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Praise to the Righteous and Just Warrior (vv.1-6) |
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1 Let God [2]
arise, |
let His enemies be scattered, |
And let those who hate Him flee
before Him. |
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2 As smoke is driven away, |
so drive them away; |
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As wax melts before the fire, |
So let the wicked perish before God. |
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3 But let the righteous be glad; |
let them exult before God; |
Yes, let them rejoice with
gladness. |
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4 Sing to God, |
sing praises to His name; |
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Lift up a song for Him who rides
through the deserts, |
Whose name is Yah,
[3] |
and exult before Him. |
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5 A father of the fatherless |
and a judge for the widows, |
Is God in His holy habitation. |
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6 God makes a home for the
lonely; |
He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, |
Only the rebellious dwell in a
parched land. |
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Pilgrimage/Procession Out of Egypt and to God’s
Mountain (vv.7-14) |
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7 O God, when You went forth before Your people, |
When You marched through the wilderness, Selah. |
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8 The earth quaked; |
The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; |
Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the
God of Israel. [4] |
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9 You shed abroad a plentiful rain, O God; |
You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parched. |
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10 Your creatures settled in it; |
You provided in Your goodness for the poor, O God. |
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11 The Lord gives the command; |
The women who proclaim the good tidings [5] are a great host: |
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12 “Kings of armies flee, |
they flee, |
And she who remains at home will
divide the spoil!” |
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13 When you lie down among the
sheepfolds, |
You are like the wings of a dove covered with silver, |
And its pinions with glistening
gold. |
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14 When the Almighty scattered the kings there, |
It was snowing in Zalmon. |
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God Ascends His Chosen Mountain (vv.15-18) |
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15 A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; |
A mountain of many peaks [6] is the mountain of Bashan. |
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16 Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many
peaks, |
At the mountain which God has desired for His abode? |
Surely Yahweh will dwell there
forever. |
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17 The chariots of God are
myriads, |
thousands upon thousands; |
The Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness. |
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18 You have ascended on high [lit. the mount/height], [7] (Eph.4:8-10) [8] |
You have led captive Your captives; |
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Even among the rebellious also, that Yah God may dwell there. |
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Pilgrimage/Procession of Israel into the Sanctuary
(vv.19-28) |
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19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, |
The God who is our salvation. [11] Selah. |
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20 God is to us a God of deliverances; |
And to God the Lord belong escapes from death. |
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21 Surely God will shatter the head of His enemies, |
The hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds. |
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22 The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan. |
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea; |
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23 That your foot may shatter them in blood, |
The tongue of your dogs may have its portion [12] from your enemies.” (1 Kings 21:23-24; 22:38) |
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24 They have seen Your procession, O God, |
The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. |
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25 The singers went on, the musicians after them, |
In the midst of the maidens beating tambourines. |
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26 Bless God in the
congregations, |
Even Yahweh, |
you who are of the fountain of
Israel. |
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27 There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, |
The princes of Judah in their throng, |
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The princes of Zebulun, |
the princes of Naphtali. |
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28 Your God has commanded your strength; |
Show Yourself strong, O God, who have acted on our behalf. |
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Procession of the kingdoms into the Sanctuary
(vv.29-35) |
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29 Because of Your temple at Jerusalem |
Kings will bring gifts to You. |
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30 Rebuke the beasts in the reeds, |
The herd/congregation of bulls with the calves of the peoples, |
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Trampling under foot the pieces of silver; |
He has scattered the peoples who delight in war. |
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31 Envoys/Ambassadors will come out of Egypt; |
Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God. |
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32 Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, |
Sing praises to the Lord, Selah. |
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33 To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, |
which are from ancient times; |
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Behold, He speaks forth with His voice, |
a mighty/strong voice. |
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34 Ascribe strength to God; |
His majesty is over Israel |
And His strength is in the skies. |
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35 O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. |
The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. |
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Blessed be God! [13] |
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[1] This was the battle-song of the Huguenots (Prothero,
183). |
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[2] In Psalm 68 “The poet makes forty-two (six times
seven) direct references to God (elohim
or el), LORD or Lord”
(Schaeffer, 164). “God”
(’elohiym) occurs 26x in this Psalm; “Lord” (’Adonay)
occurs 6x; “God (el) 5x; Yahweh 3x and YAH 2x. |
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[3] Psalm 68:4,18 is the first time in the Psalter that
YAH occurs. This contracted form of
Yahweh occurs 50x in the Hebrew Scriptures, 43 of which are in the Psalms: 3x
in the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42-83) and 40x in Psalms 84-150. Most names in Scripture are transliterated meaning that the name is
an approximation of the Hebrew or Greek pronunciation. Yahweh is a transliteration of the Hebrew
YHWH. The English rendering of “LORD” for YHWH (or in this case YAH) is
neither a translation nor a transliteration.
What is it then? It’s a
superstition. The superstitious belief that God’s Name should not be pronounced
probably began around the 1st century AD; although Yahweh
was still used by at least some Jews (see Larry Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest
Christianity, pp.109ff.). Scripture forbids taking God’s Name in
vain (Ex.20:7) and commands that His Name be hallowed. However, nothing in Scripture forbids the
pronunciation of Yahweh’s Name.
