a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱ֭לֹהִים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
hill
הַרhar-
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
Bashan
בָּשָׁ֑ןba.Shan
H1316
Bashan (often with the article) · proper noun, a place name
high
גַּ֝בְנֻנִּ֗יםgav.nu.Nim
H1386
a hump or peak of hills · noun, common masculine plural absolute
hill
הַ֥רhar
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
hill
הַרhar-
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
Bashan
בָּשָֽׁןba.Shan
H1316
Bashan (often with the article) · proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 87:1-2 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Deuteronomy 3:10 All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
Psalms 2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
Psalms 78:68-69 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
Isaiah 2:2-3 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shal…
Micah 7:14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bash…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 68:15-21
David, having given God praise for what he had done for Israel in general, as the God of Israel (Psa 68:8), here comes to give him praise as Zion's God in a special manner; compare Psa 9:11. Sing praises to the Lord who dwelleth in Zion, for which reason Zion is called the hill of God.
I. He compares it with the hill of Bashan and other high and fruitful hills, and prefers it before them, Psa 68:15, Psa 68:16. It is true, Zion was but little and low in comparison with them, and was not covered over with flocks and herds as they were, yet, upon this account, it has the pre-eminence above them all, that it is the hill of God, the hill which he desires to dwell in, and where he chooses to manif…
Mountains are often symbols of nations (Psa 46:2; Psa 65:6). That of Bashan, northeast of Palestine, denotes a heathen nation, which is described as a "hill of God," or a great hill. Such are represented as envious of the hill (Zion) on which God resides;
John Gill on Psalms 68:15
The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan,.... The church is the hill of God, an excellent and supereminent one, and in which he dwells, as is said in Psalm 68:16; called an hill for its visibility, and especially as it will be in the latter day, when it will be established and exalted above the mountains and hills, the kingdoms of this world, Isaiah 2:2; this is compared to the hill of Bashan for fertility and fruitfulness; hence we read of the kine and bulls, the rams and lambs, and fatlings of Bashan, and of the oaks thereof, Deuteronomy 32:14, Isaiah 2:13; the ordinances of the church are green pastures, where his people become fat and flourishing, Psalm 23:2;
an high hill, as the hill o…
Psalm 68:15-17
15. The hill of God, the hill of Bashan, a high hill, [31] the hill of Bashan. 16. Why leap ye, ye high hills? the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, Jehovah will dwell in it for ever. 17. The chariots of God are twenty thousand thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
15. The hill of God, the hill of Bashan Here he adverts to the spring and source of all the kindness which God had shown, this being the circumstance that he had chosen mount Zion as the place of his palace and temple, whence all blessings should go out to the nation. A Divine declaration to that effect had been made to David, and this pre-eminence and dignity conferr…
The Church Fathers
The mountain of God, a rich mountain. This is the mountain which in Ezekiel wounds the prince of Tyre. And by "mountain" they mean the Lord himself.
But this mountain he calls the "mountain of God, a mountain fruitful, a mountain full of curds" [Psalm 68:15], or "a mountain fat." But here what else would he call fat but fruitful? For there is also a mountain called by that name, that is to say, Selmon. But what mountain ought we to understand by "the mountain of God, a mountain fruitful, a mountain full of curds," but the same Lord Christ? Of whom also another Prophet says, "There shall be manifest in the last times the mountain of the Lord prepared on the top of the mountains"? [Isaiah 2:2] He is Himself the "Mountain full of curds," because of the babes to be fed with grace as though it were with milk; [1 Corinthians 3:1] a mountain rich to strengthen and enrich them by the excellence of the gifts; for even the milk itself whence curd is made, in a wonderful manner signifies grace; for it flows out of the overflowing of the mother's bowels, and of a sweet compassion unto babes freely it is poured forth. But in the Greek the case is doubtful, whether it be the nominative or the accusative: for in that language mountain is of the neuter gender, not of the masculine: therefore some Latin translators have not translated it, "unto the Mountain of God," but, "the Mountain of God." But I think, "unto Selmon the Mountain of God," is better, that is, "unto" the Mountain of God which is called Selmon: according to the interpretation which, as we best could, we have explained above.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bashan, Hill of — (Ps. 68:15), probably another name for Hermon, which lies to the north of Bashan.
Jerusalem — Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once “the city of Judah” (2 Chr. 25:28). This name is in the original in the…
Mountains · Mentioned in scripture: Bashan — Mentioned in scripture: Bashan
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
This victory of Israel over the kings of the Gentiles gives the poet the joyful assurance that Zion is the inaccessible dwelling-place of Elohim, the God of the heavenly hosts. The mention of Zalmon leads him to mention other mountains. He uses the mountains of Bashan as an emblem of the hostile powers east of Jordan. These stand over against the people of God, as the mighty mountains of Bashan rising in steep, only slightly flattened peaks, to little hill-like Zion. In the land on this side Jordan the limestone and chalk formation with intermingled strata of sandstone predominates; the mountains of Bashan, however, are throughout volcanic, consisting of slag, lava, and more particularly bas…
Bashan is a plateau northeast of Jerusalem and east of the Sea of Galilee that was known for its woods and pastureland (see 22:12; Isa 2:13). The mountains might have included Mount Hermon to the north of the plateau or Mount Zalmon, which might be Jebel ed-Druze on the east.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 68:15
The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan.
Here the priests on the summit of the chosen hill begin to extol the Lord for his choice of Zion as his dwelling place. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan, or more accurately, "a hill of God is Bashan, "that is to say, Bashan is an eminent mountain, far exceeding Zion in height. According to the Hebrew custom, every great or remarkable thing is thus designated. Where we talk of the Devil's Dyke, the Devil's Ditch, the Devil's Punch Bowl, etc., the more commendable idiom of the Hebrews speaks of the hill of God, the trees of the Lord, the river of God, etc. An high hill as the hill of Bashan, or rather, "a mo…
