John Gill Commentary Psalms 29

Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty
The Targum refers this to the angels, "give praise before the Lord, ye companies of angels, sons of the Mighty;"

these are mighty ones, and excel all other creatures in strength; and are the sons of the Mighty, or of God; it is their duty and their business to glorify and to worship him and his Son Jesus Christ, as they do continually; but rather the princes and great men of the earth are here meant, who are so called, (Psalms 82:1Psalms 82:6Psalms 82:7) (Psalms 89:6Psalms 89:7) (1 Corinthians 1:26); and these, as they receive much honour and glory, both from God and man; and because they are apt to seek their own glory, and ascribe too much to themselves, are called upon particularly to give glory to God; and the more, inasmuch as you may be the means of engaging their subjects, by their influence and example, to do the same, and who may be included in them;

for this is not to be understood of them exclusive of others, as appears from (Psalms 96:7–9); moreover, all the saints and people of God may be intended, who are all princes and kings; and may be said to be mighty, especially those who are strong in faith; and these are they who give most glory to God;

give unto the Lord glory and strength ;
give glory to Jehovah the Father, by celebrating the perfections of his nature; by commending the works of his hands, the works of creation; by acquiescing in his providential dispensations; by returning thanks to him for mercies received, temporal and spiritual; particularly for salvation by Christ, and, above all, for Christ himself; by exercising faith in him as a promising God; by living becoming his Gospel, and to the honour of his name:

give glory to the Son of God, by ascribing all divine perfections to him, by attributing salvation to him, and by trusting in him alone for it:

give glory to the Spirit of God, by asserting his deity, by referring the work of grace and conversion to him, and by depending upon him for the performance of the good work begun:

give "strength" to each person, by acknowledging that power belongs to them, which is seen in creation, redemption, and the effectual calling; or else strength may mean the same thing as praise and glory; see (Psalms 8:2) , compared with (Matthew 21:16); and both may design strong praise and glory, expressed in the strongest and with the greatest vigour and vehemency of spirit.

Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name
Or "the glory of his name" ^F24 : which is suitable to his nature, agreeable to his perfections, and which belongs unto him on account of his works;

worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness ;
the Lord is only to be worshipped, and not any creature, angels or men; not Jehovah the Father only, who is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; but the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost also, being of the same nature, and possessed of the same perfections; and that with both internal and external worship; and in true holiness, in which there is a real beauty:

holiness is the beauty of God himself, he is glorious in it; it is the beauty of angels, it makes them so glorious as they are; and it is the beauty of saints, it is what makes them like unto Christ, and by which they are partakers of the divine nature; and in the exercise of holy graces, and in the discharge of holy duties, should they worship the Lord;

unless this is to be understood of the place of worship, the sanctuary, or holy place in the tabernacle; or rather the church of God, which holiness becomes; but the former sense seems best.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: (wmv dwbk) "gloriam nominis ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.

The voice of the Lord [is] upon the waters
What follows concerning thunder, the voice of the Lord, gives so many reasons why he should have glory given him and be worshipped; the Heathens ^F25 paid their devotion to thunder and lightning: but this should be done to the author of them; which may be literally understood of thunder, and is the voice of the Lord; see (Psalms 18:13) (Job 40:9) ; and which is commonly attended with large showers of rain, (Jeremiah 10:13) ; and is very terrible upon the waters, and has its effect there, (Psalms 104:7) ; and this is the rather mentioned, because that there is a God above, who is higher than the mighty, who are called upon to give glory to him, and because that thunder has been terrible to kings and great men of the earth; or this may be figuratively interpreted of the voice of Christ in the Gospel, which reaches to many nations and people, compared to waters, (Revelation 17:15) . The disciples had a commission to preach it to all nations, and the sound of their words went into all the world, (Romans 10:18) ;

the God of glory thundereth ;
this shows that thunder may be meant by the voice of the Lord, who is glorious in himself, and in all his works; and may be applied to the Gospel of Christ, who is the Lord of glory, and whose ministers, at least some of them, are sons of thunder; see (1 Corinthians 2:8) (Mark 3:17) ;

the Lord [is] upon many waters ;
that is, his voice is, as before, which is thunder; and that this belongs to God, the Heathens were so sensible of, that they called their chief deity Jupiter Tonans ^F26 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Pausan. Arcad. sive l. 8. p. 503.
• F26: Horat. Epod. l. 5. Ode 2. v. 29. Martial. l. 2. Ep. 95.

The voice of the Lord [is] powerful
Or "with power" ^F1 ; as thunder, in the effect of it, shows; and so is the Gospel, when it comes, not in word only, but is attended with the power of God to the conversion and salvation of souls; it is then quick and powerful, (Hebrews 4:12); and the word of Christ personal, when here on earth, was with power, (Luke 4:32);

the voice of the Lord [is] full of majesty ;
Christ, in his state of humiliation, spoke and taught as one having authority; and now, in the ministration of his Gospel by his servants, he goes forth with glory and majesty, (Psalms 45:3Psalms 45:4) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: (xkb) "in potentia", Pagninus, Montanus; "cum potentia", Cocceius, Michaelis; "with able power", Ainsworth.

The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars
Such an effect thunder has upon the tallest, strongest, and largest trees, as to break them into shivers;

yes, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon ;
a mountain in the north part of the land of Judea, so called from its whiteness, both by reason of the snow with which some part of it is covered in summer, as Tacitus observes ^F2 ; and partly from the colour of the earth that has no snow on it, which looks as white as if it was covered with white tiles, as Maundrell ^F3 says; and where the goodliest cedars grow; and to which may be compared proud, haughty, lofty, and stouthearted sinners, who are broken, brought down, and laid low, by the voice of Christ in his Gospel, his power attending it. The Targum renders it, "the Word of the Lord".

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Hist. l. 5. c. 6.
• F3: Travels, p. 176.