Commentary - Psalm 68:28-31

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 68 is a triumphant processional, a victory march. After celebrating God's historic victories and His ascension on high, leading captivity captive (v. 18), the psalmist turns his attention to the future implications of God's established reign. Verses 28-31 are a Spirit-inspired summons and prophecy concerning the effects of God's power emanating from His dwelling place. It is a prayer for God to continue His powerful works, and a confident prediction of the results. The nations, formerly hostile, will be subdued. The proud and militaristic will be rebuked and scattered, while distant Gentile powers, represented by Egypt and Ethiopia, will turn to God in submission, bringing their tribute and stretching out their hands in worship. This is a picture of the gospel's advance throughout the world, a central theme in a robust, optimistic, and Christ-centered eschatology.

The movement is from the inside out. God commands strength for His people (v. 28), and because of His presence in Jerusalem (v. 29), the kings of the earth are drawn in. But this is no simple attraction; it involves a confrontation. The powers that resist, symbolized by fierce beasts, must be rebuked (v. 30). The result of this divine rebuke is the willing submission of the nations, who abandon their lust for war and wealth to bring gifts to the true King. The psalm ends with a vision of global worship, a picture fulfilled in the Great Commission and the steady advance of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 68 is a sprawling, majestic anthem celebrating God as the divine warrior who leads His people in triumphant procession. It begins with the ancient cry from the wilderness wanderings, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered" (cf. Num. 10:35). The psalm recounts God's mighty deeds, from Sinai to the conquest of Canaan, and celebrates His ascension to His holy hill, Zion. The passage in verses 28-31 serves as a crucial pivot. Having looked back at God's faithfulness, David, the psalmist, now looks forward prophetically. He sees the implications of God's enthronement in Zion. This is not a static kingship; it is dynamic and expansionist. The presence of God among His people necessarily results in the subjugation of His enemies and the ingathering of the nations. This section, therefore, is intensely Christological and missiological, anticipating the reign of Christ from the heavenly Zion and the worldwide effects of the gospel.

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 28 Your God has commanded your strength; Show Yourself strong, O God, who has worked on our behalf.

The verse opens with a declaration of fact and follows it with a petition based on that fact. "Your God has commanded your strength." This is not our strength. This is not something we mustered up through positive thinking or a particularly rousing pep talk. This is strength that has been decreed, ordained, and commanded by God Himself for His people. The power we have is a derived power, a gifted power. God is the one who furnishes His people for the task He has set before them. The second clause is the appropriate response to the first: "Show Yourself strong, O God." This is a prayer for God to manifest the strength He has already commanded. It is a plea for Him to act consistently with His own character and His own decrees. We are asking God to be God, to do what He does. He has "worked on our behalf" in the past, and on the basis of that established track record, we ask Him to do it again, but this time on a grander scale.

v. 29 Because of Your temple at Jerusalem Kings will bring gifts to You.

Here is the logic of gospel expansion. Where does this global influence come from? It comes from the presence of God with His people. "Because of Your temple at Jerusalem." The temple was the epicenter of God's manifest presence on earth under the Old Covenant. It was the place where heaven and earth met. And because God is there, the world cannot remain indifferent. The kings of the earth, the highest political authorities, will be compelled to respond. They will not come to conquer, but to submit. They will "bring gifts," which is the ancient language of tribute and homage. This is a prophecy of the Epiphany, when the Magi came with their gifts. It is a prophecy of the New Jerusalem, to which the kings of the earth will bring their glory (Rev. 21:24). The presence of the holy God in the midst of His people has a gravitational pull that reorders the entire world.

v. 30 Rebuke the beast in the reeds, The herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples, Trampling under foot the pieces of silver; He has cast out the peoples who delight in war.

But the submission of the nations is not always a gentle affair. There are hostile powers that must be dealt with. This verse is an imprecation, a prayer for God to deal severely with His enemies. "The beast in the reeds" is likely a reference to Egypt, symbolized by the crocodile or hippopotamus of the Nile. It represents a powerful, lurking, pagan empire. "The herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples" refers to the leaders and the masses of the Gentile nations, strong and brutish in their opposition to God. These are powers that trample on what is right for the sake of wealth, "trampling under foot the pieces of silver." They are avaricious and materialistic. And at their core, they "delight in war." They love violence, conquest, and bloodshed. The prayer is for God to "rebuke" them, to put them down. The final clause can be read as a statement of fact: God is the one who scatters and defeats such people. This is not a prayer for us to form a militia; it is a prayer for God to act in history, to bring down the proud and violent so that His peaceable kingdom may advance.

v. 31 Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God.

And what is the result of this divine rebuke? Conversion. The very places that were symbols of pagan opposition become centers of worship. Egypt, the beast of the reeds, will send "envoys," or princes, not to make war but to pay homage. And Ethiopia, representing the farthest reaches of the known world, will not be dragged reluctantly. She will "quickly stretch out her hands to God." This is a picture of eager, voluntary submission and worship. The hands once used for war are now stretched out in prayer and supplication. This is a stunning prophecy of the power of the gospel. The most hostile and distant peoples will be brought near by the blood of Christ. This is what the church has been seeing for two millennia, and it is what we will continue to see until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Application

This passage is a potent antidote to all forms of cultural pessimism and eschatological despair. We serve a God who commands strength for us, and our primary task is to ask Him to display it. Our confidence is not in our political savvy or our cultural cleverness, but in the manifest presence of God among His people, the church. The church is the temple of the living God, and it is from this place that God's influence goes out into the world.

We must also learn to pray like this. We should pray for God to rebuke the proud and violent ideologies of our day. The beasts and bulls of our time are the godless, materialistic powers that delight in the culture of death, whether through actual war or through the slaughter of the unborn. We must ask God to trample them down. And we must do so with the confident expectation that the result will be a great ingathering. We pray for the downfall of godless systems precisely so that the people within those systems might be saved. We pray for Egypt to be rebuked so that Egyptians might send envoys to Christ. We pray for the scattering of those who delight in war so that former warmongers might stretch out their hands to God in worship. Our imprecations are ultimately evangelistic. We pray for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And this psalm gives us every reason to believe that this prayer will be answered.