Psalms Of Faith And Doubt In Ancient Times
49 He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility—
a band of destroying angels.
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death
but gave them over to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
The “band of destroying angels” (Hebrew “the sending of messengers of troubles”) was not a group of evil demons unleashed by God for destruction and chaos, but rather it was a group of heavenly, good angels, who were commanded by God to carry out his will and perform their duty for his glory. Those good angels brought death to the firstborn of Egypt in the tenth plague (Exodus 11:1-10, 12:29-30). After many months of warnings and plagues, God’s punishment finally came down upon Egypt. The wages of sin is death.
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;
he led them like sheep through the desert.
53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
God rescued his people even from the deadly tenth plague. The blood of a lamb saved the life of each of Israel’s firstborn sons, and the blood of God’s own firstborn son, the Lamb of God, has saved the life of each one of us. We have been rescued from more than physical slavery, as hideous as that would be. We have been rescued from the bondage of sin and even from death. We have been led like sheep by our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
From this point, the Psalm writer ends his retelling of the Exodus, and turns briefly to what happened afterward in the time of Joshua:
54 Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes. (NIV)
All of Joshua’s work is summarized in these two verses. All of Israel was brought to the border of the Promised Land and then taken into the land itself by Joshua after the death of Moses. Joshua led them, Joshua drove out the Canaanites, and Joshua settled the tribes in their allotted spaces. Into Galilee went Asher and Naphtali, Zebulun and Issachar. By their own request, Reuben and Gad and part of the vast tribe of Manasseh remained on the eastern or Transjordan side. In the high “dome” of land between north and south the tribes of Ephraim and the rest of Manasseh settled. Benjamin took over the northern shore of the Dead Sea, and Judah inhabited everything south of that and west to the Mediterranean Sea with Simeon scattered throughout Judah. Dan was to have taken over the territory of the Philistines but failing to drive them out they went to the far north, beyond Naphtali to the snowy slopes of Mount Hermon.
Through Joshua, the people came to their homes. Joshua is the Hebrew name that in Greek we would pronounce “Jesus.” Through Jesus Christ, we the people of God will be brought to our eternal home. Jesus has not just promised us a fighting chance at heaven; Jesus has prepared rooms for each of us (John 14:2).
Be confident in your Savior Jesus. The barrier of your sins has been smashed; the tower of your guilt has collapsed. There are no destroying angels coming for you; there are only God’s angelic guardians watching over you day by day. Even your grave is no obstacle to your Savior God. Through Jesus, you have eternal life.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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