1 To the chief musician; of David, a psalm, a song.
2 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, and those that hate him flee from before him.
3 As smoke is driven, thou wilt drive away; as wax melteth before fire, the wicked shall perish from before God.
4 And the righteous shall be glad, they shall exult before God and rejoice with gladness.
5 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; cast up a way for him that rideth in the deserts: his name [is] Jah, and exult ye before him.
6 A father of orphans and a judge of widows [is] God in the habitation of his holiness.
7 God maketh the solitary to dwell in a house; prisoners he bringeth out into prosperity: but rebels dwell in a parched [land].
8 O God, in thy going out before thy people, in thy marching in the wilderness (Selah)—
9 The earth trembled, yea the heavens dropped from before God, this Sinai from before God, the God of Israel.
10 A rain of free gifts thou, O God, didst pour; thine inheritance, and when weary, thou didst establish.
11 Thy flock dwelt in it: thou didst provide in thy goodness for the wretched, O God.
12 Adonai giveth the word: a great host [are] the (women) publishing.
13 Kings of hosts flee, they flee, and the housewife divideth the spoil.
14 Though ye lie among the cattle-pens (or ash-grates), [ye shall be like] wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow-green gold.
15 When the Almighty scattered kings therein, it snoweth [as] in Zalmon.
16 A mount of God [is] mount Basilan; a mount of peaks [is] mount Bashan.
17 Why, mounts of peaks, look ye with envy on the mount God desired for his dwelling; yea, Jehovah will dwell [there] for ever.
18 God’s chariots [are] two myriads, thousands upon thousands: Adonai is among them, Sinai in holiness (or the sanctuary).
19 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts in (or as) man, and rebels also, that Jah Elohim should dwell [there].
20 Blessed [be] Adonai day by day loading us, the God (El) of our salvation. Selah.
21 Our God (El) is a God (El) of salvation; and to Jehovah Adonai [belong] the issues from death.
22 Surely God will smite the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp [of one] going on in his guilt.
23 Adonai said, From Bashan, I will bring back, I will bring back from the depths of the sea;
24 That thou mayest dip thy foot in blood: the tongue of thy dogs hath its portion from enemies.
25 They saw thy goings, O God, the goings of my God, my king, in the sanctuary.
26 Before went singers, behind players on stringed instruments, in the midst of maidens playing on timbrels.
27 In assemblies bless ye God Adonai, from the fountain of Israel.
28 There [is] little Benjamin their ruler, princes of Judah their council, princes of Zebulon, princes of Naphtali.
29 Thy God hath commanded thy strength. Strengthen, O God, what thou hast wrought for us.
30 Because of thy temple at (or above) Jerusalem kings shall bring tribute to thee.
31 Rebuke the beasts of the reeds, the crowd of strong (bulls), with the calves of the peoples, [each] crouching with pieces of silver. Scatter the peoples delighting in war.
32 Princes shall come from Egypt; Cush shall haste to stretch out her hands to God.
33 Kingdoms of the earth, sing ye unto God, praise Adonai. Selah.
34 Him that rideth on the heavens of heavens of old. Lo, he uttereth his voice, a mighty voice.
35 Ascribe ye strength to God: his excellence [is] over Israel, and his strength in the clouds.
36 Terrible [art thou], O God, out of thy sanctuaries; the God (El) of Israel! He giveth strength and might to the people. Blessed Ebel God.
Notes on Psalm 68
This also is “To the chief musician, of David, a psalm, a song.” Here, where things are out of course God is counted on; and this by the intervention in heavenly power of Him whose rejection was the fullest evidence of the state of the Jews as well as of man. But He Who had obeyed to the cross, and thus glorified God to the uttermost, was exalted in the place of indisputable power and glory. He would thence make good the choice of Zion as His earthly dwelling and centre, the deliverance and blessing of Israel, once and alas! still “rebellious,” the overthrow of every enemy, even of such as led all captive, to the joy and well-being of all the earth. It is “the regeneration” in prospect.
The psalm fittingly, as regards those we have seen, and splendidly sets forth the glory in which the rejected Christ makes good the purposes of God with His people and Zion as the earthly centre, but from above; and hence appropriately cited by the apostle in Ephesians 4. There is also an allusion to Numbers 10:35,35And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. (Numbers 10:35) full of interest, hut with a notable difference. Moses before Israel in the wilderness said, Rise up, Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee. Here it is Elohim. Each is precisely right, and Elohim as little in keeping for Moses as Jehovah for the psalm, which has Elohim throughout, as the expression of faith for a day of confusion when covenant was not enjoyed, anticipating God’s intervention in Christ from on high after He had suffered to the uttermost. Indeed the psalm abounds in divine titles, as Jah, Adonai, El, Shaddai; but the staple unequivocally is Elohim; and Jehovah is only used for His dwelling on Zion when power and grace meet for His people blessed evermore under Messiah and the new covenant. Sheer spiritual ignorance invented the will-o’-the wisp of Elohistic and Jehovistic documents: evidently inapplicable here, really everywhere, in no case giving a key to the mind of God as the truth does.