“May God arise, His enemies be scattered!”. Verse 1 sounds the battle-cry of Christians the world over. How we long to see the return of Jesus and the end of this evil age, when the enemies of God will finally be overthrown.
But who are the enemies of God? Isn’t He a God of love, who loves all men everywhere and in every age? Yes, He is that, be He is also the God of justice and truth. His enemies are those people who undermine justice and suppress and distort the truth toward their own selfish ends. Those whom, despite God’s attempts to draw them to himself, stubbornly harden their hearts and reject all knowledge of Him.
In verse two, the psalmist elaborates on the fate of these enemies; They will be blown away like smoke or melted like wax. God’s wrath, like a flame, is enkindled in the presence of wickedness or evil. It is in the very nature of God as it is in the natures of the flame and wax to be unable to co-exist in close proximity.
But God is omnipresent, how can we talk about His proximity to or distance from evil if God is fully present everywhere? The answer is that we can be spiritually distant from Him. In our hearts, we can turn away from God. He gives us the grace and the space to build our own elaborate structures of wax and smoke.
Nevertheless, He cannot be totally absent anywhere otherwise that location would simply cease to exist. That is why hell burns like an eternal fire (cf. Mathew 25:41). The Presence of God, however remote, is still there to ensure its continued existence. The denizens of these remote, godless regions, unable to sustain their own existence, ironically enough find the (rarefied, but essential) presence of God becoming more unbearable the further they attempt to remove themselves from Him because they themselves become more insubstantial and vulnerable to His presence.
Let us therefore forget the wax and smoke in our lives, those insubstantial, temporal vanities and surrender ourselves to the saving grace of Jesus, who is our righteousness before God (2 Cor 5:21). Instead of burning in His presence, we will be able to rejoice and be glad (verse 3). God doesn’t desire the quiet dignity of the Stoics, who have wrestled their emotions into abject submission! He want us to rejoice, to be happy and joyful before Him!
In verses 4 to 6 the Psalmist shows once again God’s concern with the institution of the family. He is a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows. He even cares about the lonely and sets them into families! A godly society always starts with the family and a stable family structure. God has created us to be social beings. He does not want us to suffer loneliness, but desires for us to be part of a family and a community. From our modern-day perspective, we can interpret this verse as God bringing the lonely into the community and care of the local church. He frees us from our captivity to sin, from the “sun-scorched” and lonely landscape of the rebellious and brings us, singing and joyful into the community of His saints.
How desolate the landscape inhabited by the rebellious, who have excluded all true joy, love and companionship from their hearts in order to follow their own selfish ambitions and desires. How lonely the walk of those who worship the god of self. But how rich and lush the landscape of the righteous, who have surrendered their will joyfully to the glorious reign of Jesus!
The wings of my dove are sheathed with silver
In verses 12 to 13 we find this extraordinary image of a dove whose wings are sheathed with silver, and its feathers with gold. God calls it “my dove“. When I read this the first time I thought of the Holy Spirit alighting on Jesus in the form of a dove when He was baptised (Matt 3:16). And perhaps this is indeed what God had in mind for this Psalm. Certainly He could have wished to portray the Holy Spirit, who carries the riches of the kingdom of heaven, the silver and the gold, in His wings. However, since the dove is here referred to as “my dove“, it probably denotes a possession of God, rather than referring to God Himself as the third person of the Trinity.
A quick scan of the Old Testament reveals that God also used the image of the dove to refer to Israel (Psalm 74:19, Hosea 11:11) . So in the context of the Psalm, which describes God leading His people into the promised land (verses 7 to 10), this verse might refer to the nation of Israel, marching towards the promised land, sleeping around their campfires at night with the gold and silver of Egypt still in their possession (cf. Ex 3:22 – “Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians“), while God fights on their behalf so they might occupy the land He has promised them.
The envious mountains of Bashan
In verses 17 to 20 the mountains of Bashan are described as rugged and majestic. All those who love mountains know that the more rugged a mountain, the more beautiful it is. But despite their great beauty and majesty, they still gaze in envy at the beautiful mountain where God chooses to dwell.
