I. Introduction
Psalms 46 and 47 belong together, and it is generally believed that they are from the time of Jerusalem’s deliverance in the reign of Hezekiah (cf. 2 Kgs. 18:13-19:37). Psalm 47 is classified as an enthronement psalm, a psalm that celebrates the enthronement of the Lord as King among the people. In Christian tradition, Psalm 47 is read on Ascension Day (or the following Sunday), the fortieth day after Easter, the day on which Jesus was taken up into heaven (Acts 1:1-11).
II. A call for the nation to praise God for what he has done for Israel (vv. 1-4)
Verses 1-4. "Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah."
Verse 1. Israel was called to be a light to the nations, through their obedience to Yahweh's law, his salvation would reach the end of the earth (cf. Isa. 49:6; 60:3). Here the nations are to express their appreciation to Yahweh in the clapping of hands and in jubilant outcries, both of which were traditional at the time of the accession of a new king (cf. 1 Sam. 10:24; 2 Kgs. 11:12).
Verse 1’s sound of rejoicing is complemented in v. 5 with the sound of the shofar, the trumpet blown repeatedly at the New Year’s festival. In modern Jewish life, the sound of the shofar at the New Year’s festival serves to remind the faithful of many things, including acclaiming God as King and recalling the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai (cf. Ex. 19:16-19).
Verse 2. 'The Lord, the Most High, is to be feared', as the great King over all the earth. The appellation ‘Most High’, is a term often used to describe the God of Israel when people other than the Israelites alone are being addressed. Thus, from the outset, the psalm celebrates the enthronement of the LORD Most High as a great King over all peoples.
Verse 3. The hosts of Assyria and of every great empire are entirely under his dominion as he has just demonstrated in their defeat. Further proof of this fact is furnished from their past history when he "subdued people" under Israel "and nations" under their feet, as in the conquest of the land of Canaan in the days of Joshua. Also, this is a reference to the ancient tradition of a victor setting his feet on the necks of captives.
Verse 4. Continuing to describe the time of the conquest, the psalmist speaks of the acquisition of "our heritage," a term commonly used for the land of Canaan when it was thought of in this connection (cf. Ex. 15:17; Deut. 4:21, 38; Jer. 3:19). "The pride of Jacob," speaks of the nation's pride.
God's faithfulness to Israel is rooted in his covenant promises with the patriarchs, i.e. Abraham and Jacob. (cf. vv.8-9; Gen. 28:13). God is King over all the earth, and all peoples are to reverence God, but God has chosen a special people for his possession, the splendour of Jacob. A Selah at this point suggests a musical interlude that gives pause for reflection.
III. A call to Israel to praise God, who has demonstrated that he is King by subduing the nations (vv. 5-8)
Verse 5-8. "God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne."
Verse 5. To say that "God has gone up" is to use figurative language to state that he had first come down to do a certain task in hand, then, having completed what he came to do, he goes up again to his throne on high (cf. Gen. 18:21; Isa. 31:4). Also, this is a reference to the ark of the covenant, the visible symbol of God's presence, was being carried into the temple amid shouts of praise and the sounding of trumpets (cf. 2 Sam. 6:15-19).
Verses 6-7. "Sing praises to our God, sing praises!" The verb used implies ‘to sing’ a song like a psalm. Hence, the practice of the early Christians was to sing psalms in their worship services.
Verse 8. In other words, God has proved himself King to the venturing nations in the defeat of their armies and consequently their gods. "God has taken his seat upon his holy throne." There he sits as the victorious Monarch that he is; traditionally symbolised as being between the Cherub on the lid of the ark of the covenant, which represented his heavenly throne from which he reigned over all the nations (1 Sam. 4:4).
IV. The heeding of this call by some gentile rulers as a token of their submission to the God of Abraham - God is King of the nations (v. 9)
Verse 9. "The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!" Here God is hailed as 'the God of Abraham', to whom he promised the land of Canaan to his descendants and that 'all people's on earth will be blessed through him' (Gen. 12:3, 7). This is what will happen when the nations are at last gathered "as the people of the God of Abraham" and exalt God's name alongside Abraham's descendants (cf. Isa. 2:2-4; Acts 2:5ff). They are no longer under the feet of Israel, but are part of God's people. Let us rejoice that we serve a God who is King of all nations.
God bless you.