God's Sovereign Reign Over All Opposition

PSALM 93 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
I TRODUCTIO
SPURGEO , "This brief Psalm is without title or name of author, but its subject is
obvious enough, being stated in the very first line. It is the Psalm of Omnipotent
Sovereignty: Jehovah, despite all opposition, reigns supreme. Possibly at the time
this sacred ode was written, the nation was in danger from its enemies, and the
hopes of the people of God were encouraged by remembering that the Lord was still
King. What sweeter and surer consolation could they desire?
ELLICOTT, "There is a power in the very brevity of this song. God is King, and all
the rage and unrest of the world are impotent before that fact. It may have been
inspired by some particular event, which it is hopeless to seek to recover, but it
expresses a general truth. The angry tumult of men beats as vainly against the
granite firmness of His righteous will as the waves against the shore. The tempests
of history subside and pass as the tempest of the sea, but His laws remain for ever
fixed and sure. The poetical form is regular.
1 The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with
strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and
secure.
BAR ES, "The Lord reigneth - The same commencement of a psalm occurs in
Psa_97:1-12; Psa_99:1-9. The same idea is often found in the Scriptures. 1Ch_16:31;

Psa_47:8; Isa_52:7; Rev_19:6. The thought seems abrupt here. It would appear as if the
psalmist had been meditating on the dark things which occur in the world; the mysteries
which abound; the things which seem irreconcilable with the idea that there is a just
government over the world, and that suddenly the idea occurs, as a flash of lightning in a
storm, that Yahweh reigns over all, and that all must be right. Amidst all these things
God sits upon the throne; he orders all events; he sways his scepter over all; he orders all
things according to his own will; he secures the accomplishment of his own purposes.
He is clothed with majesty - That is, he puts on, or wears this; he appears in this
as a garb, or robe. The word rendered “majesty” means properly “loftiness,” and is
applied to the swelling of the sea Psa_89:9, or to a column of smoke, Isa_9:18. The idea
here is, that God is exalted; and that he appears in such a manner as to indicate his
proper dignity. See the notes at Isa_6:1.
The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself -
There is an allusion here to the mode of dress among the Orientals - the custom of
girding the loins when one labored, or walked, or ran. See the notes at Mat_5:38-41.
The world also is stablished - Is firm; is on a solid foundation. It cannot be shaken
or destroyed by natural convulsions, or by the power of man.
That it cannot be moved - Moved out of its place; overthrown; destroyed. This
seems to have been spoken in view of some impending calamity, as if everything were to
be swept away. The psalmist consoles himself with the thought that the world was firmly
established; that no storm or tempest could be so violent as to remove it out of its place.
The ground of consolation is the essential stability of what God has ordained.
CLARKE, "The Lord reigneth - He continues to govern every thing he has
created; and he is every way qualified to govern all things, for he is clothed with majesty
and with strength - dominion is his, and he has supreme power to exercise it; and he has
so established the world that nothing can be driven out of order; all is ruled by him.
Nature is his agent: or rather, nature is the sum of the laws of his government; the
operations carried on by the Divine energy, and the effects resulting from those
operations.
He hath girded himself - The girding with strength refers to the girding in order to
strengthen the loins, arms, knees, etc. When a Hindoo is about to set off on a journey, to
lift a burden, or to do something that requires exertion, he binds firmly his loose upper
garment round his loins - Ward.
GILL, "The Lord reigneth,.... The King Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
true Jehovah. God over all, the Lord God omnipotent: he has reigned, he was set up as
King from everlasting; he reigned throughout the whole Old Testament dispensation; he
was promised, and prophesied of, as a King; he came as such, in human nature, into the
world, though his kingdom was not with observation; when he ascended to heaven, he
was made or declared Lord and Christ, and was crowned with glory and honour; he now
reigns in the hearts of his people, by his Spirit and grace; and, ere long, he will take to
himself his great power, and reign more manifestly; when the kingdoms of this world
shall become his, and he shall be King over all the earth; and this his government will be
still more apparent when he shall come in person, and reign with his saints on earth a
thousand years; and, after that, for ever and ever, in heaven:

he is clothed with majesty; with all the regalia and ensigns of royalty; seated on a
throne of glory, with a crown of pure gold on his head, a sceptre of righteousness in his
hand, and arrayed with robes of honour and majesty; so that his appearance at his
kingdom will be very splendid, Psa_104:1,
the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself; as he
was, when he came here on earth, travelling in the greatness of his strength, and mighty
to save; bearing the sins of his people, conflicting with and spoiling principalities and
powers, and obtaining eternal redemption; and which also appeared in carrying the
Gospel into the Gentile world, and succeeding it, against all the opposition made unto it;
and making his way into the hearts of sinners at conversion, binding the strong man
armed, and dispossessing him, and taking his place; in strengthening them with strength
in the inward man, against him and all enemies; and keeping them by his power,
through faith, unto salvation: and which will be further manifest in the destruction of
antichrist, and in the ruin of all the antichristian states, which will make way for his
spiritual reign; and especially this will be seen, at his personal coming, by raising the
dead in Christ, causing the heavens and earth to pass away, and making new ones; and
binding Satan for a thousand years, that he may give no disturbance to his subjects
during that time:
the world also is established, that it cannot be moved; the world to come, of which
Christ is the Father; that which is not put into subjection to angels, Isa_9:6, the Gospel
dispensation, the church state in it; which, though it has been unsettled, the church has
been tossed about with tempests, and has been moved from place to place, and obliged
to fly into the wilderness; yet, in the latter day, it will be established on the top of the
mountains: this is one of the glorious things that are spoken of it, and for the
accomplishment of which we should earnestly pray, and give the Lord no rest until it is;
after which it shall never be moved again; it shall be a tabernacle that shall never be
taken down; there will be no enemies to attack it; all will be vanquished and destroyed;
the beast, the false prophet, and the old serpent the devil, Psa_87:3.
HE RY, "Next to the being of God there is nothing that we are more concerned to
believe and consider than God's dominion, that Jehovah is God, and that this God reigns
(Psa_93:1), not only that he is King of right, and is the owner and proprietor of all
persons and things, but that he is King in fact, and does direct and dispose of all the
creatures and all their actions according to the counsel of his own will. This is celebrated
here, and in many other psalms: The Lord reigns. It is the song of the gospel church, of
the glorified church (Rev_19:6), Hallelujah; the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Here we
are told how he reigns.
I. The Lord reigns gloriously: He is clothed with majesty. The majesty of earthly
princes, compared with God's terrible majesty, is but like the glimmerings of a glow-
worm compared with the brightness of the sun when he goes forth in his strength. Are
the enemies of God's kingdom great and formidable? Yet let us not fear them, for God's
majesty will eclipse theirs.
II. He reigns powerfully. He is not only clothed with majesty, as a prince in his court,
but he is clothed with strength, as a general in the camp. He has wherewithal to support
his greatness and to make it truly formidable. See him not only clad in robes, but clad in
armour. Both strength and honour are his clothing. He can do every thing, and with him
nothing is impossible. 1. With this power he has girded himself; it is not derived from

any other, nor does the executing of it depend upon any other, but he has it of himself
and with it does whatsoever he pleases. Let us not fear the power of man, which is
borrowed and bounded, but fear him who has power to kill and cast into hell. 2. To this
power it is owing that the world stands to this day. The world also is established; it was
so at first, by the creating power of God, when he founded it upon the seas; it is so still,
by that providence which upholds all things and is a continued creation; it is so
established that though he has hanged the earth upon nothing (Job_26:7) yet it cannot
be moved; all things continue to this day, according to his ordinance. Note, The
preserving of the powers of nature and the course of nature is what the God of nature
must have the glory of; and we who have the benefit thereof daily are very careless and
ungrateful if we give him not the glory of it. Though God clothes himself with majesty,
yet he condescends to take care of this lower world and to settle its affairs; and, if he
established the world, much more will he establish his church, that it cannot be moved.
JAMISO , "Psa_93:1-5. This and the six following Psalms were applied by the Jews
to the times of the Messiah. The theme is God’s supremacy in creation and providence.
God is described as a King entering on His reign, and, for robes of royalty, investing
Himself with the glorious attributes of His nature. The result of His thus reigning is the
durability of the world.
CALVI , "1Jehovah hath reigned We here see what I have lately adverted to, that
in the power of God there is exhibited to us matter of confidence; for our not
investing God with the power which belongs to him, as we ought to do, and thus
wickedly despoiling him of his authority, is the source of that fear and trembling
which we very often experience. This, it is true, we dare not do openly, but were we
well persuaded of his invincible power, that would be to us an invincible support
against all the assaults of temptation. All admit in word what the prophet here
teaches, That God reigns; but how few are there who oppose this shield to the
hostile powers of the world, as it becomes them to do, that they may fear nothing
however terrible? In this then consists the glory of God, that he governs mankind
according to his will. It is said that he clothes himself with majesty and strength; not
that we ought to imagine that there is any thing in him which is derived from
another, but it is intended by the effect and indubitable experience to show his
wisdom and righteousness in the government of mankind. The Psalmist proves that
God will not neglect or abandon the world, from the fact that he created it. A simple
survey of the world should of itself suffice to attest a Divine Providence. The
heavens revolve daily, and, immense as is their fabric, and inconceivable the
rapidity of their revolutions, we experience no concussion — no disturbance in the
harmony of their motion. The sun, though varying its course every diurnal
revolution, returns annually to the same point. The planets, in all their wanderings,
maintain their respective positions. How could the earth hang suspended in the air
were it not upheld by God’s hand? By what means could it maintain itself unmoved,
while the heavens above are in constant rapid motion, did not its Divine Maker fix
and establish it? Accordingly the particle ‫אף‬ , aph, denoting emphasis, is introduced
— Yea, he hath established it.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. The LORD reigneth, or Jehovah reigns. Whatever opposition
may arise, his throne is unmoved; he has reigned, does reign, and will reign for ever
and ever. Whatever turmoil and rebellion there may be beneath the clouds, the
eternal King sits above all in supreme serenity; and everywhere he is really Master,
let his foes rage as they may. All things are ordered according to his eternal
purposes, and his will is done. In the verse before us it would seem as if the Lord
had for a while appeared to vacate the throne, but on a sudden he puts on his regal
apparel and ascends his lofty seat, while his happy people proclaim him with new
joy, shouting "The Lord reigneth." What can give greater joy to a loyal subject than
a sight of the king in his beauty? Let us repeat the proclamation, "the Lord
reigneth, " whispering it in the ears of the desponding, and publishing it in the face
of the foe.
He is clothed with majesty. ot with emblems of majesty, but with majesty itself:
everything which surrounds him is majestic. His is not the semblance but the reality
of sovereignty. In nature, providence, and salvation the Lord is infinite in majesty.
Happy are the people among whom the Lord appears in all the glory of his grace,
conquering their enemies, and subduing all things unto himself; then indeed is he
seen to be clothed with majesty.
The LORD is clothed with strength. His garments of glory are not his only array, he
wears strength also as his girdle. He is always strong, but sometimes he displays his
power in a special manner, and may therefore be said to be clothed with it; just as
he is always majestic essentially, but yet there are seasons when he reveals his glory,
and so wears his majesty, or shows himself in it. May the Lord appear in his church,
in our day in manifest majesty and might, saving sinners, slaying errors, and
honouring his own name. O for a day of the Son of man, in which the King
Immortal and Almighty shall stand upon his glorious high throne, to be feared in
the great congregation, and admired by all them that believe.
Wherewith he hath girded himself. As men gird up their loins for running or
working, so the Lord appears in the eyes of his people to be preparing for action,
girt with his omnipotence. Strength always dwells in the Lord Jehovah, but he hides
his power full often, until, in answer to his children's cries, he puts on strength,
assumes the throne, and defends his own. It should be a constant theme for prayer,
that in our day the reign of the Lord may be conspicuous, and his power displayed
in his church and on her behalf. "Thy kingdom come" should be our daily prayer:
that the Lord Jesus does actually reign should be our daily praise.
The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Because Jehovah reigns
terrestrial things for a while are stable. We could not be sure of anything if we were
not sure that he has dominion. When he withdraws his manifest presence from
among men all things are out of order; blasphemers rave, persecutors rage, the
profane grow bold, and the licentious increase in wantonness; but when the divine
power and glory are again manifested order is restored, and the poor distracted
world is at peace again. Society would be the football of the basest of mankind if
God did not establish it, and even the globe itself would fly through space, like
thistle down across the common, if the Lord did not hold it in its appointed orbit.
That there is any stability, either in the world or in the church, is the Lord's doings,
and he is to be adored for it. Atheism is the mother of anarchy; the reigning power

