Psalm 43 – I’m all alone!

Sometimes, we feel all alone; that God is not answering out prayers, that the heavens have turned to brass (Deut. 28:23 KJV). Maybe He is not listening to us, or worse; has turned his back to us! What do we do? I know what I do, I whine, gripe, complain, cry; and then Dianne (probably like Bathsheba talked to David) tells me to snap out of it, and praise God that I can still feel, and to Praise Him for my troubles. (1Peter 4:19 NIV)

In Psalm 43 David really gets to the point about his troubles, he questions if God is even listening to him, or whether God has left him. He seems to be in pretty dire straits, yet (and this is important to us) his hope is always in the Lord.

1 Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy? (Psalm 43:1-2 NIV)

In my translation NIV (New International Version) the first word, in this Psalm, is Vindicate, which means to judge rightfully. The Hebrew word used here is shefeteni, which is translated 'to judge'; but the name used for God is Elohim, which is the name of the God of Judgment and Strength, the Creator of Everything. David is calling for the Great judge to find his case in favor, and to rescue or deliver him from his ungodly (lo-chasid – not or less- pious/kind or godly) accusers.

In the second verse David praises God for His past deeds and claims Him for his protection, we too must recognize that God is our protector and defender from the wicked of the world. The Hebrew phrase used here is ki-attah elohi ma'uzzi; which is translated 'for You are the God of my strength'. But ma'uzzi can also be translated as rock, fortress, a stronghold. And the name for God again is the Elohi form of God of Strength and Power. David is recognizing and speaking the powerful name of God, calling on Him to judge his case rightfully and find him free of blame before the nations of the ungodly.

David again cries to God 'why haven't you answered me'? (v 2 lines 2-4) He actually uses (line 3) the term la'ma-koder; which is translated here as mourning. It can also be translated 'how long must I sit in darkness?' From personal experience, when mourning, you don't want light, and the Hebrews by tradition would sit in darkness for mourning. We too, when oppressed by the world or by Satan, feel like running away and hiding in the dark, don't we? Claim God as your stronghold, your high tower of defense; He will judge your rightly and comfort you!

3 Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

4 Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God. (Psalm 43:3-4 NIV)

David calls to God to help him find his way out of the darkness of his mourning; 'send your light and your truth' those guides of our feet (Psalm 119:105) to bring him to the most holy place; the holy mountain of God and His dwelling place. Here David uses the words mishkenov'teicha for 'dwelling place' which points to the Tabernacle (Mishkan) and places the holy hill as Mount Moriah, where David placed the Tabernacle and the altar of God. David now feels confident enough to join in the rites of his faith with joy and music. When we trust in the Word of God to be that 'Truth and Light', Adonai (God of Majesty) will lead us faithfully out of the darkness of our spirit right to the altar of the Most High God (El Elyon).

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5 NIV)

Now David is coming all the way out of his funk and is asking himself those all important questions; why am I so dark, why am I so upset? When we come out from under our depressions, we too wonder why? We have to be careful, as those questions could send us right back into another depression, as we feel inadequate to handle the answers. Here David has the right answer: 'put your hope (ho'v'chilie – to wait expectantly, hope) in God (leloim). Let us praise him, David instructs us twice to praise him, with music (what a true musician) my Savior and my God (yeshu'ot pannai velohai)!

Remember, chaverim, that we have a Strong God and Judge (Elohim) that will judge us rightly (not like we judge ourselves) and will be our stronghold and fortress in our times of mourning and need. He has already sent His Truth (John 14:6) and Light (John 8:12) to guide us out of the darkness of our lives. We can go to his Holy Hill and enter His Dwelling Place, not the Temple made with human hands, but that Temple made without hands (Ezek Chs 40 – 48) because Yeshua our Savior has cleansed us from all sin (1John 1:7). Let us praise Him with music and voice for He is our Savior and God (Psalm 43:5). Selah

 

Psalm 43

1 Judge me rightly, O God of Judgment and Strength, the Creator of Everything,

and plead my cause against an ungodly nation or people;

rescue me from deceitful treacherous and wicked unjust men.

2 You are God of Strength and Power my stronghold, rock, fortress, high tower

Why have you rejected, pushed aside me?

Why must I go about mourning, how long must I sit in darkness

oppressed by the enemy, one who stands in the way, Satan?

3 Send forth your light and truth to guide my feet that I may not stumble

let them guide, lead me;

let them bring me to your holy mountain, to Zion,

to the place where you dwell, your Tabernacle.

4 Then will I go to the altar of God of Strength and Power,

to God, my exceeding joy and delight.

I will praise you with the harp and lyre

O God of Gods, my God.

5 Why are you downcast, in despair, O my soul?

Why so disturbed, disquieted, within me?

Put your hope, wait expectantly, in God,

for I will again praise and turn my face to Him

my Savior and my God of Strength and Power.

Baruch Moshi'einu

The Twenty-fourth Psalm

In part of my personal Bible studies, I have been going through the Psalms. As would be expected, I hit the beautiful 23^rd Psalm on Sunday. Monday morning, the first Psalm on the list is the 24^th; I have never read the 24^th Psalm with a fresh mind before; what a beautiful praise to the Lord! It is even more evocative when you go back to the Hebrew and read the nuances that are there with King David's intent. What first caught my mind in this Psalm was the exuberance that David wrote with. But, there are some deeper meanings in the verses that can be brought to the fore, if we really meditate and open our minds to the guiding of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).

The first two verses are an establishment of the Lords sovereignty over the earth:

1The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

2 for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2 NIV)

Unfortunately, the English language uses only one word to denote God, the Hebrews have over 72! Each one presents a separate aspect of the Lords character as He chose to show it at that time. In verse 1, the name used to denote 'Lord's' is El-Adonai, which means God of Strength or Power. This is the God who rules the earth and everything in it, and founded it complete and finished. Here we are shown that we do not own ourselves; we belong to Adonai! David states it plain and clear in the first verse "The earth is the Lord's (El-Adonai), and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. The Hebrew word used to denote everything is umelov'ah which is translated in the KJV as 'the fullness there of'. Essentially it means completeness/everything. He IS the creator of everything, the Elohim – God of creation.

The next 4 verses ask the question, and describes who can go up the 'hill of the Lord'. This is the most sacred place, this is where Satan was thrown down from (Isaiah 14:12-15) after he tried to make himself greater that Adonai. But who can ascend the 'hill of the Lord'? We know Him as Jesus (Yeshua) our Savior (Moshi'einu).

3 Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.

5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God his Savior.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Selah (Psalm 24:3-6 NIV)

Yeshua is the one with the 'clean hands and a pure heart'. None is worthy but the Lamb (Dan 7:13-14, Matt. 25:31, Rev 5:1-10) to 'ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place'. The form used to designate 'God his Savior' uses the construct form of Elohim, which was the First name of God from Genesis 1:1. This is Elohim - the Creator the Strong one, the Judge. The Hebrew term used is Me'elohei yishov, and can be translated as 'Creator of Salvation', beautiful isn't it? What about the 6^th verse? Some commentators see this as 'those who seek the face of God', which indicates the favor of God, 'are considered the progeny of Jacob'. This further implies the inheritance as sons of Jacob. Putting this all together, how can you seek the favor of God? Only through the Lamb of God who has ascended the 'hill of the Lord and stands in His holy place', who makes us heirs of the promise of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What a true prophetic blessing!

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty—
he is the King of glory. Selah (Psalm 24:7-10 NIV)

The repetition of a phrase is used often in music, as we all are aware of. Some of the commentators also see this repetition as prophetic. The first call to open the gates and doors represent heavens gates and doors, which were closed to us because of sin. Jesus (Yeshua HaMachiach) through His sacrifice ascended into heaven as a Glorious King, Strong and mighty in battle over sin and death, and flung open the gates and doors of heaven. The angels and spiritual beings of heaven ask, 'Who is this King of Glory? It is the Lamb of God (Rev 21:22) coming back to His rightful home and place beside the Throne of God. The restatement of the phrase can also represent our hearts response to Yeshua 'standing at the door and knocking' (Rev 3:20), calling for us to throw open our hearts gates and doors to allow Him to reign as our Melach Hak'kavovd (King of Glory). Selah (to lift up, or exalt)(A musical term)

Chaverim, may we throw open the gates of our hearts for our Melach Hak'kavovd Yeshua HaMachiach, Baruch HaShem!

Tisha B’Av

If you have any Jewish friends, you might have noticed that lately they have not been as happy or as fun loving as they normally are. That is because they are in a period of the Jewish Calendar called 'In the Straights' or 'Three Weeks of Sorrow'. This leads up to the National Spiritual Day of Mourning called Tisha B'Av. These have historically been days of misfortune and calamity for the Jewish people. During this time, both the First and Second Temples were destroyed, amongst other terrible tragedies.

During these Three Weeks, the 'observant' Jews will not schedule anything that brings real joy into their lives; no weddings, no vacations, no parties because this is a true mourning period for their spiritual nation. During this time various aspects of mourning are observed by the entire nation. They minimize joy and celebration. And, since the attribution of Divine Judgment (din) is acutely felt, they avoid potentially dangerous or risky endeavors.

During their Shabbat (holy day) Services during the Three Weeks of Sorrow, the Haftorah readings are taken from chapters in Isaiah and Jeremiah dealing with the Temples destruction and the exile of the Jewish people. This weeks Torah portion (Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22) covers the 'Sin of the Spies'; the story of the 12 spies sent out by the people to check out the land before they entered it. If you remember, 10 returned with a bad report, while 2 (Caleb and Joshua) gave an encouraging report.

Why is this remembered at this time? Because this was the first calamity that occurred on this date! Besides the two Temples being destroyed, what other calamities happened? The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by the Roman Emporer Hadrian during which the city of Betar was captured and liquidated, over 100,000 Jews were slaughtered (135 CE). The Temple area and its surroundings were plowed under by Roman General Turnus Rufus and Jerusalem was rebuilt as a pagan city, Aelia Capitolina, and access was forbidden to Jews. The Spanish Inquisition culminated in the expulsion of Jews from Spain on Tisha B'Av in 1492. On the eve of Tisha B'Av 1942 the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka.

In Deuteronomy, Moses is recounting (shortening, think Readers Digest condensed version) the Law and the Stories. The story of the Spies in Numbers takes 2 chapters (13 & 14) whereas in Deuteronomy it covers slightly larger than the last ½ of the chapter. What is significant about this story, is that this is the generation that had witnessed the ten plagues of Egypt, all the miracles performed in their escape from Egypt, the Pillar of Smoke and Fire; yet they could not believe that God could lead them into the land that Yahweh had promised their Ancestors. The Sin of Unbelief.

Chaverim, are you plagued by this 'Sin of Unbelief', is there a part of you that you do not feel God can, or you feel you do not deserve to have God take care of? I know I do! Will you join me in my prayer, like the father of the epileptic child cry out "I believe, help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).

 

Baruch Moshi'einu

Zealous for Our Lord

When we Americans hear about a religious Zealot, we get the mental picture of either some guy with a long beard, dressed in a biblical robe carrying around a placard reading "The End Is Near". Or the other end of the spectrum, some religious extremist wearing a vest loaded with explosives and shrapnel, holding onto the switch. The term zealot isn't used very much anymore; it has been replaced by the less negative terminology of 'overly aggressive supporter', or 'extremist'.

 

But, what does zeal mean? Is zeal bad? Zeal is defined as:

zeal [ zeel ] noun Definition: enthusiasm: energetic and unflagging enthusiasm, especially for a cause or idea - comes from 14th century. Via late Latin zelus< Greek zēlos "eager rivalry". (MSN Encarta dictionary)

