Psalms 68

Psalms 68:1

Psa. 68. The bringing up of the ark of God out of the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite, into the city of David, on the top of mount Zion, on which occasion this psalm was penned, was the most remarkable type of the ascension of Christ that we have in the Old Testament. then Christ rode upon the heavens by his name JAH. Before, his divinity was veiled; he appeared as a mere man, and as a worm and no man; he had as it were laid aside his glory as a divine person, emptied himself of the name and form of God; but now he appears in his ascension as God, in the glory of his divinity, in the name and glory of the great JAH or JEHOVAH. Psalms 68:4. “Then he rode upon the heaven of heavens, which were of old.” Verse 33. As the apostle says, he ascended up far above all heavens. As the inhabitants of the land of Canaan were gathered together to attend the ark in this its ascension into mount Zion; 2 Samuel 6:15; 1 Chronicles 15:3; 1 Chronicles 15:25; 1 Chronicles 15:28; 2 Samuel 6:19; 1 Chronicles 16:2, so without doubt the inhabitants of the heavenly Canaan were gathered together on occasion of Christ’s ascension to attend him into heaven.

For he ascended into heaven in like manner as he shall descend at the last day, Acts 1:11, with like glory and magnificence, and with a like attendance. He shall come at the last day in the glory of his Father.

So he, without doubt, ascended in that glory after his human nature was transformed as it was, as it passed out of our atmosphere. That Christ entered heaven with divine glory, is manifest by Psalms 24:7-10, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King of glory may come in,” etc. Christ will descend at the last day with the clouds of heaven, and so he ascended into heaven. (Acts 1:9 and Daniel 7:13 with Notes.) Christ will descend to judgment; and so he ascended to judge and confirm the angels, to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sin, and by his knowledge to justify many, and to judge the prince of this world, and to execute judgment on the wicked; and as he will descend with all the heavenly hosts of both saints and angels, so he ascended. They came forth out of heaven to meet the King of glory as he ascended. As the Roman generals after a signal battle and victory over their enemies abroad, far distant from Rome, when they returned in triumph (which is a great type of Christ’s ascension), had multitudes to attend them, so had Christ in his ascension into heaven. See in how many respects the Roman triumphs were like Christ’s ascension, Mastricht, p. 597. vol. 2.

