The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"the LORD reigneth," Hebrew YHWH malakh (יְהוָה מָלָךְ). The psalm proclaims the King enthroned. It opens not with a request but with an announcement: the throne is occupied, and the One on it is the covenant God of Israel.

"clothed with majesty," ge'ut lavesh (גֵּאוּת לָבֵשׁ). "He is clothed with majesty." The King is described as robed, and His splendour is put on Him the way royal dress is put on a monarch, visible to all who look.

"strength," oz (עֹז). "The LORD is clothed with strength." Alongside the display of majesty is the power to make it good; His robes are not ceremonial only.

"hath girded himself," hit'azzar (הִתְאַזָּר). "Wherewith he hath girded himself." The belt is what a man fastens before he works or fights, so the King is pictured not lounging on His throne but ready for action.

"stablished," tikkon (תִּכּוֹן). Because the King is girded, the creation holds: "the world also is stablished." The stability of everything that exists is traced directly to the reign just announced.

"cannot be moved," bal-timmot (בַּל־תִּמּוֹט). "That it cannot be moved." The word denies the very tottering the psalms elsewhere fear; the world will not slip off its base while this King holds it.

"established of old," nakhon me'az (נָכוֹן מֵאָז). "Thy throne is established of old." The same firmness given to the world belongs first to the throne, and the throne had it long before the world was there to receive it.

"from everlasting," me'olam attah (מֵעוֹלָם אָתָּה). "Thou art from everlasting." Behind the ancient throne stands an older King. The throne was set up in time; the One seated on it never was.

Explanation

The whole psalm rests on its first two words: "The LORD reigneth." This is the banner of the enthronement psalms (Psalms 93 through 100), the announcement that above all the tumult of earth, God is King, and He is King now. And notice how His kingship is pictured, as royal robing. "He is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself." A king puts on his robes of state and belts on his strength for action; so the LORD is arrayed in majesty and girded with power, ready to rule. Then comes the consequence that changes everything for us: "the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved." Because the King is robed in strength and seated firm, the world He governs is firm too. The stability of creation is not a property of creation itself but a gift of the throne; the world stands steady only because the King who upholds it stands steady. And that throne is not new: "Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting." God's reign never began, and therefore it can never end; He did not become King, He has always been King, before the first mountain and before time itself. In a world drunk on change and terrified of what cannot be controlled, here is the unmoved and unmovable King, and a world made steady by His steady hand.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD reigneth", this eternal King is the Lord Jesus Christ, who wears the crown over all. John saw Him and wrote, "he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16), the very robing of majesty and strength this psalm describes. He is the One "from everlasting," for of Him it was prophesied, "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2), and He said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). And the kingdom He reigns over is the one thing that "cannot be moved," for the gospel gives us "a kingdom which cannot be moved" (Hebrews 12:28), fixed and firm because its King is fixed and firm. When your world is shaking, look up: the LORD reigneth, and the throne of the Lord Jesus was established of old and stands for ever. His steadiness is the ground of yours.

Word Study

"the floods," Hebrew neharot (נְהָרוֹת), rivers, streams. "The floods have lifted up, O LORD." Three times the floods rise, and the repetition is the point: wave after wave, the rising never seems to stop.

"lifted up their voice," nas'u qolam (נָשְׂאוּ קוֹלָם). "The floods have lifted up their voice." The waters are given a voice, as though they were a crowd shouting, and the shouting is aimed upward against the throne just described.

"their waves," dokhyam (דָּכְיָם), their pounding, their roaring. "The floods lift up their waves." From voice the psalm moves to blows; the noise becomes a hammering, water striking with weight behind it.

"the noise of many waters," miqqolot mayim rabbim (מִקֹּלוֹת מַיִם רַבִּים). Then one greater rises above them all: "The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters." However loud the uproar, it is measured against Someone louder and stronger.

"the mighty waves of the sea," mishberei-yam (מִשְׁבְּרֵי־יָם), the breakers of the sea. "Yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." The comparison is pressed to the strongest thing the psalmist can name, the breakers themselves, and the King is mightier still.

