From 1977-1992 he was the pastor of Lake Gregory Community Church in Crestline, California. It is, however, obvious from the context, that the language of the Psalmist is to be understood in a much more extensive sense, and as meaning, that however great the depth of wickedness which there is among men, and though it seems like a flood which breaks forth and overflows the whole earth, yet still greater is the depth of Gods providence, by which he righteously disposes and governs all things. [Note: Armerding, p. Though God suffers wicked people to do a great deal of mischief, yet he is and will be faithful to his threatenings against sin, and there will come a day when he will reckon with them; he is faithful also to his covenant with his people, which cannot be broken, nor one jot or tittle of the promises of it defeated by all the malice of earth and hell. For example, Adam named all the various kinds of animals, so this shows a level of approachability that he would have had with each kind of creature, (see Genesis 2:19-20). Whenever you see the word righteousness in Scripture, you need to stop and ask yourself: is this a reference to the righteousness of God or the righteousness of man? Theyre related, but remember, Gods covenant with us is not a covenant between equals. All rights reserved. You may profess to be a Christian, but your secret thoughts reveal that there is no fear of God before your eyes! That is, sin speaks to and entices them in their hearts. And how blessed are those people who experience God's mercy and God's faithfulness and God's righteousness and His loving-kindness, but they shall be abundantly satisfied, drinking of the river of God's pleasures. The foot of pride probably means the proud one. Whenever, therefore, our faith may be shaken by the confusion and disorder of human affairs, and when we are unable to explain the reasons of this disorder and confusion, let us remember that the judgments of God in the government of the world are with the highest propriety compared to a great depth which fills heaven and earth, that the consideration of its infinite greatness may ravish our minds with admiration, swallow up all our cares, and dispel all our sorrows. Charles Simeon has no less than seven sermons on different verses in this psalm, so there is much here that I cannot cover in depth. Proud member Second, sin flatters the sinner into thinking that he isnt a really bad sinner, and so he does not hate his sin. 2. He is a God of inexhaustible goodness: Thy mercy, O Lord! Then he abruptly turns his focus on the delightfulness of God and the blessings that He bestows on His people (36:5-9). In God all-sufficient they shall have enough, all that which an enlightened enlarged soul can desire or receive. : 36:6-10) The poet now turns from this repulsive prospect to one that is more pleasing. (Gen. 2:11). Those know not God that do not admire his loving-kindness; and those know not themselves that do not earnestly covet it. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. The benefit of holy ordinances is the fatness of God's house, sweet to a sanctified soul and strengthening to the spiritual and divine life. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. in a providential way, upholding each in their being, and supplying them with the necessaries of life: some understand this figuratively, of God's saving Jews and Gentiles, wise and unwise, and particularly those who, through humility and modesty, as Jarchi says, compare themselves to beasts, because of their ignorance and stupidity, ( Proverbs Even though we who have come to know God through Jesus Christ have experienced His grace and love, we need a continuing, steady flow of it. It is certainly a major emphasis in Psalm 36. 2-3), or does it refer to all sinners generally? In your light we see light. You care for people and animals alike, O LORD. He is probably speaking here about not only himself, but also the entire congregation of Israel. There is a joke that says, Dog heaven would be cat hell. While that would certainly be true here on earth, the Bible seems to indicate that the animal kingdom will one day be restored to its pre-fall Garden of Eden like existence when all of the creatures of the world will once again coexist in peace. Evil people feel convicted by righteous people. The gifts of Providence so far satisfy them that they are content with such things as they have. I would agree with Derek Kidner (Psalms 1-72 [IVP], p. 146), who comments on Pauls citing, there is no fear of God before his eyes (36:1b), at the end of his indictment of the human race in Romans 3. