Psalm 62: 1 – 12
House Condemned
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation. 2 He only is my rock and my salvation; He Is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved. 3 How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. 4 They only consult to cast him down from his high position; They delight in lies; They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah 5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. 7 In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 8 Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah 9 Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; If they are weighed on the scales, They are altogether lighter than vapor. 10 Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 11 God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God. 12 Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work.
Today’s scripture reminds me of a situation that came my way to deal with. A couple here matched verse 3 “How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence.”
Apparently due to the corruption of local political leaders’ construction was permitted over a wet zone. This unfortunate couple now has their house leaning and ready to collapse. The same rotten political powers who caused this condition by their granting building permits now ruled that this couples’ home is condemned.
What does it mean when a house is condemned?
It can mean a variety of things, but in general use it is because for reasons set by the local jurisdiction it is deemed to be unfit for human habitation. Homes of private individuals or apartment buildings or other structures can be condemned in some places for such things as lack of sanitation, including water turn-off, use by drug addicts, lack of cleanliness, use for so-called “nuisance” conditions, structural defects including hurricane, tornado, fire, and flood damage, and of course the governmental taking by eminent domain for an over-riding public purpose such as necessary roads and bridges and rail lines. Condemnation has been misused in some instances and is often the subject of legal battles.
Scripture teaches us that our bodies are a temple or building. We will learn today how our own structures can also be condemned.
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
This Psalm is again a Psalm of David, dedicated for the purpose of Tabernacle worship to the Chief Musician. Jeduthun along with Asaph and Heman, was a leader in Tabernacle worship in the time of David, directly under the order of the king (1 Chronicles 25.6), singing and playing on the brazen cymbals (1 Chronicles 16.41, 42; 25.1, 3, 6). He continued to hold this position in the time of Solomon (2 Chronicles 5.12). His descendant officiated in the time of Josiah and was the king’s seer (2 Chronicles 35.15). ‘After the manner of’ indicates that he was responsible for the setting or musical composition.
The Psalm was written at a time when David was in fear of his life (verses 3-4), possibly during the Absalom rebellion (they were trying to thrust him down from his dignity - verse 4), or even when he was fleeing from Saul (he had held a dignified position under Saul). Either way he is looking to God to be his refuge, and his whole dependence is on God.
The Psalm divides into three sections:
1). The Psalmist declares his trust in God as his security, and challenges those who act deceitfully and seek his life (1-4).
2). He calls on himself and his people to trust wholly in God, Who Is their sure defense and refuge (5-8).
3). He warns against trusting in man of any level, or in brute force, or in riches, and calls on his hearers to recognize that power and true love belong to God Who deals with men on the basis of what they reveal themselves to be. (9-12).
The Psalmist tells us that he waits quietly on God for God to deliver him, because God is his Rock, and his High Tower ensuring his complete safety. On this basis he challenges his adversaries, who are seeking to kill him because they only see him as leaning wall or a tottering fence. Little do they realize the truth about him. They think that they can drag him down from his high position, using lies, deceit and hypocrisy. They do not realize that his life is in the hands of God. Feigning to be his friends (blessing with their mouth) they are inwardly out to get him (cursing him inwardly).
This could equally apply to his situation when he was a commander under Saul, or when he was hiding from Absalom. The fact that they feign friendship may point to the former, for in the case of the flight from Absalom men were either for him or against him.
1 Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation.
His whole dependence and concentration is on God alone. He knows that in the final analysis He alone Is the One in Whom he can trust. Thus, he is able to declare that he waits in silence on God alone, because God only is his Rock and deliverance.
A truth for us to memorize is that when we have God with us we need nothing else.
To wait in silence is to wait patiently and in confident trust. He is aware that he does not need to bombard God with his prayers because he knows that God is with him and is watching over him.
The same is true for all who are truly His. That is why our Lord Jesus taught us to pray ‘our Father’. Whatever the circumstances, it is to Him that we can look for deliverance.
The thought here is of salvation from those who are against us. But we can only be sure of it if our hearts are set on God.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation; He Is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
This verse points out that this is why he can wait in silence before God in such confidence. It is because God is his Rock and his High Tower.
God Is his Rock. Our Holy Father God Is firm and immovable, offering total security and a sure foundation. He Is also his Deliverance. He knows that He will act on his behalf to deliver him from his enemies. God Is his High Tower, strong and unscalable, the One in Whom he can feel absolutely safe. Knowing that his God has such attributes he knows that he will not be greatly moved.
Of course, there is the possibility that he will be moved to some extent. He is after all human. He may trip up, but he will not be utterly cast down. So, he is sure that with God on his side, such adverse movement will be unimportant and temporary. In verse 6, however, his faith has advanced and he is confident that he will not be moved at all.
3 How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence.
While David sees God as his Rock and his strong tower, God is invisible to his adversaries who consequently see him as vulnerable and collapsing. They see him as like a leaning wall which could fall at any moment, and as a tottering fence which is totally insecure. They do not realize that God Is with him. That is why they are going about to slay him. They do not realize how foolish their attitude is when they are dealing with one with whom God is pleased.
