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Psalm 46

By Bro David Petersen

The Book of Psalms
Introduction | Psalm 1 | Psalm 9 | Psalm 23 | Psalm 30 | Psalm 33 | Psalm 34 | Psalm 46 | Psalm 96 | Psalm 103 | Psalm 119

Isaiah 36
36:1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.
4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 37
37:1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
17 Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

6:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Context

A City Under Siege

The psalm starts off with a dark picture. The picture here is that of a people who are in great turmoil. There is an impending disaster. They are in trouble. The context is that of the city of God under siege by enemies. God is their last hope.

It is not possible to determine the occasion on which the psalm was written. It was in view of some national calamity. It looks like the psalm was composed when wars and rumors of wars were widespread in the earth and when Jerusalem itself was besieged and threatened with ruin.

The main lesson of the psalm is, that, amidst these general and far-spreading convulsions among the nations of the earth, the people of God were safe. They had nothing to fear, even though those tribulations should intensified to the point where; the very foundations of the earth should be shaken, and the mountains removed and carried into the midst of the sea.

In this psalm the people of God are not out taking the world for the Lord. Instead they are holed up, under attack and the whole world is in great tribulation.

They are oppressed. Things aren’t looking too good for them. It appears that the enemy is about to overrun them. They need a place to hide. They need strength. They need help right now.

Here’s an example of the type of situation that would prompt the writing of Psalm 46.

Isaiah 36:1-2, 13-20

36:1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.

2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.

<skip to verse 13 for time’s sake>

13 Then Rabshakeh <the Assyrian general> stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.

15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;

17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

Background Of The Assyrian Empire

  • Conquered most of the Middle East.
  • About 700 BC
  • Originated in what is today Iraq

The Truth About Assyrian Captivity

  • They make the captivity sound so tempting. Yet the reality is quite different.
  • That’s how Satan operates through deceit and temptation.
  • String the captives up like fish. Lead them away.
  • A hook in the jaw.

The Hook

In the Assyrian remains at Khorsabad in Ninevah, captives are represented with a hook in the nose or upper lip, and a cord attached in the king's hand. So God threatens the Assyrian king himself. with retribution in kind, "I will put My hook in thy nose" (Isa 37:29), as thou didst to others. So the last antichrist shall fare, of whom Sennacherib is type (Ezek 38:4). So 2 Chron 33:11, "in the thorns," rather perhaps "the captains of the host of the king of Assyria took Manasseh with hooks" or "rings" passed through his lips

(from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1998 by Biblesoft)

The entire text of Isaiah chapters 36 and 37 are provided here in the right hand margin in case you would like to read them in their entirety.

Spiritual Warfare

Psalm 46 is about spiritual warfare. That is the primary application.

This psalm is about your place of service in:

  • Wresting with principalities and powers;
  • Against the rulers of the darkness of this world
  • And against spiritual forces of evil.

The primary application is not about your own personal trials and tribulations. You can extend the interpretation of the psalm to apply to personal trials. But just keep in mind that those are secondary applications.

You see the Lord is building something that he calls “The Kingdom of God”. He does this through his plan of redemption. But in building his kingdom the Lord has an enemy. The enemy is a powerful spiritual being called Satan. Satan is a deceiver who poses as an angel of light. He wants to destroy the kingdom of God.

Satan’s goal is to:

  • Besiege the city of God and to tear it down.
  • Because Satan himself wants to be ruler.
  • He tells God’s people that the Lord will not deliver them.
  • He yells at the people on the wall who are engaged in the battle not to trust in the Lord.
  • He tempts the Lord’s people to make an agreement with him.
  • That if you come out to him you will eat of your own vine and your own fig tree.
  • Satan promises to take you away to a land of bread and wine that he rules.

Dual Prophecy

The Psalm is prophetic and like many prophecies in the Bible, it has both short-term and long-term fulfillment. The short-term fulfillment is in God protecting his city, Jerusalem from invaders. The long-term fulfillment is in the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven and the glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ on this earth.

Psalm 46

6:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

3 Things That God Is

1. Refuge

In studying Psalm 23 we learned that when you are down in the valley you are exposed. That’s where you face the enemy. The shadow of death is there. But high up in the stronghold is where you are safe.

The word “refuge” appears 3 times in this Psalm. The word refuge in verse 1 is different from the word in verses 7 and 11, but they carry basically the same idea.

Verse 1 refers to a shelter. Verses 7 and 11 refer to a high, lofty place such as a cliff, a high tower, or a fort on a mountain.

The NASB translates verses 7 and 11 as “stronghold” and the NIV uses the word “fortress”. Those are all good translations of the word.

The stronghold is a theme that runs throughout the Psalms. We studied the life of David and found that he was the classic warrior-poet. So to him a refuge was a place where you are safe from the enemy. This is not a psalm of David, but his concept of the stronghold pervades the psalms and this is a warfare psalm that uses the word refuge in that context.

