Chapter Sixty-Seven

The psalm’s superscription indicates both the writer—David—and the manner of performance, the vocal-musical performance, in which music plays the chief role (“A Psalm. A Song.”). The time and occasion of writing can be determined from the content of the psalm. The psalm describes a solemn procession (Ps 67:25-27) before the Ark of the Covenant, in which all the Hebrew people participated (Ps 67:27-29). In this bearing of the Chest to Jerusalem (Ps 67:19) from the east (Ps 67:5), the Lord is praised for all His numerous blessings granted to the Hebrew people: the assignment to them of Palestine for habitation, the giving of the law of Moses, and especially victories over enemies. The singing of God as the Almighty, a being terrible and invincible to enemies, and the portrayal of the rejoicing of the Hebrews over some victory accompanied by rich plunder (Ps 67:12-15), constitute the main content of the psalm and its fundamental tone. This characteristic indicates that the psalm was written after some defeat of powerful enemies, and therefore one cannot see here the portrayal of a peaceful triumph, such as the transfer of the Ark from Kiriath-jearim. Such a victory could have been won by David over the Syro-Ammonites, his most powerful enemies.

This psalm, because of its extraordinary conciseness of expression, insufficient clarity of text, and abundance of images, was considered the most difficult to explain, and even insurmountable, which is why it was called “a cross for minds and a reproach for interpreters.”

May God arise and scatter His enemies like smoke. Let the righteous be glad (2–4). Sing to the Lord, who is the Father of orphans (5–6). He freed prisoners from bonds, led them through the wilderness to Sinai (7–8). God in time of need sustained His people, turned the enemies’ flight and appointed settlements for peaceful and happy life to His people (9–15). The envy of high mountains toward Zion is vain, for the Lord will dwell on it forever (16–17). God is almighty: He has myriads of chariots and entered the high place having led captivity captive (18–19). Let us bless the Lord, our Savior, who will crush all His enemies, wherever they hide (20–24). This terrible and great Lord solemnly enters Jerusalem, accompanied by a choir of singers and music, surrounded by the leaders of the tribes (25–28). Establish, O Lord, Your protection over Jerusalem. To You here will the Egyptians and other kings bring gifts (29–32). Kingdoms of the earth! Sing to the Lord, the protector of Israel, to whom He will give strength and might (33–36).

Psalm 67:2. May God arise and His enemies be scattered; may those who hate Him flee before Him. “May God arise.” Here is meant the custom of the ancient Hebrews to take the Ark of the Covenant with them in their military campaigns. The latter inspired the Hebrews, since the Ark had God Himself present on it, and therefore He appeared as a military commander, the leader of the people.

Psalm 67:3. As smoke is driven away, so You drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so the wicked perish before God. Psalm 67:4. But the righteous are glad, they rejoice before God and exult in gladness. Since God, who protects the Hebrews, is an almighty being, no enemies can withstand Him: they will scatter, disappear like smoke in the air, lose their strength and firmness just as wax changes its appearance and loses its form from fire. Thus will it be “with the wicked,” the gentiles, enemies of the true God, as those who do not honor Him. “The righteous,” that is, the Hebrews, over the destruction of enemies will be glad and rejoice.

Psalm 67:5. Sing to our God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises to the One who rides on the clouds; His name is the Lord; rejoice before Him. David invites all Hebrews to sing hymns of praise to God, the great victor and their protector. From verse 6 onward, David enumerates the numerous benefactions with which the Lord has showered the Hebrews from the beginning of their historical life.

Psalm 67:6. Father of orphans and judge of widows is God in His holy dwelling. Psalm 67:7. God sets the solitary in families; He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land. Enemies will be confounded before God’s face, who is the Father of orphans and the righteous Judge of widows because He lives “in His holy dwelling,” that is, according to literal translation—on Zion. By “orphans” and “widows” whom the Lord protects, one can see not only the general designation of God’s justice and protection for all those who suffer wrongfully, but also the depiction of the condition of the Hebrew people at that time among the surrounding gentiles, hostile toward it and constantly waging war with it, so that the Hebrews among them appeared solitary and defenseless, receiving no support from any people, just as defenseless are widows and orphans. But this same external helplessness of the Hebrew people, the sole worshipers of the One God, finds protection in Him as the protector of the innocently suffering, such as the Hebrews were. Thus God settles them, as “solitary,” in a “home,” that is, Palestine, having first brought them out from the yoke of slavery, from their bonds through His might, supernatural aid. By “bonds” is meant Egyptian slavery. “But the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land,” which refers to the known fact of the destruction in the forty-year wandering of all who showed lack of faith in God before the moment of entering Palestine.

