“Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds” – Part 4

Psa 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
Psa 68:18 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.
Psa 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
Psa 68:20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
Psa 68:21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
Psa 68:22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:
Psa 68:23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.

What do chariots and millstones have to do with our overcoming in this age, and how will God go about creating a holy people that will come to “ascribe strength” unto Him?

In tonight’s study we will look at the word “chariots” more closely and the counterpart word “millstone”. We will see once again that God has used the historical figures of Israel and the surrounding nations to teach us today, as His elect, that all things are for our sakes (2Co 4:15) and for our learning of how God destroys the man of perdition who resides on the throne of every man’s heart until the Lord comes in to destroy him by the brightness of his coming (2Th 2:8).

It is in this process of overcoming (which God gives to very few in this age) that we learn to “Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds”.

Psa 68:17 The chariots (H7393) of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

H7393
רכב
rekeb
reh’-keb
From H7392; a vehicle; by implication a team; by extension cavalry; by analogy a rider, that is, the upper millstone: – chariot, (upper) millstone, multitude [from the margin], wagon.
Total KJV Occurrences: 119
• chariot, 29
• chariots, 86
• millstone, 2 Jdg 9:53; 2Sa 11:21
• upper millstone, 1 Deu 24:6
• wagons, 1

The chariots of God are connected to the word millstone and are come to do battle against the first man Adam, to cause division in the positive sense of division cutting away and destroying that which needs to be taken away and cast into the sea, that which is in us which offends (Luk 17:2, Mar 9:42).

“The chariots (H7393) of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels” as opposed to 1Sa 13:5 or 1Ch 19:7, and the angels are discussed as being in “thousands of angels” to demonstrate that they are used for the judgment of the flesh that is being destroyed via a process of judgment 10X10X10=1000 (Mat 26:53 [12 legions], Mar 5:9 [legion], Luk 12:51).

1Sa 13:5 And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots (H7393), and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.
[36 thousand total has 3+6 in it=9 demonstrating judgment once again]

1Ch 19:7 So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots(H7393), and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.
[32 thousand has 3+2 in it demonstrating grace and faith by which we are saved]

Mat 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

Mar 5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

We know there is only one law giver and judge (Jas 4:12-13) and that Christ and His Father are one (Joh 10:30) and that we can judge righteous judgment when we seek not our own judgment but the judgment that Christ can give when we commit and cast our cares unto the Lord (1Pe 5:7-8, Joh 5:30, 1Jn 4:17-18). In type and shadow these twenty thousands chariots of God and thousands of angels can judge righteous judgment because “the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.”

Jas 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? [in your flesh]
Jas 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: [It is in this city, which is Jerusalem above, that we judge righteous judgment typified by buying and selling and getting gain.]

Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
Joh 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Joh 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

1Jn 4:17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

When God draws us into a process of judging ourselves (2Co 13:5) so that love can be made perfect, it will take His boldness working within us to overcome and to confess our faults; and the end result is that His love being shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5) will cast out fear, which causes torment, and we will be made perfect in love.

That is why we need twenty thousand chariots and thousand of angels: because these things are given unto those who are given to cry out for deliverance in this age (Rom 2:4), we will therefore ascribe strength unto God for his excellency over Israel where His strength is being perfected “in the clouds”; going back to the title of our study “Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds” (from verse 34 of this Psalm).

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The elect are given to see that all that matters is this ‘the day of the Lord’ for us, and that this ‘day’, which is going to put an end to our first man Adam, is symbolically likened unto the first year of marriage, or the time we “continue there one year” in the city which symbolizes new Jerusalem above in (Jas 4:13).

Jas 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: [it is in this city which is Jerusalem above that we judge righteous judgment typified by buying and selling and getting gain.]

Deu 24:5 When a man [Christ in us] hath taken a new wife [the elect], he shall not go out to war [2Ti 2:4], neither shall he be charged with any business [Mal 3:8-10, Rom 12:1]: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.
Deu 24:6 No man shall take the nether or the upper(H7393) millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.

The life that we take to pledge is the life of Christ and these verses above (Deu 24:5-6) are the reason why Christ likens our relationship unto him and the church to that of a man and woman who are married (Eph 5:25).

In the following verses from Judges 9 concerning Abimelech, we see the negative type of being thrust through with a sword, as opposed to Saul who does not want to die at the hand of the uncircumcised, just as we should not want to be amongst those whom Christ calls the dead burying the dead (Luk 9:60). In Abimelech’s negative example of dying with the sword, it is a woman who slays us spiritually, the church, to help us to die daily; but Abimelech shows us in shadow and in type that he wants to die by his own strength.

Jdg 9:53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone (H7393) upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.
Jdg 9:54 Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
Jdg 9:55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place.
Jdg 9:56 Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:
Jdg 9:57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

There are many more connections and studies that can be made with a search of the word chariot (H7393) or millstone (H7393) in E-Sword.

Psa 68:18 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.
Psa 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
Psa 68:20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.

You might be thinking ‘finally! some good news!’, and that is true as we see now a shadow of all what God has been doing to the nations of old leading to our salvation which comes as result of “the issues from death” which belong “unto GOD the Lord”.

In the verses below, we see why Christ “led captivity captive”. These verses in Ephesians 4 are prophesied of in these verses in Psalms 68, and are the end result of the destruction of the first head of Adam, accomplished through the “gifts” that God brings to men (Deu 16:17) who are all in their former conversations and rebellious unto the Lord (Eph 2:3).

Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men. [Psa 68:18a Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men…]
Eph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? [Psa 68:18b …yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them]
Eph 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: [Psa 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah]
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: [Psa 68:20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues(H8444) [or outgoings or borders] from death so that we “may grow up into him in all things”]

This is “salvation”: to know God and his Son Jesus Christ who we come to know through His body which is the church (Joh 17:3, Eph 3:10). This is the means by which we ascribe strength unto God that comes from him, made perfect in the elect throughout the ages.

