Devotional Short Note on Psalm 68: There
are just as many suggestions for the application of this Psalm as there are
commentators. The Targum or Jewish Translation into Aramaic wants to connect it
with the Revelation of God at Sinai. The periods suggested by the commentators
covered ten centuries. Do they know what they are talking about? Their problem
is that they are preterists who seek to lock the Psalm up in some event or
events in the biblical past so they come up with processions after a war in
which their victory is seen as if it is God Himself. Good morning. Only
Seventh-day Adventist historicists will be able to make sense with the
intricate language in this Psalm. One needs to know the prophetic charts, and
know them correctly. One needs to know the prophets well since they all had the
same charts in mind. This Psalmist uses language we also find in Isaiah, Joel
and Habbakuk, just to mention a few. There are three citation marks of Selah’s
been used so one can draw a line in one’s Bible text under them since after
each citation will be a new thought or change in theme or a new subject matter
68:8b; 68:20b; 68:33b. The Psalm opens with God or Michael of
Daniel 12:1, standing-up after the Time of Jacob’s Trouble to Resurrect at the
Second Coming of Christ “God will arise, His enemies will be scattered” (68:2a).
“The ones hating Him will flee from before His face” (68:2b). This rising of the
Lord is also in Isaiah 60:2c “the Lord will rise upon you”. In the Psalm the
evil ones will flee and in Joel 2:6 says the peoples and nations will quake
about it “all faces gather blackness”. Isaiah 13:14 also talks about the
fleeing at the Second Coming of Christ by the evil. We should not miss the future forms of
the verb used in this Psalm. If your Bible has left them out, write them in. It
is not a prayer that the Lord should do something in someone’s life in the
past, it is a future scenario that is painted. It will happen, not maybe, and without
human hands. We cannot make the eschaton happen. Neither make it happen our way
regardless of the so-called “gospel of democracy” by neocons trying to build an
Utopia on this earth. The Millennium is not before the Second Coming but after
it. The evil at the Second Coming will be
driven away like smoke and they will melt before the fire [of His glory]
(68:3a-b). “So will the wicked perish from the face of God” (68:3c). Joel
mentions about fire at the Second Coming, “Fire comes before it and the flame
blazes after it” (Joel 2:3). This is not the Hell fire described in the Book of
Revelation since that will be after the Millennium not before it. Habakkuk says
about the evil “uncover the foundation to the neck” (Habakkuk 3:13). This language
of the Psalmist is the same as in Habakkuk 3:3; 3:4; 3:5. “And the righteous will [future] be
glad, they will exult before God, they will rejoice in gladness” (68:4). God is the One Who is described as
riding a chariot over the skies (68:5b). Isaiah 51:9;10 and Habakkuk 3:8 also
deals with God riding a chariot. The Psalmist will explain in 68:18a that there
are many chariots at the Second Coming as the angels accompany Christ the King “the
chariots of God are myriads, even thousands upon thousands. The Lord [Christ
Jesus] is among them, Sinai in holiness”. The syntax in this last part is
difficult so scholars were stretching it or panelbeating it to what they think
it says. No-one kept it literal since it made no sense for them. Our
translation is literal. They translated: “[as in] Sinai, in holiness” but there
is no “as in” in the text. Others tried “as at” but again that is not there.
