Psalms 68:25
in Psalms 68The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, In the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels.
KJV
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
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This verse in Psalms 68
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThe princes went before, joined with those making melody. The apostles themselves went before, and those who through them believed followed: or certainly the churches. But he says "of the timbrel-players" because their body is dead to sin. And Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron, holding a timbrel in Exodus, went before those making melody, and said: "Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously has he been honored."
This site's exposition
They have seen Your procession
on Psalms 68:24-27
The order of the procession is given: singers first, then musicians, then the maidens with tambourines. Verse 27 puts Benjamin at the head of the tribes, the youngest of them, and Gill names Benjamin as the tribe of Saul, Israel's first king. Judah, Zebulun and Naphtali follow.
This site's exposition
The singers lead the way
The singers lead the way and the musicians follow, and Charles Spurgeon reads the order as the song leading the music, never drowned by it. The maidens playing tambourines move among them in the procession of God the King into the sanctuary. Joy leads the march.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
I think that here none but the apostles can be meant by the rulers of Naphtali. For thence our Lord and Savior called them according to the quotation from Matthew. The Scripture is prophesying the coming of the Word of God to human beings and his incarnate sojourn here, when it says, "Your goings [solemn processions], O God, have been seen," and that which follows. And the prophets of old were like heralds of his epiphany and arrived before him with proclamation and chant, with music of psaltery and choir and all kinds of spiritual instruments, in the midst of maidens playing on timbrels. For the inspired prophets going in every way into the midst of the Jewish synagogues heralded the coming of the Christ, and by the Holy Spirit they addressed the apostles of our Savior, saying, "Praise the Lord God in the congregations from the fountains of Israel." And the "fountains of Israel" must be the words delivered to Israel. "For they [the inspired prophets] first trusted the oracles of God," whence it will be necessary for us to draw and water the churches of Christ. By "maidens playing on timbrels" he suggested the souls that lived in the past by the more external law of Moses, calling them "maidens" because of their youth and imperfectly developed minds and "timbrel players" because of their devotion to external worship.
But in order that those steps might be seen, "there went before princes conjoined with men psalming, in the midst of damsels players on timbrels" [Psalm 68:25]. The princes are the Apostles: for they went before, that the peoples might come in multitudes. "They went before" proclaiming the New Testament: "conjoined with men psalming," by whose good works that were even visible, as it were with instruments of praise, God was glorified. But those same princes are "in the midst of damsels players on timbrels," to wit, in an honourable ministry: for thus in the midst are ministers set over new Churches; for this is "damsels:" with flesh subdued praising God; for this is "players on timbrels," because timbrels are made of skin dried and stretched.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The singers went before,....
"Thus (says Dr. Hammond) all Christians shall be obliged solemnly to magnify the name of the Messiah, and, to that end, frequently to assemble together in congregations." And, (3.) Let those among them who, upon any account, are the most eminent, and make a figure, go before the rest in praising God,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after. This was the order of the march, and God is to be worshipped evermore with due decorum. First the singers, and lastly the musicians, for the song must lead the music, and not the music drown the singing. In the midst of the vocal and instrumental band, or all around them, were the maidens: among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The triumphal procession, after the deliverance, is depicted. They have seen--impersonally, "There have been seen." the goings of my God--as leading the procession; the ark, the symbol of His presence, being in front. The various bands of music (Ps 68:25) follow, and all who are--
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after. This was the order of the march, and God is to be worshipped evermore with due decorum. First the singers, and lastly the musicians, for the song must lead the music, and not the music drown the singing. In the midst of the vocal and instrumental band, or all around them, were the maidens: among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. Some have imagined that this order indicates the superiority of vocal to instrumental music: but we need not go so far for arguments, when the simplicity and spirituality of the gospel already teach us that truth. The procession depicted in this sublime song was one of joy, and every means was taken to express the delight of the nation in the Lord their God.
The singers went before - This verse appears to be a description of the procession.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The singers went before - That is, in the removal of the ark; in the solemn procession referred to in the previous verse. “In” that procession those who sang preceded those who performed on instruments of music. Compare 1Ch 13:8; 1Ch 15:16. “The players on instruments followed after.” The different classes of performers would naturally be ranged together. In 1Ch 13:8, the following instruments of music are mentioned as having been employed on a similar occasion, if not on this very occasion - harps, psalteries, timbrels, cymbals, and trumpets. Among them were the damsels playing with timbrels - The true construction of the passage is, “Behind were the players in the midst of damsels playing.” The singers and the players were surrounded by these women playing on timbrels. The word rendered “playing with timbrels” - תפף tâphaph - means to strike, to beat; and hence, to strike or beat upon a timbrel. A timbrel is a kind of drum, a tabret, or tambourine, usually beaten with the fingers. See a description of it in the notes at Isa 5:12, under the word “tabret.” It is an instrument which has been in use from the remotest antiquity.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קִדְּמ֣וּ | kidemu | they went in front | H6923 → | 26 times |
| שָׁ֭רִים | sharim | singers | H7891 → | 86 times |
| אַחַ֣ר | ʾachar | [were] behind | H310 → | 715 times |
| נֹגְנִ֑ים | nogenim | musicians | H5059 → | |
| בְּת֥וֹךְ | betokh | in among | H8432 → | 418 times |
| עֲ֝לָמ֗וֹת | alamot | young women | H5959 → | |
| תּוֹפֵפֽוֹת׃ | tofefot | playing tambourines | H8608 → |
קִדְּמ֣וּthey went in front
kidemuH6923 →26 times
שָׁ֭רִיםsingers
sharimH7891 →86 times
אַחַ֣ר[were] behind
ʾacharH310 →715 times
נֹגְנִ֑יםmusicians
nogenimH5059 →
בְּת֥וֹךְin among
betokhH8432 →418 times
עֲ֝לָמ֗וֹתyoung women
alamotH5959 →
תּוֹפֵפֽוֹת׃playing tambourines
tofefotH8608 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 15:20Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
it leads to
- Psalms 150:4
Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Judges 11:34
And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Samuel 18:6
As the troops were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, and…
- Psalms 149:3
Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
- Psalms 81:2
Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.
- Psalms 150:4
Through
Judges 11:34And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.
it leads to
- Exodus 15:20
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 31:4
Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dancing.
- Judges 10:17
Then the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, and the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.
- Exodus 15:20
Where this verse is studied
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About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 68; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Eusebius of Caesarea, PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 9:9; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 7, on Psalm 67; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.