Psalm 68

Introduction

Welcome to Torah Today Ministries in our continuing series Tehillim Talks. And in this episode, we’re going to look into the most difficult psalm I’ve ever done so far. Psalm 68. I have had a real wrestling match with this psalm. I think it’s been probably over a month, six weeks since I’ve recorded a Tehillim Talks episode. And one of the reasons is this psalm. This is just making me pull my hair out. Yet at the same time, I find it so inspiring and beautiful.

Let me just read to you something from Christopher Ash, who did a four volume commentary on the book of Psalms. He’s an English gentleman, very articulate with a beautiful commentary and I think he puts it best. This is how he introduces Psalm 68. He says, “The energy of Psalm 68 is extraordinary. Images tumble over one another and echoes reverberate.”

Derek Kidner calls it quote “this rushing cataract of a psalm, one of the most boisterous and exhilarating in the psalter” unquote. And yet it is famously difficult to understand. The puzzles are almost all in the details with many rare words, but the big picture is clear. God wins a victory on behalf of his people. The psalm traces God’s triumphant march through the desert, his conquest over the kings of Canaan and finally his ascension to the holy mount to reign in majesty.

That beautifully describes what I’ve experienced with this psalm. I was talking with Robin just last evening telling her I finally just have to come and record what I’ve got for this psalm. I described to her the difficulty I’ve had wrestling with this. And I told her, I said, “It’s almost like an impressionist painting. If you’re familiar with the impressionist style, it’s just made up of blobs of paint on the canvas. If you’re up close, you just see blobs of color. But if you step back from the canvas and kind of squint your eyes, the picture is very clear.”

And so with this, the more I look into it, the more confusing it is. It’s almost impossible to translate. But if you step back and just look at the big picture, you see what was described here by Christopher Ash. It’s a beautiful, boisterous, powerful, glorious psalm of how God runs the world. God is on the move. He accomplishes his purpose and he rules in glory in the end. That much is clear from this psalm. But other than that, the details, well, just good luck. If you want to wrestle with this, I invite you to try.

You know, normally I put a vertical red line to the left of the passages which are very, very difficult to translate. I could have put a vertical red line down this entire psalm.

And let me just say one other little thing about translation. You know, if you’re translating a technical manual, fold on line A, put tab B in slot C. I mean, that’s pretty straightforward. Just technical, just put the right words in. And if you’ve read Chinese instructions for assembling something, you know what I mean.

But then, let’s say instead of a technical manual, you are translating a story. Now, stories can be written in very toned language with different hues and shades of meaning and color, but the story can still come through regardless of who’s translating it. In fact, we even have people who take Shakespearean stories, which can be very difficult to read, you know, 400 years after they’re written and they translate them, so to speak, into modern English. You lose a lot of the beauty, but the story comes through.

But then let’s say instead of a story, you’re going to translate poetry. Now, this is much more difficult because good poetry is by nature embedded in the language in which it is composed. And to try to take that beauty and transfer it to a different language, you’re just losing something. You can’t help it.

But then you take ancient Hebrew spiritual divinely inspired biblical poetry, especially something as complex as Psalm 68. It’s an impossible task. So that’s my disclaimer on this teaching. But there are some beautiful things here and I hope you’ll be blessed as we stumble our way through this amazing psalm.

So Psalm 68, strap in. Here we go. Its attribution is to the choir master, a psalm of David, a song. This is the fourth in a series of four songs. 65, 66, 67, and now 68 have four songs. And this is the fourth.

Now I’ve divided this as most divide this into nine stanzas. And I have put some titles here at the top of each stanza. Other translators and commentators have put other titles. You can make up your own, but these are what I have. I’m not even going to refer to them, but they’re there if you want to read them.

Psalm 68:1-3

So, here we go. The first three verses.

