June 11, 2015

Tom Lowe

 

PSALM 47

 

Title: The Ascension of God (also called “A Song upon Alamoth.”)

(To the chief Musician. A psalm for the sons of Korah)

 

Theme: Praise and Worship in the Millennium

 

 

Psalm 47 (KJV)

 

1 O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

2 For Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.

3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

5 God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.

8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.

 

 

 

Introduction

 

This is the second of the little cluster of prophetic pictures of the millennial kingdom, which is established by the Lord Jesus Christ at his second coming.  This is a continuation of the praise and worship of Christ who is now King over all the earth.  It elaborates the words “I am exalted in the earth” which occur at the end of the previous psalm.

 

This psalm is possibly connected to 2 Chronicles 20, where Israel obtained a victory without a battle.  They stood still and saw the salvation of God, given in answer to King Jehoshaphat’s prayer.  The Korhites, whose name is inscribed above it, are expressly mentioned as having been present (19).  Before the people left the battlefield, they held a thanksgiving service in the valley of blessing (26).  From that valley God is depicted as having made His assent to Heaven after having gained deliverance for His people (5).  This Psalm was probably sung in that “valley of blessing.” It is a double call to praise, addressed first to the heathen (1-4), and next to Israel.

 

This psalm may also be assigned to Israel’s second greatest king, Hezekiah (His story can be found in found in 2 Kings 18–20, and Isaiah 36–39.).  The massive armies of Assyria had deployed themselves around Jerusalem.  As Hezekiah watched from the city walls all he could see was a vast sea of troops and tents as far as the eye could reach.  The imperial standards of the Assyrian emperor flew in the breeze as the battering rams and slings, the scaling ladders, and all the machinery of war was assembled before the gates.  Fierce-faced, bearded men were polishing their shields and sharpening their swords for the onslaught, for the success they were sure would be theirs.

 

The evening shadows deepened into dusk and campfires glowed as the confident Assyrian commandos set up their watchposts, placed their sentries, and prepared for a good night’s rest before beginning tomorrow’s arduous task of war.

 

They never awoke from that sleep!  That night the angel of the Lord visited the Assyrian camp.  He smote the sentries where they stood, smote the generals in their tents, smote the officers as they poured over their last-minute plans for assault, and smote rank and file of the army as they slept.  Silently he came, silently he went, and behind him he left a wide swath of death.  There were some 185,000 stiffening courses when his work was done.  A swift-working pestilence was the weapon he used.

 

The watchers on the walls had a sleepless night, pacing up and down, their eyes peeled for a surprise attack.  Hezekiah and Isaiah doubtless spent the night praying as well as watching.  As the dawn broke they made their rounds, encouraged their men, and sought to inspire trust in God, not just in their weapons of war and their massive walls.  They looked out over the Assyrian camp as the sun flooded the hills with light.  Strange—there was no movement, no sound of the trumpet, no call to arms, nothing!  They watched as the sun rose higher.  Nothing!  Then they saw carrion birds circling around the camp of the foe.  Those birds sensed death.

 

Obviously something had happened in the enemy ranks.  Then spies brought the word; the foe was no more, the camp was full of corpses, the war was over without an arrow being fired.

 

This psalm is rightly regarded as messianic.  It was recited by the Jews in their synagogues seven times prior to the blowing of trumpets which marked their New Years day.

 

David was a prophet, and one of the greatest of the prophets, and Hezekiah was a prophet.  Jehoshaphat was one of Israel’s “good” kings.  This psalm could have been written by any of the three for it was written to celebrate a great victory by Israel’s army over one of her foes.  It describes the people of Israel proclaiming to the surrounding Gentile nations the glorious victory of their God, a victory won without having to fight a battle! 

 

 

 

Commentary

 

1 O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

“O Clap your hands,” is what they are called upon to do.  It is a token of your own joy and satisfaction in what God has done for you, of your respect, more correctly, your admiration, of what God has done in general, and of your indignation against all the enemies of God’s glory (Job 27:23[1]).  “Clap your hands,” like men who are beside themselves with pleasure that cannot be kept from expressing their joy.

 

“Clap your hands . . . shout unto God.” One would hardly have thought it necessary for the king to say that. Surely gratitude to God would be the immediate and instinctive response of the people.  In the wake of such a deliverance it would be superfluous to tell the people to “shout unto God.”

 

Who are called upon to praise God?—“All ye people,” all you people of Israel; those were his own subjects, and under his authority, and therefore, he will call for them to praise God, for he has an influence over them. Whatever others do, he and his house, he and his people, shall praise the Lord.  This psalm may also be taken as prophesy of the conversion of the Gentiles and the bringing of them into the church (Romans 15:11), in which case the command is to “all you people and nations of the earth.”

