I. (47:1–4) The Lord Is to Be Feared by All. The Lord loves Israel and gave it its heritage in order that all peoples might come to fear and love him. (In this light even God’s subduing of the Canaanites is not his final word for the Gentiles.)

Verse 1 invites “all peoples” to express their adoring worship of the one true God by clapping their hands and shouting with loud songs of joy. That is, the privilege of such adoration was never meant to end with one people, Israel, but was intended ultimately for all people. To “clap” the “hands” is here an expression of exultation (cf. Nah. 3:19); the Hebrew does not indicate whether the clapping is applauselike, rhythmic, once-off, or in some other fashion (presumably the original audience knew!).401 For “shouting” as an act of worship cf. Psalms 65:13; 66:1; 81:1. For this word rendered as “make joyful noise,” cf. Psalms 95:1–2; 98:4, 6; 100:1.

Psalm 47:2–4 supplies the reason the song invites “all peoples” to join in worship: “for the Lord . . . is . . . a great king over all the earth” (cf. 95:3). For “Most High” cf. comment on 7:17, and on the different senses of the “kingship of God” in the OT cf. comment on 5:1–3. Here the sense in focus is the Lord’s universal rule over all his creation, wherefore he takes an interest in all people everywhere. This universality of God’s rule and interest is why the OT portrays the eventual coming of light to all the world by way of Israel (cf. 46:10; comment on 46:8–11); in words reminiscent of our text Malachi 1:14 declares, “For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.”

The explanation goes on the describe the special deeds God has done for Israel (who, through the OT era, would have been the primary singers of the psalm): “he subdued peoples under us” (cf. Ps. 18:47), a reference to the conquest of the land. In the same way, “he chose” their “heritage for” them; this may refer to the land or perhaps to Israel’s special status as the Lord’s own heritage (33:12).

The second line of Psalm 47:4 (“the pride of Jacob whom he loves”) requires that we slow down to analyze it carefully. The “pride of Jacob” probably means “that which Jacob takes pride in” (cf. Amos 6:8; 8:7), with the “pride” being commendable rather than sinful; this is thus further describing the “heritage.” This would lead us to connect “whom” with “Jacob” in this phrase—that is, Jacob is the one whom the Lord loves (cf. Mal. 1:2).402

II. (47:5–7) Sing Praises to Our King. The focus in this stanza is on the way in which the “King of all the earth” (the universal King; cf. comment on 47:1–4 [at v. 2]) is also “our King,” that is, the rightful Ruler whom we, Israel, acknowledge (showing the connection between two senses of the kingship of God). Probably the people invited to “sing praises” are the same as those addressed in verse 1, the Gentiles.

In verse 5 “God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.” The wording here is close to that of 2 Samuel 6:15, where David and all the house of Israel made the ark to go up with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet (cf. comments on Psalm 24). The Lord’s sanctuary serves as his royal palace, to which he invites his people to come and meet him; it is the place to “sing praises to our King.” But here the invitation is extended beyond Israel to “all peoples” (as 1 Kings 8:41–43 had made clear was part of the sanctuary’s purpose).403

In this public gathering the peoples are to “sing praises with a psalm” (Ps. 47:7). The specific kind of psalm is a maskil, a term that appears in the titles of a number of the psalms (Psalms 32; 42; 44; 45; 53; 55; 74; 78; 88; 142). As discussed in the Introduction, this shows that the basic function of the psalms was to provide songs for gathered worship.

III. (47:8–9) God Reigns over All Nations. The final stanza returns to the universal kingship of God—“reigns” (v. 8) means “reigns as king” (vv. 2, 7). God’s “throne” is his sanctuary in Jerusalem, from which he will extend his kingly rule over the nations (Isa. 2:1–5; cf. comments on Psalm 46). The peoples (plural) of 47:9 are again Gentiles, corresponding to the people (singular) of the God of Abraham—normally this would mean Israel, but here when the Gentile princes “gather” (in the context of this psalm it would be for worship in answer to the invitations) they are in some way functioning “as the people of the God of Abraham.” This may simply mean that they are the people to whom the blessing of Abraham has finally come, but it may also hint at the idea of Psalm 87, a kindred psalm in which Gentiles are registered as having been born in Zion. These psalms do not make clear the future social status of these Gentile converts, though they do provide the groundwork for Paul to insist that, in the era to which the psalm points, Gentile believers will share full citizenship in God’s people with Jewish believers (Eph. 2:19; 3:5–6).

The “shields of the earth” (Ps. 47:9) are likely the rulers, since in 84:9; 89:18 “shield” is a term for the Israelite king. The image conveys the notion that ideally the king of any people is to be their protector via his attention to justice.404 All these kings ultimately “belong to God”; they are accountable to him and would serve their people well by owning his lordship.