The Bible Study Hour

Guest (Male): Psalm 68 traces God's victory march from Egypt to Mount Zion and his entrance into Jerusalem, the holy city. Mount Zion may be small compared to the mountains of Bashan to the north, but it's the mountain on which the Lord chooses to dwell forever.

In Psalm 68, we'll begin to see a wonderful picture of God's might and power and a source of comfort for his people. Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, a radio and international broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically.

The sovereign Lord delights in showing his might and splendor to his people, but he also delights in using something insignificant for his glory, whether it be a small foothill for his city or a common man for his purpose. Grab your Bible and turn to Psalm 68 as we gaze upon our victorious Lord.

Dr. James Boice: Psalm 68 is a song of military triumph, and it's been valued as such historically. The best example of that are the French Huguenots. Henry of Navarre was their great champion in the early days. On one occasion, he and his armies were confined in the fortified town of Dieppe. They were threatened with destruction by the armies of the Catholic League under the Duke of Mayenne.

Fog had rolled in, and it kept Henry's artillery from taking aim on the enemy. The reinforcements had not come. The soldiers' courage had weakened under the overwhelming strength of the enemy. The king said, "Come, lift the psalm. It is full time." And so they began to sing Psalm 68 to the words of Theodore de Beza, one of the great reformers.

It went like this: "Que Dieu se montre seulement, et l'on verra soudainement abandonner la place; le camp des ennemis épars, et ses haineux de toutes parts fuir devant sa face." Wouldn't that rally you? Raise your courage and make you want to resist the enemy? That's what happened, at any rate. Pressing forward to the psalm's sound, the men of Dieppe forced through the Royalist arms. They split the enemy, the fog cleared, Henry's cannon began to take aim upon the enemy, and the league was scattered. The year was 1589.

Sixteen years later, in 1573, the Protestant stronghold of Rochelle was likewise under Royalist attack. Four times the battle lines advanced, and four times they were forced back. Each time the defenders raised their arms to the tune of that magnificent psalm: "May God arise, may his enemies be scattered, may his foes flee before him." And the siege was raised, and Rochelle was saved.

There was another occasion when it was used at the siege of Montauban in August of 1621. The siege had dragged on for a long time, and everybody was wondering how it would turn out. One night, one of the soldiers was marching under the town's battlements, and he played the tune, the well-known tune of Psalm 68. It was a signal to those inside that the siege was going to be lifted, which it was the next day. So that town was delivered, and those armies won.

It wasn't just to Huguenots who loved this psalm. It was loved by Charlemagne, the great emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and by Oliver Cromwell. He loved the 68th Psalm. 1812, we know that because it was the time of the defeat of Napoleon's armies at Moscow and their disastrous retreat. After the armies had had to leave the city, they held a service of commemoration, and the metropolitan of the city preached from the first verse of the psalm: "Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered."

You can understand when you study it why it meant so much to people under those conditions. I said when we were studying the last Psalm, 67, that very little has been written about it. It's almost been neglected. That is not true of Psalm 68. Quite the opposite is the case here. A great deal has been written about Psalm 68, partially because there are a lot of verses in it that are hard to understand.

One of the reasons why there are so many verses that are hard to understand is that there are a lot of words in this psalm that don't occur anywhere else. In order to find out what a word means, you have to see it in its context, and we don't have other examples. So to some extent, there's some guessing going on here as to exactly what the words mean. At any rate, it has provoked a great deal of material.

The structure is easy to understand. There are ten stanzas, and that's exactly the way the New International Version breaks them up. We're going to look at five of them in this and five in the next. Or you can look at it another way. The psalm begins with a prologue; it occupies the first six verses. It ends with an epilogue, verses 32 to 35.

In between, there's a great section that is itself divided into two main parts: a first part that looks to the past, what God has done in the past on behalf of his people, and then the second half that deals with the present and looks toward the future. One of the commentators, Derek Kidner, says this: "Flanked by the ebullient prologue and epilogue, the two main parts of the psalm celebrate first God's victorious march from Egypt with its culmination at Jerusalem, and then secondly, the power and majesty of his reign, seen in the ascendancy of his people and the flow of worshipers and vassals to his footstool."

