Commentary - Psalm 68:1-3

Bird's-eye view

This magnificent psalm opens not with a timid request, but with a thunderous battle cry. It is a prayer saturated with confidence, echoing the very words of Moses when the Ark of the Covenant, the visible throne of the invisible God, would set out before Israel in the wilderness. This is not a psalm for the faint of heart; it is a full-throated imprecation, a calling upon God to do what He has always done, which is to act as the Divine Warrior on behalf of His people. The central contrast is stark and absolute: when God arises, His enemies are utterly undone, scattered like smoke and melted like wax, while His righteous people erupt in exuberant, unrestrained joy. The passage establishes a fundamental biblical principle: the presence of God means two very different things depending on which side you are on. For those who hate Him, it is terror and dissolution. For those who are His, it is gladness and exultation. This is a song of holy warfare, celebrating the victory of God which is the ultimate ground for the joy of the saints.

David, writing this psalm, is looking back to the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings, and applying that foundational reality to his own time. The God who marched through the desert for Israel is the same God who will establish David's kingdom and, ultimately, the same God who in Christ will win the decisive victory over sin, death, and Hell. The scattering of the enemies and the gladness of the righteous are two sides of the same coin of salvation. God's action in the world necessarily divides humanity, and this psalm calls us to find our place, and our joy, on the right side of that great divide.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 68 is one of the most majestic and powerful psalms in the entire Psalter, a grand processional hymn celebrating God's victorious march through history. Its opening verses immediately connect it to a pivotal moment in Israel's story, the journey from Sinai to the Promised Land, as recorded in Numbers 10:35. By invoking this historical formula, David places his own struggles and triumphs, and by extension the life of the entire covenant community, within the grand sweep of God's redemptive work. The psalm is a tapestry woven with themes of conquest, judgment, and celebration. It follows God's triumphant procession from Sinai (v. 7-8), through the conquest of Canaan (v. 11-14), to His enthronement in Zion (v. 15-18), and looks forward to a time when all kingdoms of the earth will bow to Him (v. 32). These opening verses set the tone for the entire song: God is a warrior King, and His movement through the world inevitably results in the defeat of His foes and the deliverance of His people.

Key Issues

The Great Divide

We live in an age that is deeply uncomfortable with sharp distinctions, particularly when it comes to matters of faith. The modern impulse is to blur the lines, to find a mushy middle ground where everyone can feel affirmed. But biblical faith knows nothing of this. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God draws a sharp, clean line between the righteous and the wicked, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, between those who love God and those who hate Him. This psalm begins right on that line.

The prayer "Let God arise" is a prayer for God to show up and be Himself. And when God shows up, a division is the necessary result. His presence is like a fire. To the gold, the fire is purifying. To the dross, it is consuming. His presence is like a mighty wind. To the chaff, it is scattering. To the wheat, it is cleansing. The same divine action that causes the wicked to perish is the very action that causes the righteous to be glad. The joy of the saints is not disconnected from the judgment of the ungodly; it is predicated upon it. God's victory over evil is the foundation of our gladness. This is not a bloodthirsty desire for personal revenge, but rather a zealous longing for God's name to be vindicated, for His justice to be established, and for His holy character to be displayed in the world. To pray this psalm is to ask God to make it clear who is who and what is what.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, And let those who hate Him flee before Him.

This is not a suggestion. It is a summons, a holy war cry. David is quoting, with slight variation, the prayer of Moses from Numbers 10:35, which was uttered every time the Ark of the Covenant was lifted to lead the people of Israel on their march. The Ark symbolized the very presence of God dwelling in their midst, leading them into battle. For God to "arise" is for Him to move into action, to stand up from His throne as a warrior preparing for conflict. And the immediate, inevitable consequence of God taking action is that His enemies are scattered. Notice the parallel: "His enemies" are "those who hate Him." This is not about David's personal political opponents. This is about those who have set themselves in opposition to the living God. Their opposition is not passive disagreement; it is active hatred. And when God stands, they cannot. They do not put up a fight; they flee. The battle is over before it begins. The mere presence of an active and engaged God is enough to rout all opposition.

2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish before God.

David now uses two powerful similes to describe the utter impotence of the wicked before the presence of God. First, they are like smoke. Smoke can appear thick, dark, and menacing. It can fill the sky and block the sun. But it has no substance. A puff of wind comes, and it is gone without a trace. This is the nature of God's enemies. Their power, their threats, their ideologies, their kingdoms, all seem so substantial and permanent, but when the wind of God's Spirit blows, they are revealed to be nothing. Second, they are like wax before a fire. Wax is solid, it has form. But bring it near the heat, and it loses all integrity, melting into a puddle. The fire is the holy presence of God. Before His burning purity and justice, the wicked simply cannot maintain their form. They perish. This is not annihilation, but rather a complete undoing, a dissolution of their power and rebellion. Their end is not a tragedy; it is the natural consequence of insubstantial evil coming into contact with ultimate, fiery reality.

3 But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God; And let them rejoice with gladness.

The contrast is now drawn with brilliant clarity. The word "But" is a massive hinge upon which the whole thought turns. While the wicked are perishing, what are the righteous doing? They are having a party. David piles up the words for joy: glad, exult, rejoice with gladness. This is not a quiet, dignified happiness. This is exuberant, overflowing, festival joy. And where does this joy take place? "Before God." The very presence of God that is a terror and a consuming fire to the wicked is the source of uncontainable delight for the righteous. They are not joyful because they are sadistic, delighting in the suffering of others. They are joyful because God's justice has triumphed, His name is vindicated, His kingdom has advanced, and their salvation is secure. The scattering of God's enemies means the security of God's people. The two are inseparably linked. True, biblical joy is always rooted in the reality of who God is and what He has done. It is a joy that comes from seeing God arise.

Application

We are often tempted to a kind of practical deism, living as though God is distant and disengaged. We see the apparent strength of the wicked, the pervasive influence of godless ideologies, and the struggles of the church, and we can grow discouraged. This psalm is a potent remedy for that kind of spiritual anemia. It calls us to pray with bold, covenantal confidence for God to arise in our time, in our churches, in our nations, and in our own lives.

To pray "Let God arise" is to ask for clarity. It is to ask God to act in such a way that the smoke of secularism is blown away and the wax of worldly power structures melts. We are not praying for God to do something contrary to His nature, but rather to act in accordance with it. And when we pray this, we must be prepared for the consequences. When God arises, things get sorted out. The flimsy and the false are exposed. This can be unsettling, even within the church. But on the other side of that shaking is the profound and unshakable joy of the righteous.

Ultimately, this prayer was answered definitively when God the Son arose from the grave. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God arose in ultimate power. His enemies, sin, death, and the devil, were scattered. They were exposed as smoke and wax. And the result for the righteous, for all who are in Christ, is a joy that cannot be contained. We live now in the reality of that victory. And so we can pray this psalm not as a desperate plea, but as a confident affirmation, knowing that God has arisen in Christ, is arising in His world through the gospel, and will one day arise in final judgment. And because of this, we, the righteous in Christ, have every reason to be glad, to exult, and to rejoice with gladness.