This is how God deals with the “issue” of death: giving us the power to die daily and to put off the former conversations. Our inward heavens pass away with a great noise, and we eventually become comfortable in the fire that dissolves all unrighteousness and perfects holy conversation and godliness within those who are exercised by it in this age.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

Psa 68:21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies (Jdg 9:53), and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
Psa 68:22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: (Exo 14:7-9, 1Co 10:2)
Psa 68:23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.

We saw in the story of the death of Abimelech above, and specifically in verse 53 below, an enemy of God whose head was wounded.

Jdg 9:52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
Jdg 9:53 And a certain woman [the elect] cast a piece of a millstone (H7393) upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.
Jdg 9:54 Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died. [a type and shadow of despising the chastening of the Lord]
Jdg 9:55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place.
Jdg 9:56 Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:

I’m bringing this verse into light at this point as it uses the word millstone [same word in Psa 68:17 chariot (H7393)] which describes the means to the end of Abimelech’s life which was destroyed by God (speaking of verse Psa 68:21 of our study tonight) to demonstrate to us His vengeance on our old man which slays our “seventy brethren”, which is a type of the complete destruction that we bring upon Christ, being guilty of his death and of all the prophets from Abel to Zacharias (Mat 23:35).

Moving on to the next verse, we continue the theme with the word ‘millstone’ or ‘chariots’ (H7393).

Psa 68:22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:

Exo 14:7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots (H7393), and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
Exo 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
Exo 14:9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots (H7393) of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.

1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; [one event unto all]

The “depths of the sea” in verse 22 of our study is connected with the depth of the sin (Mic 7:19, Luk 17:2) which is what we come out of (Bashan/Egypt) just as Israel did in type and shadow at the crossing of the Red Sea (Exo 14:27-30).

Psa 68:22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:

Mic 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

But we are not perfect but being perfected, and therefore we will offend along the way even the little ones; and therefore we must conclude that we need to live these words of Christ that tell us that it is better for our old man to have a millstone cast about our neck and cast into the sea (the six hundred chosen chariots of verse Exo 14:7 above, or the millstone of Luk 17:2)

We start off here:

Luk 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone (G3458) [same as Jdg 9:53 in ABP+] were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

And God willing in this age we will end up here:

Pro 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

Continuing with another thought about this verse 21:

Psa 68:21 But God shall wound (H4272) the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp (H6936) of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.

The hairy scalp (H6936) [crown Job 2:7, head Isa 3:17, scalp Psa 68:21] of verse 21 that our first man Adam starts with that is wounded (H4272) [destroy/dipped/pierced/strike through/wound] by the sword for good (Jdg 9:54, 1Sa 31:4, 1Ch 10:4, Isa 13:15, Lam 4:9, Luk 2:35) will be shaved and cleansed (Lev 14:9) and made clean (Eph 6:17, Heb 4:12, Rev 13:10).

The last verse of our study tonight (Psa 68:23) goes on to graphically describe why God calls us out of Babylon/Egypt/Bashan as we come to confess the depth of our own physical and spiritual depravity which this ‘accounting of’ destroys the man of perdition within and comes at the cost of our life as Judas typified for us all.

Psa 68:23 “That thy foot may be dipped (H4272) in the blood of thine enemies…”

That Strong’s number in blue is the same as the word translated in verse 21 as “wound”. It is “I, even I” who do all these things:

Deu 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
Deu 32:40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
Deu 32:41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
Deu 32:42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

Act 1:18 Now this man purchased a field (the world and all within us (Mat 13:38, 1Jn 2:16, 1Jn 2:2) with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
Act 1:19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

All this is for the good as we read in the very next verse of Deuteronomy 32:

Deu 32:43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

But it is a process that is painful for the flesh…

Psa 68:23 “…and the tongue of thy dogs in the same”

It is we who leave Christ out to the dogs (Luk 16:21) until we’re given the faith to see the value of His life and His wounds that we want to bind and heal once we understand what they represent to us as His body and are moved with compassion to bring him to the inn (Luk 10:34).

Luk 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

Luk 10:34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Lazarus, a type of Christ’s Christ, is hungry for truth, and until faith is given to us, we bring no comfort to Lazarus [the elect – the poor of the world], but rather dogs come and lick his sores which represent the depravity of service toward our Lord when we are yet acting “in the same”, like a negative gentile dog.

The positive gentile dog is found in this next story in (Mat 15:27), and can only unfold in our own lives if we have the true witness of Christ’s life within us in this age, which is shadowed in the life of Joshua and Caleb, an earlier type of the two witnesses (Num 14:38).

Mat 15:27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Num 14:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

Joshua H3091
Caleb H3612

– Original: יu1492 וu1513 ׁu1506 יu1492 וu1513 ׁu1493 ּu1506
– Transliteration: Y@howshuwa`
– Phonetic: yeh-ho-shoo’-ah
– Definition: Joshua or Jehoshua = Jehovah is salvation n pr m
1. son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim and successor to Moses as the leader of the children of Israel; led the conquest of Canaan.

– Original: כu1468 לu1489
– Transliteration: Kaleb
– Phonetic: kaw-labe’
– Definition: Caleb = dog
1. the Godly son of Jephunneh and the faithful spy who reported the promised Land favourably and urged its capture.

When Christ goes with us in our sojourning in this life, we can witness just as Joshua and Caleb tell us that it is His strength in us that makes us more that conquerors in this life (Rom 8:37).

Num 14:6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
Num 14:7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
Num 14:8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Num 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.