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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》