THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LVI. Handling Dangerously Relentless Marxist Political Slander

(Psalm 56:1-13)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Dangerously relentless Marxist political slander abounds today, and we need to know how to handle it:

(1) It occurs with regard to voter ID laws: “ . . . (I)n 2019 a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research – based on turnout data from 2008 to 2018 – concluded that voter ID laws ‘have no negative effect on registration or turnout, overall or for any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation” and “nearly 8 in 10 Americans support” these laws. (Hans Von Spakovsky and Joseph Sturdy, “Study debunks ‘suppression’ conspiracy theories,” Republican-American, February 14, 2023, p. 8A) Nevertheless, “liberal and Democratic party leaders keep opposing voter integrity measures” and “continue their insults, slander, and humiliation tactics to discredit the overwhelming consensus among the public on this issue.” (Ibid.)

(2) It occurs with regard to the January 2021 Capitol riot: “President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address . . . called the . . . riot ‘the greatest threat to democracy since the Civil War’ . . . Mr. Biden has taken every chance to promote the idea that an hours-long riot, in which no politician was harmed but an unarmed rioter was shot point-blank by a Capitol Police officer – somehow was a bigger threat to America’s democratic order than Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Islamic terrorism and the deadly left-wing riots that occurred just months before Jan. 6. This rhetoric promotes a political double standard while setting the stage for the criminalization of opposition.” (“A poor performance by Mr. Biden,” Ibid., February 9, 2023, p. 10A)

(3) It occurs with regard to the anti-police movement: In the same address, the President ignored “the fact that all five police officers charged with murdering Tyre Nichols are Black,” and he invoked “racist conspiracy theories about policing when he addressed Mr. Nichols’ parents.” (Ibid.)

(4) It occurs in the mainstream media, the tech giants and the National Intelligence agency as seen in the last presidential election: “The [New York] Post . . . interviewed the owner of the Delaware computer shop where Hunter [Biden] had abandoned his laptop. It provided Hunter’s signature on a receipt. The Post had on-the-record sources with intimate knowledge of Hunter’s business dealings” and “on-the-record interviews with people who claimed to have interactions with the presidential candidate . . . And later, the emails were authenticated by forensic specialists at other outlets, as well.” (David Harsanyi, “James Clapper can’t stop lying,” Ibid., February 20, 2023, p. 8A) Yet, “former director of National Intelligence James Clapper . . . and 50 other former intel officials signed [a letter] during the 2020 presidential campaign warning that the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story . . . ‘has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,’” and “(v)irtually the entire censorious journalistic establishment . . . with the help of tech giants . . . limited the story’s exposure by either banning it outright as disinformation, creating the impression that it didn’t meet proper journalistic standards or implying that it had been planted by Russians. The media wasn’t going to allow another Hillary Clinton-like scandal to sink the prospects of a Democrat.” (Ibid.)

(5) Significantly, each of these problems is fueled by Marxists: Hugo Gurdon’s February 10 Washington Examiner column, “The Left’s world wide web of censorship,” cited in “Quotable,” Ibid., Republican-American, February 13, 2023, p. 6A explained this, noting that “‘America’s ideological and media landscape has become a place of suppression. Leftists do not see differences of opinion as needing to be debated, for logical argument triumphs over [their] nonsense, and our postmodern Marxist masters would thus enjoy limited success. So, they prefer not to explain or argue and instead do what they can to silence antagonists and inflict financial and social pain on them.’”

Need: So, we ask, “How can we handle the dangerously relentless Marxist political slander that we face?!”

I. In Psalm 56, David faced dangerously relentless political slander when he fled from Saul to Philistia:

A. The introductory notes, part of the Hebrew text (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 1023), state that David composed this psalm when the Philistines “seized” him in Gath. (NIV and ESV)

B. 1 Samuel 21:8-10 with 17:1-51explains the background to this, that David had fled from Saul to the Philistine ruler Achish in Gath for refuge, but David was wearing the sword of the Philistine Goliath whom he had slain!

C. In seeing David wear the Philistine Goliath’s sword by his side and recalling that Israel’s women had praised David more than Saul after David had slain Goliath (1 Samuel 21:11; 18:6-7), Achish’s servants had seized David and taken him to Achish, telling Achish that David was Israel’s king so that Achish might execute him!

D. What Achish’s men said terrified David, for if Achish believed them, he would slay David, 1 Samuel 21:12.

E. Thus, Psalm 56 expresses David’s concern over his Philistine foes (Psalm 56:1-2) and clarifies his worry over the relentless way Achish’s servants kept slanderously calling him Israel’s king to Achish (verses 1b, 2a, 5a).

