Psalms 47

This psalm connects to the previous one in which the remnant was calmed by the thought of Messiah’s presence in the city of God. It has been suggested that in it the supremacy of God is sung because of His intervention in the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, in which He killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (Isa 37:36-37). The victories of King Jehoshaphat have also been suggested.

In any case, this event foreshadows the defeating of the enemies of God’s people by the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, in the end time. The expelled and oppressed remnant sees in faith the things that await their fulfillment and completion as if the moment had already arrived. The result, as described in this psalm, is that the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is exalted and magnified as “a great King over all the earth” (verse 2), Who will be worshiped by all nations (verse 9; cf. Isa 52:13; Rev 15:4).

Psalm 46 and Psalm 48 speak of Zion, the city of God, the city of the great King (Psa 46:4; 48:1b; Mt 5:35), in Psalm 47 we find the great King Himself (Mal 1:14). Great King means that there is no king who can be compared to Him, not even Sennacherib, though he lets himself to be called so (2Kgs 18:19). He is the King of kings. Psalm 46 and Psalm 48 are songs of praise about the city of the great King, Psalm 47 is a song of praise about the great King Himself. Psalm 46 is about the coming of the King to judge, Psalm 47 is about the acknowledgment by the whole world that He is the great King, the King of kings.

The psalm can be divided by selah after verse 4 into two stanzas that complement each other. The first stanza is about God’s love for His people to whom He subdued nations (verse 4). The second stanza is about God’s holiness: He sits as King on His holy throne and reigns over all nations (verse 8).

We can also divide the psalm into two stanzas, each beginning with a call to praise God (verse 1b and verse 6) followed by the reason. Both stanzas consist of ten lines (verses 1b-5 and verses 6-9).

For “for the choir director” (verse 1a) see at Psalm 4:1.

For “of the sons of Korah” see at Psalm 42:1.

The psalm begins with a call for “all peoples” to clap their hands (verse 1b). Clapping hands here is an expression of delight and homage (2Kgs 11:12; Isa 55:12). Before the eyes of the spectators a scene has taken place about which they are so delighted that they cannot help but clap their hands.

The voice is also used to express the delight. Shouts of joy “to God with voices of joy” are heard. The fact that the subdued peoples praise Him Who has subdued them with songs of joy means that this can only be fulfilled in the millennial realm of peace. Then it will be so.

These expressions of joy take place because “the LORD Most High is to be feared” (verse 2). God is here called “LORD”, Yahweh, the God of the covenant with His people. He has acted for His people as the “Most High”, which is His Name in connection with the realm of peace (Psa 9:2). In the realm of peace, He is to all and sundry “a great King over all the earth” (cf. Mal 1:14b). He governs all and has authority over all.

That omnipotent and omnipresent King is the King of His people. His people are then no longer a smitten and trampled people. They are no longer the tail, but the head of the nations (Deu 28:13,44). They do not owe this to themselves, but to God. This is how they confess it: “He subdues peoples under us, and nations under our feet” (verse 3).

And what is the reason? Not something in them, but in Himself, namely His love for them (verse 4). He has chosen for them their inheritance, which is the land to which He has led them. He did that in the past, after He delivered them from Egypt. He will do so in the future – and He is already busy in doing so now! – when He will bring them back to their land from the scattering that He had to bring upon them because of their unfaithfulness to Him (Eze 36:22-28).

God has chosen that land for them to give it to them as their “inheritance” (Eze 20:6a). This means that it is their inalienable property. The hostile nations dispute their right to it, but God has established their right to it. Therefore, any disputing it is rebellion against Him, leading to His judgment. He also calls it “the glory of Jacob”, for it is also “the glory of all the lands” (Eze 20:6b), a land that brings glory and splendor to them. They owe all this to God.

Verse 5 still belongs to verses 1b-4. There is a selah at the end of verse 4 because verse 5 is no longer about what He has done to the nations (verses 3,4), but about who He Himself is. In terms of content, verse 5 still belongs to the previous verses because God “ascended with a shout” and the LORD “with the sound of a trumpet”, meaning that after defeating the nations, He returns to Jerusalem. The going to Jerusalem is called: ascending. Jerusalem is higher than the surrounding places, both literally and figuratively. Therefore, going to Jerusalem is an ascension.

