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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 family. Welcome to day 296 here on the Bible Department podcast. I am going to lead you through Psalms 130, 131, 132, and 133. We're going to. Well, I guess technically tomorrow we're wrapping up these songs of ascent. Okay. And if you have not done the reading, then how about you stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done. Amazing psalms that we're looking at today. I think these are beautifully written psalms that have the power to redeem, renew, like, change our minds, help us to repent. The Greek word for repent is metanoia. That means change our minds. And nothing changes the thought processes that we have or our trains of thought than reading scripture, engaging with scripture. So with no further ado, let's dive into some context clues, and then we'll. I'll try to give you at least one nerdy nugget for each of the psalms that we have slated for the day, and then we'll always leave off the episode with a timeless truth. So with no further ado, let's jump into our context clues. Now, if you've been rocking with us for the last couple of days, you know that the context for all of these psalms, it's essentially the same. Okay? A group of pilgrims is making their way from. From wherever they are, based on their tribal allotments, wherever they so happen to be, right? North, south, east, or west of Jerusalem. And they're all making their way to Jerusalem. And it doesn't matter where you're coming from, you have to ascend in elevation in order to get to Jerusalem. All right? Because Jerusalem is covered. Not covered, surrounded by valleys and mountains. Okay? So which obviously had natural consequences which made it difficult to invade. And, you know, like, let's take Switzerland. Switzerland is famous for, like, being neutral in terms of. In times of conflict. But Switzerland can be neutral because it's up in the mountains. Okay? It is almost impossible to invade Switzerland. Okay? Even During World War II, Hitler knew, like, he ain't getting. You're not invading Switzerland. It's just not. Just the geography makes it impenetrable. Okay, so Jerusalem, same thing. No matter where you're coming from. You have to ascend in order to get to Jerusalem. All right, let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. That's the context. And if there's any additional context for any of these psalms, like, individually, then I'll kind of give you those mixed in with our nerdy nuggets. Okay, let's dive into all the nerdy Nuggets today. Psalm 130. This is a penitential psalm. Penitential psalms would be like a subgenre under the bigger category of individual event, okay? But a penitential psalm is a psalm where you, as an individual, feel penance, okay? You feel remorse for your breaking of covenant with Yahweh or your sin. This is good practice. I actually think many of us should have penitential psalms on deck. Okay? Maybe that's gonna be our timeless truth for the day. Because it's not just enough that, you know, God forgives me, like, my sin should really break my heart. Humility leads you to the place where you lament not just over the bad things that have happened to you, but the harm you've caused in the world. I think that's a mature perspective to begin to realize. And life isn't just about all these bad things happening to me, but I am sometimes a bad thing happening to life. And I'm sad over the contribution I've made to the. The chaos and sin and havoc in the world. Okay? So this Psalm, Psalm 130, highlights the mercy of Yahweh. The mercy of Yahweh, where you could see if you're making a trek, if you're making a pilgrimage from, you know, wherever the tribe of Issachar or Naphtali or Zebulun live, and you're trekking it all the way to Jerusalem, you kind of want to sing and maybe reassure yourself that your sacrifices are gonna be accepted by God, that when you get to Jerusalem and you offer sacrifices to the Lord, that he is actually going to be merciful towards you. So it makes sense that they're singing about the mercy of Yahweh and that there's a penitent heart posture. We used to do this a lot at a church that I was a part of in Boston. Bishop Thompson, when we did communion, would have us, like, take a minute and, like, reflect on, like, whether or not there's just, like, sin in our life. And I know some people don't like that. I've heard people say that, you know, they just don't like that. They'd Rather make that communion moment about God's power to heal or just make it about, you know, what God has done. But Bishop Thompson used to really make it sober. Like, man, if you have sin in your life, like, this is a moment to really, like, ask the Lord to forgive you because you don't want to take the communion in a manner that's unworthy of it. And I would say that in the same way that you just as a pastor, that I'd wanna make sure everyone's heart posture is correct before we take communion. I would see this psalm serving the same purpose, Psalm 130 being a moment as we're trekking up to Jerusalem. We're about to offer sacrifices. Let's get our hearts in order. And our heart should be penitent. And what happens when we're penitent, man? God is merciful. Sambly, 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 today. All right, back to