To be enthusiastic about something isn't bad, people are enthusiastic about going fishing, camping, grilling outdoors, cars, … any number of things, yet live 'normal' lives. We could look at some of those more extreme people, like the Cheese Heads from Minnesota, members of the 'Dog Pound' from Chicago, you know the type I'm referring to here, the ones that go to a football game in the winter and take their shirts off to expose the letter they have painted on their body (they really shouldn't take their shirt off 'cause it ain't pretty anymore). And I'm sure that when Monday or Tuesday shows up, and they're back at their jobs, we would consider them 'normal' people, maybe with a slightly bent 'enthusiasm' about a sporting event or team (try to talk with our Pastor during a K-State game). It's when our enthusiasm gets out of control, or we become 'overly enthusiastic' (i.e.: fanatical), that we start reaching that danger level. We've all seen this happen at these various sporting events, crowds, or individuals, get out of control and problems ensue. When we let our zeal get out of control, and not listen to our hearts attitude is when we are in the 'danger zone'. In my Bible studies, I have been going through the Book of Numbers again. In Numbers Ch. 25 we have the Bibles record of the first Zealot, Phinehas the grandson of Aaron: The Lord said to Moses, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them.  Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites." (Numbers 25:10-14 NIV) This is a sad story of disobedience, disrespect and dishonor of the Lord. It is also a story of redemption of Israel by the 'Zeal for Gods Honor' by Phinehas. The Lord could see that Phinehas' heart was where it was supposed to be. Another zealot for the Lord was Elijah the Prophet. In 1 Kings 18:16 – 19:16 we have a record of his 'Zeal for the Lord' and the Lords honor of this zeal. In both of these instances (Phinehas and Elijah) the word translated to zeal from the Hebrew is kana (meaning, zeal, ardor, fervor, desire, devotion, jealousy or envy) here we can see the dual existence of good intentions and bad. This word was translated in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Torah) as zealo from which we get our word zeal, from which you see, above, is pretty close in definition. From the old Hebrew translation and the modern translation we can see that zeal can be a good quality (indicating passionate concern for others , striving for the good, and desiring righteousness) or a negative quality (indicating unrighteous jealousy, envy, pride, and malice) depending on the heart's motivation and the nature of circumstances. The 'natural man' of these modern times tends to live by the credo of "I have the right to think or feel whatever I want." Morality is a matter of individual, subjective preference, and that leaves us in a state of continual flux. Like a sailor on a dark night hanging a light bulb on the top of his mast, and trying to guide his boat home on the sightings taken off that light, rather than the North Star. Yet these 'modern' people, who live by the creed of 'to thine own self be true', become zealously incensed if you point out to them that there is a moral law that permeates the universe, and that we will be held morally accountable. These are the people who tolerate any and all sin and willful ignorance, except any anger against sin. Jesus, in His time, faced some of his fiercest opposition from the 'Zealots of the Law', the Pharisees. These Rabbis were the teachers of the law, the gate keepers of Jewish Identity and tradition, who were originally founded in the time of Ezra to help teach the people who returned from Babylon, the proper and traditional way of Jewish living. But they became so entangled in the minutia of the Law that they forgot the true intent of the Law was to lead the people to be a blessing unto all the nations. The 'Zeal of the Lord' (Kinat Adonai) represents His passion and eagerness to help those who are trusting in Him. Mans zeal is always pointed in a wrong direction since self justification – of any sort- leads to the 'law of sin and death' (Romans 6:19-23). I am going to let John Parsons of Hebrew4Christians.com finish this out: We do not need to manufacture enthusiasm or zeal for our 'religion'. No, we simply need to trust in the zealous, passionate, and irrepressible love of God for our lives. The same passion that led Jesus to die upon the cross is present to you today, if you have the faith to believe. God is the beginning and the end of our salvation: Kinat Adonai Tzeva'ot ta'aseh zot: "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this (Isa 9:7).   Baruch HaShem

For Such a Time as This

My personal Bible study has been taking me through some wonderful Old Testament books lately. The stories of the Hebrew Kings recorded in The Books of 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles; yes those books can be read and still be interesting. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah chronicle the return of the Hebrew people from Babylonia and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. The next book in line is the last book of the Histories of the Israelites; it is the book of Esther.

The book of Esther is an unusual book to be part of the History of the Israelites in that it doesn't mention God at all. That fact has been a discussion among the Jewish sages about its inclusion in the cannon of the Bible for centuries, yet the history is important enough be left in. This is because it demonstrates something that God himself is always doing, providing a means to preserve the linage of the Kings of Israel, and the completion of His Prophecies.

A good demonstration of this happens just a couple of hundred years before the events of Esther. Elijah was a prophet of God during the period of the divided Kingdom, and spent most of his time in Israel. Ahab was the King, and Jezebel was his Queen, and they worshiped Baal. God had Elijah challenge Baal, and won decisively! Jezebel told Elijah she was going to kill him. Well Elijah takes off running for his life, and he complains to God that he was the only person left in Israel that still followed His commandments:

Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." (1 Kings 19: 13b – 14 NIV) (emphasis my own)

God gave Elijah some specific instructions that He needed Elijah to do, and then as almost an aside said:

Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." (1 Kings 19:18 NIV)

Here, God is telling Elijah, yes you are important to me and my plans to bring Israel back to me after I have disciplined them, but you are not alone, nor are you the only one I can call on to do this job. I would prefer you to continue following my commands and do the job I have set before you, but if you do not, I have somebody else who will. Gods plan is always to keep that all important linage of David going, and keep a remnant of Israel to complete his covenant to Abraham that he would be a blessing to all the nations. God will not break his promises or covenants.

