Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_600_e.lzh/3_647.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-01 | 7KB | 134 lines

\\INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 29\\

\*\\<<A Psalm of David>>\\.
In the Vulgate Latin version is added, %at the finishing
of the tabernacle%; suggesting that this psalm was composed
at that time, and on that occasion; not at the
finishing of the tabernacle by Moses, but at the finishing
of the tent or tabernacle which David made for the ark in
Zion, \\#2Sa 6:17\\. The title in the Arabic version is,
\*"a prophecy concerning the incarnation, ark, and
"tabernacle."\*
\*In the Septuagint version, from whence
the Vulgate seems to have taken the clause, it is, at the
%exodion%, %exit%, or %going out of the tabernacle%; that is, of
the feast of tabernacles; and which was the eighth
day of the feast, and was called \^true\^, which word the
Septuagint renders \~exodion\~, the word here used, \\#Le
23:36 Nu 29:35\\; though it was on the first of
the common days of this feast that this psalm was
sung, as Maimonides {w} says. Some think it was composed
when the psalmist was in a thunder storm, or
had lately been in one, which he in a very beautiful
manner describes. Kimchi thinks it refers to the
times of the Messiah; and it may indeed be very well
interpreted of the Gospel, and is very suitable to Gospel
times.

\*Ver. 1. \\Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty\\, &c.] The
Targum refers this to the angels,
\*"give praise before
"the Lord, ye companies of angels, sons of the Mighty;"\*
\*these are mighty ones, and excel all other creatures in
strength; and are the sons of the Mighty, or of God;
it is their duty and their business to glorify and to
worship him and his Son Jesus Christ, as they do continually;
but rather the princes and great men of the
earth are here meant, who are so called, \\#Ps 82:1,6,7
89:6,7 1Co 1:26\\; and these, as they
receive much honour and glory, both from God and
man; and because they are apt to seek their own glory,
and ascribe too much to themselves, are called upon
particularly to give glory to God; and the more, inasmuch
as they may be the means of engaging their
subjects, by their influence and example, to do the
same, and who may be included in them; for this is
not to be understood of them exclusive of others, as
appears from \\#Ps 96:7-9\\; moreover, all the
saints and people of God may be intended, who are all
princes and kings; and may be said to be mighty, especially
those who are strong in faith; and these are
they who give most glory to God;
\*\\give unto the Lord
glory and strength\\; give glory to Jehovah the Father,
by celebrating the perfections of his nature; by commending
the works of his hands, the works of creation;
by acquiescing in his providential dispensations; by
returning thanks to him for mercies received, temporal
and spiritual; particularly for salvation by Christ, and,
above all, for Christ himself; by exercising faith in
him as a promising God; by living becoming his
Gospel, and to the honour of his name: give glory to
the Son of God, by ascribing all divine perfections to
him, by attributing salvation to him, and by trusting
in him alone for it: give glory to the Spirit of God,
by asserting his deity, by referring the work of grace
and conversion to him, and by depending upon him for
thee performance of the good work begun: give %strength%
to each person, by acknowledging that power belongs
to them, which is seen in creation, redemption, and
effectual vocation; or else strength may mean the
same thing as praise and glory; see \\#Ps 8:2\\, compared
with \\#Mt 21:16\\; and both may design strong
praise and glory, expressed in the strongest and with
the greatest vigour and vehemency of spirit.

\*Ver. 2. \\Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name\\,
&c.] Or %the glory of his name% {x}: which is suitable
to his nature, agreeable to his perfections, and which
belongs unto him on account of his works;
\*\\worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness\\; the Lord is only to
be worshipped, and not any creature, angels or men;
not Jehovah the Father only, who is to be worshipped
in spirit and in truth; but the Son of God, and the
Holy Ghost also, being of the same nature, and possessed
of the same perfections; and that with both internal
and external worship; and in true holiness, in
which there is a real beauty: holiness is the beauty of
God himself, he is glorious in it; it is the beauty of
angels, it makes them so glorious as they are; and it is
the beauty of saints, it is what makes them like unto
Christ, and by which they are partakers of the divine
nature; and in the exercise of holy graces, and in the
discharge of holy duties, should they worship the Lord;
unless this is to be understood of the place of worship,
the sanctuary, or holy place in the tabernacle; or rather
the church of God, which holiness becomes; but
the former sense seems best.

\*Ver. 3. \\The voice of the Lord [is] upon the waters\\, &c.]
What follows concerning thunder, the voice of the
Lord, gives so many reasons why he should have
glory given him and be worshipped; the Heathens {y}
paid their devotion to thunder and lightning: but this
should be done to the author of them; which may be
literally understood of thunder, and is the voice of the
Lord; see \\#Ps 18:13 Job 40:9\\; and which is commonly
attended with large showers of rain, \\#Jer 10:13\\;
and is very terrible upon the waters, and has its effect
there, \\#Ps 104:7\\; and this is the rather mentioned,
because that there is a God above, who is higher than
the mighty, who are called upon to give glory to him,
and because that thunder has been terrible to kings
and great men of the earth; or this may be figuratively
interpreted of the voice of Christ in the Gospel, which
reaches to many nations and people, compared to waters,
\\#Re 17:15\\. The disciples had a commission
to preach it to all nations, and the sound of their words
went into all the world, \\#Ro 10:18\\;
\*\\the God of glory
thundereth\\; this shows that thunder may be meant by
the voice of the Lord, who is glorious in himself, and
in all his works; and may be applied to the Gospel of
Christ, who is the Lord of glory, and whose ministers,
at least some of them, are sons of thunder; see \\#1Co 2:8 Mr 3:17\\;
\*\\the Lord [is] upon many waters\\;
that is, his voice is, as before, which is thunder; and
that this belongs to God, the Heathens were so sensible
of, that they called their chief deity Jupiter Tonans {z}.

{w} Hilchot Tamidin, c. 10. s. 11.
{x} \^wmv dwbk\^ %gloriam nominis ejus%, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius &
Tremellius Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.
{y} Pausan. Arcad. sive l. 8. p. 503.
{z} Horat. Epod. l. 5. Ode 2. v. 29. Martial. l. 2. Ep. 95.