March 7, 2016: Day 66 – Psalm 66

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.”  You have heard this before, and now you know from whence it came.   The glory and the majesty of the Lord are highlighted in this psalm.  But there are particular events in history to which the author points to lift up the rule of God.  Look at vs.6 and to which historical event do you think he is referring?  Most of us would say Exodus 14:21-29, or if you wanted a Hollywood reference you may have had this in mind:

But I think the historical reference may have actually been Joshua 3:14-17 when Israel crossed the Jordan with the ark of the covenant.  This was crucial in David’s day because he was the one who had the vision to build the temple even if his son, Solomon, would be the one who ended up building it.  In either case we have here David referring to specific historical events in the nation of Israel that have taken place which all of the people would know.  As a result, they could all say: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.  In saying that, they would have in their minds specific occurrences which would bring about joy and thanksgiving.