Psalms 31-32 Bible Teaching

Introduction to Psalm 31

WELCOME
PRAYER
SONG –
SILENCE
PSALM 31-32
March 16th 2025

Okay PSALM 31

This Psalm offers no notes of time or place about when or why it was written. It might have been written by David during his persecution by Saul. Some think Jeremiah was the author because the thirteenth verse begins exactly with the same words as Jeremiah 20:10 and there are several other passages here that are found in the book of Jeremiah so there is that. Let’s read and comment on the highlights.

1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In thee, YAHAVAH, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. 2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

Biblical Interpretation

For those who are biblical literalists verse two certainly says that YAHAVAH has ears. And for those who see Him with a body of flesh and bone this would support their view. Of course, we have plenty of other places that plainly state that God is a Spirit, and not a man – so those have to be disregarded if we were to take this passage literally. Bottom line every passage must be interpreted by the Bible as a whole. No single line, word, phrase, chapter or book stands alone, and this makes right sound exegesis a thing based on our knowledge of the entire composition Genesis to Revelation. This takes a lifetime of personal study of THE BIBLE and not a lifetime of learning what others say the Bible means – including me. Its an amazing fact but a genuine relationship with God demands first-hand understanding of Him.

To say otherwise is to suggest that one person, let’s say a husband, can take the time in a relationship with his wife – let’s say decades of day to day interaction and time with her, and then he can correctly explain her to another. What makes this impossible is not just the vast amount of information that can only be learned first-hand about her from another, but we must also take into account how the third party would interpret her through their understanding and world view. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with seeking out third parties to hear their views are of the text, but the intimate direct real relationship, in my estimation, can only happen between father by the Spiri of Christ in His child.

What we have around us are religions that have taken the study of others, codified it, and then pass it down to others who, from their own understanding accept it. Those who accept it are united with others. Those who do not are excluded but everytone, from being totally passive to being utterly devoted, interpret the teachers and their traditions subjectively. I do not believe that anyone can really and truly know God without subjectively pursuing Him in spirit and truth, through faith and love, and on their own.

3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. 4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, YAHAVAH God of truth.

Historical Usage of Psalms

I was sort of shocked to learn that the phrase was commonly used anciently when people faced dangers, difficulties, and in the face of deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God.. It was used by the sick when they were about to expire (if they were sensible); and if not, the priest said it in their behalf. Of course, Christ, according to Luke’s account alone inserts these words but the meaning is, “I give my spirit to you, Father, for it is yours.” We note that Christ did not cite the whole Psalm as the words, “for thou has redeemed me,” were not applicable for Him, “as the Redeemer who needed no redemption.”

We also see that Stephen, when he was being stoned, said essentially the same words or said words with the same meaning which are found in Acts 7:59 which reads And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Obviously, we see a difference where Christ, committed His Spirit to His Father but Stephan committed His to Yeshua – proving the order, and the deity of the Son even at this time in scripture. Because we are here and because the subject is one of the most confusing in the study of scripture, I want to add my insights for whatever they are worth. The subject? What

Components of Human Beings

are the components of human beings, how do they relate to one another and where do these components go once we have lived our earthly lives?

Because I came from Mormonism and because some of you came from there as well, let me tell you what I was once taught by them –

That prior to creating heaven and earth there was what was known as the premortal existence where Heavenly Father and his wives procreated our respective spirits. Some LDS scholars posit, because of Smiths imagination that anything that is real is eternal, that matter cannot be created nor destroyed, and since spirit, for it to be real, must be matter, then we, as spirit children, have existed forever in some material form. In the fictitious book of Abraham, this matter that our Heavenly Father and mothers created us from was from an eternal pool from various brightness of intelligence, which has existed forever. Somehow our heavenly parents took these intelligences and formed premortal spirit-children, and we had all lived in a premortal world as these created spirits, Jesus and Satan too.

