Psalm 14

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Psalm 14

• When Things Go from Bad to Worse

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References

• Goldingay, John, Baker Commentary on the Old
  Testament, Psalms 1-41, (Baker Academic Grand
  Rapids, MI, 2002).
• Miller, Patrick D., Interpreting the Psalms,
  (Fortress Press Philadelphia, PA, 1986).
• Eaton, John, The Psalms (Continuum New York,
  2005).
• Keck, Leander (Gen Ed.) et al, The New
  Interpreters Bible, Vol IV (Abington Press
  Nashville, 1996).
• Craigie, Peter C., World Biblical Commentary
  Psalms 1-50, (Word Books Waco, TX, 1983).
• Westermann, Claus, The Psalms Structure, Content
  Message, (Augsburg Publishing House,
  Minneapolis, 1980).
• Brueggemonn, Walter, The Message of the Psalms,
  (Augsburg Minneapolis, 1984).

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Psalm 14

• 1     Fools say in their hearts, There is no
  God.
• They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds
• there is no one who does good.
• 2     The Lord looks down from heaven on
  humankind
• to see if there are any who are wise,
• who seek after God.
• 3     They have all gone astray, they are all
  alike perverse
• there is no one who does good,
• no, not one.

4
Psalm 14

• 4     Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
• who eat up my people as they eat bread,
• and do not call upon the Lord?
• 5     There they shall be in great terror,
• for God is with the company of the righteous.
• 6     You would confound the plans of the poor,
• but the Lord is their refuge.
• 7     O that deliverance for Israel would come
  from Zion!
• When the Lord restores the fortunes of his
  people,
• Jacob will rejoice Israel will be glad. NRSV

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Structure of the Corporate Prayer

• v. 1a The Fools view
• v. 1b-3 Observations on the corrupt situation
• v. 4-6 The wicked are overwhelmed by God
• v. 7 Wish for God to take action

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Structure of the Corporate Prayer

• v. 1-3 Meditation/Observation
• v. 4-6 Lament
• v. 7 Anticipated Celebration
• (Craigie, p. 148)

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Amazing Grace (original lyrics)
The Lord has promisd good to me,His word my
hope securesHe will my shield and portion
be,As long as life endures. Yes, when this
flesh and heart shall fail,And mortal life shall
ceaseI shall possess, within the veil,A life
of joy and peace. The earth shall soon dissolve
like snow,The sun forbear to shineBut God, who
calld me here below,Will be forever mine
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History of a Song

• John Newton wrote this hymn after converting to
  Christianity In the village Kineton,
  Warwickshire, England. The hymn describes his
  feelings about the slave trade while on his ship,
  the Greyhound, in 1748. Several years later he
  abandoned the slave trade. Newton maintained that
  his true conversion did not take place until
  several years after the storm incident.
  (Wikopedia)

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Has Amazing Grace Changed Over the Years?

• First Added in Uncle Toms Cabin When we've
  been there ten thousand years, bright shining as
  the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise
  than when we first begun. Added to hymnal in 19
  century.
• The melody most often used for this hymn was not
  original (nor was Newton a composer). As with
  other hymns of this period, the words were sung
  to a number of tunes before and after they first
  became linked to the now familiar variant of the
  tune "New Britain" in William Walker's shape-note
  tunebook Southern Harmony, 1835. 1
• There are several tunes to which these words have
  been sung. (Wikopedia Amazing Grace)

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Fool Cartoon
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Who is this fool/scoundral?

• Get in Pairs or Triplets
• Make a list of everything the text tells you
  about what a fool is and what a fool is not
• Read the text carefully and repeatedly

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Who is this fool/scoundral

• A representative person, not a specific
  individual
• One who characterizes the whole society
• Is not necessarily someone who declares unbelief
  with his/her lips
• Does evil/bad things to hurt other people
  (confound the plans of the poor)
• Doesnt seek God
• Doesnt call upon God for help
• Ends up in living in terror
• Could be intelligent or unintelligent
• Doesnt think God will do anything, does not
  fear God.

