Psalm 33

Introduction 

“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries, our continuing series Tehillim Talks. And in this episode, we find ourselves in Psalm 33. Now, if you’ve been following along, you know that we’ve—I keep repeating this—Psalms 22 to 31 make this beautiful series of 10 Psalms that I believe gives a picture into the very heart of Messiah as He was suffering for us on the cross.

But then Psalms 32 and now with 33, we bring this—we might call 12 Psalms—series to a close. And the reason I include these last two Psalms is because I think that they encapsulate our response to Messiah’s accomplishment on the cross. And here in Psalm 33, this is just one intense song of praise.

We don’t know the author, but I assume it’s David. And the 22 verses of the Psalm seem to be one continuous, solid hymn that is to be sung, to be played, to be accompanied by orchestra and drums, singing, choirs, just everything you can throw in there. In fact, we will find here in the opening verses a number of references to kinds of music and instruments that appear for the first time in the Book of Psalms, and for that matter, for the first time in the entire Bible.

So without further ado, let’s get right into our Psalm. This Psalm, this hymn of praise to God, contains His Name, Yud-He-Vav-He—we say Adonai—exactly 13 times. And many of you realize that 13 is the numerical value of the word ahavah אַהֲבָה (ahavah), which means love.

This hymn is an expression of love for God, and it also reflects His love for us. Now, one other thing, there’s a little bit more ado before we get started. Normally, I take all of the reference passages, the extra verses that I reference during a teaching, and put them at the end of the notes.

But I’m making an exception with this Psalm. I’m putting them right into the body of the notes that you’ll see on the screen. So we’ll go a verse or two, and then we’ll look at some passages from other parts of the Scriptures, and then we’ll continue with Psalm 33.

What you might want to do at this moment is pause the teaching and just read through Psalm 33, and make it your own hymn of praise. And after you’ve read through it, familiarized yourself with it, come back, and then we will analyze it and bring out some meanings I think will be a blessing to you. So if you’ve paused and you’re back, here we go.”

“Shout for Joy” — Ranan רָנַן (Psalm 33:1)

“With verse one:

Shout for joy in Adonai, O you righteous.
Praise befits the upright. 

And this word for “upright” is the word yashar יָשָׁר (yashar). We’re gonna see it another time in this Psalm a little later on and we’ll discuss that word then. But there are two words—we’re gonna camp out at these two words for a moment. And that is the word to shout. And I went ahead and put for joy in bold red as well.

But the word here shout means basically an emotional verbal expression. Whether it’s for joy or fear or grief or it’s unarticulated or articulated, it’s like a person is so full of emotion that the pressure builds up and it has to be expressed through the vocal cords. And that is the word ranan, ranan רָנַן (ranan). We’ll also look at the word praise. We’ve never really analyzed this word, although it’s occurred a number of times in the Psalms, but this is a good place where we can really analyze this word for praise.

So let’s begin with the word ranan. This word just means an outburst of verbal expression.

So let’s look for an example at Leviticus 9:24. The tabernacle has been completed. Moses and Aaron have dedicated the tabernacle. The priests have been inaugurated. And then it says:

And fire came out from before Adonai and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar.
And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. (Leviticus 9:24)

So here we could say this use of ranan is an expression of awe. I mean, can you imagine seeing fire come down and then out of the Holy of Holies and out the door of the tabernacle to consume the offerings on the altar? That would have been something to see. So the people shouted. Maybe it was just a loud gasp. It wasn’t words, just like, whoa—like the roar of the crowd—then they fall on their faces.

Lamentations 2:19 uses this word, however, in a very different way:

Arise, cry out (ranan) in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to Him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street. (Lamentations 2:19)

This is a ranan of grief, of distress, and of mourning.

But in Isaiah 24:14, the word ranan is usually translated this way—excuse me:

They lift up their voices, they sing for joy (ranan);
over the majesty of Adonai
they shout from the west. (Isaiah 24:14)

And this word for shout is a different word from ranan, but ranan is oftentimes translated sing, to shout for joy, to sing for joy.

