Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 29:10
The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King forever.
10. The Lord sat as king at the Flood;
yea, the Lord sitteth as king for ever (R.V.).
According to the A.V. the flood appears to mean the deluge of rain which falls in the storm. But the word mabbl is found nowhere else but in Genesis 6-11, and is best explained by its use there. The storm reminds the poet of the great typical example of judgement and mercy, in which Jehovah’s judicial sovereignty was exhibited.
Literally we may render, sat for the Flood; took His seat on His throne in order to execute that memorable judgement (Psa 9:7).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10, 11. Conclusion. The storm passes, but HE whose glory it declares is the Eternal King, the Judge of the world, the Guardian of His people. Awful as is His power, they need not fear. To them it speaks of peace.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord sitteth upon the flood – God is enthroned upon the flood, or presides over it. The obvious meaning is, that God is enthroned upon the storm, or presides over that which produces such consternation. It is not undirected; it is not the result of chance or fate; it is not produced by mere physical laws; it is not without restraint – without a ruler – for Yahweh presides over all, and all this may be regarded as his throne. Compare the notes at Psa 18:7-11. See also Psa 97:2. The word used here is commonly applied to the deluge in the time of Noah, but there would be an obvious unfitness in supposing here that the mind of the psalmist referred to that, or that the course of thought would be directed to that, and it is most natural, therefore, to suppose that the reference is to the floods above – the vast reservoirs of waters in the clouds, pouring down, amidst the fury of the tempest, floods of rain upon the earth.
The Lord sitteth King for ever – This is an appropriate close of the entire description; this is a thought which tends to make the mind calm and confiding when the winds howl and the thunder rolls; this accords with the leading purpose of the psalm – the call upon the sons of the mighty Psa 29:1 to ascribe strength and glory to God. From all the terrors of the storm; from all that is fearful, on the waters, in the forests, on the hills, when it would seem as if everything would be swept away – the mind turns calmly to the thought that God is enthroned upon the clouds; that He presides over all that produces this widespread alarm and commotion, and that He will reign forever and ever.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 29:10
The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever:
Gods throne upon the flood; or, Divine control
There is a well-known line of an English poet, which tells us to look through Nature up to Natures God.
And not a few of our national poets have nobly done this. But the Bible is the supreme example. Its writers did not refuse to look at Nature; they were ever doing so.
I. That the course of events on earth is full of changes. Calm today, storm to-morrow.
II. but jehovah sits upon the flood. The changes of human life do not disturb Him. Yet more, He controls them all, He sitteth King for ever. Natural science shows how the smallest and seemingly most insignificant events are all guided by law. Nothing is arbitrary or of chance. God watches over and controls them all.
1. Scripture asserts this. There may be seasons when His people seem to be forsaken so that their enemies ask exultingly, Where is now their God? And yet, even then, the answer is, Our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.
2. Fulfilled prophecies confirm it. For example, the Advent of Christ. That was predicted seven hundred years before He came, and that He should be born at Bethlehem.
3. The continuance of true religion in spite of all opposition.
III. the manner in which events are overruled.
1. By general laws. See the illustration of the text, the flood. That obeys the law of its nature. Now one of Gods general laws is this–that sin is always followed by suffering–and another is–that generation shall be followed by generation: wicked men are removed to make way for better.
2. By special interposition. See the miracles.
IV. lessons.
1. Let the Church of Christ be comforted.
2. Also each individual Christian. (F. Tucker, B. A.)
King at the flood
The king is revealed in the time of the flood. Smaller personalities appear kingly when the waters are smooth; they disappear at the flood. Military officers are very much alike when they are on the parade ground; their genius and quality are revealed on the battlefield. The captain of the boat and the landsmen seem equally efficient when the boat glides over still waters, and the days pass in a long picnic, and games are played on the deck; but when the whirlwind awakes, and the boat staggers like a drunken man, the king is seen enthroned! I will measure and judge any one who seeks the throne of my life by his demeanour and worth amid my crises. Among all the candidates for honour and homage I will yield the crown of my obedience to the one who proves to be king at the flood. Let us look round upon two or three men who have come to one of lifes emergencies, and who are in need of a sovereign helper.
