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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. Welcome to day 281. Today we are looking at Psalms 87 through 89. We got a couple of different psalms. First of all, if you have not done the reading, I say this every single day, but if you have not done the reading, then how about you stop this video, pause the audio, go get the reading for today. Done. Three short psalms. And so all we got is three short psalms. All right? And so make sure that you do the reading so that you have context for the content of this episode. Like, every day, I'm gonna bring you context clues so that you kind of get situated or oriented. Book three of the psalms has kind of carried very, very, very similar context. Okay? The people coming back from exile, it is a hard season. Even though their hopes are high now that they're no longer in exile, it is still not as glorious of a return as they would have imagined. So there are lots of psalms of lament, lots of psalms where the destruction of Jerusalem is being lamented and being expressed. So for context clues today, okay? For Psalm 87 and 88, these are both psalms of the sons of Korah. We've talked in depth about those characters. And the last of the psalms attributed to this Levitical choir, okay? By the way, Heman is a son of Korah. Okay? So if you pick up your Bible and you just, like, look at the title that we have from Psalm 87, you're going to see of the sons of Korah. Nothing weird there. But then at the top of Psalm 88, we're going to see a psalm of the sons of Korah for the director of music, according to Mahaloth. Leonith. Leonath. Okay, I don't know how to pronounce that. I just know what it means, and I'll tell you what it means in a second. A maskal of Heman, the Ezraite. So you're like, wait a second. Is this. Did the sons of Korah write this? Did Heman write this? Heman is a son of Korah. So the answer to both those questions is. Drum roll, please. Yes. All right, so Psalm 88. Context. Mahala. Mahalath, Leonath. Okay. Mahalath Leonath or Leonoth. Okay. Is the suffering of affliction that's what that means, the suffering of affliction, which should already cue you up for what the content of this psalm is about to be. Okay? The suffering of affliction. Some context on Heman. Okay, As a person. Heman writes this, and he is a temple singer and a seer. Actually, First Chronicles, chapter 25 actually refers to him as the king's seer. Okay, so there's two spots that talk about Heman, and you can look both of them up. First Chronicles, chapter 6, verse 33, and First Chronicles, chapter 25, verses 1 through 5. Okay, so in First Chronicles, chapter 25, verses one through five, he is called the king's seer. Okay, so tons of context. He is literally part of the foundation of David, creating a revolutionized system of singing and worship and praise. That's a part of sanctuary worship. Okay? Psalm 89, this is written by Ethan. The context for Ethan as a character, as a person, as a writer is First Chronicles, chapter 15, verses 17 and 19. And this dude is really close to your boy Heman. Okay, so Heman and Ethan, I don't know if they're friends, but they are close. All right? They, they're definitely associates, co workers, their peers. They're. They're, they're close. The nature of the relationship, I obviously don't know, but they are always typically or typically mentioned together. And Psalm 89 is going to be all about the face failure of David's line. Okay? Or David's dynasty. The fact that by the time the people of Judah are taken into Babylonian captivity, there's no one on the throne in Jerusalem that comes from David's line or from his dynasty. And the reason that this psalm has so much tension in it is because God's promise to David is that someone would always be on his throne. Like, you'll always have an ancestor, you'll always have a descendant that's on your throne. Always, right? And always means always. Always doesn't mean unless I get mad at you, always doesn't mean until the exile. Always means always. It was an unconditional promise, not a conditional part of it. Wasn't a conditional portion of any of the covenants. There's so many things, especially in the book of Deuteronomy, that are conditional. This was unconditional, this promise made to David. So Ethan is trying to figure out, how is it that God made an unconditional promise to David. And we have seen that promise, not just unfulfilled, but we have seen that promise, like, denied, essentially. Okay? So the entire psalm is reflecting on the failure of David's line, the failure of David's dynasty, and the fall of Jerusalem. So up until this point, we've seen psalms that are lamenting or mourning the fall of Jerusalem. But once you zoom in into some detail onto the fall of Jerusalem, you'll begin to see, well, in the category of the fall of Jerusalem, there's this one really sad thing, and that's that no one is. Not one of David's descendants is sitting on David's throne. Actually, no one is sitting on David's throne because the people have been taken into captivity. All right, so Psalm 87 is. We could refer to it as a Zion psalm. Like this psalm is all about celebrating the presence of God in the place of God, and that place is Jerusalem. Okay, so this is a zion Psalm, Psalm 87. We can even just read a little bit of it. He has founded his city on the holy mountain. Ok? No need to wonder what his city is. It's Jerusalem. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, city of God. So, you know, you get the drift. Okay? Jerusalem is Zion, by the way. For anyone who doesn't know that, that's a nice little nerdy nugget for you to kind of tuck that away. When the Bible talks about Zion, okay, It's talking about Jerusalem. Okay? Zion's not just like heaven or the biblical version of Mount Olympus. No, like, Zion means Jerusalem. All right? Psalm 88 is a Psalm of lament, Psalm of suffering. No, no, no shock there. We've seen a lot of lament psalms. But I really actually want to take the most time as we move into our nerdy nuggets to Talk through Psalm 89. Okay? This is a reflection on the Davidic covenant which can be found in second Samuel, chapter seven. So if you need context for what's happening in Psalm 89, you can just look at Second Samuel, Chapter 7. Okay? And the psalm makes it clear that Yahweh is unlike any other treaty maker or normal king. Okay? So we can go to Psalm 89 together. And the very, very first thing that Ethan the Ezrahite is going to lay out is, I will sing of the Lord's great love forever with my mouth. I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever. That you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. You said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one. I've sworn to David, my servant. I. I will establish your life forever and make your Throne firm through all generations. Okay? And now the heavens. Praise your wonders, Lord. Your faithfulness too. This kind of many times the faithfulness of God has been kind of talked about. Okay, that word. And it says this verse 7. In the counsel of the holy ones, God is greatly feared. Okay, this is language straight from Psalm 82, which you talked about two days ago, and we talked about it yesterday. Cause I didn't feel like we did a good enough job talking about it two days ago in the council of the holy ones. He is more awesome than all who surround him. Who is like you, Lord God Almighty. You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea. All right, this is mythological language. We've seen so much of this mythological language in Genesis when we study Genesis, but we're seeing this over and over and over in the Psalms, that the Psalms are not here to give a scientific report on the creation, but more of a mythological report on the creation, okay? A poetic understanding of what scientifically happened. In Genesis, chapter one, it says, the heavens are yours. You crushed Rahab like one of the slain. With your strong arm, you scattered your enemies. I really wanted to hone in on this. Rahab is a chaos dragon, okay? Rahab is a chaos monster. And so if you're wondering, like, okay, what's Rahab? Who is Rahab? Okay, Rahab is just another name for chaos dragon, like Leviathan. Okay? So we're going to get super, super mythological language that is all, communicating the truth that God conquers chaos with order. Okay? So from the outset, Ethan, the Ezrahite wants to make it really clear, okay? Yahweh is not making a treaty with David the same way that a normal king would make a suzerain vassal treaty with another king. Okay? There's nothing normal about Yahweh. So even if we're tempted to doubt the foreverness of this covenant or God's ability to fulfill, fulfill the terms or the promises of the covenant, Ezra, the Ezra, Ethan, the Ezraite wants to make it clear. Before we start doubting God, let's make it really clear, like who we're talking about here, which is, you know, smart. So the fact that Yahweh is unlike any other king, ruler, power that would make a covenant means that the Davidic covenant is special. It's in its own category. So we can't really look at or judge the Davidic covenant like it's some other covenant, because it's not. It wasn't made by BAAL or Marduk or any of these Other gods. It wasn't just made between two human kings. So before we doubt it, we should probably know that the character of the one who ratified it is beyond anything that our minds can comprehend. Okay, second, there are other books written in the same time period. And this, I love this part. While Psalm 89 is giving a valid point of view and is kind of like, ends off with man, like, don't really know what to do. You know what I mean? Like, this psalm kind of ends without a resolve. While this psalm is being