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Psalm Twenty-nine
Psalm 29
Chapter Contents
Exhortation to give glory to God.
The mighty and honourable of the earth are especially
bound to honour and worship him; but, alas, few attempt to worship him in the
beauty of holiness. When we come before him as the Redeemer of sinners, in
repentance faith, and love, he will accept our defective services, pardon the
sin that cleaves to them, and approve of that measure of holiness which the
Holy Spirit enables us to exercise. We have here the nature of religious
worship; it is giving to the Lord the glory due to his name. We must be holy in
all our religious services, devoted to God, and to his will and glory. There is
a beauty in holiness, and that puts beauty upon all acts of worship. The
psalmist here sets forth God's dominion in the kingdom of nature. In the
thunder, and lightning, and storm, we may see and hear his glory. Let our
hearts be thereby filled with great, and high, and honourable thoughts of God,
in the holy adoring of whom, the power of godliness so much consists. O Lord
our God, thou art very great! The power of the lightning equals the terror of
the thunder. The fear caused by these effects of the Divine power, should
remind us of the mighty power of God, of man's weakness, and of the defenceless
and desperate condition of the wicked in the day of judgment. But the effects
of the Divine word upon the souls of men, under the power of the Holy Spirit,
are far greater than those of thunder storms in the nature world. Thereby the
stoutest are made to tremble, the proudest are cast down, the secrets of the
heart are brought to light, sinners are converted, the savage, sensual, and
unclean, become harmless, gentle, and pure. If we have heard God's voice, and
have fled for refuge to the hope set before us, let us remember that children
need not fear their Father's voice, when he speaks in anger to his enemies.
While those tremble who are without shelter, let those who abide in his
appointed refuge bless him for their security, looking forward to the day of
judgment without dismay, safe as Noah in the ark.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 29
Verse 1
[1] Give
unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
Ye — Ye potentates and
rulers of the earth.
Glory — By
an humble and thankful acknowledgment of it.
Verse 2
[2] Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the
beauty of holiness.
Give, … —
The honour which he deserves: own him as the Almighty, and the only true God.
Holiness —
Or, in his holy and beautiful house.
Verse 3
[3] The
voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is
upon many waters.
The waters —
Above in the clouds, which are called waters, Genesis 1:7; Psalms 18:11. The Divine power displays itself
in those high places, which are far above the reach of all earthly potentates.
Many —
Upon the clouds, in which there are vast treasures of water, and upon which God
is said to sit or ride, Psalms 18:10,11; 104:3.
Verse 5
[5] The
voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of
Lebanon.
Lebanon — A
place famous for strong and lofty cedars.
Verse 6
[6] He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young
unicorn.
Them —
The cedars; which being broken by the thunder, the parts of them are suddenly
and violently hurled hither and thither.
Sirion — An
high mountain beyond Jordan joining to Lebanon. Lebanon and Sirion are said to
skip or leap, both here, and Psalms 114:4, by a poetical hyperbole.
Verse 7
[7] The
voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
The flames —
The lightnings.
Verse 8
[8] The
voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of
Kadesh.
Kadesh — An
eminent wilderness, vast and terrible, and well known to the Israelites, and
wherein possibly they had seen, and observed some such effects of thunder.
Verse 9
[9] The
voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and
in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
To calve —
Through the terror it causes, which hastens the birth. He names the hinds,
because they bring forth their young with difficulty, Job 39:1,2.
Discovereth —
Heb. maketh bare, of its trees, which it breaks or strips of their leaves.
Glory —
Having shewed the terrible effects of God's power in other places, he now shews
the blessed privilege of God's people, that are praising God in his temple,
when the rest of the world are trembling under the tokens of his displeasure.
Verse 10
[10] The
LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
The flood —
The most violent waters, which sometimes fall from the clouds upon the earth.
These are fitly mentioned, as being many times the companions of great
thunders. And this may be alleged as another reason, why God's people praised
him in his temple, because as he sends terrible tempests and thunders, so he
also restrains and over-rules them.
Sitteth — He
doth sit, and will sit as king for ever, sending such tempests when it pleaseth
him.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
TITLE. A Psalm of
David. The title affords us no information beyond the fact that David is the
author of this sublime song.
SUBJECT. It seems to be
the general opinion of modern annotators, that this Psalm is meant to express
the glory of God as heard in the pealing thunder, and seen in the equinoctial
tornado. Just as the eighth Psalm is to be read by moonlight, when the stars
are bright, as the nineteenth needs the rays of the rising sun to bring out its
beauty, so this can be best rehearsed beneath the black wing of tempest, by the
glare of the lightning, or amid that dubious dusk which heralds the war of
elements. The verses march to the tune of thunderbolts. God is everywhere
conspicuous, and all the earth is hushed by the majesty of his presence. The
word of God in the law and gospel is here also depicted in its majesty of
power. True ministers are sons of thunder, and the voice of God in Christ Jesus
is full of majesty. Thus we have God's works and God's word joined together:
let no man put them asunder by a false idea that theology and science can by
any possibility oppose each other. We may, perhaps, by a prophetic glance,
behold in this Psalm the dread tempests of the latter days, and the security of
the elect people.
DIVISION. The first two
verses are a call to adoration. From Ps 29:3-10 the path of the tempest is
traced, the attributes of God's word are rehearsed, and God magnified in all
the terrible grandeur of his power; and the last verse sweetly closes the scene
with the assurance that the omnipotent Jehovah will give both strength and
peace to his people. Let heaven and earth pass away, the Lord will surely bless
his people.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Give, i.e., ascribe. Neither men nor angels can confer
anything upon Jehovah, but they should recognise his glory and might, and
ascribe it to him in their songs and in their hearts. Unto the Lord, and
unto him alone, must honour be given. Natural causes, as men call them, are God
in action, and we must not ascribe power to them, but to the infinite Invisible
who is the true source of all. O ye mighty. Ye great ones of earth and
of heaven, kings and angels, join in rendering worship to the blessed and only
Potentate; ye lords among men need thus to be reminded, for ye often fail where
humbler men are ardent; but fail no longer, bow your heads at once, and loyally
do homage to the King of kings. How frequently do grandees and potentates think
it beneath them to fear the Lord; but, when they have been led to extol
Jehovah, their piety has been the greatest jewel in their crowns. Give unto
the Lord glory and strength, both of which men are too apt to claim for
themselves, although they are the exclusive prerogatives of the self existent
God. Let crowns and swords acknowledge their dependence upon God. Not to your
arms, O kings, give ye the glory, nor look for strength to your hosts of
warriors, for all your pomp is but as a fading flower, and your might is as a
shadow which declineth. When shall the day arrive when kings and princes shall
count it their delight to glorify their God? "All worship be to God only,
"let this be emblazoned on every coat of arms.
