| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Psalm Twenty-nine
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 29
A Psalm of David. In the Vulgate Latin version is added
"at the finishing of the tabernacle"; suggesting that this psalm was
composed at that time
and on that occasion; not at the finishing of the
tabernacle by Moses
but at the finishing of the tent or tabernacle which David
made for the ark in Zion
2 Samuel 6:17. The
title in the Arabic version is
"a
prophecy concerning the incarnation
ark
and tabernacle.'
In
the Septuagint version
from whence the Vulgate seems to have taken the clause
it is
at the "exodion"
"exit"
or "going out of the
tabernacle"; that is
of the feast of tabernacles; and which was the
eighth day of the feast
and was called צצרת
which
word the Septuagint renders εξοδιον
the word here
used
Leviticus 23:36;
though it was on the first of the common days of this feast that this psalm was
sung
as MaimonidesF23Hilchot Tamidin
c. 10. s. 11. says. Some
think it was composed when the psalmist was in a thunder storm
or had lately
been in one
which he in a very beautiful manner describes. Kimchi thinks it
refers to the times of the Messiah; and it may indeed be very well interpreted
of the Gospel
and is very suitable to Gospel times.
Psalm 29:1 Give
unto the Lord
O you mighty ones
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
YLT
1A Psalm of David. Ascribe
to Jehovah
ye sons of the mighty
Ascribe to Jehovah honour and strength.
Give unto the Lord
O ye mighty
.... The Targum refers
this to the angels
"give
praise before the Lord
ye companies of angels
sons of the Mighty;'
these
are mighty ones
and excel all other creatures in strength; and are the sons of
the Mighty
or of God; it is their duty and their business to glorify and to
worship him and his Son Jesus Christ
as they do continually; but rather the
princes and great men of the earth are here meant
who are so called
Psalm 82:1; and
these
as they receive much honour and glory
both from God and man; and
because they are apt to seek their own glory
and ascribe too much to
themselves
are called upon particularly to give glory to God; and the more
inasmuch as they may be the means of engaging their subjects
by their
influence and example
to do the same
and who may be included in them; for
this is not to be understood of them exclusive of others
as appears from Psalm 96:7;
moreover
all the saints and people of God may be intended
who are all princes
and kings; and may be said to be mighty
especially those who are strong in
faith; and these are they who give most glory to God;
give unto the Lord glory and strength; give glory to
Jehovah the Father
by celebrating the perfections of his nature; by commending
the works of his hands
the works of creation; by acquiescing in his
providential dispensations; by returning thanks to him for mercies received
temporal and spiritual; particularly for salvation by Christ
and
above all
for Christ himself; by exercising faith in him as a promising God; by living
becoming his Gospel
and to the honour of his name: give glory to the Son of
God
by ascribing all divine perfections to him
by attributing salvation to
him
and by trusting in him alone for it: give glory to the Spirit of God
by
asserting his deity
by referring the work of grace and conversion to him
and
by depending upon him for thee performance of the good work begun: give
"strength" to each person
by acknowledging that power belongs to
them
which is seen in creation
redemption
and the effectual calling; or else
strength may mean the same thing as praise and glory; see Psalm 8:2
compared
with Matthew 21:16; and
both may design strong praise and glory
expressed in the strongest and with
the greatest vigour and vehemency of spirit.
Psalm 29:2 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due
to His name; Worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness.
YLT
2Ascribe to Jehovah the
honour of His name
Bow yourselves to Jehovah
In the beauty of holiness.
Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name
.... Or
"the glory of his name"F24כבוד שמו "gloriam nominis ejus"
Pagninus
Montanus
Junius & Tremellius
Piscator
Cocceius
Michaelis. : which is suitable to
his nature
agreeable to his perfections
and which belongs unto him on account
of his works;
worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; the Lord is
only to be worshipped
and not any creature
angels or men; not Jehovah the
Father only
who is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; but the Son of
God
and the Holy Ghost also
being of the same nature
and possessed of the
same perfections; and that with both internal and external worship; and in true
holiness
in which there is a real beauty: holiness is the beauty of God
himself
he is glorious in it; it is the beauty of angels
it makes them so
glorious as they are; and it is the beauty of saints
it is what makes them
like unto Christ
and by which they are partakers of the divine nature; and in
the exercise of holy graces
and in the discharge of holy duties
should they
worship the Lord; unless this is to be understood of the place of worship
the
sanctuary
or holy place in the tabernacle; or rather the church of God
which
holiness becomes; but the former sense seems best.
