{"id":37000,"date":"2025-08-06T22:36:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T05:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&#038;p=37000"},"modified":"2025-08-06T22:54:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T05:54:40","slug":"2025-psalm3","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2025-psalm3\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalms in Jewish Context: Psalm no 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">Sandra Aviv<\/p>\n<p>Psalm 3 begins in heartbreak:\u00a0<strong>David is running \u2014 from his own son.\u00a0<\/strong><em>\u00a0\u201cA psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son\u2026\u201d (Psalm 3:1)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-37001 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-1.jpg 650w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-1-300x148.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t poetry from a palace. It\u2019s a prayer from the wilderness \u2014 a desperate cry from a father whose world has fallen apart.<\/p>\n<p>But even here, in the most painful betrayal of his life, David says:\u00a0<strong><em>\u201cBut You, O Lord, are a shield around me\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0(Psalm 3:3)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Hebrew word for <em>\u201cshield\u201d<\/em>\u00a0is\u00a0<strong>magen<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 not just a defense, but an active protector who surrounds and upholds.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<em>Psalm 3:5<\/em>, David writes:<em>\u00a0\u201cI lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nAt first glance, it seems simple \u2014 but in the biblical and Jewish worldview,\u00a0<strong>sleep is never taken for granted<\/strong>. To sleep is to\u00a0<strong>surrender<\/strong>. It&#8217;s a daily act of letting go of control, defenseless and unaware of what may come.<\/p>\n<p>In Jewish tradition,<strong>\u00a0&#8220;sleep is 1\/60 of death.&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>Waking isn&#8217;t guaranteed \u2014 it&#8217;s a gift! That\u2019s why morning prayers include:\u00a0<em>&#8220;Modeh ani&#8230; You have returned my soul to me; great is Your faithfulness.&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nSo when David lies down to sleep \u2014 not with guards, not in safety, but on the run \u2014 it\u2019s not just rest.\u00a0<strong>It\u2019s radical trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-37002 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-2.jpg 650w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-2-300x148.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><br \/>\nJewish tradition sees Psalm 3 as the\u00a0prayer for morning \u2014\u00a0the\u00a0<em>first<\/em>\u00a0psalm recited each day.\u00a0Because it doesn\u2019t begin in comfort. It begins in chaos \u2014 and moves toward\u00a0<strong>emunah<\/strong>, deep faith that God hears.<\/p>\n<p>Psalm 3 is the <strong>first psalm to carry a superscription \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>a line that tells us when and why it was written. It\u2019s not just beautiful poetry. It\u2019s tied to a real historical crisis.<\/p>\n<p>This is also the first Psalm to include the mysterious Hebrew word\u00a0<strong><em>Selah<\/em>\u00a0(<\/strong><strong>\u05e1\u05b6\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4<\/strong><strong>).\u00a0<\/strong>In Jewish interpretation,\u00a0<em>Selah<\/em>\u00a0is a pause \u2014 a moment to stop and<em>\u00a0truly let the words sink in.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-37003 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-3.jpg 650w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/psalm3-3-300x148.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":37003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-37000","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/37000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/37000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37004,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/37000\/revisions\/37004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37000"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=37000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}