 

“Shout unto God with the voice of triumph,” not to make Him hear you, but to make all who are nearby hear you, and take notice of how much you are affected by and filled with the works of God.  “Shout . . . with the voice of triumph” of His works, and of His power and goodness, so that others may join with you praising Him.  Jewish worship was enthusiastic, but they also knew how to be quiet before the Lord and wait upon Him (Laminations 2:10; Habakkuk 2:4; Zephaniah 1:7; Zechariah 2:13).  Now, I know that some of you think such expressions of praise and devout affections seem indecent and even foolish, but you should not be hasty to censor and condemn such actions, much less ridicule the person, because if the shouts come from an upright heart, God will accept the strength of the affection and excuse the weakness of the expressions of it.

 

“Shout unto God” may also be translated “Sing unto God.” There is very little shouting in our churches today, and heaven forbid and someone should raise their hands as they praise Him.  But why sing to God at all? “For the Lord most high is terrible.” He is no mere local god.  He is the Creator of the ends of the earth, and the Lord of all history.

 

The early church patterned its worship after the synagogue and emphasized prayer, the reading and expounding of Scripture, and the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  When the Jewish people clapped their hands and shouted, it was to the Lord in response to His marvelous works.  They did not do it to praise the people who participated in the worship service.

 

We are such an ungrateful people.  After the Lord Jesus cleansed the 10 lepers only one came back to give Him thanks, and he was a Samaritan.  Said the Lord Jesus sadly; “Were there not ten cleansed, where are the nine?” He could say the same thing over and over again because of our sinful ingratitude and careless neglect of Him.

 

The psalmist was thankful.  He clapped his hands, and “shouted unto God with the voice of triumph.”  He was so happy he seized his pen and immortalized his thanksgiving in a written poem of praise.

 

 

2 For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.

“The Lord most high is terrible [awe-inspiring]; He is a great King over all the earth”—you see, Christ is reigning as “King over all the earth” during the Millennium; and as such, He is praised and worshipped. Dear reader, before Christ can reign on this earth, He will have to put down all rebellion, self-conceit, arrogance, and the lawlessness of man against God.  In Psalm 46 we saw the celebration of His coming in judgment, and now in Psalm 47 His kingdom is established and He is reigning on the earth. 

 

Notice what three things is suggested here as matters for our praise.  First, that our God is a God of awful majesty; “For the Lord most high is terrible.” He is infinitely above the noblest creatures (men and angels), higher than the highest; there are those perfections in Him that are to be reverenced by all, and particularly that power, holiness, and justice, that are to be dreaded by all those that struggle with him.  To them and to all workers of iniquity he is “terrible,” while His people express confidence and joy, and animate each other in serving him—let sinners submit to His authority, and accept His salvation.  Second, that He is God of a sovereign and universal dominion.  He is a King that reigns alone, and with absolute power, a “King over all the earth”; all the creatures were made by Him, are subject to Him and therefore “He is a great King,” the King of kings.  Third, that He takes care of His people, and their concerns—he has always done so, and he always will.  He has given them victories over their enemies; subduing the people and nations under them, both those that stood in their way and those that made attacks upon them.  He planted them in Canaan, and they have continued there until this day.  The future victory of the Lord is again set forth as happening in the present in order to give confidence in its absolute certainty.  He blessed David with victory after victory, prospering him in everything he undertook to do.  But this looks forward to the kingdom of the Messiah, which was to be set “over all the earth,” and not confined to the Jewish nation.  Jesus Christ shall subdue the Gentiles; he shall bring them in as sheep into the fold, not for slaughter, but for preservation.

 

“Most High,” Elyon, the name by which God had revealed himself to Abraham after the slaughter of the kings of the east and the coming of Melchizedek. Elyon is God as the “Possessor of Heaven and earth.” It is the millennial title of Christ.

 

 

3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

The psalmist, like the prophets, envisions here the action of the future as occurring in the present.  He sees all nations subdued, while Israel stands in a unique relation to God because of her inheritance.

 

God’s people should keep in their mind and heart the story of God’s saving acts.  There’s the story of Moses, of the escape from Egypt, of the manna in the Wilderness, of the giving of the Law, and of God’s gift to Israel—their promised land, the pride of Jacob.  Then there was the line of kings who had sat upon the throne of Israel beginning with David the Lord’s beloved son.  These were all things that God had done before.  But God is always the same, yesterday, today and forever.  So it was certain that just as God had subdued the Canaanites so long before under Joshua’s feet, He would certainly keep to His plan.  The day must therefore come when God will “subdue the (all) people under us, and the nations under our feet.” In that day (millennium; a thousand years) every knee will bend before that King and during the millennial age all nations will possess the supremacy of Israel. Notice the word “our.”  For this was to come about through “our” cooperation, and “our” witness, when, in God’s good time, he would conquer the hearts of all men.  If He can subdue nations, surely He can give us the victory over our sins.

