Shalom in Psalms

A Devotional from the Jewish Heart of the Christian Faith

Jeffrey Seif, Glenn Blank, Paul Wilbur

• Publisher: Baker Books
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780801019470
• eBook ISBN: 9781493406456
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Bibles

The ancient Jewish life-giving balm in Psalms helps us recover our equilibrium in a world where so much knocks us off balance and steals our shalom. This devotional and Tree of Life Version of the Bible come from the heart of today's Messianic Jewish movement to provide the Jewish essence of Psalms in a way that promises shalom for the heart and soul.

Devotionals

Psalm 1

Torah Is a Tree of Wisdom

1 Happy is the one who has not walked in the advice of the wicked,

nor stood in the way of sinners,

nor sat in the seat of scoffers.

2 But his delight is in the Torah of ADONAI,

and on His Torah he meditates day and night.

3 He will be like a planted tree over streams of water,

producing its fruit during its season.

Its leaf never droops—

but in all he does, he succeeds.

4 The wicked are not so.

For they are like chaff that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand during the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For ADONAI knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Jeffrey Seif and Glenn Blank

Though the first word is often translated “blessed,” our preference for “happy” derives from the core meaning of this Hebrew word, אַשְׁרֵי, ashrei. “Blessed” sounds more religious than need be. Everyone wants to be happy—the religious and nonreligious alike—yet not everyone abides religious language or even believes in a personal God who is willing to help people be happy. Ashrei is not a giddy or jolly feeling but a calm contentment. The “delight” that one feels from meditating on the Torah (2) is a satisfying shalom, secure in one’s relationship with HaShem. Israel’s ancient and inspired songbook attests to a gracious God, predisposed to shine His favor upon those who live value-centered and virtuous lives, who follow the counsel of the wise rather than “the advice of the wicked” (1). Because God knows their ways (6), the righteous will be rewarded accordingly (3). Is that good news for you? Are you looking beyond the present for better things in olam haba, the world to come? Godly wisdom (for this is the first of many wisdom poems in the Psalter) knows about a happiness that comes with trusting faithfulness, drawing life from the Spirit of God and “producing its fruit during its season” (3)—which looks and tastes like His Spirit, with the sap of patience, kindness, and faithful love. On the other hand, manipulative and perverse scoffers are promised no such abiding happiness, their futures blown away in the wind (4). In the Hebrew Bible, a kindly disposed and just God dispenses His grace in accordance with how we “walk” or live our lives, step-by-step (1). If you share in the righteousness of Messiah, you can take heart, even in difficult times. For a righteous person is “like a tree planted by the waters,” so firmly rooted that “its leaves will be green” even in a time of drought (see Jer. 17:8). That’s something better and more enduring than whatever is trendy or “hot” today. That’s good news from the Hebrew Bible, which is God’s news for all.

Psalm 2

Coronation of Messianic King

1 Why are the nations in an uproar,

and the peoples mutter vanity?

2 The kings of earth set themselves upa

and rulers conspire togetherb against ADONAI

and against His Anointed Onec:

3 “Let’s rip their chains apart,

and throw their ropes off us!”

4 He who sits in heaven laughs!

ADONAI mocks them.

5 So He will speak to them in His anger,

and terrify them in His fury:

6 “I have set up My king

upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

7 I will declare the decree of ADONAI.

He said to me: “You are My Son—

today I have become Your Father.d

8 Ask Me, and I will give the nations as Your inheritance,

and the far reaches of the earth as Your possession.

9 You shall break the nations with an iron scepter.e

You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s jar.”f

10 So now, O kings, be wise,

take warning, O judges of the earth!

11 Serve ADONAI with fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest He become angry,

and you perish along your way—

since His wrath may flare up suddenly.

Happy is everyone taking refuge in Him!

Glenn Blank

In America, after all the campaigns and elections are over, the succession from one president to another is peaceful and orderly. For that and more, we must thank God for George Washington. But it was not so for ancient kings. We need only look at the plotting and scheming among David’s sons and their supporters (1 Kings 1:5–53). It could have ended up in bitter and bloody war had not the prophet Nathan and wise old King David intervened to arrange the coronation of the young Solomon. After Solomon, though, things got worse, with Rehoboam and Jeroboam splitting the kingdom of Israel in two (1 Kings 12).

If much was at stake then, how much more so when we consider the crowning of David’s greater Son, the Anointed One (מָשִׁיחַ, Mashiach)? Much was at stake then for everyone in the kingdom, and much is at stake for us as we look for Messiah to est...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Praise for the TLV
• The Vision and How It Came Together
• A Worship Leader’s Introduction to the Psalms
• A Literary Editor’s Introduction to the Psalms
• Devotionals
• Notes
• About the Authors
• Back Ad
• Back Cover