Your procession is seen, O God,
the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
—Psalm 68:24
“Don’t miss the forrest for the trees” is perhaps the most sound advice one can give for making it through the dense wood of this psalm. The real problem with this wood is not the density of the forrest, but the peculiarity of a few trees. Michael Wilcock explains, “we are especially likely to be unable to see the wood for the trees if we spend too much time scratching our heads over this or that specimen which we cannot identify. If in a psalm like this one we stand back from the individual trees, we shall be in a better position to get an overall picture of the wood, and shall find ourselves exclaiming at its magnificence.” One scholar, and he’s not alone, says that this is “the most difficult of all the psalms.”
As I look from one tree to another, I can get overwhelmed by how many I cannot identify. I begin to feel lost as though I’m in an unfamiliar forest. Here are just a few of the things I don’t know:
- I’m not certain if the rain of vv. 8–9 is a rain of judgment or providence or both. Is this a rain that sweeps away the wicked? Is it a shower that gives a harvest?
- I’m undetermined if the women and men in vv. 12b–13a are in contrast as in the ESV or in harmony as in the CSB.
- I’ve only a guess at what the wings of a dove covered in silver are in verse 13.
- I have absolutely no idea what the snow on Zalmon in verse 14 is about.
It can be overwhelming. If you’re just first beginning to read through the Bible I’m sure you understand. You can get so preoccupied with what you don’t know that you lose sight of what is clear. “Don’t loose the forrest for the trees” is a sound hermeneutical principle that translates to this—remember the bigger story. Let all the peculiar trees remind you that you are indeed still in the forest. The same forest that centers around the tree of life, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when you do so, you slowly begin to notice that this psalm is an ascension hymn!
That is not to say it is a Psalm of Ascent, like those from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134 which were sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. Neither is it a coronation psalm, like the 2nd Psalm, wherein God’s Son ascends to take the throne. No, this is a psalm about the ascent of the ark of God to it’s home in Jerusalem. For all the puzzles of this psalm, I’m utterly persuaded that this psalm was written when David brought the ark from the house of Obed-edom to dwell in Jerusalem with a great multitude in loud celebration.
“David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn” (2 Samuel 6:12–15).
Read this psalm from the perspective of the ark: constructed under Moses, set in the tent, the glory of God dwelling amongst His people and going before them, destined to come to a place of rest—a home where God would make His name to dwell among His people. Read it from this perspective and see if you don’t find yourself marveling at the wood.