“God’s word is His presence, when delivered in a true setting.”

by James B. Jordan. Biblical Horizons No. 245

“And hearkened Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,
and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest,
and all the remnant of the people,
to the voice of Yahweh their God,
and to the words of Haggai the prophet,
just as Yahweh their God had sent him;
and the people feared the presence of Yahweh.
“Then Haggai, the messenger of Yahweh, said
in a message of Yahweh to the people,
saying,
“I am with you — a statement of Yahweh.”
And Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel
son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest,
and the spirit of all the remnant of the people;
and they came and did work on the house of
Yahweh of Armies, their God,
on the twenty-fourth day
of the sixth month,
in the second year of King Darius.

(Haggai 1:12-15)

While it makes for a bit of an awkward English sentence, it is important to see that the first word in verse 12 is “hearkened.” The obedience is instantaneous. We read at the end of the verse that the people feared, or respected, the presence of Yahweh, which in this case means the words of Haggai.

God’s word is His presence, when delivered in a true setting. God had placed his “Name” in the Temple built by Solomon: “My Name shall be there” (1 Kings 8:29). When carried to Babylon, the Levites asked “How can we sing Yahweh’s song in a strange land”; how can we sing the Temple psalms away from the Name in the Temple? (Psalm 137:4). In Psalm 138:2 David gives an answer:

I bow down to Your holy temple,
And I give thanks to Your Name,
For Your lovingkindness and for Your faithfulness,
Because You have magnified Your Word over all Your Name.

Indeed, as David continues in Psalm 139:8, “If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.” Wherever God’s Word is, His Name-Presence is.

In verse 13, Haggai is called “the messenger of Yahweh.” This is the same word as “Malachi,” My Messenger. It is also the word translated “angel” when referring to spirit-beings. In Genesis 28:12 Jacob saw angels moving between heaven and earth. Similarly, God’s prophets are consulted by Him and carry His words to earth (Amos 3:7; 7:1-8; Genesis 20:7; 18:20-33). In Acts 6:15 the Jews saw the face of Stephen as the face of an angel, which means that when they killed him they were killing God’s messenger, killing the manifestation of God’s very presence in their midst. The Jews should have “feared” the Lord through Stephen as their forefathers had feared Yahweh through Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger/angel.

In verse 9 the “statement of Yahweh” had been one of judgment, but now in verse 13 it is one of blessing. “I am with you” is Immanuel, God With Us, God’s presence among us.

Verse 14 tells us that “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” the Temple is built (Zechariah 4:6). In Zechariah this is the message to Zerubbabel the Davidic Temple-builder. Here it is a blessing to all the people. Interestingly, in Exodus 31 :3ff. it is only Bezalel and some associates of his who are filled with the Spirit to build the Tabernacle. Now in this more glorious time it is all the people who are stirred by the Spirit.

What does this mean for us today? We should consider that before Solomon built the first physical Temple in Jerusalem, a generation earlier David had set up a temple of psalmody around the house(s) of God. (Ark and Tabernacle were separate at this time.) God was enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Those praises were the psalms.

Uh, yes. The psalms.

In heaven, right now, Jesus is singing the psalms to God the Father. He is not singing metrical paraphrases. He is “chanting” the psalms as they are written.

The gift of tongues is given to the Church to enable us to translate the Bible into all languages, improving those languages over time. We can chant the psalms in English or in any other language in union with Jesus.

So-called “metrical psalms” are fine as sermons based on the psalms, but they are not psalms. You have to be a in a strange mental state to think that they are the same as actual psalms. Anybody with half a brain can tell that they are not.

So, if God’s true temple is a house of music, where is it today? I attended Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and also Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pemisylvania. There was chapel every day. Not once was there any psalm singing. And these places advertised themselves as conservative and orthodox! (Which is some ways they were, but not at this point.) Historically, chanting the psalms along with Jesus has been central to Christian worship. In historic monasteries, all 150 psalms are sung every week!

