Day 52: The Summer of His Face Shining Upon Us- Psalm 52

Day 52 – Join Johnny Enlow for a 67-day walk through Psalms.

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DOEG AND OLIVE TREES

Key Verse: “You love to destroy others with your words, you liar! But God will strike you down once and for all.” (v.4, 5a)

Key Theme: David remembering the treachery of Doeg.

Key Descriptive of God: God of Justice

Today we have another chapter with context. “A Psalm of David regarding the time Doeg the Edomite said to Saul, ‘David has gone to see Ahimelech.” That story is told in 1 Samuel 21 and 22 and is quite intense. This is after David has been anointed king by Samuel, has slain Goliath but before he himself becomes king. He is on the run from rejected King Saul and makes it to Ahimelech the priest. David talks him into giving him 5 loaves of the hallowed bread because he is hungry and also talks him into giving him Goliath’s sword because he is without a weapon. (By eating the priests’ holy bread David is once again pushing the envelope on what he is allowed to do). Doeg the Edomite who is Saul’s chief herdsmen sees all this and reports it to Saul. Saul ends up ordering Doeg to kill the priests for being welcoming to David and so Doeg kills 85 priests and all the people of the priests’ town including women and children. It was truly a horrific slaughter and David was immensely affected by it. Only 1 priest had escaped. With that in mind, this short chapter reads like a present-day reality with Saul being the corrupt “deep state”, David being President Trump and Doeg being the Media. It rings to me like a prophetic word for us today and something we are seeing lived out in our day.

DOEG: ROOT MEANING “TO FEAR, ANXIOUS, BE AFRAID”

Now that you have his name and meaning let’s look at verse 1. “Why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior? Don’t you realize God’s JUSTICE continues forever?” (v.1) David then goes on to address Doeg in ways we might address the “mainstream media”. “All day long you plot destruction. YOUR TONGUE cuts like a sharp razor”(v.2.) “You love evil more than good and LIES more than truth” (v.3). Then our key verse, “You love to destroy WITH YOUR WORDS, you LIAR!” (v.4). This all sounds like today, being a vessel for evil and destroying everything good and holy, and conspiring against who God has anointed to lead the nation. Doeg appropriately enough was an “Edomite” or descendant of Esau— the man who sells his godly inheritance for a pot of stew. He is in charge of watching the rejected king Sauls’ sheep. Even his title “herdsmen” is revealing as to what the media does— “herding”. They herd the sheep with a lying narrative.

BUT GOD WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN 

“But God will strike you down once and for all” (v.5). David has already reminded this powerful herdsman that what he has done is criminal and that God’s JUSTICE continues on even after he thinks the story is over (v.1). “He will pull you from your home and uproot you from the land of the living” (v.5b). The complicit media with its’ promotion of lies and its’ squelching of cures and everything good has its’ day coming. “The righteous will see it and be amazed. They will laugh and say, ‘Look what happens to mighty warriors who do not trust in God. They trust in their wealth instead and grow bolder and bolder in their wickedness’ ” (v.6,7). In the story development told in 1 Samuel, you can see this progression. At first, it seems Doeg is wondering if he should tell on David and the priests, and then he does tell— with a twist, and then he becomes so pleased by Saul’s attention that he is emboldened to go far beyond even what he was asked to do, destroying the whole town. This spirit seems to be on so much of the “mainstream media” right now that it is a stench. They are BOLD in their WICKEDNESS. JUSTICE is still calling.

BUT I AM LIKE AN OLIVE TREE

“But I am like an OLIVE TREE, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love” (v.8). A mouthful was said here by David. He is done addressing the evil of Doeg and his coming accountability to the justice of God. David through that experience with Doeg has had another close call with death. Yet, his declaration is “I am like an olive tree”. The olive tree in Hebrew is SHEMEN and literally means “tree of oil”. Olives only give oil when pressed. Perhaps read that again. OLIVES ONLY GIVE OIL WHEN PRESSED. In reading the process olives go through in one place it says “they are beaten into a pulp”. Does anyone identify? What looks like the destruction of the olive is actually the process for producing this highly valuable oil. In Bible times the “anointing oil” was made from the olives. David had been anointed by Samuel with a pouring of olive oil on his head. When the Promised Land was described in Deut. 8:8 it was as “a land of olive trees and honey.” In Jeremiah 11:16, the prophet said of Israel, “the Lord calls you an olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.” The Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus sweat “great drops of blood” is until this day on the Mt. of Olives and full of olive trees. They are amazing trees that live past 1000 years, and whose circumference can extend beyond 20 feet. The trunks are full of twists and turns but the one constant is more olives which lead to more oil. Applicable? An olive tree is an evergreen. Even if an olive tree gets cut down its roots will begin to grow shoots. So much there too. Once you are an olive tree even if you get cut down early, what you missed out on doing, passes on to your “roots”. And like me, some of you might be “root shoots” finishing up (or adding to) what a parent was prematurely cut down from fulfilling.

ISRAEL AND THE OLIVE TREE

The olive tree and branches are still very prominent and significant in Israel today. The olive branch was first highlighted in Noah’s day when the waters were receding from the flood and a dove brought a small olive branch. It meant restoration time is here. It is also symbolic of Israel, in ways we can’t go into deeply right now, but perhaps obvious with their history of being “beaten like a pulp”. The olive branches are still the army emblem in Israel with the IDF’s specific emblem being made up of three things— the star of David, the sword, and the olive branch. Amazingly, our own seal of the United States has an olive branch on it and that too speaks in a couple of ways, telling us of our own process as a nation and of our connection with Israel. The bottom line, we are now positioned to recite along with David in his last verse of Psalm 52, “I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in Your good name in the presence of Your faithful people” (v.9). As His face continues to shine on us in “the Summer of His love” in 2020, may we all become the “olive tree”, B-52 Bombers we were all created to be. 

 

 

Written by: Johnny Enlow

Featured Image by chris ganser on Unsplash


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The 67 Day Countdown Series is brought to you by Johnny and Elizabeth Enlow, founders of Restore7 ministry, as well as international speakers and best-selling authors. Among Johnny’s books are The Seven Mountain Prophecy, The Seven Mountain Mantle, Rainbow God, The Seven Mountain Renaissance, Becoming A Superhero, and RISE. Elizabeth serves as CEO and penned Rainbow God: The Seven Colors of Love and God in Every Season.

The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

Kingdom Winds Contributors - Johnny and Elizabeth Enlow are social reformers at heart, as well as international speakers and authors of The Seven Mountain Prophecy, The Seven Mountain Mantle, and Rainbow God. As ones focused on the reformation of the 7 primary areas of culture, they are spiritual mentors to many in Media, Arts and Entertainment, Government, Family, Religion, Economy, and Education. Their passion is to awaken our generation to the reality of the God of all of life, Who not only cares for our souls but also has practical solutions to offer through His sons and daughters for every problem that exists in society.