After the creation of Human beings, these spirits – after a great war in heaven, unitedly chose to follow the fathers plan. So some were very bright (Christ, and others that the LDS prophets have included) while others were to some extent or another “darker” but nevertheless, all agreed to come to earth, to enter the earthly realm, forgetting our origins and living life out as a means to pass through mortality because as we do, we are either learning and growing or failing the test of mortality and when we die, and our spirit will return to Heavenly Father better equipped for deification or not. If on earth we were sealed by LDS authority in a temple, we will, with our spouse, go on and create spirit children of our own to populate whatever planets Heavenly Father bestows upon us.

That is the LDS view and admittedly, it rings true in terms of our logic and imagination. I mean, why not? LR Hubbard also created his own mythology in Scientology that too makes some sense, as did Immanual Swedenborg and even Plato.

Christian Understanding

Now, the trouble Christians face is understanding exactly what the biblical components are to this topic and how exactly they work from that perspective. What makes it difficult is the terms Spirit (Pneuma or ruach) and Soul (Psuche or Nephesh) are used interchangeable by writers of scripture, making our understanding a bit cloudy and confused. And you know as well as I do that when it comes to uncertainty or a lack of answers or clarity, especially in the realms of theology, there is a lot of weight given to those who are willing to fill in the blanks. For this reason the allure of certain explanations, no matter how fanciful, are a major attraction which is why imaginative lies and false traditions proliferate the world of the unknown.

At the end of the day, perhaps we might simply remind ourselves to be very careful of people or groups that have answers for everything. That said, I think we can help clear up some of the confusion around what is the Spirit, what is the soul, and what is the body and what happens to them all at death.

Creation of the First Man

Let’s begin with the creation of the first Adam. We’ve been there many times before but the text in Hebrew and the Greek Septuagint read:

Genesis 2:7

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,

“Man” here is “Adam “and ground is ADAMAH, so earth. soil. Ground is the origin of Man, who the LORD God formed. That is what we are in our natural state – from the earth – earthly. Our domain is here and God gave us dominion over the earth we came from as whatever brings us to animated, live, thriving has not yet been introduced. Only that God formed MAN of the dust of the ground. This is what we are – creatures from the dust of the ground, either directly (in males) or indirectly and therefore more refined as derivative, “females”, who will come later. So that is man. The first man.

Then we read what God did with that body of man whom He formed out of the earth.

“and (God) breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;

The Hebrew word nawkhaw is translated breathed and it simply refers to the act of puffing or inflating (Where did God puff or inflate) “into Adams nostrils, (and what did he blow

The Breath of Life

into Adams nostrils) the Nawshawma of khahee, which in Hebrew is “the wind of life” or “living.”

1. Now, where did this wind of living come from? Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:7, about human death and said, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

You may not agree with me at this point but I see that “breath of life,” that “spirit that will return to God who gave it,” as nothing more than the energy or force or power that God bestows on things that live or are animated or alive in this world. We might see it as His life-giving power and when He chooses to take it back to Himself, because He is the one who gave it, the body or dust will return to the earth from where it was made and the earthly, fleshly mortal existence of the human being ends. This would be the end of the story and would describe earthly automatons without will, emotion, mind of its own. So we might suppose that we, with only these words, would have sort of been like robots that operate on electricity – pull the plug, it shuts down, and the movements and life of the Robot is left to rust and decay.

Adam's Living Soul

With me so far? Fortunately, the Genesis passage does not end with God animating the clay, but it includes, “and (as a result of God breathing his breath into the clay) “man became a living soul.” In other words, by God breathing His breath into the clay, that inanimate clay became something new, original, and individuated, called, a living soul.

Here is the thing – the Spirit of God in the creation of Adam REMAINED in Him and engaged with what he became – a LIVING soul. This MUST be remembered at this point. This was the relationship Adam had with God – direct and empowering. And at this point Adam had mind, will and emotion which were in direct intimate relationship with the living God.