1. I am come unto deep waters where the floods overflow me. What is the character of this mans crisis? Iniquities prevail against me. He is the victim of unclean desire. The inner rooms of the spirit, the holy place, is defiled. He is unable to contemplate the beautiful and to love it. The floods of carnality overflow him. Or perhaps the victim is overborne by the spirit of envy which too frequently manifest itself in deceit and treachery, or he is possessed by the passion of jealousy which makes him a conspirator against his neighbours good. Whatever may be the type of the mans besetment, the flood is at the gate, and he is overpowered by the invasion of its unclean deeps. What shall we say to him? One would perhaps advise him that the secret of his redemption will consist in plain living and high thinking. But the counsel is worthless. We are advising a man who is overborne by appetite to control the appetite, and suggesting that a man who is the victim of his own thought should order it in beautiful regularity. How fares it if we call in the Lord Himself? The Masters speech is full of healing confidence and hope. He speaks of a clean heart and a right spirit. He not only unfolds an ideal, but He offers the power by which it can be realized. The unclean channels are flushed and cleansed, and all the powers in the life are quickened and revived.
2. Save me, O Lord! for the waters are come into my soul. What is the type of this mans sorrow? It is a flood of trouble, perhaps arising from common circumstances such as we are familiar with in our own life.
(1) Here is a case of slow cancer. The growth is eating its way, but, oh, so slowly! Day after day, and night after night, the wolf gnaws at the vitals. Let us speak to the victim. What shall we say to her? Matthew Arnold once said:–In poetry our race will find an ever sure and surer stay. What kind of poetry can we give to the cancer-ridden? If God be gone and the Man of Nazareth is only a pleasing fiction, and immortality only a winsome dream, whatever we offer will be only as dead ashes; gravel where the soul is pining for bread. Let us call in the Lord God. The very thought of His appearing is comforting. What I do thou knowest not now. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee.
(2) Here are a father and mother whose son is in the far country. Their hopes are blighted, their ambition is overthrown. They are overwhelmed, and the waters have come into their souls. What says the world about their child? He is too far gone; . . . he is a hopeless case; . . . he is too old to mend; . . . there is no remedy for a bad heart. The world has no ministry to offer in the time of the flood. Let us call in the Lord God. Here is His speech: What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine and go after that which is lost until he find it? What a hopeful and uplifting word to speak to a broken-hearted father!
3. All Thy waves and Thy billows have gone over me. The sorrows of death compass me. This type of overwhelming sorrow is one of the most familiar sights in the common way. Here is a beautiful wedded, life. The early intimacy was like a spring day. The wedding was only the welding of ties already sanctified. The home was a haunt of love and peace. Then a storm came, and the billows rolled against the little sanctuary. The sorrows of death compassed it, and the wife is gone I Now, leave God outside, and let us go inside. What shall we say to the bereaved husband? Shall we tell him that other friends remain, that loss is common to the race? Let us call in Jesus. Thy brother shall rise again. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye shall be also. There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God. Weeping may endure for a night, but-joy cometh in the morning. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Who is King? The Lord sat as King at the flood. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
A turbulent scene and a tranquil God
This psalm shows the influence of Godliness upon the intellectual faculties, the social sympathies, and the religious instincts of human nature. The text gives us:–
I. A turbulent scene. A flood. A flood suggests–
1. Commotion. The moral domain is all commotion. Look at it spiritually: There is no peace, saith my God, etc. Look at it socially,–nationally. Souls are all in commotion here.
2. Innovation. It was broken down barriers, etc. So have souls.
3. Distress. It is furious and violent, etc. The moral world is not like a river, flowing on peacefully in its channel. Nor like the ocean, moving, even when most tumultuous, within its own proper boundaries. It is a flood.
II. A tranquil God. The Lord sitteth. This implies on His part–
1. A consciousness of His right to reign. If He had any moral misgivings He would not be at ease. An usurper could not be tranquil over such a tumultuous empire.
2. A consciousness of a supremacy of power to reign. He has no feeling of incapacity, lie can control with consummate ease the whole. We rejoice in His supremacy over the flood. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood] Jehovah lammabbul yasheb, “Jehovah sat upon the deluge.” It was Jehovah that commanded those waters to be upon the earth. He directed the storm; and is here represented, after all the confusion and tempest, as sitting on the floods, appeasing the fury of the jarring elements; and reducing all things, by his governing influence, to regularity and order.
