“Lord , who can dwell in Your tent? Who can live on Your holy mountain? The one who lives honestly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in his heart — who does not slander with his tongue, who does not harm his friend or discredit his neighbor, who despises the one rejected by the Lord but honors those who fear the Lord , who keeps his word whatever the cost, who does not lend his money at interest or take a bribe against the innocent — the one who does these things will never be moved.”
Psalms 15:1-5
Psalm 15 sounds weird to us as 21st century Americans-who wants to live in a tent? Let’s put this into context. David wrote this Psalm around 1000 BC when many people in the world were nomadic dwellers & lived in tents. Although during this time in history, most of the Israelites, particuarly those who lived in Jerusalem lived in permenant dwellings, they had formerly all lived in tents as they returned to Canaan, later named Israel, from Eygpt over a time span of 40 years. During that time in history, they build God an AWESOME tent, called the tabernacle. The perimeter of this Holy Tent was a whopping 11,250 sq feet. By today’s standards, the Tabernacle David wrote about, along with its furnishings would be worth about 13 million dollars! BEST OF ALL, the taberncle was where Israel met God. It was their belief that His Presence and glory dwelled above the Ark of the Covenant, between the cheribim! Maybe now we’d want to live there! Now let’s reread the verse which says, “Lord , who can dwell in Your tent” and “Who can live on Your holy mountain?” Both questions were somewhat rhetorical as David immediately answers with the balance of the Psalm, “the one who . . .
lives honestly, practices righteousness, acknowleges truth in his or heart,
doesn’t slander, harm his friend, despises what God disapproves of, honors the Godly, keeps his word
THIS PERSON LIVES IN GOD’S HOLY PRESENCE/ HE REFLECTS GOD!
Think about it!
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