And let’s look at one more—1 Kings 22:36. This is at a war where King Ahab is wounded. He’s dying, he’s bleeding out in his chariot. It says:

And about sunset a cry (ranan) went through the army,
“Every man to his city, and every man to his country!” (1 Kings 22:36)

So everybody is running away. They are retreating in this battle. So here ranan is actually articulated in particular words. That’s also an expression of ranan.

So when you see this word, shout for joy to the Lord or shout to the Lord or to make loud noises, we don’t really know exactly how that’s to be done. So I think it depends on what is in your heart and, depending on the company you’re with, what is permitted.”

The Meaning of Tehillah תְּהִלָּה — Praise as Reflection (Psalm 33:1)

“Now let’s look at that word praise. The word for praise is the word tehillah, tehillah תְּהִלָּה (tehillah). And the Book of Psalms is called Tehillim תְּהִלִּים (Tehillim). That’s why we call this series Tehillim Talks. And tehillim is the plural—praises.

But the word tehillah comes from a root which is halal הָלַל (halal). And you’ve all used the word hallelu-Yah, hallelu-Yah—praise Yah.

And this word halel, halal itself comes from a deeper source. It’s called ululating. And I think I have mentioned this before in a previous Psalms teaching—that in the Middle East and African nations, and I remember the first time I went to—not to Kenya, but to, oh, it’s the nation right next to it… anyway, it’s right next to Kenya. I’m having a senior moment.

But we drove up into the mountains where there are banana plantations, and my friend and I were going up there to speak. And as we arrived in the village, the ladies came out of the village. They were going, la-la-la-la-la… I can’t do it. But they do it up in the roof of their mouths as a real loud, ululating sound. And that is where we get the word halal. It’s used to sound alarm, but it’s also used to sound praise, and greeting, and excitement, and joy.

So the word halal comes from that. But here is what the word halal literally means: it means to reflect—to reflect. Like a mirror reflects light, or like the surface of water reflects light. Now think about this for a moment.

When we praise God, and we’re ordered, we’re instructed to praise Him, why does God tell us, praise Me? Because that sounds—and please hear what I’m saying—that sounds a little, a little grandiose. It sounds like a person is a bit of a megalomaniac: “I want you to praise me.” And when people demand praise, we don’t like that, because that’s wrong. So why does God ask us to praise Him?

What He’s asking us to do is this: everything we have emanates from God. Everything comes our way from God. And He’s saying, I want you to bear My image; reflect those things back to Me.

And when we sing His praises, what we’re doing, we’re taking the light He gives us and we’re shining light back to Him and to everything around us, but with a focus on Him. When He shines His grace upon us, we should reflect grace back and demonstrate grace to those around us. When He demonstrates joy towards us, we should reflect joy back to Him.

The root of praise, the root of tehillim, is to reflect.

Let’s look at some examples of how halal is used in the Scriptures. In Exodus 15:11—this is the Song of the Sea. After God had split the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptians and closed the sea back up, they sing this beautiful song in Exodus 15. In verse 11, it says:

Who is like You, Adonai, among the gods?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
awesome in praises (tehillim), doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

Maybe you sing this in your synagogue; I know we do—Mi chamocha ba’elim Adonai, מִי כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְהוָה.

This is the very first place the word tehillim, praise, is used in the Bible.

It’s interesting that we go all the way through the Book of Genesis. We go through the first 14 chapters of Exodus, but it’s only in Exodus 15 that the word praise appears for the first time. Why do you think that is?

Well, think for a moment what the people have experienced. They have been freed from Egypt. They have been traveling for some days, and they come up to the Red Sea, and now Pharaoh’s cavalry is bearing down on them. So it’s like they have a choice of being hacked to death by swords or drowning in the water, and they are panicking.

But Moses tells them, don’t be afraid, be still, behold the salvation of Adonai. He stretches out his staff, the sea splits, and the people go across. When they get to the other side, the Egyptian cavalry then follow them in. The waters come together, drown the enemy, and it says they saw the bodies of the Egyptians on the seashore. And then they sing this amazing song of praise to God.