Eve's Distinct Creation

Eve was then taken from Adam and the same components that were in him were in her by transference, but she was made from the first man, and she had the living breath from God in him in her, and a operative soul from him through whom she came. So maybe we can say be so bold to suggest that her existence, person, personality, spirit of God in her, and soul were derivative of Adam, from her beginning as God did not breath into the body He formed for her – that energy of life, that operating power, was directly breathed into Adam. From that day forward all children of them would then come in and through her alone.

See the order? Because God made them in His image, “male AND female made He them,” is what it clearly says, we can also see (if we are willing) a masculine Father component in Adam and a feminine Son component in Eve with the two of them materially being One and with them at their creation literally being a material human extension of the One Plural God.

Disconnection from God

Now we note, that when they sinned against God’s command, what died in them was the direct operating energy they internally possessed from God that allowed them to directly relate to Him and have fellowship with Him. Yet they both, with bodies from the dust and souls (minds, will and emotions) continued to live and operate without it.

So it seems like what left them was just His Spiritual presence within them and that humanity (until the incarnation) lived in an internally disconnected state from their Maker. The Maker was privy to humanity but humanity was alienated personally from God. So their bodies continued to live and to replicate themselves as did their souls, or the minds, the wills and the emotions that every single person possessed on earth. And when human beings died, from Adam to Christ, their bodies returned to the dust, the animating spirit that allows all souls to live – the power – the Spirit of breath of life (in whatever form it remains) returns to God who gave it, and the created souls of each individual (their respective minds, wills and emotions), went to sheol or the covered place because the direct internal spiritual relationship with God was dead. They had NO relationship with Him.

But God is the God of the Living and NOT the dead and He so loved the world He gave us, while we were yet sinners, His

The Role of Yeshua as the Last Adam

Yeshua was called by Paul the last Adam, and where human beings were still being born (of flesh) and were coming into the world with minds, wills, and emotions, all of them were heading to the grave both physically and with their respective souls (minds, wills, and emotions) which were disconnected from God just like Adam was. Overcoming all of the issues introduced to the world by the first Adam, Christ reconciled the world to His Father and His actions of love reunited all of us to a Spiritual reconnection NOT through the Spirit breathed into Adam BUT through the Spirit of Christ, our Lord, God, and King!

So, now, when each of us exits this world at our physical deaths, what happens? From what I can tell, the body goes back to the dust from where we physically came. The animating breath of life given to Adam that animates life for all people “returns to God who gave it,” and the individual's mind, will, and emotions (or the individual souls of every person) enter into the next age or realm, leaving the new earth as new creations (because Christ has retrofitted all souls by removing sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace.) and all souls of all people are rewarded with what we (our souls) have become.

Transition to the New Heaven

So, what we are seeing in the New Heaven and how we engage with each other in the New Heaven will be entirely predicated on what condition our mind, will, and emotions are in when we get there, seeing that all of the physical, material expressions of ourselves have been left in the dust from which we came and the Spirit from God returned to Him who gave it. Again, because of Christ, every whit of the detrimental elements in our souls have been redeemed leaving all the things that contributed to our fugliness and weakness as human beings in the dust. All the pain caused by others, all the dysfunction created by circumstance and flesh, all disorders that plagued us in life – over.

What does exist in the heavenly realm is what remains of ourselves through mind, will, emotions SPIRITUALLY but “in the conditions they were in” WHEN the Spirit of God returned to Him who gave it. Because all of us have the Spirit of Christ within in the face of His victorious work, it seems (again, it seems) that what remains for each of us is to reap the spiritual growth, maturity, and advancements (meaning the faith and love) they sowed while on earth. God is just. He is aware. And on our behalf took the world He created back to the garden state leaving every individual to choose whether we want to sow to our temporary flesh and earthly existences OR if we chose to sow to the Spirit as a means to mature and advance in our respective minds, will, and emotions in relationship to Him and others. I hope this was clear enough to help answer what often gets mixed up even among believers.