So Haggai asks us: Is now the time for you to have your 35-inch flat-screen television and your microwave, while the house of God is lifeless and desolate? Do you not care about all the suffering Christians around the world who need you to stand before God during the Lord’s Day and chant the psalms, especially the imprecatory ones? Should you not be building the house of God, that house of prayer and psalms?

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“Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.”
(Genesis 9:6)

James Jordan’s contribution to the study of any particular book of the Bible is invaluable, but the most important is very likely his work on Genesis. Because spineless modern theologians are unwilling to stand for its complete veracity, and yet very willing to jettison basic logic, they often miss the significance of its early chapters for the rest of the Bible and of history.

The themes of the early chapters of Genesis are brief and tightly bundled, and all subsequent Scripture unpacks them in greater and greater ways. When the issue of capital punishment is brought up, the Church rightly looks first to the New Testament, then to the Old, but rarely gets as far as Genesis. To answer the question from the Bible, one must first ask what a human is, what death is, and what a sword is. The problem for most Christians who take their theological lead from western culture rather than God is that the humans, the death and the sword in Genesis 3 are not historical events but ideological symbols.

In a recent online discussion with some atheists, I mentioned that my biblical worldview determined my answers to some crucial questions. If one believes the Bible, then one believes that the killing of unborn infants and of old people is wrong, but the killing of animals for food and of murderers to atone for their crime is right. Of course, there was the usual response of “the sanctimony of hell.” The response to my view on capital punishment? “How can you reconcile such a view with your beliefs?”

It amazes me how secularists think their moral code is the obvious conclusion to come to. I’d call it abject stupidity but it’s the result of years of evil in universities and legislative bodies. For our youth, it is the darkness of intellectual slavery. We are now at the point where good is evil and evil is good. Subsidize sin at home and abroad with public money, and ridicule or demonize our best and most faithful citizens. Pander to murderers and hack the unborn to pieces. And enforce this demonic “moral code” on society through unjust laws, manipulation, deceit, fraud, intimidation and eloquent speeches.

Jordan observes that Noah was the first man to be given the authority to kill another man. Moderns see this as an isolated fact (well, an isolated mythical fact), but it is a fact that is part of a process. The Testing of Adam was designed to bring him to the point of judicial maturity. He was given the Law not merely that he might not be a lawbreaker, but that he might become the Law, and execute lawbreakers. Who was the lawbreaker? The serpent, who intended to use the Law to bring about the deaths of Adam and his wife. As Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning.”

Adam was to judge the serpent, perhaps to crush its head. He would have brought death into the world through his faith and righteousness, rather than through his faithless unrighteousness. This judgment and death were part of God’s plan. Adam was to judge between ethical light and ethical darkness, and mortify sin in his own members and those of his household by dismembering the serpent. (The Lord does take off its legs in a limited way, just as the curses upon Adam are limited.)

So, instead of going boldly from the Garden with flaming sword in hand as God’s representative, Adam was cast out of the Garden, and kept out by the sword. As we have discussed elsewhere, he was under the sword in chapter 2 but intended to be over the sword in chapter 3 as a minister of God, with the heavenly government of the angels upon his shoulders. We see the same thing in Israel, where the new nation is under the angelic sword at Passover, but wielding the angelic sword upon Jericho. It is a process of judicial maturity. The process of Israel’s maturity was intended to lead to an entire state of self-governing people, an entire nation of judges, of elohim. Instead, we have the book of Judges, with only its twelve stars.

The murder of Abel by Cain led to the “ministry of murder” of Lamech, and then a world filled with violence. This is often assumed to be anarchy but it was more likely a kingdom without mercy, a barbarism-by-law. The same manipulation of the law as a weapon against the weak was evident in the Pharisees and Herods, and is alive and well today. The curse of death was always intended to be transferred from the hand of the angels to the hands of men, but faithful, merciful men — men like Noah, the first judge, the first true “image of God.”

