Tehillim 68 | “Let God Arise, and His Enemies Be Scattered”

This is a long psalm composed of many sections, unified by the overarching theme of the journey of the Ark of God and the manifestation of the Divine Presence that the Ark represents. The psalm opens with a verse that echoes the words from the Torah about whenever the Ark set out: “When the Ark set out, Moshe would say, ‘Arise, Lord; let Your enemies be scattered, and Your foes flee before You’” (Bamidbar 10:35). Here, the poet begins: “Let God arise and His enemies be scattered; let His foes flee before Him” (68:2), and continues with a vivid description of how God’s enemies are driven away and the affect it will have on the righteous that will “rejoice and exult before God” (68:4). The next part of the psalm refers to God’s leadership of the Israelites through the wilderness: “O God, when You went out before Your people, when You strode through the wilderness — Selah” (68:8). This leadership has two aspects — the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and the victories that led to the conquest of the land. The poet echoes the Song of Devora, which also connects God’s revelation at Sinai with military victory against Canaanites – “the mountains melted before the Lord, / Sinai itself before the Lord, God of Israel!” (Shofetim 5:5). Our psalm uses a nearly identical phrase: “The earth shook; the heavens, too, poured down before God, Sinai itself before God, God of Israel!” (68:9), tying the two events together. The following section offers a series of praises to God and describes the blessings that flow when He goes before us, from agricultural bounty (“You, God, unleashed a lavish rain”(68:9)) to military success (“Kings with their armies are fleeing, fleeing”(68:13)). Verses 16–19 describe the Divine Presence settling on God’s chosen mountain as the Ark reaches its destination: “Why do you glare so, O many-peaked mountains, at the mountain God desired for His abode?” (68:17) This is followed by a prayer for future victories.

It appears that the psalm was composed in the context of a grand procession led by the Ark. From verse 25 onward, we hear instructions and calls of encouragement to the participants – “kingdoms of earth, sing to God; sing praise to the Lord—Selah” (68:33), while the background may be the story of the Ark’s ascent in the days of David (see Shmuel II 6), where David declared that even the king of Israel must rejoice and dance before the Ark.

At its heart, the psalm proclaims the revelation of the Divine Presence, embodied by the Ark. Its message is that the Shekhina encompasses all of life — agricultural blessing and military triumph, the giving of the Torah and the conquest of the land — all of these flow from the indwelling of God's presence.