Today’s reading is from the Pilgrim Psalms. But the study is definitely New Testament. In Psalm 124 the “snare” refers to a trap for birds. The hunters are therefore “fowlers,” those who hunt fowl. Figuratively it came to represent Satan, and the NT shows us why. As usual, there is a verb pagideuō (“to set a snare, entrap,” only use is the first in the list below) and a noun pagis (“a trap, snare”).
· Matt. 22:15: The Pharisees laid plans to trap Jesus in His words. We mentioned this in a previous post but it bears repeating: leadership in the Body of Christ must, along with all the character requirements, be skilled with the word of God (Titus 1:9; 1 Tim. 3:2; 4:16). Christian maturity is characterized by doctrinal stability that comes from having a good grip on Scripture (Eph. 4:14).
· Lk. 21:35: The future day of the Lord will close in like a trap on those who are not watching but are living a life with earthly and selfish focus.
· Rom. 11:9: Israel’s problem in her current situation of “partial blindness” (11:25) was predicted in Ps. 69:22-23, quoted here. Let their table become a snare and a trap. The “table” refers to the Covenant of Law between God and Israel; covenants were finalized with a meal. Israel stumbled over God’s plan of salvation and the Savior, thinking they could be righteous by keeping the law and not realizing righteousness could only be their by faith in the Christ of the gospel (9:30-33). The law was good, and that was the bait for the snare. The word “trap” is Greek thèron, used in hunting wild animals. This is the only use of the noun, and the verb form is in Lk. 11:54 where it refers to the Jewish leadership seeks to entrap Jesus.
· 1 Tim. 3:7: The overseer (elder, church leader) needs to have a good reputation with outsiders so he won’t fall into the devil’s trap. Peter spoke of this, that it is good to suffer for righteousness but not for doing wrong. A leader might think he is really godly because the people around hate him. He might consider this persecution. But actually that kind of suffering becomes a hindrance for the gospel as it is preached in the world/community.
· 1 Tim. 6:9: Here’s a very American one: those who desire to be rich, meaning this is their aim in life, fall into temptation and a trap. Apply this to the “health and wealth” crowd who consider wealth a sign of God’s blessing. Apply it to almost anyone in the world, because greed is not just a Western issue. Our early days in Ukraine (’96) showed that the recently liberated Ukrainians had a strong desire to be like Americans, i.e. rich.
· 2 Tim. 2:26: This snare of the devil has to do with foolish arguments between Christians. Paul told Timothy to gently, patiently and firmly teach the truth so that his “opponents” will come to their senses, having been taken captive by him (the devil) to do his will.
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