‘Father of the fatherless’! In the context of the Psalm (68), this is not only a statement about God's care for vulnerable orphan children and widows. It is also an exciting promise. God is about to do something new for all people who feel a certain kind of loneliness because they have somehow lost connection to their earthly father. Yet it also applies to all who have lost a connection to God as the Father who created them.

As their Father, God is planning a dramatic rescue operation to release these ‘prisoners’ from his ‘enemies’. It will be accompanied by an earthquake, and many women[iii] will 'announce the good news' (Med.#42). Also: God ‘gives the Word’, ‘rain’ will pour down from heaven, and someone will ‘ascend on high’ so that the former captives in all the ‘kingdoms of the earth’ will receive gifts. And they will sing to God for sending out his ‘Voice’ and for giving ‘power and strength’ to ‘his people’. To what future events might this Psalm be referring? Hmm!

'A Son' will be given to Israel who will put Galilee on the map by being a dawning light for all nations. Then, God will give this ‘anointed’ ‘Son’ ‘authority’ as his ‘Firstborn’, so that all nations may come to know God not only as ‘mighty’ but also as: Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. He will be the Eldest Brother to ‘brothers and sisters’, to all God's lost ‘children’. For God will not only be a Father and Kinsman-Redeemer [Heb. goël]’ again to ‘the preserved of Israel’, but also to the ‘survivors’ of other nations. This Hebrew word [goēl]’, as used throughout the Tanakh, refers to a close relative responsible to avenge a murdered family member, or to bail out a family member who had  gone into debt or become a slave.[iv]And it was used to refer to how God brought Israel as his ‘firstborn son’ out of slavery in Egypt.

To commemorate this event, the Israelites were to sacrifice of a lamb on two occasions: every year for the Passover meal, and in every Jewish household after the birth of their first son. For ‘the Word’ our Father-Creator was planning to send his ‘Anointed One’ would not only come as ‘the firstborn’ among earth’s kings, but also as a sacrificial‘Lamb’. His death as the ‘Firstborn’ would do more than ‘redeem’ his brothers and sisters from the power of death and sin. For as the one involved with the Father in planning ‘the promised eternal inheritance’ for all nations, his blood also had to establish his death so that the Father's ‘new testament’ could go into affect for all who put their faith in him (Heb.9:15-17 NIV; Mat.25:34, Med.#89).

By coming as ‘Kinsman-Redeemer’, Jesus took ‘his stand on earth’ (Jb.19:25) not so much as a divine super-hero but as a divine family member (Med.#7), who our Father also sent as a sacrificial lamb to ‘cleanse’ us from all our ‘impurities’.[v] But he would do this for the sake of his (family) ‘name’ (Med.#13), not just because Israel and all people on earth need this. And for the sake of his family name, he will also be a ‘Father to the fatherless’ by giving a new heart, and his own Spirit to all his once distant children who ‘come’, ‘turn’ and ‘bow the knee’ to him to receive this salvation. The authority of this ‘Word’ of God, our Eldest Brother, will ‘grow continually’, bringing lasting peace, justice and righteousness to all who become part of his  new worldwide, multi-ethnic family kingdom. Unfortunately, when their Father acts against his ‘enemies’ to release these ‘prisoners’, some of them will remain ‘rebellious’ and miss out on the opportunity to come live in his new ‘holy habitation’—the new ‘family-home [Gr. oikos]’ he is creating for them (Med.#D; Med.#2).

God still sees himself as a Father to Israel, but many in his ‘firstborn’ nation find it difficult to accept that the God they call ‘Father’ also created people of other nations ‘for his glory’, as his ‘children’. Likewise, many Christians can remain so focused on ‘the former things’ that they too resist the ‘new’ multi-ethnic family that God is creating. By being exclusive or by looking down on those who come from nations that have not known Jesus for as long as ‘we’ have, they show how little they actually know their Father. For believers in Jesus of all nations are now adult ‘co-heirs’ with the equal access to the Father by the Spirit in his new family kingdom (Med.#6, Med.#30, Med.#44 & Med.#70).

Are you still struggling with feelings of being fatherless? Well, if you never knew a good human father, you are not ‘fatherless’. Your Eldest Brother Jesus has redeemed you (as a brother or sister) by his blood (Med.#7). And he has made it possible for you to know your real Father, and walk with him just like Jesus did (Med.#52).

Mighty God, I praise you for revealing the Mystery of your long hidden purpose by sending our Eldest Brother to be Kinsman-Redeemer and Prince of Peace: so all nations, including Israel, can be co-heirs with him and with each other by your Spirit as Wonderful Counselor; so we too can know You as Everlasting Father. Come, O Lord; Come Holy Spirit! (Eph. 1:9; 3:3-6,9; Rom. 8:15-17,29; Isa. 63:16; 9:6; 1 Cor. 16:22b; 2 Cor. 3:18)

[i] Following the NIV translation of the Hebrew word goël in Ruth 2:20, etc. (see note [iv]).

[ii] The Greek word used in this text in the Greek translation of the Tanakh (OT), the Septuagint (3^rd to 2^nd century BC).

[iii] In the Hebrew text of Ps.68:11, the word ‘witnesses’ is feminine (rendered correctly as ‘women’ in the HCSB, ESV & Amp). This text is fulfilled when the angels and the resurrected Jesus only show themselves to women and tell them to announce the 'good news' to the other disciples (Med.#42). 

[iv] See how the family role of the ‘kinsman-redeemer’ [Heb. goël] is described: in the Torah (Lev.25:23-54; Num.35:9-28; Dt.19:4-12), in the Prophets (Josh.20:1-9), and in the Writings (Ruth 2:20; 3:9-13; 4:1-8,14).

[v] A lamb-sacrifice was also required as an ‘atonement’ in connection with a person being ‘cleansed’ from various ‘impurities’ (Lev.14:21-24). Jesus' death as the ‘Lamb’ who pays for our family-redemption with his blood (1 Pet.1:17-19, Med.46) is thus more connected to this atoning and cleansing sacrifice, and to Israel's ‘redemption’ out of Egypt, than it is to the sacrifice of a ram, bull and goat on the Day of Atonement.