Yeshua's Connection to the Old Testament

Back to Psalm 31. As an FYI, Yeshua quoted or alluded to the Old Testament over 10% of the time as recorded in the Apostolic Record. This means that 180 of the 1,800 verses in the Gospels that report his speeches are from the Old Testament text. He cited them in public and private settings, in sermons, and in one-on-one conversations with friends and foes alike. He cited passages from at least 12 Old Testament prophets, most often from the books of Isaiah and Psalms.

References and Fulfillments

Throughout His teachings, He repeatedly references the authority of Tanakh including in Matthew 5:17-18; 8:17; 12:40-42; Luke 4:18-21; 10:25-28; 15:29-31; 17:32; 24:25-45; and John 5:39-47. He quoted the Pentateuch alone 26 times and He quoted from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, and Malachi. He referred to the Old Testament as “The Scriptures,” “the word of God,” and “the wisdom of God.” His apostles quoted the OT 209 times and considered it “the oracles of God.” And the Old Testament in literally hundreds of places predicted the events of the Apostolic Record from Gospels to Revelation showing fulfillment FULFILMENT! of the OLD.

It was men who later took the letters and gospels and added them to the Tanakh. And while I find the New Testament absolutely inspired and filled with valuable information and evidence of all that God did to reconcile the world to Himself, God describes His New Testament in ways very different than how Man does.

Understanding Biblical Codification and Internal Faith

The gospels and revelations were not genuinely codified, readable, or available to the world of Christianity for a long, long time, for them to have been deemed demanded reading for the faith. And God’s New Testament is described by Him as internal, written on the heart and mind of individuals in the very same way God had direct intimate relationships with both the First Adam and the Last.

Let's keep reading in Psalm 31 at verse 6:

6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in YAHAVAH. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; 8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

To me, that last line is superb in depicting the Liberty that comes with walking in relationship with God – openness, light, space, freedom to move. David continues and says:

9 Have mercy upon me, YAHAVAH, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. 13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. 14 But I trusted in thee, YAHAVAH: I said, Thou art my God.

(LOVE THAT!)

Saints and Language Context

15 My times are in thy hand: (so not only is the phrase into thy hands I commit my spirit, but David here admits that his times (life) is in His hand) deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. 17 Let me not be ashamed, YAHAVAH; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! 20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. 21 Blessed be YAHAVAH: for he hath shewed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. 22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

And in the conclusion the writer admonishes the reader with:

23 O love YAHAVAH, all ye his saints: for YAHAVAH preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

The Meaning of Saints

Saints – oh boy. First of all, the Hebrew word translated as saints here is KHAW seed, and its best, most universal definition means, “kind and merciful.” In that sense, I see the term as applicable to other human beings on out till today.

The problems arise with the Apostolic Records' translation of Saint or Saints because that comes from the Greek Hagias, which literally means pure, holy, and sanctified. How are we to understand the human use of the word Saint and the fact that the scripture makes plain that we all have sin?

The actual English word Saint appeared in the early 12th Century as an adjective, seinte, "holy, divinely inspired, and get this, “worthy of worship," and was assigned to various characters of Christian renown in the Roman Catholic Church. When people started using it as a prefix to a “canonized person” it became a noun, meaning "a specific canonized Christian," also "one of the elect, a member of the body of Christ, one consecrated or set apart to the service of God," which was akin to “an Old Testament pre-Christian prophet." By late 13th century, Saint was defined as "moral or virtuous person, one who is pure or upright in heart and life." No such thing.