One feature of the psalm is that it abounds in names for God. It's interesting to study it that way. There are five main words for God, very common, explicit terms: Yahweh, Jah, Elohim, El, Lord (that's Jehovah), and Shaddai. Others are in the form of descriptive words or phrases: "He who rides on the clouds," "a father to the fatherless," "a defender of widows," "the one of Sinai," "God our Savior," "the sovereign Lord," "my God and King," and "He who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with a mighty voice."

Each of these ten stanzas tells us something unique about God, and it would be interesting to study the psalm that way. It has a majestic sweep through the history of God's doings, and in that respect, this psalm is perhaps unparalleled by any other in the Psalter. If there's any event for which it was specifically written, it is probably the occasion of the bringing of the ark up to Jerusalem in the time of King David.

There are parts of the psalm that suggest that it was written later, and I've mentioned all that has been written about it. Certainly, among all that great collection of writings are many people who are arguing for all kinds of dates for the psalm. But you look at the title, and it does say it's by David. When you look at the historical events in it that can be identified, they seem to lead up to, but they don't go beyond, the time of David.

There may be phrases that suggest something later. They may well have been added later in order to broaden the psalm for its use at a later tradition in the history of the liturgy of Israel, but it seems to me that you can't really do better than to say this is probably something that dates from David's time. At least David's name is attached to it.

Just as the opening half of this psalm, or perhaps the opening phrases, have a long history that extends throughout the history of Europe and the Wars of Religion in France and even beyond, so does this first half of the psalm have a long history looking back. What it does is go back to the time of Sinai when the people were gathered around the mountain, and it proceeds from that point up to the entrance of the ark, presumably. That symbolizes the presence of God into the holy city of Jerusalem.

The setting seems to begin at Sinai because this is the way the psalm actually begins. Those words that you see there, "May God arise, may his enemies be scattered," seem to go back to the time when Israel, after it had been camped around the mountain, finally set out on the march through the desert on the way to Canaan.

You know what had happened to them in those months that they were camped at Sinai. God had given them the law on the mountain, and then he had also given them instructions for building the tabernacle and all of the furniture that was to be found in the tabernacle. The central piece of furniture was the ark of the covenant. It contained a top which had cherubim images of angels, and over that ark, between the wings of the cherubim, God was supposed to dwell in a symbolic sense.

He lived at the very heart of his people. That's what it was meant to teach. God blessed that interpretation because when the tabernacle was dedicated, we're told that this great cloud, the Shekinah glory that symbolized the splendor and the grandeur and the protecting influence of God, came and descended upon the ark. So while the people were encamped there at Sinai, they had this visible manifestation of the presence of God.

Now, what happened when they were ready to set out? We read about it in these early books. In the book of Numbers, Moses said this: "Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you." And as that happened, the cloud raised up from the tabernacle, it moved ahead before the people, and they followed it. It says whenever it came to rest, that is, when the cloud stopped and the people were supposed to encamp waiting for the next sign of their march, Moses said, "Return, O Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel."

That's the memory that's preserved in the first stanza of the psalm. The people are looking back to those great days. There is a change here, however. In Psalm 68, the prayer which Moses uttered, "Arise, O Lord," is turned into a declaration of remembrance. Literally, "God has arisen." Now the New International Version recognizes that that's also anticipating the movement of God, and so they translate it, "May God arise," but it's looking back to that event.

Let's look at it. Two things are said about God in the prologue, the first six verses. First, that he scattered his enemies, who are the wicked, and secondly, that he cares for the weak and the abandoned. So that prologue has two stanzas to it. In the first, the destruction or the scattering of the enemy is found in verses 1 and 2, and then God's protection of the weak or the disadvantaged is described in verses 5 and 6.

This is talking about his character. It's a wonderful character, and after it's described, the people, the righteous, are called upon to praise him. That's what they do in verse 3 and verse 6. This is a fact about God that is known to God's people, those who are close to him, that God is the one who protects the weak and he takes an interest in those who have nobody else to take an interest in them.

You recall that the Virgin Mary, when she was told about the child that would be conceived in her womb, and when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth shortly after the beginning of her pregnancy, said when she got there those words of the Magnificat that recognize exactly that. "God has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones. He has lifted up the humble, and he's filled the hungry with good things."

That's exactly the flow of thought that you have at the beginning of this psalm. God is a God who scatters the wicked and he's a God who lifts up the humble. That's our God. That's why the righteous praise him, and it's why we ought to praise him as well.