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; your judgments are a great deep: O LORD, you preserve man and beast. In either case, we see the existence of the animal kingdom (which includes dogs as well) in Gods plan for the future. The Hebrew word translated "gods" in Psalm 82:6 is elohim. Two voices are there: one is of the sea. We might think, If theyre already upright in heart, why do they need more righteousness? But we are never fully sanctified in this life. O Lord, thou preservest man and beast - literally, thou wilt save; that is, thou savest them from destruction. The house of God is His sanctuary, and in general the domain of His mercy and grace. Psalm 36:4 ESV He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil. And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. We can keep coming to Him for more of His love and He never runs out of it! It unfolds a progression, showing that sin begins in the heart and expresses itself in words and deeds. 36:1, pp. Gods love invites us to take refuge under His protective wings, as baby chicks hide under their mothers wings. The name "God" is thus, in the Scriptures, often given to that which is great or exalted, as God is the greatest Being that the mind can form any conception of. When I read the holy standards of Gods Word, do I apply them to my own heart, or do I just skim over them or apply them to others? Well, Let us see.. Rather, the Father revealed it to him. Among men we have often reason to complain, There is no truth nor mercy, (Hosea 4:1), no judgment nor justice,Isaiah 5:7. Doth God take care of cattle? Yahweh is referred to as the Elohim above all elohim (Psalm 95:3). The descriptions of the wicked are helpful and healthy for us because the patterns of the wicked are shot right through us. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. (cf. Recall what the Psalmist said in Psalm 24: Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? He devises mischief upon his bed; he sets himself in the way that is not good; he does not hate evil. Jonathan Edwards has a wonderful sermon on Matthew 16:17, where Jesus tells Peter that he did not arrive at his understanding that Jesus was the Messiah through human reason. 9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. Can you think of other ways? A. Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained [Baker], p. 155) says of verse 1, This is one of the most difficult and doubtful verses in the whole book of Psalms. The King James and NIV follow the reading my heart, whereas the NASB and ESV follow the reading, his heart.. Psalm 6:1 It is a stream of pleasures () with which He irrigates and fertilizes them, a paradisaic river of delights. Thy judgments - The acts and records which are expressive of thy judgment in regard to what is right and best; that judgment as it is expressed in thy law, and in thy dealings with mankind. Transgression speaks within the heart, and the words of the wicked mans mouth reflect his character; they are wickedness and deceit. Very high popularity: 3,600 searches a month. The oracle of sin has deceived the wicked man in Psalm 36. (1 Corinthians 8:2-3). The extensive care and beneficence of the divine Providence: "Thou preservest man and beast, not only protectest them from mischief, but suppliest them with that which is needful for the support of life." Muller was a great man of faith who trusted God to provide for over 2,000 orphans at a time in Bristol, England, in the 19th century. Your judgments are like a great deep (Psalm 36:6) Such a person is shaped by the story of God, the ways of God, the character of God, and the mind of God. Today I found a dead bird in my bulconny just below the window. Jonathan Edwards has an insightful sermon on verse 2 in which he spells out eight ways that sinners flatter themselves (Self-Flatteries, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 2:218-219): 1. Exodus 9:28 Intreat the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. So, this passage of Scripture does not claim that dogs or any other animal will be in Heaven. Therefore, they do not believe that He will judge all sin. Thy judgments are a great deep tehom rabbah, the great abyss; as incomprehensible as the great chaos, or first matter of all things which God created in the beginning, and which is mentioned Genesis 1:2, and darkness was on the face, tehom, of the deep, the vast profound, or what is below all conjecturable profundity. This voice speaks to the ungodly man in his heart. Gods ways are not our ways. Take heed! He argues that this divine and supernatural light is not just the rational belief that God is glorious and holy, but also a sense of the loveliness and beauty of these qualities. Some sinners flatter themselves, that they are already converted [when they are not]. He used to have some semblance of common wisdom and good behavior, but he long ago abandoned it. Am I growing to identify and hate my own sins more and more through Gods Word? Picture yourself walking through life, climbing these hills, and what new meaning the words take on. The judgment of God in any matter may be expressed either by a declaration or by his acts. To get what Psalm 36:6 means based on its source text, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity. 6.Thy righteousness is as the mountains of God In this verse there is a commendation of Gods righteousness, which the sacred writer compares to the high