All saints have been under the sword in Christ. Our hearts are circumcised, and we have been slain and resurrected ethically in Him. We are to judge rightly in all our dealings because we will one day judge angels, as Adam was supposed to, and our better Adam did. In the Church, it is excommunication ministered with mercy, that serpents might be crushed. In the State, it is execution administered with mercy, that serpents might not gain members and become dragons. [1]

We also mortify the sin in our members that God might mortify sin in the hearts of others. The Word of God in our mouths is a sword that brings life to some and death to others. But there is another death in the hand of every saint, one that we fail to identify as a weapon, and that is our own martyrdom, the witness of Abel. This too is a sword to be wielded.

As the canker devours western culture, we will be called upon to take a stand. Real pressure is mounting not on the issue of same sex marriage but on the right of the Church to speak against it and reject it, discerning between light and darkness. The saints have a weapon that the opposition does not even suspect, and that is the willingness to make this “a hill to die on.” Communism was a real threat because its true believers were often willing to die for their cause. This is not the case with same sex marriage. The persecution of our society’s best citizens has already begun but the fight will not be long. Our opponents are not willing to die for their cause. They hide behind twisted legislation, as did the Pharisees and all their children throughout Church history.

The curse of death is ours to use as a weapon, just as Jesus did. When a dragon dismembers the Church, the Church multiplies its members. Jesus’ death means martyrdom is the pruning of a fruitful tree. This is Satan’s worst nightmare.

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20)

The willingness of saints to suffer and die always brings the sword of the cherubim down upon God’s enemies and divides them, then the fire of the seraphim upon them to consume them. [2] It is the ministry of the two angels at the gate. But under the New Covenant there is a third element. As the body of Christ, with the testimony of the apostles, this “sacrifice” is now achieved through the government of heavenly men upon earth: cherubim (knife) and seraphim (fire) in the hand of the elohim.

_____________________________________
[1] See Serpents and Dragons.
[2] See Snakes and Chains. A government that promised to pass legislation for same sex marriage in Australia has been divided and consumed… for now.

Jon Ericson asked this question on the Biblical Hermeneutics site:

To what extent is Psalm 51:4 poetic exaggeration?

The context of Psalm 51 is clear:

To the choirmaster. A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

These events are described in 2nd Samuel 11–12. In summary, David essentially murdered Uriah the Hittite in order to cover up an affair with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. So this verse causes me trouble:

Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
—Psalm 51:4 (ESV)

David did sin against God, but it seems a stretch to say that he sinned against God only. Surely he sinned against at least Uriah, the soldiers who died with him (and their families), Bathsheba, his current wives, and even his unborn child. In addition, he probably sinned against Joab too by abusing his authority to settle a personal matter.

The logical connector “so that” seems out of place. Whatever connection there might be between a person sinning against God and God being blameless in judgment, I can’t see how justice could be the purpose or explanation of sin.

Is there some way to understand this Psalm that resolves this conundrum? What am I missing?

The best answer (I believe) comes from Qoheleth-Tech:

Not a Hyperbolic Expression

The Text of Psalm 51:4:

לְךָ לְבַדְּךָ ׀ חָטָאתִי וְהָרַע בְּעֵינֶיךָ עָשִׂיתִי
לְמַעַן תִּצְדַּק בְּדָבְרֶךָ תִּזְכֶּה בְשָׁפְטֶֽךָ׃

Explanation

1) “Against you alone” (לְךָ לְבַדְּךָ): This is a prayer of David for repentance (a penitential psalm), and while he sinned against many others in the affair with Bathsheba, this is just not where he handles them (possible reasons are many). He says it is “in your [God's] eyes [בְּעֵינֶיךָ] that I have done this” , further indicating that this is a personal prayer (which was later set to music). Interestingly, having looked at most of the “so that” (לְמַעַן ) phrases in the canon to this point, I found at least two where a sin condition was “so that” God would be glorified; and both are instances where enemies are hardened or defeated (Ex.10:1, Dt.2:30). If anything can be drawn from that syntactical similarity, it would be that David see himself who has been completely undone, so that God can be shown victorious (LXX) in his judgements. In any case, this is how he uses the preposition “so that” (לְמַעַן).

