Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Psalm 97:2 NASB Righteousness and justice – Do you know the mystery of righteousness and justice? Oh, we’re familiar with the Hebrew words, no doubt. ṣĕdāqâ (righteousness) and mišpāṭ (justice—but a lot more than our idea) are words we have…
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. Psalm 121:8 NASB And forever – We reach the end of this short poem. The end is “forever,” an appropriate place to close our thoughts about God’s care. According to the poet, God is constantly watching over us (the metaphor…
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. Psalm 121:7 NASB You – I suppose there are two questions to be asked about this verse. The first is, “Who is the Lord going to protect from all evil?” Who’s “you”? The second is “When is God going to do this?” If we…
The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. Psalm 121:6 NASB Smite – I understand the connection to the sun. The Hebrew verb, nākâ (strike, hit, slay, beat, kill) makes perfect sense when you’re wandering the desert. But how does this apply to the moon? Never have I thought that the…
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. Psalm 121:5 NASB Shade – When you live in a desert climate, your greatest enemy is the sun. It withers the plants, kidnaps the dew, and scalds your skin. Perhaps that’s why Arabs wore heavy cloaks despite the heat. Better to be hot than fried. For this…
Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:4 NASB Keeps Israel – God watches over Israel. That’s basically the story of the Bible. The Bible is “God’s anthropology” (Heschel) where God’s dealing with anthropos (men) is narrated from the perspective of God’s interaction with Israel. That includes outreach to the nations,…
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Psalm 121:3 NASB Will not allow – Wouldn’t it be nice if the Psalmist’s claim were true? Wouldn’t it be marvelous if God really did this: not allowing our feet to slip? Oh, maybe you thought this only applied to the Messiah. …
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2 NASB Who made – Yesterday we discovered that God’s sovereign choice to create anything at all implies His ultimate concern and involvement with creation, and as such, creation is the continual unfolding of the purposes…
He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name. Psalm 111:9 NASB Forever – How long is forever? Ah, that might seem like a strange question, but the term lʿôlām doesn’t always mean what we think of as forever. Note two explanations: Forever does not always mean…
and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them. Exodus 1:14 NASB Bitter – The biblical world is a world intoxicated with God. Our usual subject-object dichotomy evaporates. We are no longer the neutral observers cataloging and…
