“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries and our continuing series Tehillim Talks, our studies in the Psalms. Today we’ll be looking at Psalm 62. This short 12 verse Psalm divides itself easily into three groups of four verses each.
And I sometimes call this the “only Psalm”, because six of the 12 verses begin with the word only. Four times is referring to God, one time is referring to the enemy, and one time is referring to human frailty. But pay attention to these words only, because one of the things I’ve discovered in my life is that very few believers find their strength only in God.
What most believers tend to do is find their strength in God plus wealth, God plus people, God plus fill in the blank. But I think God takes us through experiences where he wants us to realize it’s him and him only. It’s never him plus something else.
God’s brought so many great blessings into my life. I can’t imagine not having them. But he’s constantly reminding me that these blessings come only from him. They’re an expression of him. They’re not something in addition to him. But they are an extension of his love, his provision and his goodness.
But it’s all him only.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done this before for one of the other Psalms teachings. But as I have been pondering this Psalm over the last couple of weeks, this just came to mind and I thought I would just share it with you.
And you can find this written out in the notes at the end. I wrote, The theme of this Psalm is, Only God can be faithfully relied upon. Even people who are good and generally reliable are apt to lose interest, move away, believe lies, lose focus, or just fade and weaken spiritually.
And some of these causes are not even their fault. Aging, illness, dementia, death, etc. As David wrote in Psalm 27:10, Though my father and my mother have forsaken me, Adonai will gather me in.
We tend to think that our personal relationships are of prime importance, and God comes along the size to assist with those. But in truth, our relationship with God is of sole importance. And all other relationships are for the purpose of enhancing and framing this singular and primary relationship.”
“I’ve often said that the most miserable people in the world are those who are half redeemed. And what I mean by half-redeemed is that they trust God for certain things, but they trust in themselves and other things for everything else. They want to serve God when they’re in a tight spot.
They keep him at arm’s length, but they just want to keep him within reach, so if an emergency comes, he’s like the glass you break so you can get the fire extinguisher. But until they really need him, he can just kind of hang on the wall. He can just kind of be right over there, in the eye shot, right there.
But I don’t want to be meddling in my life all that much. These people are truly miserable, and they’re unstable in all of their ways because they are double-souled. I don’t want to be that way.
And I hope that as you listen to this, you don’t want to be that way either. But we must see that God himself is our focus. He is our source. He is the place of our souls and our lives, that in him we live and move and have our being.”
“So without further ado, let’s get right into Psalm 62.
The superscription begins to the Choir Master according to Yaduthun, a psalm of David. Now, this is the second time we’ve seen this according to Yaduthun. We saw it back in Psalm 39, and we will see it again in Psalm 77. So these three Psalms, 39, 62 and 77, have this superscription.
As I said, the psalm divides itself into three groups of four verses. So let’s take a look at the first four.
Only for God my soul waits in silence. From him comes my Yeshua, my salvation. Only he is my rock and my Yeshua, my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken.”
“And now you’ll notice the red vertical line beside verse three, because this verse, we simply don’t know exactly how to translate it. Nobody knows exactly. And even the translators, when they make notes, they say, this is my best guess. So look at a bunch of different translations. This is the one I came up with, but I’m sure it’s not perfect.
Verse three, how long will all of you attack a man to murder him? And this word, murder, to demolish or to assail, I’m sorry, this word for attack means to assail, to demolish, to come against. It’s only used one time in the entire Bible, this one Hebrew word. This is the only place.
So attack, assail, translations might use it in different ways. And murder, they may say demolish. There are different ways to translate that. But how long will all of you attack a man to murder him? Like a leaning wall, a tottering fence.”
“The verse seems to be expressing that David is in the place of leadership, but to all appearances, he looks like a leaning wall that’s ready to fall over. It’s a tottering fence. Just takes a little bit of wind, a little bit of a push, and it will collapse.
Only from his high position, they plan to totter him. Now, the his is referring to David, or is referring to the people who are coming against him. Who’s the one in the high position? I kind of think it’s referring to to David, but you could equally see it as being these people in high position thinking, they can totter him.
And we see this word twice, the tottering fence, and they want to totter him. They want to just push him over. Only from his high position, they plan to totter him. They take pleasure in falsehood. What is it about us that we take pleasure in falsehood?
Because we want it to be true. It could be a falsehood that is very hopeful. We’re going to win the lottery. We’re going to invest in this scheme, and it’s going to make us a lot of money. It’s all a falsehood, but we believe in it because we want it to be true.
Or sometimes, and this is more often the case, we believe a falsehood about someone else, a lie about someone else because we wish that to be true. We need to be very careful of the stories we tell ourselves, because I have found that human beings are very, very prone to believe lies. For one reason, they want to believe that they’re true. And they take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. So many times in my life, I’ve met those who will flatter me with their lips, but in their hearts, they’re cursing me and it’s obvious that they are. And it eventually comes out. So this ends in the Selah.”
“So this word only that we see three times in these first four verses is the Hebrew word ach, ach. And it means only or but or surely. And the first time it is used is back in Genesis 7:23.