Sitteth king for ever.] He governs universal nature; whatsoever he wills he does, in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, and in all deep places. Every phenomenon is under his government and control. There is something very like this in Virgil’s description of Neptune appeasing the storm raised by Juno for the destruction of the fleet of AEneas. See at the end of this Psalm. See Clarke on Ps 29:11.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He moderateth and ruleth (which is oft signified by sitting, this being the posture of a judge, or ruler; of which see Psa 9:7-9; 47:8; Joe 3:12) the most abundant and violent inundations of waters, which sometimes fall from the clouds upon the earth; where they would do much mischief if God did not prevent it. And these are here fitly mentioned, as being many times the companions of great thunders. And this may be alleged as another reason why Gods people did praise and worship him in his temple, because as he sendeth terrible tempests, and thunders, and floods, so he also restrains and overrules them. But most interpreters refer this to Noahs flood, to whom the word here used is elsewhere appropriated. And so the words may be rendered, The Lord did sit upon, or at, the flood in Noahs time, when it is probable those vehement rains were accompanied with terrible thunders. And so having spoken of the manifestation of Gods power in storms and tempests in general, he takes an occasion to run back to that ancient and most dreadful example of that kind, in which the Divine power was most eminently seen. And having mentioned that instance, he adds, that as God showed himself to be the King and the Judge of the world at that time, so he doth still sit, and will sit, as
King for ever, sending such tempests when it pleaseth him. And therefore his people have great reason to worship and serve him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10, 11. Over this terribleraging of the elements God is enthroned, directing and restraining bysovereign power; and hence the comfort of His people. “Thisawful God is ours, our Father and our Love.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The Lord sitteth upon the flood,…. Noah’s flood; which is always designed by the word here used, the Lord sat and judged the old world for its wickedness, and brought a flood upon them, and destroyed them; and then he abated it, sent a wind to assuage the waters, stopped up the windows of heaven, and the fountains of the great deep, and restrained rain from heaven; and he now sits upon the confidence of waters in the heavens, at the time of a thunder storm, which threatens with an overflowing flood; and he remembers his covenant, and restrains them from destroying the earth any more: and he sits upon the floods of ungodly men, and stops their rage and fury, and suffers them not to proceed to overwhelm his people and interest; and so the floods of afflictions of every kind, and the floods of Satan’s temptations, and of errors and heresies, are at his control, and he permits them to go so far, and no farther;
yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever: he is King of the whole world, over angels and men, and even the kings of the earth; and he is also King of saints, in whose hearts he reigns by his Spirit and grace; and the Gospel dispensation is more eminently his kingdom, in which his spiritual government is most visible; and this will more appear in the latter day glory, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth; and after which the Lord Christ will reign with his saints here a thousand years, and then with them to all eternity, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Luther renders it: “The Lord sitteth to prepare a Flood,” thus putting meaning into the unintelligible rendering of the Vulgate and lxx; and in fact a meaning that accords with the language – for is most certainly intended to be understood after the analogy of , Psa 122:5, cf. Psa 9:8 – just as much as with the context; for the poet has not thus far expressly referred to the torrents of rain, in which the storm empties itself. Engelhardt also ( Lutherische Zeitschrift, 1861, 216f.), Kurtz ( Bibel und Astronomie, S. 568, Aufl. 4), Riehm ( Liter. – Blatt of the Allgem. Kirchen-Zeit., 1864, S. 110), and others understand by the quasi-flood of the torrent of rain accompanying the lightning and thunder. But the word is not , but , and (Syr. momul ) occurs exclusively in Gen 6-11 as the name of the great Flood. Every tempest, however, calls to mind this judgment and its merciful issue, for it comes before us in sacred history as the first appearance of rain with lightning and thunder, and of the bow in the clouds speaking its message of peace ( Genesis, S. 276). The retrospective reference to this event is also still further confirmed by the aorist which follows the perfect (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis i. 208). Jahve – says the poet – sat (upon His throne) at the Flood (to execute it), and sits (enthroned) in consequence thereof, or since that time, as this present revelation of Him in the tempest shows, as King for ever, inasmuch as He rules down here upon earth from His throne in the heavens (Psa 115:16) in wrath and in mercy, judging and dispensing blessing. Here upon earth He has a people, whom from above He endows with a share of His own might and blesses with peace, while the tempests of His wrath burst over their foes. How expressive is as the closing word of this particular Psalm! It spans the Psalm like a rain-bow. The opening of the Psalm shows us the heavens opened and the throne of God in the midst of the angelic songs of praise, and the close of the Psalm shows us, on earth, His people victorious and blessed with peace ( as in Gen 24:1
(Note: The Holy One, blessed be He-says the Mishna, Uksin iii. 12, with reference to this passage in the Psalms-has not found any other vessel ( ) to hold the blessing specially allotted to Israel but peace.))