of God exhibited in true religion is the only security for the human commonwealth.
A belief in God is the foundation and cornerstone of a well ordered state.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Whole Psalm. This is one of those magnificent psalms which describe Jehovah's
reign. Even Jewish interpreters say of them: "these all treat of the things which will
take place in the times of Messiah." Throughout it reads like a commentary and
application of the great fundamental truth, "Jehovah reigneth." Already he hath
laid the foundations of his kingdom in his Church, and anon shall he in his
faithfulness and power establish it. Those elements which have hitherto resisted
shall not be allowed to continue. Right royally he manifests himself. "He is clothed
with majesty; clothed is Jehovah, might hath he girt about him." The present state
of things is connected with Christ's humiliation. But when he puts on his royal
mantle of majesty, and girds about him the sword of his might: "thus the world
shall be established; it cannot be moved." And yet, though seemingly the enemy has
long prevailed, "Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting." The
establishment of his throne is the ground and the pledge of the establishment of the
world and of his kingdom. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for
ever." In view of all this the Church stands a wondering spectator, first struck with
awe, and then filled with adoring, gratitude. "The floods have lifted up, 0 Jehovah,
they have lifted up their roaring; the floods are lifting up their dashing noise." The
latter term refers to the sound of the waves as they break, and in connexion with it
the change of tense is very marked. The enemies of God and his kingdom have risen
like the floods or waves of the sea, lashed by the storm; with roaring noise have they
advanced; but as they near the vessel which bears the King, their noise is that of
waves dashing into foam. Their utmost nearness isâ€” to their destruction; their
utmost noise isâ€”in breaking. And even now, and in the height of the storm also far
overtopping not only all danger, but even its threatening noise, is Jehovah.
"Jehovah on high" (even there) "is mightier than the roaring of many waters and
mighty, than the breaking waves of the sea" (the word here rendered "breaking
waves" being literally a derivative from the verb to break). What a picture this of
our safety; what an epitome of the history of God's government and of his church!
Thus the calming of the storm on the lake of Galilee was not only a parabolic
representation of the history of the Kingdom of God, but also typical of the final
consummation of all things; a summary of the past, a prophecy of the future, a type
of the end. And what applies to the Church as a whole, holds equally true of
individual believers. Let us ever remember that the noise is that of the breaking
wave. Our greatest dangers are only breaking waves; waves which break at his feet.
The same expression is also sometimes applied to the waves of God's wrath or
judgments threatening to engulf the believer, as in Ps 42:7 88:7. These also, blessed
be his name, are only breaking waves. Meanwhile, while waiting for the
manifestation of his majesty and might, "we have the more sure word of prophecy."
"Thy testimonies are very sure" (very reliable, literally very Amen-ed): and, so far
as we are concerned, our faith and patience are tried and proved: "Holiness
becometh thine house, 0 LORD, for ever."
Thus we have here the history of the Church of God deduced from the text,
"Jehovah reigneth." Those words are to us as "a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn and the daystar arise in our hearts." So long as they are left us,

all that threatens us from without is only like the noise of the breaking wave. The
unspeakable comfort conveyed in this assurance is ever tested in the experience of
God's people. There is no truth more precious to the heart of the Christian than that
"the LORD reigneth." The conviction of this must carry us far above all cares and
fears. A personal God, a living God, a reigning Godâ€”alike in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earthâ€”and this God the Father of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, â€”such are the steps by which we reach a height, where, far
removed from the turmoil of men, we gain a comprehensive and clear view of earth
and its concerns. I would not exchange the assurance which these two words,
"Jehovah reigneth, "convey, for all the wisdom, combined with all the power, of this
world. Received into my heart, they are the solution of every difficulty, the end of all
perplexity. It seems to me as if, after puzzling over the cross writing and
hieroglyphics of men, I turned a fresh leaf, on the top of which stood these words, as
the text to be preached out in all history, whether of the individual, the family, or
the nation, the Church or the world. It seems as if, after revolving sorrowfully and
helplessly all the difficulties and wants which distress my heart, I were at once rising
above those floating clouds into clear atmosphere: as if all at once I were
unburdened; as if I had reached a haven of rest; as if I had found a firm foundation,
an ultimate principle. After all, in every real trial there is but this one final and full
comfort. What matters the opinion of men, â€”who may be for and who against me;
who may be with me, or who may leave me. Who would speak of prospects or
probabilities, of the support to be derived from wealth or power, or of the defections
of friends on whose sympathy and help we had counted? "Jehovah reigneth!" There
is light here across my every path, provided I follow Christ, walking in the narrow
way. Only let me be sure that, in any and every respect, I am on the Lord's side and
in the Lord's way, and I ask no more. My God has all the silver and all the gold in
his own hand. He holdeth the hearts of all men at his disposal; he directeth all
events, from the least to the greatest. If I want power with God or with men, let me
pray; for, Jehovah reigneth. or let me think that special interpositions are either
impossible or rare. They are constant. The course of God's providence is one of
constant interposition; for "all things work together for good to them that love
God." Only these interpositions are not violent, and therefore not noticed by the
superficial observer; they are the interpositions of all wise and almighty God, not of
poor, weak man; they are the interpositions, not interferences; they are the working
of the machinery by the Mastermind which designed, and the Master hand which
framed it. They are not the stoppage, but the working of the machinery, whereby its
real object is wrought out.
Lastly, let me note in the Psalm these three things:
In creation and nature:preestablished law along with continuous, personal
government, â€”not as opposed to, but as presupposing one another (Psalms 93:1-2).
In Providence:"The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters" â€”
which would otherwise strike terror, even as their swelling would threaten constant
danger. And in grace:"His testimonies are very sure." I can rest on them. ot one
tittle or iota shall fall to the ground. Wherever I have a word of promise, I can safely
plant my steps. The conclusion and inference from the whole matter is that
"holiness" â€”not fear nor man serving, but separation unto the Lordâ
€”"becometh, "or is the right, wise, and proper attitude of his house and people.

Alfred Edersheim, in "The Golden Diary of Heart Converse with Jesus in the Book
of Psalms, "1866.
Whole Psalm. It is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud that it was the custom of
the Jews to sing this psalm on the sixth day of the week, to which it is well suited as
celebrating the reestablishing and founding again of the world in the new creation
(Psalms 93:1): which is confirmed by a title given to it in the Septuagintâ€”"On the
day before the Sabbath, when the earth was founded: A Psalm of thanksgiving to
(or for) David" â€”adopted by the Vulgate and the Oriental Version in general. And
thus is this Psalm identified in subject with the preceding: as also Hengstenberg
observesâ€”"The reference, which it is impossible not to notice, in which `The Lord
on high is mightier, 'here (Psalms 93:4) stands to `But Thou, Lord, art most high for
evermore' (Psalms 92:8) â€”the kernel and middle point of the whole psalmâ€”has
already led commentators to notice a near connexion between these two psalms...
which is decidedly favoured by the contents; both psalms minister consolation to the
Church, exposed to danger by the might of the world." He might have addedâ€”in
the promise they give of "the rest the Sabbatism that remains to the people of God,
"when both shall be fulfilled. W. De Burgh.
Ver. 1. The LORD reigneth. It is a kind of proclamation in which God's people are
invited to declare before men and angels that the Lord is King, He and He only. It is
the response of the Church to the preaching of the gospelâ€”so rapturously hailed in
Isaiahâ€”the preaching of the messenger "that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that
saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" William Binnie.
Ver. 1. The LORD. He describes God by the name Jehovah, partly, to lead us to
think of the God of Israel, accustomed by this name to be distinguished from the
gods of the nations; partly, to call to mind the virtues of veracity, grace and justice,
comprehended by this name, and now clearly made known... When he says, Jehovah
reigns, without adding any restriction, or mentioning any people, it would seem that
the Kingdom of Jehovah is to be taken absolutely and generally, with equal
reference to the government of the world and the church. In the former sense
Jehovah may be said to reign, not as if He then at last begun to reign, but because
He proved himself to be the King of the world in an extraordinary way, by giving
public and manifest signs; by which it was clearly established that Jehovah is the
true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord and Ruler of the whole
universe, and a just and equitable judge, in inflicting notable judgements upon
sinners, in casting down the idols, and vindicating the cause of true religion and
virtue. This meaning I regard as contained in the general proposition: yet directly in
its primary signification I understand the Kingdom of God in His Church, partly,
because God is here said to vindicate the cause of religion, and of his people; partly,
he is said, in Psalms 99:1 to show himself exalted in Zion, and there to undertake the
Kingdom, Isaiah 24:23, and often elsewhere in the Prophetic word; and lastly,
because Jehovah, the King of his people, he himself who reigns, is set forth as the
ruler of the universe. He is the King therefore of his people, He has his Kingdom in
their midst, but to Him all things in heaven and earth are subject as well.
In this latter sense, therefore, the phrase, Jehovah has reigned, will stand for, He
has undertaken the Kingdom, He is become King, as it is often used in the histories
of the Kings of Judah and Israel; so also in Isaiah 28:23, and elsewhere... When He

