Psalm 47:9

Psalm 47 is a psalm of the sons of Korah, and it is one of the psalms that celebrate the LORD as King, often called enthronement or coronation psalms. It opens with a call to every people: “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph” (Psalm 47:1). It tells how God subdues the peoples under Israel (Psalm 47:3) and chooses Israel’s inheritance for them (Psalm 47:4). At its centre God goes up “with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet” (Psalm 47:5), and then the psalm gives the reason for all the praise: “For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding” (Psalm 47:7).

Verses 8 and 9 are the high point of the whole psalm (Psalm 47). The King has taken his throne, and the leaders of the nations come before him.

The psalm was most likely sung in Israel’s public worship at a festival, though Scripture does not name the day. It may have been the Feast of Trumpets, which celebrated God’s kingship and his role as judge, or the Feast of Tabernacles. It may have marked the ark of the covenant being carried up into Jerusalem, or a victory in which God showed his power over the nations that opposed Israel. Whatever the occasion, the song sets every nation of the earth under Israel’s God.

“God reigneth over the heathen” is a plain statement of fact about the whole world. The verb mâlak means to reign, and it can also mean to come to the throne and begin to reign. In its causative form it means to make someone king. Both senses suit this psalm, where God goes up amid shouting and takes his seat. The KJV’s “reigneth” states his rule as something going on now: God is exercising his royal authority over all that happens among the nations.

The nations around Israel thought of their gods as rulers over one land or one people. Israel knew the LORD as the Creator and the ruler of every nation. In a world where empires rose and fell, that was Israel’s security and hope, because it put the LORD above every human power and every false god. His rule covers the history and the future of every people, whether or not they acknowledge him.

Scripture sings this truth again and again. “Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth” (Psalm 96:10). “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty” (Psalm 93:1). Isaiah hears the messenger on the mountains who “saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7), and in Revelation a great multitude cries, “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Revelation 19:6).

The second line of verse 8 says how God reigns: “God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.” Sitting on a throne is the posture of a king whose rule is settled. His authority is established, he judges from his seat, and his power stands unchallenged. Scripture speaks of God sitting in human terms so that we can grasp how firm and lasting his reign is.

The word for holiness, qôdesh, comes from qādash. It means a sacred place or thing, or holiness itself, what is consecrated, dedicated and hallowed. Said of God, it speaks of his perfect moral purity and of his being set apart from all creation and from all sin. So the throne he sits on is a holy throne, and everything decided from it is righteous and just. Earthly kings are often corrupt or oppressive, while God’s rule always agrees with who he is. That is why his reign over the nations is a ground for trust, for all who submit to him and for us.

Isaiah saw this throne: “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up”, and the seraphim cried one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:1–3).

The two lines of verse 8 are set in parallel, as Hebrew poetry often is. The second takes up the first and fills it out. God reigns, and here is the throne he reigns from and the character of his rule.

Verse 9 shows where God’s reign leads. “The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham.” The word for “people” in “the princes of the people” is plural in Hebrew, ʻammîm, “peoples”. The rulers of many nations come together into one assembly.

The word “for” gives the reason for the gathering. The word for shield, mâgên, means a shield or buckler, and it is also a title for a king as the protector of his people, and for God himself. “The shields of the earth” are the rulers and mighty men of the nations, the ones whose task is to protect their people and keep order.

These shields belong to God. Every ruler holds his power from him and answers to him, and no earthly power stands on its own. Paul teaches the same: “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1). The princes who gather in verse 9 are coming before the one who already owns them.

The psalm ends, “he is greatly exalted.” The verb ʻâlâh means to go up, to ascend, to rise. God is lifted high above every human ruler and every false god. The psalm has pictured him going up with a shout in verse 5, and it closes with him high over all the earth, the rightful King of all creation, worthy of the worship of every nation (Psalm 47:7).

We see these verses fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He went up into heaven before his disciples’ eyes (Acts 1:9–11), “and sat on the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). From that throne he reigns over all things. Before he ascended he said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” and sent his disciples to teach all nations (Matthew 28:18–20). God reigns over the heathen, and the risen Christ sends his gospel to them.

His reign is holy, as the throne of verse 8 is holy. Peter calls him “the Holy One and the Just” (Acts 3:14), and Paul says that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17).

He is also the promised seed of Abraham, through whom the blessing comes to all the families of the earth, and so the gathering of the nations’ princes to the God of Abraham points to him. The shields of the earth belong to him, for his name is “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). God raised him and set him “at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named” (Ephesians 1:20–21). The cry “he is greatly exalted” will be complete when, at the name of Jesus, every knee bows and every tongue confesses “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11). His return will bring all nations under his just rule.

These verses give us a King whose rule reaches every nation, every ruler and every event, and whose throne is holy. In times of political turmoil, when leaders rise and fall and empires come and go, God remains on his throne and works out his purposes in history. His rule is righteous, so his justice will prevail.

The rulers of our own day are among the shields of the earth that belong to God. Their authority comes from him and answers to him, and that is good reason to pray for them and to live as citizens of his kingdom.

The God of Abraham has kept his promise to bless the nations, and the gathering of the princes shows where his promise ends: people from every nation worshipping him together, with God greatly exalted over them all.