Dissecting Psalm 91 to know how God protects us from evil
Khen Lim
For many, the Iraqi War may have been
consigned to the history books, replaced by the looming menace we call ISIS,
but there remained many evergreen tales of amazing miracles that reveal a
wonderful and honourable God. From the Internet, here are just two such tales:
When fifty percent was just simply unacceptable…
The late Judith Cook had a son, Nicholas,
who was called into service in Iraq with the 16th Transportation Unit from Fort
Sill, Oklahoma. He was part of a 150-strong platoon scheduled for deployment to
a dangerous part of that country. The Commander’s wife had just contacted
Judith to tell her that the mission was to deliver supplies but the use of a
highly dangerous route to the Baghdad Airport could not be avoided. Because of
that fears of high casualty rates were very real.
In view of the expected casualties,
Judith was asked if she could help make comfort quilts for the families of
those who weren’t expected home or at best, become seriously injured. Out of
part-curiosity and part-concern, Judith asked what the casualty rate was going
to be, to which the Commander’s wife said, “fifty percent”! In simple numbers,
that was seventy-five soldiers!! Not happy at all with that, she decided to ask
God for a better answer.
Inez Owens, organiser for the local project “Operation Bandanas” holds up a camouflaged bandana, featuring a copy of Psalm 91 inscribed on it. She hopes to send as many as possible to troops overseas. (Courtesy www.newsargus.com)
With that in mind, Judith foraged the
Internet looking for ideas or some direction. It was then that she stumbled
across a website that was selling camouflage bandanas emblazoned with the
sixteen verses of Psalm 91. Taking that as a sign from God, she ordered as many
bandanas as she could to cover everyone in her son’s unit. Before their final
day to depart, Judith visited Nicholas and his unit to help them understand
what Psalm 91 was about, urging each of them to not just wear the bandana but
also to recite the verses every day before taking on their missions.
From the day they arrived, the 16th
Transportation Unit was basically attacked at will. There were mortars and
snipers and there were also IEDs. Short for Improved Explosive Device, an IDE
is a homemade bomb designed to either maim or kill. All IEDs deployed by enemy
forces in the Middle East are usually hidden along the roads that U.S. and
Iraqi Army soldiers would likely walk. Each buried IED can weigh hundreds of
pounds and according to Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organisation (JIEDDO)
quoted in USA Today (December 19 2013), between more than half and two-thirds
of American soldiers are either killed or seriously wounded as a result of
in-ground IEDs. That accounts for more than 3,100 dead and 33,000 wounded. In
Iraq and Afghanistan alone, that means more than 1,800 American troops.
 |
| Courtesy of imgarcade.com |
Equally so there have been many instances
of mortar fire and explosions nearby including ambushes along the way but
interestingly, Nicholas’ unit had come through unscathed. No one suffered any
injuries at all. In heeding Nicholas’ mother’s plea, all the soldiers in that
unit had gathered daily to pray Psalm 91 and every one of them had always
remembered to wear their bandanas on all their missions.
About a year of tour of duty in Iraq, the
soldiers returned home. All 150 of them. All uninjured. And they all brought
home with them, the bandanas – torn, dusted and worse for wear, but importantly,
no one thought of leaving them behind. Judith has since, passed on, but she was
one of many other mothers who’d do the same for their sons and their fellow
soldiers serving their country in Iraq, Afghanistan and other dangerous places.
In another remarkable true story, Cyndi
Buckey tells of his son Bob’s ambush encounter.
Two platoons of Marines and one of Iraqi
soldiers were on patrol duty near the town of Heet in the province of Al-Anbar,
Iraq. Where they were, there was a canal with reeds forming along its bank and
alongside it, open muddy fields. Over the other side of the canal was a small
village with a cluster of buildings. From there the terrorists suddenly opened
fire with their automatic weapons.
Cyndi’s son, Corporate Bob Buckey and the
two platoons were under intense fire with “bullets
flying like hornets.” Though the radioman for his platoon, Bob wasn’t
having clear chances to get radio reception under such conditions without
having to physically stand up and be in harm’s way. Which was what he did.
Bob was fearless. Wearing the Psalm 91
bandana like the rest of his platoon (courtesy of one soldier’s mother), he
pulled off a series of remarkable stunts without getting hit. He stood up. Made
the call for backup. And then successfully got across the canal using the
nearby footbridge to repulse the attack. Amazingly no bullets strafed him while
he stood up.
While ensconced within one of the
buildings, the terrorists had the advantage of substantial cover, making them
difficult to “extract.” On the other hand, the Marines and Iraqi soldiers were
more vulnerable since they were out in the open. Despite that, a couple of
Marines rushed towards the building and broke down the door but continuous
intense firing prevented them from peeking into the doorway let alone return
fire.
“Just wanted you to see a collection of our Brigade Chaplains, along with ALL OUR THANKS, for the tremendous support we received from you in providing the Psalm 91 Bandanas to the 101st Airborne Division and CJTF-101 for our most recent deployment. We’re approaching the 1/2 way mark of our year here in Afghanistan, soon, and I wanted you to know of our gratitude for God’s Hand of Protection. Though any Soldiers’ loss is tragic, we are grateful that our losses are far lower than in previous rotations, and we pray safety each and every day, in the Power of Psalm 91 for all our Warriors. Again, thank you and your organization for the phenomenal support and prayers — they BOTH mean more to us than you’ll ever know. In His Power, Jeff (JEFFREY D. HAWKINS)” (Image courtesy of www.operationbandanas.org)
But then something very unusual happened.
Just when they thought it impossible, the
terrorists decided to bail out from the back of the building. After bearing
witness to bullets veering sideways rather than hit their targets, they
abandoned their positions and ran helter-skelter. As soon as they did, the
Marines and the Iraqi soldiers managed to kill most of them, capturing a few
remaining ones alive.