written, Second Kings, chapter 25, verse 27 to 30 is also being written. And Second Kings, chapter 25, verses 27 to 30, is telling the story of the last legitimate king of Judah. And that story is, is not one of despair, but that story is one of hope. So this Psalm, Psalm 89, gives no answer, just a lot of questions, but no definitive answer. But there's another work that was compiled during the same time, and that's, you know, the book of the former prophets, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. A great part of the story of those books is the foundation, establishment, and the fall of the house of David. Okay, so what Psalms is doing in poetry form, the. The former prophets are doing with narrative and, and, and what we would call narrative history, but really it's, it's prophetic literature. They too tell the story of the failure of the kings of Judah, the sons, the sons of David. But the story does not end in despair, but a strange glimpse of hope, like a glimmer of hope. It says this, okay, in 2 Kings, chapter 25, verses 27 to 30, and in the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 27th day of the month, evil Moradash, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin, King of Judah, from prison. And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, the king of Babylon, that is. And for his allowance, a regular allowance, was given him by the king of Babylon according to his daily needs as long as he lived. Now, that might not sound like this big, huge win, but it is 100% a glimpse of hope. This book, Second Kings, ends with the son of David, the last legitimate king of Judah, being released from bondage and given honor, being restored. It was not over for the house of David that is why two Kings ends this way. To communicate that Yahweh had not yet finished with them. His promise to David still held true. And it was a son of David that inspired this whole era of the psalms compilation. Book 3. Book 3 is written and compiled in the context of the people's return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of Yahweh's house. And who was it who led the people home? Who led the rebuilding of the temple and was to bear his name? That's right. Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jehoiachin, the final true king of Judah, a son of David, led them home from exile and rebuilt the temple. Zerubbabel's temple. Okay, so that's a ton of nerdy nuggets I gave you at least. You know, when I go to McDonald's, I get at least six nuggets. You know what I'm saying? So I gave you at least six nerdy nuggets right there. He has a lot to chew on. Let's move into our timeless truth for the day 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 comparison 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 today. All right, back to the episode. Our timeless truth is that in a little town called Bethlehem, a virgin by the name of Mary is going to give birth to the final son of David, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Anointed One, the Messiah who's going to be born of the line of David. And when it looked like there was no hope, God had a way of fulfilling his promise that was not in any way, shape or form on the radar of any person, including Ethan the Ezraite, who writes Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is written by Ethan the Ezrahite. And here's the deal. Ethan the Ezrahite, although he knows the right questions to Ask has no idea that the answer to his question is that there's gonna be a boy, a baby boy by the name of Jesus that's gonna be born that's actually going to fulfill the unconditional promises made by Yahweh to David. So here's my timeless truth. I'll read it to you. Just because things look hopeless to our natural human eye means nothing. Nobody could have predicted that Jesus would be the son of David. Nobody. And just because your natural human eye can't see it, and just because it is not able to be predicted by any human does not mean that God isn't faithful. It does not mean that God doesn't have a plan. And it doesn't mean that God will ever, ever, ever allow any of his promises to return to him. Void tomorrow we got day 282 and we're going to be looking at Psalms 90 to 92. And guess what guys? We are officially done with book three. Tomorrow we start book four, book four of the Psalms. We'll start at Psalm 90 and we'll go all the way to Psalm 106. So we did a good job. We closed out book three. Tomorrow we start book four. I love you so much. I'm proud of you. I'm so glad that you're on this journey with me studying the entire Bible in a calendar year. I love you so much. I'll see you right here tomorrow, same time, same place. And we're going to start book four as we jump into Psalm 90, 91 and 92 for day 282. Love you guys. So proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at 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.