is said to have taken the Kingdom in the midst of his people, it must not be
understood absolutely, but in a restricted sense, in reference partly to the manner
and form of rule, being more or less theocratic;partly, to the displays of the Divine
Majesty, being more or less conspicuous; and partly, to the servile or afflicted state
of his people, as extending from the Babylonish exile to the time of the Maccabees.
In which times God is said to have taken the Kingdom, in many other prophecies
beside this, Isaiah 24:21-23, Obad., ult. Micah 4:6-8. Venema.
Ver. 1. The LORD reigneth. These are the initial words of Psalms 97:1 and Psalms
99:1 also. Perhaps a threefold manner of reigning is suggested, namely, over things
subjected to God by a natural necessity, over those that resist his will and as far as
in them lies withdraw themselves from his dominion, and over those who
spontaneously and freely obey. For in this place the Kingdom is declared to be
coextensive with the foundation of the world: in Psalms 97:1 it is hinted at for the
exultation of the earth, and for the gladness of the isles; in Psalms 99:1 God is said
to reign, although the people are angry, and the earth is filled with commotion.
Zorinus.
Ver. 1. The LORD reigneth. Having considered in all quarters the worldly rule of
idols, and earthly deities or kings, the Psalmist at last bursts forth into the words
which attribute supreme government to none other, but to Jehovah the true God.
Let it be granted that the monarchs of Assyria, the kings of Egypt, and the masters
of other nations, extend their empire far and wide; let it be allowed that royal
majesty is ascribed to the idols by their worshippers; yet all these are as nothing to
the kingdom and majesty of Jehovah. Martin Geier.
Ver. 1. The LORD reigneth, i.e., the Lord has become King (Ps 96:10 97:1 99:1). The
formula proclaimed at the accession of earthly sovereigns (2 Samuel 15:10, 1 Kings
1:11; 1 Kings 1:13; margin, 2 Kings 9:13, "Jehu reigneth"). The reference is not to
the ordinary and constant government of God, but to his assuming a new and
glorious kingdom. The arrogant proclamation of the world power was virtually "the
Assyrian reigneth"; the overthrow of him was God's counter proclamation: "The
Lord (Jehovah) reigneth." The antitypical sense is, the world powers under
Antichrist, energized by Satan (Re 16:14 17:12-14,17), shall make one last desperate
stroke, seemingly for the moment successful, for the dominion of the earth, in
defiance of the Lord, (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12) But Christ will take his great power
and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, having overthrown utterly the
antichristian enemy. (Isaiah 24:23, Obadiah 1:21; Zechariah 14:9 Re 11:15,17 19:6.)
A. R. Fausset.
Ver. 1. The LORD reigneth. The very first words of this psalm seem to indicate a
morning of calm repose after a night of storm, a day of stillness after the tumult of
battle. "The LORD reigneth." "He hath put all enemies under his feet." Barton
Bouchier.
Ver. 1. The world also is established. The word world is properly taken for the
habitable globe, and metonymically for the inhabitants of the earth. This is clear
from Ps 24:1-2 89:12 9:9; Ps 96:1,3 98:9. In this passage the former signification
seems to obtain, because this majestic King has fortified no tower or palace strongly,
but the whole world, by the word of his power, that therein there might be a
constant habitation for the men who worship Him, even to the destined day of the
last judgment. Martin Geier

K&D 1-2, "The sense of ְ‫ך‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫מ‬ (with ā beside Zinnor or Sarka as in Psa_97:1; Psa_99:1
beside Dechî)
(Note: It is well known that his pausal form of the 3rd masc. praet. occurs in
connection with Zakeph; but it is also found with Rebia in Psa_112:10 (the reading
‫ס‬ ָ‫ע‬ ָ‫כ‬ְ‫,)ו‬ Lev_6:2 (‫ל‬ָ‫ז‬ָ), Jos_10:13 (‫ד‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫,)ע‬ Lam_2:17 (‫ם‬ ָ‫מ‬ָ‫;ז‬ but not in Deu_19:19; Zec_1:6,
which passages Kimchi counts up with them in his grammar Michlol); with Tarcha
in Isa_14:27 (‫ץ‬ ָ‫ע‬ָ‫,)י‬ Hos_6:1 (‫ף‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫,)ט‬ Amo_3:8 (‫ג‬ፎ ָ‫;)שׁ‬ with Teb|=r in Lev_5:18 (‫ג‬ָ‫ג‬ ָ‫;)שׁ‬ and
even with Munach in 1Sa_7:17 (‫ט‬ ָ‫פ‬ ָ‫,)שׁ‬ and according to Abulwalîd with Mercha in
1Ki_11:2 (‫ק‬ ָ‫ב‬ ָ ).))
is historical, and it stands in the middle between the present ְ‫ך‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ‫ה‬ and the future ְ‫ּך‬‫ל‬ ְ‫מ‬ :‫ה‬
Jahve has entered upon the kingship and now reigns Jahve's rule heretofore, since He
has given up the use of His omnipotence, has been self-abasement and self-renunciation:
how, however, He shows Himself in all His majesty, which rises aloft above everything;
He has put this on like a garment; He is King, and now too shows Himself to the world in
the royal robe. The first ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ָ‫ל‬ has Olewejored; then the accentuation takes ‫ה‬ ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ָ‫ל‬ together
by means of Dechî, and ‫ר‬ָፍ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ה‬ ‫ּז‬‫ע‬ together by means of Athnach. ‫ּז‬‫ע‬, as in Psa_29:1-11,
points to the enemies; what is so named is God's invincibly triumphant omnipotence.
This He has put on (Isa_51:9), with this He has girded Himself - a military word (Isa_
8:9): Jahve makes war against everything in antagonism to Himself, and casts it to the
ground with the weapons of His wrathful judgments. We find a further and fuller
description of this ‫התאזר‬ ‫עז‬ in Isa_59:17; Isa_63:1., cf. Dan_7:9.
(Note: These passages, together with Psa_93:1; Psa_104:1, are cited in Cant.
Rabba 26b (cf. Debarim Rabba 29d), where it is said that the Holy One calls Israel
‫כלה‬ (bride) ten times in the Scriptures, and that Israel on the other hand ten times
assigns kingly judicial robes to Him.)
That which cannot fail to take place in connection with the coming of this accession of
Jahve to the kingdom is introduced with ‫ף‬ፍ. The world, as being the place of the
kingdom of Jahve, shall stand without tottering in opposition to all hostile powers (Psa_
96:10). Hitherto hostility towards God and its principal bulwark, the kingdom of the
world, have disturbed the equilibrium and threatened all God-appointed relationships
with dissolution; Jahve's interposition, however, when He finally brings into effect all
the abundant might of His royal government, will secure immoveableness to the shaken
earth (cf. Psa_75:4). His throne stands, exalted above all commotion, ‫ז‬ፎ ֵ‫;מ‬ it reaches back
into the most distant past. Jahve is ‫ם‬ ָ‫ּול‬‫ע‬ ֵ‫;מ‬ His being loses itself in the immemorial and
the immeasurable. The throne and nature of Jahve are not incipient in time, and
therefore too are not perishable; but as without beginning, so also they are endless,
infinite in duration.
ELLICOTT, "(1) The Lord reigneth.—Comp. Psalms 97:1; Psalms 99:1. Better,
Jehovah has become king: the usual term for ascending the throne (2 Samuel 15:10;

1 Kings 1:11; 1 Kings 1:13; 2 Kings 9:13); used in Isaiah of the re-establishment of
the State after the Captivity (Isaiah 24:23; Isaiah 52:7); and by the latest of Israel’s
poets, in that prophetic strain which looks beyond time and this world (Revelation
19:6). The robing and girding with the sword were part of the ceremony of
inauguration of a monarch’s reign. (See ote, Psalms 45:3.)
The Lord is clothed . . .—These clauses run better: majesty he has put on: Jehovah
has put (it) on: with strength has girded himself.
For the same representation of Jehovah as a warrior arranging himself for battle,
compare Isaiah 59:17; Isaiah 63:1; or as a monarch robed in splendour, Psalms
104:1.
The world also is established.—This would better begin Psalms 93:3. That the earth
should be solidly seated in its hidden foundation, is itself a marvel; but this wonder
is mentioned only to bring into greater relief the thought of the next verse, that the
throne of God, to which the earth is only as a footstool (Isaiah 66:1), has its
foundation firm and everlasting, free from the vicissitudes which beset earthly
monarchies.
COKE, "Verse 1
Psalms 93.
The majesty, power, and holiness of Christ's kingdom.
THIS psalm has no title in the Hebrew; but it is supposed to be David's, to whom it
is attributed by the LXX, and most of the ancient versions. It was used by the Jews
in their public worship on the day before the Sabbath; and by their interpretation,
this and all the psalms to the 100th, are to be understood in their sublimest sense, of
the kingdom of Christ.
Psalms 93:1. The Lord reigneth— It was the Psalmist's glory and confidence, that
though the nations boasted of the power and splendor of their kings, and trusted to
their military preparations, yet the Lord, the great Jehovah, the God of Israel, still
reigned. God is here very elegantly represented as clothed with majesty itself, as
kings are with their royal ornaments; and as girded with almighty strength, as
warriors are with the sword: some render the verse thus, The Lord reigneth; he is
robed with majesty: The Lord is robed; he is girded with strength, &c.
WHEDO , "1. The Lord reigneth—The usual proclamation at the beginning of the
reign of a new sovereign. Thus: “Absalom reigneth,” (2 Samuel 15:10;) and, “Jehu
reigneth,” 2 Kings 9:13. Delitzsch: “The allusion makes it plain that the language
does not apply to the constant government of God, but to a new, glorious
manifestation of his dominion—as it were, a new ascent to the throne—as at the
overthrow of Sennacherib.” See Psalms 96:10; Psalms 97:1; Psalms 99:1.
Girded himself—To denote that he is ready for action; (Jeremiah 1:17; Luke 12:25;)

