Spurgeon writes...
"David's heart was more often out of tune
than his harp, He begins many of his psalms sighing, and ends them singing; and
others he begins in joy and ends in sorrow; "so that one would think," says
Peter Moulin, "that those Psalms had been COMPOSED BY TWO MEN OF CONTRARY
HUMOUR." (from Treasury of David, Psalm 13).
Spurgeon and Moulin were
right. The Psalms are filled with TWO DIFFERENT types of experience. You
have...
1) The Psalms where the Psalmist is under God's wrath and
says he has "iniquity all about him", which he "could not number". In these
Psalms, God hides his face, forsakes and has wrath and fury upon the Psalmist
(e.g Psa 89 and 102).
2) On the other hand, often the Psalmist asks
God to "reward him according to his righteousness", and says he is "perfect". He
also adds that God "heard his pray" and will not give his "Holy One to see
corruption." (Psa 16:10)
This raises an interesting question. How can
the Psalmist pray ...
"And Jehovah has returned to me according to MY
righteousness, according to the CLEANNESS OF MY HANDS before His eyes." (Psa
18:24)
but also say,
"... INIQUITIES HAVE PASSED OVER MY
HEAD; as a HEAVY BURDEN too heavy for me." (Psalm 38:4) "For EVILS HAVE
SURROUNDED ME until there is no number" (Psalm 40:12) "...sin is ever BEFORE
ME." (Psalm 51:5).
The Psalmist is perfectly righteous Himself but
he has a "burden" of sin. Perhaps the sin was transferred to him? Could it be
that the Psalmist's own hands were clean, but he offered to take someone else's
sins away (and thus he has sins "surrounding" him that are not his
own)?
This would explain the two different types of Psalms. Some of
the Psalms describe Christ with the sin imputed to him. These are the Psalms
where Christ is forsaken and God has wrath and anger upon him (e.g. Psalm 69 -
which is applied 6 times to Christ in the New Testament.)
In the
rest of the Psalms, however, Christ pleads his personal holiness as the grounds
for his fellowship with the Father. He says, "Preserve my soul for I am holy"
(Psa 86:2). And in these Psalms, Christ is full of joy because He is in
fellowship with the Father, and not under his wrath.
In summary:
"Weeping may endure in the evening, but joy comes in the morning." (Psa
30:5)
There was weeping and misery while Christ was under the
Father's wrath (Psalms 33, 69, 88, etc). But joy came when he was raised from
the dead in the morning. He did not give his "Holy One to see corruption." (Psa
16:10)
Some objections...
Jamin Hubner (Dordt) disagrees
and says -- "Prophets do write about their own experiences. Read the Old
Testament, particularly David's writings, sometime Andrew."
Jamin -
Was Asaph writing his own experiences when he said...
"I will take no
bull out of your house, nor he-goats out of your folds, for EVERY BEAST OF THE
FOREST IS MINE; the cattle on a thousand hills; I know all the birds of the
mountains; and ALL MOVING IN MY FIELDS ARE MINE; if I were hungry, I would not
tell you, for the WORLD IS MINE, and the fullness of it." (Psa
50:9-12)
Of course not. Asaph was merely a secretary through whom Christ
spoke.
By the way -- on a side note. Is it just a coincidence that the
Psalms Asaph wrote are almost identical to the ones David's wrote? Did two very
people -- David and Asaph -- both have almost identical experiences?
Asaph: "My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud" (Psa
77:1)
David: "I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD" (Psa
142:1)
Asaph: "I will meditate on all Your work" (Psa 77:12)
David: "I
meditate on all Your doings" (Psa 143:5)
Asaph: "..cause Your face to
shine upon us" (Psalm 80:3)
David: "Make Your face to shine upon Your
servant" (Psa 31:16)
I will spare you 50 other examples I could give of
David and Asaph saying exactly the same phrases.
Are you people
blind? Can't you see it is CHRIST speaking through the mouths of Asaph and
David? That's why they are using exactly the same expressions! Because it's the
same person in all those Psalms -- 77, 143, 80 etc -- IT'S CHRIST.
Christ says, "all the things must be fulfilled having been written
in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, CONCERNING ME." (Lk
24:44). "You search the Scriptures ... And they are the ones witnessing
concerning Me." (Jn 5:39). "About which salvation the prophets sought out and
searched out, prophesying concerning the grace for you, searching for what, or
what sort of time the SPIRIT OF CHRIST MADE CLEAR WITHIN THEM; testifying
beforehand of the SUFFERINGS BELONGING TO CHRIST, and the glories after these.
