Psalm 47

PSALM FORTY-SEVEN

For the director of Music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.

2 How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!

3 He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet.

4 He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah

5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.

9 The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

The first striking feature of this psalm is its international flavor. In his commentary on the psalms, in the Word Biblical Commentary Series, Craig believes this to be an expression of Israel's colonialist tendencies. The theme seems to be Israel and its vassals. In practice, in David's time, when the air was constantly filled with the clatter of swords, Israel would, in fact, have looked upon all other nations as its potential colonies. God's original mandate to Israel, however, was that they were to be a kingdom of priests, as is clear from His instructions to Moses: "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."¹ That statement does not give the impression of a rattling of weapons. We take it, therefore, that in this psalm, the Holy Spirit gives expression to God's original intention with His people, even though the poet himself may not have understood it that way.

The poet wants all nations to participate in the ecstasy of worshipping God, and it would be hard to suppose that those nations that had been subjected to Israelite rule, and that had been robbed of their freedom, would do this in a spontaneous way. Worship requires an inner renewal, not a forced change of outward circumstances.

The psalmist understands that the God of Israel is more than a national deity; He is "the great King over all the earth!" This is the reason for this international invitation to participate in this worship and praise.

Throughout the ages, Israel has occupied a unique position in this world. Many nations, who endeavored to gain a world hegemony, have risen and fallen. In all those efforts man occupied the central place; and the gods of those nations were never considered to be more than local deities that swallowed up other local deities. Israel has always known, at least in its moments of greatness, that their God was "the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!" Israel also never endeavored to surpass the boundaries of the territory God had allotted to her. This psalm, therefore, cannot be seen as intending to sing the praises of Israel's position as a world power, but rather to open the eyes of all peoples on earth for the reality of God's presence and majesty. In view of the condition in which the world of nations has existed, ever since the construction of the tower of Babel, Israel's task was an amazing one. This psalm, therefore, must be seen as a statement of evangelism and eschatology. Even the Korahites in the days of David and Solomon were not so naïve as to suppose that the whole world would fall down in an ecstatic way, and worship God. The fulfillment of the prophecy of this psalm can be seen in the vision John had in the book of Revelation of "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language."² This international brotherhood of nations will only be possible through the redemption by the blood of Jesus. To interpret this psalm without reference to this truth would make no sense.

We maintain, therefore, that the invitation contained in this psalm is only meant for the redeemed, that is, for the church of Jesus Christ. The present condition of this seems to be no better suited for the realization of the invitation than it was when this psalm was first composed. But all the elements that are necessary for the fulfillment are present today. The atonement of sin has been achieved, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the church. Yet, we cannot say that praise and worship of God on earth has reached universal proportions. We ought, therefore, to continue to pray: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come."³ The important thing is that the eyes of man will open to reality. God's greatness and omnipotence are not subject to change; but man passes through this world as if there is no God. He is completely blind to the glory that surrounds him. Healing of the soul will make us burst out in applause and shouts of joy for YHWH, the Most High. No adoration will ever be possible without this discovery of reality. The essence of faith is seeing that which is invisible. The writer of the Hebrew Epistle says about Moses: "By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible."⁴ The story of Elisha and his servant Gehazi illustrates this. We read in the second book of Kings: "When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. 'Oh, my lord, what shall we do?' the servant asked. 'Don't be afraid,' the prophet answered. 'Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' And Elisha prayed, 'O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."⁵ Therefore, the Apostle Paul says: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."⁶ The enemy, who lives in the invisible world, blinds the eyes of men to this reality.

There is, therefore, a direct link between the discovery that is implied in verses 1 and 2, and the victory about which verses 3 and 4 speak. This victory would be, in first instance, the conquest of Canaan at the end of the long journey which began with the exodus from slavery in Egypt. The topic is, not colonialist aspirations, but judgment over sin. The subjugation and occupation of the land was not Israel's idea but God's. God even had to convince Moses first, before there was any question of an exodus of the people, and, with a few exceptions, the Israelites were always wanting to go back to Egypt. They were always very shortsighted and hardly ever understood that God wanted to use them to pull down the strongholds of the enemy. Satan had dug himself in in Canaan, already in Abraham's days when "the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."⁷ God meant Israel to be a kingdom of priests, the stewards of God's revelation on earth. Their hearts should have embraced the whole world. The fact that they began to glorify their traditions and revel in their "Jewishness," in no way altered God's intent for them. God wanted all the nations of the earth to gather under the banner of Israel, and of God's revelation to them and through them. Israel's inheritance was much greater than the land of Canaan. But Israel was so satisfied with the lesser, with the replica of reality, that she never attained the reality of God's inheritance for her, and finally, she forgot that it even existed.

But in this psalm, the Holy Spirit looks at these privileges of God's children: the salvation of the world, the eternal heritage about which Jacob may be rightfully proud, and the eternal love which God demonstrates to those who obey Him.

Beginning at vs. 6, it becomes clear that this psalm is really written about our Lord Jesus Christ. We witness His ascension to the throne. Before this moment in history took place, He told His disciples: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.…"⁸ The disciples who heard those words on earth, saw only Jesus' departure from them; they could not see His arrival in glory. If they could have seen that, they would have sung His praises together with the angels. After the Holy Spirit came upon them, on the day of Pentecost, this psalm surely acquired a deeper meaning for them.

For us, the ascension is a link in the chain of the facts in the history of salvation; one of the many facts. It began with the incarnation. We tend to see the Lord's crucifixion as the most important link in the chain. But in this psalm the full stress is put on the ascension. The other links in the chain are not even mentioned. This omission produces a special effect. We have to understand that the factors that are not mentioned are the ones that led up to this apotheosis. Without the birth of Christ, without His death, and without His resurrection, there would not be an ascension. We have this advantage over the Korahites that we can see the complete chain, and that we know the significance of each of its links. They looked at one link of the chain with great amazement, without understanding where it came from or where it was leading.

Even if Christ had not been born, God would have been the king of the earth, and He would have ruled over the nations. But Jesus' ascension places God's omnipotence in a completely new light, in that it draws man into God's eternal plan. Ascension means that a Man, born on this earth, enters heaven and takes His place on the throne of the universe. If God does this for one single Man, it opens limitless opportunities for all the others. Jesus entered heaven in order to bring many sons to glory. This is one of the reasons what this psalm was so suitable to be sung at the ascension of one of Israel's kings, which is the opinion of several commentators. After all, earth is a picture of heaven. In this way, by seeing the images on earth, we become eyewitnesses of the real heavenly glory of which we, ourselves, will be partakers later. We may now exercise our vocal cords for the shouting to come.

In this psalm God has ascended amid shouts of joy and amid the sounding of trumpets of angels, and we, as humans, are encouraged to join in the singing. In the account of the actual ascension,⁹ we do not read of any sounding of trumpets. It could be that this was beyond the scope of the disciples' hearing. The angels announced that Jesus' Second Coming would take place in the same way as His ascension. The Apostle Paul may have used a combination of the account of the ascension and of this psalm to give his prophecy about Jesus' return: "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."¹⁰

So the angels have the part of the trumpets, but man is responsible for the singing of psalms of praise. If this is so at the occasion of the ascension, it will, no doubt, be the same at the Lord's return.

Psalm singing is the transliteration of the Greek. The KJV renders vs. 7 with: "For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding." The Adam Clarke Commentary says about this: "[Sing ye praises with understanding] Zamruw … maskiyl …, sing an instructive song. Let sense and sound go together. Let your hearts and heads go with your voices. Understand what you sing; and feel what you understand; and let the song be what will give instruction in righteousness to them that hear it. 'Sing wisely.'-- Anglo-Saxon. Multitudes sing foolishly." "Sing praises" is used as one verb in Hebrew. The word zamar is used five times as a verb in verses 6 and 7. Strongs Definitions describes it: "through the idea of striking with the fingers; properly, to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument, i.e. play upon it; to make music, accompanied by the voice; hence to celebrate in song and music." The repetition lends great emphasis to the text: "Sing, sing, sing, sing, sing!" The enthusiasm and ecstasy are contagious. We realize that we sing too little. God wants us to use our gifts to glorify Him in Jesus Christ. That is the reason He gives us gifts, artistic gifts and other.

