Altogether Vanity Series

January 15, 2014

Tom Lowe

Title: PSALM 39: Altogether Vanity (Part 1)

A psalm of David.

PART 1 DAVID’S PLEDGE (VERSES 1-3)

Part 2 David’s Plea (verses 4-5)

Part 3 David’s Plight (verses 6-11)

Part 4 David’s Plan (verses 12-13)

Psalm 39 (KJV)

Part 1: David’s Plea (verses 1-3)

1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,

Introduction to Psalm 39

This psalm is probably a continuation of Psalm 38. David is still in the same dreadful plight of a man who has been stricken by God. However, in this psalm the mood has changed. David is no longer outrage at the dreadful thing which has seized upon his flesh. Instead, he has become more thoughtful, able to look at his plight more objectively, able even to philosophize upon his condition.

Two books need to be kept in mind when we read this psalm. One of them David had probably committed to memory during the dreadful case of physical agony and soul anguish; the book of Job. There would be one notable difference, however, between Job’s case and that of David. Job could see no cause-and-effect relationship between his life and his sufferings. That is not the case with David! He knew that, if ever a man deserved to be punished by the living God for flagrant sin, for abuse of privilege, position, and power, for high-handed wickedness, then he was the man.

The other book which needs to be read in connection with Psalm 39 is Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is a sermon written by Solomon, endowed with wisdom, insight, knowledge, and understanding more than any before or since but whose light turned to darkness on account of his sin. Solomon, in spite of all his proverbs and wise sayings and profound insights, played the fool in Jerusalem, gave his lustful heart to a host of pagan women, and ended by raising up altars to the foul, false idols of Canaan in Jerusalem, the city of the living God.

With old age came remorse. Solomon looked back over his wasted life, over the disastrous things he had done, and longed to make amends, at least to leave some warning notice to those who might be tempted to follow his foolish ways. But what could he do, with his influence on the wane, with a fool for a son, and with rumblings of rebellion abroad in the land?

We can picture Solomon in his palace brooding over the words of divine wrath that had been delivered to him: “Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen” (1 Kings 11:11-13).

For David’s sake! For David thy father’s sake! For David My servants sake! Perhaps this word of judgment, that focused attention on David, turned Solomon’s mind to David’s psalms. We can picture him thumbing through them until at last he comes across Psalm 39. We can see him reading it carelessly, then carefully, then contritely, with tears running down his face and splashing on the page before him: “Verily, verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity! Selah.” Surely every man is vanity! That was it—that was the word that summed up his life. Solomon stared at the word. We can see him throwing himself on his knees, as David his father had so often done. We can see him pouring out his heart as David, God’s servant, had done. We can see that handsome, dissipated old man, Solomon, power and pomp forgotten, wealth, wives, and works forgotten: “O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.”

Then we can picture Solomon with a new look in his eye and a fresh set to his jaw hail his servant and call for paper and pen. With the fresh page before him he pauses for a moment then begins his task: “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” So begins the greatest book in the Bible on the pursuits, perspectives, and prospects of the worldly-minded man.