Psalm 47

“To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.” (Psalm 47, KJV)

1. To the Chief Musician. To the Sons of Korah. A Psalm. A song of triumph, in celebration of a signal victory gained by the chosen people over certain confederated nations. In the first stanza, ver. 2–5 (1–4), Jehovah is celebrated as the conqueror of the nations; in the second, ver. 6–10 (5–9), as their rightful sovereign; in both, as the tutelary God of Israel. Another difference of form between the two parts seems to be, that in the first, the exhortation to praise God is addressed directly to the Gentiles; in the second, to Israel or the ancient church. The psalm has every appearance of having been composed in reference to some particular event; but as this is not indicated in the psalm itself, it can only be conjectured. Of the various suppositions which have been suggested, the most probable is, that it was written to commemorate the victory of Jehoshaphat over the Ammonites and Edomites, recorded in the twentieth chapter of Second Chronicles. Besides the general appropriateness of the composition to the juncture there described, it is, to say the least, a very singular coincidence, that the history records the presence, upon that occasion, not only of Levites in general, but of the Korhites (sons of Korah) in particular (2 Chron. 20:19). We read too that singers went before the army (ver. 21), and that on the fourth day they assembled in a valley which they called Berachah (blessing), because there they blessed the Lord (ver. 26). There is also something in the simple, animated, flowing style of the psalm before us which agrees very well with the supposition of its being an inspired impromptu, a psalm composed upon the spur of the occasion, either by some anonymous prophet who accompanied the army, or by the Sons of Korah themselves. See above, on Ps. 42:1. This conjecture, as to the historical occasion of the psalm before us, is corroborated by the apparent relation of the next psalm to the same event. See below, on Ps. 48:1.

2 (1). All nations, clap the hand! shout unto God with a voice of triumph! The clapping of the hands is a natural gesture both of triumph and applause. See Nah. 3:19, and compare Ps. 98:8, Isa. 55:12. The last word in the verse does not denote a feeling, but the audible expression of joy and exultation, by song or shout. See above, on Ps. 5:12 (11). The nations addressed are not the particular nations which had just been conquered, but the whole gentile world, the nations collectively, who are summoned to rejoice in the proof just afforded, that Jehovah is their rightful sovereign. See above, on Ps. 18:50 (49), and below, on Ps. 66:4 (3), 117:1, and compare the original expression upon which this is modelled, Deut. 32:43.

3 (2). For Jehovah, Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth. He is not, as the heathen were disposed to imagine, a mere local deity, the God of the Hebrews only, but the God of the whole earth, the Universal Sovereign, and an object of fear to its inhabitants. See the same epithet applied to him in Ps. 68:36 (35).

4 (3). He will subdue nations under us, and peoples under our feet. This is a proof both of his covenant relation to his people, and of his sovereign power over other nations. What he has done is but an earnest of what he will do. Compare Ps. 18:39 (38), 48 (47). This, though not a matter of rejoicing to the nations immediately concerned, may well be represented as a matter of rejoicing to the world at large, because it involves a promise that the Gentiles shall one day be included among the subjects of this divine protector, and partakers of his favor.

5 (4). He will choose for us our heritage, the pride of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. By defeating the enemies who sought to expel Israel from the land of promise (2 Chron. 20:11), God might be poetically said to settle them again therein, and, as at first, to choose their inheritance for them. The pride of Jacob, that of which he is proud, in which he glories, whether this be understood specifically of the Holy Land, or generically of all the privileges and distinctions which belonged to them as the peculiar people of Jehovah. Pride, exaltation, or distinction, as in Nah. 2:3 (2), Amos 6:8. In Amos 8:7, God himself is so described. Jacob, as in Ps. 24:6, 46:8 (7), 12 (11). Whom he loved. See Mal. 1:2, and compare Ps. 78:68.

6 (5). God has gone up with shouting, Jehovah with sound of trumpet. He is here described as returning to heaven after the conquest of his enemies and the rescue of his people, as in Ps. 7:8 (7), he does the same, after sitting in judgment on the nations, and asserting the right of his own people. See Ps. 68:19 (18), and compare Gen. 17:22, Judges 13:20. The shouting and sound of the trumpet represents the ascension as a public and triumphant one. The ideal scene is typical of the actual ascension of our Saviour. See below, on Ps. 68:19 (18).

7 (6). Sing praises (to) God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! The Hebrew corresponding to sing praises is a single word (זַמְּרוּ), which means to praise musically, both with voice and instrument. See above, on Ps. 9:3, (2). God, who is first mentioned as the object of the praise, is then described as our King, the actual King of Israel and the rightful King of all the earth.

8 (7). For King of all the earth (is) God. Perform a maschil, i.e. sing and play a didactic psalm. See above, on Ps. 32:1, 42:1, 44:1, 45:1. The maschil here meant is the psalm itself. The designation may have been omitted in the title for the very reason that it is contained in the body of the composition. The doctrine taught is that of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty, and of the ultimate subjection of all nations to his peaceful away. This idea is realised in the reign of the Messiah, so that the psalm is, in a wide sense, Messianic. The peculiar import of this last clause is lost in the common version (sing ye praises with understanding), which is also that of the Septuagint (ψάλατε συνετῶς), the Vulgate (psallite sapienter), and Jerome (canite erudite).

9 (8). God hath reigned over the nations, God hath sat down on his throne of holiness. He has begun to reign, has become a king, and as such has ascended the throne of universal empire. This and the next verse may be specially regarded as constituting the maschil mentioned in ver. 8 (7). The throne of his holiness, his holy throne, i.e. his divine throne, his throne unlike and above all others. See above, on Ps. 22:4 (3), and below, on Ps. 103:19, and compare Isa. 6:1, 66:1.

10 (9). Princes of nations are assembled—the people of the God of Abraham; for unto God belong the shields of the earth; he is greatly exalted. The first word properly means willing, and especially spontaneous givers; then by a natural deduction, liberal, generous, noble, and as a substantive, nobles, princes. They are here named as the representatives of the nations, gathered in the presence of God, to do him homage and acknowledge his supremacy. The next phrase may mean either as, with, or to the people of God, most probably the first. The God of Abraham, their founder and progenitor, with whom the covenant was made, not only for himself but for his children. See the same phrase, Gen. 31:42, Exod. 3:6, Mat. 22:32. The shields of the earth, its protectors, here put for protection in the abstract, or for the princes mentioned in the foregoing clause. Compare Hos. 4:18. It is not till all the principalities and powers of earth acknowledge their subjection to Jehovah, that he can be duly and sufficiently exalted. See above, on Ps. 22:29 (28).

Alexander, J. A. (1864). The Psalms Translated and Explained (pp. 211–213). Andrew Elliot; James Thin. (Public Domain)