Psalm XXIX
1 Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name;
Worship the Lord in the heauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters:
The God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many w:itt’rs.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breakcth the cedars; yea, the LonI brcaketh the
cedars of Lebanon. G He maketh them also to skip like a calf: Lebanon ami Sirion like a yming unicorn.
7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness;
The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
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.
10 The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.
11 The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people
with peace.
Our attention is called seven times to the “voice of Jehovah,” c’”’*** nslmn,
as well as his
uttering majesty. The psalm presents such adoration as the i“^°p’<’ Lord Jesus (himself” mighty God “) could present to the Father, in the days of his flesh, when listening amid the hills round Nazareth, or at the foot of Lebanon by the sources of double-founted Jordan, to the voice of his Father’s awful thunder. The redeemed, too, feel that such scenes furnish occasion for adoring the majesty and omnipotence of Godhead. At the same time, this seems to be more especially a Psalm of adora- me time. tion for that great and notable Day of the Lord, when the Lamb’s song shall be sung.” Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty — for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest,” (Psalm XV. 9). It is, in this view, a Psalm to, rather than for, our King. Dr Allix at once concludes,” This Psalm containeth an exhortation to all the princes of the world to submit themselves to the Messiah’s empire, after he shall have re-established his people, and given as great proof of his vengeance on
100 PSALM XX]X. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE’s ADOEATION
his enemies as He did in the time of the Flood,” In this last clause He alludes to verse 1 0, and to the true rendering of it, (Hengstenberg, &c.)
“The Lord at tlieDditge sat, ib^’d? 2’iiy
“The Lord for ever sits, as Kiny.”
We might, no doubt, apply every clause of it to the Lord’s display of his majesty in any tremendous thunder-storm. An awe-struck spectator cries as the lightnings play and the thunder rolls; “The God of Glory thundereth I” (ver. 5). “The voice of Jehovah is breaking the cedars!” and as the crash is heard, “The Lord has broken the cedars of Lebanon!” Travellers tell us of the solemnity and terrific force of storms in the East. But the thunders of the Great Day shall most of all call forth these strains to the Lord the King. Earth at large, and the heavens, too, shall shake on that day, when “the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem,” (Joel iii. 1 6); while Israel’s land, from Lebanon on the north to Kadesh on the south, shall be in the vortex of that storm. Meanwhile, secure as Noah in his ark. He and his redeemed witness the storm sweep along, beating down the wicked; and they burst into this song, (See Isaiah XXX. 32): —
“Give unto (he Lord, 0 ye sons of the might ij, {i.e., ye mighty ones in
heaven and earth), “Give unto the Lord glory and strength.” “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.” (Yer. 1, 2.)
Like the voice of much people in heaven heard by John (Rev. xix. 1), saying, —
“Allehiiah!
“Salvation and glory!
” And honour and power!
“Unto the Lord our God!”
followed up by the call “Praise our God — small and great,” while the mviltitude who sing appear in their “fine linen, clean and white,” corresponding to the description here (verse 2),
“Worship the Lord in the heard ies of Holiness’’ — in holy attire, in sanctuary array, in the beautiful robes of the
OF THE GOD OF GLORY. lOl
priesthood. And then, again, verse 9 seems to tell of Earth filled with his glory.
‘^ In his temple everything saith ‘Glury T” ps its all — the all of the temple.)
Happy they on whose side this Jehovah stands! (ver. 11). He can say to the soul as Jesus said to the sea in Mark iv. 39, “Peace.” That this is the full reference of the Psalm, we may fully believe; and yet this reference by no means forbids our using it as an appropriate song to the Lord when celebrating the majesty of his voice heard in the storms that sweep over the land, from Lebanon on the north to Kadesh on the south; or that voice heard in the hearts of men, when He stirs their conscience and speaks his message of grace.
It is the same Lord, and the same majesty, that is shewn forth in scenes of nature, in the doings of grace, and in the Ti’ieefoui ap-
‘.. l)lication.
full outburst of glory. Our Lord, in the days of his flesh, might use it in that threefold way, and we still do the same. We celebrate his present bestowal of “strength” and of “peace,” in verse 1 1, while still we wait for the completeness of both in the day when we shall get the “grace that shall be brought us at the Appearing of Jesus Christ.” The Psalm is thus fitted for manifold occasions, though most specially for the day of the Lord, being throughout
‘’• The Righteous Ones adoration of the God of Glory, in the Day of His storm*
* Barclay’s Paraphrase will give the reader some help in filling up the pregnant brevity of these magnificent verses. We give a part of it wherein he refers to the events of the Cross, as much as to the events of the “Great Day,” making the idea of a storm only the colouring of the style.
Ver. 3.” Messiah’s voice is in the cloud,
The God of gloiy thunders loud,
Messiah rides along the floods,
He treads upon the flying clouds.
Ver. 4. Messiah’s voice is full of power,
His lightnings play when tempests lower
Ver. 5. Messiah’s voice the cedars breaks,
While Lebanon’s foundation quakes:
Messiah’s voice removes the hills,
And all the plains with rivers fills.
Ver. 6. The voice of their expiring God
Shall make the rocks to start abroad;