Psalm 29:6 Kommentar

It is the probable conjecture of some very good interpreters that David penned this psalm upon occasion, and just at the time, of a great storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, as the eighth psalm was his meditation in a moon-light night and the nineteenth in a sunny morning. It is good to take occasion from the sensible operations of God's power in the kingdom of nature to give glory to him. So composed was David, and so cheerful, even in a dreadful tempest, when others trembled, that then he penned this psalm; for, "though the earth be removed, yet will we not fear." I. He calls upon the great ones of the world to give glory to God (Psa 29:1, Psa 29:2). II. To convince them of the goodness of that God whom they were to adore, he takes notice of his power and terror in the thunder, and lightning, and thunder-showers (Psa 29:3-9), his sovereign dominion over the world (Psa 29:10), and his special favour to his church (Psa 29:11). Great and high thoughts of God should fill us in singing this psalm. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 29 A Psalm of David. In the Vulgate Latin version is added, "at the finishing of the tabernacle"; suggesting that this psalm was composed at that time, and on that occasion; not at the finishing of the tabernacle by Moses, but at the finishing of the tent or tabernacle which David made for the ark in Zion, Sa2 6:17. The title in the Arabic version is, "a prophecy concerning the incarnation, ark, and tabernacle.'' In the Septuagint version, from whence the Vulgate seems to have taken the clause, it is, at the "exodion", "exit", or "going out of the tabernacle"; that is, of the feast of tabernacles; and which was the eighth day of the feast, and was called which word the Septuagint renders the word here used, Lev 23:36; though it was on the first of the common days of this feast that this psalm was sung, as Maimonides (w) says. Some think it was composed when the psalmist was in a thunder storm, or had lately been in one, which he in a very beautiful manner describes. Kimchi thinks it refers to the times of the Messiah; and it may indeed be very well interpreted of the Gospel, and is very suitable to Gospel times. (w) Hilchot Tamidin, c. 10. s. 11.

He maketh them also to skip like a calf,.... That is, the cedars, the branches being broken off, or they torn up by the roots, and tossed about by the wind; which motion is compared to that of a calf that leaps and skips about; Lebanon and Sirion, like a young unicorn; that is, these mountains move and skip about through the force of thunder, and the violence of an earthquake attending it; so historians report that mountains have moved from place to place, and they have met and dashed against one another (d). Sirion was a mountain in Judea near to Lebanon, and is the same with Hermon; which was called by the Sidonians Sirion, and by the Amorites Shenir, Deu 3:9. This may regard the inward motions of the mind, produced by the Gospel of Christ under a divine influence; see Isa 35:6. (d) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 83. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11.

"And shall bruise them as the calf of Libanus" [Psalm 29:6]. And when their proud exaltation has been cut off, He will lay them low after the imitation of His Own humility, who like a calf was led to slaughter [Isaiah 53:7] by the nobility of this world. "For the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers agreed together against the Lord, and against His Christ." "And the Beloved is as the young of the unicorns." For even He the Beloved, and the Only One of the Father, "emptied Himself" of His glory; and was made man, [Philippians 2:7] like a child of the Jews, that were "ignorant of God's righteousness," [Romans 10:3] and proudly boasting of their own righteousness as peculiarly theirs.

The people who believe, freed from that error [idolatry] and called beloved for that reason, will be invincible and unconquerable in being rid of polytheism and worshiping one Godhead.

Likewise, "And he will reduce them like a calf." Here the perfection of conversion is set forth. Mount Lebanon is very rich in pastures, and the priests, on account of the abundance of victims, had cattle graze there. And therefore, "He will reduce them like a calf of Lebanon," that is, he will humble them like a calf of Lebanon, so that they may offer themselves as a sacrifice, just as the calf nourished on Mount Lebanon is offered. And this is evident, because many great people exposed themselves to martyrdom for Christ: Mt. 22: "My bulls and fatted calves have been slaughtered." "And the beloved one, as the offspring of unicorns." This can be read in two ways. First, so that it signifies the authority of the crushing; as if to say: the Beloved One will do these things. And according to this, the Beloved One is placed in the singular, as having authority. "This is my Son," etc. Mt. 3. And he will do these things as the offspring of unicorns, that is, as the son of the Jews, because the mystery of the incarnation accomplished these things. And the Jews are called unicorns inasmuch as they glory in the worship of one God. Or he is called a unicorn because according to his eternal generation he is without a mother, and according to his temporal generation he was a son without a father. In another way, "The Beloved One," etc., that is, Christ, as an example of this crushing, will suffer, giving others an example of suffering: 1 Pet. 2: "Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you might follow in his footsteps." And he will suffer not as God, but as the offspring of the unicorns, that is, of the Jews. Let us return, therefore, to the literal sense.

Next he recalls the benefits bestowed after the crossing. And this can be understood in two ways. First, through the removal of evil. Second, through the conferring of goods, at "The voice of the Lord shaking." Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he sets forth the benefit. Second, the ease of conferring the benefit, at "And he will reduce to pieces." He says therefore: "The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars." Cedars are great men; and this signifies the Amorites, who were tall and strong: Amos 2: "I destroyed the Amorite before their face, whose height was the height of cedars, and he was as strong as an oak." Likewise, in the entire land that had been promised to them, there were Amorites and other nations who could not be exterminated and subjugated until the time of David. All the Amorites still dwelt around Lebanon, as is said in Josh. 15. And therefore he says, "The Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon," that is, the Amorites who still dwelt there, "and he will reduce them to pieces like a calf of Lebanon, and Sharon like the offspring of unicorns." The Hebrews have it thus: "And he will reduce them like a calf of Lebanon and Sharon like the offspring of wild oxen." And the literal sense is this: because there is a difference between wild oxen and domestic cattle, since wild oxen are nourished in marshlands, while cattle are on the mountains. For on Mount Lebanon there were many pastures where great cedars grew. Likewise there were calves and cattle there. He says therefore: it will be as easy for God to crush the cedars of Lebanon as if he were crushing a calf of Sharon. Sharon is a certain place: Is. 35: "The beauty of Carmel and Sharon." This place is watery, where wild oxen graze. As if to say: even Sharon he will crush like the offspring of a wild ox, or a calf.

Trust in God is encouraged by the celebration of His mighty power as illustrated in His dominion over the natural world, in some of its most terrible and wonderful exhibitions. (Psa 29:1-11) Give--or, "ascribe" (Deu 32:3). mighty--or, "sons of the mighty" (Psa 89:6). Heavenly beings, as angels.