Some make mention of chariots, and some of horses, but we of the name of Jehovah our God.
Psalm 20 is the prayer of a people watching their king go into battle, and verse 7 names where their confidence rests. Two kinds of strength stand side by side: the visible machinery of war, and the name of the God of Israel. Only one of them holds.
The Setting of the Psalm
The verse belongs to a psalm about One who suffers in a day of distress, while those who love Him trust that God will hear Him.
In Psalm 20, surrounded by sorrows and evil, we have the faithful witness, the living witness Himself. We see Him in the day of His distress, for He has come down among an ungodly people. Prophecy marks out the remnant this way: in heart they enter into His distress, sure that Jehovah will hear His Anointed.
So the "we" of the verse speak from the day of distress. Their one hope is that God will hear His Anointed.
Chariots and Horses
In the ancient world chariots and horses were the best military equipment available. Scripture uses them as a picture of trust in human power. One writer points to God's own promise to take them away:
"I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off." All these things were symbols of human strength, human grounds of confidence in conflict.
God takes these props away so that His people lean on Him alone.
A Law Against Stockpiling
Israel lived under a standing restriction on this very point, and the psalm gives the reason.
The multiplication of either was forbidden to the Israelites for this very reason. Both were used mainly for war; but Israel's reliance was to be the Lord their God.
The same principle shows up on the battlefield. After a great victory, God told Joshua to disable the captured horses and burn the captured chariots instead of keeping them.
The victory is complete. Israel burns the enemy's chariots and disables their horses by cutting the sinews of their legs. The purpose of this was, no doubt, to make it impossible for His people to trust in human resources. If they had used these horses, they might have put their confidence in them.
Remembering the Name
The psalm's alternative is a name. Older translations read "we will remember the name," which is why the writers quoted here speak of remembering. In Scripture a name carries the whole reality of the person who bears it.
Scripture brings the Name of the Lord before us again and again. That Name expresses everything the Lord is in Himself, and everything He is in His dealings with His creatures — with those nearest to Him and with the nations who do not know Him. … To the righteous, the Name of the Lord was a strong tower he could run to for safety.
To remember that name is to fall back on everything it holds.
What Faith Expects to Happen
One writer reads the outcome as still future for Israel:
In the past Israel put their trust in chariots and horses, and they found themselves completely defeated. In the end — and only after great tribulation — they will remember the name of the Lord their God. What a change that will be! Then their enemies, who trusted in the weapons of war, will find themselves broken down and falling to the ground. Israel, meanwhile, will have risen to stand upright.
Other writers point to the risen Christ as the ground of it all. God answers with the saving might of His right hand, bringing His enemies down and raising up His own. As one puts it, "Christ, risen and exalted, becomes the resource of His people" (Hamilton Smith).
The Modern Chariot
Every generation has its own version of the horse.
In everything people do, they need some means of help or support, and in battle they find horses very useful. Of course now they need motorized equipment; but whether horses or tanks, these are no guarantee of success. Deliverance is only by the Lord. We are slow indeed to learn this elementary lesson.
Summary
- Two confidences. Chariots and horses stand for human strength in battle. The verse offers one alternative: the name of the Lord.
- Stripped on purpose. God forbade Israel to stockpile horses, and Joshua burned the captured chariots. Trust in human resources had to become impossible.
- Name means Person. That name holds everything the Lord is in Himself and in all His dealings.
- Spoken from weakness. The "we" of the psalm are people in the day of trouble, whose hope is that God will hear His Anointed.
- Opposite endings. Those who trusted weapons are broken down and fall; those who remembered the name rise and stand upright. Believers are still slow to learn it.