Psalm 75: Some Notes

Koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; Thd)

Visiting Professor

Department of Liberal Education

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

Asaph collected this Psalm and it is a “Psalm to Asaph, a song” (Psalm 75:1).

In verse 2 the composer of the words of the song provides a liturgical devotional adoration of God:

“We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks” (v. 2).

There is a reason why the thanksgiving is on the lips of the worshippers: “and near is Your Name”. The Name of the Lord should not be used in vain, as the commandment is saying in the ten commandments, the reason is that the character of God is wrapped up in His name and it is consistent. God do what He promises and vain use of His Name is out of place with His character. The complex understanding of the connection of His character and personality with His Name is brought out very well in Psalm 121:2 where it is stated that “my Help is from that what is with the Lord”. This is a very literal rendering of what was just given in the English translations as “my Help comes from the Lord”. The original implies the deep understanding that my Help is what is the essence of the Lord. The Lord’s essence is His character and personality which is love, righteousness, love, kindness, love, justice, love, holiness, love, care. A long list can go on. Therefore, His Name is very special and should not be used lightly.

“They declare Your wonderful works” (v. 2c). The Name of the Lord is action connected so that God acts in history and made Himself visible through revelation to us.

Then God Himself is speaking.

“For I take the appointed time”. God appointed times in the history of mankind and when that time allocated comes, God acts. He did it with the 70 years exile and He did it with the 2300 years until 1844 and He will do it with all other set times, like the 1260 years until 1798. Once He announced what He said, He does and accomplish it according to His own agenda.

The reason people declares His wonderful acts is that He acts at the appointed time. He said that He will cleanse the sanctuary after 2300 years of the evenings and mornings or tamid period or Holy part and function of the sanctuary and tabernacle service, but in Heaven where the reality of the symbols on earth is.

“It is I Who judge from uprightnesses” (v. 3b). Because Christ has lived and died perfect and upright, therefore in His acts of uprightnesses He is worthy to be the High Priest in heaven in the Most Holy, after the 2300 years of evenings and mornings or tamid, to Judge. William Shea has indicated that tamid appears about 40x in the Old Testament but is never used for the Most Holy place of the temple, sanctuary or tabernacle. It is the ereb-boqer of Daniel 8:14.

God has a set time when He will judge. He said that He will do so at the end of the 2300 years (Daniel 8:14). With the use of the year-day principle, which was popular both in Daniel’s Babylon and in Ezechiel and Daniel’s books, we can say that the extent of the tamid was in 1844. Of course daily conversion and daily forgiving of since needs to take place and the tamid function in heaven did not stop, but Christ took on an added High-Priestly role for the Most Holy appearance in the form of a court-scene.  

Christ continue to speak of a time after the millennium of Revelation 20: “The earth and all who dwell in it shall be melted” (v. 4a). It is the Hell period.

“It is I who established its pillars” (v. 4b). The people of the Bible did not think that the earth was placed on pillars. They knew the earth is hanging on nothing and also that it has the circle shape of an egg or ball. Astronomy was very developed in those days, according to the cuneiform studies, and someone said that they have measured the size of Jupiter!

What Copernicus discovered was lost information rejuvenated instead of initiation of something totally new. The pillars can mean the poles that keep the earth rotating around a specific fixed point. If you have the shadduf wheel (waterwheel of Egypt), you need two pillars to keep the wheel in place for it to rotate 360 degrees in one direction. That is why we think that the poles where thought of as such symbolic “pillars”.

Christ said to Satan not to boast.

“I said to the boastful ones [Lucifer and his angels], do not boast” (v. 5a).

“and to the evil ones [Satan and his angels],

do not raise your horn” (v. 5b).

Christ is still speaking about Satan and the word horn is symbolically used in biblical prophecy to denote power.

“Do not lift up to the heights [mountain of God, God’s throne; Christ’s position; Christ’s function] your horn” (v. 6a). That is exactly what Lucifer did in Isaiah 14:12-14 and also the Little Horn in Daniel 8:11. In his Rebellion against Christ and God in heaven, Lucifer became Satan because of the upliftment of his horn or power in his function for selfish gain. He was the most beautiful creature ever made.

Christ speaks of Satan’s problem in the Rebellion in Heaven history:

“Do not speak in wrongful pride” (v. 6b). Satan’s problem was himself. He was proud of himself and his eyes moved from his Creator to himself.

This exaltation of himself that Christ is cautioning here, is not horizontal.

“For not from the east, or from the west” (v. 7a).

“and not from the desert is the exaltation [of Satan]” (v. 7b).

Christ says it is not a human agency that can be put down by another human agency. It is a heavenly Controversy that needs God’s intervention.

Now the human composer explains the words of Christ to the audience:

“For God is the Judge” [in the investigative judgment since 1844] (v. 7a); and God determines there in the words of God:

“This one will be thrown down” [in the executive judgment] (v. 7b).

“that one will be raised up” [resurrected at the Second Coming] (v. 7c).

Then the eschatological informer tells us what is going to happen at the Executive Judgment of the wicked or Hell event at the end of the millennium:

“For a cup is in the hand of the Lord” (v. 8a)

“and wine foams” (v. 8b)

“it is well mixed” (v. 8c)

“and He pours out from this” (v. 8d)

“also its keeping they will drain” (v. 8e)

“all the wicked of the earth will drink” (v. 8f). In similar fashion as Revelation 16:19 we read of the executive judgment here.

The eschatological informer sees himself as the one raised when all evil is exterminated forever.

“And I, I will tell to eternity” (v. 9a)

“I will sing to the God of Jacob” (v. 9b)

Why Jacob? Because the last event on the historical earth before the Second Coming is the Time of Trouble or the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. Michael or Christ arrives as the savior during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, a prophetic predicted time of severe trouble on global scenes (Daniel 12:1-2).

At the coming of Christ or the Messiah or Michael (of the book of Daniel), Christ said:

“And I will cut off all the horns [powers] of the wicked” (v. 10a).

At this point the eschatological informer adds the last part of the verse to the words of Christ of the destruction of the wicked to explain what will happen to the righteous. He is addressing Christ as if in close conversation to Him:

“The horns of the righteous You will raise up” (resurrection) (v. 10b).

Dear God

For us is the strong desire to be part of those who will be raised up at Your Second Coming. Prepare us for that event. In Jesus Name. Amen.