Read Psalm 102 at Bible Gateway.
introduction) Psa 102:1-2 chiastic structure:
1a) Psa 102:1a, Hear my prayer, O Lord;
1b) Psa102:1b, And let my cry come to You;
central axis) Psa 102:21, Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; {n}
2b) Psa 102:2b, Incline Your ear to me;
2a) Psa 102:2c, In the day that I call, answer me speedily.
1a) Psa 102:3-14, My days shortened / The Lord endures forever / Continuation of Zion:
1) Psa 102:3-11, The wrath of the Lord weakened my strength + shortened my days:
1a) Psa 102:3-4, My days consumed / withered like grass:
Psa 102:3, For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned like a hearth;
Psa 102:4, My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat my bread;
1b) Psa 102:5-7, The groaning of the psalmist, alone + awake in grief:
Psa 102:5, Because of the sound of my groaning My bones cling to my skin;
Psa 102:6, I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert;
Psa 102:7, I lie awake, And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop;
central axis) Psa 102:8, My enemies reproach me all day long; Those who deride me swear an oath against me;
2b) Psa 102:9-10, Mourning of the psalmist, because of the Lord’s wrath:
Psa 102:9, For I have eaten ashes like bread, And mingled my drink with weeping;
Psa 102:10, Because of Your indignation and Your wrath; For You have lifted me up and cast me away;
2a) Psa 102:11, My days are like a shadow that lengthens, And I wither away like grass;
2) Psa 102:12, But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, And the remembrance of Your name to all generations;
3) Psa 102:13-14, The Lord will have mercy on Zion / His servants favor her:
Psa 102:13, You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come;
Psa 102:14, For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, And show favor to her dust;
1b) Psa 102:15, So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, And all the kings of the earth Your glory;
1c) Psa 102:16, For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory;
1d) Psa 102:17, He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, And shall not despise their prayer;
central axis) Psa 102:18, This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord;
2d) Psa 102:19-20, He looked upon the imprisoned to release them from death:
Psa 102:19, For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; From heaven the Lord viewed the earth;
Psa 102:20, To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To release those appointed to death;
2c) Psa 102:21, To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem;
2b) Psa 102:22, When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord;
2a) Psa 102:23-28, My days shortened / the Lord endures forever / Continuation of Zion:
1) Psa 102:23-24, God weakened my strength + shortened my days:
Psa 102:23, He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days;
Psa 102:24a, I said, “O my God, Do not take me away in the midst of my days;
2) Psa 102:24b-27, The Lord shall endure forever:
1a) Psa 102:24b, Your years are throughout all generations;
1b) Psa 102:25, Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands;
central axis) Psa 102:26a, They will perish, but You will endure; {n}
2b) Psa 102:26b, Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed;
2a) Psa 102:27, But You are the same, And Your years will have no end;
3) Psa 102:28, The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You.” {p}
The A pair contrasts the shortness of a man’s life with the eternity of the Lord. The wrath of the Lord is upon the psalmist because of his sin, and his mourning is the godly sorrow of repentance that leads to life (2 Cor 7:9-10). This entire psalm is prophetic and Messianic in nature, and is describing the wrath of the Lord because of sin, and His rejection of sin, which Messiah Yeshua endured on the cross for our sakes.
But it is also describing Zion which endures as the Lord endures. Because of the suffering and sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua (A pair) there will be mercy and the establishment of Zion (central portion of the structure). The Lord will build up Zion and establish the descendants of His people. Zion is His people … a place of spiritual citizenship. The nations will be brought into her, and the kingdoms shall belong to her. The outcasts and poor in spirit shall inherit her, and this is the ministry of Messiah Yeshua, who is the Root of Zion, its Open Door, and its King.
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