Introduction
Psalm 68 is a hymn of praise to the Lord our God who is a mighty warrior who led his people out of Egypt and through the wilderness, past Sinai and into the Promised Land and up to Jerusalem where he rules over all. And so, at the end of the psalm, the psalmist declares:
Proclaim the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
whose power is in the skies.
You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary;
the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.
Praise be to God!
Praise be to God, the great and mighty warrior.
The basic structure of the psalm is as follows: Verses 1 to 6 are the introduction. Then, in verses 7 to 18 the psalmist describes in poetic form the Lord’s triumphant journey from Egypt to Jerusalem. And verses 19 to 35 focus on God’s reign in Jerusalem and how he crushes his enemies and helps his people. And the whole psalm is punctuated with praise, because the psalmist summons us to praise God in verse 4 and in verse 19 and in verse 26 and in verses 32 to the end. And so, let’s study it together now.
Verses 1 to 6
Verses 1 to 6 are the introduction and verse 1 echoes the words of Moses from Numbers 10. In the wilderness, whenever it was time for the Israelites to break camp and move on, Moses would say:
Rise up, O Lord.
May your enemies be scattered;
may your foes flee before you.
As the Lord led his people through the wilderness and into the Promised Land, they looked to him, their mighty king, to go before them and to protect them from their enemies. And in our psalm, the psalmist echoes the words of Moses when he says in verse 1:
May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;
may his foes flee before him.
The Lord is depicted as a mighty, all-conquering warrior, who goes out to fight against his enemies. And because he is so mighty, his enemies are scattered and flee before him. They’re overwhelmed by his might and cannot stand up to him. And so, as smoke is blown away by the wind, so God will blow away his enemies. One minute they are there, the next they are gone. They have vanished and left no trace of themselves. And as wax melts before the fire, so the wicked will perish before God. One minute they are they, standing up, tall and proud, but after the wrath of God burns against them, they melt away to nothing. And so, all of God’s enemies, who so proudly resist him, will one day be destroyed.
But — the psalmist says in verse 3 — may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God, may they be happy and joyful. When he refers to the righteous, he’s referring to God’s people. And so, in the past, in the days of the Old Testament, when God’s people were under attack from their enemies, God would come down from heaven to scatter his enemies and to save his people. His his people would rejoice because God had saved them. Think of what Moses and the Israelites sang when they had crossed the Red Sea:
I will sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea.
The Lord had come down from heaven and had, as it were, hurled the Egyptians into the sea. And when other nations attacked them in the wilderness, the Lord again came to their aid. He helped them take over the Promised Land and we’ve seen how the Lord helped David defeat the Philistines and the Ammonites and all those other nations who threatened them. The Lord is a mighty warrior who destroys his enemies and who saves his people, so his enemies weep and mourn, but his people sing and rejoice.
And so, in verse 4 the psalmist summons God’s people to sing praise to God and to extol him. He refers to God as the one who rides on the ‘clouds’. Other English translations say that he’s the one who rides through the ‘deserts’. ‘Deserts’ is probably correct and here he comes, riding through the desert, to save his people from their troubles. He comes to save the fatherless and the widow and the lonely and to free his captive people. So, he uses his mighty power on behalf of his lowly and suffering people, but the rebellious will be sent away to live in a sun-scorched land.
And so, in the introduction to the psalm, the psalmist makes the point that the Lord is a mighty warrior who destroys his enemies and who saves his people.
Verses 7 to 18
In verses 7 to 18, the psalmist describes in poetic form the Lord’s triumphant journey from Egypt to Jerusalem. And so, he says in verses 7 and 8 that the Lord went out before his people and he marched through the wasteland. That is, he brought them out of Egypt and he brought through the wilderness to Sinai. In verses 9 and 10, he’s referring to the way he settled them in the Promised Land where he blessed them with showers of rain and provided for them out of his bounty. He says in verse 11 that God announced his word and it was proclaimed by a great company. And what did they proclaim? They proclaimed the good news of God’s victory over kings and armies who fled from him in haste. The Hebrew of verses 13 and 14 is difficult to translate and interpret. Is he referring to campfires or saddlebags? What does he mean when he refers to the dove with silver and gold on its wings? Why is he referring to snow on Mount Zalmon? No-one is too sure what these two verses mean, although one suggestion is that while God’s people sleep soundly, their enemies are destroyed so that they lie on the ground like fallen snow. And the image of the dove covered with silver and gold may refer to the spoils of war.
After the Lord brought his people to Israel, he chose Jerusalem on Mount Zion for his sanctuary. And so, in verses 15 and 16, the psalmist depicts the majestic mountains of Bashan looking with envy on Zion, because God chose Zion over every other mountain. And in verses 17 and 18, the Lord is depicted as ascending Mount Zion as a victorious warrior and king, surrounded by thousands of chariots, with his defeated enemies following behind him. And this mighty warrior has received gifts as tribute from the people he has conquered.