Christ is the new Sinai mountain and He is Holiness. It is a concept no scholar
has thought of before. That is what the text says. Preterists would have
sleepless nights over this syntax and unless they dishonor the text, they
cannot sleep. Again in 68:34a God the Rider of a Chariot is mentioned “to Him that
rides on the heavens of heavens which[Assyrian/Babylonian relative pronoun used here] are from before.” Joel
2:5 says the Second Coming is “like the sound of chariots, like a mighty people
arrayed for battle”. Christ’s strength is in the skies (68:35c). The background
of Psalm 68:1-5 lies in the folds of Isaiah 13:13-14. You cannot separate the
context from each other. If a [:] existed in those days, the
Psalmist would have placed it after 68:5c to explain the ID of God, why people
should exult Him: God is a father for the fatherless and a judge for widows “God
in the habitation of His holiness” (68:6b). God make the lonely to dwell in a
house (68:7a) which compares to the message of Isaiah 56:4b where the Sabbath
keeping eunuch is promised “to them I will give in My house and within My walls
a memorial.” The Psalmist continues that “prisoners brought out in prosperity,
surely the rebellious dwell in dividedness” (68:7a-c). Resurrected and those alive form one
group at the Second Coming and “God in Your going before Your people in Your in
the wilderness” Selah (68:8a-b). This is not the Exodus event in the past and
their trek through the wilderness. This is Christ leading people from this
earth to heaven. Isaiah 51:22b says that God “contends for His people”
describing the Time of Trouble preceding the Second Coming. Joel 2:11 says “The
Lord gave forth His voice before the army [of angels]” at the Second Coming. After the citation mark the Psalmist
cited the result of Christ’s coming to this earth in terms that also Isaiah
13:13; Habakkuk 3 and Joel 2 knew so well: “the earth trembled, the heavens
also dropped from before the face of God”. Reading Isaiah 13:13-14, Habakkuk 3
and Joel 2 is an absolute must to appreciate the Psalmist here. Then the
Psalmist makes a comment saying “this [zeh = which is a wellknown Phoenician
relative pronoun] Sinai from the face of God is the God of Israel” (68:9b).
Christ is Sinai at the Second Coming and Christ is the God of spiritual Israel.
Latter and Early Rains are mentioned in
68:10a: “Rain of abundance will You pour down O God, Your inheritance”. In Joel
2:23 the same word appear as here [geshem] divided in two time zone deliveries
promised: geshem moreh which is early rain and [geshem] malqosh which is latter
rain. Figuratively, the Holy Spirit outpourings at Pentacost for the Early Rain
and we are waiting right now for the soon outpouring of the Latter Rain Holy
Spirit experience. “He that is weary [of waiting so long because of the delay
of the coming of the Lord] You confirm it” (68:10c). One cannot translate “Your
inheritance was weary” because there is a “and” before weary and it reads
literally: “Your inheritance and he that is weary.” How to one ignore the
copulative that separates what is before from what follows it? We simply stop
the phrase before the “and” by making the “and” the beginning of a next phrase.
One cannot bulldoze over the syntax of the original with modern ideas. “Your flock [remnant of spiritual
Israel] will live in it, You will prepare in Your goodness for the poor, O God”
(68:11a-b). Then the Psalmist says something that
digi-modernists may grab as Women Ordination legitimization. Not so. The Psalmist
says: “The Lord will give a Word: the tiding bearers (females) is a great host”
(68:12). Women proclaiming the gospel must not be confused with women lobbying
for ordination rights like civil rights. Christ never participated in any form
of civil rights. At the Second Coming there will be a large host of women who
preached and taught Jesus to the world. Living and saved witnesses of Christ’s
just as Christ the Messianic servant of Isaiah 61:1 is preaching good tidings
to the meek. At the Second Coming the kings of armies
will flee, they flee (twice repeated) (68:13a). The fleeing action was already
mentioned supra in 68:2b. Some woman is seen in vision sitting at the palace of
the king dividing the spoil of the king who is now fleeing by the coming of
Christ (68:13b). Of course she will not do so long for the mighty sound will
also come her way. Dividing the spoil is the signal of victory normally. The Psalmist says that “if you will lie
among the sheep, wings of a dove are covered with silver and her pinions with
the shimmer of gold” (68:14). If one is faithful, wings will be supplied of
silver and gold. Doves fly away in trouble and so this sleeping shepherd will
do the same. The Psalmist says that at the Second
Advent, “In the scattering of the Almighty of the kings therein, it will snow
on Zalmon” (68:15). “A mountain of God is mount Bashan, a mountain of peaks is
