(To the chief Musician. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.) All ye peoples, clap your hands; shout unto God with the voice of triumph!
Psalm 47 opens with a burst of applause, and the call goes out to every nation on earth, not to Israel alone. Why should the whole world clap and shout, and what has God done to make that call fit?
Israel speaks first here, and hands the invitation on to everyone else.
The words of this section are put into the lips of Israel in view of their millennial blessing. They bid all peoples to clap their hands in approval of God's goodness to Israel. They call them to shout to God with the voice of triumph.
God's rule is not a local matter. One writer sets it beside the way ordinary political change works.
Dynasties may rise and fall, and neighbouring nations be little affected by it. But it is not so, it cannot be so, when God takes His power to Himself and reigns... All peoples are therefore called upon to welcome Him with acclamation.
Older wording calls the shout of verse 1 "the voice of triumph," where the ESV has "loud songs of joy." The next verse gives the ground for it: the Most High is "to be feared," or in older wording, "terrible." That sounds like the opposite of clapping. One writer shows how the two fit together.
These "peoples," then, are urged at the beginning to clap their hands and shout to God with a voice of triumph. The call comes in an anticipatory way, which is typical of the openings of psalms, as we have seen. The reason is that Jehovah, now clearly the Supreme, is to be feared — with no slavish fear, as the preceding words show: He is a great King over all the earth.
A world beaten into silence is not the same as a world that joins the song. The same writer compares this psalm with the one before it. He points to an old promise, and to what actually moves the nations.
The promise is made good to Abraham, and by his faith he becomes the "father of many nations." It is not, as in the last psalm, simply that power humbles and subdues, so that men are forced to submit. While that will be true for many, here is another and sweeter compulsion. Divine love works and has its way. God sits on a throne in this way — a way for which Christ has worked, and which is the fruit of His work.
One writer reads the psalm as a coronation scene. The invitation goes out only after judgment has done its work.
In Psalm 47 we are permitted, in the spirit of prophecy, to contemplate the coronation of the great King. All the peoples found after judgment has taken its course are invited to rejoice and triumph.
The applause is not a reward for merit. The psalm ties the nations' joy to what God chose for a people He loved.
Here there is more: a call to all the peoples who seek association to join in their triumph and joy. But it comes with the deep sense that it is God who has rights and glory on the earth. So all is of grace to those whom He loved, and for whom He chose their inheritance. It is the millennial day which faith sees and sings.
That last line sets the timing. The millennial day is the coming age when God reigns over the earth, and faith sings it before the eye can see it.
One writer traces the risen Christ's return as King and Priest to bless a repentant Israel. He then dates this shout:
The joyful shout of the people will be in full accord with the worship of that day. It is unsuited to heavenly worship now (Ps. 47:1; Ps. 98:4).
- Judgment first. The clapping begins after God has acted. Those invited are the peoples "found after judgment has taken its course." The shout rests on a settled victory, not a hope of one.
- A King, not a region. Jehovah Most High is "a great King over all the earth." That is why the call reaches nations far from Jerusalem.
- Fear without dread. The psalm calls the nations to fear Him and applaud Him at once. The fear is "no slavish fear," because the One they fear is the great King over all the earth.
- Grace, not force. Power alone would only compel submission. Here "divine love works and has its way," and the throne the nations cheer is one "for which Christ has worked."
- Faith sings early. The call to shout goes out before the victory is in sight. Faith already sees and sings that day, though writers note this shout belongs to that coming day, not to heavenly worship now.
For Jehovah, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
He subdueth the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.
Psalm 47 is a song of triumph, sung after God has acted for His people. Verse 3 states the outcome and raises two questions: who does the subduing, and why should Israel end up on top?
The verse names no human conqueror. Writers tie the subduing to God taking His place in Zion.
In Psalm 47 He is subduing the peoples under their feet. Once God is established in Zion, He stretches out His hand over the nations.
The "us" of the verse is Israel. They can speak this way because God has acted for them.
It is Israel whose voice is heard here, and it is in Israel that He has shown His power — and more, His grace and truth. He has come in to fulfil many promises, and has had mercy on those who were long ago His people.
The verse does more than humble the nations in general. It says who they end up under.
Certainly He will subdue the peoples of the earth, but more specifically He will subdue them under Israel (v. 3). The nations have treated her as "the tail," but she will be the head in that day — a complete reversal of her place in the world.
Israel had failed under the law. So how can this promised place still stand?
God will set Israel above the nations by the resources of His sovereign grace (see also Isa. 60:12-14). This is tied to Him setting up His king in Zion. And it comes after they had completely broken down under law and even priesthood.
The name used in this psalm for the people carries the same point.
Jacob is the fitting name all the way through here — failing, crippled Jacob. He was saved then, not for any excellence of his own. Yet his inheritance is excellent and exalted, better than any other on earth.
Verse 3 does not stand alone. One writer traces the order of events across these psalms.
But the song of triumph swells again, and the start of Psalm 47 celebrates the result of God's intervention… Here, then, we have Israel's later history. First she is in terrible affliction and oppression, but she looks to God as her refuge. Then He comes in. He stops the uproar of the peoples by judgment, subdues them under her, establishes His own rule, and lifts up Zion and Jerusalem.
The verse reads like a finished act, but writers see it as prophecy. One of them notes who is invited to the celebration.
In Psalm 47 we are allowed, in the spirit of prophecy, to look on at the crowning of the great King. All the peoples left after judgment has run its course are invited to rejoice and triumph… As a result, Israel holds the first place on earth. The nations are subdued before them, and they enjoy the inheritance God has chosen for them.
The nations put under Israel's feet are the same peoples invited to rejoice. Defeat here ends in worship, not in silence.
To Israel He will give first place, subduing the nations under their feet… In Psalm 47 He is enthroned in Jerusalem, receiving the homage of nations. They own Him as the King, and they now acknowledge Israel as His people. The princes of the nations gather to them as the people of the God of Abraham.
So the subduing opens a door rather than closing one.
The millennium brings in universal blessing, but through Israel as the channel (Ps. 47; Deut. 32:43). All nations recognise Israel's special place.
- God subdues. The verse names no army. The nations go down because God has taken His place in Zion and stretched out His hand from there.
- Grace gives. The people called "Jacob" are failing and crippled. They receive first place from God's sovereign grace, not for anything good in themselves.
- The tail becomes the head. Commentators read verse 3 as a full reversal: God sets the nation long treated as the lowest on top.
- Order matters. Affliction, then judgment, then the nations subdued, then Zion lifted up. The psalm sings the victory as already won.
- Subdued into song. The peoples brought under Israel's feet are the ones called to rejoice. Through Israel, blessing reaches the whole earth.
He hath chosen our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
Psalm 47 is a song of triumph. God has stepped in, judged His enemies, and taken His place as King over the whole earth. This verse sits at the centre of that triumph. It raises two questions: who does the choosing, and what is "the pride of Jacob" that He chooses?
Everything here turns on who acts. The people do not pick their portion. God hands it to them, and their answer is praise, not pride:
The peoples and nations are subdued under Israel, and God chooses the inheritance for the remnant of His people — His beloved Jacob. But this issues in the praises of God Himself — it awakens praise in His people. And whatever the blessings and glory of God's people may be, their great delight is in the glory of God Himself... This is always how it is when the soul truly knows blessing. It turns to the Blesser.
The psalm could have said Israel, Abraham or Zion. It says Jacob — the name of the man who limped away from his wrestling match with God. One writer explains why that fits:
Jacob is the fitting name all through here. He was failing, crippled Jacob. He was saved, but not for any "excellency" of his own. Yet his inheritance is excellent, or exalted — better than any other on earth.
So the excellency belongs to the gift, not to the man who receives it.
Commentators differ over what this portion is. Some read it as the city where God's throne will stand:
He will give Israel first place. He will subdue the nations under their feet and choose out an inheritance for them — the excellency of Jacob, that is, Jerusalem (Isaiah 60:15) — "whom He loved."
Others read it as the land itself. This writer also names who claps in the opening verses — a huge crowd drawn out of the nations:
Revelation tells us that a great crowd will be saved from among the nations in the days of trial before the reign of Christ. This seems to be the company that this psalm calls to shout for joy, because God has defeated every enemy... He has subdued the Gentiles and lifted Israel above the nations. In sovereign grace He has chosen the land of Israel, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved.
God has already settled this. That matters for every effort to undo it:
Other nations today are making every effort to push Israel off the little space of land she has been claiming. But she will have far more in the coming day. For the Lord calls them "the excellency of Jacob whom He loves." However undeserving Jacob has been, God's purposes of pure grace stand unbroken. No nation will ever displace them when God gives them their inheritance.
The psalm does not stop with one nation. The blessing promised to Abraham reached the nations too, and one writer traces it to its owner:
The nations of the earth belong to the inheritance of Him who, as the one promised seed, was to hold the heirship of rule and blessing on earth, and the heavenly glory of the Father's house too... All that the Most High owns, as possessor of heaven and earth, is the inheritance of the exalted Christ. This Psalm deals only with His earthly portion. As to this, He has loved the excellency of Jacob. The Gentiles are to rejoice with His people.
One writer turns the line into a personal prayer. He contrasts two ways of living with God:
I am sure there is a great difference between two things. One is having God in the middle of our circumstances. The other is having God Himself as the first and great circumstance. The first was Job's way at the start. He would not have been without God. He owned Him, and gave Him an altar in the family... But he had not said to Him, "You shall choose our inheritance for us." Abram later came out from his circumstances with God, and trusted Him to surround him with His own circumstances. Job had not done that.
- Chosen, not chosen by — God picks the portion for His people. They never negotiate for it, and their answer is praise.
- Chosen for Jacob — the failing, crippled name is used on purpose. The excellency is in the portion, never in the man.
- Chosen ground — writers name the portion either as Jerusalem, the seat of God's throne on earth, or as the land of Israel.
- Chosen and unshakable — grace secured it, not merit. So no nation's effort can overturn what God gives.
- Chosen for you to echo — pray the verse itself. Let Him choose. Let Him be your first circumstance, not a helper inside the life you have already arranged.