 

“He shall subdue the people under us” is fulfilled prophesy, because the Gentile converts were in some senses brought under the Jews, because they were subjected to Christ, and to His apostles, and to the primitive church, which were Jews.  Or the psalmist may have said this in the name of the whole church—which at that time were Israelites only, but afterwards was made up of Jews and Gentiles—unto which all individual believers were to submit themselves in and for the Lord.

 

 

4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

God chose the Jews in His love and gave them their land in His grace, what right did any nation have to try to take it from them?  (See the 2 Chronicles 20:10-12[3]).  The land of Israel is very special to the Lord and He watches over it (Deuteronomy 8:7-20; 11:10-12[4]).

 

“He shall choose our inheritance for us;” He knows what is good for me better than I do.  He had chosen for Israel the land of Canaan for an inheritance.  It was the land which the Lord their God had spied out for them (Deuteronomy 32:8[2]).  This justified their possession of that land, and gave them a good title to it; and this sweetened their enjoyment of it, and made it fruitful; they had reason to think it was a blessed land and they were satisfied to be in it, because it was that which Infinite Wisdom chose for them.  Let God choose for you.  He will do the best for His beloved.  And He has laid up for them in the other world an incorruptible inheritance: “to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4, NKJV).

 

This is the appropriate time to sing, “Joy to the World!”

 

Joy to the world!  The Lord is come;

Let earth receive her king;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And heav’n and nature sing.

Isaac Watts

 

There are three more stanzas.  They begin with these clauses—“Joy to the world!  The Savior reins,” “No more let sins and sorrows grow,” “He rules the world with truth and grace.” As you can see, this is not really a hymn that speaks of the birth of Christ; but it speaks of His second coming.  There is going to be joy on the earth when He comes.

 

The word “excellency” in the clause, “the excellency of Jacob whom he loved,” can better be translated “pride.” The nation of Israel was Jehovah’s pride.  It was the object of His love.  There is no way to explain it.  Think of the persistent rebellion, apostasy, unbelieving, and wickedness of the nation.  Remember, God had just handed ten of the tribes over to the Assyrians and had allowed most of Judea to feel the Assyrian scourge—all because of the apostasies and sins of these two once-beloved nations.  Yet so great will be Israel’s ultimate restoration, devotion, and response that the psalmist—speaking with the last days in mind—actually calls the nation Israel the object of God’s pride.  God loved Israel and granted her privileges that other nations did not receive; His love was the sole cause of granting them.

 

“Clap your hands; . . .  shout unto God with the voice of triumph!” What a wonderful day that will be!

 

 

5 God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

God fills Heaven and earth, but when He acts on earth on behalf of His people, the Scriptures sometimes described Him as “coming down.” He came down to visit the tower of Babel and judged the people building it (Genesis 11:5), and He also came down to investigate the wicked city of Sodom and destroyed it (Genesis 18:21).  The night 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were slain by the angel, God came down and brought judgment (Isaiah 37: 28-29, 36) and then “went up” in great glory to His holy throne (v. 8).

 

Commentators have disagreed over this verse, but it seems to be a clear prophetic reference to the ascension of Christ to glory.  The word translated “gone up” literally means “exalted.” In fact, the same word is translated “exalted” at the very end of this psalm.

 

Calvary is over!  The sufferings of Christ gave place to the glory that should follow.  The Lord led His little band of believers out of Jerusalem, down along the Kidron, up past the garden of Gethsemane, and on to Olivet’s brow.  There He lifted His hands in benediction and ascended the heights to Heaven above.

 

“God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet”—that is, He has ascended amid shouting—we must praise Him when “He goes up.”  And the fact that He ascended means He made a previous descent.  The Lord came to earth two thousand years ago, was born in Bethlehem, finished His work of salvation on earth(Acts 1:9[5]), and then ascended to heaven—I think Psalm 24 refers to that.  But in this psalm another ascension is spoken about.  When Christ comes to earth the second time, He will establish His kingdom and be going back and forth to the New Jerusalem.  I think that between the New Jerusalem and this earth there is going to be a freeway much busier than any of the California freeways—with one exception: there will be no traffic tie-ups.  You will be able to move back and forth with freedom.  Probably the Lord will descend and ascend at stated times during the Millennium and will display His visible glory upon the earth.

