpless and useless, but when he is oriented to the grace of God and when he starts calling on the inner resources of Bible doctrine, then he is strong. He has inner peace and happiness even though he is minus the details of life. He is strong because of doctrine.

“and he shall continue to pour out strength in your heart” – in the soul. If you are weak and you know it, then you have just taken the first step in being strong. That strength is Bible doctrine in the soul.

“wait, I say, on the Lord” – David proved this. In 1 Samuel 24 he could have killed Saul but he refused to do so. He waited on the Lord. In 1 Samuel 26 he had the opportunity of killing Saul again but he refused to do so. He waited on the Lord. He let the Lord handle the details in his life. Even though he was a weak thread out in the desert, running for his life, he suddenly became a strong person. He was occupied with Christ; Christ was his life, and he understood this through Bible doctrine.

{A Song of Military Prosperity and Success}
1~~{A Psalm} of David.
Jehovah/God . . . {is} my light
{'owr - means bible doctrine bringing light to the darkness of the
soul}
and my deliverance {yesha` - deliverance in battle} . . .
whom shall I fear/respect {yare'}?
Jehovah/God . . . {is} the fortification {ma`owz} of my life . . .
of whom shall I be afraid? {Rhetorical question - answer NO ONE!}

{Note: David's position in life in I Samuel 18:16 ties in nicely to this Psalm. David is in a lot of military combat right now. He is constantly in military danger, but he knows that God protects him so why should he be afraid?}

2~~When the 'one who causes others to be destroyed' {ra`a`}
{undoubtedly a reference to Goliath here - he destroyed all in his
path for years!},
all my mine enemies and my foes,
came upon me 'to kill me in combat and leave me for the buzzards'
{idiom: literally 'to eat up my flesh'},
they stumbled and fell
{David killed them instead - and a picture of Goliath 'falling'}.

3~~Even though an army/host
should besiege/trap/ambush {chanah} me {great mental pressure},
my 'right lobe'/heart {where doctrine is stored} shall not fear.
Though war should be declared against me on all sides,
in spite of this,
I will be confident {batach - Faith rest technique - trust in the Lord}.

{David's Only Request for the Lord is to Study His Word}
4~~One thing I have asked/petitioned {sha'al} of Jehovah/God,
that I will intensively seek after . . .
{notice David does not stand around waiting for the Lord! He goes
after it! And, the Lord will provide - and what is it he asks for?
Bible Doctrine}
that I may 'dwell in a place of blessings and prosperity'
{yashab - here referring to 'GAP it daily' - daily intake of the
Word}
in the house of Jehovah/God
{tabernacles where the Word is taught - tabernacles were teaching
aids by ritual}
all the days of my life
{David did not want one day to pass without doctrine - he was
given by God in Grace all 'details of life' that a human could ask,
but that was NOT what he asked for - HE asked for doctrine! And
God poured and poured and poured. Why did God say David
was a man after His own 'right lobe'? Because David had and
wanted more divine viewpoint!},
for the purpose to behold the slender/glamour/beauty/grace
of Jehovah/God
{permanent impression in David's soul - of God - was his intense
desire - we call this Occupation with Christ today},
and to reflect/inquire in His tent.

{Note: At this time, the Word was taught by scrolls, by ritual - each part of the temple and the rites pointed to a doctrine, prophets that God raised up, by teaching angels occasionally, and by direct communication to certain people in dreams and visions. Before the canon was completed, supernatural sources were needed to teach the Word. Now we have all we need in written form.}

5~~For in the time of trouble/pressure/heartache
He shall conceal/hide me as a treasure {tsaphan}
in His booth.
He shall stabilize me upon a rock {stabilization in adversity}.

6~~And now shall promote me above my enemies round about me
{at this point, even King Saul is his enemy because of jealousy of
David's prosperity}.
Therefore, I will keep on making sacrificial offerings {zabach}
in His tent
{the temple has yet to be built - now offerings are in tents of the
Lord}
sacrifices with 'great inner happiness'/joy!
I will 'spontaneously sing' {shiyr - from happiness} . . .
and I will 'sing with instruments'
{zamar - an organized process - accompanied with instruments}
praises unto Jehovah/God.

{Note: Warning! The minute you achieve SuperGrace prosperity, beware of those around you being jealous and envious! SuperGrace prosperity means your friends will be popping up all around you - but so will your enemies! Petty people will ignore you until you become blessed!}

{Note: Remember David is making the same offerings the other Jews are offering. The difference is for the others, it is just ritual. For David, there is meaning in the rituals - doctrine in his soul - he is a SuperGrace Believer - the offerings were meaningful to David - when he gives, it is with great inner happiness!}

7~~Hear {shama'}, O Jehovah/God, when I call out with my voice.
Be gracious {chanan} also upon me,
and answer {`anah} me.

{Note: Here is an example where David may have made a mistake in battle. Maybe he did not properly put out guards. So, David got himself and his men into a tactical jam and he is asking for God to overrule his mistake and allow him to survive to fight better another day! Principal: no matter your profession, you are human and you will make mistakes. It is proper to ask God to overrule you mistakes and graciously get you out of the jam.}

{David Claming the Promise of Deuteronomy 4:29-32}
8~~When You said,
"Seek you My face/presence {paniym}."
My 'right lobe'/heart said unto You,
"Your face/presence, Jehovah/God, I will seek."

9~~Do not hide your face/presence
{means NOT giving Grace to David}
{idiom: literally 'do not veil your face'}
Do not cause your servant {David}
to be stretched out {to the point of breaking} in anger.
You have always been my help
{with the lion, the bear, with Goliath, and all the time}.
Do not desert/abandon me, neither forsake me,
O Elohiym/Godhead of my deliverance
{every time David was delivered it was from the Lord}.

{David Had No 'Happy Childhood' So what! He had the Lord!}
10~~When my father and my mother deserted me
{from earliest childhood they put him OUT to care for the sheep -
had nothing to do with him},
then Jehovah/God kept on 'taking me in'/'receiving to Himself'.

11~~Cause me to learn Your Way, O Jehovah/God!
{this is David's desire all his life}
And lead me in a clear/even path
{David wants to walk on level, straight ground of righteousness -
God's Way},
because of my enemies
{starting with his parents and brothers, the lion, bear, Goliath, the
Philistines, and even his King (Saul) and all around them who are
jealous of David!}.

12~~Keep on not causing me to be put/delivered/given
over to the will/soul {nephesh - here desire of the soul}
of my enemies.
For false witnesses are risen up against me
{enemies - lie, slander, and malign you},
and such as 'breathe out' {yapheach}
'cruelty based on mental attitude sins' {chamac}.

{Note: David could be disciplined by the will of his enemies or the will of the Lord. David always asked for the Lord to dispense out discipline directly - and God always did!}

13~~{The cruelty would have been successful}
unless I had been caused {by doctrine/God to} to believe { 'aman}
to see the grace/goodness { tuwb} of Jehovah/God
in the land of the living.

14~~'Wait on'/'faith rest in' Jehovah/God
{qavah - means to weave strands of threads into a strong robe -
strongest word for waiting on the Lord - faith that He will deliver}.
Be strong/firm {chazaq},
and He will cause to strengthen Your 'right lobe'/heart.
'Wait on'/'faith rest in' Jehovah/God {David repeats for emphasis}.

{Written and Sung by David - Related to II Samuel Chapter 5}
{Title of the Psalm}
1~~A Psalm {mizmowr} and a Song {shiyr}.
The consecration of the house
for David {fortress of Zion - a grace palace}.
"I will 'raise you up'/'build you up {in my soul}' {ruwm},
O Jehovah/God {Jesus Christ}
{David never forgets the source of His prosperity}.
For You have built me up,
and have not permitted my enemies
to rejoice over me."

{Note: A mizmowr is translated a 'psalm'. It is music/singing accompanied by musical instrument. A shiyr is translated a 'song'. But it means when music is sung without instruments when you are very very happy. David had just conquered the hill fort on Zion that was held by the Jebusites. It remained unconquerable for 500 years - since the time of Joshua (see II Samuel 5:7). He changed it into a castle called Zion and built the 'Tower of David' on one end. This is David's first permanent home. David was a strong student of the Word. He knew he was nothing. All he had came from the source of God. He never forgot this and always built the Lord up in his soul - bible doctrine resident in his soul.}

{Note: Ruwm means to 'raise up'. David just built a beautiful palace on top of Mount Zion. So he uses a construction word when describing what he will do to the Name of the Lord. Jehovah is the Hebrew word for God that was never spoken (they said Adoni instead). It can refer to any One member of the Godhead. We find out in the New Testament, that Jesus Christ was the creator of the universe and all in it. When the Old Testament refers to the member of the Godhead/Elohiym Who was seen or heard, it was Jesus Christ.}

2~~ "O Jehovah/God
my Elohiym/Godhead,
I shouted {for help in reversionism} to You,
and You have healed me."

3~~"O Jehovah/God
You have brought back my soul {nephesh}
from the grave {David was under the sin unto death and recovered}.
You have kept me alive,
that I should not go down
to the pit {dying under reversionism}."

{Rebound Verse}
4~~"Make music to Jehovah/God,
O you men of grace,
and confess freely {rebound}
at the memory of His Holiness.

{Note: David is telling the serious students of God's Word, to make music to the Lord when you are in fellowship. When you get out of fellowship, confess your sins to God and get back into fellowship, and make more music!}

{Misery of Reversion and Happiness of SuperGrace Living}
5~~"For His anger . . . {lasts} but a moment . . .
His grace . . . {lasts} a life/lifetime!
Weeping {hard times} will pass the night for an evening
{carnality then rebound},
but celebrating happiness . . . {will come} in the morning."

{Note: God's 'anger' is an anthropopathism of the discipline the Father gives to all His children when they are out of line. It's purpose is to help them become better children. When you confess your sins, He forgives you and discipline turns to blessing. No matter what though, you ARE His son and His grace lasts all your life in time and in eternity!}

6~~"And in my prosperity I {David} said,
'I will never be unstable {consistent intake of doctrine}'."

7~~"Jehovah/God {Jesus Christ},
by means of Your grace benefit {ratsown}
You have caused my mountain to stand powerful.
{Before this in reversionism}
You 'disregarded me' {idem: literally - 'covered Your face'},
and {while disregarded by God}
I became neutralized with trouble and fear.

{Note: Ratsown is stronger then just 'grace'. It refers to David's SuperGrace blessings now. But in I Samuel Chapter 21 David was in reversionism and the Lord withheld His grace benefits. Now David has confessed his sins and in back in fellowship and actually still in SuperGrace status with all the tremendous grace benefits that status brings.}

{Turning Point for David}
8~~"I shouted to You, O Jehovah/God.
And unto you, Jehovah/God,
I {personally} sought your grace {repentance}."

9~~"What advantage {to the Lord} is there in killing me (?)
{idem - literally: what profit is there in my blood?},
when I go down to the pit {sin unto death in reversionism}.
Shall the dust be caused to praise You?
Shall it declare Your doctrine?

{Note: There is no glory brought to the Lord when anyone dies the sin unto death in reversionism. Only a SuperGrace Believer dying under dying grace benefits brings glory to the Lord.}

10~~"Listen to me, O Jehovah/God,
and be gracious/'have mercy' upon me
O Jehovah/God,
be my helper {help David to start recovering when in reversionism}."

{From the Pit to the Heights of Doctrine Resident in Your Soul}
11~~"You {Jesus Christ}
have converted my mourning {reversionistic discipline}
into dancing {SuperGrace benefits} for me {David}.
You have torn off my sackcloth
{David's humble situation - misery of living in reversionism},
and have clothed me with happiness."

12~~"To the end
for the purpose that my honor {SuperGrace living}
might make music for You {Jesus Christ},
and not be silent.
O Jehovah/God
my Elohiym/Godhead,
I will be caused to praise You forever."

“A Psalm of David, Maschil.” Maschil is a hiphil participle. The hiphil stem is causative. The verb is sachal, and it means to know, to be wise. So a Maschil is a psalm which takes doctrine residing in the human spirit and applies it to the various facets of the soul. This is said to be a psalm of David, and while he does not date it we are able to do so. This is one of three psalms that David wrote retrospectively after operation Bathsheba.

The maschil-type psalm occurs elsewhere: Psalms 42, 44, 45, 74, 78, 88, 89, 142. All maschil psalms have doctrine. They also have the application of doctrine and they show within the framework of the passage how to apply the doctrine to the situation. The maschil concept is found in other passages of scripture other than the psalms: 2 Chronicles 30:22 has a phrase, “He taught good knowledge.” The word for teaching in that verse is the Hebrew verb sachal. The “good words of the Lord” is maschil in the plural. Hezekiah, during the feast, encouraged them to teach the Word, which they did. In Proverbs 16:20—“He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” The first line is not what the Hebrew says at all. It says, “A maschil from the Word” or “Doctrine [applied] from the Word.” Doctrine from the Word applied causes the individual to find the good.

Verse 1 – the word happiness in this case is the plural word “Blessed,” ashere. It really means happinesses. The exact counterpart in the New Testament is makarioi, also a plural word. Happinesses is in the plural because God has designed operation phase two so that the believer can have both inner happiness [sometimes called joy] and overt happiness.

“transgressions forgiven” – no verb here at all, therefore great emphasis on the words that we have. Transgression is a word which means rebellion or trespass. The noun itself encompasses the whole realm of sins which emanate from the old sin nature. The word forgiven is not the word forgiven at all. The Hebrew word nasa doesn’t means to forgive, it means to lift up something, to carry something, or to carry something away. The only connotation of forgiveness is in the idea of carrying it away. It actually means to be lifted up and carried away so that it is no longer assigned to you as a point of guilt. This describes perfectly what Jesus Christ did on the cross.

“sin” is a different word entirely, it means missing the mark; “is covered” – the word for cover means to be concealed.

In a sense we have a relationship here. Transgressions—lifted up. That refers to our sins on the cross being judged by God the Father. Sins—concealed. That refers to the rebound technique. When we as believers confess sins in time we simply name sins that have already been judged. Since these sins have already been judged He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore we are back in fellowship, the place of inner happiness, the place of overt happiness, the two happinesses which are translated by one the word, blessed.

This verse tells us that the basic orientation to grace in phase two is the rebound technique. This is what separates believers.

Verse 2 – “Blessed,” same word as verse 1; “the man” – reference to the believer who appropriates salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity” – the word impute here means to think, to intend to do something about it, to communicate, to reckon. Here it probably means to compute. He does not compute iniquity to him. This has to do with the holiness bypass. God’s love is constant and static, regardless of our failure or success as believers.

The second line here is very important: literally, “in whose spirit no negligence.” The spirit refers to that part which absorbs Bible doctrine. The human spirit has capacity for fellowship with God. It is also where all Bible doctrine is located. In the spirit there must be no negligence. The human spirit has the ability not only to have fellowship with God but to absorb doctrine categorically for application to the soul.[1]

“in whose spirit is no …” The word is remjah. This does not mean guile; it means remissiveness. It means to be slothful. It comes to means here negligence or carelessness: “in whose spirit is no carelessness.” This word carelessness almost means apathy, indifference. But these do not cover it as much as the word negligence. What is a negligent spirit? No negligence means inner happiness, overt happiness. When the believer has been indifferent toward Bible doctrine the human spirit is empty of doctrine. This tends to cause a vacuum. Into this vacuum comes all sorts of things—mental attitude sins, legalism, apostasy, emphasis on the details of life. When this fills up it backs up and makes one negligent or indifferent to Bible doctrine.

Verses 3-5, discipline in the plan of God. Remember that the background to this psalm is operation Bathsheba. This is one of the rebound psalms and it covered a period of about a year and a half in David’s life when he did not rebound even once.

Verse 3 – “When I kept silence.” This is a reference to the fact that he failed to rebound throughout this entire period and that he came almost to the point of the sin unto death. Perpetual carnality results in maximum divine discipline.

“my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long” – there are two things that are outstanding here. He “roared.” Though he didn’t roar, the Hebrew actually says he screamed and groaned. He did this day in and day out because of the tremendous pressure under which he found himself. The real key here as to how tremendous this pressure was is found in the fact that he says, “my bones waxed old.” David was still a fairly young man at the time of operation Bathsheba and certainly in the prime of his life. This idiom is based upon the fact that the older people become the more brittle their bones become. Not only do they break very easily but they do not heal very rapidly. This means a lot of misery. It becomes an idiom, then, for the tremendous pressures of discipline which David underwent simply because he refused to rebound. There was a period in his life when he absolutely refused to avail himself of the grace of God. When an older person fracture a bone the factory is slowing down and the bones do not heal as well. The ingredients for healing those bones are not there.

The point: David refused to rebound and because of it the pressure continued to build. There was no recovery in his spiritual life until he almost reached the point where he was removed, and the pressure was do great that he roared or screamed all the day long. Psalm 38 gives a description of what is going on here. And there was no rebound, therefore there was no break, no change in pace, he was under perpetual carnality.

Verse 4 – the accumulation of discipline. “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me.” This means maximum divine pressure.

“my moisture is turned into the drought of summer” – the moisture is simply perspiration or sweat, and it comes from fear.

“Selah” – a musical rest. In other words, you stop and think about this. David is under more and more discipline and there is no break in it because there is no rebound. Whenever Selah is found it means: the orchestra—God and God’s plan; the choir—the believers. The believer rests in God’s plan. In this case David has to think about his discipline which is going on and on.

Verse 5 – “I acknowledge my sin.” Every part of his body is affected, his soul is affected, his whole being is affected by the pressure he has been under. The pressure built up until there was nothing left except grace. The word translated acknowledge here is jada, and it does not mean to acknowledge as such, it means to know. But it is in the hiphil stem and this simply means that he confessed or acknowledge his sin. It does not mean or say he felt sorry for his sin. The hiphil means to cause to make known or to name it. This is comparable to confess in 1 John 1:9.

“unto thee” – God the Father is the recipient of rebound because God the Father is the only one who has the right to forgive.

“mine iniquity have I not hid” – this doesn’t mean quite that. This is the piel stem of kasah. Kasah means to hide in the qal stem, but this is the piel stem and it means “my iniquity I have opened up to you.” In other words, he has spelled out the whole thing to the father. He listed the sins.

“I will confess” – in the Hebrew this means to confess in the sense of citing something, it has no emotional content whatever.

“thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” – the word for forgiving here in the Hebrew is a qal perfect; it is permanent; it is the Hebrew word nasa, which means to lift it up and carry it away. This is perfect tense and it should be translated “thou hast forgiven.” They were picked up and carried away on the cross. So the word to forgive means to take them off of David and put them right over the cross, and wait for it to happen historically. When Christ came these sins would be poured out upon Him and He would be judged for them. The comparable word in the Greek is a)feirew [a = a)po, preposition of ultimate source; e)irw = to lift up] which means to lift it up from the ultimate source and remove it.

Verse 6 – “For this.” The word this means the rebound technique, the concept of the grace of God.

“shall every one that is godly pray” – incorrect. The words shall pray is the word for prayer in the Hebrew, it is the word talal. This is not an ordinary word for prayer, it means to mention your own problems to the Lord. In the hithpael stem (reflexive) it means you pray for yourself. So this portion says, “For this [everyone that gets in fellowship] prays for himself.” In other words, if you are going to be in fellowship you have to do it for yourself. Rebound is always accomplished in prayer, so when you name your sins it is the beginning of a prayer. You actually say this to the Lord and you do it for yourself. Every one that is godly is everyone that is in fellowship. This means that a believer cannot maintain fellowship unless he is using rebound. It also means that rebound in the provision for many other things—for service, orientation to suffering, etc.

“in a time when thou mayest be found” – incorrect: thou mayest be found is it may be found. It is the subject, and it refers to grace—the grace principle in rebound. Grace is lost when you sin. When you get out of fellowship you have turned your back on grace and walked away from the grace of God and the plan of God.

“surely [or truth, point of doctrine] in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” The last part of the sentence is incorrect. It should read, “in the floods of great waters they [believers who use God’s grace] shall not be shaken.” There is the preparation for catastrophe.

Verse 7 – “Thou [God the Father] art my hiding place” – the place of protection, the place of orientation to grace, the place of inner happiness in the midst of disaster.

“thou shalt preserve me from trouble” – this does not mean deliverance from trouble, it means to be preserved in the midst of troubles. The word preserve means to be guarded and protected.

“thou shalt compass [surround] me about with songs of deliverance” – Songs of deliverance:

1. Refers to that part of scripture which was originally sung, i.e. the Psalms, the deliverance psalms. The promises ands doctrines of the Psalms are referred to here.

2. It is not the music but the lyrics of the Psalms that God has preserved. It refers to the words, the lyrics. God did not preserve the music, the tunes, but He did preserve the words.

3. The lyrics contain God’s promises and God’s doctrines pertinent to deliverance.

4. There is no pressure or disaster or problem of life too great for the Word of God. The Word of God is contained in the lyrics.

5. The plan of God is greater than any problem of life, or any failure on the part of the believer.

“Selah” – the orchestra keeps playing while the singers rest their voices. Singing represents the believer; the orchestration represents the plan of God. David has

Verses 8 & 9, divine provision through Bible doctrine. Provision for inner happiness and peace and blessing comes through Bible doctrine.

Verse 8 – “I will instruct” is a hiphil imperfect of the verb sakal: hiphil = causative; imperfect tense: the action is not complete. The verb sakal means more than just to instruct, it means to learn something so that you can’t forget it, and once you have learned it to apply it at every possible time. In other words, it is something that you are ready to apply at all times. Actually this verb describes the whole process of the operation of the human soul of the believer under doctrine—Bible doctrine in the human spirit so that it can be piped into the various facets of the soul. “I will instruct” is the process whereby we learn doctrine, store it in the various shelves of the human spirit, and from the human spirit pipe it into the soul from where it can be applied to the various situations of life. This is the whole system of learning Bible doctrine, storing it, and using it. It really means to cause to be wise. Wisdom is the application of doctrine.

“and teach thee in the way” – again, the hiphil imperfect but this time the word is teach: yarah. It first meant to shoot a lot of arrows at a target, but it actually means to teach something over and over again so that you can’t forget it. If you can’t forget it you can’t help but remember it. And if you can’t help but remember it you can’t help but apply it.

“the way that thou shalt go” – this is what is to be taught here. The way is operation phase two; thou shalt go means modus operandi in phase two; the word to go here is simply the ordinary Hebrew word for walking. God has a way for us to go, and that is perfect. This way for us to go is divine good—knowledge of doctrine plus the filling of the Holy Spirit equals the production of divine good. There is no place for human good in the plan of God. Ignorance of doctrine plus carnality produces human good. The great issue is human versus divine good and this issue is clarified to the believer by Bible doctrine.

“I will guide thee with mine eye” – I will guide is in the qal stem, and this means that God has made it possible for us to know His plan.[2] Knowledge of Bible doctrine is the basis for divine guidance.

Verse 9 – “Be not [qal imperfect] as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding [is stupid].” That means you have to learn the hard way, and it means a lot of suffering, a lot of discipline, and so on.

“whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle” – the horse always goes where his head is. If you turn his head he follows his head. The bridle is to make his head go where you want him to go. The bit is to finalise the direction.

“lest” is literally, otherwise; “they will not come near you.” So the bit and the bridle are used to control the horse. The bit and the bridle means learning through discipline to the believer. The principle of verses 8 & 9 together is, use doctrine to find blessing in suffering rather than using suffering to find blessing in time. Are we going learn doctrine by studying the Word of God? Or are you going to have to learn the hard way through divine discipline, through constant suffering?

Verse 10 – “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.” The wicked is the Hebrew word rashah and it means the believer controlled by the old sin nature. He is anti-doctrine, he resists doctrine. He gets special discipline and he learns with the bit and the bridle.

“but he that trusteth” – the qal active participle of the verb batach which is a wrestler’s term for slamming your problems on the Lord. Many understand the principle but they are helpless because they do not have enough doctrine. No growth means no faith-rest. You cannot be consistent in the faith-rest life, you cannot use the techniques unless you have some growth to back it up and stabilise you. You have to have strength in your faith and that depends on doctrine.

“mercy shall compass him about” – the Hebrew says literally, grace shall surround him. To operate on the faith-rest technique you: a) Learn doctrine; b) You develop your faith; c) You use your faith-rest technique. And what happens? Grace shall surround him! The word translated “mercy” here is actually grace—chesedh.[3]

Verse 11 – “Be glad” doesn’t mean to be glad, it means to rejoice. The Hebrew word is samach which is rejoicing, inner happiness. It is a qal imperative.

“and rejoice” is not rejoice, it is the word gil which means to celebrate. It originally meant to dance in a circle. It is overt happiness. This is also a qal imperative. So: “Have inner happiness, and have overt happiness.” These two words, samach plus gil is “blessed” in verses 1& 2—ashere, which should not be translated blessed, it should be translated happinesses. Notice that the passage begins with hapinesses and the passage ends with happinesses.

“ye righteous” – a believer in fellowship, oriented to the grace of God and using verse 5—the rebound technique.

“and shout for joy” – the celebration. This is a hiphil imperative which means if you have inner happiness and overt happiness you are forced into a celebration.

“ye upright of heart” – the heart is the mentality of the soul. Sometimes it is the entire soul. Upright of soul means a believer who is spiritually self-sustaining because he has Bible doctrine in the human spirit and the doctrine is flowing into every facet of the soul. As a result the soul operates on all systems go, we have an upright soul.

{Describes the Situation of National Deliverance
As when David Defeated Goliath}
1~~Rejoice/'Shout in victory' {an order} in Jehovah/God,
O you righteous/'SuperGrace Believer'
{tsaddiyq - David in view here}.
For praise is beautiful/suitable {na'veh}
for the upright/'SuperGrace Hero'.

{Singing Accompanied with Musical Instrument - to the Grace of God}
2~~Praise/'Acknowledge the Grace/benevolence of' Jehovah/God with a harp
{picture of David playing his harp in his tent with the head of
Goliath after slaying him}.
Sing unto Him with the zither,
and an instrument of ten strings.

4~~For the Word/doctrine {dabar}
of Jehovah/God is straight/correct/upright {yashar}
{and bible doctrine leads to straight thinking -people will let you
down, but bible doctrine will keep you straight}.
And all His works/'divine good production' . . .
{are done} in doctrine/truth {'emuwnah}.

5~~He{ God} keeps on loving righteousness
{Who has the righteousness that God loves? David! A SuperGrace
Believer Operating on Divine viewpoint - 'a heart/right lobe after His
own heart/right lobe'}
and judgment.
The land is full of the grace {checed} of Jehovah/God
{in the case of Goliath, the people have been delivered by God
through His SuperGrace representative}.

{Basis of David's Victory over Goliath - Doctrine in His Soul}
{Illustrations of the Omnipotence of God}
6-7~~By the word/doctrine {dabar}
of Jehovah/God were the heavens manufactured {'asah}.
And all the hosts/armies of them . . . {were made}
by the breath/spirit { ruwach} from His mouth. 7~~
He gathered the waters of the sea together in their boundaries.
He laid up the depth in storehouses {all creation is orderly}.

8~~Let all the earth respect/fear { yare'} Jehovah/God.
Let all the inhabitants of the land
'operate in a sphere of grace'/
'keep on standing in awe' {guwr}of Him.

9~~For He spoke/decreed . . . and it was.
He commanded . . . and it was established.

{God Controls History}
10~~Jehovah/God causes to frustrates
the plan of the heathen to no effect
{note David says God did it NOT himself}.
He blocks the divisiveness of antagonistic people.

11~~ The plan {`etsah} of Jehovah/God stands forever,
the purpose/thoughts/'bible doctrine' {machashabah}
of His 'right lobe'/heart . . . to all generations.

12~~Happinesses {'esher - plural} . . . the nation/'national entity'
whose Elohiym/Godhead . . . {is} Jehovah/God.
And, the people whom He has chosen
for His own inheritance/portion {salt of the earth principal}.

13~~Jehovah /God observes from heaven.
He has seen {from eternity past} all the sons of men.

14~~From the place of His habitation {headquarters in heaven}
He 'views from a higher place' {shagach}
upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

15~~He knows their hearts/'right lobes' {leb} alike
{the thinking of SuperGrace Believers is 'divine viewpoint acquired
from the study of the Word}.
He discerns {biyn}
all their works/production/'divine good production' {ma`aseh}.

{Only the Lord Delivers}
16-17~~There is no king
is delivered by the multitude of an army/host.
{King Saul in view here - for 40 days the army was humiliated by
Goliath's challenge that went unheeded}
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. 17~~
An horse . . . {is} an empty thing for safety.
Neither shall any escape from danger by his great strength
{ask Goliath}.

18-19~~Behold, the eye of Jehovah /God is upon them
who respect/fear Him
upon them that 'trust under pressure' {yachal}
in His grace checed}19~~
to 'snatch from danger' {natsal}
their soul from death {God protects from military disaster},
and to keep them alive in famine
{God also protects from economic disaster}.

20~~Our soul 'waits with confidence and desire' {chakah}
on Jehovah /God.
He . . . {is} our help {`ezer}
and our shield
{magen - David did not take Saul's shield! The Lord was his shield}.

21~~For our 'right lobe'/heart
shall have 'inner happiness'/+H {samach} in Him,
because we have trusted/'faith rested' {batach}
in His Holy Name.

22~~Let your grace {checed},
O Jehovah/God, be upon us,
according as we 'have perfect confidence in pressure' {yachal}
in You.

1~~{Title}{An Acrostic Psalm} of David
(when he had changed his behavior before
Abimelech/'Abiymelek
{RBT says this is what David was thinking when,
in I Samuel 21:13 and following, he pretended madness
before Achish, the king/Abimelech of the Philistines.
This verse now adds that Achish ordered David driven from
the city like an animal.}
who drove him away and he departed).

{'Aleph File- the ox - means prosperity}
I will adore/'love to the maximum' {barak}
Jehovah/God at all times.
His 'praise from knowledge' {t@hillah - you can not sing praises if you
do not know first}
shall continually be in my mouth.

{Note: When barak is used towards man, it means to bless or prosper. Man can not prosper God! When it is used toward God, it means to 'love to the maximum' or adore Him or be occupied with Him in your soul.}

{Note: Acrostic means each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is related to each verse in the Psalm. RBT calls them the x file - as in 'Aleph file for the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.}

{Beth File}
2^~My soul shall celebrate {halal}
in Jehovah/God.
the 'grace oriented in their souls'/humble {`anav}
shall 'hear, listen, and obey'
{shama' - refers to the study, concentration on and application of
God's Mind - the Word}
thereof, and rejoice/party {samach}.

{Note: David is using a play on words here. Halal here is in the Hithpael stem. That means to be very happy. In I Samuel 21:13 we had halal in the Hithpoel stem - which means to be mad. And, many people who are very, very happy appear to be mad! Haha but this is a play on words.}

{Note: `anav is often translated 'humble' in the KJV. But, this is not a phony type of thing. This word is used for a person who understands that God is the issue. We are nothing when compared with him. He is great. We are small. When you are oriented to the fact that God provides everything, then you are 'anav. SideNote: The name 'Peter' was given to Simon by Jesus and it means 'little chip'. The name 'Paul' taken by Saul of Tarsus means 'little'. Both LEARNED to be 'anav. Many people teach that the Lord must be first in your life. This is true but incomplete. To be 'anav, the Lord is EVERYTHING in your life. No, this does not mean to be stupid and neglect your life - that is misusing doctrine. Instead, when you understand this concept, you will be on your way to being 'anav. Until then, keep God first - and take in doctrine today, tomorrow and every day.}

{Gimel File- Camel - Denotes Extensive Knowledge of a Subject}
3~~O 'assign to greatness' {gadal} . . . with me . . . Jehovah/God, and let us 'lift up'/'Build an Edification Complex of the Soul'/
Exalt {ruwm} His Name together.

{Daleth File - the Door - Refers to Entering the Plan of God or a Place of Blessing or Cursing}
4~~ I {David} 'beat a path to {the door of the doctrine of}' Jehovah/God, and He answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.

{He File the Window - Refers to the Perspective of Life}
5~~They were caused to look {with anticipation}
unto Him {God} {positive volition},
and shined/'were lightened'/'cheered up inwardly' {nahar}
{made it to SuperGrace through the study of the Word}.
And their faces/presence 'were not ashamed'/'was no reproach'.

{Zayin File - Nail or Peg - Something you can Hang things on - Doctrine is something you can hang things on}
6~~This wretched/reversionistic {`aniy} man cried/yelled out
{from the title we know this is David in Gad pretending madness in
his fear}
and Jehovah/God heard him,
and delivered him out of all his afflictions {of reversionism}.

{Note: Here indicates the reversion recovery of David. Now the Lord hears and brings him out of his reversionism and misery. So this takes place between I Samuel 21 and I Samuel 22.}

{Heth file}
{David at His Lowest Ebb is Visited by Jesus Christ as the Angel of Jehovah}
7~~The angel of Jehovah/God bivouacked
{God was his place of safety and rest - Jesus taught David doctrine
directly and brought him back to SuperGrace status}
around those {David and others positive to God and His Word}
who 'respect authority of'/fear/'are in awe of' Him,
and delivered them
{means the Lord delivered David and others also - not just David}.

{Note: The Angel of the Lord is revealed to BE Jehovah in Genesis 16:7-13, 31:11-13 and many other passages. Yet He is also said to be distant from Jehovah. This is because Jehovah is a title for God and there are more than one member of the Godhead Who individually are called Jehovah. The revealed/manifest member of the Godhead is always said to be Jesus Christ - see John 1:18. SideNote: When Jesus Christ comes incarnate, the angel of Jehovah is never mentioned again.}

{Teth File - Roll Together - and stands for Relationship}
8~~O taste {eat the Bread of Life - doctrine}
and see that Jehovah/God . . . {is} good
{occupation with Christ after reversion recovery}.
Happinesses { 'esher - plural} . . .
{to} the hero { geber - meaning a SuperGrace Believer}
who 'takes refuge {in doctrine}' { chacah } in Him.

{Note: Chacah is the word to describe protection in the sense of an animal running for protection in a crack in the rock of a mountain.}

{Yodh File - hand}
9~~O respect {the authority of}/fear Jehovah/God,
you his 'hilarious ones'.
For there is no want to them
who respect {the authority of} Him.

{Kaph File - means the Palm of the hand -
10~~The 'young lions'
{k@phiyr - referring to humanly strong men - those with great
human abilities}
do lack and suffer hunger.
But they who constantly seek Jehovah/God
{positive volition to God and His Word}
shall never lack of any good {thing}.

{Lamedh File - Ox Goad - (keeps the ox moving)}
11~~Come, you children, {positive volition of the young}
'hear, listen, concentrate and obey' {shama'} unto me.
I will teach you
{via repetition - over and over and over to inculcation}
the respect {for the authority} of Jehovah/God.

{Mem File }
{Verses 12-13: Special blessing for avoiding the sins of the tongue}
12~~Who is the man
who 'wants to enjoy lives'/'who desires lives'
{chay - in the plural - means capacity to enjoy all categories of
happiness in life - social, sexual, spiritual, material, business,
scholarship, on and on}
and loves long life? {idiom - ' literally 'loves days'},
that he may see good
{means to see good in the Lord and all He provides - you see good
when unusually good blessings come your way}?

{Nun File}
13~~Keep/'stand guard on'/'walk a post on'
your tongue from evil
{an order! No sins of the tongue!},
and your lips from 'speaking deceit'/slandering {dabar mirmah}.

{Samekh File}
14~~Turn from {cuwr} evil/reversionism {ra}',
and manufacture {'asah - out of doctrine in your soul} good.
Search for prosperity/peace {shalowm},
and pursue it.

{'Ayin File}
15~~The eyes of Jehovah/God
are upon the righteous/'SuperGrace Believer { tsaddiyq}
{anthropomorphism - He watches like a parent - to protect us},
and His ears are open unto their cry
{a parent hearing the cry of their baby}.

{Pe File}
16~~The face of Jehovah/God is against them that do evil,
to cause to cut off
the remembrance of them
from the earth
{people like Saul and Doeg - no one will remember them kindly}.

{Cadhe File}
17~~I cry and Jehovah/God hears!
and delivers them out of all their troubles/'adversities of reversionism'.

{Qoph File}
18~~Jehovah/God is near unto them
that are of a heart/'right lobe'
shattered in pieces {while in reversionism} {shabar}.
And causes to be delivered
such as be of a bruised spirit {dakka' ruwach}.

{Note: This is a picture of the status of a reversionist. He has the doctrine in his soul, but he can not access it while out of fellowship - his spirit is damaged and his thinking broken up.}

{Res File}
19~~Many . . .
{are} the afflictions/problems/adversities/'evil occurrences' {ra'}
of the righteous.
But Jehovah/God delivers {him out of them all}.

{Note: This is also a prophetic reference to the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. Usually the victim of the crucification has his legs broken to die faster. But, Jesus would not have his legs broken during the crucification.}

{Note: This also means that David will be protected from this kind of problem in battle. Most men in battle died after bones were broken.}

{Taw File}
21~~Evil/reversionism shall destroy the wicked/reversionist
{sin unto death}.
And they {reversionists}
who hate the righteous/'SuperGrace believer'
shall be desolate/'in great agony' {'asham -self-induced misery}.

22~~Jehovah/God redeems/'ransoms' the soul of His servants
{many come to David to be protected, but they stay to be saved!
Jesus Christ's work on the cross redeemed all believers from the
slave market of sin}.
And none of them that 'takes refuge {in doctrine}' {chacah}
shall be desolate/'in great agony' {'asham - self-induced misery}.

{Verses 1-4: An Evaluation of the Men of Keilah - See I Samuel 23}
1~~ {Title} To the Chief Musician {a Psalm} of David
a slave/servant of Jehovah/God . . .
a Divine Word within my heart/'right lobe'
concerning the defection {pesha` - rebellion or defection}
of the 'wicked ones'/'reversionistic ones'
{men of Keilah} {rasha` - adjective}
who have no fear/ respect {for the authority of} Elohiym/Godhead
{means no Occupation for Christ - or His gift to us - His Mind - bible
doctrine}
before His {God's} eyes.

{Note: RBT says that David wrote this psalm about the men of Keilah. David and his men saved them from the Philistines. They promised their 'undying love to David' but then immediately turned right around and betrayed him to Saul. If you have no respect for God, you have no respect for yourself or anyone else.}

2~~For he flatters {chalaq} himself in his own eyes
{God's gift to woman type of thinking},
until his 'self-overconfidence'/megalomania
{`avon - mental attitude sins related to the ego}
to find {his sin} . . . is to hate {his sin}.

{Note: Chalaq 'describes the thinking of the person who decides for himself that he is so great that he must be God's gift to woman! This person does not wait for anyone else to tell him he is great he thinks it already himself! It never occurs to them that God might disagree! If he ever recognized this sin in himself, even he would hate it - as do most people who have doctrine in their souls and recognize this as sin. But in his reversionism, he does not 'find' or see his own fault - as being a fault.}

{Instability of the Reversionist}
3~~The words {dabar} of his mouth . . .
{are} vanity/nothingness {'aven}
{without doctrine and integrity - his word is not his bond and is
meaningless}
and deceit {mirmah - nice meaningless misleading statements of a
reversionist}.
He has ceased {chadal} being wise {sakal}
{means at one time they had doctrine - in or near SuperGrace -
then fell back in reversionism},
and to be pleasing {yatab} {to God}.

{Note: Did you believe the first time someone of the opposite sex said 'I love you' . . . 'I will never love anyone else'. If there was no doctrine in the soul of the person saying it, then the words were flattering . . . and empty . . . and very misleading - if you believed what was said!}

4~~He 'plots {to hurt}' {chashab}
vanity/nothingness {'aven}
in his bed
{the bed is for peaceful rest - but this describes the reversionist
who goes to bed and can not sleep because he is thinking of ways
to 'hurt' someone - this is to 'plot nothinglessnesses' and is very
evil thinking}.
He takes a stand {yatsab} in a way that is not good
{nice to your face, cursing you behind your back}.
He does not reject evil.

{Verses 5-10: Description of the Celebrity of Jesus Christ - SuperGrace Viewpoint}
5-6~~O Jehovah/God, in the heavens . . .
Your grace {checed} . . .
Your faithfulness {'emuwnah} . . .
as long as the sky {has no limit}. 6~~
Your righteousness {ts@daqah} . . .
like the mountains of God {'El}
{representing maximum stability}.
Your 'just decrees' {mishpat} . . .
as deep as the ocean { rab t@howm}.
You have caused to deliver man and beast {b@hemah} . . .
{God knows what He is doing and that applies in the animal
kingdom also}
O Jehovah/God.

7~~How precious/rare/'more valuable then anything else'
{yaqar} . . .
your grace { checed},
O 'Elohiym/Godhead!
Therefore the children of men {ben 'adam}
find refuge {chacah}
under the shadow of Your wings {God's Divine Protection}
{refers to the protection of the SuperGrace believer by God -
perfect security only dependent upon your relationship with God}.

8~~They {SuperGrace Believers under the protection of God}
shall be completely satisfied {ravah}
with the prosperity/abundance/fatness
{deshen - abundance to maximum prosperity}
of 'Your house'/'Your doctrine'/'Your divine viewpoint'
{SuperGrace Status - meaning His Doctrine or divine viewpoint - the
temple was where God's divine viewpoint was taught - God's
prosperity come from Him and the study of His Word gives one
the capacity to be happy regardless the circumstances - what
most people do not understand is happiness in prosperity is a
HARDER test then to be happiness in poverty}.
Therefore, You shall cause them to drink
of the river of Your pleasures {`eden}

{Note: `Eden - plural - The 'Garden of Eden' was literally the Garden of Pleasures. To drink of the river of 'Eden means to have the capacity from doctrine to share the Happiness which belongs to God - any or all of : monetary wealth, power, promotion, political success, completely satisfying social life, completely satisfying sexual life, completely satisfying business life, completely satisfying family life . . . on and on there is no limit to the happiness in time and eternity God 'causes' to occur to those with His divine viewpoint in their norms and standards}.

9~~{For with you is} . . .
the fountain {maqowr} of lives/'living waters' {chay}.
In Your Light/Doctrine/'Divine Viewpoint'
{Jesus Christ is the light of the World and doctrine is the Mind of
Christ}
we, ourselves, keep on seeing Light
{divine viewpoint - what is 'right' as opposed to what the 'world'
deceives you into thinking is correct - that is human viewpoint}.

10~~Scatter/spread your grace {checed}
to the ones knowing/understanding {yada'} You
{you only know the Father through the Son and His Word -
Doctrine. All humans are under the grace of God. This is more
grace or greater grace - SuperGrace on those who understand
the Mind of God - bible doctrine in their own right lobes}
And Your righteousness { ts@daqah - +R - divine righteousness}
to the upright in heart/'right lobe'
{ECS - divine viewpoint in the soul - SuperGrace believers}.

11~~Let not the 'foot of pride'
{referring to reversionistic King Saul chasing after David in his
jealousy of David - (the people sang "Saul killed his thousands -
David his ten-thousands")}
to overtake me {David},
and let not the hand of the wicked/reversionists
{here RBT says the men of Keilah were rescued by David and they
are saying nice things to his face, but plotting to turn him over to
King Saul}
remove me.

{David's Curse on the Men of Keilah}
12~~The workers {pa'al} of vanity/nothingness {'aven}
have fallen.
They are cast down,
and shall not be able to rise.

The superscriptions in the psalms are actually included in the original. “A Psalm of David” is a part of verse 1 even though it is the title. Verse 25 actually explains when this psalm was written. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” David wrote this psalm when he was a very old man, probably a very short time before he died. He had the opportunity to see life from childhood to old age. He understood what was important in life; he had a true scale of values. He was perhaps one of the few people of all time who as a young man was not afraid of old age. The phrase “A Psalm” does not occur.

The title of the psalm is simply, “From David.” David kept a file, and in this was an alphabetical file. In this file he had something that was important under each letter of the alphabet, some doctrine that was very important.

The first file is aleph. Aleph was an ox. All of the letters in the original Hebrew alphabet were pictorial. Aleph is actually an ox coming toward you, and he is pulling a burden. The ox always represented the servant and this principle is seen in the first two verses. Then there is the letter Beth which refers to a house. This is the house of God or the plan of God as known in the Old Testament, and on entering the house you learn something. So next we have Gimmel, a camel. The camel was the traveller and was associated with travel and this represents travel or knowledge. This is what is meant by an acrostic psalm. David kept a file on various types of doctrinal subjects. In his old age he pulls this file and gives us a picture of what he has filed that is most important under each one of these letters. He kept notes on the prosperity of the unbeliever, which is apparent but not real. Then he kept notes on the real prosperity of the believer. But he waited until he was about to die to write on the subject.

David had noticed during his lifetime that believers were often frustrated and very discontented because they saw unbelievers becomes successful, prosperous and apparently happy. David was quite concerned about the mental attitude of born-again believers who get their eyes on people, and therefore they are constantly frustrated, constantly fretful or upset, constantly envious of unbelievers. The more David saw these people the more he realised that in his dying moments he had to communicate a point regarding orientation, a point regarding man’s evaluation of life. He realised that too many of his friends, too many believers, were all mixed up and confused simply because they couldn’t keep their eyes on the Lord. The reason: no doctrine. No doctrine means no scale of values; no scale of values means frustration; no scale of values means a desire to fulfil the lust pattern—approbation lust, power lust, materialism lust. The unbelievers seemingly could get away with anything and everything; seemingly was very happy, seemingly was very prosperous and very successful. So as David is about to depart from this life he pulls his file. He holds up on it until he is close to death for one reason. No one can gainsay a man who has lived in every phase of life. He has lived as a child, he has lived as a teenage boy, he has lived as a young man with great potential and great pressures, he has lived as a middle aged man, he has lived as an old man. He has seen much of life. He knows what is real and what is not real and he is desperately concerned about believers who place a false scale of values on prosperity, on success, on the status symbols. For this reason many, many believers are constantly in a turmoil, constantly upset and off-balance, and constantly miserable and frustrated. They spend all of their time looking at someone else, wishing they had something that someone else has, being mentally disturbed and upset. So we have an orientation or an acrostic psalm.

Verse 1 – the first word begins with an aleph. Immediately we have the premise for the entire forty verses of this psalm, a premise in which God through David gives two commands. The first command is given in the hithpael stem and the second command is given in the piel stem. The first command is “Fret not” and the second command is “Be not envious.”

“Fret not thyself because of evil doers” – throughout this psalm we have the words wicked, evildoers, and so on. These are phrases simply referring to the unbeliever; referring to the unbeliever with emphasis on his old sin nature. Remember that the unbeliever lives his entire life under the control of the sin nature. This means that from his area of weakness during his lifetime he will commit X-number of sins; this means that during his lifetime from his area of strength he will produce X-amount of human good. Then there is the lust pattern, all types of lusts. These all form the motivation for the unbeliever, so that the unbeliever’s life is categorised by his sin, by his human good, by his lust pattern, and by his trends.

“Fret not” is in the hithpael stem, it means that the believer looks over into the unbeliever’s pasture and has a reaction called “fret.” We know it is a reaction because it is in the hithpael stem which is reflexive, or better yet, volitional. In other words, you act on yourself. He does this by thinking something that is negative in his mental attitude—envy, jealousy, pride, resentment, etc. So the first thing a believer does when he gets his eyes on the unbeliever is to make himself miserable. “Do not become resentful.” This is in the imperfect tense—the jussive, like the Greek subjunctive is a command that recognises human volition. In others words, you are tangled up in your own volition, in your own mental attitude; now get out of it! This can only be done by Bible doctrine.

“because of evildoers” – the word evildoer is a verb. It is a hiphil participle. The hiphil stem is causative and the participle indicates that this is an habitual condition. The word evildoer actually means to cause evil and then from causing evil to live by evil. The evil here is the old sin nature and it means to live under the old sin nature and to do so by your own negative volition. He apparently does some things that are wrong and he does some things that are good, but with all of it he is prosperous, successful, well-liked, etc. Believers are not to react to the prosperity or the apparent prosperity of the unbeliever. If the believer reacts to an unbeliever he cannot respond to the Lord.

“neither be thou envious” – piel imperative. When you begin to react you first of all start out with resentment. Then, as this resentment continues, it turns into envy. Because this envy is so intensive we go from the hithpael to the piel stem—imperfect, which is a jussive, a command recognising the importance of human volition in the command. So once again we have the principle: do not be jealous. Jealousy is a mental attitude reaction to the apparent prosperity of the unbeliever. Envy or jealousy of successful unbelievers represents complete disorientation to the plan of God.

Verse 2 – we see what finally happens to the ox. Sooner or later, of the ox falls into the ditch or breaks his leg and he is slaughtered. Then he simply becomes food on the table. Now the ox is the unbeliever. In other words, the prosperity of the unbeliever is temporary. The apparent happiness of the unbeliever is temporary.

“For they” – unbelievers, apparently prosperous; apparently happy—“shall soon be cut down.” Soon means the time is short compared to eternity.

“like grass” – grass is cut down and very soon thereafter it is dead grass, referring to the second death: “It is appointed unto man once to dies, and after this the judgment.” Whatever fun the unbeliever has in life, and it is very short and there is very little of it, he has eternity in the lake of fire.

Verses 3 & 4 is Beth, and it refers to a house. The house of God in David’s day was the tabernacle which represented Bible doctrine presented pictorially, presented through training aids. Later on when Solomon built the temple that was called the house of God, but there was no temple when David write this. The house of God in reality is Bible doctrine. You have to have Bible doctrine before you have any object for your faith after salvation.