also a symbol of strength. (Psalms 18:39; Isaiah 45:5.)
The world also is stablished—And as securely has he founded his Church against
the tumult and rage of her enemies.
Matthew 16:18. This original “establishment of the world” proves God’s right and
ability to govern it.
BE SO , "Psalms 93:1. The Lord reigneth — He is the king and governor, not only
of Israel, but of the whole world, as the last clause of the verse expounds it; and
accordingly he will, in his due time, set up his empire over all nations, in the hands
of his Son the Messiah. It was the psalmist’s glory and confidence that, though the
nations boasted of the power and splendour of their kings, and trusted to their
military preparations, yet the Lord, the great Jehovah, the God of Israel, still
reigned. He is clothed with majesty, &c. — As kings are with their royal ornaments,
and is girded with almighty strength, as warriors are with the sword: that majesty
and strength, which he always had in himself, he now hath, and will shortly much
more show forth in the eyes of all people. The world also is established that it cannot
be moved — The effect of God’s government of the world shall be this, that he will
order and overrule all the confusions, and divisions, and hostilities in it, so as they
shall end in an orderly, peaceable, and happy settlement, and in the erection of that
kingdom of the Messiah which can never be moved.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
PSALM 93
THE ETER AL THRO E OF GOD
As McCaw said, "If Jerusalem had an annual festival in which the Lord was
especially worshipped as Creator-King, how suitable this psalm would be for use in
it. But suitability does not constitute proof, and the psalm rather bears witness to
the richness of the doctrine of God the Creator, as revealed in the Old
Testament."[1]
It seems to be fashionable among present day scholars to speak of such annual
festivals held by the Jews, one in particular, being a ceremonious "Enthronement of
God as King." We do not believe the Jews ever had any such festival. If they had
such a thing, how could the nation's principal authority, the Sanhedrin, have
shouted before Pilate at the trial of Jesus Christ, "We have no king but Caesar?"
Kyle Yates, one of the translators of the RSV Old Testament, also questioned the
reality of such alleged festivals.
"This psalm, along with Psalms 47, and Psalms 96-99 are usually called Royal
Psalms or Enthronement Psalms. Mowinckel and others have done extensive
research in an attempt to reconstruct an actual enthronement ceremony in
connection with the ew Year's celebration ... The positive evidence of such a

practice is indeed slight."[2]
Additionally, the Old Testament has nothing that even suggests such a thing.
Psalms 93:1-2
"Jehovah reigneth; he is clothed with majesty;
Jehovah is clothed with strength; he hath girded himself therewith:
The world also is established,
And it cannot be moved.
Thy throne is established of old.
Thou art from everlasting."
These verses present three consecutive affirmations:
(1) There is the statement that God reigns majestically in the security of unlimited
strength (Psalms 93:1a).
(2) Then there is the unmovable stability of the planet earth; and although the
conclusion is not stated here, it is surely implied that the established world with its
security and stability derives such qualities from the Creator-God who rules over
everything (Psalms 93:1b).
(3) "Thy throne ... thou art" (Psalms 93:2). These words thunder the message that
Israel is acquainted with the Great God and are able to address him in intimate
terminology such as "Thy" and "Thou." God's people love to meditate upon such
great truths of God as are stated here and are thus encouraged in their worship and
adoration of their true King.
"Thy throne is established of old ... from everlasting" (Psalms 93:2). The author of
Hebrews listed the credentials of the King of Kings, namely Jesus Christ; and, of
course, those credentials are the same as those of the "ruling Jehovah" in this
passage. These are: (1) King by right of eternal existence; (2) by right of creation;
(3) by right of personal excellence, "majesty and strength;" (4) by divine right; (5)
by right of maintenance, "upholding all things by the word of his power"; (6) by
right of purchase (This establishes God's right to rule over humanity in that he
purchased, or redeemed us, through the blood of His Son); and (7) by right of his
present position on the Eternal Throne (God is not a mere pretender; his rulership
is a fait accompli). "Jehovah reigneth" (Psalms 93:1).
CO STABLE, "Verse 1-2
1. The authority of Yahweh93:1-2

The psalmist declared the sovereignty of Yahweh over the world. He described the
Sovereign as clothed with strength rather than with ornate robes. Clothing says
something about the person wearing it. That was true of this king too. The
immovable condition of the world shows how absolutely God controlled it. However,
this refers to life on the earth more than it does to the planet in the solar system.
God will control all life on earth. God"s universal authority has existed forever.
Therefore there is no doubt it will continue.
Verses 1-5
Psalm 93
The psalmist rejoiced in the Lord"s reign in this psalm. This is one of the
"enthronement" or "theocratic" psalms that depict the righteous rule of God on
earth (cf. Psalm 47 , 95-99). They focus on God"s sovereignty over His people Israel,
but they also point prophetically to the future reign of David"s greatest Son during
the Millennium. Psalm 47 , 93-100 all affirm Yahweh"s rule over the earth.
EBC, "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 psalms of the group (Psalms 95:1-11; Psalms 96:1-13;
Psalms 97:1-12; Psalms 98:1-9; Psalms 99:1-9; Psalms 100:1-5) rise to a height of
lyric exultation in meditating on the reign of Jehovah. Psalms 93:1-5; Psalms 94:1-
23 are followed by two [Psalms 95:1-11; Psalms 96:1-13] 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. Psalms 97:1-12,
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. [Psalms 98:1-9] Once
more the proclamation "Jehovah is King" is sounded out in Psalms 99:1-9, and then
the group, is closed by Psalms 100:1-5, 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 ature or among men, are set forth with
magnificent energy and brevity. But the King of the world is not a mere ature-
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.
Psalms 93:1 describes an act rather than a state. "Jehovah has become King" by
some specific manifestation of His sovereignty. ot as though He had not been King
before, as Psalms 93:2 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 beet, by
His own hands. o 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 ature 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. Psalms 93:2 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.
ISBET, "THE KI GDOM OF GOD
‘The Lord reigneth.’
Psalms 93:1
Our psalm is the first of several beginning with the words, “The Lord reigneth,”
and there must have been a time in the Old Testament when the notion of a reign or
kingdom of God was one of the predominant notes of religion.
I. Coronation (Psalms 93:1-2).—The opening words—‘The Lord reigneth’—might
be more accurately rendered, ‘The Lord is become King,’ or they might be
paraphrased by saying, ‘The Lord hath taken to Himself His great power and
reigneth.’ It may seem strange language that at any point of time the Lord has
become King; but it has plenty of parallels. There are times when God seems far
away; people can forget Him, they can even doubt if He exists at all; but there are
other times when to doubt the reality of religion seems an absurdity; God
overshadows and overawes the soul; and eternity is far more real than time. This

may be experienced in private life or in public events; and we should pray for such
experiences. Of course, this impression of God being nearer than at other times is
subjective; He is there all the time, if we only realised it; He is always on the throne.
II. Defiance (Psalms 93:3-4).—The result of this Divine coronation or reascension of
the throne is given in the closing words of the first verse, ‘The world also is
established that it cannot be moved.’ Evidently, before the Lord reasserted His
sovereignty, there had been a period of wild commotion, when to the feeling of the
godly it seemed as if the foundations were destroyed and the whole system of things
was out of joint; but, when the King came back again, the disturbance was hushed,
and everything settled down into order and peace. We should seek, when opposition
to the Kingdom of God waxes high and its enemies become noisy and scornful, to
answer their scorn with such proud confidence, as if we repeated the opening phrase
of this psalm, ‘The Lord reigneth.’
III. Thanksgiving (Psalms 93:5).—The last verse is like the serene sunbeam which
falls upon the sea after the storm has become hushed. It recalls that the deliverance
which has taken place is, after all, only what might have been expected—only the
fulfilment of prediction and a new proof that the Lord is true to Himself. His
testimonies, or ordinances, are sure; as in nature the seasons do not fail, so in
history moral law fulfils itself, and in the spiritual domain all that God has
promised will certainly be fulfilled. The other inference—that holiness becomes the
house of God—may mean primarily that the Temple had been proved to be
inviolate—no enemy could touch it—but it has also a wider application. It is the
mood in which all worship should be rendered, but never is the heart so full of the
right spirit of worship as when God vouchsafes the sense of His nearness which this
psalm depicts.
Illustration
‘This psalm is identified in subject with the preceding. Hengstenberg notices the
reference of “the Lord on high is mightier” (Psalms 93:4) to “Thou, Lord, art most
high for evermore” (92:8). They are also connected by the thought of the Sabbath-
rest which remaineth for the people of God, which is the subject of this one.’
PULPIT, "Line the preceding, a psalm of praise. Jehovah is set forth as manifesting
himself in the character of King. He robes himself in majesty, and reigns openly.
The world, unstable as it may seem, is in reality fixed under his sway. His throne,
i.e. his rule, has been established from everlasting (Psalms 93:1, Psalms 93:2). Yet
there is resistance to his sway. The waters toss themselves; i.e. the powers of the
world array themselves in opposition to God (Psalms 93:3). Vainly, however: God in
heaven is mightier than they (Psalms 93:4). His might is especially shown in his
"house" and in his "testimonies." The latter are "sure," the former is inviolate.
Psalms 93:1
The Lord reigneth; rather, is become King ( ἐβασίλευσεν, LXX.); comp. Psalms

