The
Apple of His Eye ... commentary of Psalm 74
The Apple of His Eye
… A commentary of Psalm
74
Verse Nineteen
Psalm 74:19: “O deliver not
the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of
the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy
poor for ever.”
“…the soul…”
This word soul appears 432 times in
the King James BIBLE.
The Essence of Man
Light is what we need today here in the
21st century. “The entrance of thy words giveth
light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
[Psalms 119:130]
The BIBLE gives LIGHT!
Now, the Bible I am referring to … is
available to anyone … everywhere … in America to
read, to believe, to hearken and to obey.
This BOOK I am talking about … is the
Authorized Version of the Bible of 1611 [or any of
its editions], and is commonly known as the King
James Bible.
Now, this BOOK is a perfect book:
“The words of the LORD are pure words:
as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified
seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou
shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
[Psalm 12:6-7]
In this BIBLE is found a person … a being …
called MAN.
MAN is a being … a human being!
Now mind you, this human being [as
originally created in the image of God] is comprised
of three parts: soul, body, and spirit - three in
one:
“And the very God of peace sanctify you
wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul
and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1
Thessalonians 5:23]
HUMAN BEING = [BODY + SOUL + SPIRIT] … The
three parts of Man
Now a man’s soul is essentially the
person and was inserted into the body
in Adam’s case when the breath of life was
breathed into him by God:
Genesis 2:7: “And
the LORD God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life; and man became a living soul.”
The body is nothing more than a
temporary dwelling place [a tent].
2 Peter 1:14: “Knowing
that shortly I must put off this my
tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath
shewed me.”
Peter knew [by faith in Jesus
Christ] that he will be alive for evermore even
without the body.
Your soul is you!
It is Jesus Christ who keeps the souls
of men alive! Job 12:10:
“In whose hand is the soul of
every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”
David himself had this same
confidence that comes by faith in God: Psalm
16:10:
“For thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.”
The salvation of the souls of men
is what is important. People need to cry
out: Jesus Christ is my salvation!
The BOOK that God has written will bear this out.
Psalm 35:3:
“Draw out also the spear, and stop
the way against them that persecute me: say unto
my soul, I am thy salvation.”
Verse nineteen again: “O deliver not the
soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the
wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor
for ever.”
The Turtledove
We have here, the apple of his eye
also being called a turtledove.
Israel is likened to a turtledove.
The first instance of the word turtledove is
located in the First book of Moses called Genesis,
chapter fifteen, verse nine:
“And he said unto him, Take me an heifer
of three years old, and a she goat of three years
old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove,
and a young pigeon.” [Genesis 15:9]
The turtledove, which is closely
related to the pigeon, is one of the few sacrifices
acceptable to God for a temporary
remedy for sin [for the
sanctification to the purifying of the flesh]
[Hebrews 9:13].
The dove or the turtledove is very
special to God. Note: It is a clean
bird, not a dirty bird like a crow.
When John the Baptist witnessed the
Spirit abide on Jesus Christ, this
appearance of the Spirit was like a dove.
The record of God of this appearance
is recorded in the book of the Gospel of John,
chapter one, verse thirty-two:
“And John bare record, saying, I saw the
Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it
abode upon him.” [John 1:32]
Not only is the Spirit of God likened to
a dove, the Spirit of God HIMSELF calls the
woman in the book of the Song of Solomon, my dove.
See chapter two, verse fourteen for this:
“O my dove, that art in the
clefts of the rock, in the secret places of
the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear
thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy
countenance is comely.”
[Song of Solomon 2:14]
And in chapter five, verse two, we have her
again being called a dove. Let me read:
“I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is
the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying,
Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my
undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and
my locks with the drops of the night.”
[Song of Solomon 5:2]
The pattern is now solidified for all of us
to see in chapter six, verse nine:
“My dove, my undefiled is but
one; she is the only one of her
mother, she is the choice one of her
that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed
her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and
they praised her.” [Song of Solomon
6:9]
We have here, a picture of a
woman, and more, this woman represents a type
of the body of Christ, which is the church.