Verse 3 – “Trust in the Lord.” The word trust is one of five different Hebrew words. Probably the most common is amen which simply means to use God as a prop, as a foundation. It is generally connected with salvation, as in Genesis 15:6. A second word chasah is the rabbit running from the wolf who gets into the cleft of the rock where the wolf cannot follow him. That means to centre your life in doctrine and in the plan of God. The third word is kawah which means to be a little thread, and the thread is woven into a large rope. While you can break the little thread, once you weave it into the rope it is no longer breakable. This is usually translated “wait on the Lord.” It means a faith which is weak in itself but when the faith uses Bible doctrine as its object—the doctrine is strong, permanent—the person becomes as strong as the doctrine he believes. Then there is the word jachal which simply means to be in great pain, to be under maximum pressure and yet to trust the Lord. This is often used of Job during the time of his pressures. The one that is actually used in this verse is batach which is used of a wrestler who picks up another and slams him to the ground—a body slam. It is used here in the sense of believing the Lord and therefore have such a strong faith in Him that you take your problems and pressures and slam them on the Lord. Here batach is in the qal imperative; it is a command. If we are ever going to get with this and have inner happiness, orient to the plan of God, then we have to come to the place where we slam our problems, difficulties and troubles on the Lord. He is much more capable than self.

Trusting in the Lord here is in His plan, His marvellous, perfect plan of phase two whereby He provides in such a wonderful way. When this happens there is a second imperative: “and do good.” This is also a qal imperative of the word asah which means to make something out of something, or to do something from something. We do divine good from something—divine operating assets for phase two. Good here refers to divine good, the production which comes in Old Testament times from the faith-rest technique or the spirituality as it then existed. This production of divine good is in contrast to the human good produced by the old sin nature.

“so shalt thou dwell in the land” is an imperative. It should be translated, “dwell in the land.” This is the Hebrew word which means to dwell in a house under conditions of great blessing. The house is God’s plan, phase two; Go in!

“verily” is of truth, doctrinally “thou shalt be fed,” or literally, “feed on doctrine.” This is a qal imperative and it does not even mean to feed. It is the verb for shepherding, it is more than feeding. Literally, this is “feed on doctrine and shepherd thou.” In other words, the Lord is your shepherd; you feed on Bible doctrine; you are eating the shepherd’s food, and therefore eating the shepherd’s food you have a bit of His character, a bit of His viewpoint, and you have His perfect inner happiness. It can even be translated, “Feed on doctrine and you will be a shepherd” – in the sense of being spiritually self-sustaining.

Verse 4 – “Delight thyself, ” hithpael (reflexive). The reflexive stem of delight takes us back to volition again, but this time it emphasises the positive and shows us that we can be happy. The word delight means here to make love. It is a word for amorous behaviour or to take exquisite delight in a member of the opposite sex. This refers to making love to the Lord and it requires some aggression—mental attitude, coordination, human volition and the impartation of self. The word is used here for occupation with the person of Christ. Make love to the Lord. In this way we are occupied with Him and this is the very antithesis of being fretful and being envious.

“and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” – because of who and what He is, not because we have done something to earn it.

Verse 5 – the third file, the gimmel command. The Hebrew letter looks like a camel from a long distance. The gimmel commands are commands that speak of wide knowledge. Through wide knowledge of the Lord [doctrine] there is definite orientation to the plan of God.

“Commit” – the original word meant to roll something, to roll a stone away, to roll a burden off of someone. It was used in military life for taking off a pack. It means to dump your pack on the Lord. “Commit they way unto the Lord” – the way are the problems, troubles, difficulties.

“trust” – batak, qal imperative. Faith-rest technique. You and I as believers are not to carry any pack of any kind. All of our troubles, frustrations, anxieties are the be dumped on the Lord and left there. It takes more to leave it there than it does to dump it there.

“and he shall bring it to pass” – literally, he will do the work. This is divine good in operation. The faith-rest technique gives God a chance to exercise His good. This is, again, asah meaning to make something out of something. So the Lord takes something—our misery—and makes blessing out of it; He turns cursing into blessing. As a result of this you finally have a testimony for the Lord.

Verse 6 – “And he shall bring forth thy righteousness.” What righteousness? The very character of God. The righteousness here is inner righteousness—mental attitude love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and so on.

“as the light” – the principle of Ephesians 5:14, the filling of the Spirit produces light; also Ephesians 5:8,9; Matthew 5:14-16. When the light of your life shows there is impact on the unbeliever.

“thy judgment” is literally, thy justice—your sense of justice, your stability in justice.

“as the noonday” is as the double light, a light that is so bright that no one could miss it, a light which is a perfect testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 7 – the daleth command. Daleth is a door. The daleth command opens the door to the plan of God. You now are getting with it. We have had beth, the house. Most believers stay out on the porch after they are saved, never learning any doctrine. They try to live a good clean life and that is about all. The blessings are in the house, this is phase two. So get in the house. Some people stay on the porch all of their lives and only go to the back door to die. So they miss the boat as far as phase two is concerned, they fail to live with the plan of God.

How are we going to be in the house instead of out on the front porch? This is done by resting. So we have the word “Rest in the Lord.” Resting is a qal imperative again. It means to be quiet, to be relaxed. It means to have a mental attitude which is free from the usual—pride, hatred, jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability, spitefulness, bitterness, hostility, and so on. In other words, it says relax in the Lord. When you relax in the Lord your faith gets stronger, and then you …

“wait patiently” – the word means to whirl yourself around, it is a hithpael imperative. In other words, when you are in the house you are not perfect—the house is phase two, and every now and then you sin, so to whirl yourself around in simply rebound.

“fret not thyself”” – that is, do not be resentful, they same verb as that with which we started in verse 1. So he goes right back to the thing that keeps the believer out of the plan of God, the thing that keeps from being oriented to grace—mental attitude sins which always produce self-induced misery. And he is going to emphasise throughout this acrostic psalm the importance of getting away from the mental attitudes that ruin you. It isn’t the overt action that the Bible really emphasises. It prohibits overt sin and it recognises failure in the behaviour pattern of individuals but the sins that really destroy the Christian life are not what you do but what you think.

“because of him who prospereth in his way” – this means to resent one who displays prosperity.

“because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass” – who makes a killing in business. Don’t resent the unbeliever’s prosperity.

Verse 8 – the he commands. The word he is actually a window. It speaks of the mental attitude of the person viewing life. The believer looks through the window of life. Sometimes it is foggy and sometimes it is clear. When the window is fogged up it always fogs up for one reason: because of mental attitude sins. Believers looking out of fogged-up windows get the wrong perspective of life. These fogged-up windows come from their mental attitudes, the mental attitude sins—the envy, the jealousy, the pride, the vindictiveness, the implacability, and so on. So we have a command at this point.

The first command is a hiphil imperative: “Cease from anger.” Anger is a mental attitude sin and it represents the principle of all mental attitude sins. In other words, cease from anger means to cease and desist from all mental attitude sins. It actually means to have a relaxed mental attitude.

The next phrase repeats the principle: “forsake wrath” – again, this represents the menta, attitude sins.

Then for the third time we go back to the subject, the thing that was bothering David in his old age. He had seen the faithfulness of the Lord. He realised how gracious and marvellous the Lord was and how the Lord provided, how the Lord was faithful, and how that everything that the Lord gave was based upon His own perfect character, and that all grace was God giving, and all of the giving which He did was simply a reflection of His own perfect and wonderful faithfulness. Because of this is was very difficult for David to hear people fretting, upset, because of the prosperity or apparent prosperity of the unbeliever.

“fret not” – the third time he has used the phrase. It means, do not be upset and resentful. In other words, get your eyes off people. Inevitably when you have your eyes on people you have your eyes on self, and this results in self-pity plus disillusion. Self-pity plus disillusion makes for self-induced misery.

“in any way to do evil” is incorrectly translated. It should read, “it only leads to doing evil.” This is connected to verse 1 – “Fret not thyself because of evildoers.” Evildoer is a very technical word, it refers to the unbeliever. Evil is the principle of human good. Grace is the antithesis of human good. God does the work and man receives what God does for him. Always in the plan of God, He provides. When a believer acts like an unbeliever he gets in to this area, it only leads to doing evil.

What is it that makes the unbeliever miserable? He is fretful, he is jealous, he has the mental attitude sins—bitter, hostile, antagonistic, vindictive, etc. These all produce misery in him, just as they do in the believer. When the believer frets he is acting just like any unbeliever. This is like looking out of the window when it is all fogged up, and this is why we have the he command at the end of verse 8—“fret not thyself, it only leads to evil doing.” Evildoing is a hiphil infinitive. The hiphil stem means to cause evil. So this leads to a principle: We lower ourselves to the same attitude as the unbeliever. Mental attitude sins cause him to lower himself and act like any unbeliever.

This terminates one section of David’s file. He is still in the he file but this terminates the commands. In the first eight verses we have the acrostical commands, but we are not through with the alphabet and from this point we have some acrostical contrasts. We have David trying to teach in his old age from the standpoint of contrast, and he is going to begin with a contrast of eternal status. He is saying to believers who are upset and disturbed and jealous of the prosperity of others to look into eternity: these believers that you envy, what do they have in phase three? and what do you have as a believer?

Verse 9 – the he contrast. We look out the window and look at phase three, and take a quick evaluation of eternity. We look at a number of contrasts, beginning in verse 9 and going through verse 24, and we orient to life through these contrasts.

“for evildoers [unbelievers]” – because the unbeliever is controlled by his old sin nature, not because he is always doing evil. We have a contrast here which is both eternal and temporal. The evildoer in eternity is going to be cut off; the believer in time is going to have perfect happiness. The unbeliever in time is generally miserable with a few pleasant moments. Don’t resent the unbeliever’s happiness or prosperity because he has a lot of self-induced misery in time, and in eternity it only gets worse.

“but” is a conjunction of contrast. Here is the contrast between the believer and the unbeliever; “those who wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth.” We have in this psalm four out of the five Hebrew words for faith. This Hebrew word is qawah, the strongest of all words for faith. It means to take a little thread which can very easily be broken and to weave this thread into a giant rope which cannot be broken. It means here to wait on the Lord for a solution.

“the earth” is really ‘the land’ and it refers to the land of Palestine. For those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ the land can be “inherited” right now. The believer’s inheritance means that whenever he has a problem, a difficulty, he simply puts it in the Lord’s hands and forgets it. It also has a future connotation. In eternity it is going to be no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death, the old things have passed away.

Verses 10-11, the contrast continues but we go to the next file drawer, the waw file. It is a very small letter and is supposed to have a hook on it because that is exactly what it was—a nail or a peg on which to hang things. So the waw contrast is the nail or the peg on which we hang a point of doctrine.

Verse 10 – “a little while” refers to the completion of human history; “the wicked shall not be” [literally, shall not]. That is, they shall not have any prosperity, any happiness, any success, because the lake of fire will be their lot. The “wicked” is simply a technical word for the unbeliever, the one who has not received Jesus Christ as saviour.

“thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be” – in other words, before you start to resent any unbeliever, and waste your time doing so, take a good look at the perspective.

Verse 11 – in contrast. “But the meek” – this does not refer to self-effacement. A meek person is simply a believer oriented to the grace of God through Bible doctrine.

“shall inherit the earth” – blessings in time as well as the great blessings of eternity.

“they shall delight themselves” – the verb is a verb of amorous behaviour. It has to do with occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“in the abundance of peace” – the word for peace does not mean world peace. This is personal peace. It is a Hebrew word that refers to inner happiness.

Verses 12-13, the zayin contrast. The zayin is a sword or weapon. This is the sword of the unbeliever seeking to persecute, to destroy, to neutralise the one who is born again.

Verse 12 – “The wicked” refers to the unbeliever; “plotteth against the just.” The word for just is justified, one who is born again. Plotteth is a piel stem of zamam, and it means to sit down and think of some one who is the object of hatred, and to think of hurting them. It means to meditate evil, revenge, to plan a system of evil. It is premeditated revenge. The wicked actually premeditates revenge and retaliation against the one who is born again.

“and gnasheth upon him with his teeth” – the word for gnashing teeth is simply an idiom which expresses antagonism. So he looking for a way to retaliate and to hurt the one who is a believer. “The wicked plans revenge against the just [the righteous], he gnashes his teeth upon him.”

Verse 13 – “But the Lord shall laugh at him.” The word laugh is an anthropopathism, ascribing to God a human characteristic which God doesn’t have whereby we can understand God’s attitude. The word laughter is actually a way of describing the believer’s protection.

“for he seeth that his day is coming” – the Lord laughs as He sees the unbeliever’s day of judgment coming; in the plan of God he is removed.

This leads to a logical progression. The door of that file is closed. We turn next to the letter kheth which is a fence. God has a fence around us and we are in the centre of His protection. Verses 14, 15.

Verse 14 – the word for poor is simply the meek, a technical description of the believer who is under the grace of God. So meek means hopeless, helpless, useless, and thoroughly protected and provided for.

“and to slay such as be of upright conversation” – so we have an amplification of the fact that the unbeliever is antagonistic toward the believer in principle.

Verse 15 – God turns the unbeliever’s plotting against himself and He uses the plotting of the unbeliever to punish the unbeliever with it. This is the message of Psalm 7:15,16. “Their sword shall enter into their own soul.” This means in principle that anyone who is guilty of mental attitude sins will produce misery, self-induced misery.

Verses 16,17, the next file—teth. Teth has two meanings. It is the Egyptian word for a serpent, but it also means two things twisted together. They don’t really belong together but they are twisted together. So the concept is something that is rolled together, twisted together, but they don’t want to be together, they are not compatible.

Verse 16 – the teth contrast. “A little” – of materialistic things, very few materialistic things; “that a righteous man [believer] has is better than many riches of many wicked.” So we have two things twisted together, two things that live together in this life—a believer and the unbeliever. Whatever we have in life (it may be very, very little) it is better than all of the wealth of all of the wealthy people in the world, because we have Bible doctrine in the soul. Bible doctrine in the soul means inner happiness. This is something which is unique and something which no unbeliever can have, all he has is the details of life.

Verse 17 – what happens to the man and his details of life? “The arms of the wicked shall be broken.” Breaking the arm is actually an idiom for losing the details of life. So here is the unbeliever, his details wiped out, and now he is walking around with a broken arm—an idiom. He was miserable with the details, so think how he is without them! He is miserable with the details of life, except for a few moments of stimulation, and when the details are wiped out all he develops is a greater capacity for misery.

“but the Lord upholdeth the righteous” – the word uphold means to sustain. The Lord sustains the believer through doctrine.

This brings us to the principle of yodh and kaph. Yodh (Jot and tittle: tittle is waw; jot is yodh). Yodh is the smallest of all the Hebrew letters, it is a hand. So we have the yodh security, we are in the hand of God—verses 18-19.

Verse 18 – “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright.” The days of the upright is simply phase two of the plan of God, from the cross until death or the Rapture. God has allotted the believer so much time on this earth and he is in His hands all of the time that he is here. He knows how long we are going to be here and He calls is days, not years, because God gives us one day at a time.

Verse 19 – believers with Bible doctrine shall be satisfied under pressure. Famine is simply great pressure in an agricultural economy. The word satisfied means to be filled and satisfied. This is what Bible doctrine does for the believer.

Verse 20 – but for the unbeliever there is the kaph judgment. Yodh is the hand, but kaph which is simply an enlargement of it is the palm of the hand. But kaph is the palm of the hand pushing away something. In other words, it was simply saying no, or judging. The Lord does not sustain the unbeliever, does not help the unbeliever, does not provide for the unbeliever. The only thing that He provides for the unbeliever is salvation. The unbeliever has said no to salvation and so the Lord pushes out His palm and says no. This is a monopoly for the believer. The believer is in the hand of God but the unbeliever is getting the palm of God pushed out toward him, saying no.

Verses 21 & 22, the lamed file. A lamed is simply an ox goad, something to get the ox moving.

Verse 21 – “The wicked [unbeliever] borroweth and payeth not again.” Borrowing is the lust pattern of the old sin nature. He is motivated to borrow and has no desire to pay it back. The money is to gratify his lust pattern and he has no sense of responsibility in the matter.

“but the righteous showeth mercy” – mercy is simply grace in action. The righteous believer here has doctrine and because he does he also has minus the mental attitude sins. He has a relaxed mental attitude toward people and therefore gives of himself. He shows mercy. Here is the goad, something to get the unbeliever moving in the direction of God’s plan.

Verse 22 – “For such as be blessed of him.” God is blessing the believer; He is cursing the unbeliever. The only way that cursing can be turned into blessing is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The next letter is mem, a word for waters originally. When David comes to the M file, the file which has to do with water, he sees two principles. First of all, the Word of God is water—the water of the Word, Ephesians 5:26. He also sees the believer out on life’s sea under operation phase two. Often the sea is smooth—prosperity, and sometimes the sea is rough—pressure. The principle that David sees at this point is that when it is smooth [prosperity] doctrine gives the perspective, but when it is rough and when you have a storm on the sea, when you have pressure, you still have the same doctrine and you must have the same consistency under pressure that you have on your prosperity. So we have a principle applied to us in our Christian life: that we can be consistent, that we can go on moment by moment in the storms at sea or in the smooth weather.

Verse 23 – “The steps of a good man.” Notice that the word good is in italics. It doesn’t occur in the original. There isn’t a good man here. The word steps in the Hebrew refers to the marching and movement of troops, and the word man is the word for hero or, as we would use today, a champion. A champion is consistent, he keeps moving in the direction of the enemy. He is consistent because of what he has inside of him, not because of outside factors.

“are ordered by the Lord” – the word ordered here means to provide, to supply, to establish, to confirm and to stabilise. In other words, God has an answer for every problem in life and in God’s plan there is no problem of life too great for His plan. The catch: your steps have to be ordered by the Lord. Being ordered by the Lord is Bible doctrine. If Bible doctrine doesn’t run your life then you are not living for the Lord, you are living like any unbeliever.

“and he delighteth in his way” – he is a believer who is living under doctrine, he delights in His [God’s] way—doctrine. His steps are ordered by the Lord because he delights in doctrine. The word delight is chathetz. It means to be so excited about something that it is difficult to think about anything else. It is a word also used for human love. It means to be not only in love but to be nobly motivated by love. It means more than to just love someone, it means that with this love comes a tremendous capacity and motivation for nobility with regard to the object of love. This isn’t any type of frivolous, light delight. It refers to a strong capacity to love. It is a love for God’s way, a love for God’s Word, a love for the principles of doctrine.

Verse 24 – on the other hand every believer is not this way. Here we have the believer who is minus doctrine, and this believe falls. He produces human good in his fall. He is disappointing to the Lord, he fails the Lord, he is inconsistent. He falls, he is out of fellowship, he is carnal, he lives under the old sin nature. Wherever the word falling is found it never refers to loss of salvation, it simply refers to a believer who lives under his old sin nature. “Thou he fall, he shall not utterly cast down” – he can’t lose his salvation.

“the Lord holdeth him with his [the Lord’s] hand.” This is grace. God’s attitude toward us does not depend on our attitude toward Him. God blesses us on the basis of His character.

Next on the file is the letter N – nun. We now have the nun blessings in verses 25, 26. Nun signifies a fish. Notice about a fish. As long as he is alive he has water, and he has food. The fish is the believer.

Verse 25 – “I have been young, and now old.” When he says he is old it is a qal perfect of zaqan. The last letter is the N, the fish. The first letter is the zayin, the sword, so he has known pressures in his youth. The Q is the qoph, the back of the head, and it refers to blessing. All of the blessings of his past are stored here. Even though he has in the past had pressure and blessing through it all has provided everything that he would ever need. And David says he has come to this hour—once he was young but now is old—but all of the way through his life God has been faithful. In his old age David sees God’s grace every day that he lives.

“yet I have not seen the righteous” – the righteous is the believer, any believer, all believers. The word righteous simply means imputed righteousness.

“forsaken” – He will never leave us or forsake us; “nor his seed [children] begging bread” – God not only provides for the believer but He provides for the children of the believer.

Verse 26 – the conclusion of the N file, the nun blessing. “He is ever merciful.” He is is not found in the original, it is “Ever merciful”—He is always gracious. Mercy is simply grace in action; “and lendeth” – God doesn’t lend anything. The word lending here means to cling. It is used in connection with the marriage of Adam and Eve. He ever clings to us, he holds on to us, He never lets go of us. The word is also a hiphil participle. The hiphil is the causative stem, and this says in effect that God is caused to cling to us, and the reason is because of the work of Christ on the cross; “and his seed [of the believer] blessed” – God is the source of our blessing. You can’t change God but doctrine can change you.

Verses 27, 28 – the letter samekh. It denotes a fulcrum, a support. The root of this word is from the noun samak which means to lean upon something, to use something for support, as a foundation or a balance. The principle of the support of the believer in time is God’s plan as declared by Bible doctrine. So the samekh blessing will obviously be connected with God’s plan. We have a reference to phase two and phase three of the plan of God in verse 27.

Verse 27 – “Depart from evil, and do good,” a reference to phase two. Depart is a qal imperative and it means to separate yourself from evil. The word for evil is actually the old sin nature. Technically the old sin nature is often called the evil in the books of Psalms and Proverbs. That with which we are born is evil—the old sin nature. We are not spiritually dead because we sin, we are spiritually dead because we possess an old sin nature. The plan of God is set up in opposition to the sin nature, and to mental attitude human viewpoint which is called “the world.” The plan of God excludes the devil, it excludes human viewpoint, and it excludes any activity of the old sin nature. Because this is true we have the command at this point, “Depart from the evil.” Departure or separation from the evil simply means to live under God’s provision rather than living under the provision of the physical birth. Instead of depending upon the old sin nature we depend upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In this exclusion the Holy Spirit indwells to deal with the flesh. Doctrinal should indwell the soul to deal with the world and with the devil. The Holy Spirit is the means of overcoming the old sin nature. We are either controlled by the Spirit or we are controlled by the old sin nature. So we have under the plan of God perfect provision for all of the sources of opposition to the plan of God. “Depart from evil” includes the filling of the Spirit, the application of Bible doctrine to experience, the utilisation of the five techniques of the Christian life. In other words, everything that operates under the principle of the divine viewpoint.

If we are departed from the old sin nature or evil we then have a second command: “do good.” The Hebrew word for do here is asah, which means to make something out of existing materials. The good is made out of something that exists inside of us—the Holy Spirit produces divine good. “Do good” is the same as being filled with the Spirit, the same as application of doctrine. This is in opposition to the old sin nature.

“and dwell forever more” – dwell is a command and it means to dwell permanently in a place of blessing. The Hebrew word is shaken. So the command “dwell forevermore” actually encompasses phase three and phase one. You have eternal life the moment you believe, there is no further preparation for death, because of what God does at that moment. The only thing left is to grow up in phase two and this requires understanding of doctrine in phase two. So in this verse we have the fulcrum, the support—Bible doctrine which orients us to the plan of God.

Verse 28 – the concept continues. “For the Lord loveth justice.” It must be understood that the word Jehovah can refer to any one of the three persons of the Trinity, and generally in a case like this it refers to the Father who is the author of the divine plan. God loves justice and He is not going to be incompatible with His own nature, with His own essence. The big issue is, how can God who loves justice bless in phase two any believer and still be just? The answer goes back to phase one. On the cross all of the sins which disqualify us from blessing were all judged. So the biggest hindrance to being blessed has been removed in phase two because they have already been judged. That is why any time we are out of fellowship we simply confess or name or acknowledge our sins to God—we simply make reference to a case.

“he forsakes not his saints” – because he loves justice. He forsakes not any of His saints and it is all compatible with His justice and His love, because love and justice met at the cross. He is therefore free to bless us and to say, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” The only thing that hinders blessing is negative volition, human good, legalism and self-righteousness. This phrase means that there is no sin that you can commit that will cause Him to forsake you, no blasphemy that you can utter, nothing you can think, no series of activities that can get you out of the plan of God.

“they are preserved forever” – eternal security. They are guarded, protected forever. The stem used is the niphal (passive), the verb is shamar. The passive is grace—they receive preservation. With that the file drawer closes, the samekh file, and a new file is opened in the middle of the verse.

“but the seed of the wicked” – at this point, in the middle of the verse, we begin the ayin blessing. This is an eye. Here is the eye of God on the believer in blessing for all eternity, while at the same time judging the unbeliever and separating him in the lake of fire forever. The eye of God is His omniscience, that part of His character whereby He is thoroughly cognisant of who is a believer and who is not. He is omnipresent and therefore a witness against every unbeliever. He is omnipotent, He has the ability to judge, to cast into the lake of fire forever. He is immutable and His judgments are never reversed, never changed. He is veracity and He levels with those who stand before Him, they are going to spend eternity in the lake of fire, there will never be any change or deviation from that principle.

Verse 29 – “The righteous shall inherit the land.” The righteous refers to the believer, the inheritance of the land is a the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants to the Jews. This is the fulfilment of the Palestinian covenant, first mentioned in Genesis 15:18 and mentioned in Number 34:1-12; Deuteronomy 30:1-9; Joshua 1:3,4.

“and dwell therein forever” – the Hebrew word for dwelling, shaken, means to dwell permanently in a place of blessing. There are seven different words for dwelling. Some mean to dwell restlessly, some mean to be depressed, some mean to go with the intention of spending a day and staying for a long time, some to go and have a good time and leave. This one means to stay for a long time under terms of great blessing. It lasts forever, so eternity for the Jewish believers of the Jewish Age means the promises of God will be fulfilled to them. God keeps His Word.

Verses 30-31, the next file which is pe. This is a mouth. This time the blessing has to do with what the believer has to say—communication of doctrine and divine viewpoint.

Verse 30 – “The mouth of the righteous.” This is imputed righteousness, this is the believer, the one who has accepted Christ as saviour; “speaketh wisdom” – the mouth of the righteous refers to the believer who has learned Bible doctrine. Reading the Bible is not enough, it is learning its doctrine that is important. Stage one is getting that doctrine categorically; stage two is applying that doctrine to experience. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom” – wisdom is the application of doctrine to experience. So you have to know doctrine before you can give it out. In this file, the mouth, we have the communication of divine good. Here is the believer who gets with Bible doctrine, learns doctrine, and he “speaks wisdom” – the application of doctrine to experience.

“and his tongue talketh of justice” – there are seven ways in which wisdom can be communicated. a) the communication of the gospel, doctrine pertinent to the plan of salvation. This is the responsibility of every believer; b) the declaration of the plan of God; c) the declaration of the grace of God. Basically the principle of grace is the character of God, who and what God is as over against who and what man is. God blesses us on the basis of His character, never on the basis of who and what we are; d) the communication of the thought of God. In general this is Bible doctrine—1 Corinthians 2:16; 2 Corinthians 10:5,6; e) discernment regarding false doctrine and the ability to help other involved in it; f) separation from false principle as well as false persons. The believer must be discerning with regard to both principles and to differentiate; g) the communication of a scale of values compatible with the scripture.

Verse 31 – “The law of God” is the Word of God, Bible doctrine; “is in his heart” – the word heart is used for the thinking part of the mind.

“none of his steps shall slide” – the word slide here means to totter. This person will have absolute confidence and stability with regard to life. It does not mean he will stop sinning. The Hebrew word here is maod, and it means to totter. A mature believer handles his sin immediately—1 John 1:9; he forgets it—Philippians 3:13; he isolates it—Hebrews 12:15. In this way he gets out of fellowship and then almost immediately he gets right back in. Hi life will be characterised by maximum time logged in the filling of the Spirit and minimum time out of fellowship. That closes the file and we move to tsadhe in verses 32 & 33. This is a reaping hook, used for reaping a harvest.

Verse 32 – “The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.” Here is the either the perpetually carnal believer or the unbeliever seeking to discredit a believer. The word watch means to make a reconnaissance in order to prepare an attack, so that an ambush can be set.

Verse 33 – “The Lord will not leave him [the believer] in his hand [the hand of the one who is seeking to neutralise/destroy him].” Who gets the reaping hook, the tsadhe?—the mental attitude sinner who is guilty of gossip, maligning, judging, vindictiveness, and so on. The most miserable believers are believers who are guilty of making the reconnaissance and then trying to set an ambush. So divine protection is on these believers in this verse.

“nor will he condemn him when he [the wicked believer of verse 32] is judged” – He will not condemn him with the wicked believer.

We come to the last three files and in these three files we will see that we have no reason to fear old age. Old age is designed in the plan of God as a blessing.

Verse 34 – the first word is qoph. This is the next file, and qoph is the back of the head. To the ancients the back of the head was the motor part of the brain, the part of the brain that dealt with coordination and agility, motion, action and function in the body. In effect this file drawer speaks of agility—agility in old age. Obviously in old age man is not as agile as in youth, but this file drawer is not talking about physical strength, it is talking about mental agility and coordination. It is referring to those things necessary for the function of the mind in old age.

“Wait” – this word is generally mistranslated. The verb is qawah which doesn’t mean to wait, it means to trust—the perpetuation of the faith-rest technique into old age. It means to keep using the faith-rest technique. It speaks of a piece of thread weaved into a rope so that it can no longer be broken. The rope is the grace of God, and when you take the miserable, helpless, hopeless life of the believer oriented to grace and weave it into God’s plan then you have the principle, grace = God doing the work—divine good. If God can sustain a young person and provide inner happiness and occupation with Christ He can do the same thing for older people. Wait simple means to be oriented to the grace of God, to recognise that no matter how we advance in life or are prospered by the hand of God there never comes a time when we can depend upon human strength. There is no place in God’s plan for human good. Wait here is in the piel stem, the intensive stem, and it simply recognises that all of your life you are going to face challenges and difficulties, and that you cannot solve these with human good. You cannot solve the problems of life, God’s plan isn’t designed for your self-solutions. God’s plan is designed so that He can solve them. “Wait on the Lord.” Wait is simply a verb orienting to grace through the faith-rest technique.

The next verb is a qal imperative—“keep,” shamar, which means to guard. The intensity of life demands orientation to grace, but you are not always under fire. There are periods between the tactical situations of combat in the life of a soldier, and so this is for that period of time when there might be a little boredom, a little change, things are going well and easy. So we have the qal imperative: guard the Christian way of life, guard grace, guard the plan of God in your life. In other words, this means retain in your soul Bible doctrine. You never know when you are going to use it. Be ready! This means to retain knowledge, to retain doctrine, so that you have it loaded and ready to go next time there is any kind of a combat situation.

“his way” – God’s way is based on God’s character, the essence of God. No one can have relationship with God as long as God’s righteousness is unsatisfied. No one ever knows the grace of God until God’s righteousness is satisfied. Rebound is mercy, everything that follows rebound is mercy because God’s righteousness was satisfied at the cross. In rebound we simply recognise that God’s righteousness was satisfied at the cross. This is true for every aspect of the Christian life. We guard “his way” when we realise that we can never earn or deserve anything from God; all comes from the love and mercy of God—grace. Keeping God’s way is constantly going over and over doctrine.

“and he shall exalt thee” – if God doesn’t exalt you through grace there is no exaltation. This phrase is very important, it goes back to the piel stem and represents the intensity of God’s character. If He doesn’t do it, it isn’t an accomplished fact. This word exalt means to honour—rum, which means to receive honour/recognition on the basis of someone who has the power to honour. Cf. Joshua 3:7.

“to inherit the land” – inheriting the land means victory in time. It has to do with crossing the Jordan. In Moses’ day they did not cross the Jordan—apostasy and lack of doctrine meant that they were disciplined in the desert for forty years. But Joshua’s generation crossed into the land and had victory. So the inheritance of the land was based on Bible doctrine.

“when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.” We have to go back to verse 1. There are people who seem to be happy for the moment, who have the details of life, the success symbols. As a believer in Jesus Christ you may be tempted to envy them. Yet there is a purpose in it all. You are going to be prosperous in heaven, you are going to live in the presence of the Lord forever under terms of prosperity that are so fantastic that they cannot be described in human terms. God does not ask us to depend upon human status symbols, human prosperity, human details. He says you will have them; they are often used as tests, just as suffering can be a test and disaster can be a test. You may be required to learn to be oriented to grace and understand doctrine in times of success as well as in times of adversity. But God reminds us that our life is totally planned, made up of assets which come through Bible doctrine. That means that whether you are exalted or not you can have a wonderful life. That wonderful life means learning doctrine, appreciating who and what God is. It means responding to God’s love.

Verse 35 – the resh file for the resh blessing (verses 35 & 36). This refers to the frontal lobe, the place where doctrine resides. Remember that David wrote this in his old age and this is the viewpoint of old age.

“I have seen the wicked in great power” – the word wicked refers to an unbeliever who prospers in time; “I have seen [ra’ah] refers to the fact that David during his lifetime. It means to view something passing by, suddenly, to view something passing going the other way. David has seen throughout his lifetime unbelievers who have been successful in time. The words great power are literally great prosperity. Then he uses an illustration for them when he says, “spreading himself like a green bay tree.” The Hebrew doesn’t talk about a green bay tree or even recognise the existence of one. This is actually in the Hebrew “an indigenous green tree.” There is no specific tree mentioned, it is a tree in general. The tree is green—green stands for prosperity. It is indigenous, which means it is in its native soil. The native soil is time. Here is an unbeliever in time, he has rejected the cross, he is not in the plan of God. As an unbeliever in time he is very prosperous, very successful, sometimes very evil and very out of line. This file is to give perspective, to tell us something. The unbeliever has a mind in which he has misery with an occasional spurt of happiness, stimulation and fun, but it doesn’t last very long. On the other hand the believer can have doctrine in his soul with which he can have inner happiness and occupation with Christ, and he can be perpetually happy without it depending on what he is doing or how successful he is, or any of the details of life. As far as the unbeliever is concerned he often has many of the details. The believer is often minus the details and if he is minus doctrine he envies the unbeliever, he often loses the perspective of life. David has seen the unbeliever in prosperity and in this analogy he reminds us of something. They are indigenous green trees in time because they are planted in the soil of history, their roots are in the earth of time. But when you take an indigenous tree and transplant that tree elsewhere, often the tree dies, the roots shrivel. This is what David is saying. In time they have these roots in the soil and are prosperous, but when you take this unbelieving tree and put it in eternity it dies. When it goes into eternity it has no soil for its roots, it doesn’t thrive. In other words, it goes into the lake of fire. So he is saying that time is just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity, so don’t resent the fact that the unbeliever is going to have some prosperity. So what is wrong with the perspective that envies the unbeliever of anything? The details of life are nothing compared to the Lord Jesus Christ, to doctrine, the Word, to inner happiness.

Verse 36 – this same unbeliever moves on. “Yet he passed away” – physical death comes to the unbeliever.

“I sought him but he could not be found” – the word for sought in the Hebrew [baqash] means to be interested in someone. David was interested in unbelievers and sought to lead them to the Lord. Unbelievers are often very glamorous and have a certain glory but when they die the soul leaves the body and the glamour is gone. Unbelievers are ships that pass in the night; they will never be seen again.

Verse 37 – the next file is shin, a tooth. “Mark” – watch, observe carefully, learn something from a believer who knows and applies doctrine.

“the perfect” – mature. Here is a person in the plan of God who gets with Bible doctrine and applies it. He has great stability and great peace. Observe this person!

“behold the upright” – a believer who grows up spiritually; “for the end of that man is peace” – literally, “there is a future for the man of peace.” At the point of salvation the believer is qualified for eternity, so when he gets to phase three he has a glorious future. The believer with doctrine has a glorious future but the upright is any believer, he is upright because of what God did at the point of salvation. So there are mature believers—mark them well—but there are also upright believers who in whatever status of spiritual life are going to be in eternity just as much as the mature believer.

Verse 38 – “But the transgressors,” referring to the unbeliever; “shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.” This means very simply that these unbelievers, many of whom are wonderful people, are going to be judged forever. The born again believer is going to live forever in the presence of God.

Verse 39 – the last file draw is tau, it refers to a mark or a signature. This is the signature drawer. This is the story of David’s life. “But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.” He is talking about phase one, and he is saying in effect that the whole plan of God from beginning to end—beginning with the cross and ends with eternity, which has no end—is from the Lord. God does the work. It is divine good. The plan of God is the work of God.

“he is their strength in time of trouble” – the time of trouble is phase two. In phase two we are going to have a certain amount of suffering and God has made provision for every moment. So He is our strength, our stability in time of trouble.

Verse 40 – “And the Lord shall help them [believers] and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked [those who persecute], and deliver them, because they trust in him.” So David ends with the fact that the faith-rest technique is the believer’s stability, his life. Claim the promises and the doctrines from God’s Word, and no matter what happens in life phase two can be wonderful in its own way even as phase three will be wonderful forever.

1-2~~{An acrostic Psalm of} David
Do not fret/'become resentful' {tsalach - no mental attitude sins}
because of evildoers {reversionists like King Saul},
be not intensively envious/jealous toward wrongdoers 2~~
for they will 'be cut off'/'be circumcised' {namal} like the grass,
and wither up like the green herb.

{Note: Greatness and jealousy never live together! Forget what others have! It matters not!}

3~~Trust in Jehovah/God
{batach - body slam - slam your problems on the Lord},
and manufacture good
{'asah -capacity to produce divine from bible doctrine}.
Permanently dwell happily in the land
{shakan - permanent dwelling in blessing},
and feed/graze {ra`ah} on doctrine
{'emuwnah - the famine responsive word for doctrine}.

4~~Delight yourself in Jehovah/God
{`anag - amorous behavior word - a woman flirting with a man -
means 'be occupied with God'}
and He will give you the 'deepest desires'
{mish'alah - requests beyond you could ever expect to receive}
of your 'right lobe'/heart.

5~~Commit your way to Jehovah/God
{galal - literally 'roll the stones out of your way'},
trust also in Him,
and He will manufacture {'asah} it {the solutions}.

6~~And He will cause to bring forth/manufacture {yatsa'}
your righteousness . . . on the basis of the light {from doctrine},
and your character/wisdom/judgment
as the 'double-light'/noonday/'bright noon day light' {tsohar}.

{Faith Rest Technique}
7~~'Be silent' {and concentrate} . . .in Jehovah/God
{damam - means to be silent, quiet. In biblical terms it means to be
quiet and concentrate on the study of the Word},
and 'whirl yourself around'
{chuwl - to whirl around is a picture of rebound - turning back to
God when you go astray}.
Do not fret/'become resentful' {tsalach - no mental attitude sins}
of those who display prosperity
in his way of life {derek} . . .
{about} the man
who manufactures wicked schemes.

8~~Cease from anger
{motivated by mental attitude sins - jealousy, bitterness etc.},
and forsake/desert wrath.
Do not fret,
it leads only to manufacturing/doing evil {your own reversionism}.

9~~For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for Jehovah/God,
they will inherit the earth.

10~~Yet a little while
and the wicked man will be no more,
and you will 'look carefully'/discern {biyn}
for his place,
and he will not be there.

11~~But the 'SuperGrace beleiver'/
'one orientated to his surroundings with emphasis on grace' {`anav}
shall inherit the earth;
and shall 'express SuperGrace delight'
{`anag - sharing the happiness of God}
{to have prosperity and enjoy it}
themselves in the abundance of 'inner peace'.

{Story of Saul Against David}
12~~The wicked/reversionist
{rasha` - unbelievers or believers imitating unbelievers in
reversionism - Saul}
'carefully plan ways of doing the evil'/plots {zamam}
against the just/righteous/'those with divine viewpoint'
{tsaddiyq - example David},
and keeps on 'internally burning in his anger
and jealousy of the prosperous one'
{idiom and probability literally: 'gnashes his teeth'}.

13~~The Lord/'Adonay
shall keep on jesting/toying/laughing with enjoyment {sachaq}
at him {Saul} . . .
for he {the Lord} sees
that his {David/SuperGrace Believer's} day is coming.

{Note: For example in I Samuel 18, Saul tried to get David killed by requiring him to bring back the foreskins of 100 Philistines. So, God caused David to bring back 200 foreskins! This is the concept of 'being made a fool' here.}

{Reversionists Attack SuperGrace Believers}
14~~The wicked/reversionists {rasha`}
have drawn out the sword,
and have bent their bow,
to cast down the poor and needy
{reversionists have no virtue - they will attack anyone they
see as against them},
and to slay such as be of 'SuperGrace believer'/upright {yashar}
Way of life {derek}
upright conversation.

{Picture of the Sin Unto Death of Reversionists}
15~~Their sword shall enter into their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.

{Note: This is a picture of Saul, a great warrior in his own right, falling at the hands of the Philistines in the battle of Mount Gilboa. In I Chronicles 10:13-14, we see the reason for Saul's death.}

16~~A little that a righteous/'SuperGrace Believer' has
is better than the riches of many wicked/reversionists.

{Note: Why? Because you need capacity for happiness before you can enjoy the blessings that come from God. So, when you 'learn to be content' regardless of your circumstances, you are richer then the riches of other men with no capacity - which only comes from bible doctrine resident in your soul.}

17~~For the arms/weapons {used in the sense of strength}
of the wicked/reversionists shall be broken
but Jehovah/God upholds/supports
{here in battle and between battles}
the righteous/'SuperGrace believer'.

18~~Jehovah/God knows/comprehends {yada` - Omniscience here}
the days of the upright/'SuperGrace believer'
and their inheritance shall be forever.

{Note: The SuperGrace believer lives one day at a time. And, God provides for that day all that he needs. God knew all His invisible heroes from eternity past - as with everything else He knows and always will know!}

{Note: This verse is talking about the inheritance of SuperGrace believers and gives us David as a great example. Now why? Because David has recorded some of the biggest sins that a believer can commit - adultery - murder - geographic disobedience to God's will on and on. But, he rebounded and returned to SuperGrace status - as all reversionists have the opportunity to do. The inheritance cannot be lost. 'Once a believer, always a believer' is the doctrine of eternal security. YOU did nothing meritorious to earn it, and you can do nothing strong enough without merit to lose it! It is all about
God . . . not about YOU!}

19~~They shall not keep on being ashamed
in the evil/wicked time
{in disaster or adversity SG has capacity to cope}
and in the days of famine
{in economic disaster SG believer will have capacity to be content}
they shall keep on being satisfied.

{Note: With capacity to share the happiness of God, the SuperGrace believer is always content regardless the circumstances.}

20~~But the wicked/reversionist shall perish/
'wander around until destroyed',
and the enemies of Jehovah/God . . . {shall be} as the fat of lambs.
They shall be consumed {kalah} . . .
into smoke {`ashan}
shall they be consumed/destroyed/'disappear like smoke' {kalah}.

21~~The wicked/reversionist borrows {money, goods},
and pays not again {welshes on obligations - no capacity for life}.
But the righteous/'SuperGrace Believer'
shows continual grace and keeps on giving.

22~~The 'blessed of Him' {barak - describes SuperGrace Believers}
shall keep on inheriting the earth {referring to in time!}.
And they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off
{no blessings in time and can be loss of rewards in eternity - but
not loss of salvation}.

23~~ The steps/'goings on'/'path' {mits`ad}
of a good/strong man/'SuperGrace Believer'
{geber - another synonym for an SG believer}
are established by Jehovah/God.
He {SuperGrace believer} delights
in His {God's} Way {derek - Way of Righteousness}.

{Doctrine of Eternal Security}
24~~Though he fall {believer out of fellowship},
he shall not be utterly cast down . . .
for Jehovah/God sustains/upholds him with His hand.

25~~I {David} have been young . . .
and now am old.
Yet I have not seen
the righteous/'SuperGrace believer' deserted/forsaken,
or his descendants/seed {next generation} begging bread.

{Note: Perfect example was Solomon. From grace by association with David, he was a billionaire all his life.}

26~~The One {God} . . . ever gracious/merciful,
and 'helps the helpless' {lavah - there to lend help when needed}.
And his {SuperGrace Believer's} descendants/seed . . .
{receive} blessing.

27~~'Swerve aside'/'separate from' evil/reversionism,
and manufacture {'asah} good
{out of SuperGrace knowledge divine good}.
And dwell forever more.

28~~For Jehovah/God keeps on loving justice
{referring to perfect fairness of the Lord},
and does not forsake His 'godly ones'/saints.
They are preserved forever
but the seed of the wicked/reversionist shall be cut off.

{Note: Sooner or later God must cut off the line of the reversionist. RBT indicates that 3 generations of reversionism and God takes them out.}

29~~The righteous/'SuperGrace believer' shall inherit the land,
and dwell therein forever.

30~~The mouth of the righteous/'SuperGrace believer'
keeps on utter categorically {hagah} wisdom {chokmah},
and his tongue talks of justice/equity/fairness {mishpat}.

31~~The law/'divine viewpoint in written form' {towrah}
of his Elohiym/Godhead . . . {is} in his 'right lobe'/heart.
None 'of his steps'/'his walk in the {righteous} Way'
shall not totter {no instability in the SuperGrace believer}.

32~~The wicked/reversionist
'watches for a chance to ambush' {tsaphah}
{can not believe what he sees so he observes and can not believe
what he sees so looks for a chance to ambush}
the righteous/'SuperGrace Believer',
and seeks to slay him.

33~~Jehovah/God will not leave him {SuperGrace Believer}
in his {wicked reversionist/s} hand,
nor condemn him {SuperGrace Believer}
when he {SuperGrace Believer} is judged/maligned/'run down'.

34~~Wait {qavah - take in doctrine daily and wait for God's timing}
on Jehovah/God,
and keep His way {righteous way of life as set out by the Bible},
and He {God}
shall promote/'build an Edification Complex of the Soul in'/
Exalt {ruwm} you . . .
to inherit the land.
When the wicked/reversionists are cut off,
you shall see it.

{Note: David saw Goliath get it quickly and Saul over a longer period of time. On and on.}

35-36~~I have seen the wicked/reversionist in great power {Saul},
and spreading himself like an 'indigenous producing tree'/
'a tree in its own soil producing beautifully' {ra`anan 'ezrach} 36~~
but he {reversionist}
'passed off the scene' {death or destruction and gone from power}
and, lo, he was not.
Yes, I looked for him, but he could not be found
{in the analogy, not even a stump remained}.

37~~Observe {shamar}
the 'SuperGrace Believer'/perfect {tam - SG with Way of Life in view}
and behold the 'straight and level'/upright
{yashar - SG with stability in view}.
For the future/end/conclusion {'achariyth}
of that man {SuperGrace believer}
is prosperity/'inner happiness'/peace
{shalowm - and 'in time' is in view here}.

38~~But the transgressors/reversionists {pasha`}
shall 'receive destruction'/'be desolate' . . .
together {with other reversionists}.
The future/end/conclusion {'achariyth - in time again}
of the wicked/reversionist
shall be cut off {karath - final stage of discipline - sin unto death}.

39~~But the deliverance/salvation
of the righteous/'SuperGrace Believer'
is of Jehovah/God.
Their strength . . . in the time of trouble/disaster.

40~~And Jehovah/God shall aid/help them {SuperGrace Believers},
and deliver them.
He {God} shall deliver them {SuperGrace Believer}
from the wicked/reversionists,
and cause them to be delivered {yasha`},
because they 'trust when they are hurt' {chacah}
in Him.

{Note: Chacah is the word used for a small animal running away and hiding in a crack in a rock.}

{Verses 1-10: David's message after the Deliverance by God}
1^^ {Title} To the Chief musician . . .
A psalm of David.

~~Being confident
{a SuperGrace function only possible with lots of bible doctrine in
your soul} . . .
I had confidence
{qavah qavah - doubling of verb is very strong in Hebrew -
confidence in God is a result of the bible doctrine in your soul}
in Jehovah/God.
For He 'extended His hand to rescue' {natah} me,
and kept on 'hearing, listening/concentrating, and obeying' {shama}
my cry {for help - see verses 11-17}.

{Note: RBT says this is the prayer of David after the Ziphites betrayed him to King Saul in I Samuel Chapter 23:26. Saul is racing David's group (men women and children) to a pass between two mountains. Saul is winning the race and David prays for divine intervention.}

{David got Himself into the Jam, God Got Him Out}
2~~He {God} caused me to be lifted up
out of a pit of destruction {Saul's trap},
out of the 'uncertain footing'/'middle of a trap'
{idiom: literally 'miry of a swamp' but there were no literal swamps
where David was at this time},
and 'set my feet upon a rock'
{meaning 'certain footing' on a solid base},
therefore, making my footsteps firm/secure.

{Note: This idioms refer to being based in human viewpoint or divine viewpoint. Human viewpoint is uncertain footing. Divine viewpoint is solid footing.}

3~~Consequently,
He {God} has given to my mouth a new song . . .
praise unto our 'Elohiym/Godhead.
{SuperGrace is association with God - so this is blessing by
association}
Many shall see {God's deliverance},
and respect
{yare' - respect the power of God to deliver from adversity},
Therefore, they shall keep on trusting {batach}
in Jehovah/God.

4~~Happinesses {'esher - plural} . . .
{to the} soldier/warrior {geber}
{refers to all categories of happiness - spiritual, sexual, health,
financial, social on and on}
who appoints/considers/establishes {suwm} Jehovah/God
as his confidence {mibtach},
who has not defected to the proud
{the proud are leaders in reversionism - here the Ziphites turning to
Saul},
nor adhere to 'psychopathic liars' {kazab}
{referring this time to electing to office politicians who habitually lie
to the people}.

