Psalms 19
1 For the end, a Psalm by David.
2 May the Lord listen to you in the day of affliction,
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
3 May he send out to you aid from the holy place
and may he help you from Zion.
4 May he remember your every sacrifice
and let him cherish your whole burnt offering.
διάψαλμα (musical interlude)
5 May he give to you according to your heart
and may he fulfill your every plan.
6 We will rejoice in your salvation
and we will be magnified in the name of our God.
May the Lord fulfill all of your requests.
7 Now I knew that the Lord delivered his anointed one;
He will listen to him from his holy heaven;
The salvation of his right hand is in acts of domination.
8 These people are magnified on chariots and these people are magnified on horses,
but we will be magnified in the name of the Lord our God.
9 They were bound at the feet and fell,
But we rose and were straightened up.
10 O Lord, deliver your king
and listen to us in the day we may call on you.
Today is February 8th. Happy International Septuagint Day!
We’ve been exploring the language of the Greek Psalms where the heading contains Εἰς τὸ τέλος (For the end) to see if they are truly eschatological in nature and in their language. Do these Psalms point to Jesus? Do they contain elements of the end time (from the arrival of Jesus to his return)? How would the authors of the New Testament have seen these Psalms? Did our early Christian ancestors point to these Psalms to prove that Jesus was foretold on the Old Testament? Did they point to God’s salvation in the end-times? Did they see these Psalms as both dealing with King David and dealing with Jesus? In their minds, were these Psalms pertaining to David back then, but pertaining to Christ now?
We will take a look at verses 7-10 of this Psalm.
7 Now I knew that the Lord delivered his anointed one;
He will listen to him from his holy heaven;
The salvation of his right hand is in acts of domination.
The word “delivered” could also be translated as "saved" and “anointed one” could be transliterated as “Christ”, which is how Χριστός is handled throughout the English tradition of the New Testament. Also, “acts of domination” can be translated as “mighty acts”. In other words, this line could testify that “God’s mighty acts demonstrate how his salvation takes place”.
Our question is this; “If this pertains to Jesus, in what way could God have delivered him? In what way will he listen to him from heaven? What were the ‘mighty acts’ that shows his ‘salvation’?”
First and foremost, if this passage is dealing with Jesus in the eyes of the New Testament authors, then it would have to be in his resurrection! So, in raising Jesus from the dead, God shows salvation of the dead can be obtained because of the mighty acts he performed to raise Jesus from the dead. In other words, God’s mighty acts will best death every time and in every way! It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 15:54-55.
54 ὅταν δὲ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσηται ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσηται ἀθανασίαν, τότε γενήσεται ὁ λόγος ὁ γεγραμμένος·
κατεπόθη ὁ θάνατος εἰς νῖκος.
55 ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ νῖκος;
ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ κέντρον;
54 Now when this perishable puts on un-perishable and this mortality puts on immortality, then the saying that was written will come true;
“Death was swallowed up in victory.
Where, O Death, is your victory?
Where, O Death, is your sting?”
Powerful acts!
As far as what God listened to from the Anointed One/Christ, that will be next week! Stay tuned!
8 These people are magnified on chariots and these people are magnified on horses,
but we will be magnified in the name of the Lord our God.
9 They were bound at the feet and fell,
But we rose and were straightened up.
10 O Lord, deliver your king
and listen to us in the day we may call on you.
These last verses describe how mere human beings see themselves. Humans think they are “magnified” in what they do, or what they have. Here, horses and chariots “magnify” “these people”, but “We”, Christians, are magnified in the name of the Lord our God!
In God’s wrath, these mighty men on chariots and horses will find themselves with their feet bound and thus, they fall. A shadow of what is coming for the ungodly. But, how will God’s people be found?
The second line of verse 9 can be translated as:
But we were resurrected and were straightened up.
We were dead, but now we are not. We were bent down, but now we stand straight! In the same “mighty acts” that raised Jesus from the dead, we too will be raised from the dead and set upright. We will stand up straight!
“Death was swallowed up in victory.
Where, O Death, is your victory?
Where, O Death, is your sting?”
Did the New Testament Christians see it this way? Can we see it this way? Is God’s salvation demonstrated in his mighty acts? Of course it is!
10 O Lord, deliver your king
and listen to us in the day we may call on you.
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