Chapter 5: The Lord Hates “Workers of
Iniquity”
To the Chief
Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.
“Nehiloth - is the
general term for perforated wind-instruments of all kinds (flutes for example)”
“Give ear unto my words… Hearken
unto my voice… My voice shalt thou hear in the morning…” (Psalms 5:1-3).
In the first three verses, David is desperately asking for God’s attention.
David uses a Hebrew method of repeating his words (in this case, 3 times).
David
goes on with his prayer and tells God, the obvious. “…thou art not a God that hath
please in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.” (Psalms 5:4)
David meditates on the righteous
character of God. What we do before God, matter. God does not like worker’s of
iniquity and will not have them in his presence.
“…there
is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness… they
flatter with their tongue.” (Psalms 5:9)
Here, David points out that those
who are wicked will flatter you with their speech, but in reality, he focuses
on what the wicked say as evidence of their wickedness. Jesus taught
something similar in Matthew 12:41; “…out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh.” In other words our righteousness or wickedness will
sooner or later show up in our speech. The true intentions of our heart, good
or bad will slip in our words.
Chapter 6: David Cries Mercy to God
To the chief
Musician on Heginoth upon Sheminith (eight stringed Harp), A Psalm of David.
“Neginoth – Hebrew
for Stringed Instruments”
“Sheminith- Is a musical term, a similar direction is
found in the title of Psalms 12:1 and in 1 Chronicles 15:21. Although we don’t
know for sure, it seem that Sheminith denotes a certain air known as the eighth,
or a certain key in which the psalm was to be sung.”
Psalm 6 is known as the first of
seven penitential psalms - songs of confession and humility before God. It was
a custom in the early church to sing these psalms on Ash Wednesday, the
Wednesday before Easter.
“O Lord, rebuke me not in thine
anger… Have mercy upon me… for I am weak… heal me for my bones are vexed
(worried/troubled).” (Psalms 6:1-2)
We don't know what sin David was
praying about, but because of his sin David sensed he was under the condemnation
from God. Here hecalls out for God to kindle his anger with him and hear his
plea.
In the
Book of Mormon we have a similar story in a book called “Ether”, here the Lord
tells us that “…if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto
men weakness that they may be humble… for if they humble themselves before me,
and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them”
(Ether 12:27; The Book of Mormon)
David knew
that he must present to the Lord that he was weak and NEEDED the Lord to help
him. In letters to the Corinthians, Paul explains that; “…my strength is made perfect in
weakness… therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am
weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Paul, like
David knew what the Lord had taught to Moroni and later to Ether in the Book of
Mormon; that God gives men weakness so that they can be humbled. With this
humility they can take joy in the unpleasant things of life, knowing that with
this weakness they can be made strong!
David
ends in this chapter by asking God to vex his enemies, that they might be
ashamed of their wickedness.
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