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What do we learn about The Fool from other
scriptures?
14
Fool picture
15
Nabal

• David asks Nabal for food There was a man in
  Maon, whose property was in Carmel. The man was
  very rich he had three thousand sheep and a
  thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in
  Carmel. .
• Nabal answers David 11 Shall I take my bread
  and my water and the meat that I have butchered
  for my shearers, and give it to men who come from
  I do not know where?
• 12 So Davids young men turned away, and came
  back and told him all this. 13 David said to his
  men, Every man strap on his sword! .

16
Nebal and wife
17
View from Mount Carmel Nabel was rich and owned
land there (1 Samuel 252)
18
Nabals Wife

• 14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabals
  wife, David sent messengers out of the
  wilderness to salute our master and he shouted
  insults at them. 15 Yet the men were very good to
  us, and we suffered no harm, and we never missed
  anything when we were in the fields, as long as
  we were with them 16 they were a wall to us both
  by night and by day, all the while we were with
  them keeping the sheep. .
• 23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and She
  fell at his feet and said, Upon me alone, my
  lord, be the guilt . 25 My lord, do not take
  seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal for as
  his name is, so is he Nabal is his name, and
  folly is with him but I, your servant, did not
  see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. NRSV
  1 Samual 252-25

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Abigail
20
Abigail
21
Nebuchadnessar
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Example of Nebuchadnessar

• 3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain
  and turmoil and the hard service with which you
  were made to serve, 4 you will take up this taunt
  against the king of Babylon How the oppressor
  has ceased! . Your pomp is brought down to
  Sheol, maggots are the bed beneath you, and
  worms are your covering. 12     How you are
  fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How
  you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the
  nations low! 13     You said in your heart, I
  will ascend to heaven I will raise my throne
  above the stars of God I will sit on the mount
  of assembly on the heights of Zaphon 14     I
  will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will
  make myself like the Most High. 15     But you
  are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the
  Pit. (NRSV Isaiah 143ff)

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Nebuchadnezzar
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Example of the Assyrian King and his Rabshakeh
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Example of the Rabshakeh

• 28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a
  loud voice in the language of Judah, Hear the
  word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29
  Thus says the king Do not let Hezekiah deceive
  you, for he will not be able to deliver you out
  of my hand. . Do not listen to Hezekiah when he
  misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us.
  33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever
  delivered its land out of the hand of the king of
  Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and
  Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena,
  and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my
  hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the countries
  have delivered their countries out of my hand,
  that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my
  hand? (2 Kings 1828ff, NRSV)

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Defeat of Assyrian Army Outside Jerusalem185,000
Men Slaughtered (2 Kings 1935)
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Fool picture
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King Nebuchadnezzar
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What do we learn?

• A fool was not someone who was dumb or silly.
• Were often rich men and even Kings
• A person who decides and acts on the basis of the
  wrong assumption.
• A fool makes a mistake about reality
• Scoffs at God (Ps 7418,22)
• Opposite of noble or honorable person (Isaiah
  325)

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Who are the fools today?

• Leaders that make decisions that hurt people but
  help themselves? Who are they?
• Countries that do things that hurt others but
  help themselves? Who are they?
• Does the purely postmodern worldview lead us
  along the path of fools? (No Meta-Narrative, no
  norms, deconstruction, no way to determine right
  from wrong, good from bad.) Who is teaching that
  worldview? Where are they teaching it?

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Billy Joel and Wife Kate
32
Frank Sinatra
33
Who is not a fool?

• The person/community who shows insight into
  reality
• The person/community seeking God
• A person/community calling out to The LORD for
  help

34
Those Who Seek God Live

• 4     For thus says the Lord to the house of
  Israel Seek me and live 5     but do not seek
  Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross
  over to Beer-sheba for Gilgal shall surely go
  into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
  6     Seek the Lord and live, or he will break
  out against the house of Joseph like fire, and it
  will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.
  7     Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood, and
  bring righteousness to the ground! 8     The one
  who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep
  darkness into the morning, and darkens the day
  into night, who calls for the waters of the sea,
  and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
  the Lord is his name, 9     who makes destruction
  flash out against the strong, so that destruction
  comes upon the fortress. 10     They hate the one
  who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one
  who speaks the truth. 11     Who are my people?
  (Amos 54ff)