{Note: David is saying here when you have reversionistic rulers, the military men will be in trouble when they place their trust in them instead of God. The Ziphites knew that Samuel had prophesied that David would be the next king of Judea. But they turned to Saul instead of placing their confidence in God and His Word.}

5~~Many things
{rabah - adjective in the feminine plural - in the bible, God is
referred to as 'the husband' and believers are those who respond
to Him - the 'wife'. In a good marriage, it is the husband who is
the initiator and the woman responds to his actions. So here we
are looking at blessing to those who respond to God - blessings
to the SuperGrace Believers},
you have manufactured {'asah - out of grace},
O Jehovah/God my 'Elohiym/Godhead . . .
Your extraordinary things/functions
and Your Plans/thoughts toward us.
Nothing can be arrayed in battle {`arak} against You.
against You
Or, I would declare and speak of them.
They {the blessings of SuperGrace}
are to numerous {`atsam} to be written {caphar}.

{Verses 6:8: See also Hebrews 10:5-10 Where it was Quoted -
Christ as a baby in the cradle says this}
6-8~~'Animal/Blood offerings/sacrifices'
{zebach - a slaughtering - 4 ritualistic blood sacrifice - 'work' of
Christ on the cross
a) burnt offerings - propitiation of God - picture of Christ on cross
b) peace offerings - reconciliation of man to God- again thru Christ
c) sin offerings - rebound (naming of sins to God)
d) trespass offering}
and 'food offering'/minchah
{minchah - Leviticus Chapter 2 - propitiation with emphasis of the
person of Christ on the cross - impeccability of the humanity of
Christ}
You {God the Father} did not 'delight in' {chaphets}
{these rituals were required but David is saying God did not delight
in them - they were shadows that pointed toward the reality -
Jesus' singular work on the cross}.
You have pierced {karah} My {Jesus'} ears
{see Exodus 21:6 and Deuteronomy 15:17 - this was a method of
voluntarily becoming someone's slave - this is a prophecy of the
Deity of Jesus - Who from His own free - chose to become the
Father's 'slave' (meaning to follow His Plan)}.
" 'Going up'/Burnt offerings"
{`olah - 'going up' offering - emphases rebound of the known
sins}
and sin offerings
{chata'ah - rebound - this word emphases the unknown sins}
You {God the Father} have not asked/requested. 7~~
Then, at that time I {David/Jesus} have said,
"Behold, I have come {first incarnation - See Hebrews 10:5-9}
in the written scroll {m@gillah cepher},
being written {kathab} concerning Me
{not finished action - still being written - some passages on David
but the entire Old Testament brings to light/understanding Jesus
Christ}, 8~~
I {David/Jesus} 'take great pleasure'/delight
{chaphets - here in making a command decision with delight}
to manufacture/do {'asah - something out of something}
Your will, O My 'Elohiym/Godhead
{means the members of the Godhead agreed}
because your 'bible doctrine'/law/Torah {towrah}
is in the midst of My 'inward parts'/bowels/emotions {me`ah}
{David and Jesus have right lobes so filled with doctrine that
doctrine overflows to the emotions in their souls. The True fun
only begins after the heart is filled with doctrine and it saturates
the soul. Then it overflows to your emotions.}."

{Note: In this age, if you wanted to be someone's slave for life - voluntarily, then the owner would ram something through your ear to the door of his house. That would be the sign of accepting him as your slave for life. Jesus Christ though equal with the Father voluntarily decided to 'humble' Himself to the point of taking on a human form and to the point of death on the cross (Philippians). He did this because of His love for the Father and for us.}

{Note: The 'ear' represents shama' - to hear, listen and concentrate and obey. So, this verse has two meanings. As a SuperGrace believer, David has from his free will decided to become a 'slave' to the Lord. And, in eternity past, the Lord agreed to be subordinate to the Plan of the Father so mankind might be delivered from the slave market of sin.}

{Note: In Hebrews 10:5-8 Jesus Christ quotes Psalms 40:6-8 except the phrase 'You have pierced {karah} My {Jesus'} ears' was replaced with 'but You {Father} have prepared/equipped for Me a human
body' . . . Why? Answer - the taking the human body WAS the 'piercing of the ears' of the deity of Jesus Christ. It was the sign of His being subordinate to the plan of the Father.}

{David's Message to Unbelievers - Salvation Message}
9~~I have 'intensively proclaimed the good news'
{basar - Piel perfect}
of {imputed} righteousness {tsedeq}
in a great congregation
{rab -wonderful people, not great in terms of numbers}.
Behold, I have not restrained my lips.
O Jehovah/God . . . You know/comprehend/understand {yada`} it!

{Note: This verse indicates there are still unbelievers in the army of David. So, David uses the deliverance of the Lord to address them with the good news of salvation - the imputation of the righteousness of God at the point that you believe in Him.}

{David Gives His Recognition to the Lord}
10~~I have not concealed {kacah}
Your righteousness
in the middle of my 'right lobe'/'heart'.
I have communicated Your doctrine {'emuwnah} {to believers} . . .
and Your salvation {to unbelievers}.
I have not kept back Your graciousness . . .
and Your faithfulness
from this great congregation.

{Verses 11-17: What David Prayed on the Mountain}
{Verses 11-13: David does Some Thinking}
11~~ You O Jehovah/God
will not hold back from me Your compassion
{idiom: racham - means the 'womb' - but is used for compassion}.
Your grace {checed}
and Your doctrine/truth {'emeth}
continually guard {natsar}
me {David - with his army and civilians}.

{Saul's Trap is Closing in on David - Enemy pops up - a Guilt Complex in David}
12~~For evils beyond number/counting
have encircled/surrounded/enveloped me.
{ A Real Enemy Pops up - a Guilt Complex in David}
My 'sins {and their guilt}'
{`avon - here more the guilt complex is the problem}
have over taken me,
with the result that I have not been able to 'see {the solution}'
{ra'ah means to see. It is used as an idiom meaning 'no hope'
- David sees no daylight - David is trapped by Saul
and humanly speaking he should be taken for sure.}.
They {the army of Saul}
are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
therefore, my 'right lobe'/heart deserts/'goes AWOL on' me.

{Verses 13-17: David does Even Better then Thinking - He Prays}
13~~O Jehovah/God
{prayer should be addressed to God the Father},
be gracious . . .
to rescue me.
O Jehovah/God, 'hurry up now' {chuwsh}
to help me.

14~~Let them keep on being ashamed {buwsh}
and keep on being humiliated {chapher} together,
the ones searching to destroy {baqash} my soul.
Let them be turned back
{prayer was answered with a Philistine invasion - Saul had to move
out quickly}
and dishonored who delight in my disaster
{principal - you can not build your happiness on someone else's
unhappiness this pseudo-happiness is not happiness at all, but is a
'soul-sickness'}.

15~~Let them be shocked/astonished {shamem}
because/'as a consequence' {`eqeb}
of their reversionism/shame {bosheth}
that say unto me, "heach heach"
{doubling is very strong in the Hebrew - this is an expression of
gloating. We might say 'Naaa Naaa Na Naaa Naaaa' - deriving
happiness from someone else's unhappiness}.

{David Switches now to the Prayer of Blessings for Mature Believers}
16~~Let all 'positive believers'/
'those who are motivated to seek You'
celebrate
{suws - moves from pseudo-happiness to true happiness - sharing
the Happiness of God}
and be 'truly happy' in You
{samach - used for +H - having the happiness which belongs to
God IN you!}.
Let those who love your deliverance/salvation
say constantly/continually,
"Jehovah/God be magnified".

{Note: Mature believers are positive to God and His Word. Doctrine in your right lobe develops the capacity for sharing the happiness that belongs to God. Therefore, mature believers can truly be happy and, as Paul said, 'I have learned to be content/happy regardless my circumstances'. 'Divine Happiness' is a learned trait.}

{David Closes with His Signature - I do Not Earn or Deserve this Deliverance from God}
17~~I . . . {am} afflicted/'in a hopeless situation' {`aniy}
and helpless {'ebyown}.
Yet 'Adonay/'The Lord' 'decrees a plan' {chashab}
for me {David}.
You {Lord} are my help
You {Lord} are my Deliverer.
Do not delay, O my Elohiym/Godhead.

{Note: David knows God will deliver him but he does not know how he will be delivered at this point. But, he knows God's plan for him in the future is to be king so he must survive. And, he does when the Philistines attack and Saul turns back to fight them.}

Immediately we have a title: “To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon the Alamoth.” In the Hebrew this is a part of the first verse. The chief musician is the choir director. The sons of Korah were those who were singing the praises of the Lord daily in the temple. “A song upon the Alamoth” should actually be translated “a song set to the Alamoth.” The alamoth is a high key. We have a message of God’s grace in deliverance.

In verses 1-3 we see the people of Jerusalem besieged by the great Assyrian army under Sennacherib. In this time of crisis we have a generation ready for such a disaster. The disaster of the Assyrian invasion brings them to the point of maximum application of Bible doctrine. So the Jews are not depending upon their army or their leader, Hezekiah.

Verse 1 – “God” is in the plural [Elohim]. All members of the Godhead are involved in the plan of God. The next word is, is not found in the original. ‘God our refuge [fortress].’

“and strength” is literally, and power; “a very present help in time of trouble” – the Hebrew says, “as a help in distress, he is found faithful.”

Translation: “God [Elohim] our fortress, our strong fort, as a help in distress he is found faithful.”

Verse 2 – “Therefore [here is our conclusion] we will not fear, though the land be destroyed.” Fear is a mental attitude sin. Mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery; “though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” Here is freedom from fear, not because the people have great protection from the point of military force or success in battle, but because they have doctrine in their souls and occupation with the person of Christ. Therefore they are not disturbed by disasters and difficulties which beset.

Verse 3 – “Though” does not occur. “The waters thereof roar” – waters is a reference to the Assyrian invasion. The great armies come like a flood, a broken dam with the flood moving to destroy the city. Cf. Isaiah 8:7.

“and be troubled” – lit. “they are destructive, the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”

“Selah” – musical rest. It actually denotes a spiritual rest. These people were resting on something. They believed doctrine, and the Lord was more real to them than the threat of the Assyrians and therefore were resting in the fact that their walls were not the walls of Jerusalem but were Bible doctrine.

Verses 4-7, a brief description from the standpoint of doctrine of the siege of Jerusalem.

Verse 4 – “There is” is not found. “A river [water]” – this refers to Isaiah 8:6. Water is often used for the Word of God. So even though the Assyrians are described as a roaring flood water coming to destroy there is a water stronger than the flood waters of the Assyrian army—the water of the Word, Ephesians 5:26.

“and the streams thereof” – application of Bible doctrine to the pressure or disaster experience. So the streams refer to doctrine applied. The only way we can apply doctrine is to know it.

“shall make glad the city” – the phrase shall make glad is one verb in the Hebrew, samach which means inner happiness. It is the word for joy. It is in the piel stem—intensive. This means intensive inner happiness based on Bible doctrine. The imperfect tense here means the action is not completed, it goes right on. So here we have Jews in the city with inner happiness based on doctrine, and the fact that they are no threatened by Sennacherib doesn’t bother them at all; “the city of God” refers to Jerusalem.

“the holy place” refers to the temple and the holy of holies in the temple which speaks of Jesus Christ. So the holy place of the tabernacle simply refers to occupation with Christ.

Verse 5 – the importance of revival which leads to learning doctrine. “God in the midst of her [the city of Jerusalem]”—this is the doctrine in the souls of the believers; “she shall not be moved fall down]” – Jerusalem will not be captured.

Verse 6 – the story of the Assyrian invasion when Jerusalem refused to surrender. “The nations raged.” The Assyrians were very angry; “the kingdoms were moved” – we know that this has passed because now we have a qal perfect, a past action, already completed. The kingdoms have already been moved—northern Palestine, the Egyptians, etc. Even though this has been the pattern of the Assyrian conquest this is not going to be the case with Jerusalem. Sennacherib has run into the weapon called Bible doctrine.

“he [Jesus Christ] uttered his voice” – the Lord Jesus Christ slaughters armies by His voice. Cf. Revelation 19. This is described in Isaiah 37:36 where 180,000 died. Jesus Christ opened His mouth and they were destroyed in an instant. Jesus Christ responds to Bible doctrine, to grace concepts.

Verse 7 – the perfect defense. “The Lord of hosts with us.” The Lord of hosts is a military term, a title for Jesus Christ when He puts on His military hat. He is also called “the God of Jacob” and this is what is behind the deliverance of the Jews. Jacob was a chiseller, a rat. Esau was much nicer, though he left much to be desired. But it is Jacob who received Christ as saviour. He was suddenly changed from Jacob to Israel after a wrestling match with Jesus Christ, the one who gave Jacob salvation and blessed him, though Jacob never earned or deserved anything from God.

Verse 8 – “Come, behold the works of the Lord.” The works of the Lord refers to God’s grace. Everything depends on who and what God is. To behold the works of God you have to know doctrine. The more doctrine you know the more you understand God’s working.

“what desolations he hath made in the land” – look at what He did to the army of Assyria. First there was a great army, and then there was a big hole in the ground. They are all dead!

Verse 9 – “He maketh wars to cease.” The Assyrian war came to an abrupt end. He destroyed this great army that had never lost a battle for 200 years.

Verse 10 – as a result of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Be still”—raphah in the hiphil stem [causative], a hiphil imperative, and it means to be relaxed, to be caused to be relaxed. Only Bible doctrine relaxes the believer, it produces the mental attitude of relaxation. “Be relaxed [on the basis of doctrine].”

“and know” – it is knowledge of doctrine that changes everything. Knowledge of doctrine means knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But these words switch to the qal imperative. The qal really produces the cause for the hiphil stem. In other words, if you are going to be relaxed there has to be a cause. Under the grace of God the relaxed believer is the believer who knows Bible doctrine. The greatest virtue in the Christian life is to know Bible doctrine.

“I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the land” – the land of the Jews. Only grace can exalt God. God does the doing. In this case this is the work of Jesus Christ destroying the Assyrians. Man [the Jews of Jerusalem] simply receives what God has done. They are delivered.

Verse 11 – the refrain. “The Lord of hosts [Jesus Christ in His military role] with us; the God of Jacob our fortress. Selah.”—just put this in your mind and relax.

{Psalm of Instruction (of Doeg the Edomite)}
1~~ {Title} To the chief musician Machil/Maskiyl,
when Doeg the Edomite came
and told {snitch and lie by distortion} Saul,
and said unto him,
"David came to the house of the Ahimelech/'Achiymelek."
{David responding now in this psalm}
Why are you boasting {about yourself} . . .
of evil/destruction {the massacre of Nob},
O 'mighty man'/hero {sanctified sarcasm}
The grace of God {El - God in His Power}
continues all day long {means every day - all the day}.

{Note: Doeg has just slaughtered all the residence of Nob. They were all innocent people with no weapons to defend themselves. This was nothing in which to boast! Doeg is in reversionism. Reversionism creates pseudo-heroes. However, in the eyes of Saul he was a public hero. He was one of Saul's cabinet members and in charge of one of the herds of Israel. He was in Nob when David came through (see also I Samuel Chapter 22).}

{Verses 2-4: Indictment of a Reversionist Believer - The REAL Doeg}
2~~Your {Doeg} tongue plots/devises catastrophes . . .
like a sharpened razor . . .
manufacturing out of something {' asah - mental attitude sins}
fraud/deceit {Doeg lied to Saul about Ahimelech and Nob}!

{Note: 'asah - manufacturing something out of something. Here the lies were made out of the mental attitude sins of greed and envy and hatred.}

{Note: Nob was the center of bible teaching and Doeg wiped it out. Doeg wanted to advance himself out of the murder of the High Priest and all the Levitical priest and the destruction of the city of Nob.}

{Description of Anyone in Reversionism}
3~~You {Doeg} love evil more than good . . .
fabrication/lying rather than speaking righteousness {the truth}.
Selah.

{Note: Doeg is the type of person who would rather lie then tell the truth even if telling the truth is easier! Their lives become a lie! You are what you Think!}

{Note: Selah is a musical term meaning 'the singer takes a rest while the musicians play on'. This is a perfect picture of mankind resting in the grace of God - which continues all the day!}

{Center of Doeg's Life and David Declares what Doeg Really is}
4~~You have loved all the words of destruction.
O . . .{you - Doeg} tongue of deceit!

{Note: Doeg made up a lie about Ahimelech. Saul believed the lie and ordered the destruction of Nob with 80 Levitical priests and all the women and children in the city. This applies to all two-faced people in the world! We are warned!}

{Judgment of Doeg - David left it in the Hands of the Lord}
5~~also El -The Powerful God -
shall destroy you bit by bit {nathats}
- with no return/permanently.
He shall pick you up and shake you and tear you to bits
from your tent {Doeg's dwelling place},
and root you out of the land of the living
{sin unto death administered to Doeg}.
Selah {rest on that!}.

{Note: The Hebrew syntax indicates that Doeg died slowly and painfully over a long period of time. Nathats actually was used in the destruction of a building - brick by brick - over a long period of time.}

6~~The righteous ones {SuperGrace believers}
also shall observe {Doeg's discipline},
and have respect {for the way God handles these things},
and shall laugh at him {Doeg}.

{Note: These are the people trained in the cave of Adullam - see II Samuel Chapter23}

7~~ Behold the mighty warrior
who did not appoint/establish
Elohiym as his fortification
{GAPing it to an ECS - describes a reversionist}.
But trusted/depended on/'had confidence in' {batach}
the abundance/multiplication of his riches {rewards from Saul},
and tried to make himself strong through calamity.

{Note: Principal: You cannot build yourself up by knocking others down. Doeg tried to make himself strong by destroying the innocent.}

{Note: batach means to trust, have faith in, have confidence in. This is important because Doeg had his confidence in riches. In the next verse, David placed his confidence in the Lord!}

{SuperGrace Attitude of David}
8~~But I {David} . . .
{am} like a green olive tree {Jewish symbol of GREAT prosperity}
planted in the house of God/Elohiym,
have trusted {batach} in the grace of God/Elohiym
forever and ever 9~~
I have been caused to praise You {God} forever,
because You have 'done it'/'manufactured it out of something'
{'asah - make something out of something - SuperGrace}.
And I have trusted {qavah} in Your Name/Essence
in the presence
of your 'SuperGrace believers'/'faithful ones' {chaciyd}.

{Note: Principal: You never lose if your prosperity is established in the Word of God. Doeg destroyed Nob and killed the priests and innocents, but the doctrine in David's soul could not be destroyed. It remained forever.}

{Note: 'Asah means to manufacture something out of something else. This verse shows us how God blesses SuperGrace believers. He knew it all in eternity past and manufactured blessings out of your SuperGrace status - just for you - and for time and eternity. The SuperGrace believer reaps what God sows!}

{Note: Qavah is the strongest word for faith in the Hebrew. Chaciyd is the Hebrew word for spiritually mature believers - the ones faithful to God and His Word. The final principal in this psalm is that SuperGrace believers are blessed also with SuperGrace friends.}

{David's prayer when the Ziphites betrayed him to Saul - see I Samuel 23:19}
{Title is the First Two Sentences}
1^^{Title} To the chief Musician
'the harmony from a number
of stringed instruments' {n@giynah } . . .
a 'song of instruction'/'a song to make you wise' {maskiyl}.

{The Subject of Psalm}
A Psalm of David when the Ziphites came to Saul
and said, "Does not David hide himself with us?"

O 'Elohiym/Godhead, by Your Name/Character/Essence
deliver me.
And vindicate me
{diyn - here means to act as David's defense attorney}
by Your Strength/Omnipotence.

{Note: Appeal to grace. Do not deliver me based on who and what I (David) am, but instead based on Who and What YOU are O God. And, this is in the imperative mood - it is an order. David knows as a SuperGrace believer that his request in no way compromises the Character of God in any way - so he can confidently 'claim a promise of God'.}

2~~'Hear and concentrate on'
{shama' - hear, concentrate on and obey}
my prayer, O 'Elohiym/Godhead.
'Give ear'/'listen carefully' {'azan}
to the words of my mouth {these words come up from his soul}
{concept here is you have to be rational and in your right mind to
pray consistently and effectively - prayer is not 'emotionalism' it is
an intellectual activity}.

3~~For 'the ones who will always be an enemy' {zuwr}
{means the Ziphites here - they have sold themselves to Saul for
supposed advancement - spiritual whores}
'are in revolt'/'risen up' {against me (David)}
{indicates that they have had allegiance to David in the past and
also revolting against tribal loyalties - all to advance themselves
by helping Saul}
and violent men {`ariyts}
intensively seek to destroy my soul {idiom for physical death}.
They have not set 'Elohiym/Godhead before them
{means to put God first in your life - Occupation with Christ}. Selah
{Selah means singers rest and instruments play on - it is a picture
of you resting while the Grace of God continues on}.

{Note: Zuwr has a number of related meanings. Its most common meaning is a stranger if is masculine. If it is female it is used for prostitute. And, that is a good description of a believer in reversionism. They do not care for you at all. You are a stranger to them and they just want to use you for money or some other perceived gain.}

{David's Occupation with Christ}
4^~Behold, 'Elohiym/Godhead . . .
{is} the One helping/assisting/aiding me.
My 'Adonay/'The Lord' . . .
{is} the One always supporting {camak} my soul.

{Imprecatory Prayer for Operation Boomerang}
5~~Let Him {God} return {shuwb}
'the evil'
{ha'ra - meaning the reversionistic treachery of the Ziphites here}
unto mine enemies.
In/by your Faithfulness {'emeth},
cause them to be destroyed {tsamath}.

{Note: Here is a great principal. David is not going to seek out revenge against the Ziphites personally. He does not even want to be the agent in God's discipline. Instead, he prays to God for God to take care of the problem. If divine discipline is warranted, then it is God who will judge and punish. Here David prays for operation boomerang - that their treachery will turn around and bite them instead.}

6~~From my free will, I {David} will sacrifice {zabach} to You
{instead of using a dull knife on the Ziphites, David will sacrifice an
animal - to praise the Lord - with a sharp knife}.
I will be caused to praise {jadah}
Your Name/Reputation {shem},
O Jehovah/God . . .
for it is perfect/good {towb - here used for absolute good}.

{Note: The name of David's tribe is Judah - meaning 'praise'. David uses jadah as 'caused to be praised when praying an imprecatory prayer against fellow tribesmen. Interesting.}

7~~For He has 'snatched me from danger'/'rescued me' {natsal}
from all of my great pressures.
And my eyes have observed
His vindication upon my enemies.

{Note: RBT says that this is before the action actually happened. David in SuperGrace is absolutely confident that God will answer his prayer for deliverance. He understands that he must live to fulfill the promises that God has made concerning him.}

{David's Recovery from Reversionism
described in I Samuel Chapter 21}
1-2~~To the chief Musician/director of music:
upon the silent dove among the strangers . . .
a golden psalm {miktam} of David
when the Philistines violently seized him at Gath:

Be gracious/merciful unto me, O Elohiym/Godhead
{David rebounds/repents while imprisoned by the Philistines}
For a weak man 'swallows me'/'seeks to destroy me'
{a wild animal eating prey};
all day, constantly fighting he puts pressure on me. 2~~
My enemies {Philistines} would daily swallow me up.
{trying to break David down}
For they are many with pride who fight against me
{put pressure on David in prison - challenge him like he did Goliath}.

{Note: David wrote this when he was in Gath. The 'silent dove' describes David as a fugitive in Gath - see Chapter 55 verses 6-7 - David is the dove and the strangers are the Philistines. Miktam means a permanent writing of great value so 'a golden psalm' is a good translation.}

{Verses 3-4: Solution to the Pressure - Intake of Doctrine and Trust the Lord}
3-4~~The day that I am afraid, I will trust in You. 4~~
In Elohiym/Godhead I will praise {halal} His Doctrine/Word.
In Elohiym/Godhead I have put my Trust.
I will not fear what flesh {man here} shall do {'asah} to me.

{Note: Halal in the piel stem means to praise. In the Hithpoel stem, the same verb - halal - means to feign madness. It was used for David at this time in prison when he feigned madness in I Samuel Chapter 21:13.}

{Knocking Discipline To Get David to Rebound}
5~~ All the day they are distorting my words.
All of their thoughts are against me for evil.

{Note: This means when you are under 'knocking discipline' of God. To get you to turn back to Him, your enemies will be jealous of you, hate you, be bitter, vindictive, implacable, and have all the other mental attitude sins toward you. Opening the door is reversion recovery. Jesus is knocking on the door and inviting you to come out of reversionism.}

6~~They incite a mob against me.
They seek to ambush me.
They dog my footsteps
{violate his privacy and stalk him when he was still free}
When they wait to kill me {idem - literally 'wait for my soul'}.

{David Prays and Imprecatory Prayer}
7~~Because of nothingness/reversionism {David's condition},
there is no deliverance for them.
In anger cast down the peoples {Philistines}, O Elohiym/Godhead.

{Note: When you are in reversionism, you are not a blessing by association to those around you. So here, there is no deliverance for the Philistines by their intake of doctrine or by grace by association with David.}

8-9~~My fugitive life, you have written
{David in reversionism - his flight from Saul}.
My tears are being put in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book? 9~~
Then my enemies will fall back,
in the day that I {David} call!
This I have confidence/know!
For Elohiym/Godhead is for me.

{Note: It was the custom of the day, that when someone died, you put your tears in a bottle and put the bottle on the grave. The analogy here is that David's failures (tears) are put in a bottle (Word of God) and shown to future generations as a warning to recover from reversionism. See also Psalm 126:5.}

{Reversion Recovery - Intake of Doctrine}
10~~In Elohiym/Godhead {occupation with the Trinity}
will I praise His Doctrine.
In Jehovah/God {occupation with Christ} I will praise His Doctrine.

11~~In Elohiym/Godhead have I put my trust
{Daily intake of doctrine - GAPing it}.
I will not fear what man will do to me.

{Verses 12-13: David's Reversion Recovery}
12-13~~Your pledge/vows are upon me
{David's promise to daily take in the Word},
O Elohiym/Godhead,
I will perform confessions {rebound} to You. 13~~
For You have delivered {snatched from danger}
my soul {nephesh}
from {the sin unto} death . . .
- not just my feet from falling {carnality} -
for the purpose that I, myself, may walk before Elohiym/Godhead
in the light {Jesus Christ and His Word} of the living.

{See Also I Samuel 23:13. This Psalm was written as David departed from the Reversionistic men of Keilah. David saved the city from the Philistines. They were praising David to his face and plotting to turn him over to King Saul behind his back.}
1^^{Title} To the Chief Musician
- to Jeduthun {name means "praising"}
A Psalm of David.

~~Only/dogmatically {ak}
toward 'Elohiym/Godhead . . .
{recover from reversionism}
my soul is 'perfectly resigned'/'silently resolved' {duwmiyah} . . .
to Him . . .
{He is} my deliverance.

{Note: As David is fleeing the trap of Saul at Keilah, David turns to the men of Keilah and tells them to not come 'toward' or after HIM but instead turn toward God! Recover from reversionism. David's soul is under the protection of God and he worries about nothing (well at this point of his life anyway - he is very much in SuperGrace here).}

2~~Only/ dogmatically {Ak}
He {God} . . . my rock
and my deliverance/salvation {y@shuw`ah}.
He {God} . . . my security {misgab}.
I shall not be greatly shaken/tottered
{SuperGrace believers - while in SuperGrace - do not get shaken
up!}.

{David's Message to the Men of Keilah Continues}
3~~How long will you 'attack a man unjustly'? {hathath' 'iysh}
You shall be violently killed . . .
{sin unto death for reversionists - reversionists are vulnerable to
death at all times}
all of you.
You are as a bulging wall
{a bulging wall is destroyed by its own weight.
A reversionist is destroyed by his own sins}
and as a tottering/'pushed in' fence
{David is saying a little more pressure and the men of Keilah are
dead!}.

{Operation Two-Faced Men of Keilah - and All Reversionists}
4~~Only/ dogmatically {ak}
from his {David's} exalted status
{his honor in SuperGrace status},
they {the men of Keilah} plot/consult together
to overthrow him.
They take great pleasure in 'lying'/'saying deceptive things' {kazab}
{Operation Strap-on}.
They bless {David} with their mouth {say nicey nice to his face},
but they curse/revile {him} inwardly
{plot to betray him over to King Saul behind his back}.
Selah
{Selah means singers rest and instruments play on - it is a picture
of you resting while the Grace of God continues on}.

{2nd Strophe in this Psalm}
5~~Only/ dogmatically {ak}
to 'Elohiym/Godhead be silent {damam} my soul
{means to 'wait quietly on God}.
For my confidence {tiqvah} is from Him!

{Note: The SuperGrace believer understands grace. His life, his blessings, all that he is or has all comes from God. His confidence then in everything and anything is in and from God. This pertains to blessings in time and blessings forever - no 'hope' or 'expectation' but ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE that what God promises in His Word, He will provide. When you have absolute confidence that God delivers, you are well on your way to being a mature believer.}

{David Spitting in the Eyes of the Men of Keilah -
they can not hurt Him While God want Him Alive}
6~~Only/ dogmatically {ak}
He {God} . . . {is} my rock
{a rock is used as a place of security when in danger}
and my deliverance/salvation {y@shuw`ah}.
He {God} . . . my security {misgab}.
I shall not 'be shaken'/totter
{SuperGrace believers - while in SuperGrace - do not get shaken
up!}.

{David Tells the Men of Keilah He Relies on God not Them}
7~~On 'Elohiym/Godhead depends my deliverance/salvation {yesha'}
and my glory/'SuperGrace Status' {kabowd}.
The rock of my strength,
and my refuge/'shelter from the storm' {machaceh},
is in Elohiym/Godhead.

8~~Trust/'Faith Rest Technique'/GAP {batach}
{batach is the word meaning to put your trust in Him - take in
doctrine daily and rely on God to lead your life}
in Him {God} at all times You people {men of Keilah},
'pour out {your problems in}'/'cast
{your cares in the mentality of}' . . .
your 'right lobe'/heart
{problems are in the form of 'worry' here - thoughts in the
mentality}
before Him
{means to give your problems to God for Him to handle - and have
faith that He will deal with them perfectly! YOU may not like His
resolution - but know it is the right solution}.
'Elohiym/Godhead is a 'refuge from the storm' {machaceh} for us.
Selah
{Selah means singers rest and instruments play on -
it is a picture of you resting while the Grace of God continues on}.

{3rd and Last Strophe}
9~~Only/dogmatically {ak}
'men of low degree'/'trashy people'
are empty/emptiness {hebel} . . .
and 'men of high degree'/aristocrats are a lie.
In the balances/scales,
they go up from empty/emptiness {hebel}
altogether.

{Note: David gets the 'high minded' upper classes going by saying the lower classes are meaningless/emptiness . . . then hits them with that they are liars! That is setting someone up for a fall. On the scales, all men regardless of social status all start out the same way - as emptiness. In ourselves we all are nothing. It is ONLY Who and What God is that matters!}

10~~Trust/'Faith Rest Technique'/GAP {batach}
not in oppression/violence/'extracting liberty out of life (by a tyrant)'
{`osheq - Saul represents oppression - the men of Keilah just
plotted to betrayed David over to King Saul -
principal: treachery always forfeits freedom},
and become not emptiness/vaporous/foolishness {habal}
in plunder {gazel}
{gazel - can mean plunder and or rape - here David captured the
Philistines supply train and the men of Keilah apparently shared in
the plunder}.
If wealth/prosperity {chayil} increase,
"do not place that wealth first in the thinking/'norms and standards'
of your right lobe"
{idiom: literally: 'set not your 'right lobe'/heart upon them' -
this is the principal of getting your eyes on your wealth instead of
God - 'worshiping the almighty dollar' - NO! God must be first!
Keep your eyes on the source of your wealth - God. Don't center
your happiness on the wealth - you must have the capacity for
happiness first - that comes from doctrine in your soul.}.

{David Leaves with the Men of Keilah - Two doctrines to Ponder}
11-12~~One thing/'doctrine communicated categorically' {dabar}
Elohiym/Godhead has spoken.
Twice I {David} have heard/
'listened, concentrated, and obeyed' {shama'}.
Namely {1st of 2 doctrines},
that power { `oz - Omnipotence when talking about God}
belongs to Elohiym/Godhead. 12~~
Also unto You {2nd point of doctrine},
O 'Adonay/Lord,
belongs grace {checed - grace in action or 'mercy'}.
For You {God} have prospered every man
according to his occupation
{ma`aseh - meaning on what he 'concentrates' here}.

{Note: This verse is telling the men of Keilah that God prospers humans based on who or what do you 'are occupied with'. Do you concentrate on men and what they can do for you? Do you concentrate on your wealth or the wealth that someone can give you or take from you? Or do you concentrate on the true source of all 'good of intrinsic value'? All real value is from the source of God. Concentrate on Him not on the details of life.}

“To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.” The chief musician was David’s choir director. The choir was composed of Levites and numbered probably from 2000-2500. David was a writer of hymns but he always went through channels, his choir director.

There are two parts to this psalm: Prayer under pressure, verses 1-6; deliverance from the pressure, verses 7-10.

Verse 1 – “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer.” This s a qal active imperative, which means he understands Bible doctrine, he is on praying ground, and he demands a hearing before God. “O God” is a vocative referring to God the Father.

Then he begins his petition. “preserve my life from fear of the enemy.” The word preserve means to guard—“guard my life from the terror of the enemy.” The word terror here refers to pressure. He had a lot of enemies, they were trying to get to him, they put a lot of pressure on him, they were doing everything they could to destroy him.

Verse 2 – “Hide me from the secret counsel.” Hide is in the hiphil stem [causative]—“cause me to be hidden,” and this is simply a reference to the fact that he knows that Bible doctrine is his protection. “Secret counsel” is a conspiracy. This was the time of the Absolom conspiracy; “of the wicked” – the wicked are those who have rejected David’s authority as king and they seek to destroy his authority. They are in revolt against him although the revolt has not come to a head.

“from the insurrection” – the insurrection refers to those who seek to destroy the king.

“from the revolt of the workers of iniquity” – these workers of iniquity are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ primarily. They are believers out of fellowship and who had gone negative to Bible doctrine. They were full of mental attitude sins.

Principle: Authority and the exercise of authority produces many pressures as well as responsibility. In other words, no one can be in a position of authority without two things: pressure and responsibility. The people who most resent authority are the kind of people who can’t stand pressure and who will never take responsibility.

Verse 3 – the description of the pressure. “Who whet [sharpen] their tongue.” Sins of the tongue are based on mental attitude sins. These people sharpen their tongues; they are going to get David with their tongues.

“and bend their bows to shoot their arrows” – these arrows are “bitter words,” sins of the tongue: maligning, gossiping, judging, criticism, and so on.

Verse 4 – amplification of maligning. “They that shoot in secret.” These people always hit back in a sneaky way; they never challenge directly. They hide somewhere and take a shot at you.

“at the perfect” – there is no such thing as a perfect believer and the Hebrew word here does not mean perfect, it is tam which means complete or equipped. This refers to believers who are equipped with Bible doctrine, have inner happiness, occupation with Christ, and in a position of authority like David.

“Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.” In other words, they are not afraid of him because they are so cowardly they do it behind his back.

Verse 5 – their plotting. “They encourage themselves in an evil matter; they commune of laying snares.” The communing means they decide to lay snares.

Verse 6 – an invasion of David’s privacy. “They search out iniquity.” The words search out means to dig out, to find out. It means to sneak around and to spy. So we have spying on David; they were invading his privacy. Every believer, whether he is in authority or not, has a right to live his own life before the Lord and what he does is no one else’s business.

“they accomplish a diligent search.” This simply means that they keep him under observation until they discover some sin, some failure that they can use to discredit him.

“Both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, are deep.” The word deep here refers to deep in the sense of enmeshed in their own evil. First of all they were jealous of David, of his authority. They were then bitter toward him, they became hostile, antagonistic, and they expressed this through gossip and maligning. In this they found others who agreed with them, so they got together and did some plotting. They decided they needed to discredit David, so they invaded his privacy and began to spy on him.

Verse 7 – “But God.” God intervenes. Here is the answer to David’s prayer.

“shall shoot at them” – these people who are trying to destroy David’s authority will be knocked down. God will discipline them.

“with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded” – every time God fires they will be hit. They will be wounded in the sense that, first of all, their mental attitude sins will receive self-induced misery. In addition, their mental attitude sins will lead to gossip and maligning which lead to triple-compound discipline: self-induced misery, discipline for the sins of judging, discipline for the sins that you mention. This is the Greek of Matthew 7:1,2.

Verse 8 – “So shall they make their own tongue to fall upon themselves.” The tongue of a person who gossips and maligns weighs a ton! You cannot malign and criticise other believers without getting completely smashed yourself.

“all that see them shall flee away” – there is an illustration of this. There was a man at this time in David’s cabinet who was power-mad. He resented David. He thought he was as good as David, and he was a smart person. His name was Ahithophel. He had approbation lust and because of this he though he was as smart as everyone else, if not smarter. So when Absolom began to make noises of revolt he went over to Absolom. 2 Samuel 15:12ff; 16:15, 20; 17:1, 7, 14, 23. Ahithophel was discredited because he tried to discredit David.

Verse 9 – human reaction to divine discipline of the plotters. “And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God”. Who was it that protected David when the revolt came? It was God in His grace.

“for they shall wisely consider concerning his doing” – it was the grace of God. God’s grace took a doctrinal man and kept him in the position of authority in spite of the plotting, the revolt.

Verse 10 – David responds to this. “The righteous [the believer with doctrine] shall be glad in the Lord.” Shall be glad is samach, inner happiness. David is a believer and he has Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine produces inner happiness. Adversity cannot shake that inner happiness.

“they shall trust in him” – trust is chasah. This is the rabbit running into the cleft of the rock when being chased by the wolf. The hole is too small for the wolf and he can’t touch the rabbit. The rock refers to Bible doctrine. David is in God’s plan, he is in doctrine, and therefore the wolves cannot touch him. This is a Hebrew word for faith—the operation of the faith-rest technique.

“and all the upright in heart shall glory” – upright in heart means all of those in the land who knew Bible doctrine, who were oriented to the grace of God and the plan of God. They gloried in what had been accomplished by God. Wherever grace people exist, wherever there are grace believers, they always rejoice in the work of God.

Altogether this last verse adds up to occupation with Christ, and here there are three ingredients to occupation with Christ—inner happiness [shamach]; faith-rest technique [chasah]; doctrine in the soul described under the phrase “upright of heart.”

{Prayer under Pressure - Discipline for Sins of the Tongue}
{Verses 1-6: Prayer under pressure}
1~~ {Subscript}
To the chief Musician {of the musical division
- the band and choir - 4000 people} . . .
A Psalm of David.
Hear my voice, O Elohiym/Godhead
in my prayer . . .
guard my life from the terror {pressure}
of the enemy.

2~~Cause me to be hid
from the conspiracy of the wicked . . .
from the revolt/insurrection
of the workers of iniquity {primarily believers out of fellowship}.

{Note: This is the revolt of David's son Absalom. These 'wicked' are those who reject David's authority.}

{Description of the Pressure}
3~~Who sharpen their tongue like a sword
and bend their bows to shoot their arrows . . .
even bitter words {maligning, slander, judging, gossip, etc.}.

4~~ They that shoot in secret
at the equipped/complete
{doctrine in the soul - mature and in some form of authority} . . . suddenly . . .
do they shoot at him . . .
and fear not.

5~~ They encourage themselves in an evil matter.
They decide to lay snares privately.
They say, 'Who shall see them?' {Conspiring in secret}

{Invasion of David's Privacy}
6~~They 'search out'/spy iniquities.
They accomplish a diligent search
{observe David until can find a sin/failure they can exploit}.
Both the inward thought of every one of them . . .
and the right lobe {heart}
is deep {deep in evil}.

{Intervention of God - Sins of the Tongue Discipline}
7~~But Elohiym/Godhead
shall shoot at them with an arrow . . .
suddenly . . .
shall they be wounded.

{Note: Self-induced misery and compounded discipline. In judging for example, 1) self-induced misery; 2) your sin has its own discipline; and 3) if you mention a sin, then God's judgement of their sin is applied to YOU - also see Matthew.}

8~~So they shall make their own tongue
to fall upon themselves
{tongue weighs a ton and will smash you to bits} . . .
all that see them shall flee away.

{Human Reaction}
9~~And all men shall fear,
and shall declare the work of Elohiym/Godhead.
For they shall wisely consider of His doing.

10~~ The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah/God. . .
and shall trust in Him.
And all the upright in the frontal lobe {heart} . . .
shall rejoice/glory.

{A Psalm about the Persecution of David by King Saul}
1~~{Title} To the 'Chief Musician'/'Choir Director' {natsach}
{a Psalm} of David . . .
to stimulate memory/remembrance {zakar}.

O 'Elohiym/Godhead . . . to rescue me . . .
O Jehovah/God . . . to help me . . .
hurry up {chuwsh}.

{David's Imprecatory Prayer - SuperGrace Believer Only - Be Careful Using - Puts In the Hands of the Lord to Administer Justice}
2~~Let them
{Saul and the men of Keilah and the Ziphites who will betray him
next}
blush/'be ashamed' {buwsh}
and be humiliated {chapher} . . .
who seek after my soul {to kill David}.
Let them be driven back
and be dishonored {kalam} . . .
who delight {chaphets}
in my disaster
{ra' - evil coming to someone means a disaster}.

{David Prays that All Who Gloating Over His Distress Have it Boomerang Back on Them}
3~~Let them be turned back {shuwb}
because of their shame
who say, 'Achhhhh Achhhhh '
{heach heach - doubling is strong: idiom: ana-poetic words today for gloating. Like children taunting with naa naa na naaa naaa - referring to people who scorn others - gloating - exultation over a fallen enemy}.

{Always Like a Doctrine with an Imprecatory Prayer}
4~~Let all those
who intensively seek { baqash - Piel Stem} You
{Those who seek after God today are those who study Him via His
Word}
keep on 'having great overt happiness'/rejoicing {suws}
and celebrate { samach }in You.
Furthermore, let those who keep on loving Your deliverance
say constantly, "Let 'Elohiym/Godhead be magnified."

{Note: Those in reversionism are antagonistic to those who love the Word. When reversionists who plot against the SuperGrace believer are put down by God, then doctrinal believers can celebrate in their deliverance from danger by God. They leave all in the hands of the Lord.}

5~~I {David} am afflicted/needy { `aniy}
and helpless { 'ebyown}
Hurry up , O 'Elohiym/Godhead.
You are my helper {`ezer}
and my deliverer {palat}.
O Jehovah/God . . . do not delay.

Introduction: Hosea 4 which was addressed to the Jews before the fifth cycle of discipline. If they had fulfilled the first line there would have been no 5th cycle of discipline, but national entities that have believers inside are national entities which can be punished when those believers go into apostasy.

Verse 1 -- “Hear the word of the Lord” means to listen and obey, understand and apply. The word of the Lord is Bible doctrine; “ye children of Israel” – the national entity found in Psalm 80.

“for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land” – when the Lord has a controversy it means one thing: national judgments.

“because there is no doctrine” – lack of Bible doctrine destroys a national entity; “nor mercy” – failure on the part of believers to orient to the grace of God, and therefore failure to apply grace. Mercy is grace in action.

“nor knowledge of God in the land” – when there is no knowledge of God in the land it means two things: a) believers are apostate, they are not learning Bible doctrine; b) unbelievers, therefore, are not hearing the gospel because unbelievers do not receive the witness which comes with an understanding and application of Bible doctrine.

Here is why the Jews went under the fifth cycle of discipline. No knowledge of God in the land. Believers are the salt of the earth and the salt can lose its savour. When it says that believers are the salt of the earth it is referring to salt as a preservative. When salt loses its power to preserve the meat is spoiled and rotten, and when believers are minus Bible doctrine the believers in a national entity lose their preservative power for that national entity. As goes the believer so goes the national entity. The believer minus doctrine means the national entity will go under the fifth cycle of discipline; the believer with Bible doctrine preserves his national entity.

Verse 2 – “By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out and blood toucheth blood.” The things which cause national disintegration. This disintegration is described by the idiom “blood with blood,” which means many things. Any form of civil disobedience is included in the lawlessness involved here. Whenever there is mob violence and when the rights of individuals are violated, this is the idiom “blood with blood.”

Verse 3 – “Therefore shall the land mourn,” the fifth cycle of discipline; “and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish” – this is a Hebrew verb which means intensity of sorrow and pressure.

Verse 4 – “for thy people are they that strive with the priest.” There is no reason for blaming one another because the reason the Jews went out under the fifth cycle of discipline is because they rejected Bible doctrine. The Levitical priesthood was one of two ways in which doctrine was communicated.

Verse 5 – “Therefore shalt thou fall in the day.” This is the day of the destruction of the national entity.

“and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother,” their heritage. The heritage of a nation is destroyed as a part of the 5th cycle of discipline—freedom, the culture which is compatible with divine institution #4.

Verse 6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” When the believer in a land in minus Bible doctrine the salt loses its preservative power and the national entity is destroyed.

“because thou hast rejected knowledge [of doctrine], I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me” – the nation no longer fulfils its purpose in the plan of God.

“seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God [Bible doctrine], I will also forget thy children” – the next generation is in slavery in captivity. That is the 5th cycle of discipline and the primary reason for it.

Psalm 79 and Psalm 80 go together. Our subject is Psalm 80, our introduction is Psalm 79 as well as Hosea 4. Psalm 79 describes the Jews under the fifth cycle of discipline.

Verse 1 – “the heathen.” There were two Jewish kingdoms when the fifth cycle of discipline was administered. The northern kingdom was made up of ten tribes led by Ephraim. The southern kingdom was made up basically of two tribes led by Judah. The northern kingdom went under the 5th cycle of discipline to the nation Assyria in 721 BC. The southern kingdom went under the fifth cycle of discipline to the empire of Chaldea in 586 BC. The administration of the 5th cycle was separated by some years but both nations were destroyed in a day because they over-reached, because Bible doctrine did not level them off. God wiped out the Assyrian and the Chaldean. The Jews survived this terrible discipline, but the people who administered it did not because of lack of Bible doctrine. The “heathen” refers to three nations: the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, and the Romans.

Verse 2 – this means that people are hurt. Many times believers are caught in this thing and so we have believers and unbelievers unburied. This was always a sign of total defeat when the dead were unburied after a battle in the ancient world.

Verse 3 – “Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem.” This means they courageously died for their country, but because of failure in Bible doctrine they still lost out.

Verse 4 – this doesn’t mean that at this point they have fallen, this means something that precedes the falling. This is the movement of the tides underneath the water. When a nation is about to go under the fifth cycle of discipline there is always that internal policy that can only be held up to ridicule by history. There is the internal destruction of a nation as well as its external collapse.

Verse 5 – and then the believer says. This is a psalm of Asaph and therefore a prophetical psalm with regard to condition which precede and exist during the 5th cycle. “How long, Lord? Wilt thou be angry forever?” This is an interesting Hebrew idiom. When people are under maximum pressure which is brought about by a total national catastrophe it appears as though God is going to be angry forever.

“shall thy jealousy [zeal] burn like fire?” His zeal is the zeal that the nation follow the principles of divine institution #4, which means Bible doctrine first.

Verse 6 – “Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen” – this was actually fulfilled. This is a prayer of believers under the fifth cycle of discipline. Why was this necessary? Because in the case of Chaldea, and Assyria before them, they abused the power given to them by God to administer the discipline. They allowed their national pride to feed their power lust and as a result they overstepped the bounds and tried to exterminate the Jews. Therefore, this is a very legitimate prayer from Jewish believers.

Verse 7 – “For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.”

Verse 8 – “Oh, remember not against us former iniquities.” Here is the national rebound concept. This is what Daniel was praying 3 times a day at the window as he faced Jerusalem. He was fulfilling 1 Kings chapter 8. When Jews were out under discipline they were told to face Jerusalem 3 times a day and to pray for the restoration and peace of Jerusalem.

Verse 11 – the sighing of the prisoner is the Jew under the 5th cycle of discipline.

“preserve thou those that are appointed to die.” This is something we can pray today. “Appointed to die” means it is possible that we are appointed for the 5th cycle of discipline, but as long as it hasn’t occurred yet it doesn’t have to occur. The prayer of born-again believers in fellowship daily, ‘Preserve us as a nation,’ can be heard and answered and the 5th cycle of discipline can be postponed or cancelled.

Verse 12 – this preservation means the neutralising of other nations, often through warfare.

Verse 13 – “So we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks forever.” Notice the basis on which this prayer is made: ‘We are thy people, we belong to you. This is your battle Lord, not our battle.’ I they go down they do so because of the Lord’s decision, but if they stand, they stand because of His grace. This should be the believer’s attitude in the perspective of doctrine, in the perspective of grace before the Lord. If we are to survive we are to do so because of who and what the Lord is.

“we will show forth thy praise to all generations” – two principles here: a) to give thanks forever means this prayer is prayed by those who can be heard in prayer—believers. Forever means that this will be a subject of eternal praise. The preservation of any nation becomes a conversational piece in heaven; b) when a nation is about to go down and that nation is preserved because of the believers who pray for that nation, the believers who learn doctrine—the salt of the earth concept—this becomes a national testimony.

Psalm 79 is a fifth cycle of discipline psalm; Psalm 80 us a restoration psalm, a national restoration psalm. Therefore what appears to be the superscription is actually the thing that links the two together.

