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Psalm 140: The Tongue of Vipers
Christ Church on May 8, 2022
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Psalm 139: The God of All Immensity

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INTRODUCTION

This psalm might be considered a hymn to the omniscience of God (vv. 1-6) and omnipresence of God (vv. 7-12), as well as a hymn to His creative artistry (vv. 13-18), along with a thoughtful meditation on the ethical ramifications of God’s holy nature (vv. 19-24).

THE TEXT

“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it . . . And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:1-24).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Yahweh knows the psalmist, having searched him out (v. 1). God knows when he sits and when he rises (v. 2), and reads his thoughts at a distance (v. 2). God understands his paths, his lying down, and all his ways (v. 3). Before he speaks, God knows all about it (v. 4). Jehovah goes before him, and comes behind him (v. 5), and rests His hand on him. Such doctrine overwhelms David (v. 6); it is too high.

Where can God be avoided? Nowhere (v. 7). If David ascends to Heaven, God is there (v. 8). If he makes his bed in the lowest places, God is there also (v. 8). If he takes the rays of the sunrise and flies off with them to the most distant seas, Yahweh is there to lead and hold (vv. 9-10). If David tried to hide in the dark, he realizes that darkness and light are all the same to Jehovah (vv. 11-12).

But Yahweh is not just the God of all the omni-immensities—He is a meticulous craftsman as well. God owned his reins (kidneys), which the Hebrews considered the seat of desire and longing—even as those reins were being shaped (v. 13). The human body is an astounded work—stupefying, in fact. It summons nothing but praise, as our soul knows right well (v. 14). We are woven in the womb. God knew everything about what He was doing, as He was doing it in the darkness of the womb (v. 15). God saw what He was going to do in the sketch book of His own sovereign determinations (v. 16)—all of it was planned. David exults in the infinite sum of God’s thoughts, and counts them both infinite and precious (vv. 17-18).

But this great Jehovah is also holy. And as the Holy One, He is the eye of the world. God will certainly slay the wicked (v. 19), and so David banishes them. They speak in godless ways, taking God’s name in vain (v. 20), and so David hates those who hate Yahweh. He is grieved with them (v. 21). He hates them perfectly, and counts them as his own enemies (v. 22). He follows this with an astonishing invitation—search me, O God (v. 23).  Probe and test me, to see if there is any wickedness to be found in me. And lead me in the everlasting way (v. 24).

IMMEDIATE AND EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE

God knows all things immediately, without any middleman. Although it says here that God “searches out,” it also says He knows from “afar off.” He knows what David is going to say before David does. His knowledge is unmediated. Not only is His knowledge not mediated to Him, His knowledge is not divided. He is never distracted. When you cry out to Him, you have His undivided attention. He knows your going out and your coming in, and that means He knows when you have a parking spot and when you don’t.

This kind of knowledge causes us to blow fuses (v. 6). We cannot attain to it. We cannot comprehend it.

ALL THE WAY PRESENT

The omnipresence of Jehovah is not like pie dough—where the farther you spread it, the thinner it gets. God is everywhere, and everywhere He is, He is entirely there.

But this is Christian orthodoxy, not pantheism. God is everywhere, but it cannot be said that He is everything. He created the material universe, which means that it is distinct from Him. God spoke, and there were two realities: God and not God. But all contingent created reality is contained (somehow) within Him. He encompasses us all, without being identified with the created order. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28). He goes ahead of us, and He comes behind.

THE PROFOUND MINIATURIST

 The psalmist confesses that he “is wonderfully made.” The Vulgate rendering of this is exquisite—acu pictus sum, “I am painted as with a needle.” Not only so, but God does this work in the darkness of the womb. But no matter, because darkness and light are all the same to Him (v. 12). The formation of each human being, which He has done billions of times, is an astonishing marvel. We take it all for granted, because we are besotted with our sin.

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13; Amos 5:15). We see in Scripture how David was magnanimous with his personal enemy Saul (1 Sam. 24:5). What we are dealing with here is David’s indignation over these evildoers unwillingness to repent of their bloody and blasphemous wickedness (vv. 19-20).

