Welcome to lesson 12 of Psalms, Lift Up Your Hearts. Let's begin prayer. Name the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen. The name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Lesson 12 is going to be focusing on Psalms 101 to 106, and we are also going to be concluding book four of the Psalter, which again, it's a pretty short book here, going from Psalm 92, 106 in total.
So without any further ado, let's just dive straight in. Well, I guess what I will say really quickly here, just for us to recap the main theme of book four, which is reflection and exile, right? So we really saw Moses kick off the entire mood of book four, saying your exile, life is short, pray to God, make the best of what you can do. May the Lord bless the work of your hands as brief as life is.
And actually we're going to be seeing those motifs of life is short, we're returning to the dust. May God bless our lives. God is eternal, God is everlasting. We worship the Lord.
We're going to see that come up a lot in these final Psalms of book four. So having said that really quickly now, let's dive into Psalm 101. This is a royal Psalm and a Psalm of David. So David has just shown up here since Psalm 89.
He's been absent. So he's just popping up in 101. He's been gone from Psalm 89. And I think this is really important here because we're reflecting on the fact that David's house is gone and it's been punished because of sin.
They're an exile because of their sin. And of course, Israel is accepting that fact as we follow the theme of book four here. And so now David really shows up as the model king of repentance and his intention to be a righteous ruler. That's really what someone is all about.
He's valuing to be a righteous ruler. He's going to remove all evil from his house. He's going to follow the blameless way. And he's going to punish the wicked.
Now, in my own personal reflection, to me, it's interesting how this Psalm shows up right smack in the middle of book four, a Psalm of David. Again, he's been gone for the most part since I'm 89 here. And so why is this Psalm of this, really, it's with a statement of intent of being good and avoiding evil? Why is it showing up now?
Because in my mind, I think this is a good statement of intent, a good statement of repentance for all of Judah, for all of Israel on behalf of the king. So the king is stating, we as a people are going to follow what's right and what's good when we go back to the land. When God redeems us and restores us, because that's what the hope is this entire time of the entire, well, second half of this altar, honestly, especially books four and five. We God will bring us back.
That is the proclamation of the prophets, the proclamation of this altar. And when we do go back, we are going to follow the straight and narrow and we are going to make sure the best of our ability, we're gonna turn away from evil, make sure that everything goes well. So to me, it just seems like the appropriate time right here in the middle of book four, for the king who has been punished to stay on behalf of his people, we're gonna turn this around. Okay, so there's a personal thought of mine here.
So let's begin with verse one. It says, I will sing of mercy and of justice to you, O Lord, I will sing. And we've of course seen the refrain of God's justice and mercy so many different times here, but I really like this, and I wanna share a particular verse with you from Saint Bernard, but you got a lot of continuity with previous Psalms. David is singing to God about his mercy and his justice, and that really is what is receiving right now while in exile.
They're receiving his justice because of their sinfulness, because they've turned away from God. And as we get towards the end of this lesson, we're gonna see that definitely take place in Psalm 106, a big confession of their sin. And so they are receiving his justice, but of course they have never, never any hope in his mercy. And that God will bring them back.
Now what I really like about that is, it's very spiritually typological for us. I said, many, many times throughout this Bible study on the Psalms and many other Bible studies, especially in Joshua, that the promised land is a type of heaven and that this life on earth is our wilderness wanderings. It is a valley of tears as a lot of devotionals up point out in prayer, point out, it is a valley of tears. We are longing to get to the promised land of heaven.
And so in the meantime, we're fed with manna, the bread of life, the Eucharist, and all these beautiful spiritual things, I can't recap all of that. So while we are on earth, longing to go into heaven and we are repenting of our sins and we're reflecting on the fact that life is indeed very short and passes away really, really quickly. It always boggles the mind. I mean, I'm only in my middle-aged now, and it's just, it's amazing how absolutely fast time flies by.
So you recognize that's the case and that's the truth of the matter and it should make you think towards heaven. So we in the wilderness wanderings of our life, we in the exile of this earth longing for heaven, seeing of God's justice and mercy as well. Just like this verse says, I will sing of mercy and of justice to you, O Lord, I will sing. That's what we do here on earth.
So David's words are really ours. We can pray David's words as our own. And so this is what Saint Bernard has to say in the matter, I pulled this quote from your new Bible. If he says, guided by my experience, I will not sing a hymn to justice or to mercy.
I will sing to you, O Lord, merciful and just. And here's the point, for the duration of my pilgrimage on this earth, I will sing of mercy and of justice so that your mercy may outweigh justice. And so that my sin may be rendered silent. And so that in the end my glory will be sung to you alone.