 

The psalmist tells us that He went up with “a shout” and with a “sound of a trumpet.” Who was doing the shouting? Job 38:7[6] identifies the inhabitants of the upper world, those sons of God, as those who shouted for joy. Luke does not tell us that, but the Gospel narratives do not tell us everything.  The herald angel, who tarried behind to assure the astonished disciples, expressly said: “This same Jesus shall come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).  The Holy Spirit tells us that when the Lord Jesus comes again, He will descend “with a shout,” with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.  It may well be, then, that the Lord did ascend on high “with a shout” and with a trumpet blast.  Here the ascending Lord is given His full title of deity.  He is Elohim and He is Jehovah.  He is the Creator, conqueror over all the powers ranged against Him, and He is the Comforter, the Revealer of Secrets, and the Covenant-keeping One.

 

We did not read about “a shout,” or “the sound of a trumpet,” at the ascension of Christ, but the shouting was done by the inhabitants of the upper world, those sons of God, that shouted for joy (Job 38:7[6]).  He shall come again in the same manner as he went (Acts 1:11) and we are sure that He shall come again “with a shout” and “the sound of a trumpet.” 

 

Notice the type of shout it was: it was the shout of a King, the shout of a Conqueror, the shout of victory, the shout of One who, having spoiled principalities and powers, then led captivity captive—“Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:18, KJV).

 

What a glorious, wonderful prospect this psalm predicts!

 

I would be negligent if I did not disclose that some commentators hold the opinion that this psalm concerns the occasion of that great ritual of carrying the ark from the house of Obed-edom into the city of Zion (2 Samuel 6).Were that the case, “God is gone up” meant literally “the ark (where God was present) has gone up,” that is, was carried up to the hill of Zion, where the tabernacle was erected for it, and afterwards to the hill of Moriah into the temple. It was solemnly accompanied with the “shouts and acclamations” of the people, and with the sound of “trumpets.”

 

 

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.

Shouldn’t people praise their God? (Daniel 5:4).  Shouldn’t subjects praise their “king?”  God is our God, “our King,” and therefore we must praise Him; we must “sing His praises,” just like those that are pleased with them and that are not ashamed of them.  Let no heart be cold, no tongue be dumb.  Holy songs stir the spirit.

 

Can you imagine the reception Christ must have received in glory!  With wonder, love, and enthusiasm the angelic hosts would have welcomed Him home.  With what astonishment they must have gazed upon His human form, at the spear wound in His side, the nail prints in His hands and feet, the thorn-pierced brow, and the scourge marks on His back.  “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” (Zechariah 13:6, KJV).

 

Now He is seated of yonder, receiving the “praises” of the redeemed.  The songs of the angels are music in His ears, but the songs of the saved are even sweeter.

 

Glory!  Glory!  Is what the angels sing,

And I expect to help them make the courts of Heaven ring;

But when I sing redemption’s story they must fold their wings,

For angels never knew the joy that our salvation brings.

 

The words “sing praises” is repeated four times in this verse, to show how much the psalmist desired that God have His day of praise and glory; and how very necessary and important it was for men to perform this great, though much neglected, duty.

 

 

7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.

This is a rule that everybody should know about, “Sing ye praises with understanding.” There are two aspects to this rule.  (1) “Praise Him ‘intelligently’; like those that understand why and for what reasons you praise God.” This is the gospel-rule (1 Corinthians 14:15[7]), to sing with the spirit and with the understanding also; it is only with the heart that we make melody to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19[8]).  (2) “Praise Him ‘instructively,’ like those that desire to make others understand God’s glorious perfections, and to teach them to praise Him.”

 

He is coming back to rend the Mount of Olives and rule the earth.  Coming back to be King.  This is the great proclamation.  We must “sing His praise!”  God claims the kingdoms of this world, which is in revolt; but the end is sure: “For just then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting down from heaven, ‘The Kingdom of this world now belongs to our Lord, and to his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.’” (Revelation 11:15).

 

 

8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

The Old Testament priest wore a miter[9] which bore the golden rule, “Holiness unto the Lord.” The coming Priest-King will wear a crown and on His throne will be emblazoned a title: “the Throne of His Holiness.” The Roman Catholics assigned this title to their sovereign pontiff, the pope of Rome.  When a person addresses the pope he is supposed to refer to him as “You’re Holiness.” As a title for a pope it is a title of blasphemy.  God has never given this title to any man except His Son.  The psalmist says: “God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.” The title “His Holiness” belongs solely to Him, to His Son Jesus, that true King-Priest who at this present moment is seated “on the throne of His holiness” in Heaven and who, during the millennium, will set on “the throne of His holiness” on earth.

