Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Psalms 46:1: “To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
This Psalm was dedicated to the sons of Korah. Korah, as you may recall was a Levite who teamed up with Dothan and Abiram to rebel against Moses. The Talmud teaches that they accused Moses of adultery and stealing silver that the people donated for the tabernacle. The missing silver turned out to be an accounting error and the accusation of adultery was just the result of local gossip. However, the three rebels used this as an attempt to usurp the position of Moses. Moses didn’t defend himself, he only went to God and declared his innocence to Him in private. Before the three accusers he told them that the next day the Lord would prove who was really in charge. The next day there was an earthquake and the rebels and immediate families were no more. The surviving descendents of Korah were excluded from the priesthood and served as porters in the temple. Some were blessed with great musical ability and David was grooming them to be the musical worship leaders when the new temple was built. Some scholars feel that by the time of David the sons of Korah still had their ancestors rebellion hanging over their heads and David dedicated these Psalms to them to encourage them. In a sense the 11 Psalms dedicated to the sons of Korah are for those who sincerely want to worship God but struggle with a past.
“A song upon Alamoth” Alamoth comes from the word “almah” which means a young unmarried woman. This song was most likely designated to be sung by young female children under the age of 13, sort of a girls choir. This title is part of the inspired Word of God. It is there for a reason. You may want to meditate on why this particular Psalm was to be sung by young girls. It is a Psalm meant to show that God is our source of protection. Perhaps that is why children were used to sing the song as a child is very dependant upon her parents to provide and protect her. So too, we must lay down our self sufficiency and trust God to protect us with the same trust a child has for her parents.
“God is our refuge.” Refuge is the word “chasah.” This word means trust or confidence. However, this type of trust is like the legal term “trust.” Sometimes we have some money or something of value that we need to give to someone else as we are about to enter certain circumstances which could endanger those things. This is like the old movie scene when the hero is about to enter a fight and he takes his watch off and gives it to friend so it doesn’t get broken. We say that he has put that watch in his friend’s trust. Someone wants to put money aside for a grandson, he will put it in a trust where a third party will watch and guard over it. Hence, that is what it means when we say God is our refuge or our “chasah.” We are putting our lives in his “trust.” He is the trustee of our lives. He is responsible for our protection and security. When an attorney becomes a trustee of a trust account, he can be depended upon to make sure those funds will always be secure and will not release them unless the strict guidelines and conditions of the trust maker are followed to the letter. If the attorney fails in this his reputation, and career, is ended. He can face very heavy legal penalties and even imprisonment. When God is our trust, our lives can not be anymore secure.
He is also our strength, that word is “ozaz” which I have reviewed earlier. It is a strength to overcome. He is our moad , very or exceeding strength to overcome trouble or “sarar” which is a trouble that has us bound up. Ever find yourself with a problem that just overwhelms you. You can’t sleep, work or enjoy anything. That problem has you under it’s complete control, it has you in bondage. That is a “sarar” and that is the problem being addressed here. God is the strength or power that will help us overcome that problem. He will help us overcome that problem because we have placed our lives in His trust and by accepting our trust, He is obligated to protect us with His very life, which by the way, He did.
Recent Comments