See also the description of a Roman triumph, Chambers’s Dictionary. As Christ’s descent will be attended with the general resurrection, so was his ascension with the risen bodies of many of the saints, and was followed with a great spiritual resurrection of the world. As the ark in its ascension into mount Zion, was attended with the princes of the people; Psalms 68:27; Psalms 47:9, and with the captains of their hosts, 1 Chronicles 15:25, and with the ministers of the sanctuary, 1 Chronicles 15:4, etc. so Christ, in his ascension, was attended with the angels, who are called the principalities and powers of heaven, and are the mighty champions in God’s armies, and the ministers of the heavenly sanctuary, as they are represented in Revelations. Shall a departing soul of a saint ascend to heaven with a convoy of angels, being carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom? and shall not the King of saints and angels in his ascension into heaven, be attended with myriads of angels? That Christ was attended with multitudes of angels in his ascension into heaven, is manifest by Psalms 68:17-18, “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” These are the chariots in which Christ ascended, as Elijah, in his ascension into heaven, did not ascend without chariots and horses of fire to convoy him. These were a symbol of the convoy of angels by which he was conducted into heaven; as those chariots and horses of fire were that defended the city where Elijah was from the Syrians, as appears by 2 Kings 6:16; 2 Kings 6:17. Those in Christ’s triumphant entrance into heaven answer to the triumphant chariot in which the victor entered the city of Rome, and also was attended with the princes, and rulers, and captains of the people, and ministers of his sanctuary, as he was attended with the patriarchs, and prophets, and holy princes, and martyrs, more eminent first of the Old Testament, as that church which was in being before Christ’s ascension, and with many of them with their prison bodies. Though many of the angels attended Christ from the top of mount Olivet, yet it appears to me probable that the place where he was met by the whole multitude of the heavenly hosts, saints and angels, was in the upper parts of the earth’s atmosphere, beyond the region of the clouds, at the place where it is said a cloud received Christ out of the sight of the disciples, as they stood beholding him as he went up, and that that cloud that received him was a symbol of that glorious host of saints and angels: a heavenly multitude is called a cloud. See Hebrews 12:1 with Notes. A host of angels seems to be here represented by that cloud of glory in which God appeared in mount Sinai, spoken of here in Psalms 68:17, where the psalmist speaks of the thousands of angels that convoy Christ to heaven, it is added, “The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, his holy place.” (See the places there cited in the margin.) When Christ passed out of sight of earthly inhabitants, then he joined the heavenly inhabitants, then he joined the heavenly inhabitants. The atmosphere belongs to the earthly world: so far Satan’s power extends, who is god of this earthly world, and prince of the power of the air. When Christ had gotten out of this world, then heaven met him and received him, and it is probable that Christ’s human nature there had its transformation into its glorious state; it was not transformed at his first resurrection, for he appeared as he used, and conversed, and ate, and drank with his disciples; nor was it transformed at his first ascent from the surface of the earth, for the disciples beheld him, and knew him as he went up, because he appeared as he used to do, but the disciples beheld him so long until he was transformed, for so long they might behold him; but when he was transformed into his heavenly glory, it was not meet that they should behold him any longer while in this mortal state, for this state is not the state appointed for us to behold Christ in his glory; nor indeed could they see him so and live; and therefore when he was transformed, a cloud hid him from them. As long as Christ was within the limits of this earthly world, it was meet that he should remain in his earthly state; but when he passed out of this world and met heaven, it was meet that he should be transformed into his heavenly state; an earthly body might subsist as far as the region of the clouds, but it could not subsist farther.

Christ ascended from thence to heaven in his glorified state with all his holy angels; and at the last day he will descend from heaven in the same glorified state, with all the holy angels, and no farther; for there the saints on earth shall meet him, being caught up in the clouds, or to the region of the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and from thence shall Christ be seen in his glory by all that shall remain on this earth. When Christ came to meet the heavenly hosts in their glory, and to be in the midst of them, it was not meet that he should remain any longer in his earthly state, for flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God; so far Christ ascended slowly and gradually, as earthly bodies are wont to move, so that the disciples could see him as he went up, but from thence, without doubt, he mounted with inconceivable swiftness, answerable to the activity of a heavenly glorious body. As they attended the ark in its ascension with great joy and with shouts, and the sound of the trumpet, and all kinds of music, singing God’s praises, 2 Samuel 6:15; Chronicles 15 , with the context in that and the following chapters; this represents the glorious joy and praise with which the heavenly hosts attended Christ in his ascension. Psalms 47:5, “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet:” Psalms 47:5, the very same as is said concerning the ascension of the ark in 2 Samuel 6:15. That was an exceeding joyful day in Israel; it is said they brought up the ark with joy. Chronicles 15. 2 Samuel 6:12, “David danced before the Lord with all his might.” So Christ’s ascension is represented as an exceeding joyful occasion. Psalms 47:6, etc. “On that occasion sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our King, sing praises,” etc. And in Psalms 68:3, “Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before the Lord; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice;” and verse 25, “The singers went before, and the players on instruments followed after, among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.” When the ark was ascended and placed on the throne of God’s mercy-seat, David dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to everyone a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine, 2 Samuel 6:19 and 1 Chronicles 16:3. So speaking of Christ in this psalm, verse 18, the psalmist says, “Thou has ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also.” David brought the ark into the tabernacle in Zion with sacrifices offered to God, and when he had offered the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord, and gave men gifts, 1 Chronicles 16:1-3, and 2 Samuel 6:17; 2 Samuel 6:18; 2 Samuel 6:19. So Christ, when he ascended, entered into heaven with his own blood, the blood of that sacrifice that he had offered, and so obtained the blessing for men which he then gave to them, by sending down the Holy Spirit upon them. David, when the ark was ascended, returned to bless his household; so Christ, when he was ascended, returned by his Spirit to bless his church, which is the household of God, and is Christ’s house, as the apostle calls it in Hebrews 3 . When David thus returned to bless his household, Michal, that had been his wife before, despised him, because he troubled himself so much, and made himself so vile, and therefore was Michal rejected; but of the maid-servants whom Michal contemned, was he had in honor; so the Jewish church that had been Christ’s church before his ascension, yet because Christ humbled himself so much, and made himself so vile, they despised and rejected him, and called him king of the Jews in contempt, as Michal calls David king of Israel in contempt. Therefore, when Christ returned by his Spirit to bless his household after his ascension, the church of the Jews was rejected and became barren; but the Gentile nations, whom the Jewish church used to contemn as poor slaves, while they called themselves the children of God and free, of them was Christ had in honor. Michal was Saul’s daughter, David’s persecutor, that was at the head of affairs in Israel before David; but David tells Michal that God chose him before her father; so the priests, and elders, and scribes were the father of the Jewish church, were at the head of affairs in God’s church before Christ, and were Christ’s persecutors, but God chose him before them. The glorious attendants and consequents of Christ’s ascension are in a very lively manner represented in this psalm, and other divine songs, that seem to be penned on occasion of the removing the ark, as particularly Christ’s glorious victory over his enemies, Psalms 68:1; Psalms 68:2; Psalms 68:18. The destruction of Satan’s kingdom and his church’s enemies that followed, verse Psalms 68:12, Psalms 68:14, Psalms 68:16, Psalms 68:23-30. A terrible manifestation of wrath against obstinate sinners, Psalms 68:6; Psalms 68:21. The publishing the gospel in the world, verse Psalms 68:11, Psalms 68:33. A remarkable pouring out of the Spirit, verse Psalms 68:9. A great increase of the privileges of the church, and a more abundant measure of spiritual blessings, Psalms 68:3; Psalms 68:10; Psalms 68:13; Psalms 68:18; Psalms 68:19; Psalms 68:24; Psalms 68:28; Psalms 68:34; Psalms 68:35.

