Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

• “and Hagarites,” - They were the children of Hagar and her second husband after she was sent away from Abraham and Sarah. She was a step-grandmother of Israel. • “Gebalites” –They were either from a region south of the Dead Sea or a port city on the Mediter- ranean Sea north of modern Beirut, Lebanon. • “Ammonites,” – Ammon was the half-brother of Moab, their mothers were the daughters of Lot by incest. • “and Amalekites,” – Amalek and Ammon were neighbors to the southeast of Israel and their bit- terest enemies. • “and people from Philistia” – Philistia was west of Israel and were perpetual enemies of God’s people. • “and Tyre.” They had been the closest of Israel’s friends having helped them build the Temple in the days of Solomon. • “Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude” (8) Assyria was the rising world empire and their support for the invasion gave courage to the confederacy. The phrase, ‘descendants of Lot’ implies that Moab and Ammon were the leaders of the invasion.

III AS YOU DID TO THE MIDIANITES - 9-12

“Do to them as you did to the Midianites or as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River. They were destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.” (9, 10)

Two major battles of the period of the Judges are mentioned; Gideon’s fight with the Midianites and Deborah and Barak’s victory over Jabin and his general Sisera. The Bible says of Sisera: “Sisera, who had nine hundred iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.” (Jdg. 4:3) Debo- rah, the judge of Israel, went with the army as they attacked Sisera and God gave them a surprising vic- tory. The Kishon river was a small ‘wadi’ or stream that God used to drown the entire battalion of iron chariots like the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Deborah sang “The Kishon River swept them away–that an- cient river, the Kishon.” (Jdgs. 5:21

“Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna, for they said, ‘Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!” (11, 12)

Oreb (a raven), and Zeeb (a shadow), were the generals of the Midianites who bitterly oppressed Israel. Zebah and Zalmunna were their kings. Gideon attacked their vast army with a small group of 300 soldiers armed only with trumpets in one hand and lamps in the other. “When the three hundred Is- raelites blew their horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.” (Jdgs. 7:22) Gideon’s victory became the inspiration for Jahaziel and Jehoshaphat’s battle plan against their enemies: “At the moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir (Edom) to start fighting among themselves.” (2 Chron. 20:22) God does the ‘same thing’ in a ‘different way’ (Gideon-trumpets, Jehoshaphat-singing) in every generation. Asaph prays that his enemies will experience three frightening judgments from the Lord: • Tornadoes- “O my God, blow them away like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind!” (13) This is likely the violent, swirling winds that blow across the deserts of the Middle East. • Forest Fires- “As a fire roars through a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,…” (14) A raging forest fire can travel at tremendous speeds incinerating everything in its path. • Hurricanes- “…chase them with your fierce storms; terrify them with your tempests.” (15) These fierce storms destroy everything they encounter. There is a purpose to all this destruction as God does not chastise nations or people without a specific reason. Asaph (Jahaziel) emphasizes two lessons God wanted the nations to learn: 1. Submission- “Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O Lord.”(16) 2. Lordship- “Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Make them failures in everything they do, until they learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.” (17, 18) IV ALONE…THE MOST HIGH - 13-18

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