Psalms 68

Psalms 68. THE Psalmist, in ver. 1-6, praises the Lord as the Saviour of the righteous, and the destroyer of the wicked. Then he casts his eye upon the grand manifestations of his almighty grace on behalf of his people, as seen in their history. First, in verses 7-10, what he did for them when he led them through the wilderness, until he brought them to the promised land. Next, in ver. 11-14, the victory and the happy peace which he grant-ed to his people in the time of the judges, until the erection of the sanctuary on Mount Zion. Then, ver. 15-19, the Lord has chosen Zion, which, in spite of all the assaults of the world, he will never forsake, and where he sits enthroned in the sanctuary, with all the fulness of his might: he has just made himself known as the God of Zion, in the victories gained over the enemies of his people. Having arrived at this point, the Psalmist in ver. 20- 23, turns (the point of transition is really the 19th verse) back from what is special to what is general, so that the former is en-closed within the latter; “God annihilates his own and his peo-ple’s enemies.” Next there follows, in ver. 24-27, the descrip-tion of the triumphal procession in celebration of the victory. In ver. 28-34, there follows, as based on what God has done at the present time, the prophetic hope of the conversion of all the heathen to this glorious God of Israel; and in ver. 32-35, all the kingdoms of the world are exhorted to praise this God.-It is manifest that in these two last strophes, there is to be found the reason why the Psalm has been annexed to the two preceding ones, in which the hope is expressed, that what God had done for Israel, would operate effectually on the heathen nations. The originality of the title is supported by the שירו and the זמרו, in verse 4, the שרים and the נגנים in ver. 25, and the שירו and זמרו, in verse 32, in relation obviously toשיר מזמר. As regards the formal arrangement, there are seven strophes, each of four verses, corresponding to an intro-duction of seven verses. The seven is, as usual, divided into three and four. At the end of the third strophe, there occurs an intercalary verse, ver. 19th, (as is often the case, for example in Psalms 22:42.), in order that the chief division may be indi-cated by the number 20: the whole 36a verses contain three twelves.

This intercalary verse is marked out as a concluding verse, by its striking resemblance to the conclusion of the whole, verse 35. The title bears simply the announcement that the Psalm was composed by David, and set apart by him for the public service: but is silent as to the occasion for which it was more imme-diately designed.

For determining this last point, we have thus nothing to look to except internal reasons. Many expositors, and latterly Stier, have come to the conclusion, that the Psalm was written on the occasion when the ark of the covenant was placed on Mount Zion: comp. at Psalms 24. Others again have adopted the idea, that the occasion must have been the termi-nation of some war, when the ark was brought back again to the holy mountain. This last view is the correct one. A strong argument in its favour is drawn from the circumstance, that God is throughout celebrated too decidedly as the Lord of battle and of victory. The introductory clause, “God arises, his enemies scattered, and they who hate him flee before him,” gives forth the fundamental tone, and the subject of the whole Psalm; while, at the same time, in a Psalm sung at the restoration of the ark of the covenant, and of such a length, other subjects also would be introduced. Farther, we are led to a victory as the occasion, by the 18th verse, which, like the 6th verse of Psalma These remarks are founded on the Hebrew mode of numbering the verses. The title being marked ver. 1st, the 19th verse in the English translation is the 20th verse in the Hebrew Bible, and the 35th, the 36th.“the earth gave its increase,” announces the matter of fact which called forth the Psalm, and which ought to be con-sidered as supplementary to the title, and should properly be printed in large characters. Then we have the epithets which are applied in ver. 27 to Benjamin and Judah, and, finally, the close adaptation to the victory-song of Deborah:-inasmuch as the author, in ver. 7 and 8, at the very beginning of his chief division, refers literally to the beginning of the chief division of this song, he declares, as distinctly as possible, that he walks in the footsteps of Deborah, and that his song is to be consid-ered as a continuation or echo of hers, exactly, as in the ob-viously designed reference, in the opening verse of the Psalm, to the language of Moses, it is intimated, that the text and the subject of the whole are taken from him. We have two data to guide us in our enquiry, as to what par-ticular battle and victory the triumphal procession belongs, which, according to ver. 24-27, advanced to the holy place, as celebrated in this Psalm. First, the Psalm must have been composed at a time when the holy place was actually in exist-ence on Mount Zion, (ver. 15, 16, 29, 35). The choice is thus very much narrowed. There remain only two great victories, the Syrian-Edomite, and the Ammonitic-Syrian.

Second, in the war referred to in this Psalm, the ark of the covenant must have been in the field, according to ver. 1 and 24. It is evident from 2 Samuel 11:11, that this was the case in the Ammonitic war. We may therefore with great probability conclude, that the Psalm was composed after the capture of Rabbah, (2 Samuel 12:26-31), which terminated that war, the most dangerous with which David had to do. It was quite in accordance with Da-vid’s usual manner to celebrate a great religious festival at the close of such a war. The character of conclusiveness which our Psalm so manifestly bears, is in favour of this view. That war was the last important external war in which David engaged, and, from existing circumstances, he might pretty confidently conclude that it would be so. The name of Solomon, which soon after this he gave to his son, shews that he considered peace as now secured for a long time. Modern criticism has unwarrantably attacked this Psalm.

Many, with Ewald at their head, would bring it down to a period after the captivity: a mistake well fitted to fill the mind with astonishment! The character of the languageand of the description, which Amyraldusa first characterized in very striking language, is sufficient to prove this. Boettcher (Probes. p. 64,) says: “From its antique language, its impres-sive descriptions, the fresh and powerful tone of its poetry, it is assuredly one of the most ancient monuments of Hebrew poet-ry.” Hitzig “Before every thing else, the Psalm, to an atten-tive reader, conveys the impression of the highest originality…. The poem is thus assuredly as remarkable for its antiquity as for its originality; for the later writers could avail themselves of the use of models, and they have actually used them and imi-tated them.” The idea of Ewald, which he makes use of to counteract these considerations, viz. that the Psalm is made up of a series of splendid passages from poems now lost, must be characterized as merely an arbitrary one, at least so long as not one single passage can be pointed out, as borrowed by the au-thor from any of those pieces at present in our possession, which were composed after the time of David. The distance between those pretendedly borrowed passages, and others where the sense is plain and easy, occurs in the same way, for example, in Psalms 18., which even Ewald allows to he genuine.-There is a close connection between that Psalm and the one now before us, so much so, that the description given by Amyraldus applies with equal truth to both; there are also characteristic refer-ences in particular expressions to other Davidic Psalms, and to these alone; compare the exposition. But the reasons, drawn from the matters of fact referred to in the Psalm are much more decisive. It is of great importance here, that, according to ver. 27, Zabulon and Naphtali take part in the procession, next after Judah and Benjamin. After the captivity, some of the descendants of the ten tribes might be found united with Judah, but assuredly there could be no such thing as the distinct tribes of Zabulon and Naphtali with their princes. During the whole period when the two divided king-doms existed in a state of juxtaposition to each other, there could be no union between Benjamin and Judah and Zabulon and Naphtali; and even though they were sometimes united, (a supposition on which Hitzig would interpret the 27th verse,) yet,a “There are in it poetic descriptions, and bold metaphors, frequent apos- trophes, magnificent prosopopoeias, and words which are of rare occurrence, and well selected, and therefore not easily understood.-It has also others which are quite easy; it has doctrines sufficiently well explained to be under-stood and expressed in, ordinary language.“apart from the consideration, that next to Judah, Ephraim was the tribe that would have been named, and that the naming of the northern and southern tribes is equivalent to naming a part in-stead of the whole, especially when Psalms 60:7 is compared, it is ut-terly impossible that these tribes could ever have marched in com-pany as part of a triumphal procession into Jerusalem. We must, moreover, go back from the division of the kingdom to the time of David. For under Solomon there were no such war and vic-tory as the Psalm before us refers to. Farther, the epithets ap-plied to Judah and Benjamin, in verse 27, can be explained on-ly from the relations which existed in the time of David: the mention of Egypt as representing the power of the heathen world, shows that the Psalm was composed before the rise of the great Asiatic monarchies, especially the Assyrian: Israel ap-pears everywhere as a warlike and victorious nation, (compare especially ver. 21-23), and an event such as that which, ac-cording to verse 18, formed the subject matter of the Psalm, could not take place subsequent to the captivity. The reasons which have been urged against the Davidic au-thorship of the Psalm are very trifling. In reference to the mention of the temple in verse 29, compare at Psalms 5:7. That in ver. 30 and 31 there are no traces whatever of such hostile re-lations towards Egypt as did not exist in David’s time, and that Egypt is named simply as representing the might of the world as in rebellion against God, which it did in David’s time, and continued to do until the rise of the great Assyrian monarchy, is evident from the circumstance that Cush, which never was in a state of hostility to Israel, is named next after Egypt.

