Today’s Passage: Psalm 68
This is a marching song, and it opens the way a battle opens: God rises to His feet, and His enemies scatter before Him like smoke on the wind. Yet the same God who scatters armies is a father to the fatherless and a dayyan, pronounced dye-YAHN. Strong's H1781, judge. The word means judge, the one who sits and hears a case, and here He is the judge who takes up the cause of a widow. In the very same breath the psalm calls Him a father to the fatherless. So the God who scatters whole armies is the same God who bends down to hear the orphan’s case, and there is no strain at all between the two. Strength and tenderness are one thing in Him. of widows in His holy dwelling. David sings the whole procession, from the long march through the wilderness all the way up to the sanctuary, a King going up the hill with captives behind Him and gifts in His hands. Long after, Paul hears that one line, “You have ascended on high,” and knows he is hearing about Christ. It is the same gospel, sung twice.
As you read, hold this: God arises. His enemies are scattered.
Context A Psalm of David. A song
The little heading at the top is part of the psalm, and the psalm itself never stops moving. Enemies are blown away like smoke, the lonely are settled into families, and then we are at Sinai, and then there is plunder to divide, a mountain God has chosen, a king going up, a procession sweeping into the sanctuary, and nations arriving with their gifts. Some of the names along the way stay hard for us: Zalmon, the envy of Bashan, places we can no longer point to on a map. There is no need to force a map onto every line. Walk what is plain, and what is plain rings out clearly enough: God arises, and no power on earth can stand where He stands.
Psalm 68:1-4 (BSB)
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A song. ¹ God arises. His enemies are scattered, and those who hate Him flee His presence. ² As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God. ³ But the righteous will be glad and rejoice before God; they will celebrate with joy. ⁴ Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds—His name is the LORD—and rejoice before Him.
See how it begins. God arises, and His enemies are gone, driven off like smoke and melted like wax held to the fire. But the righteous are not afraid of this God; they are glad in Him and celebrate with joy, for He is the One who rides on the clouds, and His name is the LORD.
Psalm 68:5-6 (BSB)
⁵ A father of the fatherless and a defender of widows is God in His holy habitation. ⁶ God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
Psalm 68:7-10 (BSB)
⁷ O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah ⁸ the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain before God, the One on Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. ⁹ You sent abundant rain, O God; You refreshed Your weary inheritance. ¹⁰ Your flock settled therein; O God, from Your bounty You provided for the poor.
Here the song remembers the old march, when God went out ahead of His people through the wasteland and the earth itself shook and the skies broke open at Sinai. And notice what that same great power poured out: abundant rain on a weary land, a home for the flock to settle in, and provision for the poor from His own bounty. The God who makes the mountains tremble is the God who feeds the hungry.
Psalm 68:11-14 (BSB)
¹¹ The Lord gives the command; a great company of women proclaim it: ¹² “Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder. ¹³ Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her feathers with shimmering gold.” ¹⁴ When the Almighty scattered the kings in the land, it was like the snow falling on Zalmon.
The Lord gives a single word of command, and a great company of women carries the news through the streets: the kings and their armies are running for their lives, and those who waited at home are dividing up the spoil. Some of the pictures here, the dove with wings of silver, the snow falling on Zalmon, we can let stand as pictures without pinning every detail down. The heart of it is plain enough. When the Almighty scattered the kings, it was as easy for Him as snow drifting quietly down on a hillside.
Psalm 68:15-18 (BSB)
¹⁵ A mountain of God is Mount Bashan; a mountain of many peaks is Mount Bashan. ¹⁶ Why do you gaze in envy, O mountains of many peaks? This is the mountain God chose for His dwelling, where the LORD will surely dwell forever. ¹⁷ The chariots of God are tens of thousands—thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai. ¹⁸ You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
Bashan is a proud mountain, high and crowned with many peaks, and yet the psalm asks it why it looks on with envy, for God passed it by and chose a humbler hill to be His dwelling forever. His chariots are past all counting, tens of thousands and thousands of thousands, and the Lord is among them in His sanctuary as surely as He was at Sinai. Then comes the great line of the psalm: You have ascended on high, leading a train of captives behind You, receiving gifts even from those who once rebelled, so that the LORD God may dwell among His people. The King has gone up the hill, and He has gone up in triumph.
Study notes David sang it. Paul reads it of Christ.
David sang of a king going up the mountain in victory, a line of captives behind him and gifts gathered into his hands. Centuries later Paul hears that same ascent, and he knows whose it truly is. It is Jesus, going up on high.
"This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.”" Ephesians 4:8 (BSB)
Notice the one thing Paul changes. In the psalm the king receives gifts from men, but Paul says the ascended Christ gave gifts to men. And a few verses on he tells us what those gifts are: apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, all of them given to His church. The King who has gone up does not simply gather tribute to Himself. He turns around and pours it out upon His people. It is the same gospel all along. David sang it, and Paul reads it of Christ.
Psalm 68:19-23 (BSB)
¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God of our salvation. Selah ²⁰ Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death. ²¹ Surely God will crush the heads of His enemies, the hairy crowns of those who persist in guilty ways. ²² The Lord said, “I will retrieve them from Bashan, I will bring them up from the depths of the sea, ²³ that your foot may be dipped in the blood of your foes—the tongues of your dogs in the same.”
First the tender words: this is the Lord who lifts our burden day after day, the God of our salvation, our rescuer even from death itself. Then come the hard lines, and they are hard, heads crushed, a foot dipped in the blood of the foe, the tongues of the dogs. We should not sand these lines smooth, and we should not turn them into a blessing on our own revenge. What they say is that God Himself will finally deal with everything that sets itself against Him. The judgment is His to carry out, not ours, and He will not fail to do it.
Psalm 68:24-27 (BSB)
²⁴ They have seen Your procession, O God—the march of my God and King into the sanctuary. ²⁵ The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines. ²⁶ Bless God in the great congregation; bless the LORD from the fountain of Israel. ²⁷ There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah in their company, the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.
Now we are given the sight itself: the people have watched the procession of their God and King going up into the sanctuary. The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, and among them the young women are playing tambourines. And look who marches together, little Benjamin and the princes of Judah, the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali, tribes from the north and the south all in one glad company behind the King.
Psalm 68:28-31 (BSB)
²⁸ Summon Your power, O God; show Your strength, O God, which You have exerted on our behalf. ²⁹ Because of Your temple at Jerusalem kings will bring You gifts. ³⁰ Rebuke the beast in the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations, until it submits, bringing bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war. ³¹ Envoys will arrive from Egypt; Cush will stretch out her hands to God.
The psalm prays for God to summon the strength He has already shown, and it looks ahead to the day when kings will carry their gifts to His temple and the nations that delight in war will be scattered at last. Even the distant peoples are drawn in: envoys come hurrying from Egypt, and Cush stretches out her hands to God. The march that began in Israel is reaching to the very ends of the earth.
Psalm 68:32-35 (BSB)
³² Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord—Selah ³³ to Him who rides upon the highest heavens of old; behold, His mighty voice resounds. ³⁴ Ascribe the power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose strength is in the skies. ³⁵ O God, You are awesome in Your sanctuary; the God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God!
So the call goes out to every kingdom of the earth: sing to God, sing praises to the Lord who rides upon the ancient heavens and whose mighty voice rings out over all. Ascribe to Him the power that is His, for His majesty is over His people and His strength fills the skies. And here is where the whole song has been marching: the God who is awesome in His sanctuary is the God who gives strength and power to His people. The psalm that opened with God rising to scatter His enemies ends with God turning to His own and filling them with His might. Blessed be God indeed.
God arises. His enemies are scattered.