By Jeremy Bell
I am going to share my personal study on Psalm 94 using groupings from my motif analysis, color coded in my book, Psalms in Motif Visualization. I have taken these groupings of the Psalm and put them together. So, the entirety of the Psalm will be posted, but these groupings will present the text in a different order.
Playing music well takes practice. It needs to be regular and purposeful. I found in practice there were times of bliss as I learned something new or found a technique that helped me produce what I desired. Certainly, there were many times of pain. Looking forward to practicing was typically more burdensome than actually practicing. However, the benefits practicing far outweighed the work in a live performance. Scales that challenged the joy of music in practice became beloved tools for entertaining.
Etudes
Etudes, in music, are instrumental compositions primarily written to tax a certain technique for improvement. A lot of etudes are never played publicly though they are written by professional composers. But some are. When listening to a piece of music and you hear scales, those may be etudes and certainly, they are played well by people who practice etudes. The master of the etude is the master of grace.
I like the idea of etudes taxing technique. It first suggests a learning environment where the student is attempting to get better. There is a teach of sorts to give them the tools to improve and a good in person teacher acts like a coach to raise their motivation to persevere. I have also witnessed etudes and other tools as a sort of filtering. Not everyone has the skills or abilities to play professional music, even if they enjoy it or want to. Etudes encourage the faithful and discourage the unfaithful.
Etudes for Division
Psalm 94 reminds me of etude studies in this way. God disciplines those who are His, He teaches them from His law, and He gives them rest. They are blessed and their days of adversity will end. God’s law teaches, and for those who are not His, the pit is dug for them. Before God, they are senseless, fools, ignorant of the creator of hearing and seeing, assumptive that punishment will not be given, and futile thinkers. Their own schemes will be used on themselves, and their wickedness will be allowed to a point where God will stop it. Then, God will cut them off. The faithful will be encouraged and the unfaithful discouraged.
In my motif analysis, this Psalm has an introduction and conclusion with two verses in the middle. In this posting, I will group the motifs together to highlight the motifs. But the Psalm should be read as is for accurate understanding.
[ Psalm 94 ]
Grouping A
“Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah,
and teach out of your law,
that you may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until the pit is dug for the wicked.”
Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?
Unless Yahweh had been my help,
my soul would have soon lived in silence.
Yahweh, you God to whom vengeance belongs,
you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out.
Rise up, you judge of the earth.
Pay back the proud what they deserve.
Yahweh, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked triumph?
Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you,
which brings about mischief by statute?
Grouping B
For Yahweh won’t reject his people,
neither will he forsake his inheritance.
For judgment will return to righteousness.
All the upright in heart shall follow it.
When I said, “My foot is slipping!”
Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me,
your comforts delight my soul.
They pour out arrogant words.
All the evildoers boast.
They break your people in pieces, Yahweh,
and afflict your heritage.
They kill the widow and the alien,
and murder the fatherless.
They say, “Yah will not see,
neither will Jacob’s God consider.”
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent blood.
But Yahweh has been my high tower,
my God, the rock of my refuge.
Grouping C
Consider, you senseless among the people;
you fools, when will you be wise?
He who implanted the ear, won’t he hear?
He who formed the eye, won’t he see?
He who disciplines the nations, won’t he punish?
He who teaches man knows.
Yahweh knows the thoughts of man,
that they are futile.
He has brought on them their own iniquity,
and will cut them off in their own wickedness.
Yahweh, our God, will cut them off.
Practice to be Made
If this Psalm were styled like etudes, the faithful who practice would receive discipline and teaching. Not always enjoying it in the present moments but enduring because of the hope and promises set before them by God. They practice trusting God, protecting the widow, alien, and the fatherless. God said the judgement would return to righteousness.
Because of Jesus, we know that in Him, the judged are made perfectly righteous. If someone is not in Him, they are judged according to their own doings and justice is executed. Justice is perfectly righteous either way, Jesus is the entirety of etudes that perfect the faithful and filters out the unfaithful. The arrogant will fall in the in the nature of their personal rejection of God and the humble will be rescued and set in God’s refuge inside, the Nature of Joy.
Resources and Notes
All scripture in this article is from the WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE (WEB). The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.
For more related to this blog, check out my post on Truth Basics for Christian Living with Strategic Options.
This is a reliable translation, but it is always good to read other translations as well. Biblegateway.com has a multitude of translations to read from. It is a great resource.
Another great resource is Biblehub.com. There are multiple translations, commentaries, and so much more. Great research can be done on this platform.
One more I use regularly is Gotquestions.org. This is a great site to answer questions and find threads of related questions.
There are many resources. The key is that God wants relationship directly with you, the individual. His primary source for revealing who He is and growing in intimacy is His word, the scriptures. Don’t just read for instruction. Analyze and read for understanding. Explore, ask questions, and be transformed in Jesus every moment you possibly can. There is no dispute this is a key desire of God. People are brough to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This… This is the Nature of Joy.
Jeremy is an author, musician, and business intelligence manager. His mission is to equip and encourage those in Christ, to equip and encourage others in Christ. Jesus, Christ, is the Nature of Joy and melody of the heart. Jeremy unites business analytics (business intelligence), songs, and Scripture for Christian living in the power of the Holy Spirit.