Psalms 68:1-6

The Introduction contains first the title, after that the praise of God, as the Almighty destroyer of the wicked, and the de-liverer of the just, (ver. 1-3), and finally, the exhortation to praise him as the helper of all the miserable, (ver. 4-6).-Title. To the Chief Musician, by David, a song of praise. Ver. 1. God arises, his enemies are scattered, and those that hate him flee before him. Ver. 2. As smoke vanishes, thou makest them to vanish, as wax melts before the fire, the wicked perish before God. Ver. 3. And the righteous are glad, they shout for joy before God, and exult for gladness.-Ver. 4. Sing to God, sing praise to his name, make a way for him, who rideth forward in the deserts, he is called Lord, and rejoice before him. Ver. 5. Father of the orphans, and judge of the widows is God, in his holy habitation. Ver. 6. God makes the solitary to dwell in houses, he brings out the prisoners to prosperity, yet the rebels inhabit a dry land. On verse 1, Calvin: “This verse forms as it were the preface, in which David announces the subject on which he is to speak throughout the Psalm. The substance is: though God rest for a time while the ungodly cruelly and boldly oppress the church, yet at last he rises up as the avenger; and the faithful have sufficient protection in his help, as soon as he only stretches out his hand against the ungodly.” As the preceding Psalm rises on the basis of the Mosaic blessing, the present one is closely related to the words which according to Numbers 10:35, Moses uttered on the setting forward of the ark of the covenant, “Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scat-tered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” There is all the greater propriety in this reference, inasmuch as these words were spoken for all times, and were designed to inspire with courage in every age the little flock in presence of a whole hostile world: one single look at the ark of the covenant, whose place, under the New Testament, Christ occupies (compare Christology, Part III. on Jeremiah 3:16), and all enemies sink down into nothing. There are only two variations from the fundamental passage. 1. What Moses expressed in the form of a prayer-arise,-David expresses in the form of an invaria-ble sequence: he rises = he needs only to rise. Several inter-preters translate erroneously: “May he arise”: David in this case would assuredly have written קומה: the language, more-over, in the following verses, is not that of prayer, but of affir-mation. 2. Instead of Jehovah, David uses Elohim; and this name is the one which is generally used throughout the Psalm; Jehovah occurs only twice, in ver. 16 and 20, and Jah twice, in ver. 4 and 18.

The reason of this has been given in the Beitrage, 3, p. 299. It lies in the misuse of the name Jehovah, which changed the name stronger in and for itself, into the weaker.

It was also remarked in the same place, that in such passages Jehovah is in the back ground, and that the simple Elohim is equivalent to Jehovah Elohim,: comp. the Jah Elo-him in ver. 18th.-Tholuck has given a correct view of the con-tents of this verse, “as the great theme, which is continually being repeated, always under new forms, in the history of the church of God upon earth, until the final judgment shall com-prehend and complete all earlier judgments of God.” Luther,after Augustine, has given great prominence to the verification which the verse received at the resurrection of Christ: “When Christ died, God acted as if he were asleep and did not see the raging Jews, he permitted them to gather strength and to as-semble, and the poor disciples to flee and be scattered. But when the Jews thought that they had gained the victory, now that Christ was laid in the grave, God awakes and calls Christ from the dead. Then the tables are turned: the dis-ciples assemble, the Jews divide, some to grace who believe, others to wrath who are destroyed by the Romans.” What, happened to the keepers at the sepulchre, (Matthew 28:4), was a remarkable illustration of the contents of this verse. The Berleb. Bible: “St. Antonius, as Athanasius relates, is report-ed to have found great benefit from these two verses when he was assailed by the Devil.

And there is no doubt that one may make very important use of them, in each and every as-sault and temptation of the evil one, when we let ourselves he brought under his power . . . . Ah! that we would only permit him (God) to rise up!

But we often suppress his work within us. Hence it is no wonder that the work of our salvation goesforward so slowly."-Luther on verse 2: “Two beautiful em-blems, smoke and wax; the smoke disappears before the wind, the wax before the fire. It is most contemptuous to compare, to smoke, and wax, such mighty enemies, who think that they can combat heaven and earth.” For the sake of the similarity in the termination, we have the rare instead of the usual form (ףד,נA.הi) of the infinitive in Niphal of נדף (the word is used ina similar relation in Psalms 1:4); in like manner the Nun is retain-ed in תנדף, and for the same reason the suffix is dropped, which could be easily spared, referring to the haters of God: compare on the omission of the suffix, for similar reasons, Psalms 40:3; Psalms 52:6. The image of wax is employed also in Psalms 22:14. It appears that, in this and in the following verse, there is a reference to the conclusion of the song of Deborah, verse 31: “So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might:” just as at the be-ginning of the main division there is a reference to the begin-ning of the same song.-By the “righteous” in verse 3, in op-position to the “wicked,” in verse 2, the Psalmist means, un-doubtedly, according to the occasion of the Psalm, in the first instance, Israel in reference to their heathen enemies. We are not, however, on this account, to imagine that he consideredevery Israelite after the flesh to be a righteous man: compare the introduction to Psalms 9 :The wicked among the Israelites are, on the contrary, by this very description of those to whom the salvation of God is appointed, excluded from the promise,and thrown into the region of the threatening.

The לפני stands in opposition to מפני in verse 1 and 2. Destruction goes forth from the angry face of God against the wicked, the righteous rejoice before his gracious face.-The exhortation to praise God, in ver. 4, first rises out of the representation of his glory in ver. 1-3, and has afterwards a wider basis assigned to it in ver. 5 and 6.

On “his name,” comp. Psalms 66:1. In the phrase, make a way (סלל is “to throw up a military road,” “to make a way,”) for him who rides forward in the deserts, (רכב is used as at ver. 33, where ב marks the ground rode over), there lies at bottom a spiritual application of the march through the wilderness, to which reference is made in the first verse, and which the Psalmist describes at length in ver. 7-9. God always goes at the head of his people through the desertsa of suffering and need; in every wilderness of trouble they find in him a true leader. Verses 5 and 6 are to be considered as the expansion of “riding through the deserts,” and leave no room for doubt as to the meaning of that expression. Comp. on similar spiritual applications of the march through the wilderness, the Christology, P. III. on Hosea 2:16, and also the observations made on Psalms 66:6. The preparing of the way before the heavenly king, by which we open up the way, so that he comes in to us, in the wilderness of life, and guides us in it, can be nothing else, in this passage, than songs of praise, the joyful recognition of his mighty deeds and of his glory; for it is of this only that the Psalmist speaks in the preceding and following verses. Comp. Psalms 50:15; Psalms 50:23. Isaiah 40:3; Isaiah 40:4, alludes to our passage, where, however, the pre-paration of the way is that of repentance, and Malachi 3:1 refers again to Isaiah. “His name is in Jah” = “ he is called Jah” :comp, on the ב, Ewald, ˜ 521. The name Jab, a contraction of Jehovah, is first used in the song of Moses, Exodus 15:2; and there can be no doubt that this passage is to be considered as the proper fundamental passage to all the rest. The name did not come into common use, but was generally taken only from that a Compare in reference to ערבה the author’s treatise on Balaam, p. 230. ערבה, in a geographical sense, is the heart of the country through the Israelites moved during the forty years’ journey.passage. For otherwise we would not find it occurring only in expressions of a highly poetic character. Stier has correctly re-marked that Jah, as the concentration of Jehovah, is the more emphatic term. At all events, there is less regard paid here to the derivation and original sense of the name, than there is to the fulness of associations connected with it throughout the whole course of time.-In verses 5 and 6, we have the basis of the exhortation in ver. 4, to praise God, in the reference made to the glory of God; and, at the same time, an explanation and developement of the clause, “he rides forward in the deserts.” “The import is,” says Calvin, “by whatever kind of troubles we are assailed, let it be our consolation that we are in the hands of God, who is able to ease our pains and to unburden us of our cares. And even though the ungodly prosper for a while, yet, in the end, those very events, which seem to be prosperous, will work out their ruin.” Arnd: “And the meaning of the Holy Ghost is, that God the Lord is a gracious, a friendly God and King, whose first, highest, and principal work it is, to give most attention to the miserabiles personae, that is, to those persons who ought to be most pitied because they are helpless and comfort-less. Great potentates in the world do not act thus: they re-spect the noblest and the richest in the land, the men who may adorn their court and strengthen their power and authority.

