The Ascension of Jesus and Psalm 68.18

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, there is a text related to the Ascension that absolutely puzzles me. Here it is in its wider context:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4.7-13)

First, let’s get the broad strokes. The Apostle seems to be contrasting the oneness of the faith of the Church with the multiplicity of gifts given to her members. Our faith is one, our baptism is one, our God and Father is one, but grace is given to each believer “according to the measure of Christ’s gift”, thus leading to a wonderful diversity of charisms in the Body: apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc.

Also, by Christ’s descending and ascending, he seems to have in mind Jesus’ descent into Hades (“the lower parts of the earth”) and his Ascension (“far above all the heavens”). Interestingly, he argues that, in this way, Christ “fill[s] all things”—thus leading the reader back to his earlier statement in the letter that Christ “fills all in all” (Ephesians 1.23). (St. John Chrysostom, among others, understood Paul’s words this way in his homily on this text.) Intriguingly, for Paul, the Ascension of Jesus wasn’t merely a transference of location, but rather something like an expansion of his presence in Creation itself.

Now, how is all this connected to the text from the Old Testament which he cites (and which I’ve marked in red), Psalm 68.18? Whatever the relationship be between that text and what Paul is saying here, it is quite clear to him, since he writes, “Therefore it is said . . . ” and does not exactly provide an explanation of why he thinks Psalm 68.18 applies to Christ!

Not so clear to me, though. Hence this post.

From past experience, I think Paul is a rather astute and fair reader of the biblical text. Assuming that Paul isn’t doing violence to the Old Testament in this case, I’d like to wrestle with this passage a bit more.

Psalm 68, first of all, is itself a puzzle which has stumped more than a few commentators. Broadly speaking, it appears to be a processional hymn celebrating God’s presence on Mount Zion. (My knowledge fades quickly beyond this point.) At any rate, here is Psalm 68.18 in its wider context:

The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands;
The Lord is among them as at Sinai in holiness.
You have ascended on high, you have led captive your captives;
You have received gifts among men,
Even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there. (Psalm 68.17-18; NASB)

The above translation is based on the Hebrew (Masoretic) text (MT). When we compare this to Paul’s quotation, two differences are immediately obvious: (1) Paul’s text is in the third person throughout (“he”), whereas the Hebrew is in the second person (“you”); and (2) his quotation reads “he gave gifts to men”, whereas the Hebrew reads “received gifts”. The first difference isn’t so big; the latter is rather gargantuan.

But perhaps Paul was quoting the Greek translation of the Old Testament instead? After all, he wrote Ephesians in this language. Nope. In Greek, Paul’s quotation from Psalm 68.18 does not match the Septuagint (LXX) either:

You ascended on high; you led captivity captive;
you received (ἔλαβες) gifts by a person (LXX; NETS translation).

The LXX, like the Hebrew, (1) has the voice in the second person, and (2) reads “received” rather than “gave”.

How now, brown cow?

The key, I think, lies in something from the rabbinic tradition surrounding Psalm 68.18, preserved in the Targum to Psalm 68. This is how the rabbis translated (with interpretation) the psalm text in question:

You ascended to the firmament, O prophet Moses; you captured captives, you taught the words of Torah, you gave gifts to the sons of men, and even the stubborn who are converted turn in repentance, [and] the glorious presence of the Lord God abides upon them.

I have underlined some words to emphasize the elements that are not present in the original (Hebrew) biblical text but were “fleshed out” by the rabbis to elucidate the meaning of this passage. Some relevant points of note here:

1. For the rabbis, the subject of this verse is not God himself but rather the prophet Moses. Most modern translations assume that the “you” here refers to God. The biblical sentence actually reads: “you ascended on high…, you have received gifts among men . . . that the LORD God may dwell there [in Sinai].” Thus, it makes more sense to understand the “you” to be someone other than God himself. Who else “ascended on high” but Moses, who went up Mount Sinai? Hence the rabbis’ interpretation.
2. The rabbinic reading, like Paul’s, has “gave gifts” rather than “received gifts” (Hebrew and Greek). (Finally!)
3. The “gifts” which given by Moses to “the sons of men” seem to be associated with “the words of the Torah” which he taught to Israel.
4. Unlike Paul’s quotation, the Targum is in the second person (“you”), like the Hebrew and Greek texts.

So here’s what I think is going on: Paul, a rabbi himself, is reading Psalm 68 in keeping with the rabbinic tradition reflected in the Targum. The indicator of this is that he replaces “received” in the MT and LXX with “gave”. Since these two words actually have opposite meanings, it is doubtful that a trained rabbi like Paul simply gets his memory verse wrong. (I, for one, would’ve flunked the student who confused “received” with “gave”.)

Once we allow the possibility that Paul is reading Psalm 68.18 according to the rabbinic tradition reflected in the Targum, other interesting possibilities open up in the Ephesians passage. Here are a few, in my opinion:

1. Paul (surprise surprise) is thinking of Jesus as another Moses (see Deuteronomy 18.18). What else can you expect from a rabbi who became a Jesus-follower?
2. Just as Moses ascended Mount Sinai in order that he might give the Torah to Israel, Jesus ascended “far above all the heavens” (Ephesians 4.10) in order that he might give “grace . . . given to each of us according to the measure of [his] gift” (Ephesians 4.7). This “grace” is no abstraction but rather the “one Spirit” of God (Ephesians 4.4) whom Jesus sends down and who manifests himself in various gifts in the Church. As the Apostle says in another of his letters, “there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12.4).
3. If, like the rabbis, Paul understands the “gifts” in Psalm 68.18 to refer in some way to the Torah given on Mount Sinai, then in Ephesians 4 he might be thinking of the Spirit as “another Torah” given by “another Moses”—this time, not from a mountain but from heaven itself. This certainly seems to parallel his missionary companion Luke’s depiction of Pentecost (Acts 2), in which the Spirit comes upon the discipleship community with wind, fire and voices, in a manner similar to the giving of the Torah at Sinai.
4. Just as the Torah of Sinai made known the Word of God through the ministry of a human teacher, Moses, this “other Torah” of the Spirit also makes known the Word of God through human teachers: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4.11). Just as the Torah was meant to help Israel grow up and mature, so the gifts of the Spirit is meant for the maturing of the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4.13).

For sure? Not really. Just the requisite wrestling for a feast day, I guess. Happy feast day to all!