THE SINGING SONS OF KORAH (Ps. 85)

On Monday evening we were briefly looking at this psalm, Psalm 85. It is entitled, To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah

The title, To the chief Musician, appears in many and is regularly associated with (e.g. Ps. 4,5,6,8,9, etc). On other occasions it is associated with the sons of Korah (e.g. Ps. 42,44,45, 46,47,49, etc). The term ‘chief musician’ simply refers to the one who led the singing aspect of the worship.

The sons of Korah had their origin in of the from . , of course, was the third son of /Israel and in Numbers 3 established his descendants, - the tribe of Levi, the Levites, - for full time service to Him. They were the one tribe out of the twelve tribes set apart for this particular duty. It was their task to take care of the tabernacle and everything associated with it, - they were the ‘’.

The three sons of Levi were Gershon (‘exile’), Kohath (‘assembly’) and Merari (‘bitter’).

Gershon’s family were to take care of the tabernacle and tent, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and , and the ropes … and everything related to their use.

Merari’s family were appointed to take care of the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts, bases, all its equipment, and everything related to their use, as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, and ropes.

Kohath’s family were responsible for the care of the sanctuary. They attended to the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the articles of the sanctuary used in ministering, the curtain, and everything related to their use. Their role was of such importance that they were under the direct supervision of , son of .

Unlike the families of Gershon and Merari, who were allowed to transport the items under their care on carts, the family of Kohath had to carry the holy things of the tabernacle on their shoulders … without actually touching them! 2 If they did touch them they would die (cf. Uzzah, II Sam. 6:7). So, the priests had to wrap the sacred objects in special coverings before they were transported.

Korah was the grandson of Kohath. Unfortunately, Korah turned his back on his family’s calling and rebelled against the authority God had placed in and Aaron. They complained that Moses and Aaron were no different to anyone else, and the work they were given by God to do was the right of just about anyone to do, Num. 16:3 Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? … You think you are the only ones who can lead the people of Israel in its ceremonies … but we are all holy! Any of us could do it! You are no better than the rest of us! … But what they were doing was rebelling against the order God had called Moses and Aaron to, Ex. 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto , that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt … 4:16 And [Aaron] shall be thy spokesman unto the people.

… And the sons of Korah were accompanied in their rebellion with the families of and , - two hundred and fifty rebels. Consequently, God destroyed them … beginning with an earthquake, and ending with fire.

However, many of the sons of Korah were spared (Num. 26:9-11) and after seven generations one of the most famous and mightily blessed of the sons of Korah was chosen by the Lord to be a judge in Israel … and his name was , I Chron. 6:1 The sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. … 22 The sons of Kohath; Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, 23 Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son, 24 Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. 25 And the sons of Elkanah; Amasai, and Ahimoth. 26 As for Elkanah: the sons of Elkanah; Zophai his son, and Nahath his son, 27 Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son. 28 And the sons of Samuel; the firstborn Vashni, and Abiah.

These sons of Korah progressed to become doorkeepers and custodians for the tabernacle (I Chron. 9:19-21). Some of them also joined King David’s army and became very distinguished soldiers … The common strain the majority of them shared was they were very musical. Along with King David, they would have spent many hours of worshipping the Lord in music. It is no surprise then that they became the ‘choir’ and ‘orchestra’ in the tabernacle worship … Out of all the psalms, twenty-five are attributed to them. They express in a very simple way their gratitude to God for His goodness and faithfulness. They 3 showed a deep desire to know God in a more deep and personal manner. … Their psalms also contained a future hope which lay beyond the days in which they lived.

So that is the a brief background of the psalmists who wrote Ps. 85. Obviously they wrote this psalm after the children of Israel had returned from their exile in , 1 LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob … The Lord had restored them to Israel, and , 2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. … Their song praised the goodness of God for saving them out from under the bondage of the foreign oppressor.

However, while the nation had been ‘reborn’, its people needed a fresh work of God, 4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. 5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? 6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? 7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. … Six times ‘us’ is repeated, - this was a real cry from the heart of God’s people … Lord, you have brought our nation back … but Lord, we want you now to come in salvation power and save your people. Come and do a work that only You can do. … Come and revive us and grant us Your salvation. … Lord, we don’t want to go back to the form of religion that caused our downfall. We don’t want to be like the false religions around us for we want to move forward with God, and to serve Him only.

… You see, there was a problem in the land for many of the who had returned to Jerusalem had other priorities … one of which was building their own houses while the temple lay in desolate … and that was the grievance God had towards them, Haggai 1:2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built. 3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? … And that is what the sons of Korah were concerned about … That is why they were praying, Ps. 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? 7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. … Work in us to make us what You want us to be.

