Before we get started, let’s take a quick look at the heading.
The heading says “a miktam of David”. In the English language, there is no word Miktam. But many Bible translations have a footnote for this word. In the ESV and NIV, the footnote says “Probably a literary or musical term”. Which to me means the author of the footnote doesn’t know either. Might have something to do with literature. Or maybe music? The footnote is not too certain so there’s not much help. Footnotes in other translations say it’s a liturgical term, which means it has something to do with worship or a religious service (umm, yeah, it’s a Psalm, and it’s in the Bible). So we have explanations that range from stating the obvious to stating nothing specific. There is an interesting commentary by Charles Spurgeon. He cites an interpretation by a “Dr. Alexander” which says that Miktam is a combination of a Golden or Jewel Song and a Mysterious secret song. On the one hand you have something precious and valuable, like a fine gold or jewel, and on the other, a mystery or secret. So Spurgeon thinks the best way to describe this is the Psalm of the Precious Secret.
Whatever this chapter is, we know David is communicating his heart and feelings towards the heavens. He is speaking with God, so the text here can be seen as a type of prayer. This particular prayer, like the other 5 Miktams in the Bible, is an individual prayer. This is significant, because most Jewish psalms and prayers are focused on the congregation or the assembly of people. This psalm is much more intimate and one on one. Let’s read it.
PSALM 16 NIV A miktam of David.
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
“They are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Let’s start with chapter 1
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
Verse 1 speaks of preservation. David is asking God to keep him safe and guard him. He calls God his refuge, or place of rest and safety. The language maintains that God is the one that preserves. God is the place where we can be safe. There is great comfort and peace in these words. But what’s interesting here is at the same time all of this language is negative. How come? David is in circumstances where he needs rest. He needs refuge FROM something. The implication is that there is trouble out there. When David says “Keep me safe” it means that there is danger present. When David says “Preserve me, O God” it means that without God’s preservation, He faces decay, corruption, ruin, and destruction. Behind all the talk of refuge, there is deep concern in David’s words. Verse 2 continues with this idea. “apart from you, I have no good thing.”
I won’t mince words. Without God, there is nothing Good out there. There is nothing in this world worth having if it isn’t from God. Older translations say that there’s nothing good that we have in ourselves or that we produce that can extend to or reach God. This Psalm looks pleasant on the surface, but underneath, it’s very bleak. This Psalm should absolutely haunt anyone who doesn’t believe in God, because what it says is that the picture out there isn’t pretty. Without God, you will spend your whole life searching for something, and you will never find it. The best case scenario is you might find things to make you briefly happy until they disappoint. Some people might argue that there are plenty of good things out there. But whatever seems good now or pretty at the surface, it’s only that way because God has shown his grace in it. Without Him; Apart from him, there is no good thing. Period.
So in this Psalm, we see David deeply struggling. He needs refuge. He needs preservation. He needs protection. There’s something seriously wrong about his life. We don’t know exactly what it is yet, but know the scope of the problem is very large. It’s so large, in fact, apart from God, EVERYTHING would be wrong. There would be no Good. Since we live in a fallen world, there are traces of this no matter where we look. There are problems everywhere with everything. This fact is dangerous, because Christians aren’t immune to the effects of sin, and we can sometimes be prone to despair and depression. Why is this a problem for us? As Christians, we have a deposit of God’s Kingdom living in us. Since we have the Holy Spirit, we all have a fruit called Discernment to some degree. Some are better at discernment than others, but it’s something that we all will develop in this lifetime. What does discernment mean? It means we can tell when things look wrong. We can tell if something’s fishy. We notice sin. And when God reveals these things to us, we can see just how wrong things are. Not just some things, but Everything. The whole creation has been affected by the consequences of Adam’s sin. And with this discernment, we are able to see it. We learn how meaningless everything appears. Ecclesiastes talks about this over and over. We can become disillusioned, because we see past the smoke and mirrors. Nothing around here impresses us much anymore, and that can actually make us feel out of place and lost. Look at our society. How many millions of dollars are spent on professional players of games? Athletes are some of the highest paid people out there, and their purpose is to play games for us. We spend our time and money on entertainment, from sports to movies to music. Our society deifies fame, rewarding fortunes to the mundane and trivial. Just look at reality TV. Ecclesiastes says this stuff is all vanity, grasping at wind. Nothing new under the sun. Meaningless!! And seeing things for what they are can tend to discourage us. It can become unbearable to stay in that place, and meditate on those things. So what does David meditate on? Verse 3.