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Those Who Seek God Live

• Therefore because you trample on the poor and
  take from them levies of grain, you have built
  houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in
  them you have planted pleasant vineyards, but
  you shall not drink their wine. 12     For I know
  how many are your transgressions, and how great
  are your sins you who afflict the righteous, who
  take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the
  gate. 13     Therefore the prudent will keep
  silent in such a time for it is an evil time.
  14     (Amos 54ff)

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Those Who Seek God Live

• Seek good and not evil, that you may live and so
  the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
  just as you have said. 15     Hate evil and love
  good, and establish justice in the gate it may
  be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be
  gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
  16     Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of
  hosts, the Lord In all the squares there shall
  be wailing and in all the streets they shall
  say, Alas! alas! They shall call the farmers to
  mourning, and those skilled in lamentation, to
  wailing 17     in all the vineyards there shall
  be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of
  you, says the Lord. NRSV. Am 54-17

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God is a refuge/shelter

• God is our refuge and strength, a very present
  help in trouble. Ps 461
• On God rests my deliverance and my honor my
  mighty rock, my refuge is in God. Ps 627

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Is the World really that bad?
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Los Vegas at Night
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Los Vegas Evil
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Los Vegas at day
42
Los Vegas Evil
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Hungry Children
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US Coffins
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Child War Victim
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Venezuelans Protest Violent Crime in 2006
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Did You Notice the Repetition of Negatives/No?

• No God
• No one who does good
• If there are ANY who understand
• No one who does good
• Not even one

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Did You Notice the Repetition of Sweeping
Absolute Statements?

• No one who does good
• All have turned aside
• If there are any who understand
• No one who does good
• Not even one
• Will evildoers never learn?

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Humanity Descibed before the Flood

• 11 Now the earth was corrupt in Gods sight, and
  the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God
  saw that the earth was corrupt for all flesh had
  corrupted its ways upon the earth. 13 And God
  said to Noah, I have determined to make an end
  of all flesh, for the earth is filled with
  violence because of them now I am going to
  destroy them along with the earth. (NRSV Genesis
  611-13)

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The Power of Sin by Paul

• 9 What then? Are we any better off? No, not at
  all for we have already charged that all, both
  Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, 10
  as it is written There is no one who is
  righteous, not even one 11     there is no one
  who has understanding, there is no one who seeks
  God. 12     All have turned aside, together they
  have become worthless there is no one who shows
  kindness, there is not even one. 13  Their
  throats are opened graves they use their tongues
  to deceive. The venom of vipers is under their
  lips. 14 Their mouths are full of cursing and
  bitterness. 15  Their feet are swift to shed
  blood 16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
  17 and the way of peace they have not known.
  18  There is no fear of God before their eyes.

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Is there One Group or Two Groups?

• Is Everyone Wicked? Or are there actually some
  who are Righteous?

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Is there One Group or Two Groups?

• In Psalm 14, there is a righteous group, since
• my people are devoured by such fools/scoundrels
  (v. 4)
• God is among the company of the righteous (v.
  5)
• The plans of the poor are different than those
  who do evil things (v. 6)
• Some take refuge in Yahweh (v. 6)
• The last verse hopes for God to come and
  intervene and rescue Israelwhich seems to not be
  in the group of fools/wicked who are oppressing
  them (v. 7)
• But notice this clarification doesnt occur in
  the first 3 verses. Is ambiguity intended? Why?

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Is the World really that bad?

• The Bible holds together two truths
• There is one groupall are corrupt
• There are two groups The wicked and the
  righteous

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How Does Paul Hold this Tension?

• Paul holds these together in that all people have
  sinned and are sinful (Paul),
• and yet righteousness is obtainable through
  Christ alone.
• So, we all begin in the one group, but there are
  two groups because of Christ, not because of any
  righteous deeds we have done.

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How Do the Psalms Hold this Tension Between One
and Two Groups?

