THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LXXVI. Overcoming Evil Intimidation

(Psalm 76:1-12 with Isaiah 36:1-37:38)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Victor Davis Hanson’s op-ed, “10 insidious ways the left has seized and warped the US” in the New York Post, August 8, 2023, p. 2021, stated that the left has assaulted “American life and culture” in the ten following ways:

(1) “FREE EXPRESSION: In large swatches of American society . . . it is suddenly dangerous to speak freely,” and “‘hate speech’” is “most anything impeding the progressive project,” Ibid.

(2) “THE WEAPONIZATION OF JUSTICE:” The “left has viewed the DOJ as a political extension of the party – whose unchecked power must . . . be directed to hurt enemies and help friends,” Ibid.

(3) “THE ATTACK ON THE SUPREME COURT . . . Leftist law professors in the Ivy League . . . call for the nation to ignore court rulings on abortion and affirmative action,” Ibid.

(4) “THE MEDIA DEMOCRATIC FUSION . . . (N)early all major communication and journalistic networks have been fused with a political party . . . to advance a shared progressive cause, oppose and even defame common opponents, and feed their audiences things that are not, and cannot possibly be, true,” Ibid.

(5) “THE DESTRUCTION OF COMMON LAW . . . (By) defunding the police in major cities and by showering left-wing district attorney candidates with millions in campaign funding, the left” has “systematically eroded the law as we know it in our major cities,” Ibid.

(6) “THE EROSION OF THE MILITARY . . . The left has ensured that our armed forces are underfunded and military officers are used to promote progressive social agendas,” Ibid.

(7) “SEXES:” The left asserts that “(t)he heterosexual male and female, marriage, and the nuclear family are all to be suspect . . . Sex, but not race, is constructed, and thus a matter not of biology but of individual choice,” Ibid.

(8) “RACE, NOT CLASS:” The left claims “(r)acial inequality and lack of parity are due to ‘whiteness,’” Ibid.

(9) “DEBT IS A CONSTRUCT:” The left claims that “annual deficits and national debts are just a state accounting challenge. So printing more money is an act that properly diminishes the value of existing capital improperly horded by parasitic profiteers” in capitalism, and that “the national ‘debt’ can be deconstructed by renouncing usurious bond obligations, appropriating private retirement accounts, or further inflating the currency – if governments are committed enough to social justice.” (Ibid.)

(10) “UNIVERSITIES:” The left declares that “(i)t is now heresy that universities should be places of disinterested inquiry and inductive investigation,” that “(t)hey can properly instead become a valuable tool in ridding society of racist and sexist forces, platitudes about free speech and equality under the law, and the tyranny of private property, capitalist profiteering, and white, male, heterosexual, Christian oppression.” (Ibid.)

In response to this op-ed, a letter to the editor by Amy Hendel of Manhattan in the August 13, 2023, New York Post, p. 38, asserted that Mr. Hanson had provided a “frightening analysis of the left’s determination to . . . alter the United States into a one-party state with the government” having “control over everything.”

Need: So, we ask, “How does God want us to respond to such evil intimidation?!”

I. Psalm 76:1-12 likely celebrates God’s destruction of the Assyrians in 701 B. C. when they surrounded and wickedly intimidated the people of Jerusalem, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Psalm 76:

A. When Assyria’s king Sennacherib led his army to invade Judah in 701 B. C., he sent an official to the Jerusalem city wall to try to intimidate its people and king Hezekiah to surrender to Assyria, Isaiah 36:1-22.

B. This official blasphemed God, stating that the Lord could not deliver Jerusalem from Assyria since the gods of the other nations that Assyria had defeated had been unable to save their people from his army, Isaiah 37:8-13.

II. Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance, and the Lord promised to provide it, Isaiah 37:1-7, 15-35.

III. Meanwhile, God told the people of Jerusalem (A) not to fear the Assyrian official’s words, (B) but to trust God’s pledge to deliver them, and (C) hope in His promised restoration of Judah, Isa. 37:6, 30-32.

IV. Then, the Angel of the Lord went out and slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, and their king returned to his capital where he was slain by his sons in the temple of his god Nisroch, Isaiah 37:36-38.

V. The fact that Assyria suffered defeat at this event is evidenced even in secular records (as follows):

A. Sennacherib’s own account (Taylor Prism) abruptly ends in stating that he shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem “‘like a bird in a cage’” with no claim that he took the city, M. F. Unger, Arch. & the O. T., 1973, p. 268-269.