3 As for the saints who are in the land, “They are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”
Verse 3. David thinks of the holy people, or the saints in the land. They are called the excellent ones or the Noble ones. They are his delight. Let’s examine this a little closer. Biblically speaking, who are saints? Who is holy? The Bible teaches that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. All are sinners, and nobody is justified by their good works. Yet, there is a group of saints. They are referred to as a remnant of God’s holy people who are set apart and called for his purpose. Paul addresses many of his letters, ”to the saints at ___ church. “ All who have been called to put their hope in Christ have been made holy by this amazing work, and so since we were made holy, we are all saints. We are the people that are set apart by God from the beginning in order to do good works. Even though we’re not perfect, we have been perfected by Christ, and we are now saints. It’s interesting that David can delight in the saints and the excellent or noble people, because even they are sinful. Apart from God, they have no good thing either. David writes of how his delight is in these glorious ones. Other translations say excellent people, and many of them say noble men. Let’s discuss the concept of Nobility briefly.
It’s a concept that’s foreign to us in America. We don’t pay much attention to the structure of a Kingdom, because we are a republic. It’s something that we don’t really consider. Today’s modern society has rightfully abandoned the idea of having a king ruling our behavior, and we’ve replaced that with a democratically elected republican form of representative government. I say it’s rightful because I personally don’t believe any King, Queen or Kingdom or royal family on this Earth has the authority to govern my behavior. Personally, I don’t think a democratic government should have too much of that power either, but it’s at least built in some sort of checks against tyranny. It’s a step in a better direction, but it is far from perfect.
As a child of God, my actions, and my behaviors are not determined by a law that congress passes. First and foremost they come from a King. But that King is not an Earthly king, the King is God himself. And his Kingdom has invaded this earth. Not by a war or by force, but by the hearts of every brother and sister who declares that God is Lord and King. Now Nobility only exists when there’s a Kingdom. What Nobility is is a status or class that is bestowed on somebody by a King or royal family. It is primarily hereditary, but can also be granted by a King’s declaration. When you are noble, you are either born of a King’s family, adopted into a King’s family, or declared noble by an act of valor or a price paid. The way one becomes noble in an Earthly kingdom is the same as the way one becomes Noble in God’s Kingdom. The most noble of all is Jesus Christ, the only Begotten son of the King. He is the only legitimate blood member of the royal family. We also are children of God, but it is because we were adopted into God’s family. In addition to our adoption, we have been declared noble by the King based on a work or action. The actions that made us noble were not ours, though. They were the perfect works of Christ which have been imputed into us. To be “noble” is to be a saint, and David writes that his delight is in those who are noble and excellent in character. David’s delight is in a group of people that we belong to as well.
So David looks to those people that God is working in. Those saints, those men of noble spirit. And these people give David delight. When we are prone to despair, like David was, we can do the same thing that David did. When nothing out there seems particularly good, we can think of the saints. When we feel lost and out of place, we can think of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Those who are declared righteous and Noble by our King. We can look at the great things that the Children of God are doing in this world and we can delight in them. If we can’t think of any saints or noble men today that inspire us there are two things we can do. First thing is we can study our Scripture and find plenty of examples in God’s Word. The second thing we can do is we should get to know some. We can do this by meeting them personally or by studying about what some men and women of God are doing today. There are an abundance of people that have been touched by God who can give us inspiration. This also gives us motivation to do great things for God’s kingdom. I may be tempted to think, “I am saved by grace and not works, so why work?” but in reality, God called us to His purpose and prepared Good works for us. Even though our goodness doesn’t extend to Heaven, and isn’t needed by God, it does extend to our friends and can cause great delight and joy in those we encounter. This is one of the reasons we are supposed to do these good works that God prepares for us. When we do the right things, and we do them with the right attitude, and our goal is for the Glory of God, we become something worth delighting in. By serving God with our works, we can bring joy and happiness to each other. God freed us from our sin, but he Freed us for His service. And if our service is done correctly, we don’t take focus away from God’s glory. We actually give it to God. Let’s read on to verse 4
4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.
David predicts sorrow and suffering to those who run after other Gods. This prediction is consistent with the idea that we have no good thing apart from God. If you run after something besides God, how can you expect it to be any good? David says that he will not pour out libations or drinks of blood to such gods, or even utter their names. First thing to know, blood is something that Jews were to avoid because it made them unclean. Blood also symbolized violence and death. The language here “pouring out drinks” is also noteworthy because it’s the same language as a holy drink offering to God. Drink offerings were described in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. They were something that God ordained in his Law, to be used in holy worship of Him. So when we read about these people following other gods, and we read about their drink offerings of blood, it’s something that we must understand to be extremely blasphemous to a Jewish reader. They are taking something unclean like blood, and offering it to a foreign God which is idolatry, and they’re doing it in a way that perverts something beautiful and Holy like a drink offering for God.
