Psalms Chapter 68 verse 15 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 15. - The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; rather, a mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan. A sudden transition, and perhaps a quotation from an ancient poem. The special object of the psalmist's thought is not Bashan, but Mount Zion; and what he is about to celebrate is Jehovah's choice of Mount Zion for his dwelling place, and his establishment on it. But he prefers to introduce the subject by a contrast with the great range of Canaan. Bashan, he says, is truly "a mountain of God" - i.e. a very great mountain (see the comment on Psalm 36:6) - "one which seemed in an especial degree to show forth creative power." It is also an high hill; or rather, a mountain of peaks, containing numerous pointed summits. Yet God did not choose one of these for his habitation.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(15-18) A third retrospect follows--the third scene in the sacred drama of Israel's early fortunes. It sets forth the glory of God's chosen mountain. A finer passage could hardly be found. The towering ranges of Bashan--Hermon with its snowy peaks--are personified. They become, in the poet's imagination, envious of the distinction given to the petty heights of Judaea. (Perhaps a similar envy is implied in Psalm 133:3.) The contrast between the littleness of Palestine and the vast extent of the empires which hung upon its northern and southern skirts, is rarely absent from the minds of the prophets and psalmists. (See Isaiah 49:19-20.) Here the watchful jealousy with which these powers regarded Israel is represented by the figure of the high mountain ranges watching Zion (see Note below) like hungry beasts of prey ready to spring. And what do they see? The march of God Himself, surrounded by an army of angels, from Sinai to His new abode.(15) The hill of God is . . .--Better,"Mountain of God, mount Basan;Mountain of peaks, mount Basan."Even if the range of Hermon were not included, the basalt (basanite, probably from the locality) ranges, always rising up before the eyes of those looking eastward from Palestine, must have been doubly impressive from their superior height, and the contrast of their bold and rugged outlines with the monotonous rounded forms of the limestone hills of Judaea. And it is quite possible that, in a poetic allusion, the term "mountains of Bashan" might include all the heights to the eastward of Jordan, stretching southward as well as northward. There would then be an additional propriety in their introduction as jealously watching the march of Israel from Sinai to take possession of the promised land. Why these trans-Jordanic ranges should be styled "mountains of God" has been much discussed. Some explain the term to denote ancient seats of religious worship; others take it simply as a general term expressing grandeur--"a ridge of god-like greatness."