Psalm 144
Of David.
1 Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
2 he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples [Many Hebrew manuscripts, Dead Sea Scroll, Jerome, Syriac, Aquila; most Hebrew manuscripts subdues my people] under me.
This second to last psalm of David recapitulates many themes and phrases in David’s earlier psalms. These opening verses recall Psalm 18, David’s prayer of thanksgiving for God’s dramatic deliverance of him in times of battle. The first verse focuses on the victories that David had experienced in military conflict. YHWH is the one who trained his hands and fingers in handling the bow, sling and sword. This is a good example of synonymous parallelism where the second line adds specificity to the first, “my hands…my fingers”. Furthermore, David lists a number of metaphors revealing the nature of YHWH in his life, again reminiscent of the first two verses of Psalm 18. YHWH is “my rock, my steadfast love, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield.” Several of these terms are battlefield related as this was an identifying feature of David’s life. He first came onto the biblical stage as a soldier while just a boy with a sling, and he is remembered as a victorious king, in the civil war with the house of Saul and for extending the kingdom and the peace of Israel through conflicts with other nations. The final phrase, “who subdues peoples under me” makes sense in that context. However, most manuscripts have “my people”. The difference between the two is a single letter in Hebrew, the apostrophe-like “yohd” at the end of the word. This reading would suggest that David is thinking of how God has blessed his reign as king, how the people of Israel have submitted to his rule, allowing an ordered society to flourish. Of course there was the affair with Absalom that split the nation for a time, but that was resolved and David passed on his kingdom to Solomon, whose name means “peace.” While my life is nothing like David’s, I can make the same claims about YHWH’s character as it relates to the struggles of this life. God has trained me to withstand and to win the battles of this life, and his steadfast love has been the refuge that I run to in times of need.
3 O LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?
4 Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
As David considers how the LORD has blessed his life as a leader and king, he again marvels at why one so great would have any regard for one so small? He wondered this in Psalm 8:4 after considering who God’s hand had placed the moon and stars, saying “What is man (enosh) that you are mindful of him, the son of adam that you visit him?” Here he wonders the same when he thinks about the hand of God in his life. The sentiment is the same, although the language is a little different, saying “what is adam that you take knowledge of him, the son of man (enosh) that you esteem him?” There is a question there, but it is more of a statement. God does care for each and every human being, even though He shouldn’t. There’s no reason why one so great should give a single thought to a mere mortal man, a body composed of the most basic stuff of the earth, unless we are more than mere mortals. From a human perspective we are exactly as David describes, “a breath” and “a passing shadow.” That is certainly true of a human life in the scope of history. An entire life is merely a dash between our birthday and our deathday. And yet in that lifespan, David has experienced the goodness of God, his blessings in life and his victories in the struggles of this life. Yes, we must be made for more than just this life. Why else would God care about us? According to Psalm 8, YHWH has given us cosmic responsibilities (ruling over the works of his hands, stewarding the bounty of the earth, calling us to make something of the world in the times in which we are born). In the context of Psalm 144, David is looking back on his life and remembering how God gave him responsibility to rule the nation, and how that calling was fulfilled with God’s hand. David revels in the fact that God has taken knowledge of him and has esteemed him, even when there is no earthly reason for him to do so. If God thinks we are worthy of this, then this has profound implications on what we think of ourselves and every other human being. This is the foundation of the modern idea of “self-esteem”. We should think highly of ourselves because God does. We should think highly of everyone else because God does.
5 Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
6 Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them!
In language similar to Psalm 18, David asks for YHWH to show up on his behalf in dramatic fashion. “Bow, stretch out, and bend the heavens” and “come down” he asks. In metaphorical terms, he’s asking YHWH to leave his heavenly throne room and come down through the sky to act upon the earth. God in his awesome vastness will require the bending and stretching of the sky in order to make an opening sizable for him. The first place he lands will be the mountains, the highest places on earth, and he will cause them to bellow with smoke and volcanic fury. Then he will stir up a mighty thunderstorm ripe with static electricity. The phrase in verse six is a verb followed by a noun, “lightning (verb) the lightning (noun)”. God doesn’t shoot mere wooden arrows. He shoots lightning bolts of 300 million volts of electricity, scattering everyone in the area to see shelter in caves and homes. David is calling for a theophany, a God-appearance, a spectacular show of force that will remove any doubt among his enemies that they are on the losing side. David’s prayer was ultimately answered by Jesus, who came to us through the heavens in a dramatic show of force. Not volcanic or meteorological, but earthshaking nonetheless. When he was crucified, the sky darkened, the earth shook and the dead rose from their tombs. Jesus routed the ultimate enemies of mankind, scattering them before the power of the resurrection. Don’t ever underestimate the power of God to quickly change your circumstances. He’ll show up when you least expect it and shake things up. Pray today for a God-appearance. He who split the heavens, made the mountains smoke, and scattered his enemies with lighting is the same God who accompanies you today.
