A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Psalm 68 opens with God rising up to scatter His enemies, and the whole song is a march of triumph. Yet the first thing this song says about the conquering God is not His power. It is His tenderness toward the orphan and the widow.
The psalm opens with the words used when Israel's camp set out in the wilderness. The God who marches at the head of His people is then given two gentle titles.
It begins with the words used when the camp broke up in the wilderness under God's guidance. The pillar rose up and went ahead of them. So it is now. God takes this place at the head of His people... But the character of the One who steps in this way is further unfolded most beautifully. He is a father of the fatherless, a judge of widows... Judgment is the true and gracious deliverance of the blessed God.
Ask what makes an orphan or a widow, and one answer covers both.
I see every enemy scattered; then I see God filling the scene of death with the blessed compassionate love of His own heart... What makes the fatherless and the widows? Death. Death has robbed God of His pleasure in man, and man of his pleasure in God. Into that very scene God pours out His compassion. What a triumph! How did He do it? In Jesus. See that poor woman coming out of the gate at Nain. The Lord was going to do something spectacular. He was going to cancel a funeral procession. But there was something greater than that, for it says, "He had compassion on her."
These titles say what God is, not only what He does. They also name people who have lost every support others lean on.
He is high over all, the great, the mighty and the terrible. But He has a heart for the widow and the fatherless. They are helpless people, stripped of every earthly and natural support — the poor grieving, broken-hearted widow, and the lonely orphan. God thinks of, and cares for such, in a very special way; they have a claim upon His loving heart and mighty hand.
When Jerusalem lay ruined, the mourners described themselves as orphans and widows. That description was not despair — it was their argument before God.
"We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows." This gave them a special claim on the care of Him. He is the Father of the fatherless and the Judge of the widow. By speaking of themselves this way they admit their complete helplessness. They also show their confidence in Him who had guided them from their youth. God would not despise so earnest a plea. No one ever called upon Him in vain when they felt their need and were truly repentant.
The verse names where this care comes from: God's own dwelling place.
Yet being so infinitely great, it is wonderful to see that He is "a Father of the fatherless, a defender of widows"... For, as Head of a new creation, the Lord Jesus is tenderly concerned for the blessing and welfare of all who share in that creation. As Head He provides counsel, direction, nourishment and wisdom from His holy habitation. He sets those who have been alone in families, giving them the fellowship their hearts rightly long for.
God does not simply replace what was lost. He can provide better than the one who died.
How wonderful is God's care of such! How many widows are much better off than when they had their husbands! How many orphans are better cared for and provided for than when they had their parents! God looks after them! This is enough... God never fails those who are cast upon Him. He is always true to His own Name, whatever relationship He takes.
Commentators differ on how widely to apply these titles. Some read the line first as a promise to Israel in a coming day of deliverance.
"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation." This shows God's character as the Preserver of the desolate. He is this toward the true Jews in that day.
Others apply it to God's present care for His own people.
He cares for and protects those who have no natural protector. On this His people can count.
(Older translations read "Judge of the widows" where the ESV has "protector of widows.")
- Cause — Death makes orphans and widows. God walks straight into that scene with His compassion.
- Character — These titles say what God is, not just what He does. He is "great, mighty and terrible" — and tender.
- Claim — Having nothing left is what gives you a claim on Him. Helplessness is the plea He never despises.
- Care — His supply comes from His holy habitation. It goes past rescue: He sets the lonely in families.
- Consequence — God never fails those who lean on Him. He is always true to His own Name, whatever relationship He takes.
God maketh the solitary into families; those that were bound he bringeth out into prosperity but the rebellious dwell in a parched [land].
Psalm 68 opens with God rising up to act for His people. Before the psalm goes further, it pauses to say what this God is like. Verse 6 answers with three short pictures — a home given, a prison opened, and a dry land left to those who resist Him.
The psalm recalls the wilderness journey. Its opening verses set out God's character as the reason for praise.
This Psalm celebrates how God, Jehovah-Adonai, steps in for His earthly people... Moses could ask God to arise when the ark of the Lord was lifted up for each journey in the wilderness... After this, up to verse 9, we have God's character set out, as shown in His actions, for which He is to be praised.
One close rendering keeps the Hebrew name for God, Elohim, and calls the solitary "the separated ones":
Elohim settling or establishing the separated ones in a house, causing those bound in chains to go out in prosperity. But, on the contrary, the rebellious shall dwell in a dry land — that is, in desolation.
Older versions read the middle clause as bringing out those "bound with chains." The word behind it is rare, and one note on translation argues for a different sense:
Psalm 68:6, "With chains" — rather, "into prosperity." It occurs nowhere else.
Israel's own history supplied an example for each clause. This writer quotes an older English version, which reads "sets the solitary in families."
"God sets the solitary in families." Could not Abraham bear witness to this when Isaac was given to him? Isaac was the pledge of the promise. Abraham had left his country, his relatives, and his father's house, yet he would have descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. "He brings out the prisoners into prosperity." Could not Joseph speak of this, when he was taken straight from the dungeon to be lord over the land of Egypt? "But the rebellious dwell in a dry land." Were not those who came out of Egypt and never entered the land, but died at last in the wilderness, solemn illustrations of this?
One writer applies it in two directions: "How this verse bears on the future of Israel is clear. Its general application to God's dealings with people, in both grace and judgment, is just as clear" (Pridham). In the picture of Israel, the word for "solitary" also carries the idea of being made one.
While evil prevails, there is no unity except in separation... The y'khidim — the solitary ones — are then the united ones. They are driven into separated union with Messiah in hope. His Spirit separates them from the mass, and that makes them truly one. They shall then be settled in a house. That is one fruit of God's arising. Next He brings those bound out of captivity, loosing their bands. As for the rebellious — those who revolt and exercise proud will against Him and against the poor — He puts them in desolation, in a dry land.
Another writer takes the three clauses together, as one steady way God acts:
Those who have been solitary He sets in families, providing the fellowship that their hearts rightly crave. Also, those who have been in bondage He not only sets free, but changes their poverty into prosperity (v. 6). On the other hand, those whose attitude is rebellious are deprived of all fruitfulness.
One writer reads the verse as a promise that loneliness is temporary.
God has made us for love and company, and in heaven that will be fully satisfied. We may be solitary in the wilderness; in heaven, never. He who "sets the solitary in families" has prepared for us a city... Of the city which has foundations, the builder and maker is God.
- Arising — God rises up to act, and the psalm sets out His character as the reason for praise.
- Solitary — one rendering calls them the separated ones. Those driven into isolation are the very ones He makes one and settles in a house.
- Prisoners — He does more than open the door. A rare word here is read as bringing the bound out "into prosperity" — poverty exchanged for plenty.
- Rebellious — the one clause of contrast. A dry land means desolation, the portion of proud will, seen in those who died in the wilderness.
- Home — Abraham received a family, Joseph rule in Egypt, believers a city with foundations. Loneliness belongs to the wilderness, never to the journey's end.