I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.  Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness— and I will not lie to David—  that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky." Selah (Psalms 89:34-37 NIV)

And:

And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Jehovah their God;
but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am Jehovah (Lev 26:44-45 NIV)

Now, let's get back to Esther. The story starts out with telling about a banquet King Xerxes gave for all of the nobles and officials from all over his land. Now this is the same Xerxes that later on goes and attacks Greece (the famous stand of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae), but that story has already been made into a movie, just wanted to give you a historical reference. This banquet goes on for 6 ½ months! That is if you use the lunar calendar. This banquet is then followed by an even more elaborate banquet that lasted for 7 days, during which Xerxes' queen Vashti gave a banquet for all the women in the Royal Palace.

During this banquet queen Vashti looses her position because she refuses the Kings order, and she had to be made an example of. Since the King cannot rule without a queen, a beauty pageant is held to select the next queen. Living in the capital city of Susa was a Jew by the name of Mordecai who had taken in his niece, Esther, because her parents had died. This young lady was very beautiful so we learn that she was taken in the beauty pageant. She was so beautiful that she quickly becomes the favorite of King Xerxes. So life is looking up for Esther, who Mordecai had told to keep her heritage secret. Her uncle Mordecai meanwhile is spending his time at the Kings gate, and overhears two of the Kings guard plotting to assassinate the King. Mordecai tells this information to Esther (who is now queen) and she reports this to the Kings officials, who find out that it is true and hang the guards and write everything down.

As all stories have to have a villain, along comes Haman who is an official for the King Xerxes whom he likes. Wherever Haman goes, people are supposed to bow down to him to pay him homage. But Mordecai won't bow to him, this makes Haman MAD. He finds out that Mordecai is a Jew, and decides to not only get rid of Mordecai, but also all of the Jews throughout all of King Xerxes land!

Then Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business."  So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. "Keep the money," the king said to Haman, "and do with the people as you please." (Esther 3:8-11 NIV)

As you can imagine, this didn't go over very well with Mordecai, or any of the other Jews! Mordecai dresses in sackcloth, covers his head with ashes and sits at the Kings gate and weeps and wails. When this is told to Queen Esther, she has her messengers ask why he was doing this, he sent her a copy of the decree that Haman had signed under the Kings seal and asked her to plead for her people. The Queen tells Mordecai that she didn't think she could because the King had not called for her, and if she tried to see him, if he wasn't in a good mood and didn't extend his gold scepter toward her, she would be killed. Mordecai sends her back a message:

When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:12-14 NIV)

The story has a happy ending, and I will let you read it and find out all the neat parts about this story of intrigue, retribution, and deliverance. I want to focus on Mordecai's statement.

Mordecai was confident that God would provide a deliverer for His people, because of Gods covenant with Abraham, and His promise to the People of Israel. Remember, this decree went out throughout King Xerxes land, this also included Judea. Zerubbabel and Ezra were already in Jerusalem at this time, and the Samaritans would have loved to have complied with the decree and destroy the Israelites. Zerubbabel is important, as he is in the linage of David AND Jesus (Matthew 1:12). If Esther wanted to follow the leading of God, and use her position to save the Children of Israel, so much the better.

What does this mean to us? God has a plan for you, He has put you in a position where He wants you, because He needs you there. When the writer of Hebrews wrote that wonderful chapter 11 about the 'Heroes of Faith' he ended by:

 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.
God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV)

"But," you will say, "I am not a 'Hero of Faith' I am just a …(whatever you do)". Don't discount God on who he can use for the future of His Kingdom. Remember, Abraham didn't believe God when He told him that he would be the father of a nation, Moses said he couldn't speak well, yet they were included in the list of 'Heroes of Faith'. Does that co-worker that is having a real rough time with his marriage need an encouraging word, or to learn about how Jesus made a real difference in your marriage? How about that kid down the block, who is always getting into trouble? Does he need an invitation, and maybe a ride, to Youth Group? How about his parents, did you invite them to church with you this week? God has you included in His Eternal Plan for His Kingdom, you can choose to play your part, or He can go to plan B.

God has you right where he needs you, "for such a time as this".

 

Baruch HaShem