Author: 杨 全荣

Background

First Psalm with “A psalm of Asaph” in the title. The others are Psalms 73-83 in Book III. Many commentators believes this Psalm was written by Asaph. Asaph was a musician in David’s time (1 Ch 15:17-19, Nehemiah 12:46)

Exposition

1. Every seventh year, during the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests were obligated to read the law to the people and explain its meaning (Deut 31:9-11), this psalm may have been written for such an occasion.
2. Theme: God is The Judge for our life (v4). Consistent godly living that should result from true spiritual worship.
3. God confronts two offenders: the formalist, to whom worship is a ritual to follow (v7-15) and the hypocrite, to whom worship is a disguise to cover sin (v16-21).
4. The Holy Judge (v1-6)
   1. God is the Judge of this world. He called heavens and earth to witness the proceedings (v4)
   2. Judgement will begin in the household of God (1 Peter 4:17), the godly ones (v5)
5. The Heartless Worshipers (v7-15)
   1. This group of worshipers where formalist, they made sacrifices to the Lord outwardly, but inwardly they have no relationship with the Lord.
   2. God does not desire our sacrifices, what He desires is a relationship with Him, thanksgiving from their hearts (v14) and honor Him in our daily life (v15).
6. The Hypocritical Sinners (v16-21)
   1. God is addressing to the wicked (v16)
   2. The wicked speak God’s law, but disobey them. (17-20)
   3. This group of people apparently knows God’s law, they recite God’s words (v16), however they hated God’s instruction. Recently, the owner of a popular fast food chain, Chick-fil-a voiced his supports on biblical marriage, and the gay communicated reacted with protests. I just read an interview of a woman paster for a church, she said she believes God is love and God love everyone, including homosexual couple, and thus she believe God endorses gay marriages. She does not see anything wrong with people having a homosexual lifestyle.
7. The Honest Worshiper (v22-23)
   1. God is calling true worshipers, believers that give thanks from their hearts, honor God with their live, submit to God’s will.
   2. V22: [Consider this]: God is giving the hypocritical sinners a opportunity to repent before God’s final judgement
   3. V23: This is the remedy for the legalist.

1 Peter 1:18-19 is a great summary of what this Psalm is all about. [knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.]

1. The author had a message for everybody in the world (v1-2)
2. When believers see the world is chasing wealth and putting their trust in wealth (v6), how should we respond?
3. Wealth cannot prevent death (v5-12)
   1. In Jew law, a Jew could be redeemed if he is in debt (Lev 25:47-49), but a murderer cannot be redeemed. (Num 35:31).
   2. Men put their trust on their houses, lands, wealth. They put their names on lands, give their inheritance to the next generation, but the man himself cannot escape death (v11).
   3. Jesus said His disciples: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt 16:26)
   4. Money can buy a lot of things, but one thing for sure it cannot buy, it is life. We cannot use money to buy the life on anyone, including our own life. When it comes time to die, no matter how much money we have in our bank, it does not matter. So, why spend all our energy in earning money in our life? Our life is more meaningful then making money. God redeemed our life with the blood of Christ so that we can have a full life (John 10:11).
4. Wealth will not determine our destiny (v13-15)
   1. Wealth cannot determine our destiny after death. If the person does not believe in Jesus, regardless of his wealth, he is like a sheep being led to the slaughterhouse by shepherd of death (v14)
   2. For believer, death is only a valley of temporary shadows, and Jesus is the Shepherd (23:4)
   3. God does not reject wealthy men from entering heaven. If we believe in Christ, we would go to heaven. However Jesus once said: “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
   4. The death in Christ will be raised when Christ returned and will share Christ glory.
   5. v14: Death is the shepherd of the wealthy. But our Lord is our Shepherd. The wealthy  puts their faith on their wealth. Christians put our faith on Jesus Christ.
   6. Wealth cannot redeem man’s soul, but Christ has redeemed our soul from the power of death. (v15)
5. Wealth must not increase your desire (v16-20)
   1. We must not become jealous of others prospering in this world. It isn’t a sin to have wealth, provided we earned it honestly, spend it wisely, and invest it faithfully in that which pleases the Lord.
   2. However we as Christians should not spend our life pursuing wealth, instead we should spend our life pursuing Christ.
   3. If you only have two choices: rich in this life and go to hell, or poor in this life and go to heaven? The point is not that we need  to be poor to enter heaven. The point is we should not spend all our energy trying to get wealthy but ignore spiritual things.
   4. v20: When our mind is consumed with trying to get rich, we do not have time to thing about spiritual things.

