Psalms 68 Footnotes

68:4,33 The picture of God riding on the clouds and across the heavens was directed against Baal, Canaan’s storm-god, who was said to mount up to the heavens. But it is the Lord who rides victoriously through the heavens (104:3). That Elijah, the great opponent of the worship of the false Baals, was taken up in a whirlwind accompanied by chariots of fire (2Kg 2:11) would also undermine such pagan beliefs.

68:7-18 The psalm is a prayer for the Lord to come as a warrior. It portrays the divine warrior moving from Sinai in the wilderness to Zion in Jerusalem in a triumphant march. Historically, this occurred in the movement of the holy ark over several generations; the psalm provides a summary picture.

68:18 The psalm celebrates how Yahweh ascended on high and received gifts from men, just as a victorious sovereign in the ancient Near East would receive gifts in tribute. The line is appropriate as a description of the Lord’s conquest of the land and the ascension of his presence to Zion, represented by the ark. In the NT, Paul used this psalm with reference to Jesus’s triumphant ascension to heaven, in which he gave spiritual gifts to his people (Eph 4:8; see 2Co 2:14). When the conquering king received the spoils of war, he distributed them in turn to his loyal subjects. Paul, following the Greek OT reading “gave” (Hb, “took”), omitted the thought of receiving the tribute, and went right to the point of the distribution of gifts.