Psalm 68

David uses here a collection of images and figures of speech we don’t see anywhere else. While we have no doubt that the bulk of his writing is consistently symbolic and loaded with parables, it serves well to tread carefully to deduce the meaning from the context here. This is in essence a marching song. David celebrates the unspeakable greatness of Israel’s true King of Heaven. Survival in battle as leader was the mark of divine favor for the rulers across the whole Ancient Near East (ANE), but the Creator of all things was Israel’s warlord and king.

We associate the phrase “let God arise” with the initial lifting of the Ark of Covenant in preparation for movement during the Exodus. It’s also the image of any ruler rising to his feet in preparation for some kind of action against his enemies, domestic and foreign. Wherever Israel moved under the command of God, no force on earth, nor even all the forces on earth combined, could hinder His people from their ancestral inheritance. Therefore, while marching it only makes sense to sing His praises. He rides not just any white horse, but the billowing white clouds in the sky. Shout His name to bring fear to all those who oppose this march!

Some of His virtues include being the very Father to those with no father, and He welcomes widows into His domestic care. No one is alone in His domain. He sets prisoners and debtors free, loading them with prosperity. Meanwhile, those who reject His reign will be driven out into the desert wastes.

David lavishly praises God as the One who made the earth shake under their feet, a reference to Jericho at the least. When the people needed rain, it came in good supply. He describes how Mount Sinai convulsed at the divine Presence meeting with Moses on the heights. When the people were hungry it rained bread or water or whatever they needed. No one lacked who embraced His authority.

Indeed, on that sacred mountain, God gave to Moses His revelation, the greatest treasure any nation could receive. It was a massive army of people who published it by living its power. Thus, a whole range of powerful nations fled away before them. Back in the camp, the women divided the plunder of those nations. How do you describe such a great God? Had He laid Himself among the stinking herd animals at night to sleep, He would arise with the light of the dawn itself fluttering around His being, twinkling like flakes of precious metals on white wings. By the time the battles of conquest in Canaan Land were over, it looked like snow fresh fallen on Mount Zalmon (AKA Mount Ebal).

Speaking of mountains, God could have chosen any of the greatest peaks in the land for His Temple. Bashan with lofty Mount Hermon? It was His personal property. Don’t be envious, you mountains of Bashan that He chose Zion instead. The thundering chariots of God are innumerable, rumbling like those days when Moses was up on Sinai — the clouds of smoke and quaking ground were frightening. The Hebrew verbiage is a little ambiguous here, but the image of some mighty warrior king riding His chariots off into the heavens is obvious. What most people mistake is that such a mighty One would both receive tribute and then distribute it to those He favors for whatever reason. In Ephesians 4:8, Paul quotes this in the sense of the distribution of gifts (in the form of divine callings). But the image of both collecting treasures from the wealthy and mighty (grateful or otherwise), then tossing out trinkets from this tribute out to the crowds cheering along the side of the road as He passes through is common from ANE times and cultures.

But David notes Jehovah does this every day (verse 19). The God of Israel is one who saves, and David offers two different words that both translate as “salvation” in English. First is the idea of becoming a part of God’s plunder from His enemies; the second denotes being rescued from bondage. He is the God who rescues from death in both literal and figurative senses.

The image of wounding the enemy’s head is drawn from the arrogance of one who tosses his pampered hair and sticks his nose in the air. Thus, the image of blatant defiance will be turned on its head, as God brings back every dead soldier of Israel, from the Golan Heights (Bashan) to the depths of the two seas (Gulf of Aqaba and Mediterranean Sea) that touched land under David’s dominion, to bathe their feet in the blood of the high and mighty. Then when everyone has left, the feral dogs of the land will finish what’s left. Birds of the field ate soldiers’ bodies, but traitors were thrown to the dogs. It’s hard to imagine a more ignoble end on their remains.

David then describes a holy procession into the place of worship (a tent of meeting during David’s reign). It’s glorious beyond words, including just about everyone capable of joining in — choirs, orchestras, lovely young women in the flower of their beauty with something like tambourines, the small warrior tribe of Benjamin, the royal tribe of Judah, Zebulun as the tribe famous for marshaling the hosts, and Naphthali symbolized as the most effective border defense tribe having the most difficult journey to join the throng.

Then David discusses the future Temple that his son will erect in Jerusalem. This would help to unify the nation, and become a shrine to which kings would make pilgrimage. David characterizes those who might resist such an invitation as wild beasts, such as water buffaloes, wandering herds of cattle and skipping calves. It’s not a bad image for the bulk of humanity having no clue about God’s character and the moral fabric of Creation. They’ll be herded by events they hardly comprehend. So let it be, says David, until they are ready to bring God a just tribute, symbolized by silver. Meanwhile, make it hard for marauding nations to engage in raiding on Israel. From as far away as North Africa, let foreign kings come with their tribute to God, not to David and his heirs. So let all the nations of the earth celebrate their Maker.

The final verses are one long benediction of dedication to a king so great as to ride the clouds like horses. Let Israel be sure the whole world knows what a mighty God she serves.