And so think of it this way. The sovereign and eternal God, the one who has witnessed every grubby thought you ever had, and has witnessed them parade right in front of Him, hands over their eyes, in the firm conviction that if they can’t see, then He must not be able to see, is the same God who knit the Lord Jesus together in the womb of Mary the Virgin. And He did this so that He would have a body that could be nailed to a cross on behalf of all those impudent scamps.

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Psalm 118 (King’s Cross Church)

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OVERVIEW

Part 1 (v. 1-4 ) Enduring Mercy – First, the author of the Psalm begins with an exhortation to contemplate God’s goodness and his enduring mercy.

Part 2 (v. 5-18) A Godly Confidence in Turmoil – Here the Psalmist remembers a time when he was surrounded on all sides by entire nations that wanted him dead. But, in the name of the Lord, he had the victory and conquered them. And God has become his salvation.

Part 3 (19-24) A Triumphant Entry – Now he enters through the Gate of the Lord, triumphant, praising God for having saved him from his enemies. Again, he declares that God has become his salvation. But the onlookers are startled by this triumphant entry.

Part 4 (25-29) Hosanna – And now the author calls to God, “O please send salvation O Lord.” It’s strange because he has just finished describing several cases where God has sent salvation. It’s as if the author is begging for another salvation, a salvation still to come.

KING DAVID

Traditionally, this Psalm has been assigned to King David. The events described in the Psalm seem to resonate with the events in David’s life – a man surrounded by enemies on all sides, who puts his trust in the Lord and, as a result, has his right hand strengthened so that he conquers all his enemies.

FEAST OF BOOTHS

But there was another aspect to this Psalm for the Jewish reader. Look at Leviticus 23 where you will see a list of the Old Testament festivals. The last feast listed is the Feast of Booths, which celebrated God’s bringing the Israelites out of Egypt in the Exodus and into the Promised Land of Israel. This feast became closely associated with Psalm 118 and the cry “Hosanna.”

FAILURE

In a very important way, however, both the Exodus and the anointing of David failed to bring about the ultimate salvation of Israel. This Psalm describes something much bigger than what happened with Moses or with David.

NEW TESTAMENT

Psalm 118 is quoted at least a dozen times in the New Testament, and is used in all four of the Gospels to describe Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. See – Mt. 21:9,42, 23:39; Mk. 11:9; 12:10-11; Lk. 13:35, 19:38, 20:17; Jn. 12:13. This Psalm found its real fulfillment in Jesus, who has become the salvation of the Lord. (See also – Acts 4:11, Heb. 12:5-6, 13:6, 1 Pet. 2:7).

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Psalm 138: Do Not Forsake the Work of Your Own Hands

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INTRODUCTION

One of the central things we are called to do is praise the works of the Lord. But the glorious thing is that we are also called to remember that we are ourselves the work of God. God’s wisdom is so intricate and ingenious that He can create works that are capable of praising His works. And that is what we are.

THE TEXT

“A Psalm of David. I will praise thee with my whole heart: Before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: For great is the glory of the Lord. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: But the proud he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: Forsake not the works of thine own hands” (Psalm 138).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The reference in this psalm to the temple should not be sufficient to make us set aside the ascription to David. The psalmist will praise God with a dedicated heart (v. 1), and he will do it in the presence of all the false gods. He will worship toward the temple, praising God’s name for His hesed and truth, because God magnifies His Word above all that His name represents (v. 2). In the day that he cried out, God reinforced the strength of his soul (v. 3). A prediction is then made—all the kings of the earth will praise the King of all the earth (v. 4), and they will sing about the ways of the Lord (v. 5). God is higher than all height, but still has respect for the lowly. The proud He knows also, but is only willing to touch them with a long stick (v. 6). God is one who delivers us from the very midst of trouble (v. 7). God will certainly finish His own work; He knows how to complete it (v. 8). God’s hesed is forever, and the psalmist consequently pleads with Him not to forsake the work of His own hands (v. 8).