Psalm 67:8. O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness, Psalm 67:9. the earth trembled, the heavens poured rain before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. The Sinai lawgiving is described: the Hebrews journeyed to Mount Sinai under direct divine guidance (“when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness”), the external, visible sign of which was pillars—a cloud by day and fire by night. These extraordinary signs of God’s guidance appeared on Mount Sinai in terrible phenomena of earthquakes and storms accompanied by heavy rain (“the heavens poured rain”—down from heaven in clouds). This lawgiving had special meaning for the Hebrew people—from that time on, God of Sinai, who had given the law to the Hebrews on that mountain, became the God and protector especially of the Hebrew people.

Psalm 67:10. You sent abundant rain, O God; You invigorated Your inheritance when it was weary. Psalm 67:11. Your people dwelt in it; by Your goodness, O God, You provided for the poor. The Sinai lawgiving, which gave the Hebrew people precise laws encompassing their life from all sides, consolidated the former slaves into an independent unit, a separate nation. By itself, this was a great blessing for them. But the Lord continued to shower them with His mercies. He sent them abundant “rains” at the right time, one means such rains as fell not in the ordinary period of rains, but outside its boundaries, according to their need (“Your inheritance”). When the Hebrews were in need of something, whether struggling with enemies or from lack of external well-being, when the Hebrew “was weary,” the Lord came to him with His help and “invigorated,” that is, raised him up. Such instances of God’s protection of His chosen people are extraordinarily numerous in Hebrew history. The very assignment to the Hebrews of Palestine, a fertile land, was an expression of God’s goodness.

Psalm 67:12. The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it. Psalm 67:13. Kings of armies flee, they flee! She who remained at home divides the spoil. Psalm 67:14. Though you sleep among the sheepfolds, you will be like a dove whose wings are covered with silver, with feathers of yellow gold. Psalm 67:15. When the Almighty scattered the kings on the land, it gleamed like snow on Zalmon. “The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those who proclaimed it.” The Lord especially clearly showed His help to the Hebrews in their numerous and dangerous wars. These wars always ended happily because the Lord Himself was the commander, and His unconquerable power no one can resist; therefore the hostile “kings of armies flee, they flee” from Him in panic fear, leaving the Hebrews rich plunder, which they divide among themselves, and with these military trophies their women adorn their homes, which was customary in ancient wars. The further prosperity of the Hebrews is possible under the following condition: if, having conquered Palestine and each tribe having settled in the territory assigned to it, the Hebrews live peacefully (“remaining,” that is, resting), in accordance with the prescriptions of the Law, God’s will, then they will be like Egyptian doves, with their special plumage—silver, white feathers above and golden, yellowish under the wings, that is, the Hebrews will also be full of every external comfort and blessing of life, even in the form of abundance of gold and silver, just as rich and beautiful is the plumage of Egyptian doves. The meaning of this verse is thus: the Hebrews, on the condition of faithfulness to the law of God, will secure for themselves further prosperity in life. Such understanding stands in closer connection with the subsequent content, which also speaks of victories. One can also understand it thus: the Hebrews are invited to harbor no military designs after settling in Palestine, but to devote themselves to peaceful occupations and trades, which will bring them complete material well-being, though such understanding has less connection with the entire content of the psalm. When the Lord scattered the pagan kings who previously dwelt in Palestine, the latter gleamed like snow on the summit of Mount Zalmon in winter. (The past tenses of the verbs stand in place of future tenses). Following the destruction of the pagan kings, the former rulers of Palestine, the latter ceased to present obstacles to the settling of the Hebrews there, just as falling snow on the summit of Zalmon levels out its protuberances and fissures, and became (Palestine) as suitable and attractive for settling on and for working it as the snowy summit of Zalmon attracts attention by its brilliance (in the tribe of Ephraim, a mountain not high and otherwise, in ordinary time, dark, but covered with snow all the more attracting the sight of the viewer).