the episode. All right, Psalm 131. Super, super short psalm. My heart is not proud, Lord. My eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed, quieted myself. I'm like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child, I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both and forevermore. Little bit of context, obviously. This short psalm paints a picture. Paints the picture of an older David who faced sin and its consequences, but had also experienced the forgiveness and mercy of God. Okay, so it's perfect that it comes right after this penitent psalm. Penitence as a heart posture that I think David is quite known for. Quite famous for. This older David then looks back at his youth and childhood when he was a humble shepherd and not concerned with battles or the affair of running a nation. This is David longing for the innocence and simplicity of his younger days, longing for a childlike spirit. In the wider pilgrimage from wherever you are to Jerusalem, it sits as a note of humility. Humility and childlike peace in the face of Yahweh's salvation, forgiveness, mercy, and redemption. His childlike humility is the only correct response to the mercy of Yahweh. And so we have the mercy of Yahweh highlighted in Psalm 131, and then in sorry in Psalm 130. And then in Psalm 131. We have what that mercy is supposed to create and how we're supposed to respond to God's mercy. And that is with humility. My heart is not proud, Lord. My eyes are not haughty. I did not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. I've calmed, quieted myself. I'm like a weaned child with. With. With its mother. Okay, all right. Psalm 132. Got a lot of nerdy nuggets for us. Okay. This is a royal psalm, probably written for the temple's dedication. Okay, so this is when Solomon is gonna dedicate the temple. Okay. First for the temple's dedication, but is remembering an earlier event that makes that dedication even possible. Okay, and what is that earlier event? That earlier event is David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. So Psalm 132, verse 7. Let us go to his dwelling place. Let us worship at his footstool, saying, arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Okay, you see the emphasis on the ark. The ark is coming to rest. And so at the dedication of the temple, we're looking back at a past event going, man. It was David who cared so much about the presence of the living God and the ark of the covenant that he made sure that it was no longer at Obed Edom's house, but that it was where it needed to be in Zion. Okay. May your priests be clothed with righteousness. May your faithful people sing for joy. For the sake of your servant, David, do not reject your anointed one. The Lord swore an oath to David, a sure oath he will not revoke. One of your own descendants I will place on your throne. Of course we know that's going to be Jesus. If your sons keep my covenant in the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne forever and ever. Right. That's the house that God is building for David, for the Lord has chosen Zion. You're going to see this over and over and over and over. These psalms are pro Zion. Okay? He has desired it for his dwelling, saying, this is my resting place forever and ever. Here I will sit enthroned, for I. I have desired it. Okay, so again, we could, you know, come to the conclusion that it's David that's just making political maneuvers by putting the Temple in Jerusalem. Or we can go. I think maybe the Lord wanted the Temple to be in Jerusalem, and David is simply following the instruction of the Lord. Okay, so you can see how the moment where David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and establishes the tabernacle rebuilds the tabernacle. That is going to be a massive moment that is going to then influence how we approach the temple thereafter. Okay, so people are making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They are singing a song of ascent, but they're thinking back about another leader who made the same trek from Obed Edom's house all the way to Jerusalem to make sure that the Ark of the Covenant was in the right place. And where's the right place? Zion is the right place. All right, last one we got for the day when we do all this, when we have a penitent heart, when we come to the Lord with childlikeness and a childlike spirit, with humility. And then when we look back at previous generations that have prioritized the power and the presence of. Of God in the house of the Lord, what happens? Well, we experience unity. We experience supernatural unity. So we get to Psalm 133, how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. Why does unity have to be focused on? Well, because people who are not of the tribe of Judah are having to come to Judah's territory in order to worship Yahweh. That's why unity is going to have to be emphasized. And here's a question. Does Israel maintain this unity? No, no, no, they don't. After they maintain unity for three kings. Saul, David, and Solomon. Once Solomon is done, we're going to get a divided monarchy, not a united monarchy. And then that unity is like two metaphors. First metaphor. It is like oil poured on the head, running down the beard, running down Aaron's beard, down the collar of his robe. Okay, why is it like oil? Well, oil was designed