Verse
2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. A third time
the admonition is given, for men are backward in glorifying God, and especially
great men, who are often too much swollen with their own glory to spare time to
give God his rightful praise, although nothing more is asked of them than is
most just and right. Surely men should not need so much pressing to give what
is due, especially when the payment is so pleasant. Unbelief and distrust,
complaining and murmuring, rob God of his honour; in this respect, even the
saints fail to give due glory to their King. Worship the Lord, bow
before him with devout homage and sacred awe, and let your worship be such as
he appoints. Of old, worship was cumbered with ceremonial, and men gathered
around one dedicated building, whose solemn pomp was emblematic of the beauty
of holiness; but now our worship is spiritual, and the architecture of the
house and the garments of the worshippers are matters of no importance; the
spiritual beauty of inward purity and outward holiness being far more precious
in the eyes of our thrice holy God. O for grace ever to worship with holy
motives and in a holy manner, as becometh saints! The call to worship in these
two verses chimes in with the loud pealing thunder, which is the church bell of
the universe ringing kings and angels, and all the sons of earth to their
devotions.
Verse
3. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The thunder is
not only poetically but instructively called "the voice of God,
"since it peals from on high; it surpasses all other sounds, it inspires
awe, it is entirely independent of man, and has been used on some occasions as
the grand accompaniment of God's speech to Adam's sons. There is a peculiar
terror in a tempest at sea, when deep calleth unto deep, and the raging sea
echoes to the angry sky. No sight more alarming than the flash of lightning
around the mast of the ship; and no sound more calculated to inspire reverent
awe than the roar of the storm. The children of heaven have often enjoyed the
tumult with humble joy peculiar to the saints, and even those who know not God
have been forced into unwilling reverence while the storm has lasted. The
glory of God thundereth. Thunder is in truth no mere electric phenomenon,
but is caused by the interposition of God himself. Even the old heathen spake
of Jupiter Tonans; but our modern wise men will have us believe in laws and
forces, and anything or nothing so they may be rid of God. Electricity of
itself can do nothing, it must be called and sent upon its errand; and until
the almighty Lord commissions it, its bolt of fire is inert and powerless. As
well might a rock of granite, or a bar of iron fly in the midst of heaven, as
the lightning go without being sent by the great First Cause. The Lord is
upon many waters. Still the Psalmist's ear hears no voice but that of
Jehovah, resounding from the multitudinous and dark waters of the upper ocean
of clouds, and echoing from the innumerable billows of the storm tossed sea
below. The waters above and beneath the firmament are astonished at the eternal
voice. When the Holy Spirit makes the divine promise to be heard above the many
waters of our soul's trouble, then is God as glorious in the spiritual world as
in the universe of matter. Above us and beneath us all is the peace of God when
he gives us quiet.
Verse
4. The voice of the Lord is powerful. An irresistible power
attends the lightning of which the thunder is the report. In an instant, when
the Lord wills it, the force of electricity produces amazing results. A writer
upon this subject, speaks of these results as including a light of the
intensity of the sun in his strength, a heat capable of fusing the most compact
metals, a force in a moment paralysing the muscles of the most powerful
animals; a power suspending the all pervading gravity of the earth, and an
energy capable of decomposing and recomposing the closest affinities of the
most intimate combinations. Well does Thompson speak of "the unconquerable
lightning, "for it is the chief of the ways of God in physical forces, and
none can measure its power. As the voice of God in nature is so powerful, so is
it in grace; the reader will do well to draw a parallel, and he will find much
in the gospel which may be illustrated by the thunder of the Lord in the
tempest. His voice, whether in nature or revelation, shakes both earth and
heaven; see that ye refuse not him that speaketh. If his voice be thus mighty,
what must his hand be! beware lest ye provoke a blow. The voice of the Lord
is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The King of kings
speaks like a king. As when a lion roareth, all the beasts of the forest are
still, so is the earth hushed and mute while Jehovah thundereth marvellously.
"It
is listening fear and dumb amazement all."
As
for the written word of God, its majesty is apparent both in its style, its
matter, and its power over the human mind; blessed be God, it is the majesty of
mercy wielding a silver sceptre; of such majesty the word of our salvation is full
to overflowing.
Verse
5. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars.
"Black
from the stroke above, the smouldering pine
Stands a sad shattered trunk."
Noble
trees fall prostrate beneath the mysterious bolt, or stand in desolation as
mementoes of its power. Lebanon itself is not secure, high as it stands, and
ancient as are its venerable woods: Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of
Lebanon. The greatest and most venerable of trees or men, may not reckon
upon immunity when the Lord is abroad in his wrath. The gospel of Jesus has a
like dominion over the most inaccessible of mortals; and when the Lord sends
the word, it breaks hearts far stouter than the cedars.
Verse
6. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion
like a young unicorn. Not only the trees, but the mountains themselves move
as though they frisked and leaped like young bulls or antelopes. As our own
poets would mention hills and valleys known to them, so the Psalmist hears the
crash and roar among the ranges of Libanus, and depicts the tumult in graphic
terms. Thus sings one of our own countrymen:—"Amid Carnavon's mountains
rages loud
The repercussive roar: with mighty crash
Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks
Of Penmaen Mawr, heaped hideous to the sky,
Tumble the smitten cliffs; and Snowdon's peak,
Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load.
Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze,
And Thule bellows through her utmost isles."
The
glorious gospel of the blessed God has more than equal power over the rocky
obduracy and mountainous pride of man. The voice of our dying Lord rent the
rocks and opened the graves: his living voice still works the like wonders.
Glory be to his name, the hills of our sins leap into his grave, and are buried
in the red sea of his blood, when the voice of his intercession is heard.
Verse
7. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. As when
sparks fly from the anvil by blows of a ponderous hammer, so the lightning
attends the thundering strokes of Jehovah. "At first heard solemn over the
verge of heaven,
The tempest growls; but as it nearer comes,
And rolls its awful burden on the wind,
The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more
The noise astounds: till overhead a sheet
Of livid flame discloses wide; then shuts
And opens wider; shuts and opens still
Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze."
