Psalm 47: let's not get ahead of ourselves

My NJB calls this an eschatological hymn. While I agree that it is referring to God, I don’t see it as an end-times psalm. I think this is an Israel-centric psalm, and some things mentioned in it aren’t quite accurate.

Here’s one example: “He brings peoples under our yoke and nations under our feet.” While it’s true that God subjugated the nations of Canaan for the Israelites, it’s also quite true that was done because they deserved punishment for their wicked ways, not because Israel deserved to place its yoke on other nations. I doubt that it’s God’s purpose to place nations under the feet of other nations. It encourages the notion that one is superior to others, as evidenced by this psalm, and that’s not Biblical. In the eyes of God, we are all equal, sinner and sinner alike. We’d do well to remember that.

We’d also do well to realize we can’t rest on the laurels and merits of Abraham, and say we’re God’s people simply because we can trace our lineage back to him. I don’t see God making this distinction in the Bible. As a matter of fact, He chose Abraham not because of the future merits of Israelites, but because Abraham was singularly worthy of that honor, his descendants excluded. Abraham also wasn’t Jewish, much like Adam and Eve were not. I think many people get that confused. The point is, God turned his blessings away from Israel many times throughout history because they simply didn’t deserve His favor any longer. They were doing too many bad things. It was only when they turned to Him, repented and asked for forgiveness, as a nation, that He blessed them once more. So we see that God’s blessings had nothing to do with lineage, but with merit.

I also had to smile at the following verse: “The leaders of the nations rally to the people of the God of Abraham.” The imagery present here isn’t quite corroborated by history. It seems that throughout history, the leaders of the nations were against the people of the God of Abraham, and by this I mean everyone who believes in God, not just the Israelites. While it’s true that God is in charge of everything that goes on, it’s also true that as believers in God, we should expect our time in this world to be less smooth than we think, and God Himself has warned us of that. I don’t think we should expect the leaders of the world to rally to our side. History itself is proof of this. Yes, there were times when it did happen, like the time king Darius freed all of the Jews in his kingdom and allowed them to go back home to Israel, but there were also plenty of times (many more, as a matter of fact,) when the opposite happened, and Christians and Jews alike suffered for their faith.

So how do we make sense of this psalm? I think it’s important to be realistic, and not get ahead of ourselves like the author of the psalm. God has a plan for this world, and that plan is to let the devil run his course until the final judgment. God intervenes to keep things on track in the big way, and He also intervenes in each of our lives in ways that we may or may not notice, sometimes in truly miraculous fashion. The decision is His, and He knows best why and when he intervenes. We would do well to remember His words, recorded in Revelation 12. That entire chapter is very relevant to the eschatological nature of this Psalm, but in particular verses 12 and 17 speak to our quandary: “… but for you, earth and sea, disaster is coming – because the devil has gone down to you in a rage, knowing he has little time left… Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, who obey God’s commandments and have in themselves the witness of Jesus.”