19. Psalm 68:15-16. What or who or where is Bashan?

Of course we have not tracked down every geographical point in Psalms. But this one is especially important. Or is it? At first glance, the text seems to be saying that Bashan is the mountain where God will live forever. But is not “Zion”, the mountain of the City of David, the eternal mountain fortress of God?

Take another look. Certainly verse 15 leaves little to change. Bashan is a mountain, actually a series of mountains, punctuated by the great Mt. Hermon, that is certainly a place special to God in His creation.

But verse 16, poetically, sees the Bashan mountain range, though it is such a splendid sight, looking with envy at another mountain, one which God has desired for Himself forever, and shall have. Though that mountain, a mere hill actually, is not mentioned here, the prophets and Gospel writers all agree that it is Zion, not Bashan, that is indicated.

Isaiah 2:3 talks of going up to the mountain of the Lord… Zion.

Revelation 21:10 speaks of a high mountain on which the descending City of God will alight.

Bashan, over the Jordan, and far north in Israel, will see this tiny hill elevated to glorious status one day, and will look with envy, just as the Psalmist here foresees.

20. Psalm 68:18. How do you explain the obvious difference between the original here and the quoting of it in Ephesians 4:8?

There seems to be, first of all, a wild array of translations of this Hebrew verse in Psalms. Some want it to read that Jesus (for He is the one indicated, we are sure) received gifts FROM men. Others, that He received gifts FOR men. Still others, that He GAVE gifts TO men. A fourth translation I saw actually changes gift to tribute.

Is the Hebrew so loose that we can make it say whatever we want? I think not. And the Holy Spirit uses the apostle Paul (Ephesians 4:8) to sift through all these possibilities to the one that fits the occasion being referenced. Paul seems to have defined the translation that the Lord wanted us to have by quoting it in Ephesians. Unanimously the translators agree with Paul’s assertion that Jesus has given gifts to men. He uses this in connection with a discussion of the gifts of the Spirit given to all God’s people.

David had in mind the ascension of the ark on to the heights of Zion, but Paul saw, in the Spirit, the greater ascension of the True Ark of God. David had in mind a victorious general giving out gifts to his victorious army. Paul had something else in mind:

Benson’s comment here is so very helpful:

[David] having been speaking of victories and conquests in war, he borrows, as it was natural for him to do, his expressions on this subject from the ancient custom of princes and generals of armies, who, after such glorious achievements, were wont to go up into their royal cities in triumphant chariots, being attended by their captive enemies, and afterward to distribute divers gifts to their soldiers and subjects, and sometimes to do some acts of clemency, even to their enemies and rebels, and to receive them into the number of their own people. In allusion to this, he here represents the victorious Captain of our salvation as ascending to his royal city in the heavens, leading his enemies captive, and conferring the most important gifts, privileges, and blessings on his subjects, and even on such as had been rebels against his government.

21. Psalm 69. This Psalm is clearly Messianic, or so it seems. How do you account for the “sin” mentioned in verse 5?

The lives of Jesus and David (when in the Spirit) overlapped. Incredible similarities in the two men. See them both walking up a hill, weeping, rejected by their people. See the Shepherd in both. See their joy over the Temple and its worship.

But in David’s sin, is there a parallel to Jesus? Only in that Jesus became sin for us all, bore our sins in His own Body, which Body was descended from the man David.

So to call Psalm 69 a Messianic Psalm may offend some. But the incidences within this Davidic song in which Jesus could participate are nothing short of amazing: They hate Him without a cause, verse 4. Estranged from His brothers, verse 8. Zeal for the House of God eats Him up, verse 9. They give Him gall and vinegar, verse 21. And more.