The fact that this psalm is a corporal lesson to be learned and used by future generations of God’s people is in the use of “us” and “your people” throughout the psalm. What is another lesson the people who have angered God and repented because they fear him are to learn?
David and later future kings of God’s people asked the rhetorical questions for the people and before the congregation of Israel, “Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?” Kings normally lead the soldiers to the battlefield. However, David teaches through the answers that follow the questions that the Lord leads the army of men who fear the Lord. God is the banner they follow into battle (4), not the nation’s banner. Later the Lord Almighty told the prophet Zechariah to tell King Zerubbabel, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Jesus taught a seldom mention truth that parallel’s this lession. “There were some present (while he was teaching) at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them–do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.'”
“Then Jesus told this parable: ‘”‘A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'”