End quote. I think that's absolutely beautiful. That is a wonderful way to look at life, singing to God's justice and his mercy during this pilgrimage on earth, but as we long to be restored to God in heaven and the promise of heaven, super beautiful. Now following verse one, there's another jam-packed verse verse two, it says, I will give heed to the way that is blameless.
Oh, when will you come to me? Now that line, I will give heed to the way that is blameless can also be translated. Your commentaries will say, I will study the way that is blameless. That is really beautiful.
Here we are in a Bible study on the Psalms. And of course, this entire website in my ministry here is dedicated to studying the word of God. And that's exactly what we should all be doing as Christians, Catholic Christians, and of course, Protestant Christians as well, is taking heed to or studying the law. This is really what the great Shema, the great commandment of Moses, the greatest commandment was back in Deuteronomy chapter six verses, well really for and following, but you can, you know, I'll back up to four, why not just get the context here?
The great famous Shema, which means here or listen or obey. Shema, oh Israel, the Lord God is one Lord, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. And then verse six gets to the point here. All these words are to command you to stay, shall be upon your heart, teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise, and bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as front-lands between your eyes, then you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates, et cetera, et cetera.
So in other words, be all in with the law and with God's commandments. And you need to study it as well. So there's all kinds of different examples of Moses and Joshua and those books saying, you know, you need to study it, don't depart from the right hand to the left hand. And this isn't David's word saying, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna give heed to the way that is blameless, I'm gonna study the way that is blameless, and make it my own.
Now what's also interesting about this is that this is exactly what God commanded the king to do through the law of Moses also in Deuteronomy. There's a big section in Deuteronomy 17 about the restrictions and commandments of the law for the future king, whenever the king would arise, such as do not multiply for yourself wives or weapons or wealth, but right after the doubt shall not, there is a doubt shout, and that starts in verse 18. So the commandment for the king is this, in Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 18, to 20, Moses says, when he the king sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book, a copy of this law from that which is the charge of the Levitical priests, and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, that he may continue along in this kingdom, he and his children in Israel, end quote. So the commandment is to keep, to write by himself, by hand, every single year, a copy of a law.
You know, that could be just Deuteronomy, it could be all the five books of Moses, but it's probably just Deuteronomy here. So you begin writing out the whole copy of the law every single year, so it begins to be like, well, it's like marinating in your heart and in your mind and your soul, right? That is what the king was supposed to do. We don't actually have any records of any of the kings doing that, which is really interesting, but this verse that we're focusing on here in one of one verse two is really touching upon that.
I will give heed to the way that is blameless, and I will follow the law, and if this is really is a statement of intent and repentance of the king and all of Israel, once they get back to the promised land after their exile, it is this intent, we're gonna get back to the law instead of the way that is blameless, and that did happen with Ezra. Ezra was the great priest scribe who worked really, really hard to try to get the people to learn the law, to obey the law, to observe it in all the different ways, and it doesn't go so well all the time, if you say the books of Ezra and the Amaya, but I really, really like that a lot. You've got to study the law, and you've got to take heed of the way that is blameless, it's got to be a regular thing, and here in David's words, he's making that statement of intent to do just that when they return. Okay, so that's verse two, excuse me, my voice is a little bit off at the bigger part.
So verse three and following is basically him just saying, I'm gonna do good, I'm gonna avoid evil, and I'm gonna purge my kingdom of evil, which is again, I think this is a way to look at it, a statement of intent for all of Israel. So let's just read a few verses, just to see what I mean. The second half of verse two says, I will walk with integrity of heart within my house. By house, he means his dynasty, he means his actual family, he means his kingdom, right, the house has multiple meanings.
By eat is the word in Hebrew, but I will walk with integrity of heart within my house, I will not step before my eyes, anything that is base. I hate the work of those who fall away, it shall not cling to me. Perversiveness of heart shall be far from me, I will know nothing of evil. Him whose landers has made her secretly, I will destroy the man of how he looks and arrogant heart I will not endure.
I will look with favor on the faithful and the land that they may dwell with me. So again, you're talking about the land, what are you talking about all of Israel, and I think it's about when they return to the land that they will look with favor on the faithful, and he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. No man, verse seven, who practices to seek shall dwell in my house, no man who utters lies shall continue in my presence. Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evil doers from the city of the Lord, which obviously is Jerusalem.
