Psalm 84: Typhoons in Asia

A pair of Typhoons struck Taiwan, China and Japan.

Psalm 84

Theoretical Time:

13000-07-21 DH 16:7:20 AA
2009-08-10 09:56:51 TMMT
2009-08-10 07:35:57 GMT
2009-08-10 03:35:57 EDT

Psalms 84

¹How amiable are your tents, Yahvah of hosts.
²My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of Yahvah; my heart and my flesh give praise for the living god.

³Yes, even the sparrow has found a house, and the pigeon a nest for herself, where they have raised their young beside your altars, Yahvah of hosts, my king, and my god.
⁴Blessed are those who live in your house; they will praise you forever.

⁵Blessed is the man whose help is from you; in whose heart are your ways.
⁶They have passed through the valley of weeping, and have made it a dwelling place; the lawgiver will cover it with blessings;
⁷they will go from strength to strength; the god of gods will be seen in Zion.

⁸Yahvah, god of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, god of Jacob.
⁹Look, god our shield, and look on the face of your anointed.

¹⁰For 1 day in your courts is better than 1,000 elsewhere. I would choose rather to live in the house of my god than to live in the tents of the wicked.
¹¹For Yahvah God is our supply and our helper; Yahvah will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
¹²Yahvah of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Typhoon Morakot

In Thai language Morakot means "Emerald." The storm by this name crossed the island of Taiwan and then struck the main land along the cost of China.

About 2.5 Meters of rain fell on Taiwan, wiping out roads and destroying bridges, causing numerous mud slides. This was the largest single rainfall from a typhoon ever recorded in Taiwan. An estimated $100M in damage was cauesd by this storm.

In China, 1,000,000 people had to be evacuated as flood waters battered the coast lines. In some areas the flood waters were so deep only tree tops remained. $320M damage was caused by this storm.

Landfall time on the mainland was 8:20 GMT on Sunday, about 24 hours earlier than theory, but severe winds were expected in the area for another 3 days, spanning the theoretical time nicely.

Typhoon Etau

In the Palauan language Etau means "storm cloud." This Typhoon skirted the south western shore line of Japan, causing considerable damage there. The timing of this second storm was much closer to theoretical, skirting along the coast of Japan at the expected theoretical time.

Matches

For the 1,000,000 or so refugees of these storms living in tents the wish is to be back in their house, or any house, for that matter. This Psalm opens with references to God's tent in verse 1, a match.

Verse 2 discusses the longing that someone in this situation naturally has for a better house when faced with a storm like this.

Verse 3 uses the illustration of a bird finding a house. Of course boats and planes had to be sheltered from this storm, but deeper sense is one who has taken flight needs to find a home. Again, a reference to those 1,000,000 refugees.

Verse 4 discusses the difference between houses, the house of God is not the same as houses here, His cannot be shaken, and there is a blessing for those who live there.

Verses 5 and 6 liken the process of getting to God's house as one who has passed through a valley of weeping. Weeping here is like Etau, a "Storm Cloud." The point is that finding refuge in Jesus is about as much work as finding refuge from an approaching Typhoon. But, when found, it is as wonderful as a refuge from a storm.

41 Matthew 7:24-27
²⁴Therefore whoever hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.
²⁵And the rain came down, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and they beat on that house; but it did not fall down, because its foundations were laid on a rock.
²⁶And whoever hears these words of mine, and does not do them, is like a foolish man, who built his house on sand.
²⁷And the rain came down, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and they beat on that house; and it fell down, and its fall was very great.

Verse 8 now turns to prayer, to explaining what is going on.

Verse 9 seeks a response.

Verse 10 plays to the numbers and nature of this disaster. The Psalm uses the number 1,000. The headlines use 1,000 * 1,000. (1,000 squared.) The same squaring quality is used in the Gospels, where 100 is used as a short hand for 100 * 100, or 10,000 the year of Solomon. So 1,000 is a reasonable Biblical short hand for the 1,000,000 displaced in tents on mainland China.

Verse 10 goes on and says that those tents are simply the tents of the wicked, and that living there is not the same as living in God's courts. It is at this point that the Psalm begins to explain what is going on with this storm.

Verse 11 makes the point that God does not withhold good things from those who walk uprightly. This storm is of course not a good thing, and suggests that at the level of the population at large that the people effected do not generally walk uprightly.

Verse 12 closes on the thought that there is blessing for trusting in God. (Presumably there is 1 in 1000 who do.)

Though not the single largest storm ever, it came close...

By Phil Stone
Revised 13000-07-21 (2009-08-10)