XXIX. This is a piece of storm-music which the poetry of no country or age has surpassed, so vividly, or rather audibly, is the tempest — and an Oriental tempest — presented to us. To the Hebrew a storm, at once terrible and magnificent, was the direct manifestation of the grandeur of God, and here... [ Continue Reading ]
YE MIGHTY. — Heb., _benê-elîm._ Literally, _sons of gods_ (not _sons of God,_ since _elîm_ is never used by itself like _Elohîm_ for God). If, however, which is possible, it is used in a general sense for beings of supernatural power, but inferior to God, the expression _benê-elîm_ for angels would... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. — Better, _in holy attire;_ an image borrowed from the splendid vestments of the priests and Levites (2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalms 110:3). So the presences that attend the courts of heaven are bidden to be robed in their most magnificent attire, as for a high and sacred cere... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VOICE. — The invocation to the angels over, the storm bursts, and seven successive peals of thunder mark its course of fury and destruction. It is first heard rolling over the waters from the west (comp. 1 Kings 18:44), unless the “waters” and “many waters,” as in Psalms 18:11, refer to the gath... [ Continue Reading ]
POWERFUL; FULL OF MAJESTY. — Better literally, as in LXX. and Vulg., _in might, in majesty. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_5_)_ THE VOICE OF THE LORD BREAKETH. — Better more literally, _The voice of Jehovah breaking the cedars, and Jehovah hath shivered the cedars of Lebanon._ (The verb in the second clause is an intensive of that used in the first.) The range of Lebanon receives the first fury of the storm. Its ceda... [ Continue Reading ]
Those trees that are not snapped off, bending to the storm, and swaying in the wind, seem to bound like wild buffaloes. (Comp. Psalms 114:4.) SIRION, according to Deuteronomy 3:9 (which see), was the Sidonian name of Hermon. Here the whole of the range of Anti-Libanus. UNICORN. — See Psalms 22:21,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VOICE... — Literally, _the voice of Jehovah cleaving flames of fire._ The word is used of hewingstone and wood (Isaiah 10:15). The reference to lightning in this verse is universally admitted, some even seeing an allusion to the brief and sudden flash in the single clause of which the sentence i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VOICE OF THE LORD SHAKETH. — Literally, _maketh to tremble._ The allusion is, doubtless, to the effect of the storm on the sands of the desert. The tempest has moved southward over Palestine, and spends its last fury on the southern wilderness, and the poet seizes on what is one of the most stri... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKETH THE HINDS TO CALVE. — Literally, _maketh the hinds writhe_ (_with pain_). (See margin. Comp. Job 39:1, where the hind’s habit of hiding its young for safety is alluded to, a habit which the violence of the storm makes it forget.) Both Plutarch and Pliny notice the custom of shepherds to colle... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SITTETH. — Better, _Jehovah was throned upon the flood, and Jehovah will be throned a king for ever._ The word translated “flood” is exclusively, except in this place, applied to the Deluge (Genesis 6:7). Hence we must suppose that the poet was recalled to the thought of the great Flood by... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD WILL GIVE. — This verse appears to have been a liturgic addition, to give the poem a religious tone. (See Introduction.)... [ Continue Reading ]