Psalm 91
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.”
Verse 3 has to do with the various aspects of the Exodus deliverance.
“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.
Verses 5-8, the areas of deliverance.
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.
“I will deliver him, and honour him” – that is grace, totally undeserved.
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.