The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"cast us off," Hebrew zenachtanu (זְנַחְתָּנוּ), rejected. After a defeat, God's people pour out a raw complaint, and they aim it straight at God: "Thou hast cast us off." They do not blame chance or the enemy's might but God's own displeasure.

"scattered," peratztanu (פְּרַצְתָּנוּ), broken through. The word is of a wall breached and an army burst apart. Again the verb is second person: it was God who broke through their ranks, and they say so plainly.

"turn thyself to us again," teshovev lanu (תְּשׁוֹבֵב לָנוּ), restore us. Out of that very conviction comes the plea. If the defeat were merely random there would be no one to appeal to; but if God cast them off, then God can turn back to them, and this second cry rests entirely on the truth of the first.

"breaches," shevareha (שְׁבָרֶיהָ), cracks, fractures. "Thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof." The very hand that shattered is the hand asked to mend; a wound from God's hand can be healed by God's hand.

"wine of astonishment," yayin tar'elah (יַיִן תַּרְעֵלָה), wine of reeling, staggering. The last of the "thou hast" complaints, and the most vivid. God has made them drink until they stagger, so that the nation is left reeling on its feet like a man who cannot walk straight.

Explanation

Count the times God's people say "thou hast" in these three verses, and you will hear something startling: they lay the whole disaster at God's own feet. "Thou hast cast us off... thou hast scattered us... thou hast been displeased... thou hast made the earth to tremble... thou hast broken it... thou hast shewed thy people hard things... thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment." Seven times over, the defeat is traced not to bad luck, not to the enemy's superior strength, but to the hand of God. Now, that could sound like bitter accusation, but in the mouth of faith it is actually the ground of hope, and here is why. If the defeat were merely random, a roll of the dice, an accident of history, there would be no one to appeal to and nothing to be done. But if God broke them, then God can mend them; the very hand that shattered can "heal the breaches." That is exactly the turn the prayer makes: "thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof." Faith does not soften the blow by denying God's involvement; it takes the hard doctrine that God was in the disaster and turns it into the reason for hope, for a wound from God's hand can be healed by God's hand. The people who can say "thou hast cast us off" are the same people who can cry, "O turn thyself to us again", and the second cry rests entirely on the truth of the first.

Gospel Focus

"Thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof", the God who wounds and heals, who casts down and restores, has shown His whole heart in Jesus Christ. Israel's prophets knew this rhythm, "he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up" (Hosea 6:1), and it finds its deepest fulfilment at the cross, where the greatest breach of all was healed. For our sin had broken us beyond self-repair, and God did not leave the fracture; He sent His Son, "wounded for our transgressions... and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). The believer may therefore bring even his God-sent troubles back to God for healing, confident that the Father who disciplines does so in love, "for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" (Hebrews 12:6), and that His chastening yields "the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11). When you have been broken, and even when you sense God's own hand in the breaking, do not turn away from Him; turn to Him. The hand that wounded is the hand that heals, and in Christ that hand still bears the marks of the wounds by which our deepest breaches were mended. Cry, as the psalm cries, "O turn thyself to us again", for the God who cast down is faithful to restore.

Word Study

"banner," Hebrew nes (נֵס), a standard, ensign, rallying-flag lifted on a pole. After the reeling of defeat, God gives His shaken people a rallying-point: "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee." A routed army needs first of all a standard raised high where the scattered soldiers can see it, run to it, and reform their ranks.

"them that fear thee," lire'ekha (לִּירֵאֶיךָ). Notice who the banner is given to. The rallying-point is for the reverent, those who still look to God; faith is what gathers to the banner while unbelief scatters.

"displayed," lehitnoses (לְהִתְנוֹסֵס), to be lifted up, unfurled. A banner furled and lying in a tent saves nobody. It must be hoisted and shaken out where the beaten men can see it, a sign that the cause is not lost and the Commander has not abandoned the field.

"because of the truth," mipnei qoshet (מִפְּנֵי קֹשֶׁט). Here is why it is raised: for the sake of God's faithfulness, His truth and His covenant. It is not a flag of mere national pride but the standard of God's own reliability, and that is what makes it worth rallying to.

"thy beloved," yedidekha (יְדִידֶיךָ). The people who a moment ago felt cast off are here called God's beloved. The banner is lifted "that thy beloved may be delivered", and the name itself is half the comfort.

"right hand," yemin'kha (יְמִינְךָ). The hand of strength and action. The deliverance is asked for from the same hand that had broken them, so that the whole psalm's hope hangs on God's own arm rather than on a rebuilt army.

Explanation

Picture what has just happened in the psalm, and this verse becomes vivid. The people have been "scattered," made to "drink the wine of astonishment", they are reeling, staggering, like an army broken and dispersed across the field. What does a routed army most need? Not first a lecture, but a rallying-point, a standard raised high on a pole where the scattered soldiers can see it, run to it, and reform their ranks. And that is exactly what God gives: "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee." In the chaos of defeat, God lifts up an ensign, a place to gather, a sign that the cause is not lost and the Commander has not abandoned the field. Notice two things about this banner. First, it is given "to them that fear thee", the rallying-point is for the reverent, those who still look to God; faith is what gathers to the banner while unbelief scatters. Second, it is displayed "because of the truth", the banner is raised for the sake of God's faithfulness, His truth and His covenant. It is not a flag of mere national pride but the standard of God's own reliability, and that is why it is worth rallying to. A shaken believer, or a shaken church, does not need to invent fresh courage from within; it needs to lift its eyes to the banner God has raised, the sign that His truth still stands, and gather there.

Gospel Focus

"Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee", the banner God has lifted up for His people is, in the fullest sense, the Lord Jesus Christ, raised as the rallying-point of the nations. Isaiah foretold it: "there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek" (Isaiah 11:10), a banner around which all peoples gather. And the Lord Jesus described His own cross in just such terms: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32); the crucified and risen Christ is the standard raised on high, drawing the scattered and reeling to Himself. He is lifted up "because of the truth," for He is "the truth" (John 14:6), and the banner of the cross is the display of God's faithfulness to His promise to save. When you are scattered and staggering under defeat, look to the banner: Christ lifted up, the sign that God has not abandoned His people and His cause cannot fail. Rally there, "run to the banner," gather to the crucified and risen Lord, for around Him the broken ranks of God's people are reformed, and "his beloved" are delivered by His mighty right hand.

Word Study

"help from trouble," Hebrew ezrat mitzar (עֶזְרָת מִצָּר). The psalm gathers to its point: "Give us help from trouble." Tzar is the tight, narrow place, the strait a man cannot get himself out of, and the only help worth asking for is help that comes from outside it.

"vain," shav (שָׁוְא), emptiness, worthlessness. This is the same word used for emptiness and worthless idols. Help that comes from man apart from God is not a little weak; it is nothing, a broken reed.

"help of man," teshu'at adam (תְּשׁוּעַת אָדָם). "Vain is the help of man." The verdict cuts down every trust we place in armies, alliances, cleverness, wealth, or our own strength.

"do valiantly," na'aseh chayil (נַעֲשֶׂה־חָיִל), do mightily, act with strength. But the psalm does not therefore conclude that we should sit still. The very next line says, "Through God we shall do valiantly", not that God acts while we watch, but that the people themselves fight and press on with strength drawn from God. Human help alone is vain, yet God's help does not make us passive, it makes us brave.

"tread down," yavus (יָבוּס), trample. And lest the "we" grow proud, the last clause plants the credit where it belongs: "he it is that shall tread down our enemies." We do valiantly; He wins the victory.

Explanation

These two verses hold together a balance that is easy to lose in either direction, and getting it right is the whole art of a faithful life. On one side stands a flat verdict on human self-sufficiency: "vain is the help of man." The word is shav, the same word used for emptiness and worthless idols; help that comes from man apart from God is not a little weak, it is nothing, a broken reed. That cuts down every trust we place in armies, alliances, cleverness, wealth, or our own strength. But watch, the psalm does not therefore conclude that we should sit still and do nothing while God works. The very next line says, "Through God we shall do valiantly." Not "God will do valiantly while we watch," but "through God we shall do valiantly", the people themselves act, fight, and press on, but their strength is drawn from God. Here is the balance: human help alone is vain, yet God's help does not make us passive, it makes us brave. And lest the "we" grow proud, the last clause plants the credit firmly where it belongs: "for he it is that shall tread down our enemies." We do valiantly; He wins the victory. So the psalm steers between two ditches, the self-reliance that trusts the arm of flesh, and the false passivity that will not lift a hand. Faith empties itself of confidence in man, draws its courage from God, acts with all its might, and gives God all the glory for the triumph.

Gospel Focus

"Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies", this is the believer's warfare in Jesus Christ, in whom the help of God has come and the enemy is trodden down. The "help of man" is vain, but our help "is in the name of the LORD" (Psalm 124:8), and that name is Jesus, in whom "we are more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37). The pattern of verses 11-12 runs all through the New Testament: we are called to act with all our might, to "fight the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12), to put on "the whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11), yet the strength is never our own, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13), and the victory is His, for "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do" (Philippians 2:13). And the final treading-down of every enemy is Christ's, for "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Romans 16:20). So take up the psalm's balance: empty your confidence of the arm of flesh, draw all your courage from the Lord Jesus, do valiantly in His strength, and give Him the glory, for He it is that shall tread down every enemy of His people, and has already won the decisive victory at the cross.