Psalm 34:11-22, 1 Kings 17:8-16, Romans 6:19-23, Mark 8:1-10.
A). HOW TO REVERENCE THE LORD.
Psalm 34:11-22.
PSALM 34:11. David addresses his hearers as “children” - like disciples receiving instruction at the feet of their Rabbi.
The Scottish metrical version reads:
“O children, hither do ye come,
And unto me give ear;
I will you teach to understand
how ye the Lord should fear.”
The Psalmist elaborates on what it means to “fear the LORD.”
PSALM 34:12. This anticipates the wisdom teachings of Solomon. The “come” of PSALM 34:11 is extended to a ‘whosoever’ in PSALM 34:12 and in Proverbs 9:4-6. The offer of life in PSALM 34:12 is echoed in Proverbs 9:11.
The offer is, ‘do good if you wish to receive good’ - not unlike Jesus’ Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ (cf. Matthew 7:12). For Christians this is not so much ‘do good in order to be good’ - the ‘this do and live’ of salvation by works - but ‘do good because you are good.’ Righteousness is ‘by grace through faith’ - but we are saved ‘unto’ good works (cf. Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 2:10).
Having received the gift of grace, we are summoned throughout Scripture to live the life, and do the deeds of the righteous - and where we are able, to right the wrongs that we come up against in the world (cf. Micah 6:8; James 1:27).
PSALM 34:13. David began this Psalm with God’s praises in his mouth (cf. Psalm 34:1). Having shared his testimony, he then invited his congregation to ‘taste’ the goodness of the LORD (cf. Psalm 34:8). Now he opens the ethical part of his Psalm with an exhortation to guard our tongues from evil (cf. James 3:5; James 3:10).
PSALM 34:14. We are to ‘overcome evil with good’ (cf. Romans 12:21). As recipients of ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (cf. Romans 5:1), we are to actively seek peace: and to make every effort to live in peace with all men (cf. Hebrews 12:14). This is in fulfilment of our blessedness, and is an ongoing duty of our role as the ‘children of God’ (cf. Matthew 5:9).
PSALM 34:15-22 is part of the outworking of the good life of PSALM 34:12 (cf. 1 Peter 3:10-12). The dichotomy between the ‘righteous’ and the ‘wicked’ relates to choices that have already been made within the visible community of God’s people (cf. Joshua 24:14-15). David could afford the luxury of calling his followers ‘humble’ (cf. Psalm 34:2), ‘saints’ (cf. Psalm 34:9), “children” (PSALM 34:11), and “righteous” (PSALM 34:15).
There are several anthropomorphisms of covenant relationship in this section.
PSALM 34:15. The “eyes” of the LORD are upon the righteous.
His “ears” are open to their cry. The testimony of Psalm 34 informs us that the LORD does hear the cry of the righteous (cf. Psalm 34:4; Psalm 34:6; PSALM 34:15; PSALM 34:17).
PSALM 34:16. The “face” of the LORD is against those that do evil, and cuts off their remembrance. This speaks of exclusion from the community (excommunication), exile and - ultimately - death.
When we are in the midst of trials and tribulations we often imagine that the LORD has given up on us. We cannot ‘feel’ the presence of God, nor can we make sense of our afflictions, so we presume that He has deserted us: but He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ (cf. Hebrews 13:5). It is only in retrospect that we discover that He has been there all along.
There are also several verbs of deliverance in this section.
PSALM 34:17. The LORD “rescues” the righteous out of all their troubles.
PSALM 34:18. He “saves” such as be of a contrite spirit.
In our very sense of brokenness and dereliction, He is “nigh” - nearer than ever before - carrying us over the difficult bits of the sandy terrain. His saving work continues even in the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ (Psalm 23:4) - and of doubt.
PSALM 34:19. The Bible never denies that the righteous do suffer. Yet the LORD “rescues” them out of all their afflictions.
PSALM 34:20. He “keeps” all their bones. Not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken (cf. Exodus 12:46). This prefigured the crucifixion of Jesus (cf. John 19:33-36).
The resolution of the dichotomy between the righteous and the wicked is that each will reap just what they sow (cf. Galatians 6:7-8).
PSALM 34:21. Evil itself shall slay those who persist in their wicked ways. Those who hate the righteous shall be desolate.
