8 The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness; Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
That shaketh the earth out of its place, And the pillars thereof tremble;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, Though the mountains tremble with the swelling thereof. Selah
Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 29
Commentary on Psalms 29 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 29
Ps 29:1-11. 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.
1. Give—or, "ascribe" (De 32:3).
mighty—or, "sons of the mighty" (Ps 89:6). Heavenly beings, as angels.
2. name—as (Ps 5:11; 8:1).
beauty of holiness—the loveliness of a spiritual worship, of which the perceptible beauty of the sanctuary worship was but a type.
3. The voice of the Lord—audible exhibition of His power in the tempest, of which thunder is a specimen, but not the uniform or sole example.
the waters—the clouds or vapors (Ps 18:11; Jer 10:13).
4. powerful … majesty—literally, "in power, in majesty."
5, 6. The tall and large cedars, especially of Lebanon, are shivered, utterly broken. The waving of the mountain forests before the wind is expressed by the figure of skipping or leaping.
7. divideth—literally, "hews off." The lightning, like flakes and splinters hewed from stone or wood, flies through the air.
8. the wilderness—especially Kadesh, south of Judea, is selected as another scene of this display of divine power, as a vast and desolate region impresses the mind, like mountains, with images of grandeur.
9. Terror-stricken animals and denuded forests close the illustration. In view of this scene of awful sublimity, God's worshippers respond to the call of Ps 29:2, and speak or cry, "Glory!" By "temple," or "palace" (God's residence, Ps 5:7), may here be meant heaven, or the whole frame of nature, as the angels are called on for praise.
10, 11. Over this terrible raging of the elements God is enthroned, directing and restraining by sovereign power; and hence the comfort of His people. "This awful God is ours, our Father and our Love."