gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
forth
בְּ֭צֵאתְךָBe.tze.te.kha
H3318
to go (causatively · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
before
לִפְנֵ֣יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
people
עַמֶּ֑ךָ'a.Me.kha
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
march
בְּצַעְדְּךָ֖be.tza'.de.Kha
H6805
to pace · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
wilderness
בִֽישִׁימ֣וֹןvi.shi.Mon
H3452
a desolation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Selah
סֶֽלָהSe.lah
H5542
suspension (of music) · interjection
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
Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to…
Judges 5:4 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds a…
Judges 4:14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out befor…
Habakkuk 3:12-13 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
Deuteronomy 4:34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and…
Psalms 114:1-8 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
Micah 2:13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 68:7-14
The psalmist here, having occasion to give God thanks for the great things he had done for him and his people of late, takes occasion thence to praise him for what he had done for their fathers in the days of old. Fresh mercies should put us in mind of former mercies and revive our grateful sense of them. Let it never be forgotten,
I. That God himself was the guide of Israel through the wilderness; when he had brought them out of their chains he did not leave them in the dry land, but he himself went before them in a march through the wilderness, Psa 68:7. It was not a journey, but a march, for they went as soldiers, as an army with banners. The Egyptians promised themselves that the wildern…
(Compare Exo 19:16-18).
thou wentest--in the pillar of fire.
thou didst march--literally, "in Thy tread," Thy majestic movement.
John Gill on Psalms 68:7
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people,.... In the pillar of cloud, and in the pillar of fire, as the Targum adds; and this divine Person was the Son of God, the Angel of his presence, in whom his name was, even his name JAH or Jehovah before mentioned;
when thou didst march through the wilderness; at the head of the Israelites, leading, guiding, and directing them; providing for them all things necessary, and protecting them against their enemies. And so Christ goes before his people, as they pass through the wilderness of this world; and does the like good offices for them, until he, as the great Captain of their salvation, brings them safe to glory: for what is here said is tak…
Psalm 68:7-10
7. O God! when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: 8. The earth was moved, the heavens also dropped at the presence of this God: Sinai at the presence of God, the God of Israel. [16] 9. Thou, O God! shalt make a liberal [17] rain to fall upon thine inheritance, and thou refreshest it when it is weary. 10. Thy congregation [18] shall dwell therein; thou, O God! wilt prepare in thy goodness for the poor.
7 O God! when thou wentest forth before thy people, etc. The Psalmist now proceeds to show that the Divine goodness is principally displayed in the Church, which God has selected as the great theater where his fatherly care…
The Church Fathers
O God, when you went out in the sight of your people. This is according to the history, when God went before his people as they went out of Egypt. When you passed through in the desert. God does not linger in the desert, but passes through.
"O God, when You went forth before Your people" [Psalm 68:7]. His going forth is perceived, when He appears in His works. But He appears not to all men, but to them that know how to spy out His works. For I do not now speak of those works which are conspicuous to all men, Heaven and earth and sea and all things that in them are; but the works whereby He leads forth men fettered in strength, likewise men provoking that dwell in the tombs, and makes them of one manner to dwell in a house. Thus He goes forth before His people, that is, before those that do perceive this His Grace.
"When you ventured forth in the midst of your people, O God, when you passed through the wilderness, earth shook and the heavens sent down drops." Symmachus rendered it thus, "O God, when you went before your people, moving through the uninhabited land, earth shook and heaven sent down drops." On the point of passing through that barren and uninhabited land, which had not yet felt the light's ray, you disturbed the earth and shook it, and from heaven you sent down the shower of grace. Now, in the one case, this happened at the crucifixion. At that time the earth shook and the rocks broke open, and all the earth was disturbed on gaining the impression that the Creator of all was hung up on the cross; in the other case, after the return to heaven. At that time the grace of the Spirit came on the apostles, like drops of dew. Then, to teach Jews more clearly who was doing all this, he added, "at the presence of the God of Sinai, at the presence of the God of Israel." The one who appeared to our forebears on Mount Sinai, he is saying, is the one who also shook the earth at the time of the passion to refute our folly and who made the gift of the Spirit.
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
Wilderness — (1.) Heb. midhbar, denoting not a barren desert but a district or region suitable for pasturing sheep and cattle (Ps. 65:12; Isa. 42:11; Jer. 23:10; Joel 1:19; 2:22); an uncultivated place. This word…
Earthquakes · Are visible tokens of: God’s presence — Are visible tokens of: God’s presence
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).
In Psa 68:7. the poet repeats the words of Deborah (Jdg 5:4.), and her words again go back to Deu 33:2, cf. Exo 19:15.; on the other hand, our Psalm is the original to Hab. 3. The martial verb יצא represents Elohim as, coming forth from His heavenly dwelling-place (Isa 26:21), He places Himself at the head of Israel. The stately verb צעד represents Him as He accompanies the hosts of His people with the step of a hero confident of victory; and the terrible name for the wilderness, ישׁימון, is designedly chosen in order to express the contrast between the scene of action and that which they beheld at that time. The verb to זה סיני is easily supplied; Dachselt's rendering according to the accen…
God released Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exod 20:2; see Ps 69:33), and he still sets the prisoners free. • The sun-scorched desert represents alienation from God and separation from blessing.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 68:7
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people. What a sweetly suitable association, "thou" and "thy people; "—thou before, and thy people following! The Lord went before, and, therefore, whether the Red Sea or burning sand lay in the way, it mattered not; the pillar of cloud and fire always led them by a right way. When thou didst march through the wilderness. He was the Commander in chief of Israel, from whom they received all orders, and the march was therefore his march. "His stately step the region drear beheld." We may speak, if we will, of the "wanderings of the children of Israel…
