Psalms 97-98

Dear RTB’ers,

Another two psalms today… Hopefully you all have been reading the additional comments that John sends along every day. We noted in those comments from back in 2022 that we are in the midst of eight “Kingship” psalms, a groups of psalms praising the Lord God as King of all creation. Today’s reading reminds us of that from the very first verse, the first three words, “The Lord reigns…”. Then we see His majesty extolled in both psalms today as the psalmists tell us of the beauty and the power of the Lord in all creation. Yes, the Lord reigns!

I wondered yesterday, but didn’t comment on it (v. 96:13), what the Israelites from three millennia ago thought about the Lord’s coming: Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. (vv. 98:8-9) What sort of a “coming” did they expect? We post-Crucifixion, post-Resurrection Christians have some idea of what to expect of Jesus’ return, but that’s in part because we have seen what He had done when He was with us, plus we had His own words describing the Endtimes. But I wonder what those Israelites thought way back when…!

Blessings.

Fred

Psalms 95-96

Dear RTB’ers,

Two Psalms today, both of which are full of praise to the Lord, our King, our Maker. In Psalm 96 the author encourages the people to speak out! Tell the world of God’s salvation, of His glory, of His kingship: Sing to the LORD, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day. (v. 96:2) Also verses 3 and 10, Declare His glory among the nations… and Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns…”. Jesus, Himself, gave us all the same word: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20a) It’s not just His word, it’s also His command! Go…

Blessings.

---

See also:

• August 21 (2022) / Psalm 95
• August 22 (2022) / Psalm 96

Psalm 94

Dear RTB’ers,

I’m trying to imagine the time frame in which this Psalm was written. There’s a lot of “the wicked against the righteous”, including wickedness in the rulers writing the laws (Ps. 94:20). It strikes me as one or more of the many unrighteous kings after Rehoboam. The psalmist is simply seeking God’s justice against their evil deeds, and he feels their oppression particularly against those who are weakest – They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless… (v. 6a)

Three encouragements for us:

Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD…

Psalm 94:12a

For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will not abandon His heritage…

Psalm 94:14

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your comfort delights my soul.

Psalm 94:19 (NASB)

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? (Psalm 118:6) Rest. Relax. Enjoy.

Blessings.

---

See also:

• August 19 (2022) / Psalm 94:1-15
• August 20 (2022) / Psalm 94:16-23

Psalms 92-93

Dear RTB’ers,

The righteous flourish like the palm tree… They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright… (vv. 92:12a, 14-15a) I daresay that most of us reading in RTB together would count ourselves in (or nearing) that “old age” category to which the psalmist refers. When I look around in our church, I see many of our fellow parishioners in that category. And I see them flourishing, bearing fruit. Come to Avanza sometime. Look for a younger person among the tutors. Not many. Look at the many committees and teams at church – not a lot of younger people. We’re getting there, with more and more young couples and younger families. I’m doing Truth Seekers this coming Sunday; Carol is doing Godly Play. It’s what us “old age” people do, pouring ourselves into the lives of the young among us. We pray, O Lord, help us all to flourish!!

Blessings.

---

See also:

• August 17 (2022) / Psalm 92
• August 18 (2022) / Psalm 93

Psalm 91

Dear RTB’ers,

Today, a Psalm of God’s protection over those who seek Him. The psalmist lists dangers and difficulties from a variety of sources, including war, disease, pestilence, and animal attacks. STS has a sentence that speaks to the variety of these troubles: “The evils refer to all kinds of adversity, insidious and hidden, or open and visible, explicable or inexplicable.”

A couple of comments… The author uses all three pronoun cases in these sixteen verses. He begins in the first person in the first two verses; then switches to the second person in the next eleven verses; then closes in the third person in the final three verse. An unusual mix of pronouns for such a short Psalm.

Verse 12b struck me, literally: …lest you strike your foot against a stone. Just over a month ago I was coming out of a public swimming poos and stubbed my little toe on a decorative rock. I found myself limping for two full weeks – I even had it x-rayed, but nothing was broken. It still pains me slightly even today. Evidently I had not sought God’s promise of His angels protecting me against these cosmetic forces!

Finally, When he calls to Me, I will answer him… (v. 15a) I was immediately drawn to Jeremiah 33:3, God’s “phone number”: Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

I like the bird metaphor in Ps. 91:3-4. Have a great day under His wings.

Blessings.

---

See also: August 16 (2022) / Psalm 91.