in the midst of Jahve’s voice of anger, which shakes all things. Gloria in excelsis is its beginning, and pax in terris its conclusion.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10. Jehovah sitteth upon the flood. Some think that David here alludes to that memorable instance of God’s vengeance, when he drowned the world at once by the flood, (618) and thus testified to all ages that he is the judge of mankind. I agree to this in part, but extend his meaning still farther. In my opinion, he prosecutes the former subject, putting us in mind that those floods, which still threaten destruction to the earth, are controlled by the providence of God in such a way, as to make it evident that it is he alone who governs all things at all times. (619) David, therefore, mentions this among other proofs of God’s power, that even when the elements appear to be mingled and confounded together by the utmost fury of the weather, God controls and moderates these commotions from his throne in heaven. He accordingly adds, for the sake of explanation, God sits King for ever.
(618) “ Par le deluge.” — Fr. This is the view taken of the passage by the ancient versions. “God,” says the Chaldee, “in the generation of the deluge sat in judgment.” The Septuagint reads, “God shall make the deluge to be inhabited,” or “make the world habitable after it;” the Syriac, “God called back the deluge;” and the Arabic, “God restrained the deluge.” Ainsworth reads, “Jehovah sat at the flood,” and explains it as meaning “Noah’s flood.”
(619) “ Que c’est luy seul qui gouverne toutes choses en tout temps.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) 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 the torrents of rain now falling. Jehovah sat then upon the waters as their King, and so He will for ever be throned on high above the storms of earth. Or, perhaps, the Deluge may have passed into a proverbial term for any great rain.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10, 11. The Lord sitteth upon the flood The moral application of the psalm is given in these last two verses. In Psa 29:10, the first corollary is given in the supremacy of God in nature, ruling and directing all its forces to wise and beneficent ends. The second is stated in Psa 29:11, which brings out the special covenant relations of God to his people, to whom “he will give strength,” and the blessing of “peace,” of which this timely rain and terrible display of power are both the pledge and fulfilment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
This Mighty Phenomenon, And Its Limitation, Arises Because YHWH Is Seated In Power In Control Of His Creation, Paradoxically Aiming Through The Storm To Give Strength To His People And To Give Them Peace ( Psa 29:10-11 ).
The end of the Psalm comes as a surprise. Far from being seen as a judgment of God this mighty display of power is seen as revealing His intention to make His people strong and give them peace. For it is a reminder that He Who originally brought the Flood upon the world, and controls all that happens on earth, still reigns as King, and instead of again destroying the world will utilise His power in giving strength to His people and in establishing them in peace and security. Out of seeming chaos will come blessing.
God is revealed in the same way at the cross. As Jesus hung on the cross all the mighty devastation of the ages was heaped upon Him. But from it was to flow strength to His people, peace with God and a peace which passes all understanding.
Psa 29:10
‘YHWH sat as King at the Flood,
Yes, YHWH sits as King for ever.’
And what does this huge act of power demonstrate? It demonstrates that the same YHWH Who once sat as King when the Flood came on the earth and devastated it, is still the same YHWH Who sits on His throne and reigns today. His power is still unlimited. And yet the very fact that they have survived the storm is an illustration of the fact of God’s mercy. He has not again brought a Flood upon the earth. He reigns supreme and nature is subject to His will, and His voice.
Psa 29:11
‘YHWH will give strength to his people.
YHWH will bless his people with peace.’
And the Psalmist’s final remarkable conclusion is that this great power which has caused this devastating storm, the like of which has not been seen before in his lifetime, and which has been a manifestation of the glory of YHWH, is the same power that YHWH will exercise in order to strengthen His people and give them peace. He will work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. And none know this better than those whose whole hope is placed on what God accomplished at the cross and through the resurrection. That was a storm indeed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 29:10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood The Lord sat upon the deluge. “The Lord sat, and shall for ever sit, king over all this tremendous scene of desolation; directing it as he pleases, to the good of his people, and the confusion of their enemies.” See Mudge and Houbigant. Bishop Hare, supposing the verse to refer to the deluge, has this gloss upon it: “This is the same God, who in Noah’s flood sat as judge, and sent that destruction upon the earth.” The verse seems more naturally to allude to the thunder-storm and shower here described.
