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Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast. Powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. Let's be honest, a lot of us are still treating digital ministry like it's a backup plan from 2020. But discipleship isn't just happening on Sundays anymore. People need gospel centered connection every day of the week. And if you're stuck juggling five different platforms, one for giving, another for sermons, something else for events, it's no wonder engagement feels off. That's not ministry. That's a mess. Subsplash changes that one platform. Everything you need, media, giving, events, messaging, your app, your website built specifically for churches. No hacks, no workarounds, just clarity and simplicity. Because every day you wait, families scroll past your sermons, new guests click away from clunky sites, and real people miss real moments with Jesus. Don't waste another summer stuck in digital survival mode. Use it to get ahead, simplify, upgrade, get back to what matters. Head to subsplash.combible-dept and schedule a free no pressure demo. And let this be the summer your church gets focused and fully equipped family. Welcome to day 266. We are in Psalms chapter 42, chapters 43 and 44. Today we got three Psalms that we are gonna trek through today. I love all three of these psalms and gonna give you context clues, gonna give you some nerdy nuggets, and of course gonna leave off of the timeless truth from these three psalms. Hey, if you haven't done the reading today, make sure that you actually do the reading. You can stop this video, you can pause the audio and you can read these three quick psalms. I think that they are going to bless your life. This podcast is not designed to be a substitute for your daily Bible reading, but to be a supplement for your daily Bible reading. So with no further ado, let's dive in. We got three psalms to cover and like every day to start out with some context clues. Okay, first things first, not only do we have three new psalms today, but we are crossing over from book one of the book of Psalms to book two. Okay, this is the second book of the Psalms. It's the second of five. Remember, the Psalms are split up into five books. We've talked about this previously on the podcast, but I just want to remind you that from Psalm 42 to Psalm 72 is going to be book two of the Psalms, okay? Psalm 42 to Psalm 72. These Psalms are thought to have been compiled around 970-931-bc during the reign of Solomon, possibly by King Solomon himself. Okay? These contain more Psalms of David, either written directly by or in his style, as well as psalms by Solomon and Asaph and some Levitical groups. And the three psalms that we're going to look at today are some psalms by a particular Levitical group, namely the sons of Korah. Okay? So the three psalms that we've got today are all written by the sons of Korah. I want to give you a little bit more context before we dive into that name, Korah, because if you've been rocking with us all, all year, then you probably remember Korah from Korah's rebellion, okay? All the way back in the Book of Numbers, we had a rebellion by a man named Korah. These are his descendants, which is very, very fascinating. We'll get into that in just a second. But I want to give you a little bit more context, okay? First thing I'll say is that the context for these three Psalms are gonna be 2 Kings, chapter 14, verse 14, okay? 2 Kings 14. 14 actually tells us about an exile, okay? Not to be confused with, like, the Babylonian exile, but a much smaller exile, okay? 2 Kings, chapter 14, verse 14 is kind of recounts the story of a resurgent Israel. Okay? Israel's up in the north under King Jehoash, who defeated King Amaziah of Judah at Beth Shemesh, that king of Israel up in the north. King Jehoash then plundered Jerusalem and took hostages. He also took silver, gold, and holy vessels from the temple back with him to Samaria. And so a lot of scholars would actually conclude that the three psalms that we're going to look at today are psalms written by these sons of Korah who. Who are actually no longer worshiping or singing or leading worship in the temple in Jerusalem. But they've been taken hostage back up to Samaria, okay? They've been taken hostage, not back up, just up to Samaria to the kingdom of Israel, okay? Northern kingdom of Israel, southern kingdom of Judah are divided at this point in history. And so a lot of scholars don't think that these psalms come out of the Babylonian exile, but that these psalms come out of that exile up to Samaria under King Jehoash. And once you kind of know that, a lot of the content of these three psalms make a whole lot of sense. Okay, all right, let's dive into Some nerdy nuggets. I think that's all the context that we need. I'll dip a little bit back into context as I give you this nerdy nugget, but we are moving officially into the nerdy nugget segment of this episode. Okay? These three psalms are all the context for all three psalms are gonna be two kings, chapter 