Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before God. But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God; yes, let them rejoice with gladness. Psalm 68:1-3 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
POP QUIZ. Question: To know God is to love Him–true or false? Answer: True. Question: Then, where does God get His enemies? Answer: He makes them Himself (He creates men who do NOT know Him), and thereby assumes all legal responsibility for them.
God must create all His enemies; otherwise, He would have none. To make it fair, He didn’t tie His hands behind His back; instead, He nailed them apart on a cross! And for good measure, He nailed down His feet also. All this after being mercilessly beaten and nearly flayed alive. Yes, dear reader, that made it more than fair! So if God creates His own enemies (by not letting them know Him), how does He become legally responsible for them? The answer is in the Law of the Blind Servant and the Law of the Open Pit.
If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye. And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth. Exodus 21:26 NASB
If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restitution (or, “restoration”); he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his. Exodus 21:33-34 NASB
If God afflicts a person with spiritual blindness, or creates a situation in the world where a person falls into temptation (a pit), and thus become an enemy, God will set such a person free AND make restitution. Notice how in the Law of the Open Pit “the dead animal shall become His.” This action is taken by God, first, because He is just, and second, because His great love, mercy, and compassion is the central ingredient of His law. These several words, collectively, are a weak attempt to describe one Hebrew word that is the essence of God and the essence of Christlikeness: chesed (Strong’s Conconrdance H2617) This is the word that is used 26 times in a row in Psalm 136: His mercy (chesed) endureth forever.
But the Psalm opening this post doesn’t sound too loving, merciful, or compassionate. It sounds like His enemies get scattered, driven away like smoke, melted like wax, and perish–all this to the sounds of the glad rejoicing and exultation of the “righteous”, right? Most of today’s Church, thinking themselves to be the “righteous” referred to, believes that God’s justice requires Him to give them (the enemies) what they’ve got coming. And to give the Church its due, it has done a pretty good job of convincing the others, the “enemies”, that what is coming for them is not good. The truth is that the Church, like the religious leaders of old, is mistaken and does not understand the Scriptures and does not understand the power of God. Matthew 22:29 NASB It does not understand the Laws we have discussed above, and does not understand what God, in fact, has planned for His enemies.
Dear reader, go and learn what this means: I desire compassion (chesed). Matthew 9:16, Hosea 6:6 Here’s a hint: God gets what He desires! Then, take a closer look at Psalm 68.
The word “scattered” in verse 1 of Psalm 68 means to be dispersed, in reference to a flock or in reference to a people, as for example in the following verse:
They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4 NASB
The word also can mean to overflow as in a literal reference to a fountain, and metaphorically, to abound or overflow with prosperity. Note its use in the following verse:
Again, proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD (YHWH) of hosts, “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.” Zechariah 1:17 NASB
In short, the word “scattered”, in the Hebrew tense in which it was used in Psalm 68:1 means to “disperse” and to “overflow with prosperity”. So far, so good. Let’s skip down to “perish”–what does this word actually mean? In Hebrew, it is ‘abad (Strong’s Concordance H6). According to Genesius’ Lexicon, the first meaning of ‘abad is “to be lost, to lose oneself, and to wander, especially used of lost and wandering sheep”! (See our post: For One Missing Sheep). The word can be used to mean “perish”, but usually when it is used in this sense it means a metaphorical loss, as in Jeremiah 25:35: Flight will perish from the shepherds–in other words, the shepherds will not be able to run. Notice, it does NOT mean death or destruction. Without question, there is metaphorical loss of well-being before God for the “wicked”, but in no sense can one imply temporal death or destruction, not to mention eternal death or destruction. Nevertheless, the point of view chosen by this particular translation of the Bible (NASB) is grim and dark because of pre-existing ideas about God that are mistaken. Most translations, if not all, adopt this same view.
We respectfully submit an entirely different point of view, one that does not view Father God as angry, vengeful, vindictive or destructive. When King David, God’s anointed, said in Psalm 23 that He (God) prepared a table before him (David) “in the presence of my (David’s) enemies”, David meant that the enemies–now reconciled to God, and thus also to David–were invited to the feast also! YHWH is the preparer of this table!
As an alternate rendering, we offer the following:
Let God have the ascendency and disperse His enemies and overflow them with prosperity–under His personal supervision, let them who hate Him go quickly! As smoke is driven by the wind, send them into all the world. As wax complies with the fire, so let the wicked lose their independence before God, accomplishing His purposes for them. And let the righteous be glad about this, and let them exult before the merciful God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness at His never-failing love!
This is how God treats His enemies–exactly as He taught us to: with love, mercy and never-failing compassion. And so we come to the prophetic fulfillment of this psalm of King David. There is coming a day, when all who are angry at Father will be put to shame by His righteousness and strength. They will see the wisdom of His plan, and all–from the least to the greatest–will bow and praise Him.
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, ‘Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength’. Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. Isaiah 45:22-24
When this occurs, His “enemies” will disperse throughout the world with a message. They will say: I was an enemy of God, and angry at Him; but I was wrong and I see now that He is true and His ways are right–all men should know without a doubt, that the discipline of God is beneficial and for our benefit, and should turn to Him!
Those who have understood this plan of God, and have agreed with Him and trusted Him are already rejoicing, and it hasn’t even yet occurred. This is my God and I will ever praise Him!
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, for you are the savior of all men, especially of believers. There is none like you.