“To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of Asaph.” This is the first half of verse 1 in this Psalm in the Hebrew. This could well be a connecting inscription which occurs in the Word of God between two psalms to link the psalms. The Shoshannim are lilies. Eduth means testimony. So, “To the chief Musician, the testimony of the lilies.” The lily was a common flower in Palestine. So what is this saying? Before we get into the prayer for restoration by people under the fifth cycle of discipline we know the prayer will be answered. How do we know? The testimony of the lilies. It means that we know that God is faithful, that He responds to grace, and the whole 80th psalm is a grace psalm, it is approaching God on the basis of grace. “Restore us,” not because of who and what we are but because of who and what you are. This comes out three times in three key verses which all say exactly the same thing: verse 3 – “turn us again” is literally restore us; “cause thy face to shine, that we may be delivered.” Then again in verses 7 and 19. This is the basic concept of the psalm. This is a prayer in which the believers who pray it know that it is going to be answered. So this psalm belongs to the generation of people who survived the death march of Psalm 119. The testimony of the lilies is, ‘We will again go to the land of the lilies’—Palestine.

Verse 1 – the Shepherd of Israel is the Lord Jesus Christ. “Give ear” is the hiphil imperative of the verb azan. It means to listen and obey, it does not mean just to listen. This time it is an application of doctrine, it is addressed to the Shepherd of Israel. And so they are saying in their prayer, ‘Listen to us, Lord, and obey.’ That is a strong prayer, and you have to know your ground when you pray such. The writer of this psalm is actually giving God an order. The hiphil stem is causative active voice. The imperative is an order—“Be caused to listen and answer.”

“thou that leadest Joseph like a flock” – this was the basis of Daniel’s prayer as he faced Jerusalem and prayed three times a day. “Thou that leadest Joseph is a very remarkable statement when it is remembered that Joseph no longer existed—not the literal Joseph but the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom was made up in its leadership by the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim was the son of Joseph, along with Manasseh. The southern kingdom is called Judah because this is the leading tribe. So Ephraim is the same as Joseph, and this refers to the northern kingdom. And this prayer is being prayed when the northern kingdom was wiped out.

Verse 2 – but notice, “Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.” The first tribe mentioned in Ephraim. Ephraim and Joseph are synonymous terms, with this difference. Joseph is always used for the tribe when believers are involved. When something is addressed to the regenerate of the northern kingdom you often have Joseph. When you are talking and warning of the entire northern kingdom then you have Ephraim. These believers continued to exist when the fifth cycle of discipline came to the land. They went to the south, to the place of spiritual blessing, and therefore Joseph refers to the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. Jesus Christ is still Lord to them, and always will be. They are the regenerate remnant and this is a prophetical psalm which anticipates the fifth cycle of discipline for the southern kingdom but historically recognises the existence of the fifth cycle of discipline for the northern kingdom. Joseph is a very important word here and it indicates that God is faithful to believers no matter what disaster overtakes their country.

This prayer had to be offered three times a day. It was offered in 721 BC by those people in the northern kingdom who were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. In 586 BC we have the fall of Jerusalem and again this prayer was offered by people such as Daniel. Finally, again in 70 AD the Jews began to offer this prayer and is still prayed today, but it will be very pertinent and will be prayed in the Tribulation by born-again Jews.

The three tribes mentioned were all located in the same part of the bivouac. There were twelve tribes in Israel and they always bivouacked around the tabernacle. On the western side of the tabernacle facing the holy of holies we have Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. For that reason they are mentioned at this time because they were closest to the point between the cherubs. These three tribes also have a future significance from the time of their bivouac. For example, Ephraim and Manasseh are the double portion of Joseph. Reuben was the eldest son and he inherited three things: the rulership of the family, he operated in the time of a family priesthood so as the eldest son he inherited the priesthood, and thirdly, he would inherit all of the funds and the administration of them, simply called the double portion. Reuben lost all three. He lost the rulership to the tribe of Judah, he lost the priesthood to Levi, and he lost the double portion to Joseph. Joseph’s double portion is made up of Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim and Manasseh are the double portion, the Joseph tribe, and they were always jealous. Ephraim was the most extensive tribe from the population and was located in the northern part of the land. They were a very jealous tribe and were jealous of Judah located in the south. This jealousy led eventually to a split when Solomon’s son failed to measure up and there was a revolt led by Ephraim. That is why Ephraim is often called the northern kingdom. Judah and Benjamin were tribes who lived in the south. Benjamin was the great warrior tribe. In the bivouac the brothers Ephraim and Manasseh were split, and who was better qualified to keep them apart than Benjamin? Benjamin was in the centre. Benjamin also means “son of my right hand,” and it was Benjamin who was actually opposite the cherubs in the tabernacle which speak of propitiation.

Why in a Tribulational prayer, a prayer in the fifth cycle of discipline, would there be a phrase such as we have here? “Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength. . .” The Hebrew verb aur means to get tough, and it is a piel imperative here, an order. The piel is intensive, so it means to really get tough. Why mention only the west side of the bivouac? What is the spiritual significance? All three represent a principle of strength. Ephraim was the most numerous tribe, the largest population. So the emphasis on Ephraim is numbers, the concept of numbers strength. Benjamin represents the military strength, and the importance of military force. Manasseh represents the other great factor in the stability of a nation—for being nothing! Manasseh is famous for its weakness, its helplessness. In other words, Manasseh was no good. This represents the whole principle of grace. Ephraim: the ingredients for a stabilised population which the Jews did not have under the fifth cycle of discipline. So we have economic prosperity in numbers, the idea of increasing the population and thus increasing the free enterprise concept—national vigour. Benjamin—the concept of national defence. Manasseh: the concept that we are weak, helpless, hopeless, and yet God in His grace can take the hopeless individuals, bring them into His plan and through doctrine convert them into the salt of the earth, the thing that preserves a national entity.

We have here a prayer which involves these principles and they are mentioned by way of tribes: stir up the strength of these tribes. This means the whole concept of a vigorous economy, a strong military entity to preserve freedoms, and above all and most important, Bible doctrine in the soul of the believer resulting in that stability that leads to the salt of the earth concept. So this prayer is prayed by Jews in maximum discipline conditions. They pray for three things by mentioning Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. And all of this has to have a starting point: “Stir up thy strength.”

There is one change to this in the Tribulation. This is going to be prayed in the Tribulation, and especially in the last half. In the first half of the Tribulation we have Ephraim. The Jews are going to have in the first half of the Tribulation great prosperity. This will be a preliminary to the end of the 5th cycle of discipline. Then, in the second half of the Tribulation, the order of the day is going to be Benjamin, the warrior. There will be resistance in Jerusalem—Zecharaiah 12 & 14. Then there will be the second advent of Jesus Christ. When He returns the whole principle of Benjamin will be fulfilled, the military strength of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will destroy them with the Word of His mouth—Revelation 19. Then comes the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ when there will be the Manasseh concept, for the Jews will be back in the land—but only the saved Jews. This will be the termination of the fifth cycle of discipline.

“come” – this is a petition for the return of Christ, the second advent; “save us” – this means ‘deliver us.’ It is a reference to the Jews in Jerusalem, according to Zechariah 14:1-9.

So verse 2 jumps over to the Tribulation. Verse 1 is more general and covers God’s dealing with the regenerate of Israel, as well as any born-again person in any period of history. But the two verses together form the beginning of the prayer for the fifth cycle of discipline.

In a very real way, since this is not the Jewish age, the prayer can be prayed today but the real significance of this prayer comes when the Jewish age resumes. Then Psalm 80 will be prayed by born-again Jews. So we have to notice the actual interpretation. Since Jews in the Church Age are no longer Jews when they believe in Christ, just as Gentiles are no longer Gentiles, it really isn’t a prayer that is prayed today. It is a prayer we can appreciate, it is a prayer which presents principles of application to us, but by its interpretation it belongs to 721 BC and following, 586 BC-516, and it belongs to the Tribulation. So this is the format for a Tribulational prayer even as it has been an historical prayer.

Verse 3 is the first refrain. This is the chorus. “Turn us again” – the hiphil imperative of the verb shub. To turn isn’t the general sage of shub. It means to restore. It means to restore under two conditions: a) personal; b) national. It is used as a rebound word. It isn’t the mechanics to confess but it has the concept. This is a prayer for restoration based upon the individual’s use of rebound. In other words, a person who has rebounded can pray. “Cause to restore” is the literal translation here. Basically, this is a prayer for the Second Advent.

“cause they face to shine” – this is an idiom. It refers to economic prosperity in a national entity. This is a prayer which will also be involved in the restoration. Between 516 and 323 BC the Jews had great prosperity. There can never be economic prosperity in Israel without spiritual prosperity preceding it. All the principles of economic prosperity are bound up in Bible doctrine.

“and” is literally that; “we might receive deliverance” – physical deliverance, the deliverance which comes with the termination of the 5th cycle of discipline. This is a niphal [passive voice] imperfect. This means they cannot earn it or deserve it, or doing anything about it, and it refers again to the Second Advent. The Jews will receive deliverance.

1 Kings 8:33, 34—“When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy.” Here is the 5th cycle of discipline from a little different viewpoint. We know from Hosea 4:1-6 that a nation is smitten down because of rejection of Bible doctrine, and specifically this happened to Israel. “ … and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name [rebound, confess to the name of the Lord], and pray [the ability to pray follows rebound], and make supplication [specific prayers for specific needs]unto thee in this house [the house of God]: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.” Here is the principle of being out under the 5th cycle of discipline, offering prayer toward the house of God which no longer exists.

Verses 35, 36—“ When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place [the temple, where the Word is supposed to be constructed, even if it is destroyed.], and confess thy name [rebound], and turn from their sin [ignorance of doctrine and idolatry], when thou afflictest them: Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them [they have to know it before they can do it] the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land [economic prosperity as a result of doctrine], which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.”

Verse 46-49 – “If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy [5th cycle of discipline], so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; but return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause.”

This is the very principle by which Daniel had to pray at noon every day. He knelt down facing Jerusalem and prayed three times every day for as long as seventy years, obeying the commands of 1 Kings 8. Daniel offered the national rebound prayer, as well as a personal rebound prayer. This has to do with the Jewish failure, with the reason why the Jews went into captivity—rejection of Bible doctrine. Therefore the salt lost its savour, and when it did the enemy came in and took the Jews captive into other lands.

Psalm 55:17—“ Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” This is the verse that Daniel used every day of his life in the Chaldean captivity. Three times a day he had a specific rebound prayer.

Daniel 6:10—“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” He fulfilled exactly the principle of Psalm 55:17, he fulfilled the doctrine and the concept given in 1 Kings 8, and the actual content of his prayer is recorded in Psalm 80. This is the prayer that put him in the lion’s den. The reason that he was thrown into the lion’s den is because he was faithful to the Word. He had to make a choice, and he chose faithfulness to the Word of God and was delivered from the lion’s den. Psalm 80 records in more detail the content of Daniel’s prayer. This is not to say that Daniel wrote Psalm 80, this is simply to say that the actual details of the prayer and the principles behind it are recorded in more detail in Psalm 80.

Psalm 80:4 – this is actually a principle here and not the actual prayer content. (In verses 5-8 we have the reason for this restoration prayer.) God is angry. This is an anthropopathism expressing an attitude, God’s attitude toward His people for their ignorance and rejection of Bible doctrine which led to the 5th cycle of discipline.

“O Lord God of hosts” is addressed to God the Father; “how long wilt thou be angry” – a reference to the discipline of the 5th cycle; “against the prayer of thy people” – in other words, they were to pray this prayer knowing that there would be a break-through, but knowing that they were praying it in the midst of divine anger.

Why pray in the face of the anger of God? A believer oriented to the grace of God, a believer who understands the principle of propitiation, will never fail to orient to this concept. Daniel would get down on his knees three times a day and face an angry God. Why? Because he knew doctrine. This means to us that if we are going to be effective in prayer we must know what we are doing. We must be oriented to the grace of God and to the plan of God. Three times a day Daniel had a meeting with the wrath of God, but coming through that wrath was propitiation. Not only Daniel but the remnant understood God’s grace.

Daniel prayed this prayer every day but there was no answer to it, for the prayer was to restore the people to the land. He knew that they were being fed with the bread of tears but that behind the wrath of God was the love of God. When wrath and love get together the answer is grace, and what was happening to the captives was “all things working together for good.” Daniel kept on praying that prayer because he was commanded to do so, and not only that, he understood what he was doing. He was devoting a portion of his life each day to the faith-rest concept. He knew doctrine.

Verse 5 – notice the word feed and the word drink. The “bread of tears” was sorrow, suffering, pressure, disaster. The feeding of this suffering was daily.

“and givest them tears to drink in great measure” – it hurt so badly they wept day in and day out.

Verse 6 – this is what happens under the 5th cycle of discipline. “ …a strife unto our neighbours” simply means the people are all against them. Neighbours are people with whom you have contact. “… enemies laugh among themselves” – many times Daniel was laughed at. The devil uses laughter sometimes in the same we he uses the bread of tears. Sometimes we stand up against the bread of tears but when we are laughed at it influences us. People who are fortified with the Word and can resist the tremendous pressures of the bread of tears fall down flat when someone laughs at them. But the ability to be able to work through the laughter and the pressure belongs to a man like Daniel; it belongs to a grace believer, and it should belong to you. Some people can never pass the laughter test, they can’t stand ridicule.

Verse 7 – “Turn us again” means restore us again, the hiphil imperative of the verb shub. This is prayer with confidence. When you find a prayer in the imperative mood it means the person knows what he is doing—knowing Bible doctrine. The hiphil stem is causative active voice: God must cause it; it must come from Him. There is the orientation to grace; “cause thy face to shine” – an idiom for blessing, “that we may be delivered.” The face shining means light coming from God. It means it has to be the work of God. Verse 7 is the second chorus.

Verse 8 – “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt.” This is an expression of the faithfulness of God. The vine refers to the children of Israel, and this vine is first expressed in Isaiah 5:1-7. Israel is also called a vine in Hosea 10:1, and we have a repetition of the concept in Matthew 21:33. The vine is a picture of Israel in the sense of its responsibility in Old Testament times. When God called out the nation Israel He did so because He had now destroyed the first “united nations” building, the tower of Babylon, and with this God instituted divine institution #4 in order to be sure that never again would one person or one government control the entire world, and therefore protected every generation of the human race. If internationalism were allowed to reach its logical conclusion, world dictatorship, then the freedoms that we enjoy would be removed from us with the result that eventually the human race would destroy itself. But as an extension of the angelic conflict and as a result of that and allowing each generation to be evangelised we have the world divided into national entities, with Israel responsible for reaching the nations of the world. Israel was made custodians of the Word of God and they were responsible for missionary activity and the dissemination of the Word throughout the world wherever positive volition existed. In this Israel failed. But Israel is called a vine in this connection because the vine produces the grape and the grape produces the wine, and the whole concept of the production of divine good is brought out through the vine. So the vine, then, becomes a picture of Israel, emphasising their responsibility—the responsibility in which they failed and eventually went out under the 5th cycle of discipline.

God was faithful to the Jews even though they failed Him. In the generation of the Exodus the Jews had everything going for them. They had a miraculous deliverance from bondage in Egypt. They had the ten great plagues which demonstrated the faithfulness of God, and how He would care for them in the days to come. They immediately had a test at the Red Sea which they miserably failed. Then they went out to a place where there was no water, Meribah, and again they failed. Then they came to the place where there was the wrong kind of water, and again they failed. God is faithful and regardless of how we fail Him He is always faithful to us.

Verse 9 – “Thou preparest room before it.” Room has to do with the land; it has to do with the vine which has been brought out of Egypt.

“and didst cause it to take deep roots, and it filled the land.” Planting the vine in the land, driving out the Canaanites, and establishing them. Not only did He establish them in the land but at the same time He gave them prosperity.

Verse 10 – the hills covered with the shadow is simply an idiom which means prosperity. Shadow or shade is always used for prosperity, as in Psalm One. The tree that grew by the rivers would cast shade.

“and the boughs thereof are like goodly cedars” – the establishing of a tree is used to indicate the stability and the prosperity of the nation. The nation had prosperity many times during its 400 years before the first administration of the 5th cycle of discipline. This prosperity was based upon orientation to the plan of God, orientation to the grace of God based on knowledge of doctrine.

Verse 11 – “She sent out her boughs” is the tree or the vine; “unto the sea” – the Mediterranean; “and her branches to the river” – the Jews occupied everything from the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea.

Verse 12 – the administration of the 5th cycle of discipline as it finally came to them. “Why hast thou broken down her hedge” – the hedge broken refers to the 5th cycle of discipline. It was broken several times in history as will be mentioned in the next verse. The reason is given in Hosea 4:1-6—lack of doctrine. Failure to learn Bible doctrine was the reason why her hedge was broken down.

“so that all they who pass by do pluck at her?” In other words, all of those armies of the past who went through and destroyed her: Assyria, Chaldea and Rome.

Verse 13 – a description. The boar represents Assyria who administrered the 5th cycle to the northern kingdom; “doth waste it” – reference to the 5th cycle.

“the wild beats of the field doeth devour it” – refers first of all to Chaldea, and secondly to Rome. Daniel recognises historically the two administrations of the 5th cycle of discipline in his day. As far as Daniel is concerned, from 721 BC to the Second Advent is the 5th cycle for the northern kingdom, and the boar is used to describe Assyria who administered it. Then in 586-516 BC the wild beast is Chaldea who brought the Jews of the southern kingdom under the 5th cycle of discipline, and Daniel is offering his prayer in that bracket.

Verse 14 -- there is also a future aspect. Daniel not only prays for the end of the 5th cycle of discipline within his century but he also prays for the future. The 5th cycle of discipline will be terminated at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

“Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts” – the word to return here is a prayer for the Second Advent of Christ which actually terminates two administrations of the 5th cycle of discipline. In 721 BC the northern kingdom went out under the 5th cycle. It will be terminated at the Second Advent. In 70 AD for the last time the southern kingdom went out and its discipline, too, will be terminated at the Second Advent. At the Second Advent there will be the regathering of Israel and the termination of the 5th cycle of discipline. Only believers are involved. “Return” is in the qal imperative.

Verse 15 – a petition for the restoration of Israel which accompanies this. “And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted” – the right hand is the Lord Jesus Christ.

“and the branch” – refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a title for Christ at the Second Advent, it is s title for Christ in the restoration of Israel. Jesus Christ is both the founder of Israel (the root) and He is also the branch. At the present time Israel is regarded as a stump under the 5th cycle, but all of this will be terminated at the 2nd Advent and the Branch, Jesus Christ, will return.

Verse 16 – Israel under the 5th cycle. This is a picture of the Jews suffering under the 5th cycle. Burning with fire has to do with the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple.

“they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance” – once of the most awful sieges recorded in history was the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. This gives a good idea of what it is to be cut down.

Verse 17 – the desire of the Tribulational believers expressed; “the man of thy right hand” is Jesus Christ. At this moment He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and this is simply a reference to bringing into operation the conclusion of the 5th cycle.

“upon the son of man that thou madest strong for thyself” – to make strong here means to glorify. The whole objective of the plan of the Father is not only to save mankind but to glorify Jesus Christ as the unique person of the universe, as the God-Man. Jesus Christ is glorified by the thinking of the Father, by the plan of the Father, operation grace.

Verse 18 – a response. “So will not we go back from thee.” The regenerate Jews of the Tribulation will not draw back from Christ at His return, they will gladly gather around Him as He restores Israel.

“quicken us” – the word quicken us is incorrectly translated in the KJV. This actually means, “Thou wilt cause us to survive.” These are the Tribulational believers. These Jews are physically delivered at the Second Advent.

Verse 19 – “Turn us again” is restore us again. Daniel has been looking at this prophetically and now he comes back to his own day. He is waiting on the Lord because he knows this can only be accomplished by the Lord.

“cause thy face to shine” – how can this occur? By those who are the remnant within a land turning to Bible doctrine and using it.

The promotion of supergrace —This psalm actually talks about a temple, and there was no temple. This is a psalm written by the sons of Korah and there was no temple when the sons of Korah were doing their writing.

Verse 1 — “How lovely are thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!” His dwelling places are the places where supergrace believers live; high ground. And where else is a dwelling place? On the golden bridge, how long it takes you to die. And where else is a dwelling place? On the other side in eternity where you have SG3, surpassing grace. So the dwelling places are SG2 and SG3. They are not “lovely”. The word for lovely in the Hebrews means the utmost beauty, the beauty which charms, a beauty which enhances, a beauty which gets into your soul and you think about it and remember it. “O Lord of hosts!” is referring to the fact that God is the God of the armies of heaven as well as earth.

Verse 2 — “My soul longs” — positive volition toward doctrine; “even yearns” — intensifying the intake of doctrine; “for the courts of the Lord” — the court is where the Word is taught. So the temple or the dwelling places are where the victories are won, but the victories are won by spending a lot of time in the courts. In a sense the local church is a court; “my right lobe and my flesh [my human ability to sing] sing with +H to the living God.”

Verse 3 — “The bird also has found a home [doctrine]” — the bird is a wanderer. In other words, where doctrine is that is the place where home is; “and the swallow a nest” — the swallow is a bird that migrates from place to place and regularly comes back to the same place; “for herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.” The altar always takes us back to the initiation of grace which is salvation grace.

Verse 4 — “Blessings to those who dwell in thy house” — persistence in doctrine; “they are ever praising thee. Selah [think about that].”

Verse 5 — “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee” — resident Bible doctrine, getting to the high ground; “in whose right lobe are the highways to glory” — supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace.

Verse 6 — “Who passing through the valley of Baca [valley of tears]” — and crying so much they “make a spring; however the early rain [doctrine] also covers it with blessing” — doctrine in the soul in time of great tragedy in your life. You can be in the valley of Baca and have great blessing. So even in the greatest tragedies and heartaches of your life doctrine will take you through the valley of Baca just as doctrine takes you to the high ground of supergrace.

Verse 7 — “They go from strength to strength” — the first strength is the high ground, SG2, and you have your SG2 paragraph and everything that God has for you, and you seize and you hold. That is strength. What is coming up next? Death is coming up next. Death is considered something related to weakness, but you’re going from SG2 to strength, and this is a golden bridge over the chasm from time to eternity and that is dying grace, and therefore another strength. You don’t die in weakness, you die in strength under dying grace. And as you cross the bridge you come over now to your next paragraph, surpassing grace. So you go from strength to strength to strength.

“every one of them” — not found in the original. It should be “they go from strength to strength appearing before God in Zion.” In other words, the whole principle here is that when you go from strength to strength you come face to face with God. You may be in time and you can’t see God, but when you get on the high ground you see the invisible. “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” — 2 Corinthians 4:18. When you get on the high ground you can look over and see what was invisible before. This is the fantastic blessing that goes with occupation with Christ.

Verse 8 — “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.”

Verse 9 — “Behold, our shield O God” — the shield is an item of military equipment used in advancing. No army ever carried them while retreating. The whole concept of a shield is advance; “and look upon the face of your anointed one” — that is David speaking. In other words, ‘Look God, I’m moving toward you, look on my face.’

Verse 10 — Here is how you advance, get back to those courts, wherever your right pastor and local church is. “For a day in class [Bible class, learning doctrine] is better than a thousand [out raising hell]. I would rather stand at the entrance of Bible class than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Verse 11 — “For the Lord God is a light and a shield” — in other words the glory road is light ahead of us, all we do is follow, and He is a shield, He protects us on the flanks and to the rear as we move forward — “the Lord gives grace and glory” — saving grace, living grace, supergrace, dying grace, surpassing grace. And the last three are glory. And when you get to the high ground of supergrace you have one paragraph, SG2, and you have the assurance of the second paragraph, SG3, and this is what it says: “No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly [with integrity]” — integrity here means doctrine. He does not hold any good thing from those who walk in the Word.

{David wrote this Psalm about moving to spiritual maturity}
1~~How loved are your dwelling places,
O Jehovah/God of the armies!

{Note: the dwelling places here refer to places where the Word of Elohiym/Godhead is taught.}

2~~My soul longed {intensive love}
and even yearned
{motivation word - positive volition}
for the courts of Jehovah/God {place of doctrinal instruction}.
My right lobe {soul - the real YOU - the place of mental activity}
and my flesh {body}
rejoice over the Living Elohiym/Godhead.

3~~Therefore,
the sparrow {the most helpless of birds - analogy to believers}
also has found a house {represents security}.
And the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young.
Even your altars,
O Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts,
my King {emphasis on the humanity of Christ}
and my Elohiym/Godhead
{emphasis on the deity of Christ - together is the hypostatic union
of Christ}.

4~~Happinesses {+H} to those who dwell in Your house!
{consistent function of GAP, take in doctrine daily}
They {mature believers} are ever praising You.
Selah {technical musical word, the choir stops but the musical
instruments play on!}.

5~~Happinesses to the man {mature believer}
whose power is vested in You
{doctrine resident in the soul of the mature believer}.
In whose right lobe are the highways to maturity {Zion}!
{Ultra-SuperGrace}

6~~Passing through the valley of tears
{Baca -after you crack the maturity barrier it is a difficult phase -
intensive testing for spiritual advancement},
they make it to the well {ultra- super-grace}.
The early rain also covers it with blessings.

7~~They advance from power {super-grace A and super-grace B}
to power {ultra-super-grace},
Every one of them is seem in Zion
by Elohiym/Godhead {means they receive the support of God}.

8~~O Jehovah/God . . . Elohiym/Godhead of the army,
hear my prayer!
Listen, O Elohiym/Godhead of Jacob! Selah.

9~~Behold our shield,
O Elohiym/Godhead {doctrine resident in the soul},
and therefore guard with respect your appointed ones.

10~~For a day in Your courts {in bible class}
is better than a thousand outside {in revisionism}.
I would rather be at the threshold
of the house of my Elohiym/Godhead
{a doorman at the house of Jehovah/God},
than dwell in the tents of evil.

11~~For Jehovah/God . . . Elohiym/Godhead
is a sun {a blessing in context - warm and energy}
and shield {security provision of logistical grace}.
Jehovah/God gives grace and promotion.
He will NOT hold back good from those who walk with HONOR.

{Note: This Psalm is the Psalm of growing to maturity. It is a good prelude to Philippians Chapter 3, and we continue to grow in grace, through no matter what happens in this life.}

The superscription is actually a part of the text of the Psalm. “A song or Psalm for the sons of Korah.” The sons of Korah are the objects of divine grace. Here are people who lived generation after generation and yet they should have been destroyed with their father Korah. Korah was executed by God—Numbers 26:10—because he took part in the Dathan and Abiram revolt. He revolted against God and against God’s orders. The reason he did was because Korah was very jealous. He was the nephew of Moses. He was in the tribe of Levi and he was very jealous of the fact that Moses and Aaron had the priesthood when in reality he was much smarter and a greater person. He had a very high estimate of himself and therefore he joined Dathan and Abiram in the great revolt against Moses and Aaron. Korah’s sons, however, were not destroyed with Korah himself and this is a most unusual factor, in fact it is the grace of God. Their preservation is recorded in Numbers 26:11 and then later on in 1 Chronicles 6:22ff. Korah’s progeny were numbered among the Levites—Numbers 26:58. So not only did they survive but they became a very definite part of the sons of Levi. Korah’s progeny became the guards of the gates of the Tabernacle and later the temple—1 Chronicles 9:19. Later on they became a special choir—2 Chronicles 20:19. So first of all in the superscription we encounter the principle of grace. Here is a family who deserved no consideration from God, and even though there was cursing for the father because of his mental attitude sins—he died the sin unto death—they were the recipients of the grace of God.

“upon Mahalath” – the Mahalath is an ancient stringed instrument used for musical accompaniment; “Leanoth” – a piel infinitive construct meaning to sing. So we have singing accompanied by musical instruments, except when you see the word Selah, which means the singing ceases but the music goes on. This is a beautiful picture of the plan of God. God’s plan goes on even when we, as it were, stop singing. The noun is anah. It means to sing, but in the piel stem it means to sing vigorously, happily, with coordination from the soul. Coordination from the soul demands an understanding of who and what the Lord is when He is blessing and when He is spanking.

The principle behind Psalm 88: this is a passage dealing with the sin unto death, dealing with rebound as the solution to the sin unto death, and a passage which says to us there is no excuse under the grace of God for any believer dying the sin unto death.

“Maschil” – this is a doctrinal discourse. It is derived from the hiphil participle of sakal. Sakal means to learn something so well that you can apply it. In this case the participle in the hiphil stem is formed by putting an m on it. So we have Maschil which simply means a song which is designed to communicate doctrine. There are two points of doctrine to be communicated in this psalm. The first: the grace of God can turn cursing into blessing. In other words, rebound cuts off the sin unto death. The second: the sin unto death still exists as a maximum disciplinary factor and under certain conditions God will administer it to believers.

“Heman” – in David’s day there was a man who had such a great bass voice that David took him out of his own tribe and adopted him into the tribe of Judah. This man was in the tribe of Levi, the same tribe as Korah. He was the grandson of Samuel the prophet. His name, Heman, means faithful or consistent. This would indicate that Bible doctrine had a great deal to do with his life. The fact that he was David’s favourite soloist is brought out in 2 Chronicles 35:15 and 1 Chronicles 15:19 [Heb.]. The fact that he was the favourite is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 25:1.

Verses 1 & 2, the principle of rebound. In verses 3-8, the first description of what it is like to be under the sin unto death. Verses 9-13, the rebound prayer is resumed. Verses 14-18, a second description of the sin unto death.

Verse 1 – “O Lord.” The word Lord is the Hebrew word Jehovah or the Tetragrammaton which is always used in connection with some person in the Godhead. The word Elohim [God] refers to the essence of God. The im suffix is plural and this means that there is more than one person who possesses this essence. There are three persons, each has identical essence, and therefore when one of these persons is being described the Hebrew word Jehovah is used and it is used for all members of the Trinity. It is used for God the Father who is the recipient of all prayer; it is used for God the Son who is the revealed member of the Godhead; and there are certain passages in the Old Testament where it is used for the Holy Spirit. There is an equivalent in the Greek—kurioj, sometimes used for the Father—2 Thessalonians 3:2,3. It is more frequently used for the Son, and is occasionally used for the Holy Spirit, as in 2 Corinthians 3.

Here in verse 1 this prayer is addressed to the Father (Jehovah Elohim) as the recipient of all prayer. Even the Lord Jesus Christ addresses prayer to God the Father, as per Hebrew 7:25. Then we have the principle of the Holy Spirit offering prayer on our behalf in Romans 8:26,27. All prayer is addressed to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. “O Lord God” – Lord refers to God the Father as a person; God refers to His perfect character.

“of my salvation” – simply a reference to the basis for rebound. 1 John 1:7 cf. 1 John 1:9. The sins that you name in rebound were already judged on the cross.[2] “O Lord God of my salvation” is a structure in the Hebrew which means that God the Father is the source, He designed the salvation. Jesus Christ is the one who actually provided the salvation.

The author of this psalm is a believer who is under the sin unto death, and he now describes how it feels to be under the sin unto death.

“I have cried” – the word here is tsaaq and it means to scream, to yell in pain. This is intensity of suffering.

“day and night before thee” – he has confessed his sins repeatedly and he doesn’t know if he is going to get off the hook or not.

Verse 2 – he is not going to give up on this. “Let my prayer” refers to the rebound prayer. Notice that Psalm 88 comes after Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51. These three are the great rebound psalms of David in which he describes the mechanics of rebound. Obviously this writer is not going to describe the mechanics of rebound, they have already been recorded in the Psalms. The point in Psalm 88 is principle. When one is under the sin unto death, just because he confesses his sins (he knows he is forgiven) he doesn’t know if he is going to be brought out from under the sin unto death. The psalmist wants his prayer to come before the Lord so that he can get out from under the sin unto death.

“incline thine ear unto my cry” – the word in the Hebrew for incline is natah, and it means to bend right down to that one can hear. This is a Hebrew idiom for saying that he is lower than the dust but bend down and hear what he is saying. This is in the hiphil imperative—causative. The causative stem here means that is all depends on who and what God is and the psalmist is saying, “Do it because of your character Father, not because of mine.” In other words, when a person is under the sin unto death he no longer has any illusions about himself, and now he gets oriented to grace. Grace depends on the character of God.

Now begins the suffering which brought about this prayer. The prayer is interrupted; it will be resumed in verse nine. Verses 3-8 are a parenthesis. Verses 14-18 is also a parenthesis. Each parenthesis describes how miserable he is, and in between we have his prayer—verses 1,2; 9-13.

Verse 3 – the greatest suffering is in the soul. “For my soul is full of troubles” – this man does not mention the pain of his body, he mentions the torture of his soul under the principle of temporal death. A better translation here would be, “My soul is satiated with sufferings.”

“and my life draweth night to the grave” – he uses the word for drawing nigh which means to arrive. The Hebrew word is naga. It is in the hiphil stem here—causative. God is causing his life to come to an end” “you are causing me to draw near to the grave.” The grave will be the end of phase two for the this man. God’s plan is not over for him but the sin unto death is shortening the whole thing.

Verse 4 – a hopeless situation. “I am counted with them that go down to the pit.” The word for count is the Hebrew word chasab which is really a computer word. It is also in the niphal stem, and in the perfect tense. It means that God had a longer plan for his life. He wasn’t to go out into phase three for a long time but this has been shortened down so that he is dying now. In other words, God computerised his life, gave him X amount of time, he has now shortened it up by the sin unto death, and it is only rebound that is going to change the picture and bring him out from under. The niphal is the passive voice of the qal and it means that he receives this computer treatment, as it were. “I have received the accounting [or computing] of them that go down to the pit.” The words them that go down means on the way down but not there yet. He knows that he is dying because he describes himself under terms of the helplessness of dying, he has no strength.

“I am as a man that hath no strength” – he is still a human being but he has no strength. This is the hopeless situation. But there is no such thing as a hopeless situation in the plan of God. All cursing is turned to blessing by the grace of God, and the greatest manifestation of grace in phase two is the rebound technique and it is the rebound technique that changes everything for this man.

Verse 5 – notice something of the total isolation that comes to the believer under the sin unto death. “Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave” is not a correct translation. The word translated “free” is not free. If there is anything this man isn’t it is free. He is a total slave to a terrible situation. The word is an adjective which means feeble. In the previous verse he says he has no strength, now he says he is feeble. He is dying. The literal translation is, “Feeble among the dying.”

“whom thou rememberest no more” – in other words, when one is under the sin unto death he is no longer remembered as far as God is concerned. The word remember simply describes the daily supply of grace to keep you operative. God divides phase two into days and it is to be lived under the principle of one day at a time. Each day when the believer wakes up he can be sure of one thing: God has given him a daily ration supply of grace to live out that day to the glory of God. What he is saying now is that his grace ration is cut off, by this particular phrase: “feeble among the dying. . . you remember me no more.”

“they [the dying] are cut off by thy hand” – he recognises that he is in a total isolation situation.

When this occurs there is a minimum of dying grace. Dying grace is for all believers but it is minimal when it comes to a believer under the sin unto death.

Verse 6 – “Thou has laid me” is the word shith in the Hebrew and it means to appoint. “You have appointed me to the lowest pit,” which means he is under the sin unto death and he has been appointed. This is an act of God which indicates the neglect of rebound.

This pit is described in two ways: “in darkness and in the deeps.” In darkness is isolation from the details of life and in the deeps is maximum pressure prior to death.

Verse 7 – “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me.” Thy wrath means divine pressures which occur at the sin unto death. The lie hard means to lean heavily or to rest heavily.

“thou hast afflicted” – afflict means to depress, to oppress. It is a piel stem which means that he is under intense suffering.

“with all thy waves” – the waves refer to the water, as it were. It is getting higher and higher and he is about to go under.

“Selah” – this means that the singers stop but the music goes on. In other words, God is not going to stop the sin unto death just because the believer is suffering. The only thing that will stop the sin unto death is the appeal to grace, and the only grace appeal is the rebound technique. Selah always depicts in the Psalms as the resting in the works of God.

Verse 8 – one of the great pressures of life is social isolation. “Thou hast put away mine acquaintances.” The word for acquaintance is the pual participle from the word to know, jada—those who know me. The pual means they are very good friends. People who love you can be very sustaining at times in life but under the sin unto death those who love you are separated from you.

“thou hast put away [removed]” – the word for remove is rachaq which means they are not only taken out of your geographical location but they are put in someone else’s. The hiphil stem means God caused this to happen.

“far from me” – this means that under the sin unto death it is “Dear John” technique.

“thou hast made” is literally, thou hast appointed. Again, it is the word shith—“thou hast appointed me an abomination.” The word abomination is something which causes loathing. This is the principle of complete ostracism as a part of the sin unto death. Under the sin unto death your friends despise you.

“I am shut up, and I cannot come forth” – this does not mean verbal silence, it means he is confined. This is a qal passive participle. God has closed down his social life. He cannot go out. If he goes to a party everyone moves away.

Verse 9 – pressure from the sin unto death stimulates rebound. Whoever wrote this particular psalm had neglected rebound since his youth and as a result he was now in the process of dying, and it was a very painful type of experience. This leads him back to the principle of rebound which he understood.

“Mine eye mourneth” – he is referring to the fact that he is suffering in the soul and that this soul suffering manifests itself through the eye gate. This is simply an idiom in the Hebrew for the intense suffering that occurs in the soul. The word for mourn is the Hebrew daab, it is in the qal perfect, and it means to have a tremendous distress. It sometimes is used for fear. It is always used for the concept of anxiety. It is an intense anxiety, an intense and frustrated longing. It is often used of unrequited love or frustrated love.

“by reason of my affliction” – the word for affliction is the word for soul suffering.

Verses 10-12, God still has a purpose for the believer under the sin unto death. This is manifest by the fact that when one is under the sin unto death he is still alive. When you are even dying and still alive God has a purpose for you even in dying and He can often, and often does, remand the sentence. This was true in the case of Hezekiah, as with the man in 1 Corinthians chapter five.

Verse 10 – he starts to ask God questions. These questions indicate that for the first time in a long time he is oriented to grace.

“Wilt thou shew wonders” – this is his first orientation to grace because the word for wonders is the word miracles, or it is the maximum use of grace under maximum difficult conditions.

“to the dead” – should be to the dying. The Hebrew word is muth, and it is a qal active participle. It means he is dying. In other words, his first question is, ‘Will you take a person who is dying, who deserves to die, who is under the sin unto death, show miracles?’ It means, Will you perform something which that person did not deserve under any stretch of the imagination? This is a rhetorical prayer which follows rebound. Does he have the right to expect a miracle? The answer is yes.

“shall the dead arise and praise thee?” The word dead here is a different one—ratha, which means to be all torn up, to die horribly. It refers to the dead or the departed. Literally, this is: “are the dead caused to praise thee?” This is a hiphil imperfect of the verb yadah which meant originally to give thanks. Then it meant to give thanks in an intensive way as to celebrate, to praise. He says in effect, “How can a believer who has died the sin unto death be caused to celebrate [thank, or praise]?” The answer to that is no. As a dead person [sin unto death] he cannot glorify God. The only way he can glorify God is to live long enough to do so, and then dies at the right time.

Verse 11 – “Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?” The word lovingkindness is graciousness, the word chasid. It means grace in action. Is it possible for his grace to be declared or celebrated in the grave? No. This man doesn’t recommend himself at all. He doesn’t say that he is going to do any system of penance. He is not a cry-baby, he is a grace man all the way even though he hasn’t always been that way. The word chasid is used for God’s grace provision in time, not God’s provision in eternity. The verb to be declared is a pual imperfect—the passive of the piel, the intensive stem. This is an intense declaration which is used for a celebration.

“or thy faithfulness in destruction?” – His faithfulness continues even when we have failed and His graciousness depends upon His character.

Verse 12 – “Shall thy miracles be known in the dark?” He is comparing death now to the dark. No, as long as he is alive that’s daylight. Daylight is phase two; darkness is dying under the sin unto death. The sin unto death doesn’t glorify God, it is better for the person to stay alive. The word known is in the niphal: do they receive knowledge in the dark?

“and thy righteousness”—why mention the righteousness of God? Because God’s righteousness is satisfied by the cross. Jesus Christ was perfect righteousness and God’s justice was satisfied by Christ bearing our sins.

“[can it be known] in the land of forgetfulness?” In other words, God’s grace is going to be more obvious to that generation in which he lives by this man’s life being extended than it is by taking it.

“But unto thee have I cried” – the word for cry is simply a call for help, piel stem, which means an intensification based upon the fact that he is dying.

“in the morning my prayer shall prevent you” – from killing me. The prayer is the rebound prayer. The word for prevent is piel [intensive] imperfect, which means this will continue: I will finish out phase two, I will finish my course. This is not self-confidence, it is confidence in the character of God—grace confidence.

What is said in verses 14-18 is simply a description of what has happened. Chronologically the psalm ends here. Now he is going to review what he went through in order to come to the place of orientation to the grace of God.

Verse 14 – “Lord” is God the Father here; “why casteth thou off my soul?” In the sin unto death the soul is said to be cast off. The Hebrew word is zanach which means to become rancid. There is a stench of the soul that accompanies the sin unto death. The soul of the believer becomes rancid. In other words, soul kinks reach a maximum.

Verse 15 – “I am afflicted.” For the sin unto death the word afflicted is pitiful. It should be miserable or wretched.

“from my youth” – teenager, when things start to go bad in the Christian life. It is one of the greatest testing periods in the Christian life. He began neglecting rebound in his teens.

“I suffer [carried] thy terrors [horrors], I am distracted” – the word for distracted means to be disoriented.

Verse 16 – “They fierce wrath goeth over me.” It doesn’t really say go over, it means “Over me has passed thy fierce wrath.”

“thy terrors have cut me off” – terrors is a way of describing whatever God uses to make the sin unto death painful to him.

Verse 17 – “They came round about me daily like water.” He goes through the process of using drowning as an illustration. It gets higher and higher every day but he doesn’t quite drown on any day.

“they compassed me about all at once” – he finds himself floundering in life.

Verse 18 – “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me.” The word for lover is a qal active participle and it refers to the most intimate type of love, the Hebrew word ahab. The word translated friend really means an acquaintance. This is just a casual person. Sometimes you make the best impression on those who only know you causally, but under the sin unto death you can’t even impress them. You are a pain in the neck to everyone!

“mine acquaintance” – this is not an acquaintance at all, it is an intimate friend. This is a pual participle of jada which means to know. Those whom I know intimately or intensely. It is used for a very close relationship. Again, under the sin unto death there is social isolation.

Psalm 90 is declared to be a psalm of Moses. While there is no superscription that says so in Psalm 91 there is a close link between Psalms 90 and 91. While the title is not stated as being a psalm of Moses its arrangement in the scriptures, its close relationship with Psalm 90 very definitely points in that direction. In addition, extra-biblical tradition ascribes this psalm to Moses, along with Psalm 90, but it says that Moses wrote this particular psalm during Israel’s darkest hour just before the Exodus began during the time of the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart. There are two great areas of pressure that brought on this particular psalm: a) the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart; b) the ten plagues that were entwined with this particular phenomenon. The deliverance of the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt is the general subject and this is God’s promise to take care of the Jews, not only in releasing them from 400 years of bondage but in providing for them in crossing the desert and afterwards everything necessary to enter the land. Before the Jews ever took one step out of Egypt they were thoroughly provided for both in the realm of doctrine and in divine promises. Their failure, once again, was rejection of Bible doctrine, the failure of the faith-rest technique—Hebrews 3 and disorientation to the grace of God—1 Corinthians 10.

There are some Messianic implications in this passage. Satan quotes verses 11 & 12 in Matthew 4:6 and indicates that this psalm has implications with regard to the incarnation. While Jesus Christ does not deny that, and while that is undoubtedly true, the real implication is the fact that Bible doctrine was provided for the Jews of the Exodus generation, and they failed to utilise the same. The recipients of this particular hymn were the regenerate Jews of the Exodus generation. There are also some applications to Jewish history. This hymn figured prominently during the Sennacherib invasion in the generation of Isaiah. During the Tribulation the deliverance of the seven vials of Revelation chapters 15 & 16 is also very closely related to this psalm.

The style of this psalm is quite different from most of them. It actually involves the use of two soloists. The way we can discover which soloist is which is because the first, second and third persons are used in the suffixes of the Hebrew verbs. The first of these soloists uses the second and third persons in his renditions, and he sings verse 1, verses 3-8, then starts in the middle of verse 9 and goes through verse 13. The second soloist uses only the first person and he sings verse 2, the first half of verse 9, and he concludes the hymn in verses 14-16. This is not a duet but it is a hymn written for two soloists.

There are two doctrines which must be understood before we get into the passage. The first is the doctrine of the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart and the second is the doctrine of positional truth.

In outline the psalm discusses the problem of deliverance. Verses 1-4, the pattern of deliverance; verses 5-8, the area of deliverance; verses 9-16, the principle of deliverance.

In the approach to this psalm we note three things: a) interpretation, which is always paramount. The interpretation is the deliverance of the Jews from the bondage of Egypt. b) application, which is the deliverance of a believer in phase two. c) anticipation, which is the deliverance of the Tribulational saints from a maximum world disaster.

Verse 1 – deliverance is based on relationship. Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. The Jews had five covenants: the Mosaic law, which is divided into three parts, and four unconditional covenants which constitute positional truth of the born again Jew—the Abrahamic covenant, the Palestinian covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the New covenant to Israel. These constituted positional truth for the Jews as they are getting ready to come out and be delivered from slavery.

It is important to realise that “He who dwelleth [keeps on dwelling] in the secret place of the Most High” is not an experience. This is your position in Christ. The qal active participle says the believer always dwells there whether he is a failure or a success. Regardless of his status as a believer he will always dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and this is the basis of God becoming a shield, a buckler and a castle later on in this context.[1] This is a relationship, it depends on who and what the Lord is, not on what we are. The “Most High” emphasises divine essence.

“shall abide” – lun, sometimes mean to come with the intention of spending the night and finding yourself spending a long time. This same word was used for Elijah in the cave. His sulking was so good there, it was better than the juniper tree! His soul was full of self-pity and it was a marvellous place to sulk. But here it means that you simply accept Christ without knowing all of the implications. Understanding all of the implications is not necessary. So lun is used here to indicate a principle: that while you just came to spend the night, once you have accepted Christ God says it is for eternity. That is the concept of this word, therefore it should be translated, shall remain or shall abide. It is a hithpael stem, which is reflexive and means you yourself. Christianity is personal and the hithpael stem of lun brings this out. It means that not only do we have a relationship with God but He has a plan for our lives in which there is perfect provision.

“under the shadow” – the shadow is the picture of pressure and adversity, and under the “shadow of the Almighty” we have God’s personal plan for the believer. It is called a shadow here because when you enter into the relationship with God by salvation you enter and are ignorant of the shadow. The shadow is operation phase two and all the doctrine pertaining to it. It indicates the plan of God is there but the shadow will not become a reality until we learn Bible doctrine.

Verse 2 – the source of the deliverance. “I,” the first person singular introduces the second soloist; “will say” – will communicate doctrine, bring to light; “concerning the Lord” – the word for Lord here is the Tetragrammaton and refers to the revealed member of the Trinity—Jehovah. Three things are said about Him: He is a refuge, He is a castle, He is “my God” [relationship].

“He is my refuge” – the Hebrew word for refuge means a shelter, a temporary shelter, a place where you can stay in time of a storm, machseh. The storm is the principle of adversity, suffering. God’s plan is greater than our suffering and therefore His provision [doctrine] has provided the refuge.

“and my fortress” – a word for castle, metsuhah. This is more permanent, a castle, a place where you can relax. In this case our fortress, our home, our castle is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a person with whom the believer can relax. You may have a home that isn’t much because you can’t afford anything better but sitting in the presence of a person with whom you have a relaxed relationship is a thousand per cent better than sitting in the nicest home in the world. Our castle is the Lord. Doctrine is the believer’s castle.

“my God” – this emphasises who and what He is. This word is Eloha, which simply means the Lord Jesus Christ, in this case with all of the essence of God.

“in him will I trust” – this is not salvation. The Hebrew word for salvation in amen, e.g. Genesis 15:6. But that isn’t the word used here, which is batach. It means to slam your problems on the Lord. It is used for the faith-rest technique.

So here is the basic principle of spirituality and the recognition that Jesus Christ is the shelter for the storms of life, the castle based on knowledge of doctrine, and He is very personal: “My God.”

“he shall deliver” – the word in the Hebrew, natsal, means to snatch away or to rescue from a desperate situation. This word is in the hiphil stem which is causative active voice. This is the imperfect tense in the Hebrew which means that the action is still going on and not completed. So this not only has a very definite reference to what happened at the time of the Exodus generation but it still applies to us today in principle. It is our responsibility as believers in time of pressure and disaster to stand still and watch the deliverance of the Lord. This standing still involves the utilisation of the faith-rest technique. So we have, “he shall cause to deliver.”

“the snare of the fowler” – this refers to the children of Israel trapped at the Red Sea incident. A fowler in the ancient world was a person who used a bird to hunt a bird, or he trapped birds with some kind of a snare. Pharaoh thought that he had trapped the Jews and the snare of the fowler was obviously there. This deliverance is historically a reference to the Red Sea incident and by application it refers to us as believers in any of the desperate situations of life which may exist as far as we are concerned. So God delivers the believer when he is boxed in by some pressure or disaster.

“the noisome pestilence” really means some kind of ruinous plague or calamity. Then word pestilence is actually in the plural and the word noisome means destructive—“he shall deliver from destructive plagues/calamities.” This actually refers to the ten plagues which occurred in connection with the Jews being liberated from bondage in Egypt. While the Jews were in Egypt they were in no way involved and they were protected from these things. Today, this means to us that we can be in a national entity which is filled with disasters, where things are falling apart, and even in this type of a national condition those who are born-again believers can be delivered and will be delivered and protected. As long as God has a purpose for the believer he is going to remain in this life no matter what happens to his nation or in what disastrous circumstances he may be found. So verse 3 takes up the principle of divine deliverance from disaster.