But the highest glory of God is to compassionate the miserable.” That by the widows, etc., we are not exactly to understand Is-rael, is evident from the plural, from those passages in the law, in which widows and orphans, in the proper sense, are repre-sented as objects of peculiar regard to God, and are entrusted as such to the care of the righteous, (compare for example Deut. x. 18, Exodus 22:21), and finally, from the parallel passages, such as Psalms 146:7-9. On the other hand, the reference to the suf-fering church, is demanded by the whole tendency of the Psalm, and especially by the 7th and following verses, where manifestly, what is here said in general, is brought forward historically in detail: compare particularly “thine heritage when it was weary thou hast strengthened,” in ver. 9, and “for the poor” in verse 10. We must therefore hold that “the orphans,” “the widows,” etc., are expressions designed to individualize the miserable, and that God’s care over them in general is praised, in special reference to what he does for his afflicted people. Hosea 14:4, for example, is altogether similar, “With thee the fatherless find mercy,” and therefore also thydestitute people. Even there the “fatherless” is not exactly equivalent to Israel, but is an individualizing description of the helpless.-In verse 5th, Elohim is the subject of the affirmation, as it is at ver. 6. The דין occurs elsewhere only in 1 Samuel 24:16; and there also, as coming from the lips of David, com-pare Psalms 54:1. The holy-that is the sacred and glorious,-(compare at Psalms 22:3), habitation of God is heaven, (compare Psalms 11:4), in opposition to earth, the seat of unrighteousness and of coldness of heart. Sursum corda is for the widows and fatherless.-The solitary in ver. 6, are those who are destitute of human help: compare Psalms 25:16, where solitary stands connected with miserable. The immediate blessing of which these stand in need, is, to obtain a place where to lay their head, to be brought under roof and shelter: compare Isaiah 58:7, “And that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house.” The Lord manifested himself to his people as one who caused them to dwell in houses, inasmuch as he granted to them pos-session of Canaan, (compare ver. 10), and protected them there-in against their enemies, ver. 12. In like manner he has proved himself to be such to the continuation of the community of the Old Testament, the Christian church, when “that which had previously been everywhere trodden under foot, obtained afirm and permanent settlement in the Roman empire, as hap-pened under Constantine, when the early persecutions ceased.” Berleb. Bible.

The same annotator, in the style of true theo-logical exposition, rises above the literal interpretation in his remarks on “those that are bound:” “partly under the heathen emperors, during the early persecutions; partly, and still more, the men who are bound under the tyranny of the devil, of sin, and of death; particularly also those whose spirit within is bound, so that it cannot rise to the joy of faith; and also those who are bound outwardly to vain pursuits.” And on, he leads out: “particularly brings them out from the slavery of wild lusts and heresies into the liberty of the church and of the children of God,” Ruckert renders כושרות by “prosperity.” The “rebels,” or the “re-fractory,” are the stiff-necked enemies of the Lord and his church. These were, as it were, banished by God, into thewilderness, and shut out from the experience of his fatherlygood will. Rebellious Israel (compare Luke 19:14, and John 19:15,) has had to experience the truth of these words no lessthan the rebellious heathen, Amalek, (Exodus 17:14; Exodus 17:16), andPharaoh at their head. The “only” is “it is not otherwise than thus,” “it always happens so:” compare Psalms 58:11.

Psalms 68:7-10

To the general praise of the glory of God there is now annexed a representation of several instances of this, as they took place in the history of his chosen people, first, in ver. 7-10, what God did to them at the time of their journey through the wilderness:- he revealed himself to them, in the giving of the law from Sinai, ver. 8, he fed them and revived them wonderfully, ver. 10, he finally led them into Canaan, ver. 11.-Ver. 7. O God, when thou didst march before thy people, thou, didst walk forward in the derness. Selah. Ver. 8. The earth moved, the heavens also dropped before God, it was at Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. Ver. 9. Thou didst send a rain of gifts, thine heritage, the weary one, thou didst strengthen it. Ver, 10. Thy host dwelt in the land, thou dost prepare, through thy goodness, a home for the miser - able, O God.-Verses 7 and 8 are borrowed, almost word for word, from the song of Deborah, (Jude 5:4; Jude 5:5), whose genuine-ness has now again become generally acknowledged: comp. the Beitr. 3, p. 116, Keminck, de Cann. Deb. p. 24. Judges 5:4 refers again to Deuteronomy 33:2; Ex. six. 15, ss.; comp. Beitr. p. 117. The “thou didst march,” does not refer to the march out of Egypt, which is represented as having already taken place: “to march before,” is applied, as it often is, for example, Numbers 27:17, Psalms 44:9; Psalms 60:10, to the leader of the host going for-ward at its head upon an expedition. Even in the Pentateuch, God is represented as the commander in chief, and Israel as the army led on by him against the Canaanites: comp.

Exodus 12:41, “All the hosts of the Lord went forth out of Egypt,” ver. 51, and chap. 13:18. There is apparently in the song of Deborah, and here a special reference to Exodus 13:21, according to which the Lord marched at the head of his host in a pillar of cloud and fire.

Arnd: “Now, although it was a great glory of the Old Testament, that God was present to his people, in a pillar of fire and cloud, yet the glory of the New Testament is greater still, because the Son of God has become man: that was merely a shadow and a type, this is the highest consolation, and reality itself.” The ישימון is apparently from Deuteronomy 32:10. The Selah stands exactly as in Habakkuk 3:3, between the general an-nouncement, and the development, and serves to direct atten-tion to the latter. The separation effected by it between verses7 and 8, is intended at the same time to indicate that the 7th verse is introductory, not only to the 8th but also to the whole strophe which has to do with the march through the wilderness, onward till its successful termination.-For the first time, in ver. 8, we have the appearances at the giving of the law. The question may be asked, why the Psalmist begins with Sinai, and passes over altogether the miracles wrought by God on behalf of his people on their departure from Egypt. The answer is: it was at Sinai that the covenant for the first time was formally and solemnly ratified: comp. Deuteronomy 33:5, “And he was king in Jeshurun, when the tribes of the people were gathered to-gether.” According to several expositors, the verse before us refers, not only to the appearances at the giving of the law, but also to the whole march through the wilderness.

But against this we have the emphatic explanation given by the Psalmist,סיני זה, the reference, which it is impossible to mistake, to the passages quoted above in the Pentateuch, and finally, the con-nection and the train of thought in the song of Deborah: see the Beitrage. The appearances at the giving of the law, how-ever, are introduced in this passage (where every thing that is mentioned, is brought in, as a developement of “the righteous rejoice, &c.” and, “a father of the fatherless, &c.”) not as con-sidered in their special import, as an illustration of “our God is a consuming fire,” but as illustrating, in their general aspect, the supreme love of God seen in his thus making himself known to mortals: comp.

Deuteronomy 4:33. In reference to the אף, comp. at Psalms 18:48. There is no express mention made in the his-torical narrative of the rain. (the heavens dropped), but a dense cloud is spoken of. The מפני is from Exodus 19:18. The זה, masc., stands instead of the neut., as at Ecclesiastes 6:9. “This the Sinai,” “it happened there.” The usual translation, “this Sinai (moved)” will not do: “moved” is not the word, which the sentence supplies, but “dropped,” and this will not suit. After this finger mark, the “before God” is repeated, for the purpose of connecting it with the “God of Israel.” It is he that does this,-all this is done for the sake of Israel.-Ver. 9 refers to the provision made by God for his people, in temporal matters, during their marchings through the wilderness,-the manna, the quails, the water out of the rock, etc., according to verse 4th, a type and a pledge of what God does for his poor ones at all times.