Proof?
Well, go back to chapter one, verse five,
and you can see her identify herself: She
says, “I am black”!
Read the verse:
“I am black, but comely, O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as
the curtains of Solomon.” [Song of
Solomon 1:5]
So, the bride of Christ [who is
called: my dove], who is seen here talking to
the daughters of Jerusalem [note these daughters are
a type of Israel], and the nation of Israel
are both called a dove [a turtledove].
As we have already seen, Israel is likened
to being the apple of His eye, and is now
also called a turtledove.
Now we come to this word: deliverance:
Deliverance
Turn to the Gospel
according to Luke, and we will read in chapter
four, verse eighteen.
Now, herein is recorded a
prophecy of deliverance:
“The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to
heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised,”
[Luke 4:18].
This prophecy was
fulfilled forty-two months later.
The captives were
brought to heaven:
“Wherefore he saith,
When he ascended up on high, he led captivity
captive, and gave gifts unto men.”
[Ephesians 4:8]
God delivers
people, and God delivers nations.
God delivers! What is more, God
delivers men to judgment, and God
delivers men to salvation. This
being so, which kind of deliverance do you want?
Do you want deliverance for your good
or do you want deliverance for your evil?
Now, God has delivered
Israel time and time again from their
enemies. Also, God has delivered Israel
time and time again to their enemies.
Search the Scriptures and see this very
phenomenon for yourself.
For instance, turn to the
book of Judges, chapter one, verse four, and read:
“And Judah went up;
and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the
Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in
Bezek ten thousand men.” [Judges
1:4]
God delivered
their enemies into their hand. Do you see
this? God did it! Amen!
Now, look in the very
next chapter, chapter two, starting with
verse thirteen. Watch what happens when Israel
forsakes the LORD:
“And they forsook the
LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
And the anger of the
LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them
into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he
sold them into the hands of their enemies round
about, so that they could not any longer stand
before their enemies.
Whithersoever they
went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for
evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had
sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Nevertheless the LORD
raised up judges, which delivered them out of the
hand of those that spoiled them.”
[Judges 2:13-16]
Now understand this.
Deliverance can work both
ways as we have just seen.
Bottomline: Israel
reaped what they had sowed.
But what of us today?
We also reap for what we sow!
Read for this
maxim in the New Testament epistle to the
Galatians, in chapter six, verse seven:
“Be not deceived; God
is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap.” [Galatians
6:7]
God has intervened
time and time again to deliver the
apple of his eye, his little turtledove,
from her enemies.
How did HE do this?
Well, through many means.
For instance, one of the means was this: HE used
prophets. Read for this in the book of
Hosea, chapter twelve, verse thirteen:
“And by a prophet the
LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet
was he preserved.” Hosea 12:13
He used prophets as
deliverers. He raised up Moses for this
very purpose. He was a prophet.
He was also, a deliverer.
He raised up Joseph for
this very same purpose. He also was a
deliverer.
For this proof,
look with me in the First book of Moses called
Genesis, in chapter forty-five, verse seven:
“And God sent me
before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth,
and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”
[Genesis 45:7]
Now, something else is
here. God delivers men or nations
when men prepare their hearts to seek God
as Ezra did. Read with me in the
book of Ezra, chapter seven, verse ten:
“For Ezra had prepared
his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do
it, and to teach in Israel statutes and
judgments.” [Ezra 7:10]
Next, go to chapter nine,
and see how this deliverance works out
through one man’s fear of God.
Listen to what the Spirit of God says
through Ezra. Verse three:
“And when I heard this
thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked
off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat
down astonied.” [Ezra 9:3]
Ezra is where he needs to
be in order to pray!
Now, come down to verse
thirteen, and we will see Ezra’s prayer, and see the
result of Ezra’s prayer and its conclusion:
“And after all that is
come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great
trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us
less than our iniquities deserve, and hast
given us such deliverance as this;”
[Ezra 9:13]
Ezra is declaring, we
are not getting what we deserve.