Verse 4 – this deliverance must in no way be divorced from doctrine. When we have a deliverance of this type it is, and always will be, associated with Bible doctrine.

The words feathers and wings are slightly different. The feathers involve a fowl which can be construed as one type of a bird and the wings involve another observation of the ancient people with regard to birds. The distinction is this: the feathers refer to the promises of God and the wings refer to the doctrines. Doctrines and promises are distinguished in that any believer, no matter how new he is, can understand a promise. But to apply a doctrine is something else and it involves a little growth. The principle is, when it says ‘he shall cover thee with his feathers,’ again this is the hiphil stem. The word sakak itself actually means to weave a hedge around someone. God has provided a first line of orientation to the plan of God under sakak in the hiphil—“he causes to weave a hedge,” and that is the promise system. This is a hedge, a temporary fortification—promises that go with you wherever you are and form a hedge around you. This is the first use of the faith-rest technique.

“under his wings” – an analogy to Bible doctrine, and this means the believer who is learning doctrine and using and applying doctrine. You are under His wings when you have +V toward Bible doctrine and are doing something about that +V—learning the Word of God.

“shalt thou trust” – the word for trust here is not the ordinary word for trust and the faith-rest technique. It is the word chasah which is the idea of a rabbit running from a wolf. The rabbit is helpless but he hops along and finds a crack in the rock through which he can get to safety, a crack too small for the wolf to enter. The rock is Bible doctrine, the crevice in the rock is the believer’s understanding of doctrine and his utilisation of it. There are many problems that are too great for us as human beings but with Bible doctrine they are no problem at all. So this word is a word for faith in which we are utilising the doctrine which we have learned.

“his truth” – the word for truth refers to Bible doctrine; “shall be thy shield and buckler” – the word shield is tsinah in the Hebrew; the word for buckler is sechrah. They are not synonyms. A shield was a type of protection for the ancient soldier that covered most of his body. A buckler was usually a round type of shield which just covered a small part of the body and was very manoeuvrable. Why the distinction between a shield and a buckler? In eternity past God the Father designed a plan in which the believer is a part. He has all of this doctrine designed in eternity past for the believer. That is the overall concept. But you don’t use all of that doctrine at one time. Your life is made up of daily situations where a point of doctrine here, a point of doctrine there, a promise here, a promise there is utilised. You do not use them all at one time, and sometimes you may go years before some of the doctrines that you have learned you will use. That is the buckler. In time you have a problem at some point, so you use a piece of that doctrine, something pertinent to that problem. The whole shield is there from eternity past, God so designed it, but you are going to use certain things at certain times. A buckler is something that you move to face the arrows, it is the application of doctrine; the shield is doctrine as it existed in eternity past in the mind of God and as it is written in the Word of God. The shield is a large object that covers the entire body and this depicts the plan of God for your life, doctrine as it existed in eternity past in the mind of God. The buckler refers to doctrine located in the Word of God, being stored in the soul, in order for a specific situation to be met.

Here, then, in two verses we have the overall principle of deliverance. Deliverance is the utilisation of Bible doctrine. Deliverance is what you know about the Word of God when the time comes.

Verse 5 – here is a principle of doctrine that is very important to know. Until the day that God takes you out of this world He will provide deliverance for every adversity, every danger that could ever exist in your experience. In other words, as a believer in Jesus Christ, under the grace of God and the plan of God, you can expect deliverance from every disaster in life until the day that He takes you home. You expect and anticipate deliverance in any situation in this life.

In this verse we have deliverance from war. “Thou shall not be afraid” – it is fear that causes more casualties at night than anything else. The deliverance here calls for the believer to be oriented to Bible doctrine, and understanding Bible doctrine in the uncertainties and adversities of a night combat situation. This person shall not be afraid “for the terror by night.” It is that very lack of fear that becomes the basis of deliverance in a night combat situation.

“nor for the arrow that flieth by day” – at least this is something that can be seen. You can orient in day time to a battlefield situation. But in the deliverance at night and in the day time it is still God’s faithfulness, God’s grace. Our deliverance in any type of a military situation depends on who and what God is.

Verse 6 – at some time we will face a situation which is suffering from loss of health. While warfare is more or less specialised, disease is not. The second area of deliverance is disease. The same principle applies. If God has a purpose for your life there is no disease that will destroy you, and if God is ready to take you hone there isn’t any way you can stay.

“Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness” – the pestilence walking in darkness is not walking in the same kind of darkness. In the previous verse where we had deliverance in night combat, that word for night is the legitimate Hebrew word for night. But the word for darkness here is not a word for night at all, it is a word which means misfortune or a difficult period. So we might translate, “nor for the pestilence that walks in a pressure period.” Pressure periods in times of national disaster and catastrophe usually bring epidemics, and they are often involved with some fatal disease. This is really what is meant here. Will God deliver us from the disease? Yes! If God has a purpose for our lives there is no disease, no epidemic, no loss of health that can take us home.

“nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday” – the word for destruction is a word in the Hebrew, qeteb, which means a terminal illness. This is a fatal disease in contrast to epidemic type disease. This is not anything for the believer to be worried about because when God is ready to take you He is going to take you. He provides dying grace. The plan of God is perfect, He makes no mistakes.

Verse 7 – death. “A thousand shall fall at thy side” – we will see a lot of people die. “… but it [death] shall not come night thee.” You are not going to die until God is ready to take you.

Verse 8 – eternal judgment. All born again believers are delivered form eternal judgment. Romans 8:1; Hebrews 9:27. The last judgment means the lake of fire, and the believer is delivered from it.

“Only with thine eyes” – the eyes here means that the believer will apparently observe the last judgment but will not be involved.

“thou shalt regard” means to behold with respect. There will be an awesome respect for the events of the last judgment.

“and see [observe] the reward of the wicked.” Why is it called the reward of the wicked? The wicked are simply the unbelievers. The word reward actually means retribution for human good. The basis of indictment at the last judgment is human good.

Verse 9 – the first line says, “Because thou, O Jehovah, my refuge.” The word because refers back to the rest of the psalm—because of the faithfulness of the Lord, because of His great provision, because of the desperate circumstances and disasters which existed at the time of the Exodus, because of the problems which exist when you have an entire generation of believers who are out of fellowship much of the time. Because of everything that was involved Moses had to get his eyes upon the Lord. If Moses had his eyes on people he would have lasted about one year and that would have been the end of Moses. But people are not going to shoot Moses down, he is going to continue his great ministry for forty years. In spite of all the problems the Lord is his refuge.

The word for refuge here actually means a temporary shelter in time of storms—temporary and adequate. The Hebrew word indicates the fact that in time of great disaster and catastrophe we suddenly find a refuge which is more than adequate, a refuge of which we were not aware until this situation actually existed. This refuge is called in the Hebrew, machseh, which really means Bible doctrine of which you are really not aware until such times as you face a disaster where you need it. These situations cause the utilisation of the information that you have learned. That is the shelter. Bible doctrine is always there, the promises are always there, the techniques are always there, the principles are always there, but there are certain times in our lives when we face maximum adversity when we crawl into the cave, as it were, in connection with certain promises, principles, categories of doctrine. These categories are not generally used and we can sit in a church more or less relaxed when conditions are fine with no real difficulty facing us, and therefore we are not called upon to use some of these things. But in time of great national disaster, of great personal catastrophe, then suddenly these things become real and important. They are the actual shelters which we use in time of the greatest storms.

The deliverance concept, then, is based on doctrine for the word for refuge here implies that Bible doctrine, the teaching of the Word of God, is that shelter. To use any other kind of shelter is to be washed away in the storm. That line was actually sung by the first of the two soloists. The next phrase says literally from the Hebrew, “thou hast designated the Most High, thy habitation.”

“thou hast designated” is in the qal perfect. The qal stem indicates that this is a decision which is made immediately without equivocation. The perfect tense means that the decision was really made when you first learned the doctrine. Many times we think we make a decision at the moment of a crisis, but we are really not. We make the decision initially very often at the time when we learn the doctrine. Moses was out in the desert for forty years during which he learned a lot of doctrine. So in the next forty years when he was actually fulfilling his ministry many of the decisions he made were really made when he learned he doctrine. It was almost an automatic thing; he had the doctrine and he used it. The doctrine becomes the basis for his decisions, his peace, his inner happiness; it was the whole dynamic of his life. The Hebrew word for designate means to appoint, to establish, to set up in a place. So he set up in a place, the human spirit, the doctrine years before. The decision that he makes when he faces some catastrophe in the desert is not some snap decision that he makes at the moment. Moses was a prepared man.

“the Most High” speaks of the very High, the Lofty One, the Supreme One, and this is a reference to God as the designer of the plan. So “thou hast designated the Most High” means that every time you learn Bible doctrine you made the decision that the Most High God is going to run your life, and He is going to run your life often on the doctrines you learn now.

“thy habitation” – this is a more permanent type dwelling place. It indicates the Bible doctrine is permanent. When you learn this doctrine and store it in the human spirit you are storing it, as it were, in an impermanent person. Permanent truth inside of an impermanent person stabilises the individual. So the stability which we have in time of catastrophe and disaster comes from that doctrine which is stored in the human spirit.

Verse 10 – the extent of the deliverance. The first soloist continues through verse 13. “There shall no evil befall thee.” The word for evil here generally refers to the principle of evil or the old sin nature. But there is also another way in which this word is used. It is used for trouble or adversity. The Hebrew says literally, “The range of misfortunes/pressures touches thee not.” But it does not touch you. It is there but it can never quite tag you, knock you down. He is saying, then, that you as a person unstable on this earth there must be something very permanent to stabilise the situation—Bible doctrine. The pressure or the difficulties which are around us will not harm or touch us, they will not get to us. The word to befall means to approach with the idea of destroying but never succeeding in doing so. The principle behind this: The plan of God is greater than any catastrophe or difficulty which we will ever face in this life, but the plan of God is delineated through Bible doctrine.

“neither shall any plague” – the word for plague means a special blow designed to knock you out, a special calamity; it doesn’t means shall not “come near thy dwelling,” but even though they approach they will not destroy you. The word here means inner destruction, the mind giving way, etc., the nervous breakdown type of concept. With Bible doctrine you are protected against the whole concept of cracking up under the pressures of life.

The mechanics of this deliverance are given in verses 11 and 12. There are other pressures brought out by the angelic conflict. Man is just an extension of the angelic conflict, he was put on this earth in order to resolve the angelic conflict, and while this is cosmos diabolicus, the devil’s world, we live in it with Bible doctrine resolving the angelic conflict. A part of our deliverance is from the unseen conflict. In Hebrews chapter one we learn that God has appointed angels to protect us—guardian angels.

Verse 11 – “For he [the Father] shall give his angels charge over thee.” His angels refer to the elect angels appointed as guardian angels—Hebrews 1:14. The word charge means that He gives them a command, specific commands whereby the believer is protected.

“to keep” means literally to guard. This is a qal infinitive from the verb shamar, a military word for being on guard duty to protect a fixed fortification. The believer is the military installation, the objective of the fallen angels. The fallen angels have powers much superior to the believer’s and therefore the believer has no means of defence against them apart from God’s provision. Apart from one thing, the sin unto death, the believer is protected at all times by elect angels.

This refers to the Exodus generation. All the time of those forty years of failure they were guarded by elect angels. That is the grace of God.

“in all thy ways” – this means the time that the believer is in fellowship and the time that he is out of fellowship, every moment that he lives in phase two.

Verse 12 – “they [the guardian angels] shall bear thee up in hands.” The word “their” is not there in the original because apparently the angels do not have hands. But whatever they have which bears us up it has to be related to us in human terms, terms that we could understand.

“lest” is literally that; “you do not dash your foot against a stone.” A stone is a rock in the path and refers to the rocks in the desert as they walked over the desert. In other words, as you go through the desert there are dangers, problems, difficulties, and you are going to be protected from the angelic part of these dangers.

Verse 13 – the nature of our deliverance. “Thou shalt tread” – the word here means to be heavy-footed and therefore to stumble. The Hebrew word is darak. This is like the person running in underbrush where the grass may be as high as his knees or his waste and he can’t see what is down around his feet where he may hit a rock and fall or lose his balance. So this word means to stumble around, to hit something that could easily put us off-balance. In this case we have a picture of some of the animals that lived in the Middle East at that time, lower creation by which they could be seriously hurt.

“the lion and the adder” – there are eight different Hebrew words for lions. The word which is used here is for an angry lion—shachal. This is a picture, then, of great danger. This is used in scripture for the direct attack of Satan, as per 1 Peter 5:6-8. Satan is invisible to us. So here is a part of the unseen warfare from which we are protected. So once again we have a picture of the angelic conflict and the fact that God protects us from the unseen enemies. The adder represents the more subtle type of danger, whereas the lion represents the direct attack. The adder is the subtle attack of concentrated venom—false doctrine, doctrine of demons. We are going to tread into these things in our life time, and yet we are going to be delivered.

“the young lion” – the ambitious lion who wants to show the pride that he, too, can kill. This is Satan’s attack upon the mentality of the soul. This is the word kaphir, an ambitious young lion, he’s out to get you. 1 Timothy 4:1, doctrines of demons. They infiltrate through the ear gate and through the eye gate. So this is the attack of false doctrine.

“serpent” – tanin in the Hebrew. (The verb is tanan and it means to stretch out) This is a long snake, a constrictor. It represents false doctrine crushing out of the believer the truth and the orientation to grace.

Verse 14 – the deliverance. “Because he hath set his love upon me” – this is deliverance against the unseen enemy and against the seen enemy. So we have in this passage two kinds of deliverance. The first half of the verse is deliverance in time and the second half is deliverance in eternity—phase two and phase three deliverance.

“he” is the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who faces these dangers represented through the analogies of the lions and the snakes—“he [the believer] hath set his love.” The word for love in the Hebrew is an unusual one, chashaq. It means to join to something, to fasten to something, to burn with love, to be fulfilled in love, and it also means to cohabit. Here it means to so burn with love that the object of the love fulfils the lover. The one who is burning is a believer who has positive volition toward doctrine, and doctrine satisfies. If you as a believer in Jesus Christ are on positive volition toward doctrine, love doctrine, want doctrine, make every sacrifice possible to get doctrine, put doctrine before the details of life, then doctrine is going to turn around and say, ‘Look, I’ll take care of you any time and take you through anything in life.’

“on me” – doctrine. The believer has positive volition toward Bible doctrine; “therefore [as a result] I [doctrine] will deliver him [the believer].” Cf. Proverbs 8:17ff. Doctrine is our deliverance in phase two.

Now we have a new sentence, new line in the verse, in which we have deliverance in phase three. “I [God the Father] will set him on high” – piel imperfect of shagab, which means to exalt, it means a final exaltation and it refers to the resurrection body of phase three.

“because he hath known my name” – to know His name means to believe in Jesus Christ. In this verse all three phases of the plan of God are mentioned.

Verse 15 – after all of this information about doctrine, what does it do? It brings you to the place where you can have a chat with God when you have one foot on the adder and one foot in the lion’s mouth.

“He shall call upon me [the Father speaking], and I will answer him” – what comes first? Doctrine. Why will the Father answer him? Because he has a love affair with doctrine [verse 14] and he knows how to pray.

The three types of answer: “I will be with him in trouble” – call on the Father in trouble.

Verse 16 – “With long life will I satisfy him.” This is not long life, it is literally “a gratifying life.” That is a life of grace. This is an explanation of the Word honour. The word satisfy is sabea, means to satiate. “I will satiate” – hiphil stem, causative active voice. God will cause satiation. Imperfect tense: it goes on as long as you live. And then when that life of grace is all over, what is He going to do?

“and I will show him my deliverance” –and my deliverance means two things: dying grace and eternity in a resurrection body.

{Note: David learned from his Keilah experience. It would be six years before his SuperGrace blessings kick in yet he sings his praises to the Lord.}

1~~{Title} A psalm of David.
I will 'sing with happiness' {shiyr} of grace {checed}
and {I will sing of} judgment {discipline on reversionists}.
To you, O Jehovah/God,
will I 'make music of praise'/
'sing accompanied with musical instruments' {zamar}.

{Note: People sing when they are on the winning side of things. There are three Hebrew words for singing - the blues, happiness (shiyr) and with musical instruments (zamar).}

2~~I will become wise
in my completed pattern/way of life that is fulfilling.
O when will You {God} come unto me {with SuperGrace blessings}?
I will have 'a way of life'/'walk around in prosperity'
with reference to my heart/'right lobe'
in the confines of my castle.

3~~I {David} will not adhere to the doctrine {dabar} of Belial.
{idiom: literally 'set before my eyes'}
I have hated the 'work'/production
of the ones who 'turn aside' {from the Way of the Lord}.
It {the reversionists and their works}
shall not 'keep on clinging'/'keep on being glued' to me.

{Note: The 'sons of Belial' are reversionists. Belial means wickedness or reversionism. They are mentioned throughout the Old Testament - Deuteronomy 13:13, Judges 19:22, I Samuel 1:16 etc. It means to Not Walk in the Way of the Lord by instead 'by human viewpoint' or 'operate in the energy of the flesh'.}

{Note: People in reversionism will sap your strength. They will reduce the 'rewards in time' that you would receive without them around - inner happiness, harmony. If they were given 'grace by association' with you, then they would boast and 'take the credit' from the Lord. Positive believers walking in the Way of the Lord together support each other and God can give them maximum blessings and rewards - and the credit will properly be given to Him.}

4~~A deceitful heart/'right lobe'
{lebab - the thinking of the men of Keilah}
shall 'turn away' {cuwr} from me.
I will not acknowledge {yada` - 'know'}
the 'evil person'/reversionist.

{A Sign of Reversionism - Two-Faced}
5~~The one 'flattering to the face but slandering behind your back',
{idiom: literally 'one slandering in secret his lover (rea`)'}
that one I will keep on causing his 'cutting off'/extermination
{tsamath - Hiphil stem}!
The one who is overtly arrogant
{idiom: literally 'has proud eyes - eyes are the gateway to the
soul}
and an {inordinately} ambitious heart/'right lobe'
{in view is ambition beyond abilities - if God does not promote you,
you are not promoted - so is inordinate ambition. People who are
arrogance and those who are inordinately ambitious tend to
migrate to each other and attack the mature believer} . . .
that one, I will not endure.

{Note: Rea` is used for two things. It is first used for the right man or right woman of your opposite sex. Secondly, for a real or supposed right friend.}

{Note: The Hiphil stem is the causative stem. Tsamath is also in the imperfect tense of 'to cut'. So David will do this over and over again whenever he occurs two-faced people. So, in context, David will separate himself from the reversionists around him. In his case, when he becomes king, this might even be permanent removal!}

6~~My eyes . . . {shall be} upon
'the faithful {to God} of the land'/'the ones receiving doctrine'
{in contrast to those walking OUTSIDE the Way of the Lord, these
take in doctrine and faithfully walk in the Way of the Lord}
These are the ones having social life { yashab} with me
{idiom: yashab means to dwell in prosperity. It can be used
meaning to have social life.}
He whose 'way of life is in accord with Truth/Doctrine'/
'Walks in the Way of the Lord' . . .
they shall serve me.

7~~The one manufacturing {'asah - out of negative volition} deceit
shall not 'dwell in prosperity'/'have social life' {yashab} in my castle.
The one that habitually tells/'communicates categorically' {dabar} lies
{this person would rather lie than tell the truth}
will 'have no place in my administration'
{idiom: literally 'not be established before my eyes'.

{Note: David continues in his theme. He will separate from the reversionists. They can not be trusted and he will not have them in his administration. Because of his policy, Judea will have 40 years of excellent rule under his Kingship and another 40 years under Solomon. ONE arrogant/inordinately ambitious'/two-faced/'habitual liar' in your organization can destroy your entire organization.}

{Part of David's Daily 'To-Do' List}
8~~ Morning by morning, I will 'root out and eliminate' {tsamath}
all the wicked/reversionists in the land
{arrogant, inordinately ambitious, two-faced, and or liars in
context}.
That I may cut off the doers of vanity/
wickedness/reversionism {'aven}
from the city of Jehovah/God {Jerusalem will be David's capital}.

Probably the key to the psalm is the word “bless.” The last verse tells us that this is a command to people and to angels. This is one of those most unusual types of songs written by David. In verse 20 he commands angels, a most unusual command. Angels sing and human beings sing, and this was originally a song.

In verses 1 & 2 we have the table of contents of the psalm. The first verse is a blessing or a praise directed toward the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is actually covered in verses 3-6. In verse 2 we have a praise to His work. So we have the person of the Lord and the work of the Lord. Verse 2 is fulfilled in verses 6-19 where we have the phrase, “for get not the works of the Lord.”

Verse 1 – “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” The Hebrew word for bless is barach. This is in the piel stem—intensive, so it means to adore. It is comparable to the filoj love of the soul. The intensity involves all of the training, all of the work, all of the learning, everything that goes into having a dynamic testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ and fulfils the principle of ambassadorship. “O my soul” [nephesh] is the instrument. The characteristics of the soul form, as it were, a musical instrument inside of your soul, the real you. What is played on this instrument depends on what is found in the human spirit. If the human spirit has Bible doctrine within it then you bless the Lord. The Lord has provided for you the basis for reaching a lost and dying world. He has you here for a reason. You are a part of the plan of God, you are an extension of the angelic conflict.

“and all that is within me” – Bible doctrine. You cannot fulfil this command unless you have doctrine in the soul.

Verse 2 – a repetition, the piel imperative of barach; “the Lord” is again the tetragrammaton, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. This time we have emphasis on the work of Christ.

“and forget not all his benefits” – the word benefits means His work, and it is in the plural. It means His acts, His deeds, divine good, what He has provided in His plan.

Verse 3 – “Who.” Each relative pronoun in these verses refers to the Lord Jesus Christ; “forgiveth all thine iniquities.” Iniquities in the Hebrew here refers to any type of sinfulness in contrast to activities of the old sin nature. The word forgive here is qal active participle [salach] and it means a total pardon based on the fact that the penalty is paid. God forgives because of who and what Jesus Christ is, because Jesus Christ satisfied all the just demands of the Father’s holiness.

“who healeth all thy diseases” – raphah, which originally meant to sew together or to bring together. This is not disease at all, but the Hebrew here is soul kinks. Self-consciousness has kinks, the most obvious is self-pity and another one is pride. Mentality has kinks: any mental attitude sins. Volition has soul kinks: working contrary to the will of God for your life. Emotion has soul kinks: using emotion as a criterion. Conscience has kinks if your norms and standards are simply human norms without any biblical frame of reference. So we have here healing or the principle of curing soul kinks. The healing of the soul kinks comes through Bible doctrine.

Verse 4 – “Who redeemeth.” The doctrine of redemption is a very important one in orienting to the grace of God; “who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies”—when a person believes in Jesus Christ God can only deal with him on the basis of who and what He is, on the basis of His perfect character. He can never give you what you deserve. Grace is the crown. It is the crown the believer will wear in time and in eternity. This is a piel participle. We are blessed; we are the recipients of divine blessing. The Hebrew word for lovingkindness means grace. The word for tender mercies is in the plural and it means grace in action. Every moment we live in this life we are under grace in action.

Verse 5 – “Who” is a relative pronoun again, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ; satisfieth thy mouth with good.” The word satisfy [saba] means not just satisfaction but a satisfaction that doesn’t change. It is a hiphil participle, it means He causes this. This means that God is doing something here for us. Under the principle of crowning us with grace, and under the principle of being the recipient of His mercies, we are constantly under the concept of being caused to become satisfied. The thing that causes us to become satisfied is Bible doctrine. It causes us to be satisfied with “good.” What kind of good? Divine good, the production of the Christian way of life. What does it take to be satisfied with divine good? It takes knowing doctrine.

“thy youth” – the Bible says there is a youth in old age, a youth in advancing years. But it is the youth of the eagle. An eagle always has youth. Once a year the eagle maults, loses its feathers, and it is young again. His plumage is renewed and he has the same plumage he had when young. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you can have this perpetual youth. But where is this perpetual youth? It is in the soul. It is a soul which is free from kinks, free from mental attitude sins. It is the relaxed mental attitude that comes from knowing doctrine and from the filling of the Spirit. It is inner beauty, inner happiness, inner dynamics, and it belongs to the believer by way of the Word of God.

Verse 6 – It is amazing how many times in the Word of God some phase of the verb remember: do not forget, remember this, remember that, and so on. When it comes to Bible doctrine, remembering is a part of application. Remembering is actually going into the closet and finding something there to wear in your mind. The closet is the human spirit. That which we recall has to do with Bible doctrine. Remembrance is a great concept and a very important principle. It brings out certain things that are stored in the soul but not used by the soul. At the end of verse 2 we have, “forget not all his benefits.” This is the subject of verses 6-21. Beginning in this verse we have the principle of “forget not the divine retaliation policy.”

One of the grace provisions of phase two is provision for the believer who is absolutely right. When the unbeliever is right, you hear about it. That’s his old sin nature. The Christian life is something greater than this, so when we become believers more is expected of us. What are we going to do when we are right. Are we going to strike out at people who are always maligning us? No, because the old sin nature can be controlled by the Holy Spirit and by Bible doctrine and because of a principle: once you enter into the plan of God, God says, ‘I will take charge of everything.’ There is an issue. Who is more capable of handling those who malign you, those who oppress you; you or the Lord? You have a choice: get even or put the whole thing in the Lord’s hands. One is an intense solution and one is a relaxed solution; one is a human solution and one is a divine solution. The relaxed solution is the divine solution.

2. Under this policy the believer is wronged by another person. (This is when the believer is right and someone else is wrong).

3. Retaliation is forbidden as a phase two policy. This is not talking about defending your country, capital punishment, or personally defending one’s self.

4. Why shouldn’t we retaliate? a) Two wrongs do not make a right; b) You can’t build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness; c) Because when you are wronged you give God the opportunity of handling your problem.

5. Procedure: When you are wronged, if there has been anything connected with whereby you could have been wrong yourself, confess it. Secondly, Psalm 55:22 for the Old Testament and 1 Peter 5:7 for the New Testament. Next, Romans 12:19—“Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.” Let Him handle it. Next, Matthew 7:1 or Romans 14:4,10—“Judge not that ye be not judged.” Stay out of it. And what does it take to do all of this? A relaxed mental attitude.

“The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment.” Here is the divine retaliation policy. Since we have righteousness and judgment mentioned, this brings in the

essence of God. The word judgment here is literally justices. The word execute is the Hebrew word asah, which means to make something out of something. The fact that someone has maligned you in phase two, and they are wrong and you are right, is a cursing situation. Asah takes a cursing situation in which someone has judged you, maligned you, put you down in some way, and converts it into blessing. The is a qal active participle of asah, which means God always does it. It is translated execute; it could be translated, “the Lord keeps on turning cursing into blessing through righteousness and judgement.” Righteousness means that God is fair in handling the matter and the word judgments means that He has a bag full of systems of handling the retaliation. Why? First of all, He is sovereign and He made a decision that He would always protect a believer being oppressed. He would handle the judgment, so the believer being oppressed doesn’t have to worry about it. He is fair in the manner in which He handles it—something we cannot be. In order to avoid retaliation we must remember this particular benefit in such a situation.

“for all that are oppressed” – believers. This is a qal passive participle of the verb asaq, which means to be oppressed, to be the recipient of maligning or gossip, judging, etc. It means that you are the victim of the sin of the tongue or a victim of violence. It should be translated, “those being oppressed.”

Verse 7 – the principle of ‘Forget not Bible doctrine.’ This verse is historical, retrospective, and David is looking back to the time of the Exodus.

“He made known” – hiphil stem [causative active voice] of the verb jada. He caused this to be true, and the reason this is in the hiphil is because Jesus Christ taught Moses a great deal. But He didn’t do all of the teaching, He sent some angels down too. We know this from Galatians. But Moses was constantly receiving the Word of the Lord and he was constantly cranking out Bible doctrine. Actually, the book of Deuteronomy is a series of Mosaic sermons. And where did he get all his information? He got it from the Lord and from certain teaching angels. The children of Israel were constantly exposed to accurate Bible teaching. In addition to that they had the privilege of experiencing the grace of God day by day—“his acts.” These are God’s acts, God’s provision: food, water, guidance, wisdom to go through the desert, etc. His acts were divine provision all the way—grace. The Hebrew word for acts here is alilah [pl.], and it means deeds, actions, works, unsolicited with no strings attached. This is God’s gracious action for forty years on behalf of this bunch!—“to the children of Israel.”

Verse 8 – “The Lord is merciful.” The word merciful is an adjective—rachum. It is taken from the verb racham which is the same as the Greek filew—rapport love. There is another type of love in the Hebrew—ahab, and it is the equivalent to a)gapaw which is strictly a mental attitude love. The Lord is rachum, which means that when you accept Jesus Christ as your saviour He is free to pour out a love on you that He could not have before. He is able to love on the basis of propitiation.

“gracious” – channun. Logically this is all a new believer would know: God’s grace. He understands very little doctrine, just the facts about the gospel. But for rachum you have to have capacity. This is the believer whose soul is so saturated with doctrine and so satiated with doctrine, and so fulfilled by the Word of the Lord that he actually has the capacity to respond. And when that becomes true, then it is not grace and mercy, it is mercy and grace. Any believer can reach this point—described by the first adjective. Grace is the whole principle of operation; it is something God provides for all believers. But very few in the Exodus generation could say, “The Lord is merciful.” They didn’t have the capacity.

“slow to anger” – this isn’t quite what the Hebrew says. This is a Hebrew idiom. It is literally, “He is slow to anger” but is means “He is forbearing.” When you develop a love for the Lord through doctrine this forbearance that the Lord has is something you respond to. And then there is a little test: “Forgive as Christ forgave”—Colossians 3:13. That keeps us out of operation vengeance.

“plenteous” – i.e. abundant; “in mercy”—chesedh is grace in action. This is a result of love. Give because your character says give. Give because your soul says give. That is what God does to us; that is the way He loves us. So David recognises four kinds of love in this verse.

Verse 9 – “He will not always chide” means He won’t discipline you to the maximum. God cannot discipline any believer to the maximum. Even if you go out under the sin unto death it isn’t maximum. Why? Because every believer has passed the point of propitiation and is under the holiness bypass.

“neither will he retain his anger forever” – a Hebrew idiom which means that God has the kind of anger that expresses itself in discipline in a moment, and then it is all over.

Verse 10 – if He had we would not be here. The word reward means to benefit. He hasn’t benefited us on the basis of our iniquities. In other words, He deals with us in grace. The word also means to pay back. He hasn’t paid us back on the basis of our iniquities, on the basis of our failure.

Verse 11 – the vertical distance analogy. In verse 12 is the horizontal analogy. The emphasis is on God’s love, He is the initiator. God initiates love and we respond to it through knowledge of doctrine.

“For as heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward his occupied ones.” His occupied ones are: a) believers who know doctrine; b) believers who spend a lot of time in fellowship; c) believers who through doctrine respond to the grace of God. What is higher than the heavens? His mercy! Mercy is grace in action.

Verse 12 – the horizontal distance analogy. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” He has removed our iniquities by putting them on Christ and judging them at the cross.

Verse 13 – “Like as a father pitieth his children.” The word pity is not found here at all. The Hebrew word is rachan in the piel stem, and it means love. “Like as a father has a compassion [or tender love] for his children.” This is rapport love. It is knowing a person and responding to them. Here is the Father’s attitude toward His children.

Verse 14 – “He knows our frame.” The word isn’t frame, it is nature. He knows our nature. In eternity past He knew our old sin nature. And he remembers that we are dust. Dust refers to the body. He knows our body, He knows the old sin nature in the body, He knows what we are like. Therefore His love for us is not blind.

Verse 15 – “As for man, his days are as grass.” The general word for man is the Hebrew adam, but this is man in his noble sense. The word we have for man in this verse anosh. It originally came from a verb—anash, which means a person who has an illness that is fatal to that person. Anosh, taken from that root, means a person plus his old sin nature, a person who is spiritually dead to God and totally incapable of doing anything about it. His days are described on the earth as grass. Grass is a very temporary thing. People spend a lot of time with grass and it is going to die. The grass is the person without doctrine.

“as a flower of the field” – the flowers represent the details of life. The flowers always fade away. The details of life cannot be taken with you when you die. Man with his old sin nature is going to die. Every member of the human race goes through some kind of a flourishing period, but just because they have some of the details of life this doesn’t mean happiness.

Verse 16 – “For the wind passeth over it.” The wind here is the hot desert wind that dries up the grass and kills it. It represents adversity, the sufferings of this life. It passes over the flowers and the grass, and when it does they disappear and there is nothing really to see. What these two verses are saying is that if you are going to bless the Lord you are going to have inner resources to sustain you when the desert winds blow. The details of life are pleasant and wonderful, and from them we accumulate marvellous memories, but the details cannot sustain us in time of pressure and adversity.

“and the place thereof shall know it no more.” Literally from the Hebrew, “and his [man’s] place knows him no more.” His place is his place of burial. Once the body is buried or removed from the scene of this earth, who is to remember him? Who will ever recall him again? That is the human side of death.

Verse 17 – the divine side of death. “But the mercy” – here is the beginning of God’s remembrance of you and me. Mercy = grace in action. From eternity past to eternity future.

“upon them that are occupied with him” – occupation with Christ is mentioned now for the third time. His occupied ones are those who have the spiritual perspective. To them Christ is more important than the details of life. How do they get that? Knowledge of doctrine! A detail is robbed of its beauty when you put it first. You just blow hot air on the flower, and it dies. But when you put Bible doctrine first, then even the details can have meaning. When they come they are wonderful. When they go you still have doctrine, you still have occupation with Christ.

“and his righteousness” – God’s perfect character remains the same in His dealings with every generation: “unto his children’s children” – this goes on down to the third generation.

Verse 18 – “To such as keep his covenants.” The word for keeping is a qal active participle, and there are two of them which are found in this passage. The qal active participle denotes linear aktionsart. The first of these is the word keep and the second is the word remember. Keep here is shamar and it has to do with guarding or protecting something that belongs to you. And it means to keep on guarding it and to keep on protecting it. Doctrine belongs to you. It is the revealing of God’s plan for you. The word covenant, found in Deuteronomy 7:9 and explained in Psalm 25:10, has to do by interpretation with the unconditional covenants to Israel. But it means a whole lot more than that because today by application to us it refers to the entire canon of scripture, and specifically to the Bible doctrine which deals with our life here on this earth. It is something that we should guard. The Hebrew word shamar could very easily have been translated to cherish because shamar connotes two things: it belongs to you, and you are to be aware of it to the point of where it has first place in your life. So the covenants expressed Bible doctrine to the Jews. The four unconditional covenants specifically were things that the Jews realised were theirs personally. Each one had an eternal life clause, and this meant it was for the born-again Jew of the past. But in its wider application to us tonight this refers to the entire Word of God which belongs to us, the Word of God which must become our life. Your life depends upon cherishing Bible doctrine. The word shamar doesn’t mean to enjoy it for a moment and then forget it, or to enjoy it and then put it aside until it is needed; it means to cherish it moment by moment.

“and to those that remember his commandments to do them.” The second word has to do with remembering. Once you begin to cherish the Word of God your memory’s capacity develops. His commandments is literally, his deposits. This second verb is bakar and it means to recall something that has been pleasant in the past. This recalling is based upon the first participle. In other words, the reason you have it. When ever you cherish something you protect it day by day. Listening to doctrine is depositing doctrine. This is the way you store up Bible doctrine. But when you store it up you have to use it, and bakar means to use it. It means when you get out and away from everything you now have inner resources. But this time it doesn’t say to remember the covenants (by application, all doctrine), now it is to remember the deposits. This is application. There is a principle brought out at this point: Occupation with Christ starts with knowledge of doctrine. But where it really begins to pay off is when you can apply doctrine toward the person of Christ, with the result that you love Him with a great love, with the result that you develop a capacity mention in the last phrase of this psalm—“Bless the Lord, O my soul.” This means you have a maximum amount of doctrine. You cannot apply doctrine that you do not know.

“to do them” – qal infinitive of asah, which means to make something out of something, to do something from something. It means to make something from doctrine.

Verse 19 – this verse anticipates two dispensations which follow Israel, the Church and the Millennium. In the first half of this verse we have spirituality in the Church Age; in the second half is anticipation of spirituality in the Millennium. “The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens.” Right now there is a throne in heaven, and right now during the Church Age Jesus Christ is seated on that throne. Jesus Christ is going to be present in the Millennium and that is mentioned in the past phrase, “his kingdom ruleth over all.” The words “hath prepared” is in the hiphil perfect—“he has caused to establish.” This is all that David can say because this is a part of the doctrine of the mystery, and the doctrine of the mystery will be revealed at the proper time, in the Church Age. The Jews in the past did not have the help of the Holy Spirit, but once Christ has ascended (John 7:39) the Holy Spirit is given and we produce the character of the absent Christ. David merely outlines, he cannot fill in. The filling comes from the epistles.

Verse 20 – “Bless the Lord, ye his angels.” Angels can have it too. We can have something the angels have: Bible doctrine, leading to a love of the Lord Jesus Christ, an appreciation of the grace of God the Father and His magnificent plan, orientation to His grace, and the fulfilment of the plan. The angels don’t have a thing over believers.

“that excel in strength” – but that isn’t what it says here. There are two Hebrew words used: gabor is a hero, a mighty one, a strong one; koach, which means power. So it means “heroes of strength/stability/power.” These are the elect angels. Our common ground is doctrine.

“that do his commandments” – asah, qal active participle, they do it every day. How did the angels get that way? The word for commandments is dabar, and it isn’t commandments at all, it is his Word.’

“hearkening unto the voice of the Lord” – the verb is shamea, which means to listen and obey.

Verse 21 – the word hosts here means military angels; “you ministers of his” is a piel participle of sharath, and it means to serve.

“that do his pleasure” – qal active participle of asah, they do his benefits.

“all his works” – OT saints, NT saints, born-again angels; “in all places” – wherever they are they are using doctrine.

{Note: In I Samuel 22:1, we see David going to the cave of Adullam. There a group of people will come to him - 400 men and their families. David must recover from reversionism before he takes charge of the welfare of these people. This experience again will prepare him to be the great king of Israel. So, David wrote this Psalm in the cave before these people came.}

1~~{Title: A Psalm of} David.
Adore/Bless {barak - Piel stem} Jehovah/God
{this is not possible without doctrine in your soul so David adds:},
O my soul . . .
and all that is within me . . .
{referring to the old doctrine recalled
and the new doctrine taught by the angel of the Lord - see Psalm
34:7}
{adore} His separated/Holy/'set-apart' {Qodesh} Name {shem}.

2~~Adore/Bless {barak - Piel stem} Jehovah/God
{again, this is not possible without doctrine in your soul so David
adds:},
O my soul . . .
and do not disregard all His benefits
{g@muwl - meaning SuperGrace benefits here}.

3-5~~ Who {God} pardons all of his wrongs
{failures done under reversionism} . . .
Who {God} heals all your
diseases/ 'kinks in your soul' {from being in reversionism} . . . 4~~
Who redeems/delivers your life from destruction
{out from the sin unto death} . . .
Who crowns you with grace {checed}
and tender mercies {racham - mercy is 'grace in action'} . . . 5~~
Who causes me to satisfy your mouth with good things
{both food for the body (bread) and figuratively doctrine (bread of
Life)}
so that your youth is provided with new clothes
{idiom: literally: 'renewed like the eagle's' - new plumage = new
clothes}.

{Note: When you are faithful to God, He has promised to provide you food and clothing. When you are spiritually mature, you are occupied with Him and happy regardless your circumstances - who then needs more? If He gives you more, that is grace! Accept it and give thanks to the Source of those blessings, but do not demand it!}

6~~Jehovah/God manufactures {'asah - out of SuperGrace} righteousness
and justices {mishpat - plural - justice for each wrong}
for all who are being oppressed {here by King Saul}.

7~~He made known His Ways {doctrine - Way of righteousness} unto Moses . . .
His {God through Moses}
works/acts {`aliylah}
unto the children of Israel.

{Note: This is pretty important here. God taught doctrine to Moses. Moses became a SuperGrace believer and God produced divine good (works) through Moses - from the divine viewpoint in his soul. But, many of the Jews only saw the 'works' and confused things. They got their eyes on the 'works' instead of the source of the 'divine good production' - God and His Word. Many Jews ended up believing that you did not have to believe in God, just do 'good works' and you would be saved. This is horribly incorrect. For salvation is by FAITH, not by works, it is a gift of God, not of works . . . lest any one should boast.}

8~~Jehovah/God . . . {is} constantly filled with 'tender love'/
ompassion/rapport/merciful
{rachuwm - adjective - all of these are correct in describing God's
attitude toward the SuperGrace believer}
and {consequently pours out}
graciousness/'grace benefits' {channuwn},
forbearance/'slow to anger'
{long patient for His disobedient subjects - out of respect for a
SuperGrace pivot - example: 40 years for the Exodus Generation},
and abundant {rab} in grace {benefits} { checed}.

{Note: David is seeing a comparison between his life and that of Moses. Moses went to the desert and stood still. David went to the cave of Adullam and waited on the Lord.}

9~~He will not always reproach
{discipline for reversionism - recovery is possible}.
Neither will He retain/keep {His discipline/anger} forever.

10~~He has not dealt with us
after our failures
{David's deceit resulting in the massacre at Nob, or failure at Gad}
nor benefit us in the sphere of our iniquities
{provide SuperGrace blessings while in reversionism}.

11~~As the heaven is high above the earth {a vertical analogy},
so great is His grace toward
'the fearing ones'/'the ones respecting {His Authority}/
'The SuperGrace ones' {yare'}.

12~~As far as the east is from the west {a horizontal analogy},
so far has He removed our transgressions/'reversion failures'
from us.

13~~Like as a father 'tenderly loves'/'has compassion'/
'has understanding' {racham}
for his children,
so Jehovah/God 'tenderly loves'/'has compassion'/
'has understanding' {racham}
'the fearing ones'/'the ones respecting {His Authority}/
'The SuperGrace ones' {yare'}.

14~~For He knows {omniscience}
our 'thoughts, imaginations, and those put to action' {yetser}.
He is mindful that we are dust
{referring to our not being much in ourselves - a helpless state}.

15-16~~'Weak man' {'enowsh} . . .
his days are as grass. . .
as a flower of the field . . .
{human prosperity and success - the things humans think
important - the movie stars, celebrities, sports athletes today -
meaninglessnesses are like pretty flowers among the green grass
(common people)}
so he flourishes 6~~
{represents human accomplishment - from energy of the flesh}
for the wind {ruwach} passes over it,
and it is gone . . .
{all works of the flesh are temporary - wood, hay and stubble -
meaninglessnesses}
and the place thereof shall know it no more
{there have been many so called 'celebrities' of the past - few are
remembered past their own generation - none of these will be
remembered in eternity future}.

17~~But the grace from Jehovah/God . . .
from everlasting {eternity past}
to everlasting {eternity future}
upon 'the fearing ones'/'the ones respecting {His Authority}/
'The SuperGrace ones' {yare'},
and His/his righteousness
{imputed righteousness of God being productive in the SuperGrace
believer}
'remembered throughout human history'
{idiom: literally: 'unto children's children'}.

{Note: It is not remembering the 'SuperGrace ones' that is important at all! It is the divine good (gold, silver, and precious stones) that God produced through SuperGrace believers - from His grace - that is important. And, He knew this in eternity past and we will all know the accomplishments in eternity future.}

18~~To those who keep His covenant
{this is a Grace Contract here. You take in the Word - shama' -
listen, concentrate and obey (apply to experience)
and He will work through you and provide for you always} . . .
and to those that call to mind/remembrance His deposits
{piqquwd - deposits of His viewpoint in your soul - divine viewpoint
from doctrine}
to manufacture {them}
{'asah - manufacture divine good out of doctrine resident in the
soul}.

{There is a Greater King than David}
19~~Jehovah/God has appointed/'made ready'
His {Jesus Christ} throne in the heavens.
And His kingdom to rule
{mashal - perfect tense - completed action - a done deal}.

{Note: This is a prophecy of the everlasting rule of David's greater Son - the Lord Jesus Christ. His Son will rule forever and ever - the last great dynasty is the Davidic Dynasty.}

{David Now Addresses the Angels}
20~~Adore/Bless {barak - Piel stem} Jehovah/God,
you, his angels/messengers {mal'ak},
'who excel in strength'
{positive ones to God and His Will - SuperGrace among the
angels},
who manufacture {'asah - divine good out of doctrine in the soul}
His 'doctrine communicated categorically' {dabar},
'listen, concentrate, and obey' {shama'}
the voice of His doctrine/word {dabar}.

21~~Adore/Bless {barak - Piel stem} Jehovah/God,
{all you who are members of} His armies/
hosts {soldiers of the Lord} . . .
ministers {belonging to Him - all believers in fellowship} . . .
{who} manufacture {'asah - divine good out of doctrine in the soul}
{who} His will
{take in and apply divine viewpoint to experience
- allow God to lead your life (lead by God the Holy Spirit)
- pray to the Father to always do His will
- in all that you do . . .
live everyday as unto the Lord}.

22~~Adore/Bless {barak - Piel stem} Jehovah/God,
all His works/'divine good production' { ma`aseh}
in all places of His kingdom {everywhere on heaven and earth}
adore/bless Jehovah/God,
O my soul.

{An Acrostic Psalm of SuperGrace Blessing
(verses begin with Hebrew letters of their Alphabet)
David's Psalm of Prosperity after the Ziklag Incident -
See I Samuel 30}
1~~{Title} Praise You . . . Jahh/God.

{'Aleph File - the Ox - Represents Prosperity}
Happinesses . . . {to} the man
who 'respects {the authority of} Jehovah/God'
'is occupied with God'.

{Beth File - 'House file' - Represents Where Doctrine is studied}
In His categories of doctrine,
he {the SuperGrace believer} delights insatiably/'to the maximum'.

{Gimel File- Camel - Denotes Travel, Trade and in some cases to mean Extensive Knowledge of a Subject}
2~~Valent {gibbowr - mighty warriors} in the land
shall become his seed/progeny
{in context here is the great David dynasty in view}.

{Daleth File - the Door - Here Refers to the New Generation walking through the door into SuperGrace Blessings by Association}
A generation of righteous/noble/upright ones {yashar}
shall be blessed.

{He File - The Window - Refers to the Perspective of Life - Viewpoint on Life}
3~~Wealth
{hown - here meaning the spiritual riches of the soul}
and riches
{`osher - here we have the details of life - they also can be
great if God pours} . . .
{shall be} in his {SuperGrace believer's} house.

{Waw File - A Nail or Peg - Something you can Hang things on -
Doctrine is something you can hang things on}
And His {God's} righteousness {ts@daqah} endures forever.

{Note: God does NOT want the mature believer to always suffer. God's objective is to make you wealthy and prosperous IN TIME (and then also for eternity future).}

{Zayin file - A Weapon - Hebrews 4:12 The Bible is a Sword}
4~~There arises in the darkness a Light
{'owr - doctrine in the heart, frame of reference and norms and
standards}
unto the upright/noble ones
{believers moving toward SuperGrace}.

{Heth file - A Fence or Enclosure}
Gracious {channuwn},
and merciful/'full of compassion' {rachuwm},
and righteous {tsaddiyq} . . .
{are the characteristics of the one with light in his soul}.

{Teth File - Roll Together - and stands for Relationship or Association}
5~~A good {towb} man {SuperGrace believer}
keeps on being gracious {chanan}
and 'clings' {lavah}
{to the Lord, Spouse, and Friends - capacity for love}.

{Yodh File - A Hand - Represents the Alternative to Previous Line}
He {God} will sustain
His words concerning judgment
{means when you slip into reversionism, God keeps His word and will
discipline even the SuperGrace believer}.

{Kaph File - Means the Palm of the Hand - Believers Stability in Doctrine}
6~~For forever,
he 'will not be shaken'/'will not be unstable'.

{Lamedh File - Ox Goad - (Keeps the Ox Moving)}
In {God's} remembrance forever,
shall be the righteous ones.

{Mem file - Represents Water}
7~~From bad news,
he shall not be afraid
{when God pours adversity, there is still blessing - the topic of
undeserved suffering is in Romans 8:25-27}.

{Nun File - A Fish Tail - Refers to Divine Provision from Bible Doctrine}
Being stabilized in his 'right lobe'/heart,
he will be constantly confident in Jehovah/God.

{Samekh File (S) - a Fulcrum/Lever (Leverage)}
8~~His 'right lobe'/heart
being stabilized/sustained/supported {camak},
he shall not worry/'be afraid' {yare'} . . .

{'Ayin File (I) - Fountain With Water Coming Out}
until he sees 'the conquest of'/;victory against' his enemies
{idiom: literally 'against his enemies'}.

{What David Did when He Got Back to Ziklag}
{Pe File (P) - Mouth}
9~~He {David} has distributes graciously/'without strings'
{Pazar - David shared the booty taken from the Amalekites without
strings - I Samuel 30}.

He {David} has given to the distressed
{David shared equally with the 200 stragglers in I Samuel 30}.

{Cadhe file - A Reaping Hook}
His {God's} righteousness {ts@daqah}
keeps standing forever.

{Qoph file - The 'Back of the Head'/Sub-consciousness}
His {God's} power/ability
{qeren - idiom: literally 'horn'}
shall be continuously exalted with honor.

{Note: Means God is glorified when He is able to bless you in time or eternity.}

{Res file (R) - Frontal Lobe (of the reversionist here)}
10~~The reversionist/wicked {rasha`}
shall observe
{the mature believer being blessed by God pouring blessings},
and be 'irritated and frustrated' {ka`ac}.

{Sin file - A Tooth}
He {the reverisionist}
shall grind/gnash {charaq} his teeth,
and become discouraged
{by seeing God bless a mature believer instead of him}.

{Taw file (T) - Signature -(Closes it out)}
The 'frantic search for happiness'/lust {ta'avah}
of the reversionist/wicked shall perish.

{Note: God blessing the person with a cup in their soul - doctrines built upon doctrines. When the reversionist sees the mature believer being blessed by God, it irritates him and he constantly tries to work, work, work so he can be blessed by God also. A good example of this was documented by Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon tries all sorts of activities to find happiness. But later in life realizes that you must have the cup in your soul first.

Now here, the reversionist in view is King Saul who is so bitter about David and jealous that he continually seeks to kill David. Soon after David writes this, King Saul will himself fade away - he will be killed within 24 hours at Gilboa.}

{Explanation of Palm Branches and Analogy to Christ}

{Israel's Old 'National Anthem' - and by extension any Client Nation's}

{This Psalm is always sung at the Passover and the Feast of the Tabernacle - Half Relates to the 1st Advent and the other half to the 2nd Advent}
1~~Give thanks to Jehovah/God . . .
for He is absolute good {divine integrity} . . .
for His grace is eternal.

{Note: This is the attitude of a mature believer. Understand eternity and apply that doctrine to time. Nothing in time can harm you. Believers already have eternal life!}

4~~Oh let those who 'are in awe'/'have respect for'
Jehovah/God say, "His grace is eternal."

5^^ In distress I called on Jah {short for Jehovah}
Jah answered me and brought me relief.

6^^ Jehovah/God . . . {is} on my side,
I have no fear;
what can man do {'asah - manufacture something out of something}
to me?

7^^ With Jehovah/God on my side as my helper
I will see the downfall of my foes.

9~~It is better to take refuge in Jehovah/God . . .
than to put your trust in politicians/princes.

{Note: No politician or even statesman EVER solved our problems. The greater the mature pivot, the more blessings God will pour out to the nation.}

10^^ All nations have beset me;
by the name of Jehovah/God
I will surely cut them down.

11^^ They beset me, they surround me;
by the name of Jehovah/God I will surely cut them down.

12^^ They surround me like bees;
they shall be extinguished like burning thorns;
by the name of Jehovah/God I will surely cut them down.

{Verses 14-26 relate to the palm branches in Revelation 7:9}
{Recognition of Israel's Future - Lyrics of a song}
14~~Jeh {short for Jehovah}
is my power and my song {logistical grace} . . .
and He has become my salvation/deliverance {phase I - salvation}.

{The 2 Advents of Christ - 2nd Advent Mentioned First}
15~~The sound of joyful shouting . . .
therefore deliverance/salvation
is in the tents of the righteous
{reference to the Feasts of the Tabernacles -
denotes 2nd Advent and Millennial reign
of Jesus Christ - share God's righteousness}.
The 'right hand of the Jehovah/God' {a title for Jesus Christ}
has accomplished integrity.

16~~The 'right hand of Jehovah/God' {Jesus Christ} is exalted.
The 'right hand of Jehovah/God' {Jesus Christ}
has accomplished integrity.

17~~ I {Jesus} shall not die . . . but live . . .
therefore I will declare/narrate
the works of Jeh {Jehovah/God - God the Father here}.

{Note: This verse refers to 3 subjects:
1) David - the human writer - in reversion recovery (was under the sin unto death but David will survive),

2) Nation Israel anticipation their regeneration (will go under but will be revived), and

18~~ Jeh {Jehovah/God} has disciplined me {David/Israel/Jesus} severely . . . but He has not turned me over to death.

2 Israel dead now under the 5th cycle of discipline until 2nd Advent of Christ, and

3) Jesus Christ on the cross received the discipline of the Lord for all our sins imputed to Him.}

{On the Feast of the Tabernacle, they Sang these verses as they entered the Tabernacle V 19-21}
19~~Open to me the gates of righteousness . . .
I shall enter through them . . .
and I will give thanks to Jeh {Adoni- 'Jehovah' - Meaning the Lord}.

20~~ This is the gate of Jehovah/God.
The righteous {imputed righteousness of the Lord}
will enter through it.

{Note: The gate is the cross. You enter by Faith in Christ. Accepting His work on the cross as a substitute for you.}

21~~ I shall give thanks to You . . .
for You have hear/answered me . . .
because You {Jesus Christ} have become my salvation/deliverance.

{Verses 22-23 - 1st Advent of Christ}
22~~ The Stone {Christ} . . .
{which/Who} the builders {client nation Israel} rejected
has become the Head {Headstone} of the Corner
{place where the two walls come together -
Head of both Israel and the Church}.

23~~THIS {Christ becoming the Head of Israel and the Church}
is from Jehovah/God {God the Father resurrected the Lord}.
It is marvelous in our eyes.

{Verses 24-26 - 2nd Advent of Christ}
24~~ This . . . {is} the day the Lord has made {'asah} . . .
we will rejoice and be glad in it.

{Note: This is a reference to fulfillment of God's covenants to Israel. At the 2nd Advent of Christ.}

{Will be sung by the Jews on the Day of the Lord -
Sung prophetically in the Feast of the Tabernacles}
25~~ I request now {anna} Jehovah/God . . .
Jehovah/God, save/deliver us now please.
I request now {anna} Jehovah/God, send us prosperity please.

{In Mark 11:9 this verse was quoted but the Hebrew was transliterated and messed up. H OOO SHEEE AAA NNN AAA - Hosina! It means 'I beseech now'.}

26~~ Blessed . . . {is} He {Jesus Christ}
Who enters in the name of Jehovah/God {God the Father}.
We have blessed you
from the 'house of Jehovah/God' {the Millennial Temple}.

27^^El/God . . . {is} Jehovah/God
He has shown us light.
bind the festal offering to the horns of the altar with cords.
28^^You . . . {are} El/God,
and I will praise You.
You are Elohiym/Godhead,
I will extol You.

29^^Praise Jehovah/God for He is good,
His 'grace in action'/'steadfast love'/mercy is eternal.

Jeremiah 31:15—mothers would see their little children slaughtered in front of their eyes in Ramah, which was Nebuchanezzar’s headquarters. Any child from 10 years old an upward could walk the trek to Babylon but those who were younger could not. On the trek they would be abused and subjected to many terrible things but at Ramah was the first shock of the fall of Jerusalem. Behind this is divine discipline. The nation is disciplined for its rejection of Jesus Christ who is the God of Israel, and because it has continually neglected Bible doctrine. “Rachel” simply refers to the mothers of Israel, though Rachel was actually an historical character.

Verse 16 – “Restrain thy voice from weeping.” God has a plan for those who survive and this plan does not include weeping. God has a plan that will take care of the worst disasters that have ever existed.

“for thy work shall be rewarded” – thy workindicates that this was addressed to born again believers who were caught up in this great national disaster. Even though a believer may go through the most horrible things, as long as he is alive God has a purpose for his life. Thy work—their work is still in the future. One of these boys on the march to Babylon was a boy by the name of Ezra. He was probably in his early teens at this time. Jeremiah is saying to Ezra, You are still alive, dry your tears and get with it. And Ezra did. Psalm 119 is the story of how Ezra went from Ramah to Babylon and suffered as few teenage boys ever did. And yet he lived through it even though he saw these disasters, and when it was all over he had Bible doctrine in his soul which he used, and he not only survived all of these terrible things, but when he was an old man in his home in Jerusalem he sat down and wrote a poem which was later sung—Psalm 119. By this time he had collected a file and he showed how he was able to endure these things because he had down in his human spirit Bible doctrine. This Bible doctrine flowed through the pipes to his soul, and even though he went through disaster after disaster as a teenage boy he grew up to be one of the greatest believers of his generation. There never has been a disaster or a catastrophe in the history of the human race which is too great for the plan of God.

Verse 17 – “And there is hope [confidence; faith-rest] in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children come again to their own border.” The promise to return.

2.Ezra is the son of Seraiah—Ezra 7:1. The word son doubles for son and grandson. He is actually the grandson of Seraiah.

3.Seraiah was the high priest during the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. 2 Kings 25:18; 1 Chronicles 6:14; Ezra 7:1.

4.At the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Seraiah was sent as a prisoner to Nebuchanezzar in Riblah, and there he was put to death—Jeremiah 52:24-27.

When Seraiah died he had two surviving sons. The first was Jehozadak, the high priest during the captivity. There was also a younger son, not named, who was the one who had the experience of Psalm 119. Later in he made a file and it is his son, Ezra, who actually took the file and composed Psalm 119. So Ezra is the author but he is writing of his father’s experiences going from Jerusalem to Babylon as a slave.

6.In Psalm 119 Ezra wrote his father’s story, or the triumph of Bible doctrine in maximum adversity.

7.Psalm 119 is an acrostic—obviously taken, then, from the files of his father. The father taught his son well for Ezra became the great man of the Word of God in his day—Ezra 7:10; Nehemiah chapter 8.

Aleph—the ox. The ox represents prosperity. The first file that Ezra opens, maybe 60 or 70 years after these disasters, is aleph. Here is the way we begin one of the greatest prolonged tragedies in the life of any person who was ever born again. And how does it start? The first verse begins with the prosperity which comes from Bible doctrine. Prosperity is relationship to God in operation phase two.

Verse 1 – The first word in the psalm is “Blessed,” which in the Hebrew is happinesses—ashere (pl.), inner happiness based on Bible doctrine so that no matter what the circumstances of life may be the happiness is there. It is ultimately the triumph of every believer. Ezra learned happiness under the most disastrous of all conditions. Bible doctrine was operative.

Then there is no verb here, it says, “Happinesses the undefiled in the way.” The word undefiled doesn’t mean undefiled at all. He was defiled. The Hebrew word is tamimand it means equipped—equipped for anything, equipped for disaster, equipped for tragedy, equipped for heartache, equipped for success, equipped for changing circumstances of life. That is what Bible doctrine does.

“in the way” – operation phase two of the plan of God, the believer’s operation in time. “Happinesses for the person who is equipped for phase two.” That is the title for this psalm.

“who walk in the law of the Lord” – this is living under the principles of Bible doctrine.

Verse 2 – a repetition of the word blessed. Again it means happinesses, both inner and overt happiness.

“are they that keep his testimonies” – the word for keep here is natsar, and it means to keep something that belongs to you. It means to protect a vineyard, to cultivate a piece of soil, to guard it. Doctrine belongs to us and keeping doctrine means to get it into a place where it can be preserved—into the soul. This is a qal active participle in the Hebrew which denotes linear aktionsart. The qal participle means habitually guarding it, habitually keeping it—which means intake into the human spirit and into the human soul. Testimonies refers to everything pertaining to the persons of God, and by application it means God is perfect; His plan is perfect. A perfect plan excludes human good. God has provided for every stage of His plan and it becomes a matter of discovering these divine operating assets and utilising them.

“seek him with the whole heart” – the word for seek, darash, means to seek in the sense of having +V toward doctrine. A believer who is positive toward Bible doctrine stores that doctrine in the human spirit. He goes all out to get it and then he pipes it into the human soul where it is available, where he is equipped to face the disasters of this life. Sooner or later you are going to discover a problem too great for you, and you are going to have to cope with life in areas where you cannot meet the problems of your life. They are going to be too great for you and as a believer in Jesus Christ you are not intended to cope with your problems, the battle is the Lord’s. “Cast your burdens upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” God has a plan for your life. As long as you live God’s plan and God’s purpose will meet the greatest disaster of your life.

Verse 3 – “They also do no iniquity” is incorrect. It really says, They do not produce under the evil. “The evil” is an Old Testament way of describing the old sin nature. Under the old sin nature you cannot produce anything that is a part of the plan of God. There is no production that is acceptable to God under the old sin nature, therefore God has made provision so that whatever you do it is going to count. It is maybe unseen, unheralded, unrecognised, but any good that you do when controlled by the Holy Spirit, it counts.

“they walk in his ways” – you must get into operation phase two before it counts. Walking in the way is the production of divine good: the filling of the Spirit plus Bible doctrine = the execution of phase two of the plan of God.

Verse 4 – “Thou hast commanded to keep thy precepts diligently.” Commanded means to decree, to appoint—tsavah in the Hebrew, a piel perfect, meaning this must be a completed command. The word to keep here means to guard, to protect, to utilise. The precepts: Bible doctrine presented categorically.

Verse 5 – Here is the desire of this young man as he begins the terrible march. “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!” My ways refers to the operation of his soul. Statutes: Bible doctrine transferred to the soul, categorically organised in the soul, stored on the shelves of the soul, so that in effect the soul reaches in and takes off the shelf what is needed. It is Bible doctrine learned, categorised, and ready to go—on the launching pad.

Verse 6 – “Then shall I not be ashamed.” The word is not to be ashamed. The Hebrew word is bosh which means to be confused. The antithesis of confusion in the Hebrew is confidence. God requires that believers be confident, that they know what they are doing, that they have fixed and absolute norms, that they know what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. It is imperative for the believer to know the will of God at all times, that he knows when he is not in the will of God, when he is out of fellowship, when he is in fellowship, what his status is.

“when I have respect unto all thy commandments” – the word for respectmeans to look on something with pleasure, to see that it is so wonderful that you want it immediately.

Verse 7 – “I will praise [celebrate] thee with uprightness of heart.” Uprightness of heart simply means that the soul has all systems functioning properly.

“I shall have learned thy righteous judgements” – the Hebrew word lamadwhich means here that you learn the hard way. There is much doctrine to learn. Some of it is learned the hard way. He is going to learn it now under the adverse circumstances of the 5th cycle of discipline. Prosperity [aleph] depends upon knowledge of Bible doctrine. “I will celebrate thee with the uprightness of soul, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.” There is much doctrine to learn; I am going to have to learn some of it the hard way.

Verse 8 – “I will keep thy statutes [Bible doctrine given categorically]: forsake me not utterly.” His last prayer in the alephfile is, “Let me stay alive to learn these things.”

Beth—the house. The house refers to the plan of God. By way of application to us the plan of God is divided into three phases. Phase one is salvation: Jesus Christ bearing our sins; “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Phase two is the believer in time. It occurs one second after salvation and continues as long as the believer lives in this life. God provides for the believer in phase two. Phase three is the believer in eternity. The beth file is the plan of God for the believer with emphasis on phase two.

Verse 9 – the rebound challenge. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” Wherewithal is old English for In what. The first line reads literally, “In what shall a young man keep his way [his life: phase two] clean?” In other words, how can a teenager maintain his life/integrity before the Lord under the most difficult circumstances of life? His integrity is maintained in his soul.

“by taking heed according to thy word” – but that isn’t what the Hebrew says. The Hebrew: if he guards according to the standard of thy Word—doctrine. According to is according to a norm or standard. He has to guard doctrine when under pressure. The Hebrew word is shamar, a military word for guarding. The bodies of the slaves are abused and yet the soul in intact. The abusers cannot touch the soul—if it has doctrine.

Verse 10 – “With my whole heart have I sought thee.” The whole heart refers to the soul as it relates to the human spirit. So we have the human spirit piping doctrine into the soul. Whole heartmeans his inner life is intact. He has a wonderful, powerful soul because of Bible doctrine. He is a helpless slave to the Chaldeans but inside of him is this tremendous dynamic—God’s Word, Bible doctrine. The words I sought mean that up to this time this teenager had been interested in one thing: Bible doctrine. When all of the teenagers were out having fun, before 586 B.C., when the disaster hit, he was learning doctrine. Doctrine—darash—was a way of life, it was first in his life. This is a qal perfect, it means he was talking about his past—completed action. In the past he had sought the Lord—doctrine.

“O let me not wander from thy commandments [Word]”—he recognises his danger. His danger was that these terrible things that had come his way might turn him bitter, turn him into a mass of self-pity so that doctrine will stop flowing through his soul. Commandments is a reference to Bible doctrine pertaining to phase two. Let me not wander is a hiphil imperfect. The hiphil is causative, and the imperfect—now he is looking at these disasters coming up as he is moved in slavery back to Babylon. He sees the danger. As long as he keeps his soul intact by guarding doctrine.

Verse 11 – “Thy word [Bible doctrine] have I hid in mine heart.” The hiding of the Word in the heart keeps the soul intact in time of great disaster. Have I hid is qal perfect, describing his past. The word for hiding is tsatham in the Hebrew which doesn’t really mean to hide at all, it means to treasure. He treasured Bible doctrine. To him it was more important than anything else. It was his treasure, and that is a whole lot different from giving lip service to it, as so many do. The treasure was now on the inside where the Chaldean soldiers couldn’t get it and destroy it. The whole story of Psalm 119 is the triumph of doctrine.

“that I might not sin [make a false step] against thee” – the word is not really sin here. The Hebrew word is chatah which means to make a false step. It often is used for sin but actually the false step here means to downgrade Bible doctrine. If at any point he downgrades his own treasure, they can’t take it from him but he takes it himself and throws it away.

Verse 12 – “Blessed” describes the character of God from the standpoint of the believer who knows doctrine. Because he knows doctrine he loves the Lord, therefore he is occupied with Christ. He has not given in to self-pity or to any of the bitterness concepts.

“teach me” is a piel imperative which recognises a principle. Now in disaster, if anything he needs more, but he is going to have to get his teaching directly from the Lord. So, “Teach me, I need more doctrine.” He needs to add to his treasure with more treasure. To teach means to train him.

“thy statutes” – Bible doctrine presented categorically for assimilation and utilisation.

Verse 13 – “With my lips have I declared all thy judgments.” With my lipsis the mechanics of rebound. Somewhere it time Ezra is going to be guilty of sins on this march, and these sins have to be confessed. So at this point he names the sins.

“have I declared” is simply a word for rebound. It means to enumerate in detail his sins; “the judgments of thy mouth” – in other words, he recognises the fact that God judges sin and he has declared these sins which have been judged.

Verse 14 – the result of rebound. “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies.” He can’t rejoice in the terrible things that are happening to him in the slave camp on the way to Babylon. His rejoicing is the soul intact under maximum disaster conditions. It means to have inner happiness.

“as in all riches” – the riches here are the treasures of Bible doctrine. His treasure is intact, so when he rebounds he has the joy of these doctrines.

Verse 15 – “I will meditate in thy precepts.” The word meditate here means he is talking to himself. He will talk to himself in terms of doctrine presented categorically. Precepts is doctrine on categorical form.

“and have respect unto thy ways” – to have respect means to look with pleasure. The Hebrew word is nabat has the connotation of anticipating and then enjoying. It means to anticipate with extreme pleasure. He is looking forward to being on the march because all he has to do is put one foot down and then the other, but he can think doctrine, he can have fellowship with the Lord. He can talk to himself—meditate.

Verse 15 – “I will meditate in they precepts.” He talks to himself about precepts—Bible doctrine presented categorically; “and have respect unto thy ways” – he looks forward with pleasure. In those nights when he is being abused it is horrible, but when he gets up and is on the march again he can’t wait to pull out some doctrine to savour, to enjoy, and to be refreshed by it.

Verse 16 – “I will delight” – the word delight in the Hebrew is shaa. It means to make the most intimate love. Why does he use this word? Because this man has been assaulted time and time again, and the most intimate things have been done to his body under the perversion of homosexualism. He is a helpless victim, and while these terrible things have been directed against his body he would get up every day and make love to the Lord—Bible doctrine.

“I will not forget thy word” – should be, I will not neglect they word. The mechanics of facing disaster.

Ezra is the son of a man by the name of Seraiah [Ezra 7:1], the high priest in the days of Zedekiah. He was the high priest at the fall of Jerusalem and he was personally taken out and slaughtered by Nebuchadnezzar. Seraiah had two sons, one of whom was called Jehozadak who was the high priest during the period of the captivity. Jehozadak also had a son named Joshua, the one mentioned in Zechariah as the high priest returning with the people to restore the temple in 536 B.C. But Seraiah had another son who is unnamed in this passage and Ezra was his son. So Ezra and Joshua the high priest were actually first cousins. It is actually Ezra taking the file of his father to describe the activities recorded in Psalm 119. Ezra also wrote Chronicles as well as parts of Nehemiah, the book of Ezra, and also Psalm 119. But he is actually describing here his father’s story, or how Bible doctrine can triumph under the most adverse and unusual circumstances of life.

Gimel—the camel. The camel represents travel and travel represents wide knowledge. The principle of the gimel file is the importance of extensive knowledge of God’s Word.Verse 17 – “Deal bountifully” is a qal imperative of the Hebrew word gamal. The qal stem in this particular word actually means to benefit. To be benefited under the plan of God three traps must be avoided. First, there must be the avoidance of the detail trap. Inside of every person there must be doctrine. It produces inner happiness which leads to occupation with Christ. When the emphasis is on doctrine one can enjoy the details of life. With doctrine in the soul if we lose the details of life we still have doctrine, we still have inner happiness, we still have occupation with Christ. All of the details of life can be eliminated as they were for Ezra’s father—a young teenage boy who had nothing left but Bible doctrine. The next great problem is the problem of those who go on negative attitude toward Bible doctrine. They create vacuum in the soul into which go the mental attitude sins, the worst sins of all.

“Benefit thy servant” – the word benefit is a command. Here is a teenage young man who has Bible doctrine. Now he is on his own, but even so there is no problem for him. He demands benefit, this is in the imperative mood. This is a demand for grace. He refers to himself as “thy servant” which means he is oriented to the plan of God. He knows that he is in phase two as a believer and that as long as he lives God has a purpose for his life and that this purpose will be fulfilled.

“that I may live” – as long as God wants us in His plan He is going to keep us alive, and there is no horrible thing that can take us out of this world as long as God has a plan for our lives; “and keep thy word” – the word for keep is shamar which means to guard. This means that in the human spirit he has doctrine stored categorically. There is no such thing as knowing too much doctrine. Our effectiveness in phase two depends upon guarding the Word, and guarding the Word means to keep it on the shelves, ready to be fed into the human soul. Our prosperity, then, does not depend on the details of life; it depends on Bible doctrine.

Verse 18 – “Open thou mines eyes.” It doesn’t say that at all. His eyes are opened. He says, “Uncover my eyes,” and this is a piel stem (intensive), and this is a very intensive action. He already has doctrine and now he says, “Uncover.” This is just like saying, “Pipe it into the soul.” It isn’t that he can’t see, he is talking about the vast storehouse of Bible doctrine. Since his childhood when his father, the high priest, began to teach him this young man has known his Bible doctrine. It is the Word that keeps him going and there is no substitute for Bible doctrine—there never has been and there never will be. It is Bible doctrine that keeps the soul inviolate.

“that I may behold” – the word to behold is the hiphil stem of nabat, and it means cause me to do something. The word actually means to look on something with pleasure—“Cause me to look on something with pleasure.” What can he look on with pleasure as a slave in the midst of abuse? He can’t look around him with pleasure. He takes pleasure in Bible doctrine in his human spirit, that’s all. He loves the Lord; he is occupied with Christ. Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ. He has Bible doctrine flowing from the human spirit to the human soul.

“on great things out of thy law” – his eyes, as it were, are turned inward and he looks on the marvellous doctrine he has in the human soul. This is all he has at this time. Yet, with this he will become one of the greatest believers of his day. He will survive every disaster, every catastrophe, every horrible thing that comes his way.

Verse 19 – “I am a stranger in the earth.” This is simply a Hebrew idiom which says that he is enslaved now. The word stranger means a foreigner. He is a foreigner in the land. He no longer belongs there, he is under the fifth cycle of discipline.

“hide not [do not conceal] thy commandments from me” – Do not let me get away from these things. In effect he says, “My only chance to glorify thee is something inside of me—Bible doctrine.” Bible doctrine is greater than all the disasters around him.]

Verse 20 – “My soul breaketh [is bruised, literally].” “My soul is bruised with desire”— his soul is in danger of being bruised. His self-consciousness is in danger of becoming self-pity. His mentality is in danger of mental attitude sins—bitterness, guilty conscience—because of these horrible things that are happening. The word for longing in the KJV should be translated desire. It is the Hebrew word for caressing, fondling, etc. He is saying that he loves doctrine, that he thinks about doctrine, his soul is constantly filled up with doctrine flowing from his human spirit.

“unto thy judgments at all times” – judgment here simply refers to Bible doctrine presented categorically. At all times – this doesn’t mean that there is no time for the details of life, but you never lose track of the giver, you never lose track of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 21 – “Thou hast rebuked the proud.” That is legalism, human good, the energy of the flesh.

“they are cursed” – this is the fifth cycle of discipline; “which do err from thy commandments” – these people didn’t err from the animal sacrifices, from the ritual. They erred from doctrine. Commandments is a synonym for doctrine.

Verse 22 – “Remove me from reproach.” Literally this says, “Roll away from upon me disgrace.” The word reproach means disgrace, and this is the 5th cycle of discipline. For the first time he recognises the fact that he is going to live through the 5th cycle of discipline, these disaster conditions. This is the same as casting one’s cares upon the Lord; “and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies” – the testimonies refer to the techniques. He has maintained the rebound technique, the faith-rest technique, the spirituality technique, occupation with Christ.

Verse 23 – he is under pressure from great men. “Princes do sit and speak against me” – the reason he was judged so severely was because his father was the high priest.

Verse 24 – “Thy testimonies also are my delight.” This is that great word for caressing, making love. And he says, ‘My making love is in thy testimonies and in the techniques.’ Therefore he has learned the principle that there is no disaster or difficulty in this life too great for the plan of God.

Daleth—the door. The door is the entrance into the plan of God. Once you are in the plan of God you have gone through the door and God has provided for every need that you will ever have. Principle: Doctrine is greater than any disaster or problem of this life.

Verse 25 – “My soul[1] cleaveth to the dust.” In other words, he is saying his soul is intact. It is in the dust. The dust here refers to humiliation. He is in the dust of the fifth cycle, helpless, shackled, chained, a victim of the cruelty of the Chaldeans. The word for cleaveth in the Hebrew is dabaq which means to adhere or to be glued to something. This is a qal perfect, and the perfect tense means that this has been his past experience. This is what has happened to him since the moment that the Chaldeans soldiers came in with their slaughter, rape and torture. When he says he is glued to the dust he is saying that he is in maximum suffering conditions.

“quicken [refresh] me according to thy word.” His happiness, peace, power, blessing in the dust or in times of success depends upon the Word. Matthew 4:4. “Quicken” is a piel imperative of chajah and means to refresh. It is a demand of God. If that soul is going to stay in that body it must have refreshment. He is going to open a door to his human spirit and take doctrine off the shelf. So he says, “Refresh me according to the standard of thy word.” This is what kept him going.

Verse 26 – “I have declared my ways.” This simply means he has confessed his sins; “thou heardest me” – this means that he has been forgiven. Once he has rebounded he is forgiven, so he says, “teach me thy statutes”—Bible doctrine given categorically.

Verse 27 – “Make me to understand” is literally, “Cause me to discern.” The word is bin in the hiphil stem. Binmeans to understand, to discern; it means to call on something you already know. It is the word for taking an exam.

“the way of thy precepts” – precepts is a synonym for Bible doctrine: “Cause me to discern Bible doctrine.”

“so shall I talk of thy wondrous works”—he is even going to witness to these soldiers. He is going to talk about the Lord. You cannot talk about what you do not know.

“My soul melteth for heaviness” – the word to melt means to cry, inner cries from pressure, crying without tears. The pressure is now on his soul. Heaviness means pressure, adversity.

“strengthen thou me according to thy word”— this is a piel imperative again. The word for strength is the Hebrew word qum and it means to lift up something, to build muscle by lifting weights. He is going to build muscle by the claiming of Bible doctrine.

Verse 29 – “Remove from me the way of lying.” That is not what the Hebrew says. It is, “Cause me to turn aside from the way of vanity.” This is a hiphil infinitive. It means to lay aside as well as to turn aside, but we are talking about his soul and he wants to turn away from the way of vanities. Vanityrefers to the details of life. He will not compromise. Bible doctrine gives the strength to stand up under these things.

“and grant me thy law graciously” – is literally, “and with doctrine be gracious unto me.” God can only treat the believer in grace.

Verse 30 – “I have chosen the way of truth [doctrine].” Then he says literally, “I am satisfied with thy judgments.” In other words, he is satisfied with what God is doing. He is satisfied with doctrine. Satisfaction is used two ways in scripture: propitiation—God the Father is satisfied with the work of Christ on the cross; but there is doctrine which comes from Him, doctrine in phase two, and we can be satisfied with doctrine.

Verse 31 – “I have stuck unto thy testimonies.” This is the word dabaqwhich we saw in verse 25. We could translate this, “I am glued to doctrine.”

“O Lord, put me not to shame” is incorrectly translated. He says, “Cause me not to be confused.” This is a hiphil imperfect. The imperfect means the action is not completed; it means he is looking down the line at hundreds of miles ahead in chains with all of the horrible things that are going on, and he doesn’t see any let-up. He does not want to get confused down the line by the prolonging of the pressure. He doesn’t want to crack up.

Verse 32 – “I will run the way of thy commandments.” I will run to Bible doctrine. The word for way is refuge—“I will run to the refuge of doctrine.” He can’t run anywhere, he is chained. This is what his soul is doing. His human spirit is loaded with doctrine and it is being transmitted to his soul.

“when thou shalt enlarge my heart”—the heart refers to the entire soul. His soul is enlarged by running for refuge. The word when means as I run to refuge my heart is enlarged. His elf-consciousness becomes occupation with Christ. His mentality, the divine viewpoint of life. His volition: he stays intact, he chooses for God, he chooses doctrine. His emotion: he has appreciation for God. He has in his conscience the divine norms and standards. His life counts for the Lord. As a result he has a different perspective.

He—the window. He is looking out the window of his life as he trudges along. His perspective during the day is doctrine—using it, applying it. Every step he takes, he takes it with doctrine.

Verse 33 – “Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes [Bible doctrine given categorically]; I will keep it to the end [of my life].”

Verse 34 – “Give me understanding, and I will keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart”—every part of his soul.

Verse 35 – “Make me to go in the path of thy commandments [live my life by doctrine]; for therein do I delight.”

Verse 36 – “Incline [literally, expose] my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Don’t let me knuckle under to the system here.

Verse 37 –“Turn away my eyes from beholding the emptiness of it all; and refresh thou me in your ways”—Bible doctrine.

Verse 38 – “Stabilise thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to occupation with thee.”

Verse 39 – “Turn away my reproach [the failure that often occurs after a night of debauchery] which I fear: for thy judgments [doctrine] is good.”

Verse 40 – “Behold, I have longed after doctrine: refresh me in your perfect character” – righteousness refers to the perfect character of God.

Vav [Waw]—the peg. It represents a peg, a hook, or a nail. It presents Bible doctrine as the peg or the hook on which the believer hangs his life in phase two. The peg stays in one place—stability. Principle: Stability in phase two depends on Bible doctrine. God uses stabilised individuals.

Verse 41 – “Let they mercies come.” The word for mercies is grace in action. It is in the plural, indicating that God always deals with the individual in grace and He never changes this principle. The basis for this is the doctrine of propitiation which takes place at the point of salvation. The mercies here refer to the delineation of grace as it appears in Bible doctrine. So ‘Let thy mercies come’ refers to Bible doctrine flowing from its storage place into the human soul. The storage place is the human spirit which we receive at the point of salvation. The word for come here means to move along—into the various facets of the soul.

“thy salvation” is literally, thy deliverance; “be according to thy word”—if it isn’t done through doctrine it doesn’t count. The writer here makes it clear that the deliverance is from the inside, not the removal from the disaster conditions. It is the inner peace and power which comes from Bible doctrine.

Verse 42 – “So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me.” In other words, apparently there was some dissention among those who were chained together. Apparently there has been a lot of static from some of the other slaves who resent the divine viewpoint. Remember that under disaster conditions legalists will cling to their legalism. A legalist continues to be a legalist under disaster conditions. A grace man continues to be a grace man under disaster conditions. So we have this prayer for vindication. The word reproach is the key word here. It is a word which means to malign, to scorn, to resent—charaph, a qal active participle here which delineates linear aktionsart. Consequently, they constantly scorned, reproached, maligned the writer. The answer to legalism is Bible doctrine, the deliverance of the Word of God, therefore the deliverance of divine grace.

“for I trust in thy word” – Bible doctrine. The word for trust is batach, the word for a wrestler slamming another wrestler, and eventually it means to slam your problems on the Lord. Here is where the writer must use Bible doctrine. This is a qal perfect for batach. The perfect tense indicates that he has already placed these individuals in the Lord’s hands and he is simply sitting tight on that particular situation.

Verse 43 – “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth.” Take not is a hiphil imperfect of the verb natsal which means to snatch away. It implies: Do not let the words that I say [he will utter grace words, divine viewpoint, which will be ridiculed] be snatched away.” In other words, he is going to come back with some Bible doctrine and his prayer at this point is, “Do not let them take away the words that I utter, even to excess.” The word utterly is the Hebrew for even to excess. Those who are legalistic are going to be very resentful of what he has to say. He is saying, ‘Let what he says be acceptable to those who resent doctrine.’ In other words, to allow the pressure conditions which exist to be a means of reaching these people with doctrine.

“for I have hoped in thy judgments” – the word for hope here is the word for trusting under pressure conditions: piel stem, which indicates the pressure; perfect tense which means he is putting his trust in Bible doctrine no matter how difficult things get. Thy judgments refers to Bible doctrine as it pertains to experiential principles.

Verse 44 – “So shall I guard thy law continually for ever and ever.” He is simply saying he will guard the law; the law continues forever and ever. In other words, this is another way of saying the Word of God lives and abides forever. He will guard something that is permanent and eternal. It refers to the waw, the hook or the peg in the wall: “I can still hang my life on that hook called Bible doctrine.”

Verse 45 – “And I will walk at liberty.” Incorrect. He says, “I will walk in comprehensiveness.” The word translated liberty is not liberty at all, it means in breadth of mind. It is the Hebrew word rachab, which means depth of mind, breadth of mind, and it comes to mean comprehensiveness: ‘I am going to walk by what I think.’ He thinks doctrine.

Verse 46 – “I will speak of thy testimonies,” referring to Old Testament Christology. He will tell the others around him about the Lord Jesus Christ. He will describe various things in the Mosaic law which speak of Christ.

“also before kings” – he knows right now that he will survive to see the king of Chaldea. He will survive to see Persian kings on the throne. He has utmost confidence that God uses prepared people, and prepared people are those who have Bible doctrine in the soul.

“and will not be ashamed” – this is the same principle as Romans 1:16. Why is he not ashamed? It is coming up in the next two verses: “I have loved.” He is not ashamed of the Lord whom he loves.

Verse 47 – “And I will delight myself in thy commandments.” The Hebrew word shaa is a fascinating one. It is in the hithpael stem, which is reflexive in this case, and means that the self-consciousness of the soul is receiving doctrine from the spirit, and the self-consciousness of the soul comes to occupation with Christ, which is described here by this word shaa. This word which is always translated delight doesn’t even come close to meaning delight. It means the deepest, the strongest, and most powerful type of love. Between members of the human race, male and female, this is mental love expressing itself in sexual love. This is the Hebrew word for sex love. This is what he is using here for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? To indicate a strong love under adverse conditions. The word means to fondle, to caress, to court, to make love where there is love involved. When used of God is means something a little different. It means that the mental attitude love is there, and the mental attitude love expresses itself in a little different way. There is occupation with Christ under the most adverse pressure conditions imaginable. In other words, it is just as if he is saying at this point, through Bible doctrine, that he is making love to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ responds to that love by giving him inner happiness, inner resources, in fact everything necessary to go through this mess. This we simply call occupation with Jesus Christ. We can only make love to the Lord by capturing His mind—1 Corinthians 2:16, the Bible is the mind of Christ. So he uses the words “thy commandments” simply to indicate the mind of Christ concept. He is going to make love to doctrine and in that way make love to the Lord. He is courting Bible doctrine. Every chance he gets he draws on his inner resources. He thinks about doctrine. He puts it together in his mind. He disseminates it to others. The imperfect tense means he is going to keep on doing this.

“which I have loved” – perfect tense, he has always loved doctrine. Because he is carrying Bible doctrine he can share it on the march.

Verse 48 – “My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments.” My hands lifted up is fervent desire. This is as close he can come to again expressing the love concept of saying “I will delight.” He will have an intense love for Bible doctrine and everything else will depend on the Lord.

Zayin—a weapon. The weapon in this case is the Word of God. We find in this passage that not only is it an offensive weapon against others but there is something about having this weapon in the hand that is refreshing. What is the principle in this refreshment? Refreshment through having a weapon in the hand and being able to use it properly and successfully. This is the zayin file. We have the Word of God that is a weapon, but a weapon which provides refreshment and relaxation.

Verse 49 – “Remember” is the Hebrew word zakar. Since this is the zayin file every letter in verses 49-56 will actually begin with the letter zayin. This word means to call to remembrance. If you are going to be refreshed under adversity or under any set of circumstances you have to call to mind principles found in the Word of God—doctrines, concepts, promises. Therefore the key to refreshment is the ability to recall, to bring into the mentality of the soul Bible doctrine.

“the word unto thy servant” – the writer is asking God to help him recall to mind the Word of God. They servant is the writer who was a Jew under the fifth cycle of discipline. Therefore he is saying to bring to his mind those things that are necessary for blessing. But notice that he doesn’t tell God to wave a magic wand. He says, “Help me to bring it out of the Word . . . help me to recall the Word.”

“upon which thou hast caused me to hope” – the phrase to cause to hope here is the verb yachal and it does not mean to hope, it means to trust under maximum pressure. The perfect tense has the concept of keeping on doing this. So yachal means to have faith or faith-rest under maximum pressure.

Verse 50 – “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.” This refers to the promises and doctrines which is already stored in his human spirit. My comfort means the Word of God provides inner happiness and inner blessing in time of disaster. My affliction refers to the maximum pressure conditions under which he finds himself. Thy word is the solution—“hath refreshed me.” This is refreshment under pressure.

Verse 51 – “The proud” refers to the Chaldean soldiers; “have had me in derision” – they have derided and scorned him; “yet have I not declined from thy law” – that means, I have not turned away from it, I have not neglected it. The thing that causes a turning away from the law or the Word of God is bitterness because of one’s condition. More important than his present circumstances of adversity is the very fact that he himself has the Word of God. Because that doctrine is more real to him than all of his terrible experiences there is no bitterness, and he recalls the Word of God. Therefore he is oriented and stabilised.

Verse 52 – “I remembered [brought to mind] thy judgments.” This simply refers to doctrine in the canon of scripture. Judgmentrefers to a segment of the Mosaic law, the Mosaic law refers to Bible doctrine, and Bible doctrine is what he recalls under these circumstances.

“of old” – this doesn’t mean they were written of old, though that is true. But he is now recalling things that he learned in the home when things were pleasant.

“and have comforted myself” – he didn’t forget to take doctrine with him. He still has inner resources which he now calls upon. Myself comes from the hithpael stem which is reflexive, and the fact that he can comfort himself means that he is not dependent upon anyone else at this point. He is spiritually self-sustaining.

Verse 53 – “Horror.” This means this person was tortured, raped, kicked around, abused. Horror means nightmare type suffering with no recourse, no help, no possibility of deliverance.

“hath taken hold upon me” – the word to take hold means to seize, to come upon suddenly, to grab without warning. Every great disaster that you will face in this life you will face without much warning.

“because of the wicked who forsake thy law” – the soldiery ignore Bible doctrine, the principles of decency which are found in the Word of God, etc. They do not live by any moral code. Most of the people of the ancient world did not have a code of morality. The Jews were the exception rather than the rule.

Verse 54 – “Thy statutes.” The statutes refer to Bible doctrine organised into categories and located in the human spirit.

“have been my songs, in the house of my pilgrimage” – there is no pilgrim house here. The pilgrim house happens to be disaster. This is simply an idiom which means he is in a foreign country. What kinds of songs does he have? He can’t sing. When you know Bible doctrine and have inner happiness based on the Word of God, and when you are occupied with Christ, then you can sing too. It may be on the inside and it may come out. It is easy to sing when the joy of the Lord is in your soul. Doctrine is the basis for true singing.

Verse 55 – “I have remembered [called to mind] thy name.” Now we are getting down to the real basis for singing praises. Thy name is thy person. He calls to mind the Lord Jesus Christ.

“in the night” – in this time of disaster he has occupation with Christ; “and have kept thy law” – I have guarded the principles of the Word of God. The word to keep here means to keep something that belongs to him.

Verse 56 – “This I had, because I kept thy precepts.” Because he has done so in the past he can do so now. This verse brings us the contrast between the charge of the mosquito and the charge of the elephant. In the past he has had the charge of the mosquito. When he lived back in Jerusalem circumstances were much better and during that time he had a certain number of problems—the charge of the mosquito. He learned to use some faith-rest under these conditions, so when he gets down here to the charge of the elephant he just brings the same faith-rest and the same doctrine into the picture and shoots down the elephant in the same way he did the mosquito. By keeping the precepts he means in the past he claimed the Word. In the past he claimed promises, in the past he used the faith-rest technique, and since he used it with the charge of the mosquito why not handle the elephant the same way?

Kheth—security. Kheth means an enclosure or a fence. The Kheth file emphasises the grace of God keeping the believer on earth rather than taking him home. So it means that if you are alive God has provided for it—in His Word, in doctrine.

Verse 57 – “Thou art” is not found in the original. This actually begins with the words “My portion” – my plot of ground, that which belongs to me, my allotment, my share. The word is cheleq. Here is a person without anything, except chains and a lot of pressure from the Chaldeans, and yet he says, ‘I have something from the Lord.’ Even though he is in disaster God has put a fence around him and no matter what happens that fence is going to keep him intact until the day He decides to take him home.

“I have said I would keep thy words” – he recognises that his protection is Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine orients him to the plan of God.

Verse 58 – “I entreated thy favour.” The word for favour is the Hebrew word for grace, and he said he made a special appeal for grace. He is simply asking that the grace of God be utilised in his case.

“with my whole heart” – the human soul. In other words, he realises that his soul must remain intact. Self-consciousness must have occupation with Christ; mentality must have doctrine—he must think doctrine; his volition must make decisions compatible with the will of God; his emotion can still appreciate God; his conscience: he can still keep the same norms and standards even though he is in a very degrading slave situation. His whole heart must be oriented to the grace of God.

“be merciful” is literally, be gracious—qal imperative. He orders God to be gracious. He knows enough doctrine to understand the grace of God. Confidence is based on grace, not ego; “unto me.” He demands grace for himself.

“according to thy word” – Cf. verses 25, 41, 65, 76. When you are in the Word you are on solid ground, and on the basis of the Word of God you can demand things from God. But it takes that faith-rest.

Verse 59 – “I though on my ways.” He thought about his own life, he became introspective. Here is a self-examination.

“and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” – the word for turn is a hiphil imperfect of the verb shub, and it means to be caused to turn. The hiphil stem means he simply rebounded. The testimonies here is that rebound leads to the filling of the Spirit which results in learning Bible doctrine.

Verse 60 – “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.” Here is positive volition toward Bible doctrine. He hurried toward Bible doctrine. He delayed not, and the word to delay here means not to let anything stand in the way of learning doctrine; “to keep thy commandments” means to guard, to preserve. God has a purpose for his life and he wants to preserve that purpose.

Verse 61 – he has some opposition. “The bands of the wicked have robbed me.” This is literally the companies of the wicked, the Chaldean soldiers, have surrounded me.

But whatever happened he came through it in beautiful style: “but I have not forgotten thy law.” He is not going to forget.

Verse 62 – “At midnight.” It was all over. Whatever abuse they brought that night for him was now gone; “I will rise to give thanks unto thee” – whatever had happened to him he gave thanks to the Lord. He demanded grace and he got grace. Here is a body that went through the most awful things in the world. Why? To show us that what is important is the soul inside of that body. The soul remained intact under these most awful conditions. This was maximum pressure but under maximum pressure conditions his soul remained intact, and he gives thanks unto the Lord.

“because of thy righteous judgments” – doctrine. Judgments is a technical term for certain things in the Mosaic law, so he is talking about Old Testament doctrine. It is righteous because it comes from God. It is perfect. Even though he is under these disaster conditions he still has his mind on Bible doctrine and therefore his soul remains intact.

Verse 63 – there are others going through the same thing. All the time they were preparing for the greatest period in Jewish history. They are the nucleus of those who will go back to the land after 70 years and will form the groundwork for the golden age of the Jews, from 516-323 B.C., the age of doctrine.

“I am a companion of all them that fear thee.” The word for fear means occupation with Christ. The word often means reverence. In that long line of captives are born-again believers with Bible doctrine with souls intact. He is not the only one.

“and of them that keep thy precepts” – precepts: Bible doctrine stored categorically in the human spirit. Keepis guard, qal active participle, linear aktionsart. They guard, day after day.

Verse 64 – “The earth, O Lord, is full of thy grace.” Not just the land, not just where the temple stood, but every day as they march he sees new land, new places, new people, new things, and he says that everywhere he goes the earth is full of grace. Why? Because he is carrying it inside of him. He carries his inner resources, he has them right with him.

Teth—relationship. Teth comes out of a concept that means to roll together. God and the believer have an intimate relationship as a result of entrance into the plan of God. Throughout the teth file there is one word that stands out: “good.” It is the Hebrew word tob. (The letter b is pronounced v in the Hebrew)

Verse 65 – “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant.” Thou hast dealt wellis an incorrect translation. There is a verb and a noun. The verb is asah, to make something out of something; the noun tob means good—to make good out of something. The somethinghere is maximum disaster and pressure—the fifth cycle of discipline. The writer is a slave under horrible conditions of suffering. And yet, out of maximum suffering God makes good. When a person gets into God’s plan by faith in Jesus Christ everything is going to work together for good no matter how horrible it is. God has provided for every disaster that could ever exist in this life. His plan is greater than anything we will ever face. Here the writer is addressing himself to God and saying: “You have made good out of this disaster.” Only God can do this; only God can convert cursing into blessing. It is a monopoly of God and you have to be in His plan to even get close to this. But being in His plan is not enough. You have to know doctrine, the mechanics and principles. The words thy servant indicates the relationship, and then he uses the words “O Lord” to answer God.

“according to thy word” – every believer has a relationship with God but very few believers appreciate or utilise the relationship. It is one thing to be in the plan of God; it is something else to appreciate it.

Verse 66 – “Teach me good judgment [discernment].” It is one thing to have doctrine; it is something else to have discernment; “and knowledge” means along with knowledge. Discernment tales the doctrine and uses it. Discernment leads to appreciation of who and what God is. Discernment is for pressure; knowledge is for ordinary circumstances. Discernment must accompany knowledge in order to appreciate God. “Teach me” is the Hebrew word lamad which means you can’t simply state it academically. It means to lay it on hard; it means to learn things the hard way, learning under adversity. When doctrine is real to you under adversity it is because of one word—discernment. Discernment is the ability to think doctrine under disaster conditions. The piel stem of lamadmeans this is very intense.

“for I have believed thy commandments” – the reason he is ready to be taught. So there is an actual stepping-stone. There is a gap between knowing doctrine under normal conditions and discernment or applying doctrine under disaster conditions. The bridge is the faith-rest technique. The word believehere is the Hebrew amen, which means to use God’s Word as a prop.

Verse 67 – “Before I was afflicted I went astray.” Now we are learning something about the writer. He is just a teenager and before the fifth cycle of discipline came he was saved, but he says he went astray. This describes his early teens as a believer. This is a qal active participle of shagag. To go astray in the sense of shagagmeans to wander away from something you have, something you know. He knew doctrine but he wandered from it.

“but now have I kept [guarded] thy word” – now under pressure [5th cycle of discipline]. He has kept the Word of God under maximum pressure.

Verse 68 – “Thou art good.” For the first time he can say this: He is perfect; His plan is perfect. The person has to be good before He can do good. The person must come before the work. You must know doctrine before you can produce divine good.

“doest good” – God has manufactured good out of disaster because He is good. Only God can take one believer plus disaster and turn that into good. Doestgood is a hiphil stem, and this means to cause good.

“teach me thy statutes” – teach me is the same word, lamad, but this time he says statutes. Statutes are categories of doctrine. He realises that it is the doctrine he has in his mind categorically that you can use. Doctrine which is permanently retained is doctrine which is in its proper category. So it is important to know categories of doctrine because when you have pressure you may not be able to think of specific principles but you can think of a category. If you can think of a category you can work down to what you need. When you have stored doctrine categorically you can call upon it categorically.

Verse 69 – there is a contrast. “The proud have forged a lie against me.” The proud refers to the Chaldeans, the soldiers in charge. The word forgemeans to contrive, and the lie simply means they have accused him falsely.

“but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart” – wherever you find in the Old Testament the words whole heart it refers to the entire soul. Doctrine: precepts; the whole heart; the entire soul.

Verse 70 – “Their heart is fat as grease.” The Chaldean soul: there is no human spirit; their self-consciousness is great pride; mental attitude: they have mental attitude sins which produce self-induced misery; volition: they make decisions which lead to abuse; emotion: their appreciation of life is sensual; conscience: their standards are animalistic, brutal. That is the soul that is fat as grease. The words fat as grease actually mean stupid and insensible. Malfunction of the soul is involved—a distorted soul, a twisted soul.

