You Can Read the Bible Guided Podcast

We begin today with another disturbing image of a battered people: O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins…How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever?  Will Your jealousy burn like fire?  Listen for multiple instances of this question “How long, O LORD?” today.  

This feeling of rejection and despair fills the first two Psalms and receives an answer, interestingly, in the third.  Typically in the Psalms we’ve seen two types of speech: either the writer speaks directly to the LORD, or he speaks to His fellow worshippers.  The writer of Psalm 81 diverges from this pattern and inserts the LORD’s words to Israel into the Psalm.  It reads like a verse from the prophets: Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to Me!  There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.  Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.  This too is worship, at a time when the LORD grieves that My people did not listen to My voice; Israel would not submit to Me… 

In Psalm 82 the writer has a message to the worshippers of those foreign gods: God has taken His place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods He holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?”  These gods have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.  And finally, he welcomes the LORD’s inevitable triumph: Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all the nations!

Psalm 83 is again a prayer born of distress, as the nations surrounding Israel have conspired to wipe them out as a nation, and have invited Assyria to join the party.  Psalm 84 stands out for its celebration of the LORD’s goodness, but still maintains the posture of petition.  And listen to the vision of restoration in Psalm 85: Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.  Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. 

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 79 through 85.  Now let’s read it!

We begin today with another disturbing image of a battered people: O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins…How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever?  Will Your jealousy burn like fire?  Listen for multiple instances of this question “How long, O LORD?” today.  

This feeling of rejection and despair fills the first two Psalms and receives an answer, interestingly, in the third.  Typically in the Psalms we’ve seen two types of speech: either the writer speaks directly to the LORD, or he speaks to His fellow worshippers.  The writer of Psalm 81 diverges from this pattern and inserts the LORD’s words to Israel into the Psalm.  It reads like a verse from the prophets: Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to Me!  There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.  Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.  This too is worship, at a time when the LORD grieves that My people did not listen to My voice; Israel would not submit to Me… 

In Psalm 82 the writer has a message to the worshippers of those foreign gods: God has taken His place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods He holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?”  These gods have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.  And finally, he welcomes the LORD’s inevitable triumph: Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all the nations!

Psalm 83 is again a prayer born of distress, as the nations surrounding Israel have conspired to wipe them out as a nation, and have invited Assyria to join the party.  Psalm 84 stands out for its celebration of the LORD’s goodness, but still maintains the posture of petition.  And listen to the vision of restoration in Psalm 85: Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.  Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. 

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 79 through 85.  Now let’s read it!

For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.  – Nehemiah 12:46

We turn to Book Three of the Psalms today and engage six Psalms attributed to Asaph.  We’ve read his writing once before in Psalm 50, where he praises The Mighty One, God the LORD, [who] speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.  Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

This celebration of Zion – of Jerusalem – and Judah is found throughout the Psalms you’ll read today.  Asaph was appointed the chief of the tabernacle musicians by King David and his descendants served faithfully, even through the treachery of David’s descendants.  The “Sons of Asaph” clang their cymbals when the foundation of the second Temple, is laid and blow their trumpets at the dedication of Nehemiah’s wall. 

To refer to Asaph in the singular is tricky, though, which is highlighted in Psalm 74.  The heading calls it “A Maskil of Asaph,” and its anguished prayer begins: “O God, why do You cast us off forever?”  Listen to his lament: “Your foes have roared in the midst of Your meeting place… And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.  They set Your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of Your name, bringing it to the ground.” 

This all happens, as we’ve read often, almost 400 years after King David’s death, and certainly well beyond the lifespan of the original Asaph.  So how is this Psalm “Of Asaph”? 

This need not cause of difficulty.  We’ve seen elsewhere in the Bible that personal names carry forward through families and positions: Israel, Judah, Benjamin, and David begin as living actors whose names become shorthand for their descendants.  The very clear context of Psalm 74 indicates that the same is true of Asaph.  In fact, consider the honor afforded to Asaph, whose descendant four centuries on was faithfully serving the LORD Asaph had trusted in the Temple he had loved. 