“God shall arise, let his enemies scatter, and those who hate him flee from before him.” (Psalm 68:1)

Does that sound familiar to you? If you’ve ever been to a Torah service, you’ve heard this quoted. But this itself is a quote from Numbers chapter 10 verse 35, which says:

“Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, ‘Rise up Adonai (יהוה), let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee from before you.’” (Numbers 10:35)

So whenever the Torah is taken out of the ark, that is read. And here David is quoting that passage from Numbers 10. So we see God on the move. And then at the very end of the psalm we see God coming to rest in glory on his throne.

“As smoke is driven away so shall you drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked perish before God.”(Psalm 68:2)

We find many passages in scripture where it talks about God demolishing his enemies, causing his enemies to perish, destroying his enemies. But our God is a God of love. His destruction is also done in a loving manner.

Now look at the manner in which he destroys his enemies. Here it says as smoke is driven away. Now, how is smoke driven away? It’s a matter of having a lot of little particles of ash in the air. And those pieces of ash don’t disappear, but they are dispersed.

You know, an enemy that’s just an individual is not much of a threat. But when there are a lot of enemies who come together and they unite, now you’ve got a big threat. But when the enemies are scattered, the threat is decreased. And what God does, he takes the strength of the enemy and just scatters it to where each individual one becomes something weak and ineffective.

So as smoke is driven away. Smoke blocks the light and God with a puff from his mouth, just a breath, the enemy is scattered. We talk about spiritual warfare, but it tells us in the end that the way God destroys his enemy is with the breath of his mouth. Revelation is a he’s gone.

But look at this next one. As wax melts before fire, as the wax melts, in other words, it loses its form and its shape, but now it could be shaped into something different. Have you ever had your heart melted by God, by his love, by his grace? I have. And then he reshapes it into something new. God does this all the time.

So as smoke is driven away, as wax melts before fire, so the wicked perish before God. This is the process by which God deals with the wicked.

Now the third verse says:

“But the righteous are happy. They rejoice before God and are jubilant with joy.” (Psalm 68:3)

So there are four groups here. We see enemies of God. We see those who hate him. And we see the wicked. But then the fourth group is the righteous.

What makes the enemies and the wicked and those who hate him that kind of person? Their relationship to God. What makes the righteous happy? Their relationship with God. So these four groups, what happens to them is all based on how they relate to God. And if God is their enemy, they hate what he does or they’re so invested in their own wicked, selfish, sinful ways or they’re just lost.

But those who know God, the righteous, they rejoice, they’re happy. Our relationship to God determines everything about how we will experience him and how we’ll experience the world in which he’s placed us and the life which he’s given us. It’s pretty fascinating passage just those three verses.

Psalm 68:4-6

But then we come on to verses four through six.

“Sing to God. Sing praises to his name. Lift up a song to him who rides through the aravot (עֲרָבוֹת).” (Psalm 68:4)

I have not even tried translating this word. And in your translation, it may say deserts or it may say heavens. Here’s the word, aravot (עֲרָבוֹת).

And again, you can see it can be translated deserts or clouds in the heavens. The word Arabia comes from this word. The Arava was the hot desert area in the very south of Israel.

But in the Jewish mindset, the Hebraic mindset and as the rabbis wrestle with this passage, they see aravot in their thinking as also being the heavens. It can apply to that. In fact, in the Talmud, it says the Aravot is the firmament that contains righteousness, justice, the treasures of life, and it goes on to list all these other wonderful things.

And one of the reasons I see it this way is because in Deuteronomy 33:26 it says:

“There’s none like the God of Yeshurun (יְשֻׁרוּן) who rides the heavens to your help and through the skies is his majesty.”(Deuteronomy 33:26)

Now the word aravot is not used in that passage, but they see God is riding in the heavens, riding on the clouds. And so when it says here, lift up a song to him who rides through the aravot, they picture in their minds the clouds.

Now again, if I was just translating this strictly literally, I’d have to put deserts there. But I also wanted to give you the flavor of how the Jewish people over the centuries have interpreted the psalm and what they see when they read it as well.

And then it says, “His name is Yah (יָהּ).” Yud-Hei, the first two letters of his four-letter name. His name is Yah. Exalt before him, father of the fatherless and protector of widows.