mountains, (this being the manner of the expression the mountains of God, for we know that the Hebrews were accustomed to distinguish by the appellation divine, or of God, whatever is excellent,) because his glory shines forth more clearly there. A gracious soul, though still desiring more of God, never desires more than God. The latter is the idea now most commonly attached to the word, and it has come to be used almost exclusively to denote "afflictive" dispensations of His Providence, or expressions of His displeasure against sin. O Lord , You preserve man and beast. God's loving-kindness is precious to them. That divine light which shines in the scripture, and especially in the face of Christ, the light of the world, has all truth in it. He thinks, Well, at least Im not a terrorist or a child molester or a serial murderer. So he excuses his lying, lust, greed, gossip, and other such sins, because these are more acceptable sins. He laments that there is no respect or reverence toward the Lord in the eyes of fallen man, whose heart is filled with deceit and who boasts in his own wickedness. Is His love precious and inviting to you? therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. David was also a man who was delighted in God. And then in verse Psalms 36:5 , he turns to God, and to the mercy of the Lord, and the faithfulness of the Lord, and the righteousness of the Lord, and the judgments of the Lord, and the loving-kindness of God. David is crying out to confess His sin and ask the Lord to extend His grace. Psalms 36:6 - Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611) keharerey El, like the mountains of God; exceeding high mountains; what, in the present language of geology, would be called primitive mountains, those that were formed at the beginning; and are not the effects of earthquakes or inundations, as secondary and alluvial mountains are supposed to be. Pierson said of Muller (p. 257), He taught that God alone is the one all-satisfying portion of the soul, and that we must determine to possess and enjoy Him as such.. "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.". So He will be lenient on judgment day. The energetic form of the future, , has the pre-tonic Kametz, here in pause, as in Psalm 36:8; Psalm 39:7; Psalm 78:44. A great deep.The reference, as usual, with the words deep, depth, is to the great abyss of waters, of which the seas were regarded as the surface. The beasts, though not capable of knowing and praising God, are yet graciously provided for; their eyes wait on him, and he gives them their meat in due season. and thy thoughts are very deep. Let us not wonder that God gives food to bad men, for he feeds the brute-creatures; and let us not fear but that he will provide well for good men; he that feeds the young lions will not starve his own children. Every vessel will be full there. It could not be otherwise than that in the administration of an infinite God there must be much that man, in his present state, could not comprehend. The second half of verse 3 indicates that this person is in a downward spiral. He was struck with His greatness, and with the incomprehensible nature of His power and agency, in the fact that he kept alive continually so many myriads of creatures upon the earth - so many hundred millions of human beings - so many thousand millions of wild beasts, reptiles, fish, birds, and insects - all dependent upon Him; that He provided for their needs, and that He protected them in the dangers to which they were exposed. Heres a basic outline that should help you as you read this Psalm yourself: Verses 1-4: Lord, my enemies are wicked. (Psalm 36:3), For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. Do you think of His righteousness and judgments as impressive and awesome on the personal level, because He cares for you? Psalm 36:4 states, Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong. Yet, in the very next verse we read how that Gods love extends to the heavens, and His faithfulness reaches to the skies. ). 3. This is a descriptive way of expressing the vastness or limitlessness of Gods love and mercy upon the world. Are you delighted in God and His abundant love? To appreciate the river metaphor, you have to remember that David was writing to people who lived in a desert. Who can bribe the Judge of all the earth, or who can, by threatening, compel him to pervert judgment? When it is added in the end of the verse, O Jehovah! The gains of the world and the delights of sense will surfeit, but never satisfy, Isaiah 55:2. Well, lets consider what the Psalms 36:6 and the Bible has to say about dogs and other pets going to Heaven. Or look at Romans 5:3: And not only this, but we also rejoice in our tribulations, knowing Its the knowing of trust, its the knowing of faith. The old Psalter, in paraphrasing mountains of God, says, Thi ryghtwisnes, that es, ryghtwis men, er gastly hilles of God; for that er hee in contemplacioun, and soner resayves the lyght of Crist. David, having looked round with