The
Apple of His Eye ... commentary of Psalm 74
The Apple of His Eye
… A commentary of Psalm
74
Verse Twenty-0ne
Psalm 74:21: “O let
not the oppressed return ashamed:
let the poor and needy praise thy name.”
“O let not the oppressed
return ashamed:”
Wherever sin is there is also
oppression. The wisest man that ever lived
outside of Jesus Christ said this through the
Spirit of God in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter
four, verse one:
“So I returned, and considered all the
oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold
the tears of such as were oppressed, and they
had no comforter; and on the side of their
oppressors there was power; but they had no
comforter.” [Ecclesiastes 4:1]
Now, here is a basic truth which has
prevailed for nearly six thousand years of time:
The oppressed oppress others.
Look at this in the book of Isaiah – Isaiah
3:5:
“And the people shall be oppressed,
every one by another, and every one by his
neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly
against the ancient, and the base against the
honourable.”
Ezekiel 22:29: “The people of the land
have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and
have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have
oppressed the stranger wrongfully.”
Behold all the tears we have here on
this earth. See them in the book
of Isaiah, chapter thirty-eight, verse fourteen:
“Like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail
with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed;
undertake for me.” [Isaiah 38:14]
When you mourn, you cry.
Note: The tears of the apple of his eye
in her prayer: Undertake for me!
Take solace in thy God! He is
your refuge from the storms in this life.
Psalm 9:9: “The LORD
also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in
times of trouble.”
Furthermore, the LORD will relieve
you of your calamity; he will comfort
you; he will deliver you from all your affliction.
Now, SIN afflicts.
SIN destroys.
SIN kills.
It results in total oppression!
When Jesus Christ came to this earth the
first time on HIS singular mission [to save
mankind] HE experienced this oppression first
hand:
Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed, and he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth.”
Jesus Christ who was oppressed knows
how to heal. HE healed all those
that were oppressed of the Devil. Do
you doubt me?
Look here with me here in the book of the
Acts of the Apostles – Acts 10:38:
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil; for God was with him.”
Now, when Jesus Christ comes the second
time, in the very near future, HE will relieve
this oppression for all those that are
oppressed by the JUDGMENT of the wicked.
Look with me for this in the Psalms for
this truth.
Psalm 103:6: “The LORD executeth
righteousness and judgment for all that are
oppressed.”
Psalm 146:7: “Which executeth judgment
for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry.
The LORD looseth the prisoners:”
Next go to the book of Isaiah – Isaiah
58:6:
“Is not this the fast that I have
chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo
the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free,
and that ye break every yoke?”
Do you see that?
The LORD loosens the prisoners from this
oppression.
Again, our sin, man’s sins, causes all this
oppression, and God has the remedy as
we will see! Amen!
Our verse again, verse twenty-one: “O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.”
…let the poor and
needy praise thy name”
All the governments of this world,
including all the researchers, all the scientists,
and all the think tanks within academia,
have endeavored down through the millennia of time
to eradicate injustice and poverty. Try
as they might, they have never found the
solution!
Why? Well, man is running up
against the stops [or the limits, as they
would say].
But the Bible gives the straight answer,
yet men always ignore the answers given by God’s
word, all to our hazard.
The God of Heaven and of Earth [Who is
Jesus Christ] has already told us, that the poor
will always be with us. It is a maxim.
Now, read with a believing heart the
Gospel according to John, chapter twelve, verse
eight:
“For the poor always ye have with you;
but me ye have not always.” [John
12:8]
There is nothing we can do about it!
The thing is established by God for a reason.
Look with me in the fifth book of Moses
called Deuteronomy, chapter fifteen, verse
eleven:
“For the poor shall never cease out of
the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou
shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy
poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.”
[Deuteronomy 15:11]
The Jewish nation was given the command to
give. Their hearts were to be disposed
to helping the needy and the unfortunate
among them.
This was to try them, and to
prove them and to bring them health as a
nation. Would Israel, the apple of His eye,
want to know the LORD their God? That was the
question. Jeremiah 22:16:
“He judged the cause of the poor and
needy; then it was well with him: was
not this to know me? saith the LORD.”
They instead [within the cycles of
degeneration] due to their sin and their apostasy
reverted to preying upon the poor and
the needy.
Read in the book of Psalms – Psalm 109:16:
“Because that he remembered not to shew
mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that
he might even slay the broken in heart.”
The persecution of the poor and
the needy has been going on for generations.
Read for this truth in the book of Job, chapter
twenty-four:
“The murderer rising with the light
killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a
thief.” [Job 24:14]
It is, as it says it is, in Psalm
thirty-seven, verse fourteen:
“The wicked have drawn out the sword,
and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and
needy, and to slay such as be of upright
conversation.” [Psalm 37:14]
Again, in the book of Isaiah, chapter ten,
verse two, there is found this:
“To turn aside the needy from judgment,
and to take away the right from the poor of my
people, that widows may be their prey, and that
they may rob the fatherless!”
[Isaiah 10:2]
Look in the Proverbs, chapter thirty, verse
fourteen, and see this, that there is a
particular generation to watch out for:
“There is
a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and
their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor
from off the earth, and the needy from among
men.” [Proverbs 30:14]
The articles of indictment were
therefore laid upon Israel, the apple of his eye:
1.
Israel’s pride: Ezekiel
16:49: “Behold, this was the
iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of
bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in
her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand
of the poor and needy.”
2.
Israel oppressed the
poor and the needy: Ezekiel 18:12: “Hath
oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by
violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath
lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed
abomination,”
3.
Israel robbed the
poor and the needy: Ezekiel 22:29: “The
people of the land have used oppression, and
exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and
needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger
wrongfully.”
4.
Israel made slaves of
the poor and the needy: Amos 8:6: “That
we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a
pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of
the wheat?”
But watch out! The LORD
takes notice as to what the children of men are
doing here on face of the earth:
Isaiah 41:17: “When
the poor and needy seek water, and there is
none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I
the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel
will not forsake them.”
For the LORD will deliver the
needy:
Psalm 72:12: “For he
shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor
also, and him that hath no helper.”
For the LORD will spare the needy:
Psalm 72:13: “He
shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the
souls of the needy.”
For the LORD will defend the
needy:
Psalm 82:3: “Defend
the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted
and needy.”
God has a plan for the poor and the
needy! HE will pick them up
[he will raise them up] out of all their troubles.
“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;”
[Psalm 113:7]
Psalm 72:4: “He
shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save
the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces
the oppressor.”
[This Scripture will literally be
fulfilled in the time of the establishment of the
millennial kingdom of Heaven.]
Yes, this particular prophecy will
be fulfilled soon! Ready? Isaiah 14:30:
“And the firstborn of the poor shall
feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I
will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay
thy remnant.”
We, the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, shall soon witness this great
deliverance of the poor and of the needy in the
very near future:
“All my bones shall say, LORD, who is
like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him
that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the
needy from him that spoileth him?”
[Psalm 35:10]
The poor and the needy will praise
thy name!
So will it be! Amen!
There is one last thought I have here,
concerning the poor and the needy. In
this group of people [the poor and needy] there is a
subset of people who also are poor in
spirit.
The Lord Jesus Christ when He was on this
earth proclaimed a special promise to those
who were poor in spirit. The promise is
this – that they would inherit the Kingdom of
Heaven.
Look with me in the Gospel according to
Matthew, in chapter five, verse three:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
[Matthew 5:3]
So will it be! Amen!