1. This Psalm is frequently grouped together with Psalm 46 and 47.
2. The historical background is clear, but could be
   1. God defeated the Assyrians in King Hezekiah time (2 King 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37)
   2. Or God defeated Ammon and Moab and men from Mount Seir in King Jehoshapaht time (2 Ch 20)
3. Emphasized on God and the city of God.
4. Today’s Christians are citizen of Zion that is above (Hebrew 12:18-24)
5. The Lord cares for us just as He cared for the ancient city of Zion.
6. King David took Mt. Zion from Jebusites (2 Sam. 5:6-9) and made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom. King David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, and this made Zion a “holy mountain” (v2), “the city of God” (v1).
7. The greatness is not because of the city itself, but because of the God of the city.
8. Zion is the joy of the whole earth (v3), because outside of the wall of Jerusalem was where our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of the world.
9. The celebration spread from Jerusalem to Judah (v11) to the ends of the earth (v10). It is the celebration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
10. Sons of Korah showed pilgrims Jerusalem’s towers, ramparts and palaces (v12-13). But they were reminded it was God who detected the enemy.
11. The Jews is committed to tell their next generation the work of God to His people. (v13). Christians need to the Gospel to our next generation, and show to our next generation that God is a living God who live forever and God is the guide in our life (v14).

The jews read this Psalm to their new year celebration known as Rosh Hashanah. God is referring as the King of all the earth in the Psalm (v7). This is a messianic Psalm referring to the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Celebration (1-4)
   1. May be written by Hezekiah to celebrate for how God had delivered Judah from the Assyrians.
   2. Reason for celebration: v2: [For the Lord Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth]
2. Christ has ascended (v5)
   1. God came down to earth to judge sinners because of their wickedness, and ascended to heaven.
   2. Jesus came to die for our sin. He is now ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the God receiving the praise and worship He deserved in heaven.
3. Christ is King of Kings (v6-9)
   1. Christ is God and He is the King of all the earth (v7)
   2. Christ sat on the right hand of the Father on the throne.

1. Martin Luther used this Psalm as the basis and wrote “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”.
2. Background probably God’s deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyrians in the time of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-19, Isaiah 36-37).
3. King Hezekiah was may have written this Psalm, and Psalm 47 and 48. It will be helpful to read Hezekiah’s prayer in 2 King 19:14-19 and compares it with Psalm 46-48.
4. The focus is on the Lord and what He is to His trusting people.
5. God is our Tower of Strength (1-3)
   1. No matter how big the challenges we face in life, God is our refuge (shelter).
6. God is our stronghold (fortress) (4-7)
   1. God is in control. He raised His voice and the earth melted.
7. God will be exalted. (8-11)
   1. Because Hezekiah trusted God is God (2 King 19:15), he prayed to God to show his dependence on God, and God delivered Judah from Assyrians by killing 185,000 Assyrians soldiers. (2 King 19:35).
   2. “know that I am God” (v10)
   3. God will lead us into victory when we trust in Him so that God could receive the glory He deserve.

