Psalms 91:7: “A thousand shall fall by your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; it shall not come near your.”
Psalms 20:7, “Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”
Recently our President went on national television to declare a new wave of attack against the threat of terrorism. You can say what you want about our President but he has proven himself as a man of peace who would much prefer to negotiate than make war and for him to take such an action, you know that threat is real. His role is to protect this country and he is doing what he must and is using the resources he has to accomplish this. But, let’s jump back in time a little here and examine a similar moment in a nation’s history and find out where we are to really put our trust. Israel was threatened with invasion by the Assyrians who were just as much a deadly threat as the terrorist are today. They were demanding payment of heavy tribute, particularly the gold and silver found in the temple that the Israelites used in their worship. King David refused to let anything sacred fall into the hands of the enemy. This did not set well with many in the kingdom. They felt they should give the enemy what they wanted to insure some measure of safety. You see the Assyrian army was invincible. They were on the cutting edge of warfare. They had chariots that could only be pulled by horses that took 20 years to breed. No other nation, including Israel had such chariots. Even if they did it would take 20 years to breed the horse to pull them. The people of Israel were nervous and they looked to their king whom they put their trust in to protect them. What was their king’s response? Psalms 20:7: “Some trust in chariots, but WE will trust in the Lord.” Like, you know, who is this we business? “Ok, for you David to trust in the Lord, but if I am about to get my head loped off, I would like something a little more tangible to trust in.”
In Psalm 91:6 David explains the reason behind his fanaticism. He speaks of a plague that walks in darkness. The word plague is midevar which simply means to speak. If you ever take a trip to Israel you may find the modern Hebrew phrase “Midevar ‘aggelith” very helpful (do you speak English). This plague is a plague of words. It could be criticism, or fearful words, words of doomsayers etc. Mideava is the word devar with the preposition mi in front of it. In its Semitic root the word devar means words from your heart or words that will pierce your heart. We hear the news on the economy, the threats of terrorism, or the spread of ebola and we seek tangible safety nets. We applauded our President for launching new attacks into Syria and Iraq to root out the terrorist who threaten our country. That was something tangible. But are we really trusting in our (flying) chariots or is our trust in the Lord?
David, however, declares in Psalms 91:7 that a thousand will fall at your side. The word thousand is aleph. That, of course is the name of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. As a noun it is sometimes rendered as a friend. It is someone who you are familiar with. If there is a terrorist attack on this nation and a thousand, or those with whom you are familiar are speaking words of fear, their words will fall by your side. The word side is sadad. It is where the Arabic word Saddam comes from meaning adversary, and we all know how he ended up, hiding in a ditch eating candy bars. The mem in front of this word is the preposition from, “ From your side or from you will flow words in opposition to those coming at you and the threats, words, or plagues will fall. Fall is napel which is in a Hipil form. They will be caused to fall, terminated, or drop.
“Ten thousand at your right hand.” The word for ten thousand is revavah which simply means numerous, The word also has the concept of leadership. The Resh and double Beth indicates those in power or leadership who strike at your heart. When the terrorist sent out a video showing them decapitating one of our citizens it struck at our hearts. It was a revavah. This is even a greater threat than negative words from friends or those you are familiar with. For these are negative words coming from someone in a leadership or position of power who is trying to exercise control over you. If they are words which threaten our peace, or our security in God, then these words will not come near us.
There are two people who have the ability to hurt us the most, our friends and our leaders. That is why we get so passionate about our President, we have given him the power to protect us. Our friends and leaders have the power to hurt us because we trust in them and since they are human, as David so painfully learned, they can let us down and that is the ultimate hurt. But if we let our friends be friends, our leaders be leaders, our President be a President and we put our ultimate trust where it belongs, in God, then if our friends or leaders or even our President fails, it won’t hurt us.
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