Psalm 29:3 3 The voice of the Lord is over
the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over
many waters.
YLT
3The voice of Jehovah [is]
on the waters
The God of glory hath thundered
Jehovah [is] on many waters.
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters
.... What
follows concerning thunder
the voice of the Lord
gives so many reasons why he
should have glory given him and be worshipped; the HeathensF25Pausan.
Arcad. sive l. 8. p. 503. paid their devotion to thunder and lightning: but
this should be done to the author of them; which may be literally understood of
thunder
and is the voice of the Lord; see Psalm 18:13; and
which is commonly attended with large showers of rain
Jeremiah 10:13; and
is very terrible upon the waters
and has its effect there
Psalm 104:7; and
this is the rather mentioned
because that there is a God above
who is higher
than the mighty
who are called upon to give glory to him
and because that
thunder has been terrible to kings and great men of the earth; or this may be
figuratively interpreted of the voice of Christ in the Gospel
which reaches to
many nations and people
compared to waters
Revelation 17:15.
The disciples had a commission to preach it to all nations
and the sound of
their words went into all the world
Romans 10:18;
the God of glory thundereth; this shows that thunder
may be meant by the voice of the Lord
who is glorious in himself
and in all
his works; and may be applied to the Gospel of Christ
who is the Lord of
glory
and whose ministers
at least some of them
are sons of thunder; see 1 Corinthians 2:8;
the Lord is upon many waters; that is
his voice is
as before
which is thunder; and that this belongs to God
the Heathens were so
sensible of
that they called their chief deity Jupiter TonansF26Horat.
Epod. l. 5. Ode 2. v. 29. Martial. l. 2. Ep. 95. .
Psalm 29:4 4 The voice of the Lord is
powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of
majesty.
YLT
4The voice of Jehovah [is]
with power
The voice of Jehovah [is] with majesty
The voice of the Lord is powerful
.... Or
"with power"F1בכח "in
potentia"
Pagninus
Montanus; "cum potentia"
Cocceius
Michaelis; "with able power"
Ainsworth. ; as thunder
in the effect
of it
shows; and so is the Gospel
when it comes
not in word only
but is
attended with the power of God to the conversion and salvation of souls; it is
then quick and powerful
Hebrews 4:12; and
the word of Christ personal
when here on earth
was with power
Luke 4:32;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty; Christ
in
his state of humiliation
spake and taught as one having authority; and now
in
the ministration of his Gospel by his servants
he goes forth with glory and
majesty
Psalm 45:3.
Psalm 29:5 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the
cedars
Yes
the Lord
splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
YLT
5The voice of Jehovah [is]
shivering cedars
Yea
Jehovah shivers the cedars of Lebanon.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars
.... Such an
effect thunder has upon the tallest
strongest
and largest trees
as to break
them into shivers;
yea
the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon; a mountain in
the north part of the land of Judea
so called from its whiteness
both by
reason of the snow with which some part of it is covered in summer
as Tacitus
observesF2Hist. l. 5. c. 6. ; and partly from the colour of the
earth that has no snow on it
which looks as white as if it was covered with
white tiles
as MaundrellF3Travels
p. 176. says; and where the
goodliest cedars grow; and to which may be compared proud
haughty
lofty
and
stouthearted sinners
who are broken
brought down
and laid low
by the voice
of Christ in his Gospel
his power attending it. The Targum renders it
"the Word of the Lord".
Psalm 29:6 6 He makes them also skip
like a calf
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
YLT
6And He causeth them to skip
as a calf
Lebanon and Sirion as a son of Reems
He maketh them also to skip like a calf
.... That is
the cedars
the branches being broken off
or they torn up by the roots
and
tossed about by the wind; which motion is compared to that of a calf that leaps
and skips about;
Lebanon and Sirion
like a young unicorn; that is
these mountains move and skip about through the force of thunder
and the
violence of an earthquake attending it; so historians report that mountains
have moved from place to place
and they have met and dashed against one
anotherF4Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 83. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11.
