Ps. 68.32-33 (heavenly nature of deliverance)

O kingdoms / of the earth / sing to God
sing praise / to the Lord.
To the One / who rides through / the skies of the primeval heavens!
Lo, / he thunders forth / with his powerful voice! 

The tremor of earthly and absolute praise is contrasted here with a vision of heavenly power. They stretch into each other in an almost seamless ascending movement—kingdoms of the earth—sing praise—to the One—who rides in primeval heavens. What we should avoid doing is simply seeing the power of the heavenly vision without the corresponding majesty of the world-wide, kingdom unity of praise. Both of these elements are awe inspiring. In a way, we should even say they mirror each other. Indeed, for the psalmist, it may be that this vision of world-wide praise to Yhwh, to be the most overpowering. For, it was the vision of a unified Israel entering Zion that made him effusive with joy. Now, that unity is accomplished creation-wide. Further, the scope of earthly praise—kingdoms of the earth—is matched/mirrored by the scope of God’s freedom above—“the skies of primeval heavens”. Again, everything is being brought into a symmetrical relationship with each other: heaven and earth are being ‘wed’ after God “prepared his bride” by ‘taking Zion’ and establishing his reign. These heavens have been, in this psalm as well, the place of God’s activity. He “Rides on the Clouds”; it is “above Jerusalem” that he receives gifts. The profound point may be this: that in God’s ‘taking of Zion’ he was, as hinted above, preparing a partner for the heavens; he was making her ‘spotless’, ‘without blemish’ for the marriage (the symmetry) that would obtain once the rebellious were expelled, or forced to provide tribute. This deepens our previous reflection by now including this element of ‘heaven desire’ for the earth; it seeks out that union that Genesis alludes to in the very first verse. Now, instead of a merely intra-worldly union centered on God’s triumph in taking Zion, we have a heavenly-worldly unity that is obtained by his victory. In a way, it may be that heaven, in its longing for earth’s redemption was like an Adam without a partner.