But wait a minute. It’s talking about how God rides through the heavens. His name is Yah. Sing praises to him, lift up a song to him. It’s talking about how glorious our God is. But then what does it do right in the next breath? He’s the father of the fatherless and the protector of widows.

You see how immediate it goes from this grand picture of his majesty right down to the fatherless and widows. God’s majesty and God’s humility are completely entangled with one another. And yes, he’s the most majestic and glorious God we could possibly imagine. And then some. And yet his heart is with the fatherless and widows. That’s amazing to put those two verses right there next to each other.

The Word “Ma’on” (מָעוֹן) – Habitation

“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” (Psalm 68:5)

Now this word habitation is the word ma’on (מָעוֹן).

It’s kind of an unusual word. I’m not sure why they would use or why David would use the word ma’on here. But ma’on is a little different from a house or other words we could use for a habitation or dwelling place. A ma’on is something where you really feel at home. A place that is like your permanent residence. It’s a place where when you’re going someplace, it’s a place you’re going from. It’s a place you want to get back to. Ma’on carries with it this sense of permanence.

So, let me just give you a few ways this is used. I think you’ll be blessed by this.

In Deuteronomy 26:15, it says:

“Look down from your holy ma’on, your holy habitation from heaven and bless your people Israel in the ground that you have given us as you swore to our fathers a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deuteronomy 26:15)

So, praying that God would look down from his abode, his habitation in heaven.

Psalm 26:8 says:

“Oh Adonai (יהוה), I love the ma’on, the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells or resides.”(Psalm 26:8)

But then look at Psalm 90:1:

“Adonai, Lord, you have been our ma’on in all generations.” (Psalm 90:1)

So God has a ma’on, a dwelling place. But for those who are in right relationship with God, God is our ma’on. He’s our dwelling place. He’s the one from whom we came and he is the one to whom we return.

But also one more, Psalm 91:9:

“Because you have made Adonai your ma’on. The most high is my refuge.” (Psalm 91:9)

We get to choose to make God our ma’on, our dwelling place, our habitation, or we choose not to. But if we do choose to make him our dwelling place, he becomes a strong fortress for us. So, it’s a beautiful word. It’s a little bit of an unusual word compared to other words that could be used here.

And then it says:

“God settles the lonely into a house.” (Psalm 68:6a)

I like lonely here as the best translation for this word. He settles the lonely into a house. And even though the word here is bayit (בַּיִת), house, it really infers a family.

In Hebrew thought, Hebraic thought, a house is more than a place with walls and a ceiling and a roof. It’s a place where your family is. I remember the story of a rabbi who was very old. He had lost his wife a few months earlier and he was in the city and he got in a taxi and the taxi driver knew the rabbi and says, “Rabbi, would you like me to take you home?” And the rabbi says, “I no longer have a home.” In other words, without his wife there, it was no longer a home. So, you can have a house, but in biblical thought, a house is supposed to be a home. And that seems to be the weight of how David intends this word here.

So, God settles the lonely into a family. What a beautiful, beautiful verse.

“He leads out the prisoners.” (Psalm 68:6b)

Now, you’ll notice this passage here is highlighted in kind of a light green color. Wherever you see that in the psalm that refers to a word, a Hebrew word that appears only once in the Bible in this psalm. There are a number of these. I’ve come across four, I think four in this psalm where the word is used nowhere else in the Bible except in this psalm. And so, we have to kind of wrestle with it because we don’t have the context of how it’s used elsewhere.

So, he leads out the prisoners. It can be translated “in prosperity.” It also can mean “in fetters.” It also can mean “in song.” Take your pick. We don’t know. The word in Hebrew is the word bakosharot (בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת).

And Robert Alter, who’s probably one of the best Hebrew translators in the world today, says this quote: “No one knows what it means.”

So there you go. So take your pick. It might not even be one of these three.

“But the rebellious dwell in a parched land.” (Psalm 68:6c)

You want to be totally alone, then be a rebel. Sometimes we think rebels bring other rebels around and they rebel together. But a true rebel always winds up being completely alone. Completely alone.

