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Commentary on Psalms 68 verses 1–6
In these verses,
I. David prays that God would appear in his glory,
1.For the confusion of his enemies (Psa 68:1, Psa 68:2): "Let God arise, as a judge to pass sentence upon them, as a general to take the field and do execution upon them; and let them be scattered, and flee before him, as unable to keep their ground, much less to make head against him. Let God arise, as the sun when he goes forth in his strength; and the children of darkness shall be scattered, as the shadows of the evening flee before the rising sun. Let them be driven away as smoke by the wind, which ascends as if it would eclipse the sun, but is presently dispelled, and there appears to remainder of it. Let them melt as wax before the fire, which is quickly dissolved." Thus does David comment upon Moses's prayer, and not only repeat it with application to himself and his own times, but enlarge upon it, to direct us how to make use of scripture-prayers. Nay, it looks further, to the Redeemer's victory over the enemies of this kingdom, for he was the angel of the covenant, that guided Israel through the wilderness. Note, (1.) There are, and have been, and ever will be, such as are enemies to God and hate him, that join in with the old serpent against the kingdom of God among men and against the seed of the woman. (2.) They are the wicked, and none but the wicked, that are enemies to God, the children of the wicked one. (3.) Though we are to pray for our enemies as such, yet we are to pray against God's enemies as such, against their enmity to him and all their attempts upon his kingdom. (4.) If God but arise, all his impenitent and implacable enemies, that will not repent to give him glory, will certainly and speedily be scattered, and driven away, and made to perish at his presence; for none ever hardened his heart against God and prospered. The day of judgment will be the day of the complete and final perdition of ungodly men (Pe2 3:7), who shall melt like wax before that flaming fire in which the Lord shall then appear, Th2 1:8.
2.For the comfort and joy of his own people (Psa 68:3): "Let the righteous be glad, that are now in sorrow; let them rejoice before God in his favourable presence. God is the joy of his people; let them rejoice whenever they come before God, yea, let them exceedingly rejoice, let them rejoice with gladness." Note, Those who rejoice in God have reason to rejoice with exceeding joy; and this joy we ought to wish to all the saints, for it belongs to them. Light is sown for the righteous.
II. He praises God for his glorious appearances, and calls upon us to praise him, to sing to his name, and extol him,
1.As a great God, infinitely great (Psa 68:4): He rides upon the heavens, by his name JAH. He is the spring of all the motions of the heavenly bodies, directs and manages them, as he that rides in the chariot sets it a-going, has a supreme command of the influences of heaven; he rides upon the heavens for the help of his people (Deu 33:26), so swiftly, so strongly, and so much above the reach of opposition. He rules these by his name Jah, or Jehovah, a self-existent self-sufficient being; the fountain of all being, power, motion, and perfection; this is his name for ever. When we thus extol God we must rejoice before him. Holy joy in God will very well consist with that reverence and godly fear wherewith we ought to worship him.
2.As a gracious God, a God of mercy and tender compassion. He is great, but he despises not any, no, not the meanest; nay, being a God of great power, he uses his power for the relief of those that are distressed, Psa 68:5, Psa 68:6. The fatherless, the widows, the solitary, find him a God all-sufficient to them. Observe how much God's goodness is his glory. He that rides on the heavens by his name Jah, one would think should immediately have been adored as King of kings and Lord of lords, and the sovereign director of all the affairs of states and nations; he is so, but this he rather glories in, that he is a Father of the fatherless. Though God be high, yet has he respect unto the lowly. Happy are those that have an interest in such a God as this. He that rides upon the heavens is a Father worth having; thrice happy are the people whose God is the Lord. (1.) When families are bereaved of their head God takes care of them, and is himself their head; and the widows and the fatherless children shall find that in him which they have lost in the relation that is removed, and infinitely more and better. He is a Father of the fatherless, to pity them, to bless them, to teach them, to provide for them, to portion them. He will preserve them alive (Jer 49:11), and with him they shall find mercy, Hos 14:3. They have liberty to call him Father, and to plead their relation to him as their guardian, Psa 146:9; Psa 10:14, Psa 10:18. He is a judge or patron of the widows, to give them counsel and to redress their grievances, to own them and plead their cause, Pro 22:23. He has an ear open to all their complaints and a hand open to all their wants. He is so in his holy habitation, which may be understood either of the habitation of his glory in heaven (there he has prepared his throne of judgment, which the fatherless and widow have free recourse to, and are taken under the protection of, Psa 9:4, Psa 9:7), or of the habitation of his grace on earth; and so it is a direction to the widows and fatherless how to apply to God; let them go to his holy habitation, to his word and ordinances; there they may find him and find comfort in him. (2.) When families are to be built up he is the founder of them: God sets the solitary in families, brings those into comfortable relations that were lonely, gives those a convenient settlement that were unsettled (Psa 113:9); he makes those dwell at home that were forced to seek for relief abroad (so Dr. Hammond), putting those that were destitute into a way of getting their livelihood, which is a very good way for man's charity, as it is of God's bounty.
