angela hormberg

Tag: Judgment

  • Psalm 129

    Psalm 129

    Commonplace –

    “The Lord is righteous; he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked” (Psalm 129:4).

    In this psalm, the writer is recalling times when their enemies have troubled them, yet the enemy did not prevail. The psalmist compares the wicked to a farmer, who plows the fields and sows his wickedness. Then, the psalmist asks that the plants of the wicked farmer wither, so they do not produce a crop. The psalmist prays that any who pass the wicked do not ask a blessing upon them.

    The theme of this psalm is justice. The writer recalls when God has punished the wicked in the past and prays that justice will be served on the wicked who are against him in the present. Again, there is the remembering the past and the reminding of God’s preservation of the good and punishment of the wicked, which serves to encourage the afflicted in the present.

    In reference to the last verse,

    “Neither do they which go by say,

    The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 129:8).

    In reference to verse 8, Matthew Henry notes,

    “It is a dangerous thing to let the church’s enemies have our good wishes in their designs against the church” (605).

    He cites 2 John 1:10-11

    “If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, neither bid him God speed

    For he that biddeth God speed is a partaker of evil deeds” (2 Jon 10-11)”.

    It is fair warning that to even wish God speed upon an evil doer is considered an act of evil.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 129.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 119:17-24

    Psalm 119:17-24

    Gimmel or Gimel

    Commonplace –

    “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law”

    “My soul breaketh from the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times”

    “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors” (Psalm 119:18, 20, 24).

    After studying the first three Hebrew letters that represent the first three parts of Psalm 119, it is no surprise that the third letter is supposed to be “a rich man chasing after a poor man” (“Gimmel”). If Aleph represents God and Bet represents man, then the third letter is a picture of God, who is full of riches, chasing after man, who is lacking.

    These first three logographs, Aleph, Bet and Gimmel, are also reminiscent of the action in Genesis chapters 1, 2 and 3. In Genesis Chapter 1, we have “In the beginning God”; God and his act of speaking the world into existence comprise the entire first chapter. In Genesis Chapter 2, we hear more about the creation of man, Adam, and Eve, his helpmate and wife, and the Garden of Eden, their home. We also hear about the first command, which was given to Adam, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). In Genesis Chapter 3, Satan enters the Garden sin enters the world, and man is driven from the Garden. From that day to this, we have a loving God continually extending kindness to his creation, man, even unto death on the cross and resurrection. He came to earth and modeled for man what it takes for man to be reconciled to Him: die to sin and believe on Jesus for new life.

    Matthew Henry points out that the first verse of Gimel, “Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word” (Psalm 119:17), teaches us the following:

    “1. That we owe our lives to God’s mercy. David prays, Deal bountifully with me, that I may live. It was God’s bounty that gave us life, that gives us this life; and the same bounty that gave it continues it, and gives all the supports and comforts of it; if these be withheld, we die , or, which is equivalent, our lives are embittered and we become weary of them. If God deals in strict justice with us, we die, we perish, we all perish; if these forfeited lives be preserved and prolonged, it is because God deals bountifully with us, according to his mercy, not according to our deserts. The continuance of the most useful life is owing to God’s bounty, and on that we must have a continual dependence.

    2. That therefore we out to spend our lives in God’s service. Life is therefore a choice mercy, because it is an opportunity of obeying God in this world, where there are so few that do glorify Him; and this David had in his eye; “Not that I may live and grow rich, live and be merry, but that I may live and keep thy word, may observe it myself and transmit it to those that will come after, which the longer I live the better I shall do” (Henry 563).

    The following three verses: 18, 20 and 24 also struck me.

    The psalmist’s desire in verse 18 for God to open his eyes, that he “may behold wondrous things” was like an ember in my heart. In the same way, I desire that God would give me a longing for his Word. Matthew Henry notes, “If there were wonders in the law, much more in the gospel, where Christ is all in all, whose name is Wonderful”. Well may we, who are so nearly interested, desire to behold these wondrous things, when the angels themselves reach to look into them, 1 Pet. 1:12″ (Henry 563).

    The psalmist’s passionate plea for God to break his soul “for the longing it hath unto thy judgments at all times” modeled for me how I should long for God’s word. “It was not now and then, in a good humour, that [the psalmist] was so fond of the word of God; but it is the habitual temper of every sanctified soul to hunger after the word of God as its necessary food, which there is no living without (Henry 564).

    Finally, the David’s prayer in verse 24 for God to make His testimonies the David’s delight and counsellors is also my prayer. “Those that would have God’s testimonies to be their delight must take them for their counsellors and be advised by them; and let those that take them for their counsellors in close walking take them for their delight in comfortable walking” (Henry 565).

    Works Cited

    “Gimmel”. BJE: Your Jewish Journey. NSW Board of Jewish Education, https://bje.org.au/knowledge-centre/jewish-languages/hebrew-alphabet/gimmel/ , Accessed 28 May 2025.

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 119.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 75

    Psalm 75

    Commonplace –

    “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another” (Psalm 75:7).

    Matthew Henry suggests that this psalm “does so exactly agree with David’s circumstances, at his coming to the crown after the death of Saul, that most interpreters apply it to that juncture” (426).