The נדבה means always “free-will gifts:” comp. at Psalms 54:6. This fact is sufficient to set aside the idea that,according to the translation, “a freely given,” or “a plentiful rain,” a rain in the proper sense is meant, of which the history of the journey through the wilderness knows nothing, and which, in the connection, would be very unsuitable, as it would have to be adopted at the expense of the giving of manna, etc., facts which, in such a connection, are the very first to occur to the mind.

The figure of rain, which was obviously suggested by the mention of rain in the proper sense in ver. 8, points, on the one hand, to the abundance of the divine gifts-and this all the more, that it is not an ordinary rain that is spoken of, but a sudden and violent shower, (comp. Exodus 16:4; Psalms 78:24, “And he rained down manna upon them, and gave them of the corn of heaven.” Genesis 19:24, “And he rained on Sodom fire and brimstone,”)-and on the other, to the pleas-ing, reviving, and refreshing nature of these gifts. The re-viving rain, so often an individualizing reference for blessing, is also well adapted for being used as an emblem of the same: comp. Isaiah 44:3, “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and rain upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” The נוף, which in Hiph. signifies always to move backwards and for-wards, and never to sprinkle,-so that it is even inadmissible in point of language, besides being in violation of the accus. toconnect נהלתך with the first clause,�the rain of gifts did not fall in some spots only, but that, like all the other arrangements, these blessings were granted to the whole people: comp. Psalms 78:27; Psalms 78:28, “he rained quails upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like the sand of the sea, and he let it fall in the midst of their camp round about their habitations.” The inheritance of God indicates, as usual, not the land, but the people of the Lord. The “And (indeed or even) the weary (one),” points to the greatness of the divine beneficence, which was im-parted to a people, in such a condition, to whom no restoration appeared to be possible: God, who alone, in such circumstances, was able still to help, (the emphatic, thou), stretched out his hand to them, when they were lying on the ground wholly worn out through fatigue from travelling through the wilder-ness, through hunger and vexation.

The כונן is not “to re-vive,” but “to establish,” “to fortify:” comp. 2 Samuel 7:13, Psalms 40:2; Psalms 90:17.-The crowning act of the glorious work of guiding through the wilderness, is, (ver. 10), the introduction of his people to the land of promise. The היה occurs in thesense of “an host,” besides this passage, only in 2 Samuel 11, 13. It appears that this term was one peculiar to the time of David. In 1 Chronicles 11:15, instead of “host of the Philistines,” we have “camp of the Philistines.” The suffix inבה relates to the land, of which no mention had been expressly made, in the preceding verses, but which the Psalmist had steadily before his eyes:-it was indeed the very object of the march through the wilderness. The suffix is used, exactly in this way, in ver. 14, and in Isaiah 8:21. The second member occupies an independent position. The object is to be supplied from what goes before: a habitation: comp. “God makes the solitary to dwell in houses,” in ver. 6. We cannot translate, “which thou hast provided”: in that case the future would not be used, and to prepare will not apply to land. Israel is called miserable, in reference to their degraded condition, (comp. the נלאה in ver. 9), and their utter helplessness and feebleness in presence of the powerful nations who possessed the land.

Psalms 68:11-14

The second strophe ver. 11-14, contains what God did for his people from the time of their entrance into the land of pro-mise, till the setting up of the sanctuary in Zion:-he gave them glorious victory and happy peace, which are celebrated each in two verses.-Ver. 11. The Lord gives the word; of the female-messengers of victory there are great hosts. Ver. 12. The kings of the hosts flee, they flee, and the dweller at home divides the spoil. Ver. 13. When ye rest within the confines, ye are like the Wings of cloves covered with silver, and their feathers with the gleam of gold. Ver, 14. When the Almighty scatters kings in it, it snows on Salmon.-The word which, according to ver. 11, the Lord gives, is one of joyful contents, the announcement of a victory, recently obtained; and it cannot mean a song of victory. The victory, when gained, was celebrated by women in songs, plays, and dances: comp. Exodus 15:20, Judges 5:12, 1 Samuel 18:6; 1 Samuel 18:7. These are the messengers of joy: comp. the damsels in ver. 25: the בשר is used in Psalms 40:9, of the procla-mation, accompanied with praise, of a salvation already made known.

The great army of the female-messengers of joy, is con-ceived of by the Psalmist as made up of the union of all the separate quoirs which existed during the whole century of the judges, till the erection of the tabernacle on mount Sion. Against the exposition, “messengers of victory to the great host,” there is, first, the article, second, the adjective would inthis case be useless, and last, the salvation is not announced to the army who gained it, but to the people who remained at home.-According to a common idea, in ver. 12 and 13, the female messengers of victory are introduced speaking.

But for this there is no foundation, and the regular progression of thought is altogether against it, the victory, in ver. 11, the flight and the dividing of the spoil, in ver. 12, and the happy rest, in ver. 13, after the battle, imparted by the Lord to his people. “She that is dwelling at home,” (the נות is the stat. constr. fem. of הו,נA), according to the common idea, should denote thewomen of the house, who distribute among themselves, or each among the inmates of her own house, the booty brought home by the men. But we never read of the women performing any such duty in reference to the booty: this task is one which be-longs to the men. “She that is dwelling at home,” denotes Israel dwelling again peacefully at home after the flight of the kings: comp. “then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates,” Judges 5:11, “the shout of those who divide the spoil between the watering troughs.” In this way the 13th verse has an important connection with the verse by which it is pre-ceded. For in it the Psalmist depicts the happy condition of “her that is dwelling at home,” that is, of the people dwelling in peace in their own houses after the victory:-a state of matters which, in the book of Judges, is described by the usual phrase, “the land had rest”: comp. the conclusion of ch. 5. and 8:28. The victory and the spoil, which the Lord imparted to his people, in their contests against the Gentile nations, in the season of their childhood, was a type of a more glorious victory, and a more pre-cious spoil. Arnd: “Is it not a valuable spoil, that so many thou-sands of men have been converted from heathenism, among whom have been so many glorious teachers and lights of the church, such as Justin, Augustine, Ambrose, not to speak of the innumerable martyrs, who were all brought out of heathenism, and were put to death because of their attachment to the Christian faith."-The “when you rest,” in ver. 13, not, “when you rested,” in-dicates that the Psalmist does not refer here to one past event. The שכב implies peaceful rest, as at Numbers 24:9, and is equivalent to רבץ, Genesis 49:14.

The שפתים, which is used only here and in Ezekiel 40:43, and the משפתים, in the fundamental passage, Genesis 49:14, and in Judges 5:16, where, as in the verse before us, reference is made to it, signify either"sheep-folds,” or “boundaries.” Against the former of these two senses, there is the consideration, that in that case the pas-sage in Ezekiel would be too much disjoined from the others: the sense of “sheep-folds” is, strictly speaking, not suitable even in Judges 5:16, for he who lies between the sheepfolds, is not he who hears the shepherd’s flute, but is the shepherd himself. At all events, however, the phrase denotes a state of peaceful rest.

In this condition the Israelites, to whom the address is directed, are taken figuratively, wings of the doves, etc., or they are like doves, whose wings glitter with silver and gold. The allusion is to the play of colours on the wings of the dove in sunshine. The real import is not at all, as some, with very little taste, would have it, “rich dresses of silver and gold, for the women, derived from the spoil,” nor, even generally, riches of silver and gold, but the peaceful, and, at the same time, splendid condition enjoyed by Israel in the lap of peace: com-pare the corresponding second figure, snow, applied to the same condition, in ver. 14. There is no necessity for connecting נהפה with כנפי, (Ewald, �˜ 568): it may be as well connected with יונה;�“the wings of the dove, which is covered with silver, and as to its feathers” (acc.), or “whose feathers (are covered) with yellow gold."-Ver. 14 points to the bright gleam of prosperity, which covered the land on the prosperous termina-tion of the war, in room of the darkness in which it had been envel-oped during the season of hostile oppression:-when the Lord scatters kings, the light of prosperity illuminates the darkness of the land, just as dark Salmon becomes white when covered with snow. The פרש in Pih. is originally “to stretch out,” after-wards, “to scatter,” as in Zechariah 2:10, (compare on that passage Maurer against Hitzig), and the Niph. is “to be scattered.” The God of Israel is called Almighty, because he alone by his omnipotence could bring about the result which is here spoken of. The kings are the kings of armies of ver. 12, such as Cush-an, Jabin, Agag, etc.