Psalm 90

Dear RTB’ers,

Today starts almost two weeks in the Psalms, beginning with Psalm 90, the first psalm in Book 4 (of 5). The Psalm is ascribed to Moses, the only Psalm of the 150 that is directly ascribed to him. It’s not difficult to imagine Moses writing this Psalm during Israel’s wilderness wanderings. Much of the Psalm is bleak, dismal even. It speaks of God’s anger, His knowledge of even our “secret sins”, and our years of seventy or eighty being nothing …but toil and trouble… (v. 10b).

Moses’ mood changes beginning in verse 12, sounding almost repentant from here to the end of the Psalm, but still with an edge to previous misfortune. Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. (v. 14-15) Moses’ closing is one that we can all appreciate: Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (v. 17)

So, what work will your hands be doing today?

Blessings.

---

See also: August 15 (2022) / Psalm 90.

Nehemiah 13

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we finish Nehemiah – actually, Ezra-Nehemiah – and we leave the post-Exile Jews in an unfortunate condition that we have seen before. Nehemiah has returned to his Babylonian king, and having been gone for twelve years he comes back to find that his countrymen have again backslidden into their old ways.

The first (and biggest?) issue to Nehemiah was the high priest preparing a chamber for the outsider, Tobiah, the Ammonite. We remember Tobiah as one of those foreigners who tried to stop Nehemiah from building the wall. (See Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7; 6:1, 12, 14, 17-19) Nehemiah is livid; he throws out the household furniture and orders the chamber to be purified. Then he finds that the Levites have not been given their portions; that people were working and trading on the Sabbath; and that some Jews had married foreign women.

We shake our collective heads – won’t they ever learn! Then Jesus’ words echo in our ears: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7b)

Blessings.

---

See also: October 1 (2023) / Nehemiah 13; Psalm 92.

Nehemiah 12

Dear RTB’ers,

More listings, the dedication of the wall, and service at the temple. It’s hard to follow the wall dedication text, but my Study Bible suggested that the two groups assembled and began at the same point on the wall and went in opposite directions (one clockwise, the other counter-clockwise) and met at the temple.

David is mentioned six times in today’s reading, twice noted as “the man of God”. It’s amazing the honor that they accord him, even though he lived more than five centuries before their time. Interesting…

Blessings.

---

See also:

• September 25 (2023) / Nehemiah 11:1-12:30; Psalms 120-124
• September 26 (2023) / Psalms 125-134; Nehemiah 12:31-47

Nehemiah 11

Dear RTB’ers,

As we saw a few days ago, Jerusalem seems to be mostly uninhabited: And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. (v. 1b) To us, today, it might seem strange that people would rather live in the towns than in Jerusalem near the temple and the leaders. But then I tried to imagine their living situation. Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC – obliterated! The temple and the walls torn down and, presumably, houses ransacked and burned. Now we have read in Ezra and Nehemiah that the temple and the walls were rebuilt, but my sense is that most of the houses were still in ruins.

Look at what we see in Ukraine today – entire towns destroyed and peoples’ lives completely upended. Who would want to go back to that – unless there was a mass movement of people willing to rebuild. Again, imagine France or Germany after World War II. But there was, in fact, that mass movement of people in the late 1940’s and lives were rebuilt. It probably took decades, maybe centuries, but Jerusalem did rebuild, well before Jesus’ time.

But today in our reading Jerusalem is relatively uninhabited. And they had to cast lots to get “volunteers” to move back. Very strange to our way of thinking!!

Blessings.

---

See also: Carol’s comment on September 25(2023) / Nehemiah 11:1-12:30; Psalms 120-124.

Nehemiah 9:38-10:39

Dear RTB’ers,

Today’s details are striking – first, the names of those who signed the document, then the details of what the signers agreed to. It was a nice touch that Nehemiah also includes The rest of the people … who have knowledge and understanding… (v. 28)

As to the details…

• Separating themselves from the peoples of the land
• A curse and an oath to walk in God’s law
• Not to buy goods or grain on the Sabbath
• To forgo the crops on the seventh year
• To forego the exaction of every debt in the seventh year
• To give yearly to the service of the temple
• To cast lots for bringing wood offerings to the temple
• To bring ground and tree firstfruits to the temple
• To bring the firstborn of our sons, cattle, herds and flocks
• To bring the firstfruits of dough, wine and oil

All these latter items to the commitment that

We will not neglect the house of our God. (v. 39b)

So, how are we doing up against these Old Testament standards?

Blessings.