THE SINGING OF KINGS

As we are going to see in a moment, God has great regard for the lowly. But He regards the conceited from afar. But in His great kindness and grace, one of the things he does is that He condescends to invite even kings into His kingdom. And one of the great wonders of grace is that they come. This psalm is one of the great promises. God is going to make a great choir out of humbled kings. In vv. 4-5, we see that all the kings of earth are going to sing His praises.

The kings of the earth are told to kiss the Son, lest He be angry (Ps. 2: 10-12). The kings of the earth are going to bring their glory and honor into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24). All the kings will see God’s glory (Is. 62:2). Paul teaches us that God wants all kinds of men to be saved, even kings (1 Tim. 2:1-4). The kings of earth will fear the glory of the Lord (Ps. 102:15).

THE MOST HIGH AND THE LOWLY

Even though God is the Most High God, He nevertheless has concern for the lowly. A lowly and humble creature is not too low for Him to touch. What troubles us is a concern of His. He does not consider us worms. But if we puff ourselves up in our conceits, then we do indeed become worms, very haughty worms.

The issue is not the size of our hands, or the size of our minds. The Lord created us this way, and He declared in the day of creation that our size was, along with all other things, “very good.” What He does not care for is the swollenness of our pride. Sin is not finitude; sin is inflated with massive amounts of spiritual helium.

“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).

THE WORK OF HIS OWN HANDS

We are indeed the work of God’s hands. The psalmist here prays a prayer that is manifestly within the will of God. We know that it is because of what God promises us.

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you . . . being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:3–6, NKJV).

Not only has He begun a good work in you, He has begun a good work that is you.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV)

The word rendered workmanship is poiema, and can be rendered as creation, artifact, art-work, or accomplishment. You, my friend, are laid out on God’s workbench.

BROUGHT TO COMPLETION

What man does by himself always comes up empty. As Spurgeon put it, we are talking about “Cain’s sacrifice, Pharaoh’s promise, Rabshakeh’s threats, a Pharisee’s prayer.” But what about Christ’s sacrifice? Christ’s promise? Christ’s threat? Christ’s prayers? What are you trusting? Who are you trusting?

You might be tempted to trust in your own sensations—your afflictions make you feel like you are being crushed beneath the weight of numerous troubles. But take heart. You think you are being crushed like grapes. And so you are, but God is making His specialty wine. What is your vintage?

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Psalm 137: The Rivers of Babylon

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INTRODUCTION

This psalm begins with a heartfelt lament, and concludes with a savage benediction. This apparent incongruity has been a trouble to many Christians, and so we need to take care as we meditate on, and worship by means of, a psalm like this one.

THE TEXT

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; Who said, rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones” (Ps. 137).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Babylon was situated on a plain, and was criss-crossed by both rivers and canals. Rivers provide one of the most natural metaphors for sorrow and weeping (Lam. 2:18; 3:38), and it was next to the rivers of Babylon that the Israelite exiles sat and wept, remembering Zion (v. 1). Instead of singing, they placed their harps on the willows there (v. 2), those willows being another natural metaphor for weeping. The Israelites had come there to lament, but the Babylonian onlookers demanded a happy song, a song of Zion (v. 3), which the captives refused to do (v. 4). To do something like that would be to forget Jerusalem, and rather than do such a thing, the psalmist would prefer that his right hand forget how to play (v. 5). If he were to do that, forgetting Jerusalem as his chief joy, he would prefer that his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth (v. 6). The psalm then turns to the question of the Lord’s vengeance. Edom was related to Israel, as neighbors and kinsmen, and yet in their hatred, they egged the Babylonians on (v. 7). The next verse comes as a prophecy (“who art to be destroyed”), and it is stated as a strict form of the lex talionis—happy the one who does to Babylon what Babylon did to Judah (v. 8). Happy the one who dashes the infants of Babylon against the rocks (v. 9).

A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Many Christians assume that the self-maledictory prayer in vv. 5-6 came true in v. 9—his right hand did forget its cunning, and his mouth did form a grotesque blessing. They believe that the discordant and jarring conclusion of the psalm, after such a beautiful beginning, is truly unfortunate. But this is simply too facile.

