{"id":8587,"date":"2023-11-21T09:49:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T15:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=8587"},"modified":"2023-11-21T09:49:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T15:49:26","slug":"psalm-140","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=8587","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 140"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

1 <\/span>Deliver me, O Lord<\/span>, from evil men;<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nPreserve me from violent men,<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

2 <\/sup>Who plan evil things in their hearts;<\/span><\/em>
\nThey continually gather together for war.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

3 <\/sup>They sharpen their tongues like a serpent;<\/span><\/em>
\nThe poison of asps is under their lips. Selah<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

4\u00a0<\/sup>Keep me, O Lord<\/span>, from the hands of the wicked;<\/span><\/em>
\nPreserve me from violent men,<\/span><\/em>
\nWho have purposed to make my steps stumble.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

5 <\/sup>The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords;<\/span><\/em>
\nThey have spread a net by the wayside;<\/span><\/em>
\nThey have set traps for me. Selah<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup>I said to the Lord<\/span>: \u201cYou are my God;<\/span><\/em>
\nHear the voice of my supplications, O Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

7 <\/sup>O God<\/span> the Lord, the strength of my salvation,<\/span><\/em>
\nYou have covered my head in the day of battle.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

8 <\/sup>Do not grant, O Lord<\/span>, the desires of the wicked;<\/span><\/em>
\nDo not further his wicked scheme,<\/span><\/em>
\nLest they be exalted. Selah<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

9\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cAs for the head of those who surround me,<\/span><\/em>
\nLet the evil of their lips cover them;<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

10 <\/sup>Let burning coals fall upon them;<\/span><\/em>
\nLet them be cast into the fire,<\/span><\/em>
\nInto deep pits, that they rise not up again.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

11 <\/sup>Let not a slanderer be established in the earth;<\/span><\/em>
\nLet evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>I know that the Lord<\/span> will maintain<\/span><\/em>
\nThe cause of the afflicted,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd justice for the poor.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

13 <\/sup>Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name;<\/span><\/em>
\nThe upright shall dwell in Your presence.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

A Paradigm of Prayer when Oppressed by the Wicked \u2014 Imploring God’s Protection (vs.1-7). David’s petition that God preserve him from violent men might seem strange at best, if not outright hypocritical, seeing that he himself was a quite violent man; the crucial difference, however, is that the term here translated “violent” specifically signifies violence characterized by wickedness. [The Hebrew word is] hamasim<\/em>, the plural (here used for emphasis) of hamas … <\/em>The men whom David has in view here, though unspecified, includes both Israelites as well as Gentiles, as indicated by the citation of v.3b in Romans 3:13<\/span><\/a> to underscore the notion that “both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” \u2014 Wechsler, page 336.<\/span><\/p>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Paradigm of Prayer when Oppressed by the Wicked \u2014 Exhorting God’s Justice (vs.8-11). David appeals to God not to grant the desires of the wicked … lest they be exalted (or “become lofty\/high”), not only so that the wicked themselves are not exalted (since exaltation properly belongs only to God and the righteous who walk in His ways), but also so that wickedness in general is not promoted and rendered more alluring to others as a means of attaining exaltation. Insofar as the phraseology of this statement also hearkens back to the account of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9<\/span><\/a>)\u2014the goal of which was to erect a tower reaching high “into heaven” as a monument to human independence from God\u2014one may also infer the additional, restorative<\/em> motivation from David’s appeal that by preventing the wicked from fulfilling their ungodly desires they might be dissuaded from continuing to pursue such and turn instead to pursuing the things of God. \u2014 Wechsler, page 337.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have so say I see little evidence for Wechsler’s interpretation in verses 8-11. It seems to me to be a straightforward call for justice. I posted it because I’m willing to be wrong.<\/p>\n

A Paradigm of Prayer when Oppressed by the Wicked \u2014 Affirming God’s Victory (vs.12-13). As typically in David’s psalms of lament, complaint, imprecation, and petition, he ends on a positive, confident note, characterized not by a look back<\/em> at what God has done to resolve his situation (which in several instances, as in that reflected in Psalm 142, remains unresolved for some time afterward), but rather by a look forward<\/em> to what God will do\u2014if not in this life, then unquestionably in the next, when the upright will dwell in God’s presence (v.13b). \u2014 Wechsler, page 337.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams’ take:<\/p>\n

Messiah when on earth suffered the hatred foretold in verses 1-5. The Gospels record the mischiefs (v.2), the hostility (v.2), the stinging slanders (v.3), the cruelty (v.4) and the snares planned in secret and skillfully set in public (v.5) in order to cause him to swerve from the Law of Moses (v.4). …<\/span><\/p>\n

The Divine protection sheltering Messiah’s head (v.7) contrasts with the mischief that is to overwhelm the head of His enemies (v.9).<\/span><\/p>\n

The future tense is used in the original text in verses 9-11. These verses predict that the evils planned by the False Messiah and the False Prophet shall fall upon their own heads as burning coals; that they shall be cast into the fire of the bottomless pit; that they shall be eternally shut up there-in; that they shall have no place in the redeemed earth; and that the Divine wrath shall pursue them to their destruction. Their followers will share their doom. The glorious predictions of verses 12 and 13 will also be fulfilled by the same faithfulness that will judge the oppressor. \u2014 Williams, pages 409-410.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again I think this Psalm can be read was a paradigm of prayer for believers (Wechler’s view) or as the prayer of the Messiah (Williams’ view).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men, 2 Who plan evil things in their hearts; They continually gather together for war. 3 They sharpen their tongues … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8589,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587\/revisions\/8589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}