Snake Charmers

Scripture

Then at last everyone will say, “There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.”

Psalm 58:11, NLT

Quote

There is an inseparable connection between a person’s character and their conduct: the former is the source of the latter.

~Stephen J. Lawson

Psalm 58 is one of the imprecatory Psalms. An imprecation is a spoken curse and in this Psalm, David puts the word of the unjust rulers 0r judges of his day. If you compare translations, you will note the NASB, ESV and RSV all translate the Hebrew literally…verse 1…Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? The other versions translate the context. The Hebrew word is ‘el meaning…god, god-like one, mighty one, mighty men, men of rank, mighty heroes, angels, gods, false gods, and sometimes it is used of the one true God, Yahweh, the Almighty. Many versions including the New English Bible translate it ‘rulers’ but it can refer to ‘judges’. In an angry outburst of righteous indignation, David lashes out at the injustice of Saul’s regime, especially the judges who are not administering justice but feathering their nest.

Not only had Saul ceased to do right and he appointed yes men to all the high postions in the country. The judges were kiss ups, men who flattered the impotent king in order to get a bigger piece of the pie. David’s entire family had lost everything due to the corrupt ways of Saul’s administration. David had to move his parents to Moab for protection. Saul took everything they had for no reason other than his malice against David. So David is angry about the injustice that is going on in his beloved land of Israel. You and I should be angry about the injustice going on in our great nation and at the top of the list is the wanton slaughter of the unborn. In his anger, David pronounces a seven-fold curse:

  1. Let their mouth be smashed–Break the teeth of these liars who spit venom out like a snake.
  2. Let their fangs be broken–Make them tooteless tigers, break their power.
  3. Let them evaporate like water–gradually cease to exist.
  4. Let them wither like grass–dry up and blow away.
  5. Let them vanish like a slug–disappear completely.
  6. Let them be aborted like a still born–never see the light of day.
  7. Let them be consumed like thorns in a fire–quickly and completely gone.

Ethically, how should we respond to this Psalm. Jesus said, You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” Technically, David is not seeking vengeance or taking it into his own hands; he is praying for God to vindicate the righteous and for Him to remove the evil rulers who are administering injustice. We know what Paul said in Romans 13, Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. God created the institution of government because men are depraved and left to themselves they will self-destruct. Without government, you have anarchy which is violent chaos and worse than bad government. BUT both Wiersbe and Lawson agree that Christians should pray for God to remove unjust and unfit rulers and this includes judges who are the primary subject of Psalm 58. At present, we need some Senators removed from office. Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Cory Gardner, Dean Heller, Mike Lee and John McCain need to hang it up. They are betraying American and the people who elected them in pursuit of their own political interest. They are more concerned about the next election than they are the next generation.


Do snakes have ears? Have you ever seen a snake ear? No, you have not because snakes do not have ears or ear drums. Snakes have no visible ear, so they don’t hear sounds as we do. But it’s not quite right to say that snakes are deaf. They have vestiges of the apparatus for hearing inside their heads, and that setup is attached to their jaw bones, so they feel vibrations very well and may hear low-frequency airborne soundsSnake charming is the practice of pretending to hypnotize a snake by playing an instrument called a pungi or bansuri. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerous acts. The practice is most common in India, though other Asian nations such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia are also home to performers, as are the North African countries of Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. It was also practiced in Ancient Egypt and obviously understood by David and other Old Testament writers. Solomon mentions the subject in Ecclesiastes… If the serpent bites before being charmed, there is no profit for the charmer. That raises an interesting question: how do you train a snake charmer? Better question, how many graduate from the school of Snake Charming? Both the Cobra and the Viper are deadly. I would imagine that in a school for snake charmers, there would be a lot of drop outs. Get it? Come on Jason, you know it’s funny. By the way, snake charming is not a big industry these days, the animal rights activist have gotten it outlawed in most countries. It was big business a century ago. By the way, the charmers have been known to cheat. Some of them removed the fangs and venom from the snakes they charmed while other had sewed the mouth of the snakes shut. I would not attempt to charm one of these devils with both the fangs removed and mouth sewed shut. I hate snakes. The only good snake is a dead one.


  • Our SUNDAY Schedule is full: Deacons meet @ 8:15, LCBS @ 9:15, Celebrate JESUS in worship @ 10:15 and evening worship @ 6:15. Sunday am sermon–the NT Church {Acts} and Sunday night we are studying Genesis. Biscuits and donuts will get there early because of the deacons meeting.
  • FIDDLER ON THE ROOF opened last night at the Princess in Decatur. June and I went to the funeral home last night but we plan to go to the Princess tonight. I’ve heard it is the same cast that performed in Huntsville a few years ago. LORD willing I will write a review tomorrow and I will let you know.
  • POPEYE’SI am trying the Ben Blankenship diet. You fast from 8:00 pm until 12:00 noon the next day and then for the next 8 hours, you eat what you want. June had me a vegetable lunch ready at 12:00 sharp and last night I ran by Popeye’s at 7:30 to get me a snack before the fast begins. I got their shrimp and it is good. Of course, I love their biscuits and now they have them with pepper jelly. I love this diet.
  • Tebow–June gave my dog Tebow away without asking my permission. The man came and got him two nights ago but within a day he came back. She doesn’t like him because he will not eat her cooking. She made him some cornbread and milk and he turned his nose up and walked away. Josie named him Tebow but I thinking about changing it to Einstein. It is not a sign of intelligence to snub Big Mama’s cooking. I bought him some can dog food from DG last night and the mess stunk so bad when I opened the can that I almost gagged. He loved it. He is part Blue Heeler: emphasis on ‘part’–he may be blue but is not a heeler. He loves rabbits. He doesn’t eat them, he plays with them. I’m sure he is friends with the ground hogs and coons as well. When they told me he was a Blue Heeler, I thought, he will tear a coon up but so far all he tears up in the news paper and the garage door opener. He chewed the wires in two.
  • BLOCK PARTY T-SHIRTS on sale for $15. Order this Sunday at the welcome center. They are made from a very thin fabric that is cool. I wear my VBS shirt twice a week for this reason. Very comfortable shirts. Just 14 days until the Party.

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