Psalm 68:7-10

“Oh God, when you go out before your people, when you march through the wilderness,” (Psalm 68:7)

And then there’s this selah (סֶלָה) here stuck in the middle of a sentence.

“The earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain before God, the one of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.” (Psalm 68:8)

Why is there a selah stuck right in the middle of a sentence of a thought? Usually a selah comes at the end of a stanza or at least at the end of a verse, but never in the middle of a statement. But here it does again. A very odd psalm.

“Rain in abundance, oh God, you shed abroad. You restored your inheritance as it languished. Your flock settled there. In your goodness, oh God, you provide for the needy.” (Psalm 68:9-10)

And that’s about the most straightforward stanza in the entire psalm.

Psalm 68:11-14

“My Lord gives the word. The women who announce the good news are a great host.” (Psalm 68:11)

Now the word women is not there in the Hebrew. What it really says is “the announcers of good news are a great host.” And the word for announcers of good news which is all one word. It’s the word ham’vasrot (הַמְבַשְּׂרוֹת) from the word b’sorah (בְּשׂוֹרָה) which means gospel or good news. It’s a feminine word. So we know these are women who are announcing good news.

Now who are the women announcing the good news? Well, it could be Miriam leading the women in song there at the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15. Maybe it’s Deborah. There’s some other hints to Deborah in this psalm in Judges 5 when she and Barak won a great victory in battle. So then it has the Song of Deborah and she’s singing with the other women. It could be the women who are singing David’s praises when he comes back into town after his victories at 1st Samuel 18.

But this is feminine. These are women who are announcing the b’sorah, the good news. Could it be the bride of Messiah? Because the bride of Messiah, the redeemed community is referred to as feminine and we are to be announcers of the good news. Could it be all of these? Could it be all of these in addition to others? Of course. Again, this is like an impressionist painting. It’s an untamed psalm that’s filled with this lush imagery.

So this large group of women announcing the good news, they’re a great host and they’re saying verse 12:

“Kings of armies flee, they flee. The beautiful woman at home divides the spoils.” (Psalm 68:12)

And we have no idea if that’s how that’s to be translated or not. We don’t know.

“Were you meant to lie down among the sheepfolds?” (Psalm 68:13a)

Now again, this word is highlighted in green, and we don’t know if it means sheepfolds or something else. It’s the only place in the Bible this word is found. Actually, I take that back. It’s found one other place. It’s over in Ezekiel 40:43. And there it’s translated hooks, which cannot be what it means here. So, it may be two different words that happen to take a form that makes them look the same. We don’t know. So I went ahead and highlighted it in green. We simply don’t know what the word means. But “were you meant to lie among the sheepfolds?” And this seems to be the most popular translation of this word.

When I read this, I’m thinking of men who come back from battle. And because they’ve come into contact with dead bodies, they’re going to be unclean for a period of time. And so they would sleep outside the camp until they’d gone through the purification rites and could then re-enter the camp. So, it might be referring to that.

And then you’ve got this phrase:

“The wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold.” (Psalm 68:13b)

What does that mean? It’s beautiful, but we don’t know what it means. Some have surmised that it’s referring to the Israelites coming out of Egypt. These ex-slaves coming out of Egypt with great wealth, like a dove that’s escaping a trap, but it’s filled with silver and gold as it flees Egypt. That’s a beautiful image. Again, this is Hebrew poetry, and it’s hard to pin down exactly what it’s referring to, but the imagery is quite beautiful.

“When Shaddai (שַׁדַּי) scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalmon.” (Psalm 68:14)

Again, we can see what it’s saying, but what does it mean? We don’t know.

Psalm 68:15-18

“The mountain of God is a lush mountain.” (Psalm 68:15a)

Now, literally, it says it’s a mountain of Bashan (בָּשָׁן). Bashan is a location in the Middle East, but the word Bashan means lush. If you recall, King Og, the king of the Amorites, he lived in the Bashan. And Bashan means soft, loamy, lush soil.

