Psalm 47 Hand Slapping Praise

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Psalm 47[a]
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome,
the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.(b)
5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings[c] of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
a. Psalm 47:1 In Hebrew texts 47:1-9 is numbered 47:2-10.
b. Psalm 47:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
c. Psalm 47:9 Or shields

The kids in my Sunday School Class would have enjoyed this Psalm. Kids love hand clapping and praise! I can see them now.... clapping and singing.... dancing.... big smiles on their faces..... smiling up at their parents.....

The commentary this morning comes from enduringword.com.

The LORD Most High is awesome: The psalmist presented this without proof, as a self-evident fact. He considered it obvious to everyone, as much as water is wet and fire is hot.​
He is a great King over all the earth: Both the office and the realm are important. He is a great King, in that He is the King of Kings and the highest monarch. His realm extends over all the earth, and He is sovereign in all places.​
The pagan gods of the ancient world (Baal, Molech, Ashtoreth, and so forth) were imagined to be territorial gods. Their authority was limited to a nation or a region. The psalmist proclaimed that the LORD God is not like one of these imagined gods.
He will subdue the peoples under us: Here the psalmist spoke as one of God’s chosen nation, Israel. He looked forward to the time when the righteous reign of the great King would be exercised over all the earth, and Israel would assume its destined place of leadership among the nations.​
I'm going to leave it at that. The commentaries go off on long diatribes about how this relates to God coming down, helping David, then going back up.... or Jesus coming down and after conquering death... went up. The diatribes are longer than the poem. I prefer to leave the kids clapping and smiling and loving God... and parents experiencing those precious smiles... a gift from God.... and everyone Loving God..... without being weighed down by heavy commentary or boring preaching.... just praise and happy babies!

☕
 
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