Sermon for July 28th, 2019

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Psalm 70:1-5

To the leader. Of David, for the memorial offering.
1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
    O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let those be put to shame and confusion
    who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
    who desire to hurt me.
3 Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!”
    turn back because of their shame.

4 Let all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
    say evermore, “God is great!”
5 But I am poor and needy;
    hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O Lord, do not delay!

Psummer of Psalms II: Psalm 70

Psalm 70 has been described as a desperate prayer for help in an urgent situation.

I'm reminded of the story of two friends who went hunting together. They were out in the woods, miles away from civilization, when one of them suddenly falls to the ground, for no apparent reason. He doesn't seem to be breathing, and his eyes are rolled to the back of his head. In a panic, his friend quickly gets out his cell phone and dials 911. When the emergency dispatcher answers, the man frantically yells into the phone, "Help! I think my friend is dead! What can I do?" The dispatcher, in a calm and soothing voice, says, "Sir, please calm down. I can help. First, we need to verify that your friend is actually dead." There is silence at the other end of the line, and then the dispatcher hears a loud gunshot. The hunter comes back on the line and says, "Ok, he's dead. Now what?"

Psalm 70, at just five verses, is one of the shortest Psalms in the Bible, but it is packed full with a lot of emotion. In many ways, it is a model prayer for desperate circumstances.

It begins with three inscriptions--first, the usual "to the leader" or to the choir director, followed by "Of David" indicating that it is either a Psalm written by David, or in the style of David's psalms.

The third inscription is the most interesting one: The NRSV translates it as "for the memorial offering." The NIV translates it as simply "a petition" and the Wycliffe Bible translates the Hebrew very literally as "To have mind." I think the idea is that this is a Psalm of memory, remembrance, a reminder psalm.

Like ancient worshipers before us, when we sit calmly here in our pews on a Sunday morning, we are not, typically, in the midst of urgent, desperate circumstances. But we can all probably remember times when he have been. Psalms like this one help us to reflect back on those events, those desperate prayers, and how things ultimately unfolded in our time of need.

Sometimes when we do that, in retrospect, from a distance, we can see how God's presence and care for us was working through the situation, through people and events, all in ways we couldn't have possibly recognized or understood at the time. This is, I believe, a valuable spiritual practice...hence, Psalm 70, a Psalm of remembrance, a memorial offering.

Verse 1, in our NRSV translation, says "Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me!" But that "Be pleased" is not in the original Hebrew text; it has just been added by the translator for poetic balance. The only Hebrew verb in that first verse is חֽוּשָֽׁה (choosah), literally "hurry up!" and it applies to both lines: Hurry up God, to deliver me, and Hurry up, Lord, to help me!

If you remember last week's sermon, you'll notice that we have "God" (elohim) in the first half of the verse, and LORD (Yahweh) in the second half--the psalmist is not taking any chances, he's using both names for God (North and South) to cover all of his bases and to make sure he's heard.

The psalm begins with this sense of urgency, and ends with it too--look at the second half of verse 5, the last line of the psalm, which reads, "hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!" It parallels the opening: Hurry up God and help me, hurry up Lord and deliver me!"

In between that frame of urgency are five rapid-fire petitions, or requests (verses 2-4), essentially beginning with "please let them..." and then fill in the blank. The first three requests seem, on the surface, pretty negative; while the last two seem more positive. Let's examine those first three requests, since they also give us clues about the Psalmist's desperate situation. Verses 2-3:

  • Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life.
  • Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me.
  • Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!” turn back because of their shame.

So, what's going on here? First, people are trying to take away the Psalmist's life. That could be literal--as in, they are trying to kill me--but given the next two lines, I think it's probably talking more about livelihood or reputation. They're trying to "ruin my life." Next they desire to hurt me; and the word for hurt is not the word typically used for bodily harm (although that's entirely possible). It's the word רַע (ra) which literally means evil. They are actively wishing evil upon me.

And finally, they are saying "Aha, aha!" This sounds a little weird in English translation, because we don't have a good equivalent. In Hebrew, it's actually הֶאָֽח (he'ach) which is made up of two separate interjections. "He" is what you do when you point your finger at something--Wow! Hey, everybody, look at that! and "Ach" is kind of what it sounds like: "Oooh, that's really bad!"

If you've ever watched the animated TV show, The Simpsons, you may remember a character called Nelson Muntz. He was the show's stereotypical bully, and he had a knack for always showing up from out of nowhere in another character's worst possible moment of humiliation and shame, pointing his finger, and laughing at them. That's what this is.



  • Inscription
  • Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies