A Song Book for the Ages

(Go To Meeting)

Michael Heiss—May 19, 2023

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Tonight we are indeed going to be looking into the book of Psalms. It's a remarkable book with 150 chapters.

There's no way under the sun that we're going go over 150 chapters in about an hour. Hopefully, what I can do is give an overview of the book, and dive into three or four in order to give us a good flavor.

Psa. 1, to me, is one of the more underrated Psalm of them all, because of what it packs into just six verses. Then Psa. 150, the last Psalm, is also a Psalm with six verses. They're like bookends, and one truly does complete the other.

Before we actually get under way, if you can I strongly urge you to read Appendix B—The Structure of the Book of Psalms in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version! It is in large part came from the work of Dr. Ernest Martin who was professor at Ambassador College in the 1960s and 70s; a very smart individual! I had a chance to meet with him a time or two. Fred knew him better; more well acquainted with him than I was.

In a lot of the books that Dr. Martin wrote—and I have a copy here: Restoring the Original Bible. It is an overview of the Bible, the canonization and he has a section on the Psalms. Before he died he gave Fred permission to reprint any portion of it that Fred would desire for The Faithful Version. So, we have three pages there and you can read them in Appendix B; it's a very good overview of that book.

The division of Psalm is in five books; we all know that, but just in case you don't have them written down, let me give you those five divisions:

• Book #1—Psalm 1-41
• Book #2—Psalm 42-72
• Book #3—Psalm 73-89
• Book #4—Psalm 90-106
• Book #5—Psalm 107-150

These books stretch over a period of time of about 900-1000 years.

• Moses is considered to have written one of them, which takes us back into about mid 1400B.C.
• Psa. 137 and a few others talk about Babylon their captivity; those are written in the mid 500s

These Psalms have been divided by several differing scholars and several different categories, but I've developed five of them. These are the five main ones that I think we should be concerned with or interested in.

Division #1: Psalms of Lament

Crying out to God what has happened. Trouble has come, plagues have come, we're in captivity. These are Psalms of a set.

Division #2: Penitential Psalms

Psalms of repentance: O God, I have sinned against You; You only have I sinned! In fact we're going to go through that Psalm 51; that is a Psalm of repentance.

Division #3: Enthronement Psalms or Royal Psalms

These are Psalms that deal with the king, whether it is an earthly king or the King of kings. They have to do with the king and throne in one way or another.

Division #4: Psalms of Ascent:

There are 15 Psalms from Psa. 120-134, because going up the Temple Mount you  had 15 steps, and on each step the Levites sang one of these Psalms.

Division #5: Hallel Psalms

These are the most magnificent, they're Psalms of praise, and they're written in the most magnificent Hebrew poetry. In fact, the entire book of Psalms is magnificent Hebrew poetry. It says a lot through poetry.

Psa. 1 is the Psalm that starts the 'whole ball rolling.' It is the fundamental Psalm and all the rest of the Psalms really expound on what is taught in just six verses.

We're going to divide Psa. 1 into two parts:

Part 1:

Psalm 1:1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and in His Law does he meditate day and night" (vs 1-2).

This describes the characteristics and the state of mind of the righteous man.

Part 2:

These remaining four verses give us the fate of the man who is righteous and the man who is not so righteous.

Verse 3: "And he… [this righteous man] …shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not wither, and all that he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous…" (vs 3-6)

By implication God knows the righteous, everyone who is of this way. This is sometimes called Torah Road! The Hebrew word is "derek,' which means path, direction, road.

"…but the way of the wicked shall perish" (v 6).

Sidebar: You may have heard of the famous story of a smart-aleck, an individual who lived shortly before the time of Jesus during the days of the two great rabbis: Hillel and… all the great rabbis.

He came up and said, speak the Torah while I stand on one foot.'