CS Lewis wrote in his book, The Problem of Pain, Perhaps you have imagined that this humility in the saints is a pious

The Concept of Earthly Saints

Illusion at which God smiles. That is a most dangerous error. It is theoretically dangerous, because it makes you identify a virtue (i.e., a perfection) with an illusion (i.e., an imperfection), which must be nonsense. It is practically dangerous because it encourages a man to mistake his first insights into his own corruption for the first beginnings of a halo around his own silly head. No, depend upon it; when the saints say that they—even they—are vile, they are recording truth with scientific accuracy. [C.S. Lewis, "The Problem of Pain," 1940]

The trouble with granting human beings sainthood or even assigning them the title “Saint” or “Saints” is that when the apostles used it in the Apostolic Record it only meant, “sanctified.” And we know that sanctification comes not by works righteousness or human purity but by faith in Christ alone—which is the biblical description of, hagias. When we take human beings, and attempt to lift them up to lofty positions outside the members of the Bride of that Day, I agree with CS Lewis and see such appellations as ludicrous—especially when we attempt to crown their heads with light and praise in place of God.

I do believe, however, and as radical as this is going to sound, that there are human beings that could be recognized as “earthly Saints,” or people who with and in their lives chose to kindly serve and help others selflessly and sacrificially. But to reward them with Sainthood that is supposed to have gone with them into the heavens is reserved for God alone. Bottom line, why not extol the labors of souls in this world as earthy saints and let their heavenly title be given and recognized there?

Psalms and the Instruction on Sin

In any case, last verse

24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in YAHAVAH.

And then to

Psalm 32

A big one because many people believe that this Psalm was composed by David after his sins with Bathsheba. Interesting, the title of this Psalm is significant, “A Psalm of David, giving instruction, an instructive Psalm.” Instructive how? On how to approach sin when we commit them. I thought sin was over and paid for? It is. But this has no bearing on our heart in the face of our personal failures before God. That is an entirely different thing.

24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in YAHAVAH.

The Covering of Sin

Verse 1

1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

In that day sin was covered (or propitiated) by sacrificial offerings, going to the high priest and other rites. In the age of the Apostolic Record, sin was forgiven by those of that age who looked to the Messiah and trusted in His promises to save them from it, from the grasp of Satan, from the clutches of hell, afterlife punishment, and the horrible events of the Great and Dreadful day headed their way. Today, our transgressions are forgiven and our sins are covered once and for all. But catch this—this does not mean we aren’t ashamed, broken, and sorrowful for doing what is out of harmony with the will and ways of our God! If I have ever suggested the opposite, forgive me.

In fact, and from my own experience, my sorrow for fleshly failures is more acute, bitterly overwhelming me with sorrow for failing to appreciate and love Him for saving a wretch like me. In verse 2, as David adds,

2 Blessed is the man unto whom YAHAVAH imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

The word 'impute' here has a lot of various meanings in the Old Testament, but instead of thinking of it as inserting or assigning something, think of it as God “laboring, creating, or working” to find or see iniquity in us. So in the end, impute really means, Blessed is the man whom YAHAVAH is not out to catch in sin or wickedness; but whom He sees as capable of mistakes but in possession of a heart for God. This explanation speaks volumes when it comes to David, and the follow-up line confirms this perspective where he says, “And in whose spirit there is no guile.” Can you see from this very verse how Spirit, assigned to man here in the text, muddies the waters of understanding? Because right here the entire contextual understanding of the Spirit and Soul is confused.

David goes on and says,

3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand

The Power of Confession

was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

I love these confessions from his heart – All day long his bones roared and day and night YAHAVAH’s had was heavy upon Him. Context tells us that this is an enviable situation – enviable because in and through it, God shows his love for us in our sins and trials, and that this condition, which is heavy and hard, is for our good. After writing that he was silent, causing his very bones to roar, and his moisture to turn to the drought of summer, David adds –

5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto YAHAVAH; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

The Struggle and Surrender

I cannot recommend this approach to life and God more – to refrain from being silent but to instead acknowledge our sin unto Him – something I was lead to do out in the west desert this past week in one of the darkest times of my life as a man. I fell broken to Him, cried out to Him my sin, and waited for hours for insight – which came, and as sobering as it was, enabled me to carry on. He is there. He alone can be trusted, as David proves even after taking another mans wife and even after having that man put to death.

David concludes

7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

A Call to Wisdom

And then he concludes with,

8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in YAHAVAH, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in YAHAVAH, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Questions and Comments

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