Psalm 68
God Shall Scatter His Enemies
TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID. A SONG.
*A processional liturgy celebrating the glorious and triumphant rule of Israel’s God. Verses 1-18 contain many clear references to God’s triumphal march from Mount Sinai (in the days of Moses) to Mount Zion (in the days of David). The events at Mount Sinai marked the birth of the kingdom of God among his people; the establishing of the ark of the covenant, symbol of God’s throne, in Jerusalem marked the establishment of God’s redemptive kingdom in the earth, with Jerusalem as its royal city.
The early church, taking its cue from Ephesians 4:8-13, understood this psalm to foreshadow the resurrection, ascension and present rule of Christ and the final triumph of his church over the hostile world. Psalm 68 is the last in a series of four.
God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!
Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the Lord;
exult before him!
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
-68:1-5
Your flock found dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God,
you provided for the needy.
-68:10
Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.
Our God is a God of salvation,
and to God, the Lord,
belong deliverances from death.
-68:19-20
Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;
scatter the peoples who delight in war.
-68:30
O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praises to the Lord,
to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
Ascribe power to God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
and whose power is in the skies.
Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
the God of Israel–he is the one who
gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!
-68:32-35
Psalm 69
Save Me, O God
TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO LILIES. OF DAVID.
*A plea for God to have mercy and to save from a host of enemies: the prayer of a godly king when under vicious attack by a widespread conspiracy at a time when God had “wounded” him for some sin in his life. If, as tradition claims, David authored the original psalm, the occasion is unknown. In its present form the prayer suggests a later son of David who ruled over the southern kingdom of Judah. That king may have been Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 18, 19, 20 or 2 Chronicles 29–32).
In themes and language this psalm has many links with Psalm 32, Psalm 35, Psalm 38, Psalm 40, Psalm 109 (all psalms “of David”; see also Psalm 18). It begins a series of three prayers for deliverance when threatened by enemies. The authors of the New Testament viewed this cry of a godly sufferer as foreshadowing the sufferings of Christ; no psalm, except
Psalm 22, is quoted more frequently in the New Testament.
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.
-69:1-3
When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
-69:10
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love
answer me in your saving faithfulness.
Deliver me from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood swallow over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Hide not your face from your servant;
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all know to you.
Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
-69:13-20
I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his own people
who are prisoners.
Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
-69:30-34
Psalm 70
O Lord, Do Not Delay
TO THE CHOIRMASTER. OF DAVID, FOR THE MEMORIAL OFFERING.
*An urgent prayer for God’s help when threatened by enemies–a somewhat revised duplicate of Psalm 40:13-17. This is the second in a series of three such prayers; its language has many links with that of Psalm 71. The prayer is framed by pleas for God to “come quickly” with his help. The rest of the prayer focuses on the effects of God’s saving help: (1) upon those “who seek my life” and (2) for those “who seek you.”
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”
May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
-70:1-5
Psalm 71
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
*A prayer for God’s help in old age when enemies threaten because they see that the king’s strength is waning. The psalm bears no superscription, but it may well be that Psalm 70 was viewed by the editors of the Psalms as the introduction to Psalm 71, in which case the psalm is ascribed to David. This suggestion gains support from the fact that Psalm 72 is identified as a prayer by and/or for King Solomon. This is the third in a series of three prayers; its dominant theme is hope.
In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
I have been as a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all day.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
-71:1-9
O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
May my accusers be put to shame
and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
-71:12-21
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help
all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.
-71:23-24