All the rabbis dismissed him, except Hillel, who was a pretty shrewd individual and smart that way. He took one look at this smart aleck and sized him us and this was his response:

'Whenever you don't want someone to do to you, don't you do to them.' The rest is commentary, go and study, go and (inaudible)

This is what we have here. You read this Psalm and in six verse it says, 'He who loves God, follows God, and obeys His Law shall receive life. He who does not follow God, he who rebels, he who sins, without repentance, shall die. The rest is commentary; go and read it, go and study!

Verse 2: "But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and in His Law does he meditate day and night"

We know that King Solomon said essentially the same thing. What was Solomon's advice?

Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments. For this is the whole man."

That goes right back to Psa. 1. "…his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and in His Law does he meditate day and night.". This individual is the one who is going to be "…like a tree planted by the streams of water."

In fact, Jeremiah is the same words. No, we're not going to Jer. 17:9, we will leave that alone. We're not talking about the deceitful heart.

Jeremiah 17:5: "Thus says the LORD, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes…." (vs 5-6).

Well, what did Psa. 1 tell us? Not so, he will be like dust, ashes! Then:

Verse 7: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters; it sends out its roots by the river, and it shall not fear when the heat comes…" (vs 7-8).

Isn't that what we have in Psa. 1? Same thing!

• the wicked will not stand
• the Lord knows the way of the righteous
• "…but the way of the wicked shall perish" (v 6).

This Psalm is #1; it kicks the whole book of Psalms off! The rest are commentary of the book of Psalms.

Psalm 2 is kind of continuation of it. You will notice that Psa. 1 & 2 are the only two Psalms that do not have a subscription. All the others have a superscription. It says:

• the Psalm of David
• the Psalm of Asaph
• the Psalm of this or that

But not so Psa. 1 & 2, they are the preliminary ones and the follow one another. Psa, 2 is what we call the Enthronement Psalm. It is the king.

Psalm 2:1: "Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together…" (vs 1-2).

Verse 6: "Yea, I have set My King upon Zion, My Holy mountain. I will declare the decree of the LORD. He has said to Me, 'You are My Son; this day I have begotten You…. [here we have picture of the Father and the Christ to come] …Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession'" (vs 6-8)—and so forth! This is an Enthronement Psalm!

Now I would like to other Psalms of Lament that I mentioned; a very interesting Psalm: 109. We will learn a fair amount from Psa. 109. this Psalm is divided into four sections:

• vs 1-5 is the Lament section
• vs 6-19 is almost a curse, a declaration of a man who says that God ---- no sinners
• vs 20-29 entreating, asking God for help
• vs 30-31—the Hallel, the praising of God

Almost every Psalm will have a division similar to that. The finale will always be to praise God, because that is the message of the Psalms. Let's take a look at Psa. 109. We said it was Lament.

Psalm 109:1: "O God of my praise, do not keep silent, for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. And they surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer" (vs 1-4).

Here's also a type of Christ Who was hated and spat upon without cause! Something very interesting that I will bring up a little later.

Look where it says that "…the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me…they are my adversaries…"

What Hebrew word do you think that is? Try 'satan' (saw tan)! But it's not necessarily what we think it means. Oh yes, we know the Satan, we know the dragon, the murderer, the father of lies. But the word 'satan' does not necessarily refer to him; it really doesn't.

In fact, God specifically calls one of His angels 'satan.' He says that the Christ is also called 'satan.' Why? They're adversaries of something or someone!

• the Christ is an adversary of Satan
• the Father is an adversary of Satan
• a satan against the Satan

• Satan will crush you
• Satan will be driven into outer darkness
• the word 'satan' by itself does not mean the evil one

It can, but context is everything! That is the end of the first section: The Lament:

Now vs 6-19 tell us of the feelings of the one who is deferred. Let us look:

Verse 6: Set a wicked man over him, and let an adversary… ['satan'] …stand at his right hand, when he is judged, let him be condemned; and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow" (vs 6-9).

This is getting pretty heavy, almost down right vicious.'

Verse 10: "Let his children always beg and be vagabonds, and seek food out of their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that is his; and let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor. Let there be none to give mercy to him, nor any to be gracious unto his fatherless children" (vs 1-12).

