Do you feel like the entire world is going through a shaking? How about your personal life? If things seem a bit wobbly to you, this psalm is precisely what you need. Psalm 15 provides a checklist of eleven items that ensure an unshakeable life.
A Psalm of David.
1 The QUESTIONS:
Adonai, who may sojourn in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy mountain?
2-5 The ANSWER:
[a] He who walks blamelessly
[b] and does righteousness
[c] and speaks truth in his heart;
[d] who does not slander with his tongue
[e] and does no evil to his neighbor,
[f] nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
[g] in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
[h] but who honors those who fear Adonai;
[i] who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
[j] who does not put out his money at interest and
[k] does not take a bribe against the innocent.
The PROMISE:
He who does these things shall not be shaken forever.
[d] who does not slander with his tongue = רגל (ragal) = “gossip” / “foot”
[f] nor takes up a reproach against his friend; = חרפה (cherphah)from חרף (charaph) = “to gather fruit” / “harvest”
[g] in whose eyes a vile person [נבזה, niv’zeh] is despised [נמאס, nimas].
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised [נבזה, nivzeh] and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised [נבזה, nivzeh], and we esteemed Him not.
Numbers 15:30-31 But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles Adonai, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised [נבזה, niv’zeh] the word of Adonai and has broken His commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.
2John 1:10-11
[i] who swears to his own hurt and does not change. = ימר (yamar) = “to change / substitute”
[j] who does not put out his money at interest and… נשך (neshech) = “to bite”
1st app – Genesis 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites [נשך, neshech] the horse’s heels so that his rider falls backward.
REFERENCES:
Verse 1
Psalm 16:8 I have set Adonai always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Verse 3
Joshua 7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out [רגל, ragal] the land.” And the men went up and spied out [רגל, ragal] Ai.
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and autumn [חרפה, cherphah, ie. harvest time], day and night, shall not cease.
Verse 4
1st app – Genesis 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised [נבזה, niv’zeh] his birthright.
1st app – Leviticus 26:15 If instead you spurn [מאס, ma-as], My statutes, and if your soul abhors My rules, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant …
1st three apps – Leviticus 27:10 He shall not exchange it or make a substitute [ימר, yamir] for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute [ימר, yamir] one animal for another, then both it and the substitute [ימר, yamir] shall be holy.
2 John 1:10-11 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.