“but I delight in thy law” – the word to delight here means to fondle, to caress, to make love, shaa. The law means scripture.

“that I may learn they statutes” – He knows the scripture [law] but the word statutesrefers to doctrine in the scripture. It is one thing to know the Bible stories; it is something else to know the doctrines in the scripture. All of this suffering has one point that makes it good. Before he had knowledge of scripture. He knew it but he wandered. Now we have disaster, affliction, and he still knows it but he has discernment. He now has points of doctrine.

Verse 72 – “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” Doctrine is now more important to me than lots of money, he says.

Yodh—the hand. “Thy hands” – refers to the hands of God. Generally speaking the hands of God are used to show His power, His plan, the wonderful security which He provides. The hands of the Lord Jesus Christ are often described as the hands of the creator—Psalm 19:1 cf. Colossians 1:16. They are mentioned in connection with the cross—they nailed His hands to the cross, Psalm 22:16; John 20:19,20. The hands of Christ are also the hands of eternal security—John 10:28; Psalm 37:24. The hand of God and the grace of God in phase two are described in 1 Peter 5:5,6.

The yodh file is the turning point. Up to this point we have seen in all of these acrostics the various activities along the march—the disasters, the tragedies, the heartaches, the frustrations, the total catastrophe concept, the helplessness of the prisoners—and now we come to the place where there is a turn in the tide. This is the result of Bible doctrine. Those who began to survive these terrible depredations began to remember points of doctrine which they had learned in the home, or words which the writer of this passage had described to them. Now we have the writer looking back over the years and recalling his first Bible class. He was a captive, chained, and he was in with a group of people who were chained. He began to pass on pieces of doctrine to those with him and suddenly finds himself with a Bible class, because he knows a great deal of Bible doctrine. He has studied the Word of God and these things he calls to mind as night after night he suffers from the Chaldean soldiery.

“have made me” – the word to make here is asah which means to make something out of something. The writer is referring to himself and he refers to the Lord as a potter. The Lord is a potter who is moulding the writer of this particular passage. It means here not only to make something out of existing materials but it is a reference to the writer who is previously described in verse 67 as being a carnal believer—indifferent to Bible doctrine—until the catastrophe hits. Now he begins to realise that of he is going to survive, if his soul is going to be stabilised, if he is going to remain intact, if his life is going to count for the Lord then he must use some of the doctrines he has learned and recall to mind many of the lessons of the past. Consequently he is saying that the reason he is intact, the reason his soul is till stabilised, is because out of existing materials he has been fashioned. He has been fashioned out of the materials of doctrine. Now he is telling what doctrine has done for him. What was once a failure now has become a vessel for the Lord’s use. The Lord has moulded him and this moulding comes through doctrine.

“and fashioned [stabilised] me” – the word for fashioned means to stabilise. This is in the piel stem, an intensive stem. He is saying that once Bible doctrine begins to move from the human spirit into the facets of the soul he began to stabilise. And now he recognises that he can’t have enough doctrine. He knows that there are many problems ahead.

“give me understanding” – hiphil imperative of bin, which means the be caused to recall something already learned; “that I may learn” – lamad, which means that he wants to get it up into the soul so that he can communicate it. He wants to learn so that he can teach others.

Verse 74 – the beginning of the Bible class. “They that fear thee” – in the chain gang are other believers who have come to the point of occupation with Christ. They realise the importance of Bible doctrine.

“will be glad when they see me” – many would die during the night or be left behind. In the morning apparently the people would look toward the writer. He was their Bible teacher now and when he stood up everyone was glad. They knew that day they would have another Bible class. There would be people in front and people behind and he would teach doctrine.

“because I have hoped in thy word” – the word translated hope here is not hope at all, it is the Hebrew word yachalwhich means to trust under maximum pressure. He used the faith-rest technique under maximum pressure.

Verse 75 – the greatest thing that can happen to anyone. “I know” – here is the best testimony we can ever have as a believer, i.e. that we know doctrine. The is yada in the qal stem, which means to learn under an academic situation. He knows from the standpoint of academics, Bible doctrine. He knows from his previous experience in Jerusalem. He has been taught and has learned doctrine.

“thy judgments” – Bible doctrine; “are right, and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me” – he begins to understand the principle of God’s faithfulness. Faithfulness is a part of the character of God. Even when he was being disciplined the Lord was faithful.

Verse 76 – “Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort.” Merciful kindness is grace in action. Let grace be my comfort, is what he is saying. Only grace can convert cursing into blessing.

“according to thy word” – he recognises that doctrine is his only hope. But then he adds something to show that he had taken the Word and applied it to his own life: “unto thy servant.” He is oriented to the plan of God. He knows that no matter what happens to him the battle is the Lord’s. He is the Lord’s servant and that day he is going to give a Bible message. He is going to communicate doctrine to others. God has given him a purpose.

Verse 77 – “Let thy tender mercies come unto me.” He doesn’t ask for food, he doesn’t ask for protection, he doesn’t ask that the disaster be removed.

“that I may live: for thy law is my delight” – Why does he want to live? Because he wants to give the Word. The Word is his delight [the word for love]. His love is the Word of God and he puts the Word first, above all else.

Verse 78 – “Let the proud [Chaldean soldiers] be ashamed [confused]; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.” In other words, he is not going to try to fight back. He puts the Chaldean soldiers in the Lord’s hands. He doesn’t lower himself to their level.

Verse 79 – “Let those that fear thee [occupation with Christ] turn unto me.” Everyone in this slave group who is occupied with Christ, let them turn. The word turn means to listen: “and those that have known thy testimonies”—there are many believers in this group of slaves, let them turn to me so that I can have the privilege of giving them the message. In other words, he is asking that God will spare those who will make students in his Bible class.

Verse 80 – “Let my heart be sound.” The Hebrew word means to be equipped—Let my soul be equipped.

“in thy statutes” – Bible doctrine presented categorically; “that I may not be confused”—confused as far as teaching is concerned. As he teaches these people day by day he does not want to mislead them. He is praying that he might be effective in the communication of Bible doctrine.

This is the great transition to victory—in the hands of God, the yodhfile. He is in the Lord’s hands, God has a purpose for his life, and he begins to realise this as his prayer moves in the direction of communication.

Kheth—the palm of the hand. The palm of the hand refers to the fact that we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are in His plan as long as we live. There are two things we have to remember about being in the plan of God. a) It doesn’t depend on us. Grace means it depends on God’s character. There is nothing in the Christian life that depends on us at any time, anywhere, or at any place. It all comes from God’s character: from God’s character comes God’s provision. It is always the issue of who and what God is, never who and what we are. b) This immediately de-emphasises who and what we are. Grace emphasises who and what God is. Therefore, all we have to do to be in the plan of God is to be alive on this earth.

Verse 81 – “My soul fainteth for salvation [deliverance].” When the self-consciousness is fainting it is self-pity; when the mentality is fainting is has various types of pouting activity; volition—a fainting soul always makes a lot of hot-headed ridiculous decisions; emotion—gets into the tantrum activity or tries to find some ecstatic experience as a substitute for doctrine; conscience takes up stupid norms and standards. A fainting soul requires deliverance, and it is the deliverance that comes through rebound. A fainting soul is a person who is alive but they are so confused from lack of doctrine that they cannot get to a basic point in their life which is naming their sins to God. The word faint is a piel perfect. The piel stem is intensive; the perfect tense means the fainting is over. The difference is now deliverance.

“but I hope in thy word” – the verb hopeis yachal and it means to trust under pressure. This is a qal perfect, he is describing a past experience. There is a difference between fainting and trusting. The object of this faith-rest is the Word.

Verse 82 – “Mine eyes fail.” The word for fail here means exhausted. This is a sign of mental exhaustion—tired eyes, tired mind. It is a form of pressure, like many other things. He is waking up tired. This verse says literally, “Mine eyes fail when I am receiving comfort.” This really isn’t a question, it means that when his eyes fail after a tortuous night, when he has been without sleep night after night, he is comforted. He is being comforted under the greatest stress and strain of life. The piel stem means both to console and to comfort, and his comfort comes from inner resources. He doesn’t have a thing on the outside on which he can depend. Bible doctrine sustains him.

Verse 83 – “For I am become like a bottle in the smoke.” There is no bottle here. This is a wine skin in the smoke. The wine skin is usually made out of goat skin. If it is hung up by a fire where it receives prolonged heat. It dries up and cracks. When it cracks the wine escapes. If it is there long enough it shrivels up. I am become like shrivelled skin, is the literal translation. This is an idiom. The skin is shredded, shrivelled up and ruined by all of this heat, and that wineskin represents the body of the writer. He has been abused in every way and he feels just like a dried up wine skin.

“yet I do not forget thy statutes [the categories of doctrine]”—Bible doctrine stored in his human spirit categorically. Neglect of the categories of doctrine means forgetting it under pressure. He doesn’t forget under pressure.

Jeremiah stood on a hill and watched thousands of people going by, shackled and in slavery, going out under the fifth cycle of discipline. He saw that many terrible things were in store for them in the very near future. As he was looking at one group he recognise the young man walking by him. Here was the son of the high priest, and as this young man went by this is what Jeremiah said: Lamentations 3:19 – “Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.” Jeremiah was a man who suffered intensely, and yet he is not saying this in a complaining vein, he is merely pointing out that God is faithful—that in the plan of God there never has been a catastrophe or difficulty too great for the plan of God. In verse 20 he says, “My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled within me.” The word humble here is simply orientation to the grace of God, understanding the plan of God, and because of this orientation he understood the grace of God, that everything depended on who and what God was. Verse 21 – “This I recall to the mentality of my soul, and therefore I have faith [yachal] under pressure.” This is the perpetuation of the faith-rest technique into occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

The explanation of his humility: Verse 22 – “It is of the Lord’s mercies [grace] that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” It is the faithfulness of the Lord that counts. Verse 23 – “They [the mercies of the Lord] are new every morning.” The emphasis here is on every morning, and soon this young man will have occasion to remember these words because every day he will find it much more difficult to get up from the day before. Verse 24 – “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore I will hope in him.” Verse 25 – “The Lord is good [divine good] unto them that wait upon him”—i.e. perpetuate the faith-rest technique. Trust Him moment by moment, the battle is the Lord’s—“to the soul that seeketh him.” This is what that young man heard. That is +V toward Bible doctrine. And that was the attitude of this young man as he faced the most awful pressures of the march to Babylon.

Verse 84 – “How many are the days of thy servant?” How much longer will I live? The answer to this is very simple. First of all he is going to live one day at a time.[2]He is going to live as long as God has a purpose for his life. He is in the plan of God and he knows it. His abusers can’t get to him at all because he is a winner.

“when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?” He is not asking for vengeance, he is putting the matter in the Lord’s hands. He is telling God to judge them Himself; he refuses to do so. Because of his understanding of Bible doctrine he refuses to judge them.

Verse 85 – “The proud have digged pits for me.” Already they have discovered that he is teaching Bible doctrine, that he is a source of encouragement along the way, and the Chaldeans have laid ambush for him. They are trying to trip him up in some special way.

Verse 86 – “All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.” He recognises the principle that God has a special purpose for his life, and this purpose is going to be fulfilled in spite of all of their failures.

Verse 87 – “They have almost consumed [destroyed] me upon the earth.” They had almost destroyed him, so terrible were the things they had done to him.

“but I forsook not they precepts” – the word precepts means Bible doctrine categorically on the shelves of the human spirit. He did not forsake Bible doctrine and it carried him through this terrible disaster.

Verse 88 – “Quicken [refresh] me according to the standard of thy loving-kindness.” He is calling for refreshment and he is going to have refreshment amidst the greatest pressures of life.

“so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth” – the word keep here means to guard, to protect. He is going to communicate the Word every day.

Lamed—an ox goad. The ox goad connotes two concepts and these are both resident in verses 89-96. The first concept is the principle of rebound and the second one is the concept of God’s faithfulness to us. Just as the ox goad keeps the ox moving so rebound[3] keeps the believer moving. It is interesting that the rebound offering is an ox or a heifer—the red heifer. We are motivated to keep moving in the spiritual life because all of our sins have already been judged.

Verse 89 – “For ever, O Lord, they word is settled in heaven.” Thy wordrefers to the realm of doctrine dealing with the believer’s life. We only have it in writing since 96 A.D when the canon of scripture was completed. Bits of it were given along the way, starting with Moses, but the Word of God existed in eternity past—1 Corinthians 2:16, the Bible is the mind of Christ. Cf. Psalm 138:2—the name is God, the person of God, and the plan comes from Him. The plan was settled in eternity past. There isn’t anything new in God’s plan, it is of old. The word settled here doesn’t mean to be settled, it means to be appointed. “Your word, O Lord, is appointed forever,” and it is a niphal stem which is passive voice. That means it receives permanence. It now exists in the Bible. The Bible has been attacked and attacked and attacked. Every day the Bible is being attacked somewhere on this earth, but the Bible stands up and there is no way that Satan can destroy it. This book will go on forever.

Verse 90 – “Thy faithfulness unto all generations.” There never was a generation left without revelation from God. There never was a generation that didn’t have some doctrine of some sort, and out generation has everything by way of doctrine. We are here by the faithfulness of God; we are cleansed by the faithfulness of God; we are filled by the faithfulness of God; we are motivated by the faithfulness of God. Anything that we have that is worthwhile in any way is because He is faithful to us.

“thou hast established the earth, and it abideth” – an illustration of faithfulness. “Thou hast established” is a piel perfect of the verb kum. In the piel stem it means to adjust and to direct, to give cohesion to something, to stabilise, to provide a stability for the unstable; “the earth” – the stability of the earth depends on divine laws.

1.The continuation of the universe depends upon the omnipotence and the immutability of Jesus Christ—Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3.

3.They are not laws because science has no way of enforcing them or guaranteeing them.

4.So-called scientific laws are based on the statistical assumption that the universe which operates according to a fixed norm will continue to do so. Science cannot guarantee it will be this way forever.

5.The universe with matter, energy, and operational laws will not always exist as it does at the present—2 Peter 3:10-12; Revelation 20:11.

6.Known scientific laws depend entirely on the faithfulness of God. And based on Colossians 1:17, on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. So every text book and every discovery on the pattern and laws of the universe is a treatise on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

7.By the word of His mouth Jesus Christ holds the universe together—Hebrews 1:3.

8.His reason for doing so is to resolve the angelic conflict and to bring many sons into glory—so that you and I could be saved, Hebrews 2:10.

9.To allow grace to run its full course Jesus is keeping the universe together. The laws of the universe can be overruled and changed by Jesus Christ. This explains how Elijah departed—no gravity; also Enoch, plus certain miracles. Even though He overrules His laws, either by miracles or when extra-natural phenomenon occurs, He never overrules or changes a promise or a doctrine. The doctrines of the Word of God are absolutely unchangeable!

10.Therefore scientific laws are simply the faithfulness of Jesus Christ holding the universe together, holding back eternity, so that the human race will have opportunity to appropriate the grace of God and to live under the grace of God before eternity begins.

Verse 91 – “They continue this day according to thine ordinances [doctrine]: for all are thy servants.” The writer looks around and sees the people who are

born again. These laws operate for them to stay alive, so that they can have impact, so that they can learn Bible doctrine and have the dynamics that go with that Bible doctrine.

Verse 92 – “Unless the law [Bible doctrine] had been my delights [The Hebrew word for making love].” If doctrine had not been the love of his life he would not have been alive. “I should have perished in mine affliction.” Doctrine kept him going. The love of his life was the Word of God, Bible doctrine.

Verse 93 – “I will never forget they precepts [Bible doctrine presented categorically].” Stored away in his human spirit are these categories of doctrine. It is easy to forget Bible doctrine unless it is stored categorically, and so the word preceptmeans to have it in categories. It is necessary to take it in categorically, and that is why it must be taught categorically and why it is listed in the scripture categorically. You cannot teach verse by verse without also providing the categories for storage, assimilation and application.

“for with them thou hast quickened [refreshed] me” – here is a person whose refreshment, happiness, blessing and everything is Bible doctrine.

Verse 94 – “I am thine, save [deliver] me; for I have sought thy precepts.” He is simply asking that God will give him the strength to stand up so that on that very day he can again teach in his walking Bible class. In other words, ‘Help me to get up today for I have sought.’ When they were in peace, before there was any Chaldean invasion, he sought doctrine. He had already done this in the past. Here is a challenge for us today. If we ever face a catastrophe, will we have Bible doctrine stored away so that we can be the person for the hour and able to communicate the divine viewpoint of life to the ones who are also in the catastrophe. Bible doctrine is the recovery of a national entity as well as an individual under pressure. The word sought here is a qal perfect. The perfect tense means this was in the past, and the verb darash means to intensively seek something, to realise the value of something in a period of prosperity.

Verse 95 – “The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider [knew] thy testimonies [Bible doctrine].” The wickedrefers to the Chaldeans. He has been in danger of death all the time. Because he knew Bible doctrine, even though they tried to ambush him and destroy him he stayed alive. God has a purpose for anyone who will learn Bible doctrine. You cannot kill a person who has doctrine in his spirit and when that doctrine is flowing to the soul. God keeps those people intact, He has a purpose for them.

Verse 96 – “I have seen an end of all perfection.” This is an idiom for “I have become disillusioned about people.” He was a teenager and he though that there were certain people in Jerusalem who would be great heroes when the enemy came. Instead, they were cowards and they ran and hid and fell apart under pressure. They couldn’t take it. So he became very disillusioned about people and he realised that people were not the answer, that the country could not be saved by people. We are not supposed to have our eyes upon people or depend on them. With Bible doctrine we can enjoy people but we do not depend upon people.

“but they commandments [Bible doctrine] are exceedingly broad” – doctrine is without any limits. There is no limit to what Bible doctrine can do.

Verse 97 – “O how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” The law refers to Bible doctrine. The word for meditationmeans it was constantly in his thoughts. He is constantly looking at things from the doctrinal viewpoint.

Verse 98 – “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies.” In other words, the Word of God gives him a super weapon. He has no physical weapons and yet inside of him is the greatest weapon of all—Bible doctrine.

“for they are ever with me” – his enemies march along side him, they are the soldiers.

Verse 99 – “I have more understanding than all my teachers.” The teachers who went before him taught him Bible doctrine but they did not go through the things that he did. He went through maximum disaster conditions and therefore he saw experientially the truth of Bible doctrine more than anyone before him. This does not mean that he actually understood more doctrine but it means that he actually experienced more doctrine with understanding than anyone else.

“for thy testimonies are my meditation” – Bible doctrine is with him through every one of these disasters.

Verse 100 – “I understand more than all the ancients.” The ancients were Jewish believers who lived prior to the writer. They had never faced such a thing as he had.

“because I guard thy precepts” – the guards were guarding the prisoners but this prisoner was guarding Bible doctrine.

Verse 101 – “I have refrained my feet from every evil way.” Now he is going back to the days of prosperity in Jerusalem. The word for refrain means to separate. Evil way here actually means in the Hebrew false doctrine. He separated himself from false doctrine and this is why he was able to learn so much so rapidly in the four or five years when he was a teenager. Why could he guard the Word? Why was the Word so firmly entrenched in his human spirit? Because there was no false teaching, no false doctrine to obscure it.

Verse 102 – “I have no departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.” Judgments here refers to various types of Bible doctrine, it is very similar to the word precepts. It is doctrine stated line by line rather than category by category. Thou hast taught merecognises that all doctrine is from the Lord.

Verse 103 – “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” In other words, he recognises that honey stimulates. He is making an analogy now between honey and Bible doctrine. Just as honey stimulates the taste buds, so Bible doctrine stimulates the believer. Just as honey provides energy for the body, so Bible doctrine provides that spiritual energy and impact that the believer needs.

Verse 104 – “Through thy precepts [BD stored categorically] I get understanding: therefore I hate [despise] every false way.”

Nun—a fish. A fish always seems to have food, shelter and clothing. So the Nun file speaks of the tremendous provision that comes from Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine provides many things:

Verse 105 – Bible doctrine provides the basis for divine guidance. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” In other words, the Word of God shows you where to go. All guidance as far as God is concerned is tied in with Bible doctrine. If you know Bible doctrine you can know what the will of God is. If you are ignorant of Bible doctrine you will never know what the will of God. The Bible must learned categorically before you can be guided by it.

Verse 106 – “I have sworn, and I will perform it.” In other words, he has no made a decision. God has guided him. He in now a slave. He is alive.

“I will keep thy righteous judgments” – the righteous judgments refers to God’s perfect will for the life of the writer. Right now God’s will for the life of the writer is to communicate Bible doctrine to others who are in the chain gang.

Verse 107 – “I am afflicted very much.” It is going to be difficult to communicate doctrine because he is under great pressure. He personally is suffering abuse.

“quicken [refresh] me, O Lord, according to they word.” The only refreshment that counts is the Word of God.

Verse 108 – “Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings.” There are many kinds of offerings. Prayer is called an offering, as is rebound, praise and worship, etc. Offering is describes here in the best possible terms—something that comes from your volition, freewill.

“offerings of my mouth” – he can take what he possesses and give to someone else. This person is a spiritual millionaire because inside of him is Bible doctrine, and there is nothing more important to give to others than Bible doctrine.

The word accept is not really the literal translation. The Hebrew word means to take pleasure in something—ratsah. He is saying, Take pleasure in my freewill offering. He demands [qal imperative] that God take pleasure in the one thing that he knows God will take pleasure in—the communication of Bible doctrine.

“and teach me” – there are something that he needs to understand so that he can better communicate; “thy judgments” – the principles that he needs to know.

Verse 109 – “My soul is continually in my hand.” This is an idiom for being close to death at this moment; “yet I do not forget thy law.”

Verse 110 – “The wicked have laid a snare for me.” He has become a special target now for the Chaldean soldiery because it is quite obvious that he has something that they do not have. His stability, strength, power, blessing, are all being communicated to others up and down the line and this makes him a special target.

“yet I erred not from thy precepts” – they have not been able to drive Bible doctrine away from me.

Verse 111 – “Thy testimonies I have taken as my heritage for ever.” These things have been passed down to him, it is all he has.

“for they are the rejoicing of my heart [soul]” – his soul has inner happiness right now under maximum disaster conditions because Bible doctrine is flowing from the spirit to the facets of the soul.

Verse 112 – “I have inclined my heart [soul] to perform thy statutes always, even unto the end.”

Samech—the Hebrew letter and word for a fulcrum. The fulcrum is Bible doctrine. A fulcrum is the basis of leverage. The lever represents God’s plan and the fulcrum is Bible doctrine. With the lever heavy loads can be lifted—suffering, pressures, the disasters and catastrophes.

Verse 13 – “I hate vain thoughts.” The word vaindoesn’t exist in the original. The second way that would be translated is Ihate thoughts, and that isn’t true either. The word thoughts is not thoughts, but it means double-mindedness or doubting. This is simply an idiom for saying, I have confidence.

“but they law do I love” – lit. because I love thy word. The word here for law is the Word of God, Bible doctrine. Confidence comes from knowing Bible doctrine. Why does he love Bible doctrine? Because doctrine is Samech, God’s fulcrum by which He lifts the sufferings the pressures, and the difficulties of life. You can slip a lever under a weight but you cannot lift that weight (sufferings and pressures) by simply having a lever. The lever is God’s plan but in order for God’s plan to operate in your life, to remove the sufferings and the difficulties, you must have leverage and leverage demands a fulcrum—Bible doctrine. God’s plan only operates through Bible doctrine—knowledge of Bible doctrine, understanding of Bible doctrine. You cannot utilise what you do not know.

Verse 114 – since he loves the Word he is using the Word. He is active in the use of the Word. So he says, “Thou art my hiding place and my shield.” Hidingplace means a place where he can retreat, a place where he can relax. Once you have Bible doctrine you have, as it were, a hideaway, a Shangrila, a place where you can relax; “and my shield” – a shield is a military defence system. There is a need for a defence system because we have the worst depraved soldiers on the march who are allowed to abuse the slaves.

“I hope in thy word” – this word hopedoesn’t mean as we use the word today. The Hebrew word is yachal which means to use faith in a situation where there is total confusion and disaster. It means to have such a strong faith that you can concentrate on the promises of God, on the Word of God, on the plan of God, you can think about the things of God when everything is falling apart around you.

Verse 115 – “Depart from me, ye evil doers.” There are some believers in the slave line who are under the control of the old sin nature. An evil doer simply means a believer controlled by his old sin nature. This means that at this point they have panic, they say there is no God, they scream imprecations and blasphemies and fall apart in every possible way because they are under the old sin nature. He is separating himself from these people in that he will have nothing to do with them because they do not have the divine viewpoint of life, they do not look at life from the standpoint of Bible doctrine.

“for I will keep the commandments of my God” – in other words, he is going to keep on looking at life from the divine viewpoint. He has made his decision and there is nothing in life as important to him as Bible doctrine. He is not going to allow any thing, any person, to separate him from Bible doctrine. He says this under disaster conditions. It is one thing to say them when everything is going right. He does not care who he offends or what people think of him. Application: If it becomes a matter of going to learn Bible doctrine nothing stands in the way. What is more important? Some of your friends, or Bible doctrine?

Verse 116 – “Uphold me according to thy word.” The word uphold simply means support, sustain. He is asking for vision on the basis of the Word of God. When he says, Uphold me, he is actually saying this is the plan of God because he puts it in a qal infinitive. The infinitive indicates planning and purpose. He knows it is God’s purpose to sustain him and that God is the only one who can sustain him. He has seen every detail of life removed. He doesn’t have a crutch, he has a lever. There is a tremendous difference between a crutch and a lever. A crutch is sublimation, a dependence upon the details of life; but a lever is God’s plan. God’s Word declares God’s plan. So the fulcrum is the basis for leverage and the plan of God is declared in the Word, it is the actual lever that lifts the problems and disasters of life.

“that I may live” should be that I may be refreshed. He knows he is going to keep on living.

“and let me not be ashamed” – literally, do not cause me to be confused; “because of my hope” is because of my trust [in the Word].

Verse 117 – “Hold thou me up” is a qal imperative. It means, Refresh me—support in the sense of being refreshed.

“and I shall be safe” is literally, I shall be delivered. He isn’t thinking now of being delivered from disasters, he is thinking about the deliverance that comes from the Word of God in disaster. This is inner happiness in disaster.

“and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually” – to have respect here means to have regard, to give them concentration and attention. He is saying, “I will concentrate on Bible doctrine continually.”

Verse 118 – “Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes.” This word trodden down really means to carry away. It refers to the fifth cycle of discipline because they err, they wander, they go astray from categorical doctrine.

“for their deceit is falsehood” – the word deceitis intrigue. As a result of rejecting Bible doctrine they got into intrigue, into retaliation, into petty activities of one sort or another.

Verse 119 – “Thou puttest away all the wicked.” To put away the wicked here refers to putting away those who have rejected Bible doctrine; “of the earth” is correctly translated, of the land–those of Judah who have rejected Bible doctrine, those who depend on the details of life.

“like dross” – in other words, He has purified the people, bringing out those who are true to the Word.

“therefore I love thy testimonies” – the word testimoniesrefers to doctrines in the Old Testament concerning Jesus Christ. Beginning in Genesis 3:15 and going through the entire Old Testament there are many references to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many types of teaching of both Christology and soteriology.

Verse 120 – “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee.” His flesh trembles because he is occupied.

“I am afraid of thy judgments [justice].” In other words, he has seen the effectiveness, the total disaster that came to his nation and he understands something of the justice which God executes, a justice which is described in Leviticus 26:27-46; Deuteronomy 28:49-67.

Ayin—the eye. The eye of the individual. This stresses perspective, application. Now he has seen the difficulties of life and what he sees by way of suffering he can match up with what he knows. Once he has doctrine in his soul he looks out on life with a perspective. He is looking at a disaster situation and his perspective is Bible doctrine.

Verse 121 – “I have done judgment and justice.” I have done is the Hebrew word asahwhich means to make something out of something. The first something is the disaster situation; the second something is Bible doctrine. He uses doctrine in disaster so that he comes up with answers in the midst of a difficult situation. In this case, out of Bible doctrine he has made judgment and righteousness. In other words, he has been able to maintain his integrity before God in the midst of these things.

“leave me not to mine oppressors” – do not allow my oppressors to totally destroy me so that I can take this perspective and bring it with me into the land of Babylon.

Verse 122 – “Be surety for thy servant.” In other words, become my pledge, give me security and protection. He knows that Israel has a future under Bible doctrine and he wants to see that that future is based on the Word of God. Therefore he is asking God that He will be a pledge for Him, give His word that He will get him into the land with the people so that he can continue this communication of doctrine.

“let not the proud oppress me” – the proud are ordinarily the Chaldean conquerors but in this case they refer to something much more difficult. It refers to legalism. He is now totally oriented to grace and while he is being oppressed by a horrible and depraved Chaldean soldiery there is an oppression which is worse than depravity. It is the bullying, the pressure, the viciousness of legalism.

Verse 123 –“Mine eyes fail.” His eyes haven’t failed at all, he has good eyesight. The word fail means to be completed; “for” means because of; “thy salvation [deliverance]” – physical deliverance. His perspective is complete, he knows he is going to be delivered. He knows that he is going to survive this death march to Babylon.

“and for [because of] the word of thy righteousness” – because of Bible doctrine he has a future. Because of Bible doctrine he knows that his life has purpose and he knows exactly where he is going in the future. He knows that he is going to have a part in the development of a new nation, a nation which will be based upon the Word of God.

Verse 124 – “Deal with thy servant.” The word dealis asah again. In other words, Make something out of thy servant. He is going to make something out of His servant by means of doctrine. So God takes Bible doctrine, and with Bible doctrine He manufactures something out of you. This teenager realises the value of doctrine; it is doctrine that changes people. God can change him because he has positive volition toward Bible doctrine. He understands the plan of God; he is oriented to the grace of God.

“according unto thy mercy” – mercy is grace in action. Grace is latching on to what God has provided for the believer in time. These things were provided in eternity past. Now, in time, we know the Word and we know His grace, we are now ready for His mercy. What is the link up?

“and teach me thy statutes” – teach is a piel imperative of the Hebrew word lamad. This is learning the hard way, under discipline. He is only 15 days out of the ruins of Jerusalem and he has another 7 days before reaching Babylon, and then he has slavery at the other end of the line. So he is going to have to learn things the hard way. He is ready to learn them but these hardships are going to help him to learn and to understand.

Verse 125 – “I am thy servant.” Here is a relaxed mental attitude. He realises that he is not going to be much use if he is stupid. So now he says, “give me understanding.” This time he gets away from lamadand he uses the word bin in the hiphil stem, and it means “cause me to understand.” It is in the imperative mood in which he demands to be caused to understand. He realises that for the rest of his life he must learn doctrine. This is the key to everything.

“that I may know” – this word means to have it in the human spirit. This is jadah.

Verse 126 – “It is time for thee, Lord, to work” should be translated, Time for the Lord to work. God is not going to work if you work. A race horse and a mule don’t pull the plough, they fight each other! When we get smart and realise that we can’t pull the plough, and we stop completely, then God pulls it. So we just have to decide who is going to pull it. Grace says God does it; legalism says we do it. But the moment that we learn that we can’t do it in the energy of the flesh then He is right back there in His grace and pulling it for us. The word for work is asah again. It is time for the Lord to take doctrine and make something out of us.

“for they have made void thy law” – to make void the law means that they have set aside the Word of God; they are antagonistic toward the Word.

Verse 127 – “Therefore I love thy commandments [the Word of God] above gold; yea, above fine gold.” Gold is a detail of life and with gold you can have other details of life. So he says, “I love Bible doctrine more than I love the details of life.”

Verse 128 – “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts.” The word esteem is the perspective of the writer, it is ayin, looking out through the eyes of doctrine and taking a look at life from the standpoint of doctrine. Preceptis doctrine in its categories.

“all right” – all correct. He esteems doctrine all correct, an absolute norm, the measuring stick for everything in life.

“and I hate every false way” – since he has come to this place there is something he despises: false doctrine, false ideas. This should be the attitude of any believer who has true doctrine. This means despising internationalism, socialism, the weakness and instability we find in our leadership today, every system of pseudo-spirituality, every cult, every system which detracts from doctrine. He has now come to the place where he has appreciation for the full perspective of the plan of God, a full understanding of the plan of God, and he despises every false idea. He sees that in Bible doctrine there is victory over every false idea.

Pe—the mouth. At this point we have a paragraph dealing with the mouth of God, the Word of God, speaking to the individual and the individual under pressure circumstances communicating the Word of God to others.

Verse 129 – “Thy testimonies” refers to a certain type of Old Testament doctrine pertaining to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Basically there are five different categories of the work of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. The first is the fact that Jesus Christ is revealed by the titles of God in the Old Testament. Secondly, there is an eschatological historical Christology and this based on passages generally found in Isaiah, e.g. 7:14; 9:6-8; ch53, where Jesus Christ is presented from the time of His virgin birth to the time of His second advent. Then there are certain Christophanies which are found in the Old Testament—primarily the angel of Jehovah. Sometimes He was revealed as a man, e.g. He visited the tent of Abram; He wrestled with Jacob. The fourth category has to do with the Shekinah glory. The Shekinah glory existed in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple. Then we have certain inanimate manifestations of the Lord Jesus Christ such as the burning bush, the articles of furniture, the structure of the tabernacle, and some of the modus operandi of the Levitical priesthood. These are inanimate but at the same time they represent by illustration, by parable, and by analogy the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we go about this psalm whenever we find the word testimonies it is Old Testament revelation concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

“wonderful” – there is no verb here. They were wonderful in the sense that they stimulated him mentally; “therefore doth my soul keep them” – the soul is the real you, and the soul keeps them in the sense of guarding them. The Hebrew word for keep here means to guard. The soul actually guards Bible doctrine in a very special way—alertness, ready for action. While all Bible doctrine resides in the human spirit it is piped from the human spirit to the soul.

Verse 130 – “The entrance of thy words,” means Bible doctrine going from the human spirit where it resides into the categories of the soul; “giveth light” – this means to illuminate. The entrance of doctrine causes illumination of God’s plan, God’s will, God’s grace. We have no awareness of our relationship to the Lord apart from Bible doctrine. So when we get doctrine we become aware of the existence of the Lord, what He is really like, what our relationship is.

“it giveth understanding to the simple” – the simple is not simple at all. Wherever the word simple is found generally the Hebrew or the Greek word is much stronger than that. The word really means stupid. Stupid is any believer minus Bible doctrine. Even the most stupid person can learn doctrine. But this doesn’t mean low IQ stupid, it means negative volition toward doctrine stupid—up to a point. Up to this point practically everyone in that chain gang has had negative volition toward doctrine. But all that has been changed. The word for understanding here is knowledge—knowledge of doctrine. This means that God has provided something categorically in doctrine whereby anyone can learn Bible doctrine.

Verse 131 – “I opened my mouth.” He opens his mouth because he is illustrating his desire for the Word of God. The opening of the mouth is the desire for air. When you are minus oxygen and you desire it there is a tendency to open the mouth and to pant; “and panted” – he was taking in air just as rapidly as he could. This indicates something. The people who were in the chain gang, the slaves, had been going without doctrine. Now they need doctrine just as they need air to breathe. This is an illustration. He isn’t literally opening his mouth to pant for air but he is very definitely anxious for the Word of God and he is describing his positive signals.

“I longed for thy commandments” – longedmeans a deep desire, a desire which excludes anything else in life.

Verse 132 – “Look thou upon me.” He recognises they have a long way to go yet. A literal translation would be, “Turn me on.” Bible doctrine turns him on, it keeps him going. It means, “Give me a continued love for Bible doctrine.”

“be merciful” – mercy is in time, but it means that in eternity past God knew that he would be on this march between the ruins of Jerusalem and the city of Babylon. He knew all of the terrible things that would happen before, during and after that terrible death march. So in eternity past He provided everything this young man would need. The fact that he is going to be alive when he arrives in Babylon is a clear indication of the fact that God had a purpose for his staying alive. God did not protect him from those terrible things but He protected him in those terrible things. The provision made in eternity past is now going to be applied in time by the word mercy. What God has provided in eternity past this young man wants now. But how does he get it? Bible doctrine.

“as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name” – incorrect translation. What is actually says is, “as is right to those who love thy name.” It is right and fair for God to do this. It is right to provide on this particular day because God actually provided in eternity past. If it was right to have these things ready in eternity past it is right to give them to him now at the right time in time.

“that love thy name” – to love His name the believer has to know doctrine. You cannot have the capacity to love without doctrine.

Verse 133 – he knows now that God is going to provide what he needs for that day. “Order my steps” – he really says Stabilise my steps. In reality this is, ‘Give me the strength to get up and walk today.’ He is teaching Bible doctrine. He is the teacher and all up and down the slave line people are waiting for him to get up.

“in thy word” – on the basis of the Word. Because of the Word, help me to get on my feet.

“and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” – the word for iniquity is the old sin nature. Keep the old sin nature from getting control of me!

Verse 134 – “Deliver me from the oppression of man.” He means deliverance from the danger which comes with oppression, i.e. the hatred, the bitterness. These are things that could eliminate his ministry right now.

“so I will keep [guard] thy precepts” – Bible doctrine given categorically. So that he will actually guard this doctrine and use it.

Verse 135 – “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” This is an idiom meaning the blessings of grace transferred to time. In other words, Let me see the part of the plan that was designed in eternity past.

“teach me thy statutes” – Bible doctrine. Teach so that he can communicate.

Verse 36 – “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes.” He realises the answer to the problem. At this moment he is actually crying because the solution is so near, and yet at this moment the people are so far. This is not crying because he is sad, this is crying because he realises even before he gets up that this day is going to be one of the greatest days of his life. When he gets up he is going to walk, and he is going to talk. He is going to fulfil the very purpose for his being there—communication of doctrine. He cries because he is happy.

“because they keep not thy law” – it is actually, up to now they keep not thy law. This is going to be changed. The word because is not there.

Tsadhe—a sickle. Tsadhe pictures God’s judgment based on God’s righteousness. Tsadheis the first letter in the word righteousness.

Verse 137 – “Righteousness art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments.”

Verse 138 – “Thy testimonies.” This really teaches two things: learning doctrine resulting in occupation with the person of Christ. Testimonies is simply Old Testament scripture dealing with the person of Christ. In this case, since it is connected with the previous verse, it is propitiation which is involved. Thy testimonies are going to be compatible with the very character of God because doctrine comes from God. God is perfect; His plan is perfect. The delineation of His plan in the canon of scripture is called doctrine.

“that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful” – righteous means that they are totally consistent with His own character; they are fair; they are just, and they are perfect. But it also adds something to that: He is also faithful. Righteousness and faithfulness are two entirely different things. It is impossible for God to fail His faithfulness is recorded in Bible doctrine, and Bible doctrine cannot fail because it represents, it reflects God’s perfect character. Therefore he is thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ when he gets up in the morning and he recognises that the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be faithful to him, whether he succeeds or fails and regardless of any circumstance of life.

Verse 139 – “My zeal hath consumed me.” The word zealhere really isn’t zeal at all. It really means fervour; it expresses an intensity of feeling as he suddenly realises a point of doctrine. It really means extra effort, a drive to get up and carry on. The word consumed means to saturate one to the point of causing him to move. It is energy from a spiritual source.

“because mine enemies have forgotten thy words”— they are not energised, not motivated, not influenced by Bible doctrine.

Verse 140 – “Thy word is very pure.” That is not what the Hebrew says at all. It should be, Thy word is a purifier. He is saying in effect, Doctrine is refining me. In other words, dross is being removed from his life by these pressures. A good translation would be: Thy word is a refining process.

“therefore they servant loveth it” – he recognises he is in the Lord’s service, that he is in phase two and that God has a purpose for his life. He is still alive when he wakes up that day. He forces himself to stand erect even though he is tired and worn-out. But with one shot of doctrine he is cranked up and going. Cf. Proverbs 8:17—“I [Bible doctrine] love those who love me, and those who seek me early [diligently] shall find me.”

“but I do not forget thy precepts” – a precept is doctrine given categorically for retention in the human spirit.

Verse 142 – “They righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.” God’s character is perfect and has always existed. The perfection of God’s character is revealed by God’s plan. Everlasting means eternity past—there never was a time when His righteousness did not exist; “and thy law is truth”—doctrine.

Verse 143 – “Trouble and anguish have seized me: yet thy commandments are my delights [love].”

Verse 144 – “The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: cause me to have understanding, and I shall be refreshed”—corrected translation.

Qoph—the subconscious. This is a flash-back, and stored up in the subconscious of the writer are memorial things, things that he remembers from his youth—the grace of God, the faithfulness of God, and some of the terrible disasters that overtook them on the death march.

Verse 145 – “I cried.” This word means to cry out or to shout for help. It means to be in a hopeless situation, total disaster, having suffered many things up to the point of disaster, and having these things intensified to the point where there is no human activity in this life that can compensate for all of the accumulations found in the catastrophe. This is the situation at the time that the writer cries out.

“with my whole heart” – when he says his whole heart he is beyond the place of using his voice. He is no longer expressing himself verbally, it is a more intensified type of suffering, and the whole heart refers to the entire soul which is under pressure.

“hear me, O Lord” – this is a command from a person who knows his ground because of Bible doctrine; “I will keep thy statutes”—Bible doctrine presented categorically. He is going to continue to depend upon doctrine, it is more real to him than anything else in life.

“I will keep thy statutes” – he is going to use the proper categories of doctrine even for the pressures which are accumulated from the subconscious.

Verse 146 – “I cried unto thee; deliver me” – he has cried every day of the march and every day God has been faithful to him. For some reason on this 19th day the problem of the subconscious became a very real one.

“and I shall keep thy testimonies” – in the previous verse he said he would keep the statutes, Bible doctrine categorically. The testimonies refers to Bible doctrine pertaining to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as it was in Old Testament times.

When he says “deliver me” it is in the imperative mood, but this time it is a little more intensive because this is the hiphil imperative. He says, “cause me to be delivered.” He recognises that the Lord does not personally have to intervene or perform a miracle but the causation for deliverance from qoph, the subconscious problem, is deliverance through doctrine which he already has inside. His deliverance is that Bible doctrine which is stored up in his human spirit. His deliverance is the fact that that Bible doctrine is moving into his conscious mind.

Verse 147 amplifies – “I prevented.” The verb is qadamin the piel stem. It means to go early or to anticipate, to be eager for something early in the morning. So we translate this, “I anticipated the dawning of the morning.” He was eager for it, he was waiting for it, because on that next day he has fought and won the battle of the subconscious and he knows how doctrine works in this area. When he gets up that day he is going to be able to tell all the slaves around him something new and wonderful.

“and cried” – this means that he had cried for help that night. This cry for help is stated in the two previous verses.

“I hoped in thy word” – the word for hopeis yachal which means to have faith under maximum pressure.

Verse 148 – “Mine eyes prevent the night watches.” The word prevent is, again, anticipate. He was looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep is what he is saying.

“that I might mediate in thy Word” – so he was looking for the darkness because it gave him the chance of getting some sleep, and the chance of meditating on the Word.

Verse 149 – “Hear my voice according to thy loving kindnesses [grace].” This is God’s grace. He recognises a principle before he describes the terrible experience. In eternity past God the Father had a perfect plan for this young man called operation grace. In phase two God knew that he would face the zimmah pressure. Therefore with doctrine He made provision for the zimmahpressure. But in time the zimmahpressure must be met with knowledge of doctrine, so he had to know the doctrine. Otherwise the zimmahpressure could have moved into his subconscious and resulted in permanent scars that would have caused his life to be filled with kinks and distortions and miseries. But these kinks were eliminated.

“quicken [refresh] me according to thy justice” – the one who experiences this has passed the point of propitiation.

Verse 150 – that night he was looking forward to meditating on the Word and to getting some sleep. “They draw nigh that follow after mischief.” The word to draw nigh means to advance to attack; follow after means to pursue; mischiefis the Hebrew word zimmah. Zimmah is used in Leviticus 18:17—“it is wickedness [zimmah].” It refers to some kind of sexual activity which is not normal sexual activity—perverted sexual activity. Proverbs 10:23—“It is as sport to a fool to do mischief.” The word sport means abnormal and perverted sexual activities. These are related to a fool. And it is said that he is doing mischief—zimmah. “. . .but a man of understanding has wisdom [in sexual matters].” Ezekiel 22:9,11—“. . . in the midst of thee they commit lewdness [zimmah]”; “. . . another hath lewdly [zimmah] defiled his daughter in law”—incest. Jeremiah 11:15—“. . .she hath wrought lewdness [zimmah—homosexual activity] with many. . .”

In verses 150 we have a sex catastrophe, a young teenager is attacked sexually. He is a male attacked by males and therefore this has to be zimmah.

“they are far from thy law” – by that we have a reference to passages like Leviticus chapter 18. Without his consent he was sexually abused that night. That could have scarred him, destroyed him, ruined him. But it didn’t. You do not have to be ruined by catastrophes.

Verse 151 – “Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth.” This is what his soul was thinking when he was being subjected to these abuses. Up in the mentality of his soul the Lord is near. He says, “Thy commandments are doctrine.” Doctrine saved his sanity; doctrine removed the scars. Even though his body was abused his soul remained intact.

Verse 152 – “Concerning thy testimonies”—doctrine pertaining to the person of Christ, actually a synonym for occupation with Christ—“I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever.” The solution to the terrible catastrophes was provided in eternity past. In eternity past provision was made to remove the scars so that the subconscious would not dominate and destroy and ruin this young person. Bible doctrine is greater than any disaster in life. Bible doctrine handles the problems of the subconscious just as it handles the problems of the conscious. Bible doctrine is God’s plan, God’s grace for the believer in time.

Resh—thinking of the mind. This is a portrayal of what you really are. What you think is what you really are.

Verse 153—“Consider mine affliction.” The word for consider means to observe what is going on. This is said in the qal imperative because it is simply a recognition that the person who experienced this knew that God observed the afflictions in eternity past and knew what this man would experience on the death march. His affliction means his personal pressure.

“deliver me” – piel imperative. The Hebrew word is chalatsand it means to remove the pressure from the situation. It doesn’t means to change the situation but it means to equalise of neutralise the existent pressures which he has been facing.

Verse 154 –“Plead [defend] my cause, and deliver me.” He wants to be delivered from the pressure, not the situation, because this is another day and during this day he is going to teach Bible doctrine and give divine viewpoint.

“quicken [refresh] me,” piel imperative. He cannot teach Bible doctrine until first of all he is personally refreshed; “according to the standard of thy word.” He wants to be able to go through this pressure with the Word of God. Bible doctrine is the basis for the believer’s deliverance in time of disaster, pressure, heartache and difficulty.

Verse 155 – “Salvation [deliverance] is far from the wicked.” This is a physical deliverance. He is looking out at the Chaldean soldiers. The Chaldean nation is on its way down. No nation can abuse its power and continue to have that power. The only thing that kept the Chaldeans going for a generation is that fact that Nebuchadnezzar personally believed in Christ. This is part of the story of the book of Daniel. The Chaldeans will not believe in Christ and therefore they are on their way down.

“for they seek not thy statutes” – seek notis the Hebrew word darash in the qal perfect. In other words, this is a completed action. This nation is never going to change, it is in the process of destroying itself. They seek not is a reference to negative volition toward Bible doctrine. When a nation rejects Bible doctrine that nation destroys itself.

“they seek not thy statutes” – statutes is Bible doctrine preserved categorically.

Verse 156 – “Great are thy tender mercies” is literally, Great your acts of grace—no verb. God has taken the people of the 5thcycle of discipline into slavery, and yet they are intact. Even though they are chained and suffering terrible abuses they are a free people—“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth is not academic information; the truth is Bible doctrine.

“quicken [refresh] me according to thy judgments [justice]” – according to the principle of propitiation. God is free to love him, to be faithful to him, even though he has failed. He is now appealing to God on the basis of propitiation.

Verse 157 – “Many are my persecutors and mine enemies.” The word many means that they are abundant, they are all over the place. It may be that many of his enemies are older people in the line who do not want Bible doctrine. They are bitter and they draw into that vicious shell of implacability.

“yet I do not decline from thy testimonies” – he does not run away or desert the Word of God. He does not lose his perspective; he does not get his eyes on people; he does not get his eyes on the enemies from within.

Verse 158 – “I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved [nauseated]”—he saw the terrible things that they were doing. This word for transgressors, beged, means those who were guilty of two things: rape and violence.

“because they kept not thy word” – they were not compatible with God’s Word.

Verse 159 – “Consider how I love thy precepts [Bible doctrine]” – he really loves doctrine and doctrine has kept his soul intact.

“quicken [refresh] me, O Lord, according to thy grace in action.” Refreshment on the basis of what God provided in eternity past. He wants these doctrines today.

Verse 160 – “Thy word is true from the beginning” is not correct. Corrected translation: “The sum of thy word is truth [doctrine].” The word of God is doctrine to be utilised.

Shin—a tooth. The principle of eating. Constant intake of the Word of God. Matthew 4:4 – “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Verse 161 – “Princes have persecuted me without a cause.” The princes here refer to the Chaldean nobility. Apparently there was more than Chaldean soldiers on this march. When the nobility of the land become decadent it is indicative that all of the people are decadent, and this is a decadent people. Zechariah 1:15 describes what we have here. God raised up the Chaldeans for the purpose of putting them into captivity, not to abuse them. The fact that they did it spelled their doom. God raised up Cyrus the Persian to destroy this decadent group of people.

