The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"known," Hebrew noda (נוֹדָע). God is "known" in Judah, known not as a distant idea but by His mighty acts. Judah knows Him because He has shown Himself there, in deeds His people could see with their own eyes.

"his name is great," gadol shemo (גָּדוֹל שְׁמוֹ). The second line answers the first: where God is known, His name is great. Israel's knowledge of Him is not bare information but a renown, a greatness that clings to His name among His own people.

"Salem," Shalem (שָׁלֵם), the old name of Jerusalem, related to shalom, peace. The city God chooses for His dwelling is the city of peace. It is there, and not on some far-off battlefield, that the instruments of war are broken to pieces.

"tabernacle," sukko (סֻכּוֹ). The word pictures God's tent pitched among His people: "In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion." He is not a God kept at a distance, but a God who takes up residence in the midst of His own.

"brake," shibbar (שִׁבַּר), shattered. At His dwelling place in Zion, "there brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." The very weapons of war are shattered at the place where God dwells.

"the arrows of the bow," rishfei-qashet (רִשְׁפֵי־קָשֶׁת), the flashing arrows. The picture is of arrows streaking bright through the air, the enemy's attack at its most terrifying; and it is exactly these that fall broken before the place of God's dwelling.

Explanation

Notice how God comes to be "known." The psalm does not say God is known in Judah because of clever arguments or deep philosophy, but because of what He has done: "There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." God made Himself known by an act of deliverance, shattering the weapons of an invading army at the gates of His city. He is known by His victories. This is how the true God has always revealed Himself, not chiefly as an idea to be debated, but as a living God who acts in history, and a people come to know Him by what He does among them. And notice where He breaks the weapons of war: "In Salem also is his tabernacle... There brake he" the arrows. Salem is the old name of Jerusalem, and it means peace. So at the city of peace, the place of God's dwelling, the instruments of war are broken to pieces. The lesson is quietly profound: peace and safety flow from the presence of God. The place where God dwells is the place where the weapons of the enemy are shattered; His nearness is the end of the battle. Where God tabernacles, the arrows fall broken. This is why His people can dwell secure, not because they have no enemies, but because the enemies' weapons are broken at the feet of the God who dwells among them.

Gospel Focus

"In Salem also is his tabernacle... There brake he the arrows of the bow", the God who dwells among His people and shatters the weapons of war has come near in Jesus Christ, our peace, who has broken the power of every enemy. The dwelling of God in Salem, the city of peace, points to Christ, in whom "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14, the word means "tabernacled"), and who "is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14). At the cross He broke the arrows of the greatest enemies, sin, death, and the devil, "having spoiled principalities and powers... triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15), and He gives His people a peace the world cannot give, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you" (John 14:27). And now God's dwelling is not a city of stone but a people, "ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22), so that where Christ dwells by His Spirit, the enemy's weapons are broken still, "no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17). So take refuge where God dwells, in Christ; His presence is your peace, and at His feet the arrows of every foe fall shattered. The God who is known by His victories has won the greatest victory of all in Jesus, and in Him you are safe.

Word Study

"to be feared," Hebrew nora attah (נוֹרָא אַתָּה). God is fearful in His majesty. The psalm does not simply call Him great; it says "Thou, even thou, art to be feared," pressing the point home with a doubled address that leaves no room for a casual view of God.

"who may stand," mi ya'amod (מִי־יַעֲמֹד). The question expects no answer: "who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?" No creature keeps its footing before the anger of God, and the proud powers of the earth least of all.

"when once thou art angry," me'az appekha (מֵאָז אַפֶּךָ). The moment God's anger rises, the matter is settled. It takes no long campaign to overthrow His enemies; the first stirring of His wrath is enough.

"judgment," din (דִּין). This is the judgment God "didst cause... to be heard from heaven," a verdict handed down from above rather than a battle fought out on the ground. Heaven pronounces, and the case is closed.

"the earth feared, and was still," yare'ah eretz veshaqatah (יָרְאָה אֶרֶץ וְשָׁקָטָה). Heaven speaks and the earth falls silent. The stillness is not calm but awe, the whole world hushed before a sentence it has no power to answer.

"save all the meek," lehoshia kol-anvei-eretz (לְהוֹשִׁיעַ כָּל־עַנְוֵי־אָרֶץ). Yet His rising in judgment has a saving purpose: "When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth." The same act that terrifies the proud rescues the humble.

