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The end of Psalm 47 reads:
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
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!
—Psalm 47:8-9 (ESV)
The phrase "shields of the earth" caught my ear. Among other things, Jupiter, the magnetosphere, and atmosphere have been called shields of the earth. Did the Psalmist anticipate astronomical phenomena that were not discovered until very recently?
As evocative as the phrase is, the context excludes an astronomical interpretation. The poetry of the Psalms comes largely from use of repetition and parallelism. A psalmist often repeats the same idea in two or more phrasings in order to solidify what they are speaking of. In this psalm, we see:
So this strongly implies that the "shields" are rulers of some sort. To further reinforce the interpretation, the final stanza begins with the word "For" that implies a logical relationship between it and the previous statements. The logic can be summarized:
Other translations support this reading:
The great of the peoples are gathered together,
the retinue of Abraham’s God;
for the guardians of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.—Psalm 47:10 (NJPS)
The NET Bible also included a note on the phrase:
The nobles of the nations assemble,
along with the people of the God of Abraham,
for God has authority over the rulers of the earth1.
He is highly exalted!—Psalm 47:9 (NET)1Heb “for to God [belong] the shields of the earth.” Perhaps the rulers are called “shields” because they are responsible for protecting their people. See Ps 84:9, where the Davidic king is called “our shield,” and perhaps also Hos 4:18.
I'm no scholar, I just love the Word, but wondering if you have considered...
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.—Romans 1:19-20 (ESV)
There seems to be many "snapshots" in the Word that are also seen in creation that speak of our Creator and reveal what He may be speaking of. It seems He is not going to spoon feed us... we need to seek Him wholeheartedly to know Him...and He gives wisdom not willy nilly it seems...
I am no scholar of the Hebrew language, but it would appear to me that the covenantal name of God YHVH is used specifically of Israel, whereas the more "generic" name of God Elohim is used whenever referring to the non-Jewish peoples of the earth.
Hence, the reference "the shields of the earth belong to Elohim" refers to the glory and power of the non-Jewish peoples who have gathered to worship Him.
Also the reference to "the people of the Elohim of Abraham" speaks prophetically of the Church.
Paul was enunciating the principle that everything created by God, conforms to and gives voice to His nature, man being the quintessential expression thereof. (Latin: "Imago Dei"). In "Let us make man," the only instance in the Creation narrative where the phrase appears, God expressed both his triune nature, and perfect oneness in voicing his will to make man. That God would fashion Eve out of one of Adam's ribs was never in doubt, for in order for Adam to be both one and "us" at the same time like God, Eve had to be taken out of Adam. God was an "us" so Adam would be an "us." When God brought Eve to Adam and the two became one flesh, Adam was still Adam only now he was an "us."
All of creation actively declares the glory of its Maker, for God cannot create that which by nature, contravenes His own.
Roughly two millennia after Paul's letter to the Romans, the Framers would enunciate the Apostle's teaching in the parlance of their own day, in appealing to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" (LONANG), in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. Not since the Kingdom of Israel and the Mosaic Law, had a nation been founded upon the Laws of Nature and Nature's God. That the Laws of Nature have served as the foundation of American Law and Jurisprudence from America's inception, makes this nation unique indeed.
The Framers: "We hold these truths to be self-evident ..." Paul: "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made ..." (Romans 1:20a, KJV).
Paul was simply making the case that truth is as plain as the nose on our faces if we'll but open our eyes.
I believe the shields of the earth are the son's of God, referred to in Job, "When the morning stars sang together, and all the son's of God shouted for joy" when the LORD laid the foundations of the earth and the measures thereof, and the cornerstone. Job 38:5-7.
