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Selah: Sacred
Songs of the Psalter © Anno Domini 2002 |
From the pulpit at Pilgrim’s Rest
Presbyterian Church in |
Psalm 11
To the Choirmaster, Of David.
To the Choirmaster, Of David.
- “Flee like a bird to the mountains.
TEXTUAL
RESOURCES
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Seeking Refuge
For the Lord’s Day: the 31st of August 2003
Introduction: In our neighborhood, the number and
variety of birds has increased dramatically over the last decade and a
half. The population variety shifts, of course with the seasons as well as
with the complexities of the local environment. In only one year did a
family of eagles grace the neighborhood, and then there are years when the
humming birds abound, some years the peasants adorn even the corner of the
barn or quail multiply and decrease as do the wild turkeys according to
the fluctuations of the natural order. Last year a Mr Peasant played
morning tag with Cookie week in and week out, much to her delight!Seeking Refuge
For the Lord’s Day: the 31st of August 2003
One season a red-headed hawk took up residence in the vicinity and all of the smaller birds changed their habits as a matter of course. You could even tell when Mr Hawk was on the prowl because the normal flitter and twitter ceased and every one of the lesser species hurried to cover and took a temporary vow of silence. Our yard is the high ground of the neighborhood and it was thus, providentially to our trees that nature’s wee and flighty creatures were drawn to take refuge, since from the tops of those hillside branches; they could overlook the whole of the neighborhood.
One year a tart little finch approached the family to gain our confidence and friendship. Soon, we were greeting his friendliness with bread crumbs and I am certain that he was well satisfied with how quickly we could learn. It got to be that he would approach within inches of an outstretched hand and once he even plucked a crumb from the end of my finger. Such a trusting little soul it was so sad when he was invited to dinner by one of our numerous felines! But, how could I have chased him away, when he it was who instigated the ritual of friendship?
Development: In that small collection of bird stories you have set the scene and the theme before us in the opening verses of this beautiful little psalm.
Spurgeon quotes a commentator by the name of Wilson, who wrote these words in 1860: “The most probable account of the occasion of this Psalm is that given by Amyraldus. He thinks it was composed by David while he was in the court of Saul, at a time when the hostility of the king was beginning to show itself, and before it had broken out into open persecution. David’s friends, or those professing to be so, advised him to flee to his native mountains for a time, and remain in retirement, till the king should show himself more favourable.”
Immediately in the next paragraph of Spurgeon’s commentary, a Thomas Fuller supposes: “If one may offer to make a modest conjecture, it is not improbable this Psalm might be composed on the sad murder of the priests by Saul, when after the slaughter of Abimelech, the high priest, Doeg, the Edomite, by command from Saul, ‘slew in one day forescore and five persons which wore a linen ephod.’”
Delitzsch supposes that the situation being described “are indications of the time when the rebellion of Absolom was secretly preparing, but still clearly discernible.” Given these three diverse notations of the commentators, let us be content to recognize a further observation of Delitzsch as to the “gloomy condition of the nation [which] seems to be reflected in the very language,” a most likely general observation of this psalm’s place, without realizing the true specifics of the event which prompted this grand poetic despair of David the king.
Calvin too suggests a Sauline situation, but he at least points us higher than the mere circumstances which we cannot finally know. “I think he has a respect to something higher. When all men were striving, as it were, with each other, to drive him to despair, he must, according to the weakness of the flesh, have been afflicted with great and almost overwhelming distress of mind; but fortified by faith, he confidently and stedfastly learned on the promises of God, and was thus preserved from yielding to the temptations to which he was exposed.”
In that light, let us consider the poignant emotions in this psalm carefully. We begin in verse one, line one where David declares his underlying confidence in the great God of Israel: ”In the LORD I take refuge;” Since this is ultimately the underlying message of this eleventh psalm, Calvin best summarizes the steadfastness of the king with these inspiring words: “This psalm consists of two parts. In the first part, David recounts the severe assaults of temptation which he had encountered, and the state of distressing anxiety to which he had been reduced during the time of his persecution by Saul. In the second, he congratulates himself on the deliverance which God had granted him, and magnifies the righteousness of God in the government of the world.”
This whole psalm is indicative of the sterner stuff with which the faithful are molded by the power of the Spirit when desperate and difficult work must be done for the greater glory of God. I am reminded of Judge Roy Moore in Alabama, who has displayed more gumption, statesmanship and steadfast faith than the greater majority of our judicial appointees all put together - since the dark days of the dawning New Deal in the time of Roosevelt the lesser!
