Psalms 29 - Introduction

This Psalm appears to have been written during or after a storm of particular violence. And we should recognise that when such storms occur in Palestine they can be very violent and very vivid indeed. Thus the very power of this storm brings home to the Psalmist the majesty and power of YHWH. ‘Look at this, O heavenly ones,' he is saying to the angelic host. ‘And consider the glory of YHWH.'

He is so moved by the storm that, in the midst of the clashing of the thunder, the powerful streaks of lightning lighting up the sky, the powerful wind sweeping across the land and stripping the trees, and the drenching rain pouring from the heavens enveloping everything around, he feels that the only ones he can address are the glorious beings who surround the throne, because only they can appreciate what they are seeing. And he calls on them with their knowledge of the glory of YHWH to bear witness to that glory as revealed in the storm, and worship Him in the beauty of His majestic holiness. For he is seeing behind the storm to what it tell him about YHWH.

Then he turns to a consideration of the phenomena of the storm itself, and describes it in vividly poetic style,. Picturesquely he brings out the voice of the thunder, shaking the clouds which are full of flood water, or rolling over the floods which are already being caused by the drenching rain, and vividly portrays the dancing trees which are behaving like living creatures caught up in the storm. He draws our attention to the blinding streaks of forked lightning flashing down from the sky, lightning which in its plurality appears to be hewed out by YHWH, and describes equally vividly the bushes in the semi-desert of Kadesh as they are shaken in the tempest. And he visualises the cowering hinds who in their anxiety at the storm have been brought into a state of premature birth, and finishes with a description of the great forest which is itself being stripped bare of its leaves by the mighty wind. And his summation of all that he has described is simply this, ‘and in His Temple everything says glory'.

He then finally follows all this up with a vivid picture of the heavenly King as He once sat in His majesty at the Flood, and is still sitting there in the same majesty this very day. That is what the storm is saying to him. But the thought is not that God will now destroy the earth for a second time, but that He sits there as the One Whose purpose is to impart something of this mighty strength to His people, so that even when the very foundations of life appear to be shaken, they can know that He is there, and will, even in the storms of life, bless them with a remarkable peace which is in startling contrast to all that has described before. In the midst of a world which appears to have been torn apart the believer hears a voice which says, ‘Peace, perfect peace, in this dark (and violent) world of sin, the blood of Jesus whispers peace within'.

Isaiah put it another way, but with the same majestic perspective, when he says, ‘For thus says the high and lofty One, Who inhabits eternity, Whose Name is Holy. “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones' (Isaiah 57:15).

Heading.

‘A Psalm of David.'