The
thunder seems to divide one flash from another, interposing its deepening roar
between the flash which precedes it and the next. That the flashes are truly
flames of fire is witnessed by their frequently falling upon houses, churches,
etc., and wrapping them in a blaze. How easily could the Lord destroy his
rebellious creatures with his hot thunderbolts! how gracious is the hand which
spares such great offenders, when to crush them would be so easy! Flames of
fire attend the voice of God in the gospel, illuminating and melting the hearts
of men: by those he consumes our lusts and kindles in us a holy flame of ever
aspiring love and holiness. Pentecost is a suggestive commentary upon this
verse.
Verse
8. As the storm travelled, it burst over the desert. The voice of
the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
God courts not the applause of men—his grandest deeds are wrought where man's
inquisitive glance is all unknown. Where no sound of man was heard, the voice
of God was terribly distinct. The vast and silent plains trembled with
affright. Silence did homage to the Almighty voice. Low lying plains must hear
the voice of God as well as lofty mountains; the poor as well as the mighty
must acknowledge the glory of the Lord. Solitary and barren places are to be
gladdened by the gospel's heavenly sound. What a shaking and overturning power
there is in the word of God! even the conservative desert quivers into progress
when God decrees it.
Verse
9. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, those timid
creatures, in deadly fear of the tempest, drop their burdens in an untimely
manner. Perhaps a better reading is, "the oaks to tremble,
"especially as this agrees with the next sentence, and discovereth the
forests. The dense shades of the forest are lit up with the lurid glare of
the lightning, and even the darkest recesses are for a moment laid bare.
"The
gloomy woods
Start at the flash, and from their deep recesses
Wide flaming out, their trembling inmates shake."
Our
first parents sought a refuge among the trees, but the voice of the Lord soon
found them out, and made their hearts to tremble. There is no concealment from
the fire glance of the Almighty—one flash of his angry eye turns midnight into
noon. The gospel has a like revealing power in dark hearts, in a moment it
lights up every dark recess of the heart's ungodliness, and bids the soul
tremble before the Lord. In his temple doth everyone speak of his glory. Those
who were worshipping in the temple, were led to speak of the greatness of Jehovah
as they heard the repeated thunder claps. The whole world is also a temple for
God, and when he rides abroad upon the wings of the wind, all things are vocal
in his praise. We too, the redeemed of the Lord, who are living temples for his
Spirit, as we see the wonders of his power in creation, and feel them in grace,
unite to magnify his name. No tongue may be dumb in God's temple when his glory
is the theme. The original appears to have the force of "every one crieth
Glory, "as though all things were moved by a sense of God's majesty to
shout in ecstasy, "Glory, glory." Here is a good precedent for our
Methodist friends and for the Gogoniants of the zealous Welsh.
Verse
10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood. Flood follows tempest,
but Jehovah is ready for the emergency. No deluge can undermine the foundation
of his throne. He is calm and unmoved, however much the deep may roar and be
troubled: his government rules the most unstable and boisterous of created
things. Far out on the wild waste of waters, Jehovah "plants his footsteps
in the sea, and rides upon the storm, "Yea, the Lord sitteth King for
ever. Jesus has the government upon his shoulders eternally: our interests
in the most stormy times are safe in his hands. Satan is not a king, but
Jehovah Jesus is; therefore let us worship him, and rejoice evermore.
Verse
11. Power was displayed in the hurricane whose course this Psalm so
grandly pictures; and now, in the cool calm after the storm, that power is
promised to be the strength of the chosen. He who wings the unerring bolt, will
give to his redeemed the wings of eagles; he who shakes the earth with his
voice, will terrify the enemies of his saints, and give his children peace. Why
are we weak when we have divine strength to flee to? Why are we troubled when
the Lord's own peace is ours? Jesus the mighty God is our peace—what a blessing
is this today! What a blessing it will be to us in that day of the Lord which
will be in darkness and not light to the ungodly! Dear reader, is not this a
noble Psalm to be sung in stormy weather? Can you sing amid the thunder? Will
you be able to sing when the last thunders are let loose, and Jesus judges
quick and dead? If you are a believer, the last verse is your heritage, and
surely that will set you singing.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. In this Psalm, the strength of Jehovah is celebrated; and the
exemplification of it is evidently taken from a thunderstorm in Lebanon. The
Psalm seems to be addressed to the angels. See Ps 89:7. It thus begins:—
"Render
unto Jehovah, ye sons of the mighty,
Render unto Jehovah glory and strength;
Render to Jehovah the glory of his name;
Bow down to Jehovah in the majesty of holiness!"
Immediately
follows the description of the thunderstorm, in which it does not seem fanciful
to observe the historical progression which is usual on such occasions. The
first lines seem to describe only the noise of the thunder, the description
growing more intense as the rumbling draws nearer.
"The
voice of Jehovah is above the waters;
The God of glory thundereth,
Jehovah is louder than many waters,
The voice of Jehovah in strength,
The voice of Jehovah in majesty!"
But now the effects become visible; the storm has descended on the mountains
and forests:—
"The voice of Jehovah shivers the cedars,
Even shivers Jehovah the cedars of Lebanon;
And makes them to skip, like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion, like a young buffalo,
The voice of Jehovah forks the lightning's flash!"
From
the mountains the storm sweeps down into the plains, where, however, it effects
are not so fearful as on the mountains—
"The
voice of Jehovah causeth the desert to tremble—
The voice of Jehovah causeth to tremble the desert of Kadesh—
The voice of Jehovah causeth the oaks to tremble,
And lays bare the forests!
Therefore, in his temple every one speaks of his glory."
The
description of the swollen torrents closes the scene—
"Jehovah
upon the rain torrent sitteth.
Yea, sitteth Jehovah a king for ever."
And
the moral of application of the whole is—
"Jehovah
to his people will give strength,
Jehovah will bless his people with peace."
—Robert Murray Macheyne, 1813-1843.
Whole
Psalm. There is no phenomenon in nature so awful as a thunderstorm, and
almost every poet from Homer and Virgil down to Dante and Milton, or rather
down to Grahame and Pollok, has described it. In the Bible, too, we have a
thunderstorm, the twenty-ninth Psalm—the description of a tempest, which,
rising from the Mediterranean, and travelling by Lebanon and along the inland
mountains, reaches Jerusalem, and sends the people into the temple porticoes
for refuge; and; besides those touches of terror in which the geographical
progress of the tornado is described, it derives a sacred vitality and power
from the presence of Jehovah in each successive peal. James Hamilton, D.D.,
in "The Literary Attractions of the Bible," 1849.