But I think the best translation here is lush mountain rather than mountain of Bashan because the mountain of God is not out in the Bashan on the east side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites. The mountain of God is in Jerusalem. So I think lush mountain is the best way to go.

So let’s read it that way:

“The mountain of God is a lush mountain. The many peaked mountain is a lush mountain.” (Psalm 68:15)

Many peaked mountain. If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem, you can stand on the Temple Mount or any of the areas right there in Jerusalem and when you look around you, you’ll see higher mountains making a ring all the way around. So, it’s like you’ve got the mount that Jerusalem is on, but it’s part of a larger mountain with many peaks in the ring, almost like a crown on a head.

And this is why it says in Psalm 125:2:

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so Adonai (יהוה) surrounds his people from this time and forever more.” (Psalm 125:2)

So there’s like this protective range of mountains that go in a circle around the smaller mountain of Jerusalem. You have to be there almost to see it. I tried to find a photograph to include here, but I could find nothing that really captured that.

So the mountain of God is a lush mountain. The many peaked mountain is a lush mountain.

“Why do you look with hatred? Look with envy. Exalt yourselves.” (Psalm 68:16a)

Notice it’s highlighted in green. We do not know what this word means. It is found only here in the scriptures. And for those of you who are curious, the word is ratsad (רָצַד).

So “why do you look with hatred?” I don’t think it’s a good translation. But some translators do render it that way. Envy is probably the better because it says:

“Oh many peaked mountains at the mountain that God desired for his abode. Yes, where Adonai will dwell forever.”(Psalm 68:16)

So, it’s almost like these encircling mountaintops are looking down with envy at the shorter mountain, Mount Zion, where the Temple Mount is, and they’re envious or they’re dancing. They’re dancing in a hora (הוֹרָה), in a Hebrew dance around the smaller, more humble mountain of Mount Zion. I think that’s the image that’s being created here.

And then in verse 17:

“The chariots of God are twice 10,000. Thousands of thousands of angels.” (Psalm 68:17a)

This word is found only here. The word shinan (שִׁנְאָן), only place in the Bible it’s found. So we’re surmising what it means. But since it’s referring to the chariots of God are twice 10,000, then the thousands of thousands might refer and probably refers to angels. So it’s a guess, a calculated guess.

“The Lord is among them at Sinai in the sanctuary.” (Psalm 68:17b)

The Word “Kodesh” (קֹדֶשׁ) – Sanctuary

Now this is something very important. The word here that I’ve translated sanctuary, the English Standard Version does as well, is the word kodesh (קֹדֶשׁ).

I recommend that if you have your Bibles in front of you that you somehow highlight that word. Now the word kodesh is usually translated holiness. So many translations put “Sinai in holiness.” The Lord is among them. Sinai in holiness. Or the lord is among them at Sinai in holiness.

But in the book of Numbers, the word kodesh is translated sanctuary almost 30 times. The word can mean sanctuary.

And so I really like the way the English Standard Version translated this. And instead of one sentence, I think this should be two. The Lord is among them. Period. Sinai is in the sanctuary.

What an image that is. Now I want you to picture Mount Sinai. Okay, we’ve been reading about in our Torah portion this week and Torah portion of Va’etchanan early in Deuteronomy and Moses is rehearsing how they all saw the smoke and the cloud on the mountain. They saw the fire. They heard God’s echoing voice like a loud shofar (שׁוֹפָר) and the mountain shook and he spoke forth the ten words, the ten commandments and he makes this covenant with Israel. Well, I mean can you imagine what that was like? I’d love to have been there.

And then it says Sinai is in the sanctuary.

Moses kept reminding the people in Deuteronomy, you didn’t see a form. You didn’t see anything except the smoke and the fire, but you didn’t see a form, but you heard his voice.

Now, I want you to think of what the high priest does on Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר). On Yom Kippur, that’s the single day of the year that he is permitted and commanded even to enter into the Holy of Holies, the very heart of the kodesh, the mikdash (מִקְדָּשׁ), the sanctuary.