To whom it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they ministered the
same things" (1 Pet 1:10-12)
It's not a coincidence that David and
Asaph used exactly the same expressions of speech. They were both merely
mouthpieces that Christ was speaking through to describe his own
experiences.
"And these are the last words of David ... The Spirit of
Jehovah has spoken by me, and His Word is ON MY TONGUE". (2 Sam 23:2-3).
Next up. Ken disagrees and wrote me, "The apostles describe how
Christ's experience is seen in the psalms, but those experiences are also true
of David. David was writing of his own experiences in a poetic manner, an
example of pouring his heart out to God." (Ken Hurne, Grace IN)
Ken -
Take a look at Psalm 75....
"The earth and all its inhabitants are
dissolved; I set up its pillars firmly."
In what sense is this verse
"also true of David"? How could the words "I set up [the earth's] pillars
firmly", be the "pouring" of David's heart to God?
Clearly, these words
refer SOLELY to Christ and have NO application to David. Just like when Daniel
prophesied, David was merely a mouthpiece of God.
That's what the Apostle
Peter says in Acts 1:15. "the Holy Spirit spoke before THROUGH DAVID'S MOUTH".
Also, God spoke "THROUGH THE MOUTH of Your servant David" (Acts 4:25), God was
"saying in David" (Heb 4:7), "David IN SPIRIT [calls]" (Mt 22:43), "David
himself said BY THE HOLY SPIRIT" (Mk 13:36).
Next objection
(Chad Chauvin from Baton Rouge wrote me): "The Apostles ... applied a dual
hermeneutic, or a sensus plenior, to some of David's writings. This means that
while David was specifically writing about his own experiences, the Apostles
also applied them as Scriptural prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their
apostolic authority allowed them to apply this dual hermeneutic. We have no
right to apply it where they do not because we would not be doing justice to the
original author's (in this case David's) willed meaning."
Chad -
Seriously, what's this talk about David's "willed meaning" when writing the
Psalms? How could David possibly be speaking of himself in Psalm 17, for
example? Look. If YOU want to do justice to the Psalms, you must admit that the
person in these verses is ONLY Jesus Christ...
"You will test my heart;
You will visit in the night; You will refine me; YOU WILL FIND NOTHING; my
thoughts do not pass beyond my mouth. My steps have kept in Your tracks so that
my STRIDES HAVE NOT SLIPPED." (Psa 17:3.5)
"And Jehovah has returned to
me according to MY righteousness, according to the CLEANNESS OF MY HANDS before
His eyes." (Psa 18:24)
How about we reject Chad's idea that David
willed the meaning of the Psalms and say that CHRIST WILLED THE MEANING OF THE
PSALMS. Only HE was rewarded according to His righteousness and the cleanness of
His hands. There is NO dual hermeneutic here.
The Apostle Peter rejects
the idea of original author intent. The prophecies had NOTHING to do with the
private experiences of the prophets.
"knowing this first, that every
prophecy of Scripture did not come into being of its own interpretation; for
prophecy was not at any time borne by the will of man, but being borne along by
the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke." (2 Pet 1:20-21)
Peter is not
merely saying the prophets were infallible. He is saying that there was NO
involvement of their wills.
Now, Tracy also objects to this view
and wrote me, "Of COURSE there is prophecy in the Psalms – and some so much so
that they are called “Messianic” Psalms. You have also overlooked the
possibility that even the verses that are mentioned in the NT – could be talking
about BOTH Christ and David." (Tracy Figard, Northwestern)
Are you sure
about that, Tracy?
For example, is Psalm 63 about "both Christ and
David"? The final verse of the Psalm says...
"But the king shall rejoice
in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory" (Psa 63:11)
Now, which
"king" is this Psalm about? The King over all Jesus Christ! And this Psalm has
absolutely NO application to David, because men were only to swear by God's
name.
"You shall fear the Lord your GOD, and serve Him, and shall SWEAR
BY HIS NAME". (Deut 6:13)
So here we see that David merely a mouthpiece
of the Holy Spirit prophesying about Christ.
OK. Another question.
This time from Ken, who asks, "Are you trying to say that the whole of psalms
has only to do with Jesus? If so that is ridiculous. There are many prophetic
psalms, many of which are about the Messiah and in a broader sense I guess you
can say that whole of the bible is about Jesus. But to say that the psalms which
David himself wrote in no way have anything to do with David is absurd."
(Kenneth Fleming, GA Southern)
Absurd, did you say?