The incident was nothing short of a
miracle. The Marines and Iraqis were neither wounded nor killed. There was not
even a surface scratch on their bodies. Bob and his platoon friends in
particular felt the presence of God in their midst. It was He who bent the
bullets away from harming them. It was He who stoked fear in the bewildered terrorists.
This 22” x 22” desert camouflage bandana bears the eternal and
comforting words of Psalm 91 (‘The Soldier’s Prayer’) and has been distributed
to service men and women across the globe at a cost of USD9.99 each. (Image
courtesy of The Patriot Post Shop at patriotpostshop.com)
On their return to base, Bob removed his
bandana and read the verses together with his platoon. It was then that they
realise they’d lived virtually all of it in those brief explosive minutes. The
words in the verses reflected every moment under siege. The soldiers felt a
deep sense of humbling, coming to terms with a nightmare that could have been
ruinous until God took the sting out of its deadliness.
So what is Psalm
91? I would’ve had asked the same question if it weren’t for a strange personal
encounter myself while playing a word game called Word Hero on my smartphone.
That was when I noticed a message that read, “Read Psalm 91 now.” It didn’t
occur to me that this would hold any significance until it appeared for the
next four times in a row. That’s when I sat up and took serious notice of it.
A screen capture of Word Hero’s leaderboard showing the player’s name and tagline amongst other details and the game itself
Word Hero is a word game where you score
points for as many words as you can identify and make from its 4x4 letter grid
in a competition against others live worldwide. At the end of each game, you
wait for the leaderboard to appear where your position is shown relative to
others above and below your ranking. As the list is long, you basically see
only as much as the smartphone (or tablet) allows you to at any one time.
The leaderboard displays the person’s
name and his/her “tagline,” something each player can customise to read
anything he/she wants. Interestingly, judging from the taglines, there are many Christians playing Word Hero.
When I saw “Read Psalm 91 now” tagline
first time, I remember being slightly taken aback. Having seen so many
Christian-based taglines, I usually don’t react like that. My response startled
even myself. In the next game’s leaderboard, it appeared again, a few positions
above mine. When it occurred the third time, I was wondering if this was a sign
from God. I then asked Him the question, which resulted in the same tagline for
the fourth time. I knew I had to ask one more time and for veracity, He made it
appear the fifth time in a row.
Five in a row in roughly the same
position is uncanny and the probability small. God had answered me not once but
twice – the second time was probably unnecessary but that was just doubt on my
part. It was clear that the Lord had wanted me to learn this psalm and share it
in church. And from the true stories I read, God’s purpose became crystal clear.
So the question is, what is Psalm 91
about? According to the NASB translation, it goes like this:
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” 3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. 5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day. 6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness or the destruction that lays waste at noon. 7 A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not approach you. 8 You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. 9 For you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. 10 No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. 11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. 12 They will bear you up in their hands that you do not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra; the young lion and the serpent you will trample. 14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high because he has known My Name. 15 “He will call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him. 16 “With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.” (Psalm 91, NASB)
The stories of Psalm 91 – commonly found
on the Internet – reinforce its verses. They speak of God’s divine protection
and miracles and because of this, many profess to have experienced or witnessed
His powers directly. The remarkable potency of Psalm 91 is such that many in
the U.S. Army including the Marines revere its many inspiring and reassuring
verses.
The so-called Psalm 91 bandana isn’t a
new phenomenon and has since gained considerable inertia. It is today a common
item amongst many American soldiers of Christian faith who are on tours of duty
in volatile areas including but not limited to Afghanistan. There are enough
reasons to really want to “unlock” Psalm 91 and understand what God is telling
us.
Take note that here, I will be using the
NASB version.
Verse 1 > 1 “He who dwells in the
shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Keywords:
Most High, Almighty
Acknowledging who God is, is not just an
integral part of our prayers but it is also important that we accord Him the
highest of honours because He is our omnipresent Creator, omniscient Father and
omnipotent Lord. There is simply no others around but He whom we call God.
Jacob praying for protection (DorĂ©’s
English Bible, 1866)
In Genesis 32:9-12, the Bible’s first
recorded prayer was from Jacob. In that prayer, he asked for God’s deliverance
in a desperate need to avoid harm from his twin brother Esau. He called out, “O
God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac” (v.9). He acknowledged
God’s covenant with his ancestors and paid it his highest respects. And then he
reminded the Lord of His promise of “descendants as the sands of the sea, which
is too great to be numbered” (v.12). In both cases, Jacob recognised the importance
of revering a faithful God just as the author did in Psalm 91:1.
Firstly God is acknowledged as Most High
– therefore no one is higher. As the Most High, God answers to no one (Daniel
4:35) and He alone decided how the Universe was created. Indeed He spoke it
into existence (Genesis 1:3). Secondly God is Almighty, meaning He has
‘complete power or being omnipotent.’ In Hebrew, we say God is El Shaddai or
the All-Powerful One. In Genesis 49:24 (and Psalm 132:2,5), He is also called
‘The Mighty One of Jacob.’ As the Most High, God also has the ultimate power
over everything and anything.
When God appeared before Abram in Genesis
17:1, He said, “I am God Almighty, walk before Me and be blameless.” In all of
the history of man, the Lord is Almighty in more than one way. Here’s a look at
some of these instances:
Book of
Genesis
1:3
> God speaks the Universe into existence
49:25
> God Almighty
4:19
> Creator of Heaven and Earth
21:33
> God the Eternal
Book of
Exodus
6:2-3
> God Almighty
Book of
Deuteronomy
10:17
> Great, mighty, awesome God
|
Book of
Jeremiah
32:37
> God of all Mankind
Book of
Isaiah
40:28
> Everlasting God
Book of
Daniel
4:35
> God answers to no one
Book of
Hebrews
3:4
> God, Builder of Everything
|
When we come before God in prayer, the
right thing to do is to pay Him homage. Acknowledge who He is – Most High – and
know His strength and power – Almighty – and thence praise and glorify Him. No
prayer is complete without due reverence and veneration of the God of Abraham.