Psalm 67:16. O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan! O mountain of many peaks, mountain of Bashan! Psalm 67:17. Why do you look with envy, you mountains of many peaks, at the mountain where God desired to dwell, where the Lord himself will dwell forever? The writer calls the mountain that became the place of God’s constant presence the Mountain of God; in this case, Mount Zion. David calls it rich and fertile not in the sense that it is full of moisture and covered with rich vegetation, but rich from the presence of the Ark of the Covenant on it, fertile from the abundant grace found on it, so that in this case it can be equated with Mount Bashan, rich in moisture and pastures, but at the same time it surpasses Bashan, for its value is not merely in external moisture, but in spiritual wealth. This mountain (Zion) is envied in vain (“look with envy”) by other rich, one understands, with the grace of God (in agreement with verse 16) mountains, because Mount Zion is the mountain on which the Lord will dwell “forever”—always. This latter expression clarifies the reason for the indignation of other mountains—namely, the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to Zion for its permanent residence there. Hence, under the other mountains envying the first, are understood those localities where the Ark of the Covenant previously stood, such as, for example, Nob, Gibeon. The transfer to Zion of the Ark apparently provoked fruitless murmuring and discontent of the inhabitants of these localities with David for depriving them of such a holy relic.

Psalm 67:18. The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them, in Sinai, in the sanctuary. Zion, which became the place of the Almighty’s presence, became at the same time the place of special concentration of His invincible power. God has troops (“chariots,” which had great importance in military operations, by which the ancients determined the strength of an enemy) of which there are myriads upon myriads. “Myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands”—round numbers, that is, containing an undefined magnitude, whereby thousands properly means a very great quantity, and myriads upon myriads (a myriad = 10,000) an immeasurably great quantity. By God’s army David understands a great host of spirits, angels, as His strength and His warriors. Now this great power of God is concentrated on Zion “in the sanctuary,” just as it was concentrated and manifested itself in the miraculous action on Sinai.

Psalm 67:19. You ascended on high, You led captivity captive; You received gifts among men, even the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there. Mount Zion, before its conquest by David belonged to the Jebusites and was considered by them an unconquerable fortress (2 Sam 5:6-7), but David took it and conquered the Jebusites, who were previously unconquered masters of this mountain; moreover, they themselves had inflicted defeats and subjugated other tribes. Since this victory was accomplished through divine aid, David, recalling the war with the Jebusites, depicts the victorious procession of the Lord to Zion. You, O Lord, ascended on high, on a mountain steep and high—Zion; You conquered the ones who previously conquered others, that is, the Jebusites; To You with submission bring tribute, as an expression of subjection, those people who previously hindered You from dwelling here. By these latter words David indicates the complete subjection of the Jebusites to him and the laying of tribute upon them after their conquest. (The Russian translation: “You received gifts for men” is inaccurate: it should say “from men.”) But this passage, representing a hymn to God for His great aid in David’s conquest of the fortress of Zion, through its portrayal of God’s victorious procession brings together this fact with Christ’s descent into Hades and His ascension into heaven, when from Hades, as the unconquerable fortress which held captive and kept all the dead, Christ through His descent freed the souls of the righteous, destroyed its power and made it harmless to the devout person. In this sense this passage is explained by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (Eph 4:8-10), which indicates the prefigurative character of the psalm.

Psalm 67:20. Blessed be the Lord day by day. The God of our salvation bears our burdens. Selah. Psalm 67:21. Our God is a God of salvation; from the Lord God comes escape from death. Psalm 67:22. But God will crush the heads of His enemies, the scalp of him who goes on still in his guilt. Psalm 67:23. The Lord said: “I will bring them back from Bashan; I will bring them back from the depths of the sea, Recollection of God’s mercies toward the Hebrews fills David with grateful and prayerful feeling. He invites praise to God day after day and begs God, for the future as well, not to abandon His people with His mercy, as He did previously He sent salvation in times of calamities and enemy attacks. In God’s hands are both life and death. The latter will not escape the one who is an enemy of God, sunk in his sins (“the scalp of him who goes on still in his guilt”). It is impossible for such opponents of God to hide from His omniscience and ubiquity. If they should hide in Bashan, on the heights, covered with dense forests of oak, where brigands and robbers usually fled and where they were difficult to find, or if God’s enemies hid in the depths of the sea, the Lord would extract them from there to punish them. So many enemies will be destroyed that Hebrew warriors will trample them and dogs will lick their blood, since the bodies of enemies will not have time to be buried. All this will be fulfilled because this promise was given to the Hebrews by God Himself (“the Lord said”). Probably the occasion for such a picture of the destruction of the enemies of the Hebrew people was not only David’s victory over the Syro-Ammonites, but also the previous conquests of the Hebrews, for example, in the time of Joshua, when Bashan itself became their possession.

