Day 2 –
Today we continue our quarantine devotional by looking at Psalm 91:5-10 (yesterday we looked at verses 1-4).
5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
8 You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
9 For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.
Key Takeaways:
- There is no limit to God’s protection
- God is our security when we are afraid
- We can rest with confidence that whatever happens on earth is within His knowledge.
Let’s work through these verses to understand better what the psalmist is saying.
Verses 5-6: As a result of God’s help as seen in verses 3-4, the one who trusts in the Lord will not fear (or be afraid) the terror at night or the attack by day that includes pestilence or plague (vv. 5–6).[1] The “night” can allude to a sneak attack by enemies in the darkness of night (cf. Song 3:8). In verses 5-7, we see the protection of God extends to both day and night. The interplay of words for day and night in these verses indicates the universal nature of God’s protection. There is no limit to His protection, for He has full authority over all things that happen on earth. The greatness of God’s protection is further amplified by the ratio of “a thousand” or even “ten thousand” to one (v. 7; cf. Jos 23:10).
The Lord gives security from all natural and supernatural causes of “fear” (pǎ·ḥǎḏ, GK 7065[2], v. 5; cf. Ps 53:5), whether war or disease. The words “terror,” “arrow,” “pestilence,” and “destruction” collectively refer to evil in general. These afflictions came on the wicked as expressions of God’s provocation (cf. Ps 53:5), but those who fear the Lord need not be afraid of the “arrow” that brings diseases (“pestilence” and “plague,” v. 6), whether in broad daylight or in the darkness of the night (cf. 121:5–6).
I do want to point out in verse 6 where we read about pestilence and disease (destruction in NASB), the NET Bible describes this as being associated to siege warfare on the population of a surrounded city, which is especially susceptible to the outbreak of epidemics.[3]
Verses 7-8: Destruction that might lay thousands in defeat will not affect a trusting believer; rather, they will look (see) on with their eyes and see the wicked destroyed (vv. 7–8). In reference to the “thousand” and “ten thousand,” this is possibly a reference to the Israelites in Egypt who were spared the danger that surround them (Ex 9:26; 10:23; 11:7).[4] The verse shows that believers are protected from any assault. The “look” and “see” in verse 8 describes the punishment of the wicked is as sure as the deliverance of the righteous. The two verses show the reader that seeing God’s salvation with the eye of faith will further encourage believers, to whom God has promised His protection and blessing. Christians will witness the righteousness, justice, and faithfulness of the Lord as well as the punishment of the wicked. Please note, I am not saying this virus is a punishment on the wicked. The punishment referred here could be anytime in this earthly life but a sure indication of the final judgment of the end times.
Verse 9-10: The psalmist explained that no evil (harm) or plague (disaster) can befall those who have made the Lord their refuge (maḥseh, “shelter from danger”; cf. v. 2). There is some interesting wording in verses 9-10 that we should note here. In verses 14-16, God describes directly the same person addressed by the psalmist in verse 9-13. This person is the coming One. We will talk more about this on the last day of the Psalm but there is a messianic thrust in this poem.
We also see the psalmist reiterate a couple of important reminders here. “My refuge” is repeated again from verse 2. “Dwelling place” is the same word used in Psalm 90:1 (one reason why some believe the anonymous psalmist of chapter 91 is Moses). Even if the psalmist is not Moses, it is still an important truth the writer is preaching to themselves. “Most High” is employed again from verse 1. The psalmist’s personal experience serves as an encouragement to embrace the way of wisdom by making “the Most High” our dwelling and placing our faith in the faithful One. God is the “dwelling” of His people, under whose shelter they find “refuge.”
Here is the key: The Lord does not guarantee that no evil will befall those who trust Him (“make the Most High your dwelling”). This pretty much says you will have trouble and when you do, you should seek God. When we do find rest in God our “refuge,” we will rest with confidence that whatever happens on earth is with His knowledge. There is nothing that happens outside of His will, whether “harm” (literally “evil,” v. 10) or “disaster” (literally “disease” or “wound”; cf. Ps 38:11; Lev 13; 14; Isa 53:8).
From all of this, we see that no power in heaven or on earth is greater than that of Yahweh, the Divine Leader and Protector. There is a simple truth from all of this: that there is no kind of calamity which the shield of God cannot prevent and repel.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The references to “arrow” and “plague” may well be understood against Canaanite mythological background. The goddess Resheph was the goddess of the archers and brought troubles on her enemies. From Psalm 78:48, It “may be that בָּרָד (bārād, “hail”) is a textual corruption of דֶּבֶר (deber, “plague”; cf. 78:50). Similarly רְשָׁפִים (rešāpîm, “bolts of lightning”) may be a metaphor for plagues, as the Canaanite god Resheph was the god of the plague (cf. A. A. Anderson, 2:572). Both words are found in Habakkuk 3:5 (deber, “plague”; rešep, “pestilence”; cf. Dt 32:24). For an exhaustive study, see William J. Fulco, The Canaanite God Rešep (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1976), who concludes, “The OT passages seem to suggest that Rešep represents some more-or-less uncontrolled cosmic force, typically as a bringer of plague and sudden death” (p. 61). He is the god involved with life and death. Yigael Yadin presents an extensive bibliography and new archaeological evidence in “New Gleanings from Resheph from Ugarit,” in Biblical and Related Studies Presented to Samuel Iwry, ed. Ann Kort and Scott Morschauer (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1985), 259–74. He concludes that the little-known goddess Resheph was the patron deity of the archers, also called the “lion goddess.” By the time of the writing of this psalm, the name of the goddess had become a metaphor for death.” From The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 5: Psalms (Revised Edition) by Tremper Longman III, David Garland, and Willem A. VanGemeren.
[2] DBL 7065. Definitions or meanings of pǎ·ḥǎḏ include: “1. fear, terror, dread, i.e., the state or condition of severe distress over impending trouble (Ex 15:16); 2. fear, terror, dread, i.e., the object that causes fear or dread in another (Ps 31:12); 3. the Fear, the Awe, i.e., a title of God (Ge 31:42, 53).”
[3] NET Bible, note 8: “As in Deut 32:23-24, vv. 5-6 closely associate military attack and deadly disease. Perhaps the latter alludes to one of the effects of siege warfare on the population of an entrapped city, which was especially vulnerable to the outbreak of epidemics.”
[4] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 710.