This is hard to take! Why? Why words like this? We're going to see why; the psalmist is going tell us why.

Verse 13: "Let his posterity be cut off… [v 14]: Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out." Cruel almost!

Verse 15: "Let them be always before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth, because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, and sought to kill the brokenhearted. Yea, he loved cursing…" (vs 15-17)—and so forth all the way down to v 19!

What is the assumption behind this curse? No repentance! When one repents this is made null and void! But if one does not repent, we know what it is: the Apostle Paul said that 'the wages of sin is death!' So, if sin be there and there's no repentance, this is the result, one way or another! He's venting his feelings about it!

Now we have an entreaty to God; v 20: "Let this be the reward of my foes from the LORD, and of them who speak evil against my soul. But You, O GOD the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake…" (vs 20-21).

We switch gears on a dime, just like that. The Psalms do that, we go from one section and all of a sudden you're in another section with no transition. That's the way they're written.

"…because Your mercy is good, deliver me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. As a shadow when it is stretched out, I am gone; I am shaken off like the locust. My knees are weak from fasting, and my flesh has become gaunt" (vs 21-24).

Verse 26: "Help me, O LORD my God; save me according to Your steadfast love; so that they may know that this is of Your hand; that You, LORD, have done it. They will curse, but You will bless…" (vs 26-27).

Verse 29: "Let my accusers be clothed with confusion…"

The Hallel:

Verse 30: "I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise Him among the multitude, for He shall stand at the right hand of the poor…" (vs 30-31)

I would like to pick out a couple of tidbits in this Psalm that you may find very, very interesting. One of them we talked about—adversary!

Num. 22—we call this the psalm of Balaam and his donkey going to curse Israel. Balaam was asked by Balak to come and curse the Israelites. Balaam said, 'I can't, I can only do what God says.'

Numbers 22:18: "And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, 'If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God to do less or more. But please now stay here also this night so that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.'…. [maybe I can talk to Him] …And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, 'If the men come to call you, rise up, go with them. But only the word which I shall say to you, that you shall do.'…. [strings attached] …And Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his donkey, and went with the rulers of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went. And the angel of the LORD stood in the way as… [a 'Satan'] …an enemy against him…." (vs 18-22).

God said, 'Look, if they come to you again, go ahead go with them.' So, Balaam gets up in the morning and went with them. God is furious!

• Why?
• What is God doing?
• Is God 'not all there'?

He's very much all there! Where it says, 'go with them' we're dealing with two different Hebrew words. There's going with them, and then there's going with them!

When God said, 'Go with them,' it was (inaudible) meaning, go ahead and walk with them it's all right. But when it says that Balaam rose up and saddled the donkey and went with the rulers of Moab' that's a completely different word, meaning at one, one purpose.

Balaam thought that he would get to go and curse. God says that He never gave him such authority. That's why God was so fierce with Balaam.

I wish I could make a movie of this, because there he is on his donkey and the donkey sees the angel and is trying to get away from the angel and for some reason Balaam curses the donkey, and the donkey says, 'Why are you doing this, I serve you.' Balaam didn't even bat an eyelash, he starts talking to his donkey.

The point being is that he went to King Balak, and this is was an example of the angel being of Satan the adversary.

There's another point to this; Psalm 109:8: "Let his days be few; let another take his office."

What New Testament individual quoted that and use this to make a momentous decision? Peter did! I would never in a thousand years be able to quote this Psalm and apply it to how Peter did.

Acts 1 is where the apostles had to have a replacement for Judas Iscariot.

Acts 1:15: "And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (now, the number of names together was about a hundred and twenty) and said, 'Men and brethren, it was necessary for this Scripture to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas…'" (vs 15-16).

Here we have double conformation that these Psalms were written by David.

"…who became a guide to those who took Jesus; for he was numbered with us, and had obtained a part of this ministry" (vs 16-17).

