Psalm 68:19-35

I have said before that pronouns can be confusing. Perhaps in the original languages it was clear to whom a particular pronoun referred, but we don’t have that luxury in English. However, I think I can clear up some pronoun confusion in today’s reading. Naturally I could be wrong, but it helps the passage makes sense. The springboard for all this is verses 11-18 from yesterday which we saw as a major military victory for Israel

Think of the Roman victory parades that we have seen in the movies, with the Generals leading the legions of armies and the defeated prisoners forced to march along as demonstration of the Roman victory. Now imagine the same happening in Israel during Solomon’s reign, when the Temple had already been built. Start with verse 21, But God will strike the heads of His enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways. So the psalmist here is speaking of Israel’s enemies. His pronouns in verse 22 (them) and in verse 23 (their) reflect back to these enemies. I’m guessing then that these enemies are part of the procession to the Temple (vv. 24-27). He continues with the enemies bringing tribute (vv. 29, 31). In between he cries out for victory against Egypt and her supporters (v. 30), the only major power that Israel has not yet defeated in Solomon’s time. He then closes the Psalm with praise to God. I hope this helps your reading.

Psalm 68:1-18

When I first read today’s Psalm 68 (1-18) I thought that it was the most convoluted psalm that we had read to date. Then I read from a second (Study) Bible, which had pretty much the same reaction: “This is the most difficult of the Psalms to interpret, and there is no general agreement either as to its meaning as a whole or in many of its details. Some scholars regard it merely as a collection of unrelated fragments.” So maybe I was not too far off the mark?!

But further reading brought greater understanding and I saw two major incidents (vv. 6-10; 11-18) bookmarked with praise sections (vv. 1-5; 19-20). Verses 6-10 seem to refer to the Exodus from Egypt while Verses 11-18 seem to refer to a major victory, likely for King David after he had established Jerusalem (Mount Zion) as God’s “dwelling place”. Read it in that context and it all falls together better.

Verse 18 is worth a comment. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in Your train and receiving gifts among men… The Apostle Paul quotes this verse in Ephesians 4:8, Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high He led a host of captives and He gave gifts to men.

If we take verses 11-18 as David the conquering hero ascending to Jerusalem, the gifts that he gave would likely have been the jewelry and other valuables mentioned in verses 11b-13. But Paul sees this Psalm in a Messianic context, with Jesus ascending to Heaven and giving grace to each one of us (Ephesians 4:7) and equipping some as apostles, prophets, etc. (vv. 11-12). I have never known the context of those Ephesians 4 verses and they never made sense to me. Hearkening back to Psalm 68 opens my eyes! Yours, too, I hope!

Psalm 67

The essence of today’s Psalm is pretty clear – the nations of the world will come and praise God when they see His blessings poured out on Israel. This led me to wonder about Christianity in the United States and other highly developed countries in Europe. It wasn’t that long ago that belief in God and church attendance were standard in the USA and these European countries. I remember growing up that France, Spain, and Italy were Catholic nations, Germany was Lutheran, and England was Anglican. And God was certainly blessing these nations during our post-WWII years. But it doesn’t seem that the other nations of the world are embracing our faith. In fact, in all these developed nations, belief in God and church attendance are way down. As Carol and I have visited magnificent churches in Europe we are saddened that churches built for thousands to worship are now much less populated. I’m afraid that our Christian “model” has not played out well to the rest of the world.

Psalm 66

Another Psalm of joy, thanksgiving, and praise, with another song that some of us know in the first few verses.

Verses 10-12 struck me: For you, O God, have tested us; You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; You laid a crushing burden on our backs; You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet You have brought us out to a place of abundance. We have times of trial in our lives, but God is always there with us, sometimes allowing hurts and disappointments, but always with an eye to His glory. If we could only see with God’s eyes – for example, the Holocaust. Where is the glory in that? How is that fulfilling God’s great plan of redemption for all mankind? No one can make any human sense of that great suffering, but if we were to ask God He could answer. He knew each and every one of those souls who suffered. I’ve had some disappointments, some major upheavals in my life, but I am where I am today through it all. We really need to trust God through those difficult times; let God be God.

Psalm 65

Today, a Psalm of praise – fully, completely. No hint of enemies or evil or the wicked. The only negative in the entire Psalm is that which is self-inflicted: When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions… (v. 3), and even there praise is implied for God’s setting aside those sins.

The verse that struck me is a reprise from a couple of days ago: Blessed is the one You choose and bring near, to dwell in Your courts! (v. 4) We are blessed to have been chosen by God to be where we are, gathering regularly with a group of believers, serving the Lord in all that we do. That alone is praiseworthy! Where might we have been had He not called us to Himself…!!

