1 Jehovah is King, with majesty has He clothed Himself,
Jehovah has clothed Himself, has girded Himself with strength,
Yea, the world is set fast [that] it cannot be moved.
2 Fast is set Thy throne from of yore,
From eternity art Thou.
3 The streams, Jehovah, have lifted up,
The streams have lifted up their voice,
The streams lift up their tumult.
4 Above the voices of many waters,
Mighty [waters], ocean breakers,
Mightier is Jehovah on high.
5 Thy testimonies are utterly to be trusted:
Holiness fits Thy house,
Jehovah, for length of days.
This is the first of a group of psalms celebrating Jehovah as King.
It is followed by one which somewhat interrupts the unity of subject
in the group, but may be brought into connection with them by being
regarded as hymning Jehovah's kingly and judicial providence, as
manifested in the subjugation of rebels against His throne. The
remaining members of the group (Psalms xcv.-c.) rise to a height
of lyric exultation in meditating on the reign of Jehovah. Psalms
xciii. and xciv. are followed by two (xcv: vi.) beginning with
ringing calls for new songs to hail the new manifestation of Himself,
by which Jehovah has, as it were, inaugurated a new stage in His
visible reign on earth. Psalm xcvii. again breaks out into the joyful
proclamation "Jehovah is King," which is followed, as if by a chorus,
with a repeated summons for a new song (Psalm xcviii.). Once more
the proclamation "Jehovah is King" is sounded out in Psalm xcix.,
and then the group is closed by Psalm c., with its call to all lands
to crowd round Jehovah's throne with "tumult of acclaim." Probably
the historical fact underlying this new conviction of, and triumph
in, the Kingdom of Jehovah is the return from exile. But the tone of
prophetic anticipation in these exuberant hymns of confident joy can
scarcely fail of recognition. The psalmists sang of an ideal state to
which their most glorious experiences but remotely approximated. They
saw "not yet all things put under Him," but they were sure that He is
King, and they were as sure, though with the certitude of faith fixed
on His word and not with that of sight, that His universal dominion
would one day be universally recognised and rejoiced in.
This short psalm but strikes the keynote for the group. It is
overture to the oratorio, prelude of the symphony. Jehovah's
reign, the stability of His throne, the consequent fixity of the
natural order, His supremacy over all noisy rage of opposition
and lawlessness, either in Nature or among men, are set forth
with magnificent energy and brevity. But the King of the world is
not a mere Nature-compelling Jove. He has spoken to men, and the
stability of the natural order but faintly shadows the firmness of
His "testimonies," which are worthy of absolute reliance, and which
make the souls that do rely on them stable as the firm earth, and
steadfast with a steadfastness derived from Jehovah's throne. He not
only reigns over, but dwells among, men, and His power keeps His
dwelling-place inviolate, and lasting as His reign.
Ver. 1 describes an act rather than a state. "Jehovah has become
King" by some specific manifestation of His sovereignty. Not as
though He had not been King before, as ver. 2 immediately goes on to
point out, but that He has shown the world, by a recent deed, the
eternal truth that He reigns. His coronation has been by His own
hands. No others have arrayed Him in His royal robes. The psalmist
dwells with emphatic reiteration on the thought that Jehovah has
clothed _Himself_ with majesty and girded _Himself_ with strength.
All the stability of Nature is a consequence of His self-created and
self-manifested power. That Strength holds a reeling world steady.
The psalmist knew nothing about the fixity of natural law, but his
thought goes down below that fixity, and finds its reason in the
constant forth-putting of Divine power. Ver. 2 goes far back as well
as deep down or high up, when it travels into the dim, unbounded
past, and sees there, amidst its mists, one shining, solid substance,
Jehovah's throne, which stood firm before every "then." The word
rendered _from of yore_ is literally "from then," as if to express
the priority of that throne to every period of defined time. And even
that grand thought can be capped by a grander climax: "From eternity
art Thou." Therefore the world stands firm.
But there are things in the firm world that are not firm. There
are "streams" or perhaps "floods," which seem to own no control, in
their hoarse dash and devastating rush. The sea is ever the symbol of
rebellious opposition and of ungoverned force. Here both the natural
and symbolic meanings are present. And the picture is superbly
painted. The sound of the blows of the breakers against the rocks,
or as they clash with each other, is vividly repeated in the word
rendered "tumult," which means rather a blow or collision, and here
seems to express the thud of the waves against an obstacle.
Ver. 4 is difficult to construe. The word rendered "mighty" is,
according to the accentuation, attached to "breakers," but stands
in an unusual position if it is to be so taken. It seems better to
disregard the accents, and to take "mighty" as a second adjective
belonging to "waters." These will then be described as both
multitudinous and proud in their strength, while "ocean breakers"
will stand in apposition to _waters_. Jehovah's might is compared
with these. It would be but a poor measure of it to say that it was
more than they; but the comparison means that He subdues the floods,
and proves His power by taming and calming them. Evidently we are
to see shining through the nature-picture Jehovah's triumphant
subjugation of rebellious men, which is one manifestation of His
kingly power. That dominion is not such as to make opposition
impossible. Antagonism of the wildest sort neither casts doubt on its
reality nor impinges a hair's-breadth on its sovereignty. All such
futile rebellion will be subdued. The shriek of the storm, the dash
of the breakers, will be hushed when He says "Peace," and the highest
toss of their spray does not wet, much less shake, His stable throne.
Such was the psalmist's faith as he looked out over a revolted world.
Such may well be ours, who "hear a deeper voice across the storm."
That sweet closing verse comes by its very abruptness with singular
impressiveness. We pass from wild commotion into calm. Jehovah speaks,
and His words are witnesses both of what He is and of what men should
and may be. Power is not an object for trust to fasten on, unless it is
gracious, and gives men account of its motives and ends. Words are not
objects for trust to fasten on, unless they have power for fulfilment
behind them. But if the King, who sets fast earth and bridles seas,
speaks to us, we may utterly confide in His word, and, if we do,
we shall share in His stable being, in so far as man is capable of
resemblance to the changeless God. Trust in firm promises is the secret
of firmness. Jehovah has not only given Israel His word, but His house,
and His kingly power preserves His dwelling-place from wrong.
"Holiness" in ver. 5 expresses an attribute of Jehovah's house, not
a quality of the worshippers therein. It cannot but be preserved
from assault, since He dwells there. A king who cannot keep his own
palace safe from invaders can have little power. If this psalm is,
as it evidently is, post-exilic, how could the singer, remembering
the destruction of the Temple, speak thus? Because he had learned the
lesson of that destruction, that the earthly house in which Jehovah
dwelt among men had ceased to be His, by reason of the sins of its
frequenters. Therefore, it was "burned with fire." The profaned house
is no longer Jehovah's, but, as Jesus said with strong emphasis on the
first word, "_Your_ house is left unto you desolate." The Kingship of
Jehovah is proclaimed eloquently and tragically by the desolated shrine.