seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 39[a]For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
a. Psalm 39:1 In Hebrew texts 39:1-13 is numbered 39:2-14.
b. Psalm 39:5 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 11.
The commentaries are always saying David is sick... or sad.... If you ask me.... maybe David was just good at singing the blues! Come on.... was the guy who wrote "grandma got run over by a reindeer" really sobbing over his grandma.... or was he writing a clever lyric?
This is from the easy English site.
I wonder how many preachers have used this Psalm to illustrate the destructive powers of guilt. The only glaring sins David seems to have committed still go back to Bathsheba, Uriah and the baby. He had an affair [probably raped her] with Bathsheba. When he found out she was pregnant.... he had her husband murdered on the battlefield to cover it up.... then the baby died. I think he made Bathsheba drink something to kill the baby. That kind of past can be like acid eating at the gut.
Then again... David says "look away from me that I might enjoy life again"..... If God wasn't so good.... I wouldn't know I am so bad.
I think David would have been truly devastated if God really did look away from him.... and I think he knew it. Like I said.... the guy who wrote "grandma got run over by a reindeer" wasn't really writing about how sad he was about loosing grandma. It's a song.
1 I said, “I will watch my ways
and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
while in the presence of the wicked.”
2 So I remained utterly silent,
not even saying anything good.
But my anguish increased;
3 my heart grew hot within me.
While I meditated, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
even those who seem secure.(b)
6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;
in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth
without knowing whose it will finally be.
7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.
8 Save me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the scorn of fools.
9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth,
for you are the one who has done this.
10 Remove your scourge from me;
I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
11 When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin,
you consume their wealth like a moth—
surely everyone is but a breath.
12 “Hear my prayer, Lord,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping.
I dwell with you as a foreigner,
a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
13 Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again
before I depart and am no more.”
a. Psalm 39:1 In Hebrew texts 39:1-13 is numbered 39:2-14.
b. Psalm 39:5 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 11.
The commentaries are always saying David is sick... or sad.... If you ask me.... maybe David was just good at singing the blues! Come on.... was the guy who wrote "grandma got run over by a reindeer" really sobbing over his grandma.... or was he writing a clever lyric?
This is from the easy English site.
In Psalm 38 David was ill. We think that Psalm 39 is about the same time in David’s life. He thought that he would soon die. So he thinks about death in this psalm. He says that life is short. People soon go from the earth. They are like shadows, or the wind. One minute they are there, the next they are gone! So David finishes by with a prayer: let me live a little longer.
Verses 1 – 3: David says that he is not going to say anything. Even though godless people make him want to speak, he will not. But this makes him feel worse. So David decides that he will say something.
Verses 4 – 6: David asks God how long he will stay alive. He says that his life is "as wide as my hand". A hand is not very wide so this means that his life is not very long. Our lives are so short they seem like the wind blowing for a short time, or a shadow that goes when the sun goes down.
Verses 7 – 9: Now David says what he really wants. He wants God to make him safe from the results of the bad things that he did. David thought that one of the results was his illness.
Verses 10 – 13: Here David says that God is hitting him, hurting him and destroying him. He means that God is punishing him for his sin. David believes that God is doing this by making him ill. "fly away like a moth" means that for a while you can see it, then it flies away and you cannot see it. "do not be dumb" means "speak to me". Until God speaks, David will feel that he and God are in different places! "my fathers" means father, grand-father and so on.
According to "got questions" this song was written for his choir director, Jeduthun. It's lyrics.I wonder how many preachers have used this Psalm to illustrate the destructive powers of guilt. The only glaring sins David seems to have committed still go back to Bathsheba, Uriah and the baby. He had an affair [probably raped her] with Bathsheba. When he found out she was pregnant.... he had her husband murdered on the battlefield to cover it up.... then the baby died. I think he made Bathsheba drink something to kill the baby. That kind of past can be like acid eating at the gut.
Then again... David says "look away from me that I might enjoy life again"..... If God wasn't so good.... I wouldn't know I am so bad.
I think David would have been truly devastated if God really did look away from him.... and I think he knew it. Like I said.... the guy who wrote "grandma got run over by a reindeer" wasn't really writing about how sad he was about loosing grandma. It's a song.