05/22/2025 – Day 326 – Psalms 134 – 136/ Chapter Titles: “Call to Evening Worship” / “The LORD is Great” / ” God’s Love is Eternal”, respectively.
I’m going to get right to it by sharing with you each chapter’s summaries , by way of the footnotes in “The Apologetics Study Bible”:
” 134: 1-2. The Psalmist invited worshipers to praise the Lord, using the word barak, which means “bless” or “enrich”. If God is in possession of all, how can a worshiper further enrich Him? Yet the psalms are full of such expressions (e.g., 34:1; 63:4; 68:26; 96:2; 103: 1-2, 20-22; 104:1,35; 135: 19-20). Praise is the worshiper’s obligation under the covenant, his expression of homage to the great King. By praising Him, people extend His reputation in the world and open themselves to receiving His blessing in return. The worshippers in this psalm were priests, offering their praise in the sanctuary continuously (“at night”), as David instructed Asaph and his musicians to do (1 Chronicle 16: 5-7).”
“Ps 135. This psalm has been called ‘an anthology of praise’ because it is based entirely on material rearranged from other psalms or Scripture passages. Among the most obvious: verses 1-2=-1 Ps 134: 1-2; verse 4 = Deuteronomy 7:6; verse 5 = Exodus 18:11; verse 6 = Psalm 115:3; verse 7 = Jeremiah 10:13; verses 8-12 = Psalm Psalm 136:10, 18-22; verse 13 = Exodus 3:15; verse 14 = Deuteronomy 32:36; verses 15-21 = Psalm 115:4 – 6,, 8-11.”
“Ps 136. This psalm develops as a recitation of Israel’s history of deliverance, with each statement answered by the refrain ‘His love is eternal.’ The Hebrew word is hesed, which refers to God’s faithfulness to His covenant. His loyalty to His people is seen in what He has done for them in delivering them from their oppressors and sustaining His creation (v. 25). The response of the worshiping community is to pledge its faithfulness to the Lord in return, as seen in verses 1 and 26 (on the meaning of ‘giving thanks’ in the OT, see note on 118:19).”
Soli Deo Gloria!
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Thoughts? Reflections? Questions? Prayer.
Questions for fellowship generation, the lifelong sanctification process:
- What does the text reveal about God’s character?
- How has this reading generated prayer for you and/or us?
- What themes stand out to you in this bible study?
- How does our reading fit into the bigger picture (creation, the fall, restoration, etc.)?
- What verse(s) jumped out at you like never before? Is it explainable at this point?
- Do you have any questions you would like to put before the group as to how to interpret any particular verse(s) in our reading. Let scripture testify to scripture: Share with us where you sense contradiction between passages elsewhere.
- What did you find convicting and inspiring at the same time? Share with us how the Spirit of God is working within you as a messenger, both within and outside of our fellowship group.
- Share with the group how our study is calling or confirming to you a new mission to glorify God in our times.