Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

This event took place in the town of Gibeah where Saul had his fortress. In an earlier generation a horrible crime had taken place there that shocked the nation. A Levite and his concubine (purchased wife) were traveling and had to spend the night in the city and were welcomed into the home of an old man and his daughter. The Bible relates: “…some of the wicked men in the town surrounded the house. They began beating at the door and shouting to the old man, ‘Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him.’” (Judges 19:22) The traveler gave these wicked people his concubine and they raped her all night until she died. He cut her body into twelve pieces and sent them to each of the twelve tribes of Israel who attacked the city and avenged the evil action. The same murderous spirit is residing in the hearts of these soldiers as they are waiting to kill David. They are fulfilling the sins of the past generations. David calls upon the accumulation of the divine names of God as he is extremely scared. He draws upon everything he knows about the Lord to help him in this difficult moment. The Tri-une God, fully re- vealed by the New Testament, is hinted at in this Old Testament passage. • “Lord” = Yahweh; The ‘I AM THAT I AM’ who reveals himself as the one who becomes whatever we need him to be in our lives. • “God Almighty” = Elohim Sabaoth; The ‘GOD OF ARMIES’, who has legions of angels waiting to defend us and fulfill his will. • “The God of Israel” = Elohi Israel; The ‘GOD OF THE COVENANT PEOPLE’, who has sworn to protect and love his people forever. David’s prayer is not just against the criminals of Saul, but also against entire nations. ‘He sees in the local evil the universal, and looks for his own deliverance as part of the world-wide operation of justice 1 .’ He sees his life as representative of the goodness of Christ eventually triumphing over evil. “O Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, rise up to punish hostile nations. Show no mercy to wicked traitors. Interlude (Selah)” (5)

II GOD REIGNS IN ISRAEL - 6-13

“They come at night, snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl the streets. Listen to the filth that comes from their mouths, the piercing swords that fly from their lips. ‘ Who can hurt us? ‘they sneer.”(6,7)

The soldiers are like a pack of wild dogs prowling the city night after night seeking David’s life. It is interesting that Saul would not kill David in his own house, he had to be brought outside. Christ had to be brought outside the ‘house’ of David, (the Jewish people) and handed over to the dogs (Gentiles) to be crucified. In New Testament times Paul warns the Philippian believers to be careful of the circumcised believers who insist that the physical act of circumcision saves you rather than a total trust in Christ: “Watch out for those dogs, those wicked men and their evil deeds, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly cir- cumcised…we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.” (Phil. 3:2,3)

Any one trying to separate us from the grace of God is a ‘prowling dog’ according to scripture. True wor- ship cuts away the carnal nature and allows us to commune with God.

“But Lord, you laugh at them. You scoff at all the hostile nations. You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me, for you, O God, are my place of safety. In his unfailing love, my God will come and help me. He will let me look down in triumph on all my enemies.” (8-10) David’s prayer includes all of his enemies, foreign and domestic. It is not only against the unbeliever but the Israelite who is heathen-minded and does not live according to God’s ways. Delitzsch translates verse 10 as “my gracious God will anticipate me with his mercy 2 …” God has already prepared the nec- essary amount of mercy to meet the difficult times we will face in the future!

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