Psalm 138
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.
The basis of David’s praise is
sevenfold:
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.}