And so, in this part of the psalm, the psalmist describes the Lord’s triumphant journey from Egypt to Jerusalem.
Verses 19 to 35
And the focus of verses 19 to 35 is on God’s reign in Jerusalem and how he crushes his enemies and helps his people. So, verse 19:
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour,
who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
So, praise him, because he delivers us from our daily troubles and trials; and he delivers us from our enemies; and he even delivers us from death. That is what he does for his people. On the other hand, verse 21, he will crush the head of his enemies. In verse 23 he portrays the Lord’s people as plunging their feet in the blood of their enemies. It’s a gruesome image, but it’s from the battlefield and portrays how the victorious soldiers would walk across the battle field, which is drenched in the blood of their fallen enemies.
And in verses 24 to 27 the psalmist describes a procession going up to the sanctuary. There are singers and musicians and the great congregation has gathered to worship the Lord. The psalmist refers to some of the tribes of Israel to represent all of the tribes of Israel. From the north and south and east and west, all of God’s people have gathered to give thanks to him.
And verses 28 to 31 are addressed to God as a prayer, asking him to demonstrate his great power by subduing more kings, who are depicted as stiff-necked beasts and bulls. But the Lord will subdue them so that they will bring their tribute to God in Jerusalem.
And the psalm ends with the psalmist summoning the kingdoms of the earth to praise the Lord. He rides the ancient skies above. That is, though he has chosen to dwell in Jerusalem, he rules and reigns over the heavenly skies above and he thunders with a mighty voice. So, proclaim his power and his majesty. He is the awesome God who gives power and strength to his people.
Application
And so, this psalm is a hymn of praise to God, who is a mighty warrior who led his people out of Egypt and up to Jerusalem, from where he rules over all. He crushed his enemies and he delivered his people from all their troubles. And therefore the people in every other kingdom of the earth are summoned to praise him too.
And anyone who has read the Old Testament will know that this psalm is an accurate depiction of the Lord, because he did deliver his people from Egypt and he did bring them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. He helped his people take over the land and he helped David destroy the enemy nations so that there was peace throughout the land; and David was able to settle in Jerusalem, where the ark of the Lord was kept to signify God’s presence with them as their king.
However, in chapter 4 of his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul quotes verse 18 of this psalm and he applies it specifically to the Lord Jesus. So, in verse 18 of the psalm, the psalmist depicts the Lord ascending on high to Jerusalem, leading captives in his train and receiving gifts as tribute from his conquered enemies. And Paul applies that verse to the Lord Jesus, who descended to the depths of the earth when he died on the cross and was buried. However, having descended to the depths of the earth, he ascended on high to rule and reign in heaven above over all things. And, he has led captives in his train, because his resurrection from the dead is his victory over sin and Satan and death. But whereas the psalmist said that God received gifts from men, David says the Lord Jesus gave gifts to men.
And what are the gifts which Christ our King gives to his people? Well, it’s perhaps surprising, because the gifts Paul goes on to mention are the preachers which Christ gives to his church. He mentions the apostles and prophets and evangelists who taught God’s word to his people in the past. And then he mentions pastors/shepherds and teachers; and these are the ones who teach God’s word to his people today. Some interpreters think Paul is referring to a single office when he refers to pastors/shepherds and teachers. That is, he’s referring to elders who both pastor the people and teach God’s word. However, it’s more likely he’s referring to two separate offices. In that case, when he mentions pastors/shepherds, he’s referring to ruling elders in a congregation; and when he mentions teachers, he’s referring to ministers or teaching elders in a congregation.
In any case, Paul’s point is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the mighty warrior of Psalm 68 who has delivered his people from our bondage to sin and Satan and death by dying on the cross to save us before rising again on the third day and ascending on high to live and to rule forever. And from his throne on high in heaven, he has appointed pastors/shepherds and teachers to proclaim his word to his people in order to build up God’s people in every generation so that they are united in their faith and in their knowledge, and become mature believers, who will not be swept away by false teaching. And they won’t be swept away by false teaching, because they have been taught the truth by teachers appointed by Christ the King. And because of the ministry of these men who have been called by God to teach his people, the church will grow. And so, the Lord our King gives power and strength to his people by giving them teachers to help them to grow in faith and knowledge so that they will not be overwhelmed by the enemy, the Devil, who wants to lead us astray with his lies. Instead of being overwhelmed by the Devil and his lies, they will stand firm in the truth always.
And so, praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ, who descended to death for his people, and who ascended on high for his people, and who has given teachers to his people to make them strong in the faith.
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