John T. Willis

Monday, June 20, 2005

Psalm 68:19-23

Having described Yahweh's mighty acts from leading his people out of Egyptian bondage at the exodus to making Mount Zion his dwelling place in verses 4-18, the composer of Psalm 68 now summons God's people to celebrate the victories and sovereignty of their heavenly King in verses 19-35, a paragraph which begins and ends with the words: "Blessed be the Lord [God]!"
First, the psalmist summons God's people to praise Yahweh for his salvation against powerful enemies in verses 19-23:

"Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.
Our God is a God of salvation,
and to God the Lord belongs escape from death.
But God will shatter the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.
The Lord said, 'I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
so that you may bathe your feet in blood,
so that the tongues of your dogs may have their share from the foe.'"

1. Yahweh does not "drop down out of heaven" occasionally to "take care of some problem" on earth. Rather, he is always with us. He "DAILY" bears us up. The symbolic name "Yahweh" means something like "I am [always there for you]." See Exodus 3:14-15; 6:2-8; Deuteronomy 4:7; Joshua 1:5, 9; Isaiah 41:8-13.
2. It is inevitable that God's people will face many enemies--both internal and external, both physical and spiritual. God alone has the power and wisdom to defeat all these enemies, but he does so speedily and effectively. Whether those enemies are on the mountain tops of Bashan or in the depths of the sea, Yahweh will defeat them (verse 22). The greatest enemy to all human beings is death; but Yahweh will destroy that enemy as well (verse 20b; see 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Hebrews 2:14-18.
Praise God, who alone is able to give us victory over all our enemies--even over death.

John Willis

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