Whole
Psalm. A glorious Psalm of praise sung during a tempest, the majesty of
which shakes universal nature, so much so that the greatness of the power of
the Lord is felt by all in heaven and on earth. This Lord is the God of his
people, who blesses them with strength and peace. To rightly appreciate the
feelings of the bard, one ought to realise an Oriental storm, especially in the
mountainous regions of Palestine, which, accompanied by the terrific echoes of
the encircling mountains, by torrents of rain like waterspouts, often scatters
terror on man and beast, destruction on cities and fields. Wilson, the
traveller, describes such a tempest in the neighbourhood of Baalbek: "I was
overtaken by a storm, as if the floodgates of heaven had burst; it came on in a
moment, and raged with a power which suggested the end of the world. Solemn
darkness covered the earth: the rain descended in torrents, and sweeping down
the mountain side, became by the fearful power of the storm transmuted into
thick clouds of fog." Compare also our Lord's parable, taken from life, in
Mt 7:27. Augustus F. Tholuck, in loc.
Verse
1. Give unto the Lord. Give, give, give. This showeth how
unwilling such are usually to give God his right, or to suffer a word of
exhortation to this purpose. John Trapp.
Verse
1. O ye mighty. The Septuagint renders it, O ye sons of
rams! These bell wethers should not cast their noses into the air, and
carry their crest the higher, because the shepherd hath bestowed a bell upon
them, more than upon the rest of the flock. John Trapp.
Verses
1-2. There are three gives in these two verses:—Give unto
the Lord, give unto the Lord, give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto his
name. Glory is God's right, and he stands upon his right; and this the
sincere Christian knows, and therefore he gives him his right, he gives him the
honour and the glory that is due unto his name. But pray do not mistake me. I
do not say that such as are really sincere do actually eye the glory of Christ
in all their actions. Oh, no! This is a happiness desirable on earth, but shall
never be attained till we come to heaven. Bye and base ends and aims will be
still ready to creep into the best hearts, but all sincere hearts sigh and
groan under them. They complain to God of them, and they cry out for justice,
justice upon them; and it is the earnest desire and daily endeavours of their
souls to be rid of them; and therefore they shall not be imputed to them, nor keep
good things from them. But now take a sincere Christian in his ordinary, usual,
and habitual course, and you shall find that his aims and ends in all his
actions and undertakings are to glorify God, to exalt God, and to lift up God
in the world. If the hypocrite did in good earnest aim at the glory of God in
what he does, then the glory of God would swallow up his bye aims and carnal
ends, as Aaron's rod swallowed up the magician's rods. Ex 7:10-12. Look, as the
sun puts out the light of the fire, so the glory of God, where it is aimed at,
will put out and consume all bye and base ends. This is most certain, that
which is a man's great end, that will work out all other ends. He that sets up
the glory of God as his chief end, will find that his chief end will by degrees
eat out all low and base ends. Look, as Pharaoh's lean kine ate up the fat Ge
31:4, so the glory of God will eat up all those fat and worldly ends that crowd
in upon the soul in religious work. Where the glory of God is kept up as a man's
greatest end, there all bye and base ends will be kept at an under. Thomas
Brooks.
Verse
2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Which yet
you cannot do, for his name is above all praise! Ps 148:13; but you must aim at
it. The Rabbins observe that God's holy name is mentioned eighteen several
times in this Psalm; that great men especially may give him the honour of his
name, that they may stand in awe and not sin, that they may bring presents to
him who ought to be feared, and those also the very best of the best, since he
is a great king, and standeth much upon his seniority. Mal 1:14. John Trapp.
Verse
2. Worship the Lord. If any should ask, Why is the Lord to be
worshipped? Why must he have such high honours from those that are high? What
doth he in the world that calls for such adoration? David answereth
meteorologically as well as theologically, he answers from the clouds Ps
29:3-4, "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory
thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty; "as if he had said, Although the
Lord Jesus Christ will not set up an outward, pompous, political kingdom, such
as that of Cyrus, Alexander, etc., yet by the ministry of the gospel he will
erect a spiritual kingdom, and gather to himself a church that shall abide for
ever, out of all the nations of the earth; for the gospel shall be carried and
preached, to not only the people of Israel, the Jews, but to the Gentiles, all
the world over, that the minds of men may be enlightened, awakened, and moved
with that unheard of doctrine of salvation by Christ, which had been hid from
ages and generations. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
3. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory
thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. Yes, great God, these torrents of
tears which flow down from my eyes announce thy divine presence in my soul.
This heart hitherto so dry, so arid, so hard; this rock which thou hast struck
a second time, will not resist thee any longer, for out of it there now gushes
healthful waters in abundance. The selfsame voice of God which overturns the
mountains, thunders, lightens, and divides the heaven above the sinner, now
commands the clouds to pour forth showers of blessings, changing the desert of
his soul into a field producing a hundredfold; that voice I hear. J. B.
Massillon.
Verses
3-10. The Lord, etc. All things which we commonly say are the effects
of the natural powers of matter and laws of motion, are, indeed (if we will speak
strictly and properly), the effects of God's acting upon matter continually and
at every moment, either immediately by himself, or mediately by some created
intelligent being. Consequently there is no such thing as the cause of nature,
or the power of nature. Samuel Clarke, 1675-1729. "The friend and
disciple of Newton."
Verses
3-10.
The
voice of the Lord on the ocean is known,
The God of eternity thundereth abroad;
The voice of the Lord from the depth of his throne
Is terror and power;—all nature is awed.
The voice of the Lord through the calm of the wood
Awakens its echoes, strikes light through its caves;
The Lord sitteth King on the turbulent flood,
The winds are his servants, his servants the waves.
—James Montgomery, 1771-1854.
Ver.
3-11—
Messiah's
voice is in the cloud,
The God of glory thunders loud.
Messiah rides along the floods,
He treads upon the flying clouds.
Messiah's voice is full of power,
His lightnings play when tempests lower.
Messiah's voice the cedars breaks,
While Lebanon's foundation quakes.
Messiah's voice removes the hills,
And all the plains with rivers fills.
The voice of their expiring God,
Shall make the rocks to start abroad;
Mount Zion and Mount Sirion,
Shall bound along with Lebanon:
The flames of fire shall round him wreathe,
When he shall on the ether breathe.