2) We should not read the verse with an emphasis on purpose as if David’s purpose in sinning was so God would be glorified (cf. Rom.3:5-8). Rather, it is the second part of the verse which dictates the first: it was all against Him alone, “(so) that” God will be victorious. The purpose of this verse in the Psalm is to declare that God will be victorious/justified in His judgement of David’s sins. The second line of the verse is the point. In this sense, it is the purpose of the preceding verse. To understand this better, read the second line first. Try and think of it again with the second line first.

Interpretation

In this penitential prayer, there is no sin to be reserved, as if it was not against God, it was all against God. Every bit of it. God is just in judgement in all of it. The same portion against Uriah, was also against God. David must answer to God above all.

Likewise (as is evident in this Psalm) when God pardons David’s sins, he washes away all of David’s sins – there is no sacrifice to Bathsheba. David’s forgiveness was entirely with God. Whatever else was needed for the personal restoration/reconciliation with those against whom he sinned would also be in primary obedience to God.

For the tools to make sense of the parsing below, get the Bible Matrix books. Book 1 describes the sevenfold Creation pattern. Book 2 describes the fivefold Covenant pattern from which the sevenfold pattern is derived (and how both of them are derived from the threefold Trinity).

T R A N S C E N D E N C E

Strangely, the RSV does a better job of the flow on this one than the NKJV or ESV. Here is where literary structure helps translation of Hebrew! Line 5 does not begin a new sentence.

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God Has You Covered

Parsing Psalms means consulting the Hebrew for the word order. This one was quite difficult, once again because English translations mess with things, and also because the Hebrew author likes to play with the matrix structures to make a point. I find I have to redo sections and keep shaking it up until it all falls into place. Is this sentence part of the previous stanza or the beginning of a new one? Or does this stanza have one line that gets expanded into its own pattern to make a point?

The good thing is that once it shakes out, there are some beautiful surprises. One of the gems in this Psalm is the sentence concerning the sun and the moon. In English it is simply two lines (a parallelism), but in Hebrew it is chiastic. Wonderful.

PSALM 121

SABBATH – Creation
Song of Ascents. (Creation/Initiation – Ark)
…..I lift up my eyes (Division/Hierarchy – Veil)
……….to the mountains— (Ascension – Altar)
……………From whence comes my help? (Testing)
……….My help comes (Maturity)
…..from the Lord, (Conquest/Oath)
Who made heaven and earth. (Glorification/Shekinah)

The structure of the first stanza seems to focus on the Creation as a Tabernacle. The author might be away from the tent but he is never away from God. He’s just in a bigger tent.

PASSOVER – Division
He will not allow
…..to be moved your foot;
……….He shall not slumber who keeps you
……………Behold, (Lampstand – eyes opened)
……….He shall neither slumber nor sleep
…..Who keeps Israel
The Lord is your keeper;

Once we perceive that this second stanza has a “Passover” theme, the subject matter makes more sense. The mention of the “foot” at the Exodus step is ironic. It is interesting that “slumber” appears at both Altar steps (Adamic protection at the Bronze Altar and Evian resurrection at the Incense Altar). Israel as Prince Adam is at Day 6 and God is the shelter of Booths on Day 7.

FIRSTFRUITS – Ascension
The Lord (Creation)
…..is your shade (Division)
……….and your right hand. (Ascension)

This stanza has only three lines. The song is an “ascent” and the Ascension stanza finishes at Ascension (step 3). The Lord begins the stanza as “Transcendent” source, the shade is the veil of delegation (the Passover night) and the “right hand man” is the Ascended Isaac/Joseph/Daniel/Christ who is worthy to open the Covenant scroll.