II. Therefore, David cried unto the Lord for deliverance from death by the Philistines, Psalm 56:1a, 7, 8-9.

III. Of note, verses 4 and 10-11 are a repeated refrain with a mounting theme that addresses David’s needs:

A. In verse 4 KJV, David said, “In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what [mere] flesh can do unto me” where in the repetition of this refrain in verses 10-11 KJV, much of the same words occur, but with the major addition of the phrase, “in the Lord will I praise his word.” (verse 10b KJV).

B. This major addition to the repeated refrain highlights the solution to the crisis that David faced (as follows):

1. The word translated “Lord” is Yahweh, the Qal stem of the verb hawah, “become” so that Yahweh means “the One Who is . . . the existing, ever-living, as self-consistent and unchangeable,” Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 217-218. This divine name answers the threat of the dangerous relentless slander that David faced: God was eternally ready as Yahweh to rescue him from the relentless slander by Achish’s servants!

2. David three times in this psalm spoke of praising God’s word (Psalm 56:4, 10 [2X]), and God had given His word back in 1 Samuel 16:1, 12-13 through the prophet Samuel that he would be Israel’s next king, meaning that David had to live long enough to see that word of God fulfilled with his being made king, a promise of great blessing since in the current crisis his life was at risk of soon being terminated by Achish!

3. Thus, to overcome the dangerously relentless political slander of Achish’s servants who kept trying to inflame Achish to execute David as if David were already Israel’s king, David trusted in the relentlessly eternal, self-existing Yahweh to fulfill His promise that he would YET BECOME Israel’s king, a great promise of hope for David that meant that he would somehow survive this current life-threatening crisis!

IV. David closed Psalm 56:12-13 so assured that God would deliver him that he spoke of praising God for delivering him in the past tense as if that deliverance had already occurred!

V. In the end, David acted insane before Achish, and since pagans believed that the insane were “an evil portent” to be “exempt from harm lest the gods be provoked,” Achish let David leave Gath unharmed, and David escaped to the cave of Adullam, 1 Samuel 21:13-22:1. (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 452)

Lesson: When facing dangerously relentless political slander while captive in Gath, David trusted in the delivering, relentlessly self-existing God “Yahweh” and His word that promised him a future as Israel’s king after this crisis.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we handle dangerously relentless Marxist political slander that we face today by trusting our eternally existing “Yahweh’s” Scripture promises of deliverance.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and provide additional guidance . . .)

We apply the sermon lesson to the issues of concern mentioned in our introduction (as follows):

(1) Regarding the Marxist left’s slanderous opposition to voter ID laws, its misrepresentation of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, its anti-police movement and its efforts through the mainstream media, tech giants and National Intelligence Agency to sway the last presidential election, 1 Peter 2:12-17 instructs us (as follows): (a) Peter wrote to Christians who faced slander from the world, 1 Peter 2:12a. (b) God willed that such believers silence their slanderers by good deeds, not using their liberty in Christ as a cover to do evil, but to live as God’s servants, 1 Peter 2:12b, 15-16. (c) Peter explained that such good deeds involve being law-abiding citizens in 1 Peter 2:13-14, 17! (c) Of course, Acts 5:29 calls us to obey God above man when God’s requirements of us differ from what human leaders or their laws dictate. However, even then, we must express our civil disobedience in a respectable manner! (1 Peter 2:12b)

(2) To handle Marxists themselves, (a) first, Proverbs 28:4 states, “Those who forsake the Law (Scripture) [like Marxists do] praise the wicked, but those who keep the Law (Scripture) ‘engage in strife’ (yitgaru, intensive-reflexive Hithpael stem) with them.’” By simply obeying Scripture, one combats Marxists! (b) Second, Proverbs 28:2 states: “When a country is “rebellious” [what Marxists foment], it has many rulers [many Marxists use social unrest to push their agenda], but with “a man of low degree” (‘adam, Ibid., Kittel, p. 1189; Robert B. Girdlestone, Syns. of the O. T., 1973, p. 49) of “discerning understanding” (mebin, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 106-107) and knowledge, it “continues long” (‘arak, Ibid., p. 73). If even one believer at the grassroots level of society relies on Scripture for discernment and knowledge, God uses him to keep the nation stable in spite of the efforts by Marxists!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we handle dangerously relentless Marxist political slander by trusting the Scripture promises of deliverance by our eternal God “Yahweh” for blessing.