The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"rideth upon the heavens," Hebrew rokhev ba'aravot (רֹכֵב בָּעֲרָבוֹת). The psalm bids us "extol him that rideth upon the heavens," the God of overwhelming majesty, riding the clouds like a chariot. It lifts the eye as high as it can go before doing something wholly unexpected.

"JAH," Yah (יָהּ), the shortened form of the covenant name YHWH. The name of the Almighty Himself, "by his name JAH." It is the covenant name, so the God who rides the heavens is the God who has bound Himself to a people.

"father of the fatherless," avi yetomim (אֲבִי יְתוֹמִים). You would expect the next line to press the grandeur further, to speak of His throne and His armies. Instead, without a pause, the psalm stoops as low as it can go, to the orphan who has no father. His height and His tenderness are not in tension; the higher He is, the lower He is willing to stoop.

"judge of the widows," dayyan almanot (דַּיַּן אַלְמָנוֹת). The widow had no defender to plead her cause in court, so God takes the office Himself. With the orphan she was among the two most vulnerable, overlooked people in the ancient world, and it is these God names Himself for.

"setteth the solitary in families," moshiv yechidim baytah (מוֹשִׁיב יְחִידִים בַּיְתָה), settles the lonely in a home. And He keeps stooping. He takes the isolated, the one who belongs to no one, and gives them a home; if you feel you have no father, no home, no defender, this psalm is for you. His majesty is the guarantee of His mercy, for He is high enough to help and tender enough to care.

Explanation

Hold verses 4 and 5 together, for their nearness is the whole point, and it is astonishing. Verse 4 lifts our eyes as high as they can go: "extol him that rideth upon the heavens," the God of overwhelming majesty, riding the clouds like a chariot, whose very name JAH is the name of the Almighty. You would expect the next line to press the grandeur further, to speak of His throne, His armies, His power. Instead, without a pause, the psalm stoops as low as it can go: "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God." The God who rides the heavens bends down to the orphan who has no father and the widow who has no defender, the two most vulnerable, overlooked people in the ancient world. That is the wonder of the true God: His height and His tenderness are not in tension; the same God is both, and the higher He is, the lower He is willing to stoop. And He keeps stooping: "God setteth the solitary in families", He takes the lonely, the isolated, the one who belongs to no one, and gives them a home and a family; "he bringeth out those which are bound with chains", He frees prisoners. Notice who God's special concern is for: not the powerful and self-sufficient, but the fatherless, the widow, the lonely, the chained. If you feel you have no one, no father, no home, no defender, this psalm is for you: the God who rides the heavens has made Himself the Father of the fatherless and the home of the solitary. His majesty is the guarantee of His mercy; He is high enough to help and tender enough to care.

Gospel Focus

"A father of the fatherless... God setteth the solitary in families", this tender heart of the exalted God is revealed fully in Jesus Christ, who came near to the lonely and makes the fatherless the children of God. The God who is "a father of the fatherless" gives, through Christ, the very thing the orphan lacks, "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God" (John 1:12), and "ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15). He promised His disciples, "I will not leave you comfortless" (John 14:18), literally, "I will not leave you orphans." And "God setteth the solitary in families" is fulfilled in the church, the family of God, where the lonely find brothers and sisters, for God has "set the members every one of them in the body" (1 Corinthians 12:18), and made of strangers "the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). Pure religion, James says, is "to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27), the very people this psalm names, because that is the heart of God Himself. So if you are fatherless, alone, or bound, come to the God who rides the heavens and yet stoops to you in Christ: He will be your Father, give you a family in His church, and free you from your chains. High and tender, He is the God of the lonely.

Word Study

"ascended on high," Hebrew alita lammarom (עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם). This verse is a portrait of a victory parade. In the ancient world a king who won a great battle would ascend in triumph to his citadel; here God, the divine Warrior, having scattered His foes (v1), ascends to His throne on high in triumphal procession.

"led captivity captive," shavita shevi (שָׁבִיתָ שֶּׁבִי), took captive a train of captives. The Hebrew doubles the word, captivity and captives from the one root. The picture is of a long train of conquered enemies dragged behind the victor as he climbs to his throne.

"received gifts for men," laqachta mattanot ba'adam (לָקַחְתָּ מַתָּנוֹת בָּאָדָם). The tribute and spoils of conquest pour in to the victor. But the Apostle Paul takes this very verse and applies it to the ascension of Jesus Christ, writing that the victor "led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" (Ephesians 4:8), with one Spirit-guided change: "received" becomes "gave." The King receives the tribute of victory and then turns and distributes it to His people.

"for the rebellious," af sorerim (אַף סוֹרְרִים). Notice who is included in the benefit. The rebels, the very kind of enemies just conquered, are not merely spared but blessed, which is the shape of the gospel in a single line.

"that the LORD God might dwell among them," lishkon Yah Elohim (לִשְׁכֹּן יָהּ אֱלֹהִים). Here is the purpose of the whole triumph. The conquering King ascends, and the fruit of His victory is that even rebels receive gifts and God comes to live among them.

