JULY 12, 2024 Psalm 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will disclose my dark saying on the harp. The Hebrew word that is translated here as “proverb” is equivalent in meaning to the word “parable” which literally means “throwing alongside.” In other words, a parable is a story, oftentimes fictional, that is […]
JULY 11, 2024 Psalm 49:1-3 Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding. Throughout the Gospels, Messiah would often emphasize the importance of listening to His message by saying to his audience, […]
JULY 10, 2024 Psalm 49:1-3 Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding. There is a conclusion drawn by Jewish commentators that this Psalm was specifically placed after the preceding psalm because […]
JULY 9, 2024 Psalm 48:12-14 Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count her towers; mark well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that you may tell it to the generation following. For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death. It is obvious that Jerusalem has always been central to the ideals […]
JULY 8, 2024 Psalm 48:11 Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Your judgments. There is a Talmudic legend that relates the reaction of a notable rabbi when he saw foxes roaming Mount Moriah among the ruins of the Temple — according to the legend, he laughed with joy. […]
JULY 7, 2024 Psalm 48:10 Accrding to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness. When it comes to human beings and our likes and dislikes, we so often try to paint those we love and respect in the best of light. […]
JULY 6, 2024 Psalm 48:8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it forever. In the previous devotion, I made this observation: when King Messiah rules from Jerusalem and we, as His people, are gathered before Him, we will realize […]
JULY 5, 2024 Psalm 48:8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it forever. Many of us have heard stories of miraculous occurrences and Divine intervention on behalf of God’s people from those who have come before us. All of […]
JULY 4, 2024 Psalm 48:6-7 Fear took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in birth pangs, as when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. When it comes to Tarshish — a city or nation known in antiquity for seafaring — Bible scholars have long speculated as to exactly where it was […]
JULY 3, 2024 Psalm 48:4-6 For behold, the kings assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marveled; they were troubled, they hastened away. Fear took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in birth pangs. The Bible declares that, at the end of days, nations will gather against Israel and Jerusalem in particular. […]
JULY 1, 2024 Psalm 48:2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. Several years ago, while on a trip to Israel, a dear friend of mine said of the land, “There is something in the dirt,” meaning that there was something special […]
JUNE 30, 2024 Psalm 48:1 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. There is an old idiom that says, “familiarity breeds contempt,” meaning that it is our nature to lose respect for a person or situation that we are well acquainted with. In fact, it is our tendency […]