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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 267 here at the Bible Department. I'm super, super excited to dive into today's assigned reading. We've got Psalms 55 to 57. I'm loving our trek through the psalms. We've got a couple of good psalms today, so if you have not done the reading, how about you stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done. This podcast is not designed to be a substitute for your daily Bible reading. It is designed to come along of your daily Bob reading and help you understand what you read. So if you've read today's reading, then we can dive right in. We're going to start at Psalm 45, 40, 46, and 47. Obviously, sometimes with context clues. With the Psalms, we always, we don't always have like a ton, A ton, a ton of context. These are still psalms of the sons of Korah. All right, so if you need more information about that, check out yesterday's video. Okay. Day 266, we really dove into the sons of Korah, who they are, and obviously one of their great, great, great ancestors was Korah, who led a rebellion against Aaron. And so you can read all about that in the book of Numbers. You can hear all about that on yesterday's episode. So we've got three more psalms of the Sons of Korah, and we've got titles for all three that reflect authorship. And they all share the usual to the choirmaster. Okay, so not a historical context for these, but we have an authorship context, and so that's super helpful. So we don't have a ton of context, but we do have a lot of nerdy nuggets. All right, so the first thing that you'll notice about Psalm 45 is right there in the heading. It'll say for the director of music, to the tune of lilies of the sons of Korah, a maskal. A wedding song. So this right here is a good old fashioned love song. Okay? We get a love song right here, smack dab in the middle of Psalms. A good old fashioned. I get so weak in the knees, I can hardly speak. You know that. A love song. You know what I'm saying? Good old fashioned love song. But this is not any old love song. Maybe you're wondering why is there a love song in the middle of the psalms? This is not the Song of Songs, not the Songs of Solomon. Why do we have a love song? Well, when we get down into the genres of the psalms, royal psalms are a massive category of psalms. Okay? A lot of these psalms are talking about David, but ultimately they're pointing to the Messiah. Right? These are royal psalms that sometimes can even become Messianic psalms. Well, all three of the psalms that we're going to look at today are royal in nature. However, there are subcategories or subgenres to a royal song or a roll psalm. And one of those sub genres is the songs that are played when royalty get married. All right, so this is not just a wedding song for any old wedding or for any old couple. This is a wedding song for a prince and a princess. Okay, so these. This is a royal psalm because this is a psalm that would accompany a royal wedding. All right, so we have seen that royal psalms have been about coronations or a king's victory in battle, or how Yahweh saves the king. Okay, We've seen all those as royal psalms. This. However, Psalm 45 shows how royal weddings played such an important part in Israel's society. They were so vital that a psalm is written for the occasion and included in the psalter. The importance is seen in how the bride is told to forget your people and your father's house and is also called the princess. This means that the bride is most likely a Foreign princess, that is marrying into the royal family. This would include the princess of Israel marrying into the royal family of Judah as well, and vice versa. Last thing I'll say about this, royal marriage would be rarely done for love, but would be a part of the foreign policy of the kingdom. Okay? The kingdom of Judah is going to absolutely marry off its girls to foreign kings or foreign princes and accept foreign brides to marry their kings. A daughter will be praised as she could be married to a prince of another people and so secure an alliance between the nations as such, this wedding is not just a wedding. Okay, but. But it's actually about politics. And that's why it fits under the category of a royal psalm, because it is royalty that's actually getting married. This is exactly why this psalm would have such a place of prominence and why it would be here in a collection of psalms. Now, the psalm is wonderful, okay? If you read through it, it's beautiful. Okay? It's. It's gorgeous. It's joyful. However, if we do a little digging. Let's just think a little bit. These marriages often had unforeseen consequences. So although the psalm is celebrating the marriage union between a prince and a princess. Okay, there's more here to the story, obviously, to the whole counsel of God, which is