So there's this intent, the statement of intent, this intent is that you know what, when we get back to the land, we're gonna do it right, the void was evil, and purge the land, and cut off evil doers from Jerusalem because we got into this mess precisely because we were following what was evil and not doing what was good. So that's kind of my interpretation here, of Psalm 101, which I think fits really nicely here. You know what it is, it reminds me of Joshua's famous verse back in Joshua, Joshua 24, famous line, you probably have a plaque of it maybe at your house. As for me and my, choose to stay whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
I think it's kind of in that line here, when we get back we're gonna serve the Lord. All right, so there it is, there's Psalm 101, a royal psalm of King David who shows up out of nowhere in the middle of book four to make a statement of intent of repentance and to follow good and avoid evil. Beautiful. Now that leaves Tucson 102, which is a lament Psalm here, and this Psalm confesses sin, and that's important because they're in this debacle, and this mess and this disaster because of their sin, but it's still proclaiming hope in the restoration of Zion, and of course, obviously that's the same thing as Jerusalem.
Now Psalm 102 is the fifth penitential psalm. Remember there are seven penitential psalms in the Psalter, that's no accident, seven is the number of the covenant, so seven penitential psalms, to my mind, you can look at it as these are seven psalms to pray to restore your broken covenant, broken through sin, right? Sin broke the covenant, so now you have seven penitential psalms to desire to repair that covenant. I don't think that's an accident, therefore, that 102 of this penitential lament Psalm follows 101, which says we're gonna do good, and therefore, I'm sorry for all the times that I did not do good, right?
So that's what's going on. By the way, just if you're listening, you don't have the notes in front of you. Psalm 6, 32, 38, and 51 are the first four penitential psalms that we've studied in lessons past. This one is the fifth, Psalm 102, and then we still have yet to study 130 and 143 in the next future lessons here.
So this is pretty straightforward, honestly. Versus one through 11, the Psalmist is really mourning the intensity of sin, really the intensity of his suffering, which maybe brought about by sin. So it's some sort of personal distress of what's going on here, that's verses one through 11. And it's stuff like this, I can zero in almost any verse as an example here if you don't have it in front of you.
Let me just start with verse one, why not? Chapter 102, verse one, here in my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress, and climb your ear to me, answer me to be the only day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is struck down like grass and withered. By the way, I think that's important to say to point out that my heart is struck down like grass. Remember back in Psalm 90, we talked about the metaphor that Moses gives, like life passes away like grass. That's verse five, chapter 90 verse five.
You sweep me away, they are like a dream like grass, which is renewed in the morning, and then the evening, sorry, in the morning, yes, it flourishes, and it is renewed in the evening of fades and withers. So here in 102, he's saying the same kind of thing, right, my heart is struck down like grass. It's touching upon that big theme of Psalm 90 and of the entirety of book four, which is life passes away really, really quickly like grass. Anyways, it goes on, I forget to eat my bread because I'm allowed groaning, my bones cling to my flesh, and it's pretty dark.
Verses one through 11, this whole section, the whole first half of Psalm 102, it's very much a limit and very much penitential as well. But it does turn around in verse 12 when it starts this whole section on hope that God is going to rebuild Zion and Jerusalem. So let's skip down to verse 12 here. But you, O Lord, are in thrones forever.
So in contrast to my life that passes away like grass, you are in thrones forever. Your name endures to all generations. You will arrive and verse 13 really gets to the main point of the hope here. You will arise and have pity on Zion.
It is the time to favor her. The appointed time has come for your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her, dust. That's interesting here to call Jerusalem, because remember Jerusalem is in ruins, right? So it's been burned up, but if you go back to what was it?
Psalm 94, if I remember I'll go back to my head here, Psalm 94 described how the city was, or the temple was hammered down with hammers and just struck down with hatchets, right? All this dismal language there. Well, it's interesting here how it's called dust. It's been reduced to dust.
The servants hold her stones dear, but have pity on her dust. Why do I find that interesting? Because again, Psalm 90 was describing how, this is Psalm 90 verse three, you turn man back to the dust. So we turn back to the dust.
It's not just us, but also the city of God has been turned into the dust. So in other words, the idea here is Jerusalem has died, I think, I think that's what's happening here. Jerusalem has died. It's been burnt to the ground.
All that remained as dust and ashes. But that's kind of an image for mankind. But just like God will have compassion on mankind and renew man, which we're going to see really soon. You're very beautiful song coming up about new creation to the Holy Spirit.
The same thing is gonna happen to the city. Jerusalem will be resurrected, so to speak. Jerusalem has reduced to dust. Now Jerusalem will be resurrected just like mankind.
And both actually happen in the New Testament, right? Through the resurrection of Jesus. Both humanity, but also His holy city will be resurrected. There is the new Jerusalem that we have to look forward to.