“but my heart standeth in awe of thy word” – the heart refers to the soul of the writer who was experiencing all of these things. To stand in awe is a word which actually means to be occupied, to be satisfied and occupied. The word in the Hebrew is pachad. Bible doctrine has carried him through 21 days of hell on earth, 21 days of maximum pressure, disaster and catastrophe.

Verse 162 – “I rejoice at thy word.” He is now talking about the intake of the Word and what it has meant to him during these 21 days of the death march. He is not only been satisfied with the doctrine he has learned but it has been a source of occupation with Christ. Rejoicemeans inner happiness.

“as one that findeth great spoil” – he had his own “Christmas” every day on this death march. Every day he found a present—Bible doctrine. Great spoil actually means great gain, great profit. The word connotes a gift, and so God had given him the Word; he had taken the Word in, and every day he found great blessing from it. Cf. Proverbs 8:32.

Verse 164 – righteous judgments refers to such things as the doctrine of propitiation and the holiness bypass and having passed the point of propitiation.

Verse 165 – “Great peace.” Peace here is inner happiness and stability based on doctrine, resulting in a relaxed mental attitude.

“have they which love thy law” – the law is Bible doctrine; “and nothing shall offend them” – incorrect. The Hebrew says, there is not a stumbling block to them. To whom? To those who have great peace. A stumbling-block is a person who is obnoxious to you! When you have enough Bible doctrine so that you have inner happiness, and along with inner happiness you have the stability to maintain that (stability comes from Bible doctrine), and you have a relaxed mental attitude, you are going to arrive at a point where people don’t get you down.

Verse 166 – “Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation [deliverance].” The Hebrew word for hoped is shabar is the piel perfect. The piel stem is intensive. The perfect tense is a completed action. He is saying that when this thing started he knew he was going to be delivered. Why did he know? Bible doctrine!

“and done thy commandments” – done is the Hebrew word asah, which means to make something out of something. It means here to make out of Bible doctrine a relaxed mental attitude. It means to produce from Bible doctrine divine good. The perfect tense means it is a completed action, and this is a part of his confidence in the Lord.

Verse 167 – “My soul hath kept [guarded] thy testimonies [Bible doctrine].”

“and I love them exceedingly” – exceedinglymeans to the maximum. He loves them to the utmost limit of his capacity. The more doctrine one takes in the greater his capacity, the greater the capacity the more he loves doctrine. So his capacity increases the more doctrine he takes in.

Verse 168 – “I have kept thy precepts” – Bible doctrine organised categorically from the Word; “thy testimonies” refers to Bible doctrine pertaining to the person of Christ.

“for all my ways are before thee” – he knows he has a life before him, he knows he is going to survive, that he will live through all of these things.

Verse 169 – “Let my cry come near before thee.” The word cryhere actually means under pressure to call for help. It should be translated, Let my call come near before thee[before the throne of grace]. He is about to offer a prayer on the last day of the march—“O Lord.”

“give me understanding” – he now has a whole lifetime before him. This is the hiphil stem, perfect of the word bin, and it means to learn from experience or to evaluate the experience: “cause me to evaluate my experience.” But he puts it in the perfect tense, which means I have the information to do so. He has Bible doctrine, he has the true perspective, he is able to evaluate his experience.

Verse 170 – “Let my supplication come before thee.” The word for supplication is not the ordinary word for prayer at all. The Hebrew word is techinnah. The real secret to this word supplication is found in chinnah which means grace. You put a tau, a signature, in front of grace [chinnah] and it is a different word. The verb is chanan. This word doesn’t simply mean prayer, it means using prayer as an expression of grace or as an orientation to grace. It means an orientation to grace whereby your prayers are answered. So he is oriented to the grace of God as he utters this prayer.

“deliver [physical] me according to thy word” – he puts the whole problem in the Lord’s hands. Hiphil stem—cause me to be delivered. In other words, he recognises that God will be the cause. The word really means to rescue.

Verse 171 – the writer anticipates a long life after his deliverance from pressure and the evils of slavery. “My lips shall utter praise.” They shall be caused to utter praise. The word for uttermeans they are going to gush out.

“when thou hast taught me thy statutes” – in other words, there are some things I have to learn yet and when I learn them I am going to live a wonderful, Bible-centred, God-oriented type of life.

Verse 172 – “My tongue shall speak of thy word.” He is dedicating himself right now to teaching Bible doctrine for the rest of his life; his tongue is dedicated to the communication of the Word of God.

“for all of thy commandments are righteousness” – this means perfection. This simply means the plan of God is perfect and must be communicated to believers.

Verse 173 – “Let thine hand help me.” He is talking about teaching the Word of God.

“for I have chosen thy precepts” – Bible doctrine categorically for his lifetime. He wants help in communication.

Verse 174 – “I have longed for thy salvation [deliverance].” This is the human side now. It shows that he is normal. Pressure hurts him like anyone else.

“and thy law is my delight” – delight is the Hebrew shaashuim. He is saying that Bible doctrine is his life and everything else is incidental. He makes love to the Word every day. He takes it in, takes it in, takes it in.

Verse 175 – “Let my soul live [be refreshed], and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments [justice] help me.” As a result of his love-making to Bible doctrine he says, Let my soul be refreshed. God is free to help the believer because of the holiness bypass—propitiation.

Verse 176 – “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” He is normal, he is human, he has failed. The point is that when a sheep goes astray the shepherd gets him back. The sheep never gets back to the flock without the shepherd. In this case the shepherd is Bible doctrine.

“seek thy servant” – an imperative, a demand. It means to look after. He is asking for grace for the rest of his life.

“for I do not forget thy commandments” – he will never forget doctrine. He will look after the teaching of the Word of God. He is going to live in the Word and he will have a son who is going to live in the Word—Ezra.

{A Song about the Enemies of Peace}
{Verses 1-2: David's Prayer During His Flight from King Saul}
1~~{Title} A Song of Degrees
{shiyr ma`alah - referring to the degrees on a Sun Dial}
In my {David's} distress,
I cried/'prayed allowed' unto Jehovah/God,
and He answered {`anah} me.

{Note: In I Samuel 20 we see the great friendship between David and his right friend Jonathan - the son of King Saul. Jonathan realized that David was going to be the new King of Israel and not himself. But as a SuperGrace believer, this did not bother him. RBT says this Psalm was written by David after his friend Jonathan had been associated with his reversionistic father - King Saul and Jonathan was killed in battle. David is grieving the loss of his friend.}

{Claim a Promise - Protection from Verbal Sins Against You!}
2~~Deliver/rescue my soul, O Jehovah/God,
from lying lips {referring to a very good liar}
and from a deceitful tongue {a strap on artist}.

{Note: A good liar can lie and you will never know it! Only God can protect you from a good liar trying to strap it on you. Here refers to the lies against David by King Saul and others.}

{Here David is referring to King Saul}
3~~What shall be given unto you {King Saul}?
Or, what shall be 'added unto you'
{adding calamities to the liar - divine discipline},
you false tongue?

{Deliverance of David}
4~~Sharp arrows of a mighty/hero warrior {gibbowr}
{Jonathan - who as a great warrior kept his weapons ready for
action},
with the burning coals of broom/juniper
{a tree around Jerusalem that when burning burns very hot - refers
to torture - and here the disciplined soul of a believer in
reversionism}.

{Note: Whenever David thought of deliverance, he always thinks back to the event of I Samuel 20:20 and following where Jonathan shot arrows as a signal to David to flee from the anger of King Saul.}

{Flight of David}
5~~Woe is me {self-pity and reversionism in David's flight},
that I sojourn/'dwell temporarily' {as a stranger in persecution}
in Mesech
{northern boundary of Syria - used for Gentiles - living with
undesirable people},
that I dwell in the tents of Kedar
{with the nomadic tribesmen - David was like an Arab}!

{Reference to David's time with King Saul}
6~~To long my soul
has had its dwelling
with those who hate peace.

7~~I . . . {am} for peace.
But when I keep on communicating categorically
{for peace} {dabar},
they . . . {are} for war.

{Note: Principal: There are just people in this world for which you can not have peace - no matter what you do. They are implacable! Avoid implacable people if you are smart.}

{not complete - ~~ is RBT translation}
1-2>>{Title} A Song of Ascents.
When Jehovah/God
'returns from captivity'/'restores the fortunes of' Zion,
- we see it as in a dream - 2>>
our mouths shall be filled with laughter,
and our tongues, with songs of joy.
They shall say among the Nations/Gentiles,
'The Jehovah/God has manufactured from His grace {'asah}
great things for us.'

3~~Jehovah/God has 'manufactured out of His grace {'asah} for us.
We are full of joy {+ Happiness}.

4~~Turn again our captivity
{cause us to recall the disastrous moments},
O Jehovah/God,
as the streams in the south.

{SuperGrace Believer that Recovers from Reversionism - See also Psalm 56:8 - Tears in the Bottle}
5~~They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

{Also see I Samuel 21 - David leaving Gath - Feigning Madness - Jesus Gives him Doctrine}
6~~He that goes forth weeping,
bears precious seed
{the seed bearing produce here is the Bible doctrine Jesus gave
David as he was cast out of Gath},
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves {produce from the seeds} with him.

{Note: 'Bringing in the sheaves' means you come to the Lord with nothing and HE provides everything.}

{Note: In I Samuel 23:18 and surrounding verses, we see that David and Saul's son Jonathan were great Category III friends. But in II Samuel 1:23 Jonathan is killed in battle alongside his father Saul. RBT says David wrote this Psalm in memory of his friend.}

~~Behold, how good
{towb - here the good fragrance of memories of a good friend}
and how delightful {na`iym}
it is for brethren {good friends - Jonathan and David}
to dwell in prosperity
{David stayed in the forest and dwelled in the place of blessing -
but Jonathan emoted and went back to his father in the castle
and died with him}
together even as one {in harmony and rapport}
{ yachad yachad - very strong in the Hebrew}!

2~~ It is like the good anointing oil on the head,
flowing down upon the beard
- the beard of Aaron {referring to the High Priest's beard} -
that went down to the hem of his robes.

{Note: Here David is saying his cup of blessings is running over, but some 'oil' is missing. He is thinking back on his good friend Jonathan who should be with him as his second in command when David is king - but he is dead. When the High Priest was anointed in oil, he smelled so good that people shoved to get close to smell him.}

3~~As the dew of {Mount} Hermon
{mountain in the North - represents the Northern tribes of Israel},
and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion
{represents the southern tribes of Israel} . . .
for there {in Zion}
Jehovah/God divinely decreed
prosperity blessing
{God has set Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel} . . .
plus life evermore.

{Note: This verse is idiomatic for the unity of the 12 tribes of Israel. Had Jonathan lived, David is thinking that the civil war would not have had to happen and all Israel would have been united in prosperity and blessings forever and ever.}

Background for this psalm is the Davidic covenant. God promised David unconditionally that he would have a son who would reign forever — 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37; 2 Chronicles 21:7. This psalm was written by David in response to the Davidic covenant; it is his response to what God has provided for him in grace. The principle that is found in these eight verses is that grace is the basis of our praise and thanksgiving. In this context we will see seven facets of God’s grace which forms the basis of our praise.

Verse 1 — the reality of David’s praise. “I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.” There are a number of different ways in the Hebrew of expressing Hebrew concepts. First of all, the simple declarative in the Hebrew is given by the qal stem; niphal is the declarative passive; hithpael is the declarative reflexive. The intensive stem: piel, intensive, active voice; pual, intensive passive. The causative stem: hiphil, causative active; hophal, causative passive. We have a hiphil to start out with and the fact that this particular verb is in the hiphil means that it does not mean exactly to praise, because praise is not a very clear term. It means to give thanks, to express thanksgiving to someone who has provided something for you apart from your merits.

“I will praise thee” — a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the subject of the Davidic covenant as well as the author of it. The Lord Jesus Christ has made unconditional promises to David; David says, “I will praise thee with my whole mind” — the heart is the mind in the Hebrew, and praise and thanksgiving are a mental attitude expressed overtly in worship.

“before the gods” is literally, “before elohim” which is the title of God in the plural, referring to the fact that there is more than one member in the Godhead. Praise is really something that you think, praise with the mind. In this case we do not have the ordinary word for praise, which is halel, but instead we have a word which means to thank. It means to have a thankful mental attitude; “before elohim” is before God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the recipient of this phrase because of His unconditional promises — for His grace — and He receives it from David in the presence of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And then again he repeats, “I will sing praises unto thee.” This time it is in the piel [intensive] and which means that now he will express them out loud. Praising in the heart is first of all the thought of praise and thanksgiving and the piel stem brings out the fact that now he will sing or speak or vocally express his praise and thanksgiving.

Verse 2 — first of all we have the place of the Word. This is the first basis. “I will worship toward thy holy temple.” There was no temple at the time in Jerusalem or anywhere else. This means he is referring to the temple in heaven; “and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness [grace in action],” so when we are looking at the seven facets of the basis of praise the first is the place of the Word of God. We praise and thank Him because of the place that He has given to His Word; “and for thy truth,” the content of the Word of God.

“For thou hast magnified” — hiphil stem, and it means to make great — “thy word above thy name.” In other words, if it came to obliterating the Lord or obliterating His Word, His name would go first. Neither goes, of course. But the principle is simply this: when God says something then that is as true as God is true, and it lasts as long as God lasts. In other words the principle: the Word of God liveth and abideth forever. The Word of God is just as real as God Himself and when you know the Word you know God. When you don’t know the Word you do not know God. The essence of God guarantees the promises of God, specifically the promise of God in the Word is the Davidic covenant.

So the interpretation: “thou hast magnified thy word above thy name.” The word for “word” is also promises in the Word, and the principle is that once David has heard the covenant from God that he will have a son who will reign forever he knows that this is true and that nothing can ever erase it.

Verse 3 — the second basis is the power of prayer. “In the day when I cried [cry out in prayer] thou answeredst me.” David is referring to the time in 1 Samuel 30 when he was in the midst of great catastrophe. Everything that he had ever owned had been stolen, including his wife and children. But David stopped crying and he strengthened himself in the Lord. He began to pray and his prayer was answered — “with strength [or power].” “Thou strengthenest me with strength in my soul is literally, “Thou hast given me confidence with power [or confidence] in my mind.” In other words, David, as a result of the power of prayer, has great mental confidence. He is assured of the fact that everything will work out all right. The word for “soul” here is actually the mind and, again, the mental attitude is developed. David hears the Word of God, he hears the promises of God, he responds to the promises of God with confidence which is power in his mind.

Verse 4 — the third basis is the anticipation of the future. “All the kings of the earth shall praise thee” refers to the second advent of Christ which is a future event — “O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.” Jesus Christ, when He returns to the earth will personally declare to Israel that the fulfilment of the Davidic covenant has now come and all of the kings of the earth will be utterly astounded. God keeps His word and David is looking forward to that great day when Christ will return to the earth and David will have the privilege of standing there and watching all of the kings of the earth as Christ keeps His word.

Verse 5 — the fourth basis is recognition of the Lord’s faithfulness; “yea, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord.” The ways of the Lord have to do with His faithfulness. “For great is the glory of the Lord” — the glory is the doctrine of essence, but specifically to that part of God’s character which deals with faithfulness. They are going to sing to the fact that the Lord is faithful. No matter what David does or no matter how David fails the Lord will be faithful. David will have a son who will fail in many ways but the Lord will be faithful. David will have a grandson who will fail in many ways. The Lord will be faithful. David will have great grandchildren who will fail in many ways but the Lord will be faithful. Between the time of David and the second advent of Christ David will have many children [descendants] and many of them will fail. The Lord will be faithful.

Verse 6 — the fifth basis is a recognition of the Lord’s grace. “For though the Lord be high [reference to His divine essence], he has respect unto the lowly.” The word “respect” means He looks upon the lowly with blessing. The “lowly” are those who reject the energy of the flesh, those who are free from legalism, those who do not depend upon human ability or human ingenuity for solving the problems of life. God can only bless man in grace; the lowly is the man who understands grace and operates on that principle.

“But the proud he knoweth afar off.” The word to “know” means to know really well, to know intimately. The “proud” is the legalist, the one who operates on the basis of works. To know afar off simply means He doesn’t bless them. He puts them at a distance.

Verse 7 — the sixth basis is deliverance in time of pressure. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me” — here is deliverance in the trouble, not from the trouble. He delivers in the midst of trouble by providing for us inner peace, inner happiness, inner stability, and so on; “thou wilt revive me” is in the piel stem [intensive] and it means to refresh — “thou wilt refresh me.” It is possible for the believer to have refreshment in the midst of trouble.

“Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, And thy right hand shall deliver me.” This is the second kind of deliverance, deliverance from trouble. The word “shall save” is a hiphil stem and this Hebrew word in the Hiphil stem always means physical deliverance.

Verse 8 — the seventh basis is the doctrine of ultimate sanctification. God’s plan always has a future. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” The word “will perfect” means to complete. The Lord will complete the plan with regard to every believer. No matter how we fail in time we are still going to wind up the same way — doctrine of ultimate sanctification — with a resurrection body in a place of no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death, the old things are passed away. We are going to have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away. No matter how we fail in time God’s plan will not fail. This causeth David to terminate his praise at this point. For when you get into eternity, where can you go from there?

“Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever; Forsake not the works of thine own hands.” When it says, Thy mercy endureth forever, that is the end of the psalm as far as the seven reasons why David praises God is concerned. And this last phrase, “forsake not the works of thine own hands,” is not a part of those seven reasons, it is a sentence all by itself. It is a Hebrew idiom. The word “forsake” means to refrain, and it is in a hiphil stem which means cause not to refrain. In other words, David actually says: Go ahead with the plan. Move on! David is merely declaring by this closing phrase: Go on, don’t stop now.

1^^{Title} A Psalm of David.
~~I will be caused to praise
{yadah - verb of praise; Judah is the related noun}
You with my whole 'right lobe'/heart {leb} . . .
In the presence of the 'Elohiym/Godhead,
I will compose a song to Him
{referring to the Manifest Member of the Godhead - Jesus Christ}.

{Note: In I Samuel 23:29, David has been delivered by God from certain death and fled to the caves of Engedi. RBT says this is where David is when he thinks these things, which he later records.}

{Note: David is spontaneously praising God for his deliverance from the army of Saul.}

2~~I {David} myself will choose to worship
{worship is the thinking and expression of Category I love for God -
the most basic and important function of worship is getting to
know God - intake and application of divine viewpoint - bible
doctrine}.
toward the Palace of Your Holiness
{qodesh heykal - means toward heaven}.
And I will 'praise Your Essence'/'celebrate Your Person'
{only a SuperGrace believer has the knowledge to truly do this -
how? Answer follows:}
because of Your grace {checed},
because of Your doctrine {'emeth},
and because You have magnified
Your 'doctrinal teaching'/'doctrine taught categorically'/word {'imrah}
over Your Essense/Reputation/Name.

{Note: David it seeing 'his Greater Son', Jesus, meet the temptations of the Devil in Matt 4:3 by using Bible Doctrine -- and Magnifying His word - Bible Doctrine - above His 'human person'.}

{Note: 'Imrah is a special Hebrew word meaning not only doctrine taught, but it emphasizes 'doctrine taught, concentrated on, transferred to the right lobe, and that which can be applied to experience - divine viewpoint stored categorically in your soul.}

{Note: What does this mean 'You have magnified Your doctrine above Your Name/Essence?' It means that doctrine is magnified because it is through doctrine that creatures can come to understand anything about the Essence of God.}

3^~In the day when I {David} prayed
You answered me
{see I Samuel 23 - Saul had David trapped when all of a sudden
the Philistines invaded and Saul had to turn to fight them},
and kept on causing me to be strengthened
in my soul.

4^^All the kings of the earth shall praise You,
O Jehovah/God,
when they 'hear, concentrate on, and obey' {shama'}
the doctrine/words {'emer}
of Your mouth.

5~~Yes, they shall sing
of the Ways of Jehovah/God.
For great is the glory {kabowd}
of Jehovah/God.

6~~Though Jehovah/God is infinitely superior/high
{means that God is beyond man in every way in superiority},
yet He looks {ra'ah} unto the humble/'SuperGrace Believer' {shaphal}
{God looks down and sees all of as the jerks we are, but He helps
anyone based on Who and What HE is}.
But the proud/reversionist {gaboahh}
He keeps on knowing {yada'} from a distance.

{Note: Shaphal means to be humble. But this is not some outwardly 'religious' piety here. This means someone who understands all that God IS and can make the comparison with himself and see just how much of a nothing he is when compared with God. This knowledge only comes with doctrine in the soul. So, it is used for the mature believer.}

{Note: Gaboahh means to be proud. It is used in contrast to shaphal - the humble. This person does not have divine viewpoint in his life - no doctrine. In his human viewpoint, he is proud of his own great characteristics - maybe a good personality, handsome/beautiful, star athlete, movie star on and on. This person does not understand that all that they are that has intrinsic value was given to them from the source of God. So, knowingly or unknowingly, they reject God and are negative to the intake of His Word.}

{Note: As you take in more and more doctrine from your right pastor teacher (this spiritual gift is still active in the Church Age), you replace human viewpoint with divine viewpoint and therefore 'think' closer to what God thinks. If you have no divine viewpoint in your soul (maybe you emotionally 'think you love the Lord even'), then God still knows you (Omniscience), but you do not know His thinking at all - so you are far away from Him. This verse also has a double meaning. It is also a reference to God knowing Saul even though at this point Saul is far from David and Saul is far from God in his reversionism.}

7~~Though 'I walk in the middle of trouble'/
'my way of life is in the middle of pressures'
{here Saul is constantly pursuing David trying to kill him},
You will refresh me
{David in the caves will have a month or so of Rest and
Relaxation}.
You shall stretch forth Your hand
against the wrath of my enemies
{Saul hates David and wants to kill him},
and Your right hand {idiom of the hand of great strength}
shall deliver me.

8~~Jehovah/God will keep on completing/
'fulfilling beyond your wildest dreams' {gamar}
that which concerns me.
Your grace, O Jehovah/God, endures forever.
You will not forsake the work of Your own hands.

{Note: David knows that this is not the end for him. God has promised him the rulership of Judea. So, he understands that God will bring it to fruition in His own time.}

{Verses 1-6: Omniscience of God}
1~~ To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David.
O Jehovah/God,
you have searched me,
and known me.

2~~ You have known me when I sit down
and when I get up {changes of attitude},
you understand my thoughts from eternity past.

3~~ You have computed my journey. . .
my lying down. . .
in fact you are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4~~ Even before there is not a word on my tongue,
Jehovah/God, you have always known it.

5~~You have surrounded me with a wall of fire {behind and in front}, obviously You have laid Your hand on me {logistical grace}.

6~~Such knowledge {Omniscience of God}
is too wonderful for me.
It is too high, I cannot attain it.

7^~Where can I go/escape from Your {Holy} Spirit {ruwach}?
Where can I flee from Your presence?

8^~ If I ascend to heaven, You are there.
if I make my bed in Sheol {hades/hell},
You are there too.

9-10^~ If I take the wing with the dawn . . .
if I live in the remotest part of the sea . . . 10^~
even there, Your hand will lead me,
Your right hand will lay hold on me.

11-12^~ If I say, 'Surely the darkness
will bruise/conceal/cover me {undeserved suffering},
and the light around me will be night,12^~
from you . . . even the darkness is not dark.
And the night {undeserved suffering}
is as the day.
To you, darkness and light are both alike.

13~~It was You who possessed
my emotions {kilyah - idiom: literally the kidneys}
{in fellowship God directs your emotions so you can share His
happiness - Spiritual Grace}
You have interwoven/covered me
in my mother's womb {physiological grace}
{everything needed to take in doctrine, God prepared even in your
mother's womb}.

14^~I will give thanks/praise You!
For I am fearfully/awesomely, wondrously made.
Wonderful are Your works.
And, my soul knows it very well.

15-16^~ My bones are not hidden from You
when I was made in secret
and skillfully manufactured
in the depths of the earth 16^~
Your eyes have seen
my unformed substance {the embryo}.
Therefore, they were all written in Your book.
The days, which were ordained for me.
When as yet there was not
one of them.

18^~How vast is the sum of them {all God's doctrines}
if I should count them,
they would out number the grains of sand.
When I awaken, I am still with You.

19-20^^If You would only slay the wicked,
O 'Elowahh/Godhead
you murders, away from me! . . . 20^^
who invoke You for intrigue!
Your enemies who swear by You falsely.

21^^You know I hate those who hate You,
O Jehovah/God!
and loathe Your adversaries.

22^^ I feel a complete hatred
{toward their thoughts and actions against God}.
I count them my enemies.

23^~Examine/test me, O El {God},
and know my 'right lobe'/heart.
Probe/test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24^~And see if there is any way of pain in me
{undeserved suffering}
and lead me in the everlasting Way.

1-2~~To the chief musician, a psalm of David.
Deliver me, O JEHOVAH,
from the evil man {bloodthirsty evil nations};
preserve me from the violent man {criminals within the nation} 2~~
who devise evil things in their right lobes/hearts . . .
They {both types} constantly stir up war {war and violence}.

3~~ They have sharpened their tongues
like an Egyptian Cobra
and the venom of the Cobra is under their lips.
Selah {bitterness in the soul is like Cobra venom}.

4 Keep me, O JEHOVAH, from the hands of the wicked.
Preserve me from the lawless men
whose scheme to make me fall.

5 Arrogant men laid traps with ropes for me.
They spread out a net along the way.
They set snares for me. Selah.

6 I said unto JEHOVAH, You are my EL {God}.
give ear, O JEHOVAH to my please for mercy.

7 O JEHOVAH, my LORD/ADONAY {'Adonay}
the strength of my salvation,
you have protected my head in the day of battle.

8 Grant not, O JEHOVAH, the desires of the wicked.
Do not let their plan succeed,
else they be exalted
{ruwm - 'Build an Edification Complex of the Soul'}.
Selah.

9 May the heads of those who beset me
be covered with the mischief of their lips.

10 May coals of fire drop down upon them,
and they be cast into pits,
never to rise again.

11 Let slanders have no place in the land.
Let the evil of the lawless man drive him into corrals.

12 I know that JEHOVAH
|will champion the cause of the poor, the right of the needy.

13 Righteous men shall surely praise Your name,
the upright shall dwell in Your presence.

1~~{Title} A Psalm of David.
Jehovah/God, I shout/'cry out' {qara'} unto You.
Make haste/accelerate {chuwsh} unto me {get here in a hurry}.
Listen/'give ear' unto my voice,
when I shout/'cry out'.

{Note: RBT says this psalm was written to express David's reaction when his family came to him at the cave of Adullam in I Samuel 22.}

2~~Let my {David's} prayer
be established {kuwn} before You
'as incense'
{principal of a sweet smell to propitiate God and He would answer
the prayer}
and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening 'food offering'/sacrifice {minchah}
{propitiation with emphasis on the Work of Jesus Christ}.

3~~"Post a guard'/sentry"/'set a watch', O Jehovah/God,
before my mouth
{that his mouth would not run down other people, or lie, or say
anything where others are hurt}.
And a guard detail over the door of my lips.

{Note: In I Samuel 21, David lied to the priests at Nob. The lie ended in the massacre of the entire priest city. He is praying that nothing like that every occurs again!}

4~~Do not let my 'right lobe'/heart
be turned to 'the doctrine of evil' {ra' dabar}
{means he was careless toward doctrine and went into
reversionism and 'human viewpoint'/'doctrine of evil' came in -
don't let that happen again} . . .
to practice deeds/works of wickedness
with people working disaster to others
{if you associate with reversionists, you share in the deeds that
they do - Doeg the Edomite and others}.
And let me not eat of their delicacies
{reference to socializing with reversionists - I Samuel 22:7 - a sign/
symbol of service to eat at the table of Saul for example}

5~~ Let the Righteous One {the Lord} smite me with grace
{divine discipline for his reversionism}.
and let Him {the Lord} correct/reprove me {straighten me out} . . .
'oil for the head'
{shemen ro'sh - referring to the custom of the ancient world
of anointing the head of an honored guest -
God's discipline is honor not tragedy - here David is thinking about
the odd balls coming to the cave of Adullam - this is a promotion
not divine discipline - they will become a great army}.
My head shall not refuse it!
{his head will accept the anointing of God - these people are a
blessing NOT a judgement!}
For still also, my prayer . . . is against their 'wicked deeds of
reversionism'/evil {ra'}.

{Note: David's lifetime policy was 'if I need to be disciplined', let the Lord administer it! He did NOT want to be disciplined by MAN!}

6~~So the ones ruling {Saul's regime of reversionists}
shall be thrown down into rocky places {ancient form of execution},
they {the innocent ones who survive}
shall 'hear, listen, and obey' {shama'}
my policies {'emer} . . .
for they are pleasant
{na`em - means will produce prosperity - he will not persecute
those who were under Saul - he will treat them with grace.}.

{Note: Shaphat means to 'judge'. But RBT says from the Book of Judges, we see that the 'Judges' were really the absolute rulers of the land before the monarchy. This then refers to Saul and his regime. They will be destroyed.}

7~~As when one plows and breaks open the ground
{farming - to plant seeds},
so our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave.

{Note: RBT says that some of his men are going to die in order to purchase freedom. Under freedom, then free enterprise (illustration in this day - farming) can prosper. Just like in farming, you must break the ground first, so to gain freedom, men must fight and some will die.}

8~~Therefore, my eyes . . . {are} toward You,
O Jehovah/God . . . my 'Adonay/Lord.
In You . . . I take refuge { chacah - trust with my life}.
Do not keep on 'pouring out'/'uncover the nakedness of' {`arah}
my soul {nephesh} {here an idiom for physical death}.

9~~Keep me {David} from the jaws of the trap,
that they {Saul's forces} have set for me
{these are the traps of people who tell you they love you and have
a dagger hidden behind their back - betrayal of the men of
Keilah},
and the snares of the worker's of iniquity
{refers to the Ziphites - see I Samuel 23}.

10~~ Let the wicked/reversionists
'hang themselves'/'fall into their own nooses',
while I, at the same time, pass on by.

{Note: This is the Psalm about the Policy of David, which he formed at the cave of Adullam - see also I Samuel 22:1.}

{David's SuperGrace Occupation with Christ}
1-2~~{Title: A Psalm of} David.
Adored/Blessed be Jehovah/God my rock
{used for strength - Christ is the rock of salvation in Exodus 17,
Isaiah 28, I Corinthians 3:11, Matthew 16 - here the Rock of
Provision on and on},
Who 'teaches by discipline and repetition' {lamad}
my hands to 'hand to hand combat' {q@rab},
and my fingers
for weapons of war {excellent military organization} . . .2~~
{God is} . . . my Gracious One,
{Who is} my 'defense parameter' . . .
{the cave of Adullam is a strong defensive location,
but Jesus is his defense not geographical traits}
my stronghold/fortification . . .
my deliverer . . .
my shield . . .
and He in Whom I take refuge {chacah}.
The One {God} Who keeps subduing {disciplining} my people
under me {David}.

{Note: At the cave of Adullam three groups of people came to be with David. And, David had to that these three diverse groups and mold them into a valiant fighting force for them all to survive. We saw in I Samuel that the Angel of Jehovah came to David in the cave. This verse indicates that Jesus Christ took personal charge of training and otherwise equipping for battle this group of men. And, in the fights that followed, I Samuel records that these men had an unusually low number of causalities in battle - always a sign of good military training up front.}

{David's Impression of the New Recruits - Not High!}
3~~Jehovah/God, what is man {'adam},
that you keep on knowing {yada`} him!
{David is a bit credulous about the 'new recruits'
ever making much of an army when they first arrived}
or the son of man {'enowsh},
that You make plans for him!

{New Recruits are Like Nothing to David - Like a Shadow with no Substance}
4~~ Man {'adam} resembles/'is like'
vapor/breath/nothingness {hebel}.
His days . . . {are like} a shadow
passing away.

{SuperGrace David Gives a Command to the Lord!}
5~~Lower {natah - Hiphil Imperative - a command}
your heavens, O Jehovah/God
{meaning give us a little heavenly help},
and come down . . .
touch the mountains,
and they may smoke {meaning God - You be our artillery}.

{Note: The verse really is talking about the importance of all military men to have a strong faith in God and His Word. There must be a spiritual momentum in the people supporting them also.}

{David's Imprecatory Prayer}
6~~Flash forth lightning
{baraq baraq - doubling is very strong - here refers to divine
artillery support}
and cause them to be scattered.
Shout for your arrows/'Give the command to fire your arrows',
and rout them.

{Note: An imprecatory prayer is one in which you 'pray a curse' on someone else. An example would be in war to pray for the destruction of the enemy. RBT says this is valid as this verse indicates. In later series, he does say that if you are incorrect in your prayer, expect that your curse be applied to you instead - so only SuperGrace believers should do this and they should be very, very careful!}

7~~Stretch out Your Hand from above and deliver me.
And rescue me from great waters
{picture of enemy armies advancing} . . .
from the 'hand of strange children'
{referring to his enemies - they talk like
sweet children then cut your throat' - reversionists} 8~~
whose mouth speaks nothing/destruction
{shav' - means both of these - reduced to nothing is destruction -
they say nothing meaningful and desire to destroy David},
and whose right hand is a right hand of deceit
{see also II Samuel 20:9-10 - idiom meaning to offer the right hand
of friendship with a dagger of death in the left hand!}.

9~~I {David} have sung
a new song {the importance of God and His Word}
unto You, O 'Elohiym/Godhead
{refers to David's recent return to his new life of SuperGrace and
It's blessings}.
Upon a lute/'piano like instrument' {nebel}
and an 'instrument of ten strings'/harp {`asowr}
will I 'sing accompanied with instruments' {zamar}
praises unto You.

10~~The One giving victory/delivery/salvation {t@shuw`ah}
unto kings {and David is saying this BEFORE the six years of battles}.
The One delivering David, His servant,
from the sword of evil {ra'}.

11~~Deliver me,
and cause me to be rescued/snatched away'
from the hand of 'strange children'
{can refer to any reversionist of any kind!},
whose mouth speaks nothingness/destruction
{shav' - means both of these - reduced to nothing is destruction -
they say nothing meaningful and desire to destroy David - can
also pertain to glib people distracting you from doctrine},
and whose right hand is a right hand of deceit
{see also II Samuel 20:9-10 - idiom meaning to offer the right hand
of friendship with a dagger of death in the left hand!}.

{Verses 12-14: David Anticipates Fantastic Prosperity for Israel in the Future}
12~~That our sons
may be as 'high reared plants in their vigor'
{means 'handsome. Gentlemen, with great dynamics of soul and
body - great strength}.
That our daughters may be as corner-pillars
{these hold up the house}
carved after the pattern of palace construction
{means that the woman runs the house well - the man is the
authority but he lets her run the household unless she is plain ol'
sloppy about it}.

{Note: The verse means that a generation of SuperGrace believers will raise their children with doctrine in their souls and they will grow up to be a fantastic civilization! Men strong in soul and body and the women feminine and wonderful.}

{Anticipated Economic Prosperity in Farm Society}
13~~ That our grain storages may be full,
overflowing from one storage vat to another.
That our flocks multiplying by thousands . . .
tens of thousands in the open fields.

14~~That our oxen {sign of prosperity at this time}
may be well laden {great prosperity}.
that there be no breaking in
{in a SuperGrace society, crime rate is down},
nor going out to surrender {no cowardice in military action} . . .
that there be no lamentations in our streets.

15~~Happinesses { 'esher - plural} . . . to the people
who are so situated/'in such status'
{military victory, national prosperity - SuperGrace status}.
Happinesses . . . to the people
whose Elohiym/Godhead . . . {is} Jehovah/God.

1961 Basics
7	06/27/1961	2Sam. 11:1–12; Heb. 12:1–11; Psalm 38:1–18	Rebound #2; David and Bathsheba
23	12/30/1962	Psalm 91:1–4	Deliverance #1
24	01/06/1963	Psalm 91:5–16	Deliverance #2

1963 Dispensations
106	09/07/1965	Isa. 38:9–20 via Psalm 116; 117	Isaiah tract on rebound

1965 Teens
35	10/26/1966	Isa. 36:12–21; 37:33, 35–36; Psalm 46:1–10	Basis of deliverance = Bible doctrine
54	03/22/1967	1John 1:9; 2Sam.11; 12:1–14; Psalm 38:1–13, 18	Rebound of David
128	12/18/1968	Psalm 1:1–6	Happiness
129	01/08/1969	Psalm 1	Preface by Major Maurice Udell; preparation for combat; warfare

1964–1967 Easter Specials
3	1965	Psalm 16; Mark 11:1–10; 12:1–10	An Easter in Hell; importance of authority
4	1965	Psalm 22	The unique suffering of Christ
8	03/26/1967	Psalm 22:1–6	Forsaken and foreordained END OF SERIES

1968 Malachi
11	12/01/1968	Psalm 33:1–11	Psalm of national crisis: How Bible doctrine delivers a nation; how Jesus Christ delivers a nation; how grace delivers a nation
12	12/03/1968	Psalm 33:12–22	Basis of national prosperity & deliverance; national definition; “salt” of the land; origin of life; preservation of national leadership; purpose of law to protect the function of laws of divine establishment; national security–external & internal; divine security–evangelism & Bible doctrine

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90
91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110
111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140
141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150

1967 Psalm 119
1	06/04/1967	Psalm 119:1; Jer. 31:15–17	The power of the Word
2	06/11/1967	Psalm 119:1–8	The Aleph file
3	06/18/1967	Psalm 119:9–16	The Beth file
4	06/25/1967	Psalm 119:17–24	The Gimel file
5	07/02/1967	Psalm 119:25–40	The Daleth file; soul and the crisis
6	08/13/1967	Psalm 119:41–48	The Waw file; the importance of doctrine which gives the most in suffering
7	08/20/1967	Psalm 119:49–64	The Zayin file; power of the Word
8	08/27/1967	Psalm 119:65–72	Fat as grease
9	09/10/1967	Psalm 119:73–79	The Yodh file
10	09/17/1967	Psalm 119:81–83	Acrostics of suffering
11	09/24/1967	Psalm 119:84–88; Lam. 3	Faithfulness of the Lord; doctrine of one day at time
12	10/15/1967	Psalm 119:89–92	The Lamedh file; doctrine of the sustaining of the universe
13	10/22/1967	Psalm 119:93–112	The Mem file
14	11/05/1967	Psalm 119:113–128	The Fulcrum and the Lever
15	11/12/1967	Psalm 119:129–136	The Pe and Qoph files
16	11/26/1967	Psalm 119:137–144	The Tsade and Qoph files
17	12/03/1967	Psalm 119:145–152	The Zimah pressure
18	12/10/1967	Psalm 119:153–160	The Resh file
19	12/17/1967	Psalm 119:161–176	Finis END OF SERIES

1969 Basics
17	06/17/1969	Isa. 36; Psalm 46	Faith–rest in a national crisis; Stalin’s 6 point program
52	05/12/1970	Psalm 22:1–22	Unique suffering of Jesus Christ, 1

1971 Dunghill Special (1Samuel 1–2 Psalm 113)
1	12/03/1971	Psalm 112:8–10	Introduction to Hannah’s dunghill
7	12/09/1971	Psalm 113:1–3	Berachah: meaning of and Hebrew stems; where 3 roads meet; summary of grace orientation; title of Psalm 113; doctrinal concept of one day at a time
8	12/10/1971	Psalm 113:4–9	Christ from the dunghill of earth and the cross; to glory; doctrines of ascension and dunghill; road of Nehemiah END OF SERIES

1972 Occupation with Suffering
1	04/02/1972	Psalm 77:1–4	Suffering in reversionism
2	04/02/1972	Psalm 77:5–13	Reversionism intensifies suffering
3	04/02/1972	Psalm 77:14–16	Doctrines of occupation with Christ; the Arm
4	04/02/1972	Psalm 77:17	Thunderstorm Parenthesis END OF SERIES

1972 Hebrews
155	07/19/1974	Psalm 84:1–12; Lam. 3:21–25	Doctrine of supergrace (pts. 9–17)
213	09/27/1974	Heb. 12 via Psalm 30:1–4	Psalm of celebration
214	09/29/1974	Psalm 30:5–12	Supergrace vs. reversionism

1976 Assyrian Crisis
49	07/19/1976	Isa. 37:38; Psalm 76	Inscription; Sennacherib; summary of Isaiah’s ministry; music
50	07/20/1976	Psalm 76:1–3	Doctrine and divine attributes: the only security; doctrine of the essence of God (points 1 and 3 only)
51	07/21/1976	Psalm 76:4	Introduction; doctrine of divine attributes: absolute
52	07/22/1976	Psalm 76	Doctrine of divine attributes: relative
53	07/23/1976	Psalm 76:4–6	Doctrines of glory and the death sleep; plunderers (mountains of prey)
54	07/23/1976	Psalm 76:7	Fear–respect–awe–love and divine justice
55	07/25/1976	Psalm 76:8–9	Divine justice and the Supreme Court of Heaven
56	08/01/1976	Psalm 76:10a	Absolute attributes re the wrath of God and of man
61	08/01/1976	Psalm 76:10b	Relative attributes re creation; doctrine of anger
62	08/02/1976	Psalm 76:11–12	Value of time; “vow” defined; power of God
63	08/03/1976	Psalm 46:1; + inscription	Music and authority; Korah and descendants; faithfulness of God in a disaster
64	08/04/1976	Psalm 46:2–3; Ezek. 31:3–11a	Doctrine of the fall of Assyria
65	08/05/1976	Psalm 46; Ezek. 31:10–14	Doctrine of the fall of Assyria (continued)
66	08/06/1976	Psalm 46:4a	Doctrine of the fall of Assyria (continued); elite forces; concept of the importance of doctrine (17 points)
67	08/08/1976	Psalm 46:4b–5	Informing; self–righteousness of evil; the Temple
68	08/08/1976	Psalm 46:6–7; 75:1–7	Mechanics of deliverance; vindication of God
69	08/09/1976	Psalm 46:8–9	Grace is a spectator sport, life comes to you; principle of military and spiritual offensive
70	08/10/1976	Psalm 46:10–11; 12:1–2 + inscription	Personal deliverance; inscription: double standard of reversionism
71	08/11/1976	Psalm 12:1–2	Mutual admiration society; double standard of the reversionist
72	08/12/1976	Psalm 12	Doctrine of sins of the tongue
73	08/13/1976	Psalm 12:3–5a	Judgments from the Supreme Court of Heaven; divine justice to individuals
74	08/15/1976	Psalm 12:5b–8	Pure words of JEHOVAH
75		Psalm 12	END OF SERIES

1976 Arrogant and Inadequate (Psalm 12)
1	08/11/1976	Psalm12:1–2	Mutual admiration society; double standard/reversionist
2	08/12/1976	Psalm12	Doctrine of sins of the tongue
3	08/13/1976	Psalm12:3–5a	Judgments from the Supreme Court of Heaven; divine justice to individuals
4	08/15/1976	Psalm12:5b–8	Pure words of JEHOVAH END OF SERIES

1977 Revelation
285	12/18/1977	Rom. 8; Psalm 23:1	[PSALM 23 SPECIAL, lessons 285–291] Permanence of imputed divine blessings in spite of the failure of the believer; The Shepherd and sheep
286	12/19/1977	Rom. 8:6; Psalm 23:2–3a	Battle of the Bulge; security of and capacity for divine blessing; +H in adversity
287	12/20/1977	Rom. 8:6; Psalm 23:3b	Battle of the Bulge; guided in tracks of imputed +R; divine blessing cf. logistical grace
288	12/21/1977	Rom. 8:6; Psalm 23:4a	Battle of the Bulge: St. Vith; you die alone; no fear in supergrace; concept of divine integrity
289	12/22/1977	Rom. 8:6; Psalm 23:4b	Temporary target for imputation; SG2 believer’s temporary loss of blessing enhances them
290	12/23/1977	Rom. 8:6; Psalm 23:5a	Battle of the Bulge: Bergdorf; banquet table from Bible doctrine in the soul; background for David’s undeserved suffering
291	12/25/1977	Rom. 8:6; Psalm 23:5b–6	Battle of the Bulge: Bastogne; David’s temporary separation from SG2 blessings

1979 Faith-Rest for the Crisis
31	06/17/1979	Psalm 95:1–6	Hovering disaster; results of logistical grace blessing; singing; thanksgiving; long hair
32	06/17/1979	Psalm 95:7–8	Malfunction of faith–rest and rejection of logistical grace (test, not discipline); doctrine of sheep; guilt complex
33	06/24/1979	Psalm 95:9–10a	Testing God; love: divine attribute cf. anthropopathism; anthropopathism of hate
34	06/24/1979	Psalm 95:10b–11	Bypasses of thought to emotion, con artists; concentration; no blessing for the reversionist END OF SERIES

1962 Joshua
4	02/15/1962	Joshua 3:1–4, 24; Psalm 114

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90
91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110
111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140
141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150

1980 Psalm 37
1	10/27/1980	Psalm 37	Application of faith–rest to divine discipline
2	10/28/1980	Psalm 37:1	Prosperity; distraction from faith–rest; acrostic memory aid
3	10/29/1980	Psalm 37:2a	System and self–punishment from violation of laws of divine establishment, cf. divine discipline with grace for humble believer’s sin
4	10/30/1980	Psalm 37:2b	Direct and indirect discipline from God; authority in marriage cf. other divine institutions
5	10/31/1980	Psalm 37:3a	Signs of interlocking systems of arrogance: conspiracy, personality conflicts. Faith perception and application
6	11/02/1980	Psalm 37:3b	Separation of church and state; doctrine of interlocking systems of arrogance; self–pity vs. genuine humility
7	11/02/1980	Lev. 26:14–38; Ezek. 31:3–14	Indirect divine discipline characteristics and illustration. 5 cycles of discipline
8	11/03/1980	Psalm 37	Knowing your job; arrogance of morality; lust cf. legitimate desire
9	11/04/1980	Psalm 37:4	Occupation with Christ. The election
10	11/05/1980	Psalm 37:5	Faith–rest in business. The election
11	11/06/1980	Psalm 37:6a	Authority, humility, concentration
12	11/07/1980	Psalm 37:6b	Vindicated by supergrace blessings
13	11/09/1980	Psalm 37:7	Self–regulation. Wealthy but unhappy
14	11/09/1980	Psalm 37:8–9	Arrogant anger distracts from momentum
15	11/13/1980	Psalm 37:10–11a	God avenges genuine humility wronged
16	11/14/1980	Psalm 37:11b–13	Humility promoted, prospered, protected
17	11/16/1980	Psalm 37:14–15	Wall of fire. Pivot vs. power politics
18	11/16/1980	Psalm 37:16–17	Logistical grace and satanic power
19	11/17/1980	Psalm 37:18–19a	Divine knowledge. A fortiori rationale
20	11/18/1980	Psalm 37:19b	Class, economic depression, abundance
21	11/19/1980	Psalm 37:20–21a	Love, divine judgment, femininity, debt
22	11/20/1980	Psalm 37:21b–24	Credit, genuine humility, love, pivot
23	11/21/1980	Psalm 37:25–26	Love Complex, youth and wisdom, old age
24	11/23/1980	Psalm 37:27–31	Love Complex, the good, integrity; US hostages in Iran
25	11/23/1980	Psalm 37:32–36	Love or arrogance, tests, hatred
26	11/24/1980	Psalm 37:37–40	Love’s requirements & the pivot’s refuge; pseudo intellectualism END OF SERIES

1981 Revelation
122	05/05/1982	Rev. 2:27a; Psalm 2	Authority, volition; perfect environment
257	10/27/1982	Rev. 7:9c; Psalm 118	Background: palm branches in their hands
258	10/28/1982	Psalm 118; Mark 11; 12	Palm branches; eternal life categories
440	07/01/1983	Psalm 23:1	Knowing what David knew: “my shepherd”
441	07/02/1983	Psalm 23:2–3a	Knowing the system for spiritual growth
442	07/02/1983	Psalm 23:3b–4a	Knowing the system for living and dying
443	07/03/1983	Psalm 23:4b–5a	Knowing the system in suffering for blessing
444	07/03/1983	Psalm 23:5b–6	Knowing the system overflows in blessing
660	04/22/1984	Rev. 19:19a; Psalm 2	Organized evil; Satan’s power destroyed

1984 Protocol Plan of God (Project X)
203	03/17/1985	Psalm 23:1–6	Mature David occupied with the Source

1985 Ephesians
245	03/23/1986	Psalm 117; 118:1–8	Age of Israel and the seven feasts.
246	03/23/1986	Psalm 118:9–21	Jewish timetable: feasts, hymns and a mule.
247	03/30/1986	Psalm 118:22–29; Mark 11:1–7	Israel’s timetable; Palm Sunday.
524	04/12/1987	Psalm 117; 118	Palm Sunday; doctrine of the cornerstone
1334	12/02/1990	Psalm 106:1–15	Scar tissue of the soul, hardness of the heart.
1335	12/04/1990	Psalm 106:1–26	Exodus Jews had emotion, not doctrine.
1336	12/05/1990	Psalm 106:24–27	God’s anger and change of mind.
1337	12/06/1990	Psalm 106:44–48	Anthropopathism defined and classified.

1990 Palm Sunday Politics
1	04/08/1990	Psalm 117:1–2	Jews confuse First and Second Advents
2	04/08/1990	Psalm 118:1–21	AD 30 Jewish attitude applies to today
3	04/10/1990	Psalm 118:22–29	Jews bypass the cross for the crown

1991 Prophecy—Middle East
1	01/13/1991	Psalm 137	Historical issues important today

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90
91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110
111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140
141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150