Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Psalms 9-10

Psalms 9-10

Chapter 9: The Righteous in Zion; The Wicked in Hell.

To the chief Musician upon Muth-labben, A Psalm of David.

                “Muth-labben - What this phrase means is somewhat disputed, but it likely indicates either what the motivation for writing the Psalm was (in which case it probably means "the death of Labben" or "the death of the son" or "the death of the fool") OR how the psalm was to be sung (in which case it probably denotes a specific musical instrument to be used for accompaniment, or an existing song whose tune was to be used.

Some (as in the New King James Version) associate the title with the phrase’The Death of the Son’, and apply that title as the ancient Chaldee version does: ‘Concerning the death of the Champion who went out between the camps,’ referring to Goliath. Perhaps David wrote this Psalm remembering the victory over Goliath from the advantage of many years since that triumph.”

David tells about the judgement of the Lord and how he shall judge the world in righteousness…

                “…the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgement.” (Psalms 9:7)

David also mentions that those who trust in the Lord will have his help…

                “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of troube.” (Psalms 9:9)

David goes on to say that “…they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” (Psalms 9:10)

                Those who put their trust in God will not be forsaken, or in other words will not be abandoned. If you put your trust in the Lord he will be a refuge for you in times of trouble. So that we can later “…rejoice in…salvation” (Psalms 9:14). However, those who forsake the Lord and put their trust in the Devil, who by the way WILL FORSAKE YOU, will be “…turned into hell…” (Psalms 9:17)

                David, in closing, asks the Lord to put the wicked people and nations “…in fear… that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” (Psalms 9:20). We can learn a lot from this, as the world falls apart around us, we can know that we are just men (human) we must obey our master, Lord and Savior.

Chapter 10: The Lord is King Forever and Ever

Because this Psalm has no title (in the middle of several Psalms that do), and because it shares some similar themes with Psalm 9, some have thought that it was originally the second half of Psalm 9. But many arguments of Bible Scholars have lead to this being really unknown.

David starts off by questioning the Lord;

                “Why standest thou afar off, Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?” (Psalms 10:1)
The answer is pretty simple, usually we don’t understand the workings of the Lord, but as we are reminded in the last chapter, the Lord is a refuge for those who trust him and he will not forsake them. See Psalms 9:9-10. Sometimes we just don’t fully understand things that happen in our short life, most people live to an average age of 75? 80? In the scheme of Eternity, that is nothing!

                David goes on to mention that the evil/wicked ones are “…full of cursing…deceit and fraud…” (Psalms 10:7)

                David asks the Lord in closing of this chapter to “…forget not the humble.” (Psalms 10:12) and to “Break… the arm of the wicked and evil man…” (Psalms 10:15). One thing we can know for sure is that the wicked will never prevail, those who trust in the Lord will be lifted up in the last day and given refuge.

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