Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah
Psalm 68 moves from God rising against His enemies to the moment when He goes up on high and gives gifts to men. Verse 19 answers that ascension with praise, and raises two questions: who is this "Lord," and why is His giving daily?
Praise Built on an Ascension
Verse 19 follows the lines about going up on high, leading captives, and receiving gifts. Commentators read that ascension as the reason blessing can flow at all.
J. N. DarbyPsalms 66 and 67 have spoken of Israel's restoration by judgment. They have then spoken of blessing going out to the nations, once that blessing is set up in Zion. Psalm 68 then shows, in a very remarkable way, how the heavenly exaltation of Christ is the cause and the means of it. Yet it is at the same time the blessing of Israel's God of old… He has led captive the power of the enemy who ruined everything. He has given blessing. And as Man, in His human nature, He has received gifts — even for rebellious Israel, so that Jehovah Elohim might dwell among them.
Freeing prisoners is only half of what the Victor does. One writer follows the gifts from the psalm into the apostle's use of them.
Numerical Bible NotesHe is the Victor in the necessary conflict between good and evil. He has led captivity captive — that is, He has put an end to the tyranny of Satan and released those under his power. But it is not enough for Him to set free: He must enrich them, these who were until now the poor slaves of Satan. He has received gifts among men, and the apostle carries this on to its result: "he gave gifts to men." The apostle applies it to the Church; the psalmist goes on to speak of Israel.
Day After Day, Heaped Up
A close translation keeps the Hebrew names that stand behind "Lord" and "God" here:
J. N. DarbyBlessed be Adonai, who day after day heaps blessings upon us, the El who saves us.
Older versions read the verb as "daily loads us with benefits." The ESV reads it as "daily bears us up." Either way there is a load: laid on us as blessing, or carried for us.
The God of Salvations
The second half of the verse names God by what He does. Where the ESV has "salvation," this writer keeps the older plural, and reads a whole life in it.
A. PridhamHere praise rises with understanding to Him who is now known among them as their God — the God of salvations. To Him belong the ways of escape from death. The Christian tastes the sweetness of both these precious truths. His God is truly a God of salvations. His life is a continuous proof of the faithfulness and sufficiency of the God of all grace, the Father of mercies. It proves the ever-saving power of Christ. Christian life is a witness of deliverances past, present, and to come. It is, however, Israel's national deliverances that are properly in question here.
Every Day of the Kingdom
The psalm's first horizon is Israel's future. Read that way, "daily" counts real days in a coming age. The word Selah, which follows, tells the reader to stop and take it in.
L. M. GrantThen it will be true indeed that they will bless the Lord who daily loads them with benefits. This will hold every day throughout their thousand years of peace, for they will then recognise the Lord Jesus as "the Mighty One," their salvation. Again the psalm adds "Selah" — pause and consider — for how marvellous it will be to consider that He is God!
Proving It on the Road
Between the ascension and that day sits the believer's ordinary life. One writer places the daily loading there, on the pilgrim road, where need is real.
James McBroomScripture views us here in a scene of need, where God graciously meets us in that need. But it also views us in heavenly associations of life with our risen Head. There no needs can come, all things are of God, and we can let our hearts out in deepest praise. In the first we are on our pilgrimage, where He daily loads us with benefits and where we prove His grace. In the second we can be at home in all the blessedness of His delight.
Summary
- Cause. The praise of verse 19 rests on verse 18. The exaltation of Christ on high is the cause and the means of the blessing that follows.
- Gift. Setting captives free was not enough for the Victor. He goes on to enrich the very people He released from Satan's power.
- Daily. A close translation blesses Adonai, who day after day heaps blessings on His people. The load comes one day at a time.
- Salvations. He is the God of salvations — plural. A whole life becomes a running witness to deliverances past, present, and still to come.
- Result. For Israel the daily loading fills every day of the coming age of peace. The believer proves it now on the pilgrim road. Selah says: stop and consider that He is God.