Explanation

Feel how these two verses are built, for the shape is the meaning. First the flood rises, and it rises in three mounting waves of sound: "The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves." Three times the same verb pounds, louder and louder, like breakers crashing one after another, higher each time. In the Bible the raging sea is the image of chaos, of the tumult of the nations, of everything that threatens to overwhelm and drown. So here is the world at its most menacing, roaring, surging, mounting up as if it would swallow everything. And then, over the top of that whole crescendo, comes a single line that caps it all: "The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." The floods rise in three waves of noise; God's supremacy answers in one. However loud the chaos, He is louder; however mighty the waves, He is mightier, and He is "on high," seated above the storm where no flood can reach His throne. This is the comfort the psalm presses on every believer facing a roaring world: the noise is real, and it is frightening, but it is not the loudest voice in the universe. Above the many waters, mightier than every wave, the King reigns undisturbed. The flood cannot climb to His throne, and the flood cannot drown those He holds.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters", this is the Lord Jesus Christ, before whom the very sea fell silent. When the storm rose on Galilee and the waves beat into the boat, "he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm" (Mark 4:39), and the astonished disciples asked, "what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" The answer is that He is the LORD of Psalm 93, mightier than the many waters, and the floods obey His voice. The raging of the nations against Him, foretold in Psalm 2, could not prevail; the King rose from the grave and reigns on high. So when the floods of trouble lift up their voice in your life, louder and louder as if to drown you, remember that a mightier voice sits above them. The same Christ who said "Peace, be still" to the sea speaks peace to His own in every storm, and no flood can rise to reach the throne where He holds you safe.

Word Study

"thy testimonies," Hebrew edotekha (עֵדֹתֶיךָ). The psalm closes by turning from the throne to the word. The King who rules the roaring waters has also spoken, and His testimonies are what He has said about Himself and required of His people.

"are very sure," ne'emnu me'od (נֶאֶמְנוּ מְאֹד), utterly faithful, proven trustworthy. "Thy testimonies are very sure." The same firmness that stablished the world and the throne belongs to God's word; it too cannot be moved.

"holiness," qodesh (קֹדֶשׁ). From the word the psalm turns to the house, and what it requires there is holiness, the state of being set apart wholly to God.

"becometh," na'avah (נַאֲוָה), is fitting, is a becoming adornment. "Holiness becometh thine house." Holiness is spoken of as one speaks of clothing that suits its wearer, the fitting dress for a house belonging to the King clothed with majesty.

"thine house," beitekha (בֵּיתֶךָ). The psalm that began with a throne ends at a house, and it is God's own: "holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever." What suits it is settled by whose it is.

Explanation

In one final verse the psalm turns from God's throne to God's word and God's house, and the turn is deliberate. After all the majesty and might, after the firm world and the roaring floods, it would be easy to think of God only as raw power. But the last verse adds the two things that make His power holy and good. First, His word: "Thy testimonies are very sure." The same God whose throne "cannot be moved" gives testimonies that cannot fail; His word is as reliable as His reign. The King who steadies the world speaks with a steadiness you can build your life on, no promise of His has ever broken, and none ever will. Second, His house: "holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever." Notice how this answers the opening. In verse 1 the King is "clothed" with majesty; here His house is adorned with holiness. Majesty is the garment of the King; holiness is the garment of His house. The two belong together: a holy King must have a holy dwelling and a holy people. Power without purity would be mere force; but the God who reigns in strength is holy, and holiness is what fits, what becomes, what beautifully suits His house. And this too is "for ever", not a passing standard but the eternal character of all that is God's. The psalm that began with the throne ends with the summons that flows from it: the people of the reigning, holy King must themselves be holy.

Gospel Focus

"Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house", both halves of this verse are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. His word is utterly sure, for He declared, "the scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35), and prayed, "thy word is truth" (John 17:17); He is Himself the Word made flesh and "the faithful and true witness" (Revelation 3:14), so that every testimony of God stands firm in Him. And "holiness becometh thine house" is now the calling of the church, for the people of God are "the house of God, which is the church of the living God" (1 Timothy 3:15), and to that house the command comes, "be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). Christ secured this very thing, for He "loved the church, and gave himself for it... that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27). So the reign of the King lays a claim on us: since the LORD reigns, His word is sure, and His house is holy, let those who belong to Him rest on His unbreakable word and wear the holiness that becomes His house, for ever.