Psalm 64

For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep. (v. 6b) Although David is speaking this sentence about the wicked, it is also true of all of humanity. God has given us a mind with which we are able to comprehend things at multiple levels, from the very simple to the very deep. I was a visitor once at a Bible Study in Slovakia which the pastor had named “Dig Deep”. Each evening gathering was just a few verses that the participants took apart verse by verse, word by word. They truly dug deep!

Another Bible passage supports today’s verse 6b: It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (Proverbs 25:2) I have occasionally cited this verse with respect to research being undertaken worldwide by eminent scientists, the latest being finding a vaccine for COVID. God has always known all along how COVID started, how it transmits, and how we might end it. And each new discovery, about COVID and every other illness takes us closer to His truth about the world around us.

Psalm 63

Today’s header is certainly related to other sections of Scripture, but it is difficult to pinpoint any actual chapter/verses since David spent a good deal of time running from Saul and Absalom, much of that in the Wilderness of Judah. Two of my study bibles list the following sections: I Samuel 23:13-29 for David’s flight from Saul and II Samuel 15:23-28; 16:2,14; 17:16,29 for his running from Absalom.

What struck me in today’s reading was that only three verses spoke of David’s enemies (vv. 9-10, 11b). The rest of the Psalm was about David’s relationship with his Lord as in …my mouth will praise You with joyful lips, when I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night… (vv. 5b-6). That’s especially meaningful today, in that we just spent the past week at Creative Arts Camp teaching and singing about praise. David models that for us today!

Psalm 62

Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. (v. 10) I doubt that many of us use extortion or robbery to enhance our incomes. However, I’m sure that many of us have seen our riches increase through no work on our part, but instead just watching our retirement savings increase as the stock market moves forward. This was especially true for some of us in the late 1990s when stock market gains were in the 20 and 30 percent range. So as we enjoy those gains (and rue the current stock market losses) Scripture reminds us not to put trust in those riches – or by association, not to bemoan our current losses. In it all, God is our only trust. Seek Him and rest. But “rest” does not mean doing nothing: For you will render to a man according to his work. (v. 12b) God wants us to be active, working for His kingdom. Rest from your worries, not from your chores!

Psalm 61

I’m not very good at breaking down the Psalms and putting myself into the writer’s situation. Commentaries help, but still there’s a depth to the Psalms that I never reach. That is not to say, however, that the Psalms are not helpful to me. We have already seen that many verses in the Psalms have been put to music, some songs of which are very dear to me. But beyond that, some verses just “leap off the page”, whether or not I am catching the psalmist’s original meaning. That happened today.

…You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. (v. 5b) David was speaking of his own heritage, presumably his birth into the nation of Israel, but I’m thinking of my own “heritage” – Jesus, His life and His church. How different my life would have been if the Lord had not put His life into mine back in 1975! I can count days, times, events in my life for which I can only give credit to God. For example, all the events that had to take place in my life and hers for me to meet and marry Carol…! My advanced years of education were the direct result of an intervention in my life by a godly man at a time when my life was directionless. And the many events that ultimately brought us to St. Andrew’s, to be with you people – a wonderful turnabout from where we were all headed. Glory! Yes, this is a narrative in which I can intersperse praise into so many life events. You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.

Psalm 60

It’s unclear exactly what today’s header is referencing. The most likely connection is with II Samuel 8:13 which has David killing 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. Kings were often given credit for victories when the actual work was done by military leaders, in this case Joab. Even today we see Generals getting credit for military victories (Patton, Montgomery, Schwarzkopf) when lesser officers and enlisted soldiers did the actual fighting. Also in the header, “Aram” is mentioned in II Samuel 8:6.

Beyond that, many of the names listed in the Psalm itself are referenced in II Samuel 8. By way of clarification, (a) Gilead, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Judah (v. 7) refer to the Israelite nation itself; (b) Moab, Edom, and Philistia (v. 8) refer to people groups who are enemies of Israel, all three also mentioned in II Samuel 8:1, 2, 11-14; and (c) Shechem and Succoth (v. 6) refer to geographic regions.

One of my study bibles offered a plausible explanation as to what’s going on in this Psalm. These authors suggested that while Israel was waging war against it’s northern enemies Edom snuck up from the south and won some military victories (vv. 1-3) over some weakened forces. David then sent Joab to do battle with Edom (v. 9) and he won some decisive victories such that Edom then became subject to Israel (II Samuel 8:14).