Psalm 151 (or also known as additions to Psalm 1)
1 I was small among my brothers,
and the youngest in my father’s house; I tended my father’s sheep.
2 My hands made a harp; my fingers fashioned a lyre.
3 And who will tell my Lord? The Lord himself; it is he who hears.
4 It was he who sent his messenger and took me from my father’s sheep,
and anointed me with his anointing-oil.
5 My brothers were handsome and tall, but the Lord was not pleased with them.
6 I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols.
7 But I drew his own sword;
I beheaded him, and took away disgrace from the people of Israel.
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The New Testament authors were reading the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Most manuscripts of the ancient Greek text include Psalm 151. Psalm 151 does not appear in the Protestant Bible. It does appear in Bibles that are published with the Apocrypha. Other Christian traditions like the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox faiths include some of these texts in their scriptures.
I thought it would be fun to comment on this piece of psaltery as I end my reflections on the Book of Psalms. Let me begin by thanking those of you who have consistently read these posts. I very much appreciated your comments and likes and sharing. These keep me motivated. Thank you.
The notes written in the Greek manuscript prior to the psalm says,
"This psalm is ascribed to David as his own composition (though it is outside the number of the one hundred and fifty psalms) after he had fought in single combat with Goliath."
Psalm 151 is about God's choosing of David. There's a theme in the Old Testament that reveals something about Israel's self understanding. It is the theme of the unlikely choice, the choosing of the lesser, the younger, the meek, or the no account.
It's first appearance, I believe, is in Genesis 4 when God chooses to accept the offering of Abel over the offering of the firstborn Cain. Can kills Abel out of jealousy. This first murder not only marks the proliferation of sin after the fall from paradise, it also points forward to Israel's enemies who jealousy attack them.
The theme continues with Abraham. God chose Isaac, Abraham's second son over Ishmael, his firstborn. The Ishmaelites became Arabs. Brothers became enemies.
Jacob was chosen over Esau. Judah was chosen over his brothers Simeon, Reuben, because of their treachery against their brother Joseph whom they sold into slavery, and their bloodlust in avenging the rape of their sister Dinah. Levi was set apart as a priestly clan. Therefore the kings of Israel came from Judah. Saul, Israel's first king, was from the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the younger of the two sons of Rachel. But Judah was chosen even over the descendants of Jacob's favorite wife.
Jesus of Nazareth is from the tribe of Judah, of the line of David. While Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, making him the firstborn, he came from Nazareth, a town of no account. Remember Nathaniel's response to the idea that the Messiah came from Nazareth.
John 1:46a NIV
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
The apostle Paul reveals that God continues this theme in the new covenant in Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 NIV
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
God's choice of the unlikely is meant to humble us before Him. God reminds us who is in control.
Proverbs 19:21 NIV
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord ’s purpose that prevails.
David was the youngest of the seven sons of Jesse of Bethlehem. God chose the ruddy little shepherd boy who was too small to wear a man's armor. He walked down to the field of battle confident, not in himself, but in the God of Israel. He knocked down the giant Goliath with a slingshot, then cut off the giant's head with his own sword. Who would've ever thought that would happen? Not a single man there that day would have conceived it. God reminded them that He is with His people, that He fights for His faithful ones.
God chose a shepherd boy who sang songs of praise to the Lord with no one but sheep to hear. The Lord heard. He heard a boy who loved Him with all his heart. He saw in that boy the man who would lead Israel and establish them in righteousness and security. He chose the boy to shepherd Israel and take away their disgrace, a no account bunch of former slaves and sheep herders! God gave them the land of Canaan. God chose Israel over the occupying peoples there. God made an unlikely choice to bless them that they might bless the world. Through God's unlikely choice, Jesus came into the world though a young women in a no account town in Galilee, a region outside of Judah, filled with Samaritans and Romans and all other sorts. Who would've thought the Savior of the world, the One who takes away our disgrace, would come to us in such a way?
Here's the good news! God chose you! However unlikely it may seem to you, God chose you to be an adopted royal child of His.
Ephesians 1:4-5, 12 NIV
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
The next time the world looks down on you, or you look down on yourself, just remember that you are the unlikely choice. You are one after God's own heart. He will do far more than you can ask or imagine in your life, if you seek Him with all your heart.
The Lord be with you. Shalom.
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