Both Jacob and the psalmist knew that. So we should too.
Verse 2 > 2 “I will say to the
Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust.”
Keywords:
Refuge, fortress, trust
It is interesting that this is the
psalmist talking. In this verse, he said he will say to the Lord that God is
who he trusts and that He is his refuge and his fortress. But who is this
psalmist? Does it matter who he is anyway?
To those who think it doesn’t matter,
then we’ll never know who wrote this psalm. For them, there are also many other
psalms that have unknown authors and this is just one of them. For those who
think it matters, then we could look to the general heuristic that psalmists
are usually consecutively arranged. In other words if you know who the previous
psalmist is, chances are that it is he who penned the next one as well. It
might not be foolproof but it does work every now and then. If that is the
case, it must be Moses because he is credited as the one who wrote Psalm 90.
But there has to be more than just that.
While this verse alone might not be substantive, further than the psalm, we
will be able to substantiate his authorship a little more convincingly. We will
see the poetic words that indicate more of Moses than any other patriarch and
from the setting of what God says, the conviction may be more tangible.
For now, let us look at the three words
that are particularly prominent. They shape an impression of personal trust and
belief in God. They offer the psalmist’s confession that in God is his refuge
and fortress. From just this verse alone, we can learn more.
Meaning, ‘a condition of being safe or
sheltered from pursuit, danger or trouble,’ the word ‘refuge’ can be used to
refer to ‘finding safety and protection’ and from thereon, he can feel free
from danger or trouble. He will, in other words, be sheltered from being
pursued by his enemies.
The word ‘fortress’ is somewhat different
in the sense that there is a militaristic feel to it. The dictionary defines it
as ‘a military stronghold…a strongly fortified town fit for a larger garrison’
or ‘a heavily protected and impenetrable building.’ Unlike a refuge to simply
feel safe and cossetted, a fortress provides a heavily defended and
impenetrable stronghold.
God provides two qualities here – one
that underlines the love and warmth of His caring refuge and another that is
power and strength to not just defend but repel and defeat the enemy.
Verses 3-4 > 3 “For it is He who
delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover
you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness
is a shield and bulwark.”
Keywords:
Delivers, snare of the trapper, deadly pestilence, pinions, His wings, refuge,
shield, bulwark
These two verses are the first time we
see the poetic use of symbolisms in Psalm 91. Symbolisms such as ‘snare of the
trapper’ or ‘deadly pestilence’ depict how God views the threat of evil and
then offers up His protection for us.
When coupled together in verse 4, the
image is unmistakable – ‘His wings’ and ‘refuge’ combine for the impression of
a maternal bird protecting her little fledglings. This is the picture of God
and His warmth and tenderness. But then it isn’t just His wings – covering us
with His “pinions” suggest an action where the bird bends her wings so that the
outer portions (of the wings) would “cover” us like a “shield” (v.4).
Just so you know – the pinions of any
bird are critical because these parts of the wing include the all-important
feathers designed for flight. Without them, the bird cannot fly. The overall
imagery is a protective bird in flight covering us in warmth and protection,
shielding us from harm’s way.
Even as we view this aspect of God in His
warmth and tenderness, we then see the other side of Him – the militaristic
battle-ready Almighty embolden with His “shield” and “bulwark.” Both these
words appear like a counterbalance to the ‘softer’ side of that motherly care.
Both words here offer a militaristic impression typical of medieval (or even
primeval) battle gear where the standard shield is normally made with heavy
metal armour in order to take on and deflect lethal blows. Under the cover of a
shield, we are hence safe even when the enemy attacks.
A “bulwark” is also a defensive feature.
It means ‘fortification, stockade, palisade, barricade or a rampart.’ It is
like a castle’s defensive wall designed to repel any invasive enemy and is
rigidly constructed so that it does not fall apart easily.
Notice that verse 4 says that God’s
faithfulness is akin to a shield “and” bulwark. Interestingly it didn’t say
‘or’ meaning that it wasn’t meant to be an optional way of description. God’s
faithfulness is therefore unyielding. His faithfulness does not give way – like
a shield and a bulwark, God is steadfast, does not cave in to pressure, holds
sway and is not negotiable. When God says He is faithful, He is faithful. The
association with shield and bulwark suggests that God’s faithfulness is rock
solid guaranteed.
God also talks of evil dangers and in
verse 3, the psalmist uses two depictions to describe them. The “snare” is a
weapon that hunters use to trap animals in their wake. It is deadly and it is
difficult to avoid because once you see it, it might be too late. The element
of surprise is the snare’s biggest advantage since in most cases, it is often
out of view. “Pestilence” is deadly as we recount from the days of the ten
plagues against the Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus. Unless God remits a
withdrawal, any plague is fatal or incurable.
The psalmist uses these two to underscore
the forms of evil that God will rescue us from – unseemly, invisible or hard to
see, incurable or fatal and often unassuming. For all of these, God has a plan
to protect and shield us from.
Verses 5-10 > 5 “You will not be
afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day; 6 of the
pestilence that stalks in darkness or of the destruction that lays waste at
noon. 7 A
thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it
shall not approach you. 8
You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the
wicked. 9 For
you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. 10 No evil will
befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.”
Keywords:
Afraid, by night, arrow that flies, by day, stalks in darkness, a thousand may
fall, but it shall not approach you, look on, recompense of the wicked, nor
will any plague come near your tent
In this group of six verses, there are
two things to bring up from these verses. One is to NOT FEAR and the other is
to NOT FALL. One is reflected in verse 5 while the other, verse 10.