No matter how beautiful and attractive anything in this world may seem, it cannot compare with the dwelling-place of God Almighty. As the lyrics of the wonderful hymn written by Helen Lemmel say so well: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”
When you ascended on high
Verse 18 is one of those verses that can be quite problematic for bible students. The reason is that this verse is quoted by Paul in Ephesians 4:8 in the context of Christ distributing spiritual gifts to His church when He ascended. Paul quotes the verse as “He gave gifts to men“, whereas the Psalm reads “you received gifts from men“. As the footnotes in the NIV suggest, there are alternate readings for this Psalm. We should therefore give Paul the benefit of the doubt and accept his reading as the correct one. For a more in-depth discussion relating to this apparent discrepancy, a good book to read would be “The Message of Ephesians” by John Stott.
This part of the Psalm, then, can be taken to refer to the ascension of Christ into the heavenly realms. The captives He is leading in his train therefore refers to the powers and principalities that He has overthrown (cf. Col 2:15 – “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross“). The gifts He has received for men refer to the gifts of service Christ has distributed to the church, He “…gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”. (Ephesians 4:11-12)
God our Saviour
In verses 19 and 20, the Psalmist describes God as our Saviour, who daily bears our burdens, who provides us with a way to escape death. This is a beautiful description of the saving work of Jesus that was accomplished on the cross. Even through He died once for all, and carried the full burden of mankind’s sin upon the cross, yet we still receive the benefit of His salvation on a daily basis. Despite our best efforts, we still sin every day, but we are assured that God will forgive us because Jesus paid the price for those sins by His blood. In this Psalm we are reminded that God’s salvation provides eternal life as an inheritance. We no longer need to fear death because through Christ we have escaped from its clutches. As Paul exclaims in 1 Corinthians 15:55; “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Plunge your feet in the blood of your foes
In a gruesome departure from the wonders of the Salvation of God, the Psalmist now describes the fate of God’s enemies in disturbing detail (verses 21-23). Many of us would prefer to skip this passage and pretend it never existed. Surely it is beneath us as modern human beings to want to plunge our feet in the blood of our enemies? Nevertheless, God’s justice, like His love, is perfect and demands that those who rebel against him get their due reward. Just as we rejoice in the love and salvation of God, so also should we rejoice when He finally overthrows all evil and brings justice to bear on His enemies.
It is not the first time we encounter this particular image in the Psalms; In Psalm 58:10 we read: “The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.” In this world, while we wait for the final judgement, we are told not to judge others and to leave revenge to God. But in the final day of judgement, we can safely rejoice in God’s justice, because we know that our joy will not be mixed with self-interest or malice. God is the only one who can judge fairly, since only He knows what is in men’s hearts. This final rejoicing therefore, far from being a vindictive pleasure at watching the downfall of others, will be a pure and holy joy, celebrating true and righteous justice executed by a Judge who is fair and good.
The procession of God (verses 24-27)
The focus of the Psalmist now shifts to that of a spectator or a commentator. Eagerly he describes the procession of God as it comes into view and passes before us into the sanctuary of God. First come the musicians and singers, praising God, then the princes from the different tribes. The whole atmosphere is one of excitement and celebration. The Psalmist concludes this amazing poem with an exhortation for God to show His power once again and subdue the nations (verse 28-31) and finally an exhortation to all the nations to praise God and sing praises to Him (verses 32-35).
Conclusion
This Psalm is so complex and has so many different features that it is difficult to internalize in one go. The mood of the entire Psalm is festive, victorious and celebratory. In the same spirit of victory, it describes the ascension of Christ into the heavenly realms after His victory over sin and death. It is a Psalm that should evoke joy and praise in our spirits. Joy that we have been saved, joy at the victory of Christ over death and sin. Praise to God because of His wonderful grace and power. Praise also, that one day justice will be done, and all the injustice that we see around us in the world today will come to an end.
May you also be happy and joyful as you rejoice before the Lord, who bears our burdens daily and saves us from death!
Delight in the Lord 