This is after the flood. It said, he, God, blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Ach, only Noah was left. And those who were with him in the ark.
When we think of the devastation of the flood, but ach, only Noah was left. I think there’s a message here for us. God will take us through tests, he’ll take us through trials, and through experiences. And what he wants to do, as I was alluding to at the beginning, he wants to bring us to the place where all of our false gods, all of the other things that we fear, the things we rely on and depend on, he wants to in some way remove them from their position of importance in our minds to where, ach, only he is left.
It’s kind of like the plagues in Egypt. Each plague was against one of the Egyptian gods. And eventually after the 10th plague, God was the only God left standing.
So the trials in your life, in my life, I have discovered are God’s way of dealing with my false gods. To where only, ach,only he is left.”
*“Verses five through eight. Only for God wait in silence, O my soul. For from him is my hope. Only he is my rock and my Yeshua, my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory. My mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.*
And so those four verses are blocked off. And what’s there to say? Those four verses are so powerful, so wonderful. Those are four verses worth memorizing.”
“And then we come to the closing four verses. Only breath are the sons of Adam. Sons of man are a falsehood. Do you find yourself relying on people more than God? People are just breath. And they’re gone.
Even good people, wonderful people, they’re here for a moment and then they’re gone. They may move away, they may die. But we can’t rely on people. I thank God for the people who have been a support to me, for the people who have spoken to my life, for my parents who provided for me so faithfully as I was growing up.
But they were an extension of him, of his provision, of his love, of his care. But only breath are the sons of Adam. Sons of man are a falsehood. On the scales, they are together lighter than breath. So if you put them on the scales, you put mankind here and air here, air will outweigh mankind.
Put no trust in oppression or hope in theft. What this means is, don’t think you can oppress people to get out of them what you want. Don’t put hope in oppression. And don’t think you can steal from others what you need. Everything you or I need comes from him. He is our source. In him we live and move and have our being. Only in him.
If riches increase, set not your heart on them. As one rabbi said, don’t put your faith in the wealth, but in the source of the wealth.”
“Now, this phrase that is in bold print is the one that I’ve been pondering for, for a good solid year now. Every day I think about this. One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard.
Most translations, most Gentile translations will say, one time I have heard this, or one time God said this, but two times I have heard it. It’s something like that, but it’s very straightforward in the Hebrew. One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard.
Now, it tells us the two things here, that strength belongs to God, and yours, O Lord, is loving kindness. Strength, loving kindness.
Now, what’s interesting, when you see the word God in this Psalm, it’s the word Elohim, and the name Elohim appears seven times in this Psalm. But God’s name, Yad Heh Vav Heh, does not appear in the Psalm. Not a single time. And Elohim is the expression of God as the one of strength, of perfect judgment, of severity.
When you think Elohim, think rock. But when you see the name Yad Heh Vav Heh, think mercy. Think a little bit softer, more gracious, more giving.
And he’s saying here that God in him is strength, but also loving kindness. Maybe Paul was thinking of this Psalm when he wrote in Romans 11:22, Behold then the kindness and severity of God. As any good parent, a good parent is kind to their children. But there are moments they have to be severe, if they truly love them.
And yours, O Lord. Now, you notice I didn’t put Lord in all caps, because this is not the word Yad Heh Vav Heh in Hebrew. It’s the word Adon. It’s Adonai, O Lord. But I believe that in David’s mind, when he said Adonai, my Lord, he’s thanking Yad Heh Vav Heh.
So strength belongs to Elohim. But yours, Adonai, is loving kindness. For you will render to a man according to his works.”
“So let’s pause for a moment and think about this phrase. I invite you to think about this phrase, meditate and ponder it with me. And I plan to do a teaching, a special teaching, just on this phrase. One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard.
And this is a principle throughout scripture. Think for a moment, when God made your body, he made us in his image, he gave us one mouth. So when we speak, we speak with our mouth. What we hear with two ears, one thing I speak, but with your two ears, you hear two things. Now they hear together, but they don’t hear the same.
This is why when we hear a noise, we turn towards it, we know which direction it comes from, because our ears hear a little bit differently. They hear together. One thing God speaks, two things we hear.”
“Let’s take some examples. In Genesis 1, when God brings light into the world, what does he do? He houses it in two lights, the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night.
When God brings man into the world, how does he do it? Brings him in male and female.
When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, which was just in last week’s Torah portion in Mishpetim, he put it on two tablets. Five commandments dealing with our relationship to God, five commandments dealing with our relationship with one another.
When God sent his word into the world, he sent the word in scripture, in written form. He also sent his word in flesh, in Yeshua.
Well, let’s take each of these. How did he send the written word into the world? Through the Hebrew scriptures and the Greek scriptures. And how does he send Yeshua into the world? He sent him one time as the lamb. He will send him a second time as the lion.
We can go on and on and on. In fact, every story in the Bible, so far as I’ve discovered, has a twin, has a matching story somewhere in the scriptures.”
“One of my favorite examples is this. Think of a Bible story where there are men in a ship. They’re at sea, and there’s a horrible storm. They’re all afraid they’re going to die. And in both stories, the solution to the storm is a man who is asleep in the bottom of the boat.
Can you think of the two stories that have all of these elements? Of course, there’s the story of Jonah when he was fleeing from God, and he’s in the ship. And there’s the storm, and they wake Jonah up. He’s asleep at the bottom of the boat. And finally, when they throw him overboard, the storm ceases.
And of course, the other is in the gospels. There’s a storm at the sea. The disciples are all despairing for their lives, but Yeshua is asleep in the bottom of the boat. They wake him up, and he says, Peace be still, and the storm stops.
Now, the beauty of this is that when you find these pairs of stories, you bring them side by side, because there’s no coincidence in scripture. When you take the story of Jonah, and the story of Yeshua, and the boats, and the storms, and the salvation, and everything, you begin to see a third, larger, overarching story.
Now, the overarching story is this. All of us go through storms, and all of us have two men sleeping inside of us. One of them we need to pitch out. The other we simply need to wake up and appeal to. Be careful which one you throw out of the boat. Let’s throw the rebel Jonah out. But let’s embrace the Yeshua, because he is right there with us.
And I found people throwing Yeshua out of the boat, and they keep Jonah, and they wonder why the storms don’t end in their lives.”
“But we could go on and on and on. Again, I plan to do a separate teaching just on this subject. But everything we’ve seen here about this is a picture of the Menorah.
Because as we read in this week’s Torah portion, Terumah, we read the description of the tabernacle. And the source of light in the tabernacle was the Menorah. And the Menorah had a branch out this way and a branch out this way. Everything was in balance.
For every one that went out to the left, there was one that went out to the right. Left and right, over and over. And that’s why in the scriptures, you find everything in pairs. Because the Menorah gives light. The stories and the illustrations in the Bible give light. That light is to be balanced.
And if you want your light to stand on its own base, to be stable and balanced, look for the matching stories. You know, in Genesis, we see two man-made, large man-made objects that man was relying on for salvation. One was the ark, and the other was the Tower of Babel.
Two stories go side by side. One was a success, one was an utter failure. One was made out of living material, one was made out of dead brick. One was made, it worked because however high the water level got, the ark just stayed on top of it. The other one was supposed to go to heaven, but it hardly got off the ground. One led to salvation, the other led to confusion.
These are pictures of religion. There’s salvation through Yeshua, but then there’s man-made religion. One works, one doesn’t.”
“Anyways, we could go on and on and on. But in the Gospels even, you’ll find pairs of stories. There are two stories where Yeshua feeds a multitude. Compare the two stories. There are two times he drives money changers out of the temple. Compare the two stories.
And so look for this. Everything comes in twos. In fact, the very first letter of the Bible, in Bereshit, in the beginning,the very first letter of the Bible is the letter Bait, which is the second letter of the alphabet. It’s even shaped like an Arabic number two. It has a value of two. God’s telling us everything comes in twos.
Because one thing God spoke, two things I heard. God speaks one thing, but we receive it in pairs, in twos. So look for this principle. This is a big deal in rabbinic writings. And it’s become a big deal in my thinking and my approach to the scriptures as well.
So I hope this gives you something to chew on. And I look forward to hearing from you and share with me the pairs of stories and things you discover in the scriptures. It can make your Bible study quite exciting. It makes you really think and explore.
So anyways, until next time, I wish you shalom and may God bless.”
To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1-4 Only for God my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. 2 Only He is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. 3 How long will all of you attack a man to murder him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? 4 Only from his high position they plan to totter him. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless [him] with their mouths, but inwardly they curse [him]. Selah
אך (ach) = “only, but, surely”
5-8 Only for God wait in silence, O my soul. For from Him is my hope. 6 Only He is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken. 7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
9-12 Only breath are the sons of Adam; sons of man are a falsehood. On the scales, they are together lighter than breath. 10Put no trust in oppre-ssion or hope in theft. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. 11 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that strength belongs to God, 12 and Your’s, O Lord, is lovingkindness. For You will render to a man according to his works.
REFERENCES:
THEME:
The theme of this psalm is: only God can be faithfully relied upon. Even people who are good and generally reliable are apt to lose interest, move away, believe lies, lose focus, or just fade and weaken spiritually… and some of these causes are not even their fault. (aging, illness, dementia, death, etc. – see Psalm 27:10.) We tend to think that our personal relationships are of prime importance and God comes alongside to assist with those. But in truth, our relationship with God is of sole importance, and all other relationships are for the purpose of enhancing and framing this singular and primary relationship.
Psalm 27:10 Though my father and my mother have forsaken me, Adonai will gather me in.
Verse 1
Psalm 65:1 To You, God, in Zion, silence is praise; and vows to You are to be fulfilled.
Genesis 7:23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only (אך, ach) Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. [1st app.]
Verse 11
“God rules through two traits: kindness and justice.” (Rashi)
Job 11:6 … For sound wisdom has two sides…
Verses 11-12
Romans 11:22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God…
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