Let God arise. This Messianic psalm begins with an intimation of Christ's resurrection (“Let God arise”) and also His eventual rising from His present throne in the heavens (note Psalm 110:1) to vanquish all His enemies at the end of the age.

his name JAH. This is the only place in the Bible where God is called JAH. The name is probably a contraction of the much more common name Jehovah, Or Yahweh, usually rendered as “Lord,” both meaning essentially the self-existent one. JAH never had a beginning. He rides on the “heavens”—that is the vast spaces of the cosmos which He created.

gave the word. The written “Word” is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16); it is the privilege and responsibility of all those redeemed thereby to “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2).

thousands of angels. The number is idiomatic for an innumerable multitude, as in Hebrews 12:22. God is seen as riding on a vast army of angels, as He was also seen (Psalm 68:4), riding upon the heavens, and even upon the heaven of heavens (Psalm 68:33).

ascended on high. As quoted in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:8), this passage is applied to Christ in His ascension after He first descended into Hades (“the lower parts of the earth”), then “ascended up far above all things” (Ephesians 4:9-10).

captivity captive. When Christ ascended up from hades to heaven, He “proclaimed liberty to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1) and carried them with Him up to Paradise. The captives refer to those who had died, having faith in the coming Redeemer. The picture corresponds to that of a returning conqueror, bringing back with him those who had been captives in an enemy land.

wound the head. When Christ returns to earth again, He—the Seed of the Woman—will crush the head of the old Serpent (Genesis 3:15) and all the Serpent's seed.

of old. After all rebellion is vanquished, the mighty voice of the Creator of the heaven of all heavens resounds throughout the universe that He—as of old—is Lord forever.