PENTECOST - Testing
By day, (Transcendence)
…..the sun (Hierarchy – Bridegroom)
……….Nor shall smite (Ethics)
…..the moon (Oath – Bride)
by night. (Succession)

Now, I did wonder if this was an expanded “Testing” line for the previous stanza, but that would mess up the rest of the Psalm. Notice the movement from day to night, from waking to rest; the chiastic matching of sun and moon as Covenant head and body (Law given as Light, Law received as reflected Light), and the smiting of the Law as the Covenant Ethics, fire from heaven, at the centre. The apostles are not consumed but enlightened.

TRUMPETS – Maturity
The Lord (Transcendence)
…..shall protect [you] (Hierarchy)
……….from all evil; (Ethics)
…..He shall keep (Sanctions/Oath)
your life. (Succession)

This is the “bridal” stanza, the resurrection body. “Protect and keep” harken back to Adam’s ministry. Notice that “life” appears at Succession. This is the same structure that undergirds the book of Revelation – with the dragon and the woman at the very centre. The seven churches are the new Hierarchy and the martyred saints have the oath, the testimony, of Jesus.

ATONEMENT – Conquest
The Lord
…..will guard
……….your going [out]

BOOTHS/INGATHERING – Glorification
……….your coming [in]
…..for this [time],
for evermore.

This one I’m not sure what to do with. It looks like a single stanza with the centre missing (a common practice) but then the author might also be saying that God has the saint covered at Atonement (the Day of Coverings) and also at the Feast of Ingathering. The last six lines would then be the “Jewish” ministry and the “Gentile” guests, the “there and back again” of all Christian mission. The two feasts are linked in that Israel tastes death at Atonement, then serves the wine to the world at Booths. It is Communion (restricted table) and the Love Feast (unrestricted tables), the Head and the Body.

Finally, notice that every stanza concerns “covering.” This is the second of the “Psalms of Ascent” so it may be relevant to the order of this group of songs as a unit.

TRANSCENDENCE – Initiation
Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer.
(Creation – Genesis – Sabbath)

…..HIERARCHY – Delegation
…..From the end of the [Land] I will cry to You,
…..When my heart is overwhelmed;
…..(Division – Exodus – Passover)

……….ETHICS 1 – Sinai (Covenant Head)
……….Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
……….(Ascension – Leviticus – Firstfruits)

……………ETHICS 2 – Wilderness (Scorching Fire)
……………For You have been a shelter for me,
……………(Testing – Numbers – Pentecost)

……….ETHICS 3 – Zion/Armies (Covenant Body)
……….A strong tower from the enemy.
……….(Maturity – Deuteronomy – Trumpets)

…..OATH/SANCTIONS – Mediation/Vindication
…..I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
…..(Conquest – Joshua – Atonement)

SUCCESSION – Representation
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.
(Glorification – Judges – Booths)

Selah.

For You, O God, have heard my vows;
…..You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.
……….You will prolong the king’s life, His years as many generations.
……………He shall abide before God forever.
……….Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him!
…..So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
That I may daily perform my vows.

The Psalm has two stanzas. This breakdown is supported by the fact that it puts the ‘Selah’ bang smack in the middle. Selah may simply indicate a pause, but some theorize that it means either “forever” or indicates a “cause-and-effect.” The second stanza has a Succession theme, the rest enjoyed for Covenant faithfulness, so it might be an expansion of the “Succession” line of the first stanza. But here it could also be a cause-and-effect: the first stanza is all about death, that is, Covenant suffering in the wilderness for purification. (This Psalm was possibly written by David during his exile under Absalom.) The second is all about life, that is, the resurrection life enjoyed by the man who called upon God. The final stanza is thus a picture of the rest entered into by the faithful, a picture of the future of all the saints, a “Day 7″ that never ends..

Also, the second stanza has chiastic themes. Notice that God’s name is “delegated” in line 2 and “vindicated” in line 6.