What were they doing? They had experienced such an incredible experience of salvation, of redemption, and deliverance. They were so full of gratitude to God that they’re reflecting back to Him. And what they do in this song is simply rehearse what He did: “You’ve cast the horse and the rider into the sea.” Oh, God already knew that, so why are they saying it?

They’re simply reflecting back to Him what He did for them. They’re rehearsing His attributes. They’re going over and just putting into words the things that their eyes have seen. This is praise. This is the true heart of praise.

And one of the things that’s so important for us to do—because I know sometimes you go to prayer, you don’t feel like praising God. It’s like, how do I work up this feeling of praise? Easy: you rehearse all the things He’s done for you.

And this is the thing I love about the Jewish Siddur, the Hebrew prayer book. Most of the prayers are not asking for things. Most of the prayers are simply rehearsing God’s mighty acts, His acts of redemption that He’s done for me.

And here’s something else for you to think about. I live—we live—right now in the year 2023. And if the timetables are accurate, Adam and Eve lived roughly 6,000 years ago. That means over the course of 6,000 years, God had to keep every one of your ancestors alive long enough for them to reproduce, or else you wouldn’t be here. And God kept them alive because He had you in mind. He wanted to bring you into this world, and He maintained your entire family tree through all the things that have happened, through all the travels to bring you to whatever country you’re in now, and to bring you through the Dark Ages, and through wars, and famines, and distresses, and all kinds of things that have hit earth during human history.

And here you are. Now, there’s something to thank God for. Thank Him for your body. Thank Him for the use of your limbs. Thank Him for your health. And maybe your health is diminished—maybe you’re aging, or you’re fighting something. But thank Him for the health that you do have. Thank Him for food, for clothing, for shelter. Thank Him for the ability to know Him and to at least talk to Him.

Start at the top of your head and go to the bottom of your feet and thank Him for every attribute you have—from your eyes, to your ears, your nose, your mouth, your skin, your sense of touch, your strength, your ability to move—all the things you have that you just take for granted because you’re used to them.

And as you rehearse what God has given you, then that bubble of praise inside of you will begin to grow. And then when you begin to reflect back to Him the works He’s done for you, and to enumerate them, and to thank Him for them, you just won’t even have enough time to hardly get started.

But let’s look at some more uses of tehillim, especially the word halal. In Job 29:3, it says:

When His lamp shone (halal) upon my head,
and by His light I walked through darkness. (Job 29:3)

And here’s a great example of halal—Isaiah 13:10:

For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed (halal) its light. (Isaiah 13:10)

Where does the moon get its light? It does not have its own light source. It produces no light. When you see the moon, it’s reflecting sunlight to you. That is our job: to reflect God’s light to Him and to the world. Because as we rehearse His attributes and praise to Him, we can also rehearse those attributes and proclaim to the world who our God is.

And here’s a particularly interesting verse in Isaiah, chapter 14 verse 12:

How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning! (as the King James translates it)

“Lucifer” is a word that’s not found anywhere in the Bible. There’s a long story about how that word somehow found its way into the King James translation. It’s kind of stuck in our minds. But the word Lucifer is not a biblical word. It’s found nowhere in the Scriptures.

The word that is there is the word halel, halel הֵילֵל (halel). You can see the word halal there with the addition of a yud. And it means the shining one:

How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining one, son of dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low! (Isaiah 14:12)

And this of course is referring to Satan. And what was Satan’s purpose? His purpose was not to be light, but his purpose was to reflect God’s light—to be the shining one, the one who halal’d God’s light to God and to the world.

There are hints in Scripture that Satan was the angel—the most beautiful of God’s angels—and his purpose was to lead the angelic host in praise, in musical praise. And yet how he fell. And no wonder, if it’s true that he was designed to lead the heavenly host in praise, in musical praise, no wonder he’s so skillful in using music to damage people’s lives and to insert his message into our minds and souls.”

Instruments and the New Song (Psalm 33:2–3)

“Well, let’s move on. We’ve looked at ranan—to shout—and tehillim, which is praise, which comes from that word to reflect. But let’s move on a bit. Verses 2 and 3:

Give thanks to Adonai with the lyre; (Psalm 33:2)
make melody to Him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to Him a new song; (Psalm 33:3)
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

‘Give thanks to Adonai with the lyre’—and the word for lyre is the word kinnor כִּנּוֹר (kinnor). The Sea of Galilee is called Kinneret, the Sea of Kinneret, because the shape of the lake is similar to the ancient harp or lyre.

‘With a harp of ten strings’—now here the word for harp is not the same as lyre back here. Here the word for harp is nevel נֵבֶל (nevel). It’s a nevel asor, the nevel of ten, the harp of ten strings.

What’s interesting is, in the Talmud it says that in the Temple the harps that are used all have seven strings. But in the Messianic kingdom, the harps will all have eight strings. But in the world to come, the eternal world to come, the harps will all have ten strings. I don’t know where they got that. Well, it’s a beautiful sentiment. And I don’t know how far back that sentiment goes, but whoever the psalmist was for Psalm 33, maybe they had this in mind. And as they write this Psalm, they’re looking to the future—to the world to come—and that’s why it’s referring to the harp of ten strings.

‘With a harp of ten strings, make melody to Him; sing to Him a shir chadash, a new song.’

And this is the first time the word shir שִׁיר (shir) appears in the Book of Psalms. Now, I have to qualify that. This is the first time the word shir is found in the body of a Psalm. But back in Psalm 30, the Psalm that was written for the dedication of the Temple, of the house, in the approbation there, it’s a song of dedication. But this is the first time the word shir occurs in the body of a Psalm itself.

‘Sing to Him a new shir.’ Now, this is the masculine form of the word shir. If we take the word shir—and please forgive my sloppy Hebrew writing—but we take that word shir and add a hey on it, it becomes shirah שִׁירָה (shirah), which is the feminine form of the word song. Sometimes you find it in the Scriptures as shir, sometimes as shirah.

Going back to Exodus 15 again, the Song of the Sea, it’s called a shirah. It’s feminine. And in the Midrash Rabbah, there’s an interesting drash on this, these two forms of the word shir. And they say that most of the time—and in the early occurrences of the word song in Scripture—it’s shirah. It’s the feminine.

And this is the drash—and you can take it or leave it, but I think it’s interesting. They say that in this world and in Israel’s history, the word shirah is used for songs, this feminine form, because as with the feminine, which goes through cycles, like the moon has monthly cycles—it orbits around the sun, and the woman’s body goes through monthly cycles—and they say the word shirah, this feminine form, is the word for song as it occurs in cycles of being lost and then needing redemption. Getting in trouble, we call out to God, and then He redeems us, and we sing a shirah. And then again, we get into a tough spot, we cry out, He helps us, we sing a shirah, a song again.

So they say in this world, and through Jewish history, the word shirah describes the songs that we sing. But the masculine term, according to the Midrash Rabbah, this form refers to the Messianic kingdom—when it’s unchanging, when we’re not falling, crying out, being rescued once again and singing a song. But we’ll sing a shir instead of a shirah. We’ll sing something that doesn’t go through these changes and through these phases, but it’ll be a constant song of joy, remembering what God has done to us.

So again, I think it’s a beautiful insight. I’m not trying to give you rock-solid theology on this, but a way to meditate on this. But it is as good as any explanation for why it’s sometimes shirah, feminine, sometimes shir, masculine.

‘And then it says, “play skillfully with loud shouts.”’ That word for play is the word nagan נָגַן (nagan). And maybe you’ve heard the term niggun. A niggun is a wordless melody—a melody you just sing, lai lai lai lai lai lai lai, or hummed. And there’s just no words.

At Beth Tikkun, we begin our prayer services by singing a niggun. There are no words, but it’s just a way of attuning your heart with God’s heart and with the moment in time that we come to pray. And then we begin to pray words and sing words. But I always love this part where we sing the niggun, this wordless melody.

And ‘loud shouts’ here, this is the word teruah תְּרוּעָה (teruah). That’s the word that is used when we blow the shofar. And Rosh Hashanah in Scriptures is called Yom Teruah, the Day of Blowing of Shofars. But teruah can refer to the sound a shofar makes, but also the human voice.”

The Word of Adonai Is Yashar יָשָׁר (Psalm 33:4–5)

“Well, let’s move on. Verse 4:

For the word of Adonai is upright, (Psalm 33:4)
and all His work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of Adonai. (Psalm 33:5)

Now, what are we singing? What are we praising? What is this we’re proclaiming and shouting? Here it is—two things.

First, that the word of Adonai is upright. And that word upright is the word yashar יָשָׁר (yashar). Remember back in verse 1 where it says, ‘for praise befits the upright’? Here is the word upright, yashar, which means straight.

I remember one trip to Israel. Another couple went with us. And one evening, the other gentleman and myself decided we’d walk to the Great Synagogue that was there in Jerusalem for the evening prayer service. But we weren’t quite sure where to go. And I had just enough modern Hebrew that I could ask passersby the way to the Great Synagogue. And over and over, they just kept pointing down the street going, yashar, yashar—just go straight. And it kind of became a running joke with us.

But I see this word all the time in the Hebrew Scriptures—yashar, straight. The word of Adonai is yashar. It is straight. It is not crooked.

And ‘all His work is done in emunah’ אֱמוּנָה (emunah), emunah is faithfulness. That’s where we get the word amen. When we say amen at the end of a prayer, it means ‘may it be so.’ I have faith that God hears, faith that He’ll act, and faith that what I have prayed will come about.

So what are we singing about? That the word of Adonai is yashar, straight, and all His work is done in faithfulness. His word is straight and true. And He works and does things in accordance with the straightness, the firmness, and the uprightness of His word.

So in verse 1, where it says, ‘Shout for joy in Adonai, O you righteous; praise befits the yashar, the straight, the upright.’ What makes us upright? Well, the word of Adonai, which is yashar. If you want to be yashar, then build your life on the word of God, which is yashar. It’s straight and it’s upright. It’s good.

And then it gives us another pair of words: He loves righteousness and justice. And I believe there’s a parallelism here. Because righteousness, I think, has to do with uprightness. And faithfulness, I think, has to do with justice. And you can think about it.

But what is righteousness? What is justice? We use these terms and see them all the time in Scripture. And in fact, the phrase ‘righteousness and justice,’ this pairing of these words, occurs seven times in the Bible—seven, the number of completion and perfection.

Sometimes it’s tzedakah, as it is here, and mishpat. Sometimes it’s just tzedek and mishpat. Again, we have a feminine form and a masculine form of the word righteousness. But God loves tzedakah צְדָקָה (tzedakah), and He loves mishpatמִשְׁפָּט (mishpat). Tzedakah and mishpat, they go together, they are a pair, they belong married together.

But what’s the difference? I think the best explanation I’ve heard is by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. He says tzedakahis knowing the right principles—knowing correct principles that are found in God’s Word. And mishpat is the application of those principles with skill. I love that. That makes these phrases, every time they’re found, just open up for me.

So righteousness is to know the principles of God, to know His righteous and upright Word, and to have those in my heart and my mind. Then judgment, mishpat, is to apply them with skill.

In Exodus, right after the encounter at Mount Sinai, we have a Torah portion called Mishpatim. And Mishpatim are the judgments. And when you read those commandments there, they’re pretty much all about proper relationships with other people—how to apply God’s Word, how to maintain correct relationships: relationships between bosses and employees, or masters and servants, and husbands and wives, parents and children, between the borrower and the lender. There are all kinds of applications of God’s upright and righteous Word.

So, some examples of where we find tzedakah and mishpat together in Scripture: Genesis 18:19, God says:

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him
to keep the way of Adonai by doing righteousness (tzedakah) and justice (mishpat),
so that Adonai may bring to Abraham what He has promised him. (Genesis 18:19)

And Proverbs 21:3:

To do righteousness (tzedakah) and justice (mishpat)
is more acceptable to Adonai than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21:3)

Have you ever done this? Instead of practicing righteousness, instead of exercising mishpat—justice—in your relations with your neighbor, your spouse, your children, your coworkers, what you do, you’re kind of sloppy in those areas, but you think, well, I’m just going to tithe extra this week. I’m going to dedicate more this week. I’m going to spend more time in prayer this week. And what we sometimes do, we want to make a sacrifice in place of simply living a righteous life and applying God’s Word justly.

But what does it say in Proverbs? To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Adonai than sacrifice.

And then what does Psalm 89:14 say?

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before You. (Psalm 89:14)

What is the foundation of God’s throne? Well, let’s think about this. A throne is a place where the king sits. I’m sitting on a stool right now. I’m resting my weight on this. And until the end of this teaching, this is where I’m resting my presence, so to speak.

Do you want God to rest His presence in your life, in your home, in your faith community? Then make a foundation for His throne. And the way you construct that foundation is through righteousness and justice. Righteousness, again, is knowing His Word, which is yashar, which is straight, which is correct and right—to know it, to be totally committed to doing things according to His Word. And then applying it with skill and, I think, with chesed חֶסֶד (chesed), with steadfast love.

And when we do those two things, God’s throne will rest among us because we’ve provided a foundation for it.”

Creation, Clouds, and the Fear of Adonai (Psalm 33:6–9)

“Moving on, verses 6 to 8:

By the word of Adonai the heavens were made, (Psalm 33:6)
and by the breath of His mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; (Psalm 33:7)
He puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear Adonai; (Psalm 33:8)
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him! 

In the Talmud, there’s a Rabbi Eliezer who says that the ‘gathering the waters of the sea as a heap’ is a reference to the seas themselves, the oceans. And this is the same word that’s used when God split the Red Sea and the water stood up as a wall. Well, that word for wall is the same as the word for heap here.

‘But He puts the deeps in storehouses.’ What is that? And Rabbi Eliezer—again, you can take it or leave it—he says the storehouses are the clouds. He takes the waters from the deeps and through evaporation, He stores them in the clouds so He can move those waters to where they’re needed and then they come down as rain. A storehouse is where you store things until they’re needed, right?

And you may look at the clouds and think, well, they must not weigh much because they’re floating around up in the sky. But if you’ve taken any basic earth science, you know that any cloud of any size weighs tons—tons—because the entire cloud is entirely made of water—tons and tons and tons of water. Swimming pools full of water are in one cloud.

So it’s amazing how God takes from the heap of waters in the sea and in the lakes, evaporates it and puts it in the storehouses, and then takes it to where that water is needed, and then it comes down as rain. Amazing.

‘Let all the earth fear Adonai. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.’

Just yesterday, Robin and I recorded our Parsing the Portion conversation on Torah portion Ki Tavo in Deuteronomy. And that entire Torah portion, as we read it, seems to be about the fear of God. And we defined fear of God as this: awareness of God. People who fear God are people who are aware of Him at all times. And when you are aware of Him, of His presence, you behave yourself in a different way.

You know, if I’m just with a casual friend, I may behave differently than if I’m totally alone. The things I might be tempted to do if I’m all by myself, I will not be tempted to do if I’m with a friend, because awareness of this person means I don’t want to do anything that would be a stumbling block to them or that they’re going to go and tell everybody. Well, if I’m going to be that way with just an acquaintance, how much more should I be that way with God?

To be aware of His presence in your life, to be watching you—that’s what true fear of God is. So you practice fear of God not by cowering in fear, as the demons do, but to be constantly aware of Him—constantly aware—because He’s constantly aware of us, as we’re about to see.

For He spoke, and it came to be; (Psalm 33:9)
He commanded, and it stood firm. 

The Counsel of the Nations vs. the Counsel of Adonai (Psalm 33:10–12)

“Adonai brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the thoughts of the people.

Adonai brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; (Psalm 33:10)
He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

So we see the counsel of the nations, the thoughts of people. But then look how it uses these same two words:

The counsel of Adonai stands forever, (Psalm 33:11)
the thoughts of His heart to all generations. 

So the counsel of the nations, the thoughts of the peoples, they come to nothing and they get frustrated. They’re just a jumble of nothingness.

When I say that, think of all the current events. Think of your frustration with your government, your politicians, whether they’re local or national. Your frustration, maybe your temptation to fear what’s going on with the heads of other nations who don’t like the United States very much or don’t like the country where you live. But God says He frustrates the thoughts of the peoples. He brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. But the counsel of Adonai stands forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.

So whose counsel and thoughts should you really be occupied with, be concerned with?

Blessed is the nation whose God is Adonai, (Psalm 33:12)
the people whom He has chosen as His heritage! 

Five Words for Sight — God’s Gaze (Psalm 33:13–15, 18)

“Now we’re going to look at five words for sight in verses 13 through 17. And then we have to jump down a little bit to verse 18.

Adonai looks down from heaven; (Psalm 33:13)
He sees all the children of Adam.
From where He sits enthroned He looks intently (Psalm 33:14)
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
He who fashions the hearts of them all (Psalm 33:15)
and observes all their deeds. 

And then when you go down to verse 18, it says:

Behold, the eye of Adonai is on those who fear Him, (Psalm 33:18)
on those who hope in His steadfast love… (Psalm 33:18)

It’s interesting to me that these different words that are used build on one another. They follow a particular progression. So let’s see if we can figure out what this is.

The first word here, ‘Adonai looks,’ is the word—its root is navat נָבַט (navat). And I’m just giving you the roots here in the brackets. And navat means to flow forth, to almost gush forth like a river, to emanate out. The word navi נָבִיא (navi) is the word for a prophet. Navi—a prophet—is one who gushes forth God’s words. And here’s the word navat for look. It’s almost like when God looks, He’s sending forth His awareness, sending forth the light of His awareness and knowledge into the world to see. So when He looks, think of almost like a beam coming out as He looks down from heaven.

Second word: He sees. Now, this is the normal everyday word for see found in the Bible, ra’ah רָאָה (ra’ah), to see. So He sends forth His awareness and then He sees—He perceives what’s there. And He perceives all the children of Adam.

‘From where He sits enthroned, He looks intently’—now, this is a most interesting word here, shagach שָׁגַח (shagach). Shagach is the root. And it is also the root of the word meshugga מְשֻׁגָּע (meshugga). In Hebrew and Yiddish, you may hear someone say, “Oh, they’re meshugge,” meaning they’re crazy, they’re mad. Because the word shagach means to focus on one thing. And the Hebrew word for madness, for being crazy, is someone who focuses on one thing only and sees nothing else. That is what a crazy person is: they get one thing locked in their brain and they can’t function; they can’t see anything else.

Now God—He can practice shagach on every single one of us at the same time. And even though this word means to focus on one thing to the neglect of everything else, God can look at each of the things in each of us with such concentrated focus, it’s as if no one else existed. So ‘looks intently’ is still a pretty weak way to express this amazing word, shagach. He looks intently upon you, upon me, upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

‘He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes’—and the root of this word is the word ban / bin בִּין (bin), which means to separate out, to separate something. And binah בִּינָה (binah) is the word to understand. You know, when you learn something, first it’s like this little ball of awareness, ball of knowledge. But when you really study it, you can separate out all its parts. You might buy a new gadget and you learn how to use it. But you don’t really understand it until you take it all apart. You separate it into separate pieces, see what each piece does, and then put it back together. And that’s what this word is hinting at.

‘He observes, He separates, He understands all their deeds.’ He looks and then He sees, He looks intently, He focuses down deeply on every single inhabitant, and He understands every deed, every single thought, everything about us.

When you are aware of that, and you’re aware God’s watching you, there’s a healthy kind of fear and awe that should arise in your heart and mind.

