Nation in the Psalms

Christian Alexander
Christian Alexander Member Posts: 3,008 ✭✭
edited November 21 in English Forum

Psalm 67:4 "Let the nations rejoice and sing for joy," says the NASB, "for You will judge the peoples with justice and guide the nations on earth." Who are the "nations" to which the writer of the Psalm refers, given that God was solely God of Israel at the time? The original Hebrew appears to be in the present tense, but the NASB translates it as "you will judge." 

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  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 3,087

    You'd have to ask the author about who he was talking about.  Some commentaries note a close association with Akkadian phrasing.

    And you don't actually know when the Psalm was written, or which authors and when, speak to God of who.

  • Bernhard
    Bernhard Member Posts: 640 ✭✭

    ...given that God was solely God of Israel at the time

    I have a big theological problem with the word "solely" here...but then I am not supposed to say that in this forum (and maybe that phrase was meant to provoke by you/your teacher  ;-)

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Check all your Psalms commentaries. That's exactly the sort of thing they are good for.

    Also do a search for "who are the nations" in your library. There's no way to specify punctuation to search for only places that say Who are "the nations"? or which are clearly asking the question what is the meaning of "the nations"; but that's what you're looking for. Do a visual scan of all the results, and click through to the ones that have that punctuation and see what they say. Most of these will not be specifically about Ps 67:4, but they might give you some insight that would help you in understanding the use of that word in that verse.

    Try also "the nations means" (could be combined with the above by searching for "who are the nations" OR "the nations means").

    I think you'll find the following is a common answer, though not necessarily the answer for that specific verse, and it won't answer why.

    You need to weigh the different arguments for what that word means. And you might need to examine your "given" to see if there is any counter-evidence.

    There are promises throughout the OT that the non-Jewish people of the world will be included in the end, starting from Genesis 12:3, "...all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" to Isaiah 56:7, "...for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" to Jeremiah 3:17, "At that time...all nations will...honor the name of the LORD."

  • R. Mansfield
    R. Mansfield Member Posts: 629 ✭✭✭

    Who are the "nations" to which the writer of the Psalm refers, given that God was solely God of Israel at the time?

    God is the God of all nations at all times, regardless of whether they acknowledge him or not. But he has always been active in the direction of the nations. For instance, Amos 9.7 says, “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?” The story of the exoduses of the Philistines and Syrians is lost for now, but Scripture records that it happened.

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