The calling of the Gentiles, verse 6, 29, 31, 32. A glorious salvation from slavery and misery to those who are sinners and enslaved, Psalms 68:6; Psalms 68:13; Psalms 68:20; Psalms 68:22. The like might be observed of other songs penned on this occasion, as Psa. 47, and that which is given us in 1 Chr. 16.

Psa. 68:8-9

Psalms 68:8-9

Psa. 68:8, 9. “The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God, even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Thou, O Lord, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary.” By this place, together with Judges 5:4, it is manifest that there was a great shower of rain upon the camp of Israel at mount Sinai, at the time of the giving the law there. The case seems to have been thus: on the day when the law was given, which was the day of Pentecost, there appeared a thick cloud upon mount Sinai, which was the same cloud that had gone before them and conducted them, now settled upon the mount, but only increased and gathered to a great thickness; and there were great thunders and lightnings seen and heard out of that cloud, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. When God descended on the mount, the mount quaked greatly, and this earthquake was of great extent, so as to reach to distant countries, Haggai 2:6; Haggai 2:7, and was so great as to move mountains and throw down rocks, and great part of the mountains; hence we have those expressions of the mountains skipping like rams, and the little hills like lambs, etc. And then mount Sinai appeared altogether on fire, which burnt to the midst of heaven; and then the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder; and then the Ten Commandments were given with a voice of awful majesty out of the midst of the fire; and when this was finished, it was followed with the most amazing thunders and lightnings from the thick cloud of glory, which was on the mount, which cloud spread wider and wider until it covered the whole heavens, and there was a great shower of rain, with thunder and lightning out of it; and the storm spread abroad, so as to reach far countries, which, with exceeding thunder and lightning, terrified distant nations. Hence the apostle speaks of a tempest that was at this time, from this place, in Hebrews 12:18.