The enemy can’t get to you when you are safe, hiding in the refuge.

2. Strength

2 Cor 12:7-10

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

3. Very Present Help

  • You don’t need to go looking for him
  • You don’t have to do a Google search to find God
  • No need to put out a spiritual Amber alert to recover him.
  • Don’t check your local listings to see what time he comes on.
  • Sending emails to the president of the company, or to President Bush.
  • You don’t have to leave a voicemail for him and then he doesn’t return it.
  • His phone doesn’t just ring and ring with no answer.

Romans 10:6-9

6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) <you don’t have to go dig him up>

8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

God Is A Proven Help

This idea of a present help carries with it the notion of being proven. When I first trusted Christ as my savior I had not yet proven God. I was convicted of my sin by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. did not have blind faith. The Word of God never asks us to have blind faith. Instead I read the scriptures and heard the word and based my faith on the promises of God. Then as I followed Jesus I gained experiences where I relied on the Lord for help. The Lord came through and he became a proven help to me. The Lord didn’t become trustworthier. I learned to trust him more completely.

Now we are not to tempt the Lord. I’m not going to throw myself off a tall building and expect the Lord to catch me. But we prove the Lord by following him, by obeying his commands and gaining experiences where he shows us that he will always come through.

Then our faith grows based on experience. Now my confidence in the Lord is much stronger than it was when I first became a Christian. That gives me a peace the passes understanding; knowing that he is in control.

2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

What are you afraid of? You think that you have troubles? Has the very earth given way underneath your feet? No, the earth is still holding you up. You don’t need to fear no matter how bad things seem to get. Even if the earth gives way and all these mountains fall into the sea and though a gigantic tsunami consumes the earth all the way up here to Colorado, we will not fear because God is our refuge, our strength and a very present help in time of trouble.

Fear shows a lack of faith. Fear and faith are mutually exclusive.

4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved<fall>: God shall help her, and that right early.

It was the modus operandi of the Assyrians to cut off the water supply of the cities that they besieged. In Isaiah 36:2 the Assyrian field commander stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool with exactly that purpose in mind. If the city under siege had a renewable water source that could not be cut off then it could hold out indefinitely.

People have many different ideas about exactly what this river is in verse 4. We will not attempt to define it precisely. However the river represents something that brings joy to the city of God. Water brings life. A city that has a river will not go thirsty nor perish for lack of water.

The river is the provision that God makes to sustain and refresh his people. You can think of it as a river of God’s grace that sustains eternal life.

Many passages in the Bible use water as a metaphor for eternal life that springs up in the believer. Here are 3 examples:

Isaiah 12:2-3

2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

John 4:14

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 7:38

38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Those who trust in Jesus for their salvation will never go thirsty spiritually.

"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High."

The river and streams of verse 4 are remarkably similar to the river of life in the New Jerusalem described in the Book of Revelation. This is the long-term, prophetic fulfillment of verse 4.

Rev 22:1-4

22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

And That Right Early

Colonel Travis arrived after the Alamo had already fallen to Generalissimo Santa Ana.

God is not like that. God is in the city, so though the enemy should conquer the whole world, the city will not fall. God will not show up late with help. He’s already there. He’ll help at just the right moment on his schedule. See Isaiah 37:36 below for an example of this principle in action.

6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

“The nations rant and rave in anger-but when God speaks, the earth melts in submission and kingdoms totter into ruin.”

7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

The Commander of the armies of heaven is here among us.He, the God of Jacob, has come to rescue us.

Verses 8-10 also have both short-term and long-term fulfillments. The short-term is when the Lord rescues the city of Jerusalem from invaders. The long-term fulfillment is when Jesus Christ establishes his kingdom on this earth in power and rules the nations in righteousness.

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Be still is a command. It means to slacken, to be idle or to cease. The command is equivalent to “at ease”. The idea is wait on the Lord; to not take matters into our own hands. The Lord is God and he is perfectly capable of bringing his eternal plan of redemption about. He has given us the opportunity to partner with him in this plan; but it is not up to us to pull it off. He will rule this earth in the heavenly ages by his own power; the same power that he used to create the earth in the first place as explained by the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

So how did it turn out for Hezekiah and the city of Jerusalem when the Assyrians came to conquer them in Isaiah chapter 37?

Let me say that there are a few things in life that you just don’t do:

  1. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
  2. You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger.
  3. You don’t mess around with Jim.
  4. And most of all you SURE don’t blaspheme the Lord like Sennacherib did.

Isa 37:33-38

33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.

34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

The Book of Psalms
Introduction | Psalm 1 | Psalm 9 | Psalm 23 | Psalm 30 | Psalm 33 | Psalm 34 | Psalm 46 | Psalm 96 | Psalm 103 | Psalm 119

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