Psalms 29:1-11

Psalms 29

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

Glory in the Temple and in the Tempest: Jehovah's Kingship of Judgment in the Past and of Blessing in the Future.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psalms 29:1-2, Angels Called to Worship in the Heavenly Temple. Stanza II., Psalms 29:3-4, Commencement of Storm on the Mediterranean. Stanza III., Psalms 29:5-7, Bursting of Storm in the North. Stanza IV., Psalms 29:8-9, Sweep of the Storm to the South. Stanza V., Psalms 29:10-11, Jehovah's Abiding Kingship will Ultimately bring Strength and Blessing to his People.

(Lm.)Psalm by David.

1

Give unto Jehovah ye sons of the Mighty,[293]

[293] Heb, -'elim: prob, a synonym of -'elohim, and like it a plural of excellence; and thereforesons of God, like the more usual form in Psalms 89:7, Job 38:7. Cp. also Psalms 8:5, Psalms 82:1, Psalms 97:7.

give unto Jehovah glory and strength;

2

Give unto Jehovah the glory of his name,

bow down unto Jehovah in holy adorning.

3

The voice of Jehovah is on the waters

the God of glory hath thundered;
Jehovah is on mighty waters:

4

The voice of Jehovah is with power,

the voice of Jehovah is with state.

5

The voice of Jehovah is breaking cedars,

aye! Jehovah breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon

6

He maketh Lebanon[294] skip about like a calf,

[294] So, almost certainly (w. Br.) should Lebanon and Sirion be distributed. For Sirion, see Deuteronomy 3:9.

and Sirion like a bull-calf of wild-oxen:

7

The voice of Jehovah cleaveth open and letteth out flames of fire.

8

The voice of Jehovah whirlethabout the wilderness,

Jehovah whirlethabout the wilderness of Kadesh:

9

The voice of Jehovah whirlethabout terebinths,[295]

[295] So Gt.Gn. And so Br.

and strippethbare forests;

And in his temple[296] the whole of it is saying[297]Glory!

[296] Or: palace.
[297] Everything saithDel. All are sayingDr.

10

Jehovah for the flood sat enthroned,

and Jehovah will sit enthroned a king to the ages;[298]

[298] Ml.: to concealed duration.

11

Jehovah will give strength to his people,

Jehovah will bless his people with prosperity.

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 29

Praise the Lord, you angels of His; praise His glory and His strength.
2 Praise Him for His majestic glory, the glory of His name. Come before Him clothed in sacred garments.
3 The voice of the Lord echoes from the clouds. The God of Glory thunders through the skies.
4 So powerful is His voice; so full of majesty.
5, 6 It breaks down the cedars! It splits the giant trees of Lebanon. It shakes Mount Lebanon and Mount Sirion. They leap and skip before Him like young calves!
7 The voice of the Lord thunders through the lightning.
8 It resounds through the deserts and shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord spins and topples the mighty oaks.[299] It strips the forests bare! They whirl and sway beneath the blast. But in His temple all are praising, Glory, glory to the Lord.

[299] Or, makes the hinds to calve.

10 At the Flood, the Lord showed His control of all creation. Now He continues to unveil His power.
11 He will give His people strength. He will bless them with peace.

EXPOSITION

This is in every way a magnificent psalm,exquisite in form, splendid in imagery, lofty in sentiment, and probably prophetic in adumbration. We can scarcely fail to perceive how fitting an instrument for producing it was the sweet singer of Israel who penned the 8th psalm, the 18th and the first part of the 19th, in all of which the same gift for reflecting the beauties of Creation can be detected. Perhaps the most precious element in this psalm is the firmness with which it grasps the manifestation, in nature, of Jehovah the God of grace. The thunder of the tempest is his voice. Scarcely less precious a feature is the light swiftness of the movements by which, in the opening stanzas, heaven and earth are united; and, at the close, the past is run on into the future. He that sat enthroned at the flood sits enthroned still. He who executed judgment then, is guiding all toward blessing on and through his people in the ages to come. Meanwhile, though the storms are still raging here below, heavenly worshippers, as through an open door, are permitted to let us know, that everything is being well guided to that great far-off event to which the whole creation moves. The God of nature is the God of grace. Jehovah is no tribal God, but the Maker of heaven and earth.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven so prayed our Lord. Read verses one and two. Shall we not here also imitate angels? How?

2.

What are the sacred garments or the beauty of holiness with which we are to be dressed before we worship before Him?

3.

This surely is one of the most graphic descriptions of a thunderstorm in all literature. Please work out and discuss the two parts: Psalms 29:3-6 and Psalms 29:7-9.

4.

Notice how often God is named or referred to in these eleven verses. God is in the storm. Is God in the storms of our lives today? Discuss.

5.

While the storm rages on earth in the temple of Jehovah all the angels are sayingor singing glory. Discuss the significance. (Psalms 29:9).