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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
03TEXTUAL
RESOURCES
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Foundations?
For the Lord’s Day: the 7th of September 2003
Introduction: More than once over the years, this grand theme
of personal, national and moral disintegration was the topic of spirited
discussion in the public sector where I labored uselessly for twenty-five long
and sorry years. This particular scripture passage was almost always in
the back of my mind, but the working translation of it was slightly different
from that which I have just translated from the Hebrew with the help of several
commentators. Almost all translations read the words in this sense:
“If the
foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”Foundations?
For the Lord’s Day: the 7th of September 2003
My evangelical friends and I resisted every effort of the contemporary “world spirit” to denigrate and downgrade the once proud, if abused morality of the Western Civilization, which was civilized because it was thoroughly biblically based. But Satan’s minions, willing as well as ignorant would not allow godly principles to get in the way of their reinvention of the public educational system in our time.
Progressive thinkers over the last fifty years were identified locally and encouraged by professional disruptors to overthrow the public system which was once upon a time founded on the biblical principles inherent in that body of knowledge and world view once gloried in: as Western Civilization. The ignorant savages, who have evolved from the neo-pagan way thinking in the midst of chaos created on purpose, are wonderfully self-satisfied with the changes they have thereby wrought.
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Believe me, the handful of evangelicals at school, who readily understood the basic threat did everything humanly possible to hold back the advancing paganism of the triumphant educrats. But, we were defeated and as a result we have only to consider the impact of every progressive educator these last few generations. The theory of evolution has by now become the world view known, approved and enjoyed by far too many in the younger generation. They have been taught for so long that they are descended from animals that we should not be surprised when they act like one!
The German evangelical Delitzsch, who presumably knew of the German philosopher’s Oswald Spengler’s spirited impressive volumes: The Decline of the West has this to say on the content of the verse before us: “When the bases of the state are shattered, what can the righteous do? He can do nothing. And all counter-effort is so useless that it is well to be as far from danger as possible.”
Of course, in that last analysis he is referring back to the verses just prior to this telling commentary on not only our own day, but also on the life situation in which David found himself. “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” we are discouraged to read in the vast majority of the translations. And yet, in three places during my research I found an alternate wording which I have chosen to use for the text before us. “If the foundations are being destroyed, what is the Righteous One doing?”
The New International Bible provides this alternative sense as a footnote, so does the liberally oriented Anchor Bible commentary agree. And surprisingly this is the rendition encouraged by Calvin where his translator’s record this wording: “Truly, the foundations are destroyed; what hath the righteous One done?”
Development: Doesn’t this translational thought do a whole lot more than simply put a Calvinist spin on things? “If the foundations are being destroyed, what is the Righteous One doing?” After all, in Calvin’s commentary: “If we admit this interpretation, the meaning of what he adds immediately after will be, that his escape in safety was owing neither to his own exertion, nor to his own skill, but that, without putting forth any effort, and when, as it were, he was asleep, he had been delivered from the nets and snares of his enemies by the power of God.”
As always in circumstances like these there is room for discussion about our willingness to stand for the Lord God Creator of the universe and the worldly opposition being apparently contained thereby! But, the translation here advocated is more likely to give all the glory to God in heaven. The German’s before they became less civilized in the twentieth century once supposed proverbially that “Gott is im himmel and alle is richtig in den welt!” But this thought comes afterwards in the ordering of our Psalm.
It is the crumbling foundations of the social, theological or political order that concerns David in his day as well as the ongoing deterioration in our own time. Do you catch the hint in the first phrase: “If the foundations are being destroyed?” This is an ongoing problem throughout history and the Lord is certainly able to not only arrange but also providentially his people may profit from this work assigned to Him in the second line: “What is the Righteous One doing?”
We have only to remember Joseph’s work in ancient Egypt. There as the Prime Minister of Egypt he faithfully served his worldly master by transferring the greater wealth of Egypt to his Pharaoh. Even the ancient Egyptian records know of the time when the feudal landowners turned over to the “living god” in Egypt, all their property and possessions. And thereby the government and nation were socialized and corrupted. Centuries later, when the Israelite nation slowly rose to power and grandeur in Palestine the Egyptian princes were too impoverished to prevent the reign of David and Solomon.
More than once the prophecy of Ezekiel 30: 4 was demonstrated in the history of Egypt: “A sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Cush, when the slain fall in Egypt, and her wealth is carried away, and her foundations are torn down.”
I recently read that some Arabic organization intends to sue the worlds Jews in an international court for the countless amounts of gold, jewelry and treasures given to them during the Exodus some three millennia ago! They have even estimated the amount and charged interest over the whole time frame of recorded history!
In a similar suit a handful of former slaves is suing for compensation because of how their ancestors were treated in this country. If there is any merit in the case, I would think the descendents of the Union soldiers could demand not only the whole amount, but also a lot extra for the extraordinary efforts taken to liberate the slaves. But then, the descendents of the Confederate soldiers would have a claim on the Union for damages in the south; especially for the almost total extinction of ante-bellum “Georgia barnwood” during Sherman’s march to the sea. Then there is the pain and suffering of all concerned in all theaters of the Civil War. And just perhaps maybe I can sue to have an ancestor’s tombstone repaired because of the bullet holes brought there by the small battle in Guernsey County.
But, I digress. Abraham Lincoln was “prophetic” enough to realize that the war would not end, until the last amount of retribution was obtained for the wickedness of slavery that we had allowed to take place in this country! “If the foundations are being destroyed, what is the Righteous One doing?” Lincoln knew well and for all concerned every cycle of law-suits in this regard should so cancel each other out that the whole enterprise is subject to parody and down right stupidity!
And yet, our society continues to seek damages for every person born short of a full-deck and/or handicapped beyond the common allowance. Thankfully, a judge recently ruled that McDonald’s could not be sued because their food made overeaters obese. Hopefully common sense will prevail and even the proposed “Oreo-taxes” will be forgotten about as our own society sues itself into destruction! Well did the psalmist observe on our current condition: “They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.” (Psalm 82: 5)
We have only to look to the sad decline of the Western European nations to realize that their churches are empty to no good purpose. During the liberation from Soviet tyranny just briefly did the German people meet in the churches before marching and protesting. Only tentatively did they sing: “Ein feste berg ist unser Gott.” With the crumbling of the communist foundations, no one thought to check the formula for the socialist foundations which are just as sadly flawed as any other.
Application: If we would read David the king aright we have to look beyond his own day to realize “what [exactly] is the Righteous One doing?” On the basis of the whole of scripture, the Lord is building up his peculiar people, the Church of the living God who are all called to worship the greater Son of David: even our own Lord Jesus Christ.
The prophet Isaiah (8: 16) looked forward to another day for the Lord’s work in this regard: “Therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation; whoever believes will not be in haste.’”
And in the providence of the Lord’s timing Paul identifies the foundation which is replacing the Old Covenant one with a new: which is given in the very blood of the righteous One Himself. In Ephesians 2: 19-22, we read: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
And then in 1 Corinthians 3: 10-11 we have this promise: “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Of course, we are talking here of spiritual things. Things which have come to pass in and through the appearance and ministry of our Great High Priest: Jesus Christ. We finish even as we begun, with this greatest question of the ages: “If the foundations are being destroyed, what is the Righteous One doing?”
Simply this, He is collecting a people for Himself, a people whose hope is in Christ, the Lord of Life and whose eternal kingdom shall never end. “Come quickly Lord Jesus, come quickly. 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/sel011b.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/sel011b.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go to: http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/