10:16; Psalms 47:6; Psalms 96:10; Psalms 97:1, etc. God is regarded as having for a
time laid aside, or hidden, his sovereignty, but as now at length coming forward and
inaugurating the theocracy. The writer may have in his mind some recent
manifestation of Divine power, or he may be anticipating the final establishment of
the reign of Messiah. He is clothed with majesty; or, "he hath robed himself in
majesty" (Cheyne). The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded
himself; literally, the Lord is clothed, he hath girded himself, with strength (comp.
"Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord," Isaiah 51:9). The world also
is stablished, that it cannot be moved. When God "takes his kingdom," he firmly
establishes his sway over the earth, with its inhabitants, in such sort that "it cannot
be moved"—it can suffer no violent agitation or disturbance.
PULPIT, "Psalms 93:1
The King figure for God.
Prayer book Version, "The Lord is King." The sentence would be more precisely
rendered "has become King," for some particular manifestation of Jehovah's kingly
rule was then occupying the psalmist's attention; but what that manifestation was
cannot be discovered. Some associate the psalm with the returned captives, who, in
some sense at least, re-established the theocracy. It represents the religious joy of the
people in the setting up of Jehovah's kingdom, and the realized presence of Jehovah
as the spiritual King; but the setting is that of a poet, who has a wider sphere from
which to draw his figures than the religious man has. It needs attention that the
King figure for God is not altogether satisfactory, because kingship is not a natural
relation; it cannot be either a permanent or universal relation. Kingship represents
a human expediency. God made families; these naturally organize into tribes. For
families and tribes the rulers are fathers and patriarchs. Men made cities and
nations, and invented kingships to centralize the governmental systems which they
designed. The figure of king should therefore always be applied to God, and to the
Messiah, with great care and caution. The actual kings who have ruled over nations,
though they may, in some things, fitly represent God, in other things are wholly
unworthy of him. And an ideal king is difficult to create mentally. It was the
peculiarity of the Jew, that he had no earthly, visible king. Jehovah unseen yet ever
present, was to the nation of Israel, all, and more than all, that human kings were to
the nations around them. But this high view of the Divine Kingship Israel proved
unable to maintain. It is that spiritual theocracy which the Lord Jesus came to
restore.
I. THE KI G FIGURE FOR GOD DECLARES HIS AUGUST POWER. Take the
Eastern, rather than Western, idea of the king. In the East kings are regarded as the
embodiment of all kinds of power. At first they were chosen because of bodily size
and strength, as was king Saul. otions of Divine power were connected with them.
So Israel's God was thought of as the Omnipotent, All-controlling One.
II. THE KI G FIGURE FOR GOD DECLARES HIS ABIDI G PRESE CE. A
king absent from his kingdom is inconceivable. If he is away, some one must take his

place. So God as King is with his people.
III. THE KI G FIGURE FOR GOD DECLARES HIS GRACIOUS PURPOSE. For
a king ought to be the "father of his people;" supremely concerned for their highest
well being. And God reigns with a view to securing righteousness, which is, for man,
the supreme blessing.—R.T.
BI 1-5, "The Lord reigneth; He is clothed with majesty.
The Supreme Ruler of the world
The psalm teaches the following things concerning the rule of God over the world:—
I. It is all-glorious. God “clothed!” Poetry has represented the universe as the costume of
the mighty Maker. How inexpressibly magnificent is that costume! But His clothing is of
no material fabric. His moral character is His garment, and that character is
transcendently grand—“glorious in holiness.”
II. It is all-mighty. “The Lord is clothed with strength.” How strong in might must He be
who sustains and manages the stupendous universe! How strong in intellect, to arrange
and plan and balance the countless globes of space! How strong in purpose! No swerving
from the original plan; the same from age to age.
III. It is all-enduring (Psa_93:2). Under His Government all past generations of men
lived and died, and all coming ones, down to the last, will be the subjects of His Almighty
rule.
IV. It is all-victorious (Psa_93:3-4). What within the whole range of human vision or
experience is more sublimely awful than the sea when the tempest has lashed it into
fury, when its waters rise like lofty mountains, and fight and foam like maddened lions?
But these floods are only emblems of floods more terrible and dangerous—the floods of
the wicked passions of wicked souls. But He is above those floods.
V. It is all-holy (Psa_93:5). This “house”—where is it? Everywhere. (Homilist.)
The Eternal Sovereign
I. The king.
1. Supreme in authority—none higher, greater; the primal source of law.
2. Infinite in wisdom—omniscient, unerring.
3. Holy in character (Psa_93:5) knowing nothing of prejudice, partiality, connivance
at wrongdoing: hence, righteous in administration, consistent, and beautiful in all.
4. Glorious in apparel—“clothed with majesty,” “clothed with strength” (His
attributes are His royal robes) (Psa_93:1).
5. Excellent in laws (Psa_93:5)—“thy testimonies are very sure,” in rewarding
obedience, in punishing transgression—they are just, perfect, good, can never fail.
6. Almighty in power (Psa_93:3-4)—tumults and wars are all under His sovereign
control.
II. The Kingdom.

1. Creation.
2. Providence.
3. Grace.
4. Everywhere. From eternity unto eternity.
III. The lessons.
1. We must first know Him as Saviour before we can obey Him as Sovereign.
2. Despite the most furious storms that may rage around the Christian or the
Church, we have nothing to fear while “The Lord reigneth.” He is mightier than
nature’s mightiest forces, and stronger than the “Strong man armed.” We are “in His
hand”; nor earth nor hell can pluck us thence (J. O. Keen, D.D.)
The Divine Kingship
I. In relation to creation. Life has no intelligible meaning, there is no satisfactory
explanation of anything apart from the belief, “The Lord reigneth.” To find “laws,” yet to
deny the Lawmaker; to admit processes, yet to negative the mind which started and
controls the processes; to gaze on astounding effects, and yet ignore the only adequate
cause; to talk of kingdoms, and yet reject the reigning Sovereign, is, to all intents and
purposes, the climax of folly, and a gross violation of all correct logical principles.
“Worlds are but signs of His presence, systems are but His initials in bold type, and the
universe but His flaming superscription. All the activities displayed are but a faint
symbol of the unlimited and ceaseless movements of the King. They are but bubbles on
the rushing torrent of His onward sweep, sprays from the cataracts of His operations,
wavelets upon the fathomless ocean of His activity.”
II. In the sphere and mysteries of Providence. In all the dramas of life—individual life,
family life, national life, Church life—we must rise in thought and faith from secondary
causes to the great First Cause: from mere caprice to Eternal Sovereignty: from the
seeming accidental to the actual Divinity, which governs every life, evolves every history,
and works all things after the counsel of His own Will. His march is in mystery—through
the shadowed avenues of His “Hidings,” the very emblems of His Majesty being the
robes of His concealment. What can we know of the interlacings of life with life? of the
mysterious and untraceable effects of blood relationship? of hereditary and transmitted
evil, disease, influence, and so forth, down through the vast chain of human life and
history? Here, the highest created intellect must pause in adoring wonder, and say, “Just
and true are Thy ways, O King of saints.” Are any of you troubled and dismayed about
the outcome of events, complicated and strange in your eyes, relative to the Church?
“The Lord reigneth.” We have nothing to fear.
III. In the history and progress of Christianity. Christianity does not rest on such side-
issues as the miracles of Christ, but on Christ Himself, and its culminating fact—the
miracle of His Resurrection. He is its grand historic Reality, its abiding supernatural
fact. How came it to be a history, if it is not true? How came it to be first reported, and
then to be written, if it were wholly or in part false? The magnetism of Christianity was
never greater among the nations than it is to-day. “Think of the undermining process
that has been slowly but surely going on in the hoary systems of idolatry, and how the
old mythologies have been transfixed by rays of light from Bethlehem and Tabor.
Brahma and Vishnu are quaking on their precarious thrones, and Buddha lies sprawling

on the rivers of China. Add to this the fact that the Christian religion is making in our
day a vast impression on society, and enters more deeply than ever into the thoughts and
life of the world. It is leavening all literature. Essays, poems, treatises, biographies, and
even novels are almost as full of it as sermons are. It affects legislation, sweetening the
Statute-book, and purifying the fountains of justice. It is never weary of erecting
hospitals, asylums, orphanages, homes, colleges, and other monuments of beneficence
whose name is legion.” Do these look like the symptoms of an exhausted force or a dying
cause? (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
The stability of God’s throne
I. The stability of God presented to us in the Scripture consists in His fixed character
and purposes, backed by unlimited power. It is not law—regular and uniform sequence,
dependent on the necessity of things—to which the Bible refers the order of nature.
There is a will above law, and a character of infinite wisdom and goodness behind will,
which is the support of the universe. But this wisdom and moral excellence could not sit
upon a throne, God could not be a king without power equal to His wisdom. Separate the
two, conceive of wisdom without power, or power without wisdom, and there could be
no stability in the system of things. Power alone would be ever fashioning and
destroying; wisdom would be ever contriving without accomplishing, or else would
confine itself to the field of its own limited resources, because, it would be unwise to
push further. God’s majesty and strength as a ruler is, in fact, the union of His perfect
attributes.
II. The stability of the world results from the stability of God. It is the place where He
unfolds His fixed but progressive system. “The world is established that it cannot be
moved.” This stability is an emanation of the wisdom and power of God—of wisdom
which has contrived it as the theatre where He is carrying forward His great plan, and
which must be kept in its place as long as the plan demands, and of power which deals
with unyielding matter, as easily as the potter with the clay.
III. The psalmist proceeds to speak of forces natural, and perhaps moral or human,
whose violence seems for the time to obstruct the plan of God and to endanger the
stability of the system.
1. Casting our eyes first upon the seemingly irregular forces of nature, with what awe
we behold the great deep agitated by tempests, etc. These are wild, convulsionary
forces, but others wear away or alter the earth in silence. In a course of ages what
vast effects are produced by moisture, by heat and cold, by the soil descending with
the currents of rivers, by melting snow and the decay of vegetable matter. But
notwithstanding all these powers, violent or quiet, the world is established that it
cannot be moved. The agitated sea and air, the flood and the lightning, do their work,
and that on the whole a beneficent work according to God’s laws, without
endangering the safety of the system.
2. But violence in the moral world, the fury and wild force of nations, as of
individuals, is not only against moral order but also against the original conception
of the system. The fact of sin, then, the impetuous rage of sin on the great scale, looks
as if finite beings were getting the better of God, as if they were disappointing Him,
and marring somewhat the majesty of His throne, when they lift up their waves
against Him. But it is far otherwise: the Lord on high is in the end shown to be
“mightier than the noise of many waters, yea than the mighty waves of the sea.”

