40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Psalm 10 (Episode 401)

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

Chad and Daniel discuss Psalm 10. Have a listen! Show Notes: Support 1517 1517 Podcasts The 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 on Youtube What's New from 1517: Bible in One Year with Chad Bird Freedom Lessons Album Your God is too Glorious, 2nd Edition by Chad Bird Schweitzer's Psychoanalysis of Jesus Christ: & Other Essays in Christian Psychotherapy by John Warwick Montgomery NWA Conference May 3rd-4th More from the hosts: Daniel Emery Price Chad Bird

Welcome to the Psalm Companion for 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. The Psalm Companion and 40 Minutes in the Old Testament, of course, are 1517 Podcast Network podcasts. You can go to 1517.org slash podcast and check out all the things that we are doing over there. Chad, we are in Psalm number 10. We don't have no author on this one, so we don't get to— I think this is the first psalm that's not a Psalm of David in the book of Psalms. I think this is right? Yeah, I think so.

So is it possible it's a Psalm of David? I suppose. But we're not told that it is. and we were just chatting before how this one is funny a little bit that it's on the heels of one that we just did because the language is

the same but different yeah so in Psalm 9 verse 9 it says the Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed a stronghold in times of trouble which is great I mean that's a wonderful comfort to us I think we pointed that out when we

recorded the episode on that on that psalm so god is a stronghold in times of trouble now you get to psalm 10 verse verse why oh lord do you stand far away why do you hide yourself in times of trouble so which is it is god a stronghold for the oppressed in times of trouble or does god hide himself and stand far away in times of trouble well it kind of depends on where you're at right it's which one of these you're praying because there have been times when i pray quite uh boldly that god is my stronghold in times of trouble and there are other times when i cry out to god why why are you so far away from me why are you hiding yourself in my time of trouble and you know that's that's the that's the tension that we that we live in because

And we were also discussing before we start hit record that, you know, Job is kind of back and forth. At times he'll say, God, leave me alone. Let me die. Get away from me. And then at times he wants God close to him and wants God talking to him. So that is the reality of life in a world full of sin and suffering. You kind of do this dance back and forth between speaking of God as a stronghold in times of trouble and then speaking to God, why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Yeah, I mean, you know, God can't win with sinners. Sometimes he feels too close, and you want to be abandoned. You want to be left to despair, and he won't let you do it. and in other times he feels very far off. Now, the truth is, of course, I think that God is never really far off from those who trust him, but what is also simultaneously true is that God certainly feels far off in times of trouble quite often. Yeah, I mean, that's the tenor of Psalm 22 also.

After that opening verse that we all know, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? he goes on to talk about how why are you so far from me and and this time am i trouble you know why why when i need you close are you not there why am i feeling this just increasing separation between you and you and me goes on to verse two in arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised but the wicked boast of the desires of his soul and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the lord in the pride of his face literally that is uh in hebrew that's in his his high nose it's kind of this idea he's walking

around all snooty you know he's got a high hose going on high nose going on so in his high nose in the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him all his thoughts are there is no god you know stop there for a second so i think you know the way that the reason this starts out the way it is why you so far away god why are you hiding yourself in times of trouble is because of what he describes in verse two right that these wicked are hotly pursuing the poor poor here is not simply those who are economically disadvantaged but the hebrew word here is those who are lowly suffering it's used in all those all those sorts of way so in arrogant the wicked hotly pursue the poor let them be caught in their own schemes more or less uh this is i think we

already encountered this a couple different times in the psalms where they're you're you set a trap you're going to get caught in it and that's what he's asking for uh to happen here now verse four says all his thoughts are there is no god so i don't i don't think there is such a thing in anywhere in the scriptures of uh what today we might think of as philosophical atheism but there is practically practical atheism uh several different places in the psalms where people live as if there is no god in other words if there is not going to be any accountability for for what they do so they act as if god doesn't see act as if god doesn't care act as if god maybe even in fact is on their side even though they're practicing wickedness