Messiah's voice shall shake the earth,
And, lo! the graves shall groan in birth,
Ten thousand thousand living sons
Shall be the issue of their groans.
The peace of God the gospel sounds;
The peace of God, the earth rebounds,
The gospel everlasting shines
A light from God that never declines.
This is the light Jehovah sends,
To bless the world's remotest ends.
—Barclay's Paraphrase.
Verse
4. The voice of the Lord. These vehement repetitions resemble
a series of thunderclaps; one seems to hear the dread artillery of heaven
firing volley after volley, while peal on peal the echo follows the sound. C.
H. S.
Verse
4. The voice of the Lord is powerful. I would render unto God
the glory due unto his name, for the admirable change which he has wrought in
my heart. There was nothing to be found in me but an impious hardness and
inveterate disorder. From this helpless state he changed me into a new man and
made resplendent the glory of his name and the power of his grace. He alone can
work such prodigies. Unbelievers who refuse to acknowledge the hand of God in
creation must surely in this case admit that "this is the finger of
God." Yes, great God, chaos knows not how to resist thee, it hears thy
voice obediently, but the obdurate heart repels thee, and thy mighty voice too
often calls to it in vain. Thou art not so great and wonderful in creating
worlds out of nothing as thou art when thou dost command a rebel heart to arise
from its abyss of sin, and to run in the ways of thy commandments. To disperse
a chaos of crime and ignorance by the majesty of thy word, to shed light on the
direst darkness, and by the Holy Ghost to establish harmonious order where all
was confusion, manifests in far greater measure thine omnipotence than the
calling forth of heavenly laws and celestial suns from the first chaos. J.
B. Massillon.
Verse
4. O may the evangelical "Boanerges" so cause the glorious
sound of the gospel to be heard under the whole heaven, that the world may
again be made sensible thereof; before that voice of the Son of Man, which hath
so often called sinners to repentance, shall call them to judgment. George
Horne.
Verse
4. Where the word of a king is, there is power, but what imperial
voice shall be likened unto the majestic thunder of the Lord? C. H. S.
Verse
5. The voice of Jehovah. Philosophers think not that they
have reasoned skilfully enough about inferior causes, unless they separate God
very far from his works. It is a diabolical science, however, which fixes our contemplations
on the works of nature, and turns them away from God. If any one who wished to
know a man, should take no notice of his face, but should fix his eyes only on
the points of his nails, his folly might justly be derided. But far greater is
the folly of those philosophers, who, out of mediate and proximate causes,
weave themselves vails lest they should be compelled to acknowledge the hand of
God, which manifestly displays itself in his works. John Calvin.
Verse
5. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, etc. Like as
tempests when they arise, and lightnings, quickly and in a trice, hurl down and
overturn mountains and the highest trees; even so doth the Lord bring down with
a break neck fall, the proud, haughty, arrogant, and insolent, who set themselves
against God, and seek the spoil of those that be quiet and godly. Robert
Cawdray.
Verse
5. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. The ancient
expositors remind us that the breaking of the cedar trees by the
wind, is a figure of the laying low of the lofty and proud things of this
world, by the rushing mighty wind of the Holy Spirit, given on that day. Confringit
cedros Deus, hoc est humiliat superbos. (S. Jerome, and so S. Basil.) Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse
5. The Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. What a shame is it then
that our hard hearts break not, yield not, though thunder struck with the
dreadful menaces of God's mouth! John Trapp.
Verse
5. "Breaketh the cedars of Lebanon:"—
When
high in the air the pine ascends,
To every ruder blast it bends.
The palace falls with heavier weight,
When tumbling from its airy height;
And when from heaven the lightning flies,
It blasts the hills that proudest rise.
—Horace, translated by Philip Francis, D.D., 1765.
Verse
5. The cedars of Lebanon. These mighty trees of God, which
for ages have stood the force of the tempest, rearing their evergreen colossal
boughs in the region of everlasting snow, are the first objects of the fury of
the lightning, which is well known to visit first the highest objects. Robert
Murray Macheyne.
Verse
6. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion
like a young unicorn; that is, the Lord by his thundering, powerful voice,
first, will make them skip, as frightened with fear; and secondly, as revived
with joy. Yet more Ps 29:7, "The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of
fire; "that is, will send and divide to every one as they need 1Co 12:11,
the Holy Spirit, who is compared to and called fire Mt 3:11, and who
came as with a thunderstorm of a rushing mighty wind, and with the
appearance of cloven tongues, like as of fire, and sat upon each one of
the apostles. Ac 2:2-3. Nor did this voice of thunder, accompanied with divided
flames of fire reach Jerusalem only; for, as it follows Ps 29:8, "The
voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of
Kadesh; "that is, the Lord by the voice of the gospel shall go forth with
power to those Gentiles, who are like a wilderness, barren of goodness, and not
fertilized in spirituals, though they dwell in well governed cities, and are
well furnished with morals. It shall go forth also to those Gentiles who
inhabit waste wildernesses, and are not so much as reduced to civility. These
wildernesses, the thundering voice of the Lord hath shaken heretofore, and doth
shake at this day, and will yet further shake, that the fulness of the Gentiles
may come in. Many of these wildernesses hath the Lord turned into fruitful
fields, and pleasant lands, by the voice of the gospel sounding among them. For
in these wildernesses (as it followeth, Ps 29:9), "The voice of the Lord
maketh the hinds to calve; "that is, they that were as wild, as untaught,
and untamed as the hind, or any beast in the forest, he brings to the
sorrows of their new birth, to repentance and gospel humiliation, and in doing
this, "he (as the psalmist goes on), discovereth the forests;
" that is, opens the hearts of men, which are as thick set and full
grown with vanity, pride, hypocrisy, self love, and self sufficiency, as also
with wantonness and sensuality, as any forest is overgrown with thickets of
trees and bushes, which deny all passage through till cleared away with burning
down or cutting up. Such an opening, such a discovery, doth the Lord make in
the forests of men's hearts, by the sword and fire, that is, by the word and
spirit of the gospel; and when this is done, the forest becomes a temple,
and as that verse concludes, "In his temple doth every one speak of his
glory." And if the floods of ungodliness rise up against the people,
whom the thunder and lightning of the gospel have subdued to Christ, and framed
into a holy temple, then the psalmist assures us Ps 29:10, "The Lord
sitteth upon the flood, "that is, it is under his power, he rules and
overrules it; "Yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever; "and Ps
29:11, "The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will
bless his people with peace." Thus the Lord "thundereth
marvellously" Job 37:5, and these are glorious marvels which he
thundereth; he converts sinners. Thus, though I like not their way who are
given to allegorize the Scriptures, yet I doubt not but we may make a
profitable use of this and many other Scriptures by way of allegory. This being
an undeniable truth, which is the ground of it—that the Lord puts forth, as it
were, the power of thunder and lightning in the preaching of his Word; these
two things are to be marked. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
6. He maketh them also to skip like a calf. That is to say,
he hath made the splinters and broken pieces of trees that have been struck
with lightning, to fly up into the air, or when they have been shaken by the
wind, storms, or by earthquakes. John Diodati.