It is not clear to which occasion we should think here. It is comparable to the bringing up of the ark to Mount Zion by David. That was also done “with shouting and the sound of the trumpet” (2Sam 6:15). Shouting is common at an enthronement. It has to do with the proclamation of the kingship of God (cf. Num 23:21). We can connect trumpeting with the day of atonement as the announcement of the year of jubilee (Lev 25:9,10) which prophetically refers to the realm of peace. Then the “period of restoration of all things” has come (Acts 3:20-21).

We can also think of the glorification of the Lord Jesus after He finished the work on the cross (Psa 68:18; Eph 4:8-10). As a reward for this, He is immediately glorified by God at His right hand in heaven (Jn 13:32) and by Him “made both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

In verses 6-7, “sing praises” is repeated five times. First, it is repeated twice to sing praises “to God” (verse 6). God is the Almighty and Supreme. He is the Only One, the Truthful One. He alone is worthy of worship (Mt 4:10; Rev 14:6-7).

In the first stanza (verses 1b-5), it has already been noted that God is the great King. In the second stanza, which begins in verse 5, His Kingship is given additional emphasis. Twice He is called King (verses 6,7) and His government and His throne are mentioned (verse 8). The call sounds to sing praises “to our King”, the great, sovereign God, the King, the Ruler of His people.

A king has a people. God is King and has a people. The people that God has as their King are an exceedingly blessed people. This people is Israel. God is their King and dwells in their midst. That gives special cause to sing joyfully and to praise Him, especially after He has put an end to the time of tribulation (Zep 3:14-15).

It is also true for us that we have a special reason to praise God after a time of trial. In the tribulation we have sometimes felt as if He had forgotten us. Then when He brightens it for us, a deep joy and peace come into our heart, for which we honor Him with great gratitude.

God is King! At an ascension to the throne, a call is made in Israel: Such and such is king! (2Sam 15:10; 2Kgs 9:13). Here we are talking about the enthronement of God, which is the reason to sing praises. Since God is “King over all the earth”, the singing of praises for and about Him implies singing “a skillful psalm” literally “a maskil psalm” (verse 7). Maskil means instruction, understanding, wisdom. It is the word we encounter in the heading of several psalms. It is singing with understanding and insight, as is done in the Christian church (1Cor 14:15; cf. Col 3:15).

That this song is “a maskil” or “instruction” means that it is a song that brings insight and understanding. For example, in Psalm 32, the first maskil-psalm, we are instructed about and gain insight into the forgiveness of sin. In Psalm 45, we are instructed about and gain insight into the Person of Christ. Here, in Psalm 47, we are instructed about and given insight into the exaltedness of the great King.

That God is King over all the earth means that His reign knows no boundaries. He is not a national God like the idols of the nations. If this comes through to us, we will let ourselves be ‘instructed’ by it with regard to our whole life, in all areas of it.

The ‘instruction’ also extends into the future, when “God reigns over the nations” (verse 8). When He is King over all earth, it means that He governs everything publicly. We don’t see that now, but we see Him to Whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth (Mt 28:18; Heb 2:8-9). By this we know that He is in control of everything and directs it in such a way that it cooperates in the accomplishment of His plans. Although the dominion over the world was given away by man to satan at the Fall, that does not mean that God no longer rules. We see this in the book of Job.

God “sits on His holy throne”. This means that He is holy and reigns in holiness. This is already seen by faith today. Soon it will be seen by all. Then it will be said: “The kingdom of the world has become [the kingdom] of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15).

In the realm of peace, Israel is the means through which God has blessing for all the earth and all nations, through which the nations will also worship the one true God. Also in verse 1b is the call to the people to rejoice before the LORD. The call to sing praises may also be directed to the nations and not just the people of Israel. The nations will join God’s people by their “princes” to be blessed by them (verse 9).

God’s people are here called “the people of the God of Abraham”. It is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that He would make him a father of a multitude of nations (Gen 17:5-6). And in him all nations would be blessed (Gen 12:3b; Gal 3:8).

By “the shields of the earth” is meant the “princes of the people” from the first line of this verse 9. “Shields” indicate that they are responsible for the protection of the people. These ‘protectors’ “belong to God” (cf. Pro 8:15). He is their Owner; they are accountable to Him. They are completely in His power and cannot do anything without Him. They cannot be compared to Him. He alone “is highly exalted” (cf. Zec 14:9).