14, that. That hostage exile situation that that King Jehoash kind of puts these Levitical groups through. Okay? Now, if you look closely, you'll realize that Psalm 42 has a title, but Psalm 43 does not have a title. And that is because they are part one and part two of the same Psalm. So the title for Psalm 42 applies to Psalm 43, and the title for Psalm 42 is, for the director of music, a maskal of the sons of Korah. Okay? So that title is going to carry for Psalm 42 and for Psalm 43. And I'm assuming you've already read it. When you read Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, the subject matter never changes. Actually, there are things that are repeated. Okay? So this end, the end of Psalm 42 is, why my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Okay? So that's how Psalm 42 ends. Listen to Psalm 42, how Psalm 43 ends. Why my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. So Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 have the same chorus or bridge, if you'd rather. And so these two psalms are connected. They are actually one song split into two psalms, okay? One song, probably a singular song that. That was sung together, that have been split into two psalms or into two poems in their written form. But as they were sung, they were most likely sung together, okay? That is why Psalm 43 has no title. And then once we get to Psalm 44, we get the same exact title that we have for Psalm 42. And the context for all three Psalms, you can tell this when you just read the contents of these three Psalms is 2 Kings, chapter 14. All right, one little nerdy nugget that I. That I really want to share here is that these Psalms are from the sons of Korah. Now, this is super, super fascinating, as Korah is not a good name. K. This is not like, there's some names that are, like, good names to have, right? And then there's names that are just like, ooh, associated with rebellion. Like. Like, I would never name my daughter Jezebel, right? Like, I'm not naming my daughter Delilah. Okay? Now, they can't help the fact that Korah is their great, great, great, great, great ancestor. Okay? So if you remember this, Korah was the leading Levite that attempted to replace Aaron as high priest shortly after the first generation army of Israel refused to fight in Canaan at Kadesh. Korah's judgment for this attempted religious couple was that he was allowed to perform the duties of a priest in front of Yahweh. This is not gonna go well. Okay, remember, here's a timeless truth. Just because you change God's answer does not mean you've changed God's mind. Okay? So God's like, okay, let's go. You wanna have Aaron's job? Go ahead. I'm gonna let you do Aaron's job. Okay? He was, of course, not qualified to do so. And when he and the Levites with him offered incense, they were struck down by the holiness of Yahweh and they died. All right, so just because you change God's answer don't mean you change God's mind. You may want to stop praying that God would give you that boyfriend that you've been asking for who he's already said no to, because by the time he says yes, it's not going to be a yes. That's going to lead to blessing. You change God's answer, but you're not going to change God's mind. Okay? So the existence of this Levitical group of musicians that are. That are their ancestors, Korah is a whole testament of God's grace. These psalm writers in this Levitical group that exist centuries later show that even though Korah rebelled, his family did not all join in his rebellion. At least one of his sons or grandsons must have survived for this Levitical line to continue. And so this group, bearing the name of the most infamous member of their tribe, wrote these psalms. They wrote Psalms 42, 43, and 44 that make it into holy Scripture, proving that they were in no way like their great, great, great, great, great ancestor. Okay, so that's just a nerdy nugget. Okay? You may remember Korah's rebellion from way back in the Torah. You may not. But I think it's really cool that his and that his descendants are gonna be the kind of people that can redeem their family name. I think that's dope. I think God is a God of redemption and second chances. Okay, next nerdy nugget. Big picture, nerdy Nugget. Okay. An interesting nugget to mention is that in the first book of the Psalms, okay, that Psalm 1:1 to 41. In those first 41 Psalms, a personal name for God is going to get used a lot. And that's Yahweh instead of his title, which is Elohim. To give you real numbers, Yahweh is going to get used in the first book of the Psalms 278 times. And Elohim is going to get used 15 times. Remember, Yahweh is the personal covenant name of God. It's a name. It'd be like me calling my wife Tia. A title would be Elohim. A title for my wife would be Pastor Tia or wife. Okay? But a personal name is going to be Yahweh. Now, this is contrasted in book two. We are now in book two, and there is a massive switch. We are going to see. Elohim is going to get used far more than Yahweh. Remember I told you, in book one, Yahweh is used 278 times. Elohim. Elohim is used 15 times. Well, in book two, Elohim is used 188 times and Yahweh is going to get used 27 times. This is probably due to a far less amount of personal, individually focused Psalms in this book. As such, the relational name of God is used far less. So there's a shift in book two from individual personal psalms to corporate or congregational psalms, which is going to mean that Elohim is going to get used a lot more than Yahweh. All right, that's a nerdy nugget. Okay, one last nerdy nugget and then we'll get into some timeless truths. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of Scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Hey, are you looking for a really cool gift or just solid tools to support your faith in daily Life? Check out Mr. Pen. They've got no bleed Bible pens and highlighters that actually work on thin Bible pages. Journaling Bibles, Bible tabs and faith based journals. Even school supplies for parents, teachers and students. Mr. Penn was started by Christian teachers in Louisiana on a mission to serve the schools in their local community. And now They've got over 100,000 five star reviews on Amazon. I'm a huge fan of their Bible highlighters and pens. Super smooth and gentle enough to write notes in the margin of your Bible. Whether you're digging into scripture or stocking up for Back to school, Mr. Penn has you covered. Shop the best Bible journaling supplies on the market and fantastic gifts for the ladies in your life@mister penn.com. that's mrpn.com and guess what? Our audience here at the Bible department gets a special discount. Use code DEPARTMENT10 at checkout to get 10% off your entire order. We are going to see a lament. Okay, remember second kings, chapter 14 is going to give us context that these psalms are happening in the midst of a really difficult time in Judah's history. So these sons of Korah are not like going through a happy, good, joyous time right now. They are going through suffering and they are in the middle of an exile and they miss the temple. Kind of imagine you've been a worship leader at church for years and then all of a sudden you just, you miss your home church. I actually can remember this during COVID I missed corporate worship so much and actually I didn't even realize how much I missed corporate worship. And so we started worshiping together again. And I remember that first worship service. We were all gathered together again, like at our home church in the sanctuary that I've had so many moments with God in. I just bawled like a baby. I cried. And I don't always cry in worship, but I realized I haven't worshiped in church together with other believers for like nine months a year. Like it had been a long time and I was just emotional about it. So think about it. These sons of Korah are used to leading the people of God in praise and in worship, in song at the temple. And they've been exiled up to Samaria and they miss God. You can hear it right here when Psalm 42 opens. Okay, these are kind of famous words, but now that we put them in context, I think they'll hit different. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. Okay? As a deer is panting for streams of water, I'm desperate for God. I wanna go back to the temple. I wanna go back to his sanctuary. I'm desperate to sing with God's people again. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? There's all. Obviously, you can go meet with God anywhere. But they are specifically missing the place, the holy and sanctified place where they've met with God, which is the temple. My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, where is your God? Well, my God's everywhere, but, man, he's in that temple. And the conclusion would have been, since you're here in exile, your God must not care that much about you. He must not be that powerful. If we, the people of Israel up in the north, have taken you hostage. And remember Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel at this point in history are plural polytheists at best. I mean, they have included all kinds of pagan gods in their worship of Yahweh. Where's your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul how I used to go down to the house of God. Okay? I remember how I used to go to his house under the protection of the Mighty One, with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng, Okay? I didn't go by myself. I went with a festive throng of people down to the house of God. And I missed that. Sometimes I think we can take for granted how powerful, I dare say magical and mysterious corporate worship really is. It's a powerful thing. But when you're in the rhythm of doing it every single week, it's kind of like you kind of forget. You start to take it for granted. But then when it gets taken away, like the pandemic or when we went through COVID 19, you realize, man, this has an effect on my soul. So what does the psalmist says? Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me. Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, Hermon from Mount Mazar Deep calls the deep and the roar of your waterfalls all your waves and breakers have swept over me. Okay, so he's admitting my soul is downcast. When we take away corporate worship, our soul gets downcast and the Psalmist is admitting my soul is not full of joy. But what's the solution here? When my soul is downcast, what will I do? I will remember God. I'll remember Yahweh for the land from the land of the Jordan. I'll remember the place where I've met with God, and I remember what he did. And the same God that met with me there, the psalmist is gonna decide, is the same God that's gonna meet with us right here as we're hostages and in the northern kingdom of Israel. All right, let's move into our timeless truth for the day. I actually want to share two psalms, couple passages with you. They're both from Psalm chapter 44. I'm going to give you verse two and three first, and then I'll give you verses six and seven. Psalm, chapter 44. And all three of these Psalms just carry the same tone. Okay? Psalms of corporate lament that we're not in the temple, that we're not at the house of God. Okay, so Psalm 44, verses 2 to 3, says this. With your hand, you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors. You crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish. Here's the part that I love. It was not by their sword that they won the land. Now, did they use swords? Yes. But the psalmist is saying, let's not get this twisted. We used our swords, but it was not our swords that brought us victory and that caused us to won the land. And nor did their arm bring them victory. It was your right hand, Lord. It was your arm, Lord, in the light of your face, for you loved them, man. That right there, that is the heart of humility. A humble person will always say, it was not my intelligence. It wasn't my networking. It wasn't my charisma. It wasn't any of that. It was God. It was the Lord. We're in the middle of planting a church right now, and do I think I'm intelligent? Yeah, I think I'm pretty smart. Do I think I'm charismatic? Yeah, I think I'm charismatic. Do I think I'm a good leader, a trustworthy leader? Yep, I do. But is that the thing that's gonna make our church grow? No. Here's what the psalmist says. It was not by their sword that they won the land. I don't think it's gonna be by our sword that we win the land of Houston. I don't think it's gonna be by our sword or our strategy or our ads or our marketing that we take the land. No, no, no, no, no. It is by the right hand of God, by the arm of the Lord. Psalm 44, 6, and 7 says the same thing. I put no trust in my bow. Do I know how to hunt? Yeah, I do. But I do. I know how to. An archer's bow, it could be to hunt game, or it could be to fight enemies. I put no trust in my bow. My sword does not bring me victory. But you give us victory over our enemies. You put our adversaries to shame. I think worship is completely connected to humility. I also think the same about prayer. Most times what we realize is that a lack of prayer has nothing to do with time management, but everything to do with pride management. And this right here, this is the heart of humility. That says, I had a sword, but it wasn't my sword that brought me victory. I had a bow, but it wasn't my bow that brought a win. That brought the defeat of my enemies. No, no, no, no, no. Let's not get arrogant. Let's not get crazy. It was. The Lord in the heart of humility says, it wasn't our money, it wasn't our credit score, it wasn't our good looks, it wasn't our intelligence. And when all these books we got back here. No, it was the Lord. Does that mean we don't. That we've chosen to not be intelligent or we've chosen to, you know, purposely have a bad credit score? No, it just means that even though we bring our swords and our bows to the table, even though we participate with God by using our sword, by using our bow, we're just not gonna give the credit of the victory to the instruments in our own hands. We're gonna give all credit, all glory, all honor to the Lord God Almighty. And that's not just true during Solomon's reign or during the time of the sons of Korah, or when these psalms were penned to parchment. That is true. Timelessly. That's true today. And my prayer for you today is that you would walk through today with a heart of humility that you would say to the Lord and you would say to others, it was not my sword, it was not my bow, it was not my fill in the blank that led me to victory. It was always God. He was always the X factor. All right, tomorrow we got day 267. We're going to be looking at Psalms 45 to 47. We're going to continue our trek through book two of the wider collection known as the Psalms. I hope you're on a streak. If you are, I'm so, so, so proud of you. If you're not on a streak, let me encourage you. Let's stack up some days, all right? Let's get on a streak. Once you get a streak rolling, come on, you'll get momentum. I'm proud of you. I love you. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 267. Love you guys. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.