Psalm 2:12
“The quick anger may sound like the touchiness of a despot, but the true comparison is with Christ, whose wrath (like His compassion) blazed up at wrongs which left His contemporaries quite unruffled. This fiery picture is needed alongside that of the one who is ‘slow to anger’, just as the laughter of verse 4 balances the tears of, e.g., Isaiah 16:9 or 63:9. That is, God’s patience is not placidity, any more than His fierce anger is loss of control, His laughter cruelty or His pity sentimentality. When his moment comes for judgment, in any given case, it will be by definition beyond appeasing or postponing.
(Derek Kidner; Psalms 1-72 pp. 53)
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Two Ways
Psalm 1:1
“…The three completely phrases show three aspects, indeed three degrees, of departure from God, by portraying conformity to this world at three different levels: accepting its advice, being party to its ways, and adopting the most fatal of its attitudes—for the scoffers, if not the most scandalous of sinners, are the farthest from repentance (Pr. 3:24).”
v. 2
“…The deliberate echo of the charge to Joshua reminds the man of action that the call to think hard about the will of God is not merely for the recluse, but is the secret of achieving anything worth while (cf. prospers, here, with Jos. 1:8).
(Derek Kidner; Psalms 1-72 pp. 48)
“…The three completely phrases show three aspects, indeed three degrees, of departure from God, by portraying conformity to this world at three different levels: accepting its advice, being party to its ways, and adopting the most fatal of its attitudes—for the scoffers, if not the most scandalous of sinners, are the farthest from repentance (Pr. 3:24).”
v. 2
“…The deliberate echo of the charge to Joshua reminds the man of action that the call to think hard about the will of God is not merely for the recluse, but is the secret of achieving anything worth while (cf. prospers, here, with Jos. 1:8).
(Derek Kidner; Psalms 1-72 pp. 48)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Our Father and our Foe
“Psalm 13:3, 4. Supplication
Whether verse 3 means that illness was the cause or the effect of this low ebb in David’s affairs, these two verses show what were the poles of his world: God, but for whom life would be insupportable, and the enemy, because of whom any wavering (4b) must be unthinkable. Awareness of God and the enemy is virtually the hallmark of every psalm of David; the positive and negative charge which produced the driving Force of his best years.” (Derek Kidner; Psalms 1-72 pp.77-78)
Whether verse 3 means that illness was the cause or the effect of this low ebb in David’s affairs, these two verses show what were the poles of his world: God, but for whom life would be insupportable, and the enemy, because of whom any wavering (4b) must be unthinkable. Awareness of God and the enemy is virtually the hallmark of every psalm of David; the positive and negative charge which produced the driving Force of his best years.” (Derek Kidner; Psalms 1-72 pp.77-78)
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