Psalm 47 states: Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

Clap, taqa, Strong’s # 8628: To clatter, clang, sound, blow (trumpets), clap, strike. There are two verbs that may be the truest one-word definition; “strike” is the closest and “sound” is the other.

Taqa describes pitching a tent or fastening a nail, probably due to the striking of the hammer used for both tasks.

There are other references in which taqa describes blowing a trumpet or sounding an alarm. So taqa indicates energy and enthusiasm. Here all nations are commanded to clap their hands shout triumphantly to God.

Religions of man seek to discourage this kind of worship, (emotional) although God has built into the human being an almost instinctive urge to clap and shout when victory is experienced.

Christians have applied this psalm prophetically to the Ascention because Jesus came to Israel, obtained our inheritance (Eph.1:18), and has gone up (Acts 1:9).