    Henry suggests the following in relation to this psalm,

    “In singing this psalm we must give to God the glory of all the revolutions of states and kingdoms, believing that they are all according to his counsel and that he will make them all to work for the good of his church” (Henry 426).

    Specifically, Henry notes,

    “In these verses we have two great doctrines laid down and two good inferences drawn from them, for the confirmaiton of what he had before said,

    I. Here are two great truths laid down concerning God’s government of the world, which we ought to mix faith with, both pertinent to the occasion: –

    1. That from God alone kings receive their power (v. 6,7) and therefore to God alone David would give praise of his advancement; having his power from God he would use it for him…
    2. That from God alone all must receive their doom (v.8): In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, which he puts into the hands of the children of men, a cup of providence, mixed up (as he thinks fit) of many ingredients, a cup of afflictions. The sufferings of Christ are called a cup, Matt 20:22; John 18:11.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 75.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • 2025 Rtb: Genesis 18-19

    2025

    Read Through the Bible

    Day 11: Genesis 18-19

    “And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mare: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground” (Genesis 18:1-2).

    Matthew Henry writes,

    “How Abraham expected strangers, and how richly his expectations were answered (v.1): He sat in the tent-door, in the heat of the day; not so much to repose or divert himself as to seek an opportunity for doing good, by giving entertainment to strangers and travellers, there being perhaps no inns to accommodate them. Note 1. We are likely to have the most comfort of those good works to which we are most free and forward. 2. God graciously visits those in whom he has first raised the expectation of him, and manifests himself to those that wait from him” (Henry 93).

    It’s interesting what Henry makes the following remark regarding Abraham’s hospitality,

    “Where, upon a prudent and impartial judgment, we see no cause to suspect ill, charity teaches us to hope well and to show kindness accordingly. It is better to feed five drones, or wasps, than to starve one bee” (Henry 93).

    Genesis 18 ends with God’s judgment on Sodom. Abraham pleads for the preservation of the city, if even ten good men could be found there. As Abraham aptly observes,

    “[Abraham] returned to his place to observe what that event could be; and it proved that his prayer was heard, and yet Sodom was not spared, because there were not ten righteous in it. We cannot expect too little from man nor too much from God” (Henry 97).

    Further in Genesis 19, we are made aware of the events surrounding Lot, after he escaped Sodom. His wife defies the angel’s command and turns back, wherein she is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot goes on with his two daughters. Lot ultimately becomes drunk, and his daughter’s take advantage of his state to commit sin. Of drunkenness, Matthew Henry writes,

    “The peril of drunkenness. It is not only a great sin itself, but it is the inlet of many sins; it may prove the inlet of the worst and most unnatural sins, which may be a perpetual wound and dishonour. Excellently does Mr. Herbert describe it,

    He that is drunken may his mother kill, Big with his sister

    A man may do that without reluctance, when he is drunk which, when he is sober, he could not think of without horror” (Henry 102).

    Henry, Matthew. “Volume 1: Genesis.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 60

    Psalm 60

    Commonplace –

    “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Psalm 60:11-12).

    In Psalm 60, David again begins with prayers of protection and favor. In verse 6, the Psalm turns to praise, as David writes,

    “God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Schechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth” (Psalm 60:6).

    God answered and gave David the victory. Regarding Psalm 60 Matthew Henry notes, it was written when “David was in the zenith of his prosperity, and the affairs of [David’s] kingdom seem to have been in a better posture than ever they were either before or after” (Henry 376). Further on Henry writes,

    “David, in prosperity, was as devout as David in diversity” (375).

    Matthew Henry outlines Psalm 60 as follows,

    “I. [David] reflects upon the bad state of the public interests, for many years, in which God had been contending with them (v. 1-3).

    II. [David] takes notice of the happy turn lately given to their affairs (v. 4).

    III. [David] prays for the deliverance of God’s Israel from their enemies (v. 5).

    IV. [David] triumphs in hope of their victories over their enemies, and begs of God to carry them on and complete them (v 6-12)” (Henry 375).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 60.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 59

    Psalm 59

    Commonplace –

    “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble” (Psalm 59:16).

    As with Psalm 57, there is a turning point in this psalm. It begins in prayer and ends with praise; verse 16 is that turning point. In the face of his enemies, David turns to God, his strength and defense. Matthew Henry notes,

    “[David] would praise him because he had still a dependence upon Him and a confidence in Him, as his strength to support him and carry him on in his duty, his defense to keep him safe from evil, and the God of his mercy to make him happy and easy. He that is all this to us is certainly worthy of our best affections, praises and services” (375).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 59.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 58

    Psalm 58

    Commonplace –

    “So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily he is a God that judgeth the earth” (Psalm 58).

    Here the Psalmist addresses the wicked and calls them to account. He declares our choices have consequences.

    Regarding “he is a God”, Matthew Henry notes,

    “He is a God (so we read it), not a weak man, not an angel, not a mere name, not (as the atheists suggest) a creature of men’s fear and fancy, not a deified hero, not the sun and moon, as idolaters imagined, but a God, a self-existent perfect Being; he is that judges the earth; his favour therefore let us seek, from whom every man’s judgment proceeds, and to him let all judgment be referred” (372).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 58.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg