The Lord Has Begun to Reign

Introduction

A psalm a praise

Bidding to praise (1, 6) noise - music

For the Lord as universal King (2, 7) [noun clauses]

The Lord has asserted power over the nations (3-4, 8-9b) [verb] acts related to Israel - acts related to the world

The Lord has gone up high (5, 9c-d)

Worship recounts the acts of the Lord - significance for both Israel and the world

Clap you hands - Make noice for worship

He is king of the earth

2 Kings 11:12 ESV

12 Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

Psalm 98:8 ESV

8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together

2 Kings 18:19 ESV

19 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?

Evidence - Reason (3)

He subdues [peoples and nations] under us [3]

Psalms 42–89, Volume 2 Interpretation

and the Midrash understands it to refer to the day when Yhwh will subdue the peoples, choose our possession, and overthrow the throne of the kingdoms (Hag. 2:22) so as to sit on the throne that belongs to Yhwh as the holy one.

Reason for subduing of other peoples [4]

inalienable, hereditary property, in the case of conquest, hereditary division of the property between an individual or the family as their share of the booty, consisting of lands,

6-9

Make music in the Lord’s name - adds beauty and form to vs. 1

Here is added “our king”

Psalm 68:18–19 ESV

18 You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there. 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah

Ephesians 4:7–8 ESV

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

Hebrews 2:5–9 ESV

5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Psalms 42–89, Volume 2 Theological Implications

It can seem odd to speak of God “beginning to reign,” as if God stopped reigning. God’s throne stands firm from of old (93:2). At the Red Sea the Israelites declared the conviction that Yhwh would henceforth reign forever (Exod. 15:18). Yet alongside the conviction that God is always sovereign and can never be frustrated, the OT from time to time makes the declaration that God is beginning to reign in the sense of asserting an authority in a realm or at a time when that has not been recognized. That happened at the Red Sea, it happened at the conquest of Canaan, it happened when Yhwh brought about the end of the exile (see Isa. 52:7). It happens again when Jesus comes along and declares that God’s reign is here, in a situation when it had long not been a reality in the experience of the Jewish people (Mark 1:14–15).