And, in the intervening years, God had carried out a work of grace … and granted them salvation. And you will notice a change in emphasis that 4 accompanies the change in tense for which heralds in an new and wonderful hope, 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. You see, that is what God will do, - in a future day, He will make saints out of the sinners. He will turn away His people from foolishness for He promised elsewhere, Ezek. 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

The children of Korah, - along with all of Israel, - had previously been weeping in Babylon, Ps. 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? … These were musicians. They were singers. They were the sons of Korah … weeping … singers without a song for they had lost their standing with God and their joy in Him … and yet in Ps. 85 the Lord had brought them to the next stage of His plan by restoring them again to their beloved Jerusalem.

Then, as the psalm develops we see a further beautiful scene in the future … The psalmist records how there will be a silence in anticipation of what the Lord will say, 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: … There is an impending announcement, the likes of which has never been heard before … for he [God] will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. … His people and to His saints, - that is the Redeemed … and He is promising peace. Peace was a commodity in short supply in ancient times, as indeed it is today … and yet God promises he [God] will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints.

Here is the promise for all God’s people. It is a binding promise that cannot be broken, - a promise of peace. Down through the millennia Israel and Jerusalem has known nothing but war, conflict, and invasion, - the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and many nations ever since, including Great Britain … and there will be again one final push to annihilate them … but God says, he [God] will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly … No, they will not return to their folly, but they will return to their God! That is what He promises, 9 Surely his salvation is 5 nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. … Its absolute inevitability is confirmed in that word ‘Surely’!

In another of the psalms of Korah we read, Ps. 46:9 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. … Both Isaiah and Micah are in absolute agreement with the sons of Korah, Micah 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it [see also Is. 2:2-5].

And it is not an ‘if’, or a ‘maybe’, or a ‘perhaps’ … but the sons of Korah, - under the inspiration of the , - says it’s a Ps. 85:9 Surely … that glory may dwell in our land. … Whose land? … God will surely bring to bear His salvation upon them that fear Him from the people of Israel and Jerusalem.

Two thousand years ago His salvation came in the Person of the Lord Christ, Jn. 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us … 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. … Sadly, they would not acknowledge Him at His first coming. They rejected and crucified Him. They nailed Him to a cross and assigned Him to a tomb … and yet God’s ancient promise remains, yet to be fulfilled, 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

Interestingly, the word for glory is the word kabowd which is connected to the ‘shekinah’, - ‘shekinah’ is a word not actually found in Scripture but it was the special word used by the Jews to describe the visible symbol of God’s presence. … And according to Ps. 85:9 the shekinah glory of God will dwell in the land. That is the same glory which confronted Moses from out of the burning bush … the same glory that entered the tabernacle in the wilderness 6 and later on, the temple in Jerusalem … It is exactly the same glory John described when he was speaking of Jesus, Jn. 1:14 … we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The sons of Korah were not merely speaking about the glory of Israel and Jerusalem … They were looking ahead to a time when One Who would be their King, - King Jesus, - will reign in Shekinah glory over His people in Israel and Jerusalem, Is. 9:6 … the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. … And here is how certain it will be, The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. … It is the qin’ah [‘zeal’] of Jehovah Tsaba [Jehovah Sabaoth], - the Lord of hosts, - Who will make sure of it! … glory may dwell in our land … That is what God promised King David, II Sam. 7:16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. … And it was how He sang in Ps. 145, 10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory [kabowd] of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power … 12 … and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

And when He reigns Ps. 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. … The sons of Korah repeated the same song in Ps. 48 1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. 2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is , on the sides of the north, the city of the great King … 8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever.

And at Calvary mercy and truth met together on the cross … and righteousness and peace for Christ is our Jehovah Tzidkenu and our Jehovah Shalom … And when He comes again the whole earth will be full of His shekinah glory … of His righteousness and His peace. … And 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Zechariah prophesied, Zech. 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ... 9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth. King David wrote, Ps. 72:2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. 3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. 4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. … 6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: 7 as showers that water the earth. 7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. … 17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.

The sons of Korah were articulating the great hope of God’s people … even after having come out of the captivity in Babylon, - they weren’t for looking back but for looking forward, 12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. … Their hope lay in the One Who Scripture reveals to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we come to the Lord’s Table we recognise that He is the fulfilment of God’s promises, - they all relate to Him. … At the Table we remember Calvary where ‘mercy and truth met together’, - the mercy and grace of God along with the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. … He is the Life because He rose again from the dead … And 13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps because, as John says, He is the I Jn. 2:1 advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

So, what a glorious legacy we enjoy … and what an eternity we await. The Lord’s Table reminds us of the covenant He has made with us, - it is this same new covenant defined by God’s perfect and eternal plan that brought Christ to be the Suffering, Sacrificial, and triumphant Mediator of His people. And as we are remembering Him and what He did for our salvation … we I Cor. 11:26 eat this bread, and drink this cup, [showing the] the Lord's death till he come. … And that is what the Psalmist in Ps. 85 was also waiting and watching for, 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. And that is what Paul was saying too, 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

May the Lord bless our study of His Word and keep us looking forward to that great event of His glorious and promised return! Amen.