Psalms 68:21

PRAISING GOD FOR HIS VICTORY OVER ENEMIES

"But God will smite through the head of his enemies,

The hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on in his guiltiness.

The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan,

I will bring again from the depths of the sea;

That thou mayest crush them, dipping thy foot in blood."

The terminology here, as in the imprecatory psalms, seems very harsh and offensive to Christians, but this is due to a general blindness to the Biblical revelation that God's anger against wickedness is no light thing at all, but that the most terrible penalties that the mind of man can visualize shall at last be executed against all mortals who make themselves enemies of God.

Therefore, the proper reaction to terminology of this kind is not, "How awful that punishment is," but "What an unspeakably awful thing is enmity against God"!

"The hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on in his guiltiness" (Psalms 68:21). Some find a hint of the bushy hair of Absalom in this passage. It will be remembered that he lost his life when the animal he was riding went under a tree in which Absalom's hair was caught, giving Joab the opportunity to kill him.

"From Bashan ... from the depths of the sea" (Psalms 68:22). The thought here is that there is nowhere to hide from God. Neither the rocky fortress of Bashan nor the caves at the bottom of the sea can afford a hiding place for the wicked when the judgment of God falls upon them. See Revelation 6:14f.