Protection Of The Oppressed

INTRO

We’ve been on this journey of studying the Bible in Revive School for over a year. We started in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, which set the tone for what we are going to talk about today. The psalmist writes about everything that happened between the Pentateuch and the historical books. This is a psalm of reflection that deals with how the Israelites were to cope with everything they had been through.

We are still on a Psalm of Ascent. A Psalm of Ascent was sung as the Israelites traveled to Jerusalem for either the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the Harvest, or the Feast of Tabernacles. Three times each year, the Israelites traveled to Jerusalem, and when they did, they were singing. These times of ascent were always a time of reflection and praise. This psalm is a song of lament and trust and focuses on how to deal with persecution and suffering.

TEACHING

Psalm 129:1-2: These verses are going to discuss how to accept persecution and suffering. These verses are essentially the same, but the second verse declares the attackers had not prevailed. These verses are an Israelite reflecting on how God delivered them in the past. We are going to look at how Israel dealt with persecution.

• Genesis 12:1–3: Abraham was called. As Abraham traveled, some people would bless or curse him, and God would return those blessings or curses. Abraham had to understand that God had it taken care of. This takes us back to Psalm 19, which says to trust the word.

Genesis 21:8–13: Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael. Right away, Ishmael mocked Isaac. There was always tension between them. Isaac had to come to terms with receiving constant persecution from his brother. Galatians 4:21-31 describes the tension we still feel today of Muslims (Ishmael) verses Jews (Isaac) and Christians. There is something crazy about the fact that the Jews have not been wiped off the face of the earth. Story after story in Scripture is of leaders and countries who tried to wipe the Jews off the face of this earth. However, they did not prevail.

Exodus 1:9–14: The more the Israelites were persecuted, the more they increased and molded into a nation. They were not destroyed. We see the language of deliverance from suffering in Psalm 88:15 and Hosea 11:1.

Exodus 14:19–31: The Egyptians tried to drown the Jews, but the Lord drowned the Egyptian army instead.

Isaiah 37–38: The Assyrians tried to starve the Israelites into surrender, but God wiped out their army.

Daniel 3: King Nebuchadnezzar (the ruler of Babylon) tried to burn the Jews up, but the Lord delivered them.

Daniel 5: Although Belshazzar blasphemed the God of Israel and defiled the holy vessels, that night the Medes and Persians killed him.

Daniel 6: The Persians had Daniel thrown into the lions’ den, but God rescued him, and the beasts killed the soothsayers instead.

Hitler, in one of the worse scenarios of all time, killed over 6 million Jews in gas chambers, but he was eventually defeated, and the nation of Israel was formed in 1948.¹

Why? Why is everyone wanting to wipe out a tiny nation, a little people group? Why is the enemy so concerned? Matthew states that Jesus wanted to gather His people together, but they refused and became a desolate nation and Jesus finished by saying they would not see Him until He comes back and His chosen people say, "Blessed are you who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:37-39)! So according to this, the enemy reasons if he destroys Israel, the Lord cannot come back as Jesus promised. But God has not let the enemy wipe out the nation of Israel no matter what persecution or adversity he tries to inflict, the Lord always prevails. And He will come back and clean house (Zechariah 14).

Psalm 129:3: Not only did the Israelites have to accept being persecuted, Wiersbe points out that the Israelites had to learn to benefit from the persecution.² This verse implies much suffering. MacArthur explains that the psalmist used “farming analogy . . . to describe the deep, but non-fatal, wounds inflicted on Israel by her enemies.”³

Psalm 129:4: Constable wrote, “The actual reigns or things that bound Israel were now cut off.”⁴ This verse shows us that the affliction stopped. It was important for the Israelites to pass down their experiences with persecution down to the next generation.

Psalm 129:5–8: The psalmist wrote, “Let all who hate Zion be driven back in disgrace.” The word disgrace here means shame. MacArthur explains that disgrace means embarrassed and humiliated.⁵ The psalmist referred to the image of withered grass to describe the fate of those who persecute Israel. MacArthur wrote, “Grass with shallow roots . . . quickly dies with the first heat, depicts the wicked.”⁶

CLOSING

Satan hates Israel. He is going to do anything he can to wipe out the Jews. This is why we need to pray for deliverance. We want the enemy to be defeated. Salvation is from the Jews; salvation is Jesus (John 4:22)! Jesus means freedom. Satan knows his time is limited. Salvation is offered to anyone. The enemy will not prevail.