The
Apple of His Eye ... commentary of Psalm 74
The Apple of His Eye
… A commentary of Psalm
74
Verse Twenty
Psalm 74:20: “Have respect
unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth
are full of the habitations of cruelty.”
“…the covenant…”
The word covenant
appears 372 times in the Bible.
Now, what is the meaning
of this word covenant?
The first thing we
need to understand about the Bible is that the Bible
is a self-interpreting book. The Bible
has within it a PERSON [WHO is an
interpreter] WHO also is inside
the believer of Jesus Christ.
The book of Hebrews, and
the Gospel according to John, both reveal
plainly this truth of why the word of
God is self-interpreting.
First thing: The BOOK is
alive! It is a PERSON! Read
Hebrews chapter four, verse twelve to see this:
“For the word of God
is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.”
[Hebrews 4:12]
Now for the second thing,
the Gospel according to John in chapter
sixteen, verse thirteen provides more illumination
concerning this interpreter:
“Howbeit when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all
truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
[John 16:13]
And further, not only is
the Bible a self-interpreting book, there is
another principle of interpretation which is
called the law of first mention. The
law of first mention is this: The first
instance of a word in the Bible will often be
the key to understanding the meaning of a
word.
Now, the first
mention of this word covenant appears in the
first book of Moses called Genesis. Go to
the sixth chapter of Genesis, and see verse
eighteen. We read here:
“But with thee will I
establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the
ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons'
wives with thee.” [Genesis 6:18]
This first mention
of the word covenant reveals:
·
A covenant is an
agreement with a promise.
·
A covenant is
between two parties.
Now, note: There are
different participants to covenants:
God to man, man to God, or men to
men. There are also different
kinds of covenants.
Some covenants are
made without conditions [as we shall see],
and other covenants are conditional,
that is, they are made with conditions that
are to be kept by both parties.
But we will focus here on
the covenants that God has made to man …
without conditions.
For example, God made
several covenants with Noah. Now see
for these in the First Book of Moses called
Genesis [Genesis 6:18, 9:9, 9:11-13, 9:15-17].
Again, there are
different kinds of covenants. God
promised Noah, and his descendants, by a
covenant, that the waters shall never again
become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Notice here, this
covenant was made by God without any
conditions being placed upon man.
We will now further
tighten our focus here to one particular
covenant God made to one particular man.
God made an
unconditional covenant to Abraham. We will
begin reading in the First of Book of Moses called
Genesis in chapter fifteen, verse eighteen:
“In the same day the
LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy
seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt
unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”
[Genesis 15:18].
Abraham received a LAND
GRANT from the river of Egypt unto
the great river, the river Euphrates.
In chapter seventeen, God
expands on this covenant with Abraham.
Verse two: “And
I will make my covenant between me and thee, and
will multiply thee exceedingly.”
[Genesis 17:2]
God promised to
multiply Abraham’s descendants exceedingly…to
fill all the land of the land grant.
Verse four: God further
stipulates in this covenant:
“As for me, behold, my
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a
father of many nations.” [Genesis
17:4]
Abraham was set to
become a father of many
nations!
Furthermore, this
covenant was transferable.
Now, drop down to
chapter seventeen, verse seven, and see this.
The covenant transfers
to Abraham’s seed: to thy
seed after thee:
“And I will establish
my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after
thee in their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed
after thee.” [Genesis 17:7]
Now something else, this
covenant is still in force to this very day
in the 21st century. It’s an
everlasting covenant!
What is more, God
sealed this covenant with Abraham’s
miracle son, Isaac, conceived in
Abraham’s and Sarah’s very old age.
“And God said, Sarah
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou
shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant,
and with his seed after him.”
[Genesis 17:19]
Verse twenty-one: “But
my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah
shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next
year.” [Genesis 17:21]
Oath
Keep this in mind: a
covenant promise is made by an oath.
Now, an oath is a
solemn affirmation or declaration.
This particular covenant declared by God to Israel
is made by promise
according to the oaths of the tribes.
Check it out
in the book of the prophet Habakkuk, chapter three,
verse nine:
“Thy bow was made
quite naked, according to the oaths of the
tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst
cleave the earth with rivers.”
[Habakkuk 3:9]
“Have respect unto the covenant…”
All through the years,
and throughout all the generations, God has kept
this covenant with the people of Israel.
It is our God [WHO is God] WHO remembers all
the promises that HE has made in covenant
to all the descendants of Abraham [through Isaac]
and called Israel.
Now, turn in your
Bible to the Second Book of Moses called Exodus,
chapter two, verse twenty-four.
This SCIPTURE will show God remembers.
God remembered HIS covenant to Israel
while they were in Egypt for four hundred years:
“And God heard their
groaning, and God remembered his covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”
[Exodus 2:24]
See chapter six, verse
four:
“And I have also
established my covenant with them, to give them the
land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage,
wherein they were strangers.”