So, David asks them how long they intend their behavior and attitude to go on? For how long are they futilely going to set on him to slay him? He has no fear, for his confidence is in God.
4 They only consult to cast him down from his high position; They delight in lies; They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah
Here he describes the kind of people that they are. Their only aim is to drag him down from his exalted position, to strip him of his authority. And to do so they are prepared to use lies, and false accusations. And their hypocrisy is brought out in that publicly they bless him with their mouths, while privately they curse him in their hearts. Note how their deceit and untrustworthiness contrasts with the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God as already described. He is firm and sure, they are totally untrustworthy.
‘Selah.’ Means ‘Let the worshippers think of that point’.
He now repeats and expands on what he has said in verses 1-2, calling on himself again to wait quietly before God alone, because his expectation is from Him. He knows that he can wait quietly because it is God Who Is his Rock, his Deliverance, his High Tower, his Glory and his Refuge. But this time his aim is not only to encourage himself, but also his followers who are sharing his predicament (verse 8). Now he is unswerving in his certainty that he will not be moved.
5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.
He again calls on his inner life to wait in silence for God only. And this time it is his expectation that is set on God, as he eagerly awaits his deliverance. He has no doubt that when God is ready He will act.
He then outlines why he is so certain that God will act, building on what he has said in verse 2. It is because it is He Who Is his Rock, the Rock on which he can stand firm as he awaits His Deliverance; and is his High Tower in which he has taken refuge so that nothing can touch him. And now he drops the word ‘greatly’. Nothing can move him because he is in God’s hands. For his Deliverance and his Glory are in God’s hands.
7 In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 8 Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
He knows that both his deliverance and his reputation are in God’s hands. David develops confidence that God will not only deliver him but will also restore his reputation and honor (his Glory). In verse 4 they sought to thrust him down from his dignified position. Now he asserts his confidence that he will not only be delivered, but that that dignity will be restored. If this was written when he was being dispossessed as a Commander, he will, as we know, achieve kingship. If as a King, he will be restored to the throne with greater honor. And he knows that this will be so, because in God Is the Rock of his strength, and his Refuge. In God he is both made strong and protected.
All this was not only true for himself, but also for all true believers. He always calls on ‘you people’ to trust in Him , and to pour out their hearts before Him, because God is their Refuge too. He Is a Refuge for all who trust in Him.
We now learn that the fact that David was able to wait silently on God (verses 1 and 5) arose from the fact that he had poured out his heart before Him. He had put everything in God’s hands and he could therefore now quietly await his deliverance.
We too can pour out our hearts before our Holy Father God. As God’s children we can take our burdens to the Lord and leave them there.
The Psalm is brought to its conclusion by a comparison between failing man and the unfailing God. Men are unreliable. They are full of emptiness and deceit. They are lightweight. Their ways are not to be trusted. We are not to be like them. We must not set our hearts on oppression, dishonesty and greed. Rather we should look to the One Who Is reliable, the One Who Is always true, the One Who Is full weight. For power belongs, not to men, but to God, and He Is not only all-powerful, but also all-loving to those who respond to His covenant.
9 Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor.
David recognizes men for what they on the whole are, vain and empty, deceitful and lightweight. There are few who can be wholly relied on. Whether in low positions, or in high positions, they are out for themselves. Men in low positions are empty, like puffs of wind, here today and gone tomorrow, totally unreliable. They are only out for themselves. Men in high positions are deceitful and unreliable. They are a lie. They are for you one moment, and the next they have turned against you, depending on which way the wind blows. They too are only out for themselves.
If you put such men on one side of a set of balances, they are so lightweight that their side will shoot upwards. They have no ‘weight’. They are lighter than a puff of wind. They are insubstantial. There is nothing weighty about them. They have no substance. They oppress, they steal, they set their hearts on riches. They are not to be trusted.
10 Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
Those who trust in God (the ones to whom the Psalm is addressed) are not to be like them. They are not to trust in oppression, heavy-handedness and bullying. They are not to reveal their shallowness by engaging in theft and robbery. They are not to let wealth take possession of them. (They are rather to trust in God, walk honestly before Him, and hold on to wealth lightly. Their hearts are to be set on God).
11 God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God. 12 Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work.
In contrast to such men is God. While men may appear powerful it is with God that power really lies. Our Holy Father God has twice repeated the fact that power belongs to Him. He Is over all. In the end all will be decided according to His plan and will. For He Is Lord.
With God there is no danger of His power being misused. For God acts in covenant love towards those who look to Him. He enters into a covenant of love with all who will respond to him and behaves accordingly. Towards those who respond to His covenant He Is totally reliable. He deals with men openly and honestly. He renders to every man according to his work. As Paul puts it. ‘To those who by patient endurance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, he gives eternal life, but to those who are factious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and indignation’ (Romans 2.7-8).
Man is not saved by his works, but his works reveal what kind of a man he is. He either stands up to examination because His trust is in God, or he is weighed in the balances and found wanting because his trust is elsewhere.