Verse 20: "For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation become desolate… [Psa. 69, but you wouldn't know, Peter just rattles it off] …and let there not be anyone dwelling in it'; and, 'Let another take his overseership.'"—his office (Psa. 109).

That is enough for Psa. 109. Now let's take a look at the Penitential Psalm: Psa. 51, the famous Psalm of David, which is divided into sections, too. In fact we have four divisions of Psa, 51. It's easy to determine, you just have to read carefully.

Psalm 51:1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity…" (vs 1-2).

This is the plea for forgiveness. Then we go right into the confession of guilt.

Verse 3: "For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned…" (vs 3-4).

Verse 6: "Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom.

The pleas for personal restoration:

Verse 7: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones, which You have broken, may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart…" (vs 7-10)—the personal restoration!

Why should God do this? Look at what David says:

Verse 12: "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and let Your free spirit uphold me. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall turn back to You" (vs 12-13).

This is communal restoration! David knows that not only he as a king needs to repent, the people need to repent, as well. So, it's a combination. Verses 13-19 are for public restoration.

Now a very interesting Psalm of Enthronement—Psa. 93-99. Psa. 98 is a Psalm that is sung throughout the country every year around November and December, culminating on Dec. 25th! Psa. 1:1-3 give us reasons to praise God:

Psalm 98:1: "O sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His Holy arm have worked salvation for Him. The LORD has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His steadfast love and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel…" (vs 1-3).

That's one good reason to praise God! In v 48 we have a universal call to praise God.

Verse 5: "Sing to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre, and the voice of a psalm. With silver trumpets and sound of a ram's horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD. Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it, the world, and those who dwell in it. Let the floods clap their hands; let the mountains sing for joy together…(vs 5-8). And universal judgment in v 9!

In the early 19th century a man by the name of Isaac Watts read this Psalm and he was captivated by it.  He wrote a sonnet talking about these words in Psa. 98:

Joy, let the sea roar, the fullness. Let the floods clap hands. Let the mountains sing for joy, joy, 'joy to the world the Lord has come, let earth receive…'

This is a Christmas carol. Isaac Watts took this Psalm and re-worded it a little bit, and we have 'Joy to the World,' which originates with this Psalm; it can't be all bad. In fact take Joy to the World outside of its Christmas setting, it's really not a bad Psalm.

This is what I call a 'watigua,' which is an acronym, which is worthless information too good to throw away!

If you're reading Psa. 98, you're really singing 'Joy to the World'! it is joy to the world with clapping of hands and mountains singing.

Psa. 89 is a Royal Psalm and it's also a Covenant Psalm. It laments the apparent failure of God's covenant.

Psalm 89:1: "I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness to all generations, for I have said, 'Your steadfast love shall be built up forever; You shall establish Your faithfulness in the heavens.' 'I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant… [this is an actual oath that God took to David]: …"Your seed will I establish forever… [and indeed it culminates with Christ; that Seed will endure forever] …and build up your throne to all generations."' Selah. And the heavens shall praise Your wonders, O LORD, Your faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints" (vs 1-5).

All the way through we have the praise of God.

Verse 9: You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves arise, You still them. You have broken Rahab in pieces…" (vs 9-10).

This is poetry, a magnificent --- poetry. Rahab is a mythological figure; it's not talking about Rahab the harlot and the innkeeper. Egypt is called Rahab, a broken reed. This is mythological, and it's magnificent poetry.

"…as one that is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm" (vs 10).

Verse 38: "But You have cast off and rejected us; You have been full of wrath against Your anointed. You have turned away from the covenant of Your servant; You have defiled his crown by casting it to the ground" (vs 38-39).

Personally speaking, yes, God warned the tribes of Israel over and over again: 'Do not sin! Do not forsake Me! Return!' And they wouldn't do it.

Verse 46: "How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Shall Your wrath burn like fire?"

It's not that God is weak, it's not that the nations are more powerful than God! NO! They understand that God is angry with them for their transgressions. So, the Psalmist is begging: "How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Shall Your wrath burn like fire?"