Fear is a mortal dread of the worst. It
defines our shaky trust and it destroys our confidence. God tells us not to be
afraid because in Him, we are safe – safe from the nightly terror of arrows
flying (v.5), safe from the pestilence or the destruction (v.6) and no matter
how many lay waste by our side (v.7) or whatever plague that strikes, we are
still kept safe by God. God asks us to “not be afraid” because His word is a
divine guarantee we can trust.
And no matter how much evil there is
before our very own eyes, we will not fall prey to it. We will not have our
resolve weakened and we will not succumb because God will hold us up. God says
that even as wicked things happen in front of us, we can be witness to its
undoing but we will not be affected. Plagues can come and go, and they can
destroy; yet we will not be touched. Hence we will not fall.
Like the previous verses, the threat of
pestilence is mentioned again but this time, it is done alongside yet another
threat – that of arrows flying by day. These, again, hold special meaning. The
two together provide a continuum of the entire twenty-four hours. “By day,” God
says we are not to fear the terror of the night (v.5) where pestilence “stalks
in darkness” (v.6) and by day, the menacing arrows that fly and “lay waste” by
noon.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, God’s
protection plan is the whole-day long. His non-stop shield against evil will
prevent us from destruction whether the threat is or isn’t visible (arrows are
but not pestilence) and whether we can or cannot anticipate them. Evil comes in
many forms – some you can see, some you can expect but others you may not in
either case. Evil can destroy by the masses and you may even be there to
witness them (v.7); yet nothing will befall us.
The one thing here that strikes a chord of
familiarity with the Moses we know is in verse 7. Those many thousands to fall
around us tell two possible stories from the same Book of Exodus. One
possibility is the outcome of the tenth plague where the firstborn of the
unbelievers – including livestock of the unbelievers – are killed. The other
could be the soldiers from the Egyptian Army who died before the eyes of the
Israelites when the walls of water came crashing down in the Red Sea. Both are
applicable but of course, both point to Moses being the storyteller here.
Remember distinctly that God said, “But
against any of the sons of Israel, a dog will not even bark whether against man or beast, that you may understand how
the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel” (Exodus 11:7). In the
following chapter, the Lord said, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you
and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt”
(12:13).
All this means that whatever the
pestilence, we will not fall and neither will our livestock. We may be right
where the plague strikes, yet we will be spared so long as we do not fear but
trust instead. Whatever heavy price that evil pays, God does not count us among
them, which is why in Exodus 9:6, the Lord confirmed by saying, “all the livestock
of Egypt died but of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died.” We are
therefore safe in the knowledge that God is serious about His protection.
Another proof of God’s promise never to
harm us can be found in Exodus 9:18-26 where He told Moses that He would send
“thunder and hail and fire” (v.23) unto earth “such as had not been in all the
land of Egypt since it became a nation” (v.24). As sure as the Lord promises,
Egypt was afflicted – both man and beast – but “in the land of Goshen, where the
sons of Israel were, there was no
hail” (v.26).
Through all these Biblical lessons, it
remains clear that there is a side of the divide that we prefer to err to and
one that we want to avoid. The point then is that here is a God who is on our
side and given this assurance, nothing can come harm us, no matter how close
the call may be. Paul probably puts it best in Romans 8:31, when he famously
said, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against
us?”
“He who did not spare His Own Son but
delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all
things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the One who
justifies; who is the one who condemns?” (v.32-33)
When God is our protector, our defender and
our caregiver, no one can touch us let alone harm us. As He offered up His Son
so to promise us deliverance, He will commit this to the end and fulfil it for
those of us who believe in Him. It is us who by fearing, can fall prey to evil.
God therefore asks us not to be afraid for if we can stay our faith, our
unfailing God will not allow us to fall.
Still you have to wonder about one thing
in our lives as Christians – we do face evil and we do get close to going awry.
Even as the psalmist says, “no evil will befall us” (v.10), that is not the
same as God saying there will be no challenges laid before us. We need to be
cautious with what we read and understand. When we become Christians, problems
still crop up in our lives. They do not simply disappear. Life doesn’t get any
easier just because we accept Christ’s promise of Salvation. Instead we’ll end
up seeing a whole crop of problems that God says are our challenges.
The difference between a non-believer and
a believing Christian is that when problems arise, God is there to soften the
blow for us. He is there to shield us. He is there to scoop us up from certain
disaster. He’ll also be there just as you think you’ll fall off the cliff. The
psalmist mentions things like “snare of the trapper” and the “deadly
pestilence” (vv.3,6) as instances that represent the challenges in our lives
just as much as we may find ourselves in the thick of some of the most
harrowing experiences like watching “thousands falling” like flies around us
(v.7) or that “plagues” (v.10) striking down everyone else but us.
The striking aspect of these scary
descriptions is that as close a call as some of these may be in our lives, they
may singe the hair on our arms but nothing beyond that. For that matter, the
Marines in the story at the beginning did not even get their shirts crumpled;
yet they did their job and returned unscathed. As God promised, “no evil will
befall (them)” and He meant it.
So the heart of the matter in verses 5 to
10 is to resolve not to fear but to pick up our faith and exercise it. He has
assured us refuge under “His wings of shelter.” We might not be successful in
everything we wish to do in our lives but be sure you know that God is there to
ensure that He has a say in the higher purposes for all of us. Job would have
something to say about this; so we should take heed.
Verse 11 > 11 “For He will give His
angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.”
Keywords:
His angels, guard, in all your ways
Dr Paul Eymann of Christian Answers
Network cited Luke 20:34-36 and noted that angels are not race descendant,
meaning they did not come from a human race or a common ancestor. Therefore we
cannot refer to them as ‘sons of angels.’ Contrary to popular
Hollywood-inspired wisdom, angels do not always take on a winged form and they
aren’t the usual cupids that we see in abundance during Valentine’s Day.
