PSALMS LESSON 112
We will begin this lesson by giving the 109th Psalm in metre.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE
PSALM 109
Verse 1 "O God, whom I in praise adore, Be silent in my cause no
more. their mouths the wicked open wide; Against me
hypocrites have lied."
Verse 2 "With words of hate they throng around, And fight, although
no cause be found. My love provokes their bitter spite, But I
in constant pray'r delight. "
Verse 3 "With evil they my good reward, With hatred meet my kind
regard, Place him beneath the wicked's hand, And on his right
let Satan stand.
Verse 4 "In judgment let his plea be spurned, And let his prayer to
sin be turned. His days to few, and in his room To office let
another come. "
Verse 5 "A widow let his wife be left. His children of their sire
bereft; Let them be scattered far from home, And begging
bread through deserts roam. "
Verse 6 "Extortioners his substance take, His toil a prey let
strangers make. Let him from none compassion know, None to
his orphans favor show. "
Verse 7 "His seed let perish in their shame, The coming age blot out
their name; His father's sin Jehovah mind, His mother's sin
Jehovah mind, His mother's sin no pardon find."
Verse 8 "Let them with God ne'er be forgot, Till he from earth their
mem'ry blot; For he remembered not to show Compassion to the
sons of woe.
Verse 9 " The poor and those with want distressed, He persecuted and
oppressed; He them pursued to make his prey, And broken-
hearted ones to slay. "
Verse 10 "The curse he loved on him shall rest, He blessing not, shall
not be blest. Himself with cursing he arrayed, To him shall
cursing be repaid."
Verse 11 "In him like water it shall flow, Like oil through all his
bones shall go; Like raiment it shall clothe him o'er, A
girdle binding evermore. "
Verse 12 "Foes and accusers, from the Lord, Shall find in cursing
their reward; but God the Lord, for thy name's sake, For me
in mercy undertake. "
Verse 13 "Because thy grace is rich and free, From all my foes deliver
me. I'm poor and needy, grant relief, My heart within is
pierced with grief."
Verse 14 "Like locust tossed, like fleeting shade, My days to pass
away are made. Through many fasts my strength declines; My
knees are weak, my body pines. "
Verse 15 "To foes a vile reproach I'm made, On me they look and shake
the head. O Lord, my God, my helper be, In thy great mercy
save thou me. "
Verse 16 "That this to them, Lord, may be known, Has by thy mighty
hand been done. They curse, but let their curse be vain; Thy
blessing, Lord, let me obtain. "
Verse 17 "When they arise shamed let them be, But make thy servant
glad in thee. Let foes be covered with disgrace, And mantle
o'er with shame their face. "
Verse 18 "My mouth shall greatly praise the Lord, Yea, with the throng
his praise record; For on the poor's right hand shall he
stand up, his soul from wrong to free. "
We will begin the verse by verse study of the 109th chapter.
Psalms 109:1 "{To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} Hold not thy
peace, O God of my praise;"
In this instance, David is crying out for God to speak. Everyone
else has had their say, now it is time for God to speak. When God
speaks, the whole world listens. God of my praise, means that David
directs his praise to Him. It could, also, be saying, God who deserves
my praise.
Psalms 109:2 "For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the
deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a
lying tongue."
We know that there is always plenty of negative speaking around.
It seems the more you love the Lord, the more the wicked speak out
against you. They can not tell the truth, so they just make up lies to
tell. All believers have faced just this kind of opposition.
Psalms 109:3 "They compassed me about also with words of hatred;
and fought against me without a cause."
It makes it difficult to understand why they would fight against
you, if you had done them no harm. These words of hatred they have
brought against him are, because they are jealous of his relationship
with God.
Psalms 109:4 "For my love they are my adversaries: but I [give
myself unto] prayer."
In return for the love that he has shown them, they are his
enemies. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, even the ones who
despitefully use us. Pray for them. Perhaps, the prayer that David is
speaking of here, has to do with getting his thoughts off these evil
people and on to God. He does not, and can not, fellowship with these
people so he fellowships with God in prayer.