3.As a righteous God, (1.) In relieving the oppressed. He brings out those that are bound with chains, and sets those at liberty who were unjustly imprisoned and brought into servitude. No chains can detain those whom God will make free. (2.) In reckoning with the oppressors: The rebellious dwell in a dry land and have no comfort in that which they have got by fraud and injury. The best land will be a dry land to those that by their rebellion have forfeited the blessing of God, which is the juice and fatness of all our enjoyments. The Israelites were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness, but were there better provided for than the Egyptians themselves, whose land, if Nilus failed them, as it sometimes did, was a dry land.
Who then is so profane and lacking in faith, who so insane by the fury of discord as either to believe that the unity of God, the garment of the Lord, the church of Christ can be torn asunder or to dare to do so? He warns us in the Gospel, and teaches, saying, “And there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” And does anyone think that there can be either many shepherds or many flocks in one place? Likewise the apostle Paul introducing this same unity to us beseeches and urges us in these words: “I beseech you, brothers,” he says, “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no dissensions among you but that you be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same judgment.” And again he says, “Bearing with one another in love, careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace.” Do you think that you can stand and live, withdrawing from the church and building for yourself other abodes and different dwellings, when it was said to Rahab, in whom the church was prefigured: “You shall gather your father and your mother and your brethren and the entire house of your father to your own self in your house, and it will be that everyone who goes out of the door of your house shall be his own accuser”;14 likewise, when the sacrament of the Passover contains nothing else in the law of the exodus than that the lamb that is slain in the figure of Christ be eaten in one house? God speaks, saying, “In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry the flesh outside of the house.” The flesh of Christ and what is holy to the Lord cannot be carried outside, and there is no other house for believers except the one church. This house, this hospice of unanimity, the Holy Spirit designates and proclaims, when he says, “God who makes those of one mind to dwell in his house.” In the house of God, in the church of Christ, those of one mind dwell; they persevere in concord and simplicity.
Such characters the Lord calls ravenous wolves that show themselves in sheep’s clothing. Avoid inconstancy and fickleness, pursue truth, sincerity, simplicity. The serpent is subtle and for that reason has been condemned to crawl. The just person is without pretense, such as was Jacob. Therefore, “the Lord makes the solitary to dwell in a house.” So in this great sea, which stretches wide its arms, “there are creeping things without number, creatures little and great.” Nevertheless, there is a certain wisdom among them and an orderly arrangement. Not only are we able to find fault with the fish, but there is also something worthy of imitation in them. How is it that all of the different species of fishes, having been allotted a place suitable for them, do not intrude on one another but stay within their own bounds? No surveyor apportioned the dwellings among them; they were not surrounded with walls or divided by boundaries; but what was useful for each was definitely and spontaneously settled. This bay gives sustenance to certain kinds of fish, and that one, to other kinds; and those that teem here are scarce elsewhere. No mountain extending upward with sharp peaks separates them; no river cuts off the means of crossing; but there is a certain law of nature that allots the habitat to each kind equally and justly according to its need.
What do I mean? If you ever wish to associate with someone, make sure that you do not give your attention to those who enjoy health and wealth and fame as the world sees it, but take care of those in affliction, those in critical circumstances, those in prison, those who are utterly deserted and enjoy no consolation. Put a high value on associating with these; for from them you shall receive much profit, you will be a better lover of the true wisdom, and you will do all for the glory of God. And if you must visit someone, prefer to pay this honor to orphans, widows and those in want rather than to those who enjoy reputation and fame. God has said, “I am the father of orphans and the protector of widows.” And again, “Judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. Then come and let us talk, says the Lord.”
Obviously, the time to pray is when we are all praying. Of course, you may pray privately whenever and as often as you choose. But do not, under the pretext of prayer, miss the lesson. You can always pray whenever you will, but you cannot always have a lesson at hand. Do not imagine that there is little to be gained by listening to the sacred lesson. The fact is that prayer is improved if our mind has been recently fed on reading and is able to roam among the thoughts of divine things that it has recently heard. The word of the Lord assures us that Mary, the sister of Martha, chose the better part when she sat at the feet of Jesus, listening intently to the word of God without a thought of her sister. We need not wonder, then, if the deacon in a clear voice like a herald warns all that, whether they are praying or bowing the knees, singing hymns or listening to the lessons, they should all act together. God loves “people of one manner” and, as was said before, “makes them to dwell in his house.” And those who dwell in this house are proclaimed by the psalm to be blessed, because they will praise God forever and ever. Amen.
