THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

XII. Responding Effectively To Godlessly Oppressive Propaganda

(Psalm 12:1-8)

I. Introduction

A. Unbiblical ideologies are being pushed upon the public today, and this in turn is influencing religious groups.

B. This trial is not new to man, for David faced it in his era, and Psalm 12:1-8 directs us on responding well to it:

II. Responding Effectively To Proud, Godless, Oppression By Extensive False Propaganda, Psalm 12:1-8.

A. Verse 1 in the Hebrew text comprises the introductory remarks in the English Bible (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 984), so we stay with the verse numbers provided in the English translations for clarification in this lesson.

B. Accordingly, Psalm 12:1-8, a Psalm of David, translates as follows:

1. "Save, Help (yasha', Ibid., Kittel; B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 446-447), O Jahweh, because those of loyal love [the godly] (hasid, Ibid., p. 339; H. A. W., Theol. Wrkb. of the O. T., 1980, v. I, p. 307) cease to be, come to an end (gamar, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 170), because Your faithful ones ('aman, Ibid., p. 52-53) have vanished (pasas, Ibid., p. 821) from the sons of men," Psalm 12:1.

2. "They speak emptiness, falsehood (shu', Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., H. A. W., v. II, p. 908) everyone with his neighbor; with lips of smoothness, flatteries (helqah, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 325) and with a double heart (lit. "with a heart and a heart," Ibid., Kittel; leb, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 524-525) do they speak," Psalm 12:2.

3. "Jahweh shall cut off all lips of flatteries, and the tongue that speaks great [boasts] (ESV)," Psalm 12:3.

4. "Which say, 'We will prevail with our tongues; [lit.] our lips are with us (ESV) [idiomatic for "we own our lips" NIV]; who is master over us?'" (Psalm 12:4.)

5. "'From [because of] (causal use of min, J. A. Alexander, The Psalms, 1975, p. 56) the desolation (shod, Ibid., p. 994) of the afflicted, from [because of] (causal min again, Ibid.) the groaning of the needy, now [at this time] ('atah, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 773-774) will I arise,' says Jahweh. 'I will set him in safety against whom men puff, snort (puha, Ibid., p. 806) [with evil, menacing words],'" Psalm 12:5.

6. [In striking contrast to evil men's words] "The words of Jahweh are clean, pure (tahur, Ibid., p. 373), like silver refined in a furnace of clay purified seven times," Psalm 12:6.

7. "You (emphatic pronoun), Jahweh, shall preserve (shamar, Ibid., p. 1036-1037) them, You will guard us from (nasar, Ibid., p. 665-666) this generation [of men] forever," Psalm 12:7.

8. "The wicked walk themselves about (halak, "walk," Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 229-237; Hithpael stem = intensive reflexive) round about [strut all over] (sabib, Ibid., p. 686-687) when worthlessness (zulut, Ibid., p. 273) is lifted up, exalted (rum, Ibid., p. 926-927) among the sons of men," Psalm 12:8.

Lesson: (1) When what is (a) untrue, false, worthless (unbiblical) is exalted, the wicked strut themselves about all over the place, creating pressure that intimidates even the upright, Psalm 12:8. (b) That intimidation eventually lessens the number of people who remain lovingly loyal and faithful to God and His upright stands (Psalm 12:1), and (c) that departure of the upright only further emboldens the wicked to keep pushing their false propaganda (Psalm 12:2) as they sense less and less accountability to anybody including God (Psalm 12:4). (2) The only hope the upright have to counter this situation is (a) the Lord (Psalm 12:1a), (b) so the prayer of the oppressed and the sufferers in this crisis given to the Lord (Psalm 12:5a) leads Him to hear and rise to protect the upright (Psalm 12:5b) from the entire generation of wicked and deluded men who are into the falsehood (Psalm 12:8). (3) Amid all this struggle, the upright can rely on God's Word as being absolutely pure and refined, like silver smelted seven times over in a clay furnace (Psalm 12:6) in contrast to the empty, false propaganda of the godless, Psalm 12:2-4.

Application: Similarly, in today's world, (1) we believers face (a) the widespread, forceful propagation of grossly unbiblical ideologies (b) that pressure us through efforts to intimidate to compromise our views and thus to lessen the number of loyally loving, faithful adherents to the Lord and His truths. (c) The tendency of some to yield to the propaganda only emboldens the wicked to keep pushing their falsehood as they sense less and less accountability to anybody else, including God. (2) Our only deliverance is (a) the Lord Himself, (b) and we must pray for His help that delivers and protects us from an entire generation of wicked and deluded people. (3) Amid this struggle, we can rely on God's Word as an absolutely pure and refined source of reality, guidance and hope of deliverance in contrast to the empty, false propaganda of the ungodly. THUS, MAY WE PRAY FOR GOD'S HELP, AND, TRUSTING THE PERFECT TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD, MAY WE PAY ATTENTION TO THAT WORD!