Instead they do not reproduce and they
have none of that human tendencies to marry (Matthew 22:30). Paul says there
are numerous angels awaiting at the gates of New Jerusalem to anticipate our
arrival (Hebrews 12:22-23). Billy Graham on his website (www.billygraham.org) asserts that God’s angels continually
watch over us and work for our good. Furthermore he cites Psalm 91:11, which is
the verse we’re looking at now. Hebrews 1:14 then says, “are not all angels
ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit Salvation?”
Despite common depictions of angels with
wings, they don’t necessarily have to have them (image courtesy
crucetectum.blogspot.com)
“Rather than only one angel, therefore,
God surrounds us with a host of angels to protect us and go before us. Even
when hard times come, Satan can never snatch us away from their protection –
and some day they will escort us safely to heaven,” Graham says.
If we remember well how an angel’s touch
was all it took to dislocate Jacob’s hip, we should know that angels have
tremendous power, strength and capabilities. The Bible tells us that each of us
is likely to have experienced the touch of an angel and yet not realise it
(Hebrews 13:1-2) and this could just as easily happen in church watching over
us (Hebrews 12:22-23) or at home or anywhere.
As it is, angels have appeared in the
Bible multiple times. There were two in Lot’s time in Sodom. There were three
who visited Abraham and Sarah at their tent site. There was that one who
wrestled with Jacob and another who came upon Mary and Joseph on separate
occasions. Then of course there was another who appeared in radiating dazzling
light (Matthew 28:3) whilst rolling the stone out of the way at the tomb of
Jesus.
In Psalm 91, God’s instruction is for His
angels to keep us from falling or getting hurt. He charged that the angels
would “encamp all around us” (Hebrews 1:7,14) and be with us at all times,
“from this time forth and forever (will) be with us”; that they may “strengthen
us” and “minister to us.”
Verse 11 is very clear and specific –
God’s instruction is to protect us “in all our ways,” meaning that no matter
what we do and where we’re at, we will be fully guarded.
Verses 12-13 > 12 “They will bear you up
in their hands that you do not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread
upon the lion and cobra; the young lion and serpent you will trample down.”
Keywords:
That you do not strike your foot against a stone, tread upon, will trample down
God charges His angels to safeguard us
from evil (image courtesy thoughtsong7.files.wordpress.com)
God’s charge with His angels is not just
to safeguard us from evil but from ourselves. The part in verse 12 that says,
“that you do not strike your foot against a stone” is in reference to very tiny
little details; the ones that often get us unwittingly into trouble and often
unbeknownst to us. As we often concentrate on the big issues, we forget that at
times, we fail to take into account the small things that can unsettle us,
derail us or even plunge us into mayhem.
God asks His angels to “bear us up in
their hands,” meaning to lift us up and away from seeming trouble just as we
are about to walk blindly and end up kicking our feet “against a stone.” The verse
is crystal clear – the angels are not to take for granted but are supposed to
keep a watchful eye over us in all matters and in “all our ways” (v.11).
Often we are so preoccupied with the big
picture that we forget to take each step as it comes. So we end up not knowing
where we walk and what we can walk into. The troubles that beset us can be
because of our carelessness and though we don’t mean it, we can find ourselves
caught in the surprise of a “snare of a trapper” (v.3) and even caught in an arrow’s
way (v.5). We may have no intention to do so but we can, at times, be
complacent, ignorant or negligent without meaning to be so.
Things get interesting with verse 13.
Here we contend with two beasts of prey that seems to have a wide range of
variations. With the NASB, the lion and cobra becomes a young lion and serpent.
In the KJV, the lion and adder becomes, in the second part of the verse, a
young lion and dragon respectively. The BBE translation puts it as lion and
snake followed by young lion and great snake. I’m not at all sure why we see
these changes all within the same verse but they can also be so different from
one translation to another.
(left)
A male adder (image courtesy Jason Steel Wildlife Photography) and European asp
Vipera aspis (image courtesy Wikipedia)
In Hebrew, the word, פתן (pethen) has several useful meanings such as viper, adder
and asp. Because all of these seem applicable in Job 20:14,16, Psalm 58:5 and
also here in Psalm 91:13, the indication will then be that they are all
venomous.
(right) Asp in particular is one of several venomous snake species specifically found in the Nile region and is commonly featured in Egyptian mythology, the equivalent of the modern Egyptian cobra.
The KJV’s use of “dragon” is just as interesting – as it were, John
wrote in Revelation 12:9, “and the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of
old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was
thrown down to the earth; and his angels were thrown down with him” (NASB). It
is therefore obvious that no matter what the translation says, the serpent or
the cobra is the same as the dragon – they are all dangerous, conniving, evil
and deadly.
The lion, on the other hand, appears more
agreeable among the various translations. While the serpent slithers and
strikes with a strong element of surprise, the lion is more “in your face.” It
intimidates. It is fearsome and capable of violence beyond what the serpent is
physically capable of. The lion will maul and disembowel with frightening force
and power.
In this verse, the two beasts are
deployed in a way that is encouraging and inspiring. Here says God, we will
come across (“tread”) both of the lion and the serpent but we will also crush
and destroy (“trample”) them. The psalmist uses the auxiliary verb “will” in
the sense of a property of the mind, meaning that it is an affirmative action
with a strong and deliberate intention. The verse says, “you will tread upon”
and then later, “you will trample down.” In both cases, there is a strong
resolute intention, a wilfulness to be bold.
The very encouraging aspect of this verse
is that we are able to overcome when
eight verses earlier, God was asking us not to be afraid. The transition from
fear to boldness in a space of a few verses indicates a growing sense of
courage and boldness built upon faith that, “he who trusts in God will always
be safe despite the most fearful dangers” (Barnes’ Notes).