[Exodus 6:4]
God remembers
HIS covenant:
Exodus 6:5: “And
I have also heard the groaning of the children of
Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I
have remembered my covenant.”
God remembers
HIS covenant:
Leviticus 26:9:
“For I will have respect unto you, and make you
fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my
covenant with you.”
And though Jacob failed,
time and time again, because of their sin,
THEIR God still recalls, and remembers HIS covenant
with them – unconditionally:
Leviticus 26:42: “Then
will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my
covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with
Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the
land.”
God remembers HIS
covenant unconditionally:
Leviticus 26:44-45:
“And yet for all that,
when they be in the land of their enemies, I will
not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to
destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with
them: for I am the LORD their God.
But I will for their
sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom
I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the
sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I
am the LORD.”
The last part of
verse, verse twenty: “Have respect unto the
covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full
of the habitations of cruelty.”
“…the dark places of the earth”
Now, dark places
are full of darkness. NO WONDER!
These dark places
constitute a kingdom of darkness.
And where there is a kingdom, you will also
find a king.
Revelation 9:11:
“And they had a king
over them, which is the angel of the
bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue
is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his
name Apollyon.”
And there is something
else to learn here, a king is also a ruler.
And often, a ruler rules not alone.
Thus, these dark places of the earth have
rulers that are over this darkness.
Something to note here:
·
These rulers are spiritual
beings.
·
These beings are
spiritually evil.
We know this is so,
because the Apostle Paul told us this is so [by the
Spirit of God WHO is LIGHT], in the Epistle
of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians, in chapter
six, verse twelve.
Get ready for this!
“For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.” [Ephesians
6:12]
Again, these rulers
rule the dark places of the earth!
And something else: These
rulers rule the human heart from a dark place
held by the chains of darkness.
Now, when a person
gets saved, he gets delivered from the
power of darkness. Amen! When the
human heart receives [John 1:12] Jesus
Christ, things change.
“Therefore if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new.” [2 Corinthians 5:17]
A translation
occurs. Go the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to
the Colossians in chapter one, verse thirteen and
see this:
“Who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”
[Colossians 1:13].
And if a man does not
get delivered from the power of darkness,
he will end up in the Pit of darkness
forever. Now we get a glimpse of this place,
in the book of Jude, verse six:
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” [Jude 6]
“…full of the
habitations of cruelty.”
In this case this word
“habitation” refers to a state of dwelling …
dwelling in cruelty.
Therefore, these dark
places are full of the habitations of cruelty.
In the Second book of
Samuel the Prophet, in chapter twenty-four, verse
fourteen we have this habitation where
cruelty abounds. Watch for the hands
of men. Cruelty abounds in the
hands of men.
“And David said unto
Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into
the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are
great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.”
[2 Samuel 24:14]
David knew the hand of
man was very cruel, and is without
mercy.
How did David know this
truth?
Well, he read, and
believed THE BOOK!
Do you believe THE BOOK?
The word cruelty
first shows up in the Bible all the way back in the
first book of Moses called Genesis in the narrative
concerning Simeon and Levi slaying all the males in
the city of Shechem.
This indictment appears
in the book of Genesis, chapter forty-nine, verse
five:
“Simeon and Levi
are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in
their habitations.” [Genesis
49:5]
The actual narrative of
what happened is recorded earlier in the book of
Genesis in chapter thirty-four, starting with verse
one:
“And Dinah the
daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went
out to see the daughters of the land. And when
Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the
country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and
defiled her.” [Genesis 34:1-2]
Now, skip down to verse
twenty-five:
“And it came to pass
on the third day, when they were sore, that two of
the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's
brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the
city boldly, and slew all the males.”
[Genesis 34:25]
In essence: In the act of
transferring the guilt for the crime [a crime
against Dinah [and thus the need for vengeance]], to
all the men of the city instead of limiting the need
for revenge to the actual person involved [that is
Shechem], Simeon and Levi were both involved in a
rash, savage, and over and beyond ferocious
act.
The sons of Jacob, Simeon
and Levi, were thereby determined to be guilty of
cruelty.
Now, fast forward
in time [4036 AM, 4746 JP, 33 AD] to the
historical event of the crucifixion of
the Son of God, Jesus Christ. We have here these
prophetic “sayings” in the gospel
according to Luke, chapter nine, verses forty-four
and forty-five:
“Let these sayings
sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall
be delivered into the hands of men. But they
understood not this saying, and it was hid from
them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to
ask him of that saying.” [Luke
9:44-45]
The “Son of man”
was preparing his disciples mentally and
emotionally for what was soon to happen to Him.
Jesus Christ Himself was soon to experience the
ultimate cruelty any person could ever face: to
“be delivered into the hands of men.”