seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 91 1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
a. Psalm 91:1 Hebrew Shaddai
b. Psalm 91:14 That is, probably the king
This is the commentary from the easy English site.
There is nothing in Psalm 91 that tells us who wrote it or when. It may be "words that Moses prayed", as Psalm 90. The two psalms do have the same feeling.
Jesus knew this psalm. He repeated words from it when his enemy (Satan) tried to tempt him. "Tempt" means "try to make someone do what they should not do". The story is in Matthew 4:11.
Bible students study this psalm as if three people are speaking.
· a priest (one of God’s servants in his house) speaks in verses 1, 3 - 8 and 9b - 13.
· someone praying to God speaks in verses 2 and 9a.
· God speaks in verses 14 - 16.
There are 4 names for God in the first 2 verses of this psalm: Most High, Almighty, LORD and God. Some of them come again later. They are 4 different words in the Hebrew Bible. Hebrew is the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the psalms. Jews are people that were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. This is what the words mean:
· Most High means that God is more important than anyone else.
· Almighty means that God is more powerful than anyone else.
· LORD means that he will never die.
· God means that he decides what will happen.
The priest says that everyone will be safe with the Most High, who is the Almighty. The person that he says it to replies. He replies that the LORD is his castle. He trusts in God. A castle is a strong building where you are safe from your enemies. He does not mean that God is a castle. He means that God is as a castle. So, he trusts (or believes that he will be safe) in God.
The priest answers that God will make him safe. He puts this into picture language:
· a trap is what people catch birds in. The bird cannot see it. But God will not let anything catch his servant (verse 3a).
· God will not let illness destroy his servant (verse 3b).
· Verse 4 gives us a picture ... of God as a bird! A bird has wings (that it flies with) and feathers (on its wings). It makes young birds safe under these feathers and wings. God does the same for his servants. He makes them safe. Another word for "make safe" is "protect".
· there are two shields in verse 4 also, big and small. Shields are what soldiers protect themselves with. God protects ... or makes safe ... his people. But the shield is only a picture. It is a picture of God’s loyalty. Loyalty means that you do not stop being a friend to someone. You do not stop giving them help whatever happens. Wings and feathers are pictures of big and small shields. Here is an example of Hebrew poetry. The Jews wrote the psalms in Hebrew. Poetry is a special and beautiful way to use words. The Jews said the same thing with two different sets of words!
In verses 5 - 10, we read about dangers, arrows, illnesses, bad things and fighting. Arrows are sharp sticks that bows shoot. Today we have guns! Bible students have two ideas about all these things:
· they are a plague. A plague is an illness that people catch from each other. If one person becomes ill, many other people that live near become ill also.
· they are bad (or evil) spirits. An evil spirit is a servant of God’s enemy Satan. We cannot see them, but we can see what they do. They make people ill in their minds and their bodies.
These verses tell us not to be afraid! If we trust in God (ask God for help and believe that he will give it) then he will protect us from illness and evil spirits. It is important to know that the psalm does not mean the illnesses that we often get, like colds. It means plagues. Even if we become ill through a plague, God will protect us after we die. We will live with him in heaven, his home. And God will always protect us from evil spirits. In verse 7, "by your side" may mean "by your left side". In verse 9, it says "the Most High is your home". This is picture language while we live on earth. It means we can go to God any time and anywhere. We can pray to him and he will hear and answer us. As it says in verse 15. When we die and get to heaven then God’s home will be our home. But we must love and obey God for this to happen.
In verse 11, the angels are God’s servants. We cannot always see them, but they are always there to give us help. In verse 13, lions are animals that eat other animals. They even eat people! Cobras and serpents are snakes. When they bite you, they put poison into you. But "walk on" and "under your feet" mean that lions and snakes will not hurt us if we love and obey God. But this does not mean that we have to walk on snakes to see if the psalm is true. It means that if we walk on it without knowing that it is there, we will be safe.
The last three verses are words of God. "What I will do for him" in verse 16 means "the things I do to save him". We call this "his salvation". Salvation means "saving" or "making safe". In the psalm, it means while we are alive on earth. Christians believe it means after we die also.
Let me make this perfectly clear..... I have.... am dealing with daily..... have made my peace with the fact..... I have.... Stage 4 Metastatic Colon Cancer. I am terminal..... or so they said.... I opted for robotic surgery to get the bad section of gut removed.... after the surgery... the oncologist at GWU said I didn't even need chemo..... Then a lump developed at the spot of the incision..... and the cancer has moved to other places..... So let me make this perfectly clear.... Christians do get ill. We get horribly ill..... But it's different with us..... We won't die..... sure our body will die.... but we will go onWhen it was confirmed that the cancer had been spread..... I had to plan my own funeral..... People kept telling me they were "so sorry". I kept telling them.... "it's ok.... what's the worst thing that can happen.... I die.... and when I die.... I go to Heaven.... so how bad can dying be????? "
I'm reading Job in the other posting..... and it amazes me how these poems seem to be explaining Job as well. It's that feeling of "I got God so I'm safe" that Job was missing..... that's what satan took from Job.... Job thought God was mad at him..... and without God.... we're not safe.....
