Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Jah, and whom thou teachest out of thy law;
Psalm 94 opens as a cry to the God of vengeance, asking Him to rise up and judge the earth while the wicked oppress His people. Verse 12 turns the mood. The sufferer stops asking only for judgment on his oppressor. Instead he calls a man blessed because God's hand is on him. How can a beating be a blessing?
The psalm moves from complaint to explanation, and verse 12 begins that explanation.
Psalm 94 speaks to Jehovah as the God of vengeance. It asks Him to show Himself — to lift Himself up as Judge of the earth and to repay the proud. It presses the question "how long?" with urgency. It sets out the conduct and the ungodliness of the wicked. Verses 4-11 speak to the unbelieving Israelites about the folly of this. Verses 12-15 then explain the ways of Jehovah, and the explanation teaches us much. Blessed is the man whom Jehovah chastens and teaches out of His law. This is the position of the suffering remnant: God gives him quiet from the days of evil, until the pit is dug for the ungodly.
Nothing in the sufferer's circumstances has changed at this point. What changes is what he sees at work in them.
In this Psalm we find first the uproar of the enemies, and then that God has done it. It is the same with the believer in constant trial. He sees the work of Satan, then God's hand in it. And he gets blessing… In chastening, the power of the enemy may be against us. Even so, the Lord's aim in it all is "to give rest in the day of adversity."
The verse names two things God does: He disciplines (older translations say "chastens"), and He teaches. Each word admits something about who is really at work.
"You chasten" admits this: behind the hand of those who trouble God's people is the hand of God dealing with His people. "You teach" acknowledges that God teaches His people through chastening. He shows them not only what is in their hearts, but the grace, the goodness and the holiness of His own heart. So they stop trusting themselves and rest in God. God's chastening is often God's way of teaching. And divine teaching leads to divine rest — "that you may give him rest from the days of adversity."
The word behind "discipline" has a family sense in Scripture.
In Scripture this is mostly linked with love and sonship. It carries the sense of "instruction" and "discipline." He who loves chastens… At the time, the chastening feels painful rather than joyful. Yet afterward it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those trained by it.
God works through the hard treatment, not instead of it. And what it uncovers is our own heart, not the enemy's.
We learn this. The LORD may allow men to "speak hard things" and act with malice towards us. If He does, He will use the trial to correct much in our thoughts, our words and our ways that He sees does not match Himself. He does not chasten because He wants to; He sees there is a need for the trial. By it we discover the unsuspected evil of our own hearts. So we judge the flesh, and say with Job, "I abhor myself." It is one thing to admit the doctrine that in the flesh there is no good thing. It is quite another to learn that truth by experience, in the presence of God.
Darby applies these verses to Christ Himself. He took the blows of men as from God's hand — but the word "blessed" sets a limit on what that suffering was.
According to Psalm 94:12-13, when the hour of Satan's power came, the Lord entered into this. He must take His place here. He interprets what He suffers from man as the rod of God. He takes all this smiting by the people and by His enemies as from Jehovah. He was taking this place for the sins of Israel… But this is a completely different thing from divine wrath against sin. Psalm 94 could not apply to that and say "Blessed."
- Hand. Behind the hand of the people who trouble you is the hand of God. Faith sees the enemy first, then God's hand — and gets blessing.
- Chasten. The word means instruction and discipline. In Scripture it belongs with love and sonship: He who loves chastens.
- Teach. Chastening is God's way of teaching. It shows what is in our hearts. It also shows the grace, goodness and holiness of His.
- Self. The trial uncovers the evil we never suspected in our own hearts, so that we judge the flesh and say with Job, "I abhor myself."
- Rest. Divine teaching leads to divine rest. God's aim in it all is rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the ungodly.
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of evil, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
Psalm 94 is the cry of people crushed by rulers who act as if God does not see. Verse 13 answers them while the trouble is still going on: not instant rescue, but rest — and a set limit to the evil, marked by a pit not yet dug.
(The writers quoted below use an older wording of this verse: "rest from the days of adversity.")
Verse 13 gives the goal of the chastening and teaching named in verse 12. One writer takes those words one at a time:
"You chasten" is the admission that behind the hand of those who trouble God's people there is the hand of God dealing with His people. "You teach" is the acknowledgment that through chastening God teaches His people. He shows them not only what is in their hearts, but also the grace, the goodness, and the holiness of His own heart. The result is that they stop trusting themselves and rest in God. So God's chastening is often God's way of teaching; and divine teaching leads to divine rest — "that You may give him rest from the days of adversity."
Chastening also has a cause. Another writer says why it comes, and what God does with the occasion:
The Lord does not chasten willingly, without a real need for it. When there has been failure or inconsistency that brings chastisement, He uses the chastening to work out the evil in the heart that needed to be dealt with.
The psalm looks at the same trouble twice. First at the enemies, then past them to God.
In this Psalm we find, first, the tumult of the enemies and then, that God has done it. It is the same with the believer in trial: again and again he sees the work of Satan, then God's hand in it; and he gets blessing.
The verse does not promise that the adversity ends. It promises rest from those days while they last. One writer points to Hannah, whose story is told in 1 Samuel:
Instead of fretting and bitterness of soul, we shall find "rest from the days of adversity" (v. 13). Hannah found this in her severe trial. She turned to the LORD, "poured out her soul before the LORD," and was "no longer sad." Her circumstances did not change, but she did. By pouring out her soul before the LORD, she passed from bitterness of soul to rest of soul (1 Samuel 1:15, 18).
If the circumstances stay, something else must come in. Darby says what the hard days are for:
The Lord gives our souls "rest from the day of adversity" by communion with Himself, communion not only in joy but in holiness. In this way we are brought into the secret of God. Circumstances only serve to break down the door and let God in. God is near to the soul when He comes inside the circumstances in the certainty of love, and the soul knows Him as better than any circumstance.
How, then, should the sufferer meet the evil in the meantime?
So the heart finds rest from the evil, not by trying to deal with it, but by submitting to God in the trial. It rests in the confidence that God will not cast off His people, and that in His own time He will deal with the evil.
The word until sets a limit on the whole scene. It also describes the present, where the digging is unfinished:
All the present effect of these dealings of "the wicked" is rest "from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked." The pit is not yet dug; the throne of wickedness is not yet brought down.
The delay is not neglect. Another writer reads the psalm as the prayer of an oppressed people, and points to Jesus' own answer:
The seeming delay is only "until a pit is dug for the wicked. For the LORD will not forsake His people." He will prove Himself their help, their defence, and the rock of their refuge... "Will not God give justice to His elect," said the Lord Jesus, "who cry to Him day and night? ... I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily" (Luke 18:7-8).
Why does God wait so long? Darby points to the purpose in the delay:
The Lord gives chastisement full play, so that it may bring pride and self-will low. He waits until that work is complete... and this, so that He may be gracious, in His own way and fully.
- Chastening — the hand of the oppressor is not the last hand in the trial; behind it is God's own dealing with His people.
- Teaching — that chastening is how He instructs, showing both what is in our hearts and what is in His.
- Rest — the teaching gives rest. God does not remove the trouble; He comes inside it. Hannah's circumstances stayed the same while she changed.
- Until — the wicked have a deadline; the pit is not yet dug, and the seeming delay lasts only until it is.
- Vindication — the wait is not neglect. God is patient on purpose: first to bring pride low, then to show full grace.