Psalm 68:16

16 Why gaze with envy, you mountain peaks, at the mountain^[a] God desired for His dwelling?^[b] The Lord will live [there] forever!

Psalm 68:16 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 68:16

Why leap ye, ye high hills?
&c.] Meaning the kingdoms of this world that lift up themselves above, and look with contempt upon the interest, kingdom, and church of Christ; lie in wait for it, leap upon it, insult over it, and endeavour to crush and extirpate it; but all in vain; these high hills and mountains are nothing before Zerubbabel King of saints; his church is built on a rock, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands will become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth, and break in pieces and consume the kingdoms of it: the word (dur) , in, the Arabic language, signifies "to lie in wait", as Jarchi from R. Moses Hadarsan observes; and to look out, and leap upon the prey; so R. Hai in Ben Melech says, it has the signification of looking, observing, hoping, or waiting, in the Arable language ^F11;

[this is] the hill [which] God desireth to dwell in;
as in ( Psalms 132:13 ) ; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; the essential Word, the Messiah: his desire was towards his church and people, in eternity, in time, and now is; he has chosen and desired them for his habitation, and in the midst of them he delights to be, ( Revelation 1:13 ) ;

yea, the Lord will dwell [in it] for ever:
he dwells in his church now by his gracious presence; he will dwell in the New Jerusalem church state personally for the space of a thousand years; and after that he will dwell with and among his people to all eternity; see ( Psalms 132:14 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 "Ratzad, insidiatus fuit, uti praedae leo", Golius, col. 991. Castel. col. 3633.

Psalm 68:16 In-Context

14 When the Almighty scattered kings in the land, it snowed on Zalmon.

15 Mount Bashan is God's towering mountain; Mount Bashan is a mountain of many peaks.

16 Why gaze with envy, you mountain peaks, at the mountain God desired for His dwelling? The Lord will live [there] forever!

17 God's chariots are tens of thousands, thousands and thousands; the Lord is among them in the sanctuary as He was at Sinai.

18 You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; You received gifts from people, even from the rebellious, so that the Lord God might live [there].

Footnotes

• [a] Mount Zion
• [b] Ps 48:1-2; 132:13-14; Isa 2:2-4