Verse
6. The original is—
"And
makes them skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion, like a young buffalo."
At
first sight it might appear that the cedars were still meant, and that Lebanon
and Sirion were used by metonymy for the cedars which grew upon them. But, 1.
We never hear of cedars growing upon Sirion, or Shenir, or Hermon, for it has
all these names; and, 2. There is a parallel passage where this interpretation
will hardly answer in Psalm 114. Describing the exodus of Israel, it says—
"The
mountains skipped like rams,
And the little hills like lambs."
The
same verb occurs here, the verb which means "to skip, to dance, "
used in Na 3:2, to signify the jolting of chariots, and also in Joe 2:5. In
both these instances, rough motion, accompanied with noise, seems intended.
Now, though this may very well be understood as a highly figurative
description, as it undoubtedly is, of the usual effect of a thunderstorm; yet
it is interesting to compare it with the following passage of Volney, which
described certain phenomena as frequent in Mount Lebanon, which may give a new
meaning to the "skipping of the mountains:"—"When the traveller,
"say he, "penetrates the interior of these mountains, the ruggedness
of the roads, the steepness of the declivities, the depth of the precipices,
have at first a terrific effect; but the sagacity of the mules which bear him
soon inspires him with confidence, and enables him to examine at his ease the
picturesque scenes which succeed one another, so as almost to bewilder
him." There, as in the Alps, he sometimes travels whole days to arrive at
a spot which was in sight when he set out. He turns, he descends, he winds
round, he climbs; and under the perpetual change of position, one is ready to
think that a magical power is varying at every step the beauties of the
landscapes. Sometimes villages are seen, ready as it were to slide down the
deep declivities, and so disposed that the roofs of the one row of houses serve
as a street to the row above. At another time, you see a convent seated on an
isolated cone, like Marshaia in the valley of Tigre. Here a rock is pierced by
a torrent, forming a natural cascade, as at Nahr el Leban; there another
rock assumes the appearance of a natural wall! Often on the sides, ledges of
stones, washed down and left by the waters, resemble ruins disposed by art. In
some places, the waters meeting with inclined beds, have undermined the
intermediate earth, and have formed caverns, as at Nahr el Kelb, near Antoura.
In other places, they have worn for themselves subterranean channels, through
which flow little rivulets during part of the year, as at Mar Hama. Sometimes these
picturesque circumstances have become tragical ones. Rocks loosened or thrown
off their equilibrium by thaw or earthquake, have been known to precipitate
themselves on the adjacent dwellings, and crush the inhabitants. An accident of
this kind, about twenty years ago, buried a whole village near Mar Djordos, so
as to leave no trace of its existence. More recently, and near the same spot,
the soil of a hill planted with mulberry trees and vines detached itself by a
sudden thaw, and, sliding over the surface of the rock which it had covered,
like a vessel launched from the stocks, established itself in the valley below.
Robert Murray Macheyne.
Verse
7. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. By the
power of God, the "flames of fire" are "divided"
and sent abroad from the clouds upon the earth, in the terrible form of
lightning, that sharp and glittering sword of the Almighty, which no substance
can withstand. The same power of God goeth forth by his word, "quick and
powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword." penetrating, melting,
enlightening, and inflaming the hearts of men, Ac 2:3 Heb 4:12. George
Horne.
Verse
7. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The
voice of the Lord is here said to divide the flames; literally, to
hew out flames, (latomein flav). The Septuagint has (diakoptei floga
puroz). In the words of Gensenius, "The voice of Jehovah cutteth out
flames of fire, "i.e., "sendeth out divided flames of
fire." This is (as Theodoret has observed) very descriptive of the divine
action at Pentecost, sending forth divided flames, like "tela
trisulca, "in the tongues of fire which were divided off from one
heavenly source or fountain of flame, and sat upon the heads of the apostles,
and which filled them with the fire of holy zeal and love. Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse
7. Divideth the flames of fire. Margin, cutteth out.
The Hebrew word (bux) khatzab means properly to cut, to hew, to hew
out; as for example, stones. The allusion here is undoubtedly to lightning;
and the image is either that it seems to be cut out, or cut into tongues and
streaks—or, more probably, that the clouds seem to be cut or hewed, so
as to make openings or paths for the lightning. The eye is evidently fixed on
the clouds, and on the sudden flash of lightning, as if the clouds has been cleaved
or opened for the passage of it. The idea of the psalmist is, that the "voice
of the Lord, "or the thunder, seems to cleave or open the clouds for
the flames of fire to play amidst the tempest. Albert Barnes.
Verse
8. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. That Kadesh
Naphtali is meant, the geographical position of Lebanon would make us believe,
though this is not necessary. And, although Syria is much exposed to
earthquakes—as, for example, that of Aleppo, in 1822, which was sensibly felt
at Damascus—yet it does not seem necessary to imagine anything farther than the
usual affects of a thunderstorm. The oaks and forests of Ps 29:9, suit
well with the description given of the lower limbs of Lebanon, which abound in
"thickets of myrtle, woods of fir, walnut trees, carob trees, and Turkish
oaks." And the rain torrent of Ps 29:10 is admirably descriptive of
the sudden swell of the thousand streams which flow from Lebanon. According to
modern travellers, the number of water courses descending from Lebanon is
immense; and the suddenness of the rise of these streams may be gathered from
the contradictions in their accounts. The Nahr el Sazib is described by one as
"a rivulet, though crossed by a bridge of six arches; "by another it
is called "a large river." The Damour (the ancient Tamyras), which
flows immediately from Lebanon, is "a river, "says Mandrell,
"apt to swell much upon sudden rains; in which case, precipitating itself
from the mountains with great rapidity, it has been fatal to many a
passenger." He mentions a French gentleman, M. Spon, who, a few years
before, in attempting to ford it, was hurried down by the stream, and perished
in the sea. This is one instance of very many in the mountains of Lebanon, where
the brook, which is usually nearly dry, become all at once an impassable
torrent. When Volney looked upon the rivers of Syria in summer, he doubted
whether they could be called rivers. But had he ventured to cross them after a
thunderstorm, his scepticism would no longer have had room or time to exercise
itself, and he would have felt the propriety of the psalmist's painting, where
he says—
"Jehovah
sitteth on the rain torrents,
Jehovah sitteth a King for ever."
Robert Murray Macheyne.
Verse
8. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. Great God, I
have laboured to escape thee! I sought refuge for my remorse in a retreat where
nothing might recall me to my God. Far away from the succours of religion,
remote from all the channels which bring to me the waters of grace, apart from
all whose reproving witness might restrain me from iniquity; yet even there,
Great God, where I believed that I had found an asylum inaccessible to thine
eternal mercy, wherein I could sin with impunity, even there, in that wilderness,
thy voice arrested me and laid me at thy feet. J. B. Massillon.
Verse
9. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve. With
respect to the sense conveyed by the common reading, it may be observed, that
hinds bring forth their young with great difficulty and pain, "bowing
themselves, bruising their young ones, and casting out their sorrows" Job
39:4,6; and it therefore heightens the description given of the terrific
character of the thunderstorm, when the thunder which is here called "the
voice of God, "is represented as causing, through the terror which it
inspires, the hinds in their pregnant state prematurely to drop their young;
although, according to our ideas of poetical imagery, this may not accord so
well with the other images in the passage, nor appear so beautiful and sublime
as the image of the oaks trembling at the voice of Jehovah. John Calvin.
Verse
9. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve. The care
and tenderness of God toward beasts turns to his praise, as well as the care which
he hath of, and the tenderness which he shows to believers. As it doth
exceedingly advance the glory of God, that he takes care of wild beasts, so it
may exceedingly strengthen the faith of man that he will take care of him. Doth
the Lord take care of hinds? then certainly he takes care of those who
particularly belong to him. There is a special providence of God towards these
and such like creatures for the production of their young. He—if I may so speak
with reverence—shows his midwifery in helping these savage beasts when their
pains come upon them. As the Lord takes man, in an eminent manner, "out of
the womb" Ps 22:9, so in a manner he takes beasts out of the womb too.
"The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the
wilderness of Kadesh; "so we translate it; but the word which we render "shaketh"
is the same with that in Job 39:2, which signifieth to bring forth; and
hence, some very learned in the Hebrew tongue do not render as we, "The
voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness, "but "The voice of the Lord
maketh the wilderness to bring forth; the Lord maketh the wilderness of
Kadesh to bring forth; "which is not to be understood of the
vegetative creatures (that's a truth, the Lord makes the trees of the forest to
bring forth both leaves and fruit), but it is meant of animals or living
creatures there. And then when he saith, "The voice of the Lord maketh the
wilderness to bring forth, " the meaning is, the Lord makes the wild beast
of the wilderness to bring forth; which seems to be the clear sense of the
place by that which followeth: for the psalmist having said this in general at
the eighth verse, "The voice of the Lord maketh the wilderness to bring
forth, "he in the ninth verse gives the special instance of the hind:
"The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve." Joseph Caryl.
Verse
9. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve. It is
with great propriety, says one of the ancients that Jehovah demands, "The
birth of the hinds dost thou guard"? Job 39:1, for since this animal is
always in flight, and with fear and terror always leaping and skipping about,
she could never bring her young to maturity without such a special protection.
The providence of God, therefore, is equally conspicuous in the preservation of
the mother and the fawn; both are the objects of his compassion and tender
care; and, consequently, that afflicted man has no reason to charge his Maker
with unkindness, who condescended to watch over the goats and the hinds. It
seems to be generally admitted, that the hind brings forth her young with great
difficulty; and so much appears to be suggested in the verse, "They bow
themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their
sorrows." But if Pliny and other naturalists are worthy of credit, divine
providence has been graciously pleased to provide certain herbs, which greatly
facilitate the birth; and by instinct, he directs the hind to feed upon them,
when the time of gestation draws towards a close. Whatever truth there may be
in this assertion, we know from higher authority, that providence promotes the
parturition of the hind, by awakening her fears, and agitating her frame by the
rolling thunder:—"The voice of Jehovah (a common Hebrew phrase,
denoting thunder) maketh the hinds to calve." Nor ought we to
wonder, that so timorous a creature as the hind, should be so much affected by
that awful atmospheric convulsion, when some of the proudest men that ever
existed, have been known to tremble. Augustus, the Roman emperor, according to
Suetonius, was so terrified when it thundered, that he wrapped a seal skin
round his body, with the view of defending it from the lightning, and concealed
himself in some secret corner till the tempest ceased. The tyrant Caligula, who
sometimes affected to threaten Jupiter himself, covered his head, or hid
himself under a bed; and Horace confesses he was reclaimed from atheism by the
terror of thunder and lightning, the effects of which he describes with his
usual felicity. (Odes, b. 1 34.) George Paxton's "Illustrations of
Scripture."
Verse
9. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve. "Cervi
sunt predicatores, "says S. Jerome, who bring forth souls to Christ by
the gospel which is God's voice; and the stripping of the leaves of the
forest by the voice of the Lord, represents their work in humbling the strong
oaks and lofty cedars of the world by the power of the gospel, and in stripping
the souls of the worldly minded of their manifold disguises (S. Basil). Others
apply it to act of the preachers of God's word, disclosing the dark thickets of
divine mysteries in the holy Scriptures by evangelical light set forth by the
Holy Ghost (S. Jerome). Christopher Wordsworth.
Verse
9. (first clause). "The voice of Jehovah makes havoc
of the oaks, and strips bare the forests." Samuel Horsley.
Verse
9. In his temple. Some conceive that this Psalm was appointed
by David to be sung in the temple in time of thunder, which is not unlikely.
There are writers who make God to be the nominative case to the verb speaketh;
and render it thus, in his temple doth he utter all his glory. As much
as to say, much of his glory God uttereth in his thunder, but all in his
temple, for whatsoever there he speaketh with his mouth he fulfils it with his
hand. John Trapp.
