Psalm 80: Israel has fallen

How do you pray when everything falls apart?

Books 1 and 2 of the Psalms focused on the reign of David and his sons (Psalms 1–72). Seeing the kingdom fall in Book 3 is heart-rending:

Psalm 79:1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

The disintegration began when Solomon died and the kingdom split (1 Kings 12). Only Judah (the southern kingdom) retained the Davidic kingship and worshipped in Jerusalem. The northern tribes made Samaria their capital, crowning their own kings, setting up their own worship centres. Eventually, both kingdoms fell.

Psalm 80 responds to the fall of Israel to Assyria in 722 BC. Psalm 89 responds to the fall of Judah to Babylon in 586 BC. We’ll keep Psalm 89 for next time.

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Psalm 72: Prayer for the king

How does Israel’s prayer for their king (Psalm 72) relate to us today?

As we saw in Psalm 48, Israel prayed to and honoured the Great King who lived in the temple they provided for him in the capital. In Psalm 72, God’s people pray for the king who mediates God’s reign to his nation.

These were the two ways Israel experienced the reign of their heavenly sovereign:

  • the temple was God’s house, with his throne (the ark) in his private chamber;
  • the king was God’s viceregent, the living expression of heaven’s reign on earth.

In Psalm 72 (the final one of Book 2) the kingship transitions from David to his son, as his people pray for his reign to endure forever.

First we’ll see what this meant for Israel, so we can understand what it means for us.

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Psalm 48: The praise of Zion

What does “Zion” mean to you?

Psalm 48 is a song of praise, from the Korahites (Levites who assisted with worship). They celebrate Mount Zion, the hill in Jerusalem where God’s house was. We’ll begin by asking what this psalm meant to them, before we ask what it means for us.

For Israel

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Everyone leading (podcast) (Isaiah 53)

What sort of leader is God? How does God’s leadership define the way we lead?

Is “mutual submission” an oxymoron? It’s not part of the political our commercial landscape. Influencers are people with followers, right? So where would we even look for such a radical model of leadership?

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Psalm 22: David’s “defeat”

Update 2024-08-09: Added podcast on Psalm 22.

We saw in Psalm 3 that “of David” refers to the Davidic kings who were God’s anointed throughout the generations (not just the individual from the tenth century BC). Now we’re ready to approach Psalm 22.

The opening words may sound familiar: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” These were the words on Jesus’ lips at his crucifixion (Matthew 27:46 || Mark 15:34).

But before we ask why Jesus reused the opening words of Psalm 22, what did those words mean in their Old Testament setting?

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Recognizing genres in the Psalms

In the first three psalms, we discovered the rich diversity within the Psalter:

  • A wisdom psalm promised blessing on those who walk in the Lord’s ways (Psalm 1).
  • A royal psalm enthroned the Lord’s anointed to represent his reign (Psalm 2).
  • A lament voiced the king’s struggles to the one who rescues him (Psalm 3).

It helps to recognize the different kinds of psalms (genres). They’re generally categorized into these types:

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Psalm 3: David’s enemies

Why am I constantly confronted with David’s enemies in the Psalms? What relevance does that have for us?

Update 2024-08-09: Added podcast on Psalm 3.

The first thing you’ll notice about Psalm 3 is the comment before verse 1. This is the first psalm “of David.”

The first two psalms didn’t have a title like this. They set the foundation for the relationship between the Lord and his people. That relationship was established by the Law of the Lord (Psalm 1), and implemented in the reign of the Lord and his anointed (Psalm 2).

Now in Psalm 3, we turn to the Lord’s Anointed. All the remaining psalms in Book 1 are “of David,” with one exception (Psalm 33).

So, are you ready for the privilege of listening in on the king’s prayers?

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Psalm 2: The Lord’s reign

Update 2024-08-01: Added Podcast on Psalm 2.

Without Psalm 2, you’ll get bogged down when the Psalms talk about “enemies.” Book 1 talks about enemies and foes fifty times in 41 Psalms. Some people just skip these psalms, looking for something more joyful.

Psalm 2 is the missing piece of the puzzle. David’s enemies are God’s enemies. As the Lord’s anointed (verse 2), David represents God’s reign on earth. So, any enemy of David is an enemy of the one who appointed him.

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The story of the Psalms

Do you know the story that spans the five books of the Psalms?

Welcome to Psalms. This is an amazing book that feels so relevant. When you’re joyful, sing Hallelujah psalms. When life is terrible, use a lament Psalm to express your anguish to God. The Psalms shine God’s light into every facet of our existence.

Do you have some favourite Psalms? Which ones do you turn to most often?

In the coming weeks, we’ll take you through 12 of 150 psalms, sampling different kinds. Some taste like bitter tears; others like joyful praise. Psalms of trust taste like soft-centred chocolate, while wisdom psalms are more like a nougat that takes time to chew.

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Formed in God’s Story: Psalms

Twelve Psalms in six weeks.

Update 2024-09-12: All notes and podcasts are now linked.

