Psalm 68

The first line is a quotation. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered is what Moses said whenever the ark set out on the march through the wilderness. So the psalm opens with a marching formula that was centuries old before anyone sang this, and it uses it to move God from Sinai to Zion.

The middle of the psalm describes the procession in order: the singers go first, then the players on instruments, and among them the young women with hand drums — tambourine-style frame drums, an instrument women played in Israel from the Red Sea onward. Then the tribal companies are named, little Benjamin leading, with Judah, Zebulun, and Naphtali. That matches the account of the ark coming up to Jerusalem with the Levites appointed to sing.

Bashan is a real place with a reputation. It is the high volcanic tableland east of the Sea of Galilee, with Mount Hermon rising behind it — genuinely bigger, greener, and more impressive than Jerusalem's modest ridge. The psalm has those great mountains looking on with envy at the hill God chose. Bashan was also remembered as the country of the giants under Og, and in Canaanite texts the region carries associations with the realm of the dead — a thread later readers connect to the unseen-realm material in Scripture; the plain sense here is the mountain rivalry.

Leading captivity captive and receiving gifts among men describes the victory parade of an ancient king: prisoners roped in a column and tribute carried behind the chariot, up the main street, in front of everyone. Reliefs from Egypt and Assyria show the scene in detail.