Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 29:6
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
6. them ] Not the cedars, but the mountains generally, to be understood from Lebanon and Sirion in the next line. Cp. Psa 114:4; Psa 114:6; Psa 18:7 ff.
Sirion ] The old Sidonian name for Hermon (Deu 3:9), derived probably from the glistening of the snow on its summit. Lebanon and Sirion are specified as the noblest mountains of Palestine, and also as forming the northern boundary of the land.
unicorn ] R.V. wild ox. See note on Psa 22:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He maketh them also to skip like a calf – That is, the cedars of Lebanon. Compare Psa 114:4, The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. Psa 68:16, why leap ye, ye high hills? The meaning is plain. The lightning tore off the large branches, and uprooted the loftiest trees, so that they seemed to play and dance like calves in their gambols. Nothing could be more strikingly descriptive of power.
Lebanon and Sirion – Sirion was the name by which Mount Hermon was known among the Sidonians: Deu 3:9, Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion. It is a part of the great range of Anti-libanus.
Like a young unicorn – On the meaning of the word used here, see the notes at Psa 22:21. The illustration would be the same if any young wild animal were referred to.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
He maketh them; the cedars last mentioned; which being broken by the thunder, the parts of them are suddenly and violently hurled about hither and thither.
Sirion; a high mountain beyond Jordan joining to Lebanon; of which see Deu 3:9; 4:48. Lebanon and Sirion are here understood, either,
1. Properly; and so they are said to skip or leap, both here and Psa 114:4, by a poetical hyperbole, very usual both in Scripture and other authors; which is so known, that it is needless to give any instances of it. Or,
2. Metonymically for the trees or people of them, as the wilderness, Psa 29:8, may seem to be taken; and as the earth, by the same figure, is frequently put for the people which dwell in it.
Unicorn, Heb. reem; of which see See Poole “Num 23:22; Psa 22:21“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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, De 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) Those trees that are not snapped off, bending to the storm, and swaying in the wind, seem to bound like wild buffaloes. (Comp. Psa. 114:4.)
Sirion, according to Deu. 3:9 (which see), was the Sidonian name of Hermon. Here the whole of the range of Anti-Libanus.
Unicorn.See Psa. 22:21, Note.
There is some ambiguity about the suffix, them. It may relate to the mountains instead of the cedars, and some commentators divide the clauses thus: He maketh them skip; like a calf Lebanon, and Sirion like a young buffalo. It is not, however, necessary to suppose, with some, that an earthquake accompanies the storm; the apparent movement of the hills beingintroduced to heighten the effect of the violence of the tempest.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Skip like a calf A poetical hyperbole, as also “shaketh the wilderness” in Psa 29:8, as if it had been an earthquake. The same occurs Psa 68:8-9; Psa 18:7. The impression on the nerves is transferred to reality.
Lebanon and Sirion “Sirion” is the old Sidonian name for Hermon. Deu 3:9. The storm originates in the north, in Lebanon and Hermon, and the psalmist traces its progress southward, as if it were its natural pathway, to Arabia. This theory of storms agrees with Pro 25:23, where, instead of “The north wind driveth away rain,” it should be translated, “The north wind bringeth forth rain,” in the sense of “ giveth birth to rain.” See note on Psa 133:3.
Unicorn The buffalo. See on Psa 22:21
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 29:6. And Sirion A high mountain on the other side of the river Jordan, near the country of the Ammonites, known also by the names of Hemnon and Shenir. See Deu 3:9. Bishop Hare thinks the passage should be read, And he maketh them to skip, Lebanon like a calf, and Sirion like a young unicorn, rhinoceros, or oryx. If by Lebanon we are to understand allegorically the Syrians; by Sirion may be meant the Ammonites; and in this view it is not improbable that the two animals here mentioned were either borne in the standards of these people, or the hieroglyphics used to denote them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 29:6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
Ver. 6. He maketh them also to skip like a calf ] Young living creatures are full of motion. God by his thunder and earthquake thereupon (for so the Hebrews understand it) maketh not only those huge trees, the splinters of them, to fly up into the air, but also the mountains, whereupon they grow, to skip and jump out of their places and aloft from their centre.
Lebanon and Sirion, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Sirion = Hermon. Compare Deu 3:9.
unicorn = the bull-calf of wild oxen. Compare Psa 22:21. Job 39:9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 29:6-8
Psa 29:6-8
“He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox.
The voice of Jehovah cleaveth the flames of fire.
The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness;
Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.”
There are definitely overtones in this psalm that suggest the final judgment of the Great Day. In these lines, the great mountains of Lebanon and Hermon are moved out of their places, or at least are made to appear as doing so. Furthermore, there is a mighty earthquake that shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. In the Apocalyptic description of the Judgment Day in Revelation 6, among the features of it are listed, “A great earthquake, … and every mountain and island were moved out of their place” (Rev 6:12; Rev 6:14).
God revealed to the Prophet Joel that there were overtones and warnings of the Final Judgment in the terrible Locust Plague featured in that Book; and it is not unthinkable that this devastating thunderstorm may have been intended to convey the same kind of warning.
“Maketh them to skip like a calf” (Psa 29:6). This may refer to the cedars mentioned in the preceding verse; but Delitzsch and others apply this clause to Lebanon and Sirion. “According to Deu 3:9, Sirion is the Sidonian name for Mount Hermon. Side by side with Lebanon, it represents Anti-Lebanon. It is the lightning that makes the mountains bound like young antelopes!”
We appreciate the discernment of Ash who twice mentioned “an earthquake” as the occurrence suggested by these lines.
“Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh” (Psa 29:8). This is the third time that the distinction is made in this psalm between the thunder (the voice of Jehovah) and Jehovah himself, namely at the end of Psa 29:3; Psa 29:5; Psa 29:8. David is not really thinking of a thunderstorm but of Jehovah!
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 29:6. Them refers to the cedars of the preceding verse. They would not literally skip or dance around. The figure means that even as important things as these noted plants of the mountains will respond jubilantly to the voice of their Creator.
Psa 29:7. Divideth flames. Human artists can carve and form the various materials of the earth because they are adapted to their capacity. The great Artist of the universe can “hew, split, square, quarry, engrave,” materials as flames of fire. The quotation is from Strong’s definition of the original word for divideth.
Psa 29:8. Kadesh was the place where the Israelites murmured at the report of the spies (Numbers 13, 14). At that place God took charge of the situation and sentenced the congregation to wander in the wilderness 38 years longer, thus giving another demonstration of the power of his voice.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
skip: Psa 114:4-7
Lebanon: Jer 4:23-25, Hab 3:6-11, Rev 20:11
Sirion: Deu 3:9
unicorn: Psa 92:10, Num 23:22
Reciprocal: Deu 33:17 – his horns Psa 114:6 – skipped Nah 1:5 – mountains
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
29:6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and {d} Sirion like a young unicorn.
(d) Called also Hermon.