Thus, when the Lord gave the word, great was the company of them that published it, verse 11. When God gave forth his voice at mount Sinai, and thundered there by the ministration of angels, the report was as it were carried into all nations round about, and there were thunders that uttered their voices in all parts of the world (or at least the adjacent countries), to answer it. Thus the prophet Habakkuk, speaking of this, Habakkuk 3:3, says, “His glory covered the heavens,” (i.e. the cloud, that was called the cloud of glory), and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, and covered the heavens in the blaze of lightnings that then streamed forth almost continually; as in the next verse, verse 4, “and his brightness was as the light.” And thus it was expressed in the 6th and 7th verses, “He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and drove asunder the nations; the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow - I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble;” and thus in Hebrews 12:18, there is said to be at that time not only fire, and blackness, and darkness, but also tempest. Corol. I. Hereby we may the more fully see how lively a representation what was done on this day was of what was done afterwards on the same day of Pentecost in the days of the gospel. Now God descended from heaven on mount Sinai; then God descended from heaven on mount Zion, or on his church met together in Jerusalem. Now God revealed the law; then God did in an extraordinary manner by his Spirit make known the mysteries of the gospel. Now God’s voice was uttered from mount Sinai in thunder, and great was the company of them that published it, and the voice of his thunder went forth into all the world, and the world was enlightened with lightnings; then was God’s voice in his word and in his glorious gospel uttered in the spiritual mount Zion, and the light of the glorious gospel then began to shine forth in Jerusalem, of which voice and light, thunder and lightning is a type, for the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is as the fire, and as the hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces.

This thunder and lightning was out of the cloud of glory, the symbol of God’s presence; so the voice of the gospel is the voice of Christ, a divine person, and the light is the light of Christ’s glory. And then, or after that time, was first fulfilled what was typified by God’s voice and light going forth from mount Sinai, and spreading abroad into all nations round about; for then first did the powerful voice of God’s Word, and the powerful and glorious light of truth, go forth and spread abroad into Gentile nations; then was the coming of Christ in the gospel as the lightning that cometh out of the east, and shineth even to the west.

The trumpet of mount Sinai was a type of the trumpet of the gospel. As in the day of Sinai there was a great earthquake; so consequent on the pouring out of the Spirit in the day of Zion, was there the greatest change and overturning of things on the face of the earth, that ever had been. Earthquakes often denote great revolutions, in Revelations and elsewhere in Scripture. God’s voice in the day of Sinai, shook the heavens and earth, and shook all nations; see Hebrews 12:26; Hebrews 12:27, compared with the foregoing verses, and Haggai 2:6; Haggai 2:7, “As the earthquake then shook down towers, and palaces, and other buildings of the heathen, yea, and threw down rocks and mountains;” so God’s voice in the gospel, after the gospel Pentecost, overturned the heathenish kingdom of Satan, and shook down all its magnificence, the mighty fabric that Satan had been building up for many ages; and those things were overthrown that had been established in the heathen world time out of mind, and had remained until now, immovable, like the everlasting hills and mountains. God’s enemies abroad in the heathen world on the day of Sinai, were greatly terrified and scattered, and many of them destroyed; which is a type of the amazement that Satan and the powers of darkness were put into, by the sudden and wonderful spreading of the gospel, and how the enemies of God were scattered and destroyed thereby, and God’s pouring down a great and plentiful rain on the camp of Israel, on the day when the law was given. The refreshing shower that fell on Israel, did well represent those divine instructions God was then giving to them.

Deuteronomy 32:1-2, “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, or the showers upon the grass,” was a lively type of the great and abundant pouring out of the Spirit on the Christian church, on the day of Pentecost, and on the world, in consequence of that. The pouring out of the Spirit is often compared to showers of rain: this rain was the more lively type of the effusion of the Holy Spirit, because it was a very refreshing rain to the congregation of Israel, as it is said in the 9th verse of this Psalm, “Thou didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary;” that was a weary land wherein they then were, being an exceeding dry and parched wilderness, where there is scarcely ever any rain.

