Psalm 16 Continued…
Psalms 16:3-4 As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. 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 had discovered by experience that it was better to find his delight in the Lord’s people than to cultivate the great ones of the earth. Jonathan, the king’s own son, professed friendship for David and once came out to meet him at Horesh and “helped him find strength in God.” But, immediately after, we read, “Then Jonathan went home, and David remained at Horesh.” (1 Samuel 23:18). Jonathan, one of the great ones, was a broken reed after all.
The word translated “saints” means “holy ones,” or “separated ones.” Here it refers to the people of the covenant now in their own land, the land God had promised them before they arrived (Exodus 19:6). The word occurs for the first time in Exodus 3:5, where God, speaking to Moses out of the burning bush said: “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” The same Hebrew word is translated “saints” elsewhere in the Bible. David, then, was not only living in the Lord’s presence, he was living for the Lord’s people. They were his delight.
We don’t live the Christian life alone. Because we are part of a great spiritual family and need each other. As in previous psalms, two groups are depicted: the believing remnant (“saints”) and the unbelieving worshipers of idols (10:8-10; 11:2-3, 12; 14:5-6). The saints are those who trust God and obey his covenant, those who are set apart for the Lord. They take seriously God’s command, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 19:2; 20:7-8, 26; 21:8). Israel was a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 7:6) and a holy nation, just as the church is today (1 Peter 2:9). David called them “the majestic ones” (NASB), a word that carries the meaning of excellence, nobility, and glory. In spite of our faults and failures, believers are God’s elite, His nobility on earth. We must love one another and use our God-given abilities and resources to minister to the family of God (Galatians 6:1-10). Like David, we must not compromise with those who disobey the Lord and worship idols (money, success, fame, etc.) but should seek to lead them to Jesus Christ, the source of all that is good and lasting.
David knew about idolatry, he had been down to Gath and had looked at Dagon, the weird half-man, half-fish god of the Philistines. He had been down to Moab, and had seen Chemosh, the bloodthirsty god of the Moabites. The idolatrous times of the judges were still very much alive in everyone’s memory in David’s day. King Saul kept pagan men like Deog the Edomite on his payroll. Idolaters, notwithstanding all their zeal or the cost of their idols, gain nothing for themselves but an abundance of sorrow and misery. Having shown his great respect and affection for the saints of the true God he now declares his great abhorrence for those who forsake the true God, and worship idols.
He wished that God would increase their sorrows so that they would be either awakened and converted to God, or cut off, if they were impertinent and incorrigible. David wanted no part of that type of thing. He was living by the Lord’s precepts and this practice kept him from evil aspirations and associations. It will do the same for us.
Many of the ancient Gentile nations offered blood as the sacrifice to their lifeless gods, and sometimes they would drink part of the blood of their sacrifices, whether blood of beast or man, a practice which God hated, because He had so severely forbidden the drinking of blood by His people, either at their sacrifices or as part of their food.
David was surrounded by the evil influences of those who worshiped heathen deities, “sacred beings,” which for him do not even exist, and whose rites of worship were utterly abhorrent. For he is a loyal worshiper of the Lord and has kept the law that forbids even mentioning the names of other gods (Exodus 23:13).
We are not to be isolationists, for the Lord has left us in the world to be salt and light; we must be careful not to be defiled by their sins (James 1:27; 4:4; Rom. 12:2). No church is perfect, because no believer is perfect; but let’s still give thanks for the people of God and seek to encourage them all we can.
PRAY
Father, forgive us for at times disregarding the sacrifice the Lord Jesus made to secure our freedom. Forgive us for taking unfair advantage of that freedom. Forgive those of us for failing to observe communion with You. Forgive us for making excuses for our disobedience in doing our part to fulfill the Great Commission.