Verse 47: "Remember how short my time is… [this is a plea, the Psalmist is begging God] …for what vanity have You created the sons of men? What man lives and never sees death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. O Lord, where are Your former loving kindnesses which You swore to David in Your Truth? Remember, LORD, the reproach of Your servants, how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people with which Your enemies have reproached, O LORD, with which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed. Blessed is the LORD forevermore. Amen and Amen" (vs 47-52).

In spite of all that, it's always praise be to God, praise the Lord!

Two more Psalms, which are Hallel Psalms, the Psalms of praise! Psa. 145 is an acrostic Psalm, meaning that each verse begins with (inaudible) one is not there, but all the others are there in order.

Psalm 145:1: "I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You; and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable" (vs 1-3). That's one set of praises!

Verse 4: "One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious splendor of Your majesty and of Your wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of Your awesome works; and I will declare Your greatness." (vs 4-6).

Verse 10: "All Your works shall praise You, O LORD; and Your saints shall bless You."

Verse 21 is special, because we're going to compare this with the final message of Psa. 150.

Verse 21: "My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless His Holy name forever and ever."

Now I want to spend some time comparing Psa. 150 and Psa. 1, and it's enough to take your breath away and inspire you. Here there are powerful praises like no where else in the Psalms, not in the intense form as it is.

Psalm 150:1: "O praise the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the ram's horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre. Praise Him with the drum and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and pipes. Praise Him on the loud cymbals; praise Him with the resounding cymbals" (vs 1-5).

Why? One of the reasons to praise God is to understand the true greatness of Psa. 1. I wasn't sure if I should do it this way or not. I went back and forth, but finally decided that it needs to be done.

Almost every one of us feels inadequate. We don't pray enough, we don't study enough, don't seem to get it, I'm old, I'm gray and wrinkled. Some of us can't stand, some of us are bed-ridden! I read the e-mails that we get on pray for this and that individual, suffering from diabetes, cancer, whatever it may be.

But the truth is, God knows that! That's what His interest is. I'll use myself of a humorous example:

Technology and I do not go together. Everybody who knows me knows that! When they say that the technology gene was passed out, I was behind the door and they opened up the door and it's a good thing I was way behind the door or they would have broken my nose.

Whoa is me! The Father in heaven looks at me and says, 'Mike, you know I had a servant about 34-3500 years ago, and I had a job for him. He didn't want to do it. He said, I'm unable, I can't speak, I stutter and no matter how hard I tried to get him to do it, he wouldn't do it. If I really twisted his arm, I probably could have. Finally, I said, He's your brother, he can talk and be your spokesman! The work got done!'

So, here I am and we're talking about the 21st century with computers, ports, this and that, hooking this and that, go here, go there….

God says to me, 'Mike, just like My servant of 3500 years ago, I got a guy in Ohio, his name is (inaudible) and a couple of guys in your next of the woods (inaudible) and they know computers and they can help. They can get them (inaudible) so stop moaning and get a job and get it done.

But that's minor, so minor! We have people who are bed-ridden. We used to say on campus, 'Cut the mustard' and old age takes over. It's interesting that Psa. 1 says that known of that's needed. Let's see what it says and what it doesn't say! Who is a righteous man?

Psalm:1:1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful."

How many of us in the Church of God go around with the wicked? stand in the way of sinners and scornful? We don't do that!

Verse 2: "But his delight is in the Law of the LORD; and in His Law does he meditate day and night." We can do that!

Verse 6: "For the LORD knows the way of the righteous…" That's the righteous person! The righteous person doesn't:

• need to be an acrobat and stand on one foot while he learns the Torah
• have to be a genius
• have to play a musical instrument
• have to be a virtuoso
• have to be a mathematical genius
• need to be a butcher, baker or candlestick maker

None of that! Psa. 1 says none of that! God says:

I don't care about your body, I want your mind, My Spirit connecting with your spirit! The link! That's what I want!