In the light of the ascension, that is, in connection with the completion of the whole work of atonement accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ, God's ruling over the nation ought to be interpreted, first of all, in an eschatological fashion. Jesus Christ has to reign as King, until everything that rebelled against God is subjugated. Paul says this in his epistle to the Corinthians: "For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet."¹¹ More is involved than a demonstration of God's omnipotence. Fullness of time and purpose will have been achieved when man acknowledges this omnipotence and submits to it. The Apostle Paul describes this fulness as follows: "Therefore God exalted him [Christ] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."¹²

It is this acknowledgment that forms the core of the last verses of this psalm. The world leaders will be part of the revelation which God gave to Abraham, which is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Concerning this, Paul says in his epistle to the Galatians: "He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."¹³

In The Word Biblical Commentary, Craig translates this verse with: "The princely ones of the people are assembled with the people of Abraham's God." He does admit, however, that this version is based upon the supposition that a "kaplography" may have entered the text! Jesus mentioned people coming in from the outside when He commented on the faith of the centurion. He said: "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."¹⁴

This gathering of the nobles of the earth is, obviously, on the basis of their faith. It is suggested here that pagans will come and share in Israel's heritage. Paul calls this "the mystery of Christ."¹⁵ The Holy Spirit makes clear in this psalm what the meaning was of God's promise to Abraham. Not only would the heathen be saved, but the nobles of the earth, that is, the men of power of this world, would acquire insight into the origin of power.

Few people in this world understand that most earthly potentates are being manipulated by Satan. The devil revealed his secret to Christ during His temptation, when he said: "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to."¹⁶ Satan did not say from whom he had received this authority! In our present dispensation, everyone who is in a position of power, is subject to the influence and the attacks of the Evil One. Therefore, in his series Lord of the Rings, the British author Tolkien could reaffirm Lord Acton's dictum that power corrupts.

The NIV reads vs. 9: "The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted." The Hebrew uses the words maagineey erets. Strongs Definitions describes magen as: "a shield (i.e. the small one or buckler); figuratively, a protector." Hence, the KJV renders the verse with: "The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted." This makes us understand the illegality of the devil's claim. The shields, the banners, the heraldry, and all the other symbols of human power and dignity belong to God, and they are derived from His glory. He is the Lord of lords, and the King of kings. Those who run for a political career in this world should never forget this. It seems that, for instance in the presidential races in the United States this truth is far from the minds of the candidates. The real command of power becomes clear only when they are seen in relation to Jesus Christ. Most people running for offices do not know what they are doing, because they do not realize the source of the power they strive for. When Pilate said to Jesus: "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?' Jesus answered, 'You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.' "¹⁷ Pilate never understood this.

² Rev. 7:9

³ Matt. 6:9,10

⁴ Heb. 11:27

⁵ II Kings 6:15-17

⁶ II Cor. 4:18

⁷ See Gen. 15:16

⁸ Matt. 28:18

⁹ See Acts 1:9-11

¹⁰ I Thes. 4:16

¹¹ I Cor. 15:25

¹² Phil. 2:9-11

¹³ Gal. 3:14

¹⁴ Matt. 8:11

¹⁵ See Eph. 3:4-6

¹⁶ Luke 4:6

¹⁷ John 19:10,11

Copyright (c) 1999, 2000
E-sst, LLC
All Rights Reserved
Please see the License at Copyrights for restrictions and limitations
Note: Copyright does not apply to KJV text.