Prepared for Psalms Group, November 22, 2020
A new favorite, fun fact! It’s obvious that “clapping the hands” in Psalm 47:1 is an act of joyous response, but the circumstance is more complex because the idiom employed normally means to “strike the hands” with another person as confirmation of a contract or agreement—like shaking hands or, better yet, like a “High Five.” (Gerald Wilson, the NIV Application Commentary: Psalms, Vol. 1, p. 726, but the “high five” is my idea.)
Yahweh Is the Victorious King
God is King over All the Earth
This is a hymn and an enthronement psalm.
Hymns extol the glory and greatness of God as it is revealed in nature and history, and particularly in Israels’s history. Hymns praise God in general terms for his power and faithfulness as creator of the cosmos, ruler of history, and creator/redeemer of Israel to bring blessing to all the world. Israel’s hymns stress God’s active involvement in the life story of Israel. Hymns typically demonstrate motives for worshipping and praising God. A clear example is Psalm 117, the shortest psalm, just two verses:
1 O praise the Lord, all you nations; *
praise him, all you peoples.
2 For (= Hebrew ki) great is his loving-kindness towards us, *
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.
Praise the Lord.
Hymns were used for exuberant worship in the temple and the synagogue. The people of God before the Incarnation invite us to celebrate and praise with them in hope of the kingdom of God and his Messiah. Hymns, like all psalms, show Christians how to praise God who has acted in creation, in revelation, and in redemption, and who is acting decisively in establishing his kingdom on earth. They do not ask anything; they simply rejoice in God’s presence.
Examples: Psalms 8, 19:1-6, 33, 66:1-12, 100, 103, 104, 145-150, and others
Some of the hymns in the Psalter are called “enthronement psalms” because they focus on the theme of God’s kingship. His throne is established from an immeasurable past time, and his kingdom will be everlasting. In the Temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, God became present to his people in worship. God did not literally dwell/live in the Temple but his people experienced his “tabernacling presence” there as they worshipped. He was enthroned in the praises of his people. His kingship may also have been celebrated in a ritual enactment of enthronement, a drama of God ascending his throne amid shouts of acclamation. God is enthroned triumphantly over powers that threaten to plunge our lives into meaningless chaos and disorder. Christians read these psalms in the context of the good news that God in Christ has inaugurated the divine kingdom by striking a decisive blow against all powers of oppression, darkness, chaos, and death. We pray the enthronement psalms in the spirit of the Lord’s prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10)
Examples: Psalms 29, 47, 93, 95-99
Matt. 28:18-20
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
47
Omnes gentes, plaudite
1 O clap your hands together, all you peoples; *
O cry aloud unto God with shouts of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared; *
he is the great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the peoples under us, *
and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, *
the pride of Jacob whom he loved.
5 God has gone up with a shout of triumph, *
the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.
6 O sing praises, sing praises unto our God; *
O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.
7 For God is the King of all the earth; *
think upon his mighty acts and praise him with a song.
8 God reigns over the nations; *
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples are gathered with the people of the God of Abraham; *
for the mighty upon earth have become the servants of the Lord, and he is very highly exalted.