The following text is a composite of a few different sources. I’ve checked a number of translations using the Hebrew and the matrix of the five-fold Covenant structure. So far, it seems to me that Young does the best job. He communicates the “five-beat” rhythm of each verse very well.

And once again, I’ve been able in a few cases to tell where the English translation has swapped the Hebrew word order to make it smooth to English ears, because it violates the careful progression of ideas. Surely that’s a vindication of this approach!

T R A N S C E N D E N C E

Blessed are those (T)
…..blameless in the way. (H)
……….They are walking, (E)
…..in the Law (O)
of Jehovah! (S)

H I E R A R C H Y

Blessed are those (T)
…..who observe his testimonies, (H)
……….who seek him with their whole heart (E)
…..who also do no wrong, (O)
but walk in his ways! (S)

E T H I C S

You (T)
…..have ordained us (H)
……….your precepts (E)
…..to keep (O)
diligently. (S)

O A T H / S A N C T I O N S

Oh, may be established (T)
…..my ways (H)
……….to keep your statutes! (E)
…..Then I shall not be put to shame, (O)
when I look to all your commands. (S)

S U C C E S S I O N

I will praise you (T)
…..with an upright heart, (H)
……….when I learn your righteous rules. (E)
…..I will keep your statutes; (O)
do not utterly forsake me! (S)

Psalm 33

If you feel spiritually barren, that is a good thing. It is because you are, and because God has shown it to you. However, a barren heart cannot praise God. So often we rock up to church with empty hearts and attempt to feel “worshipful.” Well, we are commanded to worship, but must we draw water from dry wells?

The spiritual can only follow the death of the natural. I think it was George Mueller who said that reading the Bible beforehand helped him to pray. Every act by the saints, including the “Acts” of the Apostles, is in fact a response to the Word and an act of the Spirit. Attempting to whip up the crowd into a fleshly frenzy is flogging a dead horse. We all need to hear and meditate on the Word first, then our praise will be the most natural thing in the world. The song of the Bride is always a response to the Word of the Bridegroom. [1]

Psalm 33 is the first psalm to mention musical instruments for praise. It begins with a command to praise and reasons to fear God (forming) but continues with reasons to praise God (filling), because if we fear Him, we have nothing else to fear.

A first glance at the Psalm shows the matrix order of its general subject matter. We have:

Praise

…..Righteousness / Waters

…..…..Counsel of the Lord

…..…..…..God’s eyes

…..…..Armies

…..Deliverance for the Faithful

Hope for the Future [2]

After defining the basic thematic structure, it’s a matter of observing the flow of each of these seven sections. The authors seem to use repeated key words to make “Covenant pattern” allusions. This strategy really shines in the Psalms.

What is really interesting is the way that each line has to have a double reference. For instance, line 5 of stanza one has to be a combination of Maturity within a “house” of Creation. My favourite example of this is when Isaiah needs a “Pentecost” within a “Trumpets.” What does he do? He refers to the battle of Midian, a military reference with flaming torches. How smart is that?

Praise:
Initiation – Word – Light – Day 1. Cycles often begin with a command or someone speaking. It focusses on the Lord (Transcendence)

TRANSCENDENCE (Sabbath)
Rejoice in the LORD,
…..O you righteous!
……….[For] praise from the upright is beautiful.
……………Praise the LORD with the harp;
……….Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
…..Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

Notice the “upright” at Ascension and “ten strings” at Maturity. At Conquest/Atonement, there is a new song. The Day of Coverings made everything new. This corresponds with the angels in Revelation 5 and the redeemed Jews in Revelation 14.

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…”

Righteousness / Waters:
This is a combination of the chosen Hierarchy and the waters of Day 2. The Lord also gathered the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan into heaps, but it goes back to the “waters above” being “kept in store” for Noah’s day of wrath.

