Psalm Six.
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith. A psalm of David.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
5 No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?
6 I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
[Endnote 1]
The Background and Theme.
This psalm is filled with most angst of the Psalms that we have studied and it is to be one of David’s most personal. Psalm Six is the “first of seven penitential psalms [6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143] …. (Martin) Luther called it ‘a penitential prayer for the health of the body and the soul.’ In it the psalmist expresses his bodily agony and torment of soul as he is taunted by those who maintain that God has forsaken him. Although he is at the brink of death, he fervently prays for relief and insists that God hears his prayer and redeems him” [Endnote 2].
Literary Structure.
Plea for mercy
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?
Appeal to God's steadfast love
4 Turn, O Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
5 No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?
Appeal to personal remorse
6 I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
Confident hope of deliverance
8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
[Endnote 3]
The Impact.
With Psalm Six David gets right to the point with his emotions and he begs God not to rebuke him. The word rebuke in English means to criticize sharply [Endnote 4]. The Hebrew word yakach means this also but it also refers to being in a courtroom setting. You’re being cross-examined. Your actions are being reviewed and judgement is one the way.
David doesn’t try to vindicate himself. As David is before God he is in complete anguish as he pleads with God not to be angry. The Hebrew word for anger (‘aph) here means chastisement with wrath [Endnote 5]. The image of God that David is afraid of is one where God is going to beat him in extreme anger. This was a common idea found in the ancient world and as result people would go to extreme lengths because they didn’t want to have some angry gods.
In this agony one of the things that impacted me is David’s appeal to be healed. In the Hebrew mind sin is viewed as a sickness that can cause physical pain and brokenness. David used the Hebrew word rapha’ which can be translated to mean:
to make whole,
to complete,
to fill,
to mend,
to heal,
and
to provide a cure to make you healthy again!
David acknowledges his sins. David recognizes his brokenness. And David calls for God’s love and mercy. As we noticed in Psalm Five David uses the word ḥeseḏ. With this word David is hopeful that God will intervene on his behalf and demonstrate some much needed divine kindness [Endnote 6]. David paints the picture of exhaustion and eyes that have grown dim from crying because of his sins. David now needs some of God’s ḥeseḏ or mercy.
There is a place and a time for everything [Endnote 7].
David needed to get this anguish out.
David needed to cry and release the emotion.
David needed to let go of his attempts to self-heal.
David took his time to mourn all that was not. Now, David’s words explode with hope! David demands that all who do evil get away from him. Sometimes this is so important because if we don’t isolate ourselves from them then their influence will take us back to evil. David makes this demand because he knows that God has heard him and God has accepted his prayer!
There is a hope for salvation. There is a hope for restoration. David has nothing to fear because his enemies will be dealt with. All that David has to do is trust in the hope of the Messiah!
May you stand in a hopeful awareness of all that Jesus has done, is doing and will be doing for you. God has heard your tears and He has heard your prayers too.
Grace and Peace,
Geraldo
______________
Endnotes:
1. The Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984. Print.
2. Nichol, Francis D., ed. The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary. Vol. 3. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1977. Print.
3. Witthoff, David, Kristopher A. Lyle, and Matt Nerdahl. Psalms Form and Structure. Ed. Eli Evans. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2014. Print.
4. “Rebuke.” Merriam-Webster.com, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebuke. Accessed Jan. 2017.
5. Bergman, Jan, and Elsie Johnson. “אָנַף.” Ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren. Trans. John T. Willis. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament 1977 : 348–360. Print. 15 vols.
6. Zobel, Hans-Jürgen. “חֶסֶד.” Ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren. Trans. David E. Green. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament 1986 : 56. Print. 15 vols.
7. Ecclesiastes 3:1.
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