Explanation

Hold verses 7 and 9 together, for they show the two faces of one act. Verse 7 is all terror: "Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?" No one can stand before the wrath of God; His anger is overwhelming, and the proud powers of the earth are helpless before it. That is a fearful thing. But then verse 9 tells us the purpose of that fearful judgment, and it transforms the whole picture: "When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth." God's rising in wrath is not arbitrary rage; it is the rescue of the oppressed. His judgment falls on the proud oppressor precisely in order to save the meek whom the oppressor was crushing. Judgment and salvation are not two separate acts here but one: the same rising of God that terrifies the tyrant delivers his victims. Think of what this means for everyone who has ever been trampled by the powerful with no one to help. The wrath of God, which the proud have every reason to dread, is the best possible news for the meek, for when God arises, the oppressor falls and the oppressed are saved. So God's fearsomeness is not opposed to His mercy; it is the instrument of it. The lion's roar that scatters the wolves is the sheep's salvation. And notice who is saved: not the strong and self-sufficient, but "the meek", the lowly, the humble. The proud cannot stand before God; the meek are the very ones He arises to save.

Gospel Focus

"When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth", this union of judgment and salvation is fulfilled perfectly in Jesus Christ, in whom God rose up both to judge sin and to save the humble. At the cross God's judgment against sin fell in full, and yet it was the salvation of all who trust Him, "that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26); the same act that condemned sin saved sinners. And it is the meek whom Christ came to save, for He said, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5), and He is Himself "meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29), who came "to preach good tidings unto the meek" (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18). The proud cannot stand before Him, "God resisteth the proud" (James 4:6), but the humble He lifts up and saves. And He will arise once more to judgment, when He returns to judge the world and finally save all the meek, wiping away every tear and setting every wrong right. So do not fear the rising of God if you are among the meek who trust in Christ; His judgment is your salvation. Come to Jesus, meek and lowly, and find that the God whom the proud dread is the God who arose, at the cross and one day at His return, to save all the meek of the earth.

Word Study

"surely," Hebrew ki (כִּי). The verse opens on a note of certainty, not of hope. Here is a profound word about God's sovereignty over evil, and it is stated as settled fact rather than as a wish.

"the wrath of man," chamat adam (חֲמַת אָדָם). Human rage is the very thing that seems most opposed to God's glory, and it is exactly this that the verse takes as its subject. Even human rage, meant against God, ends up serving His glory.

"shall praise thee," todekha (תּוֹדֶךָּ). "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee." What was aimed at God is turned round in His hand until it renders Him thanks and honour instead.

"the remainder of wrath," she'erit chemot (שְׁאֵרִית חֵמֹת). Not every ounce of human fury is put to that use; there is a leftover, an overflow of rage that does not serve His glory. And what wrath does not serve Him, He curbs.

"restrain," tachgor (תַּחְגֹּר), gird, hold in, restrain as with a belt. "The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain", holding it in check. The image is of a belt cinched tight around what would otherwise run loose.

Explanation

This single verse contains one of the most bracing truths in all of Scripture about God's rule over evil, and it comes in two halves. First: "the wrath of man shall praise thee." Think how astonishing that is. The wrath of man, human rage, rebellion, fury against God and His people, is exactly the thing that seems most opposed to God's glory. And yet God is so completely sovereign that He turns even that rage to His own praise. He does not merely permit the anger of men; He overrules it, so that in the end their fury accomplishes what glorifies Him and blesses His people. The very wrath aimed at destroying God's purposes is bent, by His hand, into serving them. Second: "the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." Whatever portion of human rage does not serve His purpose, God simply holds back; the word means to gird or leash it, like a belt cinched tight. So God does two things with the wrath of man: He harnesses what will praise Him, and He restrains the rest. Put the two together and the conclusion is deeply comforting: human anger is never out of God's control. However furious the rage of the wicked against God's people, it can go no further than God allows, it accomplishes only what He turns to good, and every ounce of overflow is on His leash. This is why the believer need not be terrified by the fury of the world. The mightiest human wrath is a tool in God's hand, made either to praise Him or to be curbed by Him, and never permitted to break its bounds.

Gospel Focus

"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee", nowhere is this truth displayed so gloriously as at the cross of Jesus Christ, where the very worst wrath of man was turned to the salvation of the world. When men in their rage crucified the Lord of glory, it looked like the triumph of human fury against God; but God had bent that wrath to His own saving purpose, for Jesus was "delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" and taken "by wicked hands" and crucified (Acts 2:23), and by that very murder He accomplished redemption. The early church prayed exactly this truth, that Herod, Pilate, and the raging crowds had gathered "for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done" (Acts 4:27-28); the wrath of man was made to praise God by achieving the salvation it meant to destroy. And "the remainder of wrath" God restrains, so that no fury of the wicked can touch His people beyond His will, "if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). So do not fear the rage of the world against Christ or His church; the same God who turned the cross, the worst act of human wrath, into the fountain of salvation, still rules every anger, making it praise Him or curbing it, and works "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).