Explanation

This verse is a portrait of a victory parade. In the ancient world, when a king won a great battle, he would ascend in triumph to his citadel, leading behind him a long train of captured enemies, "led captivity captive," and receiving the tribute and spoils of his conquest, "gifts." That is the scene: God, the divine Warrior, having scattered His foes (v1), ascends "on high" to His throne in a triumphal procession, His enemies vanquished, tribute pouring in. But two details lift it far above any earthly triumph. First, the Apostle Paul takes this very verse and applies it to the ascension of Jesus Christ, with one Spirit-guided change: where the psalm says the victor "received gifts," Paul writes that the victor "led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" (Ephesians 4:8), with one Spirit-guided change, "received" becomes "gave." The King receives the tribute of victory, yes, but then turns and distributes it as gifts to His people, the gifts of the Spirit and the ministries of the church. The victorious Christ does not hoard His spoils; He lavishes them on His own. Second, notice who is included in the benefit: "yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them." The rebels, the very kind of enemies just conquered, are not merely spared but blessed, so that God might come to dwell among them. That is the shape of the gospel in a single line: the conquering King ascends, and the fruit of His triumph is that even rebels receive gifts and God comes to live among them.

Gospel Focus

"Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive" (Psalm 68:18), the New Testament settles beyond doubt whose ascent this is: it is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the LORD God who ascended is Jesus, God manifest in flesh. Paul writes, "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" (Ephesians 4:8), and explains that "he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10). Christ, having descended into our flesh and into death, ascended in triumph, "led captivity captive," conquering the powers that held us, sin, death, and the devil, of whom, at the cross, "he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15). And from His throne He "gave gifts unto men," pouring out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and giving to His church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). The purpose, exactly as the psalm says, is "that the LORD God might dwell among them", fulfilled as God now dwells in His people by the Spirit, "know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). And the wonder is that the "rebellious" are included: Christ ascended and gave gifts even to His former enemies, reconciled by His blood. So look up to the ascended, triumphant Christ, receive the gifts He gives, and rejoice that the God who rose in victory came down again by His Spirit to dwell among rebels made His own.

Word Study

"daily," Hebrew yom yom (יוֹם יוֹם), day by day. The psalm bursts into blessing: "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits." The Hebrew simply repeats the word for day, and the repetition is the point: not now and then, but day after day after day.

"loadeth us with benefits," ya'amos-lanu (יַעֲמָס־לָנוּ), heaps a load upon us, bears our burden. A vivid word, used of piling a heavy load onto a pack animal; here God piles a load onto us, but the load is not burdens, it is benefits. We are quick to tally the day's troubles and slow to count the day's mercies, when in truth every ordinary day comes loaded with more goodness than we could carry. The same word can also mean God bears our load for us, and both are gloriously true.

"God of our salvation," El yeshu'atenu (אֵל יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ). The daily benefits are not from a distant benefactor but from the God who has already saved His people. His providence and His salvation come from the same hand.

"God of salvation," El lemosha'ot (אֵל לְמוֹשָׁעוֹת). The Hebrew here is plural, deliverances upon deliverances. He is not the God of one rescue but of all rescues, and the plural matches the daily heaping of benefits above.

"issues from death," totza'ot lammavet (תּוֹצָאוֹת לַמָּוֶת), the escapes, exits, ways out of death. An "issue" here is an exit, a way out, and the psalm says these belong to God alone. No human power and no amount of money can purchase an exit from the grave; the God who ascended on high (v18) is the God who holds the ways out of death itself.

Explanation

Two phrases in these verses are worth lingering over. The first is "daily loadeth us with benefits." The word "loadeth" is a vivid one, amas means to pile a heavy load onto a pack animal; here God piles a load onto us, but the load is not burdens, it is benefits. Every single day, "day by day," God heaps blessing upon His people, so many mercies that they are a weight, a full load. Stop and consider how differently we usually keep our accounts with God: we are quick to tally the day's troubles and slow to count the day's benefits, when in truth every ordinary day comes loaded with more goodness than we could carry, breath, food, light, safety, grace, and a thousand unnoticed kindnesses. (The same Hebrew word can also mean God "bears" our load for us, and both are gloriously true: He loads us with good and carries our burdens.) The second phrase is even greater: "unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death." An "issue" here is an exit, a way out; and the psalm says the ways out of death belong to God alone. No one else holds the key to death's door; no human power, no amount of money, can purchase an exit from the grave. But God has them, the escapes from death are His to give. This is the climax the whole triumphant psalm has been building toward: the God who ascended on high (v18) is the God who holds the exits from death itself, and can bring His people out of the grave. Bless Him, then, for both: the daily load of benefits, and the one great benefit that only He can give, a way out of death.

Gospel Focus

"Unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death", the ways out of death that belong to God alone have been opened for us in Jesus Christ, who died, rose, and holds the keys of death. The risen Lord Jesus declares, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18); the "issues from death" are His, held in His pierced hands. He "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10), and He is Himself "the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25). Because Christ has come out of the grave, the exit from death stands open for all who are His, "because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14:19). And the God who "daily loadeth us with benefits" is the same Saviour whose mercies "are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23), who gives us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3), and whose greatest benefit is Christ Himself. So bless the Lord, count the daily load of His benefits instead of the day's troubles, and rest in the God of salvation who holds the ways out of death, for in Jesus the door of the grave has been opened, and He will bring His people through it into everlasting life.