B. Herodotus wrote that Assyria’s “army camp was infected with mice (or rats)” (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Isa. 37:36), that “the Assyrians attacked suddenly and withdrew,” (Z. P. E. B., v. One, p. 379; citing History 2.141)

VI. Psalm 76:1-12 thus celebrates God’s great deliverance of Judah from the Assyrians in this event:

A. The psalmist claimed that God had great fame among His people in Judah, Psalm 76:1-2.

B. In support of this claim, the psalmist described God’s victory over Judah’s Assyrian enemies, Psalm 76:3-10:

1. At “Salem,” an old name for Jerusalem, God defeated the foe, revealing the blazing glory of His majesty that surpassed the majesty of the “mountains of prey,” a reference to the Assyrian stronghold, Psa. 76:3-4.

2. The Assyrian soldiers, “the finest men of war in their day” (H. C. Leupold, The Psalms, 1974, p. 550), were left plundered, sleeping their last sleep of death unable even to lift their capable hands, Psalm 76:5-6.

3. Judah’s God, addressed in the Hebrew text at verse 7 as “You (emphatic pronoun), (even) You (a repeat emphatic; Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1041),” was to be revered, for when He passed judgment from heaven, the wreckage of Assyria’s army was so great, the whole land of Judah was quiet in reverence, Psalm 76:7-8.

4. As God rose up to judge the Assyrian army, He saved all the “poor and weak, oppressed by rich and powerful” (‘anav, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 776) of the land of Judah, Psalm 76:9.

5. God’s wrath against sinners praises Him, and the rest of His wrath yet to be expressed on other sinners who dare to oppose Him God uses to “gird” (hagar, Ibid., p. 291-292 ) Himself as with a warrior’s belt for more displays of His great wrath in future combat against sinners, Psalm 76:10; Ibid., Leupold, p. 551-552.

C. The psalmist then gave a closing call for God’s people to honor the Lord, Psalm 76:11-12.

Lesson: If facing evil intimidators, God directs that His people not fear, but trust Him to deliver them and hope in God for a blessed future while they wait for Him to rescue them.

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 obey God in living and let Him handle intimidators.

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

While we believers in Christ wait on God to handle intimidators we face today, we can heed His Word in overcoming the fear that intimidators try to produce in us relative to the issues noted in our introduction (as follows):

(1) On the left’s attack on free expression, (a) 2 Corinthians 3:17 states that the Holy Spirit produces liberty in us, (b) Acts 1:8 claims that the Holy Spirit empowers us to minister for God, and (c) 1 Peter 4:10-11 reveals that each believer has a supernatural spiritual gift to minister for Christ. (d) We thus handle efforts by intimidators to muzzle our speech by relying on the Holy Spirit to use our spiritual gift to serve God with the liberty and power He provides.

(2) On the left’s weaponization of justice and its attack on the supreme court, (a) Philippians 1:12-14 reveals that God uses even unjust acts of the government to further His agenda, and (b) 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 teaches that God will limit government efforts that harm us so we can still abound in every good word and work until the rapture.

(4) On the left’s media democratic fusion, (a) 1 John 4:4-6 reveals that we can handle errant mind-influencing efforts by wicked intimidators by heeding the apostles’ teachings (Scripture), (b) and 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 claims that by relying on the Holy Spirit, we can discern all godlessness in all parties by the Holy Spirit’s discernment ministry!

(5) On the left’s destruction of common law, (a) Romans 8:3-4 teaches that we believers will function as law-abiding people as we rely on the Holy Spirit regardless what occurs in the world around us, and (b) 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 states that as we rely on God, He will give room for us to thrive in every good word and work until the rapture.

(6) On the left’s erosion of the military, (a) Psalms 127 and 128 teach that God guards us believers in society so that we can serve Him, and (b) 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 shows that God makes life livable so that we can minister.

(7) On the left’s distortion of sex, Ephesians 5:18-6:4 endorses the traditional nuclear family and promises that if we believers rely on God the Holy Spirit, we will function well in traditional nuclear family and marital roles.

(8) On the left’s “race, not class” claim, (a) Galatians 3:28-29 opposes racism in believers, and (b) Proverbs 13:4, 11 with 3:13-18 and Galatians 5:16-23 teach that any person will succeed in relationships, be honored and be materially well-endowed through relying on the Holy Spirit to be diligent and wise in all realms of life.

(9) On the left’s idea that debt is just a construct, Proverbs 22:7; 10:3-4 with Psalm 37:21-26 urge us to avoid debt, so debt is a reality, not just a construct, and any believer can financially succeed by diligence and uprightness.

(10) On the left’s ruin of universities, Proverbs 1:5-6 claims that the wise will educate themselves throughout life, and Deuteronomy 17:18-20 shows that daily reading and heeding Scripture yields success and God’s blessing.

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 obey God in living and let Him handle evil intimidators.