Psalms 68:27 - Exposition

There is little Benjamin with their ruler. "With" is wrongly supplied by our translators. "Little Benjamin" the "smallest of the tribes of Israel" ( 1 Samuel 9:21 )—is called "their ruler," as having furnished the first king, and the one who began the conquests celebrated in Psalms 68:11-23 . If the psalm is to be accounted as David's, we may note it as a graceful act on his part that he places Saul's tribe first. The princes of Judah and their council. Again "and" is wrongly supplied. "The princes of Judah" are called "their council," or "their bulwark" (Kay), as holding the most important position in Israel at the time. The reading, however, is doubtful. The princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. Four tribes only are mentioned, not because no more than four took part in the processions, but as representatives of the whole number. The tribes selected for mention are from the two ends of the land—the extreme south and the extreme north. Zebulun and Naphtali were the most important of the northern tribes (see 4:6 , 4:10 ; 5:18 ), as Judah and Benjamin were of the southern ones.