Psalms 67

Psalms 671. To the Chief Musician. With (or on) stringed instruments. A Psalm. a Song, i.e. a psalm of praise. See above, on Psalms 66:1. For the meaning of the second clause of this inscription, see above, on Psalms 55:1, and compare Psalms 1.

The psalm before us, like the sixty-fifth, seems to have special reference to the manifestation of God’s goodness in the gift of fruitful seasons and abundant harvests. See below, Psalms 67:6, and above, on Psalms 65:1. But from this the Psalmist, or the church, of which he is the spokesman, takes occasion to anticipate the extension of God’s covenanted gifts, both temporal and spiritual, to all the nations of the earth. This expectation is indeed the burden of the psalm, its immediate occasion being only mentioned incidentally near the close, yet not so obscurely as to make it doubtful. Any formal division of this short and simple composition can only tend to mar its beauty.

2. (Psalms 67:1). God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us! The form of expression is evidently borrowed from the sacerdotal benediction, Numbers 6:24-25, but with a substitution of the first person plural for the second singular, so as to convert the authoritative blessing upon others into an expression of desire for themselves. The optative meaning of the sentence is determined by the form of the second verb in Hebrew. Upon us, literally with us, a form of speech probably intended to suggest the idea of the divine presence and communion. As to the figure in the last clause, see above, on Psalms 4:6; Psalms 31:16.

3. (Psalms 67:2). That thy way may be known in the earth, in all nations thy salvation. The original construction of the first clause is, to know in the earth thy way; but the sense can only be made clear in English by a passive form. Thy way, i.e. thy mode of dealing with thy people, referring more particularly here to providential favours, the knowledge of which he hopes to see extended to all nations, as a means to the promotion of still higher ends. The pleonastic phrase, saving health, retained in the authorised version from an older one, has nothing corresponding to it in the Hebrew but the single word which always means salvation, and is commonly so rendered.

4. (Psalms 67:3). The nations shall acknowledge thee, O God, the nations shall acknowledge thee— all of them. The common version of the verb here twice used (praise) is too wide. As it is commonly applied to the acknowledgment of benefits, a nearer equivalent is thank. See above, on Psalms 57:9.

5. (Psalms 67:4). Nations shall joy and triumph, because thou shalt judge peoples (in) rectitude, and nations in the earth— thou shalt guide them. The divine guidance implies protection and control. Compare Isaiah 58:11. The anticipation of universal happiness, as springing from the judicial acts of the Messiah, is not unusual in prophecy. See below, on Psalms 62:12-12, and compare Isaiah 3. The word translated rectitude occurs above, Psalms 45:6.

6. (Psalms 67:5). The nations shall acknowledge thee, O God, the nations shall acknowledge thee— all of them. This repetition spews the anticipation here expressed to be the principal though not the primary subject of the psalm. The position of the universal terms, at the close of this verse and Psalms 67:3, is highly emphatic, and precludes, in the most explicit manner, all restriciton

7. (Psalms 67:6). The earth (or land) has yielded her produce; God will bless us, (even) our God. The translation of the first verb as a future is entirely gratuitous, and therefore ungrammatical. Correctly rendered, it affords a hint of the immediate occasion of the psalm itself. The mutual relation of the clauses is that of a thankful acknowledgment for gifts received already to a joyful and believing expectation of the same hereafter. God has blessed us, and since he is our own God, he will bless us still.

8. (Psalms 67:7). God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. The God who has bestowed this harvest on us will continue to afford us tokens of his covenant love and faithfulness; and the day is coming when the intimate relation which we now sustain to him will be extended to all nations. Ends of the earth, even the remotest countries, but of course without excluding those at hand. It is really tantamount to saying, all lands or the whole earth. See above, on Psalms 2:8.