NOVEMBER 15, 2024 Psalm 68:18 You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, even from the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell there. Most of us are familiar with the wording David uses here, although most of us are more familiar with Paul’s paraphrase of this verse in his letter to […]
NOVEMBER 14, 2024 Psalm 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place. When an earthly king goes out to war, he is accompanied by a great, and hopefully, superior army. Obviously, this is meant to intimidate his enemy and insure that his interests have the […]
NOVEMBER 13, 2024 Psalm 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place. In Judaism, there is a very strong thematic connection between Mount Sinai and Mount Moriah — one that speaks of God’s desire to dwell among His people as their King. It was at […]
NOVEMBER 12, 2024 Psalm 68:14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Zalmon. Before we begin discussing the intent of this verse, let me share an alternate rendering of this same verse provided by a Jewish translation of the Scripture: “When Shaddai prostrates kings, those in shadowy darkness shall be whitened.” […]
NOVEMBER 11, 2024 Psalm 68:13 Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, you will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. In the previous devotion, we proposed that David alluded to the fact God’s people are tasked with proclaiming the Word of God to the nations. This is […]
NOVEMBER 10, 2024 Psalm 68:11 The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it. There is a firmly entrenched belief within Judaism that the original language for all men was Hebrew. Until God confounded the languages at Babel, it is believed that men spoke exclusively in the Holy Tongue, and even though the languages […]
NOVEMBER 9, 2024 Psalm 68:9-10 You, O God, sent a plentiful rain, whereby You confirmed Your inheritance, when it was weary. Your congregation dwelt in it; You, O God, provided from Your goodness for the poor. Messiah said that, as God’s people, we are not to respond to our enemies as men typically do; in […]
NOVEMBER 8, 2024 Psalm 68:8 The earth shook; the heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. When the people of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, they were given instructions to prepare themselves for an audience with the Almighty. They were alerted to the fact […]
NOVEMBER 7, 2024 Psalm 68:7 O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness, Selah. The Bible records that when God led Israel out of Egypt, rather than taking them on the most direct path to Canaan — a journey of days as opposed to years — He elected to take […]
NOVEMBER 6, 2024 Psalm 68:5-6 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity. In the previous devotion, we highlighted the fact that the Almighty, though He reigns as Sovereign of the Universe, He is […]
NOVEMBER 5, 2024 Psalm 68:5-6 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity. In Jewish thought, there is a scriptural “golden rule” of sorts that says, whenever Scripture mentions God’s might, it immediately speaks […]
NOVEMBER 4, 2024 Psalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; extol Him who rides on the clouds, by His name Yah, and rejoice before Him. Before we move on to the rest of this psalm, let’s consider another inspirational thought conveyed through the words of David, specifically the Hebrew word aravot translated as “clouds.” The […]