mount Bashan” (68:16). In Isaiah 33:8-9 Isaiah described the condition of
Bashan at the Second Coming: “Bashan and Carmel deserted”. The Byzantine Greek
Septuagint sees Bashan as “Galilee” and the Targum sees it as “Mathnan”. The question is asked: “Why do You look
at the mountain of peaks?” (68:17a). “The mountain which God has desired for
His dwelling” (68:17b). “Indeed [aph] the Lord will dwell/tent unto eternity”
(68:17c). Having jargon dealing with “eternity”
means that it is no earthly event in our history or that of the Bible. It is
future in the eschaton. In 68:19 the Psalmist talks about Christ
“You ascended to the heights [of heaven], You have captured the captives”. The
resurrected ones was captive in their state of death but Christ has now in the
Advent event captured them with Him in the heights of the sky. In Isaiah 61:1
one of the items on Christ’s list was to “proclaim liberty to the captives”. “You have received gifts among men”
(68:19b). Isaiah 18:7a says that at the Second Coming the peoples from Southern
Africa [“from beyond the rivers of Kush” Isaiah 18:1] will bring “a gift to the
Lord of Hosts”. Why “hosts”? Because He comes with all His angelic host. My
imagination is that they are going to sing a beautiful song of thankfulness for
salvation to the saving Christ. The gift of beautiful choir music from the
Southern African saved (Isaiah 18:7b-e). They are now already practicing. It
will be to the Lord of angelic hosts on heavenly mount Zion where the New
Jerusalem is with Christ now in their midst (Isaiah 18:7f). Gifts are mentioned
in Psalm 68:19b and 68:30b that kings will bring gifts to Christ that time and in
68:32 saying the same as Isaiah 18: “Kush shall hasten his hands to God”
(68:30b). Now you know why. After the Selah at the end of verse 20
the subject matter changes again. Delitzsch and others thought that 68:21-33 is
a victory procession of Israelites which they wrongly equated with God
procession. Rest assure, it is all about God. “God is unto us a God of
deliverances [in the Time of Jacob’s Trouble] and unto God the Lord to death
will He throw out” (68:21). Resurrection is one of Christ victories. He will
throw out death. “Indeed God will smite the head of the
enemies” (68:22a). The Lord said that He will bring back from Bashan and the depth
of the sea those who have died. This will be according to the biblical charts,
after the Millennium. War language is used that one typically find in Isaiah’s
descriptions of the Warrior Messiah Christ. “Your foot will wade through blood
that the tongue of Your dogs may have its portion from Your enemies” (68:24). “They see Your goings O God. The goings
of my God, my King in holiness” (68:25). They can all see the Warrior Messiah
in action at that time. When Christ comes back from Hell, according to Psalm 46
the saints in the city are very excited. Here it says: “the singers go before,
the minstrels follow after, in the middle of damsels playing upon tambourines”
(68:26a-b). The Psalmist selected then four tribes
of Israel: Benjamin, Judah, Zebulun, and Naphtali (68:28). They are all in the
procession that day after Armeggidon or the Battle in the Valley of Decision or
the Hell event. Interesting that in Psalm 68:29 it reads
about Christ: “Your God has commanded Your strength” and this is true about the
Trinity. They are all God and the strength of God is their strength. It
dictates Christ’s results as Warrior Messiah. “Be strong, O God, the One Who [Phoenician
relative pronoun] worked for us” (68:29b). “Out of Your temple [heavenly temple] upon
Jerusalem [heavenly Jerusalem] to You they shall bring gifts. Kings who are
[Akkadian relative pronoun, thus either Assyrian or Babylonian]” (68:30). This
is not earthly Jerusalem in any period. Why would the kings walk away from the
temple to God? Why is God outside His temple here? If it was history, then one
would expect the kings to walk to the temple where they presume God is. The Warrior Messiah will “rebuke” the
icon worshippers (68:31a-b) and the money lovers (68:31c) and the warmongers or
war-engineers (68:31d) “the people that delight in war”. From Egypt and Kush in Africa shall the
remnant come (68:32). Isaiah 19 deals with Egypt in the Eschaton. There is no
point in Egyptian history where God came “riding on a swift cloud” (Isaiah
19:1b). Here in this Psalm we already encountered this. “It comes to Egypt”
(Isaiah 19:1b). There is no “about to come”. It is an oracle and vision and
Isaiah describes what he saw. The events in this chapter of Isaiah takes us to
the Latter Rain period, the plagues, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble and the Second
Coming. In the time of the end there will be a kind of Egyptian “Spring” where “Egyptians
against Egyptians” (Isaiah 19:2a), “city against city” (Isaiah 19:2c). The
result is that their spirit will demoralized their strategy (Isaiah 19:3a-b).
