Psalm 47 - God is King

In this psalm, the author calls on all nations to praise God, and to do so loudly and with great delight, expressed in his telling them to clap their hands. The reason why they should do so is because the Lord, who is the highest authority, who reigns over all the earth, is to be feared (vv. 1-2).

How does the psalmist know this? One reason is historical, that he gave the promised land to his people and gave them victory over the previous inhabitants. He did so because he loved them (vv. 3-4). Yet the process of victory had taken a long time, indeed centuries, because it looks as if the event he is celebrating is the arrival of the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem after David had captured the city from the Jebusites (v. 5).  This was an event that caused great celebration (v. 6).

There were two thrones in Jerusalem, if we wish to put in that way. One throne belonged to the house of David and it was visible to anyone who went to the royal residence. The other throne, and the most powerful throne, was on the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies, and that was where God ruled from, revealing his mercy as he allowed sinners to draw near to him.

Both events - the giving of the land of promise and the arrival of the ark - highlighted that the Lord is king over the nations. But that knowledge is only realised by those who have the eyes to see what had taken place. At one level, it was the realisation of the aspirations of Israel to have a capital city; at a higher level, it was an indication of the progress of God's kingdom, although it takes place unseen. And we know that the same invisibility surrounds an even higher level in its progress, which happened when Jesus ascended to the throne of God. And although unseen, he rules over the nations.

The outcome at the time of writing of the psalm was that the rulers of Israel realised that their God was keeping the promises that he had made to Abraham about his seed being the route of blessing for the world (v. 9). He is the sovereign God, able to do what he wishes over the powers of earth - the weaponry of nations cannot prevent him. The obvious and only conclusion that can be made is that the Lord is highly exalted.