The suffix in בה refers to “the land,” which is not indeed expressly named, but which is in reality de-scribed in, “when you rest within the boundaries.” The תשלג is used, as many similar verbs are, (Ew. Sm.

Gr. 552, and Lar. Gr. 645), impersonally; “it snows.” The snow is mentioned here, because it has the colour of purest light: compare Psalms 51:7, Isaiah 1:18, “they shall be white as snow,” Mark 9:3, “And his clothes glittered, very white like snow, such as no fuller onearth can whiten,” Matthew 17:2, where, instead of “white as snow,” we have “white as light,” 28:3, Revelation 1:14. Zalmon is “a hill mentioned in Judges 9:48, which was covered over with great thick wood, (even according to that passage), so that it might be called in German a schwartzwald, a dark forest, the black or dark mountain.” Luther. There is no need for sup-plying any mark of comparison before Zalmon: it is rather to be considered as used in a figurative sense for the land, just as snow is a figurative expression for the clear brightness of pro-sperity. In favour of this simple exposition, we have the agree-ment between this and the preceding verse; and second, it is in this way that we can see any reason for naming Zalmon: the mountain, destitute of any signification itself, would (except in this view) be held as introduced only for the sake of its name. The most obvious interpretation as to sense, “it becomes clear in darkness,” is negatived by the consideration, that צלמון is never used as an appellative, and that השליג neither means nor can mean, “to be white” or “clear.” And against the ex-position, “it (the land) was snow-white with the bones of the slain like Zahnon,” we have to urge, that Zalmon was not a snow mountain, that בצלמון never can mean “like Zalmon,” that השליב cannot be translated “snow-white,” and, finally, that the ex-position brings us back from the region of peaceful victory to that of prosperous war.

Psalms 68:15-19

The third strophe, ver. 15-19, describes the glory of God in Sion, after he had taken up there his abode. God maintains his position there in spite of all the machinations of the world in hostility against Israel, verse 15, 16: he sits en-throned there in the complete fulness of his omnipotence, ver. 17: he has exhibited this in victories gained over the enemies of his people, ver. 18: praise to him the Saviour of his people, ver. 19.-Ver. 15. A mountain of God is Mount Basan, a summit-mountain is Mount Basan. Ver. 16. Why do ye lay snares, ye summit-mountains, against the mountain which the Lord chooses for his seat? the Lord will even dwell on it for ever. Ver. 17. The chariots of God are two myriads, many thousands, the Lord is among them, Sinai is in the sanctuary. Ver. 18. Thou goest up on high, thou didst lead the prisoners away, thou receivedst gifts among men, yea among the rebellions, to dwell, O Lord, God. Ver. 19. Praised be the Lord every day, they lay burdens on us, the Lord is our salvation, Selah. In verse 15 the Psalmist tells what Mount Basan is, and, in the 16th verse he rejects the false pre-tensions which it raises on the basis of its real worth: it is great, -yet Mount Zion is infinitely greater, and vain are all its efforts to change this relation. Many expositors read the 15th verse with vocatives, but Boettcher, with good reason, prefers the ex-position with subject and predicate: “A hill of God is the hill of Basan,” remarking “that accumulated vocatives are very flat, and that individual appellations become very drawling.” A hill of God is such a hill as, by its magnitude, reminds us of the creative power of God, and has the appearance of being favoured by him, comp. at Psalms 36:6. It will not do to take the hill of God as equivalent simply to a superior hill, because there is an opposition between the hill of God (Elohim, the most general name of God) and the hill which the Lord chooses for his habi-tation-an opposition which would be altogether destroyed by this exposition. The hill of God is here used as an emblem of the kingdoms of the world, powerful through the grace of God; comp. on the hills as an emblem of kingdoms, Psalms 65:6, and in addition to the passages quoted there, Psalms 76:4, Habakkuk 3:6. The hill of Basan is the high snow-summit of Anti-Lebanon, or Hermon, the extreme limit of Basan, yet really belonging to it: compare Beitr.

III. p. 242. In Psalms 42:6, the land on the other side Jordan is named the land of Hermon; and Hermon also in Psalms 89:12 represents the country beyond Jordan.

The re-maining hills of Basan are proportionally lower; the name hill of God is not suitable for them; they do not admit of being em-ployed to represent the might of the world, and they possess no superiority, even on inferior grounds, over Zion. There was, moreover, a peculiar propriety, arising from its position on the very boundary between Judea and the heathen world, in employ-ing it as a symbol of the world’s might: even in ver. 22, Basan is named as the boundary of Canaan on the side of the heathen world. Comp. Psalms 29. (vol. i. p. 478), where the wilderness of Kadesh is named as forming one pair with Lebanon and Sirion: the symbols of the world’s might, on the north and the south of the land of the Lord, are seized with terror at the sound of his voice. Perhaps also the Psalmist noticed that the original name of Hermon, Sion the lofty, (compare Beitr. III. p.. 241), and the Sidonian name, Sirion, (Deuteronomy 3:9), are both allied in sound to Zion.

The term, summit-mountain, indicates that Basan is notan individual hill, but a gigantic rugged mountain range.-In verse 16, the wherefore,” (comp. Psalms 2:1), points to the folly of the hostile conduct of the kingdoms; Boettcher: “why so fruitlessly.” The word רצד, which occurs nowhere else ex-cept in this passage, “to lay snares,” “to plot against,” not “to envy,” or “to look askance,” (compare Ges.

Thes.-even the 17th verse leads to hostilities expressed in outward actions), makes it manifest that the hills are symbolical of kingdoms. The summit-mountains,-a sort of compound noun, (comp. at Psalms 60:3), –are the individual summits of Hermon; or the symbol of the preceding verse is extended. The אף “even,” points to the inseparable connection between the choice and the perpetual habitation: compare Genesis 27:33, “I have blessed him; he shall even be blessed.” The thought of both verses-that grace is superior to nature, that natural gifts must yield to spiritual ones, that the world, in spite of all the power which God has given it, must yield to the church, in which God is present him-self with his omnipotence,-is expressed in a similar form in Is. ii. and Micah 4:1-3, where the temple-mountain will, it is predicted, be exalted above all the mountains of the earth: compare also Isaiah 8:6, where the brook Siloa symbolizes the kingdom of God, and the Euphrates the power of the world.- In verse 17 the Psalmist, in the words, “the Lord will dwell there for ever,” announces the infinite safety of Zion against all the plots of the power of the world. The main strength of the hostile armies, particularly the Syrian, in the war which had just been brought to a termination, (compare 2 Samuel 18:4; 2 Samuel 10:18), lay in war-chariots. As expressing emphatically the thought that the God, who dwells on Zion, is infinitely superior to these hosts, the Psalmist represents him as surrounded by such a number, as no human king ever possessed, of invisible chariots, led on by his hosts of angels. That the mention of chariots of war has been occasioned by this contrast, is evident from the pa-rallel passage, 2 Kings 6:17, where the servant of Elisha, when his heart failed him, at the sight of “the horses and chariots of the mighty hosts” of the Syrians, is comforted when he beholds “the mountain full of fiery horses and chariots round about Elisha.” Two myriads; the number usually employed to de-note an infinite multitude, is doubled. “Perhaps allusion may be made to the two wings, on each of which there are ten thou-sand: Genesis 32:1; Genesis 32:2.” Berleb. Bib.

Thousands of repetitionor duplication: such to whom new ones always succeed, and these every time thousands. Daniel 7:10 is similar: “thou-sand times thousand serve him, and ten thousand times thou-sands stand before him.” The Psalmist next directs attention to the point, that this magnificent army of God derives its chief importance from this, that he, “who alone is in a condition to avert a thousand deaths,” is in the midst of it.

The last words are to be translated: “Sinai is in the sanctuary:” בקדש, just as at verse 24. The preceding context must determine, unless we wish to guess at random, in what respect Sinai is in the sanc-tuary. According to it Sinai and Zion have in common only the presence of the Lord in the midst of the innumerable hosts of his angels. This, as far as Sinai is concerned, is expressly asserted in Deuteronomy 32:2, “he comes out of myriads of holi-ness,” and verse 3, “all his holy ones are in thy hand,” “they serve thee, O Israel:”–a passage to which the Psalmist refers. Compare also Galatians 3:19, and Hebrews 2:2. The sense given by Stier is altogether wrong: “by the presence of the ark of the covenant and the tables of the law, Zion itself was at Sinai.” In verse 8, Sinai had been thought of in reference to the majes-tic appearance of God.