1. A marriage love song for the King(1,11,14), possibly King Solomon when he married the daughter of Egypt (1 King 3:1).
2. Why we think he is Soloman? Because
   1. Solomon was noted for his wealth in gold (9,13; 1 King 9:28)
   2. Solomon had close association with Tyre (v12; 1 King 9:10-14)
3. However it is clear that the one “greater than Solomon” (Matt 12:42) is present in this Psalm. To Jew, this is a Messianic Psalm, Christians know the Holy Spirit is referring to our Lord Jesus Christ.
4. The Gracious Son of Man (1-2)
   1. verse two describes the beauty of this son of man. Jesus is the ultimate son of Man. When Jesus was on earth, He had no physical beauty (Isa 53:2), however today Jesus is the center of heaven’s glory and the focus of heaven’s worship (Rev 4-5)
   2. Visitor came from distant lands to hear Solomon’s wisdom (1 King 4:29-34), but the Father has hidden all the treasures of divine wisdom in Jesus Christ (Col 2:3)
5. The Victorious Warrior (3-5)
   1. This King is a warrior. Solomon however was never a warrior. The author is referring to Jesus as the God’s warrior, who had victory over Satan at the calvary.
   2. All Christians are warriors, the war zone is in the spiritual realm. Our weapon is the sword of Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Eph 6:17)
6. The Righteous King (6-7)
   1. Author refers to this King as God.
   2. Hebrew 1:8 reference v6-7, referring to Jesus
7. The Glorious Bridegroom (8-17)
   1. Describes a Jewish King’s wedding, it is a picture of Jesus Christ and His church.
   2. The Groom is the Lord of the bride (v11)
   3. Today’s the church is filled with many issues, but on the wedding day, the Church will be in glory. (Heb 2:10)

1. Boasting in the God (1-8)
   1. “You have saved us” (v7)
   2. “In God we have boasted all day long” (v8)
   3. Praising God for how He led Israel into Canaan
2. Forsaken by God (9-16)
   1. “You have rejected us” (v9)
   2. “You give us as sheep to be eaten” (v11)
   3. Sometimes it seems like God has forsaken Israel
3. Faithful to God (17-22)
   1. “but we have not forgotten you” (v17)
   2. Paul quoted v22 in Rom 8:36. Although we sometimes face persecution, distress, hardship in life, but none of these can separate us from the love of Christ
4. Trusting in God (23-26)
   1. “Redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness” (v26). The Ps ended with a cry to God to redeem Israel.

Psalm 42-43

1. The popular worship song “As The Dear” written by Marty Nystrom was inspired by this Psalm. The story behind as the song is available at Song Scoops.
2. Ps 42 and Ps 43 are probably used to be one Psalm because of repeated refrain: “Why are you in despair, O my soul?” (42:5,11;43:5).
3. Korah is great grandson of Levi who rebelled against Moses and Aaron. (Num 16) and received judgement from God, but sons of Korah were spared (Num 26:11). Korah’ sons in King David’s era became singers (1 Chron 6:31) and gatekeepers (1 Chron 26:19) of the tabernacle. Also named in Ps 44-49, 84, 87-88. The sons of Korah may not be the author of these Psalms. They are named because they were the performers.
4. The author:
   1. Was a leader who led people to worship God (42:4)
   2. But later exiled among gentiles (43:1) who oppressed him (42:3, 10;43:2).
   3. The author fluctuated between faith and despair a he wrestled with God. He questions the Lord 11 times as he wonders why God doesn’t do something for him.
   4. He felt that God has forgotten him (42:9,43:2).
5. The author went through 3 stages before he came to victory and peace.
6. Stage 1: Longing for God (42:1-5)
   1. The living God (42:2) was God of his life (42:8). He needs God as a deer needs air (42:1), water (42:1) and food (42:3) to live. He was weeping day and night longing for God.
7. Stage 2: Remembering God (42:6-11)
   1. In the midst of despair (42:6), he remembered God. God is in control (42:8). God’s song (42:8) accompanied the author in the night as he wait for the dawn.
8. Stage 3: Trusting God (43:1-5)
   1. He put his hope in God (42:11, 43:5), because the dawn will surely come. God’s light and truth lead him to God’s holy hill and dwelling places (43:3)