Meditation 287
Psalm 47
This psalm begins with a direction for all peoples to clap their hands and shout to God with loud songs of joy. We start with a call to action, and then we are told why we are to clap and shout. The Lord is awesome, a great king over all the earth, God has subdued peoples and nations under God’s people, and God has chosen the heritage for the pride of Jacob who are loved by this awesome God. The introduction of Psalm 47 is a stirring invitation to praise and adoration of God who cares for the people.
In this psalm, God is being depicted as a king who leads the people. In verse 5 we read that “God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of trumpet.” A shout and a trumpet would be ways a king would command the attention of a crowd. This psalm is believed to be one of the enthronement psalms, which with Psalms 93, 94-99, were used in a yearly ceremony at the temple. This ceremony was held to affirm the kingship of the Lord God. In Psalm 47 the response to God’s kingship was a threefold invitation to sing praises.
The people who came to the temple to rejoice at the majesty of God were confident that God was their God, and also that God ruled the world. In verse 2 we read that God is “a great king over all the earth” and in verse 8 we read that “God is king over the nations.” The people who gathered at the temple were uniting their hearts and voices in adoration to God who had guided and cared for them.
The ancient world was a hierarchical one. That which was great was elevated, and so we have the image of God going up and sitting on a holy throne. God is above everything and everyone and so is highly exalted (verse9). God is an exalted king who is most worthy of praise.
This coming Sunday is Ascension Sunday, the week that we remember that Jesus ascended into heaven to be exalted at the right hand of God. As the one who sits at this high place, Jesus is entitled to receive the praises given in Psalm 47. We know that Jesus’ ascent is truly marvelous because it follows on the heels of a descent, as we affirm in the Apostles’ Creed. Jesus is owed our allegiance and devotion.
We have few occasions in our observance of faith to be part of the sort of pageantry described in Psalm 47. Ascending the steps of a cathedral or other splendid house of worship while voices and trumpets are sounded has never been an experience I have had. Still, we are invited to sing praises, which we may do in our worship services, in our day to day living and with the work of our hands. We may be thankful that Jesus is enthroned with God, caring for us and guiding us, and in response we bring our worship.