Even the exposition of Boettcher and others must be rejected, as not in keeping with the context: “Sinai, with all its splendour of thunder and lightning, is now in the sanctuary."-Ver. 18 gives the matter-of-fact proof for the assertion made in ver. 17. That the Lord sits enthroned in Zion, in the whole fulness of his might, has been made manifest, even now, by a great victory obtained over the enemies of his people.

The constant use of the preterites makes it evident that the verse refers to one particular event, and cannot be ap-plied to what God is continually doing: and the connection with what goes before, according to which the expressions here can refer only to a favour which God grants out of his sanctuary, renders it evident that it is not those enemies that are meant, “who were completely subdued, when the ark got its position on mount Zion,” according to Stier, who maintains the hypothe-sis that the Psalm was composed, on the introduction of the ark of the covenant. The ascending of God, which corresponds to “return thou on high” in the remarkably similar parallel pas-sage, Psalms 7:7, presupposes his descending: compare Ephesians 4:9. It denotes his ascent to heaven, after he had made himself known on earth, in deeds of omnipotence and love, that he might there manage the affairs of his people: comp. Psalms 47:5.המרום, the height, denotes always heaven, never mount Zion: compare at Psalms 7:7; Psalms 18:16; Psalms 93:4; Psalms 102:19. Even in verse 33, God is described as “he whose seat is in heaven:” comp. 34th, “his power is in the clouds.” The prisoners, whom God leads away, the gifts which he receives, cannot be taken by him into heaven: he takes them, only that he may give them to his peo-ple, “his hosts,” at whose head he had gone forth to battle, and leave them behind him when he ascends to heaven, just as the gifts of Israel to him were given to his ministering servants the priests. Hence it is evident that by the “he gave,” which occurs in Ephesians 4:8, instead of, “thou takest,” the sense is not altered, but only made clear: the “giving” presupposes the “taking,” the “taking” is succeeded by the “giving,” as its consequence.

The apostle gives prominence to this conse-quence, because it serves his object, as common to the type with the antitype. The passage in his view has this complete sense: “he received gifts among men, and he gave gifts to men.” That by gifts is meant, “gifts given reluctantly,” is obvious, from “thou didst take;” the same remark exactly may be made of מתנה, which Gesenius has made of מנהה:�“the tribute was thus designated, which was exacted from a conquered peo-ple under the milder name of a gift,” compare 2 Samuel 8:2, “and the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts,” so of the Syrians, in verse 6.

The ב in באדם, as in בם, verse 17, has the sense of among. The men on the earth stand in op-position to God on high: compare Psalms 58:64:9. Men, far from heaven the seat of God, fancy that they are secure, but they must learn wisdom by their own painful experience. The translation is altogether to be rejected: thou takest gifts to men. The gift presupposes a giver, and this must be indi-cated by באדם; the history of David knows nothing of “pri-soners who were sent as gifts to the sanctuary,” nor of “prose-lytes who gifted as it were themselves to God,” but a great deal of gifts in the sense adopted by us: the connection between prisoners won by victory and riches is a constant one, especially in the transactions of David’s times. By the “refractory” are meant those who, even after the appearance of the Lord and the manifestation of his conquering power, still dared to persist in their rash opposition, such as the Ammonites, in opposition to those who yielded at once, like the servants of Hadadeser, 2 Sam. 10:19.

That even the former, should at length give presents,spews with what might God has assailed them on behalf of his people. And even the refractory must give presents to thee,-are such from whom thou takest presents.

To dwell, O Lord God: and thus thou, after thou hast completed all this, dwellest there in heaven, glorious, and as the Almighty inaccessible to the re-venge of the conquered: compare Isaiah 57:15. Several in-terpreters connect these words with what goes before: “and even the rebellious shall dwell with God.” A singular exposi-tion! שכן, with the accusative, cannot mean “to dwell with any one.” It can be only by a false exposition, that any thing can be supposed in the preceding context to be said of grace towards the enemies, or of their conversion; the refractory, according to verse 6, and Psalms 66:7, can be considered as referred to, only as objects of punishment. Others: “And the rebellious must rest:"-but שכן signifies always to dwell, and is so used in verse 16, compare verse 6. We observe, farther, that the quo-tation of our passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians is not a mere accommodation, as the character and manner of that quo-tation evidently shew. The descent of God on behalf of his church, and the rich load of gifts bestowed upon it, here spoken of, formed a prelude and a pledge of the appearance of God in Christ, and of the whole riches of his goodness and grace im-parted in him to his church. That which was imperfect, affords on the domain of revelation, the security for that which is per-fect, inasmuch as the former points out the reality of the rela-tion by which the latter is demanded.-The Psalmist in verse 19 rising from the particular to the general, praises the Lord, as him who is always the saviour of the church.

The עמס signi-fies to lay upon, not to carry, (as Ew. supposes). The subject is not formally pointed out: they lay burdens upon us: compare Ewald, § 551.

But in reality it is sufficiently obvious that we are to think of men, from the opposition to God, (compare Psalms 27:1; Psalms 124:2, and other passages), and from verse 18. Even in verses 16 and 17 the subject spoken of is the almighty help of the Lord against the enmity of the world. The 20th versemakes it evident that האל is not “even this God,” but that the article limits the word to the God of Israel, as is frequently the case with האלהים: compare, for example, 2 Samuel 12:16. The same consideration sets aside the idea that God is the sub-ject to האלהים: “he loads us, he, God, is our help.” R�ckert. The “Selah” here indicates the end of a section.

Psalms 68:20-23

In verses 20 and 23, the general thought is expanded, that God is the helper of his people against the wickedness of the world,–a thought to which the Psalmist had already risen in the connect-ing words of the 19th verse. Ver. 20. God is to us a God of sal-ations, and Jehovah, the Lord, has the issues of death. Ver. 21. Yea, God dashes to pieces the head of his enemies, the hair-skull of him that walks in his iniquities. Ver. 22. The Lord speaks, out of Basan, I will bring back, bring back out of the depths of the sea. Ver. 23. So that thou dashest, with thy footin blood, the tongue of thy dogs (gets) from it. The האל in verse 20, parallel to Jehovah, is equivalent to “our God.” On מושעות, salutes, Calvin: “Not without reason does he make use of the plural number, in order that we may know that although even innumerable deaths assail us, God has also in readiness innume-rable ways of deliverance.” “Of death:” threatening and al-ready approaching. The Psalmist refers, in the first instance, to deliverance from great dangers and troubles, (comp. Psalms 48:14); but in reality the expression applies to death, properly so called, and even to spiritual death. Only he who has the keys of death and of hell, (Revelation 1:18), can render help in every danger and trouble.-On ver. 21, Calvin: “Because the church, attack-ed on all sides, by strong and raging enemies, can obtain no-thing except by a strong and powerful defence, the Psalmist brings in God armed with terrible power, for the destruction of all the ungodly. It is to be observed that all who annoy the pious, are called enemies of God, so that we need not doubt that he will interpose for our defence.” The “only” stands as in verse 6. On “he dashes to pieces the head,” compare Psalms 110:6. “The hair-skull” is just the skull covered with hair. The epithet, as appears, serves the simple purpose of poetic effect and description. As שער is in the stat. abs. we can literally translate only the hair-skull walking, not of him that walks: compare Ewald, § 513. Boettcher on the passage -That in verse 22, the object to be supplied to “I will bring back,” is not Israel, (compare Isaiah 49:12), but the enemies who had just been named, is evident from the following verse, where the dashing to pieces of the enemies is mentioned as the consequence of bringing them back. According to this view, verses 22 and 23 merely expand and individualize the clause, “he will dash to pieces the head of his enemies.” The remarkably similar parallel passage, Amos 9:2; Amos 9:3, may also be appealed to in favour of this view. In re-ference to the enemies of God among Israel, the prophet there says: “No one shall escape, no one shall flee away, though they dig into hell, yet shall mine hand take them thence, though they mount up to heaven, yet will I thrust them down, and though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from thence, yea, though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, &c.” I will bring them back, when they are returning into their own land, laden with booty, after a prosperous invasion.

