Psalm 85

From: Messages of God's Love: 1931

Psalm 85

The 85th psalm is founded upon God’s deliverance of His people Israel which Psalm 84 views as accomplished, as we have seen. The land is His, though for many centuries His earthly people have had hardly a foothold on it; now He, in the person of His beloved Son will have asserted title to it, and taken possession. The captivity of Jacob is ended (verse 1).

Israel as a nation has not been a free people since the assault of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria in 2 Kings 15:29,²⁹In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. (2 Kings 15:29) and 1 Chronicles 5:26,²⁶And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day. (1 Chronicles 5:26) unless an exception be made of the brief span of years of the Maccabean period.

The captivity of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manassah occurred about 735 years before the birth of Christ; to this add the 1926 years since that time, and it will be seen that the captivity of Jacob, i.e., the time since the first of them were taken captive, and carried away beyond the Euphrates to be presently lost to sight, is already 2,661 years. Counting from the first captivity of Judah, it is 2,526 years.

It may be objected that the Jews, who comprise two of the twelve tribes of Israel, are not now captives; this is undeniable, but nevertheless they have no title to their own land, and are only tolerated there. Where Solomon’s temple stood on Mount Zion is now a Mohamman Mosque, and the existence of the Jews’ wailing place where sons and daughters of Jacob poured out their lamentations, is a present testimony in Jerusalem that their captivity is not over.

Verses 2 and 3 tell of the national deliverance brought about by the Lord’s coming in power, but verses 4 to 7 refer to the inward state of the people. Does not Zechariah 12:10-14¹⁰And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. ¹¹In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. ¹²And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; ¹³The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; ¹⁴All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zechariah 12:10‑14) make plain that there will be (as is surely called for) a deep work in the consciences and hearts of the Israelites after the Lord has come to their help?

Verses 8 to 13 express the result in blessing. Verse 10 particularly attracts our attention, because it is a definite answer to the cross of Christ. Consequent upon that, righteousness and peace have kissed each other, and in the millennium, truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from the heavens. Blessing will be great, but it will not be without the accompaniment of righteousness. A king, Isaiah 32:1¹Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. (Isaiah 32:1) declares, shall reign in righteousness, speaking of the Lord Jesus when He comes to the world again.

The closing verse should read “and shall set His footsteps on the way,” or “shall set itself in the way of His steps.”

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