Psalm 38 David's Foolishness

Psalm 38 A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance

1. Jehovah, rebuke me not in thy wrath; neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand cometh down upon me.
3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine indignation; no peace in my bones, because of my sin.
4. For mine iniquities are gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5. My wounds stink, they are corrupt, because of my foolishness.
6. I am depressed; I am bowed down beyond measure; I go mourning all the day.
7. For my loins are full of burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8. I am faint and broken beyond measure; I roar by reason of the agitation of my heart.
9. Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my sighing is not hid from thee.
10. My heart throbbeth, my strength hath left me; and the light of mine eyes, it also is no more with me.
11. My lovers and mine associates stand aloof from my stroke; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
12. And they that seek after my life lay snares for me ; and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all the day long.
13. But I, as a deaf man , hear not; and am as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
14. Yea, I am as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15. For in thee, Jehovah, do I hope: *thou* wilt answer, O Lord my God.
16. For I said, Let them not rejoice over me! When my foot slipped, they magnified themselves against me.
17. For I am ready to halt, and my pain is continually before me.
18. For I will declare mine iniquity, I am grieved for my sin.
19. But mine enemies are lively, they are strong; and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied:
20. And they that render evil for good are adversaries unto me; because I pursue what is good.
21. Forsake me not, Jehovah; O my God, be not far from me.
22. Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.

One word in  this psalm strikes us as so out of place. It jolts and makes us realize that God wants His people to be different from the world around. And although we may think that the world of today is almost as bad as it can get, that it has never been so bad before, it was at least as bad in David’s day. God is the same, and rebellion against Him is the same, and He wants His people in every time of history to be like Him. That peculiar word in this psalm is the word stink. The foul odor, the nauseating choking revolting stench and sight of putrefying  rotting dead human flesh on a living body 

In verse 5 David said, “My wounds stink,” but he follows this by declaring or admitting that it was  by his own foolishness. Not a wound from a sword or an arrow or a weapon of war but foolishness, and not the foolishness or carelessness of another but his own. So where and how was he foolish enough to get this stinking ulcer?

A look at the history of his time may help, for in the psalm David speaks of enemies, certainly enemies in his own kingdom and household, but enemies in the outside world, in the nations around. One instance was just a few generations before him when Moses had brought the people to the entrance of the promised land. They had skirted the ungodly nation of Moab on the way because God had told them to avoid provoking them, however the Moabites did not appreciate God’s mercy in sparing them but wanted to eliminate those who worshipped such a good and holy God. They were evil and did not want a good God anywhere near — certainly not people who worshipped and revered Him. So they tricked the foolish young men of Israel with their prostitutes, their vd infected prostitutes. The rest of that story starts in Numbers chapter 22  and goes all the way to the first verse of 26 to show what happened and how God felt about it.

For it was not just a few instances of this idolatrous practice that affected only the worldly young men of Israel, but they brought the deadly scourge back to their own families. There seems to be no other explanation than this when we read that later Joshua said “Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD?” Joshua 22:17. They contracted the vd plague from daughters of the enemy and it still plagued the people. No wonder they said, “Have we not learned?”

We say, “How revolting, how low can they go?” But historians assure us that this was a much used war plan to triumph over the enemy. Daughters were indeed used as weapons and spies against them. And although David had fairly beaten many enemy nations, they no doubt played their last chance of guaranteeing that his win would end up as a loss. Sadly David did take many defeated daughters into his harem and although some of them became loyal to Israel all of them were children of the enemy, cultured against the one true Holy God of David.

This now brings meaning to the title of the psalm where we read that it is a psalm to bring to remembrance. To remind David and his sons and us that it is foolish, something that a fool does, to play around in the world. When we do we should not expect God to exempt us from its plagues. We will be stricken, participate in the ulcers of the world and we will stink. Stink to God, to our friends and relatives as well as to that world that is the enemy of God. Like David they will mock us.

But the psalm goes on not leaving either its author nor you and I in complete despair for God knows our frame and He remembers that we are only dust. He is merciful and waits for us to admit like David that our foolishness is sin, so that we can join with David to say “I will declare mine iniquity, I am grieved for my sin” as he does in verse 18. Then he can call out for healing as he does in the last verse saying, “Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.”

Lord, help us to remember. To remember your faithfulness in spite of our foolishness. Help us to stay away from foolishness that causes us to stink.