RR Psalm 39:6,7(5,6) Part 3

Shalom,

Yesterday, Jan and I had the opportunity to share a few highlights of our experience at the Illumination Conference held by Ken Fish’s Orbis Ministries in Nashville last month.  I promised to provide a link for those who might like to purchase the full set of videos of the conference presentations.
Here it is… https://community.orbisministries.org/communities/groups/orbis-ministries/home/posts/690244c1883dc81f66a30241
___________________
Psalm 39:6 Behold, You made my days mere hand-breadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Surely all humanity is but vapor. Selah 7 Everyone goes about as a mere phantom. Surely they are making an uproar in vain, heaping up stuff—yet not knowing who will gather it.
 
In these two verses of Psalm 39, King David is expressing himself in detailed word pictures that speak to our hearts.  Each verse is divided into two parts, so there are four thoughts in these two verses.  Here they are in my own translation of the Hebrew text, along with some commentary.…

1. Psalm 39:6a Look here, You (the Lord (YHVH) is addressed by name in the previous verse, which continues in these two verses) have given my days and lifespan as “handbreadths,” as though they don’t exist.    Commentary: The Hebrew word for “handbreadth” is the width of a hand (not including spread fingers).  It is actually an architectural term related to the top decoration of a column.  Time is being compared to an entire column while the days of our lives are relatively only the smallest top decoration.  Then, “my days” are said to be “as nothing” (as though they are not) when compared to You, oh God.  God is “omni…” (everything), while we are not.  Our lives becomes worthwhile when we allow God to define us.  Our lives take on meaning in Him alone.

1. Psalm 39:6b Certainly, every man is appointed (established in his best standing) to be but a delusion, “Selah.”  Commentary:  The verse ends with “Selah” a Hebrew word that means, “What was just said was profound and deserves our attention.   Therefore; let’s pause here and dwell on this thought, to appreciate the gravity of what is being communicated.”  On our best day, we are nothing more than a vapor.  

Previously, King David asked, Psalm 8:5 what is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You care for him?  And he answered his own question… Psalm 8:6 Yet You made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and majesty!  Then David concludes the way he began in Psalm 8, verse 2… Psalm 8:10 Adonai our Lord, how excellent is Your Name over all the earth!

1. Psalm 39:7a Of course, (every) man walks about (like) in a shadow, (every) man (as) a delusion, troubled in an uproar.  Comment:  The connotation here is that we have made ourselves out to be idols in our own imaginations.  Revelation 8:1 Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.  No wonder there is silence when the 7th seal is opened.  Everyone is trying to act like an angel.  Idols (false gods) draw attention to themselves and make a clamor.  Yeshua’s command, “Peace, be still.”  

1. (Every man) piles up (amasses riches) and does not know who will gather it up (when he/she is gone from this earth).  Comment: My rabbi, Dan Juster, says philosophically, “What do we need in life, but a lounge chair and a lamp?”  In vanity of vanities, we spend our lives acquiring stuff, filling our houses and garages with stuff and then renting storage units to store stuff.  Who would know better than King David the difference between being a shepherd (with only a staff) and a king (with the riches of a national treasury).  

Paul understood this… Philippians 4:19 My God will fulfill every need of yours according to the riches of His glory in Messiah Yeshua. 20 To our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.  Those who know the Lord and trust in Him, have ceased from striving it acquire “stuff.”  Everything belongs to Him, and we are released.  Yeshua gets the last word…. John 8:36  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!  Shalom shalom.

Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Mon17-Nov-202526th of Cheshvan, 5786
Ge 26:6-12Jdg 12-13Ps 37Mt 26:36-75(Ro 8)