Thus David slew the Edomites, when they had successfully arrived at the valley of Salt, the boundary of their own land. Basan is named, as it is in ver. 15, as the boundary of Canaan, on reaching which, the enemies appeared to be safe, from the vengeance of Israel, and of Israel’s God. Vengeance, however, shall reach them even there, as Abra-ham formerly reached and slew the kings from central Asia, on the extreme boundary of Canaan, Genesis 14:14.-The 23d verse is generally translated: “so that thou dippest thy feet in blood;” Ewald: “that thy foot glitter.” But מהץ always signifies to “strike,” to “dash to pieces,” (compare Psalms 110:6, Numbers 24:8; Numbers 24:17), and it must be used in this sense here, especially as it is used in the same sense in the 21st verse, which stands in the closest connection with the verse which we are now considering -a connection which manifests the folly of the conjectural read-ing תרהץ:�God dashes to pieces his enemies, he dashes them to pieces even when they seem to be perfectly safe. Hence we must hold that at רגלך the object is wanting, as it is in verse 22 and 2: so that thou, O Israel, dashest them in pieces, with thy foot in blood. The second clause is generally translated: “that the tongue of thy dogs may have its part in thy enemies.” But מן is never used as a substantive in the sense of part, and לשון is never masculine. We must therefore translate: that the tongue of thy dogs (may get) from thine enemies, from it (the blood). Arnd: “As we see in the Old Testament, in the csse of Ahab and Jezebel, the malicious enemies of the church, and the murderers of the prophets, and in the New Testament, in the case of Julian, Licinius, and Maxentius, in whose blood the conquerors did freely die their feet; and this happens still, as often as the church of God and the gospel wonderfully gain the victory, are upheld, and protected against the bloody practices of their foes. And so will it remain till the end, accord-ing to Rom. 8: ‘ for thy sake we are killed, all the day long,and are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter, but in this we are more than conquerors, for the sake of him who hath loved us.’ "

Psalms 68:24-27

In Ver. 24-27, the procession in celebration of the victory is described. It becomes here particularly apparent, that the Psalm was designed also for posterity, to whose necessities this description is pre-eminently adapted.-Ver. 24. There is seen thy procession, O God, the procession of my God and King in the sanctuary. Ver. 25. The singers go before, after that the players on instruments, in the midst of the young women striking timbrels. Ver. 26. In the assemblies praise God, the Lord, ye from Israel’s fountain. Ver. 27. There is Benjamin, the little one, their Ruler, the princes of Judah, their Stoning, the princes of Zebulon, the princes of Naphtali.-The ראו in ver. 24, is either used impersonally, they see, or the subject to be supplied is those who do not take part in the procession, the great multi-tude of spectators, in opposition to those named in ver, 25, 27.The הליכות, is properly goings, (used only in the plural), and next a solemn procession. On “my God and King,” compare Psalms 5:2. On בקדש., which can only mean, as at ver. 17, in thesanctuary, and which can be connected only with the proces-sion, much ingenuity has been expended. Even verse 26th leads us to a procession in the temple; for it was only in the temple that the assemblies were held: and so do the ex-pressions, “because of thy temple,” in verse 29, and “out of thy sanctuary,” in verse 35. It is not possible to see what ob-jection there could be to a procession in the temple, at the bring-ing back of the ark of the covenant, as the temple had courts con-nected with it. Delitzch has wholly misunderstood our verse, on Habakkuk 3:6.-The singers, according to ver. 25, go before the music, the players on instruments follow them, because, in in-tellectual, true, religion, the Word takes everywhere the first place.

Our Psalm itself was manifestly sung. The אהר, pro-perly in the stat, constr. and a preposition, is frequently used as an adverb, behind, with the noun or pronoun omitted when it may be easily supplied from the connection, as it can be in the present instance, them or these. The hand-kettle-drum, a piece of skin stretched across a hoop, with metal plates on the rim, is at this day in common use in the East. The “in the midst” refers only to the players on instruments. The 26th verse contains no more than the rest of the Psalm does, “the words of the singers.” In Judges 5:9 also, the poetess herself addresses the nobles of Israel: “praise the Lord:” comparealso Psalms 22:23. On מקהלות, used only here and in Psalms 26:12, compare at that passage. The assumption that the plural signifies one but a full assembly, has no foundation whatever: in the assemblies, and particularly in this one. Isaiah 48:1; Isaiah 51:1, furnish a commentary on “Ye from Israel’s fountain."-In the enumeration, in ver. 27, of the tribes which took part in the procession, the Psalmist must be con-sidered as naming a few as representatives of the whole. In the choice of these he may have been guided, in the first instance, by geographical considerations: Benjamin and Judah are on the south, Zebulon and Naphtali on the north. But this assuredly was not the only, it was not even the chief considera-tion that guided him. The epithets, which are applied to the two first tribes, and the circumstance, that those only are named, which were particularly distinguished in conflict, spew that it was a consideration of this kind, that chiefly influenced the Psalmist. The first Judges belonged to the tribes mentioned, Othneil to Judah, Ehud to Benjamin; Zebulon and Naphtali distinguished themselves particularly in the conflicts under Deborah and Barak,–compare Judges 5:18, “Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field;"-and Saul was from Benjamin, and David from Judah. A comparison of the song of Deborah leads to the same result: every thing that is there said of the tribes bears upon their relation to the enemies.

There is Benjamin, the little, their ruler. There, in the pro-cession. The naming of Benjamin before Judah, is explained by the circumstance that Saul, as conqueror of the heathen, preceded David: compare 1 Samuel 18:7. Benjamin is called little, in reference to his place among the sons of Jacob, Genesis 43:33; which typified the position of the tribe in Israel. That even the little Benjamin should be ruler over the heathen, illustrates the greatness of the grace of God: compare 1 Samuel 9:21, where Saul, on his being appointed king, says with as-tonishment: “am not I a Benjamite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel.” The suffix in רדם, who rules over them, not the Kametz but the Tseri, denotes the accusative. Ewald, § 433. The suffix is to be referred to the enemies, whom the Psalmist throughout has in his eye: the omission of the suffix in verses 2, 22, 23, is analogous. A commentary on this epithet of Benjamin is furnished in 1 Samuel 14:47; 1 Samuel 14:48 : “And Saultook the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines, and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them. And he gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled him.” Several expositors give: there was Benja-min, the little, as their leader. But the view cannot be adopt-ed that Benjamin was leader of the whole procession,-at no time, except during the reign of Saul, did the tribe occupy such a position as to entitle it to this honour;- רדה never means to lead, not once to reign, but always to have the dominion, or the mastery over, and the object of dominion is always the heathen: compare the treatise on Balaam, p. 187.

This last remark also sets aside the forced interpretation: there is Benjamin, his leader. רדה cannot possibly be used of the patriarchal power of the head of a tribe. רגם is a word of frequent occurence, and never has any signification except to stone. Hence רגמה, the word here used, cannot be translated correctly in any other way than by stoning. Judah is called the stoning of the enemies, in allusion to David, who put to death by a stone Goliath, the representative of the might of the world. The translation, “the princes of Judah and their multitude,” (Gesenius and others), takes רגמה in an unascertained sense, requires “and” to be added, without any authority, and is be-sides connected with a sense of רדם which has been already shewn to be a false one. It is deserving of being noticed, that the same tribes which appear in this procession as distinguished among the people of God in battle against the world, occupy a very prominent place also in the New Testament. Paul, “the least of the apostles,” (1 Corinthians 15:8-100 was from Benjamin, Philippians 3:5 : “the lion of the tribe of Judah,” James and John, James, Thaddeus, and Simon, were from Judah, and the rest of the apostles were from Naphtali and Zebulon, or Galilee, (Math. iv. 13).