Secondly, he turns himself to those very persons to whom he has given so great hope, and to them while here living he speaks and exhorts: "Sing ye to God, psalm ye to His name" [Psalm 68:4]. Already on this subject in the exposition of the Title we have before spoken that which seemed meet. He sings to God, that lives to God: He psalms to His name, that works unto His Glory. In singing thus, in psalming thus, that is, by so living, by so working, "a way make ye to Him," he says, "that has ascended above the setting." A way make ye to Christ: so that through the beautiful feet of men telling good tidings, [Isaiah 52:7] the hearts of men believing many have a way opened to Him. For the Same is He that has ascended above the "setting:" either because the new life of one turned to Him receives Him not, except the old life shall have set by his renouncing this world, or because He ascended above the setting, when by rising again He conquered the downfall of the body. "For The Lord is His name." Which if they had known, the Lord of glory they never would have crucified. [1 Corinthians 2:8]
“As smoke vanishes, so may they vanish! As wax flows from the face of the fire, so may sinners perish from the face of God!” In those two verses, through a double simile, the punishment of sinners is foretold. The smoke is a dark gathering of mass that arises under that destructive flame. The higher the smoke rises up, the thinner it becomes throughout the void. Sinners are deservedly likened to smoke inasmuch as they produce smoke-bearing deeds from the flame of their wickedness. Although these deeds arise to heights, as their arrogance ensures, they must needs vanish like smoke by their own conceit. The other comparison to sinners follows. Wax is a soft and pliable substance gathered from honeycombs. It is dissolved by the heat of the fire so that its bodily nature is taken away from within. The image of wax is aptly applied to sinners because at the judgment sinners will be undone in this way before the face of God himself, just as the delicacy of wax is consumed by a nearby fire. And see that here he does not say that sinners, who must be tortured with everlasting fire, can be consumed here in their own substance (just as some of those in error attempt to say), but he says that they will perish before the face of God because they will never come to his grace and kindness. And note that the figure of speech in these verses is a parable, that is, a comparison of items dissimilar in kind, for smoke and wax are recognized to have been compared to sinners.
Thus the Psalmist says to them: Make a way for him who ascends over the setting. For the Lord ascended over the setting because from that by which he fell in his passion, from that same thing he manifested his greater glory by rising again. He ascended over the setting, namely, because he trampled down by rising again the death which he had endured. Therefore we make a way for him who ascends over the setting when we preach his glory to your minds, so that he himself also, coming afterward, may illuminate them through the presence of his love.
Concerning you, the defenders of idolatry, were these words spoken by the prophet. For a very, very little while and your place shall not be found, but “just as the smoke vanishes, and just as wax melts near a fire, so you will fail.” But, as touching the divine wisdom of the gospel, the Lord says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” And again the psalmist says, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but you endure; and they all will wax old as does a garment, and you will fold them up as a vestment, and they shall be changed, but you are the same, and your years will not fail!” And those divine preachers of the coming of Christ, those wise fishers of the world, whose nets drew all people from the depths of deceit, whom you, in your wickedness and bondage to sin, do vilify, did by signs and wonders and manifold powers shine as the sun in the world, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, motion to the lame and life to the dead. Their shadows alone healed all the ailments of humankind. The devils, whom you dread as gods, they not only cast forth from people’s bodies but even drove out of the world itself by the sign of the cross, whereby they destroyed all sorcery and rendered witchcraft powerless. And these men, by curing every human disease by the power of Christ, and renewing all creation, are rightly admired as preachers of truth by all persons of sound mind.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 68:4 issues a powerful, universal summons to worship the Most High God, celebrating His unparalleled majesty and eternal dominion. It calls all to joyfully exalt the One who transcends creation, powerfully asserting His sovereignty through the ancient, intimate, and eternally self-existent name, JAH. This verse sets a tone of awe-inspired praise, inviting humanity to acknowledge the unique and transcendent power of the Almighty, who rides upon the heavens as a triumphant King, embodying both ultimate authority and covenant faithfulness.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 68:4 is rich in Imperative Mood, with direct commands like "Sing," "extol," and "rejoice" driving the call to worship and creating a sense of urgency and direct address to the audience. The verse employs vivid Imagery, particularly in the phrase "rideth upon the heavens," which paints a powerful picture of God's transcendent power and majestic dominion, evoking ancient Near Eastern storm-god motifs but re-appropriating them for the unique sovereignty of Yahweh. Repetition is evident in "Sing unto God, sing praises," which serves to emphasize the central act of worship and reinforce its importance. The use of "JAH," a shortened form of Yahweh, is a form of Poetic Contraction or Hypocorism, lending an intimate yet profound tone to the divine name while maintaining its full theological weight. The verse also exhibits a form of Synonymous Parallelism, where the initial call to "sing unto God" is reinforced and expanded by subsequent commands to "extol him" and "rejoice before him," building layers of meaning in the act of worship and creating a cumulative effect of adoration.