Yahweh’s People
TRANSLATION
(9) I will sing a new song to you, O God. Upon a ten-stringed harp I will play for you. (10) (You are the one) who gives deliverance to kings, who rescues your servant, David, from the deadly sword. (11) Free me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. (12) May our sons in their youth be like well nurtured plants, our daughters like corner pillars carved for the adornment of a palace. (13) May our barns (be) full, providing all kinds of produce. May our flocks (bring forth) thousands and ten thousands in our field. (14) May our cattle be heavy (with young), suffering no miscarriages and no loss in bearing. (May there be) no cry of distress in our streets. (15) Blessed (are) the people on whom such blessings (fall)! Blessed (are) the people whose God (is) Yahweh!
OBSERVATIONS
In this second half of the psalm, David initially reviewed and then repeated a portion of what he had written in the first half. He praised God for protecting him personally in danger (cf. vss. 9 & 10 with vss. 1 & 2) and then repeated almost word for word the prayer in which he had asked God to deliver him from those who sought to destroy him (cf. vs. 11 with vss. 7b & 8). With a series of seven participles, David interceded with God for abundant crops, healthy flocks, and general prosperity for all over whom he reigned (vss. 12-14). He closed the psalm with an affirmation that those who belong to Yahweh will be blessed above all others (vs. 15).
OUTLINE
I. David reejoiced in God’s personal deliverance. (9 & 10)
II. David renewed his prayer for protection from foreign enemies. (11)
III. David requested God to bless the nation with abundance. (12-15)
IDEA STATEMENT
Because Yahweh has powerfully delivered us from our enemies, we will trust him to prosper us with his abundant blessings.
APPLICATION
Consider David’s final declaration in Psalm 144, “Blessed (are) the people whose God (is) Yahweh!” To help us understand the significance of this benediction, we should recall how Moses challenged the Israelites just before they were about to enter the Promised Land. He asked: “Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes” (Deut. 4:33 & 34)? Three chapters later, Moses answered these questions: “For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deut. 7:6-8).
God’s motive for setting his love on the offspring of Abraham has long been debated. We who have been redeemed in Christ likewise wonder why we were chosen among all the peoples of the earth to be the recipients of his love. While we may never fully understand why, Paul in Ephesians 1 mentioned two good reasons, one focused on us, to be the objects of his love, and the other focused on him, to be to the praise of his glory. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (Eph. 1:4-6).