Verses 14-16 > 14 “Because he has loved
Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he
has known My Name. 15
He will call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in
trouble; I will rescue him and honour him. 16
With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.”
Keywords:
Deliver, set him securely on high,
because he has known My Name, be with him, rescue, honour, long life, My
salvation
From the beginning till this point in
Psalm 91, the build-up went from acknowledging God’s omniscience and coming to
terms with our own fears to seeing the shift as we gather our courage and call
upon Him to crush evil. We now come to the end bits where we hear from God, His
reassuring promises in the most startling fashion. If verse 13 was encouraging,
these following three are truly inspiring and heartfelt.
By now we ought to be assured that we are
safe not because we hope to be but because God says so. Through the earlier
verses, the psalmist has been at pains to stress this point, that in overcoming
our mortal fears, we should be capable of feeling completely safe in the Hands
of God.
In these three final verses, the
overriding two themes are deliverance and honour. Throughout these verses, take
note that God is speaking. From verses 14 to 16, there have been seven
occurrences of the use of the word “will.” Of the seven, six are affirmations
of what God will do. The message here is powerful – God says He will do things
for us. This is a promissory that is as iron-clad as we can come to expect from
the Lord on High. Let’s check these six out:
Verse 14a
|
“…therefore I will deliver him”
|
Verse 14b
|
“…I will set him securely on high…”
|
Verse 15a
|
“…and I will answer him”
|
Verse 15b
|
“I will be with him in trouble”
|
Verse 15c
|
“I will rescue him…”
|
Verse 16
|
“…I will satisfy him…”
|
God’s promise of deliverance (or rescue)
are exemplary even in other parts of the Bible of which some of the better
known ones are in the Book of Daniel. Here, Daniel’s three friends who are
God’s servants, find themselves thrown into a fiery furnace with no escape. Yet
He charged his angel to deliver them from certain death and He made sure that
the Babylonian king could see it and be awed, saying, “Blessed be the God of
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His
servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command and yielded
up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God”
(Daniel 3:28 NASB).
Three chapters later, God delivered
Daniel from the lions when it was clear that king Darius was cornered and
connived by his advisors’ trickery. Knowing Daniel’s fate, yet the king said,
“Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you” (Daniel 6:16
NASB). As He did with His three servants, He “sent His angel and shut the
lions’ mouth” (6:22). The king would ultimately issue a decree that, “my
kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel” (v.26). Take note
that the king also said something instrumental here:
“He
delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who
has also delivered Daniel from the
power of the lions” (v.27)
Just as it is with the above, Psalm
91:14-16 is also about deliverance and rescue. As it were with the previously
mentioned six instances of God’s willingness, we can also use them to identify
His ‘six steps of divine pledges’ in which the keywords are important to take
note of:
“Deliver us”
|
Simply because we love Him
|
“Set us up”
|
Away from adversaries and ‘on high’ (exalt)
|
“Answer us”
|
Whenever we call upon Him
|
“Be with us”
|
When in times of trouble
|
“Rescue us”
|
…and won’t abandon us
|
“Honour us”
|
When we know His Name
|
All of these six intertwine in the most
interesting and personal way. While the Lord has been personable throughout the
Bible particularly with his patriarchal servants, these six instances portray a
God that is directly personal and
compassionate with each of us. And because these are His pledges to us, we
should and must take Him seriously at His word.
While we take pride in a God that honours
His pledges to us, we should also acknowledge that this honour has at least two
reasons. In verse 14, God says His deliverance is because we love Him and
because we know Him by His Name, He will exalt us (“set him securely on high”).
These two points are easily the most important lessons for us to take home with
us – they offer us an assurance of how and why God would hold us in high regard
and rescue us.
In holding us to a high esteem, God is
honourable to us and His deliverance echoes the way in which He will carry out
his rescue plans (v.15). We can reminisce this with the manner in which He
delivered His people out of Egypt in the grandest Exodus known to man. In
defeating the Egyptians, the Israelites are not only unharmed but they walked
away with their heads held up. God assured His people would honourably walk
away to their freedom.
In stark contrast 1 Samuel 21:10-15
reveals to us that God can also deliver but without honour being intact. In
escaping from the King Achish of Gath, David feigned madness and appeared
looking stupid. While God carved a way for him to flee, David’s craftiness was
never about honour but more about cunning.
In the last verse, God made a promise of
“long life” (v.16) and said He would let the psalmist see His salvation. As
this was the Lord’s way of “satisfying” him, the question is who is he and
whether or not this part of His promise is a practical one for us.
The psalmist is certainly the subject of
the Lord’s promise of long life but I’m not at all sure if we should read this
beyond the perspective of the Mosaic covenant that is clearly pronounced in
Gerizim (Deuteronomy 28:1-14) where God promises His blessings of protection,
longevity, productivity and prosperity upon His people in exchange for being
obedient and walking in His ways (v.9).
Still there are different interpretations
about “long life” not being taken literarily. In his commentaries, Matthew
Henry sums up the use of this phrase as being “to live long enough” as in to
have enough time for the psalmist to perform and complete the work he was to do
for which “he was sent into this world for” and then be made ready for the life
thereafter. He continues, saying:
“Who would wish to live a day longer than
God has some work to do either by him or upon him? A man may die young yet be
satisfied with living. But a wicked man is not satisfied even with long life.
At length, the believer’s conflict ends; he has done forever with trouble, sin
and temptation.”
Beyond that, there is God’s salvation in
the last part of the same verse. As God puts it, He says He would allow him to
“see” the salvation. Different translations put the word “see” as in “to show
him” as in to allow the psalmist to experience the Salvation. The Hebrew
expression for this is that God will make him see or contemplate in His
salvation and in so doing, he will savour the very meaning of it.