Verse
9. (last clause). David speaking in the former part of the
Psalm of the effects of natural thunder only, towards the close of the Psalm
applies it to the Word of God, while he saith, And in his temple doth every
one speak of his glory; that is, the word and ordinances of God, ministered
in his church or temple, will put every one to acknowledge and speak of the
glorious power of God, even much more than the mighty thunder which sounds in
our ears, or the subtle lightning which flashes in our eyes. There is far more
royal power in the thunder of the Word, than in the word of thunder. This
terrifies only to conviction, but that terrifies to salvation; for after God
speaks terror there in his threatenings, he speaks comfort in the promises; and
when he hath affrighted us with a sense of our sins and of his wrath due to us
for our sins, as with an horrible tempest, he presently refresheth us with the
gentle gales of revealed grace, and with the pleasant amiable sunshine of his
favour by Jesus Christ. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
11. The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will
bless his people with peace; i.e., he is in war their strength, and their
felicity in peace; in war he is the Author of all that power wherewith they are
enabled to oppose and overcome potent enemies; and in peace, he is their truly
felicitating good, and makes them, by his own vouchsafed presence, a truly
blessed people. John Howe.
Verse
11. The Lord will bless his people with peace. Though some
precious souls that have closed with Christ, and embraced the gospel, be not at
present brought to rest in their own consciences, but continue for awhile under
some dissatisfaction and trouble in their own spirits, yet even then they have peace
of conscience in a threefold respect; in pretio, in promisso, in semine.
First, every true believer hath peace of conscience in pretio; the
gospel puts that price into his hand, which will assuredly purchase it, and
that is the blood of Christ. We say that is gold which is worth gold, which we
may anywhere exchange for gold; such is the blood of Christ; it is peace of
conscience, because the soul that hath this may exchange it for this. God
himself cannot deny the poor creature that prays on these terms: Lord, give me
peace of conscience; here is Christ's blood, the price of it. That which could
pay the debt, surely can procure the receipt. Peace of conscience is but a
discharge under God's hand, that the debt due to divine justice is fully paid.
The blood of Christ hath done that the greater for the believer, it shall therefore
do this the less. If there were such a rare potion that did infallibly procure
health to every one that takes it, we might safely say, as soon as the sick man
hath drunk it down, that he hath drunk his health, it is in him, though at
present he doth not feel himself to have it: in time it will appear. Secondly, In
promisso. Every true believer hath peace of conscience in the promise, and
that we count as good as ready money in the purse, which we have sure bond for.
The Lord will bless his people with peace. He is resolved on it, and
then who shall hinder it? It is worth your reading the whole Psalm, to see what
weight the Lord gives to this sweet promise, for the encouragement of our faith
in expecting the performance thereof. Nothing more hard to enter into the heart
of a poor creature (when all is in an uproar in his bosom, and his conscience
threatening nothing but fire and sword, wrath, vengeance, from God for his
sins), than thoughts or hopes of peace and comfort. Now the psalm is spent in
showing what great things God can do, and that with no more trouble to himself
than a word speaking, "The voice of the Lord is full of majesty"
Ps 29:4, "It breaks the cedars, it divides the flames, it shakes the
wilderness, it makes the hinds to calve." This God that does all this,
promises to bless his people with peace, outward and inward; for without
this inward peace, though he might give them peace, yet could he never bless
them with peace as he there undertakes. A sad peace, were it not, to have quiet
streets, but cutting of throats in our houses? yet infinitely more sad to have
peace both in our streets and houses, but war and blood in our guilty
consciences. What peace can a poor creature taste or relish while the sword of
God's wrath lies at the throat of conscience? not peace with God himself.
Therefore Christ purchased peace of pardon, to obtain peace of conscience for
his pardoned ones, and accordingly hath bequeathed it in the promise to them,
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Joh 14:27. Where
you see he is both the testator to leave, and the executor of his own will, to
give out with his own hands what his love hath left believers; so that there is
no fear but his will shall be performed to the full, seeing himself lives to
see it done. Thirdly, In semine. Every believer hath this untoward peace
in the seed. "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the
upright in heart." Ps 97:11. Where sown, but in the believer's own bosom,
when principles of grace and holiness were cast into it by the Spirit of God?
Hence it is called "the peaceable fruit of righteousness." Heb 12:11.
It shoots as naturally from holiness, as any fruit in its kind doth from the
seed proper to it. It is, indeed, most true, that the seed runs and ripens into
this fruit sooner in some than it doth in others. This spiritual harvest comes
not alike soon to all, no more than the other that is outward doth; but here is
the comfort—whoever hath a seed time of grace pass over his soul, shall have
his harvest time also of joy. William Gurnall.
Verse
11. Peace. There is a threefold "peace, "externa,
interna, aeterna; temporal, spiritual, celestial peace. There is outward
peace, the blessing; inward peace, the grace; and everlasting
peace, of glory. And as in a stately palace there is a lodge or court
that leads into the inmost goodly rooms, so external peace is the entrance or
introduction to the inward lodgings of the sweet peace of conscience and of
that external rest in which our peace in heaven shall be happy, inasmuch as
external peace affords us many accommodations and helps to the gaining and
obtaining both the one and the other. Ephraim Udall, 1642.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. The duty of ascribing our strength and the honour of it to God;
the penalty of neglecting to do so; the pleasure of so doing.
Verse
1. National glorying should be in the Lord.
Verse
2. (first clause). Royal dues, the royal treasury, loyal
subjects paying their dues, the king receiving them. Smugglers and preventive
men.
Verse
2. (second clause). Inspired ritualism. What to do? Worship.
Whom? The Lord. How? In the beauty of holiness. Absence of all
allusions to place, time, order, words, form, vestments, etc.
Verse
3. God's voice heard in trouble and above trouble, or in great personal
and national calamities.
Verse
4. Power and majesty of the gospel. Illustrate by succeeding verses.
Verse
4. (last clause). "The majestic voice." See
Spurgeon's Sermons, No. 87.
Verse
5. The breaking power of the gospel.
Verse
6. The unsettling power of the gospel.
Verse
7. The fire which goes with the word. This is a wide subject.
Verse
8. The arousing and alarming of godless places by the preaching of
the word.
Verse
9. The revealing power of the word of God in the secrets of man's
heart, and its regenerating force.
Verse
9 (last clause). 1. Matchless temple.
2. Unanimous worship.
3. Forcible motive.
4. General enthusiasm, "glory."
Verse
10. The ever present and undisturbed government of God.
Verse
11. The twin blessings from the same source; their connection, and
their consummation.
Verse
11. The two wills, the two blessings, the one people, the one Lord.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》