Psalm 47 Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. 1 of 2
1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! 2 For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth. 3 He will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet. 4 He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah
“And now we see prophetically how the redeemed people clap their hands and shout unto God with the voice of triumph, for Messiah is King and then they sing praises unto the King, for He is King over all the earth and highly exalted.” (Arno Gaebelein) “Oh, clap your hands, 'all you nations!' (cp Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalm 18:49…),” (Trapp) as when Joash was crowned king of Judah, 2 Kings 11:12->
‘“Then he brought the king's son out and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony; and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, ‘Long live the king!’”
“‘Shout unto God, with the voice of triumph for the Lord Most High is awesome.’ The praises of Christ the King "are to be celebrated with all manner of cheerfulness." So the redeemed "Jews and Gentiles are here jointly called upon joyfully to praise their Redeemer.” (Matthew Poole)
"'He shall subdue the people under us'— Though this may be applied to the victories which God gave the Hebrews over the neighbouring people, yet the expressions are too magnificent to signify that only. To subdue the nations, seems to indicate something more than bringing a few neighbouring countries under the Hebrew government.” (Joseph Benson) ”This was typified in the government of the Israelites, then ascendant in David’s days.” (John Trapp)
Yet it will be fulfilled when Christ rides abroad on His white horse in the next age, subduing His enemies. He will then "exercise authority over all nations and exalt Israel among them (Matthew 21:43; Romans 11:1-32).” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable)— “‘And the nations under our feet’— In the days of Joshua , and afterwards by David, he had destroyed, or subdued, the nations of Canaan and the adjacent countries, and brought them under the dominion of Israel: but these victories were only shadows of the spiritual triumphs of the church under her king Messiah; and at length all nations shall either be joined to her in subjection to Christ, or shall be destroyed." (Daniel 2:44-45. Revelation 11:15-18.)…” (Thomas Scott)
“‘He hath chosen our inheritance for us. Of His free grace He espied out the land of Canaan for His people Israel, flowing with milk and honey, and such as was the glory of all lands, Ezekiel 30:6; and as much, yea, much more hath he done for the whole Israel of God, both of Jews and Gentiles, by electing them to an inheritance immortal, undefiled, reserved in heaven for them, 1 Peter 1:4.— ’The high glory of Jacob whom he loved’— i.e. All those high and honourable privileges wherein Jacob once, and now all the faithful, may well glory and rejoice, {see Romans 9:4-5} having as great both abundance and assurance of God’s grace and goodness as Jacob ever had.” (John Trapp) “God originally chose Canaan as the inheritance of His people (Gen 12:1-7), and gave it to Abraham. Later on, He enlarged the gift, making the boundaries such as they became under David and Solomon (Gen 15:18).” (Pulpit Commentary) Perhaps He will enlarge the inheritance again to whole renewed earth.
Psalm 47 Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. 2 of 2
5 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding. 8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.
“God is gone up— He must therefore have previously ‘come down.’ God is said to ‘come down’ when He manifests His presence by active interposition in the affairs of the world. (Genesis 11:5— Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.; 11:7— Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”..). He is said to ‘go up,’ when, His work over, He as it were returns to heaven…”
(Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
“Whether it be a manifestation of Himself in order to utter some promise (Genesis 17:22— When He had finished talking with Abraham, God went up from him.; Judges 13:20– When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.)... or a triumphant execution of judgment… So here: God has come down to fight on behalf of His people. They return to the Holy City and He to His throne, which is above on Zion, and higher still, is above in heaven.“ (Keil & Delitzsch)
“‘With a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet,’ which was always sounded by the priests on great occasions of festal joy and gladness (see 2 Samuel 6:15; 2 Kings 11:14; 1 Chronicles 13:8; 1 Chronicles 16:42; 2 Chronicles 5:12; 2 Chronicles 7:6; 2 Chronicles 29:27; Ezra 3:10; Nehemiah 12:35).” (The Pulpit Commentary)
“Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King,” etc. i.e; both as God and King—especially as ‘our King’—that is, as Israel's King.” (Pulpit Commentary) “‘For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding.’ That is Maschil.— “a distinction to be made between God’s general government of the world, and that special one—the theocracy—which He established on earth, in and through the seed of Abraham. Even in the imperfect and typical form which it assumes in OT history this is described as His descending to the earth, and His ascending to heaven. This theocracy, insignificant as was its origin in Israel has a world-embracing destination…” (Lange’s Commentary)
9 The princes of the people have gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. 10 For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.
“‘The princes of the people’ that is Israel, ‘have gathered together,,‘ who, as one people of God shall serve and adore one and the same heavenly King; and their princes shall accomplish those purposes which God has ordained for them, viz, to be the leaders of their people to salvation…” (Lange’s Commentary)— the people of the God of Abraham.
Jesus is “the God of Abraham,” Israel’s King. “It is therefore most natural to interpret this expression of Him in almost every part of them; which leads us to multiplied proofs that He is JEHOVAH, and the Lord of all. (… Zechariah 9:9-10; Zechariah 14:6-9…)”(Thomas Scott) “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” (Zechariah 9:9-10)
“On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.” (Zechariah 14:6-9)
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4–6)
We are given a pattern in these visits wherein Christ descends, as at Sinai and by the Spirit at Pentecost, and arises again. But particularly at the time of the end, the angels will gather together the elect from the four corners of the earth to take part in it , by the power of the resurrection. “For the shields of the earth belong to God;” He has preserved His people in their graves in the earth. “He is greatly exalted.” — by this means God shall be greatly glorified, and manifest to be far above all the princes of the world.
“But the Egyptians [as a type] are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together. For this is what the LORD has said to me: ‘Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey— and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor— so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights. Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it.”(Isa 31:3-5)