Monthly Archives: August 2020

Practice in Prophecy: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 4

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We have seen in Psalm 69 that it is psalm about both David and Jesus, and that there is both a symbol / type (David), and a fulfillment (Jesus), and the subjects are intertwined. It says of both that the prayer to the Lord by them was at an acceptable time. Have you done that? Have you sought the Lord at an acceptable time? Both men had to wait a while before receiving the kingdom, and we can see there is merit to waiting.

Don’t let me be overwhelmed, they say,

“14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.
Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15 Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,
Neither let the deep swallow me up.
Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me. Psa 69:14-15.

And “the pit,” what is that talking about?

The “pit” or something that you sink into and it swallows you, is a subject of many Scriptures.

“He keeps back his soul from the pit,
And his life from perishing by the sword.”
Job 33:18

It is clearly talking about death here. Again,

“Yes, his soul draws near to the pit,
And his life to the destroyers.”
Job 33:22

The same word above translated as a “pit” is in the WEB translated as “corruption,” in Job 17

“If I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’
To the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘my sister;’”
Job 17:14

Clearly it is talking about the death of our earthly body and its decay. Then there are passages which clearly associate “the pit”with Sheol (Hebrew) / Hades (Greek), that is to say the place of the dead. For instance in Psalm 30.

“Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol.
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.”
Psa 30:3

Psalm 30 is also a psalm of David and what is asked for in Psa 69:15 is viewed as accomplished here in Psa 30:3. Also here a more regular word for a pit is used, bor meaning a pit, or a cistern for collecting water. But wait! If Psalm 30 is about David then it says David did NOT go down to the pit!

But Peter says David did die!

“Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.”
Acts 2:29

Of course also the Old Testament records David’s death. So what is going on? Ah! Perhaps another Psalm in which David speaks in the first person of the Christ. In English we talk about “the pit of hell,” and there are some associations there.

“The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol,
Even all the nations that forget God.”
Psa 9:17

Clearly in Psalm 69 David and the Christ and the
righteous are in danger of death and the pit.

They are earnestly pleading for deliverance, even though Psalm 30 clearly says the Christ (!!??) is saved from death!

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 3

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It is easy to see in the gospels that the disciples were often very thick headed. Often like us, eh? There was much which they didn’t understand. Of Jesus death they understood nothing from the Scriptures, and even when Jesus explained it very clearly, it still didn’t pierce the void. Of the very simple parable of the sower, they had to have it explained to them. But we noticed last time an obscure passage in Psalm 69, and when Jesus shows his zeal for the Lord’s House, His disciples immediately understood, and they related it to Psalm 69. But I think of both Jesus and David when it says,

“10 When I wept and I fasted,
That was to my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.”
Psa 69:10-11

Jesus did literally weep over the hardness
of heart of the Jews

“41 When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.””
Lk 19:41-42

So also did David, especially of Saul’s enmity toward him, but perhaps not to the extent of Jesus. David was after all, only symbolic of Jesus, without that full majesty. And Jesus did indeed become the song of fools, even to this day

“Those who sit in the gate talk about me.
I am the song of the drunkards.” Psa 69:12

However the prayer of David and of Christ is to God, and their praise was to God. At the acceptable time.

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.
God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.”
Psa 69:13

There IS an ACCEPTABLE time. We do have to
WAIT sometimes!

Evidently David and Jesus asked at the right time, although often times you and I don’t. Then they both had to wait, and plead in anguish, and suffer before they were delivered. Abraham had to wait,

“13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, … 14 saying, “Most surely I will bless you, and I will surely multiply you.” 15 Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.”
Heb 6:13-15.

But first he had to wait of awhile. Everything worthwhile in life requires some waiting. Making money by getting compound interest has been described as a miracle. But you still have to wait until the interest is paid. You may want to see someone or do something, but you still have to wait for the right time. All of life requires some waiting. A successful famrer plants something, and then has to wait.