Psalms 68:28-31

In the 6th strophe, ver. 28-31, the Psalmist, out of the glo-rious consequences which the Lord now, after such a short abode on Zion, imparts to his people, prepares for himself a ladder by which he may ascend to the hope of the future subjuga-tion of the whole world under his sceptre.–Ver. 28. Thy God hath appointed thy strength; be strong, O God, who workest for us. Ver. 29. Because of thy temple over Jerusalem, kings shall bring presents to thee. Ver. 30. Rebuke the beast of the reeds, the herd of the strong ones with the calves of the people, who sub- mit themselves to thee with bars of silver; he scatters the nations who love war. Ver. 31. Nobles shall come out of Egypt, Cushstretches forth its hands to God.-In verse 28, Israel is first ad-dressed, then the Lord. God has appointed thy strength, in his eternal determination which was made known to thee by his servant Moses. Be thou then strong, O God, on behalf of thy people, and realize therefore thine appointment of thy strength, thou who workest for us, who are helpless without thee, and hence are looking to thee alone in reference to the strength ordained for us by thee: compare Isaiah 26:12, " O Lord, give thou us peace, for thou workest all our works for us.” The זה stands instead of אשר: it cannot mean “as."�The exhortation which had arisen from the basis of hope, returns again to hope in verse 29. By היכל is here meant, in the first instance, the holy tabernacle on Zion: and the temple of Solomon is to be considered as its continuation.

Compare Psalms 5:7, xlviii, 9, 65:4. The sanctuary, both in a literal and spiritual sense, lies over Jerusalem.

The sanctuary of God over Jerusalem is the sym-bol of his protecting power, of his help-sending grace, which hovers over Israel; and therefore, “because of thy temple,” is equivalent to, “because of thy glorious appearances as Israel’s God”: compare “whose height is over Israel” in verse 34, and “dreadful is God out of thy sanctuaries,” in verse 35. The translation, “for thy temple,” is quite an arbitrary one: the connection is strong between the first half of this verse and the preceding one. As a prelude to the hope here expressed, it is recorded in 2 Chronicles 32:23 “And many (in consequence of the manifestation of the glory of God in the subjugation of the Assyrians) brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem.” In reality, however, the hope is a Messianic one, inasmuch as it was only in the days of the Redeemer that the reality of the sanctuary over Jerusalem, the kingdom of God upon the earth, was brought fully to light. Compare Isaiah 60:3, “And nations shall come to thy light,” and verse 6, “the multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all they from Sheba shall come, they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.” There also the salva-tion which the Lord imparts to his people, the same as thetemple over Jerusalem, is the magnet, which, with irresistible power, attracts towards him the heathen world: compare on Psalms 66:66; Psalms 66:67 :The שי occurs elsewhere only in Isaiah 18:7, and Psalms 76:11, and in both places in the same connection as here:-a circumstance which admits of explanation from the fact that the passage before us is the fundamental one.-The 30th verse begins with an exhortation, “rebuke”: but that this, as rising on the basis of confidence, has in reality the import of a prophecy, corresponding to “they shall bring,” in verse 29, is manifest, from the words in the concluding clause, “he scatters,” (which it has been proposed inconsiderately to change into an imperative), and also from “they submit themselves,” equiva-lent to, “they shall yield, restrained by thee”:-all which stands just as it would have stood, had the opening words of the verse been “thou shalt rebuke.” The beast of the reeds can only be such a beast as has its usual place of abode among the reeds, and to which this belongs as its characteristic mark. It cannot therefore be the lion nor even the crocodile, whichspoken of in Ezekiel 29:3, as the symbol of Egypt, where the king of Egypt is addressed as “the great dragon who rests in the midst of his Nile”; compare 32:2. It must mean the second natural representative of Egypt in the brute creation, the hip-popotamus or behemoth, of whom it is said in Job 40:21, “he lieth under the shady tree in the covert of the reeds and fens,” (the קנה is used of the reeds of Egypt also in Isaiah 19:6; Isaiah 35:7), while nothing of a similar kind is said of his colleague, the leviathan or crocodile. The היה, which is never used of any particular animal, leads to the same result: compare the Beitrage p. 258. The express naming of Egypt in verse 30 furnishes a commentary on “rebuke thou the beast of the reeds.” The following expressions, “the strong ones,” and “the nobles from Egypt,” render it manifest that the hippopo-tamus does not exactly symbolize Egypt, but denotes its rulers, just as in Ezekiel 29:3, the crocodile is the emblem of Pharaoh. The preceding naming of the kings, and the clause which im-mediately follows, and is at the same time a general one, “the crowd of the strong ones,” shews that Egypt comes into notice here only as the representative of the power of the world, and is mentioned as being the most powerful of the existing heathen kingdoms, on whose submission all the rest would yield as a matter of course. “The strong ones” is a poetic expressionfor “bullocks,” as it is at Psalms 22:12. Powerful kings are termed bullocks, and their subjects calves, according to the ex-press explanation of the Psalmist. In “the calves” we may say either among or with: compare Ewald, § 521, 3: ב occurs in the same way again in ברצי.

The singular masculine מתרפס refers to the whole of what had been spoken of in the preceding context. The רפס is “to tread with the feet,” and in the Hithp. “to allow one’s self to be trodden upon,” or to submit.” “With pieces of silver,” which they bring as gifts of allegiance: compare “thou receivedst gifts among men,” ver. 18, and " their silver and their gold with them,” Isaiah 60:9. He scatters,” &c.: all nations, even those who are most remarkable for their strength and love of war, must yield to his omnipo-tence, when once the time has come “to assemble all the hea-then."-In verse 31 Cush is named, next after Egypt, as repre-senting the power of the world,-a kingdom supposed to pos-sess great strength, and invested with that peculiar splendour which attaches to whatever is distant: compare Isaiah 45:14; Isaiah 18:7, Zephaniah 3:10. The name Hasmonean, adopted by the Maccabees, was, without doubt, according to the practice of later times, (Psalms 45:1), taken from this passage. The Hiph. ofרוץ signifies always “to cause to run,” or “to hasten.” The hands, according to verses 29 and 30, (compare Psalms 72:10), are to be regarded not as lifted up in the attitude of prayer, but as filled with gifts of allegiance: compare Genesis 31:10. Cush will not manifest greater haste in any thing than in bringing gifts to the Lord. Arnd: “There was a glorious church in Egypt at Alexandria, where the holy Athanasius was bishop. The treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia was converted at Jerusalem, and many miracles were performed in that coun-try, by the Apostles themselves.”

Psalms 68:32-35

In the seventh strophe, verses 32-35, all the kingdoms of the earth are exhorted to praise the God of Israel: compare at Psalms 66:1.–Ver. 32. Ye kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, sing praise to God. Selah. Ver. 33. He rides forward in the highest heavens of old time, behold he causes his voice to be heard, the mighty (voice). Ver. 34. Give glory to God, whose height is over Israel, and whose power is in the clouds. Ver. 35. Dreadful art thou, O Lord, out of thy sanctuaries, the God of Israel, he gives might and strength to his people. Praised be God,-The 33d verse contains the basis on which the exhorta- tion of the 32d verse rests. The heaven of heavens = the high-est heavens; compare 1 Kings 8:27. The “of old time,” serves to exalt the excellence of God’s seat, and at the same time to point to his supremacy. Allusion is made to Deuteronomy 33:26 : “There is none like God, Jeshurun, who rideth in the heavens, as thy helper, and in his excellency in the clouds”: compare 10:14, “behold the heavens, and the heavens of hea-vens are the Lord’s thy God, the earth and all that is therein.” The second clause forms a compend of the 29. Psalm. On בקול נתן; compare at Psalms 46:6.-On “give might,” in verse 34, compare at Psalms 29:1. The rest of the verse contains the basis. His height is over Israel: his majesty and his glory guide and protect Israel, and the image of these is brightly reflected from Israel’s experience. His power is in the clouds, out of which he causes his mighty voice to sound, ver. 34.

His-tory and nature alike manifest his glory.-Out of thy sanctua-ries, ver. 35, O Israel: the plural is used, because the sanctuary of God is manifold, as bearing upon the maintenance, the de-fence, and the government of his church: compare at ver. 29. The conclusion is exactly the same as Psalms 29:11, " the Lord gives strength to his people”: compare Isaiah 40:29; Isaiah 40:31. Calvin: “In fine, he lays down the ark of the covenant as if it were a banner of confidence to the faithful, in order that, in reliance on the promise, ‘I dwell in the midst of you,’ (Exodus 25:8; Exodus 29:45), they may rest with safety under the wings of God, and may without terror call upon him.”