And that's all the whole Bible study on the book of Revelation, the heavenly new Jerusalem that comes out of heaven, where we will dwell with God forever. Jerusalem will be resurrected. And I see in this particular verse, 14 of Psalm 102, kind of an image of that. Jerusalem has died and has dust, but will be resurrected.
Just some thoughts on my own, picker, leave it. Which I hope you take it. All right, it goes on verse 15. The nations will fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth, your glory.
For the Lord will build up Zion. He will appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and will not despise this application. Let this be recorded for a generation to come so that if people yet unborn may praise the Lord, I like that line a lot.
A people yet unborn will praise the Lord. So rebuild it now, have pity on us now, so that we future generations will worship you. That's super awesome. Okay, I just lost my place.
Very good. Verse 19, that he looked down from his holy height from heaven, the Lord looked at the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die. That men may declare in Zion the names of the Lord and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gathered together and kingdoms worship the Lord. We can stop right there.
In the verse 22. So this is really beautiful. The first half of 102, pretty dark. He's struggling and he's in distress and in despair things are not going so well.
But then in verse 12, the mood completely changes when the sawness says you're gonna have pity on Zion. Now is the time to favor. The appointed time has come to rebuild the city, to gather your people together and also not just your people, but all generations of, well, future generations, as well as the Gentiles, all the nations and the kingdoms of the earth are gonna come and behold your glory and fear the name of the Lord, et cetera. Now we've seen this theme so many different times and other Psalms of really all the books of the Psalter, I dare say, that'd be interesting study to see how many times this promise of future generations and really the Gentiles, all the nations of the earth coming to worship the Lord.
I think it's gotta be everywhere, absolutely everywhere. But this is the recurring hope. God will not just restore Israel. He's gonna restore Israel and all the nations with Israel.
And this is the theme of worldwide blessing that we're gonna talk about a number of different times here in the rest of this lesson in the rest of book four. God promised to Abraham great blessings, I'll recap this as soon enough. But the third of it, the third blessing is all nations will be blessed through his descendants. But this hope of restoration is present in many, many Psalms here, as you've seen so far in this Bible study, we're at lessons 12 now, a few more lessons to go and you're gonna see it again.
But then also, this is the hope of the prophets. So the prophets are all ministering either to the northern kingdom or to the southern kingdom or to other nations as well, but by and large it's the northern and southern kingdom. But what you find repeated so many different times by the prophets is, if you don't repent, you're gonna be in exile. God is gonna cast you away from the land.
Okay, great, that happened. But once you are exiled, and again, Moses prophesied all of this going back to the end of Deuteronomy, multiple chapters, especially chapter 30, go back and read Deuteronomy 30. Moses told them you're gonna be exiled. But Moses liked the prophets around the time of the exile.
They all are in agreement that you're gonna repent, you're gonna cry out to God, and he will restore you. So this is the hope of the sultur. Now, let me, before I go and share with you with just a couple of different prophets, sections in the prophets to prove my point here, which is just so positive and optimistic and merciful. Let me just share with you this quick quote from the Nivar Bible which says, and talking about all the nations in Psalm 102, worshiping the Lord and fearing his name, and gathering together for him, which is really awesome.
The Nivar Bible says, this prophetic vision deals with the people that will be raised up after the return from exile. And announces a time of universal peace when all will acknowledge the one God, and do as do the other Psalms of the kingship of God, and then it quotes Psalm 96 and 98. We just talked about those last week, or rather I should say last lesson. If you remember that, Psalm 96 and 98, and there are others as well prior to this, we could pick out many, many more of this promise that God is gonna restore Israel, but also the Gentiles as well, okay.
Now, this is what the prophets had foretold, just to kind of tease you a little bit, time will come and we'll do Bible studies on full Bible studies on all the prophets. But I got a slew of examples here for you in the notes, but let me just go to Isaiah chapter two, these are very common ones, you'll find these often in commentaries. Isaiah chapter two verse two, which is the beginning of the book of Isaiah, so right off the bat, there's a lot of hope for God's people here, but let's see, chapter two verse two, it says, it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of mountains, and shall be raised above all the hills. Well, which parenthetically, that's kind of already a crazy image, because Jerusalem is not a very tall mountain, it doesn't even compare to so many of the mountains to Jerusalem is kind of a quote unquote mountain, but it's really just an inflated hill.
It's not really impressive, not really, compared to many of the mountains, but then the statement here in Isaiah chapter two is, well, it's gonna be the greatest of all the mountains of all the world, right? The highest of all the mountains, this is gonna be raised over everything. So already right off the bat, you kind of have this image of, well, isn't that interesting? How this kind of pathetic big hill, miniature mountain is gonna be the center of everything?