Interested in the Psalms? Do you know what they meant to Israel as their story unfolded in the five books of the Psalms? Why was David so central? Does that have anything to do with Jesus? What do the Psalms mean to us?

We’ll take two Psalms each week for six weeks, selecting different genres from across the five books within the Psalms, so that you’ll know how to treat the Psalms well.

We’ll add notes and podcasts here each week. We’re meeting on Wednesday evenings (7–9 pm) from 31 July to 11 September 2024 (except 14 August):

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How do governments fit with Christ’s authority? (Acts 25:10)

Why does Paul appeal to Caesar? What about his Jewish roots, and his faith in God’s Messiah as Saviour of the world?

Why would Paul say this? “I am standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried.” (Acts 25:10)

Doesn’t Paul believe Jesus is the ruler who ultimately sets all things right? And if he had to choose between Jerusalem and Rome, why choose the rulers who oppressed God’s nation rather than the nation called to represent God’s authority?

Paul’s statement cuts across how many today think about Israel, empire, and the kingship of the Christ.

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Jesus and the Powers (Wright and Bird)

How do we navigate the growing political divide in our society? This book from N. T. Wright and Michael Bird can help us get our focus right.

Update 2024-08-17: Link to Christianity Today’s review.

How should Christians engage with the politics of our day? N. T. Wright and Michael Bird help us face this challenging question in Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies (Zondervan, 2024).

I loved this book. Even when I disagreed, it felt like a stimulating conversation with friends, discussing things that matter:
In this book, we have attempted to do a number of things related to the topics of political theology, public discipleship, Christian testimony in the face of tyranny, and debates over Church and State relationships. (page 175)

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Formed in God’s Story: Acts

Notes and podcasts on the Book of Acts

Updated 2024-06-20: Final notes and podcasts added.

Interested in a 7-week journey through Acts?

Each Wednesday evening we cover 2 chapters, take a coffee break, and then the next 2 chapters. At four chapters each week, we cover the 28 chapters in seven weeks.

The full notes for Acts 1-28 are here (PDF, 17MB). Alternatively, you can download the podcasts and notes for each week:

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God’s message for Assyria (Nahum, Jonah)

Was Nahum right, or was Jonah? Did God want to condemn Ninevah or save it?

Two Minor Prophets heard God’s message for Nineveh, capital of the biggest, “baddest” empire of the Middle East in the eighth century BC. Assyria traded on its reputation for violence, so that the other nations would yield to them.

The prophets say that’s not right. God runs the world, and the nations must answer to him. But Nahum and Jonah have very different views of how God will deal with Nineveh.

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God’s message for Israel (Hosea, Amos)

Two minor prophets addressed Israel. Hear what God was saying to Israel, and you’ll hear what God is saying to the world.

Want to know what the prophets mean for us? Read them in their setting. It’s more effort than, “I’ll have this verse,” but it means so much more. What God promised comes alive in Christ.

Hosea and Amos are the two minor prophets who addressed Israel. That’s the northern nation established by Jeroboam when Solomon died. Samaria was the capital. Bethel and Dan were the worship centres.

Hosea and Amos kept calling Israel back to God. Disconnected from the Lord and his anointed, Israel was a basket of summer fruit going rotten (Amos 8). God’s anguish with Jacob’s failing family was something Hosea knew firsthand, living with a partner who gave herself to others and children who weren’t his (Hosea 1).

Hosea

Hosea moved to rescue his wife from slavery. He said God would move to rescue Israel from their demise as a kingdom without a king or God to save them:

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The valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37)

When did God fulfil his promise to raise the bones to life?

Exiled in Babylon, Ezekiel receives news that Jerusalem has fallen (Ezekiel 33). It’s the last gasp of a nation that is no more. Assyria had taken most of the land, and Babylon has taken what remained. There is no house where God is present in the world. There’s no anointed king representing heaven’s reign on earth. The bodies of those who tried to defend it lie unburied in what people were calling the Valley of Slaughter (Jeremiah 7:32; 19:6). What God intended to be his Holy Land lay defiled with their dead bones.

“Can these bones live?” God asked Ezekiel (37:3). The man has no answer. Death is so final. Ezekiel has already been lamenting, “The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land!” (Ezekiel 7:2). Who could argue? Speaking as a human, who could overturn death?

But Ezekiel is not speaking as a human. He’s speaking for his Master, the Sovereign Lord who breathed his breath into the human in the beginning, raising a human from the dust as a living being (Genesis 2:7).

Can this Valley of Slaughter become a new Eden? Is the Lord to breathe his breath into these bones, raising a body of people from the dust to stand as a great force under him? (Ezekiel 37:10)

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“You were in Eden” (Ezekiel 28)

Is Ezekiel 28 telling us about Satan’s origins?

Image: The Bible Project, 2019.

This text from Ezekiel and a related one in Isaiah 14:12-14 are often referenced in studies on the origin of Satan. What do you think?

Ezekiel 28:12–16 (NIV)
12 “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.”

The problem is that Ezekiel says it was about the king of Tyre, a wealthy trade city just up the coast from Israel. Here’s the immediate context:

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