5 Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Verse 5 and 6 – David declares the Lord to be his portion and his cup. This verse tells us that David is content with whatever life has for him. When God is your portion, you understand that everything in your life is something that God has for you. “My portion” implies OWNERSHIP. This is my life, my cup. If God gave me a weakness, it is MY weakness that was given to me by My God, who will show His strength through My circumstance. We don’t make excuses or pass blame when we understand that God is the author of our lives and the perfecter of our faith. When you are content with your portion, you don’t covet or envy other people. Somebody else’s lot in life is their lot to live. Not yours. You are less nosy and less prone to gossip if you understand the difference between “your portion” and “their portion”. The other thing that Verse 5 tells us is that David trusts God with the portion that God gave him. David says to God, “You make my lot secure.” yes, it’s my portion, but God gave it to me, and God knows what He’s doing. David finishes verse 6 by saying, “I have received a delightful inheritance”. Inheritances are weird things. You get something that someone else worked for. Nobody earns an inheritance, it’s something you are given when someone else dies. You gain something substantial, but you lose someone who loves you. As Christians, our inheritance is a huge blessing. We have been given pardon and forgiveness. We have been given fellowship with God. We have been given riches that will never perish or rust or fade away. We have been given Heaven itself. Our inheritance so amazing, but that’s because the One who died to give us this inheritance was even more amazing. Verses 7-11 discuss the future. We’ll start with verses 7-9.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
While the beginning of the Psalm had a negative sub-context, from here, the tone is no longer negative. There is hope of a better tomorrow. David makes promises or solemn vows for the future. He promises to praise the Lord, he promises to open his heart and mind to God’s counsel and instruction. He vows to keep his eyes fixed on the Lord. Listen here, “with him at my right hand, I will not be shaken”. Suddenly, the Psalm that seemed bleak in the beginning is full of confidence. This sounds just like “If God is for us, who can be against us?” David in this Psalm and Paul when writing to the Romans both understand what it means to be more than conquerors when we have God on our side.
9 my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Verse 10 discusses confidence in God’s ability to protect his people from Death and Hell. Then at the end of verse 10 The Psalm says, “nor will you let your Faithful one see Decay.“ This is direct messianic prophecy, fulfilled by Jesus Christ himself. Verse 11 speaks of the concept of Eternity and an afterlife, which is something that many modern day Jews do not believe is found in the Torah.
I kind of sped up the last few verses of Psalm 16, and that was deliberate. There is more to this Psalm which we need to discuss to truly understand the glory of Psalm 16. We need to look briefly at the book of Acts, in chapter 2. In Acts 2:25-28 Peter directly quotes Psalm 16 from verses 8-11, (Acts 2:25-28 = Psalm 16:8-11) saying that these parts of Psalm 16 were David speaking about Jesus Christ. To deny that the second half of this verse is talking about Christ is to disagree with the word of God. After quoting Psalm 16:8-11, Peter says:
29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.
This statement by Peter is not up for debate if we trust our Bibles to be the word of God. The last verses of this Psalm are about the resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. We know this, because that’s exactly what the Bible says. This Psalm needs to be looked at over and over, with Christ in mind throughout the entire thing. I recommend reading through Acts 2 between readings of Psalm 16. Some scholars think that the entire psalm should be read as if these were Jesus’ words to God. It seems to fit for most of the psalm, but it gets problematic in verse 6. Personally, I think most of the Psalm can be read as David’s words to God, but it all points to Jesus. Although it’s only 11 verses long, Psalm 16 is a beautiful piece of God’s word. It takes from a place of danger, fear and sorrow into a place of fellowship with God where we have confidence. A confidence that’s not just for today or tomorrow, but for eternity. It paints a glorious picture of God who is the source of all goodness, a preserver of his people, and a refuge for those in danger. This God is loving and powerful, trustworthy in every way. We learn about a group of saints, holy men, or Excellent ones. While this group of people isn’t perfect, they are a delight for God and for each other. They have been made noble, and each one has their own Lot, given a purpose and a function within this Kingdom. We also learn of A Holy One who will never see decay, one with the power to save us from death itself, one who has the path to everlasting life, joy eternal, and the pleasure of his presence forever.