Psalms 68:1 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, David asks God to appear in his glory.

He asks this, first, for the confusion of his enemies (Psalm 68:1, Psalm 68:2). “Let God arise,” he says, as a judge who comes to pronounce sentence, and as a commander who takes the field and carries out judgment. Then his enemies will be scattered and run before him, unable to hold their ground, much less stand against him. Let God rise like the sun in full strength, and the children of darkness will scatter, like evening shadows before the sunrise. Let them be blown away like smoke by the wind. Smoke rises as if it will hide the sun, but it is soon gone. Let them melt like wax before the fire, which quickly softens and disappears.

David is commenting on Moses’s prayer here. He not only repeats it for his own time and needs, but also expands it to teach us how to use Scripture in prayer. The words also point ahead to the Redeemer’s victory over the enemies of his kingdom, for he was the angel of the covenant who led Israel through the wilderness. There are, have been, and always will be enemies of God. They join with the old serpent, Satan, against God’s kingdom among people and against the seed of the woman, that is, the promised line through which the Savior came. Only the wicked are enemies of God, the children of the wicked one. We should pray for our enemies as fellow people, but we should pray against God’s enemies as enemies of his rule and of all their attacks on his kingdom. If God only rises up, all his stubborn and unrepentant enemies will quickly be scattered, driven away, and brought to ruin before him. No one ever hardened himself against God and prospered. The day of judgment will be the full and final destruction of ungodly people (2 Peter 3:7), and they will melt like wax before that blazing fire in which the Lord will appear (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

He asks this, second, for the comfort and joy of God’s own people (Psalm 68:3). “Let the righteous be glad,” he says, “those who are now in sorrow. Let them rejoice before God in his kind presence. God is the joy of his people, so let them rejoice whenever they come before him. Yes, let them greatly rejoice, let them rejoice with gladness.” Those who rejoice in God have good reason to rejoice deeply, and we should desire that joy for all the saints, because it belongs to them. Light is sown for the righteous.

David then praises God for these glorious displays and calls us to praise him too, to sing to his name and honor him.

He praises God as a great God, infinitely great (Psalm 68:4). He rides on the heavens by his name JAH. He rules over all the movements of the heavens. He directs and governs them, as a rider directs the chariot he drives. He has supreme control over the powers and influences of heaven. He rides on the heavens to help his people (Deuteronomy 33:26), moving swiftly, powerfully, and far beyond the reach of any resistance. He rules by his name JAH, or Jehovah, which means the one who exists by himself and needs nothing. He is the source of all being, power, motion, and perfection. This is his name forever. When we praise God in this way, we should rejoice before him. Holy joy in God fits very well with the reverence and godly fear that belong in worship.

He also praises God as a gracious God, full of mercy and tender care. God is great, but he does not look down on anyone, even the least. More than that, because he has such great power, he uses it to help the distressed (Psalm 68:5, Psalm 68:6). The fatherless, the widows, and the lonely find him fully able to meet their needs. Notice how much God’s goodness adds to his glory. One might think that the God who rides on the heavens by his name JAH would be praised mainly as King of kings and Lord of lords, the one who directs the affairs of nations. He is that, but he especially takes delight in being a Father to the fatherless. Though God is high, he pays attention to the lowly. Happy are those who belong to such a God. The one who rides upon the heavens is a Father worth having. Truly blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

When families lose their head, God takes care of them and becomes their head. Widows and fatherless children will find in him what they lost when that relation was taken away, and far more besides. He is a Father to the fatherless, to pity them, bless them, teach them, provide for them, and give them their portion. He preserves them alive (Jeremiah 49:11), and with him they find mercy (Hosea 14:3). They may call him Father and plead their relation to him as their protector (Psalm 146:9; Psalm 10:14, Psalm 10:18). He is a judge and defender of widows, giving them counsel and setting right their wrongs, taking their part and pleading their cause (Proverbs 22:23). His ear is open to their cries, and his hand is open to their needs.

He is so in his holy place, which may mean either his dwelling in heaven or his dwelling of grace on earth. If it means heaven, then it points to his throne of judgment, where the fatherless and the widow may freely come and find protection (Psalm 9:4, Psalm 9:7). If it means earth, then it directs widows and orphans to seek him in his holy dwelling, his word and his worship, where they may find him and find comfort in him.

When families are to be formed, he is the one who makes them. God sets the lonely in families, bringing people into caring relationships when they had none, and giving a settled home to those who were unsettled (Psalm 113:9). He makes people live at home who once had to go abroad to seek help, as Dr. Hammond notes. He gives the destitute a way to earn a living, which is a good example of human charity and a sign of God’s own kindness.

He also praises God as a righteous God. He does this, first, because God delivers the oppressed. He brings out those who are bound in chains and gives freedom to those who were wrongly imprisoned or forced into slavery. No chains can keep those whom God will set free. Second, God is righteous in dealing with oppressors. The rebellious live in a dry land and find no comfort in what they gained by fraud and violence. Even the best land becomes dry to those who have lost God’s blessing through rebellion, for his blessing is the true life and richness of all we enjoy. Israel was brought out of Egypt into the wilderness, yet there they were better provided for than the Egyptians themselves. Egypt, if the Nile failed them, as it sometimes did, was a dry land.