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Psalms 108-110     Listen Podcast

 

A familiar-looking Psalm (Psalm 108)

A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise You, O LORD, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth;
6 That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
7 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;
Judah is My lawgiver.
9 Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Over Philistia I will triumph.”
10 Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
12 Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
13 Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

Haven't we seen this Psalm by David somewhere before. Well, yeah, kind of. This whole Psalm is a compilation of parts of two other Psalms. Verses 1-5 are found in Psalm 57:7-11 (see notes) and verses 6-13 in Psalm 60:5-12 (see notes). David's looking for a little supernatural help against his enemies.

A comparison of Psalm 108 with Psalm 57 and Psalm 60
Psalms 108:1 O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
Psalms 108:2 Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
Psalms 108:3 I will praise You, O LORD, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
Psalms 108:4 For Your mercy is great above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the clouds.
Psalms 108:5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth;
Psalms 57:7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise.
Psalms 57:8 Awake, my glory!
Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
Psalms 57:9 I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
Psalms 57:10 For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,
And Your truth unto the clouds.
Psalms 57:11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
Psalms 108:6 That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
Psalms 108:7 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
Psalms 108:8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;
Judah is My lawgiver.
Psalms 108:9 Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Over Philistia I will triumph.”
Psalms 108:10 Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
Psalms 108:11 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
Psalms 108:12 Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
Psalms 108:13 Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
Psalms 60:5 That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
Psalms 60:6 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
Psalms 60:7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;
Judah is My lawgiver.
Psalms 60:8 Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”
Psalms 60:9 Who will bring me to the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
Psalms 60:10 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
Psalms 60:11 Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
Psalms 60:12 Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

The names and places referenced in this psalm allude to David’s successful battles found in II Samuel 8:1-14 (see notes); II Samuel 10:16 (see notes) and I Chronicles 18:1-13 (see notes). David makes the point that God is sovereign...and as such controls the destinies of Shechem, Succoth, Gilead, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Judah - geographical references that are representative of all the regions that made up the Nation of Israel during that era. Likewise, God is also sovereign over the nations, specifically referencing Moab, Edom, and Philistia.

David gets hard on his enemies (Psalm 109)

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
5 Thus they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
And let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few,
And let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the LORD,
That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the LORD’S reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.
21 But You, O GOD the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become a reproach to them;
When they look at me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O LORD my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, LORD, have done it!
28 Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth;
Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those who condemn him.

Did you ever look for a chapter you could read when your enemies were hard on your heels? David describes his enemies' pursuit against him in verses 1-5, and then he asks God for deliverance from them. Actually, he asks for more than deliverance; he actually prays the wrath of God down upon them in verses 6-20. David then asks for help from the Lord for himself in verses 21-31. You will notice in this Psalm that David expresses the importance of his enemies seeing the power of God in his own deliverance, particularly in verses 26-27, "Help me, O LORD my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy, That they may know that this is Your hand— That You, LORD, have done it!"

Incidentally, you will notice the word "accusers" in verses 4, 20 and 29. That's the plural form of the Hebrew word "satan." As a matter of fact, this Hebrew word's primary meaning is "adversary/accuser," but when preceded by a definite article in Hebrew, it is understood to be "the adversary/accuser" (aka Satan i.e. the devil himself). Therefore, the KJV translation of the singular form in verse 6 as "Satan" is really a reference to an unspecified "accuser" since the definite article is not present before the noun in that occurrence.

Here's the Psalm Peter quoted from in Acts 1:20 (see notes) regarding Judas. He quotes verse 8. Since this Psalm doesn't seem to have prophetic characteristics, Peter may have taken some liberty in its use in the upper room.

A fascinating Messianic Psalm (Psalm 110)

A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ The LORD said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
2 The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!
3 Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at Your right hand;
He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
6 He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall execute the heads of many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.

This Psalm is a New Testament cornerstone regarding the supernatural identity of Jesus Christ. It all gets really interesting when Christ uses this Psalm in Matthew 22:41-46 (see notes):

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” ¶ They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
44 “The LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
‘Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’ ”?
45 If David then calls Him “Lord,’ how is He his Son?”
46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Take special note of Psalm 110:4, "The LORD has sworn And will not relent, 'You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.'" This priesthood dates back to Genesis 14 (see notes). See the article to the right of this screen regarding Melchizedek or click here to see the article full screen. Peter then makes reference to this same Psalm 110:1 when he preaches on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:34-35 (see notes) when he said, "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'" Since his listeners all regard Psalm 110 to be a Messianic prophecy, here Peter clearly identifies Christ as that Messiah.

Paul then uses this Psalm to validate the position of Christ at the right hand of God in the following passages:

Paul, in Hebrews, continues this as a fact validated by Psalm 110 in Hebrews 1:3, 13 (see notes). He then further adds the concept of the high priesthood of Christ in Hebrews 5:6 (see notes); Hebrews 7:17, 21 (see notes); Hebrews 8:1 (see notes); Hebrews 10:12-13 (see notes) and Hebrews 12:2 (see notes). All of these quotes were attributed to these verses in Psalm 110. To express it simply, Jesus Christ fulfills Psalm 110.