The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 208

EXPOSITION. denly heard muttering in the height of PSALU XXIX, heaven, "upon the waters;" ;.e. tho wntcn stored in the clouds that float on high in Tms is a psnlm of praise to God, and at the the nir. The God of glory-the God sot 1;:1.mo time one intended to comfort and cheer forth in vers. 1, 2-thuudereth. It is he his people. It consists of three parts: (l)An himself, accorcling to the psalmist, no minor introduction (vers. 1, 2), in which" the sons agent. The Lord (Jeho\"ah) is upon the many (or, great) waters (comp. Job xxxvii. of the mighty" nre called upon to praise 2-5 and Ps. xviii. 7-14). and worship God; (2) a main body, in which Ver. 4.-The voice of the Lord is powerful; the might of God is set forth by the descrip- litero.Ily, in power, or with power (LXX., ;,, tion of a thnnderstorm (vers. 3-9); and loxoi). The voice of the Lord is full of (3) an application (vcrs. 10, II), in which majesty; literally, in majesty, or wit/1 majesty. Two somewhat distant crashes, the people arc called upon to see in the each louder than the preceding oue, are power and majesty of God, as placed before thought to be represented-the storm sweep- them, a ground for conficlence in his ability ing on, o.nd graduo.lly drawing nearer and to save and protect them. The authorship more near. of David is not questioned. The psalm forms Ver. 5.-The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. At length down swoops the a portion of the synagogue service on the hurricane - wiud and rain and forked first day of the Feast of Pentecost. fl~hes of lightning all blended together, and violently tearing through the forest. Ver. 1.-Give unto the Lord, 0 ye mighty; The tall cedars-the pricle and glory of literally, ye sons of the mighty. It is dis- Syria and Palestine - nre snapped like puted who are meant. Most commentators reeds, and fall in n tangled mass. The Lord, suggest the holy angels (Rosenmiiller, Heng- who erstwhile" planted them" (Ps. civ.16), stenberg, 'Speaker's Commentary,' 'Four now breaketh the cedars of Lebanon- Friends,' Professor Alexander, Cheyne,etc.); breo.keth and destroyeth them in his fury. but some think the heathen (Michaelis, Such storms, though rare in Palestine and Kay); and others, the mighty ones of the Syria, nre sometimes witnessed; and de- earth generally (Koster), to be meant. Give scriptions have been given by travellers unto the Lord glory and strength; i.e. which bear out this one of David (comp. praise his Name, ascribe to him glory and Wilson, 'Travels,' p. HG; Cunningham strength an,i every other excellency. Gcikie, vol. ii. pp. 57, 335; Tristram, 'Lo.nd Ver. 2.-Give unto the Lord the glory of Israel,' pp. 40, 19~, 227, etc.). dne nnto his Name (comp. Ps. xcvi. 8); lite- Ver. 6.-Ke maketh them also to skip rally, the gwry of hia Name; i.e. the glory like a calf (comp. Pd. xviii. 7). As the properly belonging to it. Worship the Lord thunder crashes and rolls and reverberates in the beauty of holiness (comp. Ps. xcvi. !l). among the mountains, it seems as though This is genemlly explained as an exhorta- the mountains themselves shook, and were tion to worship God in beautiful vestments, moved from their places. This is expressed or with all the accessories of n beautiful with extreme vividness, though no doubt ceremonial; but Dr. Alexander rightly with truly Oriental hyperbole, in the present questions whether the beauty inherent in passage. Lebanon and Sirion like a yonng holiness itself is not meant. The apostle unicorn; ro.ther, lilce a young wild oz. speaks of "the ornament of a meek ancl Lebanon and Sirion, or Hermon (Dcut. quiet spirit" (l Pet. iii. 4). And in goodness iii. 9), a.re the two principal mountains of and holiness of c,very kind there is a sweet- Palestine, Hermon being visible throughout ness ancl grace which may well be called almost the whole extent of the Holy Land, "beauty," seeing that it has a close analogy and Lebanon enjoying a commnnding with the beautiful in external nature aud position beyond Galileo to the north. The in art. The Greeks expre88ed physical storm which shook these lofty mountain- beauty and moral perfection by one and the tracts would indeed be a manifestation of same term_.,./) Kall.ov. power. Ver. 3.-The voice of the Lord is upon the Ver. 7.-The voioe of the Lord divideth we.ten. The description of G xl's might in the flames of fire ; rather, the f!oioo of the the thunderstorm now begin, with one of Lord hetDeth out ftameB of fire. The poet the sudden transitions which David loves. describes the appea.mnces of things, not the " Tb• voice of the Lord "-alreacly identified actual renlity. To him it seemij us 1f the witll the thunder in fs. xvii~ 13-ill Bild- t)lqqcler, rolling along tho sky, hcwecl o"t P!I. xxtx. 1-11.) 'l'HE BOOK OF PSALMS. 213