REFLECTIONS.The Psalm opens,
1. With a solemn admonition to all living, to render unto the Lord the glory due to his name. Let mighty angels bow in heaven, and mighty kings on earth fall prostrate at his feet, ascribing to him infinite power and eternal majesty, and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: either the tabernacle, where his magnificent and holy worship was paid, or with that holiness of heart and temper which is the beauty of all worship. Note; (1.) The greatest are not too high to bow at God’s footstool; kings should set their subjects the good example. (2.) Repeated calls show our backwardness, and the need we have to be urged to the service and worship of the blessed God. (3.) It is not the formal ceremony of words, but the beauty of holiness in the heart, which in our worship God especially regards.
2. He gives a reason why they should worship this glorious God: his name is Jehovah, which is eighteen times repeated in these few verses, and intimates his self-existent and eternal excellence, which renders him the object of universal worship and praise; and his works declare his majesty, power, and greatness; his voice speaks in mighty thunderings, while dark clouds of the sky are spread under him; the forked lightnings glare around, the earth trembles at the terrible shock; and mountains, as affrighted, leap from their wide-spread bases; the cedars of Lebanon are shivered as the brittle reed, the beasts that lodge under their branches, affrighted, cast their burdens; and gloomy forests, before the resistless storm, stripped of their verdure, admit the flashing beam; while He, the mighty God, with majesty composed, sitteth upon the flood, and, as the eternal King, issues his mandate as in the deluge, saying, hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; and every element hears, and instantly obeys. Note; when God’s thunder is near, and his floods of rain, mingled with fire, descend, let us think of this dread majesty, and bow before him; how glorious to have him our friend, how terrible to meet him as our enemy!
The whole may also be well applied to Christ; his voice, loud as these thunders, speaks to many people, kindreds, and nations, powerful to awaken, convince, and convert the soul: the proudest sinners, though like cedars of Lebanon, are broken before it; and, though fast rooted in sin as the mountain’s base, yet by Christ’s glorious word their bands are loosed; piercing and strong as the glaring beams of lightning, his gospel in the midst of darkness pours a flood of day upon the soul, and kindles up a fire of love in the heart, which many waters cannot quench: the wilderness of the Gentile world was shaken before it, and saving discoveries made to them of the glory of God; pangs came upon them at first, as sorrows of a woman in travail; but they were succeeded by the joys of Christ formed in them; he sitteth now as king over our hearts, and over the hearts of his faithful people for ever; and in the temple of his church on earth, and his more magnificent sanctuary in heaven, his majesty and glory shall be the theme of everlasting praise.
3. The Psalmist concludes with a comfortable prospect for God’s faithful people. He will give them strength against every danger; and bless them with his peace, which passeth all understanding; internal peace, from a present sense of God’s favour in Christ; and eternal peace, when the floods of wrath and the deluge of fire shall sweep away the ungodly for ever.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 541
GOD THE GIVES OF STRENGTH AND PEACE
Psa 29:10-11. The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. The Lord will give strength unto fits people: the Lord will bless his people with peace.
THIS psalm is supposed to have been written on the occasion of a thunder-storm. It represents the Deity as uttering his voice in those terrific sounds, whereby the very mountains are made to shake, yea and skip, as it were, like a calf or a young unicorn. That there is a transition to the Messiah, and his offices, is clear: for he is expressly declared to be King in Zion. And this declaration stands in immediate connexion with the floods and tumults by which, in appearance, he was for a season overwhelmed: Why do the Heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion [Note: Psa 2:1-6.]. He is also called Jehovah: as it is written: This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness [Note: Jer 23:6.]. And I rather think, that, in order the more strongly to mark his divine character, the name Jehovah is here so often repeated. It is repeated no less than eighteen times in these eleven verses: and it is the same person who is spoken of throughout the whole. The same person of whom the Psalmist says, in the first three verses, Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength: give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: the voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth; the Lord is upon many waters. Of that same person does he say in my text, The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace. That my text refers to him, there can be no doubt: for he is that Mighty One, upon whom the help of his people is laid; and he is, The Prince of Peace, from whom all their peace must flow. We may therefore proceed to consider the Lord Jesus,
I.