And he goes in and out several times during Yom Kippur. The first time he goes in, he goes in with a shovel of hot coals and then a pan of incense. And he goes in, he puts the hot coals down. He puts the incense on top, and the entire Holy of Holies is filled with smoke. So there’s the fire of the hot coals. The place is filled with smoke. He can see nothing.

But God says there in Exodus 25:22, he says:

“It’s there on top from above the lid of the ark of the covenant that I will speak to you. I’ll speak to you, sham (שָׁם). There’s where I speak.” (Exodus 25:22)

It’s like recreating Mount Sinai in the Holy of Holies. The massive topography of Mount Sinai is reduced down. The power still remains even though it’s in the small cube of the Holy of Holies. It’s an amazing picture.

Now, we’re going to find the word sanctuary three times in the psalm. And each time we learn something a little bit different and a little bit more. And I think these three uses of the word kodesh in the psalm give us the key to really seeing the flow and the entire weight and the message of this beautiful psalm.

So here’s the first one. Sinai is in the kodesh, in the sanctuary.

“You ascended on high leaving a host of captives in your train.” (Psalm 68:18a)

Paul quotes this verse in Ephesians 4:8. He says:

“Therefore,” it says, quote, “When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.” Unquote.(Ephesians 4:8)

So Paul is quoting Psalm 68. I would love to be able to pick Paul’s brain. Just ask him, “How did you understand this psalm?”

“But you ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train, and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious that Adonai God made dwell there.” (Psalm 68:18)

Now, why do I have rebellious in red? Because we saw the rebels earlier. The rebels will dwell in a lonely place. But God hasn’t forgotten them. They are feeling the absence of God in their lives, but God has not forgotten them. And so, we see here in verse 18, he receives gifts from men, even among the rebellious. Somehow, he’s bringing them back.

Psalm 68:19-23

“Blessed is the Lord who day by day supplies us. God is our Yeshua (יְשׁוּעָה), our salvation.” (Psalm 68:19)

Selah (סֶלָה).

“Our God is a God of salvations, of rescues, and to Adonai the Lord belong deliverances from death.” (Psalm 68:20)

Literally says “to death goings out.”

Some translate this as “toward death many avenues.” Again, you tell me what it means. The rabbis wrestle with this and they draw out all kinds of interesting insights and teachings. And I recommend that you pick up a good rabbinic or a good Christian commentary on Psalm 68 and look at this verse and see how they wrestle with this because I think there’s something important going on here. It’s just above my pay grade. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t understand it.

The Word “Machatz” (מָחַץ) – Strike

Verse 21:

“But God will strike the heads of his enemies.” (Psalm 68:21a)

And that word strike is found here in this verse. It’s also found down in the next verse, two verses later in 23. It’s the same word.

“God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks about in his guilt. The Lord said, ‘I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the depths of the sea that you may strike,’ and there’s that word again, ‘your blood that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.’” (Psalm 68:21-23)

I want to take a moment just to look at that word strike. That word strike in Hebrew is the word machatz (מָחַץ).

The first time it’s used is in Numbers 24:8. This is what it says:

“God brings him out of Egypt and is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations, his adversaries, and shall break their bones in pieces and machatz them through with his arrows.” (Numbers 24:8)

Pierce them is how it’s translated. So the machatz doesn’t mean just to crush or smash, but to pierce.

In Deuteronomy 32:39, I find this is a very interesting use of the word machatz. It says:

“See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god beside me. I kill and I make alive. I machatz and I heal.”(Deuteronomy 32:39)

Again, as we were talking about earlier, when God destroys his enemies, it’s not that he annihilates them and takes them out of existence, but to change an enemy into a friend, to wound so that he can heal, to bring distress into someone’s life so that they can learn to call out for God’s help and God’s peace. That’s how God deals with enemies.

Psalm 68:24-27

So let’s move on to verse 24.

“Your procession is seen, oh God, the procession of my God, my king, into the sanctuary.” (Psalm 68:24)

Now here again, we find the word sanctuary, the kodesh (קֹדֶשׁ). I recommend you also mark it in your Bibles.

