Saturday, March 17, 2012

Psalm 17:14


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Psalm 17:14

14 From men [math] which are thy hand, [yad] O LORD, [Yahovah] from men [math] of the world, [cheled] which have their portion [cheleq] in this life, [chay] and whose belly [beten] thou fillest [male'] with thy hid [tsaphiyn] treasure: they are full [saba`] of children, [ben] and leave [yanach] the rest [yether] of their substance to their babes. [`owlel] KJV-Interlinear

14 From men with Thy hand, O Lord, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life; And whose belly Thou dost fill with Thy treasure; They are satisfied with children, And leave their abundance to their babes. NASB

From the previous verse, God is called to help the righteous and to protect him from the unrighteous.

This thought continues by defining the unrighteous and their priorities and purpose in life.

Thy hand, makes the picture clear that God controls history, not man.  God uses everyone and everything for His own good purpose.  God controls history in three ways – directly, indirectly, and by His permission. God allows evil mankind to have their way, but only up to a certain point.

On his own, humanity would destroy himself and would have destroyed himself many times over throughout history.  But God prevents this from happening by intervening in various ways in order to allow human history and future generations to occur.  Without that intervention, then humanity would have ended long ago.

Which are thy hand, is an expression that addresses Gods control over history.

From men of this world, identifies people who pursue their lives in accordance with the many patterns and plans of humanity.  Man has many plans.  God has but one plan.  Man has many devices, designs, objectives, and no wherewithal to accomplish them.  And yet humanity will pursue their lives in this world in accordance with their own efforts, rejecting the fact that it is God who allows their pursuits and successes.  God even made provision for all that each person does or accomplishes in their respective lives.

God restored the world in six days and in that time frame, made provision for all of the resources that humanity would need for the entirety of human history.  Man provided for none of these things, but man misuses them constantly, especially by rejecting Gods role in history and its provisions.

Hid treasure, indicates all of Gods provision, but it also describes mans hoarding of the worldly resources that they pursue.  Hid, ‘tsaphiyn,’ means hoard, hide, secret, guarded, and refers to the action of man in keeping for himself, that which God has provided.

Mans belly, is the pursuit of satisfaction that man seeks in the things of this world.  This is a satisfaction that never gets satisfied.  Mans appetite is insatiable and as far as this world is concerned, man will never be satisfied.  That which is temporary, can never fulfill the permanent.

Full of children, and their babies, are two expressions that indicate that result of mans obsession with worldly things, does not go beyond their descendants.  What you have or obtain from this world, stays behind.  Your family of descendants may be left wealth from the efforts of your work, but that wealth or whatever it is, is still of this world and is still temporary.

You cannot take with you into the next life, anything that is of this world.  Even your children cannot take it with them.  No one can.

And whatever satisfaction you had, will never be exceeded by your offspring, because the world cannot satisfy, even if continued into future generations.  You cannot extend your life through inheritances.  You cannot improve your eternity through earthly wealth.

Only doctrine can accomplish those things.  And Bible doctrine is not material, but information that requires a spiritual mechanism in order to possess it.

The plea to God is, that we need protection from people of this world, and from the enticements of this world which would lead us to destruction.

Not that worldly things per se are bad, for they are not, but when God is eliminated and replaced with things or worldly pursuits, then their use leads one to self-destruction.

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