As a God of Providence
[He is the Creator of all things, and by him all things consist: nor does any thing occur which is not done by him. We speak of things, indeed, as accidental; but there is nothing really casual, not even the falling of a sparrow, or the loss of a hair of our head. True it is, that creatures, for the most part, execute their own will, and oftentimes with an express desire to oppose the will of God. But they are all unconscious agents in his hands, accomplishing what his counsel has determined before to be done. The envy of the priests, the treachery of Judas, the timidity of Pilate, the cruelty of the Roman soldiers, were all subservient to his designs, and all fulfilled his inscrutable purposes. They, indeed, meant not so; neither did their heart think so: they followed only the dictates of their own minds: but, in all their actions, his counsel stood, and he accomplished through them his own sovereign and eternal will. Behold our blessed Lord, in every change of situation, from his apprehension to the grave: who would suppose that these were successive steps to the throne of heaven, and the means ordained for the salvation of the world? Yet this was really the case; and by all these events were a multitude of conflicting prophecies fulfilled. He sat at the helm, and directed all the storm. And precisely thus he does at this time also. The occurrences of every successive day seem as if they arose without order, and passed away without effect. But He who sees all things from the beginning has ordained that a sleepless night, an opening of a book, a casting of a lot, shall all as certainly effect his ends, as any event, however great, or however manifestly connected with his designs [Note: Est 3:7; Est 6:1-2.]. The history of Joseph, so far as relates to the concurrence of contingent circumstances to the advancement of our welfare, is renewed at this time in many of us, whose elevation to a throne of glory is promoted by events which, to the eye of sense, would appear most calculated to counteract it. Be the storm ever so tempestuous, He sitteth upon the flood; and be our enemies ever so mighty, he sitteth King for ever, to control their efforts, and overrule them for our good.]
But let us contemplate him,
II.
As a God of grace
The Lord Jesus Christ, on his ascension to heaven, was constituted head over all things to his Church; and a fulness was treasured up in him, for the use of his believing people in all ages. From this fulness he is ever ready to impart unto them,
1.
Strength
[Great, exceeding great, is the work which they have to perform, as are also the trials which they have to sustain. But, through him, the weakest of his people shall be able to do all things [Note: Php 4:13.], and to suffer all things [Note: Col 1:11-12.], as circumstances may require. Whatever be their situation, their strength shall be according to their day [Note: Deu 33:25.]; and, however weak they be in themselves, his strength shall be perfected in their weakness [Note: 2Co 12:9.]: so seasonable shall be his supplies of grace to their souls, and so sufficient for all their necessities.]
2.
Peace
[In a storm, which menaced their destruction, the disciples were alarmed. But our blessed Lord reproved them for not having a more entire affiance in him [Note: Mar 4:37-41.]. Whatever confederacies of men or devils may be against us, we should dismiss all fear, and sanctify him in our hearts, as all-sufficient for our protection [Note: Isa 8:12-14.]. It is said of all his people, He will keep them in perfect peace, because they trust in him [Note: Isa 26:3.]. And well may they be in peace: for, being accepted of God, they may possess an assured peace with him [Note: Rom 5:1.], and, being upheld in his arms, they may laugh at all the assaults of their enemies: for, if He be for them, who can be against them [Note: Rom 8:31.]? And this peace is a blessing of the highest order: for, as it is the exclusive privilege of the Lords people [Note: Isa 57:1.], so is it, both in its nature and operations, more excellent than can be adequately conceived: it truly passes all understanding [Note: Php 4:7.].]
Application
1.
Give him, then, the glory due unto his name
[We should get into the very spirit of the Psalmist, and
have our minds filled with a sense of our Saviours power and grace Yet praise him, not by words only, but by that perfect affiance which he calls for at your hands; and which is necessary, in order that you may realize the blessings he is exalted to bestow.]
2.
Let his voice control every emotion of your souls
[If he speak by thunders and lightnings, he speaks also by his word: and if by them he displays his power, by this he reveals his grace. Notice particularly how, in the psalm before us, every thing is ascribed to his voice. And sure I am, that, if you will listen to the still small voice of his word, there is not a blessing which you can possibly need, but it shall be imparted in the richest abundance to your souls.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
What a beautiful thought to quiet every troubled mind, arises out of this view of the Lord. Let what will arise, or what storm soever, Jesus governs all. It is he which sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. Reader, think of this, in application to all spiritual exercises. Isa 40:22 , etc.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 29:10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
Ver. 10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood ] He reigned in that general deluge in Noah’s days, Gen 6:7 , and doth still over those horrible inundations that follow upon thunder and strong tempests; ruling that raging element, and governing all by his providence and sovereign power.
Yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 29:10-11
10The Lord sat as King at the flood;
Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.
11The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.
Psa 29:10 The word King is not in line 1 but is in line 2. The flood refers (1) to Genesis 6-9 (cf. Gen 6:17) or (1) to the original creation (cf. Gen 1:2).
The concept of YHWH as King goes back to 1Sa 8:7. It is stated as a theological assertion in Psa 10:16 and here. The imagery is of YHWH sitting on a throne (cf. Psa 2:4; Psa 113:5 and the imagery in Isaiah 6) or having a scepter. See Special Topic: The Kingdom of God.
sat. . .sits as King The verb sat or enthroned (BDB 442, KB 444) forever is a recurrent theme (cf. Exo 15:18; Psa 9:7; Psa 10:16; Psa 29:10; Psa 66:7; Psa 145:13; Psa 146:10; Jer 10:10; Lam 5:19).
over the flood The preposition implies
1. power and authority over the waters of chaos (LXX)
2. YHWH in heaven is above the upper waters (i.e., rains), above the clouds (cf. Gen 1:6-7; Psa 148:4)
The term flood (BDB 550) is found only in Genesis and here in Psa 29:10.
Psa 29:11 Because YHWH is King, His people are secure. His promises are secure. His purposes for the future are secure!
Even amidst the storm when the powers of nature seem so severe, YHWH’s people are at peace (cf. Mat 8:23-27; Mat 14:22-33)! Jesus also demonstrated this divine power over the wind and waves!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
sitteth upon the flood. Corresponding with Psa 29:3 = “sat enthroned at the flood”, referring to Genesis. Hebrew. mabbul, from yabal, to flow. Occurs only here and Gen 6:17; Gen 7:6, Gen 7:7, Gen 7:10, Gen 7:17; Gen 9:11, Gen 9:15, Gen 9:28; Gen 10:1, Gen 10:32; Gen 11:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 29:10-11
Psa 29:10-11
THE POSTLUDE
“Jehovah sat as King at the Flood;
Yea, Jehovah sitteth as king forever.
Jehovah will give strength to his people;
Jehovah will bless his people with peace.”
“Jehovah sat as King at the Flood” (Psa 29:10). “The word for Flood here is significant, for it is found elsewhere only in Gen 6:11, and only of the Flood in the days of Noah. That event, of course, was a great judgment upon all mankind; and here we have another evidence of something more being intended here than the mere description of a violent thunderstorm. Although we are unwilling to join completely in the affirmation made by Gaebelein, there is certainly much in the psalm that may be understood as he understood it. He stated that, “The Day of Jehovah is here poetically described under the figure of an onrushing thunderstorm.
“Jehovah will bless his people with peace” (Psa 29:11). Just as the Great Deluge was a judgment of mankind in which God’s wrath was poured out upon the wicked, and his mercy was extended to the righteous in the person of Noah and his family, so does it appear in this psalm. The same pattern is detected here. The lightnings flash, the thunders roar, the trees come crashing down, the forests are stripped, the wilderness trembles, and the mountains jump around like young antelopes, but God provides peace for his people! As Kidner put it, “`Gloria in excelsis’ is the beginning of the psalm; and `Terra pax’ is the end of it.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 29:10. In Gen 1:2 the spirit of God moved or hovered over the face of the waters. His voice then handled those waters according to his will and he still has complete control of them. To sum up, the Lord is King or ruler over everything, and will continue to rule throughout the existence of all things.
Psa 29:11. A Being so powerful as the one described above can do great things for his people. He will do so by giving them the peace that no other could provide.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sitteth: Psa 29:3, Psa 65:7, Psa 104:6-9, Gen 6:17, Gen 8:1, Gen 8:2, Job 38:8-11, Job 38:25, Mar 4:41
King: Psa 2:6-9, Psa 10:16, Psa 93:1, Psa 99:1, Dan 2:44, Mat 6:13, 1Ti 1:17
Reciprocal: Exo 15:18 – General Jos 3:16 – rose up Job 26:12 – divideth Psa 77:19 – way Psa 89:9 – General Isa 40:22 – It is he that sitteth Lam 5:19 – remainest Dan 6:26 – and his kingdom Mar 4:39 – he arose Joh 6:19 – walking Heb 1:11 – thou
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE BLESSING OF PEACE
The Lord shall give His people the blessing of peace.
