Psalms 68
Big idea: A procession psalm, and one of the hardest in the Psalter — a march from Sinai to Zion with the ark going up the hill and the tribes falling in behind. It opens with the words Israel said whenever the ark set out: let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. Its most quoted verse is Paul's, in Ephesians 4: you have ascended on high, you have led away captives, you have received gifts among people. And planted in the middle of all the thunder is the line that says what this God is actually like: a father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God sets the lonely in families.
Psalm 68 is a triumphal procession. Psalm 69 is a man drowning while people sing about him in the gate.
68:1–10 — A father of the fatherless
The psalm opens with the words spoken whenever the ark set out in Numbers 10, so it is a marching song from its first line. And then, in the middle of the smoke and melting wax, it stops to say who this God actually is: a father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, someone who sets the lonely in families. The most militant psalm in Book II defines its God by his care for people with no protector.
1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song. Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him. 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3 But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. 4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name! Extol him who rides on the clouds: to Yah, his name! Rejoice before him! 5 A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. 6 God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land. 7 God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness... Selah. 8 The earth trembled. The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai— at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9 You, God, sent a plentiful rain. You confirmed your inheritance when it was weary. 10 Your congregation lived therein. You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor.
68:11–18 — You have ascended on high
The middle is the hardest passage in the psalm to follow — a battle report in fragments, with women dividing plunder at home, a dove sheathed in silver, and snow falling on a mountain nobody can locate. Then it settles onto a comparison: the big mountains of Bashan look enviously at the small one God chose. And verse 18 is quoted in Ephesians 4, with one word changed.
11 The Lord announced the word. The ones who proclaim it are a great company. 12 “Kings of armies flee! They flee!” She who waits at home divides the plunder, 13 while you sleep among the camp fires, the wings of a dove sheathed with silver, her feathers with shining gold. 14 When the Almighty scattered kings in her, it snowed on Zalmon. 15 The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged. 16 Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever. 17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary. 18 You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among people, yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.
68:19–27 — Who daily bears our burdens
'Who DAILY bears our burdens' is the line to keep from this movement, and it sits immediately beside some of the psalm's most violent imagery — a crushed skull, a foot dipped in blood. The poem does not reconcile them. Then it turns into a procession, and the tribes listed are a deliberate mix: the smallest tribe first, and two northern ones alongside Judah.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah. 20 God is to us a God of deliverance. To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death. 21 But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness. 22 The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea, 23 that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.” 24 They have seen your processions, God, even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25 The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines, 26 “Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!” 27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
68:28–35 — Princes shall come out of Egypt
The last movement asks for the strangest thing in the psalm: 'scatter the nations who DELIGHT IN WAR' — a war song asking for the end of the appetite for war. And then the nations arrive, not as captives but as envoys. Egypt sends princes and Ethiopia hurries with outstretched hands, which is the image the early church read as the gospel reaching Africa.
28 Your God has commanded your strength. Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us. 29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bring presents to you. 30 Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot the bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war. 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God. 32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord— Selah— 33 to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. 34 Ascribe strength to God! His excellency is over Israel, his strength is in the skies. 35 You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God!
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).