Psalms 109:5 "And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred
for my love."
There is some very good advice on this very subject in Proverbs
25:21 "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be
thirsty, give him water to drink:" Proverbs 25:22 "For thou shalt heap
coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee." The
strange thing, David has been doing the right thing with these people.
When David loves them and blesses the very ones who hate him, it is
pleasing unto God.
Psalms 109:6 "Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand
at his right hand."
Vengeance belongs to the Lord. About the worst thing that could
happen to an evil person, is to have someone just like himself rule
over him. Since his father is Satan, perhaps this would be a good spot
for him to be. Look what Jesus had to say about those who are dead set
on committing evil in the following verse. John 8:44 "Ye are of [your]
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father of it." Those who continue to follow
the ways of Satan are Satan's children.
Psalms 109:7 "When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and
let his prayer become sin."
Since Jesus is the Judge of all the world, we know that he will
be condemned for the habitual sins he has committed, that he did not
seek forgiveness for. If he did not believe in God, his prayers would
be directed to the wrong being and would automatically be sin.
Psalms 109:8 "Let his days be few; [and] let another take his
office."
This is the opposite of long life promised to those who follow
God's ways. One of the ten commandments promise long life. Let's look
at it. Exodus 20:12 "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days
may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." God
determines whether we live or die. There is no iron clad rule that we
have to live even the 70 years allotted to mankind. Surely when you
draw our last breath on this earth, someone else will take over the
job you were doing, even if you were a king.
We see in the next few verses a list of terrible things that
could come upon a person. God really does not need David's help
deciding what to do to the evil ones. David is just mentioning some
terrible things that he would like to see come on these evil ones.
Psalms 109:9 "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a
widow." Psalms 109:10 "Let his children be continually vagabonds, and
beg: let them seek [their bread] also out of their desolate places."
Many times when children are fatherless, and the mother has to
make a living for the family by herself, the children suffer greatly.
Not only are they deprived of material things, but time of training is
taken away from the children, and they are not prepared to make a
living in the world. The widowed mother possibly is doing the best
that she can, but she can not be two people at once. As in many cases,
the children suffer for the father's sin.
Psalms 109:11 "Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and
let the strangers spoil his labour."
A crook usually gets caught in his own sin. There is always
someone out there, just a little smarter crook. The extortioner is
usually involved in a get rich quick scheme. Other people, who are not
honest themselves, are usually the one who gets trapped. The
extortioner will not quit, until he has the entire worth of the
person.
This stranger surely would walk away with all your labours.
Psalms 109:12 "Let there be none to extend mercy unto him:
neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children."
David is saying here, this person showed no one any mercy, let
him reap what he has sown. It is a bad situation, but generally
children who have parents who have shown no mercy, will not be able to
find mercy either. Most people believe the saying, like father like
son, and they will not help him, because of his father's reputation.
Psalms 109:13 "Let his posterity be cut off; [and] in the
generation following let their name be blotted out."
David is actually asking God here for their memory to be wiped
away, because they did not have children. It is usually very important
to a father to have a son who can carry on the family name. David
says, don't let them have sons.
We will continue this in the next lesson.
Questions 112
1. Who was this Psalm written to?
2. Who penned this Psalm?
3. What does, hold not thy peace, mean?
4. Describe the wicked in verse 2?
5. They fought against me without a _______.
6. What did he give himself to in verse 4?
7. In return for their hate, what did he give them?
8. Quote Proverbs chapter 25 verses 21 and 22.
9. Who did David want to rule over this wicked man?
10. Who is this evil man's father?
11. Quote John chapter 8 verse 44.
12. Who will judge this evil man?
13. Let his prayer become ___.
14. God promises long life for what?
15. In verse 9 David says, let his children be __________.
16. Let his children be ___________.
17. Many times children suffer for their __________ sin.
18. Why did David not want God to be merciful to this evil one.
19. Let his posterity be ___ ___.
20. Why is it important to a father to have a son?
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