Now, the words that begin the third stanza, verses 7 to 10, which is the first stanza of the main body of the psalm, pick up from the prologue because the prologue is looking back to those days recorded in Numbers when Moses said, "Arise, O God, and lead us forth." And that's what God did. This begins to describe what happened when God led them forth.

Now, there's a jumble of images here. They're sort of compacted in a poetic way. There's the shaking of the earth; that was associated with the theophany at Mount Sinai. There's rain, perhaps the rain that defeated Sisera. We read about it in the song of Deborah in the book of Judges. And then it talks about showers of blessing, which are God's provision for the poor. This image, the showers of blessing, reminds us of Psalm 65 that we were studying, which sort of ties some of these things together.

Now, you move from that stanza to the fourth stanza, and here it is directed toward the conquest of Canaan. You see, they have been led from Sinai, they've been led through the wilderness, and now they come into Canaan. Again, there's a fast-moving pattern of images. There are kings and armies fleeing, verses 12 and 14. There is a picture of the Jewish armies dividing the plunder in verse 12. There's the ease of the conquest that the psalmist says is like snow falling gently on the land in verse 14.

Verse 13 is the first of a number of these verses that are really puzzling, and I have to say, at least I have to say, I don't really know what it means. It talks about the wings of God's dove being sheathed with silver. What in the world is that? And then it speaks of this happening while you sleep among the campfires. Well, I read the commentaries, and they've got dozens of explanations for what that might be. But the fact that there are dozens simply shows that nobody really knows. I don't really know.

It doesn't mean it didn't mean anything. It certainly meant something to the people of its day. It doesn't mean we won't ever understand it; someday we may. But for the moment, we have to say here's a verse we just don't quite understand. Verse 11 is interesting. It's taken on importance in the church far beyond its original meaning in the psalm. This is the verse that says, "The Lord announced the word and great was the company of those who proclaimed it."

Now, in its original setting, if you try to read it in the context of the psalm, it seems to be a note of victory. You take it with the verses that come afterwards. It seems to say God said you're going to be victorious if you do so and so. We know that that's what happened. He told them what to do when they were conquering Jericho, and the walls fell down. He told them how to conduct the battle against Ai and so on. And it says God gave the word and then they proclaimed it. They said, "This is what we should do." And so they did it. So that's what it seems to mean in the original setting of the psalm.

But in the church, it's taken on a different kind of meaning because when we talk about proclaiming the word in the church, well, that has to do with the gospel. Many people have picked that up and said God made the gospel known. He's revealed it to us in Jesus Christ. Great is the company of those who have proclaimed that throughout the world.

As you might expect, Spurgeon had a great deal to say about it. Spurgeon was one of those who proclaimed it widely, and so you read his great "Treasury of David" and what he has to say about this psalm. You find a lot of very interesting references. He refers to an older writer whose name is William Bridge, and he makes a great deal of the fact that the word "company," the company of those who proclaimed it, is actually the word "host." So it refers to an army.

He says what that really is talking about is an army of preachers being great. This is what this man says: "An army of preachers is a great matter. Yes, it's a great matter to have seven or eight good preachers in a great army, but to have a whole army of preachers, well, that's glorious." Spurgeon kind of liked that. He wished there were a great army in his day.

He quotes another man, William Strong, who said, "The Lord did give his word at his ascension, and there were a multitude of them that published it, and by this means, kings of armies were put to flight. They conquered by the word." For somebody who liked handling it that way, here's what Spurgeon himself said: "O, for the like zeal in the church today, that when the gospel is published, both men and women might eagerly spread the glad tidings of great joy."

The problem today is that that zeal doesn't seem to exist. Where is this great army of people who have heard the word of the gospel and are so anxious to tell other people about it? I don't see it much. At least I don't see it in the Western world. I don't see it in the United States. We have preachers, a lot of preachers, but they're pulpiteers. A lot of them are performing; they're not teaching the word of God very well.

Besides, it shouldn't be limited to them. When you talk about an army of those who proclaim the word, that's the whole people of God. In the early days of the church, they were so thrilled with the gospel they went everywhere talking about Jesus Christ, and the world was evangelized, the world of that day, within a very short time. But I don't see that today. We should be praying that God will begin a new work of reforming grace in our time by raising up such a multitude of proclaimers.

Well, let's go on. The picture of snow falling gently on Mount Zalmon in verse 14 leads naturally to a description of these high, rugged mountains of Bashan at the start of stanza five. Now, the peaks of Mount Hermon on the northern fringe of that particular range are about 9,000 feet above sea level. So that's a pretty high mountain range. By contrast, Zion, which David chose as the location of his capital city and where the ark eventually came to rest in his day, is only about 600 feet above the surrounding plain.

So if you compare the two, the majestic mountains are the mountains of Hermon and Bashan, and Zion is kind of a lowly little foothill. But by a poetic inversion, the psalmist says these great big high mountains should look in envy upon Mount Zion. The reason they should do that is that God has chosen to dwell on Mount Zion.

Well, that's important because what that really says is that God delights to choose small things. That's one of the great principles of the word of God. You can trace it in book after book, Old Testament, New Testament, wherever you go. God isn't impressed with greatness the way we think of greatness. You know, things that seem to be important in the eyes of the world, people who are powerful and talented and wealthy and all of that sort of thing. God isn't impressed by that because God's power and wealth and greatness exceeds it as infinity exceeds some small little thing.

What God delights to do is reach down and touch something that is insignificant and use it to his glory. That's what we saw at the beginning. That's what we saw when we referred to Mary in the Magnificat. She said, "Yes, that's what our God is like. Our God is a God who stoops down and helps the lowly."

It's what we see as well. You know how Paul put it in 1 Corinthians. He was writing to a church that kind of got big ideas about itself, how important they were. And so he wants to take them down a peg and he says, "Look around and just see what you are like. There aren't many wealthy people in your congregation, and there aren't many noble people in your congregation, not many philosophers in your congregation." He says, "God picked people like you in order that he might bring the glory to himself."

Here's the way he says it: "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things—yes, even the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one can boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.'"

Now, that means that if you're thinking of yourself as somebody great, you need to be humbled in order that God might use you. Also, if you're thinking of yourself as someone small, you shouldn't be discouraged. You know, in this world, most people think of themselves as quite small and insignificant. Most people have low self-images that way, and it's not a bad thing if they yield that over to Jesus Christ because that's the kind of people he worked with.

David, who wrote the psalm, came from a humble background. He was the youngest son in a rather obscure farming family in the land. He certainly wasn't from an influential, noble family, but God lifted him up because he was God's man and used him, used him greatly. That's what we need, people who are willing to do just that in order that the glory might go to God.

Now, if stanza five is the high point of the psalm and the climax of the psalm's first half, which it seems to be because it's the longest of the stanzas (it's a way of calling attention to it), then verse 17 is certainly the climax of the climax. "The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary."

You see, if this is describing the progression of God leading his people from Sinai through the wilderness, through all that historical period of the conquest and the judges and the time of the kings and finally David and the ascension of the ark into Jerusalem, then that's the climax. That's what's held up. This language is exalted language. "The Lord coming with tens of thousands of chariots."

It probably refers to the angels, the chariots of God, the kind of things that God opened the eyes of the servant of Elisha to see, the hills filled with chariots of fire round about Elisha. It's probably referring to that, but in any case, it's a way of saying that all of this was not accomplished by merely human means.

If David is writing the psalm, he's saying we didn't get to this point because our armies were so superior. We didn't get to the conquest of Mount Zion because I'm a brilliant general. David would have said, "No, it's because God has gone before us. And when we fought, the hosts, the armies of God, were fighting on our side. That's why it was accomplished." And so when he looks back, he does exactly what we should do when we look back. He gives all the glory to God.

There's one interesting thing here, and that is the use of verse 18 by Paul in the New Testament. Let me read what it says here, verse 18: "When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that you, O God, might dwell there." Now, that's the verse that Paul picks up in the letter to the Ephesians, and he uses it in connection with Jesus Christ and his ascension. He says there, "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."

Now, it's not at all surprising that the Apostle Paul should take a verse like that out of the Old Testament and apply it to Jesus Christ. He does that all the time, and it's simply a way of saying that the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. No problem with that. Even if you're using a figure from the Old Testament, ultimately that's fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying.

The problem is this; it's what's puzzling. In the psalm, God is described as receiving gifts from men, even the rebellious, because he's conquered them. They have to bring gifts. In Ephesians, Paul describes Jesus as dispensing gifts to men. So it seems to be a wrong use of the verse, or at least an unjustified modification of the Old Testament text.