to take a normal person and turn them into a priest. It was to anoint Aaron for the task of being a priest. And so God is saying, well, when my people dwell together, in unity, guess what? They're able to be priests. So division actually is the thing that kills our ability to be priest in the world. And what's a priest's job? To reconcile people to God, to represent people to the Lord and reconcile the two parties. I could get into a timeless truth, but I'll save it for a moment. And then second, what's the other thing? It is the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion, for there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. Okay, here we go. It's like dew. So not only is it oil, but it's like dew. Now, here's something you need to know. Geographically, Mount Zion is not really a mountain. It's like. It's a big hill. Not really a mountain. It's a hill, and it's called a mountain because God's dwelling there. Okay, but it's a big hill. Mount Hermon is actually the highest point in all of Israel. And so what the passage is saying is that from the tallest to the least, God's due, when there's unity, God blesses everyone, from the least to the greatest, every single person. So these two things begin to happen when we decide to choose unity. But unity has to be a choice. And this leads effortlessly and seamlessly into our timeless truth. I don't know if you're kind of aware of just the state of our nation, the United States of America, but yeah, there's like a spirit of division. You could feel it in the air. Like, it's harder to talk about certain topics. And I would say that if there was ever a time where believers should be fighting for unity, it's right now. That's not compromise. It's just unity. All right, this, this great quote. It's actually my favorite phrase when we think about unity in church. In essentials, unity and non essentials, liberty. In all things, love. Okay. In essentials, unity and non essentials, liberty and in all things, love. And so I just want you to use that as a filter. I've decided, man, I'm not gonna divide with other Christians over things that are non essentials. And here's what's unfortunately started to happen. Our list of non essentials just keeps growing and growing and growing and growing. And our list of essentials keeps shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. Actually, the other way around. It's the other way around. Our list of essentials keep growing and growing and growing and growing. And the list of non essentials keep shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. In all things, love. I think right now we're living in a day and age where people think that as long as they can put you in a category of people that are the enemy, then it's okay to hate someone. And we got to remember, like, our job as believers is love. We're not always going to agree on what society should be doing or how people should be voting. We're not always going to agree on everything that has to do with socioeconomics. But man, I think that we've got enough that unites us. And every four years in our country, it's like you just watch the rift get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, especially amongst believers. And my prayer is that the same God that wanted Israel to be united in the same Jesus that prayed that his disciples would be known for unity. Man, our timeless truth that I hope that we take away is that when we are united, not when we're all in perfect agreement, but when we're all united, when we choose, like man, we're. And there is no unity without diversity. Unity without diversity is just uniformity. But when we decide we're gonna be united, we're gonna focus on the essentials and we're gonna let the non essentials actually be non essentials. And whenever there's anything that we don't agree on, we're gonna love each other. I think that we position ourselves as the church to actually be priests, to unite a world to a God who desperately wants to be united to a broken, hurting world. But how can we unite people to God if we can't even unite with ourselves? Unity breeds unity. So if you kind of wanted, I don't know, some extra motivation to maybe not bring up politics at Thanksgiving this year, like, maybe this maybe is not worth arguing over, and maybe, just maybe, the person who disagrees with you is a smart same person who loves Jesus. It's possible that there are people who see things from a different perspective. And unity is a choice. And it's a hard choice for me. I'm an opinionated person and it's hard for all of us. But man, I think that our rhetoric has to be that which causes there to be unity in the body of Christ, not division. And I think we all have to check ourselves. Am I saying things that are divisive, or am I saying things with a spirit that could actually create unity so that we can ultimately unite lost, dying, hurting, broken people to a God who desperately wants to reconcile with them? That's our timeless truth for the day. Tomorrow we got day 297. We're gonna be looking at Psalms 134, 135, 136, and 137. I can't wait to see you right here tomorrow, same time, same place. I love you. I'm 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@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 course courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.