I liked the end of Psalm 91 because it's God talking. It's not David or someone telling us God loves us, but God himself (or the writer portraying God).
"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him,
and show him my salvation."
Psalm 91 and 95 both have God talking in the first person and I feel like when David writes, he doesn't do that. David seems to talk himself or share where he's at or what he knows about God. Maybe that's why they don't list the writer of these psalms. Anyone else have any thoughts about that?
I feel like David could have written Psalm 109 when he was being chased out of Jerusalem because of Absalom. I don't think the man he's talking about is Absalom, but maybe some of the other guys that drove him out. To some degree, David was wrongly accused or wrongly put out of the kingdom, and he says, "He wore cursing as a garment...may it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him."
What do you think, do you guys see any of that too or am I reading too much into it?
3 comments:
Hey Justin, wow, I never really looked at Psalms like that before. You are totally right, in Psalms 91, it isn't David telling a story, and it is God talking. I like that too. I find it encouraging that God loves us so much that he put that psalms in the bible so that we can hear him talking back to us in prayer. That's so awesome. Thanks for pointing that out.
Thanks for the shout out Justin! We sisters appreciate the encouragement and spurring on. We would def love to hear more from the brothers too. But would hope to hear from the other 40+ who have registered on this blog too. It's quite powerful and amazing to hear different perspectives or insights!
As for Psalm 109, it doesn't really seem as to whom it was written to. It seems like it was an appeal to God to deliver David from false accusers. This Psalm was a personal lament to God.
When you were referring to the wearing of cursing as a garment...and cloak wrapped about him. These were words used to portray an imagery. The imagery that is being expressed is that his enemies/accusers pronounced curses on others was their form of food and drink and clothing. It is referring that they live off or thrive by such cursing.
Another imagery is in Psalm 109:29 'my accusers will be clothes w/ disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
David refers to himself in vs 22-26 as one who is poor and needy; his heart is wounded within him. While the enemies lives by cursing, David lives with deep inward pain.
Well, this is just my thoughts on this particular psalm. Justin, thanks for seeking our views on it.
All scripture is God Breathed. David speaks the very words of Jesud at times when he is talking about his own struggles and pain. Ex: the scriptures that prophesy about Jesus are written as one of David's outpouring of his own suffering and pain. Many of David's words, mirror Jesus' inner thoughts and feelings about the pharisees and spiritual enemies he faced while here on Earth. Through David, a man after God's own heart and a literal Prophet of God, Jesus/ the Lord shares his intimate and personal prayers to God with us. Just because God doesn't speak in the first person does not mean he isn't speaking. We learn about God's heart and sense of rightness through David's prayers and through his contrite and broken heart over his sins because of their emotional impact on God. These are things I learned a long time ago in teen and campus ministry when studying out David and his significance in revealing God and Jesus' prophecy in OT. No Word of God fails to fullfill its purpose in good soil.
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