. Sirion was a mountain in Judea near to Lebanon
and is the same with Hermon;
which was called by the Sidonians Sirion
and by the Amorites Shenir
Deuteronomy 3:9.
This may regard the inward motions of the mind
produced by the Gospel of
Christ under a divine influence; see Isaiah 35:6.
Psalm 29:7 7 The voice of the Lord divides the
flames of fire.
YLT
7The voice of Jehovah is
hewing fiery flames
The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. Or
"cutteth with flames of fire"F5חצב
להבות אש "caedit cum
flammis ignis"
Cocceius
Gejerus. ; that is
the thunder breaks through
the clouds with flames of fire
or lightning
as that is sometimes called
Psalm 105:32; and
with which it cleaves asunder trees and masts of ships
cuts and hews them
down
and divides them into a thousand shivers. Some refer this
in the
figurative and mystical sense
to the giving of the law on Mount SinaiF6Jarchi
in loc.
on which the Lord descended in fire
and from his right hand went a
fiery law; but rather this may be applied to the cloven or divided tongues of
fire which sat upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost
as an emblem of the
extraordinary gifts of the Spirit bestowed on them; though it seems best of
all
as before
to understand this of the voice of Christ in the Gospel
which
cuts and hews down all the goodliness of men
and lays them to the ground
Hosea 6:5; and is
of a dividing nature
and lays open all the secrets of the heart
Hebrews 4:12; and
through the corruption or human nature
is the occasion of dividing one friend
from another
Luke 12:51; and
like flames of fire it has both light and heat in it; it is the means of
enlightening men's eyes to see their sad estate
and their need of Christ
and
salvation by him; and of warming their souls with its refreshing truths and
promises
and of inflaming their love to God and Christ
and of setting their
affections on things above
and of causing their hearts to burn within them.
Psalm 29:8 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the
wilderness; The Lord
shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
YLT
8The voice of Jehovah paineth
a wilderness
Jehovah paineth the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness
.... The
ground of it
the trees in it
and the beasts that harbour there; and causes
them to be in pain
and to bring forth their young
as theF7יחיל "parturire faciet"
Pagninus
Montanus
Vatablus
Michaelis; "dolore parturientis afflicit"
Piscator. word
signifies
and as it is rendered in Psalm 29:9; all
which effects thunder produces
and may mystically signify the preaching of the
Gospel among the Gentiles
and the consequence of it. The Gentile world may be
compared to a wilderness
and is called the wilderness of the people
Ezekiel 20:35; the
inhabitants of it being ignorant
barren
and unfruitful; and the conversion of
them is expressed by turning a wilderness into a fruitful land
Isaiah 35:1; and
the Gospel being sent thither has been the means of shaking the minds of many
with strong and saving convictions; which made them tremble and cry out
what
shall we do to be saved?
the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh; which was the
terrible wilderness that the children of Israel passed through to Canaan's
land; the same with the wilderness of Zin
Numbers 33:36; and
was called Kadesh from the city of that name
on the borders of Edom
Numbers 20:1; the
Targum paraphrases it
"The
word of the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Rekam;'
in
the Targum in the King's Bible it is
"makes
the serpents in the wilderness of Rekam to tremble;'
but
that thunder frightens them
I have not met with in any writer.
Psalm 29:9 9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer
give birth
And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says
“Glory!”
YLT
9The voice of Jehovah
paineth the oaks
And maketh bare the forests
And in His temple every one
saith
`Glory.'
The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve
.... Which
being timorous creatures
the bringing forth of their young
which is naturally
very painful and difficult
is lessened and facilitated by thunder; they being
either so frightened with it that they feel not their pains; or their pains
being hastened by it
become more easy; and naturalists observe
that the time
of bringing forth their young is at that season of the year when thunder is
most frequent; see Job 39:1. Thunder
has a like effect on sheep
and makes them abortiveF7Aristot. Hist.
