Psalm 68:35

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(35) Out of thy holy places—i.e., out of Zion. The plural “places” occurs also in Ps. lxxiii, 17 (Heb.).

Benson Commentary

Psalm 68:35. O God, thou art terrible — Hebrew, נורא, nora, venerable, yea, infinitely worthy to be both reverenced and feared. Out of thy holy places — Or, sanctuaries. “Heaven was his sanctuary of old; his earthly sanctuary was in Zion: he was worthy to be feared as inhabiting both, and he is represented as going out of them, to take vengeance on the enemies of his people, and as dreadful on account of the judgments which, from thence, as the places of his dwelling, he executes on them. He giveth strength and power to his people — Though the marks of his displeasure are dreadful to his enemies, yet he gives fortitude and courage unto his people, inspires them with resolution and vigour, and renders them victorious over all that oppose them. The psalmist adds, Blessed be God! And surely men and angels, heaven and earth, ought to say, Amen! All is from him; let all be returned to him, in praise and thanksgiving; and let the whole intelligent creation exclaim, Blessed be God, who hath so wonderfully blessed us!

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

O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places - The places where thou dwellest, and from which thou dost manifest thyself. That is, The manifestations which thou dost make of thyself when thou seemest to come forth from thine abode are "terrible," or are suited to fill the mind with awe. Compare Psalm 45:4, note; Psalm 65:5, note; Psalm 66:5, note.

The God of Israel - The God who is adored by Israel, or by his true people; our God.

Is he that giveth strength and power unto his people - He is not weak and feeble. He is able to protect them. He shows that he can gird them with strength; that he can defend them; that he can sustain them in the trials of life. The God whom they acknowledge as their God is not one whose strength fails, or who is seen to be feeble and powerless when his aid is needed. He is fully equal to all their needs, and they never trust him in vain. "Blessed be God." For all that he is, for all that he has done. This is the language of joy and praise in view of the contemplation of his character as depicted in the psalm. At the close of every right contemplation of his character, his government, his plans, his claims, his law, his gospel, the heart that is right will say, "Blessed be such a God." To one endowed with "such" attributes, praise - everlasting praise - is due.

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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Terrible; or, venerable; deservedly to be both reverenced and feared.

Holy places; or, sanctuaries. He useth the plural number; either,

1. Of the sanctuary in Zion, because the tabernacle and temple consisted of three parts; the court, the holy place, and the holy of holies. Or rather,

2. With respect to that twofold sanctuary here mentioned, one in Zion, and the other in heaven. And out of both these holy places God appeared, and put forth such acts of his power as might justly terrify his enemies.

God giveth strength and power unto his people; the strength which the kingdom of Israel now hath, is not to be ascribed to my valour or conduct, nor to the courage or numbers of the people, nor to that happy union now made, and established among all the tribes, but only to the might and grace of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O God, thou art terrible,.... In his judgments and acts of vengeance, on antichrist and the antichristian states; being the Lion of the tribe of Judah, that will break them to pieces as a potter's vessel: or "reverend" (s); to be feared and worshipped by his saints;

out of thy holy places; both out of heaven, the habitation of his holiness, by angels and glorified saints there; and out of all his churches, the several assemblies of them, among whom he is greatly to be feared and adored: the Targum interprets it of the house of the sanctuary;

the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people; his peculiar covenant people, his Israel he is the God of. These are weak, and encompassed about with infirmities; he has strength in himself for them; he has promised it to them, and he gives it to them as a pure gift and unmerited favour of his. It may be understood of the great degree of strength that will be given them in the latter day; when a small one shall be a strong nation, and the feeble shall be as David, and David as God, as the Angel of the Lord, Isaiah 60:21; and of the dominion and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven; which will be given to the saints of the most High, Daniel 7:27;

blessed be God: the psalm is concluded with an ascription of blessing to the Messiah, who is God blessed for evermore; and who, as Mediator, is the promised seed, in whom all nations were to be blessed, and now will be; see Revelation 5:12.

(s) "venerandus", Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

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

(d) In showing fearful judgments against your enemies for the salvation of your people.

(e) He alludes to the tabernacle which was divided in three parts.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

35. O God, thou art terrible &c.] This rendering is retained in R.V., but grammar requires us to render (cp. R.V. marg.); Terrible is God out of thy sanctuary. Israel is addressed: and the verse is the answer of the nations to the summons of Psalm 68:34, acknowledging the awful might (Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalm 47:2) which God displays from His sanctuary in the midst of Israel (cp. Psalm 68:29 note), recognising Him as the source of Israel’s preeminence, and in conclusion reechoing Israel’s watchword of praise, Blessed be God. Simpler but less forcible is the reading of LXX and Jer., out of his sanctuary, making the verse the Psalmist’s own conclusion.

thy holy places] Better, thy sanctuary, as the word is generally rendered (Exodus 15:17; Psalm 78:69; Psalm 96:6, &c.). The plural is an idiomatic plural of ‘extension’ or ‘amplification,’ denoting the various parts of the Temple, or its dignity.

the God of Israel is he that giveth] Better as R.V., the God of Israel, he giveth &c.

power] Or, mightiness. The subst. is found here only, but the adj. is common, cp. Deuteronomy 4:38; Isaiah 60:22.

unto his people] Cp. Psalm 29:11; Isaiah 40:29. Lit., the people, which stands out among the nations of the world as the people of His choice.

Thus the Psalmist’s outlook reaches forward to the final triumph celebrated in the Apocalyptic song, Revelation 15:3 f.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 35. - O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places. "Terrible," i.e., in the things that thou accomplishest out of thy holy places," as Sinai, Zion, heaven. (On the "terribleness" of God, see Deuteronomy 7:21; Deuteronomy 10:17; Job 37:22; Psalm 47:2; Psalm 66:3, 5; Jeremiah 20:11; Zephaniah 2:11; Nehemiah 1:5; Nehemiah 4:14; 6:32; Hebrews 12:29.) The God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people (comp. ver. 28). Blessed be God. A worthy ending to this glorious hymn of praise.



Psalm 68:35

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.