all the books of the Bible. Not just looking at this one psalm, but putting it in context of everything we know about the people of Israel in history. Okay, this is interesting fact. Okay? Ty is going to be mentioned in this first song. Okay, so verse 12 of Psalm 45 says this. The city of Ty will come with a gift. People of wealth will seek your favor. Now this is fascinating. For those of you who, you know, have a really, really good memory, you'll remember that there's something, a marriage between a princess of tyranny that's actually going to change the trajectory of Israel's history forever. Okay? And it was a disastrous marriage alliance between Israel and Ty's fellow Phoenician city Sidon that brought the princess Jezebel to Israel. She also brought BAAL worship and then married her daughter into Judah's royal family, bringing BAAL worship to the southern kingdom of Judah as well as the northern kingdom of Israel. Okay, so Tyre just so happens to be mentioned. And that's a nerdy nugget that actually it is Tyre's fellow Phoenician city Sidon, where Jezebel hailed from. And Jezebel is probably one of the most wicked, evil queens in Israel's history and definitely has so much influence that she ends up derailing Judah's history as well. Okay, let's move to Psalm 46. Okay. Psalm 46 is going to be more of a classic royal psalm. However, it's not about David or Solomon. It is literally about Yahweh. Okay. It's not about David or David's house, but it is a massive. A greater royal psalm in terms of the reality of who it's about. It is about Yahweh. So we'll start right at verse one. Okay. It says this. God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. The earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Okay, what's being described here? Chaos is being described here. And I'll just insert a nerdy nugget. If you've read my book Crushing Chaos, you know this, that according to an ancient Hebrew perspective, in Eastern, ancient Jewish perspective, the creation account that we have in Genesis is not primarily about God turning nothing into something, but about God turning chaos into order. And so this psalm, the beginning of this psalm right here, is actually a psalm that is hailing or worshiping God as a God of creation. And why? Well, it's because even though the psalm is describing chaos, and, okay, the psalmist is worshiping God as the one who can bring order out of such chaos. Okay, so Psalm 46, we actually have a chiasm here. I don't always highlight chiasms, but this is a fun one. Okay, so verses one to three demonstrate or show or sing about God as king over nature and chaos. Okay? That's what we have. And then verses four through seven are gonna show, demonstrate, sing about Yahweh or God as king over his holy city. So he's enthroned in his holy city. We can read it starting in verse four, says this. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the most high dwells. God is within her. She will not fall. It's like, hey, the presence of the Lord is in Jerusalem, which means Jerusalem will not fall. Okay? God will help her. At break of day, nations are in uproar. Kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. So, yeah, we got walls surrounding the city. We got walls to protect us. But God is our fortress because God dwells in the city. That means it won't fail. Okay, so verses one to three show us that God is king over nature and chaos. Second, verses 4 through 7 show us that God is enthroned. He's king in his holy city. And then verses 8 through 11 show us God is king over the warring nations. Okay, so we get a chiasm, verses 1 and 3, verses 4 to 7, 8, 11. It's actually a mini chaos chiasm, okay? It's meant to reassure the people of Jerusalem when they look out at the chaos of the nation at war around them. Okay? Verses 1 to 3, God is King over the chaos of nature. Verses 4 to 7, God is King over the chaos of Jerusalem. In verses 8 through 11, God is King over the chaos of war. Doesn't matter what kind of chaos is going on. This psalm is dedicated or is designed to show us that God is enthroned as king over chaos. He is the God that knows how to crush chaos. Chaos, how to conquer chaos. Okay, so lastly, we got Psalm 47, which is another royal psalm. Okay? Starts out, clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with cries of joy. Okay? So clap your hands. Okay, this is a psalm of praise to Yahweh. The king says this in verse five, God has ascended. Ascension is all about enthronement. Okay? This is his kingly nature being emphasized. God has ascended amidst shouts of joy. The Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth. Sing to him a psalm of praise. We can even go back up to verse two. For the Lord most high is awesome. The great king over all the earth. Okay, so the kingship of Yahweh is being emphasized because this is a royal psalm. God reigns