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 68:4 profoundly shapes our understanding of divine worship, rooting it in the recognition of God's absolute sovereignty and His revealed, eternal nature. The call to "extol him that rideth upon the heavens" establishes God as transcendent, above all earthly powers and cosmic forces, yet intimately known by His covenant name, JAH. This dual emphasis on transcendence and immanence is foundational to biblical theology, inviting a worship that is both awe-filled and deeply personal. It reminds us that our praise is directed not to an conceptual deity, but to the living God who actively governs creation and faithfully relates to His people through His unchanging character. This verse sets a paradigm for worship that is joyful, intentional, and grounded in the truth of who God is, inspiring reverence for His power and gratitude for His covenant faithfulness.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 68:4 serves as a timeless invitation to engage in profound and joyful worship. It challenges us to move beyond perfunctory praise and to truly "extol" God, lifting Him high in our hearts and lives, not just with our voices but with our entire being. Recognizing that He is the One who "rideth upon the heavens" should instill in us a deep sense of trust and security, knowing that the sovereign Lord is in ultimate control, even amidst life's chaos and uncertainties. The mention of "JAH" reminds us of His unchanging faithfulness and intimate presence, encouraging us to approach Him with both profound reverence and personal affection, confident in His enduring covenant love. Our worship, therefore, should be a holistic response—a joyous celebration of His majesty, a confident trust in His power, and a heartfelt acknowledgment of His benevolent presence. This verse calls us to cultivate a lifestyle of continuous praise, allowing the truth of God's supreme authority and eternal nature to shape our perspective, inform our prayers, and inspire our daily walk, transforming our understanding of His omnipresence and omnipotence into a source of abiding peace and joy.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of the name "JAH" in this verse?
Answer: "JAH" (Hebrew: יָהּ, Yah, H3050) is a shortened, poetic, and more intimate form of the divine name Yahweh (YHWH), which is often translated as "LORD" in English Bibles. Its significance lies in its connection to God's self-revelation to Moses in Exodus 3:14, where He declares Himself as "I AM WHO I AM." This name signifies God's eternal, self-existent, and unchanging nature. In Psalms 68:4, its use emphasizes the profound and personal nature of the One being praised, highlighting His covenant faithfulness and eternal power in a concise and powerful way, inviting a deep, reverent intimacy in worship. It underscores that the God being worshipped is the same faithful, sovereign God who has revealed Himself throughout Israel's history.
What does it mean that God "rideth upon the heavens"?
Answer: The phrase "rideth upon the heavens" (Hebrew: רֹכֵב בָּעֲרָבוֹת, rokhev ba'aravot, H7392 and H6160) is a majestic and powerful image depicting God's supreme sovereignty and transcendent dominion. While the exact translation of ba'aravot can be debated (some interpret it as "desert plains" or "clouds," referring to the sterile valley of the Jordan or the sky), the overarching meaning is clear: God is depicted as a triumphant, powerful King who moves with swiftness and authority over all creation. This imagery, also found in Deuteronomy 33:26 and Psalm 18:10, conveys His absolute control, unchallengeable might, and His ability to intervene decisively in human affairs. It portrays Him as the ultimate ruler, far above all earthly and cosmic powers, demonstrating His unparalleled authority and majesty over all things.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 68:4, with its majestic call to "extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH," finds its ultimate fulfillment and deepest meaning in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While the psalm celebrates God's triumph and sovereignty, the New Testament reveals Jesus as the very embodiment of this divine majesty. He is not only the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but also the Son of Man who comes on the clouds of heaven (Mark 13:26), echoing the Old Testament imagery of divine ascent and authority. The name "JAH," signifying God's eternal self-existence and "I AM" nature, resonates profoundly with Christ's own claims to divinity, as when He declared, "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). The call to "sing praises" and "rejoice before him" is perfectly fulfilled in the worship of Christ, who, after His resurrection and ascension, was given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18) and now sits at the right hand of God, truly "riding upon the heavens" as the triumphant King and Lord of all. Our worship of the Father, revealed in Psalms 68:4, is now perfectly mediated and made complete through our worship of the Son, Jesus Christ, who fully embodies the divine power, eternal nature, and redemptive purpose of God, making Him worthy of all praise and adoration.