God’s Word for You

1 Chronicles 16:7-13 The Psalm of the Ark Part 1

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, January 12, 2024

7 That day David first assigned Asaph and his brothers to give thanks to the LORD.

Our author includes this psalm of praise after recalling that Asaph and his “brothers” (which could be relatives or associates) were stationed at the tent of the ark “to give thanks to the Lord.” The Psalm, verses 8-36, might have been written by David, or it could have been written by Asaph or someone else. The text appears in the Book of Psalms in this way:

Verses 8-22 = Psalm 105:1-15
Verses 23-33 = Psalm 96:1-13
Verses 34-36 = Psalm 106:1, 47-48

There are two pretty solid theories about the relationship of this Ark Psalm and the three Psalms that quote from it:

1, David took three of his Psalms and brought pieces of the them together for this occasion as the Ark Psalm.

2, David’s Ark Psalm, presented here in its original form, was later expanded on by David or someone else as Psalms 105 and 106 (the middle verses form Psalm 96 in its entirety). Those longer Psalms appear to be a kind of liturgical commentary on David’s Ark Psalm.

The second view is supported by the quiet exclusion of any author’s name as a superscription for Psalms 96, 105 or 106. Someone who expanded or edited King David’s own work might feel constrained to omit any claim to having written the piece.

I offer an outline of the Psalm, using the verse numbers of the chapter:

8 -11 ... Praise the Lord and seek him
12-14 ... Remember his miracles
15-18 ... Remember his covenant
19-22 ... He has defended his people
23-27 ... He is the only true God
28-30 ... Worship him with gifts
31-33 ... The heathen and all creation worship him
34-36 ... Thank him for his salvation

8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
Make his works known among the peoples.
9 Sing to him, make music to him;
meditate on all his wonders.
10 Glory in his holy name.
Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
11 Inquire of the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.
12 Remember the wonders he has done,
his portents, and the judgments he pronounced,
13 you seed of Israel his servant,
you sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

In the first four verses, we are invited to praise the Lord in various ways, and to seek him. To seek the Lord is first and foremost to consider his holy word, since we cannot truly know him apart from his word. This is emphasized by David with the phrase “call on his name” (verse 8), which is revealed nowhere else but in the Scriptures, given through Moses: “This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation” (Exodus 3:15). And he told Isaiah to write: “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am the Lord, that is my name!’” (Isaiah 42:5,8). Again, David says, “Meditate on his wonders” (verse 9). The story of the sacred Scriptures is the story of God’s love, the wonderful things he has done for the people he loves, beginning with the creation, the promise of salvation, the warnings of the flood, of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the warning to Abraham about the slavery in Egypt: “Known for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13). And the greatest act of God for mankind is of course the victory of Jesus over sin, death, and the power of the devil, on the cross.

This attention to the Word of God is continued by David with the words, “Inquire of the Lord” (verse 11). David had learned that the danger of acting without knowing the Scriptures could be a severe punishment. But the Law of Moses itself contains this command to future kings: “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write in a document for himself (or, have written for him) a copy of this law, from that which is in the charge of the priests, who are Levites. It is to remain with him, and he is to read in it all the days of his life, so that he learns to fear the LORD his God” (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). This is a direct application of the First Commandment as well as the Third. The Lord said to Isaiah, “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isaiah 8:19).

David uses four terms for miracles in these verses. “These terms do not describe different kinds of miracles,” writes Dr. Brug, “but the same miracles viewed from different angles” (Commentary on the Psalms Vol. 2, p. 235).

“Works” (‘aliloth, verse 8). This can be an ordinary deed of a faithful believer (the “actions” of the survivors, Ezekiel 14:22) or by the wicked (Zephaniah 3:7). Here it means the miraculous works and deeds of the Lord (also in Isaiah 12:4), saving his people by parting the Red Sea, by sending to them manna, “the grain of heaven, the bread of angels” (Psalm 78:24-25), and by providing water from the rock (Nehemiah 9:15).

“Wonders” (niphloth, verse 12). God’s wonders go far beyond the laws of nature. God struck Egypt with terrible plagues that exceeded the usual workings of the world. It can also mean the wonderful things God reveals to us in his word (Psalm 119:18), things we could not possibly know apart from his word, especially the gospel of the forgiveness of sins through Christ. Such things are “too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:3; Psalm 75:1, 131:1).

“Portents” (mophetim, verse 12). This means omens or portents. Such things are often frightening. God uses this word to describe the miracle of Moses’ staff becoming a snake and the other early signs and plagues, including the Nile being turned to blood (Exodus 7:3). Joel reports; “I will show omens in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord’ (Joel 2:30-31).  Ezekiel’s pantomime of packing his belongings for the exile (Ezekiel 12:7-11) is described as an omen or portent as well. But we must be careful only to look to Scripture for portents. Anything else, “divinations and omens and dreams, are folly… unless they are sent from the Most High; do not give your mind to them, for dreams have deceived many.”

“Judgments” (mishpatim, verse 12) refers to God’s condemnation of his enemies, especially when his faithful saints are upheld and vindicated by his words. Sometimes God’s judgments are given with words (such as the prophecies about the tribes in Deuteronomy 33), but sometimes the Lord allows miraculous signs to be given as judgments, “My judgments flashed like lightning upon you” (Hosea 6:5). Also, Ezekiel’s words are equally thunderous: “I will send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild animals and plague—to kill its men and their animals!” (Ezekiel 14:21). Compare that with the terrible signs of the bears in 2 Kings 2:24, and the lion in 1 Kings 20:36.

In verse 13, David calls the people “seed of Israel.” This is “seed of Abraham” in the expanded version of Psalm 105:6. Both statements are perfectly true. “Seed of Israel” is parallel with “sons of Jacob” here in verse 13. “Seed of Abraham” recalls the promise of God to Abraham in Genesis 15:18 and 17:7: “I will be your God and the God of your seed after you.”

David urges us to look into the word of God if we would know God better. If we have a question, if we want to know God’s plans for us, if we want to learn why God does some things, or what God did about our salvation and forgiveness, these things are all to be found in his holy Word. God teaches us to ask for and expect good things from him at all times (Psalm 103:2-5). “He fills the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:53); “and we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God” (Romans 8:28), because God wants nothing but good for us, to be rescued from the fallen world and to be brought home by faith in Christ to his side at the heavenly banquet (Isaiah 25:6). And when you remember his miraculous deeds, begin and end with the cross, for there and only there was our salvation won. “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Praise his name forever.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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