This is the same truth
for us who are living here today in the 21st
century if we have put our trust in the blood
of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ:
“Who died for us,
that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him.” [1
Thessalonians 5:10]
We also are not
getting what we deserve! It
is called: G-R-A-C-E, GRACE!
God has also used
kings and queens as deliverers.
He raised up Esther for
this purpose.
She was a queen.
She was a deliverer.
See her as a deliverer
in the book of Esther, chapter four, verse fourteen:
“For if thou
altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then
shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the
Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's
house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether
thou art come to the kingdom for such a time
as this?” [Esther 4:14]
Now, God HIMSELF time
after time steps in … to effect great
deliverances of HIS people [from destruction,
death and HELL].
We have this truth so
clearly given to us in the book of Psalms, in
Psalm eighteen, verse fifty:
“Great deliverance
giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his
anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.”
[Psalms 18:50]
Mercy
and great deliverance go together!
Oh! How sweet our God
is to deliver us [through his
seed, Jesus Christ] [from the curse of
SIN, which is Death and Hell. [See also for
this Psalm 89:4,29,36]
Romans 1:3:
“Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh;”
Romans 4:13:
“For the promise, that
he should be the heir of the world, was not
to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but
through the righteousness of faith.”
Mercy,
deliverance now meet up with the
righteousness of faith, and they all commune
together!
And there is something
else here also. Notice this: The God of Israel
also compasses HIS people with songs of
deliverance:
“Thou art my
hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble;
thou shalt compass me about with songs of
deliverance. Selah.” [Psalm 32:7]
·
Israel experienced a
deliverance from famines.
·
Israel experienced a
deliverance from pestilences.
·
Israel experienced a
deliverance from diseases and
sickness.
But what is most
important to all men is this matter of the need for
deliverance from HELL.
Our damnation slumbers
not! See the verity of this
in the second epistle of Peter in chapter two, verse
four:
“For if God spared
not the angels that sinned, but cast them
down to hell, and delivered them into chains
of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;”
[2 Peter 2:4]
Therefore, the most
important deliverance is for the soul of a
man to be saved from an eternal torment in
Hell by believing on the LORD Jesus Christ to
salvation:
“For God hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by
our Lord Jesus Christ,” [1
Thessalonians 5:9]
God delivers
people, and God delivers nations. Also,
God delivers men to judgment, and yet
God delivers men to salvation.
This apple of his eye,
this turtledove, needs to call upon the
LORD for this so great deliverance to
salvation. And soon they will!
It is [as it says it
is] in the book of the prophet Joel,
chapter two, verse thirty-two:
“And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever shall call on the name
of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion
and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD
hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall
call.” [Joel 2:32]
There shall soon
come [at the end of the Great Tribulation] a
great deliverance to the nation of Israel:
“But upon mount Zion
shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness;
and the house of Jacob shall possess their
possessions.” [Obadiah 1:17]
[But for us living today
we need to call upon the LORD now for a
great deliverance to salvation.]
Verse nineteen once again: “O deliver
not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude
of the wicked: forget not the congregation of
thy poor for ever.”
Forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever
The congregation of thy poor has
not been forgotten by the LORD.
Those that are meek, merciful and pure
of heart have the sure promises of God that will
soon be realized in the coming millennial
kingdom of LORD Jesus Christ.
When Jesus was here on this planet in the
first advent two thousand years ago, HE
prophesied of a coming restitution of all
things to this earth.
For this promise we need to see the
book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter three,
verse twenty-one:
“Whom the heaven must receive until the
times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since
the world began.” [Acts 3:21])
Next open your BIBLE to the Gospel
according to Matthew chapter five, and we will read
from there:
“And seeing the multitudes, he went up
into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples
came unto him:
And he opened his mouth, and taught
them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for
they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they
shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be
filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for
they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for
they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say
all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for
great is your reward in heaven: for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
[Matthew 5:1-12]
From this passage we see that The LORD
GOD will not forget the congregation of thy poor!
The kingdom of Heaven is soon
coming! And the congregation of thy poor
will surely be ushered into this kingdom.