but uh this phrase there is no god that's found a few other times uh in the scriptures and it's always used in such a way as to describe those who live in such a way speak in such a way act in such a way that there will be no accountability for their actions and they will get away scot-free with whatever they've done. Yeah, I mean, the idea here, I mean, that these people are hotly pursuing the poor. And as you were saying, don't just think poor people. Think of the powerless, right? Those with no one to represent them, no one to fight for them,

the lowly, the disenfranchised, whatever. All of those people would be kind of lumped into this of the poor. It's not just that they're not—I mean, one thing, if you were, you know, of course, in Scripture, you're told, like, look out for such people, to take care of such people. It's not just that you're not doing that. The complaint here is they're hotly pursuing them. It's like, I can't wait to take advantage of these people. I can't get there fast enough.

and this sort of activity would lead me to believe that I think that you think there is no God. Yes, yeah. And one of the reasons I think this, verse 5, his ways prosper at all times. So they're doing well, in other words. Not only are they pursuing the poor, but they're probably catching them.

They're getting what they want from them. They're taking advantage of widows and orphans and whoever else they can get something from. And it seems to be working. So their ways are prospering all the time. Yeah, this would go to some of what we've talked about in Job 2, where Job's friends are like, hey, man, good things happen to good people,

bad things happen to bad people, that's how it goes. And Job says, that's not how it goes, actually. This psalmist also says that's not how it goes. He says sometimes you have people hotly pursuing the lowly, and they don't even believe there's a God, because guess what? Nothing happens except for good things to them when they do it. yeah their ways prosper while their the judgments of god are on high out of his sight so in other

words god's god is making his judgments they just don't see him yet yeah they've not come yeah they will come but for now that they are they're hidden from those whose evil ways are prospering so if he sees as for all his foes he he scoffs at them he puffs at them uh the esv has translated that's a strange situation how do you puff at someone is that when is that when somebody like rebukes you and you go that is i suppose yeah yeah i i get the image you're like snorting at someone maybe uh something like that uh i've never puffed at anyone but that's what the esv has here so as for all his foes he uh i think new american standard has snorts but puffs at them he says in his heart i shall not be moved throughout all generations i shall not meet

adversity what uh kind of makes me smile when i see things like this is it's almost like this guy has to convince himself because twice he says in his heart verse 6 and verse 11 he says in his heart i shall not be moved throughout all generations i shall not meet adversity and then verse 11 he says in his heart god has forgotten he's hidden his face he will never see it so it's almost like ah me thinks that let's protest too much i i think you're you're really having to convince yourself of this uh quite a bit you keep saying to yourself i i'm okay god doesn't see you know he's hidden his face i'm i'm i'm gonna be all right i won't I'm not going to be an adversity.

I don't know that your assurance is all that strong if you have to keep saying this in your heart. Yes, yeah. You're trying to speak that into existence, I think. Yeah, that's right. That's right, yeah. So verse 7, his mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression.

Under his tongue, he's like hiding under his tongue mischief and iniquity. the psalms are full of uh just gripping imagery of uh the mouth the tongue the throat you know one psalm talking about their throats are an open grave they flatter with their tongue it's like james in the new testament of course his uh his imagery for the tongue and for the the speech the destructive speech that comes from from our mouths so the psalmist here is is talking about mischief and iniquity hiding under people's tongues and their mouths full of cursing deceit and oppression he sits in ambush in the villages in hiding places he murders the innocent

there you go they don't just hotly pursue the afflicted they catch them and they're actually taking their lives his eyes stealthily watch for the helpless he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket he lurks that he may seize the poor and when he seizes the poor he draws them into his net the helpless well they're crushed they sink down they fall by his might and then we have the verse i just quoted he says in his heart god is forgotten he's hidden his face he will never see it yeah i gotta tell you if you're doing bad dudes if you're doing all this uh you might have to like really try to convince yourself of that you're not talking about you know kind of what i was talking about earlier you're not talking about just like i don't

know if i've treated the poor the way that i'm supposed to not like some like sins of omission but like he's just a big time sins of commission right here man like yeah it wasn't like i i should not have just walked by that homeless guy i really should have you know given him a dollar no this is like you stop you beat up the homeless guy you slit his throat and you took whatever you know change was in his pocket that's what's going on here yeah these guys uh man yeah the The language, you describe what they're doing, and you're like, you might have to do some pretty heavy self-convincing, like, nothing bad's going to happen to me for doing, like, you better be hoping there's not a God. Because this all seems like, yeah, I mean, this is all plotting and scheming, and, you know, this is, you are, I mean, hotly pursuing, is I suppose the correct way to say it. Like, wow, you're really aggressively doing this day in and day out.

