Devotional Short Note to Psalm 108: David wrote this Psalm and the section section of the Psalm is his prayer as a general of his army. He used the pronouns I, my, mine, me in 108:7-11 and including his army in 108:12-14. In the first section where he indicates his relationship with God, he also used I, my, mine, and me in 108:2-4. In 108:5-6 he made his confession about the character of God to be merciful (108:5a) and truthful (108:5b). In a world of fake news and machinations of news data for covert control purposes it is important to have a God of consistent Truth. Gossip is not truth but speculation. If data can be interpreted ambigiously, model A and model B, then it is not evidence beyond doubt. It is evidence within doubt and thus gossip if one takes only one model as answer. If there are two sides to a coin, truth will present two sides of a coin. Fake news presents only one side. It is the same with the justice system in courts. The Law of Evidence spell out the rules for these matters to judges. Also in 108:6 David express his feeling about the greatness of God.

The psalm begins with David full of emotion and he wants to sing (108:2). He wants to sing very early in the morning before the sun comes up (108:3). “I will awake the dawn”. Generals of the army are up before sunrise. At least for David.

His singing will be to give thanks to God and praises to Him to the peoples and “among” nations (108:4a-b). Nationalistic-minded David? No. One who is conscious of his evangelism and missionary responsibility to the God he serves. Serving God is like water running. It always look for a space to flow and if the gutter provides the flow is there. David knew that if nations are willing to listen, he is willing to sing among the nations. It appears that he was pushing slightly more, even if they do not want to listen, he is still going to sing among them. There is no ethnic God here. Or a nationalistic God. Also not the concept that “God of the Old Testament was for the Jews but the Jesus of the New Testament is for Christians of all nations.” God belonged to all nations even in Old Testament times and David knew it. He is not giving an opera performance here or a popular secular ballad to many countries. “I will sing praises unto You” (108:4b).

David wants to use musical instruments also so early in the morning. Most people are snoozing their best that time of the latest part of “night”. Maybe David was an early sleeper to rise so early in the morning. These days with LED lamps most of us are kept awake until midnight so that early rising is not on the easy list.

God has mercy and truth. Truth of God is not relativistic. It is not statements that depends ….. Depends how the situation is, using Fletcher’s situational ethics. It is normative. It is absolute. Unchanging. A prerogative. God’s truth cannot be altered by the vote of the majority in a Division or by the consensus of pastors. The Word of God is the Word of God period. “However strong may be his [a member of the church] convictions, however confident he may be that the minister knows what is truth, this is not his foundation” (Ellen White Great Controversy 598). Talking about truth dodgers by consensus vote, Ellen White says: “The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority – not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith” (Ellen White Great Controversy 595).

In his confession David says 108:6a that God is exalted “above heavens”. There is no definite article here. He wishes that God, Who is already exalted in the heavenly abode of God, should also be exalted in the other heavens further away. Christ said that He has 99 sheep that also belongs to His fold and He has to take care of them as well. There is only one lost sheep of spiritual Israel and it is this heaven with its earth (108:6a). He wishes that God’s glory will be above all the (definite article) earth because it is only this earth that is sinful and needs rescue.

In his military capacity David plead to God that he is God’s beloved. He needs rescue and salvation from military threat (108:7).

God speaks in His Sanctuary and David can be able to divide Shechem and mete out the valley of Succoth (108:8). Succoth is Deir ^cAllah in eastern Jordan halfway between the sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. At this site they found a seventh century BCE inscription talking about “Bileam the son of Beor who had visions in the night” and then the information is very pluralistic and syncretistic with a council of the gods that had a meeting and so forth. I spent weeks in the past to make my own combination of the text, transliterated it and translated it. I gave it to Emile Puech at the Ecole Biblique in 1989 and soon afterwards he published an article on it. For me it is evidence of the corrupt religion that Israel endorsed and spun out in those days and which the prophets like Micah and Amos, Ezechiel and Jeremiah was complaining about.

Gilead belongs to David, Manasseh is already his, Ephraim is the defense of the head of his domain and Judah is his scepter (108:9).

Moab is his washpot, upon Edom he cast his shoe [proclaiming his authority over him amid anger] and over Philistia he cried aloud (108:10). Someone threw a shoe at president George Bush visiting the Middle East one day out of anger.

David is asking who will help him to go to a fortified city and lead him to Edom? He speaks to his army (108:11). He is not asking for brave men to step forward. He has already. He needs God to go with him.

His agony is that God is not yet willing to go with them and with his army “hosts” (108:12).

He pleads again for help against the adversary because he does not trust in the help of a human (108:13b) “for vain is the help of man” (108:13b). The God-principle in everything we do is a key to success. Man cannot help and if they do it is always with side-motives.

If God should accompany them then he can have success (108:14).