(1) The law of retribution is continually coming into play, when nations commit
great crimes. The blind force of finite minds punishes itself, and thus clothes God
before the eyes of His creatures with majesty, and establishes His throne.
(2) God draws good out of evil.
IV. The psalmist passes on by an easy sequence to teach us that God’s testimonies or
precepts are sure, that is, are true, permanent, and to be relied upon. If the swelling
waters that lift up their voice are symbols of disorder among nations as well as in nature,
the transition is yet more smooth; for from the majesty and power of God as displayed
against rebellious nations we go directly to His precepts which they have violated and
which He upholds by His judgments. The great system of righteousness must take a
permanent place in a mind of boundless wisdom, which has no biasses and needs no
experience. And not only this, but the moral in God’s sight must have a far higher value
than the physical; righteousness is the stability of His throne; it were better for heaven
and earth to pass away than that He should favour or sanction one jot of injustice. If so,
His precepts are sure, they can never be abrogated, never be made light of. They are the
reliance of all who love righteousness, individuals or nations. And thus holiness becomes
His house for ever. Having a character of holiness which will never alter, He demands a
like disposition from those who worship Him.
1. Whatever adds to the strength of the conviction that God and His precepts are
immovable, adds also to the power of the righteous in the world.
2. Times of natural and moral convulsion are preeminently times calculated to bring
God before the mind. They bring Him from behind the cloud, He seems to show His
face, and to those who humble themselves before Him He speaks words of
encouragement and hope.
3. How glorious the system of God will appear to those who shall see it in its oneness
and completion. God will not seem slow or slack then, but majestic, almighty, all-
wise, one and the same through the whole drama. We look upon some vast mountain
of solid rock; we call to mind that it has defied the elements for ages; the flood rose
and fell leaving it as it was, the rains and snows have scarcely made an impression on
its surface; it has outlasted all human works and will stand until the doom. Such, to
illustrate great things by small, will the stability of God’s system appear, when
surveyed and traced out from the heights of Heaven. But even in this world we may
expect that at some future time there will be a most profound impression pervading
mankind of the stability and oneness of God’s counsels; general history will one day
be more wrought out than now, and will be brought into harmony with revelation.
When such a time shall come, the world will appear to be one more than now, and
the race one, and the counsels of God one from their germ to their perfect fulfilment.
(T. D. Woolsey.)
2 Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.

BAR ES, "Thy throne is established of old - Whatever might occur, the throne
of God was firm. That could not be moved. It had been set up from all eternity. It had
stood through all the convulsions and changes which had occurred in the universe; and
it would stand firm forever. Whatever might change, that was immovable; and as long as
that is unchanged we have a ground of security and hope. Should “that” be moved, all
would be gone. The margin here is, as in Hebrew, “from then:” but it means “of old;”
from the most ancient times; that is, from the period indicated by the next clause, “from
everlasting.”
Thou art from everlasting - From all eternity; thou hast always existed; thou art
ever the same Psa_90:1.
CLARKE, "Thy throne is established of old - There never was a time in which
God did not reign, in which he was not a supreme and absolute Monarch; for he is from
everlasting. There never was a time in which he was not; there never can be a period in
which he shall cease to exist.
GILL, "Thy throne is established of old,.... Or "prepared from eternity" (b); Christ
was set up and anointed as King from everlasting; he had a kingdom appointed and
prepared for him so early; and his throne, which is prepared in the heavens, is an
established one; it is for ever and ever; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; of his
government, and the increase of it, there is no end:
thou art from everlasting; as a divine Person, as God, and the Son of God; or he
could not have been anointed unto or invested with the kingly office so early; nor have
had a glory with his Father before the world began: his eternal existence, as God,
accounts for the establishment of his throne of old, without which it could not be.
HE RY, ". He reigns eternally (Psa_93:2): Thy throne is established of old. 1. God's
right to rule the world is founded in his making it; he that gave being to it, no doubt, may
give law to it, and so his title to the government is incontestable: Thy throne is
established; it is a title without a flaw in it. And it is ancient: it is established of old, from
the beginning of time, before any other rule, principality, or power was erected, as it will
continue when all other rule, principality, and power shall be put down, 1Co_15:24. 2.
The whole administration of his government was settled in his eternal counsels before all
worlds; for he does all according to the purpose which he purposed in himself; The
chariots of Providence came down from between the mountains of brass, from those
decrees which are fixed as the everlasting mountains (Zec_6:1): Thou art from
everlasting, and therefore thy throne is established of old; because God himself was
from everlasting, his throne and all the determinations of it were so too; for in an eternal
mind there could not but be eternal thoughts.
JAMISO , "His underived power exceeds the most sublime exhibitions of the most
powerful objects in nature (Psa_89:9).

CALVI , "2Thy throne is stable Some read, is prepared, and this agrees well with
the context. provided we take the two clauses as one sentence, meaning — O Lord,
as thou art from eternity, even so thy throne is erected or prepared from that time
For the sense which some have attached to the words, as if they contained a simple
assertion of God’s eternity, is poor; and the Psalmist evidently intends to say that as
God is eternal in essence, so he has always been invested with power and majesty.
The term throne signifies, by the figure synecdoche, righteousness, and office or
power of government; it being customary to transfer such images taken from men to
God, in accommodation to our infirmity. (4) By this ascription of praise the Psalmist
effectually disposes of all the absurd ideas which have been broached, tending to
deny or disparage the power of God, and declares, upon the matter, that God may
sooner cease to be, than to sit upon his throne in the government of this world.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 2. Thy throne is established of old. Though thou mayest just
now appear in more conspicuous sovereignty, yet thine is no upstart sovereignty: in
the most ancient times thy dominion was secure, yea, before time was thy throne
was set up. We often hear of ancient dynasties, but what are they when compared
with the Lord? Are they not as the bubble on the breaker, born an instant ago and
gone as soon as seen?
Thou art from everlasting. The Lord himself is eternal. Let the believer rejoice that
the government under which he dwells has an immortal ruler at its head, has existed
from all eternity and will flourish when all created things shall have for ever passed
away. Vain are the rebellions of mortals, the kingdom of God is not shaken.
Ver. 2. Thy throne is established. The invariable perpetuity of the divine kingdom is
celebrated in these words. o vicissitudes are apprehended there, as in earthly
monarchies and kingdoms, where thrones are not infrequently shaken, either on
account of the death of their kings or principal men, or by reason of the
unfaithfulness of subjects or ministers, or because of the schemes or attacks of
enemies; none of which can disturb the divine rule. Martin Geier.
Ver. 2. Thy throne is established of old. Lest any one should suspect that the royal
dignity depicted and demonstrated in the previous verse by the creation of the
world, which was the effect of kingly power and majesty, was a new thing or came
into existence yesterday or the day before, or that God had recently obtained the
office of ruling and governing, or that by long use and experience he had acquired
skill, or held a somewhat foreign throne as other kings are wont, he says that this
dignity is as ancient as creation itself, so that the throne of this kingdom was
founded at the very time when the foundations of the earth were laid; and as the
earth was established by him as his footstool, so the heaven was his throne, (Isaiah
66:1), which endures for ever. Especially does he teach that from eternity, before the
formation of the world, God always remained the same in himself, not needing
creation or any creature, thereby to obtain any new perfection. Lorinus.
Ver. 2. Of old. The Italian, from all eternity:Hebrew, from then;an Hebrew phrase
to signify an eternity without any beginning, Proverbs 8:22 : as eternity without end
is signified by another term, which is as much as, until then. Diodati.

WHEDO , "2. Thy throne is established of old—Literally, Thy throne is
established from then, or, from that time; that is, from the time that thou hast
been— from eternity. “This phrase, spoken of God or Christ, means eternity; in
respect to creation it is the beginning of time.” Isaiah 44:8.— Ainsworth. When
there is no historic indication of the particular time referred to, it must be
determined by the nature of the subject, which in this case must be the duration of
divine existence.
BE SO , "Verses 2-4
Psalms 93:2-4. Thy throne is established of old, &c. — This kingdom of thine is no
new or upstart kingdom; as it may seem to the ignorant world, but the most ancient
of all kingdoms, being from everlasting to everlasting, although it was not always
equally manifested to mankind. The floods —
The enemies of thy kingdom, who are often compared to floods for their numbers,
force, rage, &c., have lifted up their waves — Have both, by their words and
actions, made opposition against it. The Lord on high is mightier than many waters,
&c. — The King of heaven is too strong for all earthly potentates, and will subdue
them under his feet,
PULPIT, "Thy throne is established of old. Though God from time to time comes
forward, as it were, and asserts his sovereignty, yet it is no new rule that he sets up.
He has always been the King both of heaven and earth. Thou art from everlasting.
ot merely from "of old," but from all eternity (comp. Psalms 90:2; Proverbs 8:23;
Isaiah 63:15; Micah 5:2; Habakkuk 1:12).
3 The seas have lifted up, Lord,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
BAR ES, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their
voice - The word here rendered “floods,” means properly rivers, and then it may be
applied to any waters. The word voice here refers to the noise of raging waters when they
are agitated by the winds, or when they dash on the shore. See the notes at Psa_42:7.