Indeed, Psalm 68:4 encourages us to use God’s Name: “Sing to God, sing
praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts,
Whose name is Yah, and exult
before Him” (Psalm 68:4; see also Psalm 135:3). Revelation 19:1-6 contains a threefold “hallelu-Yah.” The New Testament translates “Yahweh” as kurios (Greek for Lord) (cf. Matthew 3:3 with Isaiah 40:3). We can say confidently that the motive for doing this was not Jewish superstition. One motive may have been to emphasize that the Old Testament was being Christologically interpreted (cf. Hebrews 1:10-12). Another may have been to identify Who Yahweh is. The New Testament emphasizes that Jesus reveals Yahweh most fully and clearly: Ø The
Father is Yahweh (Matthew 28:19; John 10:30; 14:7-11; cf. John 6:27: Rev.1:4;
4:8). Ø The
Son is Yahweh (1 Cor.12:3; Romans 10:9-13; Philippians 2:9-11 with Isaiah
45:23-25; cf. John 1:1 with 8:54,58; 12:41; 20:28; Psalm
32:1-2 with Romans 4:7-8 with Mark 2:5-12). Ø The Holy Spirit is Yahweh (2 Cor.3:15-18; Ephesians 4:4-6; cf. Acts 28:25-27 with Isaiah 6:1,8-10; Hebrews 3:7-11 with Psalm 95; Hebrews 10:15-17 with Jeremiah 31:33-34; Revelation 1:4). The full revelation of Yahweh’s Name is the baptismal formula, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19; cf. Phil.2:9). Identifying Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with Yahweh does not in any way compromise biblical monotheism (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:28-29; 1 Cor.8:4-6; cf. John 10:30). For further comments on the Tetragrammaton see Psalm 1:2 and J. P. Fokkelman, “Again, Yahweh has been Robbed of His
own Name!” |
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[4] There are close parallels between verses 7-8 and
the Song of Deborah and Barak,
Interestingly, Psalm 68 favors Elohim (in keeping with its place in the “Elohistic Psalter”) and Deborah and Barak’s Song favors Yahweh. |
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[5] McCann notes how “proclaim the good tidings” came
into Greek as “gospel,” “good news”; elsewhere, the good news has to do with
God’s reign (Psalm 96:2; Isa.52:7) (p.945). |
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[6] Verses 15,16 are the only occurrences in the Hebrew
Scriptures of this word (gabnōn). |
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[7] How could the Most High God ascend?! |
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[8] Verse 18 seems to be one of or the central verse(s) of Psalm 68. In fact there are seventeen verses before it and 17 verses after it. Paul’s quotation of Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8-10 gives us insight into his exegesis of the Psalms. Paul didn’t simply choose this verse because it sounded good and like what he was saying. Rather, Paul’s exegesis of Psalm 68 led him to the conclusion that this was a Psalm anticipating the decension and ascension of Christ. Our study of the structure of the Psalms may provide for us insight as to how the Apostles exegeted the Psalms. A number of scholars hold that Ps 68:18 lies behind Acts 2:33 (See Lincoln, A. T. Vol. 42: Word Biblical Commentary: Ephesians, p.244). |
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[9] “The Syriac Peshitta rendering of Psalm 68:18 is ‘you have given gifts’, and although there is difference of scholarly opinion as to its value as evidence, it may reflect a textual tradition different from that represented by the MT [Masoretic Text] and the LXX. Furthermore, the paraphrase of Psalm 68:18 in the Aramaic Targum is remarkable, for like the Peshitta it reads ‘you gave’ rather than ‘you received’ (as in the MT)….although the Targum on the Psalms is late, it reflects a tradition and text form that are much earlier..” (O'Brien, P. T. The letter to the Ephesians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary, p.290). |
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[10] Question 53 of the Westminster Larger Catechism uses Psalm 66:18 as a proof text describing the exaltation of Jesus in His ascension: How was Christ exalted in his ascension? Christ was exalted in his ascension, in that having after his resurrection often appeared unto and conversed with his apostles, speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, (Acts 1:2–3) and giving them commission to preach the gospel to all nations, (Matt. 28:19–20) forty days after his resurrection, he, in our nature, and as our head, (Heb. 6:20) triumphing over enemies, (Eph. 4:8) visibly went up into the highest heavens, there to receive gifts for men, (Acts 1:9–11, Eph. 4:10, Ps. 68:18) to raise up our affections thither, (Col. 3:1–2) and to prepare a place for us, (John 14:3) where he himself is, and shall continue till his second coming at the end of the world. (Acts 3:21) |
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[11] Verses 19-20 recall Exodus 15:1-3 (McCann 946). |
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[12] Amazingly, dogs are described here as receiving an inheritance from God! My apology to dog lovers but the Bible always speaks disdainfully of dogs (cf. Philippians 3:2). Dogs were unclean (Exodus 22:31; cf. Psalm 59:6,14); male temple prostitutes are called dogs (Deut.23:18); dogs return to their own vomit (Prov.26:11; 2 Peter 2:22); and there will be no dogs in the New Heavens and the New Earth (Revelation 22:14-15). Solomon says that there is no hope for the dead; in fact, so hopeless is death that even a live dog is better, but just barely, than a dead lion (Ecc.9:1-6). |
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[13] Psalm 66 ends with “Blessed be God”; 67 begins and
ends with blessing, Psalm 68 ends with “Blessed be God!”; Psalm 72:17-19 ends
with four mentions of blessing. |