The same can be said for the Psalms “Of David.”  Where not directly connected to a historical point of reference, we can safely, and honorably, admit that a Psalm “Of David” could have been penned by him, or for him, or by one who sat on his throne, or for one who sat on his throne.  We’ve already seen examples of each.  Allow the text to insist upon what it demands, and allow it to breathe where it desires. 

And today it breathes in the charred ruins of Zion, the perfection of beauty, to which Asaph’s steadfast son cries defiantly: “Yet God my king is from old, working salvation in the midst of the earth…Arise, O God, defend your cause!” 

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 73 through 78.  Now let’s read it!

For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.  – Nehemiah 12:46

We turn to Book Three of the Psalms today and engage six Psalms attributed to Asaph.  We’ve read his writing once before in Psalm 50, where he praises The Mighty One, God the LORD, [who] speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.  Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

This celebration of Zion – of Jerusalem – and Judah is found throughout the Psalms you’ll read today.  Asaph was appointed the chief of the tabernacle musicians by King David and his descendants served faithfully, even through the treachery of David’s descendants.  The “Sons of Asaph” clang their cymbals when the foundation of the second Temple, is laid and blow their trumpets at the dedication of Nehemiah’s wall. 

To refer to Asaph in the singular is tricky, though, which is highlighted in Psalm 74.  The heading calls it “A Maskil of Asaph,” and its anguished prayer begins: “O God, why do You cast us off forever?”  Listen to his lament: “Your foes have roared in the midst of Your meeting place… And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.  They set Your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of Your name, bringing it to the ground.” 

This all happens, as we’ve read often, almost 400 years after King David’s death, and certainly well beyond the lifespan of the original Asaph.  So how is this Psalm “Of Asaph”? 

This need not cause of difficulty.  We’ve seen elsewhere in the Bible that personal names carry forward through families and positions: Israel, Judah, Benjamin, and David begin as living actors whose names become shorthand for their descendants.  The very clear context of Psalm 74 indicates that the same is true of Asaph.  In fact, consider the honor afforded to Asaph, whose descendant four centuries on was faithfully serving the LORD Asaph had trusted in the Temple he had loved. 

The same can be said for the Psalms “Of David.”  Where not directly connected to a historical point of reference, we can safely, and honorably, admit that a Psalm “Of David” could have been penned by him, or for him, or by one who sat on his throne, or for one who sat on his throne.  We’ve already seen examples of each.  Allow the text to insist upon what it demands, and allow it to breathe where it desires. 

And today it breathes in the charred ruins of Zion, the perfection of beauty, to which Asaph’s steadfast son cries defiantly: “Yet God my king is from old, working salvation in the midst of the earth…Arise, O God, defend your cause!” 

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 73 through 78.  Now let’s read it!

Come and see what God has done: He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man.  -Psalm 66:5

Today’s first three Psalms form a triumvirate of praise for the LORD’s goodness and might.  When you read Psalms 65 and 66, listen to how the writer celebrates the LORD’s power through His care of the earth: You visit the earth and water it…You water its furrows abundantly…You crown the year with your bounty… 

Psalm 67 plays on Aaron’s blessing from Number 6, which reads: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.  Also, look closely at the structure of this Psalm’s seven verses: the lines climb and then descend a mountain.  Verse 7 responds to verse 1; verse 2 responds to verse 6; 3 and 5 are identical; and 4, at the center, forms the peak of the argument. 

Psalm 68 is a celebration of God’s unique love for, and deliverance of, Israel.  Pay attention to how the Psalmist reminds God of His own historical works: O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

After three more Psalms that call on, and depend upon, the LORD’s deliverance, our final chapter today is dedicated to King Solomon.  Given its hopeful stance – that he would receive tribute from Tarshish and Sheba, that he would have long life – this obviously came from early in his reign.  And judging from the final verse, it could even have been a commissioning prayer from his father.  Listen to its repeated hope that he will defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor…  Through righteousness will all kings fall down before him, [and] all nations serve him!

