Psalm 29

David praised God for His awesome power as a consequence of observing a severe thunderstorm either truly or in his mind's eye. Israel's pagan neighbors gave the credit for storms and other natural phenomena to their gods. Consequently this psalm was a polemic against belief in these idols as well as a tribute to the uniqueness of Yahweh.

"Whether David was building the psalm out of an ancient fragment, or turning to a style that would recall the old battle-hymns of God's salvation, the primitive vigour of the verse, with its eighteen reiterations of the name Yahweh (the Lord), wonderfully matches the theme, while the structure of the poem averts the danger of monotony by its movement from heaven to earth, but the path of the storm and by the final transition from nature in uproar to the people of God in peace."⁷⁷

 1. A call to praise Yahweh 29:1-2

The phrase "sons of the mighty"(NASB) or "mighty ones"(NIV) probably refers to the angels. The Old Testament writers called Israel God's son, but they did not refer to individual believers that way. The idea that every believer is God's son was revelation Jesus Christ introduced for the first time (Matt. 6:9; et al.).

These verses are an excellent example of climactic parallelism. In climactic parallelism the writer makes a statement and every time he repeats the same idea in a succeeding line he does so more forcefully. Holy array was the dress morally more than physically with which the Israelites were to worship God when they assembled for their national festivals at the sanctuary.

 2. Reasons to praise Yahweh 29:3-9

This section pictures a thunderstorm.

29:3-4 Evidently David saw the storm first over a large body of water, probably the Mediterranean Sea. He spoke of the thunder as God's voice. This is an apt comparison since thunder is a noise that comes from heaven. However, he may also have used this figure to imply Yahweh's control over His creation. God brought the creation into existence with a word (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24)

29:5-7 David's description of the progress of the storm pictured it moving inland over Lebanon to the north of Israel. The Lord's voice (thunder) seemingly split the mighty cedars of Lebanon and tossed them about like match sticks. Of course the lightning and wind were probably the actual agents of this devastation, but the psalmist described it as the result of Yahweh's decree. Likewise he said God called forth flames of fire (lightning). Both Old and New Testaments speak of lightning as God's tool of judgment. Lebanon and Sirion are names of mountains in the Anti-Lebanon range.

29:8-9 As the storm moved eastward into the wilderness area near Kadesh north of Damascus, it shook the earth. It made the deer give birth to their calves prematurely and blew the leaves off the trees. Consequently all God's angelic host glorified Him for His great power.

It is probably significant that the phrase "voice of the Lord"occurs seven times in verses 3-9. The Israelites often regarded things done seven times as perfect acts of God such as the creation that God accomplished in seven days.

 3. The sovereignty of Yahweh 29:10-11

29:10 The present storm reminded David of the inundation of the whole world in Noah's day. The Hebrew word for flood here occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament only in Genesis 6-11. As Yahweh ruled over His creation then, so He did in David's day, and so He does forever. Thunderstorms reminded the psalmist of this truth.

29:11 The same power Yahweh employs in storms is available to His people. As He can cause a storm to subside, so He can bring peace into our lives (cf. Mark 4:37-39). Thus the Lord is not just transcendent over all and able to control the forces of nature. He is also a resource for those to whom He has committed Himself with covenant promises.

Believers should see in nature the attributes of God and glorify Him for His mighty power (cf. 19:1-6). We should also remember that His power is a resource for us. The God of creation is also the God who saves His people.