The psalmist knew what was entailed in the fall of a city, and he knew that to pray for that fall would bring all that it entailed along with it. You cannot pray for the airliner to crash, and then be surprised at the fact that passengers died. This is no less true in modern warfare than in ancient warfare. When Babylon fell, enemy warriors dashed their children to death. But American drone strikes have killed children just as dead.

FIRST, AN ACTUAL PROPHECY

In the fifth year of Darius, the Babylonians revolted against him. When he surrounded the city with his massive army, the Babylonians decided that their only hope was to try to hold out through the siege as long as possible. And so they rounded up their own wives, sisters, and children, anyone useless in the war effort, and strangled them. The men were allowed to keep one wife, along with one maid-servant to do the housework. That is what the Babylonians were actually like.

NOT AN OLD COVENANT THING 

We sometimes seek a cheap way out when it comes to questions like this. When we can say something like, “Well, that’s in the Old Testament . . .” and then everyone leaves us alone, there is a temptation to do just that. But it will not suffice.

The destruction of Babylon was a type of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Herod the Great was an Idumean (an Edomite, see v. 7), and he was the one who had the boys around Bethlehem slaughtered. Judah had become a new Egypt (Ex. 1:22), Judah had become a new Babylon.

And so it is that the only place in the New Testament where the word Hallelujah is used is when the saints of God in heaven behold the demolition of Babylon (Jerusalem). “And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever” (Rev. 19:3).

NOT A BAD EXAMPLE

This psalm, and other psalms like it, are not included in Scripture so that we would see the sin involved in them, and shy away from the “bad example.” This is a place where even the great C.S. Lewis swings and misses. He grants the “uncharity of the poets,” and says that they “are indeed devilish.”

The problem with this is that Christians are commanded to sing these psalms, all of them (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). We are instructed to sing these psalms when we are “merry” (Jas. 5:13). The psalms are quoted in the New Testament very frequently, and the imprecatory psalms are not excluded from these quotations (Acts 1:20; Ps. 109:8ff). And all of this is urged upon us with no warning label whatever.

Neither can we pretend that the ethic of love for your enemy was a New Testament innovation (Ex. 23:4,5; Prov. 24:17; Prov. 25:21). But at the same time, we are told that we can have a Bible passage in mind, and be able to refer to it when asked, and yet still not know “what spirit we are of” (Luke 9:55). So take as your example the way David spoke of the enemies of God (Ps. 139:21), and also the way that he spoke of and behaved toward his own personal enemies (2 Sam. 1:19; 1 Sam. 24:5).

NOT FIXED BY DISTANCE

Sometimes we try to address things like this by creating an artificial distance, doing this with years, with jokes, or with context. An old Scots psalter rendered the psalm this way:

Blessed shall the trooper be
Comes riding on his naggie,
Who takes his wee bairns by the taes,
And dings them on the craigie.

For an example of context, some of you have seen video footage from the war in Ukraine, where a column of Russian tanks is being taken out by Javelin missiles—and it looks to you like a video game. But what you are seeing is husbands, sons, and brothers dying.

 THE BRATS OF BABYLON

 We really do want God to rise up and scatter His enemies (Ps. 68:1). But God has two ways of doing this. He can destroy His enemies with old school means, in which they are simply annihilated. He can also destroy His enemies by transforming them into friends. That is how he destroyed His one-time enemy, the man called Saul of Tarsus.

“And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44).

I saw a meme online that illustrated this quite pointedly. It said that when the apostle Paul entered into Heaven, he was greeted with the applause of those he had martyred. So Christ is the stone, and if we fall on Him in repentance, we will be gloriously broken. But if He falls on us, then we will be crushed. So as Christians, our prayers of imprecation should be Christocentric. And you can test the condition of your spirit in this way.

If you are praying for your enemy to be destroyed, and God gloriously converts him, and your initial response is “no, not that way,” then that should be cause for self-examination. But Christ is the Rock either way.

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