Psalm 68:32

Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(32) Sing praises . . .—Better, play and sing. The Selah, as in some other cases, is introduced where to our sense of rhythm it is quite out of place.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 68:32-33. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth — Not only Egypt and Ethiopia, but other kingdoms and nations also, who shall partake of the same grace with them. To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens — Upon the highest heavens, his truest and best sanctuary; dwelling there in infinite glory and majesty, and from thence looking down upon all the inhabitants of the earth, and ruling them by his almighty power, and therefore most fit to be acknowledged and received by all kings and kingdoms as their Lord and Governor; which were of old — From the very beginning of the world; whereas the ark was only a few hundreds of years old. Lo, he doth send out his voice — Thunder is described in Scripture as the voice of God, (Psalms 29.,) and is peculiarly awful and terrible in the eastern and warmer parts of the earth. But the word of God seems to be here meant, namely, the gospel, published by Christ and his apostles, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which might well be called God’s voice, and that a mighty voice, because it produced such great and wonderful effects, as are here mentioned, in converting the kings and kingdoms of the earth.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

68:32-35 God is to be admired and adored with reverence and godly fear, by all that attend in his holy places. The God of Israel gives strength and power unto his people. Through Christ strengthening us we can do all things, not otherwise; therefore he must have the glory of all we do, with our humble thanks for enabling us to do it, and for accepting the work of his hands in us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth - That is - that acknowledge the true God - celebrate his praise. The psalmist sees the conversion of the world to God to be so certain an event that he calls on all nations to join in the song.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

32-36. To Him who is presented as riding in triumph through His ancient heavens and proclaiming His presence—to Him who, in nature, and still more in the wonders of His spiritual government, out of His holy place (Ps 43:3), is terrible, who rules His Church, and, by His Church, rules the world in righteousness—let all nations and kingdoms give honor and power and dominion evermore.

The Treasury of David

32 Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:

33 To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.

34 Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.

35 O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.

Psalm 68:32

"Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth." Glorious shall that song be in which whole empires join. Happy are men that God is one who is consistently the object of joyous worship, for not such are the demons of the heathen. So sweet a thing is song that it ought to be all the Lord's; a secular concert seems almost a sacrilege, a licentious song is treason. "O sing praises unto the Lord." Again and again is God to be magnified; we have too much sinning against God, but cannot have too much singing to God. "Selah." Well may we rest now that our contemplations have reached the millennial glory. What heart will refuse to be lifted up by such a prospect!

Psalm 68:33

"To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old." Before, he was described in his earthly manifestations, as marching through the desert; now, in his celestial glory, as riding in the heavens of the primeval ages. Long ere this heaven and earth were made, the loftier abodes of the Deity stood fast; before men or angels were created, the splendours of the Great King were as great as now, and his triumphs as glorious. Our knowledge reaches but to a small fragment of the life of God, whose "goings forth were of old, even from everlasting." Well might the Jewish church hymn the eternal God, and well may we join therewith the adoration of the Great Firstborn: -

"Ere sin was born, or Satan fell,

He led the host of morning stars.

Thy generation who can tell?

Or count the number of thy years?"

"Lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice." Was there a thunder-clap just then heard in heaven? Or did the poet's mind flash backward to the time when from the heaven of heavens the voice of Jehovah broke the long silence and said, "Light be," and light was. To this hour, the voice of God is power. This gospel, which utters and reveals his word, is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Our voices are fitly called to praise him whose voice spoke us into being, and gives us the effectual grace which secures our well-being.

Psalm 68:34

continued...

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Not only Egypt and Ethiopia, but other kingdoms and nations also, who shall partake of the same grace with them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth,.... Not only the Egyptian and Ethiopian kingdoms, but all the kingdoms of the world; which will now be converted to Christ, and become his, even all the Papal, Pagan, and Mahometan kingdoms; see Revelation 11:15. These are called upon to sing songs and hymns of praise to Christ, who is God, for redemption by him, and salvation in him; and for their deliverance from all the darkness and delusions under which they formerly were;

O sing praises unto the Lord; the Lord of all, the Lord of lords, the Head of the church, and Saviour of the body; and whom those converted nations will acknowledge to be their Lord and King; and make their homage, and bring their tribute of praise to him, for breaking the antichristian yokes that were upon them, and freeing them from the tyranny and bondage with which they were oppressed: this will be fulfilled in the latter day; see Revelation 11:1.

Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psalm 3:2.

Geneva Study Bible

Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

32. The kingdoms of the earth are invited to reecho Israel’s chorus of praise, Psalm 68:4. Cp. Revelation 11:15 The musical interlude (Selah) may suggest the outbreak of the chorus of universal praise.

32–35. All nations are summoned to unite in praising Israel’s God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 32. - Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord. All the world powers having submitted to the Church, all the kingdoms of the earth can be called upon to join in the praise of God. Psalm 68:32

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The poet stands so completely in the midst of this glory of the end, that soaring onwards in faith over all the kingdoms of the world, he calls upon them to render praise to the God of Israel. לרכב attaches itself to the dominating notion of שׁירוּ in Psalm 68:33. The heavens of heavens (Deuteronomy 10:14) are by קדם described as primeval (perhaps, following the order of their coming into existence, as extending back beyond the heavens that belong to our globe, of the second and fourth day of Creation). God is said to ride along in the primeval heavens of the heavens (Deuteronomy 33:26), when by means of the cherub (Psalm 18:11) He extends His operations to all parts of these infinite distances and heights. The epithet "who rideth along in the heavens of heavens of the first beginning" denotes the exalted majesty of the superterrestrial One, who on account of His immanency in history is called "He who rideth along through the steppes" (רכב בּערבות, Psalm 68:5). In יתּן בּקולו we have a repetition of the thought expressed above in Psalm 68:12 by יתּן אמר; what is intended is God's voice of power, which thunders down everything that contends against Him. Since in the expression נתן בּקול (Psalm 46:7; Jeremiah 12:8) the voice, according to Ges. 138, rem. 3, note, is conceived of as the medium of the giving, i.e., of the giving forth from one's self, of the making one's self heard, we must take קול עז not as the object (as in the Latin phrase sonitum dare), but as an apposition:

(Note: The accentuation does not decide; it admits of our taking it in both ways. Cf. Psalm 14:5; Psalm 41:2; Psalm 58:7; Psalm 68:28; Proverbs 13:22; Proverbs 27:1.)

behold, He maketh Himself heard with His voice, a powerful voice. Thus let them then give God עז, i.e., render back to Him in praise that acknowledges His omnipotence, the omnipotence which He hath, and of which He gives abundant proof. His glory (גּאוה) rules over Israel, more particularly as its guard and defence; His power (עז), however, embraces all created things, not the earth merely, but also the loftiest regions of the sky. The kingdom of grace reveals the majesty and glory of His redemptive work (cf. Ephesians 1:6), the kingdom of nature the universal dominion of His omnipotence. To this call to the kingdoms of the earth they respond in v. 36: "Awful is Elohim out of thy sanctuaries." The words are addressed to Israel, consequently מקדּשׁים is not the heavenly and earthly sanctuary (Hitzig), but the one sanctuary in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 21:72) in the manifold character of its holy places (Jeremiah 51:51, cf. Amos 7:9). Commanding reverence - such is the confession of the Gentile world - doth Elohim rule from thy most holy places, O Israel, the God who hath chosen thee as His mediatorial people. The second part of the confession runs: the God of Israel giveth power and abundant strength to the people, viz., whose God He is, equivalent to לעמּו, Psalm 29:11. Israel's might in the omnipotence of God it is which the Gentile world has experienced, and from which it has deduced the universal fact of experience, v. 36b. All peoples with their gods succumb at last to Israel and its God. This confession of the Gentile world closes with בּרוּך אלהים (which is preceded by Mugrash transformed out of Athnach). That which the psalmist said in the name of Israel in Psalm 68:20, "Blessed be the Lord," now re-echoes from all the world, "Blessed be Elohim." The world is overcome by the church of Jahve, and that not merely in outward form, but spiritually. The taking up of all the kingdoms of the world into the kingdom of God, this the great theme of the Apocalypse, is also after all the theme of this Psalm. The first half closed with Jahve's triumphant ascension, the second closes with the results of His victory and triumph, which embrace the world of peoples.