Animal. l. 9. c. 3. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 47. : this may be applied to the
Gospel
which is the means of bringing forth souls to Christ by his churches
and ministers; who may very fitly be compared to hinds for their love and
loveliness
their swiftness and readiness to do the will of Christ
and their
eager desires after communion with him
Proverbs 5:19;
and discovereth the forests; or "maketh
bare"F8ויחשף "et denudat"
Musculus
Vatablus
Junius & Tremellius
Piscator
Gejerus; so Cocceius
Michaelis
Ainsworth. : by beating off the leaves and branches of trees
and
them to the ground; or by causing the wild beasts that frequent them to retire
to their holes and dens; which effects are produced by thunder; and this aptly
agrees with the Gospel
which is a revelation of secrets
of the thickets and
deep things of God; of his council
covenant
mind
and will; and of the
mysteries of his grace to the sons of men
and generally to babes
or men of
their capacities; and of its stripping them of all their own righteousness
and
dependence on it;
and in his temple doth everyone speak of his glory; either in
heaven
where angels and glorified saints are continually employed in speaking
of his glorious name
nature
and works; or in the temple
or tabernacle at
Jerusalem
where the Levites stood to praise the Lord morning and evening
and
where the tribes went up to worship
and to give thanks unto the Lord
1 Chronicles 23:30;
or the church of God
which is the temple of the living God
whither saints
resort
and where they dwell
and speak of the glory of God
of his divine
perfections
and of his works of creation and providence; and of the glory of
the person of Christ
and salvation by him; and of the glorious work of grace
begun in their souls by the blessed Spirit; for hither such as have heard the
voice of Christ
and have felt the power of it
and have found it to be a
soul-shaking
an heart-breaking
and an illuminating voice
come
and declare
it to the glory of the grace of God.
Psalm 29:10 10 The Lord sat enthroned
at the Flood
And the Lord
sits as King forever.
YLT
10Jehovah on the deluge hath
sat
And Jehovah sitteth king -- to the age
The Lord sitteth upon the flood
.... Noah's flood; which
is always designed by the word here used
the Lord sat and judged the old world
for its wickedness
and brought a flood upon them
and destroyed them; and then
he abated it
sent a wind to assuage the waters
stopped up the windows of
heaven
and the fountains of the great deep
and restrained rain from heaven;
and he now sits upon the confidence of waters in the heavens
at the time of a
thunder storm
which threatens with an overflowing flood; and he remembers his
covenant
and restrains them from destroying the earth any more: and he sits
upon the floods of ungodly men
and stops their rage and fury
and suffers them
not to proceed to overwhelm his people and interest; and so the floods of
afflictions of every kind
and the floods of Satan's temptations
and of errors
and heresies
are at his control
and he permits them to go so far
and no
farther;
yea
the Lord sitteth King for ever: he is King of the whole
world
over angels and men
and even the kings of the earth; and he is also
King of saints
in whose hearts he reigns by his Spirit and grace; and the
Gospel dispensation is more eminently his kingdom
in which his spiritual
government is most visible; and this will more appear in the latter day glory
when the Lord shall be King over all the earth; and after which the Lord Christ
will reign with his saints here a thousand years
and then with them to all
eternity
and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Psalm 29:11 11 The Lord will give
strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people
with peace.
YLT
11Jehovah strength to his
people giveth
Jehovah blesseth His people with peace!
The Lord will give strength unto his people
.... His special
people
his covenant people
whom he has chosen for himself; these are
encompassed with infirmities
and are weak in themselves; but there is strength
for them in Christ: the Lord promises it unto them
and bestows it on them
and
which is a pure gift of his grace unto them; this may more especially regard
that strength
power
and dominion
which will be given to the people of the
most High in the latter day; since it follows
upon the account of the
everlasting kingdom of Christ;
the Lord will bless his people with peace: with internal
peace
which is peculiar to them
and to which wicked men are strangers; and
which arises from a comfortable apprehension of justification by the
righteousness of Christ
of pardon by his blood
and atonement by his sacrifice;
and is enjoyed in a way of believing; and with external peace in the latter
day
when there shall be no more war with them
nor persecution of them; but
there shall be abundance of peace
and that without end; and at last with
eternal peace
which is the end of the perfect and upright man; and the whole
is a great blessing.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》