grief upon the wickedness of the wicked, here looks up with comfort upon the goodness of God, a subject as delightful as the former was distasteful and very proper to be set in the balance against it. 257, 315). We ought to hear echoes of our own words and thoughts when we read about the darkness that overwhelms the wicked in this Psalm. One writer titled his exposition of this psalm, "Man at His Worst, God at His Best." All we can say is, it was His sovereign purpose. Psalm 6:1. There are even ancient burial customs that still exist today, in which some people will have their pets placed with them in the casket to ensure that they will be together as companions after death. And who can comprehend the extent of His law, and the wonderfulness of His Providence, in thus watching over and providing for the multitudes of animated beings that swarm in the waters, in the air, and on the earth? [Note: Dahood, 1:218.]. These collected songs are reflective of Israels history, and they shaped the minds of Gods people. We cannot understand many of the trials that He brings into our lives. He is a God of inviolable truth: Thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. God Himself is the standard for what is righteous. is in the heavens. He refused to make any of the needs of the ministry known to any potential donor. Keep Gods covenant faithfulness in mind when you see these words in Psalm 36. Edwards sermon is titled, A Divine and Supernatural Light, Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God, Shown to be both a Scriptural and Rational Doctrine (in his Works, 2:12). The wicked man has ceased to be wise. Copyright Robert B. Sloan. This verse sounds like John 1:4, which says of Jesus, In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. Or, as Jesus claimed (John 5:21), For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. Jesus is the source of eternal life for His chosen ones. My office is in the basement of my home that is where, I have tried to keep myself away from the twitching beliefs since I became a Christian but the truth is. Psalm 36:9 Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (Heb. By saying that Gods lovingkindness extends to the heavens and His faithfulness to the skies, David means that these qualities are immense or inexhaustible. If God purposely created the animals to exist in Eden, then it stands to reason that animals and dogs will also be in Heaven. Psalm 36:6 ESV Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. You are the covenant God. Your house could refer to all the earth, or this could be a reference to the celebratory meals eaten in the temple. 1-2). The title identifies David as the servant of the Lord, which is only used elsewhere in Psalm 18. NIV How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! 3. You could irrigate your crops with it. This is a dark world; we see little comfort in it; but in the heavenly light there is true light, and no false light, light that is lasting and never wastes. 6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition The Lockman Foundation, Steve served as the pastor of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship from May, 1992 through his retirement in December, 2018. When people habitually do what they know is wrong, the principle of lawlessness takes control of their lives. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The blessing he begs for them is God's loving-kindness (that is, the tokens of his favour towards them) and his righteousness (that is, the workings of his grace in them); or his loving-kindness and righteousness are his goodness according to promise; they are mercy and truth. Psalm 71:19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! The Hebrew word that the NASB translates lovingkindness, is hesed. AMP Secondly, In him they have light in perfection, wisdom, knowledge, and joy, all included in this light: In thy light we shall see light, that is, 1. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. You are the covenant God who keeps us. [3.] They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. Abundance is literally, fatness. It pictures the best portion of meat from the sacrifices offered at the temple. Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reaches to the clouds. This passage indicates that there may be even greater animals than dogs in Heaven that we will love as eternal pets. Do you see His lovingkindness and faithfulness as immense? You do not despise evil; rather, youre planning how to do it. A video of his original remarks may be viewed here. 