Yeah, better for you if there was no God, probably. Yes, for sure. So having described all that, what these guys are doing, verse 12, shift to prayer and says, arise. So wake up, get up, God, lift up your hand and forget not the afflicted. why so why does the wicked renounce god and say in his heart you will not call to account but you do see or you note mischief and vexation that you may take it into into your hands so the wicked are saying you will not call to account why are they saying that well they're saying it

because like he said earlier god judgments are on high hidden out of his sight uh but god will not forget the afflicted and he's going to lift up his hand and you know when god lifts up his hands that can be good because sometimes with his hand he delivers us but sometimes when god lifts up his hands it looks like someone ran back for a big old slap well sometimes when god lifts up his hands he's going to break your arm which is uh what you're going to get verse 15 right so so god uh god notes this mischief and this vexation uh and uh the helpless to you the helpless commits himself you've been the helper of the fatherless and because of all that yeah when god lifts up his hand here's what he's going to do he's going to break the arm of the wicked

and the evildoer call his wickedness to account till you till you find none so some people are troubled by uh by the imagery of the psalms you know like breaking people's teeth and breaking their breaking their arms and and all of that i think well first of all you got to remember this poetry and poetry always uh leans toward the uh the exaggerated i mean the hyperbole that's just the way that that poetry works and also i mean when you're when you think about the arm in the bible uh think about people's power yeah that's what the arm is a symbol of so i mean it's we still use that kind of language at times at times today where the arm becomes a symbol for for strength or something um so when we break the when we ask god to break the arm of the wicked

and the evildoer we're doing nothing more than saying break the power of the abusive powerful is what we're praying for so act in such a way as to make sure that those who are engaged in these atrocious evil actions cannot do them cannot do them anymore so i'm not asking god to like go all mafia and send people to the emergency room we're asking him to uh to incapacitate them in the sense of make them unable to continue to do the evil that they have been engaged in up to this point yeah and i think that if you're wondering like who these people are i think this tells you exactly who it is like it's to you the helpless commits himself so like what is meant by the poor the helpless right and uh you've been the helper the fatherless so this would be you know orphans

widows like this sort of thing um people who are helpless by the way uh committing yourself to god is a great place to commit yourself. And it's a good place to do that because in times past, God has proven that he is the helper of the fatherless. So you kind of have this thing going on where the psalmist is saying, the helpless have committed themselves to you because you have proven to be the helper of the fatherless. So you're the only one that's going to be able to do this.

They've got nowhere else to go. yeah and he has a long history of doing this of course even though yeah some time may pass before he acts now he does not forget the cry of the afflicted forever as i think we talked about in in in uh psalm 9 he will act and when he does then he will act for those who have committed or even you could even translate that abandon themselves to him it's the idea of just kind of falling into the arms of uh arms of god and then he finishes off 16 through 18 the lord is king forever and ever the nations perish from his land oh lord you hear the desire of the afflicted you will strengthen their heart you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the

oppressed so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more so god is king and he sees what's happening in his realm and because of that he's going to act on behalf of those who have committed themselves to him he's going to strengthen their heart he's going to listen to their cries and in the end he will bring about justice for the oppressed for the fatherless and for for the suffering uh and how he does this is going to of course vary from situation to situation but certainly when you read psalms like this uh in light of the of the end then yeah definitely god is going to bring justice at the at the end uh but he but he he acts even in our uh in our in history to do this as well uh in which he thwarts the evil ways of those who are taking advantage

into the powerless. Yeah. All right, man. Well, there it is. There is Psalm number 10. We'll be back with another Psalm chat. I'll see you then.