GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 10 ~ ~ Acts 12:24 ~ ~ “But the word of God grew and multiplied.”

Continuing in Chapter 8 of Michael Youssef’s book, “How to Read the Bible”

Psalms: The Songbook of the Kingdom

Looking at Psalm 24: The King of Glory

The Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred object in ancient Israel.  It was an acacia wood chest covered in gold with an ornately carved lid called the Mercy Seat.  It contained the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. God gave Moses the pattern of the Ark at the foot of Mount Sinai.  When the Israelites traveled, the Levites used long wooded poles to carry it.  It represented the presence of God in the midst of His people., and it was a symbol of the Israelites’ national identity.

In the days before they had a king, the Israelites fought the Philistines at Ebenezer.  The Philistines won, killing four thousand Israelite soldiers.

Confused and discouraged, the Israelites decided to trust a sacred object, rather than God alone, to give them the victory.  With the Ark in their camp, the Israelites went onto the battlefield – and their defeat was worse than before.  The Philistines killed thirty thousand Israelites and captured the Ark of the covenant.  With the loss of the Ark, many in Israel concluded, “The glory has departed from Israel” (1 Samuel 4:21)

The Philistines thought they had captured Israel’s “good-luck charm,” but wherever they took the Ark, disaster befell them.  The Philistines placed it in the temple of their god Dagon – and they soon found their idol lying prostrate before the Ark.  The Philistines were besieged by plagues, tumors, and rats.  The Ark had brought the Philistines death and a curse.  Seven months after capturing it, the Philistines were desperate to give it back to the Israelites.

The Israelites gladly received the Ark, along with the “guilt offerings” of gold the Philistines offered.  The Ark was kept for a while in the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemite, and it was later moved to Kirjath-Jearim, where it remained for twenty years.  The Ark was largely ignored during King Saul’s reign (See 1 Chronicles 13:3)

But at the beginning  of King David’s reign, he had the Ark moved from Kirjath-Jearim to Mount Zion in Jerusalem.  But he failed to have the Ark transported on poles by Levites, as the Law required.  Instead, the Ark was placed on a cart.  When the cart hit a bump, a man tried to steady the Ark with his hand – and God struck him dead for touching it.

So David sent the Levites to bring the Ark to Mount Zion on poles as God had commanded.  As it approached Jerusalem, the Bible tells us, “David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets”  (2 Samuel 6:14-15).

The Ark was once more in the midst of the Israelites, in the city that King David had made his capital.  It was an emotional reunion between the Ark and the Israelites, and David received it with unrestrained, exuberant dancing.

Many Bible scholars believe that David composed Psalm 24 as a hymn of praise to God for the Ark’s return.

Below is Psalm 24:1-10:

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell therein.

For He has founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?

Or who may stand in His holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,

Nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive blessing from the Lord,

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,

Who seek Your face. Selah

Lift up your heads, O you gates!

And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!

And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord strong and mighty,

The Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O you gates!

Lift up, you everlasting doors!

And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord of hosts,

He is the King of glory. Selah

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Mark 12:30

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment.

Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 34:17

When the righteous cry, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles

*Isaiah 61:3                                                                                                11

 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

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