So the first time we saw kodesh it was “Sinai is in the sanctuary.” But now it says “your procession seen, oh God, the procession of my God, my king, into the sanctuary.”

So it’s like Sinai was there and then God came down to the mountain and he spoke to the people through the fire and the smoke. So in the previous appearance of kodesh we see Sinai is in the sanctuary. Here we see God coming to Mount Sinai in the sanctuary.

“The singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines.” (Psalm 68:25)

So this is a very musical procession. At the first Sinai experience there was the sound of the shofar growing louder and louder and louder. And it was a terrifying experience.

But this coming to Mount Sinai is a very joyful one. We don’t see fear here, but rejoicing and joy and music and dancing.

And what are they singing? Verse 26:

“Bless God in the great congregation, Adonai, oh you who are of Israel’s fountain.” (Psalm 68:26)

And then it says:

“There is Benjamin, the least of them.” (Psalm 68:27a)

Or you could say the littlest of them in the lead. Benjamin was Jacob’s 12th son. So he was the smallest, little Benjamin. But here he is in the lead. This might also refer to the fact that the very first king of Israel was from the tribe of Benjamin and that of course was King Saul.

But it could also, and this is a stretch, I admit, but it could also be a hint at the Apostle Paul, who was also named Saul and was from the tribe of Benjamin. It’s almost like Saul started out great. He became a persecutor of David and his followers. And then when Saul, the apostle, comes on the scene in the book of Acts, he starts off as a persecutor of the son of David and his followers. But he becomes a great follower of our king.

So, again, I think there’s some hints here, but anyways:

“There’s Benjamin, the littlest of them in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.” (Psalm 68:27)

Why are these four tribes mentioned? The best guess is that these are the four tribes who participated in the battle that Deborah and Barak led back in Judges chapter 5. And we saw a bit of a hint to that earlier in this psalm. So, it could be that this is another echo of that battle. These are the four tribes who were involved. And so, here they are being singled out for praise in this Psalm of David.

Psalm 68:28-31

Verse 28:

“Summon your power, oh God, the power, oh God, by which you have worked for us. Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bear gifts to you. Rebuke the beast that dwells among the reeds, the herd of bulls of the calves of the peoples.” (Psalm 68:28-30)

The beast that dwells among the reeds is thought to be a hint at Egypt because similar language has been used to describe Egypt elsewhere in the scriptures.

“Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute. Scatter the peoples who delight in war.” (Psalm 68:30)

And now we come to another word that’s highlighted in lime green because this is the only place in the Bible it is found. Hashmanim (חַשְׁמַנִּים) is the word. Some suggest it means the Hasmoneans. I don’t know. It’s the only place this word is used.

“Nobles shall come from Egypt. Kush (כּוּשׁ) shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.” (Psalm 68:31)

Psalm 68:32-35 – The Glorious Closing

And then we come to the glorious closing of the psalm.

“Oh kingdoms of the earth, sing to God. Sing praises to the Lord.” (Psalm 68:32)

And there’s another selah in the middle of a sentence.

“To him who rides in the utmost heavens or literally the heavens of the heavens. Behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice, ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel and whose power is in the skies.” (Psalm 68:33-34)

“Awesome God from his sanctuary.” (Psalm 68:35a)

And there we find our third occurrence of sanctuary.

The first occurrence: Sinai is in the sanctuary. The second occurrence: God is coming with a great parade of musicians and dancers and rejoicers as he comes to his sanctuary. And then it says, “Awesome God from his sanctuary.”

And this time it’s not kodesh, it’s mikdash (מִקְדָּשׁ), which is usually translated tabernacle or dwelling place.

“Awesome is God from his mikdash, his sanctuary. The God of Israel. He is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.” (Psalm 68:35)

God has come home. And from his sanctuary, surrounded by his bride and those who rejoice in him, he now is ruling the world in majesty, openly so that people can see him and know him and the whole world will recognize who he is and who’s in control.

I think this is the place where every eye shall see him and how it says that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Messiah is Lord to the glory of God. Yeah. This day is coming.