Horeb, one name of mount Sinai, signifies dryness, as it is called a land of drought, and it lay far south, and it was now a hot time of the year, wherein the sun was just at the summer solstice, being about the end of May, so that the shower by its cooling and sweetening the air was very refreshing to them, and therefore was the more lively type of the sweet influences of the Spirit of God on their souls; and this shower was the more lively type of the pouring out of the Spirit still, because it was a shower out of the cloud of glory, or that cloud that was the symbol of God’s presence, so that it was a refreshment from God, as the fire from heaven on the altar proceeded out of a pillar of cloud and fire. Leviticus 9:24. (Note, manna out of the pillar of cloud and fire.) Manna, their daily bread, came down on the camp, out of the pillar of cloud and fire, and so did more livelily represent the true bread from heaven, even Jesus Christ, who is a divine person, and dwells in the bosom of the Father; and as their meat, so their water: the refreshing rain, which signified also a divine person, viz. the Holy Ghost, was out of the cloud of glory. Note, that when mention is here made of God’s sending a plentiful rain, whereby he did confirm or strengthen his inheritance when it was weary, respect is also probably had to the children of Israel’s being refreshed by a shower of rain that descended on them, at the same time that a destructive hail fell on their enemies, on the day that the sun and moon stood still; for as has been observed in Notes on Habakkuk 3:11. No. 208. that storm of hail did not arise until the end of the twelve hours of the sun’s standing still; and the sun probably stood still near the meridian, and Joshua began the battle very early in the morning after their traveling all the night before; so that after that night’s watching and traveling, they had continued in battle and pursuit about eighteen hours, and great part of the time under a very great and extreme heat of the sun, which must necessarily arise from its standing still so long at a meridian height, and shining down on their heads with a perpendicular ray. So that by that time without doubt the army of Israel were exceeding weary and faint, and the clouds that covered the heavens, sent forth no hail on them, but probably it was rain where they were, and a very great shower, which cooled and sweetened the air, and was a great refreshment to them after such toil and extreme heat. If the rain was frozen in some places, doubtless it was a very cool rain where they were, which was needed to cool the air, after such extreme heat. So that it was now with this cloud that arose, as it was with the pillar of cloud and fire at the Red sea, as that was a cloud and darkness to their enemies, and sent forth thunder and lightning to confound them, Psalms 77:16-19, but gave light to the Israelites; so now the cloud that arose, sent forth destructive hail and thunder on the Amorites, but sent a most refreshing rain on Israel, whereby they were strengthened, after they had been made faint with the heat of the sun, and the toil of battle. Corol. II. Hence we may learn what the apostle Paul meant by 1 Corinthians 10:2, where he says that “their fathers were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea,” he means that they were baptized in the cloud, by the cloud’s showering down water abundantly upon them, as it seems to have done at two times, especially; one was while they were passing through the Red sea, for there seems to have been a remarkable storm of rain, and thunder, and lightning, out of the cloud of glory, while the children of Israel were passing through the Red sea, Psalms 77:16-19. And thus God looked through the pillar of cloud and fire about the morning watch, and troubled all their hosts; he confounded them with perpetual flashes of thunder and lightning, which greatly affrighted the horses, and made them run wild, and jostle one against another, so as to overturn and break the chariots that they drew, and many of them lost their wheels; but it was only a plentiful shower on the Israelites. And so they were baptized by the water that came out of the pillar of cloud, representing the blood that came out of Christ, and the Spirit that comes forth from him; and so God now at the time when they were coming out of Egypt (for the Red sea was the bounds of Egypt) baptized them, to wash and cleanse them from the pollutions of Egypt, and to consecrate them to himself. Another time was at mount Sinai, when God had brought them to himself there, when he first entered into covenant with them there, whereby they became his people, and he their God; he consecrated them to him, and sealed that covenant by baptizing them by water out of the cloud. Hence we prove an argument for baptism by sprinkling or affusion, for the apostle calls this affusion or sprinkling, baptism, comparing it to Christian baptism; and when God himself immediately baptized his people by a baptism, by which he intended to signify the same thing that Christian baptism signifies, he baptized by affusion and sprinkling.