Psa 29:10 (Prayer Book Version)
I. Of all the blessings which God bestows upon His children, there are few more to be desired than peace.Peace, says one, is Gods own child. And therefore the Son of God, at that solemn moment, when, His earthly work finished, He was soon to return to His Fathers throneand when, being about to leave His little flock to enter upon the great struggle between good and evil in the world, which must continue while time shall last, He had prayed, not that they should be taken out of the world, but that they should be kept from the evilleaves with them, as a legacy to sustain them in all dangers and to carry them through all temptations, His own peace. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
As long as the world shall continue to disappoint those who have most trusted it, as long as the joys of earth shall continue to prove but fleeting, as long as the sweets of earth shall continue to turn to gall and bitterness, when fullness has succeeded freshness, so long shall man with his unreasonable soul, and the germ of immortality within him, continue to yearn for something more than the last excitement and the latest novelty; something more solid and enduring which shall satisfy the hunger of the soul; something which he looks for in vain in the world and worldly pursuits, for the simple reason that the world cannot give it. A mind at rest, quiet of conscience, peace at the last, these are not the worlds to give. And in the hour of trial, or in moments of solemn thought, awakened by the changing seasons, the setting stars, the falling leaves, the approach of winter, the death of friends, when we turn to the world for comfort, the world meets us with a cold philosophy which chills our very souls.
II. What the world offers is to what God offers what the wayside pool which to-days rain has created and which to-morrows wind and sun will evaporate, is to the boundless sweep and the solemn mystery of the eternal sea! But we may thank God that although we are inclined to think sometimes, when life is very dark, when the burden laid upon us seems greater than we can bear, that true peace is the prize of those alone whose warfare is accomplishedthe blessed resting dead; yet God promises and God gives to toil-worn, sin-laden men and women, even in this life, real, lasting peace. Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. The mind, that is, of one who is dead to the world (not to its duties and its lawful claims, but to its allurements and attractions), and whose life is hid with Christ in God, whose life is a hearty striving to do the Will of Godof patient endurance, of cheerful acceptance of the bitter with the sweet, of calm, strong love and trust. The life in which is the blessed sense of entire self-surrender to God, this is the life which knows the blessing of peace, a peace which nothing in this world can disturb, so still, so deep, so settled is it.
Rev. J. B. C. Murphy.
Illustration
The Psalmist has been describing one of those terrible storms which sometimes sweep over the whole length of Palestine, from Lebanon and Sirion, even to the wilderness of Kadeshwhen, suddenly breaking off in his powerful description, by a transition as beautiful as it is sudden, he draws for his hearers a lesson of comfort and of peace. And so while at one moment we seem to hear the very noise of the warring elements in such words as, It is the glorious God that maketh the thunder, the next moment there comes, like a gentle whisper from heaven, to soothe and reassure us, The Lord shall give His people the blessing of peace.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Psa 29:10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood He moderates and rules the most abundant and violent effusions of waters which are sometimes poured from the clouds, and fall upon the earth, where they cause inundations which would do much mischief if God did not prevent it. And this may be mentioned as another reason why Gods people praised and worshipped him in his temple; because, as he sendeth terrible tempests, thunders, lightnings, and floods, so he restrains and overrules them. But most interpreters refer this to Noahs flood, to which the word , mabbul, here used, is elsewhere appropriated. And so the words may be rendered, The Lord sat upon the deluge; namely, in Noahs time, when, it is probable, those vehement and unceasing rains were accompanied with terrible thunders. Bishop Hare thus paraphrases the verse, This is the same God who, in Noahs flood, sat as judge, and sent that destruction upon the earth. And so the psalmist, having spoken of the manifestation of Gods power in storms and tempests in general, takes an occasion to go back to that ancient and most dreadful example of that kind, in which the divine power was most eminently seen. And, having mentioned that instance, he adds, that as God had showed himself to be the King and the Judge of the world at that time, so he doth still sit, and will sit as King for ever, sending such tempests as it pleases him to send. And therefore his people have great reason to worship and serve him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
29:10 The LORD sitteth upon the {k} flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
(k) To moderate the rage of the tempests and waters that they not destroy all.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The sovereignty of Yahweh 29:10-11
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The present storm reminded David of the inundation of the whole world in Noah’s day. The Hebrew word for flood here occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament only in Genesis 6-11. As Yahweh ruled over His creation then, so He did in David’s day, and so He does forever. Thunderstorms reminded the psalmist of this truth.