Psalm 67:25. They see Your processions, O God, the processions of my God, my King in the sanctuary: Psalm 67:26. singers go before, musicians follow after, in the midst young women playing tambourines: Psalm 67:27. “In the assemblies, bless God, the Lord, O descendants of Israel! Psalm 67:28. There is Benjamin, the youngest, their prince; the princes of Judah in their robes, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. David depicts the procession of bearing the Ark of the Covenant (“saw Your processions... of God”). The core of the procession was formed by a choir of singers, surrounded by young women with tambourines in their hands, who probably accompanied the singing; in front of the singers and further on went the princes, representatives of the tribes. This entire mixed choir, as well as the princes of the people, invited all people to bless and praise the Lord in each of the groups following the procession of spectators; all Hebrews in general were also invited to this (“O descendants of Israel”). Thus the picture of bearing the Ark of the Covenant represents a general public celebration, where everyone is invited to be a participant in grateful singing to God, not merely a spectator. And indeed, all the tribes were present here, as the Benjamite and Judean tribes, living in the south of Palestine, and also the northern ones—Zebulun and Naphtali. Only four tribes are indicated here to denote all tribes in general, for if even the most distant tribes from Jerusalem participated in this celebration, then for other tribes, more closely located to the place of celebration, such participation was even easier to accomplish. And in general, in the Bible, two opposite sides—east and west, or north and south—are often used to denote all lands.

Psalm 67:29. Your God has ordained strength for you. Show Your strength, O God, the strength You have displayed for us. Psalm 67:30. Because of Your temple in Jerusalem, kings will bring gifts to You. In verses 29–30, David prays to God to establish for the Hebrews for all subsequent time such victorious existence as has been theirs until now, with the result that the kings of the Hebrew people will always bring before His temple grateful and rich gifts. “Because of Your temple”—before Your temple.

Psalm 67:31. Rebuke the wild animals in the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples, trampling under foot those who lust for tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war. For the peaceful existence of the Hebrew people, it is necessary to secure it from powerful neighboring peoples. “Rebuke the wild animals in the reeds” (one understands crocodile and hippopotamus). By beasts in the reeds, one must understand the country abundant in water, reed plants, giving shelter and food to numerous predatory animals living in them. Such a country can be considered Egypt, with its rich water resources of the Nile River and its luxuriant aquatic vegetation along the banks. Under “beasts in the reeds” one then must understand the Egyptians, the inhabitants of this locality, always hostile toward the Hebrews. David here uses a poetic device, so-called metonymy, when instead of a country one takes its prevailing characteristic (here the abundance of water and reeds), and instead of inhabitants—a class of animals (beasts in the reeds). “Herd of bulls among the calves of the peoples” one means “rebuke.” Bulls are called the Egyptian kings and princes who ruled despotically over the peoples subject to them, “trampling under foot those who lust for tribute”—their wealth. Rebuke and humble, O Lord, Egypt, a country powerful in wealth and invincibility (see the comparison to crocodile and hippopotamus—images of unconquerable force (Job 40:10-27)). “Scatter the peoples who delight in war.” O Lord, all those who thirst for war with Your people and thereby are a constant threat to its peaceful existence, scatter them.

Psalm 67:32. Let nobles come from Egypt; let Cush stretch out its hands to God. Psalm 67:33. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, Psalm 67:34. to Him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice. Psalm 67:35. Ascribe power to God; His majesty is over Israel, and His power is in the clouds. Psalm 67:36. Awesome is God in His sanctuary. The God of Israel—He gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God! David foresees that a time will come when even the Egyptians will turn to God as supplicants before Him, that is, will believe in Him. Ethiopia—a locality in upper Egypt—is indicated to denote Egypt in general, part instead of the whole. “Stretch out hands”—will raise hands to God, will turn to the knowledge and true worship of Him. Together with Egypt, David invites all other kingdoms of the world to glorify Him, that is, God, the eternal king of the heavens of heavens, that is, the One to whom all the starry universe is subject. This Lord gives to His voice power, every word of His is distinguished by its efficacy, finds fulfillment. “His majesty is over Israel, and His power is in the clouds.” The victories of the Hebrew people, its happy life under divine protection, are a visible sign, clear proof of the reverence which He involuntarily evokes in men. God’s power is manifested not only in the victories of the Hebrews, but also directly in various atmospheric phenomena of miraculous aid, with which the history of the life of the Hebrews is full—God has done many miraculous deeds among the Hebrews, which is why David concludes the psalm with a reverent appeal to Him.