Psalms

When David became king Jerusalem was occupied by the Jebusites—a tribe of Canaanites. David captured the city and eventually had the movable tent that served as God’s temple brought to Zion along with the ark of the covenant. David himself could not enter the tent. Only the levitical priests could. And only the high priest was authorized to enter the inner compartment where the ark [...]

David experienced many hardships and heartaches and made some grievous mistakes. Through it all, though, God blessed and richly rewarded David, even as the fugitive poet sang in the last verse of his brief 13th Psalm: “As for me, I trust in your loyal love; my heart will rejoice in your acts of salvation. I will sing to Jehovah, for he has richly rewarded me.” It [...]

There is a general expectation among people in the world, especially in the so-called “developed nations,” that conditions of life will continually improve—that the next generation will be better than the one before. That is the way it was been for many generations. Except now that is no longer the case. Civilization is coming unglued. What is more, it is being intentionally demolished.  The same [...]

Being an Israelite David knew the history. He undoubtedly knew the story of his fellow shepherd, Moses, and his close encounter with Jehovah atop Mount Sinai, when Moses requested to see God’s face.  Jehovah replied and explained that no man could see his face and live. Even so, God positioned Moses in a crag with his face to the rock and Jehovah is said to [...]

The 10th Psalm opens with a question that has likely been voiced in various ways by many people for a long time: “Why, O Jehovah, do you stand at a distance? Why do you hide yourself in times of distress?” There is no denying the fact that God allows evil to exist and prevail. The question, though, is why? Why does God hide, as it were?  [...]

The ninth Psalm is the first acrostic Psalm. It is a victory song to be sung by those who come off victorious from the assault by the wild beast during the finale. The opening verses state: “I will praise you, O Jehovah, with all my heart; I will tell about all your wonderful works. I will rejoice and exult in you; I will sing praises [...]

For centuries it was as though the name of God had been lost. Even before the Bible was complete, even before Christ came to the earth, Satan hatched a scheme to erase the name of God from the minds of men---from those who were supposed to be the guardians of the truth. Originally the name of God was written using the consonants YHWH. The reader [...]

It all goes back to Eden. An unnamed angel rebelled against God and inserted himself as the ruler of the just-created human race, which at the time only consisted of two souls. His wicked influence became painfully evident as soon as people began to multiply outside the gates of Eden. As if a portent of things to come the very first child born by Adam [...]

Keeping in mind that many of the Psalms are prayers to God, because the Psalms were produced as a result of God’s spirit the recorded words are part of the living word of God, which the apostle described as being sharper than a two-edged sword.  Because the spirit inspired the Psalmists the same spirit can convey the sentiment of the Psalm as if originating from [...]

Balaam was an interesting character in Bible history. God spoke to him on two occasions, even though Balaam was not a Hebrew. Because of his spiritual stature and his being acquainted with Jehovah, the king of Moab hired Balaam to curse the Israelite camp as they stood on the border of the Promised Land. Although Balaam’s magic failed he was shrewd enough to advise Balak [...]