The floods lift up their waves - As if they would sweep everything away. The
allusion here is to some calamity or danger which might, in its strength and violence, be
compared with the wild and raging waves of the ocean. Or if it refers literally to the
ocean in a storm, then the psalm may have been the reflections of the author as he stood
on the shore of the sea, and saw the waves beat and dash against the shore. To one thus
looking upon the billows as they roll in toward the shore, it seems as if they were angry;
as if they intended to sweep everything away; as if the rocks of the shore could not resist
them. Yet they have their bounds. They spend their strength; they break, and retire as if
to recover their force, and then they renew their attack with the same result. But their
power is limited. The rocky shore is unmoved. The earth abides. God is over all. His
throne is unshaken. No violence of the elements can affect that; and, under his
dominion, all is secure.
CLARKE, "The floods have lifted up - Multitudes of people have confederated
against thy people; and troop succeeds troop as the waves of the sea succeed each other.
GILL, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their
voice,.... The Targum adds,
"in a song,''
taking the words in a good sense; and so some of the ancients, as Jerome particularly,
understood them of the apostles and their ministrations; who lifted up their voice like a
trumpet, which went into all the world, and unto the ends of the earth; and who came
with the fulness of the gifts and graces of the Spirit; and were attended with a force and
power which bore down all before them: but rather by "the floods" are meant the
enemies of Christ, his kingdom, and interest; and by their "lifting up their voice", the
opposition made by them thereunto; see Isa_8:7, this was fulfilled in the Jews and
Gentiles, who raged, like foaming waves of the sea, against Christ, and lifted up their
voices to have him crucified; in the Roman emperors, and in the ten persecutions under
them; in those floods of errors and heresies, which the dragon has cast out of his mouth
to devour the church of Christ, against which the Spirit of the Lord has lifted up a
standard in all ages; in the antichristian kingdoms, compared to many waters, on which
the whore of Rome is said to sit, Rev_17:1 and especially in antichrist himself, who has
opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, his tabernacle, and they that dwell therein;
and will be further fulfilled in the last persecution and slaying of the witnesses, and in
the Gog and Magog army, which shall encompass the beloved city and camp of the
saints. Kimchi interprets it of Gog and Magog, and of the kings that shall be gathered
together to fight against Jerusalem:
the floods lift up their waves; with great strength, making a great noise, and
threatening with ruin and destruction, as before.
HE RY 3-4, " He reigns triumphantly, Psa_93:3, Psa_93:4. We have here, 1. A
threatening storm supposed: The floods have lifted up, O Lord! (to God himself the
remonstrance is made) the floods have lifted up their voice, which speaks terror; nay,
they have lifted up their waves, which speaks real danger. It alludes to a tempestuous

sea, such as the wicked are compared to, Isa_57:20. The heathen rage (Psa_2:1) and
think to ruin the church, to overwhelm it like a deluge, to sink it like a ship at sea. The
church is said to be tossed with tempests (Isa_54:11), and the floods of ungodly men
make the saints afraid, Psa_18:4. We may apply it to the tumults that are sometimes in
our own bosoms, through prevailing passions and frights, which put the soul into
disorder, and are ready to overthrow its graces and comforts; but, if the Lord reign
there, even the winds and seas shall obey him. 2. An immovable anchor cast in this
storm (Psa_93:4): The Lord himself is mightier. Let this keep our minds fixed, (1.) That
God is on high, above them, which denotes his safety (they cannot reach him, Psa_
29:10) and his sovereignty; they are ruled by him, they are overruled, and, wherein they
rebel, overcome, Exo_18:11. (2.) That he is mightier, does more wondrous things than
the noise of many waters; they cannot disturb his rest or rule; they cannot defeat his
designs and purposes. Observe, The power of the church's enemies is but as the noise of
many waters; there is more of sound than substance in it. Pharaoh king of Egypt is but
a noise, Jer_46:17. The church's friends are commonly more frightened than hurt. God
is mightier than this noise; he is mighty to preserve his people's interests from being
ruined by these many waters and his people's spirits from being terrified by the noise of
them. He can, when he pleases, command peace to the church (Psa_65:7), peace in the
soul, Isa_26:3. Note, The unlimited sovereignty and irresistible power of the great
Jehovah are very encouraging to the people of God, in reference to all the noises and
hurries they meet with in this world, Psa_46:1, Psa_46:2.
CALVI , "3The floods have lifted up, O Jehovah! Various meanings have been
attached to this verse. Some think there is an allusion to the violent assaults made
upon the Church by her enemies, and the goodness of God seen in restraining them.
(7) Others are of opinion that the words should be taken literally, and not
figuratively, in this sense — Though the noise of many waters be terrible, and the
waves of the sea more fearful still, God is more terrible than all. I would not be
inclined to insist too nicely upon any comparison that may have been intended. I
have no doubt the Psalmist sets forth the power of God by adducing one brief
illustration out of many which might have been given, (8) Intimating that we need
not go farther for a striking instance of Divine power — one that may impress us
with an idea of his tremendous majesty — than to the floods of waters, and
agitations of the ocean; as in Psalms 29:4, the mighty voice of God is said to be in the
thunder. God manifests his power in the sound of the floods, and in the tempestuous
waves of the sea, in a way calculated to excite our reverential awe. Should it be
thought that there is a comparison intended, then the latter clause of the verse must
be understood as added, with this meaning, That all the terror of the objects
mentioned is as nothing when we come to consider the majesty of God himself, such
as he is in heaven. There is still another sense which may be extracted from the
words, That though the world may to appearance be shaken with violent
commotions, this argues no defect in the government of God, since he can control
them at once by his dreadful power.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 3. The floods have lifted up, 0 LORD. Men have raged like
angry waves of the sea, but vain has been their tumult. Observe that the psalmist
turns to the Lord when he sees the billows foam, and hears the breakers roar; he
does not waste his breath by talking to the waves, or to violent men; but like
Hezekiah he spreads the blasphemies of the wicked before the Lord.
The floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. These repetitions
are needed for the sake both of the poetry and the music, but they also suggest the
frequency and the violence of wicked assaults upon the government of God, and the
repeated defeats which they sustain. Sometimes men are furious in wordsâ€”they lift
up their voice, and at other times they rise to acts of violenceâ€”they lift up their
waves; but the Lord has control over them in either case. The ungodly are all foam
and fury, noise and bluster, during their little hour, and then the tide turns or the
storm is hushed, and we hear no more of them; while the kingdom of the Eternal
abides in the grandeur of its power.
Ver. 3. The floods have lifted up, etc. Advisedly in this place does he make mention
of floods, in order better to depict the effects of war. For when rivers are raised and
swollen with inundations, they burst the restraining banks, and sweep far and wide
over the neighbouring plains, carrying everything in their course. Such is the
manner of war; when armies are despatched into countries, they lay waste and fill
all places with slaughter. Whence Virgil employs this simile (Aeneid 2) in describing
the violence of the Grecian army breaking into the citadel of Priam, â€”rendered by
Dryden thus â€”
"In rush the Greeks, and all the apartments fill;
Those few defendants whom they find, they kill.
ot with so fierce a rage the foaming flood
Roars, when he finds his rapid course withstood;
Bears down the dittos with unresisted sway,
And sweeps the cattle and the cots away." Mollerus.
Ver. 3. Their waves. The word k signifies a wave; because the water being dashed
against a rock, or the shore, or another wave, is broken into spray. For the central
idea of the word is breaking. And this aptly serves to picture the issue of those
commotions and wars which are undertaken for the overthrow of empires and the
church. For as mighty waves fill the beholders with horror, so great and powerful
armies fill all things with fear and terror. But as the waves striking, in a moment are
broken, and disappear, so the mighty power of kings and princes is often dissolved
at one glance of God. The Church dwells in this life, as a rock in the waves, beaten
by the waves of every tempest; but yet remains immutable, because the Son of God
confirms and sustains her. Mollerus.
HI TS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER.
Ver. 3. The voice of the floods.
1. The voice of ature is the voice of God.
2. It is a voice from God.
3. It is a voice for God.
"God hath a voice that ever is heard,
In the peal of the thunder, the chirp of the bird:
It comes in the torrent, all rapid and strong,

In the streamlet's soft gush, as it ripples along;
In the waves of the ocean, the furrows of land,
In the mountain of granite, the atom of sand;
Turn where ye may, from the sky to the sod,
Where can ye gaze that ye see not a God?" G. R. Poetry by Eliza Cook.
ELLICOTT, "(3) Waves.—Better, for the parallelism, roaring: but literally,
breaking of the waves on the shore.
Floods, here poetically for the sea, as in Psalms 24:2.
Lift up.—The repetition of the verb the third time in a different tense adds to the
force. In LXX. and Vulgate this clause is “from the voices of many waters.”
COKE, "Psalms 93:3. The floods have lifted up, O Lord— Instead of waves at the
end of the verse, some translators read roar, which is equivalent to voice. The
meaning of the verse is, "Multitudes of combined enemies threaten to break in upon
us, like a flood."
WHEDO , "3. Floods— ‫,נהרות‬ (neharoth,) rivers.
Lifted up their voice—This could be done by rivers only in the rushing and roaring
of cataracts. The cataracts of the Jordan were used as a figure of the civil
commotions which drove David for a season from his capital. See on Psalms 42:7.
Probably the word rivers, here, refers to the Euphrates and the Tigris, as
representing the mad power of Assyria.
Waves—The word signifies “waves” that are broken by being dashed against the
shore, or otherwise broken with violence—breakers. The radical idea is, to dash in
pieces—to break. The common word for wave is different, and comes from the idea
to heap together, to cast up a mound. In symbolic language, the sea, or any great
body of water, represents a great collection of people; and a troubled, or
tumultuous, sea signifies a nation or nations at war. See Psalms 65:7; Daniel 7:2;
Jeremiah 51:42. The figure here clearly points to such war and commotion as
threatened the destruction of the nation, and is a strong indication of the date we
have assigned to the psalm.
COFFMA , "Verse 3
"The floods have lifted up, O Jehovah,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves
Above the voice of many waters,