• Wickedness can and does increase in societies to
  the point of being unbearable to all. And all
  seem to participate. Prophets often make
  sweeping statements on entire nations being
  wayward and corrupt.
• At the same time, the powerful oppress the poor,
  a remnant of righteous, the less powerful with
  whom God sides, lives among, and delivers.

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What Makes Someone Among the Wicked?

• They eat people as easily as they eat bread (LXX)
• Move easily from eating people to eating a good
  meal, like contract killers going out for dinner
  (Goldingay, p. 215)
• By devouring people they get their bread. Its
  because of their oppressive ways that they gain
  wealth. (Goldingay, p. 215)

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Israelite Rulers Eat People Also

• 3 And I said Listen, you heads of Jacob and
  rulers of the house of Israel! Should you not
  know justice? 2     
• you who hate the good and love the evil,
• who tear the skin off my people, and the flesh
  off their bones 3 
• who eat the flesh of my people, flay their skin
  off them, break their bones in pieces, and chop
  them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a
  caldron. (NRSV- Micah 31-3)

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What is Loathsome to God?

• Pride
• Lying
• Murder
• Perjury
• Dishonesty
• See Proverbs 616-19111

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Where is God?

• In the heavens looking down (v. 2)
• In the company of the poor/weak (v. 5)
• In Zion (Jerusalem) among the worshipping
  community in the temple (v. 7)

60
Can You Imagine God Looking?

• This is not the usual word for God looking down
  from the heavens, but a word that depicts God
  leaning through a window.

61
Similar Image of God Searching

• At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
  and I will punish the people who rest
  complacently on their dregs, those who say in
  their hearts, The Lord will not do good, nor
  will he do harm. 13 Their wealth shall be
  plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though
  they build houses, they shall not inhabit (Zeph
  112)

62
Diogenes searching for a True Man
63
What is Evidence of Gods Reign?

• The deliverance of the poor
• The downfall of the wicked

64
Will God Act?

• 12     They have spoken falsely of the Lord, and
  have said, He will do nothing. No evil will come
  upon us, and we shall not see sword or famine.
  13     The prophets are nothing but wind, for the
  word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to
  them! Jer 512-13

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Womens Rights
66
IJM Current Day Freed Slaves
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Hungry Children
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Whats It Mean for Us?

• The Psalm is not about those who dont believe
  that God exist but for those doubting that God
  will take action against evil.
• Its about the psalmist/believer looking out into
  the world and seeing an unjust situation where it
  seems like God is not taking notice nor doing
  anything about it.
• The wicked notice this also and continue in their
  wickedness.
• This psalm is for believers to pray when they
  feel abandoned by God and find themselves
  doubting that God will act. We can honestly
  express our observations and find hope that God
  will act. (Miller, p. 98-99)

69
Questions?

• What makes you wonder whether God cares at all
  about what goes on in the world?
• Who are the fools in your world?
• In what ways do you live as though God will do
  nothing?
• What does the Psalm say that God cares about?
• Try reading the Psalm while identifying yourself
  as the poor being oppressed? What emerges for
  you?
• Try reading the Psalm while identifying yourself
  with the Fool and the wicked? What emerges for
  you?
• How do we participate on a daily basis in corrupt
  systems related to economics, politics, and
  ultimate loyalties?
• What can we do about it? Ponder these actions as
  actions related to your following Jesus as Savior
  and Lord.

70
Actions, Social Decisions, and Theology are
connected

• If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and
  drink, for tomorrow we die. 33     Do not be
  deceived Bad company ruins good morals. 34
  Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more
  for some people have no knowledge of God. I say
  this to your shame. (1 Co 1532-34)

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What is a refuge/shelter?

• for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the
  enemy. Ps 613
• The high mountains are for the wild goats the
  rocks are a refuge for the coneys. Ps 10418
• They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and
  cling to the rock for want of shelter. Job 248

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Did you notice the ambiguity of whether God or
humans are speaking?

• V. 1, 3, 4, 5a could be either
• V. 2, 6-7 seem to be clearly the community
  speaking to other humans
• V. 2, 7 to other believers
• v. 6 to the wicked fools