According to Clarke’s Commentary:
“He shall feel boundless desires and
shall discover that I have provided boundless gratifications for them. He shall
dwell in My glory and throughout eternity, increase in his resemblance to and
enjoyment of Me. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the Lord delighteth to
honour; and He delights to honour that man who places his love on Him. In a
word, he shall have a long life in this world and an eternity of blessedness in
the world to come.”
(left) Moses views the Promised Land from
Mount Nebo (now in Siyagha, Madaba governate, Jordan) before he dies (image
courtesy revphil2011.wordpress.com)
In Deuteronomy 34:1-3, Israel was
encamped on the plains of Moab. Then Moses went up Mount Nebo from the plains
from which point, he was afforded a grand view of the vast Promised Land all
the way to the Western Sea.
(right) A commemorative stele placed by the Franciscan monks to memoralise Moses’ view of the Promised Land (image courtesy travel-image.com)
It was here that God proffered His last words to
Moses, saying, “I have let you see it with your eyes” (v.4) even though he did
not get to enter the Land himself.
(right) Is this the view that Moses was given to
see? (image courtesy tripadvisor.com)
What he saw and experienced was a
bitter-sweet moment. Moses saw the Promised Land. It took him his entire
lifetime to lead God’s people to it. This was the land God promised to Israel
and this was the land that would save all of them into a single place they
could call home. And God proclaimed, “This is the land” (v.4).
If the psalmist was indeed Moses, it is
possible that when God said He would show him His salvation, this was it.
Deciphering the Authorship
Even as I contemplate the authorship, I
don’t presume to be anywhere near an expert on this. As a student of Scripture,
I learn as I go along. I write as I understand from what I read and listen. As
such here’s what I may construe:
Quite apart from the broad belief that
authorship may be predicted in terms of side-by-side psalms, I think there are
sufficient hints to view Moses as the psalmist in this case. As early as verse
3 – and then repeated in verse 6 – traces of Mosaic events are palpable. Talk
of pestilences – plagues in other words – are more likely than not associated
with Moses and his confrontation with the Pharaoh of that time. I believe that
these were the plagues that are referred to in Psalm 91 as “deadly
pestilences.”
The Book of Exodus records ten of these,
revisit here in chronological order:
7:17-18
|
Plague of Bloodied Water
|
Water turned into blood; fish died, undrinkable water, river stench
|
8:1-4
|
Plague of Frogs
|
Proliferation of frogs everywhere; overrunning the whole of Egypt
(lasted 2 days)
|
8:16-17
|
Plague of Gnats (Lice)
|
Mass infestation of lice or fleas; animals and men bitten, declared
“finger of God”
|
8:20-21
|
Plague of Flies
|
Swarms of flies affecting whole of Egypt except Goshen where the
Israelites were
|
9:1-3
|
Plague of Murrain*
|
Transmission of livestock diseases; extermination of Egyptian
livestock but the Israelites’ cattle were unharmed
* An infectious disease,
especially babesiosis, affecting livestock and other animals; another word
for plague, epidemic etc
|
9:8-12
|
Plague of Boils
|
Widespread skin diseases; soot-induced festering skin ruptures, afflicted
all Egyptians and their livestock
|
9:13-24
|
Plague of Thunder and Hail
|
Showers of fire and hail; Egypt’s worst hailstorm and destructive
storm, assailed all men, crops and livestock except in Goshen
|
10:3-6
|
Plague of Locusts
|
Hordes of locusts; agriculture swarmed and ruined, no tree or crop
left standing
|
10:21-23
|
Plague of Darkness
|
Plunging darkness for three days; unliveable, reduced to only touching
and hearing, directly aimed at Egyptian sun god Ra
|
11:4-6
|
Plague of Death
|
Death of the firstborn of non-believers; Israelites left untouched
by their act of faith, commemorated today by the Feast of Passover
|
Note:
The names given to the plagues are mine and may differ from how others call them
It is, on the other hand, true that
plagues also occur in other parts of the Bible such as the seven years of
famine interpreted by Joseph from the Pharaoh’s dream (Genesis 41:30-31), the
plague of hornets God sent to drive Israel’s enemies from the land (Exodus
23:28), the one that meted out punishment for those responsible for the golden
calf (Exodus 32:35) or the one that resulted in 24,000 Israelites killed
because of Baal worship (Numbers 25:9).
These and more can be found in Scripture (read
http://www.bibleplus.org/plagues/plagues.htm) but other than Moses, never in any
particular instance was there one person who bored witness to a series of ten
plagues in succession. In other words, it is he who understood pestilences more
so than any other patriarch.
In verse 7, the mention of “thousands
falling” can possibly be attributed to Moses witnessing throngs of the Egyptian
Army being killed as a result of the two towering walls of water crashing down
on them during the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:26-28).
Verse 28 in Exodus 14 particularly
mentioned, “The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even
Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of
them remained” (NASB). The important clue here is “entire army” because that
would give us a better idea of how many of the Pharaoh’s soldiers had fallen.
To do this, let us consider how many were
among the Israelites who were being pursued by the Pharaoh’s army. According to
Numbers 1:46, a total of 603,550 made up the exodus. They were people aged from
20 upwards and comprised not just Israelites but there were also non-Israelites
in their midst. To kill the entire exodus, the Pharaoh would have despatched
enough soldiers to do the job successfully. Therefore even if the Bible doesn’t
reveal how large the army was, it did say it was the Pharaoh’s “entire army”
and none had survived (Exodus 14:28).
A PBS article wrote that the Pharaoh that Moses had to
contend with had an army of about 20,000 strong, citing the one that he,
Tuthmose III, used to attack Megiddo shortly after taking the throne. His predecessor, Hatshepsut, was an
interesting person – not just was she his stepmother and regent, she was also
the daughter of an earlier Pharaoh, Tuthmose I, and, get this, the adopted mother
of Moses, who discovered him as a baby in the River Nile.