And then in verse 18, it says:

Behold, the eye of Adonai is on those who fear Him, (Psalm 33:18)
on those who hope in His steadfast love…

The War Horse Is a Lie (Psalm 33:16–17)

“And you say, ‘Well, wait a minute, Grant, you skipped something.’ I did. Verses 16 and 17 don’t seem to have anything to do with the verses before them and then this verse right after. They seem to me like a parenthesis that’s just stuck in there. So that’s why I’ve set them apart in brackets. Because here we get a look at the person who doesn’t fear God, who’s not aware of God’s watching them. They don’t look into His Word. They don’t look to Him. And instead, they trust in other things.

The king is not saved by his great army; (Psalm 33:16)
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation, (Psalm 33:17)
and by its great might it cannot rescue. 

So it’s talking here about the king and the warrior and people who trust in what they can see—those things that look great to them. The king, he trusts in his army. The warrior depends upon his strength and the great might of the war horse. But none of them can provide escape. They’re all useless for salvation. They’re all useless for deliverance. And though in the physical realm they may seem mighty and reliable and powerful, God says the whole thing is a lie. The war horse is a lie in regard to salvation.

It makes me think, what are the war horses in my life? What are the war horses in your life? The things you’re relying on to get you through. Maybe it’s your bank account. Or maybe it’s just your job. Maybe it’s your health. Maybe it’s whatever—fill in the blank. But those things are a lie when it comes to salvation.

They can be gifts. A war horse can be a gift. But if I’m relying on that for my salvation, my salvation and rescue, I’m banking on a lie.

Let’s repent of the things we rely on for our rescue and our security. Our security should be in only one thing, and that is God Himself.”

“I Will Counsel You with My Eye” — Waiting in His Steadfast Love (Psalm 33:18–22)

“Behold, the eye of Adonai is on those who fear Him. And when I read this, I think immediately back to Psalm 32 and verse 8, which says:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)

Remember that verse we talked about where it says, don’t be like the horse, like the mule that need a bit and a bridle to keep them from going astray? You’re riding a horse that wants to go this way, so you yank on the bridle to keep it away from there. You yank it this way to keep from going that way. Or it wants to go straight, but you have to yank it because you don’t want to go there, you want to go this way.

It says, don’t be like the horse and the mule who always have to be jerked around. Instead, let My eye counsel you—where you’re in constant communion with Me. And I’ll see where we need to go. I’ll whisper, I’ll whisper to you, this is the way, walk in it, and you go that way. I don’t have to jerk you around in your life. You don’t have to have the physical discomfort of always being pulled a different direction. You’re always listening to My voice, sensitive to My heart, and I counsel you with My eye.

Behold, the eye of Adonai is on those who fear Him, (Psalm 33:18)
on those who hope in His steadfast love,
that He may deliver their soul from death (Psalm 33:19)
and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for Adonai; (Psalm 33:20)
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in Him, (Psalm 33:21)
because we trust in His holy Name.
Let Your steadfast love, O Adonai, be upon us, (Psalm 33:22)
even as we hope in You. 

Behold, the eye of Adonai is on those who fear Him. What’s fear of God? Awareness of Him. In other words, He’s saying, if you’re always looking to Me and aware of Me, My eye is always looking to you. We’re looking at each other face-to-face.

‘The eye of Adonai is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, that He may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul awaits for Adonai. He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him because we trust in His holy Name. Let Your steadfast love, O Adonai, be upon us, even as we hope in You.’”

Closing Blessing

“At the beginning of this teaching, I suggested you pause the teaching and read through Psalm 33. So now that I’m done, I really recommend you go through Psalm 33 again slowly. And you pray—you won’t remember all these things I said. That’s all right. But there’ll be enough things there that as you read this Psalm anew, it’ll become your own Psalm, your own hymn of praise to God. And you’ll become more aware of Him.

So in the meantime, let’s continue to practice tzedakah and mishpat—righteousness and judgment. And we’ll find God’s throne in our lives. We’ll find His presence sitting and residing in our lives and our communities.

So until next time, I wish you shalom שָׁלוֹם, and God bless

Links

Read Psalm 33