Chapter 39
David.
1st - David struggles to remain silent in the presence of the wicked.
2022 - I think this 1st verse is worth looking at specifically:
1 To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, "I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence." [Psa 39:1 ESV]
Why would it be such a big deal to keep your mouth shut until the wicked leave? Is this about not arguing with, not "engaging" the wicked in a debate? Is this just about Kings or does this apply to everyone? So interesting that we ought to keep our thoughts to ourselves - as if we are wearing a muzzle - rather than let the wicked know our thoughts. MSB says it may be about complaining as to the workings of God in the presence of the wicked, and/or criticizing God for not bringing earthly retribution to the wicked. I would think this second would mean criticizing in the presence of the wicked. Wouldn't they feel all smart and smug if you whine because they are still doing so well though they deserve the worst? To do either of these things in the hearing of the wicked is tantamount to giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
2nd - The transience of a man's life. It is short. Ends with "Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!"
3rd - Like the 2nd. This verse:
6 Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! [Psa 39:6 ESV]
Why do we worry so about ourselves, our possessions, our "things". We aren't even a blip on history. We take ourselves far too seriously.
4th - Our hope is in God. "surely all mankind is a mere breath!" Here is the thought:
11 When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah [Psa 39:11 ESV]
Here it is in black and white. If we have sin, and we are rebuked, look what we lose. We lose what is dear to us. We open a drawer and what was precious to us is riddled with holes, of no practical use, and only a memory. This is a fearful, terrible thing. This is something we never ever want to happen.
5th - Hear my prayer...
Here's the last verse in this chapter:
13 Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more!" [Psa 39:13 ESV]
Look away and stop rebuking me, punishing me? Leave me alone so that I can die happier? What does this verse mean??? MSB says this is the same thought as vs 10...which didn't get my attention the first time, but here it is:
10 Remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand. [Psa 39:10 ESV]...doesn't really get your attention. Here it is in NASB:
10 "Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing. [Psa 39:10 NASB]. You can see the parallel here.
So these verses are what they seem to be. God's punishment is devastating. David wants the punishing to be ended. This must have been written after Bathsheba, after Absalom ran him out of Jerusalem. During the time when he was under God's wrath for adultery and murder and conspiracy and for bringing in others to assist him with murder. All that was precious to him was tainted. He just wanted it to end before he died, to get back into God's good graces, to be blessed again instead of punished. He was separated from God by his sins, God had looked away, had left him to the vagaries and randomness of this world. He wanted out of this situation. He just wanted to be free of this. This is a very sad psalm, written from the pit of regret. May I never be in this pit.
Possible FB post.
2021 - This verse:
13 Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more!" [Psa 39:13 ESV]. What a terrible place to be. Sin so thick that it has gotten God's attention and His anger and His wrath. Justice from God is being dispensed. Better to have Him move on to somewhere else and leave us entirely alone with ourselves and our grief and our regret, and not even have Him to pray to, than to continue as the object of His wrath. A very sad thing indeed.
MSB says this "stark" request is parallel in intention to vs 10:
10 "Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing. ... 13 "Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile [again] Before I depart and am no more." [Psa 39:10, 13 NASB95].
Hard to imagine about what and when this was written. David was under chastisement, but it reads, based on vs 1, as if what he had done was criticize God in front of evil men. I get the idea they were Jewish, not foreigners. But David has complained in front of them, perhaps that God has been slow to act in a matter David considered urgent. And because of that criticism, David is now being "plagued" by God. There are other Psalms like this that I always associated with the post-Uriah times. But maybe David got into pretty serious trouble with God at other times also. Maybe we should see these Psalms as the way to pray when God is not listening because of our sins. He says that his life is just a breath of time anyway, so why would God spend so much time chastising. David cannot enjoy his life while God's wrath is aimed at him. David is suffering from whatever is happening. Surely there is more here than separation. Was David truly "mute" from God? A difficult Psalm to understand.