The mighty breakers of the sea,
Jehovah on high is mighty."
"The floods ... their voice ... their waves ... the mighty breakers of the sea" (Psalms
93:3-4). God's enemies among the pagan Gentile nations are often described in the
Old Testament as "floods." Isaiah 8:7-8 is an outstanding example. "The floods here
seem to mean the world powers, God's enemies."[3]
Delitzsch also agreed with this.
"The sea with its mighty mass of waters, with the constant unrest of its waves, with
its ceaseless pressing against the land and foaming against the rocks, is an emblem
of the Gentile world alienated from God and at enmity against Him. The rivers
(floods) are emblems of worldly kingdoms; the ile stands for Egypt, the Tigris for
Assyria, and the Euphrates for Babylon."[4]
"The mighty breakers of the sea" (Psalms 93:4), This writer was stationed once on
the USS Midway (CVB-41), a mighty aircraft carrier, and we encountered a storm
in the Arctic Ocean. The waves of the ocean reached a height of something like a
hundred feet, and the terrible power of such mighty waves strikes fear into the
hearts of all who ever witnessed them. Through the courtesy of Gene Hazen of the
Washington D.C. television pool of reporters, we procured moving pictures of those
mighty waves breaking over the bow of the Midway. These may still be viewed in
the A.C.U. Library, in the documentary film released by the U.S. avy, entitled
"Exercise Mainbrace" (1952).
Those mighty waves crashed in the hanger door of our great ship and destroyed a
couple of aircraft.
The sea metaphor of the evil populations of mankind appears also in the ew
Testament in Revelation 13, which depicts the great Scarlet Beast with seven heads
and ten horns coming up out of the restless populations of the earth.
Before leaving these verses, we should note the fashion among some schools of
commentators to find all kinds of Babylonian mythology in a passage like this. Our
conviction is that they are finding what is definitely not in it. We do not believe that
the Israelites were overly conscious of the mythology of their Babylonian captors.
"In its theology, Israel was not half as much influenced by Babylonian mythology as
many commentators are inclined to believe."[5]
"Jehovah on high is mighty" (Psalms 93:4). The adverb `above' which stands at the
head of Psalms 93:4 applies to this clause. Jehovah is on high above the thundering
breakers of the mighty ocean. This is a beautiful way of saying that Jehovah reigns
supremely above the roaring passions of earth's wicked nations foaming out their
hatred of God and their opposition to his kingdom.
CO STABLE, "Verse 3-4

2. The power of Yahweh93:3-4
God"s power is greater than that of the tumultuous seas that move with irresistible
force and great noise. The Canaanites believed Baal overcame the sea, which they
called Prince Yamm. Here the psalmist pictured Yahweh as much mightier than the
sea. The early readers of this psalm would have understood it as a polemic against
Baalism. Yahweh has true authority over the sea that to ancient ear Easterners
typified everything uncontrollably powerful and hostile.
PULPIT, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice.
By "the floods" seem to be meant the world powers, God's enemies; perhaps
especially Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Invading hosts are constantly compared to
"floods" or "rivers" in Scripture (see Isaiah 8:7, Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 28:2; Isaiah
17:12, Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 59:19; Jeremiah 46:8, etc.). The floods lift up their
waves; or, "their din," "their roaring" (comp. Psalms 65:7, "Which stilleth the
noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people").
K&D 3-5, "All the raging of the world, therefore, will not be able to hinder the
progress of the kingdom of God and its final breaking through to the glory of victory.
The sea with its mighty mass of waters, with the constant unrest of its waves, with its
ceaseless pressing against the solid land and foaming against the rocks, is an emblem of
the Gentile world alienated from and at enmity with God; and the rivers (floods) are
emblems of worldly kingdoms, as the Nile of the Egyptian (Jer_44:7.), the Euphrates of
the Assyrian (Isa_8:7.), or more exactly, the Tigris, swift as an arrow, of the Assyrian,
and the tortuous Euphrates of the Babylonian empire (Isa_27:1). These rivers, as the
poet says whilst he raises a plaintive but comforted look upwards to Jahve, have lifted
up, have lifted up their murmur, the rivers lift up their roaring. The thought is unfolded
in a so-called “parallelism with reservation.” The perfects affirm what has taken place,
the future that which even now as yet is taking place. The ᅏπαξ λεγ. ‫י‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֳ signifies a
striking against (collisio), and a noise, a din. One now in Psa_93:4 looks for the thought
that Jahve is exalted above this roaring of the waves. ‫ן‬ ִ‫מ‬ will therefore be the min of
comparison, not of the cause: “by reason of the roar of great waters are the breakers of
the sea glorious” (Starck, Geier), - which, to say nothing more, is a tautological sentence.
But if ‫ן‬ ִ‫מ‬ is comparative, then it is impossible to get on with the accentuation of ‫,אדירים‬
whether it be with Mercha (Ben-Asher) or Dechî (Ben-Naphtali). For to render: More
than the roar of great waters are the breakers of the sea glorious (Mendelssohn), is
impracticable, since ‫רבים‬ ‫מים‬ are nothing less than ‫ים‬ (Isa_17:12.), and we are prohibited
from taking ‫משׁברי־ים‬ ‫אדירים‬ as a parenthesis (Köster), by the fact that it is just this clause
that is exceeded by ‫ה‬ ‫במרום‬ ‫.אדיר‬ Consequently ‫אדירים‬ has to be looked upon as a second
attributive to ‫מים‬ brought in afterwards, and ‫ם‬ָ‫י־י‬ ֵ‫ר‬ ְ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫מ‬ (the waves of the sea breaking upon
the rocks, or even only breaking upon one another) as a more minute designation of
these great and magnificent waters (‫,אדירים‬ according to Exo_15:10),
(Note: A Talmudic enigmatical utterance of R. Azaria runs: ‫ויפרע‬ ‫אדיר‬ ‫יבא‬ ‫באדירים‬
‫מאדירים‬ ‫,לאדירים‬ Let the glorious One (Jahve, Psa_93:4, cf. Isa_10:34; Isa_33:21)

come and maintain the right of the glorious ones (Israel, Psa_16:3) against the
glorious ones (the Egyptians, Exo_15:10 according to the construction of the
Talmud) in the glorious ones (the waves of the sea, Psa_93:4).)),
and it should have been accented: ‫ים‬ ‫משברי‬ ‫אדירים‬ ‫רבים‬ ‫מים‬ | ‫.מקלות‬ Jahve's celestial
majesty towers far above all the noisy majesties here below, whose waves, though lashed
never so high, can still never reach His throne. He is King of His people, Lord of His
church, which preserves His revelation and worships in His temple. This revelation, by
virtue of His unapproachable, all-overpowering kingship, is inviolable; His testimonies,
which minister to the establishment of His kingdom and promise its future
manifestation in glory, are λόγοι πιστοί καᆳ ᅊληθινοί, Rev_19:9; Rev_22:6. And holiness
becometh His temple (‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ּד‬‫ק‬‫ה־‬ָ‫ו‬ ֲ‫ֽא‬ַ‫,נ‬ 3rd praet. Pilel, or according to the better attested
reading of Heidenheim and Baer, ‫ה‬ָ‫ו‬ ֲ‫ֽא‬ָ‫;נ‬
(Note: The Masora on Ps 147 reckons four ‫ה‬ָ‫או‬ָ‫,נ‬ one ‫ה‬ָ‫או‬ָ‫נ‬ְ‫,ו‬ and one ‫ה‬ָ‫ו‬ ֲ‫ֽא‬ָ‫נ‬ eno d, and
therefore our ‫נאוה‬ is one of the ‫מפיק‬ ‫לית‬ ‫חד‬ ‫וכל‬ ‫אלף‬ ‫דמפקין‬ ‫מלין‬ ‫יז‬ (cf. Frensdorf's Ochla
we-Ochla, p. 123), i.e., one of the seventeen words whose Aleph is audible, whilst it is
otherwise always quiescent; e.g., ‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ּוצ‬‫מ‬ ְⅴ, otherwise ‫את‬ ֵ‫ּוצ‬‫מ‬.)
therefore the feminine of the adjective with a more loosened syllable next to the tone,
like ‫י‬ ִ ‫ב־‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫ֽח‬ַ‫י‬ in Ps 40:18), that is to say, it is inviolable (sacrosanct), and when it is
profaned, shall ever be vindicated again in its holiness. This clause, formulated after the
manner of a prayer, is at the same time a petition that Jahve in all time to come would be
pleased to thoroughly secure the place where His honour dwells here below against
profanation.
4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the Lord on high is mighty.
BAR ES, "The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters -
That is, he is more powerful than those waters; he is able to control them. See Psa_65:7,
note; Job_38:11, note. The original here is more rapid in the course of the thought; more
emphatic and forcible: “More than the voice of waters - many - mighty - the breakers of
the sea - in the high place is Jehovah.” He is over all those billows and breakers; more
mighty than they all. They can proceed no further than he permits; they will be stayed

when and where he commands. We can conceive of few things which more illustrate the
power and the majesty of God than the fact that he thus presides over, and controls, the
waves of the ocean.
Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea - The original word here corresponds
precisely with our word “breakers” - the mighty waves that “break” on the beach.
CLARKE, "The Lord - is mightier than the noise of many waters - Greater in
strength than all the peoples and nations that can rise up against him.
Mighty waves of the sea - Even the most powerful empires can prevail nothing
against him; therefore those who trust in him have nothing to fear.
GILL, "The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters,.... Christ
is the most High; he is God over all, higher than the highest; he is, as King, higher than
the kings of the earth; he is in the highest heavens, and higher than they; he is highly
exalted, as Mediator, at the right hand of God: he is the mighty God, and mighty
Saviour; yea, he is Almighty, and therefore mightier than all his enemies, and the noise
they make, and the force they use; he is stronger than the strong man armed; than Satan,
and all his principalities and powers; than all the persecuting princes and potentates of
this world; than antichrist, and all the antichristian states: yea, than "the mighty waves
of the sea"; the same are intended as before (c).
(c) Vide Homer. Iliad. 21. v. 190, 91. where the same is said of Jove, al
SPURGEO , "Ver. 4. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many
waters. The utmost of their power is to him but a sound and he can readily master
it, therefore he calls it a noise by way of contempt. When men combine to overthrow
the kingdom of Jesus, plot secretly, and by and by rage openly, the Lord thinks no
more of it than of so much noise upon the sea beach. Jehovah, the self existent and
omnipotent, cares not for the opposition of dying men, however many or mighty
they may be.
"Loud the stormy billows spoke,
Loud the billows raised their cry;
Fierce the stormy billows broke,
Sounding to the echoing sky.
Strong the breakers tossing high,
Stronger is Jehovah's might.
True thy words; and sanctity
Well becomes thy temple bright."
Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. When the storm raises Atlantic billows, and
drives them on with terrific force, the Lord is still able to restrain them, and so also
when impious men are haughty and full of rage the Lord is able to subdue them and

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