7 Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners,
8 whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Having invited God to move into the neighborhood so to speak, to bend the heavens, command the volcanoes and stir up a mighty storm, David asks God to stretch out his hand from on high and pull him out of the deep waters. The phrase “deep waters” is a metaphor for death (or near-death). David is drowning without hope of rescue from men, so he appeals to YHWH to stretch out his hand from heaven and pull him out. The threat to David is coming from language, from foreigners who are using the power of words to destroy him. The “right hand” represented power, as it was the favored and stronger arm of most people. Here the word is used twice for emphasis, “in whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” Controlling the narrative is a powerful thing. Entire populations have been swayed by lies. Repeated often enough and convincingly enough, falsehood can become accepted truth until we reach an Orwellian moment where we are saying things like “2 + 2 = 5”, and we’ll receive a beating if we say otherwise. David lays the blame for these lies upon foreigners, outsiders who have no stake in the kingdom of Israel, and only desire to see it destroyed. They are not builders, they are wreckers, for it’s much easier to destroy a civilization than to build one. The antidote to falsehood is truth, so David is effectively asking God to make truth known, thereby rescuing David and his kingdom from death. God uses his people today to make the truth known; not just His truth, but THE truth, reality, the way things really are. The arena for this battle for the truth is the public square, but it must be lived out consistently in private as well if we are to have any credibility in the public square. Help me to speak the truth publicly while maintaining a private world that is in line with reality as well.
9 I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
10 who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Verse 9 is literally, “a God-song new I will sing to you; on a harp of ten I will psalm to you.” The rescue has not yet come for David, and yet he has already begun to write a new song recounting God’s victorious rescue mission. This is a feature of the psalms where often the psalmist’s lament will turn to worship before the prayer is finished. David can already visualize the victory. It’s as certain as the rising of the sun after a long dark night, the coming of spring after a long cold winter. History has informed David that God gives victory to kings and he will certainly rescue him from the cruel sword, a sword that is empowered by the lies of outsiders. Verse 11 is a repetition of verses 7-8. The word “foreigners” is actually a phrase, “sons of foreignness”, denoting that which is alien and strange. Their words which are meant to destroy will meet the reality of God and truth will win. Reality always wins. David believes this and so he begins writing a God-song to celebrate it. He picks up his ten-stringed harp and crafts a melody in which to place the lyric. In the writing and singing, his fears of drowning in lies are dispelled. This remains one of the most powerful effects of worship today, whether that worship is public or private. Singing and writing new God-songs is an act of faith that also strengthens our faith. So sing a new God-song today in the face of the strange lies that our alien enemies throw at us.
12 May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;
David’s future-orientation continues in these last four verses that are a vision of shalom, peace and wholeness. This is stated in the form of a blessing or prayer for others. It starts with the family then moves to work and then to society as a whole. First, may our sons be mature, even in their youth may they be full-grown and strong. “Mature beyond their years” is the phrase that comes to mind when your son does something really wise without your prompting. When they arrive at adulthood before you expect it. They are compared to plants at the fruit-bearing stage, contributing to life and health. Second, may our daughters be the corner pillars, beautifully carved and fit for a palace. The corner pillar was the primary support structure for the building, and the building represents the home (Psalm 127:1). Because of her ability to bring new life into the world, a woman has a unique role in the formation of a family. This is a prayer not only for the fruitfulness of daughters but for their strength to support the family and nurture the children in it so that they might grow up and do the same. Boys and girls growing into adulthood well is key to the health of a culture. This is where we have real problems today in the West. We’ve extended adolescence into the mid-twenties. At the same time we expose them to aspects of adult life while they are children (pornography, drag shows, sexual orientation and gender ideology, sexualized music and art, etc.). As a result, young men do not grow up strong and fruitful and women do not grow up prepared to create and nurture a family. Most young men aren’t expected to grow up until they graduate from college, and few are ready in their teenage years to take on the responsibilities of marriage and parenting. The average age of marriage continues its steady climb and compounding the problem is the sexual confusion resulting in men choosing to act like women (either transgender or homosexual) and choosing sterile relationships or singleness. Likewise, women are encouraged to go to college, have a career and then consider child-bearing after everything else has been accomplished, as if children were an accessory to everything else, not the focus of it all. Access to birth control and abortion have given women the illusion that they can be just like men, even though their bodies were designed for something better, more miraculous. They are daughters of Eve, the “mother of the living” and yet they’ve been convinced that they should act more like Adam. It is a recipe for the collapse of society, and we are already seeing it play out in the form of declining birth rates in the West. A major shift in worldview is required to avoid population collapse. What is more likely is that the population of the West will be replaced by cultures that do value children and family through immigration.
13 may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
14 may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;[Hebrew with no breaking in or going out] may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
15 Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!
When everything is right with our children and families, all of society will prosper. Having offered a blessing for our sons and daughters, the psalmist prays a blessing for our work. This portion of the psalm should be connected with Psalm 127 which also speaks of home and work as the foundations of society. The prayer for work is that it would be rewarded with abundance. As an agricultural economy, this was expressed in the form of full granaries after the harvest, sheep reproducing successfully and filling the fields, and cattle as well, all capable of reproducing themselves. In this way it relates to the previous verse about sons and daughters, maturing and supporting the family for the purpose of reproduction. Doing work and family God’s way results in prosperity and a good life for all. There will be “no cry of distress in our streets”, suggesting peace and stability. Verse 15 is a blanket blessing to the people whose God is YHWH, those who have aligned their lives with God’s design and purpose for them will enjoy the riches of family life and work. The blessings don’t come accidentally or randomly. They are linked to Torah observance. Doing life God’s way is the way to access these blessings. Doing life in opposition to what God has designed and desired will bring about the opposite of these blessings -- immaturity, barrenness, poverty, and civil unrest.