Embrace the Word for Wednesday, April 8, 2025
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Psalm 47 is a call for joyous celebration. The reason for such celebration is focused upon the LORD’s Kingship. Psalm 47 continues a collection of Psalms by the Sons of Korah, as the superscriptions states: “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.” This collection began with Psalm 42 and will continue to Psalm 49. Psalm 47 has several links with Psalm 46. Both Psalms use the title “Most High” (46:4; 47:2), as well as invoke the name of Jacob (46:7,11; 47:4). Each Psalm speaks of God’s holiness (46:4; 47:8), as well as joy or gladness (46:4; 47:1). Perhaps the most important connection between Psalm 47 and Psalm 46 is the calling for all the nations to behold the works of the LORD at the end of Psalm 46 (46:8,10); while Psalm 47 opens with calling all the peoples to praise the LORD (47:1). Psalm 46 states that the LORD will be exalted over the nations (46:10), while Psalm 47 declares that the LORD reigns over the nations. Psalm 47 seems to be structured around two segments that issue a call to praise, supported by a reason to praise (46:1-4, 46:6-9). Then in the midst of these two segments, verse 5 seems to be a hinge that is centered between the two calls.
Psalm 47 begins with a call to praise: “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” (47:1). This is no mere call to praise; it is on the verge of being a rowdy call to praise. The directions involve descriptions that are far removed from a subdued sense of worship. While there are times and reasons for somber moods in worship, there are also times and reasons for cheerful moods in worship. Festive hand clapping is part of the appropriate response behind this call to praise; just as it was when young Josiah was anointed king: “Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!” (See 2 Kings 11:12). In addition to the animated exhilaration of clapping, songs of joy were to be loudly sung to the level of shouting.
Psalm 47 next begins explaining the reason for such celebratory praise: “For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth” (47:2). In the most general sense, the LORD is to receive invigorated praise because He is the Most High God who is the Great King over all the earth. And as the Most High God who is the Great King over all the earth, the obligation is for “all peoples” to praise Him. While no human being nor human government can bind the dictates of another human’s conscience by requiring the worship of the One true God, God Himself requires all of humanity to worship only Him. Before God, people are not free to worship how they see fit or even if they don’t see fit to worship God at all. No, before God all people everywhere are required to fear God alone: “for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” (See Isaiah 46:9b). Obviously, there is no incompatibility with rightly fearing God and responding to Him with joyful vigorous praise: “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (See Psalm 2:11).
While the LORD directs all people everywhere to worship Him, He expressly zeros in on the reasons that Israel must worship the LORD: “He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah” (47:3-4). The LORD’s covenant people should set the example with their clap-driven shouts of loud glad singing because of the unique ways that the LORD has provided for them. The LORD has enabled them to experience victory over their enemies as they conquered the Land; and because the LORD has sustained them in the Land, which is what is meant by “our heritage,” namely, the inheritance of the Land. But the LORD’s provision for them was no mere detached duty; no, the LORD loved them as the people or “pride of Jacob.” The LORD’s adoring love for His people is to stir His people to respond back to Him with an adoring love. The LORD’s loving provision for His people is to inflame in His people a loving praise to Him.
The central verse of Psalm 47 is: “God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet” (47:5). The imagery of this passage implies that when the LORD subdued the nations under the feet of His people, He came down to do that. The language of coming down is often associated with the work of the LORD in terms of both to inflict judgment (See Genesis 11:5-7), but also to rescue, such as at the Exodus: “and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (See Exodus 3:8a). The LORD descends to come to the aid of His people. And when the LORD has accomplished that to which He descended, He ascends back to His throne. Or consider how the description in Psalm 46 suggests the LORD descending to defend His people: “Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire” (See Psalm 46:8-9). The LORD had victoriously ended the conflict. Psalm 47 describes the aftermath of the LORD coming down—He returns. And as He returns the shouts and sounds of the trumpet are heard. The LORD has triumphantly returned to His reign upon high.
The triumph of the LORD reignites another round of praise: “Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!” (47:6-7). A deeper realization of the LORD as King calls for a greater intensification of praise to the LORD as King. The two verses declare the singing of praises five times. There is no room for a dull dirge in these commands. While it is appropriate at times to sing sad songs of laments, the occasion of Psalm 47 is not one of them. The Kingship of God is not simply to be recognized, it is to be raved about. Interestingly, the term for “praises” that are to be sung, is the word, maskil, that we have seen before. In a context like this, the term maskil means wisdom and suggests that the singing of songs that celebrate the Kingship of God are songs that instill wisdom into the hearts of the ones who sing them (and hear them sung). In other words, the fitting worship of God forms wisdom in us.
As we engage in the worship of God we acquire wisdom. And much wisdom can be found in the happy realization of where the LORD is and what He is doing: “God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne” (47:8). God’s rule as King extends worldwide. God’s rule is uncontested as He sits on His throne, which is characterized as holy. To say that God’s throne is holy is due to the fact that the One who sits on it is holy. To say that God is holy is to underscore the truth that God is separate from His creation. God is not separate in the sense of being distant from and unconcerned with His creation. But God is separate from His creation in the sense that He has no equals and therefore is never at risk of being overtaken and/or overthrown by anyone or anything in all of His creation. His rule is over all and His rule is forever.
With God’s rule unrivaled and unsurpassed, all the nations are to gather before Him: “The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!” (47:9). Princes from the nations will come before the LORD. The coming of princes from the nations is rooted in the promises that the LORD made to Abraham. The promises to Abraham do not merely include Abraham and his family, but “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (See Genesis 12:3). The LORD’s plans and purposes were way beyond the bounds of Abraham’s physical seed, the princes of the nations will also be folded into Abraham’s family. These princes were once the shields of the earth, that is the mighty protectors of their nations. But they will be subdued by the true King of all the earth, who will rule over them as they come to see that the LORD alone is highly exalted.
As we reflect on Psalm 47 we should see how the Lord Jesus Christ brings the truths of this Psalm to their ultimate fruition. Jesus is the seed of David who will rule, but he is also the seed of Abraham who will incorporate all the nations into His saving rule: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ” (See Galatians 3:16). Thus the New Testament opens with, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (See Matthew 1:1). And after His crucifixion, the rule of Jesus is tied to His resurrection and imminent ascension: "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (See Matthew 28:18). His ascension is the capstone of His unrivaled rule: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (See Philippians 2:9-11). The worldwide authority of Jesus, as He is ascended and seated at this moment, empowers His people to spread His Gospel: “The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (See Isaiah 52:10). And the end result of the global commission will be the nations gathered before the throne praising their King: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (See Revelation 7:9-11).
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Wednesday, April 8, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Friday, April 10, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 48.