«　WEEK 12　DAY 5　»

　　Psa. 68:19-20 Blessed be the Lord, who day by day loads us with good; God is our salvation. Selah. God is to us a God of deliverance, and with Jehovah the Lord are the goings forth even from death.

　　24-25 They have seen Your goings, O God, the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary: Singers go before; players after; in the midst of virgins sounding the tambourines.

　　In the first section [of Psalm 68] five matters are covered: God's move on the earth, God's victory in Christ, Christ's ascension, Christ's receiving the gifts, and Christ's building up the house of God. This brings us to the first item in the second section—the enjoyment of God in His house (vv. 19-23).

　　The enjoyment of God in His house comes after the building up of His dwelling place, the church (v. 18b).

　　[In verse 19a] what is this "good" with which God is loading us every day? This good, as the "good" mentioned in Romans 8:28, does not refer to material things such as a nice home or a new car; rather, it refers to the Triune God—to the dove wings gilded with silver and the pinions gilded with gold. This means that daily God is loading us with Himself.

　　[Psalm 68:19b-20] reveals that in God's house we enjoy God as our salvation and deliverance; with Him are the goings forth, the way to escape, even from death. Only God can give us a way to flee death and to escape it because only God is life. When we enjoy Him as our life, we escape death. Actually, the way to go forth from death is God Himself.

　　Verses 21 through 23 reveal that in God's house we also enjoy His victory over the enemies. (Life-study of the Psalms, pp. 330-331)

　　In [Psalm 68] verses 24 through 28 we have the matter of praising God....In verse 24 "they" refers to the enemies, to the unbelievers; "goings" refers to God's activities; and the "sanctuary" signifies the church.

　　In Psalm 68:25 the praise is by the females, by the virgins as singers going before and players after. In this verse "virgins" signifies the believers.

　　"Bless God in the congregations, / Even Jehovah, O you who are of the fountain of Israel. / There are little Benjamin, who rules them, / And the princes of Judah in their company, / The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. / Your God has commanded your strength..." (vv. 26-28). Here we have the blessing of God by the men, signifying the strong ones.

　　In the praise rendered to God by His elect, there is portrayed a scenery in typology concerning God's New Testament economy in the accomplishment of God's redemption for His salvation by Christ and in the spreading of the glad tidings of Christ's accomplishment with the goodly words of the gospel.

　　Benjamin [v. 27] had two names, the first of which was Ben-oni. This name, given to him by his mother Rachel as she was dying in childbirth, means "son of my sorrow" (Gen. 35:18a). As the son of sorrows, Ben-oni, Benjamin typifies Christ who, as the man of sorrows in His incarnation and human life on earth, accomplished God's eternal redemption for His full salvation.

　　Psalm 68:27 speaks also of the princes of Judah. Judah is the lion with the power and the scepter, and he is the peace (Shiloh) to God's people (Rev. 5:5a; Gen. 49:8-10).

　　Whereas Benjamin typifies Christ mainly in His humanity, Judah typifies Christ mainly in His divinity. In His divinity, Christ is not a man of sorrows but a lion with power and authority (signified by the scepter). In particular, Judah typifies Christ as the victory for God's people and the peace to God's people. In the application of redemption, Christ is our peace.

　　Judah, as the kingly tribe, was accompanied always by Benjamin, as a warrior tribe (Gen. 49:27), for God's kingdom on the earth. (Life-study of the Psalms, pp. 331-333)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 28