Psalms 146 in daily prayer

[Melanie]

The Book of Acts contains two references to a specific verse in Psalm 146.  This particular psalm is part of a group of psalms (145-150) that are recited each morning from the daily prayer book.   These psalms are seen as an encouragement to the Jews in exile reminding them that Yah will reign forever despite all their enemies. The sages also say  these psalms speak to the fact that Yah is not like the kings and rulers of this world whose powers are limited by the physical constraints of time and space, but that Yah is everywhere and that He is the all powerful.

Psalm 146, in particular, expresses the attributes of the Kingdom of heaven.   It speaks of securing justice for the oppressed, giving food to the hungry, setting prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind and lifting up those who are bent over.   It is the “lifting up of those who are bent” that is the key to the two references in Acts.

In Acts 4:23 Peter and John are arrested by the Temple police for teaching the doctrine of the resurrection and offering as proof Yahushua the Messiah.  Previously, at the hour of the Minchah prayers, a man crippled from birth had been carried in.  Peter took hold of him and pulled and the crippled man sprang up.  The man then entered the Temple court where he began walking and leaping and praising Yah. 

The Jewish leadership demanded to know by what power this miracle had taken place and then attempted to silence Peter and John from revealing the truth.  Peter then returned to his friends with this news and their response was quite significant.  When they heard, they raised their voices to Yah in singleness of heart.  “Master, Adonai”, they prayed, “you made heaven, earth, the sea and everything in them.”  This is a direct quote from Psalm 146.  It was evident that the kingdom had been made manifest in the healing of the crippled man.  The believers saw that Yah would literally raise up those who were  bent down.

A similar example is found in Acts 14:15.   Here Saul and Barnabas had escaped to the city of Lystra after being attacked by the locals in Iconium.  There was a man living in Lystra who could not use his feet.  He had been crippled from birth and had never walked.  Rav Shaul commanded him to stand on his feet and the man jumped up and began walking.  The power of Yah had been poured out upon this man through Saul and Bar-nabba, and once again a crippled man who was bent was lifted up and healed.  After the crowd tried to worship Saul and Barnabas, they encouraged the crowd to turn from worthless things to the “living Yah who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them”. 

 It is interesting that this verse in Psalm 146, which recognizes the sovereignty of Yah, is quoted, and that two men who were bent down were literally raised up by the power of Yah.  This prayer reveals that Yah himself can make the bent straight and that this is the reality of the Kingdom of Yah,  which is made manifest through faith in Yahushua the Messiah.....by Dr. Diana Dye