Well, that's interesting. We're talking spiritually, of course, this is gonna be the case. And it goes on, all the nations shall flow to it. And many people shall come and say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.
For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, et cetera, et cetera. It's beautiful, this whole section is really beautiful. But you get the point here on topic, it's that eventually out of Zion, out of Jerusalem, out of this holy mountain of God, all nations are gonna flow to it, because the law comes out of it. And so all the people are gonna be nurtured and sustained by the law, they're gonna find peace and they're gonna worship the Lord.
It's not just Israel or Judah, it is all the nations. That's what Isaiah chapter two proclaims. You also have another example in Jeremiah chapter three, verse 17, just one little verse here, almost the same thing here. At that time Jerusalem shall be called to the throne of the Lord and all the nations shall gather to it to the presence of the Lord and Jerusalem and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
So you get the point, there are many other examples, you can go to a lot of commentaries, we'll list a whole slew of them. And I got some of those reproduced right here in your notes, but this is the message announced by the prophets. So going back to Psalm 102 then, what's the point? Psalm 102, the first half is I'm in distress, help me, I'm overwhelmed, the second half is you're gonna restore Jerusalem, you're gonna restore Zion.
So I'm sure there's a connection there, part of the distress and being overwhelmed and being at death's door, so to speak, and all these different images that he provides. He forgets to eat, he's drinking his tears, all this kind of dismal stuff, it's gonna be related to restoration. So the hope is we will be restored, all nations will be restored. And I hope you don't take that for granted because now here we are, at least the time of this recording, 2025, we take a lot of this for granted.
I mean, the church is universal, that's what Catholic means, the universal church. And the fact that you have it in almost all countries, I believe I have to get that back checked, I remember, but I'm pretty sure it's almost in all countries, probably persecuted in many countries for sure. But that's amazing to think about how these prophecies and these various songs that we're studying right now are being fulfilled. And they've been fulfilled for almost 2000 years, starting with Pentecost, and then going into the ministry to the Gentiles, being with Cornelius in Acts chapter 10.
All the nations are coming into God's holy kingdom. And that's amazing to think about. Like what we're experiencing in our own churches, evangelization, and missionary efforts is prophesied and was prophesied by the prophets and the Psalms. So that's what makes it so relevant to see, if you step back and look at the big picture, this is happening.
All nations are coming to the Holy Jerusalem in order to worship God, this Holy Jerusalem is the church. All right, I'll stop myself there. We have a lot more to talk about. But Psalm 102 then, one more final point about it.
Psalm 102 is going to echo Psalm 90. Remember Psalm 90 is the first Psalm of book four, by Moses with his great theme of God's eternal nature and our finite temporary nature. Well, it really is touching upon that. If you go down to verse 23, let's keep reading it, verse 23.
He has broken my strength and mid course, he has shortened my days. Oh my God, I say, do not take me from here in the midst of my days, you who's years endure throughout all generations of old, you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you endure. They will all wear out like a garment, you change them like clothing, they pass away.
But you are the same and your years have no end, et cetera. So my days are short, you are eternal, you endure, you have no end to your years, everything passes away, but you do not. That's what Psalm 90 introduced all the book four with. And so we're gonna have multiple Psalms touching upon that same exact theme.
That's what Psalm 90 was for. It's really a prologue for everything. Now really, really quickly, this line I just read to you about God being eternal and laid down the foundation of the earth, et cetera. The book of Hebrews, chapter one opens up with a whole slew of different quotations.
I mean, assuming for the sake of argument right now, it's Paul as the author of Hebrews. So Paul opens up chapter one, she's making the argument that Jesus is superior to everything, angels and like everything, right? Well, he actually quotes this passage at the end of Psalm 102 to say that Jesus is the one who is talked about in this passage. He is the one who laid the foundation of the earth.
He is the one who endures. He is the one who's years have no end, et cetera, et cetera. So that's really interesting how Paul picks this passage to talk about Jesus' eternal everlasting nature. But again, if you back up, there may be something a little bit more to it because Psalm 102 is about restoration, hope for restoring Zion.
All the nations will come to bless the Lord. So when Paul quotes at the end of 102 to talk about Jesus being the eternal everlasting God, there's the secondary meaning behind it that Jesus is the one who is going to restore Jerusalem and Zion and all nations will come through Christ to worship God. And I think it's a very, very safe application of that. Whenever the New Testament quotes the passage of the Old Testament, you really do need to understand the overarching context of what's being quoted and you'll find a lot more food for thought about what maybe the author is trying to point to.
All right, excellent. Let's move on now to Psalm 103. Hey, this is Dr. Nick.
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