over the nations. I'm at verse 8. God reigns over the nations. God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of God, as the people of the God of Abraham. So this is a great nerdy nugget. The psalmist is going all the way back to Abraham saying, hey, God's been at this for a long time. We have not just began to be his people, we have been his people for a long time. In the same way that he blessed Abraham and protected Abraham and was faithful to his covenant promises to Abraham, since we are descendants of Abraham, he will be faithful to his covenant promises to us as well. For the kings of the earth belong to God. So not only is he the king over all the earth, but all the kings of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted. Okay, so We've got three royal psalms here. Okay? The first psalm is a royal psalm because it is a wedding psalm, but not just any old wedding psalm. It's a wedding psalm that is supposed to be sung at the royal wedding of two people, prince and princess, who is getting married. Okay? And then we've got 46 and 47, which are also royal psalms, but not necessarily pointed towards David or Solomon or any other king or God's victory through those kings, but literally directed to God himself. He is king, he is sovereign, and that gets us into our timeless truth. For today, 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 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. Ted Day all right, back to the episode. 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Use code department10 at checkout to get 10% off your entire order. Thomas Truth is that not only is there a chaos chasm here. Sorry, chaos chiasm Not. I don't know what I said. I think I said chaos chasm. Not only is there a chaos chasm or chiasm or whatever we want to call it. No, I'm just joking. It's a chiasm. Okay, Chiasm. Not only is there a chaos chiasm here, but there should be a chaos chiasm in our lives, in your life. God is king over the chaos of nature. God is king over Jerusalem. God is king over the chaos of war. You can go ahead and fill in the blank. Maybe God needs to be king over the chaos of your anxiety, or maybe God needs to be king over the chaos of your mind. Or maybe God needs to be king over the chaos of. Of sickness or cancer or diabetes or ADHD or whatever sickness you bring to the table. God is king over chaos. That's not just true for the sons of Korah who wrote this psalm. That's not just true for Genesis 1 or for any of the characters in the Bible. That's true today. God is king over all forms of chaos, whether that chaos comes in the form of a toddler or whether that chaos comes in the form of suffering or people dying or uncertainty. God is king over the chaos. And the psalmist is right. If God dwells in the city, she cannot fall. And so the question that I would ask is, does God dwell in your home? Does he dwell in your marriage? Does he dwell with your kids? Does he dwell with you? Does he dwell in your church? I want to build my life in such a way that God is dwelling with me. And therefore it's almost like I'm guaranteed victory and guaranteed success. That doesn't mean that bad things won't happen. It just means that when bad things happen, they won't have the ultimate final word, that God will ultimately always have the final word because he is king, and he is enthroned as king in our praises and in our heart. And so that's a timeless truth. He remains king over chaos. God is the king over all chaos. And the real question is, have you actually brought your chaos to Him? Have you laid it before his feet? Or do you see the chaos of your life as more powerful than God's presence, His word, and his power in your life? I think we all have forms of chaos in our life. And this psalmist had real forms of chaos. Nature, a city who's in turmoil and war. Those are all forms of chaos. And it doesn't matter what your form of chaos is. God wants to bring order and peace to all of your chaos. Remember, the opposite of chaos is not peace. The opposite of chaos is always order. And order brings peace. Okay, so if you are new to that idea, then you should probably pick up a copy of my last book, Crushing Chaos, because that's exactly what I talk about throughout the entire 29 chapters of that book. All right, I will see you tomorrow. For day 268, we're gonna be diving into Psalms 48, 49, and 50. I hope that our trek through the Psalms has added value to you, blessed you. And after tomorrow, we'll be a third of the way through the book of Psalms, which is exciting. Buckle up though. We're gonna be in Psalms for a long time. If you're on a streak, I'm proud of you. If you're not on a streak, come on, let's get it together. Meet us back here tomorrow so you can get on a streak. I love you guys so much. I'll see you tomorrow. 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.