(left) The mummy of Tuthmose III (image
courtesy Eternal Egypt) and (below) the recently-discovered Hatshepsut
(image courtesy Discovery News)
Following the humbling of the
once-dominant Hyksos, we also know that Egypt ushered in the New Kingdom era
(1570BC to 1070BC), which is at the time of Moses. Military strength then was
rebuilt and reformed.
The Pharaohs of that era had also benefited from more
modern – and effective – military weaponry and their armies were now better
organised and larger.
According to The Military of Ancient
Egypt (www.ancientmilitary.com), Egypt now possessed a permanent and professionally-trained
army capable of waging campaigns far and wide. It is not uncommon that at a
major battle scene, as many as 5,000 to 6,000 chariots would be involved.
(right) The New Egyptian chronology showing
Thutmoses III as the Pharaoh of the Exodus and not Rameses. For more
information, go to http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-date-1440bc.htm.
During Thutmoses III’s days, an Egyptian
army would have around four divisions ready for battle. According to M
Lichtheim (Ancient Egyptian Literature, University of California), each
division then was worth several thousand men, comprising around 4,000 infantry
and 1,000 on chariots. These are then organised into ten battalions of 500
soldiers each with overall command in the hands of the Pharaoh himself.
When the Pharaoh decided to pursue Moses
and slaughter the Israelites, the size of the army would have been at least one
if not two divisions. Bearing in mind the pursued numbered over 600,000, a
conquering army would at least be closely matched.
As the Egyptian army closes in on the
fleeing Israelites, God called upon Moses, saying, “As for you, lift up your
staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of
Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land” (Exodus 14:16 NASB).
Then God sent His angel to keep the Egyptians at bay. A “pillar of cloud”
(v.19) moved to separate the invading soldiers from the Israelites and “thus
the one did not come near the other all night” (v.20).
Once separation was secured, Moses
stretched his hands across the Red Sea and the Lord parted it to reveal a land
bridge (vv.21-22) upon which the Israelites rushed to cross to escape the
invading hordes. To both sides of the dry land were towering walls of water
held in place by God’s power V.22). As more than half a million Israelites were
making their way to the other side of the sea, the Egyptians began to chase
after them (v.23).
By then it was the morning after and when
God saw the army in pursuit of His people, He brought confusion amongst the
Egyptians, making the chariots suddenly unwieldy and impossible to handle
(vv.24-25) but that wasn’t all. The Lord then gave Moses instructions to roll
forth the sea to close the land bridge to which he did in order that “the sea
returned to its normal state at daybreak” (vv.26-27).
(top-bottom) Egyptian army doomed to die by the
collapsing walls of water at the Red Sea (image courtesy tillhecomes.org);
undersea image of a coral-encrusted object in the Red Sea resembling an ancient
Egyptian chariot wheel and axle (image courtesy wnd.com)
And so as the walls of water came crashing down, the Pharaoh’s army was entirely caught in the midst of an unbelievable disaster. As Scripture says, “the Egyptians were fleeing right into it” (v.27), basically running into their watery death.
“The waters returned and covered the
chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the
sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on
dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”
(vv.28-29, NASB)
Through it all, not one amongst the
exodus had fallen as a result of God’s wrath against the Egyptians. On the
other hand, the “entire Egyptian army” had perished before the Pharaoh’s very
eyes. As the horror unfolded, it was clear that when God said to the psalmist,
“…but it shall not approach you,” the scale of the tragic event would be
devastating before his eyes but would leave all His people unscathed.
Just as this tragedy caused the deaths of
thousands of Egyptian horsemen and soldiers, Moses was also there to witness
yet another cataclysmic event where, again, thousands of Egyptians and
non-believers died simply because the Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. In a story
that may be less dramatic or sensational, the results were equally as
devastating. God’s power would be seen by those who did not believe what His
plague would do.
God began by getting Moses to instruct
His people to prepare for the plague. In Exodus 12:3-13, the instructions were
to know how to choose an unblemished lamb and kill it and then spread its blood
across “the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it”
(v.7). It was God that then gave it the name, “the Lord’s Passover” (v.11) and
summarily described what portends of that night:
(right) Illustration of an Israelite
brushing the front of the doors of his home with blood from a freshly slain
unblemished lamb (image courtesy sodahead.com)
“For I will go through the land of Egypt
on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both
man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements – I
am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live;
and when I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to
destroy you when I strike the land of
Egypt.” (vv.12-13, NASB)
(left) The Pharaoh holding his dead firstborn as a resulting of his hardening heart against God (image courtesy barbarasreality2.wordpress.com)
This, the last of ten plagues, was to be
the deadliest because the firstborns of all non-believers perished. This event
could easily have been the price paid for evil, the “recompense of the wicked”
that the psalmist wrote in Psalm 91:8. God reaffirmed later to the psalmist,
saying, “No evil will befall you nor will any plague come near your tent”
(Psalm 91:10) and to that end, no firstborn children or livestock belong to the
Israelites died as a result of the plague.
And when God declared that He would “set
him securely on high,” He said He would because “he has known His Name” (v.14).
Of all the stories in Scripture, there has not been anyone else recorded other
than Moses who asked God for His Name and he did so by the burning bush (Exodus
3:13-15). When asked, God answered Moses, saying, “‘I Am Who I Am’ and He said,
“Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I Am has sent me to you (v.14)…
‘This is My Name forever and this is My Memorial-Name to all generations.’”
(v.15)
While every patriarch featured in the
Bible has had a remarkable relationship with God, Moses is arguably the one who
has the most personal and direct. It was he who asked God His Name to which the
Lord repeatedly said, “I AM” three times. And by asking for His Name, God’s
esteem for him was fully intact. He would deliver him (Psalm 91:14), answer him
(v.15), honour him and be with him (v.15) and fulfil him with a long and
rewarding life (v.16).
- October 3 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment