“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries and our continuing series, Tehillim Talks, our studies in the Psalms. And in this episode, we find ourselves in Psalm 46, a very short psalm, only 11 verses, and it divides itself very easily into three sections. And it has a rather long attribution.
It is this, To the Choir Master, Of the Sons of Korah, and this is one of the eight Psalms in this group of Psalms that are all attributed to the Sons of Korah. According to Alamot, we don’t know what Alamot is. We find the word over in 1 Chronicles 15-20, where it talks about a harps according to Alamot, whether this Alamot is a tuning, or if it’s a melody or a particular type of harp or musical instrument, we simply don’t know.
But the Hebrew word itself, Alamot, can be translated a couple of different ways. One is Al-Mut, which means upon death. And if that’s how it should be translated, this is a psalm that is to be sung and studied and contemplated either when a person is approaching death or when we’ve lost a loved one, because this psalm does contain great comfort.
It could also be pronounced Olamut, Olam is the Hebrew word for an age or an eon. So this would be the plural. So this would be for the ages or according to the ages or an ageless song.
Also, this is the only psalm in the Book of Psalms that’s called merely a song. We’ve seen earlier a song for the dedication of the temple. And in the last episode in Psalm 45, we find the Book of Psalms only love song, but here just a song, the only one in the entire 150 psalms that’s just a song.
Make of that what you will.”
“But let’s take a look at the first three verses, the first section.
God is our refuge and strength, a help in trouble readily found.
Therefore we will not fear when the earth changes, though the mountains shift into the heart of the sea,
its waters roar and foam, the mountains tremble at its swelling.
And so the first section ends with the word seila, so we know we’ve come to the end of a section. These three verses describe a time of great turmoil.
You know, we usually think of the earth as being solid, and we have both feet planted firmly in the earth, we feel stable and like everything’s good. But here we find a place where the ground is shaking and unstable, the earth is changing, the mountains are shifting into the heart of the sea, the waters of the sea are roaring and foaming, and the mountains tremble. In other words, all the things that we thought of as being solid, stable and unchanging are all unstable and shifting and changing a great deal.
But the psalmist says, but we won’t fear. We won’t be afraid because God is our refuge. That’s where we go when we need protection.
He is our strength. He is what we need when we are weak. He is our help.”
“This is what we need when we need assistance and guidance. And this word for help is unusual because the way the word is spelled is as Ezra’s name. Let me explain.
The word for help in Hebrew is the word Ezra, which is Ayin, Zadi, Resh. It’s found many times in the scriptures. And it’s part of people’s names, like Eliezer means my God, Eli. Ezer is help, or is my help, or my God helps. Ebenezer, as in Ebenezer’s Scrooge. Eben means stone, Ezer means helps, my rock of help, my stone of help.
And the man Ezra, his name comes from this word Ezra. All that is done is a heh is added at the end, and Ezra becomes the man Ezra. And outside of the books of Ezra–Nehemiah, this is the only place where Ezra’s name appears.
Now, did the psalmist mean for this to be spelled like Ezra’s name? Is there some allusion here to Ezra? Or could it be that Ezra’s parents decided to name him after the spelling of this word in this psalm?
We don’t know. But we do know that God’s spirit is at work in the writing of these psalms. And it’s almost as if to say when you see everything being shaken to pieces and being destroyed, remember that God is our Ezra.
And what did Ezra do? What did he accomplish in the scriptures? Well, he was sent back to Jerusalem along with Nehemiah to rebuild the city and the walls and the temple.
He was a restorer of that which had been destroyed. And it’s almost as if the psalmist is saying, or the Holy Spirit is speaking through the psalmist, whether the psalmist knew it or not, that God is our Ezra. He restores that which has been destroyed.”
“Now, there are a number of different words being used here for changing and shaking and so on. And three of them are very similar. There’s the word mur, which I translate here as change, is a good translation of that word.
There’s the word moot, and I like the way Alec Mautier translates this in his wonderful book, Psalms by the Day. And he translates the word as shift. It’s found three times in this psalm, and most translations translated different ways each time.
And Mautier came up with the word shift, which seems to fit all three uses of this term. So we have moor, change, and moot, shift. We also have moog, which means to melt, and we’ll come up to that in just a moment.
So more, moot, and moog. Definitely a play on words is going on here. And then we have the word for shake.
And so just about every word in the Hebrew language that describes melting, falling to pieces, shaking, shifting. The psalmist has recruited all of these words trying to describe how everything is going to pot in this psalm.”
“You know, as I record this, one week from today is Passover, the first night of Passover.
And one week ago today was when the eclipse occurred, we watched it right here from our backyard, incredible, incredible thing to see. And just a couple days ago, Iran launched missile attacks into Israel. And I know that in the next few days, the Jewish people planned to sacrifice the first red heifer in over 2,000 years.
And the whole world is just shaking, things are changing. And it really does look like the last days sorts of things that are happening. But do we need to be afraid?
Therefore, we will not fear when the earth changes.
How can we not be afraid when everything that’s been dependable and solid in the past is now shaking to pieces? And by the way, you’ve heard me mention before that the seas and oceans and scriptures are always a metaphor for the nations, for the turmoil, the sudden change in the national settings.
Because things can be kind of peaceful one moment and there’d be a raging storm the next, and everything is being shaken. So how can we not be afraid? How do we experience God as our refuge, our strength, and our help?
Easily findable. That’s how the Hebrew should be translated there. Nimzat me’od, easily findable.
How do we experience that?”
“Well, for one thing, I’ve discovered, and I can speak for Robin as well and other friends, it seems like the more difficult things in the world become, the more the world shakes, the closer God comes to us. When things are the most difficult out there in the world, and the world’s becoming totally unstable, it’s like when we pray to God, his peace arrives more quickly.
Things inside our hearts and souls just settle much more quickly than they ever did before. It’s like the more shaky things get there, the more stable things get in here. I don’t know if you’ve experienced that or not, but that’s been my experience and that of my wife and others that we know.”
“Well, I’m anxious to get on to verse four. Now, we’ve just read about how the oceans are roaring and foaming and there’s all this turmoil and the mountains are sliding into the sea. But it’s almost as if God’s saying, don’t be distracted by the oceans.
So these big oceans and these huge waves and all the noise are making.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
I’ll shift that in your mind for a second.
Somehow, God is speaking through the psalmist and saying, when you look out at the world, you see the oceans just going crazy and destroying everything. But don’t look at that. Close your eyes, focus in, and recognize the still waters, the quiet stream, the river whose streams make glad the city of God.
Reminds me of Psalm 23:2, how God leads us in green pastures, makes us lie down beside the still waters. So the oceans can be roaring out there, but God said, but close your eyes, focus in, there’s a stream that’s quiet, it’s life-giving, it has a source, it has a goal, there’s a direction to it. You follow that, follow it, the holy habitation of the Most High.
It goes on in verse five,
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be shifted;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms shift;
He utters His voice, the earth melts.
But there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Stay on the river, ignore the oceans, pay attention to that still stream that is flowing in the spiritual realm. Everything about this psalm is describing what I call the 1% realm, which is the physical world out here, with a 99% realm, that’s the spiritual realm.
And as Paul says in 2 Corinthians,
the things that are seen are temporal; but the unseen things are eternal.
That’s the real world.
Don’t think of the world of tangibility as the real world. The real world is the intangible one. That’s the one that endures.
That’s the one that doesn’t change. That’s the one that is eternal. And that is the goal to which we are going.
That is the place where this dream carries us.”
“And then this verse, which ends this second section,
Adonai of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our high tower.
You know, if you can hold on to that, everything else is good.
Adonai of host. What are hosts? Those are the armies.
Adonai of the multitudes of the spiritual beings. Adonai who is the god and the leader of his khal, his people. He is with us.
The god of Jacob is our high tower. And that word high tower is the word misgav. It could either be a very high tower that’s impervious to whatever comes against it, or it could be a high fortress up on a cliff, but whatever it is, it’s elevated, it is safe, it is strong, it is impregnable, and if you’re in it, you are safe.
And you look down from god’s perspective at the turmoil and the destruction that goes on around you. God is our high tower. Now notice what it says.
It doesn’t say the god of Israel, it says the god of Jacob. Well, what does the word Jacob mean? Yaakov is derived from the word Ekov, which means heel, the bottom of the foot.
Because remember when Jacob is born, he was grasping his twin brother’s heel as he came out of the womb. Yaakov was grabbing the Ekov of his brother Esau. So the god of the heel of the lowest part is our high tower.
That’s amazing. Because you may feel very lowly. Well, that’s okay.
You’re in good company. Because the god of the very lowly, the heel, the lowest, the lowermost part, he is our Misgav. He is our high tower.
By the way, you’ll find that word Misgav, high tower, twice over in Psalm 9:9. And this is what it says.
Adonai is a Misgav for the oppressed;
a Misgav in times of trouble.
Know, that is what we need in these days. We need to discover God as our high tower of strength.”
“And then we come to the closing verses, verses 8 through 11.
Go and behold the works of Adonai,
how He has brought desolations on the earth.
Now, you know, when I think of the fele of God, the wonders of God, I think of the trees and the clouds, the sun, moon and stars, the canyons, the oceans. I don’t think of the desolations on the earth.
But in this psalm, he says, go and behold the wonders of God, the wonders of Adonai, how he has brought desolations on the earth. This is something we need to understand. Many times when we see the world shaking, we say, oh, Satan is making that happen.
That’s the devil at work. That is evil having its destructive ways in the world. Well, you can look at it that way.
And it’s true as far as it goes, but you’re leaving God out of the formula, because even Satan belongs to God. Even Satan is God’s sheepdog. Even Satan has to get permission from God to do whatever he does.
And we need to realize Satan is not sovereign, but Adonai is sovereign over the earth. And everything that happens, good or bad, is happening according to his permission, to his will, because it’s working for a greater glory and a greater good. So we say, and even when you see the desolations of the earth, this is God’s wonder, and we need to behold it.
But why would God bring desolations? The reason is because his kingdom is coming. I know that the Jewish people often reject Yeshua as their Messiah, because they say, it’s prophesied that when the Messiah comes, he brings world peace.
This is true. But in all of those prophecies about the Messiah bringing world peace, you’ll look at those prophecies and notice something about all of them. Before Messiah brings peace, there is first war.
There’s always war, because when the Messiah comes, there will be resistance and there will be warfare. But the Messiah is victorious. And so the desolations that we see here, I think of as, you know, when you go to build a house or a palace, you have to do some land clearing.
And you’re moving things out of the way, you’re bringing in some desolation. It looks pretty ugly. But then you begin the building.
And when the building is complete and the landscaping is done, it is beautiful. So even these desolations that we see that can be very ugly, very troubling, God says, I want you to behold the wonders of Adonai. Now, you’ll notice the word behold there is in bold red because the word there is chaza, chaza.
Very interesting word. Chaza means to behold with the spirit or the mind. This is how Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch renders the word.
It’s not to see with the eyes. That’s ra’ah. That is not what we’re to do.
We’re to behold with the spirit, with the mind, with the inner parts of us. Chaza. What’s interesting about this word as well is that the breast that is put on the altar, the breast of the lamb or the sacrifice, it’s to be put on the altar.
That word for breast or chest is the word chaza. It’s the same exact word. Because not only would we see with our eyes, that’s the physical world, but we also perceive with our hearts that’s chaza.
And the prayer leader, the cantor, when he leads prayers at our Shabbat services, in the prayer book, the prayer leader is called the chazan, because he’s the one who beholds. I wish you could experience one of our prayer services or a synagogue prayer service, because the prayer leader doesn’t stand up there and face the congregation. He stands in front of us, and we see his back, because he’s facing the head.
His job is not just to have a beautiful voice to sing the prayers, not just have a good reading voice to read the prayers. His most important job is to chaza Adonai, to behold God in his heart and in his mind, and then to speak forth the words of these ancient prayers to the one that he beholds. And if the chazan can chaza Adonai, then the congregation is affected by that.
We find ourselves following him into the throne room of our Lord. So we need to behold God’s work. Sometimes we can’t see with our eyes, but we can behold it with our hearts and minds and in our spirits.
So go and chaza the wonders of Adonai. Go. We have to move away from our viewpoint here and go to the top of that high tower.
And then we can chaza what God is doing in the world from his point of view.”
“Verse 9.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
He burns the chariots with fire.
So not just the big wars, but all the little battles, wherever they may be. … So all the instruments of war are destroyed and done away with. Now, this verse 10 is usually translated, be still and know that I am God. But the word there is not be still.
The word is relax, relax. This is the word rafa, relax. Loosen your grip, let go.
When you read this verse, here is the image I want you to have in your mind. I want you to picture a mother who has a small infant son whom she loves with all of her heart. Where there’s a pharaoh who’s made an edict that all the little boys have to be drowned in the river.
And this mother is willing to die for her little boy, but dying will not help him. She does something even more difficult than dying for him. She makes a teva, an ark, a basket, and she waterproofs it.
And she puts her little baby boy in the basket. She puts the basket in the water. She’s holding it with her hand.
And the hardest thing she ever would have to do in her entire life is to relax her grip and let go. It’s the moment she lets go of that basket. It’s out of her control.
And that’s what God asks us to do. What is it that you’re holding on to so tightly? You’ve got a white-knuckled grip on that thing because you’ve got to hang on to it.
And God’s saying, Rafa, relax your grip. Take it easy. I’ve got it covered.
Trust me. Let go. Let go.
Let go. And letting go often takes more faith than holding on. There are times we have to hold on, but here, letting go is the key to really knowing that He is God.
Relax, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations;
I will be exalted in the earth.
It’s interesting that that word relax, raffa, is the same word Pharaoh used when he accuses the Jewish people of being lazy. In Exodus 5:17, Pharaoh says,
You are raffa. You are lazy. You are lazy. That is why you say, “Let us go and sacrifice to Adonai.”
So in other words, sometimes faith just requires some relaxation, letting go your grip, just letting loose. But I want to give you another way raffa is used. In Joshua 1:5, the angel of the Lord is speaking to Joshua.
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life;
just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
I will not raffa (let you go), nor will I forsake you.
So we have to let go of some things, but we can know this.
God will never let go of us.”
“So relax and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the earth.
And then we find verse 7 repeated here.
Adonai of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our high tower, Selah.
The god of the heel is our high tower, the god of the humble. It’s a place we can run, a place we can hide, and look out with our eyes, and behold his wonders on the earth. Even when everything is being shaken apart, we can be secure.
But we may have to let go of some things before we can experience that. So, I hope this short psalm has been a blessing to you. It has been a blessing to me and those I’ve been discussing it with over the last few days.
So until next time, I wish you shalom and may God bless.”
CLICK HERE to Print Full Notes
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamot. A Song.
1-3 God is our refuge and strength, a help in trouble, readily found. 2 Therefore we will not fear when the earth changes, though the mountains shift into the heart of the sea. 3 Its waters roar and foam; the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
עצרה = “Ezra”
4-7 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be shifted; God will help her when morning dawns. 6 The nations rage, the kingdoms shift; He utters His voice, the earth melts. 7 Adonai of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower. Selah
משגב (mis’gav) = “high tower/high fortress”
8-11 Go and behold the wonders of Adonai, how He has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the chariots with fire. 10 “Relax, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” 11 Adonai of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower. Selah
חזה (chazah) = “behold with the spirit/mind”
רפה (raphah) = “relax, let go”