PSALM 34:22. The LORD “redeems” the soul of His servants. This echoes the positive assertion of PSALM 34:20. The idea of rescue echoes the beatitude of Psalm 34:8.
There is ‘no condemnation’ to those who are in Christ Jesus - redeemed by the blood of the Lamb – ‘walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit’ (cf. Romans 8:1).
B). THE GRACE OF THE LORD IN THE MIDST OF FAMINE.
1 Kings 17:8-16.
“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17).
This may seem an audacious thing to pray for, but the prophet's main concern was no doubt for the honour of the LORD, whose wrath and curse is pronounced against even the nation of Israel if she should turn aside from Him: “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).
After living some time by the Brook Cherith where he was fed by the ravens, Elijah was commanded: “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belonged to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee” (1 Kings 17:8-9).
That this woman had received the gift of faith was seen early in her encounter with the man of God. She professed the inability to feed him with the words: “As the LORD thy God lives, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die” (1 Kings 17:12). It has been well observed, that her desire was to feed her son, rather than to eat him as some Israelite women had done to their sons during a famine!
The circumstances might have seemed discouraging, yet even before receiving Elijah into her house, the widow woman knew that the LORD God of Israel was the true and living God! Perhaps even Elijah's sudden appearance was an answer to her prayers?
Certainly her felt needs were being met when Elijah responded: “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 17:13-14).
So grace could truly be said in that household for the time to come: she had received the LORD's grace, and the gift of faith, the gift of prayer, and now the gift of answered prayer - all she had to do was to obey: “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:15-16).
In His inaugural Sermon in Nazareth, Jesus said: “Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country... Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow” (Luke 4:23-26).
A distinction was being made by the Lord between this Sidonian widow, and the Israeli widows. She had been singled out “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).
C). THE WAGES AND THE GIFT.
Romans 6:19-23.
Upon conversion Christians, 'having been set free' from sin, 'became bondmen' to righteousness (cf. Romans 6:18).
Paul apologises for thus speaking in such stark human terms: but it is “because of the weakness of your flesh,” he argues. Just as, before, iniquity led to ever-worsening iniquity: so now, as we yield our whole selves to righteousness, the result is an ever-increasing conformity to the likeness of Christ: the process we call sanctification, leading to holiness (ROMANS 6:19).
Paul will not give up on his slave metaphor. When we were slaves of sin, he says, we were free from righteousness (ROMANS 6:20).
It makes us blush to remember such times: and had we continued on that course, the end would have been death (ROMANS 6:21).
Now, as bondmen to God we have the fruit of holiness in this life, and eternal life hereafter (ROMANS 6:22).
In this passage so far, we have seen two ways of life: two servitudes. We have seen two different masters. We have seen two different pathways: one leading to death, and one leading to life.
All this leads up to two different paydays. One pays a wage, and that wage is death. The other does not presume that we can earn anything, and pays us the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (ROMANS 6:23).
‘Choose you this day whom you will serve…’ (cf. Joshua 24:15).
D). FOUR THOUSAND FED.
Mark 8:1-10a.
We have had occasion before to comment on Jesus’ compassion (cf. Mark 6:34). Now we see it in relation to another hungry crowd of worshippers, who had been willingly following Jesus for three days (Mark 8:1-3).
How like us the disciples were, who could only see the size of the problem: so much “bread” needed, “in the wilderness,” to fill so great a multitude. But we need to remember how great His faithfulness, whose compassions they fail not (cf. Lamentations 3:22-23)! “From whence?” at least shows a willingness to share in the task, so Jesus asks what they do have (Mark 8:4-5).
The amount is indeed small among so many, but when we hand it over to Jesus our little becomes much. The people sat on the ground; Jesus gave thanks, broke, and handed to His disciples; the disciples distributed to the multitude. They all ate - 4000 men besides women and children - and were filled: and they took up seven baskets full of fragments (Mark 8:6-9).
There were twelve baskets full after the feeding of the 5000 (cf. Mark 6:43), representative of the twelve tribes of Israel. Seven baskets full after the feeding of the 4000, representative of completeness (Mark 8:8). Our compassionate Lord could now dismiss the crowd (Mark 8:9), and entered into a ship with His disciples (Mark 8:10a).