Don't you worry about that, I'm going to give you such a spiritual glorified body, you as a human can't even fathom it. So, don't worry about that!

I remember a mathematician—Albert Einstein—saying that we has humans only use about 10% of our brain power. That tells us something. I think he's right. God put a governor on our mind to limit what we can do with it! But when we are born again into His Kingdom, oh that governor's going to be removed completely! We are going to be geniuses beyond comparison.

God says, 'I need someone to walk with Me, to talk with Me! I want to instruct that person, all of you, because you are My children.'

There is nothing in this Psalm that says I have to be a scholar. God's granted me certain knowledge of the Hebrew. Greek is 'greek' to me! I don't need to be all of that. What do I need to do? Walk in the way of the righteous!

That's what we call Torah Road, the path, and all it takes is:

• get out of the world
• don't think it's way
• meditate on the Law of God
• walk on Torah Road

If we get more, fine. If we're shut-ins and we can't get out, we can read the Bible, can't we? If we're so weak, we have recordings! We can have a place for us, and can meditate that way. All of us can do that! That's what the Great God wants! That's what He's looking for!

Psa. 1 tells me that I don't have to be that great. Jesus said that 'there's none greater born of woman than John the Baptist!' But he who in the Kingdom who is least—however we consider the least—is greater than John the Baptist. Which means that we are going to have a capacity to create plans, and administer His power. Encouragement! I don't have to be all that to follow God!

Look at what the final knowledge is, the finale.

Psalm 145:21: "My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless His Holy name forever and ever."

That's a plea, a call! But that's not what the finale Psalm says. After five powerful 'praise Him' it says:

Psalm 150:6: "Let everything that breathes praise the LORD. O praise the LORD!"

That's English, but it doesn't give you the real power. In the Hebrew one is singular and one is plural. That's by design, not by happenstance. That's not by chance. This is the command to do that! Why?

• singular—one—let each one praise God
• plural—let everyone praise God

What it really means in English is: one and all, everyone, let one and all!

Why does it say that? Because it's Psa. 1 and all the Psalms in between! This is what God is going to do for us as long as we're on that path of righteousness!

God says that He knows the way of the righteous! He knows the righteous! Jesus said that He knows the hairs of your head and are numbered. A sparrow falls to the ground and your Father knows it. You are worth more than a sparrow!

Because of that, Jesus says to continue on that road and I will give you a Crown of Life! Because we're going to get that Crown of Life, we don't have to be great. Remember what Paul said in:

2-Corinthians 10:12[transcriber's correction]: "…who measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, have no understanding." They are foolish!

God didn't choose the great Winston Churchill's for example. He didn't choose the Einstein's and great scientists! He didn't choose the great statesmen.

He chose those who would be humble enough to be at one with Him. If we are at-one with Him, He says to us, One and all praise God and you will have a Crown of Life!

This is the message of the Psalms. All the magnificent poetry. This book of Psalms is indeed a songbook for the ages!

Scriptural References:

• Psalm 1:1-6
• Ecclesiastes 12:13
• Jeremiah 17:5-8
• Psalm 2:1-2, 6-8
• Psalm 109:1-4, 5-17, 20-24, 26-27, 29, 30-31
• Numbers 22:18-22
• Psalm 109:8
• Acts 1:15-17, 20
• Psalm 51:1-4, 5-10, 12-13
• Psalm 98:1-3, 5-8
• Psalm 89:1-5, 9-10, 38-39, 46-52
• Psalm 145:1-6, 10, 21
• Psalm 150:1-5
• Psalm 1:1
• Psalm 145:21
• Psalm 150:6
• 1-Corinthians 10:12

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Psalm 137
• Psalm 109:18-19
• Psalm 69
• Palm 51:14-19
• Psalm 98:9

Also referenced:

• Appendix B—The Structure of the Book of Psalms in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

• Book: Restoring the Original Bible by Dr. Ernest Martin

MH:bo
Transcribed: 6/11/23

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