Now, some commentators have suggested that that's exactly what Paul did. He simply took that Old Testament verse and used it for his own ends. You know, just made it say what he wanted it to say. I guess to some extent, it's possible to do that because we can naturally pick up language that we have in our heads because of some context in which we heard it and use it in a different way. There wouldn't be anything wrong with that.

But Paul isn't doing that. He's quoting the Old Testament. He says, "Just as it's written," you see. So we know he's referring to the psalm, and then when he does it, he actually changes it. So what's he doing here? Is he just playing fast and loose with Scripture?

Well, there are various suggestions. One suggestion has to do with the nature of the image itself. When a king is victorious and enters into his capital city, he both receives and gives gifts. People come and give him gifts. That's what you do. And then the king in his greatness gives gifts to other people. So the two things would certainly happen. They belong to the image.

The solution may also be in the fact that the Hebrew word that's translated "received" can also be rendered "brought." So it could mean he brought gifts for men. And it's interesting that two of the ancient versions, the Aramaic and the Syriac versions, actually translate the Hebrew word as "gave." So whatever Paul was intending in Ephesians, he certainly was depending on an ancient manuscript tradition. He wasn't inventing a new idea.

The point, of course, is that what is so beautifully described in the psalm—that is, the entrance of God into his holy city symbolized by the entrance of the ark—is completed in Jesus Christ. And so what Paul is doing, and what we need to do when we come to a psalm like that and can do because he's justified it by the way he has done it, is to say ultimately all of this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

We look back to it and we say God was great and strong and magnificent in the way he led the Jews from Sinai into their own land. He had promised to do it and he did it and he drove out their enemies. But we look at that and we say that's only a small thing compared to what Jesus Christ has done because Jesus Christ has gathered up his people and he's led them out of bondage and he's brought them into the glorious kingdom which is his church.

Within that kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ reigns as King, and he dispenses gifts to men and women. He gives gifts to those within his church. A lot of conclusions from that. Jesus gives gifts to those in his church and you're in his church. He's given gifts to you. Are you using them? He doesn't give gifts to no purpose. He's not aimless in what he does. He has a purpose in all things. He wants you to use that gift.

A second conclusion, I suppose, is that if he has given you a gift, are you thankful for it? Do you say, "Lord Jesus Christ, you really are a gracious, loving sovereign. The kings of the world are not like that. The kings of the world don't pay attention to small people like me. They only want important people around them, people of influence and power and wealth and that sort of thing. But you've stooped down to bless me." And do you praise him for that?

And then do we acknowledge him as King? King over our lives, every single thing that we do: how we think, how we behave, how we use our time, what we do at work, what we do when we're not at work, what we do in church, whether we use the time here well. You see, if Jesus really is the King and if he's a glorious King and if we look back and say, "Oh yes, he saved me from my sin by his death upon the cross," then it has a present consequence and he must be acknowledged as King and obeyed as King even now.

And if that is true, well, then we rejoice exactly the way David does in this psalm and we say, "Praise be to God. Praise be to Jesus, our King on Zion." Let's pray.

Our Father, we are thankful for this teaching, for what it means in its context but also what it means as we apply it to Jesus Christ, who has won these great victories on our behalf, spiritual victories. Father, give us grace to understand and appreciate what he has done, to love him for it, and then to be obedient, to follow him as King and Lord, which he truly is, and to praise him before the eyes of the watching world. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to this message from the Bible Study Hour, a listener-supported ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The Alliance is a coalition of pastors, scholars, and churchmen who hold to the historic creeds and confessions of the Reformed faith and who proclaim biblical doctrine in order to foster a Reformed awakening in today's church.

To learn more about the Alliance, visit alliancenet.org. And while you're there, visit our online store, Reformed Resources, where you can find messages and books from Dr. Boice and other outstanding teachers and theologians, or ask for a free Reformed Resources catalog by calling 1-800-488-1888.

Please take the time to write to us and share how the Bible Study Hour has impacted you. We'd love to hear from you and pray for you. Our address is 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17601. Please consider giving financially to help keep the Bible Study Hour impacting people for decades to come.

You can do so at our website, alliancenet.org, over the phone at 1-800-488-1888, or send a check to 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17601. For Canadian gifts, mail those to 237 Rouge Hills Drive, Scarborough, Ontario M1C 2Y9. Thanks for your continued prayer and support and for listening to the Bible Study Hour, preparing you to think and act biblically.