Wait until the coming of the Lord, James says,

“Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.”
Jas 5:7

There are plenty of lessons for us about enduring even unjust suffering from both David and Jesus in Psalm 69.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 2

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God will lead the humble

May they be ashamed, David says,

“6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Hosts.
Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.
Shame has covered my face.”
Psa 69:6-7.

He goes on to say, I have become a stranger to my own kin,

“I have become a stranger to my brothers,
An alien to my mother’s children.”
Psa 69:8

Now that was true of Jesus as we see in John chapter 7. Opposition to Jesus was increasing, so Jesus was staying in Galilee because the Jews in Jerusalem were wanting to kill Him (Jn 7:1), and the time was not yet right. Now the feast of Booths, or Tabernacles was coming. This was the time when the Jews for a while lived in temporary shelters (booths) as they did in the wilderness before conquering the land. Jesus brothers were were harassing Him about why He didn’t go to the feast, and show off His great works. For it says,

“For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.”
Jn 7:5.

As far as I know being “An alien to my mother’s children,” doesn’t really fit David at all. When David was in serious trouble with Saul and his army, it says,

“David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.”
1Sam 22:1

So David had some bitter enemies, but not as such among his brothers. But Jesus did, and Psa 69:8 really doesn’t fit David, the first person author, but it does fit Jesus. So here is further evidence of the future Messiah being the subject of this first-person psalm

“6   Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.” Jn 7:6-8.

And zeal for Your house has consumed Me

“For the zeal of your house consumes me.
The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”
Psa 69:9.

And when Jesus did the first cleansing of the temple in John 2, it says,

“His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”
Jn 2:17

Now notice here from the gospel of John what might be seen and look carefully. Psa 69:1-4 apply to both Jesus and David, and more especially to Jesus. Verse 4 applies especially to Jesus, and verse 5 about David’s sin applies only to David, and then 6-7 applies especially to Jesus, and then verse 9 especially applies to Jesus.

So here is more evidence of the main subject
being Jesus the Messiah,

All of this in what is another curiously written prophecy.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 1

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Save me Lord, David says, Psa 69:1.

A psalm of David. It is clear from the start of this psalm that the author is in a very bad way. I’ve just been overwhelmed Lord, things are just covering me up. I’ve been crying and waiting for God. And there are a bunch of men who hate me without cause. He says he is sinking in the mire. His feet are not on firm ground, and waters are flowing over him, Psa 69:2. He says he is worn out with crying. He throat is dray, and his eyes are failing him, Psa 69:3. Then he says,

“Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.
I have to restore what I didn’t take away.”
Psa 69:4.

He has more enemies than the hairs of my head! I think that would be hyperbole, exaggeration, when speaking of David. Not to say that he did not have many enemies, but more than the hairs of his head?

That last quote of course is referring to Jesus

Jesus is speaking in John 15 about the persecution which is coming on Him and His followers. He says He has come and spoken to them so that they would have no excuse. But now men have seen His works and have hated both Him and His Father. So He says,

“But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’” Jn 15:23.

That is a reference to Psalm 69:4. Here is the interesting thing. The psalm is about Jesus and it is also about David, and there is not a clear dividing line. Now Saul became the enemy of David without cause, when David was not a threat to him. But notice in the very next verse it is talking David and only about David, because he says …

“God, you know my foolishness.
My sins aren’t hidden from you.” Psa 69:5,

So Psa 69:5 is CLEARLY and ONLY
about David.

David, even as a prophet of God, is acknowledging his many sins, and he speaks about all of David’s foolishness. But you can’t say that of Jesus, because he was the one without sin.

“For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.” Heb 4:15.

Of course it says that in more than one place.

“You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and in him is no sin.”
1Jn 3:5

But Psa 69:4 could include both Jesus, and David.

This psalm is about both Jesus and David, and you have to look and think to realize what applies to which one. Would you have spotted the dual subjects by verse 5? Would you have even known there were dual subjects? How would you, could you?

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901