In the structure of the Psalm, it’s the opening of the Red Sea. But within the stanza itself, it is the opening of the Veil for the people of God on the Day of Atonement, followed by their ministry to the nations. This is played out in history as the dividing and plundering/gathering of the Gentiles into the house of God as a crystal city at the feast of Booths.

HIERARCHY (Passover)
For the word of the LORD [is] right,
…..And all His work [is done] in truth.
……….He loves righteousness and justice;
……….The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
……………By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
……….And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
…..He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;
He lays up the deep in storehouses.

The next three steps are the Ethics of the Covenant. I’d expect to find symbols relating to 1) The Law given 2) the Law opened 3) the Law received

Counsel of the Lord: the Lord speaks. The Land rises up on Day 3. Notice the double hit on Ascension for Altar and Table (Land and Firstfruits) and also the mention of generations at Succession (Glorification). As the Ascension stanza, we have a reference to “standing” at Ascension (the Covenant Head) and also at Conquest, where the now-vindicated Mediator stands qualified before God with His bride.

ETHICS 1 (Firstfruits)
Let all the Land fear the LORD;
…..Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
……….For He spoke, and it was [done;]
……….He commanded, and it stood fast.
……………The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
……….He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
…..The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.

God’s eyes: the Lord sees and considers.
He watches over men as the Lampstand.

ETHICS 2 (Pentecost)
Blessed [is] the nation whose God [is] the LORD,
…..The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
……….The LORD looks from heaven;
……………He sees all the sons of men.
……….From the place of His dwelling He looks
……….On all the inhabitants of the Land;
…..He fashions their hearts individually;
He considers all their works.

The “hearts” are those of the men who face God as Mediators, the Land of Israel.

Armies: Here, trust in military strength is an ungodly replacement for the Law.

ETHICS 3 (Trumpets)
No king [is] saved
…..by the multitude of an army;
……….A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
…..A horse [is] a vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver [any] by its great strength.

Notice that line 5 of stanza 1 had a military allusion (fives and tens are military numbers). So the rest of the Psalm is actually a “germination” of the seed of stanza 1.

It is interesting that this stanza and those following only seem to have five lines. These are the “Bridal” stanzas, and they are Covenant scrolls that are yet unopened, un-”filled.” This is a song of an Israel which fears God and is waiting on Him for resurrection.

Deliverance for the Faithful: The theme here is Mediation, Mercy, and the Day of Atonement. There is usually a reference to blood. Here it seems to be deliverance from famine, which Jordan observes was a judgment from God for the shedding of innocent blood. This is the Covenant Sanctions.

SANCTIONS (Atonement)
Behold, the eye of the LORD
…..[is] on those who fear Him,
……….On those who hope in His mercy,
…..To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine.

Hope for the Future:
Succession is the “future orientation” of the faithful.

SUCCESSION (Glorification)
Our soul waits for the LORD;
…..He [is] our help and our shield.
……….For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
…..Because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.

This final stanza moves from the Covenant Head, the Lord, to the Covenant Body, the people. Israel has plenty to praise God for, but the architecture of the Psalm contains another subtle message: Israel was to be a clean house awaiting the Shekinah. She had not yet been filled, but she had the promises of God, and they were enough of a reason to praise Him.

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[1] In the Lord’s service, Praise appears at Ascension, but this follows the Confession and Absolution at Division. So we certainly have something to sing about.

[2] This analysis resulted from a discussion which included John Barach questioning why I arranged these verses in a “chiastic” pattern when there are no obvious “mirror matches” in the layouts. That is a very good question! The answer is that the underlying matrix structures are chiastic.

This is not an exact science, but it is far more exact than the analysis of any other poetry I’m aware of. The authors have an existing chiastic trellis and the vines they come up with to grow on it are amazing. The vines aren’t necessarily chiastic, but laying the text out like this is a simple way of identifying what is going on for those familiar with the pattern.

ART: Firmament by Estelle Carraz-Bernabei

Kelby Carlson has asked me to have a go at the structure of Psalm 23.

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