He Daily Bears Our Burdens
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah. 20 God is to us a God of deliverance. To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death. 21 But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness. 22 The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea, 23 that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.” 24 They have seen your processions, God, even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25 The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines, 26 “Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!” 27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. 28 Your God has commanded your strength. Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us. 29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bring presents to you. 30 Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot the bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war. 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God. 32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord— Selah— 33 to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. 34 Ascribe strength to God! His excellency is over Israel, his strength is in the skies. 35 You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God!
The procession arrives, the choir is described in order, and Egypt and Ethiopia are shown coming in behind.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah.
In a psalm of chariots and scattered kings, the thing singled out for blessing is a daily load-carrying. The verb is the one used of a porter taking a weight, and the frequency is the point: not a rescue at a crisis but a service performed every day.
God is to us a God of deliverance. To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death.
The last phrase is literally the goings-out from death, and it is the strongest statement in the second book of the Psalter about what God has authority over. Ways out of death belong to him.
What follows is hard: enemies struck through the head, feet dipped in blood, dogs licking their portion Psalms 68:21–23. It is the vocabulary of an ancient victory song, and the psalm gives it without apology. What can be said is that it is bracketed — burdens carried daily on one side, and a procession of singers on the other — and that the psalm never authorizes anyone present to do any of it.
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines,
The procession is described as it would have looked from the roadside, in order: voices in front, instruments behind, and the women with tambourines in the middle. It is one of the few places in Scripture that records what temple worship actually looked like in motion.
There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
Four tribes named, and the selection is deliberate: the smallest tribe leading, Judah in the middle, and two from the far north. A united procession, with the least significant at the front.
Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot the bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war.
The beast among the reeds is a description of Egypt, and the request made about the nations is specific — that those who delight in war be scattered. The problem named is not that nations exist but that some of them enjoy it.
Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.
And two verses after Egypt is rebuked, Egypt is coming. The nation that enslaved Israel sends princes; Ethiopia, at the edge of the known world, hurries. The reaching out of hands is the posture of prayer used throughout this book.
Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord— Selah—
The psalm ends by handing the song to everyone, which is where the procession was always going.
settled What this mark means