Psalms 29:11

Verse Psalms 29:11. The Lord will give strength] Prosperity in our secular affairs; success in our enterprises; and his blessing upon our fields and cattle.

The Lord will bless his people with peace.] Give them victory over their enemies, and cause the nations to be at peace with them; so that they shall enjoy uninterrupted prosperity. The plentiful rain which God has now sent is a foretaste of his future blessings and abundant mercies.

In the note on Psalms 29:10 I have referred to the following description taken from Virgil. Did he borrow some of the chief ideas in it from the Psalms 29? The reader will observe several coincidences.

Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,

Emissamque hyemem sensit Neptunus, et imis

Stagna refusa vadis: graviter commotus, et alto

Prospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda.

Disjectam AEneae toto videt aequore classem,

Fluctibus oppressos Troas, coelique ruina.

* * * * *

Eurum ad se zephyrumque vocat: dehinc talia fatur

* * * * *

Sic ait: et dicto citius tumida aequora placat,

Collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit.

Cymothoe simul, et Triton adnixus acuto

Detrudunt naves scopulo; levat ipse tridenti;

Et vastas aperit syrtes, et temperat aequor,

Atque rotis summas levibus perlabitur undas.

* * * * *

Sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquam

Prospiciens genitor, caeloque invectus aperto,

Flectit equos, curruque volans dat lora secundo.

AEn. lib. i., ver. 124.

"Mean time, imperial Neptune heard the sound

Of raging billows breaking on the ground.

Displeased, and fearing for his watery reign,

He rears his awful head above the main,

Serene in majesty; then rolled his eyes

Around the space of earth, of seas, and skies.

He saw the Trojan fleet dispersed, distressed,

By stormy winds and wintry heaven oppressed.

* * * * *

He summoned Eurus and the Western Blast,

And first an angry glance on both he cast;

Then thus rebuked.

* * * * *

He spoke; and while he spoke, he soothed the sea,

Dispelled the darkness, and restored the day.

Cymothoe, Triton, and the sea-green train

Of beauteous nymphs, and daughters of the main,

Clear from the rocks the vessels with their hands;

The god himself with ready trident stands,

And opes the deep, and spreads the moving sands;

Then heaves them off the shoals: where'er he guides

His finny coursers, and in triumph rides,

The waves unruffle, and the sea subsides.

* * * * *

So when the father of the flood appears,

And o'er the seas his sovereign trident rears,

Their fury fails: he skims the liquid plains

High on his chariot; and with loosened reins,

Majestic moves along, and awful peace maintains.

DRYDEN.

Our God, Jehovah, sitteth upon the flood: yea, Jehovah sitteth King for ever.

The heathen god is drawn by his sea-horse, and assisted in his work by subaltern deities: Jehovah sits on the flood an everlasting Governor, ruling all things by his will, maintaining order, and dispensing strength and peace to his people. The description of the Roman poet is fine; that of the Hebrew poet, majestic and sublime.

ANALYSIS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH PSALM

There are two parts in this Psalm: -

I. The exhortation itself, Psalms 29:1.

II. The reasons on which it is founded. These are drawn,

1. From his power, Psalms 29:3.

2. From the protection he affords to his people, Psalms 29:11.

I. The exhortation, which is singular. It proceeds from a king, and not from a common man; a prince, a great prince; and reminds princes and great men that there is One greater than they; and that, therefore, they should yield unto him his due honour and worship.

1. That they freely yield and give it up: for which he is very earnest, as appears from the urged repetition, give, give, give.

2. That in giving this, they must understand they are giving him no more than his due: "Give him the honour due to his name."

3. What they are to give: glory and strength. 1. They must make his name to be glorious. 2. They must attribute their strength to him.

4. That they bow before and adore him.

5. That they exhibit this honour in the proper PLACE: "In his temple; and in the beauty of holiness."

II. And that they may be more easily persuaded to give the Lord the honour due to his name, he proposes two reasons to be considered: -

First. His power; for although they be mighty ones, his power is infinitely beyond theirs; which is seen in his works of nature; but, omitting many others, he makes choice of the thunder, and the effects it produces.

1. From its nature: for howsoever philosophers may assign it to natural causes, yet religious men will look higher; and, when they hear those fearful noises in the air, will confess, with the psalmist, that it is the voice of the Lord, which he repeats here seven times; and this voice has affrighted the stoutest-hearted sinners, and the mightiest of tyrants.

2. From the place where this voice is given: "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; upon many waters."

3. From its force and power. They are not vain and empty noises, but strike a terror: "The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty."

4. From its effects; which he explains by an induction: -

1. Upon the strong TREES, the cedars of Lebanon: "The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars," c.

2. Upon the firmest MOUNTAINS, even Lebanon and Sirion for sometimes the thunder is accompanied with an earthquake, and the mountains skip like a calf.

3. Upon the air; which is, to common minds, no small wonder; for, as nothing is more contrary to fire than water, it is next to miraculous how, out of a watery cloud, such flames of fire should be darted. "The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire."

4. In the brute creation; for it makes them fear and leave their caves, dens, and woods; yea, makes some of them cast their young: "The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness," c. "it maketh the hinds to calve."

5. In the mighty rains which follow upon it; when the cataracts of heaven are opened, and such floods of water follow that a man might fear that the earth was about to be overwhelmed by a second inundation. Out of all which he draws this conclusion: "The Lord sitteth upon the flood; the Lord sitteth a King for ever;" therefore, the earth is not destroyed.

Secondly. His second reason is drawn from the works of grace. 1. When He moves men to acknowledge his voice, and to give him glory in his temple: "In his temple doth every man speak of his honour." 2. By the security He gives to his people, even in the time when he utters his voice, and speaks in thunder; whereas the wicked then tremble and quake: "The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace," i.e., bodily security, and peace of conscience.