”In the LORD I take refuge;” David begins, before turning to the whining suggestions of his friends and advisors. Peter, the disciple would discourage the Lord Himself from his appointed mission centuries later on. In such a sense may we understand the perennial whining of all of those who know not the encouragement of the Holy Spirit when the Lord is causing chosen men to stand up before the world and speak His own wiser counsel. Delitzsch notes that “however well-meant and well-grounded the advice, he considers it too full of fear and is himself too confident in God, to follow it.”
“Here I stand, I can do no other,” Martin Luther announced to the Papal vultures of his day and when a handful of German princes rallied to his cause to protect his life and their own treasure, the world was changed and nations and peoples were reformed. Founding father Patrick Henry dramatically threw off his ministerial gown to reveal the military uniform with which he meant to serve the emerging nation during our own revolution. And of those like-minded who joined him, the greater majority sacrificed their treasures, their reputations and some even their lives, in order that, as Lord Cornwallis’ own band noted tunefully at his surrender: “a world was turned upside down.”
Given the stated confidence of David, we can feel the emotional insult that he must disregard in the balance of our text for the day. ”How can you [discourage] my soul” he asks his advisors? They are probably more interested in going to the safety of the mountains with him, than for any real regard for his own safety as Calvin suggests!
But given the reproof of his dramatic retort we may suppose that David is thinking of fleeing alone without the valueless protection of those whose hearts have melted in the face of serious opposition within the courts of Israel. “Flee like a bird to the mountains,” seems to be the content of their urging. Admit defeat they are saying, run for our lives they may be imploring. Never mind that this is the action that in the midst of cold calculated combat is the most dangerous action that can be taken.
David and Saul, as well as Sampson had destroyed thousands of Philistines in their time. Sampson took out almost a thousand at one battle, a feat that can only be accomplished if the enemy is running away and you are able to pick them off one by one from the rear. Sergeant York copied this practice during World War One by picking of the Germans charging him one by one starting at the rear of the group and finally forcing the surrender of those who remained.
I remember once, a student protest where things were sounding ugly and about thirty young people were standing their ground and threatening their superiors. Quietly in the background, I had half a dozen teachers empty out the cafeteria and when only the protestors were left, one by one we confronted the weaker souls and led them quietly away. All of a sudden the brazen bold and boisterous leader realized that his crowd of supporters had melted away and he was left to fend for himself!
However, lonely David may have felt in opposition to the ungodly he stands his ground because he knows that God is on his side. To run is to die, or at least to loose all credibility in this circumstance. And so he rejects the suggestion to act like a flighty feathered creature and seek safety in some remote corner of the kingdom.
During World War Two, the Swiss military and population at first mobilized their forces on the border with Germany, knowing that there they could easily be slaughtered. But, while the Army was so boldly at risk everyone else was working feverishly to provide for a national redoubt, high in the mountain fastness of their realm, from which they could continue the fight and make the Germans pay heavily for any invasion.
Application: David, we know - had used in his lifetime the very advice now given, but in this unknown situation, he understands the implications of what God intends to do, and thus he bravely stands firm. In addition and after all, he reports to his advisors, the wicked have set their plans in place and are ready for just such an event of an honorable retreat: “Behold, the wicked brace their bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.”
General George Washington reported at the end of his career that he and the Continental Army were clearly defeated and in danger of being wiped out, seven times over. But in each case, he noted that the Lord God had opened a way of escape for himself and his brave but defeated soldiers. His soldiers were made of stern stuff as well. Well over half of the continental line were Presbyterians and all but one of the regimental commanders: elders of the same kind! But also, like David, Washington knew not only when it was important to retreat for another day’s battle, but he also knew when it was important to stand too and seek the decisive battle that could win the war.
Alas, it is not for us to know the events that brought about this brave and feisty Psalm on the part of David the king! None of the circumstances suggested by our commentators fits the recorded history exactly. But never mind the ignorance which we are left in this regard! On one occasion at least, David the once and future king in Israel and Judah did stand his ground and thereby not only won regard and renown, but thereby showed his complete confidence in the Lord God of heaven and earth.
We do not know where the showdown in Alabama between Judge Moore will lead us in our day and time. David Limbaugh writes this week that this could lead to secular turbulence within our country and he wonders if we are ready for an all out campaign of words and law suits between the secular and the sacred in our day. We will have to let the people there on the scene decide how they shall play the battle out and at the very least the cause of Christ may have a political martyr to raise the consciousness level of his people in our day and time. “Here I stand, I can do no other,” Brother Martin proclaimed and through the providence of the Lord, the whole of the Papal kingdom was overturned. May Satan’s minions begin shaking in the boots today and may the necessary events unfold as our Lord, God and King decides. Amen.
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PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
The Westminster Confession & Catechisms.
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Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel011a.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go to: http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
The Westminster Confession & Catechisms.
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Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel011a.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go to: http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/