Well, I
encourage you to read Psalm 86. Here, the Holy Spirit made David write down,
"Preserve my soul for I am holy" (Psa 86:2)
Is it absurd to say that this
Psalm "in no way has anything to do with David" ?
Not at all. In fact, it
is *your* view that is absurd. You say that when David wrote down, "preserve my
soul for I am holy", he was actually writing about himself. That's absurd. David
was a sinner (and he knew it) so he would have never pleaded his own holiness as
the grounds for his salvation. Clearly, David must be merely a prophet through
whom God wrote these Psalms.
Look to the New Testament! This Psalm
contains the same phrases as Psalm 35 (which is applied to Christ in John 15:25)
and Psalm 40 (see Heb 10:6 for the application).
Next.... Sean
asks, "You're sure that the Psalms don't describe David's experiences? In all
honesty I'm curious. Feel free to hit me up on my wall." (Sean Dupont, Texas
A&M)
Sean - surely you must agree it was Christ speaking through
David when it says...
"O Jehovah, judge me according to my righteousness,
and according to my integrity on me." Psa 7:8.
And Psalm 7 contains the
same words as Psalm 35, which is applied in John 15:25 to
Christ.
Moreover, David was a sinner, so it must be Christ speaking when
it ways...
"I will behave myself in a perfect way ... I will not know
evil" Psa 101:4
OK. Last objection ... Allison also has a
question/objection, and wrote me, "What is a prophet? The prophets in the Bible?
They were and are more than merely "saying the future".Prophecy is also defined
as speaking truth. That is what David did. The Psalms are about his experiences,
BUT they are applicable to ourselves. They resonate in our soul." (Allison Mann,
NSUOK)
Allison, ask yourself. Should we have David or Christ
"resonating" in our souls? Because if you say the Psalms are about David's
experiences, you soul will be "resonating" with the experiences of David, and
NOT full of the Glory of Jesus Christ.
Now, maybe you could be the first
person to explain to me how the following Psalm is about David's
experiences...
"You have made ME HEAD OF THE NATIONS; a people I have not
known shall serve me. At the hearing of the ear they LISTEN TO ME; the sons of
foreigners shall BOW DOWN TO ME. The sons of foreigners shall faint and come
trembling out of their strongholds." (Psa 18:43-45)
Since when did
foreigners worship David? And was he the "head of the nations"?
No, it's
Christ! So it's clear that when the Psalms use personal pronouns -- "I have not
known", "You have made me" -- it is the Spirit of Jehovah speaking through
David, and NOT David speaking of Himself.
"And these are the last words
of David ... The Spirit of Jehovah has spoken by me, and His Word is ON MY
TONGUE". (2 Sam 23:2-3).
I ask you again...
Is it just a
coincidence that the Psalms Asaph wrote are almost identical to the ones David's
wrote? Did two very people -- David and Asaph -- both have almost identical
experiences?
Asaph: "My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud" (Psa
77:1)
David: "I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD" (Psa
142:1)
Asaph: "I will meditate on all Your work" (Psa 77:12)
David: "I
meditate on all Your doings" (Psa 143:5)
Asaph: "..cause Your face to
shine upon us" (Psalm 80:3)
David: "Make Your face to shine upon Your
servant" (Psa 31:16)
I will spare you 50 other examples I could give of
David and Asaph saying exactly the same phrases.
Are you people blind?
Can't you see it is CHRIST speaking through the mouths of Asaph and David?
That's why they are using exactly the same expressions! Because it's the same
person in all those Psalms -- 77, 143, 80 etc -- IT'S CHRIST.
Christ
says, "all the things must be fulfilled having been written in the Law of Moses,
and the Prophets, and the Psalms, CONCERNING ME." (Lk 24:44). "You search the
Scriptures ... And they are the ones witnessing concerning Me." (Jn 5:39).
"About which salvation the prophets sought out and searched out, prophesying
concerning the grace for you, searching for what, or what sort of time the
SPIRIT OF CHRIST MADE CLEAR WITHIN THEM; testifying beforehand of the SUFFERINGS
BELONGING TO CHRIST, and the glories after these. To whom it was revealed that
not to themselves, but to us they ministered the same things" (1 Pet
1:10-12)
It's not a coincidence that David and Asaph used exactly the
same expressions of speech. They were both merely mouthpieces that Christ was
speaking through to describe His own experiences.
"And these are the
last words of David ... The Spirit of Jehovah has spoken by me, and His Word is
ON MY TONGUE". (2 Sam 23:2-3).