Division among the ranks of power confuses its ability for strategies, says
Isaiah. They resort to spiritism (Isaiah 19:3c-d). God will deliver Egyptians
into the hands of Satan “a cruel/hard master” (Isaiah 19:4) which is a “strong
king” (Isaiah 19:4b). There are disastrous environmental proportions of warming
climates in the future. The waters of the sea dry up (Isaiah 19:5a) [Suez
canal?]; the river is dry (Isaiah 19:5b); canals have a stench (Isaiah 19:6a);
streams of Egypt thin out (Isaiah 19:6b); pillars of past historical monuments
will crush (Isaiah 19:10a); hired laborers are in agony (Isaiah 19:10b). Isaiah
also saw that the glorious historical “princes of Zoan = Thebes” are “utterly
fools” (Isaiah 19:11a), meaning that all the Wisdom of Egypt, Wisdom of
Ptahotep; Wisdom of Amenemope, “I am a son of the wise” (Isaiah 19:11d) all are
in the Eschaton of no avail “where are your wise men?” (Isaiah 19:12c). Two
capitals of Egypt are listed, not only one (Thebes and Memphis). Satan is the “spirit
of distortion/confusion” that has led them astray (Isaiah 19:14a). Near the Second
Coming “In that day” (Isaiah 19:16a) “Egyptians will become like women” because
the Lord will wave a Hand over them (Isaiah 19:16). The Latter Rain will have
lasting effects in Egypt. It is predicted by Isaiah in Isaiah 19:18 that at
least four out of five cities follows the final call of the Lord in the Latter
Rain event “swearing to the Lord of hosts” but one fifth will be clinging to
Satan and will be called “city of Destruction”. There will be worship of the
Lord in Egypt as a result of the Latter Rain event (Isaiah 19:19). They will “cry
to the Lord” (Isaiah 19:20). They will enter the Time of Trouble and will be
oppressed for their new faith “and He will send them a Savior and Champion” and
“will deliver them” (Isaiah 19:20). We know that in the height of the Time of
Trouble Michael and His angels come to rescue and save (Daniel 12:1-2) and
suddenly we are back to Psalm 68:2. The Egyptians at the Latter Rain “will make
a vow to the Lord and perform it” (Isaiah 19:21). “They will return to the Lord”
(Isaiah 19:22). In that day (Isaiah 19:23) there will be a highway of
connections and communications between Egypt and Assyrian faithful ones and
spiritual Israel will be the third to jon the new converts from Egypt and
Assyria “a blessing in the midst of the earth” at that time in history. The
faithful respondents from the two centers, and the already faithful will all be
blessed by the Lord (Isaiah 19:25). Now we know why Psalm 68:32a says “They
shall come, nobles out of Egypt”. Before the citation mark is given, all
the earth is called upon to praise the Lord (68:33). After the citation mark (Selah) a new
chain of thought is introduced. We have already talked about the cloud riding
Christ with His chariot in this verse (68:34). “His strength is in the skies”
(68:35c). “Awe-inspiring is God out of Your holy
place” (68:36a). From the Heavenly Sanctuary, all actions come indeed. Edward
Heppenstall was right.
One final note. After considering
all evidence and data in this Psalm, the multiple connections to Isaiah both
linguistically (Akkadianisms and Phoenicianisms) plus the content, makes me
decide that David wrote this Psalm with a very developed understanding of
eschatology. In fact, the same Holy Spirit that made sure that every generation
understand the prophetic charts also gave Isaiah, Joel and Habakkuk the same
visions and message.