My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 68:28 Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
Psalm 68:29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings shall bear gifts to you.
Psalm 68:30 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.
Psalm 68:31 Nobles shall come from Egypt; Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
Lets continue in Psalm 68, where David is describing the God of Israel as rising up, bringing power to the nation, and delivering the tiny nation surrounded by enemies. His methods are unconventional to say the least, but David only concerned with God’s faithfulness, and Israel’s continued resting under His blessings.
David continues with his prayers in seeking God to continue His work in and for the nation of Israel. Think about it. It is one thing to begin strong, and by this time in the history of the nation, God had proved Himself over and over. David isn’t resting on his laurels, presuming that past victories secures future success. David is looking to God for His continuation of His power over Israel’s enemies.
Interestingly, David sees this power to be related to the temple, and rightly so, for he understood that the military success of Israel was not by human wisdom or strategy, but by the Spirit of God directing and empowering His people. This direction was hard linked to the temple, and David, of all the kings of Israel, knew of this connection well.
Centuries pass and the truth remains, that the source of strength and power of the people of God is God Himself. This never changes!
Zechariah 4:6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
As success follows success for the Israelites, and the enemies realize they are fighting much more than a small nation of slaves who came out of Egypt, the enemies come to their senses. David speaks of the humbling of the nations surrounding him. Mortal kings are generally known for their pride and arrogance, but for kings to bear gifts to Israel speaks of a humility and an admittance that they have come to the end of their rope, that they have no resources available to defeat Israel, their god is so weak, weaker than the God of Israel!
But to get to this humility, God is called upon by the warrior king David to
Rebuke the beasts
David describes beasts that dwell among the reeds, herds of bulls with the calves of the people. God is to speak correction to these bulls, these enemies of Israel.
Now we must remember when God speaks, it is not merely the compression of air from a voice box to produce sound. For God to speak is for God to expect and have results occur.
Consider Isaiah 17:13
The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away…
Notice that upon the rebuke of God, they (the enemies) will flee away. It is not that the enemies will consider God’s rebuke and then decide if they will accept it. Actually, for God’s rebuke to be directed to a nation will result in the nation fleeing.
Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute
This is a difficult portion to understand, as this psalm has presented many difficult portions. Nevertheless, God’s next action requested by King David is to trample, or to stamp down. In some passages, it is translated as hasten, or humble thyself
Proverbs 6:3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. ESV
Proverbs 6:3 Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor. CSB
Proverbs 6:3 Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend, YLT
How this works out in this verse is a mystery to me, other than the truth that those who seek the high life through money very often are humbled by the very thing they chase after. No matter how it works out, or how this passage is understood, the action of God trampling those who are against Israel is being requested by King David. No mincing of words for David is escalating the requests for God’s actions on the enemy!
scatter the peoples who delight in war.
To be scattered is a judgement that was left to the very end for the nation of Israel herself, as if that was the worst punishment that could be inflicted on a nation. Babylon came to scatter the people of Israel for 70 years, only to be restored under the mercy of God, and for the future provision of salvation through the Messiah. The second scattering of the nation, under the mighty Roman empire ended up without the same mercy, being permanent.
David was seeking this type of action by God on the enemies of Israel. This type of action seems irreversible for a nation, for only under the hand of God has any nation ever returned, and that only once after the Babylonian captivity!
There was no recovery for any nation if scattered. Absorption of the nation into other cultures would be inevitable, and the unified personality, dreams, and nature of any nation scattered would come to an end. This is David’s way of asking for the complete domination of any and all of Israel’s enemies.
Poetic? Yes!
Graphic? Yes!
Eventual? Yes!
In the end, all the enemies of God will be dominated by the Living God. Through pain, sorrow, humiliation, and death, the Living God, Jesus Christ, has become the King of Kings. The time will come when all mortal kings will acknowledge this truth. For Jesus has suffered pain, experienced sorrow, faced humiliation, and passed through death in order to draw all men to Him.
Will you bow the knee to the true King?
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