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me. Psalm 36:7-9 New International Version 7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! (1.) What Every Christian Should Know about the Protestant Reformation. Why does the Lord allow a drunken Herod to chop off the head of the godly John the Baptist? So it mixes metaphors, but communicates having all of something delightful that you want or need. Ironside asked him if he realized that he was a lost sinner. The Meaning Of Psalm 121 . We can look at it in two parts: The first two verses contain some complex difficulties in the text, translation, and interpretation that go beyond my scholarly ability. First, at the heart of sin is a complete lack of understanding of who God is, so that sinners do not fear Him. Having God himself for their felicity, First, In him they have a fountain of life, from which those rivers of pleasure flow, Psalms 36:8; Psalms 36:8. 10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart. And yet the stork parents show loyal love for their young, providing for all their needs. He loves practically imparting biblical truths to the next generation, while occasionally conduct spiritual challenges on his facebook page facebook.com/MakeItCountChallenge, I found A dead bird in my home. Some flatter themselves that death is a great way off, and that they shall hereafter have much opportunity to seek salvation. Salem Media Group. It flies into the high fir trees to make its nests secure from predators (Ps. Psalms 36:6 in Other Translations KJV 6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. It meant life and refreshment. Psalm 139:17) is Thy mercy, Elohim! Even when clouds and darkness are round about him, yet judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne,Psalms 97:2. Ill explain a few of these descriptions to help you better understand what the Psalmist is describing: Your righteousness is like the mountains of God (Psalm 36:6) In Psalm 36:1 we meet an unusual character: transgression, evil, has a voice. What should he do. He is a God of unsearchable wisdom and design: "Thy judgments are a great deep, not to be fathomed with the line and plummet of any finite understanding." To drink their fill literally is to be drunk with. II. Adam Clarke writes (Clarkes Commentary [Abingdon-Cokesbury Press], 3:335), No man can illumine his own soul; all understanding must come from above. Spiritually, we are all like the man born blind (John 9). Why are so many people who were raised in church turned off towards God? The sinner is blind to what everyone else plainly sees, namely, that his sin is repugnant. Psalm 6: 1-3 says, "Jehovah, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor punish me in your anger. The idea here is, that as the mountains are the most stable of all the objects with which we are acquainted, so it is with the justice of God. David delighted in meditating on Gods attributes rather than disregarding Him. It was the character of proselytes that they came to trust under the wings of the God of Israel (Ruth 2:12); and what more proper to gather proselytes than the excellency of his loving-kindness? 2. We trust the promise of God that Hes revealed through Jesus Christ, and thus we become righteous. What more powerful to engage our complacency to him and on him? In heaven they shall be for ever drinking of those pleasures that are at God's right hand, satiated with a fulness of joy,Psalms 16:11. There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise ( Psalms 36:9-12 ). Thus David shows us in stark contrast two ways to livein the deceitfulness of sin or in the delightfulness of God. The Lord knows that it is common among his people that they would frown and becomes jealous of the rich and great especially in times of crisis. We often confuse the two. It hardens their hearts against God and blinds their eyes to their own failures, so that they cannot see the terrible judgment for which they are heading (1-2). He spread His wings and caught them, 9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are. Some flatter themselves with a secret hope, that there is no such thing as another world. All men as fallen have these characteristics, latent or developed.. He is the spring and author of all its sensations of divine things, and all its motions towards them: he quickens whom he will; and whosoever will may come, and take from him of the waters of life freely. While this truth may initially be troubling or disheartening to us, Paul also says, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him, (1 Corinthians 2:9). The "judgment" of God in any matter may be expressed either by a declaration or by his acts. The word is not used in that exclusive sense in the Scriptures. With this they are abundantly satisfied; they desire nothing more in this world than to live a life of communion with God and to have the comfort of the promises. He keeps His word. He is the fountain of eternal life. According to Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:50 flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Only humans who also have a soul can enter Heaven. On earth we meet with little content and a great deal of disquiet and disappointment; but in the heavens, where the mercy of God reigns in perfection and to eternity, there is all satisfaction; there therefore, if we would be easy, let us have our conversation, and there let us long to be.
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