Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Psalms 29

PSALM 29

Psa 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" (Psa 89:6). Heavenly beings, as angels.

2. name--as (Psa 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 (Psa 18:11; Jr 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 Psa 29:2, and speak or cry, "Glory!" By "temple," or "palace" (God's residence, Psa 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."