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 65 through 72.  Now let’s read it!

Come and see what God has done: He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man.  -Psalm 66:5

Today’s first three Psalms form a triumvirate of praise for the LORD’s goodness and might.  When you read Psalms 65 and 66, listen to how the writer celebrates the LORD’s power through His care of the earth: You visit the earth and water it…You water its furrows abundantly…You crown the year with your bounty… 

Psalm 67 plays on Aaron’s blessing from Number 6, which reads: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.  Also, look closely at the structure of this Psalm’s seven verses: the lines climb and then descend a mountain.  Verse 7 responds to verse 1; verse 2 responds to verse 6; 3 and 5 are identical; and 4, at the center, forms the peak of the argument. 

Psalm 68 is a celebration of God’s unique love for, and deliverance of, Israel.  Pay attention to how the Psalmist reminds God of His own historical works: O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

After three more Psalms that call on, and depend upon, the LORD’s deliverance, our final chapter today is dedicated to King Solomon.  Given its hopeful stance – that he would receive tribute from Tarshish and Sheba, that he would have long life – this obviously came from early in his reign.  And judging from the final verse, it could even have been a commissioning prayer from his father.  Listen to its repeated hope that he will defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor…  Through righteousness will all kings fall down before him, [and] all nations serve him!

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 65 through 72.  Now let’s read it!

Come and see what God has done: He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man.  -Psalm 66:5

Today’s first three Psalms form a triumvirate of praise for the LORD’s goodness and might.  When you read Psalms 65 and 66, listen to how the writer celebrates the LORD’s power through His care of the earth: You visit the earth and water it…You water its furrows abundantly…You crown the year with your bounty… 

Psalm 67 plays on Aaron’s blessing from Number 6, which reads: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.  Also, look closely at the structure of this Psalm’s seven verses: the lines climb and then descend a mountain.  Verse 7 responds to verse 1; verse 2 responds to verse 6; 3 and 5 are identical; and 4, at the center, forms the peak of the argument. 

Psalm 68 is a celebration of God’s unique love for, and deliverance of, Israel.  Pay attention to how the Psalmist reminds God of His own historical works: O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

After three more Psalms that call on, and depend upon, the LORD’s deliverance, our final chapter today is dedicated to King Solomon.  Given its hopeful stance – that he would receive tribute from Tarshish and Sheba, that he would have long life – this obviously came from early in his reign.  And judging from the final verse, it could even have been a commissioning prayer from his father.  Listen to its repeated hope that he will defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor…  Through righteousness will all kings fall down before him, [and] all nations serve him!

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 65 through 72.  Now let’s read it!

Today we can peer into the mind and heart of an ancient follower of Yahweh through the lens of their Psalms.  In the opening chapter, while fleeing from Saul, David relates, “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.  He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me.”

In Psalm 58 he draws a contrast between the LORD and other gods:  Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?  No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth…. O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! … Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."

Praying that the LORD would protect [him] from those who rise up against [him], David calls on the LORD to “Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil.”  It is a request grounded in the belief that you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision... My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

When Israel suffers defeat, it is because O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.   For the LORD has spoken: “Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph…,” therefore David cries, “Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!”

And when justice seems far off there is promise: Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.  Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.  Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O LORD, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 57 through 64.  Now let’s read it!

Today we can peer into the mind and heart of an ancient follower of Yahweh through the lens of their Psalms.  In the opening chapter, while fleeing from Saul, David relates, “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.  He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me.”

In Psalm 58 he draws a contrast between the LORD and other gods:  Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?  No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth…. O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! … Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."

Praying that the LORD would protect [him] from those who rise up against [him], David calls on the LORD to “Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil.”  It is a request grounded in the belief that you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision... My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

When Israel suffers defeat, it is because O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.   For the LORD has spoken: “Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph…,” therefore David cries, “Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!”

And when justice seems far off there is promise: Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.  Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.  Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O LORD, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

Our verse for this week is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Psalms 57 through 64.  Now let’s read it!