So at the beginning of the psalm, it’s “rise up and let your enemies be scattered.” And now he’s coming home. He’s coming home. The world is settling into peace. He’s surrounded by his bride, by his people, and he’s running the world, and he’s restoring Eden to Earth.

I really hope that we all get past this idea that this world is just something we have to endure until we get out of it and we get to leave this place and go to heaven. No, that is not really the message of the scriptures. The message of the scriptures is “may your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

God’s in the invasion business. He wants to invade the earth with his presence. Not just take us out of it, but for him to come into it. We are like the advanced forces who are here to announce the king’s right behind me. Prepare the way of the Lord and to demonstrate what kingdom life looks like to be his ambassadors and say the invading forces are right behind me. The king’s coming. He wants to bring his kingdom to earth. He wants to restore his image in us.

So, that really changes the entire way we look at life and at the scriptures and our entire purpose.

So, anyways, I’m so glad to finally have gotten through this psalm. You can see how I had to wrestle with this. And you could probably tell there when I got about halfway, two-thirds through it, just like, let’s just go through it. I didn’t pause and comment too much. But it really is a challenging psalm. But what a beautiful and glorious psalm at the same time.

So, I hope that you found some blessing in this and that you will spend some time and just invest some time in this psalm and read it over and over. And remember, it’s like an impressionist painting. You have to step back and squint a little bit and the picture comes through.

So hopefully Psalm 69 is going to be a little easier to deal with. But until then, I wish you shalom (שָׁלוֹם) and may God bless.

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<u>Teaching Material</u>

All Scripture Passages

Psalm 68; Numbers 10:35; Deuteronomy 33:26; Deuteronomy 26:15; Psalm 26:8; Psalm 90:1; Psalm 91:9; Exodus 15; Judges 5; 1 Samuel 18; Ezekiel 40:43; Psalm 125:2; Ephesians 4:8; Numbers 24:8; Deuteronomy 32:39 (ESV)

Hebrew Text Resources

• Psalm 68 – Hebrew Text (Sefaria)
• Numbers 10 – Hebrew Text (Sefaria)
• Deuteronomy 33 – Hebrew Text (Sefaria)
• Judges 5 – Song of Deborah (Sefaria)
• Exodus 25 – The Ark (Sefaria)

Hebrew Word Studies

• H430 – Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) – “God, gods, judges”
• H3068 – YHWH/Adonai (יהוה) – “LORD, the self-existent One”
• H3050 – Yah (יָהּ) – “LORD (contracted form)”
• H6160 – Aravah/Aravot (עֲרָבָה) – “Desert plain, steppe”
• H4583 – Ma’on (מָעוֹן) – “Habitation, dwelling place”
• H1004 – Bayit (בַּיִת) – “House, household, family”
• H1319 – Basar (בָּשַׂר) – “To bear news, announce”
• H7706 – Shaddai (שַׁדַּי) – “Almighty”
• H1316 – Bashan (בָּשָׁן) – “Fruitful, soft soil”
• H6944 – Kodesh (קֹדֶשׁ) – “Holiness, sanctuary”
• H4720 – Mikdash (מִקְדָּשׁ) – “Sanctuary, holy place”
• H3444 – Yeshua (יְשׁוּעָה) – “Salvation, deliverance”
• H4272 – Machatz (מָחַץ) – “To strike, pierce, wound”
• H5542 – Selah (סֶלָה) – “Pause, musical interlude”
• H7782 – Shofar (שׁוֹפָר) – “Ram’s horn, trumpet”
• H7965 – Shalom (שָׁלוֹם) – “Peace, completeness, welfare”

Additional References

• Torah Today Ministries
• Tehillim (Psalms) Commentary – Sefaria
• Christopher Ash – Psalms Commentary
• Robert Alter – Hebrew Bible Translation
• Derek Kidner – Psalms Commentary (Tyndale)
• Yom Kippur – Jewish Virtual Library
• Song of Deborah – Jewish Encyclopedia
• Talmud on Aravot – Sefaria