  

We must praise God while he reigns over us.  Not only is He our King (v. 7), He is our Heavenly Father and our Creator.  Our God is the God of nature, and He “reigneth over the heathen”; he disposes of them and all their affairs, as he pleases, even though they do not know him, nor have any regard for Him.  He “sitteth upon the throne of his holiness,” which he has prepared in Heaven, and there He rules over all, even “over the heathen,” for they serve His own purposes.  “The heathen” are ruled by the true God, our God, whether they wanted to be or not.  The basis of God’s rule is “holiness.”

 

 

9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.

What a gathering that will be, when “The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham.” It will take place initially in the valley of Jehoshaphat where God will deal decisively with Israel’s foes.  The eyes of the Jewish people will be open at last.  They will recognize Jesus as Messiah.  He will call them to His side, and will own them as His brethren.  Like Joseph, He will not be ashamed to call them brethren, nor to confess them openly before the powers of this world; like Joseph, He will help settle them in the best lands and will give them positions of authority and power.

 

We must praise God as He is honored by “the princes of the people”.  This may be understood in two ways:

  1. They are the congress or convention of the states of Israel, the heads and rulers of the tribes; they are the face of Israel, as they transact the public business of the nation.  It was the honor of Israel that they were “the people of the God of Abraham,” for they were Abraham’s seed and were taken into his covenant; and, thanks be to God that this blessing of Abraham has come to the Gentiles—“Now God can bless the Gentiles, too, with this same blessing he promised to Abraham; and all of us as Christians can have the promised Holy Spirit through this faith” (Galatians 3:14, TLB).
  2. It may be applied to the calling of the Gentiles into the church of Christ, and taken as a prophecy that in the days of the Messiah the kings of the earth and their public should join themselves to the church, and bring their glory and power into the New Jerusalem, in order that they should all become “the people of the God of Abraham,” to whom it was promised that He should be the father of many nations and a blessing to all the earth.

 

We must praise God because “the shields of the earth belong unto God.” What an interesting note on which to end this psalm!  Solomon made “shields” of gold and hung them in the Temple he had built for God in Jerusalem.  Those “shields” were stolen by the Pharaoh of Egypt in the days of Rehoboam, who replaced them with imitation “shields” of Brass.

 

We are not told what those “shields” represented.  Probably there was one for each of the tribes and they may have symbolized the unity of the nation—one nation under God.  Possibly they symbolized the pledge and purpose of the tribes to be true to the faith and to defend it against all adversaries.  If so it was a vain pledge.  The “shields” proved to be useless in keeping and protecting the safety of the tribes or the sanctity of the Temple.

 

Israel is indeed God’s “own possession” amongst all the nations (Exodus 19:5[10]); yet, as God of all the earth, the “shields of the earth,” the lesser kings of the nations belong to Him as well—they are the protectors “of the people”“And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it” (Revelation 21:24).

 

The Prince of Peace destroys all weapons forged by the hands of men, dissolves the war ministries of the nations, demobilizes their armies, and discharges all those who make a business of war.  The millennial age has come!  Spears are transformed into pruning hooks, swords into plowshares, tanks into tractors, soldiers into civilians.  Men will no longer learn the business of making war.

 

The Church has used Psalm 47 to celebrate in faith the witness of the New Testament to the ascension of Christ to the right hand of God, where he “took his seat upon the throne the universe.”  The Church could do so, because it has always seen in that One true Israelite all the promises of God becoming incarnate in human flesh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End Notes

 

[1] (Job 27:23, KJV) “Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.”

[2] (Deuteronomy 32:8, ERV) “God Most High separated the people on earth and gave each nation its land. He set up borders for all people. He made as many nations as there are angels.” “Angels” comes from the ancient Greek version. Some Hebrew copies at Qumran have “sons of God,” which can also mean “angels.” The standard Hebrew text has “sons of Israel.”

[3] (2 Chronicles 20:10-12, NIV) “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

[4] (Deuteronomy 11:10-12, NIV) “The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.”

[5] (Acts 1:9, NIV) “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

[6] (Job 38:7, NKJV) “When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

[7] (1 Corinthians 14:15, NKJV) “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”

[8[ (Ephesians 5:19, NRSV) “as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,”

[9] The “miter” in Judaism was the official headdress of the ancient high priest, bearing on the front a gold plate engraved with the words Holiness to the Lord. Ex. 28:36–38.

[10] (Exodus 19:5, KJV) “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:”