Psalms 108:1-13

Psalms 107:150

Gordon Churchyard

The End of the *Exile

Psalms 108

Jesus said, "The *truth will make you free" (John 8:32).

Psalms 108

This song is a psalm of David.

v1 God, I have decided always to belong to you!
I will sing your *praises as well as I can.

v2 Wake up, *harp and *lyre.
I will sing before the dawn.

v3 *LORD, I will thank you in front of all the people.
I will sing your *praises everywhere.

v4 Your kind love is great. It is higher than the clouds.
Your *truth reaches to the skies.

v5 God, lift yourself up above the skies.
Lift your *glory above all the earth.

v6 Give us help. Make the friends that you love safe.
Use your right hand to answer us!

v7 - v9 God did answer us from his *holy place!
(He said):
• I will be the master.
• I will make a parcel of Shechem.
• I will measure the Valley of Succoth.
• Gilead is mine.
• Manasseh is mine.
• Ephraim will cover my head.
• Judah will *judge for me.
• Moab is my bathroom.
• Edom is where I will throw my shoes.
• Philistia will be something for me to laugh at.

v10 Who will lead me into the strong city?
Who will take me into Edom?

v11 (You have said) that you would not be our God any more.
But God, will you really not go with our armies?

v12 Give to us help against the enemy,
because help from men is of no value!

v13 With God we will beat everybody
and walk all over our enemies!

The Story of Psalms 108

Psalms 108 is parts of 2 psalms put together. The first 5 verses come from Psalms 57 and the last 8 verses come from Psalms 60. Why did this happen? Bible students think that Psalms 108 thanks God for the end of the *exile. The *exile was when many *Jews became *prisoners-of-war in Babylon. A prisoner-of-war is somebody that is in prison in a war. The prison may be a place, not a building. The *Jews were in Babylon for 70 years. Babylon was their prison. At the end of that time the new government in Babylon let the *Jews go back to their own country. Many did and built the city of Jerusalem again. They also built the *temple again. This was the house of God on the hill of Zion in Jerusalem. It may be the *holy place in verse 7.

Instead of writing a new psalm, they put together parts of two psalms that David wrote. In Psalms 57, David thanks God for giving him help to fight his enemies. In Psalms 60, those enemies are Babylon and Edom, the two countries that started the *exile. So David really did write Psalms 108!

What Psalms 108 means

In verse 1, David tells God that he will always sing God’s *praises. *Praises are words to tell someone that they are very great. David will start to sing before the dawn (verse 2). The harp and lyre make music. They are *musical instruments. In verse 3, *LORD is another name for God. It is a special name that only God’s people use. It means that they will love and obey him. And he will keep them safe. God's love reaches to the skies, (verse 4). This means that it is very, very big! God's *glory, (verse 5), is something that makes him shine very much. He shines brighter than the sun! We see him shining in the good things that he makes and does. In verse 6, the right hand of God is how the *Israelites described God doing something on earth.

In verse 7, the *holy place is where God is. "*Holy" means "very, very good". Only God is really *holy. The *Jews thought that the places God went to were *holy also. Here, the *holy place meant either the *temple in Jerusalem, or God’s home in *heaven. The first 6 places in verses 7-8 are all parts of Israel. They all belong to God. He will decide what to do with them. They will have important jobs, like Ephraim and Judah. "Cover my head" probably means "be like a soldier" and "*judge" means "decide what to do". Moab, Edom and Philistia were all enemies of Israel. They also belong to God, but they will have dirty jobs to do. God sees himself as a man. He needs somewhere to wash, and someone to pick his clothes up for him. Israel has the good things to do, but her enemies have bad things to do.

In verse 10, David is speaking again. The strong city was the capital of Edom, Petra. David put Joab as leader of the army that went to fight Edom. David stayed with the other part of the army in Syria. In verse 11, "Will you really not go with our armies?" means "I do hope that you WILL go with our armies". In verse 12, David learned a lesson that we must all learn. "Help from men is of no value". It is of value if God sends the men or women to give help. But God must send them. God works through men and women to help his people. In the words of verse 6, he uses his right hand to answer us. His right hand could be anybody! In verse 12, "walk all over our enemies" is "trample over our enemies" in Hebrew. "Trample" means putting our feet down hard when we walk. Hebrew is the language that the *Jews spoke.

Something to do

Learn to say Psalms 108:1-5 by *heart. (By *heart means that you can say it without looking at the words.)
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
exile ~ away from your own country.
truth ~ words that are true.
praise ~ to say how great someone is; or, words that say how great someone is.
harp ~ a musical instrument.

musical instrument ~ something that makes music when you hit it (cymbals, drum), blow in it (flute, trumpet, horn, shofar) or touch it in a quiet way (harp, lyre). Many of these are in Psalm 150 in Book 5 of The Psalms of David.
lyre ~ a musical instrument.

musical instrument ~ something that makes music when you hit it (cymbals, drum), blow in it (flute, trumpet, horn, shofar) or touch it in a quiet way (harp, lyre). Many of these are in Psalm 150 in Book 5 of The Psalms of David.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; It is the word "Adonai" in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
lord ~ someone with authority.
LORD ~ the covenant name for God (in a covenant you agree with someone).
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look in Psalm 120 about the covenant.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
glory ~ something that shines very much, maybe heaven: God has glory because his righteousness shines from inside him.
heaven ~ the home of God.
righteousness ~ what you have when you are righteous.
righteous ~ very good (only God is really righteous). God says that the people who love and obey him are righteous. Sometimes we say they are "the righteous", meaning "righteous people". Look after Psalm 5 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the word "righteous".
holy ~ all good with no bad in it; separate from sin; very, very good; only God is really holy. The land where he lives with his people is also holy. This is because he is there.
sin ~ not obeying God; or what you do when you do not obey God.
judge ~ a judge says who is right and who is wrong; or, to say who is right and who is wrong.
exile ~ away from your own country.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; a person who has the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; in the Psalms, belief in God.
temple ~ a place where people meet to worship God.
praise ~ to say how great someone is; or, words that say how great someone is.
Israelite ~ Israelites are the same as Hebrews and Jews. They are the people of Israel.
holy ~ all good with no bad in it; separate from sin; very, very good; only God is really holy. The land where he lives with his people is also holy. This is because he is there.
sin ~ not obeying God; or what you do when you do not obey God.
heaven ~ the home of God.
heart ~ (in Hebrew poems), "heart" means "mind", the part of us that thinks.
heart ~ part of the body. Jews believed that you thought in your heart.
poem ~ using words in a special (often very beautiful) way.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; a person who has the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; in the Psalms, belief in God.